Keeping Manuel Will Be in the Cards (and D-Backs)

Okay, so the Mets stink. It’s not as if they’re not trying. (That makes me feel so much better). It’s just that they have trouble with breaking balls. Okay, sometimes they don’t get around on the hard heater either. But really, sliders, hard curves, splitters, those nasty hideous changeups, they’re enough to drive a team to distraction. And that’s what happened in San Francisco, Cincinnati, Arizona and Los Angeles.

My last column just killed Jason Bay. Shortly thereafter, Bay had the best game of his Mets career. Go figure. But then he reverted to form, more or less. He just doesn’t have any effect on most games. But he ran into the wall for his team in that incredible spectacle that Santana pitched late last week. And Beltran did nothing. Oh, and Wright did nothing.

Reyes made another stupid play in a game the team was supposed to be intent on winning. There are events in a game that just change the momentum. Some days teams deserve to win. Some days they don’t. Reyes sets the tone. Or doesn’t.

So who’s playing well? Obviously, Santana is. Dickey, Niese, Pelfrey….(notice any theme here?), yes! They’re all pitchers! Not only did the Mets lose all those games, they managed to waste all those good pitching performances. Pitchers are fragile and inconsistent, unless their name is Santana, and the good efforts can’t continue for too long.

The Mets have nothing going for them other than pitching and a couple of interesting rookies.

Jerry Manuel, the manager of course, is befuddled. Wouldn’t you be? He’s beleaguered. Omar’s in his corner but nobody’s in Omar’s corner. Omar’s got to deliver this year with the hand that he dealt for himself. That much seems clear. Howard Johnson, the batting coach, is under fire too, or at least could be expected to feel some heat.

It’s a bad team situation too, exactly the situation most Mets fans really feared, that Carlos Beltran’s return would influence team chemistry, which had seemed good and settled with Bay, Francoeur and Pagan. As inconsistent as they were, the fielding was great and they all seemed to contribute to that team feeling.

Then of course, Luis Castillo came back from his injury (which seemed to linger, he still doesn’t walk right). Alex Cora and one of those interesting rookies, Ruben Tejada, had been manning second base pretty adequately before his return.

So it wasn’t just Francoeur who was dislodged from the lineup. It was three of the “guys”.

To compound an already horrible situation, Oliver Perez, perhaps Minaya’s most storied and prominent failure in his Mets career, returned to the club as a reliever and gave up last night’s game-winning home run to James Loney. Ollie’s pitch was up and hittable.

Managing this whole situation required a lot of finesse. Manuel could have played Francoeur a little more or Beltran and Castillo a little less. He could have left Perez on the bench. And there were once again those game situations that could have been managed differently. He obviously zigged when he should have zagged throughout the entire road trip.

Minaya likes Manuel though. He’ll decide whether it’ll do himself any good to get another manager who’ll do better with this group. He’ll be thinking for this year only. There is still a slim chance that his team can come back. They are 7 ½ games out of first in the division and just 6 games from securing a wildcard. He may feel a shakeup is absolutely required for his moribund bunch. There are still 63 games left to play. They are returning home, a place they managed to win 30 out of 46 times throughout this year.

I wouldn’t change managers at this time. Doing that would just be one more shakeup of a team that’s been shaken enough, if not stirred. I would at least wait to see how the team plays in the friendly confines of CitiField, even if the opponents are the always tough Cards and then the D-Backs, who just finished pummeling Minaya’s team in Arizona.

But, as tough as those teams are, the Mets seem to have the advantage at Citi. It’s almost impossible to hit a homer there and that benefits the Mets. It’s a huge place that favors speed and that’s something the Mets have in abundance. Results don’t lie and 30-16 speaks volumes. They can throw a lot of arms at you, Santana and Pelfrey and Niese and Dickey….even Takahashi throws opponents a curve once in a while. Heh-heh.

Unfortunately, the Cards will open up with Wainwright on Tuesday and the pretty remarkable Jaime Garcia on Wednesday. They’ll be facing Niese and Takahashi. Wainwright has given up a few runs to the Mets in previous games but not Garcia, who gave them just one hit over 7 innings. The advantage for the first two games would seem to be with the Cards.

But Johan Santana starts on Thursday and he could be pitching to bring the Mets back to .500 if they lose the first two games. That he faces one Blake Hawksworth can only bode well for our Mets. Friday’s probable starters are Ian Kennedy against Pelfrey, and that game may turn out to be the pivotal game of the Mets future. Can Pelfrey and the Mets overcome Ian Kennedy at home, given Kennedy’s last dominant performance against the Metsies in Arizona, given that they lost that exact same pitching matchup 13-2?

If the Mets can split with the Cards and just take 2 of 3 from the D-Backs, they’ll have the confidence to face the Braves and Phils. If not, I think they’ll be done. If they can’t perform at home, how could they possibly go on the road again to have success against the division-leading Braves and then the Phillies?

Keep Manuel for now.

It'll Be Interesting

Good pitching, no hitting, how many teams have you said that about over all the years of your life? Almost none of them win when it counts. The Mets did everything they could in San Francisco to be that team. That they won the 4th game with the Giants was a gift from the worst umpire in the game.

It sure made for good entertainment. I was mesmerized. Once again the Mets pitched great. Johan Santana made it interesting though, getting into trouble and then pitching his way out. He went a full 8 for our Mets and gave up just 1 run. But the Mets only got 3 and the closer gave one away again.

The closer was, and is, K-Rod of course. But then he got the win for the boys in their ugly gray road uniforms. K-Rod is nothing if not lucky. After the Giants banged him around to tie the game in the ninth, here came the winning run around third, there we saw him cross the plate before the tag, but Mr. Cuzzi didn’t see it that way. He said the runner was out. So the game stayed tied.

Then, wonder of wonders, Jason Bay gets another hit and Ike Davis does what he always does, which is drive home the run. So they take the lead, K-Rod gets in a little trouble again in the tenth but then strikes out the last and worst hitter on the Giants (which is hard to be), and the Mets got off the hook.

The Mets can’t hit good pitching, and that’s what the Giants had. And the team they’re playing on the field isn’t the strongest. Not that it ever really was. Having no Jose Reyes doesn’t help. But the bottom of the lineup doesn’t scare anybody, Francoeur, Blanco and Tejada yesterday, and somebody called Justin Turner batted second. (And managed to score a run).

So if Bay and Wright don’t produce, then there’s Ike Davis and Pagan. Trouble is, of all those guys, Bay has done the least. I’m rooting for him, God knows we need to, and he did get three hits yesterday, but they were Jason Bay type hits, singles and stuff. It’s good that he can run fast. He gets respect from opposing pitchers but that’s all. A lot of times, Bay has looked happy to walk.

But the Giants have good pitching, really good pitching, especially if you can’t get to their middle relief, which the Mets did yesterday only. The rest of the time, it was Zito and Lincecum and Cain, making their very decent number 4 starter, Anibal Sanchez, look puny.

The Mets won’t run into that kind of pitching very often but every team has got some good ones. This west coast swing isn’t easy either, I’m sure, with Arizona and LA on the agenda after having opened the swing in that city by the bay.

But they’ll be facing tougher lineups than they saw in San Francisco. The Dodgers especially can be dangerous, but the Cards, with Pujols and Holliday, come back to CitiField for three after that. So I fully expect the pitching performances to go South a bit. But then they would have to. The Mets pitching has been terrific. Niese and Dickey have balanced out, and then some, Maine and Perez.

They have to start hitting though and the pitching has to stay good. They’ll probably try Perez again, crazy Ollie can always come back, and maybe pitch better than has Takahashi for the last month. The Mets would appear to need a fifth starter, if Takahashi can’t pick it up.

I don’t really expect the Mets to pick anybody up either, not anybody you’ve heard of. I’m sure we’ll see Perez again. I think Minaya is probably on the hook to win with what he has. At the very least, he’s working with a short rope. So I don’t really expect a big story in that direction, ie pitching.

The Mets have come up short though in their last 3 series against the cream of the league, Cinci (surprisingly), Atlanta and San Francisco. If the pitching is there, the hitting isn’t. If they manage to hit, the pitching falls down.

I think they’re just not good enough. At full strength, they’re a heck of a lot fun to watch though, and they could go on a run. If Reyes comes back strong, and Castillo can solidify that lineup a little bit, the defense is tough, the pitching is very pesky and that manager isn’t as bad as everybody seems to think.

Manuel was questioned for taking Santana out in the ninth. Not me, there was no reason to push him when he had already thrown 117 or so. Manuel knows the race is a long one. It was K-Rod who messed up and K-Rod who would be lucky enough to save the day….if not the game itself.

Manuel is juggling a lot of pins. Many times, things work out. Like using Bobby Parnell. Bobby Parnell’s been good since his return, much better than anybody could have expected. He’s the eighth inning guy lately (and one time the ninth) and not perpetual Pedro. But the relief staff is not deep right now, a fact that hasn’t even hurt them lately, not with good starting pitching and Bobby Parnell.

Manuel always is thinking long run. He won’t put himself or his team out of it. But he can only play with what he’s got on that bench. And although you love to see the Tejadas and Carters and Turners, especially when they play well, as Turner did yesterday, they’re not exactly Jason Kubel, y’know.

But there’s a reason we’re seeing all these new people, people we’ve never heard of. They’re obviously restricting any big expenditures. There have already been some bad ones.

But the Mets will keep things interesting. Jerry will juggle these guys and Omar will find something cheap to plug the gaps. They have to.

Winning at What Cost?

How strange that I should feel tongue-tied. George Steinbrenner is dead. The National League finally won an All-Star Game. The second half is starting in baseball, and Carlos Beltran, heretofore my favorite Mets player, is coming back.

So many thoughts go through my mind, some of them not even coherent, especially with respect to Steinbrenner and Beltran.

We’ve heard, over and over, “all George cared about was winning, he was all about winning,” while acknowledging that he was a sonova bitch, usually followed by a story about some anonymous contribution that everybody seems to know about. I’ve seen sportswriters wax poetic and get tearry-eyed because he remembered their name.

When Steinbrenner came into baseball, I thought he was a jerk. Most people did. He didn’t do anything unless it was stupid. Later on, when he finally stepped back a bit to let baseball people run his club, he made sure to get his face and name back in the papers, usually by doing something outlandish and petty, something brash and mean and arrogant.

I’m sorry the man died, I truly am, and sorrier still that he was apparently gravely ill before his heart finally gave way. But I never liked him. I was sorry Yogi and he got back together. And I don’t think he should be in the Hall of Fame, not that that’s even all that important.

If I were ever a Yankee fan, I’d probably feel much different. But I was never a Yankee fan. It goes against my nature. I’m one of those champions of the underdog…always have been. And that is why I became a Mets fan, after having been a Dodgers fan before that.

I don’t believe in winning at all costs. Yankee fans do. George Steinbrenner certainly did. His every action was self-serving, at least his public actions. And self-serving meant Yankee-serving by definition. So I can understand Yankee fans liking him, even loving him. And that may be the only thing I’ll ever understand about Yankee fans, that, and their win at all costs philosophy.

If George had bought the Mets, and ran the Mets the way he ran the Yankees, I’d have become another team’s fan, probably a team like the Phillies or Boston, but not the Cubs or Kansas City. My team would have to care passionately about winning, but not at all costs.

There are examples of the Yankee avarice too numerous to mention but the most recent and heinous example was their attempted acquisition of Cliff Lee. The Yanks have Sabathia, Pettitte, Burnett, Vazquez and Hughes. That’s five very fine starters. That should be enough.

For anyone who cares about competitiveness, the Yankees were already loaded. They didn’t need Cliff Lee. But the Yankees don’t care about the rest of baseball. They only care about the Yankees, their storied history, their hallowed stadium, their rings, their monuments and on and on.

The Yankees tried to guarantee their World Series win. It wasn’t enough to have Arod and Jeter and Teixeira and Cano, Posada and even Swisher, and all those pitchers. That wasn’t enough surety for the Evil Empire. For Yankee management and fans, what fun is there in watching a good baseball game?

All of that now brings me to Carlos Beltran. Carlos was out of the game for most of last season and most of this season with a bone bruise of the knee. Not that I don’t believe he was really hurt. I do. But I know there are probably contract issues that entered into the situation.

Beltran has it made in the shade, if he can find any of that in Flushing. The Mets are 4 games out, have a nice pitching staff, some good young players and, as he will still be considered as recovering, there are no outlandish expectations of him. As he always has been a great player though, we can expect that he will provide some big hits, make some nice catches, and, in most respects, be Carlos Beltran. But he won’t be expected to carry the club.

What annoys me most is that he’ll be playing at someone else’s expense. In every case, that someone else has been a key player for the Mets this year, whether it’s Francoeur, Pagan or Jason Bay.

Once again, that brings me to my point about winning at any cost. As good as Beltran has been, I’d like to see him earn his way back into the lineup. But that won’t happen, it can’t really happen, it probably shouldn’t happen, as winning certainly takes precedence over some bruised feelings.

But it doesn’t go down easy for me as a Mets fan. This Mets club seems well-knit as a team. So I worry about chemistry. But I also enjoy watching every one of those outfielders, especially Francoeur and Pagan. From my standpoint, I’d rather see Bay sit.

But, for the same reasons as Beltran must play, Bay must play. It’s that crazy but true axiom in baseball that says players eventually find their level. It’s very often true. As hard as it may be for me to believe right now, the axiom says that Jason Bay will get hot, or even torrid. And Carlos Beltran will eventually hit .300, drive in 100 runs and score a hundred times in a full season.

But it’s those exceptions to the rule that grate the most on a fan’s patience and compassion. David Wright had his worst year by far last year. His power just disappeared and never came back. Recall the lean times of Carlos Delgado in years past before he went absolutely crazy at the plate to carry the club seemingly all by himself for about six weeks.

Mets fans have to hope for the best, that a club that finishes 4 games out at the half, with Francoeur and Pagan, can finish first at season’s end with Carlos Beltran, all other things being equal (which in and of itself is saying a mouthful).

Go Carlos!!

Mets May Only Live Twice

Watching James Bond as this is written in “You Only Live Twice”, a real classic, and it appears my Metsies will have to live twice as their first life seems to be ending rather rapidly, and a little too abruptly in my mind. No pitching, no hitting, and before you could say “Jackie Robinson”, the Mets had lost 2 of 3 to the Reds and have so far lost 2 in a row to a Braves team that looks pretty scary right now.

Earlier today I watched the Phillies play really tough to eke out a sweep of those same Reds that just took my Mets apart. Sooo….the Phils are coming on, the Braves keep keepin’ on and the Mets are just in a bad way, the pitchers and hitters all faltering, and, just to add injury to insult, Jose Reyes had to come off the field after making a very nice throw to first base from deep in the hole.

Deep in the hole, that’s where the Mets will find themselves at the break, and, if they can’t take this last game against the Braves to at least salvage some face and avoid a series sweep to the division leaders. It’ll be Johan facing Derek Lowe, still another pretty good Braves pitcher. Geez, this reminds me of the Braves heyday with Glavine and Schmidt…..see how quickly a Mets fan can start losing it?

They’re five games back now and I’d sure like to see them cut it to 4 to finish off nicely before Tuesday’s All-Star Game. It’s not as if they’re even playing badly, they’ve just been getting beat by some pretty good teams, and some pretty hot teams, come to think of it, but that doesn’t make me feel any better.

At least I don’t have to worry about them shedding some good players for a Cliff Lee rental. Dickey and Niese still look pretty good to me, and we’ll all have to hold our breath or say a little prayer for Mike Pelfrey to come back from mediocrity. And I think Takahashi is starting to fade but I hope it’s just my imagination. I really need Johan to come through tomorrow to restore my dwindling faith.

It’s good that the Mets aren’t the only game in town when it comes to sports entertainment though. (They’re just the most fun). The Knicks are making their bid to get better, and to me it’s a lot more fun to do it without a superstar, not that Amare Stoudemire isn’t one, but he’s not LeBron either, or even Kobe. But Raymond Felton is Raymond Felton, and he should definitely be an upgrade over Chris Duhon.

The Knicks got more athletic too with their big Cliff Lee deal. Now, I know everybody loves Lee in New York but Stoudemire will be replacing him. The Knicks got Ronnie Turiaf, who can play center, and Anthony Randolph, a former first round pick with nice potential and he’s long too at about 6’10 or so. And, if that wasn’t enough, they also got Kelenna Azubuike, who can score bigtime. All these guys can defend a little too, something I was never sure of with Cliff Lee.

The Nets haven’t done much but sure have a lot of cap space so we have something to look forward to.

Then there were the Yankees, losing a heartbreaker to the Mariners, not my heart of course, just theirs. That bloated roach of an organization, that tried its damnedest to extinguish the rest of the league’s hopes by grabbing up Cliff Lee, was thwarted in those efforts by the Rangers, who don’t even really have an owner anymore. I love a good Yankee burn.

The afternoon went by a little quicker too when the Germany-Uruguay World Cup match turned out to be a really good one, something that tournament badly needed, I think, after that horrible Germany-Spain game. And tomorrow will feature that Netherlands-Spain matchup, one I suppose Spain will win but it sure could be a close one.

I wish I could get more excited about the All-Star Game itself, but the ridiculous voting process really turned me off. I like Nick Swisher a little less now. I never cared for politicking and that’s pretty much what he and the Yankees did to secure that All-Star berth. I know I won’t stay mad, how can you stay mad at Swisher, but the game really won’t be the best against the best.

It will be for home field in the World Series though, a fact that all by itself should justify a smarter selection process. If the league is making a sham of the selection process, I’d rather just have the game be a totally meaningless exhibition. When the NL loses again, at least it won’t have any lasting effect. The AL doesn’t need any more advantages.

Especially if the AL rep in the series winds up being the Yankees, it certainly doesn’t need any favors. I know it’s just an aberration that the AL keeps winning that infernal All-Star Game, but it’ll be even worse if the AL keeps winning the World Series. Not that I’m a National Leaguer, heh-heh.

I know I’m taking all this much too seriously. It’s not as if I had money on any of these games. But what the hell, they haven’t won anything, the Mets that is, in such a long time and last year, the year they finally had all the ingredients, they all got hurt. I hate talking about fairness, but I thought this year that surely the good fortune would be rolling our way.

It may just be that the Mets have started to exhaust their luck this year. Maybe it’s time for them to come back to the pack. Maybe all those rookies performing a lot better than anybody expected, maybe that was the aberration. The Mets started bad, got much better, then faded, came back but are fading once again.

And you only live twice.

Relief Needed - for the Mets and Jersey

Aah, another July in New Jersey, smack in the middle of a hot streak that’s gone on for about a week already, what more could we want? Relief, you say? Well, we might get some from the weather but not from the Mets, who seem locked in on this “win one, lose one” pattern for quite a while now.

That pattern was achieved against the Washingtons and Floridas of the world. One would have to think the Cincinnatis and Atlantas, the upcoming set of series, of the world would make things even tougher. And so it seemed last night as the Mets lost the Reds opener, 8-6, mostly because of Mike Pelfrey and Joey Votto.

Joey Votto now has 21 homers and 59 rbi’s and he’s hitting .318. He hit two of those last night and that second one that gave the Reds an insurance run in the 6th after the Mets came within a run of tying the game in the bottom of that ridiculous fifth inning. Pelfrey was pretty bad last night, something that hasn’t happened to him for quite some time. He gets a pass from me for being 10-3 and helping keep the Mets in the race all season.

But Mike looks ridiculously hittable lately to me. That fact, along with his penchant for walks, sours me on his prospects for the rest of the season, and I no longer am entertaining any fantasies about him winning 20 games. I had been thinking for a while that he’d be challenging Johan for dominance. But I don’t think that anymore.

Santana had a pretty miserable June himself, but he really looked pretty good in his last outing on July 1st. Even though he didn’t pick up a win, as, once again, the Mets didn’t hit in his behalf, he showed he hasn’t lost his fastball altogether and showed the command of an ace, giving up just 1 run over 6 complete.

I’m counting on Santana in the second half. I don’t want to put all my marbles on Jonathon Niese, who went 4-0 in June, but is just a second-year (for all intents) guy. And, as much as I’ve loved the performances we’ve gotten from the knuckleballer, R.A. Dickey, I just can’t seem to muster any real faith that his ridiculously good season can continue.

Dickey got smacked around by the Marlins back on June 28th to end his 6-game winning streak. I thought, “Well, that’s the end for him.” But then on July 3rd, he came right back to pitch great against the Nationals, going 7 full innings while allowing no earned runs.

K-Rod lost that one for him, but, once again, K-Rod gets a free pass from me too, as he’s been pretty damned consistent if a little less than lights-out. Ideally, he could stop scaring everyone half to death all the time before he finally extinguishes the fire he’s started. But, realistically, who’d you rather have as your closer?

That leaves Takahashi to discuss. He’s been still another mostly pleasant surprise all season long despite his getting banged around by Detroit and the Marlins before righting his ship against the Nationals. Word is that he’s supposed to go back to the bullpen. But that’s if and when the Mets acquire another starter and I won’t be holding my breath on that happening. Yeah, I know, “ye of little faith.”

But really, if I can look forward to winning a game with any of these Mets starters, I’m not going to be really upset. And God only knows what Omar will give up for another real-live starter. I mean, this is the guy who traded away Brandon Phillips, Grady Sizemore and (gasp) Cliff Lee for Bartolo Colon. (I heard that just the other night from Cohen and I still can’t believe it).

Yeah, a large portion of our success will depend upon these relievers holding up. Perpetual Pedro has been great, more or less, but then there’re some question marks from a consistency standpoint. Parnell’s been better than okay after his return but Igarashi and Nieve have been a little disappointing. And I never expect too much from Dessens, who always looks older than me.

(Uruguay has just tied the Dutch at 1-1 on a beautiful long strike from Forlan. I thought they’d have no chance without Suarez, he of handball fame).

With John Maine and Ollie Perez still on the roster though, albeit on the disabled list right now, it’ll be very difficult to justify picking up another starter. I could better imagine Omar picking up a reliever. After all, that is what the Mets need right now. If they pick up another starter, they’d just move Takahashi to the pen. But there’s no guarantee he’ll be better in the pen than he’s been as a starter.

In any event, the Mets are currently two games behind the division leading Braves and at their current winning percentage, they’ll likely win 90 games. I don’t think that will be sufficient to win the division. It’s definitely wildcard territory, I suppose, but just barely in all likelihood.

(Netherlands just missed a scoring opportunity; maybe they will actually lose this World Cup right here).

(Unbelievable! The Dutch just scored on a dribbler deflection).

It’d sure be nice if Reyes gets back in the lineup really soon. Especially against a high-scoring team like the Reds, we need Reyes in there. The Mets missed his defense bigtime the other day and Ruben Tejada just doesn’t inspire me (or the Mets apparently).

At least Angel Pagan is back, and Jason Bay seems to be playing with more confidence. He seems less tentative and less content to settle for a walk in big situations. But, even with Wright, Pagan and Bay swinging torrid bats, against the Cincinnatis and Atlantas of the world, we still need to get Reyes back in there to win.

We need relief, in the bullpen, in the lineup, and most certainly from this horrible Jersey July.






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On Soccer and the Grand American Game

Germans were everywhere! Especially early, the black shirts were everywhere around the ball and they had also managed to get off the best shot. That had come with just 3 minutes elapsed in the match as a beautiful pass into the box was headed easily into the net. But at the 45-minute mark, the Germans seemed to be getting the best of the action.

Good soccer, that’s the overriding impression I get from watching these last few matches. These teams all know how to play soccer (called football in the rest of the world). These top teams also all seem to have at least one, and usually several players who are stars in their own right, players who demand attention and put continual pressure on the defense, pressure that usually results in an eventual goal.

Smart soccer, that’s quite evident too. The smartest play of all was that handball that Suarez of Uruguay used to put away the Ghanaians, a prime example of a player knowing the rules and using them to his best advantage with the game on the line. Suarez stopped a sure goal at the expense of his team having to stop the ensuing penalty kick, which they managed just barely as Ghana’s free kick hit the crossbar. Somewhat less serious than that, Suarez will also miss the next game. Uruguay will certainly miss him but for Uruguay there will be a next game.

Dumb soccer, we’ve seen some of that too. Melo of Brazil was surely not thinking when he stomped on an orange arm to earn himself a red card and his team the prospect of playing a man down for the rest of the match. Even excusing Melo for the own goal charged to him (he was instrumental in scoring Brazil’s first goal), his ill-advised abuse of a player on the ground sealed the win for the Netherlands.

Team soccer too, we’ve seen a lot of that in these quarterfinals, the importance of playing as a team that much more evident with each successive round. I’m not even a student of the game, but I can detect a team that eschews the long (and usually fruitless) shot for the pass to a teammate making a run into the box.

Unselfish team soccer…Germany once again scored in the 67th minute on a beautiful cross and little chip-in, achieved only because the runner streaking down the field had the perspicacity to wait and cross rather than fire on goal. That goal almost certainly sealed Argentina’s fate, to join Brazil on the sidelines of this 2010 World Cup.

And Germany did it again! Exhibiting what could only be called remarkable composure and teamwork, Germany scored again in the 73rd minute, making the game seem easy and pouring it on against a seemingly overmatched Argentina. Those black shirts came again in a rush in the 77th minute that Argentina this time stopped.

There was an Argentine flopping in the box, another unfortunate characteristic of this game that enthralls the world everywhere but here in the U.S. If there is anything that will surely turn most Americans against the game, it is the continual flopping and the bad officiating that too often rewards the flopping.

Germany scored once again in the 88th minute and Argentina was being thoroughly embarrassed. It now appears that the final four will be Uruguay, Netherlands, Germany and probably Spain, although Paraguay could still surprise.

In any event though, it’ll be European teams and South American teams in the final four. And if that’s an expected result, it doesn’t make it any less satisfying for me. Why shouldn’t it be thus for the two continents for which the game absolutely dominates their everyday lives. And, while it’s true that Nigeria suspended its team for its performance and only God knows what may befall the North Koreans for their failure to advance further, the grand game is primarily theirs, Europe’s and South America’s.

Let’s face it, either by natural preference or some grand conspiratorial design, soccer is just an afterthought in the U.S. The best athletes here play either baseball, basketball or American football, depending on a player’s regard for his own well-being. Following the money, it is very unlikely that the situation will change in the near future.

But should the situation change? Soccer fans here would surely say yes. Others would say we already have diversions enough in a country that hasn’t been distinguishing itself for anything but sports and movies in the last twenty to thirty years.

I’d certainly welcome a popularization of soccer in our country. Of the three dominating American sports, two of them, football and basketball, can be played at the highest levels only by behemoths and giants. Only in baseball, to me the only truly great American game, can a Freddy Patek or Phil Rizzuto distinguish himself as a great one.

For today, a Mets fan might want to add Alex Cora to the list. Cora’s triple was the big hit last night as the Mets continued to play good baseball in our nation’s capital. But Cora wasn’t the only heroic little man to distinguish himself in last night’s win.

Good pitching from Jonathan Niese had kept the Nats off the board for much of the night but the victory was much in doubt in that ninth inning as Mets relievers Elmer Dessens and then the great K-Rod faltered, putting the victory much in doubt.

It was Ruben Tejada, the Mets diminutive backup shortstop, who really wrapped up the Mets win last night. Noticing liberties being taken by the Nats Bernadina off second base, the youngster signaled to K-Rod, who alertly and accurately threw that man out to end the game.

I could foresee soccer overtaking both football and basketball in popularity here in America but not baseball, whose inning breaks even offer a chance to relax. While basketball and football can be dominated by a few gargantuan superstars, baseball, much like soccer, can be played by virtually anyone.