A New Day

Wow, did anyone else see that coming?

I'm not talking about Steve Trachsel getting the crap knocked out of him. That, we have been getting used to.

Nor am I talking about another lefty shredding the Mets. That's going to keep on happening. Unless, of course, Lastings gets more playing time, in which case he'll hit .495 against left-handers with a 2.000 OPS.

I am talking about Chadwick Pennington. He came out of nowhere yesterday. We figured him for dead, with his surgically repaired shoulder leaving him unable to throw his typical two-yard passes. But they were accurate.

Well, I guess Chad was just playing a trick on us during the preseason. Because the Jets absolutely beat the snot out of the Titans.

Sure, we had three lost fumbles, including one on a hit against Pennington that made us all hold our breath for the Patrick Ramsey era. And sure, Mike Nugent proved to us why you don't use second-round draft picks on kickers. Especially kickers who aren't very good. Nugent made the potential blowout into a tight game, but that was no matter to King Chad and his friends Laveranues and Jerricho.

Cotchery and Coles both looked great yesterday. If Chad can look as good as he did yesterday everyday, the Jets might be a dark horse.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Although, hell, why not? The Jets are on pace to go 16-0.

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I wrote a piece on the first post-9/11 game earlier this year, because it's important to remember the tragedy and the great moments of unity that followed it.

On a vaguely similar note, the Padres will not pick up Mike Piazza's $9MM option for next year. Is it possible that our hero, especially after that dark day, could return to Flushing to split time with the Duck?

Who knows...

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The Mets have an important series against the upstart Marlins this week. Maybe it's wishful thinking, but let's hope for that Magic Number of 4 to come down.

A sweep of the Marlins would do a lot of good for us. And I wouldn't mind if the Braves opted to help out by wreaking havoc against the Phillies down south.

Big ups.

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