As Kris tackles the greatest films of all time, I’ve started to tackle some of the literary classics. Recently I listened to Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” with the famous first chapter that has been paraphrased by countless people since…

Needless to say, Saturday’s #12 Georgetown vs. #13 Connecticut was a tale of two halves and I saw it as such thanks to the magic that is the Digital Video Recorder.

After letting the youngest watch three hours of educational TV, or whatever kept her from making the most noise and running me up a wall, I took over the tube for the 12 noon start for an early jump on the Big East title.

I’ve seen as much of the Hoyas this year as possible and it’s clear to me that Greg Monroe will be a quality NBA pro. He won’t be a superstar, but I can see him doing what another recent G’Town big is doing. Last year, Jeff Green averaged 16 ppg, 6 rbns and 2 assists. His numbers are down this year, but that’s about where I see Monroe.

The problem the Hoyas have is Chris Wright is a junior leader, yet plays like a stupid freshman for at least 5 minutes of every game. Even when he’s scoring 30 against Harvard or putting up 20+ to take down a scrappy St. John’s team, he makes too many dumb plays to be a positive difference maker. Early on against the Huskies, he took a couple of stupid shots and made a silly pass and UConn will make you pay.

Watching UConn for the first time reminds me of a typical well-recruited but young team. Jim Calhoun has a ton of talent that wants to play a structured street ball game. They want to press, run after every change of possession and attack the glass. They’re a poor shooting team, whether it’s from behind the arc or from the stripe. Nevertheless, if you get caught up trying to run with them you’ll fall behind quickly.

That’s what happened to the Hoyas. There are no seniors on this team, so no one to explain that while we can run with teams, to run with the Huskies falls into their game plan. I was waiting for my wife to finish getting dressed and saw my boys fall down by 15 at the break. I then set it to record and left to go shopping and eat a lot of meat at Golden Corral.

I returned to listen to Dick Vitale stop slurping UConn and start marveling the breakout performance of Austin Freeman. The 6-4 junior guard supposedly slimmed down this year and it’s helped his shooting. On this afternoon, he was left open on Town’s basic screen hand-off at the wing. It’s a shot that’s always there in this modified Princeton offense and for some reason, UConn never closed out on the shooter.

Maybe they got comfortable with such a big lead (They led by as many as 19 in the first half). Maybe they didn’t think Freeman would hit the shot (which is silly after he had nailed the first two). Maybe, despite the fact they block a lot of shots, UConn is just not a great defensive team (that’s my opinion). Either way, Freeman got hot and for a long portion of the second half was outscoring the entire Husky squad.

With the Hoyas hanging onto a 1-point lead, the final 40 seconds should just be it’s own highlight. Probably cut it down to the final 20 cuz UConn had a couple of chances but couldn’t hit either open look. End result was a quality win, the Hoyas’ third victory over a Top 20 team this year and likely enough to stay in the Top 15 when the polls come out on Monday.

With two little girls running around and a wife who works an overnight weekend shift, you can imagine just how much time I have. Yet alone the time to watch what I want when I want to watch it. My current situation has allowed me to see films like the first two Cheetah Girls movies (Remember Raven Symone from the final years of the Cosby Show? Combine her with the girls from 3LW, a short-lived R&B group and you have proof that Whitney Houston didn’t blow all her money away since she was a producer).

Houston was also a producer on both film adaptations of The Princess Diaries, the vehicle that got Anne Hathaway’s career moving and reminded America that Julie Andrews is still kicking ad vital.

And sadly, I’ve seen all three High School Musicals. I can only say this — if you want a quick laugh, watch any of the basketball scenes from any of the films. The fictional high school in New Mexico wins back-to-back state championships with the dreamy Zak Efron as the star. Only Efron can’t play a lick of basketball. I mean he looks bad just shooting unguarded…

But I digress…

Needless to say, the opportunities I get to watch a film I actually like are few and far between. So on Friday night when I was able to get my 2-year old asleep and looked up, I was shocked to see that there were three films on my expansive list of films I love.

I’ll start with the selection from Starz - The Count of Monte Cristo starring Jim Caviezel and a standout performance by one of the most underrated actors of our time, Guy Pearce. First the film, an adaptation of the book by Alexande Dumas. The fat Frenchman also wrote The Man in the Iron Mask and The Three Musketeers, but this is the best story of the three in my opinion. When I was working at the University of South Carolina, I went on a book splurge.

While sleeping behind the couch on the floor, I read the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy (in 2000 before the films came out) and The Count. The movie takes a slightly different but well conceived path than the book. It’s a tale of a decent guy who gets railroaded and betrayed by a “friend” and ends up doing 13 years in a French prison. He escapes with a treasure map to countless cash and revenge on his mind.

The director, Kevin Reynolds, has a hit or miss resume but he did a really good job with this unlike Waterworld. It helps when you have a great story, quality actors and Pearce doing what he does like in LA Confidential, Memento and The Hurt Locker.

Bravo was showing Fight Club and that’s one of my all-time favorites. I just finished that book and David Fincher, who also gave up Se7en, The Game (with Sean Penn and Michael Douglas) and Panic Room, really hit a home run. Going in reverse-order (film to book), I now see what they were working with and admire the ability to bring such a complex story to the screen and do it so well. It’s the little touches, like the splices of Tyler (Brad Pitt) before he’s introduced. An absolute classic.

Finally, TV Land was showing Groundhog Day, the tour de force of Bill Murray’s career. Harold Ramis, who according to IMDb.com has talked everyone into doing Ghostbusters III, directed this absolutely perfect film. You get all sides of Murray. You get Andie McDowell, who is a classic beauty. You get an absolutely perfect film from start to finish.

So there you have it, all three films on one night and both kids asleep so I can flip without having to stop on Nick Jr. or PBS Sprout.

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Now playing: ESPN 980 - January 7 2010 The Tony Kornheiser Show Part 2
via FoxyTunes

Seriously, it’s a stupid question in its premise. Adults should ask and encourage kids to do what they love to do. What you want, what you need and what you love rarely link and sync up. But when they do, it’s a beautiful thing.

I’ve wanted to be involved in sports all my life. At some time when I was at Boston University, I found a need to express myself on the written page and soon found that I loved writing about sports as much as I loved watching and playing them.

When I was walking around the second semester of my senior year at BU, people (and my people I mean any and everyone from well-minded adults to random classmates that you barely spoke with but happened to be by the keg when you walked up for your next drink) would find a way to ask “What are you going to do when you graduate?”

This question is about as dumb as the first one I mentioned. Just because I was able to get through this stage of my life, why should I know exactly what I’m doing next? Why should I tell you? Do you really care or are you just trying to fill “dead air” by feigning interest in someone you barely know?

Well, those were the questions tha raced through my mind and just to help fill the space and end the conversation, I told people I was moving to Portland, Oregon. You would be surprised how many people that shut up.

Looking back, this is one of those life-changing moments that I didn’t take full realization of at the time. But don’t get me wrong. To quote the great bard Curtis Jackson…

If I die today, I’m happy the way my life turned out.
All the shootouts, I done been in them by myself
Locked up, I was in the box by myself
I done made myself a millionaire by myself
Now s**t changed muthaf***a, I can hire some help

OK, so maybe I’m just talking about the first couple of lines of that, but it tastes so good once it hits your mouth…

Through the power of Facebook, an ex-girlfriend from a long time ago, long long time ago, befriended me and asked what I had been doing for the past decade. I was a big fan of my response so I’ll reprint it here, mostly cuz it’s all true.

So how things are going? Let’s see…I once tried and failed to eat a 12-egg omelet in New Hampshire. Hung out on Fisher Island in the middle of Miami for a week. Watched the sun rise in the middle of Montana. Put my cat on a leash to see Mt. Rushmore. Was left by a state university employee in a Cancun airport with $300. Partied at a Daytona Beach club, hit a Waffle House and drove half-asleep across the state. Went from Kansas City to Raliegh, NC and back to pick up two cats. Cut my shoulder-length dreadlocks before my best friend’s mother’s wedding on a whim. Was offered a job to eventually work at the New York Times and turned it down to move sight unseen to Mississippi. Secretly regretted that decision for five years. Visited New Orleans weeks before Hurricane Katrina hit and haven’t been back since and will celebrate two years of Naomi Jessica Kester on September 21.

Throughout all that mess, I was happy with my life because I my employment was based around a passion, around something I loved whether it be sports, writing or a combination of the two. And yes, I secretly did regret not taking a job that would have kept me in Florida, but then I would have never met my wife…

So what’s the point behind all this babble? Similar to Kris’ point from long ago, I’m at a crossroads. Only difference is I’ve been at this crossroads for more than a year, I’m still standing in the middle of the road and the paths in any direction seem to be taking me away from familiar ground, from things I love and enjoy to things to just help pay the bills.

I’m proud to say that I haven’t worked a job that was just to help pay the bills since college, since I was a lackey in the Admissions Office, a cook/counter person for caf’s Late Night menu, a paid peer advisor coordinator working as a secretary for the summer. I mean, even when I was waiting tables, it was at the best sports bar in the city so that didn’t really count as work.

Now I’m looking at a mindless grunt moving an filing medical records or applying to try to become a police officer or a teacher. The final one has the most potential, the most appeal but the hoops necessary to leap through is silly. One would think a qualified black man trying to teach would be snatched up right away in this politically correct climate as someone “who could relate to the urban population”, but I guess I’m not the only one…

Now what or what now, either way I don’t know what to do next. What I want to do next, I’ll relate next time which will be sooner than later.

My name is Martin Kester and I’m a Mets fan.
(HI MARTIN)
I’ve been a fan since 1985-86 and have a memory of my mom taking me out of Lowell School in Teaneck, then driving me to Manhattan to watch a parade from a sign post.

I remember my mom taking me to Shea Stadium for Mother’s Day and scoring seats right behind home plate with the player’s wife. Then in the ninth inning, I sneaked down as close as possible to watch the Mets win it in the 9th.

But those happy memories are few and far between. I have more memories of cringing as Armando “Smoke” Benitez or Bradon Looper or Aaron Heilman was called from the bullpen. I have distinct memories of sitting on the floor of a somewhat empty apartment in Portland, Oregon and watching Kenny Rodgers throw ball four in the NLCS. Standing in a slightly more furnished apartment in Columbia, South Carolina and wondering about the answer to this Jeopardy question - (Drafted by the California Angels in 1992, his unmemorable six-year career was highlighted by starting in left field in the 2000 World Series.)

Then 2006 and the Timo Perez catch that sadly is forgotten because Adam Wainwright made his name known with a curve ball that is still buckling Beltran’s knees right now…

But this was supposed to be just the beginning. I mean, we had a young core (Reyes, Wright) with a star in his prime (Beltran) and some young pitchers (Maine, Perez, Pelfrey) all under 30 with potential…

I can’t continue. Mostly cause everyone knows what would happen the following two seasons.
This year, of course, was supposed to be different and at the end of May, they were seven games over .500 and in first place.

Then the walls crumbled down.

Whether it was injury, poor upper management, poor field management, crappy minor league system, horrible players and their horrible play, sad mistakes at the wrong time or a really long stretch against top teams…

Point is the wheels came off and instead of stopping to change the tires, it seemed like someone decided to ride on the rims, then the axle and then getting out to push the three-wheel vehicle to the side of a cliff and push it over, tossing a Moltov’s cocktail at the gas tank with precise accuracy that causes everything to explode.

I stopped paying attention six to eight weeks ago and it was hard. I purchased an XM Radio with the main purpose being the ability to listen to Howie Rose call Mets games. Needless to say, I stopped listening to that thing. In fact, I would have canceled the service but they continue to give me three months for free.

So it’s there and if the game is on, it’s hard to not turn by and listen to a few innings…

But then I hear something like this that sent me over the edge…
“The Mets will send 2-3-4 to the plate. Angel Pagan, Cory Sullivan and Jeff Francour.”

I nearly threw the device out the window of my car. And it was then that I realized I should pay attention to other things. Things like Entourage and the bravado to make Turtle the most interesting character in Season 6, similar to running a successful offense through Leon Powe or Ben Wallace.

I figured out that I can listen to Giants football games on my cell phone, something very useful living in Atlanta and getting Falcons games instead of the best and most boring team going.

I’ve worked at getting The Terminal Podcast off the ground. Check the link to listen to previous episodes (and remember we’re still in the early stages) and all the while tried to ignore my family and find time for myself. One would be surprised how much time three women of various ages and stages can take from a man.

Well, I guess you wouldn’t.

Either way, I will host another episode of The Terminal tomorrow and post it ASAP. We’ll be previewing the MLB Playoffs and I’ll make sure not to mention the Mess in the Citi. Be sure to give a listen and download it each week and tell your friends.
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Now playing: Martin Kester - Terminal 9/29
via FoxyTunes

Hey, it is a rough draft anyway. So let’s see if this works.

www.makkid.com/podcast

Why does it seem that there’s a feeling of animosity towards Stewart Cink?

I personally don’t feel that way, but you can’t help feel that’s the attitude of the general public with the outcome of this past weekend’s 138th British Open Championship.

And what for?

It wasn’t Cink’s fault that Tom Watson missed an eight foot putt on the par four 18th, costing him his sixth Claret Jug. Cink won the four hole playoff in dominant fashion over the worn out Watson, winning the tournament fair and square and securing his first major championship.

I must admit I barely watched any of the tournament over the weekend, but I did see Watson play the 18th on Sunday. His approach shot bounced past the pin and rolled off the back side of the green.

All he had to do was chip on and putt in for par and the Championship was his. I don’t think there was a casual golf fan watching that wasn’t routing for him.

But it didn’t happen.

He pushed his par putt to the right, bogeying the hole and forcing the playoff with Cink. The rest is history.

The overall feeling here should be that of sympathy for Watson, not to make Cink out to be the apparent villain. If Watson made his putt, where would this story have ranked all time in the history of sports? Top 10? Top 5? I think an argument could be made for it, but we’ll never know.

The combination of Tiger not making the cut and this year’s Championship being played at Turnberry, where Watson beat rival Jack Nicklaus in the famous “Duel in the Sun” in 1977, makes it all more intriguing.

Moments like this are the reason we watch sports. In the end, the 138th British Open at Turnberry will be remembered more for what almost happened than Cink winning his first major.

Which is unfortunate.

Needless to say, here’s a picture of one of the changes…

And without further ado, Sini’s thoughts on Major League Baseball at the proverbial halfway point.

The first half of the 2009 Major League Baseball season has been that of some impressive career milestones. Gary Sheffield joined the 500 home run club, Randy Johnson recorded his 300th career win, Tony LaRussa won his 2500th game as a manager, Ivan Rodriguez broke Carlton Fisk’s all time games caught record and Mariano Rivera saved his 500th game. Going into the all star break, five out of the six division races have at least three teams within 5 ½ games of the division lead. With most of these races probably coming down to the wire, we’re in stall for a very entertaining second half. With that being said, it’s time for some mid-season awards:

A.L. Manager of the Year: Don Wakamatsu, Seattle Mariners

With a team that finished 61-101 last year, the Mariners are 4 games above .500 at 46-42 at the break. Their pitching and defense are keeping them in the playoff hunt, currently 4 games out in the A.L West and 5 games out of the Wild Card.

A.L. Rookie of the Year: Ricky Romero, SP, Toronto Blue Jays

Romero has been Toronto ’s best pitcher behind Roy Halladay. He spent some time on the disabled list at the end of April and posted a 9.64 ERA in two starts in May. But since then he has been solid, going 5-1 and allowing 15 earned runs in 56.2 innings since June 1st.

A.L. CY Young: Zach Greinke, Kansas City Royals

Greinke is finally coming into his own this year, leading the American League with a 2.12 ERA along with 129 strikeouts in 127.1 innings. He has posted a 10 wins with an offense that ranks among the worst in the American League. If he doesn’t drop off in the second half and barring Roy Halladay staying in Toronto , Greinke should be the overall favorite.

A.L. M.V.P.: Justin Morneau, 1B, Minnesota Twins

The popular pick for many is Morneau’s teammate Joe Mauer, but I’m picking Morneau because of Mauer’s early season stint on the disabled list. He leads the American League in total bases, second in RBI’s, and in the top 5 in home runs and slugging. If both Morneau and Mauer keep up their solid play, both are going to be vying for votes at the end of the season.

N.L. Manager of the Year: Joe Torre, L.A. Dodgers

The Dodgers own baseball’s best record at 56-32 and have the largest lead in any division, leading by 7 games over the San Francisco Giants. They went 29-21 during Manny Ramirez’s 50 game suspension, not to mention having to deal with the media circus that came with it. Torre has this team in the right direction towards a second straight division title.

N.L. Rookie of the Year: Colby Rasmus, CF, St. Louis Cardinals

Rasmus has taken full advantage of being the Cardinals every day center fielder, batting .278 with 11 home runs and 34 RBI’s. He won’t produce a lot of RBI’s batting at the top of the order, but 25 home runs and 100 runs are not out of the question.

N.L. CY Young: Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants

Arizona ’s Dan Haren has a slight edge in innings pitched and ERA, but the fact that the Giants would make the playoffs if the season ended today as the wild card and Lincecum’s 29 inning scoreless streak make him the favorite. He also leads the N.L. with 149 strikeouts.

N.L. MVP: Albert Pujols, 1B, St. Louis Cardinals

Simply the best player in the game. He leads the National League in practically every offensive category and has a chance to be the first player since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967 to win the Triple Crown. This is really the only no contest mid-season award.

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Now playing: Charlaine Harris - 2N
via FoxyTunes

Fortunately for him, 3.5 of that was spent in Turner Field. Well, fortunately if you are a Braves fan since that’s who eventually won the game.

Let’s run through the highlights.

- Pretty good peanuts, but not worth $6.25.

- Pretty good seats for the upper deck, especially since they were shaded from the outset on a very sunny day that would reach about 94 degrees in the sun.

- Walked around the the patio/bar in center field, had a Sam Adams and watched an inning with a decent view, but the sun beating down.

- Walked behind home plate in the concourse, next to a guy that paid $20 to stand while we paid two dollars less to sit and then walk to where he was and stand next to him.

- With the Sox down to their last out and Mike Gonzalez with two strikes on the batter, some idiot decided that was the time to run onto the field. The problem was, however, that instead of heading for center field and prolonging his 15 seconds of fame, he decided he was a SEC running back and tried to cut back between the two security guards that followed him on the field from the left-field line.

Idiot.

As for the Mets, I’m not even gonna dignify that horrible monstrosity with a response. Sloppy play in the first inning to allow three runs. Horrible at-bats against a struggling Wang and didn’t take advantage of the few opportunities they had.

Let’s not even get on nine walks in the final four innings, including Frankie walking Mo Riveria with the bases loaded.

To quote the immortal Jay-Z, what more can I say?

No, not Bob Uecker, but the fictional character from one of the greatest sports movies of all time.

BTW, Slumdog Millionaire was amazing and Taken is cool cuz Liam is wiling to shoot a man’s wife at her dinner table for information.

I’ll be at Turner Field tomorrow to watch Brad Penny (I think) vs. Tommy Hanson, then come home and prey my wife lets me watch Livan Hernandez vs. C-Ming Wang.

Call it a result of morning Michael Jackson.

Or that CC vs. Pelfrey isn’t a fair fight, so to speak.

Or that this was a close game and then the Yanks pulled away late and after warming up with taking two out of three from the Braves, their offense is on point right now.

Add to that the fact that Ryan Church started in center because Manuel didn’t trust putting two lefties in the lineup against a lefty pitcher and you’ve got the formula for a loss.

Did I mention three errors?

Can’t do that today with Tim Redding on the mound. He’ll need all the help he can get.

First, I found out that Farrah Fawcett died and thinking back, the only thing about her career that makes a blip on the radar would be this photo.
Must have been cold that day at the shoot, huh?

Then I watched some of the draft and looked quizically at the screen when I noticed that the T-wolves took Ricky Rubio, Jonny Glynn and Ty Lawson. How did they get three, actually four first round picks? Why would they spend three of them on point guards? They can’t imagine going that small with Rubio and Glynn, can they? I will say this - It certainly opened my eyes and got me to start talking about Minnesota.

Then I heard the news that Michael Jackson died at the age of 50.

I understand as news media outlets, they must talk about the last five to ten years and the legal cases, to which the man was never found guilty. But to do that takes away from the 30 years of Jackson being a musical genius and world icon.

Michael Jackson. Dead.

Pelfrey vs. somebody in The Citi Friday night, I don’t really know what else to say.

Then again, they were up 7-0 at the time.

How about the big bats showing up for a blowout win? Granted, they were facing Bobby Thompson or someone like that. Point being, it wasn’t Chris Carpenter or Adam Wainwright…

The bigger point is without our resident college basketball expert, Mr. Kris, this site won’t be able to give its readers (all two of you and Thanks Mom for your support) a quality 2009 NBA Draft coverage.

I can direct all you NBA fans to Disciples of Cylde for their thoughts on it. Only problem with that is the fact that most everyone that pods that cast hates college basketball.

Let’s start at the top with the Clippers and Blake Griffin. As someone who actually watches and loves college basketball, I can say that I actually never watched Oklahoma play. I heard about Griffin during the year and it only led to my belief that big men from the Big 12 are usually highly overrated. Biggest case in point is Marcus Fizer, an Iowa State product who led his team to the Elite 8 with Teaneck’s own Mike “Boogeyman” Nurse and completely fizzed out at the next level.

However, when I talked to Kris about Griffin, he said “He’s got the athletic ability of Amare (of the Suns) with another 25 pounds of muscle. He’s an athletic freak.”

I hear all that and watched a brief draft preview on ESPN and the thing they said is Griffin needs to work on his post game and defense. When I hear that, I hear he’ll prosper in a quality team environment. That is not the Clippers, so I’ll stand by this statement - Tyler Hansborough will have a better career than Griffin.

Tyler may be 24 and not have a lot of “upside”, but he’s also gonna hit a 15-foot jumper, he’s gonna get to the foul line, can defend his position and will give you nothing but effort every time you call his number.

In my opinion, this draft will fill rosters with rotation guys and average players deep on the bench. I don’t see any breakthrough players here. Hasheem Thabeet is tall and that’s about it. He’ll block shots and grab tall person rebounds, but is that worth a top 5 pick?

Stephen Curry is gonna be a great player in the right system. Kris said he reminds him of Hersey Hawkins. A quality guard you can’t leave alone behind the line that won’t hurt you with stupid moves on or off the court.

I’m the wrong person to ask about Jonny Flynn, mostly because he went to Syracuse. But he is a scorer and can push the ball from the point. Drawback is he’s barely 6-1 and hasn’t been asked to play man to man defense from that 2-3 zone. But a reported 40-inch vertical makes him an interesting pick wherever he goes.

I’m not sold on Jreu Holliday, Gerald Henderson or DeJuan Blair, mostly because the Pitt power forward is 6-7 and won’t be able to push around players in the post as easily as he did in the Big East.

I keep hearing how Ty Lawson is gonna drop down to the middle of the first round. I’m curious why. Was he too good leading the Tar Heels to the national championship? Was it too obvious that UNC struggled without him at the point? Did he not show a great ability to get to the hole, push the ball and distribute? If Flynn’s height isn’t an issue, why would Lawson’s?

As I said before, this draft will be full of players that will fill roster spots for years but I don’t think anyone here will be a All-Star game lock. Maybe a couple in the Slam Dunk contest or 3-point shootout, but the actual game? I think not.

I think I would like to find a bar or television set with Extra Innings Thursday afternoon when the Mets-Cards series ends with Carpenter vs. Santana. Can’t wait to watch the highlights on the 6 p.m. ScoreCenter.

More importantly, it seems that will be the time to hear about all the trades as NBA GM’s realize there’s nothing much to gain from this draft and move pieces around with what they already have…

Wow. I almost got through an entire post about the draft and didn’t mention Ricky Rubio. Here’s the main thing about him, regardless of where he goes - HE’S 18 YEARS OLD AND HAS BEEN PLAYING PROFESSIONALLY FOR THE PAST FOUR YEARS.

While Brandon Jennings went to Italy for the money and because he wouldn’t have qualified to attend Arizone, Rubio has been playing against grown men for the past four years.

He may be thin, but he’s still got time to grow and work out. The biggest thing will be getting out of his current contract, but someone will get it done and he’ll be lighting up highlight reels in the fall.

Joel Pinero 1, Mets 0

Or how about?

Joel Pinero’s hits 2, Mets hits 2

I guess this is the type of stuff I should get used to, but that Joel guy has our number, at least lately. Anytime he faces us, he seems to dominate for a average guy on a good team.

Either way, I could use a Harry Doyle line here, but a ninth inning single throws off teh “One hit. All we got was one God damn hit?!”

I’m going to sleep like the Mets’ bats did tonight. Maybe they’ll wake up for Fernando Nieve and he’ll improve to 3-0. Then again, I wouldn’t anticipate it.

Add to that, got to hear proof of how much of a moron Steve Phillips is. The fact he still gets credit for David Wright, like noticing a gap-hitting third baseman with a good glove was hard…

He was talking about how Redding didn’t have anything to worry about after Pujos cracked a laser past David Wright for a double. How Redding should throw a curve to Ludwig and then we all watched when he crushed that same pitch, the one that Phillips called for, for a 2-run homer to get the Red birds within one…

But what was even better was the Mets getting another run in the next frame. Did you know the Mets as a team, without Delgado and Reyes and now Beltran (who didn’t see this coing?), are second in the NL in batting and on-base percentage?

They pounded out 14 hits, four by Omir Santos himself, but I was most impressed with Daniel Murphy. He’s up to .254 now, but it’s clear that he’s a bit more comfortable about everything. The kid can hit and I just hope he’s able to stay in the lineup…

On a completely separate note, I was tricked into a Facebook page. I can see why the world is on it, what with the ability to see pictures of people you haven’t thought about in years and send a short message about whatever you just did (Or is that Twitter?).

I really shouldn’t say anything bad about it because I was on for a lot longer than I wanted to be…but I also pay way too much attention to Mets baseball and I don’t see this battling with that.

Anyway, good win. Gotta go back out tomorrow and get another one with Livan Hernandez on the hill.

It’s been a strange season and it’s only gonna get worse before it shows any signs of getting better.

I mean, David Wright is batting .349, but there’s not a Met fan alive who really looks forward to him at the plate late in a game with a runner on second base…And he’s batting about .330 in those situations.

Carlos Beltran leads us in homers with EIGHT, but is slugging .527 and will be taking an MRI on Monday for a knee that if it goes out, you might as well call it a season…

Then again, you would think with all the injuries and the failed experiments like Daniel Murphy (I still think the kid can hit, but they didn’t just leave him in the lineup. Instead making sure to get Fernando Tatis some at-bats…Huh?) and the whole corner outfield platoon (Cuz for as great at Sheffield has been, he’s batting the same as Ryan Church (.276) although with significantly more RBIs)…

Did I fail to mention Luis Castillo, who’s hot start has allowed him to cool off at .270 with a .365 OBP. The 34 runs are decent for a top of the lineup guy, and it’s just enough to make us forget that we could have had Orlando Hudson (.315 BA, .388 OBP, 43 runs scored) as late at Valentine’s Day for as little as 4 million a year.

But that’s revisionist history because that would have meant either finding a taker for Castillo, coming off his worst year ever, or eating the rest of his amazingly lucrative contract for being a slap No. 2 hitter with a pretty good glove at 2B. If you make the move five years ago, no one blinks an eye. Then again, that’s when Luis was hitting .296, five points higher than his career average…

Sit on that for a second and then think about the fact that right now, the best three pitchers on the team are Johan Santana, Livan Hernandez and Fernando Nieve…

And the bullpen, which has been top of the heap all year, has gone into the tank with Bobby Parnell hitting the first major rough patch of his young career. The kid was untouchable for a while, but in 2/3 of an inning against the Rays (he pitched in all three games) the flame-thrower allowed six runs (all earned) on seven hits with just one strike out.

He also got roughed up by Baltimore, so it’s either the American League can hit the fastball or he’s hit his first wall. Either way, his struggles have made the loss of J.J. Putz visiable. Parnell was supposed to pitch the eighth, but now who do you turn to? Sean Green? Feliciano? It’s a tough question to answer with anything that breeds confidence…

And with all that negativity, with all the problems and interesting numbers like Wright has 88 hits and 69 strikeouts in 252 at bats. Do the math people, that’s 157 over 252, so I can say with certainty that D-Wright will either get a hit or strikeout 3/5 of the time.

Those aren’t great numbers and yet, that’s what they are and the numbers don’t lie. We’re still only two games back of first place. Then again, we’re going into a series against the Cardinals with Tim Redding starting on Monday Night Baseball on ESPN.

That’s the best face for a national showcase, your No. 5B starter.