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Mets Stat Nits

A few stats to keep things interesting:

While we talk about a historic collapse last season by the Mets, they were actually 14-14 in Sept/Oct. Sadly the Mets Sept/Oct record has been .500 or below since 2001 a year in which they were below .500 by a large margin for the entire first half. In 2006, their last year of relative dominance they finished the season at .500 in Sept/Oct. but this can be ignored since they held such a strong divisional lead. It should be noted as well that in 2006 the Mets dominated the entire NL East. Going in to today they have posted a 2-7 record versus the Braves which is less than acceptable for a team with divisional championship aspirations.

Moving onward, the Mets win-loss records behind Maine, Perez, and Santana are equivalently 12-10. Pelfrey the sole bright spot to date has brought the team to an impressive 12-8 record. Sadly the Mets have the second worst record in baseball on Mondays(3-8), however they are tid for the leagues best record on Wednesdays(12-4). Perhaps we are a little too hungover from the weekend to get into the gam come Monday? Fortunately, the Mets home win-loss record has finally pushed well north of .500 however the away record is well off of where it was last year, having finished last year at 47-34 on the road the team is currently at 26-29.

Finally, the Mets record in one run games is less than acceptable. At 9-13 they fall way below their divisional rivals(Phillies at 16-18, Marlins at a scary 17-12). Fortunately most of the losses were accounted for on the road with a 2-9 record posted.

Mets have posted a scatterplot of W,L,W,L,W heading into tonight. Let's hope it shapes up!

What's a Sport? Really..?

What's a sport? This topic has come to light in recent years as NASCAR has gained in popularity, Tiger Woods has broken the color, ahem... waste line, barrier in golf, and both poker and competitive eating have come into the spotlight on the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network. The definition of a sport(noun) according to the Merriam Webster dictionary, is a source of diversion/recreation, or a physical activity engaged in for pleasure. I would have to say competitive eating fits the definition quite nicely. As for poker, and other non-sweat inducing games it would appear these should still fill the definition as recreation activities.

Ultimately we have been a little too narrow-minded with our definition of what a sport really is. Along this line it would behoove my fellow American's to welcome a variety of new sports to their TV's and homes. In tough economic times a ticket to a professional lawn bowling event will likely be much more affordable than tickets to a professional football game. Incidentally, I'd like to propose a few other professional sports into American culture:

1. Professional Hacky Sacking: Remember how much fun this used to be? ESPN would love covering young hipsters still endowed with the knack for the sack. I could see it now, tournaments on beach boardwalks, sponsors like Urban Outfitters and Whole Foods, what a glorious spectacle.

2. Duck Duck Goose: I think there should be a weight minimum here, and potentially games should be excluded to really hot places with lots of warm clothes on and really warm places with very few light clothes on.

3. Tic-tac-toe: Ok, so the 9 box game is pretty easy, but maybe have it played with 16 boxes? Or perhaps between chimpanzees, or people from West Virginia?

4. Dominos: In all seriousness, this should be in the big leagues by now.

Do not go gently into the good night

Rage, RAGE against the dying of the light, Mr. Jones. Or weep quietly in a corner while Fernando Rodney grabs your job by the horns. At least you can take solace in the fact that you should have lost your job YEARS ago. Or that you had one to begin with, considering you've had exactly 1 year in the last 6 where you're ERA has been below 3.94.

Since when does Medium mean Medium Rare! Cook it again whore!

I promise it won't happy again hunny bunny!

I would not want to be putting dinner on the table when that guy gets home.  I bruise easily...

Well, it looks like despite how much I attempted to jinx the Mets, those Phillies still decided to fold like a lawn chair giving us sole possession of first place. In fact, we knocked those bitches out of first place so hard Brett Myers is going to charge the Mets licensing fees.

Brett, don't you know imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?

Jayson Stark you coy devil

Jayson Stark, regardless of how nauseating his name is spelled, is actually one of the better writers at the World Wide Leader. However, he recently decided to vomit out a chat saying the Phillies are headed to the NL East crown. We get this little ditty in the middle of his inane rant

"The fashionable choice would be to pick the Mets, but I'm not going to let the last couple of weeks talk me into that."

Yes, that would be patently ridiculous, wouldn't it Jayson? Picking the better team that's been playing better for an extended period of time. Why would it make sense to do that??

Instead, let's take the team that has been playing terribly in the recent months, and just hand them the division. Doesn't the fact that we're playing better than the Phillies now mean we ARE better than the Phillies now? We are tied with them as of start of business on 7/21/08, so all things being equal, why would you pick the team that's playing terrible baseball to beat out the team that's clicking on all cylinders? We've already beat them 7 our of 10 playing at our worst.

Jayson Stark don't worry, I'm not mad...I'm just disappointed.

Jinxes Galore

All right folks, so we might have just jinxed the club with that last post. I don't know, I'm not a doctor. Maybe if we put up a picture of my good friend (we hang out all time at our favorite bar in the city) and huge Met fan Julia Stiles, we'll stop the losing streak at 1. The important thing here is that we learned our lesson and won't let it happen again.

My apologies.

Mets Win 10th Straight, Yankees Don't

That's right, this streak is THAT INTENSE!! Last night, the NY Mets went ahead and won their 10th straight game in a dramatic come-from-behind fashion (That's what she said! Zing!). This has completed an amazing run in which the Mets climbed from underneath the Phillies, knocked them on their ass, and blew their orange and blue load all over their faces. The Phillies have now been sent back to near oblivion as they are now forced to share first place in the NL East. Since we're all about the kids here, let's talk about what we learned from last night's game...

1) The mettle of this team has been drastically underestimated, first and foremost by it's own fans (guilty as charged).

2) Our pitching, which looked really good heading into the all-star break, is probably not that good.

3) Jerry Manuel, if nothing else, will keep statheads and old-timers alike - guessing all year. Is there a rhyme or a reason to ANYTHING that man does? Can we possibly argue with anything while on this streak, without fear of getting shivved? Is someone knocking at the door?

4) It is truly amazing how good Will Ferrell is at baseball.

And I thought it was just a metaphor...

I think this might be the most literal interpretation of the views of the American public I've ever seen. If any others come to mind, please dish.

Baby does what everyone has already been doing for years

Josh Hamilton: Quitter

I think we can all agree on the first thing we all can take from last night's 2008 MLB Home Run Derby. Taking lots of heroine can - eventually - make you a fantastic baseball player. As Josh Hamilton proved, it increases arm strength, and can even help you hit a ball out of Yankee Stadium. With one out in the first round, he destroyed the record (we think) for home runs in a MLB home run derby by an ex-heroine addict with one. Later in the round, he expanded the record for home runs in a single round to include addicts of all varieties, including flaxseed oil, vitamin B12 et al.

However, the sad and sobering realization is that Josh Hamilton has shown us over and over again that he is a quitter. His true colors finally showed when the finals rolled around and, similar to when he was lying in a crack house half dead, he quit on us. It was a monumental choke job, and was only made more ironic by doing this in a building that is quitting after this year as well. The lesson to the kids - quitters never win.