G-Fafif

"OMG! Somebody actually responded to what I wrote!"

Willets Point wrote: I could have sworn I recalled something where you equated Beltran's strikeout as a failure on par with the collapses of 2007 & 08. Nevertheless, you know your book better than I so I retract that comment. The "intelligent person" part stands thought because that was meant to be taken at face value. No problem, WP. There is a ramping up of frustration post-Beltran in the overview chapter, but more like "it sucked to lose in the playoffs, but it REALLY sucked to not make the playoffs the way we didn't," or slightly classier words to that effect. Also sucking: finishing far out of the running. The many varieties of suck are all on display in recent years.

The NFL used to avoid Sunday night games during the World Series so as not to compete with Game Two. Last year they adhered to that policy so as to not go up against Game Four. This year they've decided they're bulletproof, so it will be Steelers at Saints taking on Giants at Rangers. Sadly, I'm guess NBC won't regret this matchup at all.

Willets Point wrote: I've never understood the "Beltran as goat" theory of the 2006 NLCS. Even an intelligent person like G-FAFIF went on about at length in his book. Less than two stream-of-consciousness paragraphs in the historical overview chapter. One sentence in the 2006 chapter. The event was noted but goat horns weren't placed on Beltran's head. I've never been a Blame Beltran First person, certainly not in the book. I actually got madder about the at-bat when I watched MLBN's reairing of it in early 2009, when I saw Floyd and Reyes attempt to fight off that nasty Wainwright curve, after "FAFIF" went to press. That "intelligent person" crack bears examination as well.

Mark Viera, telling it like it blessedly is in the Times: A year after parading on Broadway after their 27th championship, the Yankees returned to a postseason ritual Sunday that has become more familiar over the past decade: cleaning out their lockers after being eliminated from the playoffs.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Is Bill Price related to that AOL Fanhouse guy? Two for the...oh, forget it.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Well, I'm newly edified, is what I am. I really shouldn't ever judge a single, standalone newspaper column ever again without reading everything the author's ever written. That's the fair way to do it... the Bondy way. "I always think, there might be someone out there in the stands who's never seen me play." --Joe DiMaggio on why he was still playing hard late in his career "Go to the morgue and pull my clips to discern my shtick from my subtance." --Filip Bondy on why he writes as he does

What a scoop by Francesa! David Lennon wrote that Saturday in Newsday, so Mike obviously did a little detective work, both picking up the paper and opening it. I love Phil Mushnick's latest pet name for him: Fran-say-so.

Surly the Waitress sounds not altogether unlike Darryl the Met when he wasn't hitting tape-measure home runs.

Your National League Champion San Francisco Giants, led by 1982 New York Met catcher Bruce Bochy. I clearly remember two things about his recall from Tidewater: 1) Size 8-something batting helment -- huge coconut, they kept telling us. 2) He came up in the midst of a long losing streak that kept getting longer: 15 consecutive losses when all was said and defeated. 1982 Mets' record with Bruce Bochy playing: 5-12. 1982 Mets' record without Bruce Bochy playing: 60-85 Bruce Bochy becomes the first former Met player to manage two different teams in the World Series. Yogi Berra managed one (the 1964 Yankees) before becoming a Met (later managing the 1973 Mets). In recent years, Bruce Bochy and Rick Sweet had begun to merge into a single 1982 Met entity. This World Series appearance helps to define some distance between the two. 1982 Mets' record with either Bruce Bochy or Rick Sweet playing: 6-14. 1982 Mets' record without either Bruce Bochy or Rick Sweet playing: 59-83. They weren't the problem, but they surely weren't the solution.

Close call, and I may not know until the Series gets underway. National League loyalty for a team I don't particularly hate when we're not playing them vs. appreciation for the American League team that knocked off the MFYs. I can't say I'll be rooting against anybody, which is refreshing. Will default, for now, to the Giants.

Jeff Francoeur kept the Rangers loose and, merely by watching tonight's game on television, did the same for the Giants. He's my MVP.

bmfc1 wrote: Bengie Molina, traded from SF to Texas in July, is guaranteed a WS ring. Steve Phillips in 2000 made up a rule that said any player who had been a Met in 2000, wasn't there by the end of the season and then went to the playoffs with another team that year was ineligible for a league champions ring. The only player who met that criteria was Rickey Henderson, who left on bad terms (of his own making, I might add). Phillips was asked if this was a Rickey rule specifically. After dancing around it a couple of time, he said, yeah. But Molina will get at least that much from Texas. And bless him for earning it.

45,000 are tased into silence.

The bell has tolled for thee... Keep sliding, ex-champs.

Bondy does seem to have a delightful knack for writing such screeds and not being around when the MFYs implode. Whenever the Mets would take a Subway Series, after he'd written how worthless they were, I'd look for the mea culpa and he'd be magically off covering Wimbledon or the women's World Cup or whatever. Natch he's on NLCS duty this week. Matt Callan's retrospective on 2000 on Amazin' Avenue, covering fetid World Series Game Two, included a Bondy link, if you dare. What he writes today is tame by comparison; it reminded me how much I absolutely hated him when he came along with the Bleacher Creatures shtick. I always figured there was an element of tongue-in-cheek to all this but I reached the Bondy breaking point in 2001 after the Mets traded Pratt, Wendell and Cook to the Phillies and he wrote, hey Mets fans, just root for the Phillies: Phets or Millies, it's all the same (he got a quote of Al Leiter that cracked the "I grew up loving the Mets" facade, wherein Al said yeah, when the Mets got bad and the Phillies got good, they were closer to Toms River and all; douche). I sent Bondy as civil a FUCK YOU e-mail as I could compose. To his credit, he wrote back, explained he loved the '69 Cubs and they broke his heart (he'd mentioned in previous columns that was a reason he forever resented the Mets...ha) and that he loved the Baltimore Colts and they broke his heart by bolting for Indianapolis. His point was stop taking sports so seriously and don't give your heart over to a professional sports team, it's just a greedy corporate business. (There was also something in there about his beloved Cubbies being bought by the evil Tribune Company, though he didn't mention, as a friend in the newspaper business pointed out, he was among the first to break the News's picket line, against Tribune, during the contentious strike of 1990-91.) Interesting take for someone whose livelihood depended on people maintaining a vested interest in the teams he wrote about. I pointed this out in a followup. He never wrote back.

From October 14's Snooze: Over the past 50 years, the Yankees have won nine of their world championships, 15 American League pennants and fielded the likes of Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Reggie Jackson, Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter. The Texas Rangers, meanwhile, played .471 baseball, moved from one dumpy stadium in Washington to a worse one in Arlington, never captured a home playoff game and never reached a World Series. The Rangers have retired exactly one player's jersey (aside from Jackie Robinson's)-and attempted to counter George M. Steinbrenner with George W. Bush in the owner's box. All they've ever had was Nolan Ryan, and they've ridden him like an urban cowboy on a mechanical bull. Ryan's no-hitters aside, this ALCS represents one of sports' great historical mismatches, 40 pennants versus zero. The Yanks should win this series just by throwing their pinstriped uniforms onto the field and reading from a few pages of The Baseball Encyclopedia. If only Bud Selig would agree to waive a few silly postseason rules, the Bombers might send their Scranton/Wilkes-Barre roster to Arlington for the first couple of games, make this a fair fight. Of course, the Yanks are too diplomatic to admit such a thing. "I think history can play a role if you're playing a team where the guys have played against you," Joe Girardi said. "Most of (the Rangers) don't remember the late '90s, so it's not going to affect them one way of another. It doesn't mean anything to them." Well, it should. The Rangers are the oldest of three existing major league clubs never to have won a pennant. They should be ashamed to bring their media guides to the Bronx. The late '90s? What about the '60s, when the Rangers were born as the Washington Senators, mostly to appease congressmen who were ready to vote away the league's antitrust exemptions after the other Senators moved to Minnesota. Those new, second-generation Senators were every bit as lousy and nomadic as the first batch. During their odd-ball stay in our nation's capital - who can forget Richard Nixon throwing out the first baseball? - and then after moving to Turnpike Stadium in Arlington, the Senators/Rangers managed exactly one .500 season among their first 15 years, through 1976. The magic moments since then? How about a New York Times reporter declaring with anguish her retirement from sports writing after fighting the backward postgame flow of fans and dealing with the horrors of the old rat-infested Arlington Stadium? How about the Rangers signing Alex Rodriguez to an unsustainable 10-year, $252 million contract in 2000, when the team still didn't have enough pitching to field a contender? Or owner Tom Hicks defaulting on $525 million in loans and Major League Baseball paying the club's operating expenses from a common fund? Or A-Rod filing as a creditor in court this year, seeking the $24.9 million still owed him by the Rangers? Yes, this has been a sad, losing franchise for half a century, but not in a charming way like the Cubbies. The Rangers are still hoping to emerge from the darkest of dark ages now under the guidance of Ryan and new owner Chuck Greenberg - who happens to be from Pittsburgh, so you can imagine how much he knows about building a decent baseball team. Here's the bottom line: In New York, a professional club is only worth as much as it pays its players, or as much as the franchise can attract on the open market. The Yankees' total payroll on opening day was $206.33 million, while the Rangers' was $55.25. The Rangers were sold to the Greenberg group for $570 million, despite playing now in the respectable Rangers Ballpark. Forbes estimates the Yankees are worth about three times that. Why are they even playing this series? Why don't they just use the scores from '96, '98 and '99? "I can't even think back to those years," Jorge Posada said. "It's over. I don't think it matters." It matters. The Yankees lead, 27 titles to none. Play ball. fjbondy@netscape.net

When the Yanks board a plane With no sign of champagne That's logistics! When they go to spring train With a loss on the brain That's logistics!

The good news: The MFYs lose...THUUUUUUHHHHHH MFYs LOSE! The bad news: I may have just watched my last baseball game of 2010 on good, old regular television. Go Giants, wherever I have to find you.

I love Josh Hamilton's teammates, too.

metirish wrote: I thought he was going to ask Ron about the coke.... Coke...Canada Dry...it's all good.

Lovely Angel-istic moment shared between Mrs. Autry and Mr. Ryan. Don't forget to thank Bob Scheffing.

God called -- He exists.

Goodbye defending world champions. Goodbye and good riddance.

Ay caramba! Los Phillies don't lose.