Super - Hot Stove and Back

Okay, let’s pretend the Division Championship games were yesterday. Last week didn’t happen. Now I feel better. Now I’ll be able to withstand the stupidity of this media week preceding the Super Duper Bowl, the game played for all the marbles in front of mostly inebriated and debauching corporate suits.

What a comedown from 1969, the last REAL Championship Game. It pitted the champions of two very different and competing Leagues against each other, the Jets and the American Football League against the Colts of the National Football League. After the leagues merged, things just haven’t been the same; the stakes are much lower.

Imagine for a moment in baseball if the World Baseball Classic Champions were to face off against the World Series winners in one game for all the marbles! That’s tantamount to what had been happening from 1967 to 1969. The Jets win against the “unbeatable” Colts forced a merger and, to my mind, a cheapening of the game.

Not that this Super Bowl won’t be a good game; it pits two very different and very talented teams against each other, the Rooneys vs. Bidwill, defense vs. offense. In some ways, it mirrors that famous 1969 matchup. But the two-week layoff and Media Week just leaves me cold. In outright rebellion then, for now, I’ll switch to hot stove mode. I promise to get back to this game on Thursday or Friday.

Thank God for Arod. He’s apparently been de-pantsed by Torre a bit in his new book, and, while I don’t particularly like Arod, at least it’s something fresh and new, or rekindled anyway, in this death week, the second of two.

A-Fraud? Oh, I get it. Torre may not be crazy about Cashman anymore? What a friggin’ surprise. Now let’s move on.

The Yanks are in the process of re-signing Pettite to an incentive-laden one-year contract, one that will earn him anywhere between about 6 and 10 million. Now that’s smart. I love these one-year deals that are actually fair to both parties.

They say that Joba will still be a starter, no matter how many starters the Yankees proceed to sign. Somehow, I doubt that that’s really entirely true, and yet, with Burnet and Sabathia and now Pettite added to Wang coming off an injury, it must be nice to have some insurance.

As well as Joba did last year as a starter, he didn’t really knock my socks off, as he did as that eighth inning guy preserving the game for Mariano Rivera. I’m hoping he becomes that eighth-inning guy again, if only because we’ll get to see him more often, maybe almost every day. With the Yanks new-found pitching and with a rejuvenated lineup, there should be a lot of leads to preserve after seven innings.

The Mets haven’t done much, to the consternation of many Mets fans. Sign Manny? Nah, I still don’t think so. There are some very nice lesser lights out there though, some that offer value without having to assume a heck of a lot of risk. Take Bobby Abreu, for example. He’d be great at Shea, or Citi, whatever. He hits every year like Manny but isn’t nearly the showman and can be had for less.

The Mets could use another hitter for sure, someone to step in when Murphy doesn’t hit, or Delgado should be in the midst of one of his extended slumps. The Mets have more than their share of streaky hitters; almost nobody hits consistently. And, with Church and Murphy/Evans in right and left, another outfielder NOT named Chavez or Alou would be a boon to the offense.

Okay, you don’t like Abreu? How about Adam Dunn? There are some very interesting possibilities still out there, such as Jacque Jones, Brad Wilkerson and how would you like Nomar Garciaparra? He’d be great if just to get Mia Hamm into the stadium!

Then there’s the wasteland at second base. I’m not going to advocate Orlando Hudson, who never seems to really come of age, but Orlando Cabrera can sub at short or second and is an excellent ballplayer, certainly an upgrade over Luis Castillo.

The above is not intended in any way to disparage that other Reyes that less often than not manned the keystone bag; I speak of Argenis Reyes, or course, who, even when he wasn’t hitting, at least made contact, moved the runners over, or did something else to help win the game.

Actually, the Mets don’t really HAVE to do anything. They lost the pennant because they had no relief pitching. They got the two best relief pitchers available in Francisco Rodriguez and J.J. Putz and there’s really no other great ones out there. I have confidence in the Murphy/Evans platoon and think Ryan Church was the cat’s meow until he got hurt.

People mention the catcher too as a weakness. I don’t think so. Schneider will be fine. He was acquired for his defense after all. And, who knows, Ramon Castro might even get healthy two days in a row. And this is the National League we’re talking about; we don’t have to beat the likes of the Yankees, Red Sox or Angels.

Besides, pitching wins World Series. Look at that Arizona Diamondbacks team back in 2001. That duo of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling were just too much. It didn’t matter what hitters the opponents put up there.

They say defense wins Super Bowls. But it may not be true this year. This year’s game may go as that 1969 classic did, the one in which the gunslinger Namath eschewed the pass for Matt Snell and a punishing running game. And the Colts in desperation replaced old Earl Morrall with an even older gunslinger of their own, a guy named Johnny Unitas, but it was to no avail.

I can see it in my mind’s eye, Warner either ineffective or hurt, but the replacement gunslinger in this case would be a younger one from USC named Matt Leinart.