First, our closer throws 98 MPH fastballs, collects two easy outs, fires up the crowd and then he loses the strike zone, never to regain it in any meaningful fashion.

Fucking Armando.

Then, our closer induces a pathetic little half-swing squib and, wouldn'tcha know it, that defensive excuse-me whoopsy! cut rolls less than 90 feet to exactly […]

The problem with a loss like this — and make no mistake, this was one of those “I got mauled by a grizzly bear and fell down a ravine and got disemboweled when I fell on a pointy rock and now cougars are uncoilng my guts and EATING them while I'm still alive” losses — […]

As a people, we set our alarms to go off on Opening Day. For us, that's the flashpoint that turns the clocks, the calendars and our raison d'être ahead. The season began. The non-season went away. Those are the only seasons we care about.

But it's worth noting that summer is here. It crept in on […]

Hot one out there. I think I need to wear a cap. Why, I'll just put on my…

MERCURY METS CAP?

For those of you who wonder how co-bloggers surprise each other after a dozen years of continual baseball contact, it's with one of these babies. My reaction upon its presentation by Jason unto me?

“THE MERCURY METS? […]

Some baseball games are made for converting newcomers to the sport, for infecting them with the fever, for teaching them about double plays and the hit-and-run and bunts and the infield fly and then blowing them away with the sheer joy of a come-from-behind win.

Tonight's game? It wasn't one of those.

Yes, Bronson Arroyo turned […]

Fourteen things to shovel on the last-place Atlanta Braves:

1. Fourteen spadefuls of dirt for each game that separates the last-place Atlanta Braves in last place from us in first place.

2. Four spadefuls of dirt for each position in the standings that separates the last-place Atlanta Braves in fifth place from us in first place.

3. One […]

…or we'll undress you on the scoreboard.

They say on any day or night you might see something in baseball you've never seen before, but a ball skipping up an outfielder's sleeve and rolling around inside his uniform as runners circle the bases? Never seen that before, can't imagine I ever will again. (Though, as Gary […]

Crappy losses to dismal opponents generate little cause for concern as regards our unassailable Mets, but they're still crappy. I didn't like 'em in '86 and I don't like 'em now. But they happen, sometimes in twos.

The second day of the rest of our lives went suspiciously like the first: flat and flat again. Maybe […]

Well, the first game of the rest of our lives has come and gone and absolutely nothing has changed. The Mets lost; no biggie there. We didn't lose any ground. I'd argue there's no ground to lose. What hasn't changed is the Met fan reaction to anything less than eternal perfection.

I went to the game […]