Running MLB Thread, Part the Fourth, 2007

Obviously, the Red Sox are having a hell of a year, too.

But the Mets are looking good, and there's something to be said for a team that thinks they should have had it last year and is out to prove something...

 

It's starting to look a lot like 2006 at Shea

and a lot like the mid-80s in the Bronx...HAHAHAHAHA!

 

I think it'd be awesome to see Julio Franco play in a World Series as a senior citizen.
That near-single he had tonight had to be up there in the old guy hall-of-fame.
Solid hit by a 45-year-old pinch hitter to a 40-year-old shortstop in Vizquel who made a great play on it.
It seems Franco still puts it in play whenever he's up.

 

Damn.
I thought he was younger

 

Huh...
Proper Name: Julio Cesar Franco. Born: August 23, 1958.
I was born the year he broke in with the Phillies. Makes me feel like a little kid!

 

This team is every bit as good...if Delgado keeps hitting.

 

I never felt more sure about a home run coming up in my life. The minute Benitez balked home Reyes they should have just given the Mets the extra run.

As much pain as Benitez caused me, I can't hate that guy. I feel for a guy who absolutely no mental makeup. The fans just knew they could get to him, they knew that he would choke if they put the pressure on him. I hope he doesn't take baseball too seriously because he's a Donnie Moore case waiting to happen if he does.

 

I'm not quite ready to declare it the Mets' year yet, but I do think they may be about to blow the NL East open once again. The Braves are fading and Smoltz hurt his shoulder tonight. The Phillies, meanwhile, remain the Phillies. If I'm Willie Randolph, I'm thinking about my rotation for the playoffs. A freshly rebuilt Pedro, Glavine, Maine and Perez, with El Duque in long relief? I'd roll with that.

 

Other than the Paul O'Neill bomb off of Mel Rojas, I have never been as sure about a game-winning homer as I was tonight.

Why?

Years of watching Benitez "close" for the Mets. You sort of develop a sixth sense about when things are going to go badly for him.

He's a serviceable closer on middling MLB teams. Put him in a pressure situation against a good team and he fails.

 

Watching Benitez tonight was like watching a porn star who couldn't get it up.

Just fucking painful.

 

Rick Ankiel has 11 HRs in 149 at-bats in AAA.

What a hell of a story he could still end up being.

 

I would love to see this happen. He's a great, great kid. Really hope he makes it back.