So Far, Mets Far From Least in the East

You know things are going the Mets' way when a Phillies fan in Citizens Bank Park interferes with Carlos Beltran trying to catch a ball and the call goes against the Phillies. And now the Mets have beaten divisional rivals on the road three out of four.

And you know things are topsy turvy with the Subway Squawkers when Lisa goes out to Yankee Stadium to see "JoSoMo" only to say, "oh no!" when S0 is not even so-so and the Yankees blow the lead and the game.

Look on the bright side, Lisa - at least Rafael Soriano's meltdown should put a rest to that lame nickname for the bullpen.

However, if the nickname sticks, when Pedro Feliciano comes off the DL, the Yankees bullpen should then be known as AMJoSoMo (where A.M. stands for Abused Met).

As for the Mets, it's great to see them doing the abusing for a change. Picked by some to finish last in the NL East, they've beaten the Marlins two of three on the road and have now taken the first game from the Phillies. If anyone had told me that a pitcher would get knocked out in the third inning, I would have assumed it would be Chris Young, a flyball pitcher having to deal with the Phillies' bandbox, not "greatest rotation ever" charter member Cole Hamels.

Hamels probably just had a bad night and the Phillies do have an incredible rotation, but their lineup, already shaky at times last year (like when the Mets shut them out three straight) just isn't the same without Chase Utley and Jayson Werth. Utley was supposed to start jogging later this week, but now that's not happening. Sounds like the Phillies are going to be going through the uncertainty the Mets had last year when Beltran was recovering from knee surgery.

But whomever was in the Phillies' lineup, Met starting pitchers have now given up only two earned runs over their last three starts, totaling 18 1/3 IP. And, after tonight, the Mets now have a better record than the Yankees. Lisa, you need to go to more Yankee games!

Cole Hamels sums up feelings of Met fans

After his loss in Game 3, beleaguered Philly ex-ace Cole Hamels said of the 2009 season, "I can't wait for it to end." (See video here.)

Welcome to the club, Cole! I've done my best to enjoy this series, alternately rooting for and against both teams, but it's just not working out.

Started out on the Yankee side, but Squawker Lisa noticed I was enjoying Cliff Lee's Game 1 performance a little too much.

Rooted for Pedro Martinez in Game 2, but began to have nightmare visions of Pedro being an integral part in a Phillies title.

I've grudgingly come to accept that the Phillies also have claim to Tug McGraw, an integral part of the 1980 champions (though the Philly wordsmiths need to come up with their own catchphrase and not steal Tug's 1973 Mets' "Ya Gotta Believe"). But, unlike Tug in 1969, Pedro does not already have a ring with the Mets. So if he gets one with the Phillies, his three months in Philadelphia take on a lot more weight than his four years with the Mets.

Then in Game 3, Hamels is breezing along until he gives up a walk to Mark Teixeira in the fourth. The walk came on a 3-2 pitch that could have been called either way, and it seemed to rattle Hamels. Reminded me of when John Lackey seemed to lose focus after a similar call gave Jorge Posada a walk in Game 5 of the ALCS. Lackey went on to walk Derek Jeter and Mike Scioscia decided to pull him a batter later.

Then Alex Rodriguez hit what would be ruled a home run. It was great to see instant replay quickly revolving a controversy. Not everyone was happy with the ruling, but it is a lot better than no replay at all. Instant replay's use should be limited, but it is a positive thing.

But just when I could finally take pleasure in the Yankees' success because it was dooming the pitcher who called the Mets "choke artists" and denigrated Tampa Bay as "not being a World-Series type city," A-Rod starts making silly faces and hand gestures, telling the umps that it is a homer before they have made their decision. (After the game, A-Rod would appear to tell different stories on different networks as to whether or not he saw the ball hit the camera.)

But A-Rod did end up coming through while Ryan Howard continue to pile up the strikeouts. This time around, Hamels, the choke's on you.

Now the magic number is two, as in the World Series could end in two games, and Hamels and Met fans can begin looking forward to a "fresh start" next year.

Another reason to root against Cole Hamels

Poor Cole Hamels. Winning the World Series in 2008 and being named MVP was not special enough for him, because he had to pitch in Tampa Bay. Finally, he gets to be in a real Fall Classic:

"It actually feels like a World Series... Tampa Bay had tremendously talented players, but it's not the World Series-type city and flair that you expect in a World Series. I grew up in Atlanta. They were always on TV. That's what you were accustomed to, that's what you thought of when you thought of a World Series.

Unfortunately, Tampa Bay doesn't have that type of attention. They're gonna put up some tremendous statistics and do well. But the attention you get in New York makes it feel like a World Series."

The Phillies are defending World Champions. They have been in the World Series five times in the last 30 years. That's as many as the Braves. In fact, that's as many as any other team besides the Yankees. (The Cardinals also have five World Series appearances.) As much as I hate to say it, Philly players and fans have a right to say, when you think of the World Series, think of us.

Instead, Hamels ends up devaluing his own World Series MVP performance in 2008. After all, Hamels' only win in the series came in Tampa Bay, and we know that those games don't feel like World Series games.

And now that Hamels' road World Series games are finally on a stage big enough for his liking, Phillies' manager Charlie Manuel apparently feels like that stage is too much for Hamels, skipping over last year's MVP for 38-year-old Pedro Martinez, who was viewed as more likely to do well in Yankee Stadium.

Hamels pitched at the new Yankee Stadium in May and did pretty well. In six innings, he allowed two runs on eight hits and no walks while striking out five and got a no-decision. Except for the strikeouts, those numbers are better than the ones Pedro put up Thursday night in Game 2. But when it "felt" like a World Series game," Hamels got passed over.

Hamels has said things that devalue his own accomplishments in the past. Squawker Lisa and other Yankee fans expect me to hate Hamels because he called the Mets "choke artists" last year. But Hamels' statement hurts himself more than Met fans. It only validates our view that the Phillies did not win the division in 2007 and 2008 so much as the Mets lost it.

I don't recall anyone associated with the Mets calling the Red Sox choke artists for letting the 1986 World Series slip away. That would only diminish the never-say-die spirit of the 1986 Mets.

Besides, Hamels is right - the 2007-8 Mets were choke artists. And the only way for the Mets to shed that label will be on the field.

I look forward to seeing the Mets back in the World Series one day, and wherever it is played, I am sure it will feel like a World Series.

On Cole, Cashman, choke artists and crummy uniforms

Squawker Jon, I just listened to WFAN's broadcast of Cole Hamels calling the Mets "choke artists." And I am disappointed that you weren't more "worked up," as you put it, over it. I expected you to destroy a water cooler, or overturn a buffet table or something. Instead, you were all "meh" about what the Phillie said. What's up with that?

Hamel's comments reminded me of the way Red Sox players Curt Schilling, Trot Nixon, et al spent the first few days of spring training after the 2004 World Series bashing A-Rod. And you know how annoyed I was over that! I expected more of the same peckishness from you. But it does say something about the rivalries - in both cases, you'd expect the winning players to be above it all, but they still took potshots at the losers.

Then again, Red Sox fan site Surviving Grady tweaked the Yanks this week, and instead of being outraged, I kind of nodded my head in agreement.

The site featured the latest edition of the "Cashman-Headwarmer Dialogues," called "Haven't We Been Here Before?" where Brian Cashman and his infamous Adidas headband talk it out about each year of the Yanks' free agent signings. Here's a snippet:

2002:

Cashman: Well, it's done.

Headwarmer: Excellent. If I had hands, I'd be rubbing them together, doing a sort of menacing laugh.

Cashman: Indeed. Now that we've signed Jason Giambi, who can stop us?

Oh, and not that I get a vote on these things, but the new Red Sox primary road jerseys are hideous (click here to see what I'm talking about). Newsflash - when your team is called the Red Sox, you might want to have some, well, RED on the uniform!

Come to think of fit, the uniform looks like a poor imitation of the Yankees' road jersey. I guess the Yankees really are in the Sox's heads. Maybe now's the time where I should rub my hands together in glee and do a menacing laugh!

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

Cole in Mets' stockings

I'm having trouble getting worked up over Cole Hamels calling the Mets "choke artists." (Click here to go to WFAN and hear the broadcast.) It doesn't matter what players say in the offseason - it matters what they do during the season. People got excited last year when the normally reserved Carlos Beltran pronounced the Mets the team to beat in 2008. And at the end of the year, it didn't matter.

Last offseason, the talk was that the Phillies had the Mets' number, since the Phillies beat the Mets seven times in a row down the stretch in 2007. In 2008, the Mets beat the Phillies, 11-7, in the season series. And that didn't matter, either.

What really mattered was that the Mets' bullpen threw away the season. ESPN's Jayson Stark offers several startling statistics to make this point, including:

If all games had ended after seven innings, the Mets would have finished six games ahead of the Phillies.

Stark goes on to say:

The Phillies lost no games they led after eight innings. The Mets lost seven of them -- and lost 13 games they led after seven innings.

Thanks to Omar Minaya's moves, the Mets are extremely unlikely to blow 29 saves again. And Brad Lidge is just as unlikely to go the whole season without blowing a save, as he did last year.

On paper at least, the Mets have closed the gap with the Phillies, and maybe that's why Hamels seems to be worrying about the Mets rather than enjoying his own team's success.

The Phillies dominated the postseason, winning 11 games and losing only 3. They won both the World Series and the NLCS by a three-game margin, 4-1. Over the 162-game regular season, they only beat the Mets by that same three-game margin. suggesting that the Mets were the Phillies' toughest opponent of the year.

Shouldn't Hamels believe that the Phillies won because they were the best team, not because the Mets choked? Ultimately, calling the Mets choke artists only demeans the Phillies.

But the only way for the Mets to remove that stigma is to do it on the field.