The Serval Zippers Sign

Mets at the Polo Grounds in color!

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Highlights from a very good year!

A signature performance by the Rays last night. Smallball all over the place and juuuuuuuuuust enough pitching to hang on, 4-2.

Now it’s back to the CitzBath for weekend pleasantries.

Speaking of which…

The Woilds Champeen New York Giants are gonna have their hands full Sunday at the Ketchup Bottle. This is the premier matchup of the still-young NFL season, and the squads could not be more evenly matched. Pittsbugh has a solid young quarterback, a fierce defense and a muscular running game. Sound familiar? I think we’ll be looking at a 17-10…maybe 23-20 kind of game. Keeping ‘em all crossed that the Giants can be on the long end.

The Mets have named their coaches. All are coming back except Guy Conti (who goest whither Pedro goest), Ken Oberkfell (to whom I hope they hang on) and Luis (Let ‘Em Go!) Aguayo. The new 3B coach has one of the best baseball names of all time: Razor Shines. Let’s hope he keeps everybody sharp…

Well, the first game of the 2008 World Series is now a matter of history.

Cole Hamels was nothing short of brilliant for 7 innings and the Philly bullpen pulled off something the Mets’ ‘pen never could: two consecutive 1-2-3 innings. Now Tampa needs to blast Myers in order to have any kind of shot when when they get back to the CitzBath Bandbox — because those games look to be absolute bloodbaths with the power numbers these 2 teams have.

Hate to say it, but this looks like it’s gonna be a true Fall Classic.

Remember, you heard it here last…

Holy crap!

The Tampa Bay Rays did their best Mets imitation last night in game 5 of the ALCS.

Cruising along with a 7-0 lead into the bottom of the 7th, Tampa allowed the Sawx to hang around…and hang around…and hang around until JD Drew’s walk-off bingle in the 9th brought Bahst’n back from the dead.

As someone near and dear to our hearts would say, “OH, MY GOOD…GOODNESS GRACIOUS!”
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How high has Philadelphia scored on national literacy tests?

I’m always surprised they don’t get tripped up halfway through the E-A-G-L-E-S chant:

EEEEE! AAAAAY! JEEE! Um…um…

List of people who need to be dropped on their asses with the first Met fastballs of 2009:

Shane Victorino
Josh Willingham
Hanley Ramirez
Willie Harris
Lastings Milledge

…

Mike Francesa has lost his mind.

He’s got no New York baseball since September 28 and he’s got no Mad Dog to balance him out. So his rants about David Wright the last couple of days have served their dual purpose — a.) to rile up the Met fan, and 2.) to get people talking about a now largely irrelevent talk radio show. Bravo, Michael.

I think he could give a rat’s bee-hind about David Wright, unless he somehow winds up in the Bronx, in which case he’ll suddenly become the best thirdbaseman of all time.

In any case, here’s all you need to know about the Grand Bloviator with regards to David Wright: his quote from 2003 — “Who’s David Wright?”

As my father used to say.

The Wilpons are at it again. They just don’t get it. I’ve never seen an organization so out of touch with their fan base since the Maras of the mid-’70’s. I understand keeping the grave robbers at bay. Supposedly, the lion’s share of the profits are going to charity. Admirable, if it’s true. I can even understand wanting to make a little something on it — this is America, after all.

But at these prices??? In this economy???? On the heels of another collapse?????

In honor of Yom Kippur — that’s chutzpah.

Add to this to the fact that Wilpemployees are not the most fan-friendly bunch you’ll see…well my friend Steve Keane says it much better than I…

It was Jerry who blinked. Manuel accepted a 2-year-with-club-option deal to keep him in the fold through at least 2010. If he gets “us” over the proverbial hump, he’ll be here much longer than that. He will have become legend.

So GM? Check. MGR? Check.

Now where to go to improve the on-field product?

Top of my head, here’s a quick wish list:

Francisco Rodgriguez to be the closer.
If Omar thinks it can be swung, sign CC Sabathia.
Derek Lowe for the rotation.
Orlando Hudson for 2B.
Pick up Carlos Delgado’s option & trade for a decent LF and move Daniel Murphy to 1B.

Chloroform the rest of the ‘pen. Balance the bench.

Simple, but not easy.

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How ’bout them 4-0 Woilds Champeen New York Football Giants? They should go 6-0 and at worst should be 6-2 after 8 games. That’s bare minimum. The last 10 games are a bear & a half, so they need to get all the wins in they can muster.

GO BIG BLUE!

Whither Jerry Manuel?

On the heels of Omar Minaya’s extension, Jerry is apparently looking for something similar. Rumors abound that he’s being offered a 2-year deal at either $1.5 million (Newsday) or $2 million (The Post). The general consensus is that the sticking point is a 3rd year. Which makes sense, of course.

Just for the helluvit, let’s say that Jerry walks. He can’t live without the security of that 3rd year. Other teams saw the Mets’ turnaround — the engineering of which he can legitimately take some credit for — and dangle offers his way. Where do the Mets go?

Buck Showalter? Too much a control freak. Could be Willie II.

Gary Carter? No MLB experience, pretty much a PR move and the inmates would be running the asylum.

Wally Backman? Baggage, baggage, baggage and a possible PR nightmare. He would be the right guy to kick this squad in the pants, though.

Bobby Valentine? Apparently Bobby V told ESPN Radio this morning that if the Mets called, he’d listen. Intriguing, but I don’t see it happening.

So who blinks?

GO BIG BLUE! Giants/Seattle this Sunday. Can’t hardly wait.

OK, so the blog’s back online, the season is over (SOB!) and I’ve got a couple of minutes to post — which I haven’t had in 2 months.

As far as The Collapse, Part II? I’m shocked. I’m also not surprised. The whole last 2 weeks just felt too much like last year for the finish to go any other way. For all my braying after the last Saturday at Shea, deep in my heart-o-hearts, I had the feeling it wasn’t going to end well.

As for that Saturday…well, Johann the Maginficent was just that. A masterpiece of a 3-hitter had me howling by game’s end. Just a tremendous acquisition and the main reason Omar is just finishing up a presser for his new extension as we speak.

Next day came the crash.

I’m consoling myself this way:

The Mets will win the NL pennant in 2009.

Why? Because the Dodgers won it in 1952.

The Dodgers made one of their (at the time) infequent post-season appearances in 1949. In 1950 they lost a pennant on the last day — to Philly, no less. In 1951, they made some upgrades to the pitching staff and outfield and lost a pennant in even more heartbreaking fashion.

They then won 9 pennants in the next 15 years.

The Mets made one of their infequent post-season appearances in 2006. In 2007 they lost a pennant on the last day — to Philly, no less. In 2008, they made some upgrades to the pitching staff and outfield and lost a pennant in even more heartbreaking fashion…

Hey, whatever I need to tell myself so I can sleep at night.

On to happier matters, we have the Woilds Champeen New York Football Giants! 3-0, rarin’ to go. When they get to the half-way point, the worst they should be is 6-2 — they’ve got a few cupcakes coming up. No Plaxico? Who cares? They have almost as many receivers as the Mets have terrible relief pitchers…

Anyway, I’ll be back on a semi-regular basis throughout the winter and to gear up for The Collapse, Part III.

At the end of last night’s most exciting Mets victory, I saw something I haven’t seen in 20 years: rally caps on the Mets bench!

Johan Santana, Oliver Perez, Argenis Reyes…all were wearing their “gamers” inside out.

I think that says something about this team which we all thought was missing: comeraderie, togetherness, support. Just 3 short months ago, this clubhouse was toxic.

And people still say Willie got a raw deal?