Myers wants to 'stick it' to Phillies

I go back and forth on Brett Myers. I've met the guy a couple of times, and he was decent, cordial, and didn't come off as a prick -- which he certainly can sometimes in the media. He can be a tough pitcher when he's healthy and focused, but he has had injury issues the past few years and, at times, it appears his emotions get in the way of his talent. When the Phillies decided to let him walk in free agency, it didn't really register with me. And I certainly didn't have much of a desire to see him end up with the Mets.

But after the Astros made it official yesterday and before I saw his comments as reported by The AP, I had one pang of regret that the Mets didn't consider him: I had a hunch that he was pissed at the Phillies and would be gunning for them when he faces them. As reported by The AP:

"I wanted to go back to Philadelphia, but they didn't show an interest, they had other obligations, which is fine with me," Myers said. He then promised to "stick it" to the Phillies every time he faces them.

With the Astros, he'll get just two chances (the clubs play April 9-11 in Houston and Aug. 23-26 in Philly), and if he's in the top three slots in the rotation, which it sounds like he will be, he won't pitch against them in that April series -- the second of the season -- in Houston. But with the Mets, he would've had perhaps four or five chances to "stick it" to the Phillies over the course of the season in the NL East.

For the heck of it, I went back into the archives -- literally, the brown accordion folder kept in a cabinet -- and dug up a short piece I wrote on Myers when I was working at the Asbury Park Press and he was with Double-A Reading. I didn't come up with the headline (it was a narrow two columns in a big font), but here it is:

Making major minor strides

Pitcher Brett Myers, a year removed from Greg Legg and the Sally League, has his sights set on the Phillies.

This time last year, Brett Myers was riding buses around the South Atlantic League with his Piedmont Boll Weevils teammates and manager Greg Legg.

Now with the Reading Phillies of the Eastern League, Myers is on a fast track through the Philadelphia system, with Veterans Stadium that much closer.

But heading into spring training, the 6-4, 215-pound, hard-throwing right-hander was just looking to make a little progress.

"I had no clue," Myers said last week at Mercer County Waterfront Park before a game against the Trenton Thunder. "I was hoping to move up at least one level. Of course, I would've liked to be here (with Reading). That's what I was shooting for, but I was hoping for at least another level."

He took two steps from low-Class A Piedmont to Class AA Reading, and now stands just two steps from replacing the "R" on his cap with a "P." But Myers did not realize he would be this close to Broad Street until spring training was nearly over.

"About a week before we broke camp, when they put up the rosters," Myers said, he realized he had a good chance of playing for Reading. "But even then it wasn't set. I guess it didn't really hit me until I got on the plane."

The move has paid off for both the Phillies and the 20-year-old Floridian. Through Wednesday's 7-2 win over Akron, Myers is 5-1 with a 2.57 ERA in nine starts. He's struck out 50 in 56 innings, allowing 54 hits for a .250 average against. The numbers are good for 10th in the league in ERA, second in wins, ninth in innings pitched and 10th in strikeouts.

"It's still the same game," Myers said. "It never changes. The people around you change. They get better. And hopefully I do too, or get better than them and stay ahead. Hopefully I can keep it up."

Drafted in the first round in 1999 (12th overall), Myers went 2-1 with a 2.33 ERA in the Gulf Coast League. Last year at Piedmont under Legg and current Lakewood BlueClaws pitching coach Rod Nichols, Myers weathered his first full season with a 15-8 record and a 3.07 ERA.

"I learned how to pitch, how to develop my pitches a little better," Myers said of his year in the South Atlantic League. "I learned how to work hard to prepare for a full season. I found it not as tough as I thought it would be. I prepared for it well. If I hadn't, it would've been a lot tougher." With a fastball consistently reaching 92 or 93 mph and a hard-breaking curveball, Myers is considered by many to be the top prospect in the Phillies organization and the pitcher most likely to assume the power-pitcher, No.1 starter slot once held by Curt Schilling.

"Ultimately, everyone playing this game wants to get to the big leagues," Myers said. "That's why you play this game. And once you get there, it's staying there. I just have to take it one game at a time, keep progressing and keep learning, and I'll be OK."

Surely some not-so-free agents

If money were no object, some team in baseball could potentially add nine future Hall of Famers to its roster this offseason, including what is obviously a baseball first: available sluggers who have reached the 700, 600, 500, 400 and 300 home-run plateaus.

First, the possible -- not all probable -- Hall of Famers: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Tom Glavine, Andruw Jones, Mike Piazza, Mariano Rivera, Alex Rodriguez, Curt Schilling and Sammy Sosa. I'm not going to go into here the debate about whether Jones and Schilling are Hall of Famers, just like I'm not bothering with the technicality that Clemens hasn't filed (and could very well retire) and that Sosa's election to the Hall is very much in doubt.

And the homers:

Bonds, 762
Sosa, 609
A-Rod, 518
Piazza, 427
Jones, 368

Even in such a weak free-agent class, some video-game roster finagling could still produce a pretty competitive team. Obviously age is a factor in the real world, but not on the Xbox -- particularly if you turn off the injuries. A rotation consisting of Clemens, Glavine, Schilling, Kenny Rogers and Livan Hernandez would pile up some wins. Todd Jones or Eric Gagne could close. First base would be a problem -- Doug Mientkiewicz and Ryan Klesko seem to be the only options, unless you count Julio Franco -- but Kaz Matsui is there at second, David Eckstein at shortstop and A-Rod, obviously, at third. Or go with A-Rod at short and Pedro Feliz at third. The outfield has options from Bonds, Jones, Sosa (left to right) to an all-center lineup of Jones, Torii Hunter and Aaron Rowand, or some other grouping. Mike Piazza, Paul Lo Duca and Jorge Posada are there to catch.

But the team would probably have a payroll of $300 million, a tenth of that spent on A-Rod alone.

Juicy

I've wanted to stay away from commenting on this whole steroids issue. I'm not trying to ignore it and think that it will go away, because it clearly won't. But I felt I didn't have much to say that wasn't already being thrown about, and that's still probably the case. But on the heels of last week's congressional hearing, it's taken a new turn.

First, there was the delicious sight of Bud Selig squirming and Donald Fehr sounding simply sleazy and heartless. "Progressive punishment?" God. The best thing that came out of the D.C. grandstanding was the exposure of the true wording of baseball's supposedly "tougher" steroid policy.

As for the players, it was shameful on both sides of the photographers' pit. The politicians fawned over the players and acted like they'd invited their athletic heroes into their homes and were amazed by their mere presence. For the athletes' part, they backtracked on everything they've said and done in the past few weeks or years. Jose Canseco backed off everything he's ever said or written about steroids and even Curt Schilling -- perhaps the biggest politician in the MLB players' association -- backtracked from what he's been saying for months about steroids.

But the saddest sights were Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. As Tom Verducci said, here's a guy who felt free and comfortable talking in English since the 1998 home run chase, and now he doesn't even open his mouth in his own defense? I have yet to see a news clip since that shows Sosa saying anything. He looks like a mentally challenged hulk sitting there in his suit while his gray-haired lawyer serves as his mouthpiece. And, of course, everyone's already pointed out his use of the word "illegal" when saying he'd never used "illegal drugs."

As for McGwire, a player I once enjoyed to watch and marvel over, it was clearly a sad scene -- this once Paul Bunyan-esque slugger now appearing smaller, his face markedly clearer, dressed up (it seemed) in grandpa's reading glasses. All he had to do was come out and say it, say he never used steroids, and he'd be validated. But he didn't, probably because he couldn't, and now everyone -- Buster Olney, Jayson Stark, the news articles have jumped on the player everyone praised six summers ago.

Except one. Interestingly, Ben McGrath's "Talk of the Town" piece in The New Yorker is the one column I've seen that's portrayed McGwire in a positive light. But as Verducci said, hasn't McGwire learned the importance of history, of learning from the past? Clearly, we won't be learning from him.

* * *
Now what to make of Barry Bonds? Which is the act? His brash bravado during his press conference when he arrived in spring training? Or his quiet, humble, whimpering sob story yesterday? If not somewhere in between, I am going with history here and leaning toward the former. Will Bonds miss the entire season? Doubtful. Is he really done? Probably not. He's frustrated. True, he has been beaten down by allegations and accusations, but much of it he's brought upon himself. He berates the media, the sportswriters for bringing him to this point, but he had a choice in how he dealt with the reporters who, for the most part, were simply doing their jobs. He hasn't been cordial with any of them, or with many fans.

Blaming the writers for his woes, for his family's "pain," is weak. It's part of your job, your privileged career, that you have to live with. With McGwire's Hall of Fame resume clearly tarnished, in the minds of many, what will we make of Bonds'? Eddie Murray was known to be surly with the press, but he had little trouble getting to Cooperstown. Bonds shouldn't either, just because -- steroids or not -- his numbers are so eye-popping.

I, for one, won't be counting the days until Bonds is back on the field. I'll monitor his rehab, if only because of the fantasy baseball implications. But if he's hit his last home run, or if he comes back but still falls short of Hank Aaron's respectable 755, baseball will be better off. If not, if he gets healthy and passes Babe Ruth this year and Aaron in 2006, it will be a fitting mark on Selig's tenure -- perhaps his lasting impression. Baseball's greatest record, its home run crown, will be shrouded in a fog of suspicion, forever.

The Big Unit introduces himself to New York

I think we've seen the true Randy Johnson.

He's certainly a great pitcher and a fierce competitor, but he's no class act. He's no Yankee off the field. His incident with the CBS 2 cameraman in New York was a punk act. Does Johnson really think that he can walk down a Manhattan street and not be photographed? From watching the video, it appears that the cameraman is down the sidewalk, awaiting Johnson's approach. Johnson had enough time to move around him, as inconvenient as that may be. But it certainly looks like Johnson got in the cameraman's face, not the other way around.

If the Big Unit expects to be treated the same way in New York as he was in Arizona, he's severely mistaken. It was one thing last year when he snapped at a New York-area reporter who suggested where he might find a house if he came to the Yankees. Johnson replied that he wasn't a Yankee and he wasn't going to talk about it, which was a reasonable answer at the time. But now he is a Yankee, and cameras on the streets of New York are part of that.

The Yankees are clearly the World Series favorite on paper, as a fantasy team. But can they be a team? Can the various personalities from Jason Giambi to Gary Sheffield to Hideki Matsui to Derek Jeter to Alex Rodriguez to Randy Johnson co-exist as a cohesive unit, the kind of collection of athletes that wants to win for their teammates more than they do for themselves? I'm not so sure of that. It's why I don't ever see Barry Bonds winning a World Series, or Jeff Kent. You also have to be careful when you try to buy winning. It doesn't always work out. It certainly didn't last year, when all seemed lost after the Yankees went out to get Alex Rodriguez, Sheffield and Kevin Brown. But good won out in the end.

I think the one thing we can be sure of is that this will be one entertaining season in New York. Randy Johnson and Brown on the same team (if Brown sticks around) should be good enough for at least two scuffles.

But there's one claim I don't quite buy (yet) about Johnson: This perceived feud with Curt Schilling. I've never seen it written about with any comments from either one to that effect, and we know Schilling's not against talking about players on other teams with whom he doesn't think he'd get along. But Kevin Kernan of the New York Post wrote about it in December:

One of the big reasons the Big Unit wants to be a Yankee, according to several sources, is to take on Schilling head to head in the AL East after Schilling was traded away from Arizona last offseason.

[...]

Remember, at the root of every great player is a great competitor and Johnson wants to get back to the World Series and nothing would please him more than beating Schilling, according to insiders, which would make for some classic Yankee-Red Sox battles in 2005. Every year you wonder how the Yankees and Red Sox will turn it up a notch and Johnson taking on Schilling would grow this rivalry again in a big way.

It's one thing if Johnson and Schilling have a friendly, competitive rivalry to see which one can lead his team to a world championship without the other -- oh, wait, Schilling just did that. I can certainly understand Johnson wanting to outdo Schilling, but I don't think it runs as deep as a personal feud.

The most telling thing to me came at last year's All-Star Game. During the workout day, when all the players had their kids on the field with them, Schilling sat along the sideline with his four kids. Next to him was Johnson's son, clearly there to see Schilling's kids, who I imagine were his friends when their fathers were teammates. If there were a feud, I doubt Johnson would want his son hanging out with Schilling. In the event that Johnson put his feelings for Schilling aside so that his son could see his friends who now live in Massachusetts, it still wouldn't explain why he took the time to walk over, get down on one knee and talk with Schilling for 10 minutes while they watched BP.

We all know, though, how the New York media loves controversy and it doesn't take much to get the story into the tabloids. So if the Post and the Daily News want a Schilling-Johnson rivalry, they're going to print one.

Postseason awards picks

In a few hours, we'll learn the first of this season's award winners, and since I've been lazy and couldn't come up with a real analysis, here's the quick version:

NL MVP
I think Barry Bonds will win, yet again. But I think it should be Adrian Beltre. The simple argument/formula is take the player away from his team, and where would they be? Yes, if you take Bonds off the Giants, they're not good at all. They might be lucky to win 75 games. But the same can be said of Beltre. In 2003, the Dodgers made an unexpected run at the postseason on the strength of their pitching. They couldn't hit for anything. They needed an offensive upgrade, and their only key offseason acquisition was Juan Encarnacion, until Milton Bradley came over at the end of spring training. But the key to the division title was Beltre, a young player whom the Dodgers expected to become a superstar at least three years ago. He's been drafted in so many fantasy leagues with those expectations and been dropped y Memorial Day every year. Not this time. Granted, fantasy is far from reality, but Beltre was the most valuable player this year. I'm convinced that if major league managers had some guts and pitched to him more, he wouldn't have such gaudy numbers. For one, he wouldn't have a .680 on base percentage. His numbers are tainted in so many ways.

NL Cy Young
For the most part, I'm not a fan of the guy, but how can Roger Clemens not win it? Randy Johnson just didn't have the won-loss record, Jason Schmidt faded over the season's final six weeks and Carl Pavano didn't do enough in the final stretch to seal the award. Clemens, on the other hand, looked like his classic, dominating self for much of the season and led the Astros to the postseason. But the best part, from my perspective, is that if he had remained with the Yankees, they almost certainly would have reached the World Series, probably even won it.

NL Rookie of the Year
This one seems like a two-horse race. Those who dig deeper argue for San Diego shortstop Khalil Greene, whose offensive numbers are solid, but far from spectacular. His defense, however, is stellar and he looks like a veteran already. The other half generally falls in the camp of Pirates outfielder Jason Bay, who has the flashier home run and power numbers that Greene lacks. Bay, however, doesn't have the advantage of playing on a contender and has less support overall in his lineup. My vote would be for Bay because he seemed, to me, like the most outstanding rookie; I think his offensive numbers were impressive enough to outrank Greene's defensive contributions, though there is something to be said for a complete, all-around player. I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth here. End of story: I'm picking Bay, but I could see Greene getting it easily and I think it will be this year's closest award.

NL Manager of the Year
Bobby Cox. Perhaps for the first time since 1991, most pundits expected someone other than the Braves to win the NL East. I'm sure some of the Braves themselves thought so too. But after the games were played, the same team could be found atop the division. Really though, next year is the year for someone else.

AL MVP
This one will probably be close as well, coming down to Vladimir Guerrero, Gary Sheffield and Manny Ramirez. I'm going with Vlad. While Anaheim got a lot of headlines for all its offseason pickups, the strong-armed right fielder became the heart of the team and performed better than what was expected of him. He was arguably the only Angels pickup to do so. Bartolo Colon was dreadful for a good stretch and while Jose Guillen certainly showed he can hit, his end-of-season benching showed he's also, clearly, a head case. It was Guerrero who performed consistently throughout the season and who picked up the slack for the injured Garret Anderson and Troy Glaus. It's always tough with the Yankees, because when you apply the "if you take him out of the team's lineup" test, they usually have enough to compensate for the loss of any one player. Sheffield certainly did a lot for the Yanks, but even without him, they still had Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada. And for much of the season, their pitching wasn't as bad as it became in the postseason, so they had the arms to make up for a loss at the plate. As for Manny, he falls into the same predicament Sheffield's in: a lineup that's too good.

AL Cy Young
Curt Schilling will be second. Johan Santana had the better numbers overall, and this award is a bit more straightforward. It's not which pitcher was most valuable to his team, it's which pitcher was the best. I'm sure Schilling got the hardware he wanted anyway.

AL Rookie of the Year
I think it goes to Bobby Crosby. The A's let Miguel Tejada leave because they thought Crosby was ready to be a big-league shortstop. Turns out they knew what they were talking about. Whether or not that decision meant the difference between first place and second place is another matter. (I happen to think it wasn't; thinking Arthur Rhodes could be your closer was much worse.)

AL Manager of the Year
Buck Showalter. How good would the Yankees be next year if they traded Rodriguez this winter? Look at the history: the 2000 Mariners with A-Rod were 91-71 and won the wild card. In 2001 they went 116-46, setting the AL record for most wins in a season, and won the division. In 2003, the Rangers (with A-Rod) went 71-91. This year they wre 89-73 and in the AL West race until the final two weeks, even without anything resembling a competitive pitching rotation. Anyway, Showalter pulled off the managing feat of this millenium so far. And be sure to put those World Series bets down on the Rangers the year after Buck leaves. His previous two jobs ended in 1995 with the Yankees and in 2000 with the Diamondbacks.

World Series Game 2: Learning something about myself

Red Sox 6, Cardinals 2

How can Boston not win the Series? This Curt Schilling story is a tale of athletic heroism straight out of Hollywood. It's like Roy Hobbs rounding the bases as his jersey gets bloodier with every step, only without the sexy circumstances causing the injury. These postseason starts on his bum ankle clearly make the start of the 2005 season a target date for Schilling's return from surgery, but will he be able to make it? Major surgery on one of the most important parts of a right-handed pitcher's body seems like it would need more than five months (the time from November 1, the first day after a potential Game 7, to April 1, just days before Opening Day) to make a full recovery including rehab and rebuilding strength and stamina to be able to take the ball to start a game. It means I'll have some big decisions to make when deciding my fantasy baseball keepers, is all. But we're not there yet.

Last night, Schilling became Greg Maddux. His stuff wasn't vintage Schilling, it wasn't as powerful as it usually is. He won, as Peter Gammons pointed out, by controling his location and never throwing the same pitch in the same situations to the Cardinals hitters. In two games, the Red Sox have committed eight errors and left 21 men on base. Those numbers would usually mean an 0-2 deficit, not a 2-0 lead. But Boston's ahead because, in Game 1, they overcame those errors at the plate, scoring 11 runs. In Game 2, they won because they bore down and got the outs despite the miscues. Look at Bill Mueller -- two outs, he commits an error, then Mark Bellhorn does on the next play, but then the next batter hits a shot to third that Mueller fields cleanly and takes to the bag for the final forceout. Perseverance. Determination. Execution. That's what's carrying these Red Sox.

Today is the 18th anniversary of Mookie Wilson's ground ball through the legs of Bill Buckner. I was 10 at the time, and in bed when I heard my father's screams from downstairs. I missed the actual play, but I was out of bed and down the stairs in time to see the countless replays. What a lot of people forget -- or never knew in the first place -- is that the play, while it lost the game for the Red Sox, didn't blow a lead. That had already happened; the game was tied when Mookie came to bat. Second, Bob Stanley wasn't covering first base and part of the reason Buckner missed the ball is because he was already moving toward first, hoping to beat the fleet Mookie to the bag -- which was also unlikely. And, of course, just like the Cubs against the Marlins last year, Boston still had Game 7 it could have won. Just as Steve Bartman didn't lose the NLCS for Chicago last year, Buckner didn't lose the World Series for the Red Sox in 1986. Buckner may have cost them Game 6 (and Bartman, at most, cost the Cubs one lone, single out in an inning), but he didn't cost them three other games. In fact, he had two hits in Game 7.

Those were the early days of my interest in baseball and the Mets. They're still the only team I root for, from Opening Day through their final game, with an excitement and passion that rivals my feelings for Notre Dame. For me, nothing tops my allegiance to the Irish, because I spent four years there living the experience. But only the Mets come close. I follow the Devils but take only a passing interest during the season; the playoffs, as everyone knows, are when the NHL gets exciting. I have no NFL ties nearly as strong and I loathe the NBA. I rooted for the Nets out of New Jersey pride more than anything. Now that Bruce Rattner has bought the team and is scuttling it to make some money before he moves them to Brooklyn and loses a ton, I hope it all blows up in his face. I haven't been to a game or supported the NBA in any way in nine or 10 years, and I don't intend to start anytime soon.

But I've discovered something this postseason: I have an American League team. I have friends who purport to back a second team in addition to their primary squad, usually choosing one from the opposite league to call his NL or AL team, depending on which applies. While I was hoping any of the three AL playoff participants not from New York this season would reach the World Series, and I was prepared to root for any of them in that quest, but it has occurred to me, particularly as I've watched these two games against the Cardinals, that I am a Red Sox fan. This isn't simply a World Series choice; it's bigger. While I'll root for the Mets in any potential Boston-Queens matchups, in all other instances, I'm an immigrant to Red Sox Nation.

If the Red Sox come through with these last two victories, I won't celebrate like a long-suffering fan. I haven't lived through the losses the way New Englanders have. But I'll appreciate the championship as a fan of baseball and of history (and baseball history) and of a different game in 1918 -- before the Black Sox, before the Babe became a slugger and rewrote the record book and the way the game is perceived and played. And, most of all, I'll be happy for all those Red Sox fans.

NLCS Game 7: Rocket grounded

Yesterday's game:
Cardinals 5, Astros 2

Cardinals win series 4-3
The last time the Cardinals were in the World Series, 1987 against the Twins, the home team won every game. The same happened in this NLCS, sending St. Louis back to the Fall Classic. Should that trend continue, well, that means Red Sox in seven. This will be the third meeting between these two clubs in October, but we'll look ahead to that matchup later. For the Cardinals, as it was for the Red Sox and Astros, just to get to a seventh game, superb pitching performances from unlikely starters meant the difference. For Boston, it was Derek Lowe with six one-hit innings on two days' rest. You could even make a case for Curt Schilling's Game 6 start after his drubbing in Game 1 on the bum ankle. For the Cardinals, it was Jeff Suppan last night. Craig Biggio put Houston on top in the first, but Suppan settled in and didn't let the Astros build a comfortable lead behind Roger Clemens. I've heard it was the first time that two former teammates met on the mound in a postseason Game 7, though I don't know if I remember the circumstances correctly (that is, it could've been the first time ever in postseason history, or the first time in Game 7 in the NLCS, or either LCS, etc.).

What did in the Astros, I contend, was the decision to wear those ridiculous rust-colored jerseys for a Thursday night postseason game. I've discussed my displeasure for alternate jerseys before, though my main complaints are with breaking tradition (how the Mets simply adopted black as an official color simply to have a black jersey, rather than introducing the black beforehand or making the alternate jersey the classy, shimmering blue that used to define their spring training uniforms) and the inconsistency of when and where those jerseys are used. For the most part, there's no rhyme or reason to when a team decides to go with the colored top instead of the home white or road gray. However, I've noticed -- in highlights and on my Extra Innings package -- this season that the Astros tended to only wear the rust jerseys at home on weekends. I don't remember if it was Saturday or Sunday. And I may be wrong on all counts. In any case, why they went and switched things up last night I just don't get. Apparently, Major League Baseball either asks or requires the players to wear his team's standard home or away uniform, because in Houston this year I did not see any alternate jerseys, even on players whose teams love to use them -- the Cubs and Sammy Sosa, the A's and Mark Mulder, and so on. Why won't Bud insist -- or request, but I'd prefer a firm stance on this -- that in the postseason, teams should stick with their main standard uniforms. The Red Sox, who wore their red jerseys regularly on Sundays in Boston this season, abandoned them for Sunday's Game 4 at Fenway. It just doesn't seem right to see the celebratory pile-on when all the players are in black softball tops like the Marlins are fond of wearing. The game doesn't seem big enough if that's how they look. Some may contend that banning the jerseys for entire series, or the postseason, is a little strong, so then make it apply only to night games or, at least, potential series-ending games. But that's probably just me.

ALCS Game 6: Schilling's gutty performance

Yesterday's game:
Red Sox 4, Yankees 2

Yankees-Red Sox series tied 3-3
Holy shit. First team down 0-3 to even get to Game 7. So I guess this series did turn out to be quite exciting after all. It's down to one winner-take-all game, Derek Lowe against someone, as of this morning, yet to be determined. Kevin Brown? Orlando Hernandez, who was warming up in the ninth last night in the event the Yankees tied it? You know everyone will be available, with the exception of Jon Lieber. Turns out the Red Sox had the Yankees just where they wanted them, and wanted themselves. They've admitted they play loose and coming back to New York, there was no pressure on them. There might be some tonight, but it's still not as much as that which is on the men in pinstripes. We're starting to see it, both from the Yankees and their fans. What is Alex Rodriguez doing trying to knock the ball out of the pitcher's hand on the tag play going to first? That's a play made by a Little Leaguer who doesn't know the game -- it's a childish play. And the fans had no right to get upset over the umpires convening to make the correct call (except for the fact that few of them probably saw what actually happened). In the end, it was sad to see that the fans forced the riot police to line the field for the final two half-innings. That's New York for you. I'm not saying it's New York and nowhere else, but it is, indeed, New York. I have no idea how to look at tonight's game, how to peg it. But I do have a feeling on one thing: food consumption will be down in New York and Boston today, because there are a few hundred thousand fans who will be too nervous and excited heading into tonight to find a way to eat. At least that's the way I'd be.

ALCS Game 2: Daddy's Day

Yesterday's games:
Yankees 3, Red Sox 1
Cardinals 10, Astros 7

Yankees lead series 2-0
Red Sox Nation is calling it. Time of death: 10:28 p.m. Or whenever Olerud's homer landed in the right-field seats. The long-suffering Boston fans can't see a comeback from an 0-2 hole. At least there shouldn't be any offseason second-guessing and questioning -- Schilling's injury will go down as the turning point in this series. They may not admit it, but Yankee fans are relieved he may not pitch again. And they won't want to hear it, but the Sox' ace clearly wasn't able to pitch in Game 1 and that, more than anything, is why he was beaten. There has been a history of the home teams winning every game in a seven-game series, so if the Red Sox manage to sweep the games at Fenway, all they'll need is one of the final two in the Bronx. It's not out of the question, but first they need to win Game 3, then Game 4. Then Game 5. I would be surprised if it's a sweep -- however, if the Yankees take Game 3 ... well, Sunday might be a day of rest for everyone.

Cardinals lead series 1-0
I think this was the game the Astros had to win. Their chances seemed better with Backe than they do with Pete Munro tonight. Man, what a different series this could be with at least either Andy Pettitte or Wade Miller. Interesting that this game was decided by the same score as the Yankees-Red Sox Game 1, with the home team winning. As for tonight's second game, Matt Morris has been up and down all year. Maybe Houston's batters can jump out to a good early lead and give him some breathing room, settle him down, allow him to relax just enough to pitch well. I'll be rooting for the Astros tonight, only because a 1-1 series would essentially be starting over with the games in Houston and Roy Oswalt and Roger Clemens on the mound.

ALCS Game 1: It's Godzilla!

Yesterday’s game:
Yankees 10, Red Sox 7

Yankees lead series, 1-0
After it was 8-0, I wasn’t watching. So I guess I missed the actual game. Well, it clearly showed us a few things: 1. The Red Sox are never out of it. We already know the Yankees – they of the 61 come-from-behind victories this season – fit that description. The Red Sox have all year, the way they can hit. But there are some who feel that Boston is a different team when playing the pinstripes. Last night showed that such an assumption is false. 2. Curt Schilling is probably hurt. We know he “tweaked” his ankle, but that performance last night was not a Schilling performance. He’s a big-game pitcher; last night’s game was the reason he came to Boston. He may not be able to pitch again in this series. There’s more to be said here, but it can’t be said until after tonight’s game. 3. Hideki Matsui is the difference in the Yankees lineup this year. He’s had another year to adapt to baseball in the U.S., and as many predicted, he put up better numbers this season. Bernie Williams is clearly on the decline and while he’ll still come through with some big hits, he’s not the Bernie of old. Derek Jeter is as he always was, and Alex Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield will always be feared. But Matsui is a key to the lineup, in part because he’s their most powerful left-handed bat (with the exception of part-timers Tony Clark and Ruben Sierra). When the series moves to Boston this weekend, getting Matsui out with runners on second and third and two outs will be more than just two potential runs kept off the board. It could be a three, four run turnaround when the Sox start slamming the ball off the Green Monster and send Matsui scurrying around left field like a 6-year-old chasing gulls on the beach. At least it’s simple for the Red Sox tonight: Get seven solid innings (NO MORE) out of Pedro Martinez, then turn a two- or three-run lead over to the bullpen. Then head up to Beantown to start over in a best-of-five series.

Postseason thoughts, Day 5

Saturday's games:
Astros 8, Braves 5
Yankees 6, Twins 5, 11 innings
Dodgers 4, Cardinals 0

Yesterday's games:
Braves 6, Astros 5
Cardinals 6, Dodgers 2

Yankees win series, 3-1
There wasn't much doubt how this one would turn out, especially after the Twins blew Game 2. Even when the Yankees aren't as good as they're perceived to be, or they've been in past seasons, they somehow seem to get the job done. Now they head into the Red Sox Rematch -- er, ALCS -- with the added drama of "Do It For Mo," Mariano Rivera, who'll be coming back from Panama, where his wife's cousin and the cousin's son died when they were electrocuted while cleaning Rivera's pool. There's always something with the Yankees. The Red Sox have a better chance of pulling it off this year -- it could be their best chance to win the Series since 1986 -- but they've got one particular stat to knock off first: The Yankees have never lost in the ALCS. They're 10-0, including 6-0 since 1996. New York's only postseason losses since returning there in 1995 were in the Division Series (to the Mariners in '95, the Indians in '97 and the Angels in '02) or the World Series (the Diamondbacks in '01 and the Marlins last year). Unless the Yankees beat Curt Schilling once, Pedro Martinez twice or a combination of that, along with taking out Tim Wakefield, this one's going seven games. Schilling could very well win three games this series, and if he does, that'll do it, because the third start, naturally, would be Game 7. And if he doesn't start it, he'll be available out of the bullpen, that's for sure. But as I said in my postseason preview, I can't go against the Yankees here until it happens. I'm rooting for it with my heart, but I'm thinking that it'll be Yanks in seven. We'll see.

Cardinals win series, 3-1
Four games: pegged it. At least Lima Time is back in effect, and it helped the Dodgers end their eight-game postseason losing streak. The Dodgers' pitching wasn't considered all that spectacular by many (a view I held too), so the St. Louis lineup will have to somehow put up the same output against Houston or Atlanta if it wants to move on to the World Series for the first time since 1987. Those teams can hit, and the Cardinals may benefit from the potential of playing four of the seven games at home, but they'll have to keep either the Astros or the Braves off the board at some point to notch a win or two. Depsite the 4-0 Dodgers win in Game 3, the Cardinals still averaged 5.5 runs per game in the series, allowing 3 per game to L.A., which only scored more than three runs in its shutout victory, when, it turned out, one would have been enough. The point is, there will probably be one or two games against either the Astros or Braves in which eight runs is not enough to win.

Astros-Braves series tied, 2-2
I said the Astros would sweep, and instead, it's the only series that comes down to a decisive Game 5. Clearly, I never thought it would be coming back to Atlanta, and my sweep pick was more that I thought the Braves were the most sweep-able team of the eight. Not so much. What Houston has going for it is Roy Oswalt. He's Ace 1A on this team, and he can clearly lead the Astros to their first postseason series victory in the team's 42-year history. But he'll have to go seven or eight innings to do it, which means Houston will need a 3- or 4-run lead to keep him from getting pinch-hit for in the sixth or seventh. So more than just the way he pitches will determine how far he goes in this game. Phil Garner's getting a little heat for the way he's managed this series, and he's a bit lucky to have Oswalt going here because he couldn't use an ill Clemens to pitch the wild-card clincher on the last day of the season, so his division series rotation was set for him. The Astros should've wrapped this one up at home yesterday, and in going with Clemens on three days' rest, why lift him after five? (Ron Gardenhire's getting the same heat for lifting Johan Santana after only five innings, and he deserves it more. Why go with your ace on three days' rest in Game 4? Well, when you're down 2-1 facing elimination, it's logical. But you have to get at least six, if not seven from him.) Anyway, in Game 2, Oswalt went 6 1/3, allowing a run on eight hits and a walk, striking out four. Brad Lidge was asked to go 2 2/3 for the save, and he didn't get it, and Atlanta won on Rafael Furcal's game-winning DWI -- er, game-winning RBI -- a two-run home run in the 11th. Back in May, Houston took two out of three in Atlanta, losing the middle game (started by Oswalt) 5-4 in the 10th on an Andruw Jones home run. Essentially, that's what the Astros would be doing tonight, taking a three-game series in Atlanta after losing the second game. My pick for tonight: 7-2 Astros.

On fantasy trades and no-hitters

The Late Show's Top Ten Cool Things About Pitching A Perfect Game

As read by Randy Johnson on May 19, 2004:

10. "After this, I can go 0-15 for the year and honestly not give a crap."
9. "My pre-game dinner at Denny's tonight? On the house!"
8. "Shows everyone that even though I'm 40, I can still ... I'm sorry, I lost my train of thought."
7. "Cool to get congratulatory call from the President, even though he kept calling me "Larry."
6. "Can walk up to guys who've thrown no-hitters and whisper, 'Loser.'"
5. "All the pine tar I can eat!"
4. "Your catcher hugs you and it feels kinda ... nice"
3. "Maybe people will finally forget about the time I killed that bird."
2. "It's just one more thing about me that's perfect, am I right, ladies?"
1. "George Steinbrenner just offered me a billion dollars to sign with the Yankees."

Maybe two weeks before Randy Johnson's perfect game last week, a Red Sox fan in my fantasy league e-mailed to see if I'd trade him Curt Schilling for Johnson. He was wary of making the "homer" trade, thinking Johnson could be slightly better than Schilling this year. I thought otherwise, and turned it down.

Then Johnson went out and lost 1-0 to the Mets, pitching a great game. He followed that up with perfection.

My thinking was this: Schilling and Johnson can have very similar numbers on the same team, but now Schilling is on a better team. I figured his numbers had the potential to be better. Besides, Schilling's injury last year wasn't a common pitching injury -- he broke some bones in his hand on a hard hit up the middle. It wasn't a shoulder or elbow injury, no rotator cuff or ligament damage. If anything, it allowed him to rest his arm and throw less innings last year. Johnson's injury was different: It was his knee, and some reports say it's still suspect, that as long as the pain remains minor, or as long as he can pitch through it, he'll go on. But when that pain threshold gets too high, he's in trouble. Our league also doesn't have DL slots, a decision I abhor and a fight I've not been able to win with the majority of our 10 members voting against it. Without any DL slots and with our lineup settings, any injured players have to become part of our five-man bench. So if you have four injured hitters and two of your bench spots are taken up by pitchers, then you've got to cut somebody just to get another hitter to put into your lineup. So I couldn't take the chance that I'd be trading my No. 1 pitcher (and one of my three keepers from last year) for a very similar pitcher on a weaker team who, if he went down, would leave me without a No. 1 starter. Yes, if Schilling goes down, I have the same problem, but at least that's one that didn't have the warning signs of a potential Johnson injury.

* * *

As some writers and announcers are fond of saying, for the 6,706th time since the team's inception in 1962, a Mets pitcher failed to throw a no-hitter. Tom Glavine came close yesterday, taking a perfect game into the seventh inning and giving up the only hit in his 4-0 complete-game win with two outs in the eighth.

Four outs away. Again.

And, for the record, I was offered Glavine in a trade in the same fantasy league about a month ago. Turned that one down too. Decided to keep Juan Pierre.

I've watched so many Mets games get past the fifth with a 0 in the hits column for the opposing team. I once remained in the same horizontal position on the couch one night as David Cone mowed down the Phillies or the Braves or whoever it was in the late 80s that he nearly no-hit. I didn't move until he gave up that first hit, and by then I really had to go to the bathroom. I've seen two minor-league no-hitters in person, but I've yet to watch one in the majors even on TV -- most likely owing to the fact that the Mets are usually the only games I watch from the beginning and, well, you know. I was at the ballpark on September 2, 1990, when Dave Steib threw one for the Blue Jays, but that was in Cleveland and I was at Shea.

Maybe I'll see one tomorrow night. I'll be at Shea when Steve Trachsel, who threw one of the Mets' two one-hitters in three games last year, faces the Phillies. It's my fourth Mets game this season ... and my fourth Steve Trachsel start this season. He's quickly become the pitcher I've seen throw the most innings in person in my lifetime. Last offseason, I discovered Retrosheet and began the process of cataloging ever major league game I've attended. I remembered many of them offhand, not by date, but by pitcher, home run, event, etc. I remembered Lenny Dykstra's inside-the-park home run for the Phillies against the Mets, and found the date of July 24, 1990, in a Phillies media guide I have. I recalled Joe McEwing and Mike Piazza homering off Randy Johnson on a Sunday afternoon at Shea in 2000, so I browsed for that box score. I consulted friends and family who attended certain games for their recollections, and I dug out old scrapbooks for ticket stubs. I'm certain I got every one, which is now up to 85 games since my first one in August 1983, and I would also count the 1989 Mets-Yankees exhibition game at Shea at the end of spring training, since it was two major league teams in a major-league park close enough to the regular season, but I can't find a box score. Because I can't remember exactly when I got to the park, or if we left early, or when I was in the bathroom and missed an at bat or four, I used artistic license to just count all stats from every game for which I had a ticket. If I was in the ballpark for an inning, I was in the ballpark for five innings, and the stats count.

So Trachsel leads in individual innings pitched, and Mike Piazza has both games played (24) and at bats (91). I've yet to scour the data for leaders in all the other categories, but I do know this:

• I've been to 16 ballparks, including the now-retired (and, in some cases, razed) Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, County Stadium in Milwaukee and Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

• The Mets are 21-22 in the 43 games I've seen them play. The Yankees are second with 22 (14-8), the Phillies third with 11 (4-7). The Braves and Pirates, with nine each, lead the teams more than a two-hour drive from the Jersey Shore.

• I've seen all 30 teams play at least once.

• At 3-0, the Royals are the only team undefeated in more than one game I've attended.

• The Dodgers are the opposite at 0-3.

• The Brewers are 2-0 as a National League team (a win each at County Stadium and Wrigley Field), 0-1 as an American League team (at Yankee Stadium).

• After attending one game in 1983 (Yankees 2, Angels 1, August 21) and two in 1985 (the Mets split at Shea, losing to Cincinnati and beating Chicago), I've seen at least one game every year since 1988.

• The 12 games I attended in 2000 are the most in one season, followed by 1990's 10.

• July's 21 games is tops by month, followed by June's 16 and September's 15.

• I've seen four October games, two of them postseason (the Mets' Game 1 NLCS loss in Atlanta in 1999 and their Game 5 NLCS clinching victory over St. Louis to send them to the 2000 Subway Series).

Tomorrow we'll see if the Mets can break .500 for 2004 and reach .500 for my career, and if

Trachsel can improve upon his 2.48 ERA, his 1.20 WHIP and his 2-2 record in 40 innings over six starts.

And just maybe a no-hitter.