“I've been waiting to say this to you for a long time. … Deep down in my stomach, with every inch of me, I pure, straight hate you. … But goddamn it do I respect you.” — Wes Mantooth.

In other words: Nice game, Smoltz.

If the Braves lost today, they would have been 10 out. […]

We may come back for the sweep (after the last couple of days I won't put anything past this team) or we may wind up dropping the finale, but one thing's for sure: We'll still be talking about that top of the second.

Even before the zaniness began, we'd seen one of the rarest plays in […]

It was the elbow, all right.

His teammates knew, his manager didn't. Once again, when you want to feel empathy for Victor Zambrano — and he deserves it, based on Michael Morrissey's account in the Post — you're at a loss. You credit him with sucking it up and pitching better than he ever has as […]

I take my 0-2 record to Shea Sunday afternoon for the finale versus the Braves. I know better than to scream SWEEP or go CHOP but I gotta tell ya: I know a little less better all the time.

The Braves is dead? Oh, let’s not get ahead of ourselves even if we’re nine ahead of […]

Oh, Doctor! A 98-yard triple-reverse ties the score at 63-63! We have seen nothing but razzle-dazzle here today, three visits from Morganna the Kissing Bandit and the surprising return of Jim Brown!

Yeah, it was something like that.

To be fair, I didn't find myself asking myself, “Could this be the best day of my life?” Not […]

I wouldn't call that one a classic — too much bit-spitting in situations where the thing should have ended earlier — but it sure was fun. About the only thing it was missing was one or both managers picking their least-worst-hitting starting pitchers to pinch-hit. (Glavine and Smoltz?) Along the way…well, I'm not quite sure […]

To the rest of the world, Endy Chavez and Jose Hernandez are two unremarkable to flawed players. To me, they are behemoths. They have loomed over the past decade's Met fortunes like Shea ushers loom over the entrance to Field Level. They have gotten in the way of a perfectly good time on more occasions […]

I knew from the get-go that last night would be one of those catch-as-catch-can games, grabbed by bits and pieces while out and about. That's one of the joys of baseball, after all — when life dictates that you be elsewhere, you can nearly always sneak off for a half-inning or at least a quick […]