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Good Bye and Good Riddence

The Mets game was a disaster, all across the board.  Managing, situational hitting, bullpen.. So while we still have a lead in the wild card and a more than adequate chance to make the division title ours, I’m going to talk about something else.

 

It’s hard to be a baseball fan without at least a little respect for Yankee Stadium (not necessarily the Yankees themselves).  The Stadium has been around for roughly 86 years, and housed some of the earlier stages of baseballs history.  If there is a baseball ‘god’, it’s Babe Ruth, who made the first marks at the Stadium.  So my gut reaction is that they shouldn’t be demolishing something full of so much baseball lore.

 

The Mets fan and Yankees hater side of me enjoys that they’re knocking down something so historic.  You could argue that the Curse of the Bambino that supposedly stopped the Red Sox from winning was actually reversed when the Yankees went through the process of starting to dismantle the Bambino’s house.  The Red Sox won twice, and the Yankees have gradually gotten worse and worse, until this season when they will miss the playoffs entirely.  Going into the final game ever at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees number for elimination is 1.  This means that if they lose, not only will it be the final regular season game in the building, but also clinches that it will be the last game, period.  They’re currently up 5-3 in the 5th, but we’ll see how it turns out. 

 

Physically, Yankee stadium isn’t very nice.  The concourses, specifically on the ground floor, are tight and feel cave like.  The seats aren’t great, and the upper deck is tall and steep.  The entire place feels old, because it _is_ old.  Besides the ‘magic’ behind the historical place, I’m glad they’re knocking it down.  As a baseball fan in New York, I do occasionally find myself at the place, whether randomly or for a Subway Series game, and my priorities when visiting are my own comfort and enjoyment.  I already have to deal with Yankee fans when I’m there, so why add in small concourses, ancient bathrooms, long lines, broken seats and all the other things wrong with the place? 

 

Babe Ruth may miss the place, but I won’t.  May the Yankees live to regret this decision and be doomed to decades of failure.

 

Back to the Mets, I’m sick and tired of Mets fans acting like Luis Castillo is beating up babies and stabbing nuns in the clubhouse.  To me it seems like he plays at least as hard as anyone, and he certainly gets on base more than Argenis Reyes, and more than Easley.  I don’t think the 7th spot in the lineup is the best location for him, but that’s Manuel’s lineup, not Castillo’s.  The guy might not have the range he used to, but he’s certainly not stationary.  If the Mets were pounding in runs, specifically in clutch spots, then maybe you live with a defensive Argenis a little more often.  Right now though, they need both Castillo’s OBP, and his average with runners in scoring position.  

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Magic Number Mojo

Obviously baseball is a very superstitious sport.  That doesn’t mean jinxes are real, or that some things don’t have to happen the way they do.  There are some things you just can’t wait until the last minute to plan for.  The playoffs are one of them.  Many Mets fans out there don’t want anyone mentioning the magic number for instance, but if these fans got their way the Mets would wake up on October First having made the playoffs, but having even more issues.
A. They already sent the groundscrew home for the winter, so the field isn’t ready, the grass isn’t cut, the trap hasn’t protected the field, (They’re knocking it all down anyway right?), and the lines aren’t drawn.
b. No one’s showing up to see them play, since they never printed or sold the tickets.
c. The vendors and ushers aren’t there to escort anyone to their seats or sell them hot dogs.  There aren’t any hot dogs anyway, since they didn’t reorder from Aramark past September 28th. (Would anyone be surprised if the concessions are out of virtually everything that day, clinched or not?)
d. In fact, the wrecking ball is already dismantling Shea, because everyone told them to assume the season was over October first until told otherwise.  Can’t play at Yankee Stadium, since that’s meeting the same fate.   
e. If they did manage to play, it wouldn’t be on the radio.  Fox has the tv covered, but Howie Rose is already in Uniondale and Wayne Hagin went home. 
f. Mr. Met is off doing weddings and other apperances, unable to man the Pepsi Party Patrol Cannon.  

In all, the number (and not just on Metsblog) has been posted before.  ’06 as well as ’07.  Would Glavine and Mota have pitched better if the number wasn’t up there? no.  Even without it on the main page, it’d be mentioned in every thread.  Everytime you look at the standings and the Phillies score, you’re thinking “how many more Mets wins and Phillies loses before we’re in?”.  So posting it is merely giving us the info we want, which is what the blog is for.  I’m too lazy to come up with a proper auto-updating widget (and don’t know javascript well enough) to put up the Magic Number, but it stands at 13 with I believe 26 games left.