Since Wednesday night's game was rained out and rescheduled for tomorrow night, I am relying on Brooklyn Pete and the WFAN Radio team to follow the game.

Enroute to the game, BP reported seeing actor Matthew Broderick of the classic "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and "The Producers" fame on the LIRR.

On a nice autumn night, the Tank is a little jealous that he can't see Darryl Strawberry throw out the first pitch who was scheduled to do so last night. On a more important note, BP has yet to give me the phone number of his cute lady friend at Fox Sports. No, it's not Jeanne Zelasko but someone local and single. Come on bro, be a teammate and friend, I can hook you up with primo tickets if it works out!

Cliff Floyd unfortunately goes down injured early in the game.

Very little offense to report as Tom Glavine pitched seven great shutout innings on 89 pitches, touch wood.  Neither David Eckstein nor King Albert Pujols got hits.

However, the Tank got the sign he needed when he radio cut out just before the Mets went to bat in the bottom of the sixth. Like my restroom superstition, the radio going on the fritz is a good sign.  I decided it was time to go to the restroom, load extra tapes in the L80 even if they weren't being prompted for, etc. to maximize time before coming back to my desk. Sure enough, when I returned to my desk, the Mets thankfully scored the only runs they needed on Beltran's two-run home run.  The other baserunner was after Jeff Weaver thankfully reverted to his form with the Yankees and Paul Lo Duca got on with a key two out single.

Though Scott Rolen walked in the top of the ninth, Glavine gets the win and Billy Wagner gets the save.

Posted by The Tank with an assist from Brooklyn Pete live at Shea.

While the Tank was receiving physical therapy on 71st Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues, a plane piloted by Yankee pitcher Cory Lidle crashed into a high-rise building a few avenues away at 72nd and York Avenue in Manhattan. The Tank is thankfully okay and extends his condolences to the Lidle family, especially his widow and son, as well as the passenger (reportedly a flight instructor as required by his Yankee contract) and anyone else in the building injured in this tragic accident. Steve is thankfully okay in Bulgaria on a business trip. On a less important note, tonight's Mets-Cardinals game was rained out. Posted by The Tank in NY. Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

The As have the better pitching staff and clutch hitting but the Tigers have the momentum, good pitchers coming off great performances, Pudge Rodriguez, and manager extraordinaire Jim Leyland.  However, can the Gambler Kenny Rogers have a second great start in a row?  I don't think it will be his career playoff 8.85 ERA prior to last Friday's start but not a shutout.

Tough call but the As win it in six games because the home field advantage. 

 

The Mets against the Cardinals isn't easy to pick either.  After their near collapse at the end of the regular season, the Cardinals convincingly beat the Padres with good pitching and key hitting.  Albert Pujols showed why he is the defending NL MVP in the NLDS.  I predict the Mets win in six games because of the home field advantage and the fact that the Padres did the Mets a huge favor by forcing the Cardinals to pitch defending Cy Young Award Winner Chris Carpenter in Game 4 of the NLDS.  Thererfore, Carpenter is scheduled to pitch Games 3 and 7 of the NLCS.  If the Cardinals are down 3-2, they might pitch Carpenter in Game 6 but that is an eternity away from now.

Like Kenny Rogers, Jeff Weaver had a great start in the NLDS.  Is he capable of it again?  However, it isn't likely against the Mets bats and scouting.  The Mets have to take Game 1 which the Tank is scheduled to attend, touch wood.

The keys for the Mets are to avoid pitching to Pujols which the Padres and other teams didn't learn from.  Either walk him (intentionally or pitches way out of the zone) and make the other guys beat you.

The Cardinals learned from the Mets mistake of pitching Braden Looper as their closer.  Adam Wainwright is a huge upgrade from Looper.  What a breaking ball! 

The Mets win in six and go onto the World Series, God Willing.

Go Mets! / Yankees!

Posted by The Tank in NY.

While getting ready for Sunday's 18 mile NYC Marathon Tune-up, the Tank woke up early and felt empty.  Not so much from the fact that I haven't eaten in 12 hours, but disappointed that the Yankees did not join their cross-town brethren the Mets in advancing to the League Championship Series.  Therefore, this is Subway Series closure denied.

I often feel that I live in an alternate reality and I thought I had seen it all until I saw a man much bigger than the Tank knitting on the D Train.  Yes, knitting.  I thought I had seen it all but this takes the cake.

Did the Yankees lose?  Did the Mets win?  It is way too early to start writing this.

Onto the issues at hand, perma-guest Jack nor Steve thankfully did NOT take their lives this week.

Congratulations to the Mets!  See you Wednesday night at Shea for Game 1 of the NLCS.

As for the Yankees, the result was disappointing especially after fighting back through the Matsui and Sheffield injuries.  There are many questions for hot stove season and they need to be answered in short order.
                                        
1. A-Rod: Steve and I have had limited success in channeling the spirit of Tony Robbins to help him through his issues.  Let's face it, A-Rod is not meant for post-season in Pinstripes -- only for fantasy stats during the regular season.  If he is open to a trade (especially to the Marlins where he lives in the off-season), please God trade him for an ace like Dontrelle Willis.  If the Marlins don't work out, consider doing it for some prospects with the Angels because we're not going to get Jered Weaver.  His mom is reportedly ill in California so it could help him out.  Speaking of moms, Linda's Mom didn't take my generous offer of A-Rod and the entire Build-A-Bear Company for David Wright during the summer.  Since Christmas is coming up, I would be willing to trade A-Rod for Build-A-Bears for my four Goddaughters.
                       
2. Mussina: Re-sign him but for much less than $19-20 million.  Probably for $5-10 million plus incentives.  Moose needs to also get away from the snide comments during the season because he couldn't hold the 3-1 lead in Game 2 against the Tigers.
                
3. Front-line pitcher: Use Mussina's $10-15 million in savings to get in the Barry Zito Sweepstakes.  Granted, he isn't the same Barry Zito as a few years ago but better than we have right now, except for Wang.  The Yankees are going to have stiff competition from the Mets and other teams.

4. Give Youth a chance: Rasner and Karstens pitched good.  Give them a chance in Spring Training and hopefully beyond.  Please sign Bruney as a potential successor to Mariano because Farnsworth isn't living up to
his potential.

5. Sheffield: Tough call to re-sign him because of his bat and grittiness.  Only about nine or ten games at first base is not enough of a sample plus Giambi is signed through 2008.  If A-Rod is gone, consider moving Sheffield to third which he played years ago.  He definitely has the arm.  A radical idea but the Tank is known for his out of the box ideas. 

6. Melky Cabrera: Melky is the key to a healthy clubhouse in 2007 and beyond.  He and Cano are fun to watch and give the team much needed energy.  How do we deal with Matsui who only has one year left?  Maybe
platoon, DH, and rest when needed with the understanding that LF is his once Matsui's contract is up. 
                                            
Time to literally run the 18 Mile NYC Marathon Training Run.  More later.
                 
7. Joe Torre: He is like a father figure to many but it maybe time to bring in Lou Pinella.  Mr. Steinbrenner doesn't have much more time left, Lou Pinella is going to shake any complacency and get George one more ring, God Willing.

8. Bernie: Not sure if he'll retire and wouldn't blame him if he did.  Would love to see him play a leadership role like he did this year.  Worst case scenario, a coach at the Stadium or somewhere within the family.

9. Posada: Pena did a great job working on his throwing.  However, Jason Varitek with the Red Sox shows how quickly a catcher can decline and the team with it.  Start grooming a successor now.
                    
10. Mariano Rivera: Despite religious objections, start the top secret cloning project in Area 51 ASAP, God Forgive me.  (OK, I have been working with rogue scientists on a clone of Heather Locklear, especially
from her "Melrose Place" days.)
                                                          
Bonus (I have to look out for myself every now and then): If Carl Pavano doesn't ever pitch for the Yankees, take the insurance money and get the phone number (for the Tank) of the local beauty queen, Gia Allemand, who he allegedly was in a Florida accident with.  Heck, with all my real injuries (hamstring, pernial tendonitis, knee, IT Band, etc) and Gia's good looks, I would be legitimately "rehabbing" for years if not decades to come.    

Feel free to comment on the pages of SteveAndTheTank.com.  We're there for all suicidal candidates from whatever team in whichever sport you root for.  Please stay away from the ledge.  Thank you!

Go Mets! / Yankees!

Posted by The Tank in NY.

My flight took off last night with the Mets down by a run in the 5^th inning. Eight stressful hours to Milan and the moment the flight landed I checked my phone for word from Los Angles. The Tank, Michelle, and the mystery vendor all SMSed me the good news, the Mets have advanced to the 2006 National League Champion Series. Wow. It is huge that the Mets won via the 3-game sweep because they can rest the pitching.

 

As it stands now, the Mets do not know who they will play at Shea on Wednesday when they open the NLCS. The St. Louis Cardinals can advance tonight with a victory over Iron Mike Piazza and the San Diego Padres. Even thought the Padres have better pitching, every Mets fan is pulling for the Padres for a few reasons:

• Mike Piazza will return to Shea!
• The Padres have the worst home record of any winning team in baseball.
• Even though they would have had to win 3 in a row to get to the NLCS and have momentum, they will be worn down by the difficult 5 game series. Think about the Mets wearing down the Braves in the 1999 NLCS and the Yankees steamrolling the Braves in the 1999 World Series. (No need to thank us Yankee fans, we were rooting for you, we hate the Braves and John Rocker!)
• The Padres don’t have Albert Pujols

 

Go Mets!

 

Too bad the Yankees did not advance, I really wanted a Subway Series. The Tank and I talked Jack off the ledge. With all the injuries the Yanks had this season, the fact that they won the division and made the playoffs is cause to be happy. Remember making the playoffs, even if there is an early exit, is a good thing. And the Yanks have made the playoffs 11 years in a row. It was not A-Rods fault! The Tank will do a post today on the Yanks season.

 

Posted by Steve in Milan, Italy, in route to Sofia, Bulgaria.

 

The NY Post Says it all:

 

It was an historic night for older pitchers as the Yankees sent 43 year old Randy Johnson out to the mound against 41 year old Kenny Rogers.  The Gambler the baseball ball, not the great country singer also named Kenny Rogers, unexpectedly pitched 7.2 shutout innings against the Yankees and the Tigers won 6-0.  Of course, pitchers like him and Jeff Weaver never ever pitched that way for the Yankees, only for other teams.

Anyway, I am keeping the faith and going to say extra prayers and eat extra vitamins tonight.  Go Yankees!

Good luck to the Mets closing out the Dodgers.

Time stops for no one and here goes the Tank's fearless Football picks:

Don't worry Kara (big Gators fan at work), #5 Florida beats #9 LSU.

#7 Texas beats #14 Oklahoma.  (Not to self, one of the Tank's goals is to see the "Red River Rivalry" one of these years.) 

#16 California beats #11 Oregon.

Bills lose to the Bears.

Jets lose a close game at Jacksonville.

The Giants bounce back in a must win game against the Redskins.  They have two weeks to stew over Jeremy Shokey's comments and have hopefully for their sake learned that the game starts in the first quarter, NOT the fourth. 

For the game of the year (so far), the T.O. Bowl in Philly.  While everyone is focusing on T.O. (who'll come up with some good catches and about 70-90+ yards receiving), the main key is going to be how the banged up Eagles secondary contains Terry Glenn who is actually the better receiver.  Yes, T.O. is the better athlete but Glenn is the better receiver. 

 

Most importantly, Rest In Peace, Mr. Buck O'Neil.  Let's hope you finally get into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

 

Posted by The Tank in NY.

 

Calling all Dodgers and Tigers Fans!
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How often do you see the following?

The Yankees leave 18 runners on base and lose 4-3 to leave the Stadium with a split against the Tigers.

Jeff Weaver pitches five shutout innings in the Cardinals 2-0 victory at the San Diego Padres.  (Yeah, that freakin' Jeff Weaver who couldn't pitch to save his life with the Yankees while his kid brother Jered pitched lights out for the Angels this season.)

Kenny Lofton waiting for the Dodgers bus to move in center field so he could strike out and not use the bright lights as an excuse for his out strikeouts.

Answer to all of the above: Not often.

Speaking of non-answers, Brooklyn Pete unfortunately didn't file a report as I had hoped.  His fingers were probably numb while sitting in Section 35 near Heaven at Shea.  I don't know if perma-guest Jack had a chance to go to the makeup of Wednesday's rained out game at Yankee Stadium.

Anyway, the Mets take a 2-0 lead over the Dodgers on a night where living legend Ralph Kiner threw out the first pitch at Shea and Tom Glavine turned back the clock with six shutout innings. 

11 victories (6 for the Yankees and 5 for the Mets) closer to my much needed Subway Series closure.

Go Yankees! / Mets! / Twins! (to wear out the As pitchers) / Padres! (so I don't have to talk San Diego Rich off the ledge)!

Posted by The Tank in NY!

Steve and I go through our good luck ritual in meeting at Union Square. A good luck wheat grass shot starts us off on a healthy note. Being contrarians, we take the N at Union Square instead of the 4/5/6 to Grand Central and then transfer to the 7. Unfortunately, we wait a while for the N and I talk Steve out of jumping onto the tracks.

Steve and I took a brief walk down memory lane meeting from last February at Table 1 in Antarctica to today, Game 1 of the NLDS.

Today is about exorcising demons and Steve and I have many, especially when it comes to the Dodgers. The Tank is still emotionally scarred by the 1981 World Series loss to the Dodgers after being up two games to none. Steve is still scarred by the 1988 NLCS. Steve brings along a ticket from a 1981 game against the Dodgers.

After transferring to the R in Queens, the butterlies start growing. Steve has a headache and about to hurl where we entered at Gate B.

After a long wait on line in the 80 plus degree heat, we got to our seats just in time, touch wood.

John "Remember the Maine" works a perfect first after Reyes makes a great catch to start the game.

Beltran works out a two out walk. Delgado singles to center to advance Beltran to third. DW grounds out to second to unfortunately end the first.

Kent singles to center to end the perfect game. J.D. Drew hits a dribbler toward third to advance Kent to second and to get an infield single.

Russell Martin doubles to right field but Kent and Drew are tagged out at home by Lo Duca on a great throw by Shawn Green (as the Tank predicted as we were walking in). I have never seen anything like this. Anderson doubles down third to score Martin. Darn it! Intentional walk to Betemit.

The Tank really has to go to the Men's Room plus to give the Mets good luck, touch wood. It unfortunately doesn't work.

Carlos Delgado hits a "Mike Piazzaesque home run" (after September 11 per Steve) to the top of the TV camera stand with one out in the fourth. Floyd follows with a bomb to right field near the HIP sign. Mets take a 2-1 lead. Green swings at ball four on a 3-1 count and then strikes out to end the inning.

Betemit singles to open the fifth. D-Lowe sacrifice bunts him to first. With Maine coming up second in the next inning, Bradford and Feliciano are warming up in the bullpen. Furcal works a full count and walks. Feliciano comes in to relieve Maine who throws 80 pitches and to pitch to Kenny Lofton. Steve and I are skeptical because Lofton struckout twice against Maine. "Remember the Maine!" Willie and you should have kept him in the game. Lofton thankfully strikes out against Feliciano. Willie brings in Bradford to pitch to Nomar. Steve asks who is going to pitch the sixth and seventh. Nomar grounds out to Reyes who throws to Valentin at second to end the fifth.

Taking after the Tank, Steve goes to the Men's Room to hopefully inspire the Mets to score more runs. No Mrs. Wright Shirt for Kathleen is found either.

Valentin grounds out on the first pitch to Nomar. D-Lowe is only at 68 pitches. "Increase the pitch count, increase the peace" is one of the Tank's trademarks phrases. Michael Tucker pinch hits for Bradford and works a full count. Reyes strikes out.

Mota gets Kent to ground out to open the sixth. Drew struck out. Mota strikes out Martin to end the sixth.

Lo Duca leads off to open the top of the sixth. A man to our left says to hit it "like a 19 year old" and Lo Duca singles to left. (Steve nor the Tank condone violence against women but are happy with the hit.). Delgado singles to right and Lo Duca advances to third. "Brass Monkey" blares out while the pitching coach comes out to the mound to stall while the bullpen starts to warm. DW comes up and doubles to right on D-Lowe's 90th pitch while LoDuca and Delgado score to increase the Mets lead to 4-1. DW advances to third on the throw home. After Floyd is intentionally walked, D-Lowe is pulled for Hendrickson with one out and runners on first and third to the tune of Queens' classic "Another One Bites the Dust". Ace Frehey's "New York Groove" comes on while Pedro is acknowledged by the crowd. Shawn Green strikes out. Jose Valentin is HBP and the bases are now loaded with Mota coming to bat. Mota flies out to right.

Anderson bunts in between second and first to beat out the throw. Betemit hits to Valentin in the hole. Valentin throws to Reyes who gets his legs cut out by Anderson. Anderson advances to third and Betemit is safe at first. Julio Lugo pinch hits. On 0-2, Mota throws a "bounce pass" to Lo Duca according to the "witty" man on our left. Lugo is out looking. Furcal singles in a run to make it 4-2. Steve hopes Lofton strikes out again but he flies out to right. Nomar is up with two outs. Nomar doubles on a 1-2 count to left to tie the game at 4. Darn it! It takes the air out of the sails of the crowd. Kent strikes out to end the inning.

Michael Almonte sings "God Bless America" during the Seventh Inning Stretch.

The Tank takes a restroom break to inspire the Mets. Penne inexplicably starts the inning. Reyes walks, Lo Duca flies out, Reyes steals second. Beltran walks. Delgado singles Reyes home and Beltran to third. David Wright doubles to right to score Beltran. Floyd strikes out. Delgado grounds out to first. Mets 6 - Dodgers 4.

Heilman gets one, two, three in the top of the eighth.

The Tank leads the crowd in Neil Diamond's classic "Sweet Caroline" which is also the XM Satellite Radio Eighth Inning song. Steve says it is also his sister's song.

Reyes singles with two outs. Lo Duca singles on a 3-1 count to advance Reyes to third. Beltran fouls off several pitches and works a walk to load the bases. Carlos Delgado is 4 for 4 coming into the AB. Steve hopes he goes 5-5 like Jeter last night. No shift, whoa! Delgado stikes out on 2-2. Darn it!

The young couple in between me and the "witty man" leaves their seats but the Tank ensures they don't leave Shea to give the Mets bad luck.

Metallica's "Enter Sandman" comes on as the Mets closer Billy Wagner warms up.

Wilson Betemit should have been out on strikes but doubles to right. Saenz flies out to center but Wright couldn't handle Beltran's throw to tag Betemit who tagged from second. Furcal strikes out. Steve and I flash the two out with our fingers to the crowd. Steve doesn't want to face Nomar either so we hope Wagner gets Ramon Martinez out. Martinez doubles to right-center. Darn it. The Dodgers pinch run for Martinez. Nomar gets two strikes and the crowd erupts. Nomar fouls off a pitch. A high pitch and a low pitch take it to 2-2. Nomar strikes out and the Mets "Take Care of Business" 6-5.

Steve gets partial Dodger closure as the Tank gets foul ball closure.

From exiting our seats to entering the train station, we held our new sign titled

"Reyes 4 UN
"Secretary General
"SteveandtheTank.com"

to the roar and approval of our fellow Mets fans. Winning games and solving world issues is what Steve and The Tank are all about.

Posted by Steve and the Tank live from Game 1 of the NLDS at Shea.