Benjamin Grimm

Maybe Astro Annie's kid cracked Willets' password.

Even without hindsight, most of us were pretty certain that Lawrence was a horrible choice to start that game. I think, in the IGT prior to the start, I posted something about being filled with dread.

It's Glavine's second bad performance in a row. If he had pitched well in one of his last two starts, the Mets would be three games up instead of two, which, at this point, is a huge difference. Having said that, he's been the Mets most consistent and reliable starter throughout the year. They'd be, overall, in much worse shape without him. I'd still welcome him back for 2008.

The time slots I most want to avoid are 1:30 on the 3rd and 10:30 on the 4th. If the Phillies win the wild card, the Mets could very well be in Arizona to open the series.

What's strange is that Willets, who traditionally has been more on the glass half empty side of the equation, is now the only one who's currently wearing his rose-colored glasses. Given the events of the last two weeks, it's perfectly natural to be a bit down on this team. All these repeated failures are very frustrating. To say we must speak no ill of the Mets because they're all our boys is the kind of pajama-and-Kool Aid talk that old whatsisname always accused us of.

Well, Ron Darling would know about what it feels like to pitch a big college game. However, his first major league start came in the closing days of the 1983 season, when the Mets were going nowhere. A whole lot less pressure. No rational Mets fan (and yes, there are a lot of irrational Mets fans) will hold it against Humber if he fails tonight. We all understand he's in a very tough situation. But if he comes through, if he gets us six or seven good crisp innings and the Mets win, it will be remembered forever. People will post UMDB memories about it ten years from now. (If UMDB is still around, of course.) I think the upside for him is greater than the downside. Hopefully he'll see it that way and feel a little less pressure because of that.

Hopefully that rotunda will inspire them to get to Edgy's home city as soon as they can. The Mets, by the way, can clinch TOMORROW if everything goes right. Let's rush past Jefferson with barely a glance, and spend the night with John Adams. And let's not linger long with George Washington, either.

So, any updates? Do we know what time Humber woke up this morning? What he had for breakfast? (I'm hoping it's Pop Tarts.) Any word on precisely how many butterflies he has in his stomach? If anyone runs in to him this afternoon, let him know I have six nice big Schaefer points set aside for him. All he has to do is earn them! How hard can that be?

That makes sense. The loss that the Phillies put in the books last night was probably more expected by yesterday's odds than the Mets' loss to the Nationals was.

And half the National League is still alive, at least mathematically. If Baseball Prospectus' odds turn out to be accurate, the next four teams to be eliminated (prior to the post-season) will be, in order: Atlanta, Milwaukee, Colorado, Philadelphia.

Here we go again. Mets odds decreased yesterday, which is a little surprising. (The Phillies loss should have more than offset the loss by the Mets.) Braves are inching back in, but it's most likely too little too late. Padres and Rockies take nice jumps today thanks to their wins and Philadelphia's loss. Cubs and Brewers both have slim Wild Card hopes. (The Brewers can't threaten the Mets for the Wild Card but the Cubs conceivably can.) Average wins by position in NL East: 90.2 88.0 85.6 72.5 69.1 NL East W L Pct3 Avg W Avg L Champions Wild Card Playoffs 1D Change 7D Change Mets 87 70 .560 90.2 71.8 91.57880 4.43639 96.01519 -1.89297 5.72683 Phillies 85 72 .533 88.0 74.0 8.25890 25.94241 34.20131 -22.48892 -13.73367 Braves 83 74 .541 85.7 76.3 .16230 1.26995 1.43225 .18943 .57677 Average wins by position in NL West: 90.4 88.6 87.4 82.9 71.7 NL West W L Pct3 Avg W Avg L Champions Wild Card Playoffs 1D Change 7D Change Diamondbacks 88 69 .484 90.3 71.7 80.92990 11.97024 92.90014 -3.73865 10.74346 Padres 86 71 .517 88.4 73.6 10.40755 38.51439 48.92194 17.24805 -24.07518 Rockies 85 72 .546 87.7 74.3 8.66255 17.86391 26.52646 10.68721 23.99383 Average wins by position in NL Central: 85.6 83.6 75.4 73.6 71.1 69.4 NL Central W L Pct3 Avg W Avg L Champions Wild Card Playoffs 1D Change 7D Change Cubs 83 74 .513 85.5 76.5 85.87565 .00105 85.87669 -7.72108 30.49910 Brewers 81 76 .507 83.7 78.3 14.12435 .00167 14.12602 7.71930 -30.58479

The starters need to do what Oliver Perez did the other day. Pitch deep into the game while holding the opposition to few runs. I know that's easier said than done, but the Mets just haven't been doing it. Other than Perez on Saturday, when was the last time a Mets starter went seven innings? If it's happened more than twice since the Phillies came to Shea I'd be surprised.

I imagined the Nationals radio announcer saying, "The Nationals win! They win the damn thing by a score of 10 to 9!" It was that kind of a game.

Well, all things considered, I'd rather see them win the divisional title and go down in flames in the NLDS than see them go down in flames this week and win nothing at all. If the Mets are in the playoffs, there's the possibility, however slim, that they'll catch fire at the last minute and pull out an unlikely World Championship. Even though the Mets have been in first place since May, I'm no longer expecting the postseason as I was a couple of weeks ago. The rug has been pulled out from under me, and I'm over the shock and in the acceptance stage. If they don't make it, I won't be crushed. If they DO make it, then I have some playoff baseball to watch. I've figured out a way to make lemonade out of all this. The Magic Number is 4. I wish it was zero, but I'm glad it's not 6. Let's Go Mets! Suck as little as possible! Woooooo!

Reyes 4 Alou 4 Green 1 Castillo 1

Note to self: Send flowers to Larry.

Make it a best of three and I like it better. (Gives an extra reward to the division winners too, since they'd be able to align their pitching staffs for the NLDS.) The thing I don't like is each time you allow an extra team into the playoffs you're lowering the bar for who's a postseason team. It would even be possible for a third place team to win the World Series.

Carter in 1986? He was a more worthy candidate in 1985, I think, although if I remember correctly, my MVP hopes that winter were directed towards Doc Gooden. Keith in 1984 had a real shot, but I won't quarrel with Sandberg winning it. That probably could have gone either way.

If they have to change it, I'd prefer to see a setup where the Wild Card team gets only one home game (game 1) in the NLDS. If they advance to the NLCS, it would be the typical 2-3-2.

Ugh.

For some reason I thought of this this morning, so I decided to give it a bump. Any news on when the unveiling will be?

Willets Point wrote: The Magic Number will be 3 at the end of this night. I think that's what I need to get comfortable again after last night's loss. If today goes wrong, and the Magic Number remains at 5, we have Humber going tomorrow with a 1-game lead. So let's have everything go right today.

I too LOVED the Sporting News and I thought (in my youthful folly) that I'd be a lifetime subscriber. I canceled it in 1991 when they "revamped" it. It instantly became something I wasn't interested in. I can only imagine how much further it's declined since then.

ASAP would be Thursday.

Voting for the Mets final three games in Florida will close on Wednesday morning: Fri, Mets 9, Marlins 6: http://cranepoolforum.net/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=7445 Sat, Mets 7, Marlins 2: http://cranepoolforum.net/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=7449 Sun, Mets 7, Marlins 6: http://cranepoolforum.net/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=7457