Four games in as many days in Philadelphia was make or break for the Mets season. The Mets entered Philly on our nations's birthday for an important 4 game set with the first place Phillies. The Mets were 1 game under .500 and 4.5 games out of first.

Game 1.

The series did not start well. Mets ace Johan Santana pitched a great game, allowing only 2 earned runs over 8 innings. The Mets in their typical fashion did not support Santana and he was in line for a no-decision when Sanchez blew the game in the bottom of the 9th. The Mets lost, fell 2 under .500 and a 5.5 games out of first. Since the Phillies had Happ pitching against ace Santana, it was a game the Mets had to win and they didn't. All hope seemed lost and it looked like the Phillies would take a split or even the series 3-1. Mets fans were not happy and were questioning manager Jerry Manuel's decision not to leave Johan in the bottom of the 9th. (Remember it was pouring rain and tied, Manuel made the right call. If he left Santana in and Santana gave up a run, the media would be saying "Why the hell did Jerry leave Santana in?"

Game 2.

Ken, Helen, Kathleen, and Steve arrive at Citizens Bank Park the top of the 2nd inning with the Mets up 1-0. (Kathleen needed Starbucks, some things come before baseball for other people.)

Our tickets were in the nosebleeds and even there it was a great view of the stadium and the game. This is a great park, the nicest park I have visited so far (which includes of active parks: Shea, Yankee, Fenway,  Camden Yards, Skydome, Safeco Field, Angels Stadium, and Dodger Stadium.) The ticker takers give me a dirty look since I am wearing my "Vamos Mets" tee shirt. They referred to Citi Field as "Copy Cat Stadium."

I saw the Mets play at other stadiums and the fans were not nearly as hostile. Jose Reyes strikes out and they shout "site down you $$$-hole!."

John Maine pitches well through 5 innings but his only hit is a 3 run home run to Ryan Howard and the score is tied up 3-3. In the bottom of the 5th John Maine felt a problem with his non throwing arm and was taken out of the game with 2 strikes and 2 outs on Ryan Howard. The fans were screaming "Bring in Home Run Heilman!!" I just sat and watched and prayed. Heilman pitched exactly one pitch and struck out Howard. Game still tied 3-3.

The Phillies tag the Mets bullpen for a run in the bottom of the 7th and it does not look good. I am thinking about 6.5 games out. But I spy the Phillie Fanatic down on the field boxes and take his photo, that cheers me up somewhat, while I hate the Phillies, I love the Fanatic!

The top of the 8th, Brian Schneider has a pinch hit double to drive in two runs and the Mets tack on one more to make it 6-4. While no lead is ever safe at Citizens Bank Park,  I feel confident enough with Sanchez in the bottom of the 8th to leave my seat for the first time and hit the men's room.

In the top of the 9th the Mets rallied for 3 more runs. I felt better. The obnoxious Philly fans started to leave. Then they bring out the rain delay tarps! There was almost no rain! We decided to leave and watch the bottom of the 9th from a local bar. Mets win and are now back to where they started when they woke up on July 4th.

Game 3.

This was a game the Mets needed to win. You need to follow-up a nice come backer from the night before with a win. It looked that way after the ever consistent Oliver Perez tossed 7 scoreless innings and the Mets headed into the bottom of the 9th with a 2-0 lead. Billy Wagner gives up a 2 run home run and you can only expect the worst. Luckily the Mets win in the top of the 14th. 3.5 games out.

 

Game 4.

The Phillies are eager to take the rubber game and undo the damage of the last two games. The Mets had to win again, they had to follow up with a win after the dramatics of the night before. The Mets take an early 10-1 lead and I turn the game off to watch some Tour de France. I flip back at one point and it is 10-5, still no big deal, then 10-7, then Billy Wagner makes it 10-9 with 2 outs and runners in scoring position. Luckily the Mets hold on and are now 1 game over .500 and only 2.5 games out.

The Mets may have been sloppy, but they did eak out 3 games against the Phillies. A little luck on Friday and it would have been a 4 game sweep. The Mets are now 7-3 in 2008 against the Phillies so there can be no talk about the Phillies in the Mets head anymore.

That said, the Mets need to follow up this series with a major run into the All-Star break. Six home games against teams that are under .500 should be a 5-1 run leading into the break. If the Mets fail to do that, the season is over. If the Mets do go 5-1 or better, they should be headed into the second half a game or so out and right on the Phillies tail. It will be hard for the Phillies to hold on the NL East, they don't have the pitching to do so, they are an offensive club. But if the Mets don't show up, the Phillies will walk away with the East. The situation has changed for both teams, we will see how they both respond.

Posted by Steve in Citizens Bank Park

Each Yankee-Red Sox game takes a life of its own.

Thursday night's game wasn't much of one as the Yankees didn't show up.  Lester pitched a five hitter and the Red Sox won 6-0.

Joe Girardi held a 32 minute closed door meeting after the game.  Joel Sherman asked him about it but Joe wasn't talking about it.  Little need to as the Yankees haven't been playing up to snuff.

The Yankees came out swinging on Friday and took a 3-0 lead.  But, Johnny Damon hurt his shoulder when trying to catch a ball.  The Red Sox went on to win the game 6-4.  Johnny ended up going on the DL for the first time in his career on Sunday.

Saturday was a cardiologist special.  Moose pitched six great shutout innings.  The bullpen did its job and preserved a 2-0 lead into the ninth.  Mariano uncharactericalistically gave up a run and then loaded the bases.  He struck out the final batter before I almost had a coronary as the Yankees held on for a 2-1 victory.

A-Rod had a second inning solo shot against knuckle ball pitcher Tim Wakefield.  Joba pitched six innings.  The game went to extra innings.  Youth will be served.  Gardner hit a single up the middle as Cabrera sprinted in from second for the 5-4 victory in 10 innings against Papelbon. 

Keep the Faith!

Posted by The Tank on the Yankee Rollercoaster.

Today's men's Wimbledon final was something I have never seen before. After being delayed by rain, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer squared off in the finals, a rematch from the French Open finals (Nadal won) and a rematch of the last two Wimbledon finals (Federer won both, and 5 in a row.)

Federer is a machine and has won 40 matches in a row at the All England Club as well as an unbelievable 65 in a row on grass. Going into the finals Federer had not dropped a set this tournment, so he was expected to cruse to his 6th Wimbledon in a row.

But Nadal took an early lead winning the first two sets 6-4 and 6-4. Up by a few games in the 3rd set, the sky opened and there was an hour and a half rain delay. (This is when the Tank called me about the need for retractable roofs, next year Centre Court will have one.)

After the rain delay, facing 1 game from elimination, Federer fought back. He forced a tie-breaker in the 3rd and won that, then fought back again, facing two championship points in the fourth and forced yet another tie-breaker, which he also won. Now it was down to a fifth and decisive final set and Federer was on a roll.

But Nadal would never say die and fought back. Neither side broke each other in hours. Night was coming and there are no lights on Centre Court. When the match looked all tied up, rain fell again.

After the delay, the match continued and was tied up. No tie-breakers in the last match. At the 4:16 mark, the match surpassed Conners-McEnroe in 1982 in longest final every played (not counting the rain). Nadal finally broke Federer after about 4:30 of play and went up 7-6 in the last set to serve for the victory. It was only the 4th break of the match for Nadal (Federer only broke Nadal once). It was almost completely dark, about 9:15pm in London, a Wimbledon match never went this late. With the match about to be called for darkness and with two more match points served up, Nadal finally won the match, becoming the first person to win both Wimbledon and the French Open in the same year since Bjorn Borg did it in 1980 (who was there to congratulate Nadal.)

Forget Conners-McEnroe, this is the most exciting match I have ever watched.

Congratulations to Rafael Nadal!

Posted by Steve, in awe.

I watched the Williams Sisters play the Wimbledon Ladies Final on this morning.

Venus won the first set 7-5.  Venus led 5-4 in the second set.  Serena made several un forced errors.

Down to championship point, Serena served past Venus to make it 30-40.  Big Sister Venus won the second set 6-4 and her fifth Wimbledon Championship.  It was her first in three tries against her Kid Sister Serena at Wimbledon.

Their father Richard was so conflicted that he went home.  He couldn't handle seeing the final result.  Their mother and siblings watched from the stands.

Even though she won, Venus stays at #7 in the world but Serena moves up to #5 in the world.  It's good to see the Williams Sisters healthy and fit.  It should be a wide open US Open starting next month in Flushing.  The Williams Sisters, Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic, or other players could win the next grand slam.

Congratulations to Zimonjic and Nestor for winning the Gentlemen's Doubles Final.  Nestor deserves extra recogntion because he completed the grand slam in his final year as a professional.

Prediction: I think Federer will barely beat Nadal in a classic tomorrow.  If he does, the top three players in the world (Djokovic, Federer, and Nadal) will have one grand slam each going into the U.S. Open.  Buckle up! 

Posted by The Tank in Tennis Land.

I don't think the Founding Fathers had a celebration of mindless gluttony in mind when they declared their independence from England.  But 232 years later, it wouldn't be Independence Day if it weren't Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest from Coney Island, Brooklyn. 

The introduction of the participants and their nicknames is more entertaining than the contest itself.  The participants are from across America and world and from different walks of life.  Opie & Anthony's producer, a fashion model in love with himself, a masked Cubs fan (take off the mask bro, the Cubs are in first place), the first Faith Based Eater, the Black Widow, former champion Kobayashi, and the defending champion Joey Chestnut.

I like to eat but these people are ridiculous.   I had no idea that there was a matzoh ball eating champion. Who know?

Onto the contest itself.  This year's contest is 10 minutes long instead of last year's 10 minutes.  Chestnut led from the get go but Kobayashi was in second.  Kobayashi closed to within one with five minutes left.  He ties with 40 hot dogs with about four minutes left. 

Kobayashi took the lead with about 2:29 left.  Chestnut tied.  They are neck and neck.  Kobayashi goes ahead by two with 1:30 remaining.  Under a minute and down the stretch they go.  Can Chestnut come back?  They are tied at 59.  They shoved the final hotdogs down their throats. 

Who won? A photo finish.  They tie. 

A dog off.  Whoa!  Who can eat five hot dogs first?  Joey Chestnut wins!  Joey Chestnut defends his title.  The world's most extreme eating chamionship remains in America.  Something to be proud of I guess. 

Posted by a bewildered Tank in NY.

Last year after the All-Star break, the Mets stunk. Starting pitching broke down and did not go deep and the bullpen got tired, and blew countless games. If only one of those games were not blown, well, the Mets would have been in the playoffs. A dark time indeed.

One bright spot in the second half of last year was Orlando "el Duque" Hernandez. He pitched very well after the All-Star break and was the one consistent starting pitcher. He had the best ERA during the September collapse, so you can't  blame him.

The problem with el Duque is that he breaks down. He is 100 years old and only good for about 125-150 innings or so (though he did have 150 last year.) Steve and the Tank suggested swapping Heliman and him in starting/bullpen roles. el Duque would be middle and long relief. This would reduce him to about 75 innings a year and most likely reduce his tendency to break down and go on the DL. Also while in the bullpen, el Duque is a huge competitor and will thrive in the high pressure environment.

A perfect plan, except that this spring el Dueque balked at it this spring. That was the bad news. The worse news is that he began a rehab assignment on April 3rd and the Mets shut him down on April 8th, pretty much indefinitely due to his right foot surgery on October. Apparently as of a few weeks ago he is throwing off a mound again in Florida, but there is no timetable for his return. My guess is that at his age, he will miss the entire season.

When will he be back? It would be nice to know.

 

Posted by Steve in New York

A-Rod, always full of drama said that he will skip the home run derby at Yankee Stadium before the all star game in two weeks. (Which both Steve and the Tank will attend, along with guests Jack and Kathleen.)

He said that it was because of his swing, he did not want the derby to affect his swing after the break, however, maybe it is due to his rumored romance with Madonna? Just speculating, but sometimes speculation can be fun.

Posted by Steve in New York

On field temper tantrums is something that happens in little league, not the major leagues. Just over a year ago, Jose Reyes was the most exciting player in the Major Leagues. Now he is an A-Rod style basket case, lazy, makes a lot of errors, and throws temper tantrums. At this rate he will be lucky if he even makes the all-star team.

Jerry should bench him. If he does not improve, the Mets should trade him. Yes trade him. Reyes' fortunes seem to be linked to the Mets. When he stopped producing and started producing drama, the Mets were filled with drama.

Posted by Steve in New York

I met up again with the Professor yesterday to watch the Euro 2008 Final pitting Germany versus Spain.

Though Germany was the favorite, I liked Spain because I knew Ballack wasn't 100 percent.  I thought that Casillas is a better goalie than Lehmann.  The Professor disagreed but that's what makes sports and the world go around.

Torres' header went off the post in the 23rd minute.  Whoa!  So close!

Torres silenced the crowd in the 33rd minute.  What a goal past Lahm and Lehmann!  Spain 1 - Germany 0.

Ballack was bloodied in the 36th minute.  It takes a few minutes to patch him.  Ballack and Casillas were yellow carded in the 43rd minute.

Spain led 1-0 at half.

The Spainards tried to get too fancy on a back kick in the 54th minute.

Ballack missed in the 60th minute.

Casillas made a nice save on a cross in the 62nd minute.

Spain had nice chances in the 67th to 69th minutes.

Senna just missed in the 81st minute on a header cross.

Spain continued to attack as the Professor counseled.  They kicked the ball over the goal in the 86th minute.

A yellow on Kuranyi in the 88th minute.  He should have gotten it a few minutes sooner.

Spain wins 1-0.  Congratulations to Spain for winning their first major title in 44 years!  Quite coincidential for a country of 44 million people.

Football condolences to Germany fans such as Ronjon and Kai.

------------

On a light note, the Euro 2008 Program had the "Top 10 excuses for leaving work early" to watch Euro 2008 were awesome. 

(10) The gas company has to read my meter once a year and this was the only time they would come.

(9) I have to pick up my car from the garage, if I don't get there in half an hour it'll be locked up all weekend.

(8) I have to get my contact lenses fitted.

(7) I have a dentist/doctor/hospital appointment.

(6) My kids are locked outside.

(5) I have to take my dog to the vet and they close early today.

(4) My son/daughter is competing in the school sports day.

(3) I have to go to the airport to pick up my mother.

(2) The couch I ordered umpteen weeks ago has arrived and this was the only time they could deliver it.

(1) I need to give blood.


    My personal favorite was Nick's from Aussie Rod's party.  He put "International Roundball Appreciation Meeting" in his office calendar.  Some co-workers were invited to nearby pubs, others were not. 

Posted by The Tank in Football Heaven.  Only two more years to the World Cup.  Woooo!

After a frustrating 3-2 loss yesterday where Johan Santana pitched well and gave up three runs over six innings, Johan called out his team saying that “All I can say is that I am doing my job. Other than that, there’s nothing else I can do. I can’t go out there and do the things that my teammates have to do.”

While Johan has a point (and it is frustrating to see him drop to 7-7 and have one of the best ERAs in the league, he continually loses games 2-1, 3-2), Johan can also be part of the solution and rally his teammates in the clubhouse, on the bench, and in the media.

The Mets have fallen apart and are airing their dirty laundry in the media. Time for the Wilpons to clean house and fire Omar, trade some players and start with a clean slate.

The Yankees and Mets played a two stadium doubleheader yesterday.  The Mets won the first game 15-6 at the Stadium during the day.  The Yankees returned the nine run favor and won 9-0 at Shea in the night cap.  Linda's text claimed that she jinxed the Mets.  I asked her if Sidney Ponson really pitching on the mound  Wow!  Best wishes for a speedy recovery from his personal and baseball issues.

I had tickets to both games but, of course, could not make it because of my high school reunion in beautiful Upstate New York (AKA "Appalachia" according to former Governor Spitzer).  It was great catching up with Ronjon, Oak, Bilbo, and the rest of the class.  Two thirds of our class started kindergarten together in 1975 and graduated high school in 1988.  Wow!  You don't see that too often.

Posted by The Tank on the road "Back to the Future" from beautiful Upstate New York returning to the greatest city in the world, New York.