G-Fafif

HahnSolo wrote: A "family" business, Fred? Are Jeff's siblings named Wednesday and Puggsley? That stock ticker in the Delta club is a real bad sign.

Howard made a big show of pronouncing John Ricco with the short "i". The Wilpons called him Ricco as in Brogna. Same page, fellas.

FW: Last four years most painful of the past 30. Take that, 1993.

Marty Noble finds a new angle for the final game of the season. Niese's season had ended days earlier, and now the Mets' season has closing punctuation as well; no exclamation point, of course. Appropriately, euthanasia took the form of a one-run defeat against a last-place team, requiring four hours, 14 minutes, 14 innings and one Oliver Perez to complete. Before the top of the 14th added a sealer coat of ugly to a grotesque season, the Mets had enjoyed the last day of school. Giddy and all but liberated they were. Then with one foot out the door, they were called back for five innings of detention. If only Perez had been summoned in the ninth. ... Well, that would have been just cause for an investigation, and the Mets have enough folks looking at them funny these days. The last day of school; we all know the feeling. The anticipation was palpable. And baseball, like grades K through 12, is heavy on routine. But beginning Monday, routine is not in effect. No suitcase, no hotel, no game, no batting practice. No regimen. Nothing uniform about these days, you might say. Niese said: "I love it. School is out. Freedom and, unlike last year, I'm not hurt." and R.A Dickey learned to embrace school and education. "In elementary school," Dickey said, "I was like everyone else. The last day I was throwing papers, happy to be free. As I went on, the last day became less liberating and almost sad. Right in the precipice of sad." Dickey isn't 21 either. He doesn't want to be liberated. Time at home with his family will be great. And then there's that triathlon he intends to complete. But he wants to know, "When does school start?" A dozen beat writers tweeting a hundred times a day doesn't add up to one fresh, unexpected take by a talented, curious writer whose love of the game shines through in his copy.

The preference was easy, of course, but the reality is Halladay-Hamels-Oswalt. However, 17 years ago, the reality was Maddux-Glaine-Smoltz and the Braves were shocked...by an upstart Phillies team. Turnabout, I hope.

Adam Rubin should be aware of being brushed back.

Never thought I'd say this, but oh, if the Mets had lost just one more game...

Home from 14 cold, windy and mostly scoreless innings. I can honestly say, as one of the "wolves," fuck Ollie and fuck Jerry. Doors, asses, the hitting thereof and the way out.

It's currently 9-0 Twins. Let's hope the MFYs forfeit that easily.

I went Rangers because the Rays griping that their fans don't support them and the Rays fans not supporting them both turned me off. And maybe Cliff Lee will be death on the MFYs again.

Adios Padres. Despite finishing 90-72, the SD stands for.. Sad Day.

Marlins do us in on the final day of the season yet again, but at least we can take solace that the Pirates tied the 1963 Mets for fewest road wins in a season, with 17. The Mets may suck, but the Pirates suck in ways we can't even imagine.

By placing in the Top 10 in Earned Run Average for a losing, second-division Mets club, R.A. Dickey becomes the first New York Met pitcher to earn a Swannie since Al Leiter in 2004. R.A. finishes seventh in the National League in ERA at 2.84, 0.01 behind Tim Hudson. Johan Santana misses the cut by finishing eleventh, at 2.98, 0.06 behind Mat Latos. Jerry Manuel, send R.A. out for another bow!

The just completed Determining Third Index (intended to reflect upon the maxim that you're gonna win a third of your games and lose a third of your games no matter what you do, it's the other third that determine your season): FINAL THIRD, GAMES 109-162: 11 Gonna Win 16 Gonna Lose 14 Season-Determining Wins 13 Season-Determining Losses FULL SEASON 39 Gonna Win 41 Gonna Lose 40 Season-Determining Wins 42 Season-Determining Losses In actuality (by my tracking), just over half the games the Mets played determined their season, and the Mets lost just over half of those. The thirds concept may have not withstood my intense scrutiny, but the Mets were a barely sub-.500 team in games whose outcome seemed predestined and in games in which they needed to be managed to a result. No matter how you look at it, they kind of sucked.

Pelfrey 4.0 Acosta 3.0 Misch 2.0

Omar's tenure (if we look at dates of hire or games GM'd) is second only to Cashen's. He arrived this weekend six years ago.

Saturday results: Padres take second straight from Giants. Braves lose again to Phillies. Padres one behind Giants for N.L. West lead. Braves and Padres tied for Wild Card. Sunday scenarios: Padres win and Braves lose, Padres are N.L. West champs (head-to-head over SFG), Giants are Wild Card. Giants win and Braves win, Giants are N.L. West champs, Braves are N.L. Wild Card. Giants win and Braves lose, Giants are N.L. West champs, one-game play-in for N.L. Wild Card between Braves and Padres. Padres win and Braves win, one-game play-in to decide N.L. West championship, with loser playing Braves in another play-in for Wild Card. And how delicious would that be?

Citi Field, revealing its true nature as a bandbox today. Move the fences back already!

Valdes 3 Wright 3 Duda 2 Carter 2

That fellow in the shiny blue Mets jacket, far left, three rows behind home? That's me. Toldja it was surreal. Fuller context here. Here I chat in support of Pat.

With Dickey holding tight in seventh, Matt Cain getting lit up slots Johan Santana in tenth at 2.98. The challenge: Ubaldo Jimenez, in eleventh, at 2.99. He needs to win for his 20th, which once seemed a foregone conclusion.

All tied up at 78-82. Helping us, Bucs beat the Marlins, winning their 17th road game of the season, tying the 1963 Mets. Up ahead: the 1962 Mets, with 18 road wins.

Edgy DC wrote: Also the near constant presence of Barbara Bush in the front row. Not two months after she suggested the Astros' former home was an upgrade over people's homes in New Orleans. I want to remake Burns's film. We all (more or less) want to remake Burns's film. It's a tribute of sorts to his compelling storytelling ability that so many people want their team and moments given proper Burns treatment. It's not like there haven't been portrayals of 9/11 that didn't give Piazza and the Mets their due, but there is a sense that this is the documentary of record. It feels wrong that it (for us) is left out; I'd mention the Grand Slam Single probably deserved at least interlude treatment. I've seen MFY fans complain the '98 team didn't get enough screen time. I've seen fans of every team ask, in essence, where's ours? Burns has a point of view, as do all documentarians. I grudgingly have to say it's his film, though we all feel we have a stake in it. (Which isn't to say that some of it doesn't kind of suck.)

Misch 4.5 Thole 3.0 Davis 1.5 Takahashi 1.0