Loathsome vs. Detestable

[G-Fafif]

Standings being what they are, it's not hard to pull for the Phillies versus the Braves this afternoon. But on principle, it takes lots of Pepto-Bismol to get through each inning.

[Frayed Knot]

Speaking of those two teams, we should mention the hit that both their bullpens took this past week:

- Atlanta lefty Mike Gonzalez, who sat out our series with them, now needs ligament replacement surgery and will be out until the middle of next year. Gonzalez was the guy they dealt Adam LaRoche for and, after several good years in obscurity in Pittsburgh, many thought he was destined to swap roles with closer Wickman by year's end. Big loss.

- And in Philly, starter - turned set-up man - turned closer, Brett Myers walked off the mound grabbing his shoulder the other day. The news doesn't seem to be as bad on him although details are still sketchy.
Now, with both him and the guy he was replacing, Tom Gordon, out, the Phillie pen is in deep doo-doo.




Oh, and Cox got hisself ejected again. One off the all-time record (John McGraw)

[Guest iramets]

Cox has got balz

[Willets Point]

Will they have a special ceremony when he breaks the record?

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Cox's record is likely tainted by the use of PEDs.

[nymr83]

Willets Point wrote: Will they have a special ceremony when he breaks the record?

yes, but he'll be unable to attend the ceremony having been asked to leave the field.

[Guest Edgy DC]

So, which team wins the race to land Jorge Julio? Loathsome or Detestable?

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

The desperate.

[Frayed Knot]

Antonio Alfonseca, Philly's designated closer until further notice, closed out the Braves for his first save on Saturday.
Philly has now won 11 of their last 16, going over .500 for the first time this year after starting the season 3-10



Atlanta, meanwhile, is barely a .500 team ... whenever they're not playing those scrub-ass Mets that is:
Braves vs non-Mets = 22 - 18
Mets vs non-Braves = 28 - 11

[Guest iramets]

Do you buy the current meme that says these Mets are utterly unaffected by the history with the Braves, particularly the inability to win in Atlanta? That logic goes, in fine, that Glavine is the Met of longest standing, so he obviously remembers Braves-Mets series of the 1990s and early 2000s as pleasant experiences, and the other, more recent Mets, have no memory of getting clobbbered year after year, nor does Willie, so it's mainly the fans who perceive this as a chronic problem.

[Frayed Knot]

="iramets"]Do you buy the current meme that says these Mets are utterly unaffected by the history with the Braves, particularly the inability to win in Atlanta ... [and that] so it's mainly the fans who perceive this as a chronic problem?

Yes, particularly since Joe Baddabingo doesn't buy it. He's still convinced that the Braves are "in the Mets' heads" - although he never attempts an explanation of how it would affect those who weren't there way back when or the reverse domination of last year.

The Mets are 3-6 this year because the Braves have played much better overall in those games.
Using excuses that can just be pulled out whenever convenient but then ignored in those cases where they don't fit the circumstances is always fun and easy ... and ultimately worthless.

[stevejrogers]

="Frayed Knot"] Yes, particularly since Joe Baddabingo doesn't buy it. He's still convinced that the Braves are "in the Mets' heads" - although he never attempts an explanation of how it would affect those who weren't there way back when or the reverse domination of last year.

Not to mention how many Braves are really left from the era when you really can say "The Braves are in the Mets heads" from what, 98 to 01? Larry, Andruw, Smoltz, Cox, a couple of coaches, but really who else on the Braves can look at the Mets and say "Of course we beat them, we've been doing this for years now"

Beningo's discounting of last year also is pretty ludicrious since he ties it in with the fact that the Mets never played the Braves in the 2000 postseason. I'm shocked that he didn't try to pick the Dodgers in last year's NLDS because they beat us in 1988, or that the Mets would beat the Cardinals last year because the Mets handled them easily in 2000.

Beningo is a perfect example of why if you want to be taken seriously as a commentator you have to leave the fan part out of it.

[stevejrogers]

BTW, another fallacy in the "Braves are STILL in the Mets' heads" argument is that if you look at the reverse, if the Mets had gone 6-3 against the Braves and still were 3 and a half games back what tune would those making that argument now be saying? I don't think they'd be confident that the Mets would go on to make a charge and overtake the Braves based soley on leading the season series, and even if they did they'd probably still fall back on the "yeah but they didn't beat the Braves head-to-head" as if that matters after a division/league/world title has been won.

OE: The three Braves I mentioned are the three last remaining Braves since the last time the Braves were in the NLCS, 2001, while maybe you might want to stretch the Brave-Met rivalry from that time frame to 2002, it does speak to the fact that, like the Mets, there really aren't alot of voices that can say "Of COURSE we beat them 6 out of 9 so far this year, thats what we've been doing all these years, beating them like a drum."

03-05 was essentially the Mets were just another team in the division and the Braves certaintly weren't looked at as THE TEAM that the Mets should have been focused on toppling since the Mets never finished higher than 3rd those three seasons.