I figure it's gonna take 32 more victories to win this thing. Every time we win, we peel a square.

—Lou Brown, manager, Cleveland Indians, Major League

This one was a specialty from the Mets playbook. We're reasonably hot. We leave town. We alight in some city where the local team is dreadful. We're facing some two-bit […]

Alex Wolf is 1-0 lifetime at Shea Stadium. I'm 169-131 there, including the post-season, something I don't normally take into account when discussing my Log, but if the 1998 Yankees can claim 125 wins in one year (the regular schedule not nearly expansive enough to contain their self-aggrandizement), then I can stretch my truth just […]

The Dodgers obviously haven't heard about our roll. That, coupled with San Diego's refusal to stay classy, allowed the Phillies to elbow us back into fourth. Plus, Clemens, the ol' evildoer himself, has Houston ahead of us for the Card that runs Wild. On the other hand, the Astros kicked Washington in the Nats; the […]

I've been cruising Retrosheet on party-pooper patrol.

Through 107 games in 1991, the Mets were 57-50, 5-1/2 out of first in the N.L. East.

Final record: 77-84.

Through 96 games in 1992, the Mets were 48-48, 4 out of first in the N.L. East.

Final record: 72-90.

Through 94 games in 1996, the Mets were 46-48, 4-1/2 out of the […]

If the Mets were in the National League West, they'd be a half-game out of first. And the commute home would be a bitch, so never mind. But we just did a pretty neat job of sweeping a first-place team on the back of the most foreboding pitching matchup since Heilman vs. Beckett.

This game of […]

The Mets are playing the way they're supposed to and have won three in a row. They're two games over .500, a half-game out of third, five from the Wild Card, 5-1/2 away from first.

To reluctantly paraphrase a Yankees fan overheard in the upper deck six years ago who was desperate to downplay the significance […]

You get a shiver in the dark

It's been raining in the park, but meantime…

Know why I'm particularly happy that it was Chris Woodward who walked us off into victory Tuesday night? Because every time he comes to bat, Shea's P.A. plays a few notes from a Dire Straits song, usually 1979's “Sultans of Swing”. I'm […]

Hi Alex,

My name is Greg. My wife Stephanie and I are looking forward to meeting you on Sunday. We've heard a lot about you. It's hard to believe you're about to turn eight and this will be the first time we'll be seeing you. Perhaps you've heard grown-ups use the expression “time flies.” Well, it's […]

There are worse things than being a .500 ballclub. For one thing, when you continually find yourself one below, you are continually given chances to climb back to .500 and then can continually hold out hope that you will inch one above .500. It gives you something to shoot for and allows you to have […]