Alternate Universe?

So let me get this straight, the Mets are still playing in October while the Yankees are sitting home? Yes indeed, strange things are happening.

The Modell's outside Grand Central Station was taking all the Yankees jerseys out of the main display window and replacing them with Met jerseys this morning, which was shocking to me. Also, this Saturday I went to Beer on the Pier 3 and there were a lot more people sporting Met paraphernalia than Yankee paraphernalia and it was not even close. This was all before the Yankees were officially ousted by Detroit.

I'll tell you what, I can get used to this and everything is falling into place for the Mets. If the Cardinals throw Chris Carpenter at the Mets for game one, he will be running out there on short rest. If the Cardinals would rather him get normal rest, the Mets will likely face Jeff Weaver. Is anyone else smiling? The Mets could easily be 2-0 after John Maine and Tom Glavine work their way through the Cardinals and while there will be countless articles about how the Yankees should tear apart their team apart in the next couple days, the Mets will be trying to win a championship.

I was hoping the Yankees would miss the playoffs, but now after they did make it and got demoralized? That was much better.

* * *

The operative word for these playoffs for the Mets is adversity. With Pedro, The Duque, and Dirty out already, Floyd is just the latest in a long line of casualties. While it is not 100% he will miss the playoffs, it sure is looking that way. But everyone is banged up and while the previous injuries felt so damning the Mets chances, this one does not feel that way. Not because Floyd was not important. He is very important, but this team just appears bulletproof at this point. They still have more offensive pop than any team in the playoffs with the Tigers giving them a good run and should be looked at to the be the favorites.

How do you not love this guy?

"His style is very similar to the power lefties, like a Randy Johnson and those type of guys. It appeared that he was trying to pitch more like a Tommy Glavine. That's not his style. Everybody has his own style. The ingredients were always there and he just wasn’t using those ingredients to make a gourmet recipe that's an Oliver Perez recipe. He was using other ingredients to make a different recipe."
--Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson, on starting pitcher Oliver Perez

"He came here with the same physical attributes that he had a couple years ago; his stuff is relatively the same. He came here with a different style of pitching. He's an Indy 500 car and he was driving a Toyota Camry. He was trying to pitch unlike his style."
--Peterson

Torri Hunter laid out this gem too...

"Everybody was saying he was washed up. Why? Why do you think we were trying to get him? He wasn't washed up. He had a foot problem. Now he's healthy and you see what he can do. It's scary. That's why they call him Big Hurt. He'll hurt you. And he's big, too."
--Twins CF Torii Hunter, on A's DH Frank Thomas (ESPN.com)

Tommy Lasorda is a wise one and the Yankees better take note. They've been worrying so much about their offense the last six years, they have completely neglected building a shut down bullpen which could have easily cost them two championships. The Mets do not have that problem. They can lose a starter in the fourth and not sweat it.

"Tommy was asking about my team and this and that," Minaya explained, making his point as he held a bottle of champagne in his right hand. "He said some words that stuck in my mind, words that are still there.

"Tommy said to me, 'Championships are won or lost in the bullpen.' I never forgot that."

Thom Brennan? You are an asshole. For those of you who missed it, he made fun of some blind guy.

"Why did they make fun of Grandpa Steve," asked his 6-year-old grandson while watching the game.

Yeah, Thom, why?

Sweet Lou would be good for the Yankees. He's an old school guy who won't care about egos and certainly will not stroke anyone's ego.

There is no other choice besides Lou Piniella to replace Joe Torre, no one else who could handle the pressure of replacing the most popular and accomplished Yankees manager since Casey Stengel. If the Yankees follow through and fire Torre, which appears the likely move and also is the right move, they need not speak with anyone else, even if that means violating Bud Selig's requirement for interviewing minorities.

The Yankees should look drastically different in '07 and maybe they will learn championships are not built on offense alone. They used to have a pretty good clue on how to build a team as evidenced by their dominance up through 2000, but things are have spiraled so far out of control since then.

You want analysis? You got analysis.

Mets/Cards pitching analysis....
Mets/Cards position analysis....

I'm not going to get on A-Rod today. He made a few more gems in terms of quotes after the Yankees loss after batting eigth and he makes it too easy. I'm almost starting to feel bad for him....almost.