Craziest End of a Season Ever?

The Mets demise and the surge of the Phillies & Rockies could make this the craziest end to a baseball season ever.

It is possible for 5 teams to finish with the same record: the Mets, Phillies, Diamondback, Rockies, & Padres. Imagine this scenario. All 5 of these teams finish with the same record. The Mets & Phillies would have a one game playoff to determine the NL East champ. Then the loser would face the loser of a Diamondbacks/Padres/Rockies playoff to determine who wins the Wild Card.

I'm not even sure how a 3 way tie for 1st place would work if that happens in the NL West, but we do know that the Mets control their own destiny. Win tonight. Win tomorrow. Win the next day. And then the day after that. And we're in.

It's just that simple. Okay, it's not that simple for this team.

Complain to Cablevision

I was a little concerned when I saw Major League Baseball promoting the playoffs on TBS. As a Cablevision customer, I have the wonderful fortune of not having TBS in High Definition (among 100 other channels I'm missing in HD).

Well according to Metsblog.com this morning, Cablevision will be getting TBS HD, but just not in time for the National League Division series. So for those of us who are so lucky to be Cablevision customers we'll have to watch the Mets in standard definition.

The best thing we can do is make our voices heard by going here, and letting Cablevision know what a travesty this is. Submit a complaint every day if you have to. Let Cablevision know we're sick of not having HD channels.

Remember 1998

Nine years ago next week will mark the anniversary of one of the most heartbreaking moments in recent Mets history. The collapse of the 1998 Mets.

Remember that year? Remember when we traded for Piazza and you couldn't believe the Mets actually made a trade for one of the top 5 players in the game? Was this the same team that put their faith in Bobby Bonilla and Mr. I Like to Throw Firecrackers At Kids, Vince Coleman?

With a 1 game lead in the Wild Card and 5 games to play. You could smell the postseason. I remember being in college down in South Carolina and being so psyched that I finally would have to stop hearing from Braves fans down there how the Mets never made the playoffs.

But then the Mets imploded losing the final 5 games and missing the playoffs yet again.

I'm reflecting on this not to try and scare you that the Mets are only 6.5 games up on the Phillies and anything can happen. I was thinking about 1998 because this team is so different than that one, and how we should appreciate how far we've come since 1998.

You have to remember the seasons of losing and the wild card chases to appreciate where we are now. This season has been one of the most tumultuous seasons as far as how the Mets have fooled around with my emotions, but when it comes right down to it they've always gotten the job done. They've still remained in first place.

Every collapse they've had this season has ultimately resulted in a big turn around. The injuries this team has suffered introduced us to some phenomenal talent that we might not have seen this year from the likes of Carlos Gomez, Ruben Gotay, and the acquisition of Luis Castillo. The horrible April that David Wright had has led to an MVP season. The absence of Alou has amounted to his batting .330 with a 17-game hitting streak.

Sure there are still those who have yet to turn their season around (i.e. Delgado, Mota, Schoeneweiss, etc.), but for the most part this team has not let us down.

And I feel that they will carry this well into October. So remember 1998. Remember 2002 even. But I'm sure we'll all remember 2007 well into the future.

Mets Fans Were Rocking Tonight

I want to give a special shout out to all of the fans who were at the game tonight. While I was not in attendance, I heard you loud and clear during the telecast (by the way, Cohen, Darling and Hernandez are fantastic). It was great to hear that MetsLifer passion rip through the stadium as we polished off the pathetic Atlanta Braves, essentially sending them to the golf courses early - or wait, did we do that 10 days ago when we mopped them up with a phat broom in their own house? I wonder what that Braves beat reporter has to say about us now. Next up, Phillies.

By the way, the energy that was emanating from all the MetLifers tonight reminded me of the post season last year when Shea was deafening. I can't wait to experience that electricity again. See clip from Game 1 of NLDS against the Dodgers. Who is that guy?

One of Those El Duque Games

El Duque in his first game back with the Mets looked like he should have taken another week off. He had trouble with his control early and it seemed like everyone was able to get a hit off of him. I'm not going to even mention the final score because it's not even worth typing.

El Duque struggled his last time out so I was a little surprised to see him have back to back shaky starts. Some on talk radio and online are already saying this shows that El Duque needs to go to the bullpen if the Mets make the playoffs.

That's ridiculous. If you want to move him to the bullpen in the playoffs because his arm is durable enough to sustain it and he could fix some middle relief problems, that's one thing. But to move him there on account of this start is preposterous. El Duque has way too much playoff experience and fantastic playoff resume to send him to the bullpen for this.

I still feel that El Duque should be the Mets #1 starter in the playoffs. If he pitches in Game 1 there's no question he'd be available for game 4 and even game 6 if he was needed. From his time with the Yankees and White Sox, I am convinced El Duque dials it up a notch come playoff time.

I've been waiting 2 years to see him pitch a playoff game for the Mets. Just don't let him run around in the outfield between now and October.