Game 27 - Mets

Cardinals 13, Mets 4
Record: 11-16

Well, I was already typing bits about déjà vu from last night when Vance Wilson hit a home run with two gone in the 9th that did nothing but spoil a hundred obnoxious headlines. Two batters prior, Mo Vaughn had enabled the quips to begin when he hit a monstrous 466-foot bomb into the upper deck. To their credit, the Cardinals fans gave him a standing ovation. Of course, courtesy is a smidgen easier when the victory is already in hand, but I feel sure he got more applause in Busch Stadium than he would have received in Shea, at least the non-sarcastic kind.

As predicted in this column, our Pedro was no match for Woody Williams. While the Wood-man threw what should have been seven shutout innings (save for J.D. Drew's Met-like outfield play), Astacio gave up four taters and nine runs in four innings and gave away most of the game before it really got going. When you surrender a solo shot, a 2-run shot, and a 3-run shot in the first 10 batters you face, you ruin it for the rest of the guys on the team -- and even moreso for me sitting at home! I get settled in for an evening of baseball watching (upwards of 10 games on the DirecTV slate) and 15 minutes in I know the one game I want to follow most closely is done. It vaguely reminded me of when my associate Mr. Russell hunkered down with a bottle of rum intending to watch a Sox-A's playoff game, made himself an unwise, alcohol-related wager, and was dragged to the shower room and left for dead by the 4th inning. At least in his case he didn't have to witness the eventual dismantling of his team that day.

At least I got to watch one interesting game, coincidentally the Red Sox game. The Sox were handed a gift of a win from Kansas City tonight. The Royals first allowed the tying run to score in the 8th on a wild pitch (after Albie Lopez shook off Brent Mayne four times -- nice head, Albie), then scored twice in the 9th and gave it right back when they hit three, count them, three Sox batters in the bottom of the ninth. That and a couple of hits tied it, but it took a booted grounder to score Manny Ramirez with the winner. I know a little team from Queens that could really use such generous gestures from their opponents, but I suppose luck is something you create sometimes. The Mets would have swung through those 3 HBP's and never given themselves a chance.

Game 26 - Mets

St. Louis Cardinals 13, Mets 3
Record: 11-15

I managed to get home from another softball outing in time to see the Mets, down 5-2, give up eight more runs in the last few innings. They managed to give up more runs -- all of them earned, despite two more errors -- in this one game than our softball team did in two games. Jaime Cerda faced six batters in relief, retiring one, and helped put it out of reach. Watching him walk in a run was reminiscent of the bloodbath Mike Bacsik was a part of Opening Day. Art Howe left him to the wolves that day, and Bacsik is now throwing in my hometown (poorly, at that). I wouldn't be surprised to see Jaime Cerda headed to Norfolk very soon. Speaking of the Tides, is it okay if we change the theme of this site to the Norfolk Tides vs. the Pawtucket Red Sox? Currently the Tides are 14-9 while the PawSox are 13-9. And the Yankees' Columbus Clippers are in the league cellar.

The Mets are now 5 games out of 1st place. The Cardinals, who looked so shabby against the Braves last week, are now getting healthy on this team. And unless the Pedro Astacio vs. Woody Williams matchup tonight isn't the mismatch I'm expecting, it looks like the Mets will finish the first month the same way they started it.

Game 26 - Red Sox

Red Sox 7, Kansas City Royals 2
Record: 17-9

The baseball season has begun to settle into a comfortable rhythm, after the hype of Opening Day and the burst of excitement that comes with the beginning of every season. There are a lot of games that just slip by quietly, like leaves on a fast-moving stream, and don't leave much mark on my consciousness. This game was like that. Sox overcame a 2-0 deficit, created in part by Trot Nixon's wild flailing that turned a routing single into an inside-the-park homer by Carlos Beltran. The offense, led by Nomar, kept churning, scoring 3 times in the 5th and 8th innings to back Tim Wakefield. All in all a nice, tidy, quick victory - coupled nicely with Roger Clemens getting pounded by the Mariners.

Mets 25-Game Checkup - Awful Early But It's Awful Early

Here's a question to pair with the one in the equivalent section of the Sox Checkup -- why does it feel like the Mets should be more than 5 games back of the Red Sox? Granted, 5 games back after 25 games doesn't bode well statistically for my bet (at this rate, the Mets will finish 32.5 games behind Boston, and I will finish many beers behind my friend), but for all of the debacles this short season has had in store for the Mets, it just seems like it should be worse. I think when this team has been good, has looked decent, but when it has been bad, it has looked very, very, very, very bad. In the win-loss column, those circus-act losses (yesterday's disaster, the Benitez blow-ups, that nine-inning collective of stank known as Opening Day) count no more than the ho-hum wins. Does that same math apply in the team morale department? Three wins in a row, 7 wins out of 10, and there was little fanfare; two horrid outings in one day and there are a thousand derogatory articles that aren't worth the paper they're written on (especially the online ones). The New York media has always fallen into this pattern, and players at least acknowledge in theory that this is to be expected, comes with the territory, yadda yadda yadda. But the effect may be just as draining in Queens as it is in Boston.

Ultimately, though, it's on the players to get it in gear, and the thing is, even if you're piecing together a win here and there to go with some miserable defeats, if you look bad doing it, you aren't going to instill any faith or confidence that you'll be able to string anything together in the long term. And bleak outlooks make for bad copy. Here goes what I anticipate to be a lopsided checkup:

The Good

1. This team can win. Tom Glavine and Al Leiter can be a strong 1-2 punch. Armando Benitez can close out games and be dominant. The offense, while stagnant for much of this year, has shown a few flashes, and if they could just time them better they'd notch more victories. I know a "they can win" seems pretty basic, but the truth is that some teams in this league actually cannot win on a regular basis. And even though the Mets have looked bad, they still have enough talent hiding in there somewhere that it frustrates you. And in April, frustration beats hopelessness by a mile.

2. They are proving to be a likeable group despite the obvious obstacles in the way of that trend. There are no Cal Ripkens on this team, but they seem to be a group of pretty good guys, with enough Leiters, Piazzas, and Glavines to lead them in the right direction. Art Howe seems like a guy they want to play for, and scrappy young guys like Ty Wigginton are a welcome sight. Given that even fan favorites like Boomer Wells and Nomar are losing a little image, and especially given who the Mets rosters of a handful of years ago included (Rickey, Bobby Bo, et al), we'll take these guys. Too bad we lost Fonzie; Franco needs to come back fast.

3. The Detroit Tigers. They are the poster children for the aforementioned teams that cannot win, as evidenced by our implementation of the Tigers Watch:

Current Record: 3-20
Winning Percentage: .130
Projected Wins: 21
Odds of Finishing Worse Than the '62 Mets: 40/60

Batting Avg: .179 Opponents: .280
Runs/game: 2.3 Opponents: 5
Total Bases: 187 Total Strikeouts: 163
Team HR's: 10 MLB Leader: 10 (Jeff Bagwell)

With Detroit setting new lows in losing and inept hitting, the Mets can't feel all that bad. That could be a bad thing. The Mets are only hitting .229 themselves. Thank goodness for the Tigers.

The Bad

1. The lack of offense is killing me. When they do hit, they leave men on. They don't steal bases. They don't advance runners, they don't hit with two outs, they don't scratch out runs. What do they do? Strike out. A lot. 190 times thus far, well more than those same lowly Detroit Tigers. Swinging, looking, looking like they're swinging. Guessing fastball, guessing curveball, guessing they'll just take a seat in the dugout. They swing at balls in the dirt, balls over their head, and ball four all the time. K's are killer, and this team racks them up like no other.

2. The defense has been shaky at best. They punt, kick, and pass balls all over the infield. Mike Piazza, God love him, tries to throw out basestealers and throws the ball into centerfield or the pitcher's mound 75% of the time. The outfield has the legs of aging veterans and the instincts of rookies. Giving away runs is not something this offense can afford.

3. Armando Benitez is simply going to cost the team wins. Flat out. The statistics lie, the New York fans do not. Most of us cannot endure the call to the pen that brings him in, and we don't need any more angst.

4. The division is all playing too well. The Expos and Marlins continue to play over their heads while the Phils look like a team that hasn't yet hit its stride. The Braves are starting to look annoying solid. What happened to remaining in playoff contention merely by virtue of the intra-division schedule?

The Ugly

The thing that just gets to you upon watching inning after inning is the enormous lack of fundamentals on this team. Bad fielding, impatient hitting, the inability to bunt a guy over or turn the double play when it matters most -- these are things to iron out in spring training. And yet we're here, staring in disbelief at a team sorely missing some basic principles.

In a nutshell, offense terrible, pitching okay, chemistry okay, media the same old bad. Not much of an assessment, but here's the silver lining. It's still technically only April, they've won some games I didn't expect them to, and there is still hope for the NL East to crumble. Turn things around a little and those 83 wins aren't all that out of reach. And hey, the Mets have two pitchers with more wins than Pedro Martinez!

Red Sox 25-Game Checkup - The Curse of Great Expectations

We arrive at the 25-game mark with the Sox cruising along at a sparkling 16-9 clip, one game clear in the Wild Card race, 4 games behind the best start in Yankees' history. So why does it feel like they haven't played particularly well? I submit that the Nation expected this team to be very good, and every game that is lost to a Tampa Bay or a Baltimore, or even a Texas feels like a kick in the teeth, while every win - even against the defending World Series champ - is what should happen, so no big deal. That, and the media has spent the first month of the season blasting away at all manner of contrived failings - from pitching to politics to contract squabbles - which has resulted in perception far distant from reality.

Here goes, then - one man's opinion on the season to date:

The Good

1. The offense is really, really good, and several big-time players haven't even hit their stride yet. The Sox are second in the AL in runs scored, averaging nearly 6 per game, and third in the league in OPS, behind only the Yankees and the surprising Royals. They've done this despite Nomar batting .252 with only 13 RBI, Johnny Damon struggling in the low .240s, and Manny only hitting 4 HR and driving in a respectable but not Manny-esque 18. David Ortiz and Jeremy Giambi - brought on board for offense - are hitting .204 and .125 respectively (though Giambi does have an OBP over .300 because he's walked a bunch).

Shea Hillenbrand leads the AL in RBI with 25. Kevin Millar, though cool over the last week, knocked the cover off the ball in the season's first 15 games, and is still batting .299 with 5 HR and 17 RBI. Trot Nixon's been on base a ton, Todd Walker and Bill Mueller have delivered timely hits, and even Damian Jackson has pitched in with four stolen bases in limited action. The Sox will hit with anyone this year and promise to score even more runs as Nomar and Manny pick up the pace in the middle of the order.

2. Pedro es muy macho. Or, better said, Pedro is Pedro. Setting aside for the moment one awful outing against Baltimore, Pedro is 2-0 with a 0.74 ERA. He's given up three earned runs in 36 innings. Even with the Baltimore outing, he's 2-1, 2.90. With just a teensy bit of bullpen support, he'd be 4-1. The Sox have a better than 80% chance to win every time he pitches, which is a comforting feeling.

3. Casey Fossum has shown enough to create cautious optimism. The young left-hander upon whom the Sox placed a great deal of pressure - intentional or not - has a 2-1, 3.94 mark, with 27 strikeouts in 29 2/3 innings. He went 7 shutout innings in his last start, against the scrappy, disciplined Angels. If he continues to progress, the Sox could have a dominant rotation (of course, assuming Mr. Lowe wakes up from his coma - see below).

4. Not to be overly sentimental, but this team's chemistry is worth noting. This team will face distractions from the media all season, and will be under a lot of pressure from an expectant fan base. I am a strong believer in the value of team chemistry, and think that lesser teams can achieve great things if they are focused and believe in one another. Look no further than last year's Angels or the 2001-2002 New England Patriots for evidence.

Watching the game last night, the Sox looked loose (when Millar crashed into Varitek on a foul popup, the catcher pantomimed a handshake to say, "Hi. I'm Jason. Nice to meet you.", and the two laughed heartily. Nomar and Shea, and Damon and Manny were caught on camera laughing easily with each other more than once. Several players gave Manny bear hugs after his first-inning homer, and several players also hugged Pedro after he was lifted from the game (David Ortiz' hug, frankly, was a little too lingering for my taste).

There's a fine line between cameraderie and lack of seriousness, and today's easy laughter may be seen as tomorrow's lack of caring, but I believe that the Sox are a close, focused team that will deal well with pressure. It's interesting that Nomar was in the middle of most of the hugs, because he's been panned by the media for lacking leadership skills. He may not be a rah-rah guy, but I like him as the tactiturn, actions-speak-for-me, judge-me-on-the-field-not-in-the-press-room, leader of this team.

The Bad

1. As much as I hate it, you can't talk about the Sox season without mentioning the bullpen. I'm on the record as supporting the idea of using your best arms when you need outs, and not saving any one guy for specific 9th inning closer duties. And, to be fair, the Sox have only lost one game because the bullpen blew a save (they've had lots of wins after the bullpen blew up, so they've been lucky). However, at some point, the psychological impact of poor bullpen performance has to wear the team down. Starting pitchers will feel more pressure if they don't trust the bullpen; the offense will press harder to score; and fielders will take chances they might not otherwise if they have no faith in the relief corps. The cumulative effect of a 5.95 ERA and numerous shaky outings has to be a negative.

I'm not ready to throw in the towel and advocate a more "traditional" approach with set roles, but the bullpen simply must pitch better or the Sox' chances will be diminished. Alan Embree comes back soon, and Robert Person gets out of extended spring training soon, as well, so all the arms will be in place. Now, they need to get the team's trust back.

2. D-Lowe D-Blows. Derek Lowe was 21-8, 2.58 in 2002. He threw a no-hitter against Tampa Bay, and averaged 6.9 innings per start. After 5 starts in 2003, the lanky (and flaky) righthander is 3-2, 6.04 and averaging just over 5 innings per start. He was shellacked by Texas in his last outing, and has seemed distracted all season. He, more than any other Sox player, has been outspoken about the Great Bullpen Experiment, and, if history is any guide, he is a very sensitive, easily flustered athlete. The bullpen issue may be impacting him in exactly the manner described above. Whatever the issue with our Derek, he needs to right the ship. When he's on, the Sox have the league's best 1-2 starters. When he's off, the Sox get a whole lot more vulnerable.

3. The Yankees are on freaking fire. New York is 20-5, the best start in the history of their storied franchise. Their starting pitchers finally lost their first decision yesterday. They are averaging 6.8 runs a game, and allowing 3.5 (Good Lord). They've done all of this without Derek Jeter or Mariano Rivera. All of which shouldn't be an issue, because it's a looong season, and they have a very old starting rotation and some serious question marks in the bullpen. I raise this point, though, because the pinstriped shadow looms large over everything the Sox do. Realistically, all the Sox need to do is make the playoffs, but they will be compared to the Yankees regardless of what happens, so New York's blistering start paints the Sox pretty good start in an unflattering light.

The Ugly

1. The media makes it less and less fun for me to follow the Sox, so I can't imagine how it feels to be a player. Look at the first two paragraph's of Bob Hohler's game story this morning. Totally gratuitous shots at Pedro and the bullpen, reflexive and knee-jerk, and without any redeeming qualities. This will be more and more of a story as the season wears on.

In a nutshell, offense good, pitching bad, chemistry good, media really bad. Fix the pitching, continue to hit, ignore the media and 100 wins are within reasonable expectations.

Games 21 through 25 - Mets

Mets 4, Astros 2
Mets 7, Astros 4
Mets 4, Arizona Diamondbacks 3
Diamondbacks 6, Mets 1
Diamondbacks 7, Mets 3
Record: 11-14

For the first time this season, I went a few games without closely following the results of my beloved Mets. New Orleans will do that to you. And just when I thought I might be a jinx after they'd rattled off a few wins without me, they had a Sunday afternoon like yesterday's. Yikes. A doubleheader swept by the D-backs during which the Mets scored just 4 runs but committed 8 errors while striking out 27 times.

Although I am overdue for comment, I will leave it at that. The Crescent City does nothing to spark thoughts of baseball (some might argue it dulls thoughts of all kinds). The AAA Zephyrs are baseball down there. I caught snippets of the NBA & NHL playoffs plus the NFL draft on televisions perched over various bars, but the only baseball I saw was a half-inning of the Red Sox' 16-5 drubbing, which Mr. Russell is only too happy to have me bring up again. And the sad bottom line is that when your team is stuck in last place and embarrassing themselves on a semi-regular basis, a brief respite from the day-to-day angst is a vacation indeed. Now I'm back to following the ups, downs, and way-downs of this ballclub. And speaking of up, I will try to look for positives throughout this potentially miserable season. Here is today's: no other 5th place team has as many wins as the Mets right now. [Yippee.]

Games 23, 24, and 25 - Red Sox

Red Sox 5, Anaheim Angels 2
Angels 3, Red Sox 1
Red Sox 6, Angels 4 (14)
Record: 16-9

Pedro's gonna be maaaad. Last night, the Sox ace left the game after 7 strong innings with a 4-2 lead. Two innings later, Brandon Lyon and Chad Fox had messed themselves, and the Sox were lucky to be headed for extra innings. David Ortiz and Jason Varitek hit back-to-back homers in the top of the 14th, and Jason Shiell - in only his second major league outing - shook off a basehit by Benji Gil to record his first major league save.

I watched the first 11 innings of this one before the sandman snuck up on me and dropped me where I sat. I woke up just in time to see the double play that ended that game, which enabled me to go to bed happy. The difference between watching Pedro pitch and suffering through bullpen-thrown innings is immense. I fully expect Pedro to strike out every batter, and I'm surprised any time the opponent gets a hit. Conversely, I fully expect every pitch thrown by any member of the bullpen to get hit out of the park. With Pedro on the hill and a 4-2 lead, I was sure the Sox would win. With Lyon and Fox on the hill and a 4-2 (and then 4-3) lead, I was sure that the Angels would win.

This then, may be the central issue with the Great Bullpen Experiment: while it is extremely logical and sensical in theory, the psychological impact on the team and the pitchers involved may make it impossible in practice. The Crappy Pitcher Corollary states that while logical and sensical in theory, the Sox' main problem is that the lack of talent in the bullpen makes practical execution impossible. If I'm Pedro today, I don't care which it is, but I know that I should damn well be 4-1 right now, instead of 2-1.

----

The Sox got great pitching in the first two games of the series, with Casey Fossum going 7 shutout innings to record the win in the first game, and John Burkett losing despite a complete game effort in the second. Outings like that from the 4 and 5 starters are a highly positive omen.

Nomar had been mired in the longest hitless streak of his career - 0 for 19 - before rapping two singles in last night's game. The fickle fandom is calling for his head, but I'm taking deep breaths and repeating, "It's only April. It's only April." over and over. Hell, Shea Hillenbrand leads the AL in RBI, and Johnny Damon has as many homers as Manny Ramirez. Remain calm.

Game 22 - Red Sox

Rangers 16, Red Sox 5
Record: 14-8

I'm getting carpal tunnel syndrome as I toggle furiously between cbs.sportsline.com and the Sons of Sam Horn (SOSH) Game Thread trying to both "watch" the game and see the interaction between Sox fans in the SOSH community. Sox just squandered a golden opportunity, scoring only once after having the bases loaded with no outs, but taking a 4-3 lead in the top of the 3rd.

SOSH is an addictive, elitist, and wildly entertaining Red Sox forum. The denizens are among the most passionate Sox fans I've ever encountered, and they run from brilliant sabermetricians to grizzled old-school baseball fans. The debate on the forum is better than any sports site I've ever encountered, and the participants do not suffer fools gladly - including and especially those in the media. My view of sportswriters and broadcasters has been drastically altered for the worse since I discovered SOSH some 2 years ago. Sports journalists pander to the lowest common denominator, and rare is the exception who passes on the easy target to lend some clarity and thoughtfulness to the subject matter. I read them uncritically until SOSH, where I found a group of people who didn't let sloppy research and biased reporting slide.

Lowe just loaded the bases with nobody out on two walks and a single. Sweet. He's having another terrific outing. And...there's a triple by Carl Everett. Neat. 6-4 Rangers, bottom of the 3rd.

Ugh. 7 runs for the Rangers in the bottom of the 3rd. 10-4 Texas after 3. Why do I bother? I'm going to go stick a fork into my scrotum - it's sure to be more enjoyable than this.

The scrotum forking, as it turns out, was more enjoyable. Texas scored 6 more in the 4th and wound up pasting the Sox. These sorts of games happen all the time, even to good teams, so I'm not really all that concerned about this particular game. I am a bit miffed that they lost two of three to a mediocre Texas team, and that the pitching continues to struggle mightily.

Back on the topic of the media, today brings news that the tension between the Sox and the Boston scribes is so heightened that Nomar went to Grady to discuss it. The Sox have since told the press that they will only answer baseball-related questions. To which Tony Massarotti of the Boston Herald responded - in print:

"Growing more distracted and distrustful than ever before, the Red Sox called a team meeting prior to yesterday's game at The Ballpark in Arlington. During that session, the Sox decided they would heretofore engage reporters only on the topic of baseball.

Given those parameters, here is our first baseball question:

Why, fellas, did you go out and play the game today as if you had your heads rammed up your butts?"

How can the Sox read that crap and possibly believe that the Boston media isn't out to make them look bad? The Boston media seems to work very hard to make themselves part of the story, which simply contradicts the most basic tenet of journalism. It's bad enough that they write crap like this, but when it begins to impact the Sox' concentration and performance, team management should step in and aggressively defend the players.

Game 21 - Red Sox

Rangers 6, Red Sox 1
Record: 14-7

Every team seems to have games like this one (well, every team but the 2003 Yankees). Can't get anything going, give up a few runs here and a few there, and by the end find themselves on the wrong end of the score. Sort of a blah game - I can't muster up any righteous indignance this early in the season. Get 'em next time.

Which brings me to today's game, which is going on at this very moment - live via the magic of the internet. It's highly unlikely that I'll get any work done this afternoon. Currently, it's 1-0 Sox, but the Rangers have two runners on with one out in the bottom of the first. I'll keep you posted.

Game 20 - Red Sox

Red Sox 5, Texas Rangers 4
Record: 14-6

A bit of a heartstopper, this one. Glad I missed the whole thing while playing softball with the venerable 3 Angry Men and 10 Married Guys franchise in the Vienna Men's Softball Association. Pedro staked the team to a 5-1 lead, pitching seven innings of two-hit, no earned-run ball, despite walking a career-high six batters. Mike Timlin then self-immolated, giving up three earned runs in 2/3 of an inning to make the score 5-4 in the 8th. Chad Fox came in, somehow got out of the 8th despite walking the first two batters he faced, then faced Rafael Palmeiro with two outs and one on in the bottom of the 9th.

Right about this time, I walked into my living room and turned on the TV to see Palmeiro golf a low slider on the same sickening arc that Tampa's Carl Crawford golfed Fox's offering in the Game 1 loss. Luckily, Raffy didn't get enough of the ball, and it settled into Trot Nixon's glove on the warning track to end the game. Phew. Pedro might've suffered an aneurysm if the bullpen had blown another one for him.

Meanwhile, in Anaheim, the Yankees pasted another supposed contender, dropping the Angels by an 8-3 count. I'm thisclose to changing my philosophy and rooting for the Yankees to win every game they play, except those against Boston. By my reckoning, this will be good for the Sox, because it will cause harm to the Wild Card chances of every other team. Clearly, the league has decided that they can't beat the Yankees, so why fight it if they don't plan to? I'll take my chances with Pedro and Lowe pitching 5 times in a 7-game series against the Yanks' collection of geriatric starters at the end of a long season.

Game 20 - Mets

Houston Astros 6, Mets 2
Record: 8-12

This could be a long, painful stretch of the season. Over the next nine days, the Mets face the Astros, Diamondbacks, and Cardinals, all teams clearly better than the Mets, even if their records aren't exactly brilliant at the moment. Last night was a return to the weak-hitting version of your New York Mets. David Cone left early with a hip injury. Jeromy Burnitz got hit in the hand by a pitch, broke a bone, and is out 4-6 weeks. And the result was another loss.

Meanwhile, every other NL East team won last night. On that note, I am starting to have a little more respect for this division than in seasons past. It used to be the Braves plus four rosters of crap, but if you take the time to look at these clubs, you can see that they're far better than, say, the dregs of the AL East. While this division has no Yankees or Red Sox, it also has no Orioles or Devil Rays, either. The Marlins and Expos garner no respect because they are low revenue, low payroll franchises with a number of no-names on the roster. But they each have strong, young pitching (the O's and Rays would kill for Beckett/Burnett/Penny or Armas/Vazquez/Ohka) and a handful of talented hitters (I-Rod/Castillo/Lowell and Vidro/Guerrero/Cabrera). Frankly, these are the types of clubs baseball fans should love, but nobody in Miami or Montreal really cares. At the same time, the Phils are markedly improved with the addition of Jim Thome alone, but add in Kevin Millwood, David Bell, a healthier Mike Leiberthal and a more patient Jimmy Rollins, and you have a division contender. As for the Braves . . . as much as I would love to be able to write them off after the idiotic personnel moves and tough injuries, there's no chance. This team has righted itself and is back to winning 7 out of every 10 games. Annoying as hell, but fact. Clearly, the National League East is no cakewalk.

Especially for a sloppy, aging team like the Mets. The previous paragraph depresses me when I compare those teams to mine own. The Mets are the outright doormat of the division, and it's looking like last season was no fluke. Every true would-be star on this team is past his prime, with a few solid guys thrown in to supplement. Then there are the obviously overmatched guys that take the heat off the underachieving leaders. And I quote:

"The fans booed Cedeno every time he batted and cheered when he was replaced in the eighth inning by Shinjo. Cedeno went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts, dropping his average to .177." [Ed. Note: At least the Burnitz injury assures him of more time in the outfield. Sweet.]

I am starting to think predicting 83 wins was an act of purest optimism. Oh, well, I'll be in New Orleans until Monday drowning these woes in Abitas, Bloodys, Hurricanes, & Hand Grenades. Until then . . .

Highly Irritating Quote of the Day

"I'd like to give you my glove and you go out there and try to pitch to that lineup. I'm thanking God we're in the Central and not the East. That's unbelievable... . Un-be-lievable.", Minnesota Twins pitcher Rick Reed, following the Yankees 15-1 thrashing of the Twinkies, a game in which he gave up 10 earned runs in 4 2/3 innings.

Continuing the theme developed below about New York's utter and complete intimidation of the Twins, Reed as much as admits that he's afraid of the Bombers. I presume that he'll show the same yellow-bellied cowardice in the face of a Red Sox lineup that is arguably as strong as that of the Yankees. I won't hold my breath waiting for it, though.

Random New Semi-Regular Feature

I know the Detroit Tigers have been bad, but I didn't know how bad until I started looking at their statistics. Through 17 games, all but 1 of them losses, the Tigers are batting .180 with 5 homers and 31 RBI (34 runs scored, all told). Their OPS is .492. Point four nine two!!! They are dead last in the majors in batting average, OPS, runs scored (the next lowest total is 64!), hits, doubles, homers, and (obviously) RBI. Their leading hitter among regulars, SS Ramon Santiago, is batting .255, and only two other regulars are batting over .200 (the wildly overrated Bobby Higginson at .238 and Carlos Pena at .204.)

They can't stay this bad all season, can they? I mean, really, can they? We'll track their progress in this space:

Current Record: 1-16
Winning Percentage: .058
Projected Wins: 10 (rounding up, compassionately)
Odds of Finishing Worse Than the '62 Mets: 50/50

Off-Day Chatter

This extravaganza of baseball viewing my sister and brother-in-law have subjected me to has been way beyond a better way to follow the Mets. True, it may cost me my marriage, but it has been amazing thus far. One of the more interesting perks has been the exposure to announcers, promo spots, and even local ads of markets outside this one. There is a reason Joe Morgan and Jon Miller are hired by ESPN to call games twice a week -- they're about the best guys going; still, mixing it up is the way to go, and this Extra Innings package does that expertly. Different games within a series may flip-flop the coverage of home and visiting announcers. Plus, the local broadcasts of any given team may vary across several different stations with their own crews. A few thoughts on these baseball bonuses encountered thus far:

-- [Starting back at home] Jim Palmer and Michael Reghi were much better served by the presence of Mike Flanagan last year. They're decent, but his raspy potshots were better. Too bad he disappeared to the abyss known as the Orioles front office.
-- You'd think the megabucks YES Network would have a better voice. Play-by-play guy Michael Kay comes off like any old jackass Yanks fan, and Paul O'Neill is pretty wooden. Ken Singleton's solid, but he was a Met, for Pete's sake. Jim Kaat is good, but he's only been on once since I've been tuning in. In another chapter of Saw That Joke Coming Down Madison Avenue, just say no to YES.
-- Without a doubt the pleasant surprise of the young season is Boston commentator Jerry Remy. The wry, dry humored former Red Sox second baseman is much better than his NESN straight man Don Orsillo, and a significant improvement over the ordinary tandem of Sean McDonough and Bob Montgomery who called games during my summers on Cape Cod. It helps that Remy is a Mass native -- he comes off like a (very knowledgeable) local and therefore crass Sawx fan in an industry filled with dime-a-dozen ex-jocks and unmemorable broadcasting school grads.
-- It seems like some of the worst teams have the best guys in the booth. I have heard good supplemental commentary from the crews of the Marlins, Pirates, Devil Rays, and, yes, the Mets.
-- It's darkly humorous to watch the Detroit Tigers promotional ads right about now. They're 1-16 or so and still run those goofy ads where the guys look tough and talk about the new season and how they're going to dominate. The Yankees can get away with these things, as they're dominant and essentially cheesy in both roster and fan base. The Tigers . . . not so much.
-- Low budget local ads -- it's great to see these have not gone away. Sullivan's Tires outside of Boston is running some beauties on NESN.
-- The Braves' Skip Caray is probably the most imitated voice among the bunch. You know you've done it.
-- Vin Scully of the Dodgers is still about the best out there. Timeless.
-- Finally, the Mets. I mentioned the stellar, snide work of Keith Hernandez a few days ago. I usually catch Healy and Ted Robinson, though when it's Tom Seaver it's much better. And Kiner is good for a few unintentional laughs (he's the Mets' version of Phil Rizzuto), but he is seriously slipping. All in all, the Mets' crew is pretty strong, and much better than the Yanks.

And it's still just April. Take note, gift-givers -- this is the one that keeps on giving.

Game 19 - Red Sox

Blue Jays 11, Red Sox 6
Record: 13-6

Blame John Burkett for this one. The Sox No. 5 starter imploded this morning, allowing 7 earned runs in 2 2/3 innings and putting the Sox in a hole even the prolific offense couldn't escape. The bats battled back to within 9-6, but a few popups and weak grounders ended the rally, and with it, the seven-game winning streak. Manny showed some signs of life, rapping 4 singles in 5 trips to the plate. Let's hope that presages a patented 6-week Manny tear, during which no ball is safe.

I'm more resigned than bitter about this one. They were bound to stumble eventually, and a seven-game run is pretty sweet. The Twins aren't making this any easier though, politely handing their genitals to the Yankees in the midst of a 9-0, 5th inning asskicking (Edit - while I've been typing this, the Yankees added 2 more. What a bunch of candy-asses, these Twins). One bright spot about the Yankee start is the Derek Jeter, aka the World's Most Overrated Athlete, has been out for the whole season. Now, when he comes back, and the Yankees come back to earth, the "Derek Jeter is a special person" crowd will have a really hard time explaining why the team played so well without him.

The Sox go on the road for three against the Rangers. Texas can hit like crazy, but their pitching staff is brutal. Pedro faces Chan Ho Park tomorrow - the same Chan Ho Park that asked out of the season opener because he didn't want the pressure of an opening day start. If Pedro's warrior mentality doesn't make Park run screaming from the, um...park, I'll be flabbergasted.