Osama bin Laden Is Dead

Here it is another cloudy Monday, a chill and pervading dampness fills the air, the things I had to do are largely done, there’re no afternoon baseball games on the schedule and it would seem to be a perfect time for reflection.

Osama bin-Laden is dead.

The Mets were huge in a very little way last night. After losing the lead in the eighth, their relief staff held on to hold the Phillies scoreless the rest of the way while the offense finally broke through in the 14th friggin’ inning to win it. But, as impressive as the Mets pitching was, the result paled in the grand scheme of all things.

Because Osama bin-Laden is dead.

I’m listening now to Tom Coughlin discussing the recent Giants draft now and, as in baseball’s spring training, he’s optimistic for the upcoming season. Jerry Reese, the Giants GM will be coming on later and it should be interesting listening to his views on the same thing. And I think they did as well as anybody, unless you count New England and crazy Bellichick, who once again possessed twice as many picks as any other team.

The Jets did pretty well too as far as I can see. They opted for defense with the first two picks while devoting the rest to offense. But there’s no harder draft to judge than that of this Jets team that has more free agents than just about anyone. It’s kind of hard to tell who’s going to stay and who’s going to go so, from a need point of view, the draft can’t really be evaluated.

But at least Osama bin-Laden is dead.

There’s been so much sports action. It’s almost ridiculous. The NBA playoffs are right in the middle of things, the dogs having finally been eliminated, and some big dogs too, especially longtime top dog San Antonio. But they didn’t go quietly and my favorite game so far may have been their valiant effort to snatch victory in overtime in Game 5 from a surprisingly tough Memphis squad.

Then there’re Boston in the East and LA in the West who are still alive.

But not Osama bin-Laden. He’s dead.

Of course, my NFL coverage wouldn’t be at all satisfactory without at least mentioning the NFL lockout and the interminable legal wrangling surrounding that battle, which it seems has become the real Super Bowl.

I’m reminded of Paul Newman’s final argument in “The Verdict” as he discusses justice as opposed to the trappings of the court. His jury got it right. You have to wonder whether two judges will ever rule the same way on this thing, providing some reason to get the parties back to the negotiating table.

Most observers favor the players in this battle as it seems the NFL is more profitable than ever and why should they now take money back from the players? Well, how about the cost of all those new stadiums the owners built in the midst of a depression? Shouldn’t players help share the angst of filling all those monuments to greed?

The owners brought their current situation upon themselves. Much as the banks were bailed out for their stupefying mortgage decisions, so are the owners looking for a bailout of their own, but they’re looking for that bailout to come from the players. They’ve already soaked their fan bases to saturation. No further increases in ticket prices or seat licenses could conceivably be borne by what has to be a shrinking fan base.

These player-owner negotiations have become paralyzed by the lawyers, much as our entire society has. All the issues that beset us are eventually solved but only after thousands of billable hours. Meanwhile, the judges seem to make sure the billing continues. Do any of these vipers have justice in their hearts? We’ll find out if the season starts on time.

But it’s baseball season, or would be if the other sports would just let go and stop trying to fix our attention on them the whole year round. And Major League Baseball is fighting back now, looking to expand the baseball playoffs so maybe we can have a World Series on Thanksgiving?

The season’s already too long. These April games are played in long sleeves and hoodies more often than not and, unless you’re remarkably gullible, you can’t believe any of these players can bring themselves to care passionately whether they win or lose. They’re just trying to get through the day, or more often than not, the night.

But it’s finally May. If I had no calendar, my cherry tree would tell me. If there’s any consistency in life for me, it’s got to be that cherry. In full bloom on May 1st without fail, its blazing pinkness dominates the entire springtime tableau, if only for a fortnight or so.

But consistency is over-rated too, in baseball as much as anywhere else. Most players aren’t very steady at all, and especially pitchers, and even more especially, pitchers in April. But maybe it just seems that way to an observer focused too much on his fantasy staff.

The Mets pitchers reflect that inconsistency quite well. Mike Pelfrey has gone out of his way to show us he’s really not an ace. But, on the other side of things, Chris Young, one of the Metsies low-risk shots in the dark, continues to amaze us with good performance after good performance. And two other long reaches, relief pitchers Beato and Isringhausen, and maybe even a Taylor Bucholz, are doing way more than anybody could have reasonably expected.

But make no mistake. Last night’s win was a big one for the Mets. After losing two to the hated Phillies, salvaging that last game to avoid the sweep, and doing so with pitching, was entirely satisfying. Even the Phillies staff can be had, and even a Cliff Lee appearance won’t necessarily end in a victory.

Cautious optimism is the order of the day.

Osama bin- Laden is dead.

Mets Win !! A March Tale

I have to admit I’m psyched. The greatest American game is a month away. And this could be a magic year for the Mets. I’m starting to feel it.

Imagine…Imagine a team with broke owners and no bigtime pitchers going on to win 90 games to eke out a playoff spot. Imagine a team that’s close at the All-Star break being lifted by the return of its star pitcher from injury.

Imagine a team whose second-year guys play like seasoned veterans. Imagine a team whose bargain- basement pitching acquisitions go on to win 30 games. Imagine a team whose hard-luck pitchers of the year before suddenly start to win the games they lost the previous year.

Imagine a healthy Jose Reyes in his contract year stealing 60 bases and scoring 130 runs. Imagine a Carlos Beltran limping along to get big hit after big hit in key spots down the stretch. Imagine a Jason Bay totally turning around his miserable performance of his first year in New York.

Yeah, I know. That’s a lot of imagining. But why not us? Maybe the bad luck has gone the way of Omar and Jerry. Maybe the Mets will be as lucky as their owners are not. Maybe this season will be the lucky one, the rabbit’s foot year.

Ya gotta believe. Tug McGraw had it right.

I was in the stands for Games 2 and 5 of the 1969 World Series. The Mets beat the Orioles in five games. But that team wasn’t expected to win. Their lineup was pretty suspect. Their pitchers were young, even if they had names like Seaver and Koosman and Gentry et al.

That ’86 team was expected to win but even they had to get lucky to even make it to the Series, getting by a Houston team in startling fashion. They won it all only after an easy ground ball got by a first baseman who had manned his position very adequately until that very moment. His name is legend, of course, and Bill Buckner will always be remembered in baseball lore because of it.

Yeah, I know….what about the Phillies? Well, what about them? Pitching, pitching and more pitching is what they have. But I tell you to ask any fantasy player about the reliability of pitching, especially those coming off a big year, a year in which those arms gobbled up a lot of innings.

Let’s take a closer look. Halladay will be 34 in May. In his last five years, he’s thrown way over 200 innings each year, and last year he threw an incredible 250 innings. It’s a similar story for Cliff Lee whose innings pitched for the last three years have been at around 220. He’ll be 33 in August. Roy Oswalt will be 34 in August. He’s been a horse too over the years but ask any horseman about the dependability of horses.

Cole Hamels is their number 4 pitcher and he’s younger than the big three at 27 but also logged over 200 innings last year. But, for anyone with any memory of 2009, fragility thy name is Hamels. Surely he could be good this year, but then again so could Mike Pelfrey.

Their number 5 Blanton isn’t in the same class as the others but is still a pretty fair arm, but his ERA last year was 4.82. Kyle Kendrick is listed in the Phils depth chart as a number 6 starter who sported a 4.73 ERA in 2010, not too shabby but not too far removed from average either.

An injury to any one of the big three (and to put Oswalt in the same class as Lee and Halladay is sort of specious to begin with) puts the Phillies well within striking distance. And, even discounting the possibility of injury, what about a good guy just having a bad year? It happens all the time. Ask Jason Bay.

And what about just having bad luck on the mound? Ask Johan Santana about that. Santana had more no-decisions and losses last year than just about any hurler in the league, never mind one who sported an ERA under 3.00.

An injury, some bad luck, a loss of form (ask A.J. Burnett about that), or some bad luck brings the Phils right back to the pack. And it’s a pretty good pack of pitchers in New York. Pelfrey’s ERA was 3.66 and he went 15-9 despite one truly bad month. Niese was at 4.20, Dickey was at 2.84 and had almost as bad luck as Santana when it came down to runs scored for him.

The probable number 4 pitcher will be Chris Young, still a relative youngster in terms of innings pitched but a solid veteran nevertheless with a career ERA of 3.66. Dillon Gee is an unknown quantity at Number 5 but did manage to sport a 2.18 ERA in limited action last year. Pat Misch is a possible number 6 and managed a 3.82 ERA in limited action as a starter and reliever.

The numbers aren’t all that bad. If the pitching holds up, as it did all last year, the Mets could be formidable this year. They’ll almost undoubtedly score a lot more runs. With Beltran returning and Reyes playing more games, with Wright just being himself and Bay returning to form, the Mets have at least four very dangerous guys in the lineup.

And that’s not even counting centerfielder Pagan, Ike Davis and Josh Thole, the first baseman and catcher respectively, who figure to improve off some pretty fair results last year.

Jose Reyes could have a monster year. He lights up at the mere mention of his upcoming free agency. Wright could too after bouncing back last year from his disastrous 2009. With Beltran back, opponents will have to pitch to David.

The team with no money and no pitching but with a solid lineup, good team speed and a sound defense could just go a long way. Ask Tug McGraw.

Looking Forward to Rangers-Giants

What could be better?

The Yanks are losing and should be losing even worse. The Phillies are in bad shape, in fact the same shape the Yankees were in about 24 hours ago, and that is down 3-1, and facing complete annihilation. Of course, if the Phillies can win tonight, and, like the Yankees win their Game 5, they’ll at least be headed home to that bandbox in Philadelphia.

The Yankees will be in Texas with a whole huge bunch or gaggle of wild-eyed Texans, facing a tough pitcher nobody outside of Texas has ever heard of, one Colby Lewis, who did pretty well in that Game 2 against them. On the mound for the Yanks is Phil Hughes, who is a pretty fair pitcher himself, but who got beat by these Rangers pretty easily.

But for the Yankees, they have one big thing going for them, the fear of elimination. The Texans should be playing a little looser, whether that works well for them or not. In the Yanks minds will be a healthy fear of losing.

The Rangers have nothing to really worry about as they’ll have Cliff Lee going in a final game if it’s needed. Every Yankee will feel that pressure of losing, thus finishing 2010. They will have been the wildcard in 2010, They’ll have been the winner of their ALDS with the Twins, 3-0. They will have been the ALCS losers in 6 games to the Texas Rangers. That will be their legacy.

The Rangers will be in this circus atmosphere, but could still feel the emptiness of year after year in Texas, all those years when they had hitting but no pitching, These are relatively young guys with a history together, guys like Michael Young and Josh Hamilton, Ian Kinsler and Nelson Cruz. It’s a tight bunch and they can all play ball. They like playing ball. They’re hungry for the World Series.

The Yankees just won the World Series. Would it be so bad to lose in Game 6 and avoid facing that horror of a pitcher, Cliff Lee, in Game 7? They’ll be missing their star slugger and fielder extraordinaire, Mark Teixeira. They’ll still have Robinson Cano, though, and between him and Arod and Granderson and Berkman, they have sluggers for sure. There’s almost nobody in that lineup that can’t inspire a little respect.

But these Yankees haven’t distinguished themselves in the field. Arod at third has been looking a little suspect to me, playing deep and not handling the soft grounders. Jeter could be quicker and, although Cano will still sparkle at second base, Berkman will have a hard time looking good at first with a bruised back that he got while falling backward and looking rather clumsy in the process. The catcher can’t throw people out. The right fielder plays hard but won’t get to some balls.

The Rangers have scary guys from 1 through 7 but tail off somewhat in 8 and 9 with our old friend, Frenchie Francoeur batting 8th and Bengie Molina batting ninth. But Molina killed the Yanks just the other night and Francoeur will be, you know, Francoeur, who, if I may say, has done quite all right with himself. Landing with a World Series team after spending a year or two with the Mets has got to feel good.

I like the Rangers Young, Andrus and Kinsler better than Arod, Jeter and Cano. When I think about it, it’s really Arod I have the problem with. But Jeter doesn’t inspire awe, especially when he makes that ridiculous jumping cross the body throw with nothing on it, or made only after a little stutter step while jumping?

The Rangers have a fast guy leading off in Andrus, a real veteran in Young to move him along, and in Josh Hamilton, the best hitter in the league batting 3rd. Hamilton only hurts you when his bat touches the ball, and he batted .359 on the season. Then you have this crazy old slugger batting cleanup, Vlad Guerrero, who’ll swing at anything and come up smelling like roses. Then Nelson Cruz, who just hits homers and doubles with alarming regularity. Ian Kinsler can yank them out of the park too. It’s a real killer 1 thru 6 lineup for sure, an All-Star lineup.

The Yanks are lack-luster at the top of the lineup. They have no speed game. They score big when their heavy hitters connect. That’s all. They have no other game.
From a purely baseball perspective, the Rangers are the better team and should win this series if they play their game. Will they play their game? I like their chances.

But the Giants have been my team all year too in the National League. That is, when all my attention wasn’t focused on the Mets. I even got to attend a game out there in San Fran, and watched Matt Cain putting away the Oakland A’s. My fantasy guys, Pablo Sandoval (the Panda) and peppery Andres Torres were good that day as was that first baseman of theirs, Aubrey Huff.

But their pitching staff is awesome and has been pretty awesome for this entire post-season. Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez and Bumgarner are as good as it gets. And that closer of theirs is pretty lights-out.

The Phillies after Halladay and Hamels don’t really match up to my mind, Oswalt and Blanton are good but not great. Oswalt proved last night that he can be had, even if his appearance was in a relief role, a role he never should have assumed in the first place.

But the Giants have momentum now, even if they have to face Phillies ace Halladay in tonight’s Game 5. Young and old, in guys such as Buster Posey and Juan Uribe, making all the plays and getting all the big hits, the Giants are very dangerous. And they already debunked the magic of Halladay in Game 1.

Anyway, I’m ecstatic, looking forward to a Giants-Rangers World Series. Isn’t everybody?