Doing him a favor

There's an old saying that goes, "Nothing good ever happens after midnight." For Willie Randolph, that line should be amended to "nothing good ever happens after 3 a.m." It was at 3:15 a.m., after a victory over the Angels and a long flight from New York to Los Angeles that the Mets' brass finally decided that Willie Randolph shouldn't be the manager any more. No time like the present, I suppose. Why wait until the sun comes up when the job can be taken care of at 3:15 a.m. like a weirdo fraternity prank or Saddam's hanging. Why do it in New York when you can make the guy fly 3,000 miles across the country, make him manage a baseball game and then roust him out of bed at 3:15 a.m.

Yeah, I know the Mets are in California and it was shortly after midnight when the Mets' brain trust capped Willie, but it was 3:15 a.m. back in New York where, one can assume, the brass hoped they could sneak the news in well after the newspaper deadlines and the television programming had played the National Anthem to end its day of programming (do they still do that?).

But apparently the little thing that we like to call The Internets never goes off the air. That meant the Mets' big news spread through the east coast like a smoldering plastic bag filled with dog crap.

Think of all the things that get normal folks up at 3:15 a.m. like a dog barking, or a wrong number telephone call. Maybe one of the kids has a nightmare and wakes you up or maybe you get a 3:15 a.m. hankering for some organic granola and flax with a banana and soy milk... hey, it happens more than one could imagine.

But not Willie Randolph. Not with the Mets. At least he got a chartered flight to Los Angeles and was tucked beneath the down blanket in a four-star hotel when they shook him awake to tell him that the nightmare was finally over.

Willie doesn't have to manage the Mets anymore.

*** The best part of the whole Willie circus? According to reports, some of the players learned about the news not from team sources, but instead from text messages from writers.

Phillies vs. Mets on Monday?

Cole Hamels is in the bullpen warming up, the fans are filtering into the sold-out ballpark and the oppressive humid has finally broken and given way to a decidedly autumnal tinge.

It feels like playoff baseball time[1].

Meanwhile, the word filtered down from New York City that despite all of the bluster to the contrary, the Mets have resigned themselves to participating in a playoff game in Philadelphia on Monday. If such an event were to occur, people will need tickets for the game. So when and if a playoff game is scheduled for Monday and/or Tuesday, the Phillies announced they will sell tickets.

Here’s the Phillies’ announcement:

In order to prepare and plan, the Phillies are announcing that tickets will go on public sale once the tie-breaking game has been deemed necessary.

Full season ticket holders (81 games) have been mailed their locations. Season ticket holders and E-Mail Club members will be offered the opportunity to purchase tie-breaker tickets in advance of the public sale.

Tickets may be purchased on Sunday (once a game has been deemed necessary) via the following outlets:

ONLINE: www.phillies.com.

When ordering via the internet, the Phillies suggest choosing the convenient “print at home” option. Access to the internet is available 24 hours a day.

PHONE CENTER: (215) 463-1000. Again, once the game has been deemed necessary, the Phone Center will be open Sunday until 10:00 p.m. . . . Phone lines will open again at 8:00 a.m. on Monday.

The Phillies suggest fans choose the “print at home” option or pick up their will call tickets well in advance of the game, either Sunday night or early Monday morning.

IN PERSON: Two Citizens Bank Park locations: (1) First Base Gate ticket windows (on Pattison Avenue) and (2) West ticket windows (on Citizens Bank Way, adjacent to the Majestic Clubhouse Store). Hours: Sunday until 10:00 p.m. The ticket windows will reopen at 8:00 a.m. on Monday.

***

Speaking of the New York Mets, there was a helluva quote in the Oct. 1, 2007 edition of the New York Observer from a story written by John Koblin. In the story headlined, “Gutsy Mr. Metsie,” all about how Mets’ skipper Willie Randolph is dealing with his team’s “September Swoon,” veteran lefty pitcher Tom Glavine is on the record saying:

“Sometimes when you’re a team as talented as we are—I don’t know if I’d use the word ‘bored,’ but I guess you can get complacent sometimes. You don’t pay attention to details every now and then because you do have a ton of talent and think you can on most days do everything you wanna do.”

So the Mets are collapsing because they are so good? They haven’t been paying attention to details?

I wonder if their curiosity has been piqued now?

---

[1] Not that most of us in the Phillies’ writing press corps actually knows what “playoff baseball” feels like. A lot of us have floated out into unchartered waters.

[2] a.k.a: a choke job of epic proportions

Someone cue Tom Petty

WASHINGTON – the first thing I thought of as I pushed myself out of bed this morning was, “OK, where do I get coffee?” The second thought was, “Look, there’s the Starbucks. Could a place that sells Gatorade be nearby?”

After that I wondered if Courier Post columnist Kevin Roberts had made it back to Philadelphia OK. Kevin, you see, came to The District last night to write all about the Phillies’ comeback victory over the Nationals, which pushed them to 1½ games of the lead in the NL East. After going down to the clubhouse to discuss matters with the winning team and then back to the press box to compose his story, Kevin was scheduled to take the 3 a.m. train from Union Station back to Philadelphia. And since he wrapped things up a little after midnight, a few of us thought we’d take Kev into town to help him wile away the time until his train arrived.

Who would have guessed there was no all-night bingo parlor in all of Washington, D.C.?

Nevertheless, Kevin made it to Union Station with time to spare.

But the really big question that was baffling me the most this morning is one that supporters of the Philadelphia Phillies are not asking themselves – at least they aren’t asking themselves with any great concern (nor am I).

The question:

What in the Sam Hill is wrong with the New York Mets?

In the midst of a freefall of monumental proportions, the Mets, as Phillies’ fans are well aware, have lost six of their last seven and seven of their last nine. During that span, the Mets’ lead over the Phillies in the East has shrunk from 6½ games to 1½ heading into Friday’s games.

Mets’ skipper Willie Randolph delivered one of the understatements of the season when talking about the latest loss with reporters last night.

“We're definitely making it tough on ourselves, huh?”

Indeed. But not without some help. Last night’s game – as viewed from the press box at RFK on MLB.com’s Gamecast – seemed as surreal as it was dramatic. The Mets rallied to take a three-run the lead in the ninth when Marlon Anderson hit a bases-loaded triple with two outs, only to give those runs back in the bottom of the ninth when reliever Jorge Sosa could not close it out.

What? No Billy Wagner? Nope, according to reports ol’ Billy had back spasms and couldn’t take the ball.

Could Wagner finally be helping the Phillies get to the playoffs?

Anyway, it looks as if the Mets are getting a little tight and even the front-office types are feeling it. According to a story in Sports Illustrated, owner Jeff Wilpon is casting the blame for the Mets’ recent play on… well, everyone.

“I'm disappointed with the way the team is performing overall, and that's everyone, top to bottom,” Wilpon told Sports Illustrated. “I'm disappointed in Omar (Minaya), Willie, the players ... that's everyone. We shouldn't be in this position. But we are. We've got to fight our way out and pull this out.”

But no one has been able to explain the basic, simple question:

What in the Sam Hill is wrong with the New York Mets?

To figure it out, I put in a call to Mets’ pre- and post-game host on SNY, Matt Yallof. When Matt and I get to the bottom of this issue, I will report back right here.

The ‘pen is mighty? While the Mets are preparing to roll over and expose their pink, rounded belly for the Phillies to claw apart, it’s interesting to note that the Phils are making their sprint for the finish line thanks largely to the bullpen.

Yes, the Posh Spice-thin bullpen.

To follow up Tuesday’s 14-inning victory in which the relievers tossed 11 frames one-run ball, the ‘pen went seven scoreless innings last night against the Nats. Of course the memory of Monday night’s near debacle where the relievers almost coughed up an 11-run lead, but since then they have been pretty good. In the last three games the bullpen has allowed just two runs in 21 2/3 innings.

Nevertheless, 21 2/3 innings is a lot of work in just three games… especially at this point of the season.

Closing up shop In the past on these pages, I have opined about Washington’s RFK Stadium and the time I spent there in my youth. Though we could never go to see the Redskins play in the ol’ ballpark (the waiting list for tickets was something like 155 years), I can recall in vivid detail of watching the Grateful Dead and the NASL’s Washington Diplomats.

But not to bore any with more rhapsodizing over the last weekend of major league sports at RFK, I’ll turn that chore over to The Washington Post’s Tom Boswell, who writes about the lovable dump.

And it is a dump.

Finally… Chris and Julie Stover of Lancaster, Pa. finally added a girl to the Stover/Gerfin/Finger brood. The little lady arrived this morning and has yet to receive a name, but her uncle (me!) and the rest of the clan are giddy about her birth and hope that she can show her big brothers and boy cousins who the boss is.

And here we thought Chris couldn’t make a girl. Good work, big guy!

It's the World Series (Endy Chavez edition)!

When it happened, I thought to myself, “Self, this could go down as the greatest catch ever.”

I was taking in all of the variables – the game, the inning, the circumstance, Game 7, etc. – in making the always over-the-top pronouncement of “greatest of all time.” But, of course, for a catch to go down as the greatest ever the team has to win the game.

The Mets didn’t do that so Endy Chavez just made a really, really dynamic catch.

By now, not even 12 hours after it occurred, most people have seen Endy Chavez’s catch to rob Scott Rolen of a potentially pennant-winning home run. Actually, when the ball left Rolen’s bat I thought a couple of things. One was why did Oliver Perez throw an inside pitch to Rolen? It’s the only thing he can hit.

The thing I thought was look at Rolen doing it in a Game 7 again. First the home run to beat Roger Clemens in Game 7 of the 2004 NLCS, and now this.

Then Endy Chavez did his thing and everything went crazy.

Endy Chavez? Wasn’t he so bad for the Phillies last season that Charlie Manuel simply refused to use him? Wasn’t he the team’s designated pinch runner, a la Herb Washington for the Oakland A’s in the mid-1970s? Didn’t Phillies want the season to end as quickly as possible just so they didn’t have to bother thinking about not putting Chavez on the playoff roster and they could let him become a free agent?

Didn’t Chavez make the Phillies pine for Marlon Byrd to return… well, actually, no. But the point is made. Chavez was not a good player in 2005.

But he was in 2006 where Chavez got off to a hot start during the World Baseball Classic with a couple of big home runs for Venezuela. From there he got a deal with the Mets and filled in very well for a team that came a few outs and a run away from making it to the World Series.

Actually, Chavez was a big part of that in spite of his 5-for-27 in the NLCS. But in Game 7, Billy Wagner was not.

hough manager Willie Randolph used Wagner in the ninth inning of a tie game in Game 2, the closer remained in the bullpen to watch the ninth as Aaron Heilman worked a second inning and gave up the pennant-winning home run to Yadier Molina with one out and one on.

Surely Randolph was asked quite a bit why he chose not to bring in the struggling Wagner for the ninth. That’s fair, especially since it was a move he routinely made all season long. To be sure, Randolph answered it logically and adroitly. But maybe the real reason Randolph didn’t use Wagner in the ninth was because Rolen was due up in the ninth? Rolen doubled off Wagner in his two-run ninth the night before.

"With all the righties coming up, I thought we could get through another inning with him and bring in Billy after that," Randolph said.

Who knows? Maybe Randolph was saving Wagner for the 10th or for when the Mets got a lead. After all, the bullpen was full since it was an all-hands-on-deck Game 7.

"He wanted to go with length there," Wagner said, defending his manager's decision. "He's done it both ways. It's easy to understand, knowing he's done it both ways. Besides, you don't know what you're going to get with me."

But in the end, Wagner found little consolation in how things ended.

"It's all for nothing," he said. "We ain't here to get to the playoffs and play good. We're here to go to the World Series.

"You never know when you're going to get another chance."

That's the trouble. Nothing is ever given. Neither is a lead. Now the Mets are finished and the Cardinals are heading to chilly Detroit in a rematch of the 1968 World Series.

Maybe we’ll see Mickey Lolich there? Denny McLain?

Elias says…
Did you know that Molina’s homer was just the fifth go-ahead home run in the ninth inning or later of a decisive postseason game? (By decisive we mean the seventh game of a best-of-seven series, the fifth of a best-of-five and so on.) The others were hit by Bill Mazeroski (1960 World Series), Chris Chambliss (1976 ALCS), Rick Monday (1981 NLCS) and Aaron Boone (2003 ALCS).

Or that the first-inning squeeze bunt by Ronnie Belliard was the eighth time a Tony La Russa team used such tactics in the playoffs?

Check it out.

World Series predictions
Scott Rolen will get a hit while the announcers will talk about his feud with La Russa. Albert Pujols will hit a home run. It will rain in Detroit. Phillies fans will talk about Jim Leyland and Placido Polanco because the Tigers will win in 5.