213 Miles From Shea

Well that wasn't so good last night. Remember that teams that one game of a Division Series have one that Series for the last 3 seasons (12 series) (Fact from ESPN). Last night every team I personally wanted to move on, lost. Well anyway here are some notes for today's ALDS and NLDS games:

It's great having two rival teams in the playoffs.

It's also great to have your cross-town rivals in the playoffs.

However, someone apparently thought Mets fans didn't have enough joy in their lives already, so when the Phillies' probable Cy Young winning pitcher, Doc Halladay, made his Post Season debut tonight. Roy just had to pitch a no-hitter.

Ok, all disgruntled, whiny, complaining aside, it is a pretty amazing story. Roy Halladay, one of the best pitchers around right now, and on a track to the Hall of Fame (if he continues his numbers), also had one of the longest career streaks never pitching in the playoffs. Essentially, what has limited him from entering Hall conversations (besides his age) was no experience in the post-season. Well in his first start ever in (actual) October, he threw a no-hitter, the second one ever in the post season. Now Larsen isn't in the Hall, but everyone remembers him, particularily for his no hitter. Now Roy has that same claim to fame, and sadly, the Phillies fans have the same claim to fame now.

Well Hopefully the Phillies will lose the next three games.

I hope.

Started with 30 teams, now we are down to 8 teams and those 8 will begin the elimination march down to 4 today as the ALDS and the NLDS get underway. If you don't have a job, or are not a student, or are just playing hooky, you will get to see a full slate of three games today with one starting at 1:30, another one at 5:00 and finally a nightcap at 8:30. Here's a minipreview for what you could be watching about today:

American League Division Series:

National League Division Series

Just like how the Mets had a good amount of nice surprises this season, they had some disappointments, and some situations that people knew would be bad from the start (looking at you Gary Matthews Jr). Here are some of the perplexing, complicated, frustrating moments of the 2010 Mets season:

Well this is an exciting feeling. I haven't actually felt this way since 2005 and 2006. Remember back then when the Mets said they were so sick of losing they felt the need for a complete regime change. Yeah that was a good time (seriously). It was an interesting off season because it felt like that time right before Spring Training from October through February.

I'm excited again.

After three straight seasons of feeling pretty bad after the Mets season, I feel pretty good today. It feels like a new beginning and I'm really excited to get going, as if last season really didn't matter, it was just a precursor for the next show.

That is where we are now.

The Mets didn't exactly start the next era today, but they definetely ended the current one. By sending off Jerry and Omar, as an organization, we are ready to go in a fresh new direction. Jerry and Omar do deserve credit. Jerry did a great job reversing the 2008 season when he came in, and last season was not his fault, but this team really needs a fresh leader. Omar also did a great job at times and a bad job at times (more on that later this week). He brought in some great pieces in 2005 and 2006, he made some good trades over his regime (most recently the Pagan trade) but he has also made some bad signings (more recently) and some bad trades (Heath Bell).

But now we begin the search for new leaders, and its really exciting.

Lets Go Mets!

For the first year since 2006, I'm going to actually follow the playoffs. For obvious reasons I didn't follow it in 2007 and 2008, it just hurt too much and last year, as soon as the Twins were eliminated, I immediately stop watching. However this year, I'm going to try to stomach it all the way through, mainly because I want more material to write about so the content on this website just isn't about the future manager and the future GM. Anyway the Playoff's start on Weds with the following match-ups:

The following is not my Prediction, but just my Dream:

Now how I think it will actually go down:

Well for a second straight season, the Mets end essentially in wimper. While ending in this way is easier to handle than ending like the Hindenburg in 2007 and 2008, these quiet endings leave a lot to be desired. Essentially we were expecting fireworks each of the last two seasons and at times we really just stalled out due to injuires, bad chemistry (the politest way I could phrase the Oliver Perez situation) and just overall poor team construction.

This season was a wild one in the beginning with long streaks, but with a small collapse in July, the trailing two months have just sotra dragged out. There is a lot to think about, and we have a while to think about things right now. Today let's focus on the postives of 2010. The few players that really came into being and hopefully will plug up holes for the near and far future: