Forgive the lack of post the last few games. There are a number of reasons.

These games are hard to watch. Let alone contemplate and analyze in a short amount of time. By games end I am usually exhausted from hyper-anxiety that a nap and a short amount of reflection are required.

Secondly and more importantly I know three things to be certain in baseball:

• There are Baseball Gods
• They are vengeful
• I am not one of them

I hate to boast, brag or belittle any team’s loss at this stage of the season. A losing streak may be right around the corner and I don’t want to tempt any deity to cast negative karma my way.

A few thoughts.

In the back of my mind for most of the season was a worry in Willie’s in game ability. During the season with a large division lead, Willie let pitchers on the mound to twist in the wind letting the game get out of hand, though some great comebacks occurred when the Mets refused to give up and chipped away at a lead. I was afraid of the same happening in the playoffs. Willie has not only been October’s version of Captain Hook, this team is fully capable and experienced with handling adversity, like say a front of the rotation starter or two going down right before the postseason begins. That may not have been by Willie’s design but somebody has to get credit for it, why not Willie?

Imagine a dark, smoky room illuminated with a single light over a card table. Imagine Grady Little at one side with the Dodgers behind him facing Willie Randolph wearing a green visor and chewing on a short stogie with all the Mets behind him. Now imagine Willie pushing all his chips to the center of the table. “All in” Willie says calmly as he looks Little right in the eyes while chomping on the cigar. “What’d ya got?”

That was the mental picture that came to my mind as I watched Saturday’s game. Willie was taking full advantage of his superior bullpen, gambling on a win that night, knowing that Oliver Perez would take the ball for game four with a worn pen should he lose this bet. If the Mets didn’t win game three, I expected a loss in game four enabling a winner take all game five in New York where anything could happen. Make no mistake, Gambler was not that familiar man you hold ill will toward dousing a police officer with champaign in Detroit. The Gambler was in Los Angeles.

Man am I sick of Tommy Lasorda. I thought I was over my ill will toward the Dodgers for the 1988 NLCS. Hey, Bulldog even donned orange and blue to help the 99 playoff run. No hard feelings from 88 right?

Wrong. I still despise Lasorda and his phony Dodger mystique. He is NOT some legend that has transcended team loyalties and now bigger than the game. He is still a Dodger, despite what ever commercials MLB makes calling him Baseball’s Ambassador. I am glad we beat his fat ass and I loved doing it.

I guess he might be doing some good for the game by getting some casual fans into the playoffs.

For that, “salue Tommy, now go home and get your f@#$ing shine box!”

Now if I could just borrow a time machine to go back 18 years so I can tell the 10 year old version of myself to stop crying. We got even.

Yankee Fans

I am trying not to take too much joy in the Yankee fans misery. It is somewhat comical to have that kind of success year after year and freak out when you have a bad series. Sure I would have taken a Mets first series elimination pretty hard and I guess that makes them loyal fans.

That said, I haven’t seen an overreaction like that since Spider smarted off to Tommy in Goodfellas. Fire Joe Torre? Wow, that organization really does operate on a “what have you done for me lately” mission statement. There is the other side of the coin, I heard Dibble and Kennedy on MLB the Show (XM Radio) call Torre one of the greatest managers of all time.

Slow down there boys, he kind of had some loaded dice there. Does he get credit for shaping the team? I think Buck Showalter might have something to say about that.

Fox Sucks

Man I miss Keith, Ron and Gary. Fox is terrible. Has anyone else noticed that they are mixing the crowd noise higher than usual? It makes it difficult to hear the announcers.

Second thought, Fox isn’t all bad.

And enough with the House M.D. promos. Where exactly does House live? I have never seen the show; I’ve just been pelted with promos during every Fox telecast. If you watch let me know where that show is set so I don’t move there. How does a freak of nature come to his hospital every week?

At any rate let’s get ready for the next cage match against St. Louis.

Let’s Go Mets!