A Bunch of Turkeys... And a Fat Old One

The Atlanta Braves, once again the division winners, once again knocked out in the first round of the playoffs. Talk about turkeys. Once again, to the Houston Astros. Once again, Joey Devine serves up a gopher ball. The fat bastard Roger "Anal Rocket" Clemens (now thats a turkey; literally) won the game, pitching 3 scoreless innings in relief of Dan Wheeler (naturally). The infamous broken bat thrower of Mike Piazza and bean ball thrower to the head to Mike Piazza pitched his first relief appearance since his rookie year in 1984 with the Boston Red Sox. Seems that the Astros made it further than the Padres who had a worse record, the Braves (now we all know that don't we?), the Red Sox with 95 wins, and possibly the Skankees of the Bronx. Chris Burke, probably the last consideration for a walk-off home run in the Astros' most important game of the year, did it. Mets fans remember this man also. Chris Burke hit a home run against Pedro Martinez on June 7 of this year, to break up a no-hit bid by Pedro, and the juggernaut hit his first career homer against him. As I am happy the Astros beat the Braves, I don't like them much either. It seemed that when the Mets lost the next 2 to the Astros in that very series, they just awoke from the doldrums to once again take out the Bravos in the 2005 NLDS. And remember when the Mets played the Oakland Athletics on June 14, the A's were doing horrible. They were 25-37 before the game, and wouldn't you know it, after that series, they just turned it on, finishing with an 88-74 record.

We look back on the lone World Series the Braves won during the 14 division titles in a row. Only 144 games were played that year, and in the World Series, the Braves (90-54) faced off against the Indians (100-44). In the final game of the series, the Braves won 1-0, on the back of Tom Glavine's greatest performance of his career. 8 innings, 1 hit, and the World Series MVP.

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I'm not sure which playoff game I was watching, but the only active player to play the most games without a playoff appearance, is of course someone on the Mets. And that man is the only other 10-5 player on the Mets (well after the World Series... close enough)... and that is Stephen Christopher Trachsel of Oxnard, CA, one of the most reliable Mets starters of years past, but on some pretty bad teams. Sorry Steve... if you stick around this year, I think that streak will end in about a year.

Goodbye Mike!

With Mike Piazza basically out the door, I for one, would love to see him stay and retire a Met. A Mike Piazza/ Ramon Castro platoon again wouldn't cross my mind. Piazza and Castro hit 27 HR's and drove in 103 RBI from this spot, hitting at a clip of .248/.324/.444. Not bad, but not great.

Even though many Mets fans, including myself, know that he's leaving, think about how much he has done for this franchise. Hitting homeruns that counted in years past... think back to June 30, 2000... ring a bell? Well Piazza did and smacked a homerun that capped one of the best comebacks in a game in Mets history, against the always despised Bravos. Now think September 11, 2001. We all know what happened then. Every human being in the country felt shockwaves from this disaster. But on September 21, 2001, the Mets were still in a pennant race. One of the best known and memorable homeruns in Mets history happened at the first baseball game played in Queens, and for that, New York since the tragedy. In the eighth inning as the Mets were losing 2-1, Steve Karsay planted one where Piazza could crush it... and did. Piazza struck with a huge shot hitting the camera tower in center field, sending 41,275 fans screaming at the top of their lungs, as Mike delivered a fresh pizza, one that Mets fans will remember for their lifetime.

Piazza, the best hitting catcher in major league history, is Cooperstown-bound, with many Mets fans to be there when he is elected in as a New York Met. There will be plenty to support him when his number is unveiled in left field, next to Tom Seaver, Casey Stengel, and Gil Hodges, as Piazza will be one of the greatest players to ever don a New York Mets uniform, and he should be darn proud of it.