Hope Springs Eternal

Maybe the Giants really started something that Super Bowl Sunday in February. Those incredible men in blue and their nasty defensive linemen, and most heartening of all, a host of new guys to lay low the "greatest team of all time" Patriots, guys making their bones, if you will.

I'll never forget Steve Smith, a big name at USC but new to the NFL, finding still another hole in a Pats zone and dancing down the sideline to make sure his team got that critical first down. That was immediately preceding that beautiful Eli floater to a wide-open Plaxico versus another ill-fated Belichick blitz.

But Smith certainly wasn't the only new face to shake the halls of the great this past football year. There was a seventh round draft choice named Ahmad Bradshaw who dragged a huge Pats defensive lineman for a few more yards that day, and a big kid from East Orange who did his best to see if Tom Brady's navel could touch his spine. And what about that huge tight end out of Western Oregon, of all places, getting open and deftly turning upfield for a 45-yard gain.

Yes, there were six rookies who made that Giants team , all of whom made their presence felt in the playoffs, and even that wasn’t the end of it. Those G-Men also made some key pickups outside of the draft, most notably a fullback named Hedgecock and a kick-returner named Hixon, whose efforts couldn’t be missed in that run of runs.

And we had a new and totally unlikely Super Bowl Champion.

Of course, none of that had been expected. And if it had been expected, it couldn’t have been so incredible of course, all of which brings me around to some new heroes on the baseball diamonds of the Major Leagues, and the hard courts of the NBA, still other new faces or names you never heard to shake the countenances of the powerful.

Looking at today’s standings in the American League this morning, I see Baltimore and Tampa Bay leading the American League East, the Rays having just swept the World Series Champion Red Sox. Their winning streak couldn’t have been accomplished without Evan Longoria, fresh out of the minors. He hits for average and power, plays a nifty third base, and can steal a base if there’s a need. But he joins a team that already had developed B.J. Upton and the hard-throwing right-hander James Shields.

In the AL Central, the “Pale Hose”, those Chicago White Sox are surprising the Indians and in the West, those Billy Bean Oakland A’s are tied for first with the Angels. The White Sox are doing it with re-treads who seem to have re-discovered their games, names like Crede and Pierzynski. The A’s are doing it with guys like pitcher Dana Eveland, a 25-year old southpaw, and still another over-achieving re-tread named Emil Brown. Emil presently leads the A’s with 25 rbi’s, a figure that is second only to still another new face, Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers.

On the senior circuit, the National League, the Florida Marlins lead the East, 1 ½ games over the Mets and Phillies. Hanley Ramirez is once again tearing it up with 8 home runs, 22 runs scored and 18 rbi’s from the LEADOFF position. He also sports 8 stolen bases, and despite having shown this fearsome production for over two years now, he is still not exactly a household name. The Fish also can boast of Josh Willingham, a former Met batting .341 and two pitchers doing very well, Mark Hendrickson with 4 wins already and Scott Olsen, who leads the team in ERA at 2.06.

In the NL Central, there are the Cubbies, finally, in first place with a 16-9 record. And, although old names such as Derrek Lee and Carlos Zambrano are leading the team in batting and pitching, they wouldn’t be there without Kerry Wood and Carlos Marmol finishing games for them.

While Wood had been a household name as a starter before his injury, his closer role is new and one he seems quite comfortable filling. Marmol sets him up and, in only his second year, mystifies batters with his combination of heat and breaking balls, not unlike the more ballyhooed Joba Chamberlain of the Yankees.

In the West, the Diamondbacks of Arizona lead the way, and, although some “woulda thunk it”, what with pitchers like Brandon Webb, Dan Haren and Randy Johnson, who really expected a fella named Micah Owings to start out 4-0 with 28 strikeout’s and only 9 walks. And only the baseball-savvy could’ve foreseen still another Upton named Justin to sport a .323 BA along with five dingers.

In NBA basketball, how good was it to watch a kid like Josh Smith tear up the mighty Celtics twice in a row? Smith was a human wrecking ball, with 28 points and 7 blocks in their latest game. The 6’9” 235 pound Smith seems unstoppable in closing out his fourth year in the league. In Saturday night’s Hawks win, he was even more dominating, hitting 11-17 from the field while grabbing 9 rebounds, dishing off 6 assists and pilfering the ball twice.

Meanwhile, seasoned but unheralded veteran Joe Johnson, originally drafted by the Celtics back in 2001, grabbed the spotlight last night. Joe hit for 35 points, going 14-24. The Celtics seem to be reeling after their two relatively easy wins in Beantown and will undoubtedly welcome a return to their home court after suffering two rather decisive beatings in Atlanta.

In every sport, the beat goes on. We watch the great either hang on or tumble, but it’s always intriguing, and most of us root for that new blood to have their day. And yet, if the veterans still hold sway, we recognize and appreciate their dominance, be it either in teamwork or defense, pitching or long home runs. It’s the good fight that’s appreciated.

<>As I gaze out my window, I see the snow has stopped falling. Ah yes, hope springs eternal.<>

Omar's Home for the Aged

I've heard all season how much talent there is on the Mets. I myself picked these Mets to win the NL pennant this year, but it seems as if that prognostication may have been wishful thinking. In GM Omar Minaya's zeal to maximize experience on his roster, he may have forgotten just how much experience these old fellas really have.

Do you want adventure? Just hit a grounder to the Mets right side. Carlos Delgado, the erstwhile slugger and first baseman, will give that ground ball his best effort every single time. That usually means a swipe at the ball; his feet begin to move as the ball passes the lip of the infield.

Delgado’s bat, to be kind, doesn't inspire fear in opponents anymore. For a player who keeps and consults a hitting chart, he seems to be a slow learner. Pitch him outside, he'll try to pull it anyway, the result usually being a ground ball to second base into a shift. For the record, Carlos will be 36 in June and this is his 16th year in the majors. I wonder if his birth certificate shares a lot of the same characteristics as the one Miguel Tejada's been showing around.

Next to Carlos is already oft-injured Luis Castillo, who is a good little fielder but has become totally ineffective at the plate. Just for the record, Luis is just 32 but this is his 14th year in the major leagues. That's a lot of ground balls, a lot of bending, a lot of everything. It seems to have taken its toll.

We Mets fans anxiously await the arrival of Moises Alou. Moises will be 42 in July. This will be his umpteenth year in the majors and he does sport a .303 career batting average along with 332 home runs. But he played only 123 games in 2005 playing for his Dad in San Francisco, then just 98 games in 2006 for the Giants, then just 87 last year for the Mets. Does one detect a pattern here?

Then there is my favorite pitcher, Pedro Martinez. Pedro pitched a few innings in his first start before grabbing his hammy. He's now expected to return to the mound in 10 days. Which mound that might be I have no idea. Pedro will be 37 in October and, hopefully he'll be getting a World Series ring for his special day. For the money he's getting, though, why can't he make an appearance once in a while?

The long line of aging superstars continues. There is also El Duque, Orlando Hernandez. He'll be 39 in October. He just had surgery on his right foot but the boot won't come off for another two weeks.

I suppose I should be thankful that Delgado and Castillo at least play. If Delgado goes down for some reason, we're left with journeyman pinch-hitter Marlon Anderson, who is 34 years old. Of course, Marlon hasn't been too successful at pinch-hitting this year, but, what the hell, it's still only April, right?

There are only 10 current Mets players born after the year 1978. Six of them are pitchers. The position players are Jose Reyes, David Wright, Angel Pagan and the new backup catcher, Gustavo Molina. Pagan is supposed to be replaced by Alou. Is it surprising to anyone that the best performances thus far have been put in by these same young whipper-snappers. (Ryan Church will be 30 in October).

I should point out that Omar has done much better in the pitching arena. Johan Santana has been terrific as expected. Oliver Perez and John Maine are two other fine arms acquired by Minaya. They provide hope, as does Mike Pelfrey, another young starter, and even recently-acquired Nelson Figueroa. That's a pretty fair rotation, even if Pedro and El Duque never show their faces again.

So there is still hope for Mets fans. We have had our share of bad luck. Three grand slams have been given up by the relief corps. Even for a bad staff, that would be rather unfortuitous. Aaron Heilman surrendered one. Jorge Sosa surrendered the other two, and I suspect we'll be seeing less of Mr. Sosa in the near future.

The regulars, though, have to start playing to their potential. The chemistry has been bad. If not for Angel Pagan and Ryan Church, two of the most unlikely heroic figures one could imagine, we might have a much worse record. We could be the National League Tigers.

Jose Reyes, David Wright and especially Carlos Beltran have to be more consistent. Beltran has been somewhat hampered by his "new legs", I think, and it seems to have sapped some of his power. He also has hit a LOT of line drives directly at fielders. I think Beltran will get better and better, and, if he does, he is capable of carrying this team all by himself.

It is also entirely possible that Delgado has taken his batting problems into the field with him. But this is the Major Leagues. Life is tough. If Delgado can’t work his way out of his current funk, Willie will really have to start managing, starting with replacing Delgado for defensive purposes in close games.

Willie has been slow to react to situations. A perfect example of this is his hard-headedness with respect to batting Castillo second, despite stats reflecting the team’s total ineffectiveness and abysmal won-loss record when that is the case.

Willie has attacked Pagan for no good reason except to solidify Alou’s place in left field upon his return. He’s been insistent on keeping Heilman in his place in the relieving rotation despite every indication that that might not be prudent. Yet he’s been remarkably supportive of Brian Schneider, the oft-injured catcher.

Can Willie manage? A team this old needs a manager, perhaps a real gunslinger, somebody who’ll recognize when a change is needed and then make it. So far, he’s just dug in his heels, fighting the tide going against him.

Go Get 'Em Hank !!

I say kudos to Hank Steinbrenner for his blustery attack on the Yankees decision to keep Joba Chamberlain in a relief role. He sees his franchise going down the tubes this year, he knows who is leading his bunch of planning miscreants, and he doesn't like it. Not one little bit.

Even as a devout Yankee-hater, I cringe at the ridiculous mistakes made by Brian Cashman over the years. So it comes as absolutely no surprise to me that the voluble Hank should go after him. How could he not? Cashman passed on Johan Santana this year as part of his plan to develop his young pitchers.

For the sake of a plan, Cashman chose to go forward with a starting rotation of two old guys, two new guys and just one relatively no-risk starter. But Cashman's errors are legion, starting with ignoring erstwhile Boss George to select Nick Johnson over Big Papi himself, perennial MVP-candidate David Ortiz.

I look forward to quite a few more attacks on the smug Cashman from Hank's direction. And I love his tone. Especially the "idiot" part. That word surely fits the bill. I mean....Carl Pavano, Kyle Farnsworth, Kei Igawa, LaTroy Hawkins, and going back some, Kevin Brown, Jay Witasik, Javier Vasquez, Jaret Wright, Steve Karsay...

And how about others he passed on....Curt Schilling, Hideki Okajima, Bernie Williams. How about trading Mike Lowell to the Marlins for three pitching prospects (in Brian's muddled mind) named Ed Yarnall, Todd Noel and Mark Johnson. Real household names are those three!

Without going into the tell-tale statistics, let's just review the current situation. The Yanks are 10-10. The Red Sox are 14-7. Kennedy and Hughes haven't panned out yet, and not only that, but they show not a hint of ever coming out of their funk. Mussina has been dreadful. Pettite has been very good, but how long can that continue?

All the Cashman apologists will point to the success of Joba in his setup role for Mariano Rivera. (Keeping Mariano is one of Cashman's good moves, to be fair). When the Yanks have held a lead going into the eighth inning, nobody can hold a candle to finishing up with Joba and Mariano. And you'll hear the yada yada yada as to how and why Joba will get injured in a transition.

But how many leads will they take into the eighth? Doesn't a contending team need at least three legitimate starters? Shouldn't there just be one day out of every five that the whole team will give up because they're down by seven? Not three out of five days, that's too much. Even for the Yanks lineup.

Let's look at the alternatives. For starting pitching, there are no good alternatives. In the relief area, there is one good one, at least at the current time. Brian Bruney has been impressive, showing every indication that he can handle that setup role.

Let's look at motivation. Joba wants to start. Just the fact that he wants to start would go a long way towards ensuring that he wouldn't injure himself on the way to stepping into his dream job. How hard is it anyway, this transition? Put Joba in a long relief role, a couple of innings, then three or four, then he's a five inning starter, then the sky's the limit. In a few weeks, he'd be a starter, and you wouldn't lose his services along the way.

Imagine Wang, Pettite, Chamberlain, Mussina, rookie. Four out of every five starts will be competitive, three out of five could be dominating starts. Good pitching four out of five days would go a long way towards motivating that Yankees batting juggernaut too.

Yes, the move makes sense. From a baseball and business standpoint. That the best pitcher in baseball went to the Mets doesn’t make things any easier for Cashman. That ticket prices will be going up in the new stadium doesn’t help his position either. What’s the first question you ask when thinking about attending a game? Who’s pitching? Kennedy? Um, I’ll pass. Santana? Sure, when do you want to leave?

<>And I think it’s quite possible that his master plan for developing young pitchers is founded on his rock-solid history of selecting bad ones. I also think Cashman had better start communicating with Hank, at least a little bit. It sounds as if he’s talking to George and Randy Levine a lot, but not with Hank. Big mistake, worse even than all his pitching snafu’s combined, if that’s even remotely possible.

The enormity of Cashman’s huge failures in the pitching department would be hard to exaggerate. Carl Pavano’s 4-year 40 million dollar contract would have to top the list as he went 4-6 in 2005, 1-0 in 2006, and then never pitched again. Kevin Brown comes close though. The Yanks picked up the remainder of Brown’s record 7-year 105 million dollar contract in 2004 and Brown went 10-6, then 4-7 in 2005.

<>Randy Johnson at 41 years of age was picked up for a mere $57 million for just two years, including the cost of dropping his no-trade clause. Jeff Weaver, another costly acquisition, though, did lose a Game 4 2003 World Series game to a walk-off home run by a light-hitting Alex Gonzalez. How about paying Clemens all that money last year on a start by start basis only to have him pitch badly and then be named in the Mitchell report?

More recently, of course, Kei Igawa signed for a relatively meager 5-year $20 million. He won a couple of games, lost a few more, and you just don’t hear too much about him anymore.

<>So.. is Hank allowed to question Cashman’s genius? It’s been suggested that Hank’s just a clone of his father, that because he inherited his Dad’s money, he should just shut up. I don’t think so.

I think he’s showing a bit of his Dad’s good instincts, as when his Dad suggested the Yanks acquire a guy named David Ortiz.

Hooray for the Draft !

After watching about five hours of mostly boring baseball between the Yanks and Boston, then the Mets and Nationals, my mind began to wander. Surely, there must be something more exciting going on in the sports world. With the NBA playoffs still on the horizon, and little enough interest in that anyway, being that the Knicks and Nets have played themselves out of them, I suddenly remembered that the NFL Draft is April 26th, and, lo and behold, April 26th is next Saturday!

I find myself totally unprepared. But I look forward with relish to my annual exercise of figuring out who my New York teams will select. What do they need, will they draft for need at all or will they select the best player available? Will they trade up, trade down, make a last-minute trade? Will some of our favorite players find themselves in a different uniform this July? What players were lost or acquired in the off-season through free agency?

Surely, the Giants will just draft for need, the spanking of those "best team of all time" New England Patriots fresh in their minds. It's a good thing too, because the reward for their pluckiness is the 31st pick, not a position that would ordinarily yield a perennial All-Pro type of player. The Jets get the 6th pick, of course, for their alarming return to mediocrity or worse last season.

The Jets were truly deserving of their fate in 2007, it must be said. Mike Tanenbaum, the GM, destroyed the team's offensive line by playing hard ball with one of their best men in the trenches while Eric Mangini tried to disguise that stupidity by changing quarterbacks, implying that their offensive futility was due to less than inspiring play by Chad Pennington.

Of course, this was total nonsense, and I don't think Jets fans were fooled. Nor was Woody Johnson, I suspect, because the Jets came right out of the box and picked up the best offensive lineman available in free agency. In Alan Faneca, they now have one of the toughest, and reportedly meanest, guards in the NFL. That move alone buys that management team untold indulgences with me. In one fell swoop, they undid their foolishness and more. Everyone in a green jersey, on the field and in the stands, appreciated that one.

Then, as if to convince Jets fans everywhere that Christmas was still here, they picked up a giant of a defensive tackle in the person of Kris Jenkins, a poor man's Ted Washington, a run stopper extraordinaire, thus plugging up the huge hole in their defensive front. But they weren't done yet. They spent even more money on Calvin Pace, a 6'4" 270 pound linebacker, who should help stop the passing game as well.

With those moves, the Jets certainly went a long way in fixing their infrastructure, their core, if you will. One other glaring weakness last year, however, was at wide receiver. The Jets made their one good wideout, Laveranues Coles, happy by guaranteeing the last years on his contract. That still leaves Jeremy Cotchery as their only other decent wideout though, and I’ll be hugely disappointed if the Jets don’t get a couple of wide receiver prospects in this draft.

As the wide receiver prospects in this draft are generally not considered strong enough to warrant a number 6 pick, the Jets will probably try to make a move downward. They’ll pick up some extra draft picks that way, and maybe land a few good prospects. They’ll also relieve themselves of another big salary obligation.

The Giants did lose a great safety in Gibril Wilson to free agency, and, despite their successes last year in the playoffs and the Super Bowl, they do not possess great speed at the linebacker position. Indeed, that they were able to beat Dallas and New England with the existing linebacker group makes the play of that defensive line all the more remarkable.

The play of rookie TE Kevin Boss last year may make Jeremy Shockey expendable, thus either enabling a trade for a move up in the pecking order, or for the acquisition of additional picks. Dealing from a position of strength can be a wonderful thing.

Whatever position the Giants are able to negotiate, it would be hard to believe that they could draft better than they did last year. The Giants rookies were absolutely instrumental in the incredible Giants playoff run last year.

WR Steve Smith made crucial catches in just about every game, showing an ability to get open and elusiveness after the catch. TE Kevin Boss showed a great mix of speed and hands for a very big man. Number 1 pick Aaron Ross was everything that could have been expected at the corner, both in coverage and tackling ability. Ahmad Bradshaw added another dimension to the running game, Michael Johnson ably filled in at the safety spot and who can forget DL Jay Alford’s crushing hit on Tom Brady in the Super Bowl!

As the Giants got Bradshaw at the 250^th overall pick, it’s hard to believe that position really matters that much for what must be a great group of scouts. Six of their seven 2007 picks not only made the team but helped drive them to victory in the biggest game of them all.

With the injuries suffered by Plaxico Burress all year and with the age of Amani Toomer, the G-Men will also probably grab a wideout or two. But I would expect the higher picks to be spent on linebacker and safety spots.

One thing does worry me, though, and that would be the possibility of making the big mistake. The Jets especially seem to have a talent for it. I can still recall their trading two Number 1’s for Johnny Lam Jones, a receiver who couldn’t catch.

That mistake could be in the form of Chad Johnson, the very mouthy but talented wide receiver from the Bengals. Please, Jets geniuses, don’t make things any worse.

Paper Tigers?

In this topsy-turvy world of the 2008 Major League Baseball season, perhaps no statistic is more anomalous than is the 3-10 won/loss record of the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers were the pre-season favorites of quite a few pundits to be World-Series bound in October, but, with their heavy hitters off to a bad start and their pitching looking horrendous, the band-wagons are empty....everyone's jumped off.

<>But not your intrepid reporter. Not yet, I won't. There are just too many good players on that team, not flash-in-the-pan players either, guys who have done it year after year after year. Magglio Ordonez, pictured above on the right, and Miguel Cabrera, seen celebrating last night's hard-fought victory over the Twins last night with Brandon Inge, have been way too consistent over the years for me to believe they won't finish batting over .300 with 30 or so homers and well over 100 rbi's.

Shortstop Edgar Renteria, acquired this off-season from the Braves, is another acknowledged consistent batter and smooth glove that just won't be denied in 2008. Gary Sheffield may be getting a little long in the tooth and Pudge, good old Ivan Rodriguez, will be 37 in November, but "consistency " could be their middle-names.

Even their lesser-celebrated players have been really consistent. First baseman Carlos Guillen, who currently is the only Tiger NOT slumping with a .359 batting average, has batted over .300 since 2004 in every full season he has played. Much the same could be said for Placido Polanco, manning the keystone bag, although without the gaudy power figures. Jacque Jones, Brandon Inge, Marcus Thames....there is just too much talent and pride in the Motor City to believe the Tigers are done. <>A huge missing link for Detroit has been centerfielder Curtis Granderson. Granderson scored 122 runs for the Tigers last year. Even though Granderson also hit 23 home runs, that may not be the glaring missing statistic. Just as the Mets faltered badly when their sparkplug Jose Reyes virtually disappeared, so have the Tigers missed their speed guy. Although Brandon Inge has performed admirably in his stead, he does not possess the same tools, and very likely the more needed ingredients in the Detroit chemistry.

And what about the pitching? Okay, let's take a look. Justin Verlander, with a current ERA of 6.52, has a career mark of 3.87. Nate Robertson, now at 7.84 has performed at a 4.64 clip, not great but not horrible either. Jeremy Bonderman is actually doing pretty well this year with a 4.58 ERA. Kenny Rogers, at 6.75 this year, has a career mark at 4.21. Dontrelle Willis is a hurler I do worry about. But how many starters do you really need?

The Tiger relief pitching has been just as bad thus far, but injuries are to account for that. Upon their return, the Tigers should be just fine. Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya aen't exactly chopped liver. They'll return very soon. Todd Jones, their beleaguered closer, has had 37 saves or more for the last three years.

The manager is the best part of all. Jim Leyland has been too competitive a person and manager for this reporter to believe he'll ever give up on his guys, or, better yet, let them give up on him and one another. Leyland won a World Series for Florida back in 1997 and an American League pennant for a less talented Tigers team just two years ago.

Mr. Leyland, who had seen too many slow starts in his career to over-react to this one, finally lost it a couple of days ago. His team responded. In a game that threatened over and over to get out of hand, the Tigers just kept coming back. Down 5-zip in the 6th, they scored four to come within one. Then, down 5 again the next inning they managed to put one more run on the board. After finally holding the Twins in the 8th, they came back to score 6 big runs in the bottom half to put the Twins away for good, but not before having to endure a final scare in the ninth.

<>Three things could possibly derail the Tigers Express. One is relief pitching, of course, and, if Zumaya and Rodney don’t produce upon their return, there will be trouble. No team can endure the emotional upheaval associated with consistently falling behind, or, even worse, taking the lead only to fall behind later in the game. <>

The second is the successful return of Curtis Granderson…122 runs is a heck of a lot of runs to take out of a lineup, per se, but how many more runs are lost when your table-setter never does his job? In a sport saturated with statistics, to everyone’s delight, there’s a poser for you.

The third is pitch selection. The Tigers can’t be as free-swinging as they would like if they want to win the AL Central. They have to work the opposing pitcher so that they can face tired pitchers in the 6^th inning and beyond, much as their opponents work the Tigers pitching staff. In short, despite having all that heavy lumber in their lineup, they still have to want to win. They have to try as hard as their opponents. The best teams year after year work the pitchers, and if the Tigers don’t or won’t, they won’t win consistently.

Is it possible that there are too many stars in that lineup? It’s certainly a possibility. Just looking at the standings this year tells us that. Look at the teams who were picked to lose, or lose AGAIN, teams such as Kansas City, St Louis, Baltimore and Pittsburgh. It’s no accident that lesser-talented teams always seem to have better beginnings than their more talented counterparts. They’re trying harder.

If the Tigers had become complacent, I think this horrible start may actually wind up to have served a useful purpose. They won’t let it happen anymore. They’ve seen how hard it is to win games in this league.

Put A Lid On It?

After Joba Chamberlain struck out Jose Guillen for the final out in the 8th inning last night, he simply walked off the mound. That was right around the time Jose Reyes, the mercurial shortstop for the Mets, scored the winning run against their nemesis, the Phillies, and, although he couldn't totally wipe that infectious grin off his face, the celebration was a bit subdued for Shea, especially in light of the occasion.

It would seem the fun grinches have won, at least for now. Joba Chamberlain was roundly criticized last week after his growling and fist-pumping upon recording a final strikeout back on April 1^st. There have also been quite a few disparaging comments made about the Mets celebrations, especially the ones from last year, characterized by a lot of twisting, jumping and hip bouncing outside the dugout.

These comments are usually made by those who take themselves and their occupations much too seriously, pointedly opinionated commentators such as portly Yankee fan Mike Francesa of WFAN and Tim McCarver of Fox Sports, the latter no doubt still aggrieved that his “run and hit” over-analysis never caught on.

I wish a healthy helping of raspberries to all of them. Self righteous hypocrites they are. They’ll say that that kind of behavior isn’t professional, or that it provokes the other team. I think it was Jack Buck who last week rhetorically asked “who cares if the other team gets offended?”

The 1986 Mets were the poster-boys for supposedly offensive celebrations and general overall arrogance. Those Mets featured colorful, to say the least, types such as Lenny Dykstra and Darryl Strawberry, Mookie Wilson and Keith Hernandez, and were skippered by an easy-going Davey Johnson who could be pretty fiery on the field.

And, long after Tim McCarver and Mike Francesa are forgotten, fans will still recall those ’86 Mets with nothing but pure delight. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that they also won the World Series.

Which brings me back to today’s Mets and Yankees.

The Mets looked to be ripe candidates for another embarrassing loss to those annoying Phillies last night. It seemed as if they had blown one opportunity after another and their pitching resources were getting kind of thin.

So, after Brian Schneider and Brady Clark made the first and second outs of the inning in rather unspectacular fashion, I didn’t expect much from Jose Reyes, whose batting average has been hovering around the .200 mark since August of last year.

But Jose turned on a pitch and drove it deep into right-center, and, for a second or two, I thought he had a chance for a triple. But Reyes pulled himself up (would he have done that last year?) for a double. It was then up to Angel Pagan, the latest Mets darling to come out of nowhere, to play the hero once again.

Pagan didn’t disappoint. He lined a hard one back through the middle, so hard in fact that, for any other base runner, it would have been a mistake to send him. But not for Jose Reyes. With wings on his feet, Jose made a nice turn at third and streaked home.

It was a perfect throw. The catcher blocked the plate beautifully. Jose slid, was blocked, then bounced up and over that catcher’s leg to touch the plate just as the glove was put on his back. The call was safe and I think the video replay confirmed that, although thousands of Phillies fans might disagree.

ANY other base runner would have been called out. It was a perfect throw to the plate, a classic block of the plate, and, even in Shea Stadium, with thirty or forty thousand fans holding their breath, that call would have gone to the opposition for anyone else.

The difference was that it was Jose Reyes. No umpire is going to call Jose Reyes out at the plate in the 12^th inning of a tie game to last year’s pennant winner when the call was as close it obviously was, when both ends of the fielding play were made to perfection.

I certainly thought the moment was worthy of some fancy carousing, but it didn’t really turn out that way. I didn’t see one bump. What there was of a celebration can be seen above right.

Although Joba’s performance last night wasn’t of the same significance as that of Messrs. Reyes and Pagan, that may be only because Joba doesn’t let the game get out of hand. Joba has experienced no real fires, he has put out every spark.

In his four appearances so far this year, the scores were 3-2, 3-2, 2-0 and last night’s 4-1 when Joba appeared on the scene. He has struck out 6 batters in 5 innings and a third. He’ll throw a 98 mph fast ball on the corner or high in the zone, then a wicked slider outside or in the dirt.

Anyone who performs to Joba’s almost peculiar type of excellence is surely entitled to a show of verve. His job is not easy, the situations are always pressure-packed and surely a growl, a fist-pump, whatever, is in the natural order of things, a totally spontaneous release of tension.

After last night’s Joba strikeout of the always-dangerous Jose Guillen for the final out in the eighth, I was hoping for that fist-pump. I didn’t get it, of course, nor did the thousands of fans on hand who, I’m quite sure, would have appreciated one, a chance at sharing that good feeling with the man on the field. We may not get to see it for the rest of this season. And that’s a shame.

Although Major League Baseball has not thus far implemented any celebration-curtailing rules, as has the NFL, it would seem that we may be heading in that direction. The worst thing I could say about that fun-killing prospect is as follows.

Dick Cheney, today exposed as the face behind the torture of suspected Al Qaeda operatives, would approve.

"Self"-Made Men vs. the Pre-Anointed

Memphis Coach John Calipari had pooh-poohed foul shots all week long. He intimated that it wouldn't come down to the foul line. His team was too good, too athletic, too composed. He referenced 16 points that made a championship team and said his team had them all, that his was a "dream team".

We did get to see Bill Self's locker-room pre-game address to his players. Coach Self stressed to his team that they had already won more games than any other team in Kansas history, that that in and of itself was a tremendous accomplishment. He reminded them that they would remember this game for their entire lives, but that this Kansas team could play loose, it could be itself, it had nothing to lose. It could only gain.

Bill Self gave his team a good feeling about itself, let them know that they were already the best team Kansas had ever seen...that if they just did everything they had done all season, they had a good chance to win this game. But he instilled an image in his team's collective consciousness, that of winning a Championship. It was the kind of speech you'd wish for your son to receive before the biggest game of his life.

Someone in the booth had stressed the importance of the first three minutes of a basketball game. And the Jayhawks came out strong, making some nice passes inside for some easy buckets. They played a strong defense, especially on #23, the super-frosh All-Everything Derrick Rose. They grabbed most of the rebounds. They looked loose. And they held a lead for much of that first half. Although the Jayhawks were down by five at the half, it seemed that Kansas was playing the best it could play.

But just as he had done for most of the season and certainly in this tournament, Derrick Rose came alive in that second half. He took the game over. From the 12:21 to 7:52 marks of the second half, Rose made two driving layups, made a three, and then still another jumper. Although he missed a couple of jumpers after that, his layup and free throw at the 5:10 mark gave Memphis a 54-47 lead. At 4:04, another 3-pointer made it 56-49 Memphis and it seemed that nothing would stop the Tigers..

Down the stretch in regulation though, the game and momentum seemed to slowly turn. At 3:12 Rose missed a three. But at 1:23 of regulation, in maybe the defining moment of the game, the muscular Joey Dorsey fouled out of the game. Mario Chalmers hit 2 free throws to make it 62-58 Memphis. Chris Douglas-Roberts (CDR) was then fouled and missed a FT while the Jayhawks Darrell Arthur made a nice turnaround jumper to pull the Jayhawks to within two, 62-60.

At the thirty second mark, CDR missed a layup, then with just 16 seconds left, CDR missed both his free throw opportunities to keep the Memphis lead at 2. At the 10-second mark, Derrick Rose missed his first attempt, then made the second to stretch the lead to just 3, keeping it a one-possesssion game at 63-60.

The rest is history really, and will be history for the rest of time. The ball went to Mario Chalmers at the top of the key and, with Rose just a step behind and hand fully-extended, Chalmers jumped high in the air, letting that ball go at the top of his jump. Then, two closely-matched teams, a national television audience and Mario Chalmers watched that orange sphere sail cleanly through the net. Overtime.

It seemed there was never any doubt as to the outcome in OT. With Dorsey out of the game and an exhausted Rose by then limping around, the Tigers fate was sealed. Kansas would win their National Championship. And Memphis would lose theirs.

Just as the Dallas Cowboys had been anointed winners in their playoff game against the New York Giants this past January, so were these Memphis Tigers pre-anointed winners of a game that had yet to be played. Just as the Cowboys had thought their ten All-Pro players would surely roll over those moribund Giants, these Tigers swaggered into last night’s game and all the way into that deep fourth quarter.

And they just needed to make a couple of foul shots. What must have gone through CDR’s mind as he stepped to the line? Surely it occurred to him that they were supposed to be leading by more than just a few points. Coach had counted on them dominating this game. What had the coach said about free throws? Anyone…anyone..?

This is not to say that Calipari necessarily did a bad job with this team all year. Giving him his due, he had recruited them and he had brought them this far spouting the same bravado he had displayed all year and throughout this tournament. His team, and most certainly his star player, were young men who seemed to thrive on playing loose and letting their athleticism and sheer talent overwhelm their opponents.

I’m sure Calipari felt that it wouldn’t do much good to over-emphasize a weakness to a bunch of young men who didn’t need doubt sown into their collective psyche. And there is surely some wisdom in that point of view. But I do think Calipari overdid it in the days leading up to the Championship Game. He broke out that Kool-Aid he’d been feeding his players and started pouring it down his own throat.

Calipari had prepared his team for a game they would dominate. Perhaps playing in a weak conference had pre-conditioned him for that kind of attitude, orr maybe it was their comparatively easy run in the tournament itself.

One thing is sure. The only scenario for which success at the line is not important is a close game. The Tigers weren’t prepared for that one.