Benjamin Grimm

Come ON! Nobody's "counting chickens." Anyone who's been paying attention to the past two weeks knows not to do that. Might Glavine blow it today? Of course he might! But I'm enjoying this breath of life nevertheless. We've come to accept the increasing probability of an idle October. Now we're playing on house money. Much of the pressure has shifted from Queens to Philadelphia. Enjoy the day! Enjoy the meaningful day! No need to inject a sour note! The Mets can clinch the NL East today. This is the first time in over a year that we've been able to say that. Savor the possibilities! Let's see what happens! Let's Go Mets! Enjoy the day! Enjoy that we HAVE this day!

FUN FACT: The last time a Mets pitcher struck out as many as 14 was August 1, 1999 at Wrigley Field when Al Leiter struck out 15 Cubs.

Some strange scenarios here. Let's say the Mets and Phillies and Brewers and Rockies all win today, and the Mets win tomorrow's playoff game in Philadelphia. The Mets final regular season record would be 90-73. Then the Phillies go on to beat both the Rockies and Padres in the additional tiebreakers. The Phillies would end up at 91-74. The second place team would have won more games than the first place team. That's not something you see often. And the Phillies would have played the first 165-game season since the Dodgers and the Giants in 1962.

Rockies lead Arizona 4-0 after 1 in Denver. If they hold on, they'll be in a three-way tie with the Mets and Phils. That keeps this scenario in play: Jayson Stark wrote: � But if the two teams tied in the NL West finish second, we have a whole different game plan. The only similarity is that the Phillies and Mets would play Monday in Philadelphia to sort out the NL East. � The loser then would then move on to a three-team wild-card tournament that would work the way we laid it out above. But here is how baseball would decide which team would get the option of one road game or two home games � In an Arizona-San Diego-New York three-way: Diamondbacks. � In a Colorado -San Diego-New York three-way: Rockies. � In an Arizona-San Diego-Philadelphia three-way: Diamondbacks. � In a Colorado-San Diego-Philadelphia three-way: Rockies.

A no-hitter is a quirk, an anomaly. It can't compare to a championship.

So the Mets still have a shot at the Wild Card. If the Mets, Phillies, and Brewers all win tomorrow, there's a three-way tie between the Padres, Phils, and Mets.

BREWERS WIN! PADRES LOSE!

A no-hitter means nothing to me. It wouldn't have sustained me for even 24 hours.

Maine 6 Castillo 1 Wright 1 Milledge 1 Alou 0.5 Castro 0.5

That's all we need; one good day. If the Mets win and the Phillies lose, our long Nationals (and Cardinals and Phillies) nightmare will be over. FLA: D. Willis (10-15, 5.20) NYM: T. Glavine (13-7, 4.14) WAS: J. Bergmann (6-5, 4.33) PHI: J. Moyer (13-12, 5.15) It doesn't mean much, but at least the starting pitchers' ERA numbers are in our favor. And our future Hall-of-Famer, in perhaps his last start as a Met (let's hope not) gets a chance to redeem himself for his last two outings. Hope is alive! I can't say I'm confident, but things are much better than they were seven hours ago.

I neglected to post this this morning, so I'll do it now. The numbers are bad, but we can be comforted in knowing they'll be MUCH better tomorrow! Average wins by position in NL East: 89.3 88.2 85.1 72.7 70.8 NL East W L Pct3 Avg W Avg L Champions Wild Card Playoffs 1D Change 7D Change Phillies 88 72 .536 89.3 72.7 82.44070 1.53328 83.97398 24.89892 40.33699 Mets 87 73 .555 88.2 73.8 17.55930 3.45709 21.01639 -37.46915 -69.96614 Average wins by position in NL West: 90.9 89.9 88.2 82.2 70.8 NL West W L Pct3 Avg W Avg L Champions Wild Card Playoffs 1D Change 7D Change Diamondbacks 90 70 .484 90.8 71.2 91.86900 8.13100 100.00000 17.11858 8.24103 Padres 89 71 .519 89.9 72.1 8.13100 82.47709 90.60809 24.99540 21.64109 Rockies 87 73 .547 88.2 73.8 .00000 4.40154 4.40154 -29.54375 -0.00517 We also know, now, that there will be no playoff game to settle the West title - either Arizona (63.1%) or San Diego (8.1%) can win it directly, and in the 28.8% of the time that they finish in a tie with each other, Arizona would be declared the champ and the Padres would be the wild card. Average wins by NL Wild Card: 89.9 There is still a 45% chance of a wild card tie, but two-thirds of those are between Arizona and San Diego - no playoff. That leaves a 16.25% chance for a wild card playoff, with a 4.8% chance of a three-way tie and a 1.8% chance of a four-way tie still existing. INDAY UPDATE: The Mets' victory drops the Padres' wild card chances from 82.5 to 79.9 and the Rockies' chances from 4.4 to 4.0. The chance of a wild card playoff game is up from 16.3 to 19.8%; the chance of a three-way tie is up from 4.8 to 7.7 and a four-way tie is up from 1.8 to 3.0%.

Thanks to John Larroquette for the picture of John Adams!

I think this was the first game I watched all year that the Mets weren't playing in. I enjoyed it!

Rotblatt wrote: Maine had me believing, even though I knew his pitch count was high. By the fifth, I was thinking, "Well, if we miss out on the playoffs, but get a no-hitter here, I'd almost call it a wash." No freaking way.

Now the Mets and the Phillies share a magic number of 2.

Yes. It's nice, at least, that Sunday's game will be "meaningful."

Florida H. Ramirez ss D. Uggla 2b J. Hermida rf M. Cabrera 3b M. Jacobs 1b T. Linden lf M. Olivo c A. De Aza cf C. Seddon p Mets J. Reyes ss L. Castillo 2b D. Wright 3b C. Beltran cf M. Alou lf C. Delgado 1b R. Castro c L. Milledge rf J. Maine p Who's that fellow in right field? Name seems familiar... It's time for John Maine to step up. I don't think he will. I'd like him to prove me wrong.

Well, we've learned that in addition to knowing how to win, Willie Randolph also knows how to lose. Now, the Mets may yet make the playoffs and win the 2007 World Series. But in the more likely event that they all go home after tomorrow's game, my vote is this: Fire Willie. It's not really even about punishment or blame. I just think that, with this collapse on his permanent record, he's not the guy to run the team in 2008. His "quiet confidence" isn't going to carry any weight next spring in Port St. Lucie or when the season opens. The Mets will need to wash the stink off them, and getting rid of Willie Randolph would be a key first step. It's not like they'd be losing anyone special. At best he was a halfway decent manager. Getting a replacement of his caliber (or, ideally, better) shouldn't be that hard. I'd love to see the Mets with a smart manager. A legitimately bright guy. I think they've only had two such managers: Davey Johnson and Bobby Valentine. I'd be glad to see either of those guys come back.

SteveJRogers wrote: I am NOT going to post the picture of the gentleman from Qunicy, Mass who was the 2nd President and soon to be the subject of a Tom Hanks produced HBO miniseries, but in both races the number stands at 2. How do you figure that? The Mets magic number is still 4. And renaming a ten-page thread probably isn't kosher. It's like revising history. I think you should put it back to what it was.

Schoeneweis 0.5 Sosa 0.5 Heilman 1.5 Wagner 0.5 Beltran 2 Green 1 Castillo 2 Delgado 1 Wright 1

Centerfield wrote: Don't suck. I don't think he was listening.

We've got the teamwork, to make the dream work!

You know, if this collapse completes itself, it's the kind of thing that can live with the franchise (and worse, its fans!) for many many years. During the 19 years I've lived in the Philadelphia area, I've heard regular moaning about the 1964 collapse. It's now been over 40 years, and they've won a World Series in the interim. One reason to root for a playoff berth, even if it means a three-game exit in the NLDS, is to keep that black cloud away. It won't just linger over the 2007 Mets pitching staff, and Willie Randolph and Rick Peterson, it will stick to US, the fan base. Even if it doesn't haunt us as individuals, it will be an aspect of the Mets that will outlive us. THAT'S something to root against, I'd say.

Don't worry, I have a plan. If the game gets played, I'm going to send fancy invitations to Rollins, Utley, Howard, and Burrell. It will invite them to a really great party Monday night in Guam. By the time they realize it was a sham, it will be too late for them to get back to Philadelphia by game time!

The same goes for you, Tim Redding.