In a Star Trekkian alternate universe across the Galaxy, I wake up as an Atlanta Braves fan this morning.... and life is good. My Braves (it pains me to write that, even in this twisted context) have just taken 2 out of 3 games, winning yet another series from the hated New York Mets. My refurbished bullpen and re-tooled lineup has me only a game and a half out as we enter June.
We match up pretty good against these guys, I tell myself. It has been an even battle so far in the NL East. I am blissfully unaware that the dynamics are about to change. I go to my PC and see online that the Mets are about to add a veteran frontline Starter AND a lifetime .301 hitter in Left Field to the roster. On top of this, they are somehow adding a powerful, established arm to the bullpen on Wednesday! When were you guys going to tell me this?
When Orlando Hernandez went down in early May, it was left to Chan Ho Park and Jason Vargas to try to pick up the slack in NY. The stop-gap attempt failed miserably. Both of them sucked and oh, did we have a good laugh. Unfortunately, somehow, the Mets were 16-8 in Hernandez' absence. Returning Tonight , the guy they call El duque joins Glavine,
It looked good for us 3 weeks ago when Moises Alou went down. We did an extra Tomahawk chop chant that night to celebrate. Despite his age, Alou was on fire, tearing the cover off the ball for the first month and a half of the season. The timing oculdn't have been beter when he went down. The Mets were going to have to reach into the minors for an outfielder, or compromise the integrity and depth of their bench using their best reserve weapon Endy Chavez as a starter. What bode even better was that Outfield replacement Options 1 and 2 in AAA for the Orange and Blue, Lastings Milledge and Ben Johnson were both hurt and on the DL. No Alou, no Milledge, no Johnson. HA!!!! So what happened? I’ll tell you what happened, Endy Chavez and Carlos Gomez combined to hit .305 and inject the Mets with speed, average and defense. Now Alou and his .318 average are back. That’s 5 legitimate starting outfielders with another Blue Chip centerfielder in AA….Not a great morning to be a Braves fan.
So, they get EL Duque back and Alou back. We’ll deal. They are getting Guillermo Mota back this week too???? This guy went 3-0 last year with an ERA of 1.00 for them last year! This guy struck out 19 dudes, walking only 5 over 18 innings in ’06. Now he joins a bullpen of Billy Wagner (0.90 ERA), Pedro Feliciano (1.04 ERA) and Joe Smith (1.37 ERA). What the F?
I woke up pretty happy today. Its 84 and sunny here in downtown Atlanta, we are about to enter a long Memorial day weekend and John Smoltz Edged out the Tom Glavine, the Modern day Fredo Corleone, last night. Now I hear that by this time next week the Mets will have 6 strong starters, 5 legitimate starting outfielders and are fortifying an already powerful bullpen. Next thing you are going to tell me is that Pedro Martinez is poised to return for the pennant run in August. He is?
Its enough to make you want to shave the Mandatory goatee they issue you when you enter the parallel universes and become a Met fan.
