[Amazin69]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

Knew you were too small to admit it.

Whereas I should have guessed that you'd never let this go without descending to insults…

And lol @ your last "point". The Reds didn't beat the Mets. The Architect & the Oracle manipulated the program so that the Mets would go in a slump while playing Cincy & all would accept the Matrix. Get real.

And that, not being able to debate me on the issues, you would resort to putting words in my mouth. Nobody "manipulated" ****…you know that, Jack

Once again for the willfully ignorant (or the deeply stupid…choose your fighter!), the beauty of the long schedule is that it lets all the external factors even out. Hot spells, cold spells, weather and travel woes, paternity leave and getting your recovering star pitcher eaten by the killer grass. Every team has to suffer them and the measure of the team is how you succeed in TOTALITY, not in any one particular case.

Otherwise, why save your precious head-to-head for ties only? In 2000, the Mets finished 1 game behind the Braves for the NL East, the Braves having gone 95-67 to our 94-68.

(It didn't help Atlanta because we upset the #1 seed Giants, who went 97-65, while the Braves bungled against St. Louis and then we beat the Cards and went to the World Series, which is a perfect example of why Wild Cards suck and completely invalidate the reason we play all those games.)

But…you know what?? We BEAT the Braves head-to-head that season, 7 games to 6. So really, we should have won the division, right? So what if the Braves beat down the last-place Phillies a few more times than we did…when it was time to play them head-to-head in May, we "stayed ready" and they didn't! We were better and the post-season proved it! Ha!

Of course, that's absurd. Random head to head games that happened before the Olympics shouldn't be used to determine who was more worthy when the Presidential Debates (Al Gore is gonna put Social Security in a lock-box, yo!) are going on. The whole season counts, equally. No special bonus points for that one game in July when Greg Maddux just didn't have it and we blew his ass off the mound with 6 runs in the 2nd inning. That one game (the margin for the season series, mind you!) was no more determinative for who "deserved" to win that division than it would be to decide whether or not Maddux "deserved" the Hall of Fame.

You play them all, you count them all, and if you're tied, you play one more. That's what "real men" (since you seem to want to put your penis on the table…be careful not to catch a splinter, okay?) do, rather than hunt about in the archive and try to elevate a micro-fraction to undue importance.

Once again, you've managed to get me to debate the sky is blue while you maintain it is polka dot. "Ignorance is bliss" and I wish you to remain happy.

Once again, you've managed to be unable to accept that I have an opinion that disagrees with yours without getting pouty about how you KNOW THE OBVIOUS TRUTH and I am ****ING INSANE, blah-blah-blah, nanny-nanny-boo-boo. The fact that you spew insults when you run out the door doesn't make you right. Too bad if you can't cope with that reality.

By the way, I'm completely lying about 2000. The Braves actually won the head-to-head, 7-6. But my hypothetical illustrates the point, anyhow.

(I was going to point out that the 97-65 Giants lost their head-to-head to the second place Dodgers, 7 games to 5. But since the Dodgers finished 11 games back, 86-76, I had doubts about your ability to accept hyperbole to illustrate the IMO absurdity of your position, so I fibbed instead. And the world keeps on turning…)