Fitting Endings

It was fitting, I thought, that the Olympics should end with 400 Chinese shakin' their butts in the air. That's just the way I was feeling about the Olympics as they finally wound down, except my pants would have been at half-mast. While the beginning of these Olympic Games were practically earth-shaking, and the middle was excellent, by the end, I was ready for baseball again, oh, and football too. It was the two concurrent fantasy football drafts though that really did me in.

As I had feared for some time now, the Mets were not able to put away a team with good pitching. Although they hung around for ten innings, it was the middling Astros who took the third game of the series yesterday. And, as expected, the starting pitching was pretty good. That the relief pitching was less good, if not downright awful, had to be expected too, I guess. It had to catch up with my Metsies sometime.

The Giants-Jets game was a real yawner too, I thought, though we did see some pretty good defense, I suppose. That Osi Umenyiora was lost for the season is a real heart-breaker though. We can only hope it's not a forbidding omen, and that albatross I thought I saw flying over the stadium was just a gigantic pigeon, gone crazy from too many hot dogs and beer. Oh well, at least I won't have to spell his name again this season.

The most startling football news though, for fans not interested only in the local teams, was that Kurt Warner may have kept his starting job in Arizona over the bonus-baby heart throb from USC, one Matt Leinart. Kurt has been pretty darned good this exhibition season, but the word was that Leinart would surely be the starter. I'm sure salary negotiations may have played a part, too, in Warner's sudden ascension. When handing out millions to anyone, it's kinda nice to see them on the field, especially in Arizona, a place that has never happily given away anything, just ask Anquan Boldin.

In fact, if salary negotiations thrill you, this is your season. (Turn, turn, turn). Plaxico Burress may get some kind of extension and Antonio Pierce has had his hands out too, we are led to believe. At least the Jets seem a lot more settled right now, having already doled out multi-million dollar contracts to quite a few newcomers, such as Faneca and Pace. They may even be able to protect what's-his-name althoughthat wasn;t much in evidence on Friday night.

That the football season starts on a Thursday night thrills me not. What a stupid way to start a season. I know. I have to learn to adapt to change, Olympics in China, Jamaicans winning all the sprints, and making a big deal about the Redeem-Team beating friggin' Spain in basketball. Ho-friggin-hum. Kobe-Kobe-Kobe, WOOHOO.

But this piece is supposed to be about fitting endings, right? Well, based on this beginning, I'd have to say it would be entirely fitting if the Jets made the playoffs, what with about five rather extreme additions to both offense and defense. But for the Giants, alas, it doesn't look good. To lose Osi after losing Strahan is taking two big hits right off the bat. The rest of the league wasn't standing still, you know. I expect both the Eagles and the Skins to be more formidable this year. You can be sure Donovan McNabb will be singing no sad songs for the G-Men.

But now I must turn to the most fitting ending of all, the end of yesterday’s Mets game. I guess Mr. Manuel can’t spin a miracle every time out after all. Finding the right combination of mediocre relief had been a Manuel specialty as of late, but yesterday wasn’t one of those days. Well, actually, it did look as if he’d pull it off one more time, but he ran out of options at the end.

Pedro Feliciano gave up two, two, two big home runs in the top of the tenth to pretty much seal the Mets fate Sunday afternoon. And I say it was fitting only because the Mets have not been able to secure a top reliever after losing Billy Wagner. They did secure a pretty fair holder, if you will, but he had been used up in the ninth.

I suppose the real story of the game was that Oliver Perez could only put in 6 1/3 yesterday. Heilman relieved Perez in he seventh but couldn’t hold the lead for the southpaw starter, giving up two hits while retiring only one batter. Schoeneweis and Smith finished out the seventh and eighth very nicely too

Luis Ayala, the reliever they did acquire, has been very good, and he continued to be, pitching the ninth inning to a very good effect. But in the 10^th, Manuel was running out of options; there were only two relievers left.

Manuel opted for the lefty Feliciano. It was not his day. And it was very quickly not his day; no infuriating walks or seeing-eye base hits yesterday that in the past had brought Jerry out to the mound for a magic pitching change. No, yesterday, it was all over very quickly. Boom. Boom. Down two.

Duaner Sanchez, the last reliever, did finish out the tenth with no further damage but the Mets didn’t show much in their half of that 10^th inning and it was all over. The Astros closer, Jose Valverde, handled the top of the Mets lineup pretty handily yesterday.

But all is not lost. The Mets still retain their first place position in the NL East. They can tie the Astros series 2-2 with a win tomorrow and, as Mike Pelfrey takes the mound, things look pretty good, especially if he can give them seven or eight good innings. Then it’s the Phillies for two and Florida for three.

I sure hope the starters can keep on keeping on. Otherwise, there may be more fitting endings to come.

No Relief In Sight

The Mets and Yankees both got to celebrate wins last night and, no doubt, either Joe Girardi or Jerry Manuel may have taken the opportunity to enjoy a cigar, but not because either of them had a closer. Actually, Girardi had a great one who failed for once and Manuel had a setup guy, a lefty specialist who succeeded for once.

The results were the same, of course. Pedro Feliciano made sure the Mets one run lead held up in the 9th, while Arod and the X-Man powered home runs in the 12th to save the Yanks and Mariano, who experienced the ignominy of giving up a 3-run homer to Delmon Young in the 9th to blow the save.

For the Mets and Manuel, it was another nail-biter for sure. After each of the first two outs was recorded in that ninth inning and while their stud rookie Kunz was warming up in the bullpen, Manuel agonized as to whether to leave Feliciano in there.

What a choice, a talented rookie or a hard - luck lately veteran, one who had given up more than his share of home runs in his crazy season. The victory moved them to within 1 game of the Phillies, who lost a tough one to the Dodgers.

For the Yankees, it was a nice breather that provided them an opportunity to showcase their sluggers in extra innings and keep pace with the Rays and Red Sox, even though the trusty Mariano finally did have a bad day. That Arod and Nady both came through for them in that 12th inning should jump-start their Minnesota trip and provide the impetus they need to survive this road trip.

Even though the Mets are much closer to the Phillies than are the Yankees to the Rays, somehow you still have to like the Yankees chances just as much. After all, the Yanks have a closer, arguably the best one in the league, Papelbon and F-Rod notwithstanding. The Mets closer, Billy Wagner, is still on the DL, and it's kind of iffy what kind of performances he'll be able to deliver upon his return.

<>While the Yankees can breathe a sigh of relief and look forward to a game like last night’s not happening again for a long time, the Mets can only look forward to more of the same. Of course, the Yankees have a quite different problem, a lack of starting pitching, something the Mets have in abundance.

So pick your poison, either enjoying a lead for six or seven innings only to lose versus trying to catch up to your opponent for the entire game. While simple arithmetic would seem to favor the starting pitching, after all, seven good innings should be better than just two or three good innings, it doesn’t seem to be working out that way.

<>Of course, the Yankees do have a better lineup, what with Arod and Abreu and Nady and Damon and um, anyone….anyone… While in most years you’d have to add Jeter to the list and Matsui and Posada too, this is not one of those years.

Of course, the Giambino still powers them over the wall too, but, all in all, you don’t get that feeling that the Yanks are capable of piling it on as they had in the past, maybe because they’re behind a lot of the time. Of course, last night they had Mussina going, good old Moosie, their only really effective pitcher this year. Wang’s gone, Joba’s hurt, Pettite hasn’t been Pettite-like and um, Giese? Don’t make me say “Pavano”. Or Kennedy for that matter.

<>All that being said, however, their losses haven’t been as excruciating as have those of the Mets. That Pirates loss of Monday afternoon was so painful to me, I can scarcely talk about it. Neither could Manuel. That relief staff has been more than just bad.

And, by all appearances, there is no relief in sight. Billy will probably be back, and hopefully, he’ll return pretty close to form. I personally think Duaner Sanchez can come back stronger than he has shown, especially in big spots, much as he did on Monday before he was relieved after a couple of nice innings.

<>And, even as pedestrian as the others have been, if they can just move from bad, bad, bad to only middling, that would be a boon to the Mets chances. Let’s face it, there isn’t much talent available out there in the market, and, if there were, you get the feeling the Mets wouldn’t pursue it.

One gets the distinct feeling that it will be the next GM who pursues anyone new. Much as the Knicks and James Dolan made Isiah live or die with the talent that he put together, so it seems the Mets have put the gauntlet to Omar Minaya. I wish I could say that it’s unfair. But there have been too many acquisitions that have just not produced at all.

<>Of course, if the Mets can somehow pull through, a distinct possibility still, I’m sure Minaya will be retained. If Pedro can stay healthy for the rest of the year, the Mets starting pitching is just a shade short of awesome. Their plug-ins in the lineup have been creditable and there is Wright and there are Beltran and Delgado and Reyes.

I would say to Manuel, though, that it is getting late. If Pedro has gone six and says he can go more, stay with Pedro; the same for Santana and the other fine starters, Perez and Pelfrey and Maine.

<>If Sanchez gives you two good innings, stay with Sanchez, at least until he shows signs of weakening. With a relief corps as questionable as this one, can you really afford to NOT play the hot hand and stay with that hot hand until it turns cold.

It’s time to do a little thinking outside the box. All those rested arms will avail us nothing if we never get to the promised land.

The Big Mistake

The Mets and Yankees will meet for the umpteenth time in still another Subway Series (yawn) this weekend, and was there EVER a Subway Series with less at stake? The under-performing Mets go into this latest matchup in 3rd place in the NL East while the Yankees have been even worse overall, inhabiting last place in the AL East. But given all that, it sure seems as if the Yankees are the better team.

I t would be hard to imagine a worse loss than the Mets had last night. This seemingly rudderless bunch made the big mistake again, this time losing the game on the basepaths, but it's always been something with them, either horrible relief pitching or batting slumps or just bad decisions.

All the Mets problems were accentuated last night by Billy Wagner, who wondered aloud why he was the focus of attention after a game in which he took no part. Of course, it was an entirely rhetorical question. The goats weren't around.. And it was the second time this week that Wagner has expressed his frustration with this group and its losing ways. I say "group" because they certainly don't play well as a team.

Although I'd ordinarily condemn one teammate trashing another, in this case I think Wagner is entirely justified. His first target, Oliver Perez, routinely turns wins to losses, giving about 5 innings of great pitching before blowing up. Wagner's frustration last night could have been with anyone in a blue and white uniform.

Although Delgado has had a myriad of problems and has either been mired in long slumps or has made huge mistakes in the field, Delgado can't really be blamed for last night's loss. He hit the ball right on the nose when he had to. That his hard line drive was caught wasn't so terrible. What is remarkably terrible was Willie's decision to send the runner on contact.

One run down in the 9th with just one out and you're sending the runner? It just doesn't make sense and, of course, Beltran was doubled up. Any Little League coach could have done that. It was just another example of bad baseball, making the big mistake, and making the wrong decisions in critical moments of the game.

As a Mets fan, I couldn't be happier that Willie Randolph will be re-evaluated soon. The sooner the better. He may know the game, but he doesn't act that way. He stays with players too long, he gives veterans way too much latitude, he makes horrible pitching decisions, and now, it seems he's lost touch with a good running game. What else is there? Oh, his players seem to have lost faith in him.

The Yankees, while in last place, have a couple of excuses. They’ve been playing without Arod for a couple of weeks and Posada for even longer. They’ve been trying out some new pitchers.

But they do ordinarily play good baseball. When they lose, it’s because they just couldn’t put enough hits together or their pitching wasn’t good enough. Or the balls and strikes called were ridiculous, as they have been too often this year.

So, on the one hand, we have a team with lots of talent that just seems too stupid to win versus a team that’s less talented but playing hard and just coming up short. It’ll be hard to root for the Mets under these circumstances.

Tonight, it’ll be Santana vs. Rasner, a match that should certainly favor the Mets. Even Willie hasn’t been able to make Santana play badly. Rasner looked good, though, in both his Yankees starts, pitching six full innings each time and giving up just two runs per outing. And the Yanks won both those starts.

Arod will still be out of the lineup as will Posada. That won’t make things any easier for the Yankees. The Yanks can’t be thrilled, either, that they’ll see two more lefties in Santana and Oliver Perez before getting a right-hander on Sunday in John Maine.

The Mets should win the first two of this best-of-three at least, but I wouldn’t put money on it. The Mets don’t deserve the confidence. Sure, they may take the lead but they’ll figure a way to lose it.

Randolph will make the same mistakes, inserting Heilmann in a tight game, running when you shouldn’t, putting the wrong players in the lineup at the wrong times. And then he’ll say he isn’t worried. It’s a veteran team.

The Yankees have been easy to root for in their depleted state. I’ve always liked Morgan Ensberg and Alberto Gonzalez has shown a nice glove, a kid who’s trying hard, an Ensberg with a little more potential. Either Jose Molina or Chad Moeller have been adequate defensively.

While it is always an interesting Series, and I’m sure old Yankee Stadium will be rockin’, it could be a disastrous Series for the Mets if they manage to once again falter, with their best pitchers going against a Yankees lineup depleted by injuries.

While it’s technically an “away” game for the Mets, I’m sure the Mets boo birds will be out there somewhere, or maybe the Yanks fans will be smart enough to boo for them. It certainly hasn’t improved the Mets performance.

A sweep might be the best thing that could happen for the Mets, either way. If they win three, it’ll mean Willie has managed to turn things around. If they lose three, it’ll help prove Willie’s team has been, is, and will be lost for as long as Willie’s the manager.

I really hope the Mets can turn it around. Steal a base or take an extra base IN THE RIGHT SITUATION, don’t get thrown out of a game when the team needs your bat, and make all the right moves, come from behind or win a one-run game. Can these Mets NOT make the big mistake?

If momentum means anything in baseball, the odds are against them. And for Willie.