The Chris Moeller Archives

Choke job

At least the Mets collapsed.

The sting of the Cubs claiming the National League Central Division flag was salved by the epic collapse of one of the most overhyped teams in professional sports, the New York Mets. Blowing a 7 game lead with 17 games left to play was even sweeter because of the embarassing turn taken by Mets shortstop Jose Reyes, that dugout dancin' machine who so charmed FOX cameramen with his hot dog antics throughout last season's NLCS. Reyes didn't run out a ground ball on Saturday, apparently a somewhat common occurrence for him during the regular season, and was booed at Shea Stadium all day Sunday for his trespasses, even before nearly taking a swing at Marlins' catcher Ramon Castro after a dustup on the basepaths.

Our grand game came through for us again on Sunday. Fortunately, the Wild Card system didn't wind up muddying what was a great race from start to finish in the NL's Eastern Division, beginning with Jimmy Rollins' proclamation in January that the long-suffering Phils were "the team to beat" in the division this year. The Phillies and Mets entered the last day of the season tied for first, with both teams matched against a division opponent, and both teams starting a 40-plus-year-old pitcher-- Tom Glavine for New York (41) and Jamie Moyer for Philly (45 next month.) Moyer delivered five solid innings with no earned runs allowed against the Nationals, while Glavine coaxed only one out, spotting Florida seven runs in the first frame. Once again, the beauty of the game lies in its symmetry and contrast.

As they're wont to do when they're not wildly overpraising the Mets, Yankees, and Red Sox, the east coast sports media kicked it into high gear last night piling on the Mets for their misfortune. They were preparing the guillotine this morning for manager Willie Randolph and his staff, and they're ready to ride Glavine out on a rail, still furious that the team fantastically overpaid now five seasons ago for the senior citizen version of the hurler who long tormented the club while pitching for the Braves.

I usually avoid Mike Lupica like the plague, but I had to go in search of the Daily News columnist's piece this morning just to experience him directing his whiny wrath on his hometown heroes. You know Mike as the guy on ESPN's "Sports Reporters" Sunday mornings whose petulant, high-pitched voice makes you want to hurl your half-eaten grapefruit at the TV screen. He took it relatively easy on the Mets today, but on rather a side note, after reading the column, I noticed the out and out lie in his Daily News bio.

It reads that Lupica has "written or co-written four (my italics) previous non-fiction books"- 'Reggie,' the autobiography of Reggie Jackson, 'Parcells,' about football coach Bill Parcells, 'Wait 'Till Next Year,' (evidently not about the 2006 Mets, though they choked not unlike this year's version of the team), and 'Shooting From the Lip,' a collection of columns. He completely leaves out, however, a best-seller entitled 'Summer of '98'. Yes, fans, that's correct-- long before the self-proclaimed 'Lip' (thieving the late Leo Durocher's nickname) was one of the sports media's top steroid hunters, Lupica attempted to cash in at your local Barnes and Noble over the home run exploits of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, who he now derides at every turn. Since he's wiped the slate clean on his professional biography, do you suppose he's also returned the earnings for this 1999 book release?

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2007 was a season-long nightmare for the Cardinals. Their manager was arrested for drunk driving during spring training and their ace pitcher blew out his elbow on opening day. Next, imagine a Thurman Munson-like and Tony Conigliaro-like tragedy in the same season (i.e. Josh Hancock's traffic death and Juan Encarnacion's hideous beaning), and a popular veteran, Scott Spiezio, forced to enter rehab for substance abuse. The Cards just narrowly avoided leading the National League in negative run differential for the first time since 1916. But even when the team didn't display a world of talent, they displayed a world of resolve, finishing the lost season even with a five game winning streak.

I'd like to say just this then, finally, about our best player, Albert Pujols, the greatest in the game. His consistent brilliance causes him to be overlooked when others like Ryan Howard and Alex Rodriguez grab the headlines for break-out individual seasons, but Albert put it all together again in 2007. He batted below his career average at .327, drove in only 103 runs, hit a career-low 32 home runs, and scored only 99 runs, his first time with fewer than triple-digit plate tallies, but he walked a career-high 99 times, compared with just 58 strikeouts, and he batted in perhaps the most unfortunate batting order position in baseball relative to his ability. At least as of two weeks ago, the Cardinals' clean-up position, directly behind Pujols in the #3 hole, had the lowest OPS (slugging plus on-base percentage) of any batting order position on any team relative to the league average, and the Cardinals' leadoff spot, table-setting ahead of Pujols, was also in the top 5 in that category (out of 270, according to my math). Pujols' immense talent and his almost supernatural willfullness in propelling his club is the reason a 104-run differential resulted in only a 78-84 season, instead of a 92 or 93 loss season. Mild consolation, though. Next year, we need some damn pitching.

posted by CM @ 8:08 PM