Awesome....

            Poor Big Joe (father-in-law).  He's trying to enjoy a quiet Sunday night with his grandson, and he's stuck next to a ranting, angry, maniac watching the Subway Series.  It was bad enough that our big night with his buddy Charlie got rained out on Friday night.  Now he's trying to enjoy his much-maligned Mets show a glimmer of life, albeit against the hapless Yankees.  And there I am, surprising myself that I'm still breathing that much fire in such a lackluster season.  Being a jack*ss as usual.

            You know who the Mets remind me of?  Last year's Yankees.  A team that has trouble winning games; has trouble with consistency.  They will win five out of ten by a combined 35-40 runs, and then they'll lose the other five while scoring less than three runs a game.  They have a bunch of guys underachieving, notably Wright, Reyes, Beltran, and Delgado, and some questions about youth and pitching.  They are a conundrum.  They generate the confusion from which I suffered last year.  They're a team that should be running away with things, but instead wallows in neutral.

            And then there are the Yankees.  They aren't at all like the '05 and '07 teams that had me so confused.  This team doesn't have me confused at all.  They don't score ever, for anything.  Sure, Cano is underachieving horribly.  That's a bit odd.  But the rest of them are pretty unremarkable.  Giambi is hitting for low average, but does have an adequate number of bombs.  Jeter and the Ferocious Lion are hitting well; Abreu is okay.  Melky is okay.  Damon was okay, but now seems to be fading.  But nothing completely shocking.  You don't have Allie and Posada, which is understandably devastating.  The guys replacing them are awful offensively, but it's not like anyone was expecting Gehrig-replaces-Pipp.  Nothing totally out-of-school here, guys.  That's what's so disturbing.  As I've said, you really don't know what's coming without getting Allie and Posada back, but I'm not so sure I have such high hopes for that, at least initially.  This team just isn't that good.  Not now, anyway.  And the last two days were just ugly. 

            Joel Sherman of the New York Post has written at least two columns this year detailing the Mets fans distaste for this particular version of the Mets.  They've booed incessantly, much to the ire of Billy Wagner and others in the Met clubhouse who feel they have been unfair.  Many say the sting of last year's collapse hasn't sufficiently dissipated.  The team doesn't seem to like each other, which was highlighted by Paul LoDuca last year and has spilled over into this year, punctuated again by Billy Wagner comments.  And after watching them this weekend, I can see why the fans aren't enamored.  I was a bit surprised, actually.  They came off like a bunch of jerks.  I don't hate the Mets.  Frankly, I'm a guy who roots for New York teams.  But these guys had me scratching my head.  I'll give David Wright the benefit of the doubt.  Generally he strikes me as a stand-up guy.  But there he was last night, scoring on a sac-fly - that wasn't a particularly close play - to give his team a 4-run lead.  And he's standing at home plate, screaming and posing with his fists in the air.  Dude, you're winning by four runs in the eighth inning.  It was a sac fly.  Shut up, go back to the dugout and sit down.  You want to be a star in this town?  That's not the way to go about it.  I expect to see Jose Reyes jumping around like a clown while hitting .267 (with a .329 OBP, which is a sin for a leadoff guy...but keep dancing, dude).  But not anyone who thinks they're going to be a star in New York.  So needless to say, all around I wasn't impressed.

            I told Acc yesterday before the game that the Yankees would be 9 games out by this weekend.  I didn't need to look at the Red Sox score tonight.  I knew.  Just like I used to know with the Yankees.  And without seeking it out, I saw an internet blurb that Jon Lester pitched a no-hitter tonight.  God bless him.  Two years removed from cancer.  Those Red Sox are really living a charmed life these days....   

            I don't know what's next.  If anybody has any ideas, I'm all ears.....