Mets

[Westheim]

I enjoyed three of the 3-run homers.

[Amazin69]

Hey, as long as we win that battle, 3-1, I'm good!

Plus a solo shot from Peeeeeeete! And Quintana pitched nicely, no matter how **** Young was with the big lead.

(Ded-Arm Nuñez is done for the season, alas. So that's Raley, Smith, and Nuñez all sitting, plus McNeil.

To steal and adapt a line from Jim Bouton, "Meanwhile Ottavino and Díaz remain disgustingly healthy, if not particularly effective.")

[Amazin69]

Hey, it's the Last Acuña Standing!

And a Horace Mann shout-out! (My dad went there, too.)

When Gary mentioned that The Kid from Bronxville was in "a month-long funk", I couldn't help myself; I started singing (or technically, "singing") "month-long funk" to the rune of "Uptown Funk". And I don't even like Bruno Mars! (Excepting "The Lazy Song" and a good chunk of that is because of the Leonard Nimoy alternate video.)

Gary's best line of the game (thus far): "Remember Joey Wendle? That was this season!"

Yeah. What a long strange trip it's been. That's why baseball is, er, was so great.

(**** you, Rob Manfred. **** you long, **** you hard. **** you, forever.)

The Phillies "Robin Roberts Special" throwbacks are nice. So much better than the **** they wore last night.

[Amazin69]

RONNIE: "That's the furthest I've ever seen Vientos go for a pop fly!"
WESTHEIM: ______________

Just teeing it up for you, bro. You're welcome.

[Amazin69]

Die Jungen machen mich verdammt alt…

[Amazin69]

Je voudrais garrotte Garrett…

[Amazin69]

And then JD Martinez was robbed of the tying blast by Cal Stevenson (who??), Stank stunk again, and Alvarez/Winker/Vientos/Nimmo all made outs with men on base.

Tragic Number shrinks to 8. The Mets can win all 14 of their remaining games, including sweeping 5 from the Phillies, and the Phils can still beat us.

Of course, Gary is more concerned that the Mets' hold on Embarrassing Sixth Place might be slipping away, but that's why I periodically say "STFU, Gary".

*****************

Xander (Nicholas Brendon) is not happy to have been assigned to a Saturday class, much less one with a girl he despises:

XANDER: Oh, hey, gang! Did you hear that? A bonus day of class, plus Cordelia! Mix in a litttle rectal surgery, and it's my Best Day Ever!

—Buffy the Vampire Slayer, episode 2.08

Yeah, yeah, whatever, Xan. Here's how my "fun Saturday" went:

Leicester City leads Crystal Palace, 0-2, but finishes 2-2, thanks to Conor Coady giving away a penalty kick in extra time.

SEC-leading South Carolina (yeah, it was never gonna last, but it was fun) takes a 17-0 lead on LSU, loses their quarterback, and is barely hanging on 33-29 when the defense picks off an LSU pass in the end zone and runs it back 101 yards for the game-breaking TD…only to have the runback canceled because some idiot thought the interception was a fine excuse to take a cheap shot at LSU QB Nussmeier. (Google Translate doesn't know what Nussmeier means in German, but I'm gonna go with "lucky prick". Especially as this was the second pick-six he'd had called back on the day [Carolina was offside the first time])

The Gamecocks can't do anything, punt the ball, and Lucky Prick leads LSU down the field for the go-ahead TD. Carolina drives within field goal range, only to miss the tying kick on the final play.

And now, the Mets.

If it's my fault, I apologize to all of y'all. But I don't think you can blame me for this triple-choke Saturday. FFS.

[Westheim]

I went to bed last night when the Mets were up 4-1 because my eyes were closing with authority, that "I will lie down just five minutes" **** ain't working, and the day had been **** anyway (Lando )

So I lived in La-La-Land for another 10 hours or so but now saw the merciless conclusion of another game that got away despite ample chances.

Good job everybody for teasing Harper into bombing a pair after that long drought today. Keep doing that and he will definitely overtake Willie Stargell for most home runs against the Mets. Just 21 to go.

Did they ever resolve the trivia question (20 W with both Mets and Philthies)? Did I miss that? I only knew Wheeler. I thought of Roger McDowell, but I just checked and he only won 12 with Philly (so less than he won in 1986, 14 W all in relief).

Originally Posted by Amazin69

Just teeing it up for you, bro. You're welcome.

Teeing it up is what Vientos needs to a lot more to make me get over his D at third base, which always reminds me of a fine Italian Renaissance marble. Very fine body, but it's not moving a damn lot.

[Amazin69]

I missed the top of the first (hanging in with the Gamecocks until the death), so I missed the trivia question. Um, Nino Espinosa? (Doubtful.) Billy Wagner, perhaps. Can't think Walker is there already. (Did he even win 20 for us?)

Oh, Koosman could have done it!. He had two years in the rotation for the Phils. (1984-1985, his final two.) How many were there supposed to be?

Sid wasn't in Philly long enough, I don't think. Not Robert "Missing" Person [/Berman] because we moved him on to Toronto (for Olerud) swiftly afterwards.

Oh, FFS! Tug!!! You gotta Be-Lieve!!

[Westheim]

The trivia question came on later I think. There were three answers.

The answers are:

Zack Wheeler (Mets 44, Philthies 58)
Jerry Koosman (Mets 140, Philthies 20)
Tug McGraw (Mets 47, Philthies 49)

Not:

Nino Espinosa (Mets 25, Philthies 19)
Billy Wagner (Mets 5, Philthies 8)
Taijuan Walker (Mets 19, Philthies 18)
Sid Fernandez (Mets 98, Philthies 9)
Robert Person (Mets 5, Philthies 38)

[Amazin69]

Well, I got them all, anyhow. I like to think that, had I been forced to choose 2 and only 2, I would have hit Koos and Tug, too.

Fairly impressed that Nino came so close. He did a fair bit of suffering for us, post-Seaver trade.

Surprised Wagner had so few wins relative to his saves. Neither team liked bringing him into tie games, I guess.

And always good to recall that Sid had 98 wins for us, one behind Ronnie's 99. Put them together and you've almost reached Seaver (198).

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

And always good to recall that Sid had 98 wins for us, one behind Ronnie's 99. Put them together and you've almost reached Seaver (198).

What a Metsian pile of stats. Always coming up that little bit short.

[Amazin69]

Hell, Doc would be in the Hall if he'd just stayed clean one more year and let the Yankees carry him to 200 wins. But where's the fun in that, I ask you?

Season's over, the only question is when we officially go extinct. A pity, as Peterson pitched rather well the first 7 innings Ah, well.

[Westheim]

I don't trust Peterson farther than I can throw him.

Which is not very far.

[Amazin69]

Gary Apple finishes the pregame by noting that the Mets have hit the 5th-most homers in MLB.

Gary, alas, does not follow by saying "and a fat ****lng load of good that's done for them".

Lindor is out of the lineup for most of this week, so he will miss our being eliminated by the Phightin' Phils. (Tragic Number is 4)

Frankie might be able to get back in before we are eliminated from the ****ty but Semi-Legit Wildcard by the Friars (Semi-Tragic Number is 10)

Gary Cohen, of course, only cares about our sliming our way into Embarrassing Sixth Place ahead of the Braves. News flash, Gar: if at this time next week, the only thing left to play for is beating the Braves in Smyrna for that dubious "honor", I won't be watching. (And not only because DirecTV will say that being 193 miles [310.6 km] away makes me "local" to Atlanta and blacks out GKR.)

Start winning or wave bye-bye, Metsies!

[Amazin69]

Steve Gelbs's new haircut is awful, and they have him shilling for Coke Zero, which makes me die inside.

(For those who don't know, the difference between Diet Coke and Coke Zero is that Diet Coke has Citric Acid, which is part of the Coke flavor. Coke Zero swaps that out for extra sulfates, so it can sit on the shelves longer without going bad. IMO, the Zero should sit on the shelves until the world goes full Snowpiercer and it gets buried by the endless ice, because Zero tastes like ass. [/OT])

Shame on you, Steve. At least the hair will grow back.

[Westheim]

Is Coke Zero to Coke like the Rob Numbfred era playoffs are to, say, 1986?

At least the Metsies pulled a run out of their tushes eventually to beat the Gnats in ten. A win is a win is a win.

[Amazin69]

And that win was #82 on the season, thus guaranteeing a winning season and making fools of those of us who predicted 68-94 and the like back in the spring.

Phils lost in Brew Town, so the Tragic Number stays at 5 (4 requires the "tiebreak" to factor in, so let's call it 5 for safety's sake).

However, the Pads zapped the Buzzstros, so the Semi-Tragic Number shrinks to 9.

As the Mets and Phillies each have 12 games remaining, the Mets would need positive results (Mets win, Phils phlop) in 20 of 24 (.833) to salvage the division. So don't bet on that happening. Pads have 13 games left, so Mets need 17 out of 25 positive outcomes (.680) to pull their bacon out of the Friars there.

[Westheim]

I get your disdain for the oodle of wild cards, but maybe look at it this way - if the Mets snatch the third wild card behind the Padres and Snakes, then that means the Barves are shut out of the playoffs. And wouldn't the Barves' sad faces bring us infinite joy, even if we just partake to get wiped by the Brewers in the shortest possible time?

[Amazin69]

Originally Posted by Westheim

I get your disdain for the oodle of wild cards, but maybe look at it this way - if the Mets snatch the third wild card behind the Padres and Snakes, then that means the Barves are shut out of the playoffs. And wouldn't the Barves' sad faces bring us infinite joy, even if we just partake to get wiped by the Brewers in the shortest possible time?

Nah.