Winning on the Road, A Crucial 'Bad Meets Evil' Caveat

An important thought occurred to me yesterday as I took in the end of Game 2.

The other day I endorsed the Phillies for 2009 World Series Champion. No backpedaling on that one, but I do want to specify an important caveat/rider/addendum to that endorsement.

It is my great, great hope that the Phillies not only beat the Yankees, but also that they win the final, clinching game at Yankee Stadium, NOT at Citizens Bank Park.

Winning a playoff series on the road always kind of sucks in comparison to winning at home. For the clinching team there is no adoring crowd to soak it all in with, only the solidarity of one another and a clubhouse to soak with champagne.

That's pretty awesome in its own right (particularly, I should think, when you've clinched the World Series; of course I wouldn't know), but ask any fan out there whether he or she'd rather their team clinch a series at home or on the road and every single one of them will say at home.

That's exactly why I want the Phillies to win on the road.

Not only will they not have Phillies fans surrounding them and showering them with cheers, instead (and better yet), they'll have a stadium full of dejected Yankee fans with whom to share the moment.

It's the closest we come to having both teams lose. The Phillies (and more importantly their fans) would lose out on the thrill of winning at home, and the Yankees would just lose out entirely.

It ain't much but it's something. And this year, in this World Series, all we can do is grasp at straws.

Have good weekends everyone.

- A.F.O.M.G.

Staring at the Pinstripes

One thought kept coming back to me as I watched Game 1 last night.

Anyone who thought the Phillies were going to roll over against the Yankees simply has not been watching this team the past few years.

To the dismay of Mets fans, this is a Philadelphia team that doesn't get scared, that doesn't ever count itself out of anything.

There's an old saying (or maybe it comes from "Catch Me If You Can") that the reason the Yankees beat other teams in the World Series isn't because they've got Joe D or Mickey Mantle (or Derek Jeter or Mariano Rivera), it's because the other team gets caught staring at the Pinstripes.

In beating the Twins and the Angels, the Yankees beat two teams that seemed to play as if they were more than a little psyched out. Those teams were caught staring at the Pinstripes; that will never happen to this Philadelphia team.

Now, don't get me wrong--these Yankees have a lot more going for them than Pinstripes; they won 103 games this season, after all.

But the Phillies are a really dangerous team. You have to play them hard for 9 innings because they'll seize on any let-up. The Yankees caught a glimpse of that yesterday when the Phils pushed home four huge runs in the 8th and 9th innings (when they easily could have coasted behind a dominant Cliff Lee).

Tonight should be interesting; will the famed "Who's Your Daddy?" chant be back? Time will tell.

- A.F.O.M.G.

The Bad Meets Evil World Series

It's come to this. By November 6th, either the Yankees or the Phillies will be World Series champions.

This is what happens when Bad (the Phillies) meets Evil (the Yankees). The outcome disastrous. Suffering across the land. No alternative but to watch with despair.

As a baseball fan, and as someone with an interest in the misfortune of both teams involved in the contest, I have my desired outcome. There is nothing enjoyable about this topic, so I'm going to make this post short and to the point.

I hope the Phillies beat the Yankees, for several reasons. First off, the biggie, in the interest of The Curse I have to root against the Yankees. This is as black and white as it gets for me.

Beyond that, if the Yankees win the World Series, then both of our principal rivals will have won World Series' in the past two seasons. The Phillies already have something to lord over us (they have since 2007), so what's one more prize?

But if the Yankees win, prepare yourself for a whole new level of in-your-face annoyingness. When the Phillies win we at least have a buffer zone. I mean, has anyone even seen a Philadelphia newspaper before? I haven't.

But if the Yankees win then get ready for a full court press in the local newspapers, ESPN, SNY, your local news channel, everything. It'll mean a ticker tape parade just blocks from where I work. It'll mean all your New York City transplant coworkers going nuts and patting each other on the back.

I know we've been the Phillies' sons the past few years but this is the Yankees we're talking about. We've been arguing with people about the Yankees our entire lives.

No matter how much heartache the Phils have caused us the past three seasons, it's not the same as a lifetime of Mike Francesca, the late 90's, the 2000 World Series, Roger Clemens, the heartache of seeing Doc and Straw in Pinstripes, and the insufferability of virtually every Yankee fan you've ever known.

So for me, in a meeting of Bad and Evil, I want the Phillies to win the World Series.

More than anything, I just want it to be over fast. Usually I root for a 7-game epic; not this time. I suspect that each day this World Series goes on another little piece of me will die inside.

- A.F.O.M.G.

Bad Meets Evil: Stay of Execution

As the Yankees were on their way to putting up a 6 spot in the top of the 7th last night, the reality of it all finally dawned me.

It was the prospect we began whispering about back in June or July. The tone over the summer was more of the "wouldn't it suck if" variety; it wasn't a possibility we took particularly seriously.

Back then we had breathing room; there was a lot of baseball left to play and too many quality teams standing in the way. Maybe the Rays would make a run. The Red Sox were 8-0 against the Yankees. The Dodgers were clearly the class of the National League, and just wait until they got Manny back.

Then when the playoffs began we told ourselves the Angels always had the Yankees' number, or that Boston would find a way if it came to that. In the NL the story was that Colorado had that Rocktober Magic again or the Cardinals' rotation was too good or the Dodgers were too deep. Somehow it just couldn't happen.

These were the hopes that insulated us against the creeping sense of dread.

As the Yankees took a 6-4 lead, it seemed there was nothing left to save us.

* * * * *

And then, implausibly, the Angels came back from the brink, scoring 3 runs in the bottom of the 7th, assuming a 7-6 lead.

They let the Yankees make it interesting with a 2-out rally in the 9th; Nick Swisher took it to a full count with the bases loaded before popping out to end the game, and that's where it would finish. 7-6 Angels. 3-2 Yankees.

For one more night the dreaded Yankees-Phillies "Bad Meets Evil" World Series remains just a figment of our imaginations.

We dodged a bullet last night. From where I sit it feels, more than anything, like a stay of execution; it feels like the Angels simply delayed the inevitable.

But in the back of our minds and, seemingly, at the end of each news report comes a welcome reminder to the ears of Yankees haters, invocations of 2004.

Like the 2004 Red Sox, the Angels staved off elimination with a win in Game 5 and pushed the series back to New York.

Now we just need them to do it two more times.

- A.F.O.M.G.

The Wilpons: Not Just Visiting Misery on Mets Fans Anymore

It was the cloud that had hung drearily over the Mets since December 11, 2008.

Since the first details emerged of Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, Fred Wilpon and the Mets have been part of the story virtually every step of the way.

The losses Wilpon had presumably suffered in connection with Madoff gave rise to any number of media frenzies.

First there was the idea, widely believed, that the Madoff losses limited the Mets' financial latitude last offseason, preventing them from aggressively pursuing top tier free agents like Mark Teixeira, AJ Burnett, or Derek Lowe.

More recently it was alleged that the Wilpons' losses were so severe that the family would be forced to sell the team, a news item that elicited generally positive reviews from Mets fans.

Heading into another offseason with little hope for organic talent development, the concern had arisen again that the Madoff'd Mets would be unable to play hardball in the bidding for free agents. Mets fans bemoaned their bad luck for months.

Until yesterday.

Yesterday we learned the Wilpons actually profited from their association with Madoff, earning $48 million.

There are two immediate reactions to this story. One is that the club has a moral obligation to return the $48 million that came out of the pocket of every mom, pop, retiree, Holocaust survivor, etc. who invested in the Madoff fraud.

Based on a 60 Minutes segment I saw some time ago, the team probably won't have any choice, but the sooner they give the money back the better. Even if the Wilpons are victims of Madoff, too (and they are from a time value of money perspective), they have no claim to the "earnings" which came to them courtesy of other defenseless people whose lives Bernie ruined.

The other reaction is that the team won't get a free pass this offseason for being passive players on the free agent market. And there's some good and some bad with that.

Certainly, as a fan, my underlying hope is that the Mets are profitable and financially flush, so the fact that they didn't lose $300 million to Madoff is a good thing.

But what does it mean for the team going forward?

I can see it now. These Madoff "winnings", or rather, the lack of Madoff losses, will be noted in almost every article about the Mets' pursuit of free agents this offseason, right alongside the team's disastrous finish in 2009.

The fans, the media, everyone's clamoring for the Mets to make a big splash this offseason. Now they've got the money to do it again. If they stand pat and don't make any big moves, they face months of second guessing and criticism if 2010 goes as poorly as 2009.

As for me, I want the Mets to make a big splash if it's the right big splash.

Carlos Beltran was the right big splash. Mark Teixeira would have been.

Is Matt Holliday, "blue collar superstar", that type of player? Ask yourself, is he really in that same league? He's a better fit for left field than Daniel Murphy, but is he worth the gagillions we'd have to pay him?

I'm not convinced. In fairness I haven't seen enough of him to judge fairly. But based on the numbers he looks like the biggest fish in a small free agent pond, the kind of guy who's good, not great.

Either way, if the Mets weren't under pressure to sign him before, they'll sure as hell be under pressure to sign him now.

After all, we know there's a need and now we know they've got the money.

All thanks to Bernie Madoff.

- A.F.O.M.G.

New A-Rod?

Easily the most nauseating part of the Yankees' return to playoff dominance has been the newly inspired play of Alex Rodriguez.

For years the poster boy of everything hateable about the Yankees and a symbol of their postseason ineptitude, A-Rod has paced the Yankees' offense with 5 home runs through the first 7 games of the 2009 playoffs.

He's still hateable, but that unclutch tag grows more and more anachronistic each day.

I want to think that even Yankee fans appreciate that this was a lot more fun when A-Rod was his old, bizarre self.

You know, the guy who talked about his erstwhile sleepovers with Derek Jeter. The guy who went sexy sunbathing in Central Park. The guy who inspired a really, really long piece on ESPN.com entitled "Why Do We Hate This Guy?".

And of course, the guy who slammed Madonna, slapped Bronson Arroyo, and slobbered over himself in a widely circulated magazine.

I don't care what the numbers say, somewhere beneath A-Rod's new, Kate Hudson-loving exterior lurks that same tortured soul.

The same needy, clueless, stripper loving (tranny-banging? That was the word out of Rudy Giuliani's 2008 presidential campaign staff...) big-moment shrinking ne'erdowell that everyone just seemed to instinctively despise? It's all in there somewhere just beneath the surface. We just need to find a way to draw it out.

This is serious, people. The Curse could depend on it.

- A.F.O.M.G.

The Phillies: Everything We Wish the Mets Were

When I went to bed last night it was 4-3 Dodgers at the end of the 8th. I wanted to stay up to watch the finish but it was late; though I wouldn't watch it live, as I closed my eyes I had a sinking feeling that the Dodgers were teetering on the edge of disaster.

And so, when I woke in the middle of the night and checked the final score on my iPhone, nothing was surprising about the fact that the Phillies had found a way to steal victory from defeat, winning 5-4 on a walk-off 2-run double by Jimmy Rollins.

As Mets fans know all too well, that's what this Phillies team does. They never count themselves out; they're never out of a game or series or season until it's over. To a partial observer it's infuriating; to an impartial observer...

* * * * *

As much as it pains me to say it, the truth is that my vision of a dream Mets team looks a lot like the 2007-2009 Phillies.

Young, home grown, pricey but not ridiculously oversalaried, imbued with a never say die attitude, the Phillies have both the construction and attitude of a very likeable, endlessly exciting team.

They're like the 2001 Mets, if the 2001 Mets had completed that comeback against the Braves. They're like the 2006 Mets, if the 2006 Mets had found a way to come back in the 9th against the Cardinals.

Ever since '86 (when, in fairness, we pulled off the miracle to end all miracles) we've been waiting for this team to make us believers again.

We've been waiting for the Mets to finish that comeback or overcome that opponent for 23 years now. But whether it was the Braves, the Yankees, the Cardinals, or the Phillies, the Mets could never do it; they always fell short.

This Phillies team never seems to fall short.

Now sure, they fell flat in the playoffs in 2007 and they're not out of the NLCS in 2009 just yet. But somehow I suspect all of you know exactly what I mean.

We hate the Phillies, sure; we don't have a choice.

But when we dare to look at them objectively, what do we see? Do we see a team that stands for everything we oppose, like the Yankees? Do we see a team that's been so successful that it's blurred into entitlement, like the Braves?

For me, unfortunately, I see the elephant in the room in the Mets-Phillies dynamic: I see a team that looks like everything I wish the Mets could be. And it's been that way for far too long.

Maybe some day it will be our turn.

Twenty-three years and counting.

- A.F.O.M.G.

There's Always Two Years From Now

I watched Game 2 of the Yankees-Angels series with the Hound the other night. As the game went to extra innings and the hour grew later, he asked me what the Mets could do to make things better next year.

I told him I didn't know where to begin.

You start by talking about needing another pitcher; after Johan we had the ineffective Mike Pelfrey, the humiliating Oliver Perez, the injured John Maine, and the ghost of Livan Hernandez -- so sure, another arm would help.

But then you realize they desperately need another bat in the lineup, a first baseman or left fielder to slot into the middle of the order, the kind of guy who gives you 30-plus home runs and 100-plus RBI. That'd go a long way.

But there are a host of secondary needs as well. A catcher. A second lefty specialist for the pen (critical if we're going to overtake the Phillies). A long man in the Darren Oliver mold (I was reminded of how good he was for us in '06 during Saturday's game). A legitimate No. 3 (at this point in their careers, none of Maine, Pelfrey, or Perez qualify). An impact pinch hitter for the tight and late situations.

You look at that list and you realize there's a lot that needs to get done. For all the talk about another pitcher and another bat, there's a ton that needs to happen before this team becomes a legit contender again.

The Mets' brain trust (does that descriptor give them more credit than they deserve?) needs to take an honest look at the team it's going to field in 2010. If they make the big splash type moves they're so good at making, what kind of team can we expect?

My guess is that if you make the obvious changes, you're talking about an 88-90-win team. That's a team that'll always be in the thick of things, but, as 2007-2008 showed us, it's the kind of win total that makes you ever the bridesmaid, never the bride.

The Mets then have two options. They can either go the route of the Yankees after 2008, which worked wonders for them in 2009, or they can privately concede that their best chance for returning to the playoffs is in 2011 (particularly when you consider the ascendant Braves and Marlins) and orient each of their offseason moves before 2010 with an eye toward the following season.

Madoff or no Madoff, we know Fred Wilpon's style -- he's not going to authorize the kind of offseason blitzkrieg George/Hank/Hal Steinbrenner signed off on last year for the Yankees.

That means it's building blocks time. Each move should be made with one question in mind: Will this player help us in 2011 and beyond when we can legitimately hope to contend again?

Looking at players that way means being wary about older free agents. It means trading aging players now who won't be there to lead you where you want to go in two years. It means not spending a ton on a free agent first baseman now when the free agent first baseman you really want is available next offseason.

It means, essentially, building a 2005-type team. In 2005 you had a team that was clearly beginning to reload. Little did we know all of that team's powder would be shot by the end of the next season, but still, moving the needle back to respectability was enough for 2005.

Remember, injuries or no injuries, this is a team that won 70 games last year. We won more games than that in 2004 under Art Howe. Publicly the club talks about fielding a championship caliber club next season; privately they must know that's a pipe dream.

There are no quick fixes for this mess. Signing one or two free agents is the equivalent of putting lipstick on a pig. Next year isn't The Year.

That doesn't mean 2010 can't be exciting, but we need to respect it for what it is. If we're fortunate, 2010 will be like 2005 all over again, a stepping stone on the way to 2011, like 2005 once was to 2006.

Tyranny of low expectations? Maybe. I just think that's more realistic.

- A.F.O.M.G.

I Dream of Jeff

Lest this sound a little creepy, I want to preface the below by noting a few facts in my defense.

First off, though I run a Mets blog, I am not the kind of guy who adorns his bedroom with an unhinged amount of Mets memorabilia. Not knocking those people, but I've never been the guy with the Mr. Met clock or blue and orange bedding.

I'm obsessed with the Mets but Y2K is my general avenue for that obsession. Few of my friends are as passionate about the team as I am, and I respect the difference in interest level; I don't boorishly make every conversation about the Mets or anything like that. I have interests beyond baseball.

In spite of all that, something strange, unexpected, and slightly disconcerting happened to me Monday night.

I dreamed of Jeff Wilpon.

Or well, a version of Jeff Wilpon anyway. It was most definitely supposed to be him, but my dream's version of him didn't look a lot like the man. There was the jet black hair in a slightly goofy cut, but the rest of him was indistinguishable from anyone else.

In my dream we weren't in an office setting, it was as if me and some unidentifiable friends had run into him on the streets of New York in the course of a night out and he'd decided to hang out with us.

We talked about the Mets, and let me tell you, the conversation wasn't encouraging. Dream Jeff Wilpon had a remote understanding of on base percentage, and of statistical analysis broadly. Pressed to explain player moves the team had made, his answers showed all the sophistication of a Joe Morgan.

Dream Jeff Wilpon fessed up that the organization had lost a lot of money with Madoff, and that free agent signings would be hard to come by. He was really quite distraught at the state of the team, certain that we'd be lousy again in 2010.

When asked if he could give the Glass Man his dream job with the Mets, to bring me on board to help turn things around, Dream Jeff Wilpon responded, as if he was confiding in me, that there were no jobs to give because money was so tight.

It was, all things considered, a pretty frightful apparition.

What's it all mean? Honestly, I'm not sure how deep down the rabbit hole I'm prepared to go on this one. But I want to believe there's hope for us yet. These were visions not of things as they would be but rather as they could be. There's still time to fix the future, still room to hope for better.

Unless of course Real Jeff Wilpon bears more resemblance to Dream Jeff Wilpon than I would have otherwise let myself believe. If that's the case then god help us.

- A.F.O.M.G.

Reflections on The Grove

It was a weekend of firsts for the Glass Man as me and Little Miss Citi bounded down to Ole Miss for three days of tailgating, football, and Southern hospitality.

Simply put, tailgating at The Grove is unlike anything I'd ever seen before. I have one incredible tailgating memory from my sophomore year at school, but a small school like mine could never compete with an Ole Miss when it comes to tailgating.

But it's more than the size. It's the tradition -- the Walk of Champions, the girls in their best dresses, the generations that come out to be with one another. The school spirit of the fans and enthusiasm for the home team are everywhere.

Amid the hundreds of tents, all there is is football, togetherness, and having a good time. It's a really simple, really incredible thing.

It got me thinking about traditions, and the general lack thereof when it comes to our Mets. There is no gathering place to tailgate, no "hotty toddy" to sing. Hell, we can't even dress the same given the general dilution to our uniform from years of black-infused unis.

The closest thing we have to a tradition is the Home Run Apple. That would be more pitiful if the Apple weren't so lovable, but when you think about it, the Apple is a classic kind of who-cares-where-it-comes-from fanbase tradition.

People my age might be surprised to know that the Apple was only installed at Shea Stadium in 1980. To anyone born after that, the Apple is part of being a Mets fan, right up there with the 7 train, the ball going between Buckner's legs, and a general sense of inferiority/discontent.

I don't really know where I'm going with this; it's difficult to imagine the Mets getting their version of "hotty toddy" (attempts to co-opt the Jets' J-E-T-S-Jets-Jets-Jets always feel forced). But those little things that tie a fan base together, the things that father fans teach and hand down to their children, are really impactful.

Maybe the answer is that the Mets need to stop trying to be all things to all people. We're not the Dodgers or the Giants, we're they're descendants. Black isn't a uniform color, it's a fad. The '86 Mets might have been a bunch of dirty rotten scoundrels, but they were our dirty rotten scoundrels, so why does our organization seem intent on disowning them?

Visiting The Grove, seeing the excitement all around me (this for a team that entered the season with a ton of promise, and which has had a really disappointing season), it all felt so foreign, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't just because I'm a Northerner (not, ahem, a "Yankee").

I'm not sure what the answer is. But when people talk about the Mets not having an identity, I'm pretty sure this lack of tradition is part of what they're talking about.

For me, the tradition of the Mets is going out with friends and family and watching a team that I love; that's something, but going to The Grove, you can't help but feel that there could be so much more.

- A.F.O.M.G.

A View to October

It was just after the last of the 5th inning of Game 1 at Yankee Stadium. It was a scene of excitement. The home team had just put 3 runs on the board en route to a 6-2 lead. The crowd was going wild.

The new Yankee Stadium looked the part. The bunting flew proudly. All the seats appeared to have been sold. Somewhere, Jay-Z and Kate Hudson were seated next to each other, just a small part of the mob assembled to celebrate the Yankees' latest postseason romp, delighting first in A-Rod's RBI single and then Hideki Matsui's 2-run homer.

When it was over, at the commercial break, I turned to the Internet. Without even meaning to, in an almost Pavlovian trance, my fingers began to type the familiar letters into the search bar ("www.mets..."), leading me to Metsblog.

On this night when the town was going nuts for the Yankees, the top story concerned the Mets completing the Billy Wagner trade, a salary dump deal for two prospects who will, almost certainly, never amount to anything worth getting excited about.

Don't blame Matt Cerrone. Tonight in Metsville, that's as good as it gets.

For whatever reason, this year it feels like the shadow of the Yankees has loomed even larger than it usually does.

After a freewheeling offseason, their team felt new and exciting from the start. Even when they struggled in April you knew they had too much talent to succomb. When they started winning it seemed they never stopped; each night there was another shaving cream pie exploding in some new hero's face.

On the other side of town, our side, the season got meaningless fast. Depleted by injury before they ever found their footing, this Mets team was exciting for a grand total of maybe 4 weeks (and I really think I'm being generous at that).

It's been a tale of two seasons all year. The postseason just amplifies it.

The end of the 5th inning was just a microcosm of the juxtaposition (thrust in our faces all year like so many shaving cream pies) between one season that continues with so much promise, and another that ended so hopelessly long ago.

- A.F.O.M.G.

Bracketology

Heckuva ballgame tonight between the Twins and Tigers. A back and forth battle between two good, if flawed, teams that wasn't resolved until the 12th, it was a fight to the finish that Mets fans might have expected out of their own team in 2007-2008.

Only that didn't quite happen. And after two near misses we were left with the void that was the 2009 season.

Yesterday the Mets announced The Plan (TM) for remaking the team, and announced that its offseason of sweeping changes would begin WITH... firing the first base coach. Inspiring stuff.

Not to worry though...

... THIS guy is running the ship, and he's not going to take this shit anymore.

But the twists and turns of the Mets' latest attempts to build a championship team (naturally, any team that finished 22 games under .500 would have one goal in mind for next season: a championship) will have to wait another few weeks as the playoffs start tomorrow and won't conclude, possibly, until the first week of November.

So who to root for?

It's a relatively straightforward bracket for the Glass Man in the Divisional Series. In the AL I've gotta pull for the Red Sox over the Angels and the Twins over the Yankees, but ultimately I think we're looking at one final Yankees-Red Sox ALCS showdown for the decade.

As far as what I hope happens, over in the NL it's another gimme -- Dodgers over the Cardinals and Rockies over the Phils. I think the Cardinals are going to beat the Dodgers, however. As for Rox-Phils, I could see that one going either way. I'll give the Phillies the nod just because they've got home field advantage, but when you look at their pitching, you could see them getting exposed fast once the rotation turns past Cliff Lee.

Time will tell. The one goal, anyway, is to avoid the dreaded Yankees-Phillies showdown. Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place.

Ultimately, my interest in the perpetuation of The Curse precludes me from rooting for the Yankees under ANY circumstance, so I would need to pull for the Phillies there, but I'd completely understand any reader who would choose otherwise. I'd rather not think about it is the truth.

In any event, that's all I got. October baseball is upon us. Just not for the Mets. Not this season.

- A.F.O.M.G.