Benjamin Grimm

AND a day closer to the end of the season. Helps against the Brewers, hurts against the Phillies. Let's hope the Cubs have a big comeback in them.

They didn't say so explicitly, but I assume he's out for the entire month of October, too? No chance that he'd be better by the World Series, should we be so fortunate?

I'm not expecting Doc Gooden either. I do expect Keith, Ron and Rusty. And I hope that Jerry Koosman will be there.

Some scoop on the Shea closing ceremonies, from the New York Times: RICHARD SANDOMIR wrote: After the Florida-Mets afternoon game on Sept. 28, the Mets plan to bring back 45 former players, including Tom Seaver and Mike Piazza, for a celebration called Shea Goodbye. Dave Howard, the Mets� executive vice president for business, said, �We think most of the names that come to mind will be there.� Howard offered few other details. He said fireworks were possible, but construction at Citi Field next door might pose a roadblock. It may also prevent the team from doing something spectacular, like lighting up the unfinished ballpark. �Lighting up Citi Field is an interesting idea, but I can�t say it�s feasible,� he said. The Mets have already announced plans with the MeiGray Group to sell artifacts from Shea Stadium, with the city retaining 70 percent of the proceeds and the rest going to the Mets Foundation.

Yup, Kranepool. 691. If Jose Reyes gets 228 hits in the final homestand, he'll tie Kranepool's record.

Trivia question: Which Met had the most hits at Shea Stadium, and how many did he have?

="metirish"]] River Avenue & 161st You mean yankee stadium? Nobody calls it that anymore.

I was hoping for a 145-game schedule this time around.

A few decades from now, if not sooner, the official story will be that the construction of the new stadium was just a "refurbishment" and that it's still the same park that Ruth and Gehrig played in. The story will be that the city offered the Yankees a new stadium, but they said, "Thanks but no thanks. We'll stay in the House that Ruth Built." If you say anything often enough, it becomes true.

Tonight's Nationals starter is Shairon Martis, a 21-year-old righty from Curacao. This will be his third start and the first at home. He lost 2-0 in Atlanta on September 4, and 2-1 in Florida on September 12. In both starts, he lasted exactly 5 innings. In that second start, he struck out 9 Marlins, walked 3, and gave up 2 hits.

Clearly I'm in the minority here. (Who's the other "don't gotta" voter, I wonder?) I'm one of the few who don't "do faith." (Nor do I do "fear" for that matter. At least not as it relates to the Mets. Or to terrorism.)

I guess you agree with that caller I heard this morning. I don't feel I "gotta" do anything. I don't do the "faith" thing. I see what I see, and sometimes it leads me to be optimistic, and sometimes it leads me to be pessimistic. I'm very pessimistic about beating out the Phillies. I'm a bit optimistic, as Centerfield is, about making the playoffs, thanks to the Brewers current freefall.

Your memory of last year seems a little fuzzy, Michigan. Sure, the last day was awful, but the 16 games preceding that were pretty bad too. They certainly didn't "wait until the last day" to fall apart. Anyway, although there are plenty of similarities to last year, the key difference is that, if the Mets don't make the playoffs in 2008, it will just be a pennant race that they didn't win. It's not a collapse like last year. (Unless, of course, they build up a 6-game lead over the next 6 days, and THEN don't make the playoffs!)

Losing four out of the last five to lower-division teams doesn't fill me with optimism.

Are we saying believe they CAN win, or that they WILL win?

When I got in my car this morning, WFAN was on the radio. (It isn't usually, but I had been listening to the game the night before.) I think the host was the fat bald guy from Loudmouths. (Can't think of his name right now.) The caller said that he's a true fan, and as a true fan he always has to believe that the Mets will find a way to win. I have to assume that he's only been paying attention for two of the last 46 seasons. I think the Mets still have a chance. All they have to do is get hot again; hotter than either the Phillies or the Brewers. But I'm not going to delude myself into thinking they WILL do it. That would be putting "Mets Magic" on the level of "aura and mystique." I HOPE they do it. I'll keep hanging in there for the last 12 games regardless. But no, I don't "have to" believe.

I'll dread those twelve months from now. For the time being, there are 12 more games in this season's schedule to dread.

When it comes to places worth visiting, New Orleans has it all over Buffalo. But if I ever decide to take the kids to see Niagara Falls, I might make a point of doing it while the Bisons are playing at home.

Voting for Monday night's loss to the Nationals will close on Thursday morning. So far we've heard from themetfairy, Elster88, John Cougar Lunchbucket, Gwreck, Frayed Knot, Benjamin Grimm, and metirish. If you haven't voted and intend to, please do so today. Schaefer POTG 9/15/08 - Nationals 7, Mets 2

VOTING FOR THIS GAME IS NOW CLOSED Totals for September 14, 2008 (8 votes) Atlanta Braves 7, New York Mets 4 NameTotal PointsPoints AwardedPlayer PerformanceOliver Perez28.703.597.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 8 SO.David Wright27.053.384-5, 2 R, 2 HR, 3 RBI, SO.Carlos Delgado8.501.063-5, 2B, SO.Joe Smith4.000.500.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO.Brian Stokes0.500.060.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO.Daniel Murphy0.250.031-4, R, SO.

VOTING FOR THIS GAME IS NOW CLOSED Totals for September 13, 2008 (8 votes) New York Mets 5, Atlanta Braves 0 NameTotal PointsPoints AwardedPlayer PerformanceJon Niese42.505.31(W) 8.0 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 SO.Carlos Beltran12.451.563-4, 2 R, 2B, HR, RBI, SO, SB.Jos� Reyes8.701.093-5, R, HR, RBI.David Wright8.551.071-3, R, HR, 2 RBI, BB, SO.Fernando Tatis6.050.763-4, RBI, SO.Luis Ayala1.500.191.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO.Ryan Church0.250.031-4, R, BB.

VOTING FOR THIS GAME IS NOW CLOSED Totals for September 13, 2008 (7 votes) Atlanta Braves 3, New York Mets 2 NameTotal PointsPoints AwardedPlayer PerformanceJohan Santana27.703.967.0 IP, 9 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO.Damion Easley6.200.891-4, RBI, 2 SO.Carlos Delgado5.750.822-4, R, 2B.Duaner Sanchez4.050.581.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO.Fernando Tatis2.250.321-2, 2B, 2 BB, SO.Carlos Beltran1.950.281-3, R, BB, 2 SO.Pedro Feliciano1.250.180.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO.

That stadium's been gone for 35 years. Boy, SI is really on top of things. What's their cover story going to be next week? Cassius Clay vs. Sonny Liston?

="Gwreck"] Yawn. This is not 2007. The Mets have not been in first place all season. First place has gone back and forth and neither the Mets nor the Phillies have had a lead of more than 3 games since before the All-Star break. This isn't a collapse, it's a pennant race. And we're behind by half a game. Sheesh. I didn't say it was a collapse. It is, as you said, a pennant race. And the Phillies are winning and the Mets are losing. Sure the trend can turn around at any time, but I don't see any reason to expect that it will. Since the Brewers are also losing, it's not unreasonable to think that they're more likely to out-lose the Mets than the Phillies are.

W L Pct3 Avg W Avg L Champions Wild Card Playoffs 1D Change 7D Change Phillies 84 67 .531 90.2 71.8 61.48193 18.73592 80.21785 15.81004 53.49517 Mets 83 67 .542 89.5 72.5 38.19783 26.05489 64.25272 -9.10283 -22.50156 Brewers 83 68 .532 89.0 73.0 .10815 49.02204 49.13020 -4.39643 -24.07460 Astros 80 70 .478 86.4 75.6 .00010 5.31989 5.31999 -2.29872 -0.04247 As the unhappy outcomes keep on coming, the Mets NHOP for the division title continues to rise. It's now at 56.5%. (13 out of 23) The Mets no longer have a magic number for the division title; instead they have a tragic number of 12. Not all is bleak, however. At least, not yet. The Mets are the current wild card leader, with a magic number of 12 and their NHOP relative to Milwaukee is 52.2% (12 out of 23). The Astros continue to be less of a threat. The Mets magic number to eliminate Houston is 10. NHOP for the Astros is 41.7%, (10 out of 24). Prediction: We'll soon hear about the results of a Mets/Brewers coin toss. Yesterday's action, not surprisingly, helped the Phillies a lot, giving them 15.8 more playoff points. And look at that 7-day gain: 53.49 per cent! Mets drop 9.1 points and the Brewers drop 4.4. The Phillies are now the most likely division champ, and the Brewers are the most likely Wild Card, but overall, the Mets still have better playoff chances than the Brewers do. As the number of remaining games continues to shrink, a single day's action can cause more dramatic swings in the odds. If everything goes right today (it can happen, you know) and the Mets, Braves, and Cubs all win, things would look quite a bit brighter tomorrow.