It is beautiful out in New York City today...  currently 58 and expected to get up to 67.  It will probably be 22 by Monday, but what can you do.

Anyway, I biked in this morning and made my usual stop at the gym first, to workout and and cleanup.   The NYSC on 35th and Madison, unlike the other ones I've been to, has no poles in front of it... no parking meter, streetlamp... anything.  The only place to lock my bike is on the corner of 36th against the walk/don't walk sign... which is a little ways down.  I'm not totally comfortable with that, and so I asked at the gym about a place to put it inside.

So, the woman at the desk said that I couldn't bring it in because they couldn't be responsible.  I wasn't asking for that...  I just felt safer if it was inside.  And, actually, if they had a bike rack inside, and someone came in with some clippers, I'd imagine she'd at least call the cops or something, just to be nice.  She suggested I talk to the manager.

The manager said there were some places around the corner, which of course, defeats the purpose.  He also said they tried to get the city to put in some bike racks across the street, but they didn't get anywhere.  "What about a rack in the club here?"   The club has a double entrence and in between the inner and outer doors, there's a perfect space for a small bike rack.

This is where it gets ridiculous. 

"Oh, we can't have that because this is a high visability club."

I knew what he meant, but I just wanted to get him to say it.

"High visability?"

"Well, it's a nice location that a lot of people come to so we can't go messing it up with a bunch of bikes that people can see."

"Umm...  doesn't biking sort of fit with the whole gym concept?  You know...  exercise.  Just seems to me a gym, of all places, should be bike friendly?"

"I see how that might make sense, but I don't think that's something we're going to do here."

The ironic thing is that, every year, New York Sports Club sponsors a team in the Five Borough Bike Tour. 

They're all about biking, so long as it's not near one of their clubs, because bikes are aestheticly displeasing.  Let me tell you, bikes are pretty far down the list of aestheticly displeasing things I've seen at the gym...   I wish they would ban the hairy naked guy that towels off next to me with one foot up on the bench. 

I just don't understand how you could go down looking in Game 7 with the bases loaded and a chance to tie or win the game.  That just hurts.

Gotta give it to Perez for holding his own this series... Maine, too.  Much to look forward to next year, but, man, this stings.  I lack the words.

I didn't think it would come to this.

I didn't want it to.

I think I'm going to hole myself up in my apartment and not come out until its over.  My whole entire season depends on Oliver Perez.   They better score 12 runs.

I don't understand why we're not starting Darren Oliver.

The guy pitched 6 scoreless the other day... AND...  and this I didn't realize today... he's got a great postseason start under his belt.  In 1996, with the Rangers, he left the 9th inning of Game 3 with a 2-1 lead and two on and none out.  The Rangers bullpen couldn't hold it, so he got the loss, but still...  that makes him a lot more qualifed to start than Perez, who honestly got battered the other night.  He just had a lot of run support.

I don't really understand what goes on in Willie's head.   Maine bats in the bottom of the 5th, only to get taken out after the leadoff guy reaches base in the 6th... that was after he fanned Pujos to end the 5th.  The guy was cruising and he goes to the pen in the 6th inning.  Why strain the pen when your starter is cruising and you know you're going to need at least four innings out of them the next night?   He could have gotten one more inning out of Maine.

So now we get to watch Wild Thing fall off the mound because he can't figure out a windup that works.

They better score 12.  Please, let them score 12...  in the first.

This weekend, I was reminded about not beating yourself.

Saturday night, I watched Steve Trachsel make a mess out of a pivotal playoff start by not throwing strikes.  Granted, the Mets offense was nowhere to be found, but Trachsel couldn't make it out of the second inning because he walked five batters.  When you walk that many batters, your fielders fall back on their heels and when you do actually let the other team put the ball in play, they wind up missing a lot of balls by just a half step, which is what happened.

Then, tonight, my Zog team played a fall softball game.  We couldn't field our way out of a hat.  It was awful.  We're normally a very good fielding team, but we threw the ball around and bobbled a lot of easy plays.  We found ourselves down 20-6.  We even managed to score 10 runs with two outs in the last inning, but it wasn't enough.  It was a game that got away because we beat ourselves.

So back to the Mets.  Enter Oliver Perez... a guy who has been beating himself for two seasons by not throwing strikes.  The Mets needed to stay in this game badly.  The bats were cold and Perez was a wildcard.  Well, he wasn't perfect, but he didn't beat himself.  He threw strikes... and kept them close until the Mets offense exploded.  Up by seven runs, he kept throwing strikes even when the Cards started hitting home runs...   three home runs.. all solo shots, because he wasn't walking batters ahead of those hits.  He left in the sixth inning with a big lead, and for a guy who went 3-13 this season, that's about all you could have asked from him.  Unlike the guy who pitched the night before who rang up 15 wins this season, he didn't beat himself.   

That makes such a huge difference in any aspect of your life.  Make the other guy beat you.  I manufactured a run in my Zog game tonight by lining to right and not stopping when I saw the right fielder bobble the ball.  Let him throw me out.  If me makes the play, I'd get up, say, "Nice throw" and walk off... but I was forcing him to be better to get the better of me.  Then, on a bloop single to right again, I ran through a stop sign on the way home.

Let them throw you out at the plate.... don't hand them your opportunity to shine.

Glavine's performance last night was wonderfully boring, as usual.  Nice to see Beltran hitting at home, too.  Wagner?  He's John Franco with a 100 MPH fastball...  always out of the strike zone, always makes it interesting.

So I'm totally jumping ahead here, but I hope they sweep, just because it would enable us to pitch Glavine twice against Detroit.   

Very sad story...   Turns out the pilot of the small plane in NYC was Yanks' pitcher Corey Lidle, who got his started in the majors with Mets.  Lidle died in the crash. 

If it were me, I'd want them to play tonight's game, but out of respect for the family and for Lidle, I agree with Brooklyn Met Fan, they should probably cancel. 

Chumps. 

Kenny Rogers made the "best lineup ever assembled" look like a bunch of little leaguers who had never seen a curveball.

And now, the fate of the pinstripey team lies in the hands of...   Jared Wright.

Baaahahahhahaha.

Chumps.

Remember when Tom Glavine went 9-14, 4.52 for the Mets?

Neither do I.

Last night was vintage Glavine...   boring as hell to watch, and half the time, you're scratching your head about how big the strike zone gets.

And wow, this Dodger lineup is anemic.  Outside of Kent, no one scares you at all.

And once again, Grady Little, thank you for starting Kuo.   We didn't kill him, but 85 pitches halfway through the fifth didn't cut it. 

I'd like to think they're going to sweep now, but its hard for me to imagine Trachsel showing up to play.  He better, because we might see Oliver Perez in Game 4.

Baseball is hitting, pitching, and defense, right?   Oh yeah...  and you have to run the bases well, too.

Lonnie Smith could have told you that.

Thank God that the Dodgers don't seem to remember the '91 World Series.  I stayed up in my room way past my bedtime to watch that game...  with the TV brightness down and the volume low, so it wouldn't look like the TV was on to a passerby looking at the bottom of the door.

Instead, the Dodgers had two guys get nailed at the plate on the same play and that might have cost them their whole postseason, right then and there.  They should have won the chance they had against emergency starter John Maine, who did a nice, albeit short, job.  Instead, they're going against a HOFer down 1-0 in a short series.

I know that Kuo dominated them in his one start against the Mets, but seriously...  this is the Game Two starter?   The guy's got 5 career starts.  Five.  And Greg Maddux is Game Three?  Well, no one ever accussed Grady Little of knowing how to manage a pitching staff.

This is Bill Simmons' diary of the game.

The Mets are streaming right now on WFAN.

After an injury to El Duque, John Maine is getting the call.

Six innings, three runs...  that's all I'm asking for.  Maine-Mota/Bradford-Heilman- Wagner.

Cross your fingers and please, step carefully around the dugout, boys. 

UPDATE:  WTF!!   I guess the game is blacked out or something.   Is it on ESPN radio?  Looks like I have to pay on MLB for radio.. this is stupid.   I can't get my free radio station over the web.

UPDATE 2:  MLB just got my $10 so I could get the game streamed over the web, which doesn't seem to work anyway...  at least the audio comes in. 

My avatar has the low down on what I think is going to happen in the first round of the playoffs.  I'd love to see this all end up in another Subway Payback...erm... Series.

My avatar's got the low down on what I think is going to happen in the first round of the playoffs.  I'd love to see this all end up in another Subway Payback...erm... Series.

My avatar's got the low down on what I think is going to happen in the first round of the playoffs.  I'd love to see this all end up in another Subway Payback...erm... Series.

Orel Hershiser is retired, right?

Good, then I'm not worried about the Mets playing LA.

Wednesday, the Met's will play the Dodgers in the late afternoon at Shea.  Of course, the Yankees get all the primetime games.  All I know is, Kenny Rogers owes me a win for walking the Braves past us in '99.

By the way, now that I'm looking at box scores for the '99 NLCS, how in the hell did Masato Yoshii start in the playoffs over Orel Hershiser?  Yoshii turned it a cruddy start in game one against the D-Backs...   Orel was a money pitcher... sure he was fading into the sunset, but he had a pretty similar year and his experience should have counted for more.  I'm glad we're righting that by throwing El Duque in Game 1.

So El Duque goes against Derek Lowe in Game One on Wednesday at 4PM EST.  Then, Thursday night, here's a matchup for you...  Greg Maddux vs. Tom Glavine.  

Then, they're off Friday and play Saturday.   The Game Three starter hasn't been announced, but either way, I go with John Maine.

Well, this is it... Let's go Mets!

I think we all need to be realistic about this Pedro news.

Mike Vaccaro from the post puts it best...

"...they didn't lose PEDRO MARTINEZ...  Because the truth is, the Mets haven't had the italicized, capitalized version of that player in an awfully long time. The Mets don't lose the 1969 edition of Tom Seaver, or the 1986 version of Dwight Gooden, or even the 2000 versions of Al Leiter and Mike Hampton.

When he was on the mound, the Mets felt like they were practically unbeatable. But the reality is, their winning percentage since the first day of the 2005 season is over 40 points higher on days when Martinez doesn't pitch than on days that he has. It's true. You can look it up."

The rest of the team needs to step up, like they have all year.  Realistically we just need five innings...  If every playoff start from someone not named Tom or Orlando was 5 innings and 3 runs, I'd be happy.

Jeremy Shockey said the Giants were outcoached yesterday.

And frankly, I can't say Tom Coughlin has ever really impressed me. 

But then again, this Giant team, save for Tiki, hasn't really impressed me.   So, how do you know when it is the players and how do you know when it is the coach?   Certainly Bill Parcells seemed like a great coach and he's won to prove it...   but what about someone like Willie Randolph?   Second best team in the bigs... so-so starting staff, and yet somehow, I really don't think Willie is such a great coach.  He's made a lot of questionable moves.

There are always going to be standout CEOs--obvious people that everyone points to...  Gates, Jobs, Jack Welch...  but are there examples of great CEOs at mediocre companies?   How long does it take to go from good to great or turn something around?   Can a mediocre CEO take a great product to success?  I mean, seriously...  I could do Joe Torre's job, I think.  With that payroll and lineup...  I'd just say, "Hey guys, Jared Wright is pitching tonight, so do me a favor and score 9 runs."  I mean, he doesn't even need a bench...   never needs to double switch or pinch hit for the pitcher.  How hard could it be?

How do you seperate what a single person has done for a team, a company... hell... even a whole country?   Does Bush suck or are we all collectively sucking?   Or maybe just all the politicians?  As bad as you might say our president is, you gotta admit that there are probably others who deserve blame as well... people on both sides of the Pantone wheel.

Wow... was that Steve Trachsel on the mound last night?  Where ya been all season?  (Aside from the 14 other wins...)

And how great a pickup was Jose Valentin?  To think that Kaz Matsui was going to be the secondbaseman this year.  Ugh.

Once he left with a lead, you knew it was over.   I got to watch the game at Blondies on 79th with my softball team over unlimited wings.

Many wings were eaten.  Many pitches were cheered on.  Much high fiving occurred at the end.  Bring on the Playoffs!

Thank God that none of the playoff teams have two good lefties, because its obvious the Mets just can't hit the southpaws.  Oh well, hopefully they'll do it tonight against the Fish, and Trachsel will get win number 15 by giving up 5 runs in 5 innings and letting the pen take care of the rest.