1:09pm Guy is holding his breath, crossing his fingers, and dressed in full Mets gear. His kids, too.
–I even got Salomé to put on something: my long-sleeve Mr. Mets shirt! We are ready to rock, though separately as I’m the only one actually watching the game.
1:31pm Guy is thinking Tom Glavine is welcome to return to Atlanta next season.
–Things started to fall apart almost immediately as Glavine made some good pitches but the Marlins were hitting them anyway. Never a good sign. I never really warmed up to Glavine being a Met as it was clear his heart remained in Atlanta, but I respected his veteran presence on the team. More than any of the myriad injuries this season that illustrated how old the Mets were, no bit of evidence stands out more than Glavine’s ineffectiveness over his last three starts.
1:41pm Guy is believing 9 innings is a lot of time to pull off a miracle comeback.
–Seven runs is a huge deficit, but with the way the Mets offense has been hitting lately and the lousy season Dontrelle Willis has been having, the game is still far from over.
2:09pm Guy is second-guessing Willie for pinch-hitting for Sosa who just struck out the side. Let him sacrifice Milledge and pitch one more inning.
–Sosa is your long reliever, comes in and does a pretty good job in a very tough spot, and you pinch hit him after 1+ inning…with Sandy Alomar, Jr.!?!? Plus, the bottom of the Marlins order is coming up next inning. Total panic move, Willie.
2:23pm Guy is stressed, eating leftover coconut shrimp, drinking PBR and glancing at the Jets score.
–No score in the Jets game through the first half, so it’s only a mostly depressing sports day for me so far. The shrimp, from Stew Leonard’s, tastes a lot better the next day, and PBR is a perfect complement for the misery that is looming on the horizon.
2:31pm Guy is thinking, despite this season, that the Mets should go after Dontrelle Willis in the off-season.
–I think Rick Petersen can fix his mechanics and mental state, a la Oliver Perez, and he’d definitely step up to the challenge of pitching for a contender. PS: Billy Wagner is an idiot, misquoted or not, and I’ll take Petersen over him any day. Trade him.
2:36pm Guy is giving props to Manny Acta and Freddi Gonzalez for not letting their teams lay down. Unlike, say, Art Howe…
–Or, apprarently, Willie Randolph. There’s rumors that Acta was the de facto manager under Randolph in his first two seasons here in NY and watching the Nationals play out the string like they were in the thick of the playoff race makes me wonder. Howe, BTW, is now the bench coach for the Texas Rangers, who finished in last place in the AL Central this season. What are the odds that he, multiple low-energy failure, gets another managing job before Randolph does?
2:54pm Guy is not going to be satisfied with a one-game playoff @ Philly because they both lost today. Win or go home TODAY!
–After the inexplicable, inexcusable collapse of the past three weeks, the Mets simply don’t deserve to make the playoffs if they don’t win today. They barely deserve this last shot, really.
3:03pm Guy is starting to feel the hope slip away.
–The look on Randolph’s face the past couple of innings suggests he’s already let it slip away. At least Zombie Joe Torre is generally inscrutable and you can’t tell when he’s thrown in the towel.
3:20pm Guy is reluctant to admit, no matter what happens today, that Willie Randolph is the appropriate scapegoat. Reluctant, but willing.
–Same as I was calling for Torre’s head at the beginning of the summer, I have to hold Randolph similarly accountable. Omar Minaya takes a hit for some bad personnel moves this season, but Paul LoDuca and David Wright stood out as the emotional leaders of the team throughout the season while Randolph kept playing his poor man’s Torre role to no effect. If he’d have benched Reyes and Milledge today after their lackadaiscal play in yesterday’s game, THAT would have showed some balls and sent a message to his team, the Marlins and the rest of the league. His bosses, too. If he doesn’t believe his job is on the line with today’s game, he’s clueless.
3:30pm Guy is second-guessing another Randolph bullpen move. Fuck, man! Maybe Acta really was the manager the last two years?
–The bullpen only gave up one run after the first inning meltdown but I’ve never been happy with Randolph’s micro-managing of the bullpen, too often playing the odds over the moment itself. Makes you think there was something to Minaya’s trading youngsters Heath Bell and Royce Ring and taking his chances with veterans like Schoenweiss and Mota.
3:50pm Guy is just about to give up on the Mets game when he realizes the Jets game ended with them losing to Buffalo. Time for another PBR?
–Well, fuck. It’s going to be a long sports winter, isn’t it?
4:03pm Guy is rooting for the Colorado Rockies to pull off the upset and force a playoff with San Diego.
–I’ve always been a fan of the underdog, and that’s what the Mets were back in 1981-1982 when I switched my allegiances from the Yankees after most of my favorite players had departed. I was 12 years old and the Yankees were the team I was given, not the team I chose. The Marlins, ironically, have been my second-favorite team for years — I chose them this spring for my son’s tee ball team when the Mets were already taken by a returning coach — so it’s particularly galling that today is playing out the way it is. The Rockies are the most underdog you can get for this season’s playoffs and I’d love to see them snatch the Wild Card and then rampage through the playoffs, making the World Series against the Yankees. At that point, with all of promising kids who have come up and saved the Yankees’ season, it’s going to be hard to root against them this year.
4:26pm Guy is fascinated by how much passion the Mets’ TV crew shows, not just for the team, but for the game itself. They deserve an Emmy nod.
–Gary Cohen, Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez are the best sports broadcast trio I’ve ever heard. They make the game fun, offering insightful commentary and analysis peppered with occasional non-sensical tangents, and can make even a blowout like today bearable to keep watching.
4:32pm Guy is contemplating “the greatest September collapse in the history of Major League Baseball.” It’s not a good feeling.
–This unquestionably ranks as the most disappointing sports season I’ve ever experienced as a fan. The Mets coasted most of the season thanks to a strong start, weathering a slew of injuries and an inconsistent bullpen, but in the home stretch, with the likes of Martinez, Alou, Chavez and Castro all returning to the team and the additions of Castillo, Anderson and Conine, there’s absolutely no excuse for the wheels coming off so dramatically. I’m withholding final judgement until I see his press conference after the game, but barring some ballsy comments that demonstrate his taking full responsibility for the collapse — because that’s what good coaches do — right this second, I think it’s Willie Randolph’s head on the chopping block and deservedly so. And that’s a depressing feeling on a number of levels that go beyond sports.
