Mets are in the playoffs.
Many teams are not.
A bye would be nice.
We have a chance to win with or without one.
That's all.
Relax people.

I thought this was a poem when I first looked at it. Then I determined to make it one!

The Mets are finally in the playoffs
Many other teams are not as well-off
Tho' a first round bye would be nice
Whatever it takes, we'll pay the price
That's really all that I have to say
Relax people and have a nice day

There once was a team from Flushing
Whose success would have its fans blushing
But if the Braves push past
Then post-season ends fast
So any "victory" celebration, I ain't rushing.
**************************************
Calling tonight's FOX coverage of Braves-Phillies? Kenny Albert and AJ Pierzynski.

O Frabjous Day! Callou, Callay!

A day without John Smoltz is like a day without Zyklon-B! Yesss!

C'mon, Phils! I'll order a steak sandwich for dinner tomorrow if you beat the Noc-a-Homas! Do it for Overbrook Pizza!

(The local shop near my grandma's place, back when. Damn good steaks [no cheese, thank you; extra peppers, extra onions for me], and fries that…are probably why I can't eat such salty food any more. Ah, well…to quote Warren Zevon, "Enjoy every sandwich".)

ETA: Ahhhh, FRUCK! Smoltz is calling Sawx-Yanks and they're going to cut in every goddamn time Judge steps up. Walk 'im, Wacha!

(As Michael Wacha was briefly a Met in Covid-Ball, it would be somewhat appropriate if he joined then-future-Mets Fat Jack Fisher [Maris, #60] and Tracy Stallard [Maris, #61] in long-ball history, but…nahhh. I'm still pulling for an oh-fer-the-fortnight. Just because.)

Still, I suppose it's unlikely that Smoltz would use Judge's PAs to suddenly talk about how great it would be if his buddy Manfred cuts the schedule down to 60 games and puts 24 teams in the playoffs, or whatever "bold" new "idea" Smoltzie has now. So maybe I can make it through the night without vomiting.

Maybe.

Even better.

Kind thanks to Matt Vierling for sac-flying home Realmuto to beat the Barves, 1-0. You're my favorite filthy Phillie today!*

*Doesn't mean I like you, or your filthy team. It's more like when pacifist guys married lesbians to not get drafted into the nearest war.

PhPierzynski was ecstatic that the Phightin's won because JT Realmuto runs so well: beat out the infield hit, 1st-to-3rd on Segura's single, scored on the sac fly. The Catchers' Union always wants to put that "runs like a catcher" trope to rest.

The game was even more important because now we're up a game in The All-Important Loss Column, instead of just being 95-56 to the Noc-a-Homas' 93-56 and waiting for them to make up the extra games. Now it's an actual margin where it counts.

Off to Oakland and the return of the prodigal Bassitt. 7pm in the East Bay means 10pm in South Carolina, which means…what, 0400 in Germany? Wish I knew how to say "Roll those DVRs!" in Deutsch, lol.

Yup, 6 hours ahead of the East Coast, 9 hours ahead of West Coast.* Which for me means the AL West is a thing I know exists, but still it has rather mythical status, like Atlantis. :D

But thanks to MLB.tv it doesn't really matter; I most of the time have all of Saturday to watch a Friday night game f.e.. I just have to make sure to stay off Youtube, off the MLB.com page, and while I navigate the MLB.tv page, cover certain sections of the screen with a spare paw until I can activate the "hide spoilers" toggle.

+++

*Varies during summer time shifts, f.e. we shift back on the last Sunday in October, but the US only shifts back in early November, conveniently usually moving me an hour closer during the World Series.

I love it when Pete hits one into the next county over. :D:D

I haven't seen Jake this horrendous in years.

Not entirely his fault.

Foreshadowing, in the top of the 1st:

Gary and Ronnie also note that every time they see Angel, he's with a different crew. I guess his fellow umps can't stand him, either.

Still, Canha singles, sending McNeil to 3rd and then Lindor narrowly misses a HR, with both McNeil and Joey Cora trying to lean it fair. (GARY: They look like a synchronized-swimming team.). Lindor scores McNeil with a sac fly (RBI 100 on the year) and Pete launches one, and the Mets lead 3-0.

DeGrom gets Tony Kemp on a grounder, gives up a sharp single to Machin, then runs afoul of Angel Hernandez, constantly getting squeezed on dubious calls. He "walks" Sean Murphy and Seth Brown, and then Dermis Garcia smacks a fly ball that McNeil (only in LF because Nimmo is resting that leg with the day game after a night game) appears to lose in the sun, and then falls on his ass trying to scramble back for it. Two runs, score, men at first and third.

Jake, backing up the plate on the play, tells Angel "those pitches weren't low". Hernandez tells Jake that if Jake gives him any more lip, he'll throw DeGrom out of the game. (He makes the "thumb" motion.). So nice to know Angel's learned how to take criticism. Not that he EVER deserves it.

A hard grounder by Connor Capel to 2B ties it up, and then Shea Langeliers hits a foul pop-up to 1st, but Pete isn't used to the enormous foul territory at the Coliseum (there so they can fit the football field in, even though the Traitors, er, Raiders are now in Las Vegas), and falls down, himself.

Langeliers then doubles to left, scoring Garcia, and it's 4-3 Oakland. So that's it for the "three runs or fewer" streak (one game too late to save the record for Death Valley Jim Scott's heirs…), but it was two legit hits, two cases of Angel being Angel, and both the Squirrel and the Polar Bear flopping around like Fish out of water. I wouldn't DFA him, yet.

In the top of the 2nd, Angel calls the low strike a strike with Guillorme at bat, getting a dirty look from Luis, but then Guillorme tags one to LF (caught) and Vientos puts his first MLB homer in the 2nd deck in right-center, so at least Jake's back even.

Bottom 2nd, three Mets (Escobar, Lindor, McNeil) have as much luck with the 3B foul territory as Pete did with the other side, but at least none of them fall over. Jake strikes out Kemp anyhow, gets Machin on a grounder, and retires Murphy, so hopefully order is restored.

I'm still on delay, though, so who knows?

Angel Bleeping Hernandez…

(Canha just got hit again. Well, he got hit 27 times as an Athletic last year, so he's used to that happening in this park.)

ETA: Okay, the Seth Brown HR was legit. (Although Nimmo might have had it; Canha isn't really a CF. Take one piece out of the defense and it all crumbles…) But that's not worrying me…it's the 2-out walk to Langeliers. Those pitches weren't close.

Still, we're still in it.

ETAA: No, we weren't. Mets now 10-8 against the worst teams in baseball. "Easy Schedule", my acid stomach. Can't ask the Phoolies to save us every day, now.

All hail the Mets' new single-season RBI king, Pete the Great!

(hails)

It's nice that Pete has stepped his game up for the stretch drive.

It's just a pity he's pretty much alone.

Mets' lead? Gone. Mets' record against their "easy" schedule? 11-9. Mets' September "stretch drive"? 14-10. (2nd worst month of the season, better than only June.)

Just because we're playing better than Seattle is (no offense, Seattle) doesn't mean we don't suck, too. And hey, after both teams get eliminated in that first round, we can have a reunion with Flexen and Sewald and watch teams who know what winning under pressure means.

At least the Mariners will be able to blame it on the 'dians having homefield advantage. We're going to watch Juan Soto come into Ebbets Field (or whatever Wilpon calls this place), kick our asses and exit laughing.

(Well, I'm not watching that round, but you know what I mean. Pathetic.)

Fish continuing to kick Mutts ass, leading 2-0 in the 5th with 2 on an Jon "Met-Killer" Berti up. Gary Cohen notes the frankly pathetic crowd in attendance as the director (shockingly) pans to show the upper deck, as deserted as it would be in Pittsburgh or Cincinnati.

Gary theorizes that this is because either:

a) the presence of so many wild-card berths has killed interest in the divisional race, since both teams have already clinched, or…

b) everybody is saving up to buy playoff tickets, which will cost $$$.

Decent theories, but I have a better one: the Mets are so pathetically comatose (1 hit though 4 innings so far) that people are "voting with their feet" and staying away out of self-preservation.

Lost 2 of 3 at home to the Nats
Swept 3 straight at home by the Cubs
(swept the Buccos, but…)
Swept 2 straight at home by Dead Man Walking Donnie Baseball and the Flopping Fish?

5-7 against garbage teams. At home. In September. In a "stretch drive". 1-7 if you ignore the aberration against Pittsburgh. (Possibly 5-10 if we play to form against Washington next week, should the Braves eliminate us over the weekend.)

No wonder the fans are staying away. I'm staying so far away, I'm in South Carolina!

(Okay, I live here. But you get the point.)

Walker strikes out Berti, walks Charl' LeBlan' to load the sacks, but strikes out Anderson to escape. Still, the odds of our scoring three runs…

Well, that last post didn't age so gracefully.

Well, yeah, now we're a whopping 6-6 at home against the Nats, Cubs, Bucs, and Fish. Woo-hoo! Totally killing it!

(Gary Cohen basically said the Mets were choking ["squeezing the bats a bit too tightly"]. Is he insufficiently giddy, too?)

I mean, it's nice that the Braves can't eliminate us with a sweep this weekend (thanks to the stupid "tiebreaker"…please die, Manfred. For me?), but still. Not exactly championship baseball on display.

I mean, if Donnie Unemployment actually gave a crap any more, perhaps he doesn't put in Bleier again right after Tuesday's fiasco…with the ump who called all the balks working the plate. Because I'm thinking that might have messed with Bleier's concentration. Just a smidge.

It's possible that Brian Snitker will be just as careless with the game on the line this weekend. But I wouldn't bet the rent money on that. (Or any portion of it, honestly.)

Still, one game up, six to go. Bassitt's pitching well, Scherzer's pitching well, Edwin Diaz is pitching well, and Pete and McNeil and Escobar are hitting. You can win a title with six players, right? Right?

Attachment 907094

The local newspaper has been talking this guy up.
The reference to playing in the playoffs is a bit confusing, though. I was under the impression that he would have needed to be on the roster on September 1 for that to be so.

Fly in the ointment?

I don't see any harm in having him DH the last six games. Our DH's are hitting negative eleven points, so he can't do much worse than that...!

That's good. When they're ready, they're ready. Let's get going.

Of course, much though I loathe the DH, it does have a benefit here. It lets us break in Alvarez while still giving Nido a few ABs so we can hear "Lido Shuffle" one more (last?) time.

(The music guy in Atlanta plays walk-up music for the visiting players, which completely misses the entire point of his job [get the home fans excited], and since the visitors don't give him a list of walk-up songs, he just does obvious musical puns. I always thought "Comfortably Numb" for Conforto was a bit of a stretch, but I like his playing Boz Scaggs for Tomas, I admit.)

Hmm, I guess it wasn't the mound in Oakland, after all.

(Braves announcers so desperate to make excuses for Jake's recent poor form that Jeff Francoeur was telling us to forget about the Oakland start because "that was a day game". Did nobody tell Frenchy about that whole "Sunshine Superman" deal? The Oakland mound was a better excuse.)

Still early, and it's only 2-1 Braves, of course. But Jake's failing to hold a lead for the third consecutive start isn't exactly thrilling me, I'll admit.

Mets helpless before Max Fried (10 in a row retired) at the moment.

But I'm just here to report on the organist. Sadly, he's gone for "Space Oddity" for Nido. That's a fine song, but there are a LOT of guys whom the "ground control to Major Tom" lyrics would fit; the "Nido/Lido" pun was much better, I'd say.

However, he did use "Werewolves of London" for Guillorme. "…and his hair was perfect." Indeed, indeed. So points for that.