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Faith on the Subway

I think the Mets are a better team than the Yankees, and despite the past two weeks, I think the Mets are going to win this series. I’ll give some reasons for each game, I’m not panicking, and I don’t think the Mets are either.

Game 1: Perez vs. Clemens
Oliver Perez has really pitched well here in New York. He’s pitched some of the biggest games and done well. Game 7 last year, the three wins against Atlanta, and he beat the Yankees at Shea. He lost his last start and he hasn’t had two bad outings like that all season. I expect him to bounce back strong tonight.

Obviously the offense is the problem, but I think they can wake up tonight. Clemens threw well over 100 pitches just getting through six innings against Pittsburgh, and the Mets offense is a lot scarier than that. If the Mets work counts, and let Clemens throw as many pitches as he did in his last start, he won’t make it six. Even if the Mets don’t capitalize on him, that leaves a good stretch of iffy Yankee bullpen to beat up on. Nothing wakes up bats like Scott Proctor and Kyle Farnsworth.

Game 2: Clippard vs. Glavine
Would you believe people are actually saying that this match-up favors the Yankees? Seriously? Tom Glavine is miles ahead of Tyler Clippard, and after his poor start in Detroit, you know he’s going to come back strong. The Mets often struggle against new guys, but Clippard is no longer new, they’ve seen him before, and they’re going to be ready for him. This will be another early to the bullpen day for the Yankees.

Game 3: Hernandez vs. Wang
I feel like this match-up may favor the Yankees a bit, but Hernandez is a fierce competitor, facing his old team, coming off a bad start, and has pitched very very well recently besides that. The Mets have apparently never seen Wang, but he’s been around enough that I don’t think they’re going to fall prey to him the way they would’ve if this was his first year. At the very least I think the Mets will compete, and he won’t pitch a complete game like he did recently. The Yankee bullpen could be tired by this point if my other two games went as planned, so even if he does pitch well, the Mets have a chance to put their foot down on a tiring bullpen.

The Mets are done with their slump. They’re going to win these games, because they need to start winning games. Everybody needs to have some Faith in this team. It was 24 years ago today that the Mets started putting together the ’86 puzzle by acquiring Keith Hernandez. I wonder if Gary will remember that and mention it to him tonight.

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The Three Cs

Surely if you’re reading this you’re only doing so to see how I’m possibly going to be optimistic at a time like this. There is a lot to be down on lately with the Mets and I am, and surely you are too, sick of hearing about it.

No baseball today, unless you count finding out if the Yankees are going to welcome in the Mets at .500, or on a nine game winning streak. Either way, I’m predicting they are going to be no better than .500 on Monday.

The Mets are obviously not as bad as they’ve been playing. You can complain about individual pieces and problems, but every team always has something that’s not going right. The problem is that they all were happening at once. It doesn’t matter where Lo Duca hits in the lineup, as no one’s driving in runs from anywhere.

Obviously the Mets aren’t going to lose nine of ten for the rest of the season. The important thing is that they’re still in first place. They’ve lost maybe two games in the standings during this streak. Atlanta has struggled too, they couldn’t even catch a cold. Obviously Philadelphia wasn’t going to be eliminated after a bad first two weeks, but they haven’t caught us either, despite the sweep. I don’t think they’re anything to be worried about either. The Mets will visit them at the end of the month, playing better baseball and thirsty for revenge after last week.

There is no reason to panic, or declare the season over. Although declaring the season over right now would put us in the playoffs. The Mets are going to play good baseball again. If they started doing that on Friday, they’d again be padding the lead, not trying to play catch up.

The Mets didn’t have a streak like this last year, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing for these guys. Last year they cruised, and they lost in the playoffs. The Mets are now feeling the pains of losing, they’re learning that despite being the team to beat in the NL East, they can’t take it for granted. They need to take that message to heart, and go out there with fire and passion to win in each game. They don’t look happy right now, and that’s good. They’re not enjoying the losing streak, and they know the media frenzy that’s going to take place this weekend. Maybe being back to being treated as second-class citizens, and the second best team will spark the fire that they need.

Sometimes losing can teach a team a lot, and when they learn their lesson, they will be able to win that much more effectively. I see good things for this weekend, remember the three Cs. Clobber Clemens and Clippard.

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Subway Momentum

332-332. The all-time series against the Cubs is now officially tied. It wasn’t looking like that heading into the bottom of the 9th, the Mets down 5-1 and the Cubs closer Ryan Dempster on the mound. And as anyone reading this certainly knows already, a couple of hits some walks and another couple of hits gets the Mets the walk-off 6-5 win on a Carlos Delgado single past the second baseman.

A terrific way to steal one, as Delgado put it later, and some great momentum leading into a crazy Yankee series and then the opportunity to beat up on the Braves. The Yankees on the other hand seem to be coming in under the train instead of driving it. Anyone that’s been watching these games would have to be silly to think the Yankees are going to win this weekend. Now anything can happen, and this is probably the first time the Yankees are coming to Shea where they’re actually underdogs. They could lose two of three and really all people could say is they lost to a better team. The Yankees don’t even know who’s going to pitch for them on Sunday. Actually I just heard they’re pitching Tyler Clippard, 22, who is 3-2 with a 2.72 ERA for AAA Scranton.

It was a great game to be present for, and a great start to four consecutive visits to Shea, as I’ll be in attendance for all three subway series games. I’m 3-4 at Shea this year so far, 4-4 for home teams including my visit to Dolphin Stadium. This was one of the best of the season. I was at Opening Day which was great too, but the come from behind walk-offs are something special. The Mets basically conceded the game before it started, Jason Vargas making his first start, and the Mets rested everyone but Delgado and Green. It didn’t matter, Vargas didn’t pitch that badly except for one inning and I think he should get another start, and Gotay came through in a big spot twice, as well as some other players getting some key hits for a big win. It’s wins like this that are the difference between a good 92-94 win team and a great 97-100+ win team.