Well, I was objecting to your writing about how the Mets could choke in [Comiskey II] and nearly posted this in the other thread:

…but then I saw the end of the game. I know a 2-0 lead isn't 100%, I know no pitcher is perfect.

But for $20,000,000 per, Díaz should be able to not throw walk-off gopher balls. But you can't teach an old mutt new tricks, alas.

Gnats beat Braves, Phils work past Seth Lugo (and then blow the beJAYzus out of the KC pen) and the Mets find a way to undo all the weekend's good work. TN:24.

ETA: This season Boom-Boom has converted 14 saves, gotten 2 holds when he's needed rescuing, and blown 5 saves outright. That's a lousy 67% conversion rate (14/21). He's also on pace to have the 2nd-worst ERA of his career, behind only 2019, of course.

Meanwhile, Jered Kelenic is playing semi-regularly for a team that's ahead of us in the standings. And I think we're still paying HGH Cano, albeit that might only be cynicism.

Why make a new post when the old one is still sorta fresh.

Congrats, Corbin Carroll; carefully consider though that walkoff slams off Boom-Boom Diaz only count for half in the career slam tally, because literally everybody can whack one. Even your grandma.

And Edlose Diaz's Save Percentage drops from 66.6% of Opportunities to 63.6%. At least the Snakes had the sense to take the job away from Sewald.

(Then again, Sewald ain't making $20,000,000 per.)

Seriously. Can you imagine the last time a "contending" team posted one save in the entire month of August? I bet the White Sox have had at least two.

Let me check…

No, actually, of the ChiSox 4 wins this month, only one had a save. Chad Kuhl, every bit as good Edlose, I suppose.

Great Googly-Moogly.

ETA: Edlose is now -0.2 WAR for the year. Just what we want from one of our top players, NEGATIVE WAR.

Also, that game started at 03.40 CET and ended at 06.18. Were you up ridiculously late to watch the bull****, or just got up early, saw the "highlights" and have wisely decided to skip the actual agonies?

I suppose somebody should take note that Edwin Díaz did, in fact, record the save in yesterday's victory over Arizona. After all, who knows when such a thing will happen again.

I'm not saying that such an exceptional occurrence is cause to declare August 29th a holiday, especially given that yesterday was also the birthday of the lubricious Laura Ashley Samuels…

https://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/avoZ5Pn_460s.jpg

…but given how rarely Boom-Boom actually does his ****ing job, at least a little shoutout is required. JMO.

First of all, Steve Gelbs is a lucky lucky man, since the despond of the White Sox provided a reason for him to interview two of the surviving 1962 Mets, Craig Anderson and Jay Hook.

(As can be expected when players reach a certain age, the number of survivors is dwindling. In the past year or so, we lost Roger Craig, Hobie Landrith, Ken MacKenzie and Joe Christopher.)

But Gelbs scared the FRICK out of me when he claimed those were the only two survivors who had been with the team throughout 1962. i thought we had lost Felix Mantilla. But no, he's fine.

In addition to full-termers Anderson, Hook, and Mantilla, surviving 1962 Mets include Cliff Cook (who came over early on, in a trade for Don Zimmer after Zim started the year 0-for-34), Galen Cisco (snagged on waivers after the Red Sox gave up on their season), late-season call-ups Rick Herrscher and Ed Kranepool, and John "Thumper" DeMerit, who retired after the Mets tried to send him down in June, on the excellent theory that if you can't make the Mets…it might be time to consider another career.

But we still have three who were there from Loss #1 to Loss #120, so yay.

“This game is brought to you by […] – Antigua and Barbuda! Paradise awaits!” – And yet, Gar’, the White Sox play like Gary, Indiana, looks.

And then, mostly, my god, Megill! It’s only the White Sox, can you imagine him facing the Dodgers?? Starting a game with a 3-0 count should come with a mandatory beating.

More Gary Cohen: “At some point in every child – … MALE child’s life, they should have a mohawk.”

Well, Pete is still looking for a homer against the White Sox. And the Mets. BUT HE WILL NEVER HIT ONE AGAINST THE METS. :crying: :crying: :crying: :crying: :crying: :crying: :crying: :crying:

So they show the video of G. Thomas Seaver winning #300, in White Sox uniform at Yankee Stadium, and I really do need to watch the full telecast at some point. Because when they show that shot of Nancy Seaver being embraced by her daughter, Sara, I'm like over there <---------. one aisle out the frame, in the front row. I may be visible at some point; I've literally never checked.

I had started in the upper deck, sat through the Rizzuto Day ceremonies and the first two innings in the heat, then spotted open seats in that box, and went for it. (Steinbrenner may have revised the framework of the House that Ruth Built, but the guts were the same, and it was easy-peasy to get to the field level, which [unlike Shea and Dodger Stadia] was not gated off; all you had to do was buy some food and act as though you were returning to your seat.) I first sat in like the 5th row or so, but when it was clear there were front-row seats available, I went for it, and saw the last 4 or 5 innings from the very front.

Don Baylor's fly ball ended the game, but on Baylor's previous AB, he sent a little squib to the backstop, right in front of me. I leaned over…and fumbled the ball away, and the guy next to me got it. Haunted me for years.

(I didn't get a foul until the 2016 game when Curtis Granderson switch-hit the HRs in extra-innings; one to tie the game after Buxton's blast gave the Twins the lead, the next to win it, an inning later. Having spent the previous game up top, I splurged for the "Shea Club" or whatever it's called seats (only $100 or so) and unlike all the actually rich people, I was in my seat at the start. Brian Dozier took two balls to start the game, then fouled the third pitch over the screen [which nowadays goes all the way back to the face of the loge seats] and directly at me. Showing I had developed exactly ZERO skills in the intervening 31 years, I lost it on the way down…but it lodged right in my seat and I grabbed it before scavengers descended from the next section over.

So I did, finally, get a foul ball, and a fairly significant one at that. But nothing like the Seaver 300th would have been.)

Mets survive Crochet, Boom-Boom, 16 strikeouts, and somehow complete the sweep against the now-31-107 Sox.

Sox have to go .500 from here to avoid tying the 1962 Mets for losses in a season.

Sox need to go 6-18 to surpass the 1916 A's mark for fewest wins in a season.

Odds not terribly good, I'm afraid.

So despite largely farting away their chances all August long (Mets dropped from 17-10 in July to 15-13 in August, meaning they were 13-13 before reaching Comiskey II). the Mets seem to have convinced themselves that they're a good team, even if half of the wins in the current streak were against the Pale Hose, which is only slightly more impressive than sweeping three from the Rumble Ponies.

Gary is ecstatic that Mets are only half a game behind Atlanta. Keith, who still has standards, notes that Mets have crept to within 6.5 games of the Phils, which is difficult but not impossible, given that they still have 7 games left with our little brothers.

(I understand that any post-season action means more money for Gary, even if he's only doing pre- and post-game shows, but I totally cringe when he gets so excited about the Mets possibly sliming into the #6 slot, which not only shouldn't be in the play-offs, they shouldn't be allowed to watch it on TV.

Remember, the Mets have never occupied a Numbfred slot. After winning the sole WC in 1999 and 2000 [I hate the whole idea of losing teams getting a repechage, but if you're going to have three divisions, a single WC is logical], the Mets also capped off the Comeback of 2016 and the Choke of 2022 by landing in the first WC slot, no "let everybody play!" crap needed. So Idgaf about 6th place, regardless of how much Gary pants for the chance.)

Keep the (legitimate) dream alive, Keith!

Peterson should only pitch on his birthday from now on.

Boom-Boom and Alexis Diaz pitched against each other for the first time in their careers and neither soaked the loss, which is kinda miraculous.

On one paw, I am very happy that the Mets have a perfect fit at DH for next year with Vientos.

On the other paw I fear that this will lead to another 250 tiresome at-bats and 15 clumsy errors for Baty next year...

W8!

Every day Vientos mails in a play at third base that makes the fake position in the NL more appealing to me.

That doesn't mean I don't despise Rob Numbfred.

That only means I like it to be less of a pain to watch Mets games with Vientos in the lineup.

I know you can't win every game, but I hate losing a winning streak in a home game against Stinkinnati, especially given how well Severino pitched.

Phil Maton sucked. He definitely can not defend Castle Greyskull!

( *-obscure reference annotation: the 1980s cartoon He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was a product of a studio called Filmation. Filmation, Phil Maton, get it? Okay, not great, but I had to do it at least once.)

Gary Cohen missed the best part of the game, when in the 8th inning, the organist did Billy Joel's "New York State of Mind". It didn't sound quite like this, but you get the picture.

And remember, don't worry about Vientos at 3B…there's a very strong possibility that Scott Boras will do his best to ensure there's a lovely vacancy at 1B for Mark to fill next year!

(Speaking of vacancies, it sucks so bad that Squirrel is down for the year. Hate for something really memorable to happen and Jeff not get to be part of it. JMO.)

I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!! (sticks fingers in his fuzzy ears and shouts as loud as he can) LALALALALALALALALA!!!

:crying::crying:

Pretty impressive being able to win the game with only 3 hits. Albeit that letting Butt-o and Young blow the lead (after Ty-LOR was yanked for the sin of throwing 82 pitches, understandably) was not fun. Thank goodness the Jays are a dumpster fire.

Nice of Gary to finally start considering that the Phillies may not be out of reach. (I mean, the Tragic Number is down to 12, which isn't great. But I'm glad he's at least realizing the possibility.) Even nicer that Keith gave him **** for ignoring when Keith would bring it up before.

Let's face it, it's nice that the Mets have gone an MLB-best 55-30 since Diaz ****ed up against the Snakes on Strawberry Sunday. It would have been a lot nicer if they hadn't dug that 24-35 hole before that, though.

Terrible news about Eddie, of course. I'll make a separate thread for that.

(Why does Keith hit the "LOR" in Ty-LOR so hard? He manages "Lin-DOR" just fine, without the over-emphasis.)

Not Eddie Kranepool. :crying::crying::crying:

I had a whole post thought up about how the Mets had gotten no-hit by Charlton Heston in 2015 and then won a pennant, and now they had gotten no-hit by LastName FirstName and were surely gonna win another pennant, right? ...and then Lindor humps a pompous homer to lead off the ninth to take it all away and ruin the chance at the pennant.

Purple-haired punk!

And a week from Friday is the 55th anniversary of Bob Moose throwing a no-hitter against the 1969 Amazins and hardly slowing their roll, as the Mets clinched 4 nights later (knocking Steve Carlton out early) and won the division by 8.5 games.

Rays at Phillies just underway. Hope DeWayne Staats and the boys get the Phils in the mood for losing, all weekend long.

"Pitching, Defense, and 3-run Homers". Second-best thing Earl Weaver ever said.

(#1, of course, is the justly-famous "Manager's Corner". [NSFW. Duh.])