Two for the Price of One

I was prepared to see the Yankees knocked out today. No, really, I was. I knew what would come in the morning: tales of Joe Torre on the hot seat and A-Rod on the first plane out of town.

And sure, I knew they'd somehow find a way to praise Jeter unrelentlessly (and, in all fairness, he did have a good series at the plate).

Yes, also, if you read my post yesterday, you'd notice that I also nailed Trachsel's performance about right and I had the Mets winning the game.

But I'll be damned if Greg Maddux didn't come up a bigger goat last night than A-Rod has. Nobody's going to talk about it, but Mad Dog, the man universally known as still a great pitcher by baseball anaysts too foolish to turn on a TV set, came up microscopic last night.

In the first three innings, Maddux gave up four runs. He was pinch-hit for during the fourth. Now, in that situation, "the book" necessitated pinch-hitting for Maddux. But it's funny how this man, given two hundred times the credit of Steve Trachsel, pitched a clearly inferior game.

Trachsel was okay. It was upsetting to see him lose it on the hill after a few innings of solid work, and I'm not sure if I agree with Willie's decision to go with Darren Oliver to replace Trax. If you didn't notice, Oliver's ERA over August and September was an even 7.00.

It might have made more sense to go to Royce Ring or Bert Hernandez in that situation, given hindsight showing that Oliver was only one lucky catch away from getting hammered. And three runs in 1.1 innings of work ain't exactly Bob Gibsonesque.

The Mets bullpen got a little spooky early on, as Chad Bradford let two men reach base without recording an out and Pedro Feliciano walked in a run.

But after that, they settled down. Mota, Heilman, and Wagner did their job and combined for four scoreless relief innings, with the ball finally winding up in Shawn Green's glove after what seemed like an endless at-bat from Ramon Martinez.

The offense was good; Cliff might be hurt, so what?

I see some damn brooms. And these brooms are magic. The Mets can ride to the top.

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