Hope nobody's on when he hits one.

That, famously, was the scouting report for how to pitch to Hank Aaron, a.k.a. Bad Henry when the Mets were plotting a course past the terrifying Atlanta Braves in this newfangled thing called a League Championship Series. Now, a couple of generations later, we have Bad Albert — Jose […]

No need to panic. But wipe that smile off your face, Met fans. We've got trouble.

In any other situation, Jose Lima would now be James Baldwin: An old starter who comes apart like a cheap suit above 70 pitches is useless to a major-league-baseball team with any aspirations to play extra games. Lima may be […]

This had to be one of the more quietly infuriating losses in recent memory.

First off, early on Gavin Floyd was making Cory Lidle look like Cy Young. He had nothing, and I was actually worried we would run up a big lead in the first couple of innings, watch the Phillies step out after every […]

Feel better?

Before tonight's game, I told Joshua “Tom Glavine is going to throw a no-hitter tonight.” Emily rolled her eyes. Joshua wanted to know what a no-hitter was. (See, he's already a Met fan.) So I told him, and then I decided to offer a twist on my usual no-hit ritual. Normally, each inning a […]

“Baseball is a lot like life. The line drives are caught, the squibbers go for base hits. It's an unfair game.”

Typical of the early Mets that Hot Rod Kanehl's greatest contribution to the game of baseball would be a quote. Still, it's a pretty good quote. Kanehl would have liked tonight's game. Well, not liked […]

“I've been waiting to say this to you for a long time. … Deep down in my stomach, with every inch of me, I pure, straight hate you. … But goddamn it do I respect you.” — Wes Mantooth.

In other words: Nice game, Smoltz.

If the Braves lost today, they would have been 10 out. […]

We may come back for the sweep (after the last couple of days I won't put anything past this team) or we may wind up dropping the finale, but one thing's for sure: We'll still be talking about that top of the second.

Even before the zaniness began, we'd seen one of the rarest plays in […]

I wouldn't call that one a classic — too much bit-spitting in situations where the thing should have ended earlier — but it sure was fun. About the only thing it was missing was one or both managers picking their least-worst-hitting starting pitchers to pinch-hit. (Glavine and Smoltz?) Along the way…well, I'm not quite sure […]

I knew from the get-go that last night would be one of those catch-as-catch-can games, grabbed by bits and pieces while out and about. That's one of the joys of baseball, after all — when life dictates that you be elsewhere, you can nearly always sneak off for a half-inning or at least a quick […]

Wanna play in October? You gotta win blowouts and squeakers, extra-inning games and rain-shortened affairs, day games after night games and the tail end of doubleheaders. Included somewhere in that list are games that appeared headed for extra innings except the enemy reliever makes a nice pickup and unleashes disaster. Gary Majewski had a tailor-made […]