Kuzul

You probably read the headline and thought, “Wow, this guy is some delusional Mets fan.” Well, I’m not going to lie to you, that is 100 percent true. I am a proud Mets fan, and at times I can be delusional, seeing how it is basically impossible to be a Mets fan if you aren’t at least somewhat messed up in the head. 

That being said, every April brings the beginning of a new season, a 0-0 record, and a ton of hope for fans of every team.

In the past few years I have felt that the Mets have had a team capable of being as good as any other and have only gone on to see them fail. This futility in the past is what has led to all this current negativity surrounding a team, that although seemingly similar to previous teams, is in many ways far different from the squads that broke Mets fans’ hearts the past four seasons. 

So yes, it is true, I am a bit delusional. However, there is a legitimate reason for hope.

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Hello everyone, and welcome to this game four live blog of the Giants vs. Braves. The first two games have been one-run thrillers and tonight could very well be the same. Should the Braves lose this will be Braves manager Bobby Cox’s last game!

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It seemed all but over. The Giants were leading 4-1 with two innings to go.

San Francisco has one of the best bullpens in baseball, but there came the Atlanta Braves, and in the blink of an eye, the game was tied.

It marked the second time that night a team came back from a 4-0 deficit to win the game, as the Braves eventually won 5-4 in 11 innings thanks to a home run by Rick Ankiel.

Now the series moves back to Georgia tied at one.

The Braves are one of the best teams at home in baseball, and the Giants will need at least one win there in order to bring the DivisionSseries right back to San Fran for a Game 5 showdown.

Here are the grades for the San Francisco Giants. 

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At the time of year when all the talk is of MVP hitters and Cy Young pitchers, many important players are often not even considered. Although MVP does include the term valuable, that award is usually given to the player who has produced the most offense, and the Cy Young to the pitcher with the lowest Earned Run Average.

But there are so many more players—25 per team and 200 in the postseason total—all of them designated to a certain role. But the production of some players is more important to their team than others. So which players will be the most heavily relied on in this year’s playoffs? 

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If you can remember back to April 5th, you’ll recall a beautiful Monday afternoon when the New York Mets defeated the Florida Marlins 7-1 and everything in Mets Land was perfect. Nothing is better than a 1-0 record.

Since then, however, the Mets have been thrown into the bowels of mediocrity, cursed to a 69-71 record and playoff irrelevance as the season heads into its final weeks. Since the beginning of summer, inconsistent play and poor hitting have put the team in this dire situation, and the Flushing Faithful into a “next year” type mindset.

For every team that sees its season go down the toilet, there is usually more than one reason for that. The case is no different for the Mets.

The Mets season was great heading into the summer. On June 24th they were tied for first place in the division and were about to play the Detroit Tigers in an attempt to gain first place. They lost that game 6-5. Since then, they have very slowly lost 11 games of ground in the division. Since then, they have only won two games in a row twice, doing so against both Washington and Pittsburgh.

You can pinpoint that date as the time of the Mets’ demise, but what was the cause? 

It’s always easy to blame management, but in the Mets case it’s a pretty good reason. The team hit a small bump in the road, and instead of changing things up after the All-Star break, they kept going with what didn’t work. Beltran kept hitting in the middle of the order despite not hitting over .220 for most of his time with the Mets this season. 

Sub .200 hitters are not the types of players that you want in your lineup, but that is who was in the lineup consistently. It seems as if the Mets were trying to develop players like Ruben Tejada and Josh Thole before their playoff run was over. Thole has done well, but Tejada cannot get above that Mendoza line, nor can Mike Hessman or Fernando Martinez. Don’t forget that Alex Cora was playing almost everyday this summer before the Mets released him.

The Mets are also paying a whole bunch of players on their roster a lot of money who they don’t actually want to have there, including Carlos Beltran, Luis Castillo, Oliver Perez, Francisco Rodriguez, and others. The only reason the Mets were ever good in the first place was because of surprise players like Angel Pagan, R.A. Dickey, and Ike Davis. 

Now, as they await the final game of this season, possibly the most sad season the Mets have had in quite a while, they will be testing out the young guys. Guys like Lucas Duda who, since coming up is batting .045 (1-22). Others include Jenrry Mejia, Nick Evans, and Luis Hernandez. 

So as they say in Chicago, wait ’til next year!

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It has been a pretty ugly couple of weeks if you are a Mets fan. Since the All-Star break, the Flushing Faithful have had to sit back as their team dropped nine out of 11 on the road. They’ve been shut-out four times, lose to the last-place Diamondbacks five out of six times, including a 14-1 loss, and not get a big-name player at the trade deadline. 

They have seen good pitching performances thrown out the window, their team go at least seven innings without a hit, twice. They have lost three times in games at least 13 innings, and watch Oliver Perez pitch three times. 

It has just been plain ugly. 

But in all of that, they have only lost 2.5 games on the first-place Braves. Today they sit just 6.5 games out. Somewhat strangely, they should feel quite content. 

In the next seven days, they will play six games against the Braves and Phillies. They know that no matter what happened the past two weeks, if they can produce and go 5-1, or even 4-2, that they will be right back in it. 

They have a good team. They have two everyday guys hitting over .300 in Angel Pagan and David Wright. 

They have a consistent power source in Ike Davis, and they have a resurgent force in Carlos Beltran. 

They have a gun out in right field with Jeff Francoeur. They have two ace-like pitchers this season in Johan Santana and R.A. Dickey. Both will be pitching against Atlanta. 

They have a good bullpen which features Bobby Parnell, who can hit 100 on the radar gun, and a closer who is arguably one of the best in baseball in Francisco Rodriguez. 

They have been known to be a bit streaky. They have two nine-game winning streaks this season. If they can put together six or seven in a row, especially against the Braves and Phillies, then they will be right back at the top.

One road trip cannot decide a season. No Mets fan should believe that this one west coast nightmare will decide their fate. 

They have a lot left to play for, but it all starts this week against the Braves and the Phillies. 

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In what will only be considered the biggest blown call in the history of Major League Baseball, Armando Galarraga’s perfect game was brutally stolen from him by the cold-hearted first base umpire, Jim Joyce.

It was the ninth inning with two outs, and Galarraga had thrown just 87 pitches before Jason Donald softly grounded one to the hole in second base, where Miguel Cabrera fielded it and threw it to first where Galarraga himself stood. He caught the ball, and the game was seemingly over. Cabrera had already started celebrating. Then, in a heart-crushing blow, Joyce spread his arms wide open, and the stadium of 17,000 fans fell silent. 

Donald himself nearly collapsed, as he held his head in shock. Galarraga smirked, knowing that his claim to fame had been taken away from him. Cabrera was fuming, and he continued to until well after the game, while Joyce was surrounded by the Tigers following the 3-0, one-hit win. 

The inning started with a deep fly out to center, where Austin Jackson took a page out of Willie Mays by making a spectacular basket catch over the shoulder. Mike Redmond then grounded out to short, and it was all but done before Donald was able to reach on the first “hit” of the game. 

The announcers for FSN Detroit were besides themselves, trying to contain their anger for Joyce. Tigers manager Jim Leyland had to do the same, as he was clearly upset following the play. 

This will no doubt be considered a historic play, however, its potential repercussions could be immediate.

This story will possibly be more talked about considering the controversy around it.

This is going to obviously promote the case for the use of instant replay, which has been a controversial topic in recent years. In addition, one has to be interested about the future of 22-year umpiring veteran Joyce. Will he be able to show his face on a field again?

He single-handedly ruined this perfect game. 

Just to note, it would have been the third perfect game this month, but just the 21st in the history of the game. 

Sorry Armando, it may not be official, but you deserve it.

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