As If It Matters

Many thanks to my brother, Pete, for covering the Mets post-season on this blog. His writing is excellent. If you missed his posts, you should catch them in the Mets archive, as they are amazin’. Of course, if you’re not a Mets fan… read them anyway. You should be a Mets fan. Fellow Mets fan Sona and I had conspired to procure Mets World Series tickets. Last night she sent me the photo of the ticket, and said “If we can’t enjoy the game, at least we can hold onto the dream…” There will always be next year.

p.s. I’ve added the author to the post template, so now you know who wrote what!

it’ll be OK folks. This is how it goes, this glorious game of baseball. Dust off your pants, give your loved ones a hug and start dreaming about next year.

It was a sloppy series on both sides, but it was still fun to watch and the fun part is what you should focus on. Cause there will always be more fun. More fun in November and December, doing normal things. And then a whole bunch of more fun come the spring.

So lets shake this one off, get back to our lives, and watch Detroit stomp all over those bastards. Detroit in 4.

Watch the faces of the Cardinals- do you know what they’re feelin’? It ain’t a good oomph!

In 14 hours we’ll know. We will know if these Mets, The Mets, OUR Mets were granted some devine mandate to repay some of those heart wrenching seasons.
So don’t just make this some ordinary day! You gotta feel it in your omph if you want these guys to win. I feel it. You feel it?

Lets GO METS

What did I tell you! It’s sweeter tonight, isn’t it? Lets see hwo sweet it can be tomorrow!

I think it’s the complete and totally lack of good sleep, but I am giddy! I am bouncy as bumblebee. I feel like shouting “We’re Suck! We’re the worst team in baseball, but right now, We’re the best!” My apologies to Trippi if I messed that up but come on! We have lost a few ugly games in this series. Reallyy ugly. And a few we did win have been a little ugly too.

But lets not be negative! It was a glorious game! Maine grew up a lot tonight (never mind that he was dipping…. I can only guess Cherry Skoal). And we had important hits from guys who needed to get them! Green got a solid RBI, Reyes was amazing and LoDuca was a big part of this win. Lets just hope that this one recharged the Mets’ boyish zeal.

Come on my friends! We can do this! Sure our pitching isn’t great (Billy Wagner, you owe me a new pair of shorts), but we can do this! We suck! But right now, and all of next week, We are the best team in baseball! I believe it.

Lets Go METS!

I’m sorry for the inside jokes and brevity of this post, but I’m zonked. You shouldn’t have to get up for work after all these night playoff games. Next year… Yeah NEXT year, when we do this all again, I’m taking October off. Lets Go Mets!

Hi- I’m Nicco’s brother, who has been invited to guest blog about baseball. I should probably spend the extra 2 seconds to just copy and paste Nicco’s standard intro here, but I’m hopeing that by shaking things up a bit the Mets can rally in the 9th inning. – little brother

If you are like me, somewhere in the 7th inning you thought about not going to work tomorrow. You said to yourself, I just don’t see how I can get thru the day. There is no point in moving these weary bones if the Mets, our METS, loose game 5 to the Cards you said to yourself. But then you realize, that that hurt will still be there after a day wasted. That hurt will only grow if you allow yourself to nurture it.

This is where your BELIEVE comes into play. Yes, it is awful to see Los Mets flounder. It’s awful to see Tommy Glavine not look like the man of steel he was in previous games. But that’s how it’s gonna be sometimes. The Mets will loose games. The Mets will loose games they shouldn’t. But you can’t despair, you can’t call for Duncan to be tested for illegal substances, you can’t curse that ever mobile strike zone. Yes, it is Fan nature to do these things, but despairing and looking for scapegoats and loopholes, isn’t worth it.

If the Mets cruised over the Cards, I daresay we would all take one step closer to that dreaded wasteland of Yankee Fandom. We would feel like our team was entitled to the succor that we didn’t earn. We have to endure the hardships and losses because without them, we aren’t fans. I look at my daughter almost every day and just know she is gonna really get my goat when she’s older. I’m sure we’re gonna have a hell of a time when she’s older, arguing about this and that. But it makes her adorable moments now (and the ones to come) just that much sweeter, because I know I can love her thru the harder times.

So come on Mets fans! Shoulder your responsibility and relish your team! Yes, Shawn Green “the power hitter” can’t get a fly ball (I mean hit one or catch one), Yes our team can hit 12 runs in one game and 0 and 2 in the games before and after. That’s part of who we are. So come along and enjoy it! At worst, the Mets don’t make it to the world series, you have missed a few good TV shows and seen some dumb Verizon and Berger King ads too often. At the best, our Mets pull this off in 7, and you can say, I’ve always loved them, and I’ve always believed!

Ps. Is it just me or does being a Mets fan sound a little like being a Puritan…. Yes yes relish the pain now for the rewards will come another time… unless you go to hell. My apologies, I’m reading a book set in early Boston and it’s tainting my life.

this has been comedy with a porpoise.

I asked my brother, Pete Mele, to provide Mets post-season commentary on Nicco.org. Enjoy! – NM

Congratulations! We believed! We prayed! We hoped for Oliver Perez and we came thru! But it wasn’t that exciting. When you’re up by 7 runs, you don’t sweat a Jim Edmonds home run. I admit for the first time in a week, I was able to carry a conversation with my wife during the 6th inning. And what she said was spot on. As Delgado came up for the 3rd or 4th time, she said, “I love it when you can see boyhood excitement in an adult face.” And I think thats such a perfect summary of the Mets at their best.

Obviously Wright and Reyes are more or less still boys and you can see that in their pro jerseys, they are really just 2 steps from 7 year olds living out a fantasy. But Delgado, a 14 year veteran, still has that fire. He’s come thru some good years, a few bad years, a few bad managers, a press smear scandal, and while he’s grissled when it comes to the ins and outs of this wonderful diversion, he can still apreciate the ‘game’ on the diamond. His ‘omph’ is all smiles. And I love watching him play. Here’s to 2 more wins and a trip to the World Series! Lets Go METS! Lets Keep Believing!

I am slightly worried about the future. Tomorrow will be a hard game. Lets hope our boys in blue and orange will keep the pep in their steps and the smile in their eyes. I’m worried about fatigue and stress on our only tried and true starter. And then we still have a game 6 if not 7 to worry about. And while we’re busting our humps against the cards, the Tigers are wiping champaign out of their eyes and dusting off their ring fingers.

And it doesn’t help that the Fox sports network is patently anti-Met. Joe Buck is a longtime Cards broadcaster and Tim Carver? Oh right, he was the Cards’ catcher for 10 years. So that’s a “fair and balanced” look at the Metropolitans. Did anyone notice that when they did the “This Day In History”m the clip of the Mets clinching the NLCS in 86 was actually a clip of the Astros hitting a off the foul poul into fair territory, then a smash cut the the Mets pitcher, Jesse Orasco pumping his fist. Right. Couldn’t of shown Strawberry knocking his double….

I heard Willie Randolph talking on the Radio today, and while i thought he didn’t have enough BELIEVE in this voice, I do like the way he closed the interview. He said, We’ve got 9. LEts go out and get ’em. Well right now we’ve actually got 3 games. Lets go out there and get them. Lets get them good. Lets Go Mets!

I asked my brother, Pete Mele, to provide Mets post-season commentary on Nicco.org. Enjoy! – NM

A hard game to watch tonight. Trachsel combusted, and while Oliver was good, the rest of the Mets gave up. I feel a little guilty. If only I had believed harder we might have done better. I’m hopeing for a 9th inning miracle,but this is the Mets. Then again, It’s the METS. So keep on keeping on.

I will take a moment to be critical of Willie Randolph. In compiling this post season roster he didn’t include Millidge, Bannister or Pelfry. but he did include Perez, Mota and Anderson HErnandez. Thats right. Three 2nd basemen and only 4 starters. Thats 4 starters including… Oliver Perez. If that doesn’ give you the shakes I don’t know what will. Happy Holloween! Oliver Perez is starting Game 4…. It’s a perverse trick-or-treat, and unless we all start believing real hard, it’s gonna be a nasty trick.

The mets have put some great Talent together, but it looks like we relied on the Yankee’s pitching plan (hopeing Old horses can reclaim former glory) and it might be our fatal error. I would have tried to capitalize on the enthusiasm of Wright and Reyes and keep the younger pitchign staff on the post season roster.

On the other hand, now the Mets are the underdogs, and we can really thrive in that position. Part of my love affair with baseball is that even though there is this overwhelmign statistical side to the game, there is also so much of it that just depends on feel, on the “omph” in the bottom in your gut. Tonight Steve Trachsel tried to fight his gut, and it back fired on him. He went to far into numbers and ignored himself and the rest of the Mets, becuase of fatigue or nerves or the cold, just couldn’t over come it.

Tomorrow though. Tomorrow I return to my Aunt’s apartment for pre-game festivities. Then we’ll see who has the omph. Here we come! Lets Go METS.

I asked my brother, Pete Mele, to provide Mets post-season commentary on Nicco.org. Enjoy! – NM

I didn’t get to watch all of this game because I had to put my daughter to bed, and she didn’t go down easy. But I went to put her to bed confident after the 1st inning that a 3 run lead would last a while. It didn’t. I came back in the 5th inning (she really was cranky) and was tense up until our 2nd Carlos came to the plate and got a ball to catch the wind. And then a little tense again as Spezio found a ball that could ride the wind, right to the side of Green’s glove.

This does give me quite a bit of hope though. Carpenter is a pitcher I have always respected and for our Mets to take him for the ride that they did, definitely shows we have what it takes to stand our own against the Tigers. Or you know… the A’s. no really. Don’t laugh. They might do it.

I’m filled with some random statistics tonight: Carpenter has won his last 4 postseason starts. The Mets have won their last 9 of 10 post season home games. So it was a game where someone was going to disappoint. Some one was going to come up short. This is really the best part of being a Mets fan. Why? Well, it’s very similar to Nick Hornby’s conclusions on love in High Fidelity. They way I see it, you’ve got the Fantasy Teams. The teams who are always supposed to win. To Win BIG. The 2001 Seattle Mariners. The Braves of the last 14 years. The Yankees for the last 20 years. These teams can only disappoint you. They either meet your expectations or they fall terribly short. These are the movie stars and musicians you fantasize about. But they aren’t real. You never enter an understanding and fully aware relationship with them, becuase if A-Rod doesn’t go 4-4, you are pissed. You get up close and personal with Bono, but he’s got acne. And probably bad breath.
Then there are the teams that you know are gonna loose. The Brewers. The Pirates. Sure, somebody has to love them, but that’s kinda like the couples that get married, cause well you know it was the right thing to do. Yeah. I live in Milwaukee, and I don’t drink a bunch so I might as well spend my summers rooting for the Brewers. (My favorite Brewers moment? The movie Mr. 3000, where the teams big feel good finish is ending the season in 3rd place in their division. That really tells it all. When the industry that bends the laws of plausibility left and right says, hey now… 2nd place for the Brewers? Lets not stretch them too far.)

And (back on point) most importantly you have the middle level teams. The Mets have often had the potential to go far, and yet as Mets fans, we know they will do some classic Mets move. Loose 10 games in a row or bench Floyd right when he’s setting a hitting record (last May anyone?). Every really intense Met fans knows that the Mets have the drive to win big, but every Met fan also knows that at any moment, Benny Agbayani could toss a fly ball into the stands, even if it was only the 2nd out. It gives these games so much more. It makes giving up a triple to Scott Spezio a little easier to bear (Green… Seriously.. it went off your glove. Come on.) And the winning is that much sweeter because, as we all know Glavine could have easily give up 3 runs, Maine could have walk in a few, and Delgado could have swung way over the ball. But they didn’t and we love them for it. And most of all, we believe! Lets go Mets. Tied game in the 8th. Not to be an advert, but I Live For This.

I asked my brother, Pete Mele, to provide Mets post-season commentary on Nicco.org. Enjoy! – NM

Not sure I agree with starting Cliff Floyd. Don’t get me wrong, I love the man, and if he’s not back next year, I will miss him (especially if he’s replaced by a certain Washington National), but I was at game 2 of the NLDS, and in the 5th inning I turned to my brother next to me and said, he doesn’t look too good. He was hobbling into the dugout after an inning. They needed to keep Floyd in reserve for when they really need that big hit. Seeing him turn 1st base after his foul ball in the second inning, I think many of us Sofa Coaches questioned Willie Randolph.

7 shut out innings for our boy Tommy! Looking good. As I heard him say, he’s gonna try to make Albert hit his pitches, not Albert’s pitches. And that’s how the at bats went!

What was the biggest double take I did during the game? That was Bob Dylan with the theme song from the movie ‘Wonder Boys’ “Things Have Changed”, playing during the 1st inning when they did a montage of Glavine’s career. “Things Have Changed” happens to be THE song that has been running thru my head for the last 2 weeks. Amazing. Just like our Mets.

Oh man. I must admit that at about the halfway point of game 1, I was getting nervous about the health of this team. But I BELIEVE. You Gotta Believe! So come on everyone, clap your hands, and say you believe! We are going all the way!

OK another side step here, but I remember the 88, 89 and 90 world series and I have got to say, Tony LaRussa looks if anything, younger now then he did then. What is his secret? Does he have Maguires’ cast off pills? Is it a sinister X Files plot where he eats under performing minor leaguers? That Sharon Stone cream from Catwoman? I don’t know. But I think it’s probably tied up in the dark arts. On the subject of Tony LaRussa…. If the Cards could have made it to the WS (you know, if the Mets decided to take October off) and the A’s could have made it, would it be the first time a two teams made it to the WS that had been skippered by the same man?

My brother has pointed out to me how AWESOME MLB’s enhanced GameDay is. That being said next year they’ll probably try and charge for it. The bastards.

Willie left Glavine in for the top of the 7th. This might go down as his fatal error. Not because of what Glavine did tonight, but rather what he will have to do in Game 5. He got the 3 outs without any danger, But he’s now been pushed a little too far. We will see in Game 5. No wait! I Believe! WE WILL NOT NEED GAME 5! Lets Go Mets!

All in all I had a fantastic time. This is baseball at it’s best, the teams are evenly matched, but you know in your heart that the good team, your team, our team Has to win. And with a slice of family fun on the side, it was the best way to spend a Thursday night.