Weekly Mail October 20, 2019

Hey Everybody:

They had a fall festival in my neighborhood on Saturday. I had read all about it and I couldn't wait to take Timmy there. They had bouncy houses, petting zoos, rides you name it. It was a gorgeous sun splashed fall afternoon.

But a funny thing happened...Tim had no desire to go into any bouncy house or pet any farm animals. It wasn't too long ago he would dash off before we even had a chance to settle in. Now he just kind of hung around. Nothing at this thing excited him.

He's growing up on me. On one hand, I'm happy, it's what is supposed to be going on.

On the other hand, he's growing up on me.


Damn.


Anyway



BASEBALL: RIP 2019 Yankees.

I really thought they were going to win it all this year. I thought the way they overcame the injuries was a sign that this would be a special year for them. Seemed like nothing could really keep them down.

I laughed as Yankee fans would go on the FAN and kvetch about their lack of starting pitching, as my team was getting clobbered on a regular basis. They controlled the AL East pretty much wire to wire. I didn't kill Brian Cashman for not making any deadline deals. They have a bullpen I could only dream about.

They did their almost annual spanking of the Twins, and last Saturday night they dominated the Astros. I thought they had their ticket punched for the show.

I was wrong. Again.

I mean I wasn't surprised they didn't win Game 2 in Houston or even Game 3 against Garrit Cole. But Game 4 they should have had. Losing that game was the killer for them. To their credit they came back in Game 5.

And when DJ LeMahieu hit that game tying homer in Game 6 , I was certain the magic was still there.

Instead, you Yankee fans got to see what I got to see all year from my Mets. That is, a closer who couldn't close. Watching Jose Altuve's ball fly out of Minute Maid Park gave me flashbacks to the good old days of yesteryear, as Edwin Diaz made that a nearly nightly occurrence over the summer.

As President Clinton used to say 'I feel your pain"

Had they won on Saturday who knows? I don't know how they would have fared against Cole, Game 7 on the road. My guess is not well. But they would have had the momentum, and maybe it could have been their year.

But alas, winning another game in Houston was not to be. So the fears of all those crazy FAN callers were realized.

Houston was the best team in baseball this year, so it's hard to say they don't deserve to be back in the Series. I just had that feeling that the Yankees had some magic.

Not this year.

So now it's the World Series I said I wouldn't give a shit about, Washington (who doesn't deserve a team) against Houston (who should still be in the National League) for what it's worth (and admittedly it's not much) I think the long layoff for the Nats is what will be their downfall. They remind me an awful lot of the 2015 Mets. So I'm predicting the Astros win in 5.


CRIME: Klapper to the Krapper

When I first heard that California Jewelry store owner Majorie Klapper was sentenced to three weeks in jail, I thought it was only because she put down on her son's college application that he was African American, Hispanic and a first generation college student. I didn't realize she also paid off that scuzzball to fix her son's ACT score.

She basically paid the same money as Felicity Huffman did, but got the extra week in the clink because of what she put on the application.

And I feel the need to ask this again.... What culpability do the colleges have in all of this?

Because lets face it, if I put on Tim's college application that he was African-American, it would take less than a second to see from his map-of-Ireland face that his father is either a) an idiot, b) a liar or c all of the above. Just like you don't have to be a brain surgeon to see that Lori Loughlin's daughter couldn't paddle a boogie board, never mind lead a college crew team. I mean that kid was all over the inter-webs right? An influencer I think is the terminology.

But you and I don't have 15K in the cushions of our sofas to pay anyone off. And colleges are just like politicians, forever with one hand out and the other in the cookie jar.

It's quite possible I'm dropping the ball on this and I am missing something here. Maybe some of the admissions people are being held accountable. But honestly, I haven't seen it.

And just because I don't think Huffman should have had to do time doesn't mean I don't think her or Klapper or Loughlin or anyone else should not be punished. Hit them in the wallet, make them pay for a kid who earned it and can't afford it because their parents weren't making out with Uncle Jessie or living on Westeria Lane.

I just think the big time universities are getting away with a crime. And as a sports fan, I've seen too much in football and basketball to believe otherwise.

FOOTBALL:

Phil Mushnick is one of my favorite columnists. His twice weekly rants against Mike Francessa are alone worth the price of the paper.

But I don't always agree with all of his takes. Yes I agree John Sterling needs to call a home run differently if its hit 500 feet than if it barely clears the right field fence, no I don't have a problem with his nicknames for Yankee home runs.

Lately, Mushnick has had a huge issue with football play by play guys assigning wins and losses to quarterbacks as if they are major league pitchers. He's taken several to task, the latest being Sam Rosen, who he usually leaves alone.

His argument goes something like "if a QB throws for a whole bunch of yards and touchdowns and the defense stinks, why should be get saddled with a loss?" Or if he didn't throw any TD passes and the game was won on the strength of the running game, why should the QB get the credit?

I see where he is coming from. But I respectfully disagree.

Can't you really say the same thing about a pitcher? My goodness look at Jacob deGrom the last few years. Did he deserve some of those losses he got because the bats went silent?  Pitchers lose on errors in the field all the time. It's why era is so important.

And you need to look no further than at Sam Darnold.

I'm not going to pick on Luke Falk, there is a reason he is a third string QB. He did what he could.

But last Sunday against a decent Dallas Cowboy team, the Jets looked like a different team. Most of that had to do with the QB.

I have no issue assigning wins and losses to quarterbacks.


Let's go out on a fun note here this week.

Shay Bradley, a veteran of the Irish Defense Force died in Kilmanagh, County Kilkenny, Ireland on October 8th. Rather than send his friends and family home from the cemetery in tears, he sent them home laughing.

"Hello, hello hello," a voice said from inside the casket. "Let me out! It's f-ckin dark n here!"

Bradley and his son Jonathan cooked up the scheme as it became obvious that his cancer was terminal. According to his daughter, it was just like Shay to do something like that to his family and friends so that they could celebrate his life as well as mourn. What better way to send the mourners off to their post funeral pint than that?

That can only happen in Ireland.


Have a Great Week

Weekly Mail October 13, 2019

Hey Everybody:

I had every intention of keeping this light this weekend, and I will, but first I have to vent a bit.

My Saturday commute to the city is usually quite relaxing. I get a seat on the LIRR all to myself and I can catch up on some reading or going over what I plan to spout off about here on the blog.

But because of track work, the train I usually take terminated at Jamaica, so I had to connect to another train in which I was squeezed in like your average sardine. I had packed a couple of extra things in my bag and that got heavier by the stop. The train of course moved like it was being pulled by a Budweiser Clydesdale.

Apparently this bull$h-t is going to be going on for the next 4 weekends. I also realize that track work is necessary and that doing it on the weekend is much more efficient than doing it during the week. Still, I was pretty grouchy as I got to my desk on Saturday afternoon. It didn't help that he first thing I saw on my phone was an alert that the Rangers lost to the Edmonton Oilers 4-1. That just added to my misery.

Oh, well. It could have been worse..

I could have been in Denver this week...



WEATHER: From Sandcastles to Snowmen...


One of my wife's co-workers was heading to Denver to see some family. Tara told me the co-worker was saying she'd be flying into a blizzard. I guess that's not too unusual for the Mile High city in October.

But when I checked the weather on my iPhone (which has become one of the pure joys of my life-which is every bit as sad as it sounds) and the temperature in Denver at 5:30 PM on Wednesday was 73 degrees. It also said the next day's high was going to be 31 degrees. I said to myself, "That can't be right."

It wasn't.

The high on Thursday was 25 degrees. And sure as hell, it was snowing.

The high temp on Wednesday was actually 81 in Denver. The low on Thursday was 16. A 65 degree drop set a new record for October in Denver. I'm stunned that's not an all time record.

We New Yorkers have been through a ton of crap, so we can pretty much handle anything, but a drop in temperature like that might send us over the edge. It would also get most of us sick. How the hell do you dress for weather like that? It's one thing to pack a sweatshirt, you have to pack the whole winter wardrobe in that situation.

I know many of you have lived in different places around the country if not the world. Have you ever experienced a temperature swing like that? Feel free to share your experience with the class.



BASEBALL: Playoff Surprises

I expected the Yankees to take care of business against the Minnesota Twins, as they seem to do every year, but I have to be honest, I wasn't expecting a sweep. The Twins were really good this year winning 101 games, and I thought their offense would give the Yanks suspect starting pitching some issues. But nothing doing. The Bronx Bombers waltzed to the ALCS.

The three other series however all went the distance. Of the three of them, I was most shocked about the Astros-Rays series going the full 5. No disrespect to Tampa, who had a good year in a tough division, but Houston's starters are as good as any in baseball. I couldn't believe how the Rays got to Justin Verlander in game 4. I'm glad the 'Stros pulled it out, as I'd rather see the Yanks have to go through Houston than through their second home to get to the Series. If the Yanks were my team, I'd root for the path of least resistance. But though my wife. my mom, my in-laws and many friends are die hard Yankee fans, I don't have a horse in this race. I just want to see a good series. Masahiro (tough actin) Tanaka pitched a gem Saturday night and Glyber Torres almost hit for the cycle. We are going to press just as Game 2 is getting under way.

Another thing I couldn't believe was how the Nationals took care of the Dodgers. Maybe I shouldn't have been, Washington has a great lineup, even sans Bryce Harper, and in Stephen Strausberg and Max Scherzer, two aces at the top of the rotation. But the Dodgers were the class of the NL again this year, with a lineup led by Cody Bellinger, Joc Pederson, Max Muncy and that turd Justin Turner.They also had Clayton Kershaw and Hyun Jin-Ryu, who gave me a scare at the All-Star break when his ERA was down in Dwight Gooden 1985 territory* I feel bad for Kershaw, a great pitcher who
seems like a decent human being who just has been snake-bitten in the post season. They are talking about getting rid of the manager Dave Roberts, which seems kind of harsh being that he took them to the World Series two years in a row. But I suppose if I were a Dodger fan I'd be calling for his head too, since that's the kind of obnoxious fan I am. But from a 3000 mile distance, that seems a tad excessive. One thing is for sure, the Dodgers should be ashamed of themselves.

As should the Braves. But this is par for the course for them (and their politically incorrect fans,)  as they pretty much choke every year they make the playoffs. In the past 30 years, the Braves have made the post season 18 times (plus one trip to the play-in game) Of those 18 post season appearances, they have made it to the World Series 5 times, winning just once, and have not been in the World Series for 20 years. My beloved Mets, on the other hand, though not nearly as successful as the Braves, have made the show twice since the Braves last made it.  I must admit I do get a kick out of pointing that out.

I don't much like the Cardinals, but I'm glad they beat the Braves and I hope they beat the Nats, though it's not looking too good on that front as Washington has taken the first two games on the road.  I tried to do Anibal Sanchez a favor by not tuning in when I saw he was pitching a no-hitter, but he gave up a hit anyway though he won the game 2-0. Same thing with Max Scherzer on Saturday, who had his no-no broken up in the 7th.

I really don't want to see a Yankees-Nationals World Series. I'd much rather see the Yanks and Cardinals play. As a fan of old time baseball, it would pit the best AL team of all time against the best NL Team of all time in terms of titles. I still don't think Washington DC deserved a third shot at a baseball team, though that's probably something I need to move on from 15 years after the fact. An Astros-Cardinals World Series to me is just an NL Central match-up. Astros-Nats would do nothing for me.


#METOO- A Bummer down Under 


A water park in Perth, Australia has folks in a tizzy since they have banned "cheeky bikini bottoms".

According to Fox News (and reprinted in the Post) Adventure Land Water Park posted to their
Facebook page a diagram showing what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable swimwear. Bikini
bottoms that display too much bottom, are no longer allowed at Adventure land which deems itself "a family water park.'

Interestingly, the outrage doesn't seem to be coming from perverts like myself, but rather from women's rights groups. There were many comments on the FB site along the lines of "Why don't you get men to cover up?" I happen to agree.

And I've done my part for Queen and Country too. When Tim and I go to Splashdown in Fishkill, I've been wearing a long sleeve swim shirt. And if you read my vacation review from Italy (published one year ago this weekend) you know you won't catch me in a banana hammock.

Now the swim shirt is as much to protect me from sunburn as it is to protect women from having to look at my beer belly. My first trip to Splashdown resulted in a sunburn so bad, I was peeling like the title character in Austin Powers Goldmember.  But any dude wearing one of those speedos should be prosecuted.

So I stand in solidarity with the ladies on this one. You want to bear your bare buns? I say go for it.



SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS....

The Number 3 Album on the Billboard 200 chart last week was ...... Abbey Road, 50 years after it's original release. Pretty awesome!  They also released a video for Here Comes the Sun, for my money the best track on the album.

There's a commercial on TV now for Celebrity Cruises that's using Jefferson Airplane's 1967 classic White Rabbit. The song plays while a woman checks out all the stuff on the ship. Tara explained to me that the woman is supposed to feel like Alice traversing through Wonderland. My question to Celebrity Cruises is this. Is the LSD included with the price of the cabin or is it charged as an extra amenity?

Have a Happy Columbus Day everyone!

and Have a Great Week




*As far as I'm concerned, Doc's 1.53 ERA in 1985 is the gold standard. I'm not taking anything away from Bob Gibson's 1.12 ERA from 1968, on the contrary, I believe that record will never be broken and IMHO, it's the most impressive modern day record in baseball history. But nobody has approached Gooden's 1985 ERA in the 35 years since he did it. Greg Maddox 1994 doesn't count because of the strike. 

Weekly Mail October 6, 2019

Hey:

Sorry I didn't publish last week. Hope you enjoyed the Mets special.

Saturday was one of those days in the city where some folks were dressed as if they were going to the North Pole and some were dressed like they were heading to Cancun. a 40 degree morning and a 80 degree afternoon. Welcome to October in New York.


Onto the news..


POLITICS- Just (Im)Peachy


This whole thing has made my hair hurt.

I am desperately trying to get to the bottom of all this. Here is what I understand to be the dilly yo.

Several years ago, Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter was hired by a Ukrainian Oil Company as some sort of adviser. Sometime thereafter, Vice President Biden was made the point man on a deal to give monetary aid to the Ukrainian government. However the release of the monies became contingent on the Ukrainians getting rid of a prosecutor who they felt was in bed with several corrupt businesses.

Now according to President Trump and pals, one of the businesses this crooked prosecutor was investigating was the same firm Hunter Biden was consulting for. It's Captain Orange's contention that the real reason Biden was holding the money hostage was to get this guy off Hunter's case.

What's more, Trump, according to a "whistleblower", called the President of the Ukraine and told him that a shipment of defense missiles were contingent on the the Ukrainians investigating the Bidens and coming up with damning information.

How am I doing so far?

Now the House has begun an impeachment inquiry based on this whistleblower's statement.


So last things first. If the President of the United States is demanding that a foreign government investigate an American citizen for the sole purpose of helping said President win the election, that is impeachable. And President Trump not only pretty much admitted he was hitting up the Ukraine for dirt on Biden, he said he might ask China to do the same thing.

So here's my theory...Trump wants to be impeached. He's begging for it. And he wants it to go to trial. For two reasons.


1) Trump is all about ratings, to him this whole President thing is about how many eyeballs he can get to watch him on TV. You can take this to the bank..... if/when the articles of impeachment are drafted, and the trial starts, he will compare the ratings between his trial and President Clinton's. He'll hype it up as the ultimate reality show. And when the ratings go through the roof, and the country is glued to the proceedings, he'll brag that he beat the Clintons at something else.


2) There's a snowball's chance in hell that he is convicted. And when he beats the rap, he'll brag about it all the way to Election Night 2020. This to him is a ticket to re-election and 4 more years of ratings. Unless all of the sudden, 20 Republican Senators find religion and convict him. I'm not holding my breath, are you?


As far as the Bidens go, I've heard all different reports. One that said Hunter wasn't being investigated by this prosecutor, another that he was being investigated, but well before his father was holding up the aid package. Another report I saw said that Hunter was investigated and cleared, first by the crooked prosecutor and later by one who was on the level.

It's all these conflicting reports that have me wondering about this whole thing. I like Joe Biden, I always have. I always felt he was a good man, his bona fides in foreign policy have been praised on folks from both sides of the aisle. John McCain considered him a friend, so does Lindsay Graham who has become a total Trump stooge.

I watched Beau Biden's funeral on CNN, a few days after I had come home from the hospital. It was heartbreaking.

I wouldn't mind seeing Joe Biden in the White House.

But I do have some lingering concerns about what Hunter Biden was up to in the Ukraine. And if there was some sort of influence peddling going on. My friends on the left say no. They are probably correct. But I'm not quite as convinced.

The bottom line to me is that even if you think Trump has been a great President, (and I've seen enough memes on Facebook to know that many people do) I'm sick of seeing the highest office in the land reduced to something that seems like it should come on TV between Jersey Shore and Keeping up with the Kardashians.


OK enough of that

BASEBALL PLAYOFFS

So who the hell to root for here...

The National League is a total disaster. If the Brewers had made the playoffs, it would have been easy. But they lost to the Nats in the play in game, so now I have 4 teams playing that I can't stand.

I have to root for the Cards, because I would never root for the Braves. All I needed was to see those jackoffs  in Atlanta doing that tomahawk chop and that decision became easier. Thing is I really can't stand St.Louis either. Forget about what they did to my Mets in 2006, I'm still pissed about 1985 and 1987.

And as much as I can't stand the Dodgers, can I really root for the Nationals? I hate to say it, but my loathing of any other team in the NL East besides the Mets take precedence over my despising of the Dodgers. So I'm rooting (reluctantly) for a third straight pennant for LA.

In the AL, I mean, after the way I got screwed in the Bronx over the summer, pulling for the Yanks is hard. But I really like Aaron Judge and DiDi Gregorious. So far they have done their semi annual shellacking of the Twins, we'll see how things go up north. James Paxon and Mashihro (tough-actin) Tanaka have kept the Twins bats relatively quiet. If the Twins somehow come back, they may be my pick for the AL.

I can't root for the Astros, they still should be in the NL IMHO. The Rays? They don't offend me or excite me.

Strictly from a journalistic standpoint a Yankee-Dodger World Series would have some buzz. I always get a kick out of hearing the stories about Reggie's 3 dingers in 1977, or Steinbrenner's supposed brawl in a Los Angeles elevator. I realize we don't have those characters here, but Kershaw vs. the Yankee lineup would be something to watch.

So I'll make that my prediction. So make sure you all bet on the Astros and Cardinals.



AND THE A-HOLE OF THE WEEK GOES TO......

This idiot who decided to jump into the lions den at the Bronx Zoo.

She acted like she had all sorts of guts by jumping in and dancing in front of a lion. According to reports, the photo she posted made it look more dangerous than it was. A large moat was unseen in the photo. If not for that moat, the lion might have done society a favor and had this dingbat for dinner.

The cops want to charge her with criminal trespassing, but they haven't found her yet. She has been posting on social media, so chances are she'll be picked up soon enough. Sometimes you find you can't fix stupid.

AND THE A-HOLE OF THE PREVIOUS WEEK GOES TO...

A woman in China who opened the emergency door of the plane she was on because it was "too stuffy" on the plane.

According to the English Speaking South China Morning Post, shortly after the flight crew went over all the pre takeoff instructions* the woman told the crew she opened the door so she could "get a breath of fresh air."

First of all isn't China and fresh air sort of an oxymoron? I bet the air in the plane was fresher. Secondly, if someone is dumb enough to do that while the plane is on the ground, is it not out of the realm of possibility that they would do it while the plane was in the air?  At least you know the air up there is fresh. It will also kill you.

They say air travel is the safest way to go. They are probably right, but not with people like this on the plane. (H/T to my pal Kristin Willis-Toro for bringing this to my attention)

SPEAKING OF A-HOLES.....

I broke one of my cardinal rules this week and tuned into Mike Francesca (i know I'm ashamed of myself too)

But after Mickey Callaway's firing, my curiosity got the best of me. So yeah I listened to Sitting Bull for a few minutes. A caller asked him about Joe Girardi taking over and the Pope gave his blessing though he said he wasn't sure they could agree on a contract. But then as only Francesca can do, he proclaimed "Forget about Buck (Showalter).You're not getting Buck. He'll never come here."

Fan Duel keeps advertising a $500 risk free bet**, if you are so inclined to do so, I'd take that $500 and lay it on one William Nathaniel Showalter coming to Flushing. Usually when Francesca says it a'int happening, it happens.

*****************************************************************************

Back on a serious note- I'd really rather not get into details, but if you could please say a prayer or keep a good thought for my long time friends/practically relatives, the Reilly family, it would be much appreciated.

Thank you. Everyone please take it easy


and Have a Great Week




*If you ever get a chance, youtube up George Carlin's but about the in flight instructions. It's a classic.


**Which is total bullshit actually. If you bet $500 and lose, they just give you site credit, which you then have to bet the whole thing and hope you win. It's not like you can bet 500 bucks, lose and get your money back. 

Weekly Mail Special: Requiem for the Mets

      So three weeks ago, I had said that even if the Mets didn't make the playoffs, I could live with them finishing up the season by going 10-6 in their last 16 games. That would put them 10 games over .500, closer to 90 wins than 80 and generally something to hang their hats on.

They got there. Just not the way I figured they would. Losing two games to the 100 loss Marlins and sweeping the playoff bound Braves.

The final game against the Braves last Sunday was kind of like the series finale of Seinfeld. They brought back all the characters you both loved and hated for the last episode. The Mets, well, they boiled down their season in one game. A good start, a lousy middle, a comeback, and of course a blown save. They gave up two home runs to a little weasel named Adeiny Hechavarria who bashed NY on the way out of town, only to have Dominic Smith come out of mothballs to hit a walk off home run. And to have his jersey ripped off to boot.

Incredible.

Unfortunately it wasn't enough to save Mickey Callaway's job, as he was $h-tcanned on Thursday, four days later. We'll get to that in a minute.

First lets wrap up the season

Once again it was a June swoon that did our boys in. Last year they had an awesome April August and September, a subpar May and July and an awful June. I remarked that the Mets were as bad as I had ever seen them in June 2018. They weren't quite as bad this time around, but they weren't good.  Had they played even .500 ball in June, they would be in the playoffs now.

The bullpen of course was the number one culprit. Jeurys Familia pitched almost every game as if it were a playoff game (that's to say he choked) and Edwin Diaz was a horror show. Again, I'm not ready to crown the players we traded to get him and Robinson Cano as first ballot hall of famers, but even had they simply traded a bag of game used balls to Seattle for those two, the Mariners still would have gotten the better of the deal. Cano was either hurt or inconsistent, and Diaz was the human arsonist.

Back in August, the Mets were swept at home by the Braves. I figured that was damaging, but you can overcome when one team has your number. The next series, they were swept by the Cubs, and I started to figure this run might have been for naught.

But it really wasn't till the following week where I officially declared the 2019 season over for our Mets. September 3, in Washington DC, first day back to school for Timmy, already one of the more depressing days of the year,  taking a 10-4 lead into the 9th inning, only to lose 11-10. Mathematically we still may have been in it, but I knew right then and there they were cooked.

Their last 16 games broke like this..Three against the NL Leading Dodgers, three against the lousy Colorado Rockies, three against the even lousier Cincinnati Reds, four against the awful Miami Marlins, and three against the Braves.  I figured they get swept by LA, take 5 out of 6 against the Rockies and Reds, sweep the Marlins and take one from the Braves. 10-6.

Like I said they got there. But not with the road map I laid out for them.

A few more points

1) Mickey Callaway's head scratching moves that occurred way to often were enough for me to justify the pink slip he got on Thursday. My issue was that he was left hanging by the Mets for four days after the season ended. Folks are telling me this isn't a big deal, suggesting that the Wilpons waited till after the end of Rosh Hashanah to make the move. Also they wanted to tell him in person, so they flew to him in Florida.
Maybe I should give Fred and Jeff the benefit of the doubt, but I won't. I just think the whole family are a bunch of creeps.

And I'm not sure if it was (Razor) Ray McGarvey or Ed (Auggie) DePuy who made the point, but as dumb as Mickey managed, the team busted it's ass for him. Think about this.. the writers in this town gave Jason Vargas all sorts of $-it for going after Newsday writer Tim Healey who had made a sarcastic remark at Callaway's expense. But in some ways that speaks to how the team felt about their manager. Someone stuck up for him. At least one guy did.

I hope whoever comes in realizes he has gamers on this team. I felt like the Willie Randolph Mets needed someone to come in and kick some a$$. These Mets don't need that. Just someone who knows how to properly fill out a lineup card.

2) I had suggested to my co-editors that Noah Syndergaard be dealt. I was furious with how he pitched against the Marlins, and before that the Rockies, even with anybody besides Wilson Ramos behind the plate.
I've cooled off and walked that back some. He still throws gas, he's still under 30 years old,  and made it clear he wants to stay a Met. I just feel that it's bad enough to request a personal catcher, even worse if you single someone out, and if you do all of that, you better back it up with solid pitching. He didn't. And it pissed me off.

3) There may come a day where the Marcus Stroman trade goes down with Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi in the annals of bad Met trades. But I hope that no matter how this trade shakes out, that people remember that it was that trade which told us Met fans that Brodie Van Wagenen wasn't throwing in the towel at the trade deadline. I'd like to think that the trade sent a message to the team that they were gonna take a shot at the playoffs. That it came up short is almost besides the point.

4) At a time where we measure our teams by championships, sometimes there is something to be said for a team that comes up short, but still captures our soul. Between Pete Alonso catching Aaron Judge, Jacob deGrom's continued excellence, Jeff McNeil's early run for the batting title, the surprising emergence of JD Davis, Wilson Ramos 26 game hitting streak, Amed Rosario's leap forward, and some of those amazing walk off wins, (I was there for the one against the Indians) this was a fun team to watch and a privilege to root for.  The Yankees could very well win the World series this year, and 2019 would then be remembered at a Yankee year in New York. But this was a pretty special year for us Met fans too. It would have been nice to see them in the playoffs. But in some crazy way, I almost think had they qualified for the play in game and lost, it wouldn't have been as special.


86-76. 3rd place, 3 games out of a playoff spot. And a lot of good memories. Maybe I'm getting soft in my old age, but you know what, I'll take it.



Regular Weekly Mail returns tomorrow