Carole Riebock

Seems like more and more these days I'm writing tributes to people who pass away. Now it's one of the finest teachers at my high school.

I guess it was around 4:30 on Thursday when I heard the news Carole Riebock died during an operation for a liver transplant. I was absolutely stunned, I had no idea anything was even wrong with her health. And this is only 10 weeks after her husband passed away.

Since I came to Wheaton Academy for my junior year, I was never a student in any of her Bible classes so I can't talk about her as a teacher. But I participated on a mission trip to Pawley's Island, SC in January 1998. Even though I was a junior and the trip was basically for first and second year students, she still allowed me to go. And those two weeks were incredibly challenging for me as I faced a lot of personal issues. But even though some people saw fit to just avoid me, Mrs. Riebock was always in my corner and never let me forget it.

I remember we were working in this grass field, trying to take down this batting cage. Even though we got the fencing down, there were still a few blocks of wood basing in the ground and we wanted to get them out. Several of us tried to get it out, but pulling just wasn't doing the job. Mrs. Riebock noticed the van. So we found a steel chain. Can you see where this is going? We tied one end to the hitch of the trailer and the other end to the wood. Mrs. Riebock hopped in the driver's seat and steps on the gas. I remember a lot of black smoke rising from the back of the van. Wasn't making much progress so she added a little more gas and half the bumper flew off the back of the van. And I don't remember if we ever got that wood out!

I also remember participating in the fall play "His Way or Broadway" when I first came in that she did the music for. Preparing for and acting in that show was one of the highlights of my life and she and Corbett have a lot to do with that.

Jenny would probably be a little embarrassed that I'm doing this, but her post was excellent.

17 and dropping

There's the magic number to clinch the NL East.

Let's see, I have been sick for 36 hours. Total medication consumed: 4 Benadryl, 3 Cold-eeze, 1 Zicam, 6 Vitamin C tablets, 3 glasses of orange juice.

To put my Friday in perspective, I worked a half day at CEC and then threw in the towel. I grabbed some soup at Panera, went home, and jumped into bed. And despite taking some pills, I could not get to sleep. Three hours of tossing and turning. And my Friday night group was supposed to resume and I wanted to go. But I knew there was no way I was going. So I could hang around the house and get some rest and save my energy for Saturday right? Not so much. It's high school football night. I worked from 9:30-midnight. And this is not the right weekend for me to be sick. Not like there is a good weekend to get sick, but between the the White Sox-Twins today and my "marathon" tomorrow of softball, volleyball, and Ecclesia, I'll need all the endurance I can get.

Even though I shouldn't really be amused by this, I kind of am. Apparently microwave popcorn can be harmful. The chemical diacetyl, which is used to make artificial butter flavoring, has been linked to a respiratory disease called "popcorn lung" in hundreds of people. Apparently some of these people need lung transplants. Now it's it not eating it that is necessarily bad, it's inhaling the fumes from the popcorn that does the damage. Amazing, isn't it? Fifteen years ago, the craze was how dangerous movie popcorn was with the coconut oil. Now we can't even get away with smelling popcorn, one of the best smells known to mankind?

Song pick: "A Tender Lie" Restless Heart

Boo yah!

So this is what it feels like to be on the good end of a sweep. I wonder why a certain someone hasn't talked to me since Friday night...

I have to give the Mets full credit for rebounding and sweeping Atlanta in Turner Field. I never pictured it happening. John Maine, Mike Pelfrey, and Tom Glavine steeped up and delivered excellent pitching performances. The bullpen shone in that they didn't blow a game! The biggest testament to the Mets pitching this series is they only allowed one extra base hit in three games, a ground ball double by Brian McCann in the final inning of the final game. On offense, David Wright had big hits, Marlon Anderson is a huge bat off the bench, it's great to have Endy Chavez back, and Carlos Delgado actually hit two homers in this series.

The Mets lead is 4 games over Philly, 7.5 games over Atlanta, and the magic number for clinching the division is 23 with 26 games and we head to Ohio tomorrrow. Speaking of tomorrow, Pedro Martinez is back and pitching in Cincinnati! Vote for Pedro!

A few other things for tonight.

1) Jets open in 7 days! Let's smoke New England!

2) Cherry Coke Zero isn't much better than Diet Cherry Coke and they're both brutal.

3) I watched "One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest" for the first time last night. Excellent film.

4) I have softball playoffs at 8 am next week. If we win our first game, the championship game is at 9:15. Then, I have the volleyball seeding tournament at 2 p.m. I'd better do some extra cardio this week.

5) Fresh Market's bacon cheddar burgers and almond pillow cookies are incredible.

6) Where should I go at the end of December: St. Paul, MN or New York City?

7) Being spontaneous is a good quality but not when you're counting on someone having made a decision and then they decide to suddenly change it on you.

8) After hearing Joe Benigno's opening monologue/rant on Friday 8/31, I am reminded how great he is.

9) Two weeks to go until I attend ROH's third PPV taping at the Frontier Fieldhouse.

10) Steve Phillips is a clueless, bitter prick and ESPN needs to fire him today. I said it.

PS Check back later this week for the story of the relish and the beans...

Same old same old

People tell me I'm too negative with my teams. They tell me how I don't have it as bad as a lot of other team's fans do. Those people root for teams who never have success. I root for teams that are usually in the mix but always fall short. My hope goes up and up and the pain and the inevitable fall is that much farther. And that's way more aggravating. Those other fans' expectations don't get as high, they can get numb to the pain. You know what? I want to be numb. I want to know what it's like to be numb to the pain of losing. And I guess most sports fans have one team they live and die with above all others. For me, it's the Mets.

And people tell me how we're the best team in the National League. The talent is remarkable. We have such a great shot to make the World Series. The tell me "Adam, you have to forget about the bad moments, remember the good."

1) I have to forget Mike Scossia' homer off Doc Gooden in the 1988 NLCS that turned that series that we should have won right around.

2) I have to forget shortly after that we traded Lenny Dykstra and Roger McDowell for Juan Samuel and then Mookie Wilson for Jeff Musselman.

3) I have to get over the bust of the early 90's led by Vince Coleman, Eddie Murray, and Bobby Bonilla.

4) I have to forget Jeff Kent couldn't play in New York and he found his Hall of Fame swing right after we traded him for Alvaro Espinoza and the poster child of lost bat speed, Carlos Baerga.

5) I have to forget Darryl Strawberry and Doc Gooden's potentially Hall of Fame careers were sidelined by substance abuse problems.

6) I have to forget that phenom pitchers Jason Isringhausen, Paul Wilson, and Bill Pulsipher all got injured and Generation K turned out to be a dud.

7) I have to forget that in 1998, the year we got Mike Piazza, all we had to do was win one of our last five games to at least force a tie for the wild card and they couldn't win a game and the hated Cubs stole the spot.

8) I have to forget that Kenny Rogers walked Andruw Jones to end our comeback in the NLCS, where we lost to Atlants in 6 games.

9) I have to forget management didn't think it was necessary to re-sign John Olerud after 1999 and let him walk.

10) I have to forget we were so desperate for a shortstop in 2000 we traded Melvin Mora for Mike Bordick, who did nothing after his first Mets at bat.

11) I have to forget the loss to the Yankees in the 2000 Subway World Series when Armando Benitez blew Game 1 and that was the end of the series right there.

12) I have to forget Steve Phillips' free agent raid where we got Roger Cedeno, Mo Vaughn, Jeromy Burnitz, and of course, Robby Alomar, al of whom turned out to be complete busts.

13) I have to get over that we traded a future All star outfielder in Jason Bay for two lousy pitchers, Jason Middlebrook and Steven Reed, neither of whom were Mets for a calendar year.

14) I have to forget the disaster that was Kaz Matsui at second baseman.

15) I have to get over that we actually traded Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano.

16) I have to forget we've had such illustrious number one draft choices like Stanley Jefferson, Alfred Shirley, Kirk Presley, Ryan Jaroncyk, Robert Stratton, Jason Tyner, etc etc.

17) I have to forget after Endy Chavez made that incredible catch in Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS, Jose Valentin struck out with two runners on and one out, and we never scored another run, and blew what would have been a prime opportunity to take the World Series.

Tell me why. And how after games like we saw today. This was as numbing a regular season defeat I have seen in any sport in maybe 6 or 7 years. After losing the first three games to Philly, I knew we were in trouble. And when Philly went up 5-0 on El Duque, our best pitcher, after 3 innings, I could onjly hang my head and sigh. But the Mets rally to tie in the fifth. Lastings Milledge and Carlos Beltran with RBI singles. But then immediately, the Phillies score three runs off the washed up Aaron Sele, all after two outs were recorded in the bottom of the fifth. 8-5. And I'm at work and somehow I managed to stay reserved.

Then the eighth inning. Credit to Marlon Anderson for a big double and Chavez' clutch single. And to Phillies manager Charlie Manual for intentionally walking Jose Reyes, who would score the go ahead run. So it's 10-8 Mets, we get six outs, we at least get one win in this series, the division lead is back up to 4 games and we go to Atlanta.

Then Billy Wagner comes in to get a six out save. He had not pitched in a week, complaining of a dead arm. He strikes out Chase Utley before Burrell hits yet another homer. 10-9. He walks a batter, but gets out of it. The Mets do nothing in the ninth. Then the bottom half. Jayson Werth, who has come out of nowhere, singles. Carlos Ruiz nearly homers, but the ball is caught on the warning track, one out. Tad Iguchi, who they just got from the White Sox, pinch hits. Wagner doesn't even pay attention to the runner and he steals two bases, putting the tying run in scoring position. He singles. Tie game. Wagner has thrown 37 pitches to this point. He had to be removed here and they should have brought in Aaron Heilman. But Willie leaves him in. Rollins gets walked intentionally, Gets a full count on Chase Utley. He singles down the right field line, Iguchi scores. Mets get swept and the lead in the NL East is 2 mere games. An absolute travesty. And after this loss, do you think they're winning in Atlanta tomorrow night? What are you smoking, give me some. I could use it.

Of my core teams, I've had two championships in my lifetime that I can remember (NY Giants in 1990 (when I was a Giants fan) and the Rangers in 1994), the last one coming 13 years ago and that is it! The rest has been cruel teases (92-99 Knicks, 98 Jets, 06 Mets) and garbage (Rangers from 1998-2006, Knicks since 2001). This Mets team is going to straight to the garbage pile.

Let's move onto football and hockey. Because first place or not, this team is more dead than Michael Vick's NFL career.

I'm not in the mood

Except to say this. The only good thing that happened tonight was the Cubs losing. And the rest continues to spiral downward. Atlanta wins, the Mets lose 3-2 and will likely get swept tomorrow and wind up with a 2 game lead. And then it's on to Atlanta, the most vile baseball town in America.

I'll keep this simple.

1) Do the Mets know they're allowed to score more than two runs in a game? In this ballpark against average pitchers?

2) Shawn Green, for what you did in the ninth inning, with a chance to win the game, I hope you burn in hell.

An absolutely brutal night

The only thing that saved this from being as bad a night of baseball as there could ever be was the Braves lost. Barely. Nonetheless, I got to see Chipper Jones hit a game-tying homer in the eighth inning off the immortal Armando Benitez. Boy, did that bring back memories.

Then the disaster at Wrigley. For all these pity party Cub fans, you don't have a clue about baseball. Actually most Cub fans are incredibly delusional anyway. Brewers lead 3-0, Jeff Suppan (a true piece of crap by the way) pitches well. Cubs rally. Bottom of 7, Suppan hits Floyd. In comes Scott Linebrink, one of the best setup men in baseball over the last five years. And the Brewers traded three top prospects to San Diego for this guy. Before you know it, single, double. Tie game. Fly out, then Linebrink makes a ridiculous error and the go ahead run scores. Lee adds a single for good measure 5-3. Of course, the Brewers threaten Two on, two out. Gabe Gross takes Bob Howry to 12 pitches before popping out. And the Cubs are of course on their way to a division title, taking a million bandwagon fans along for the ride.

Then onto THE game. The absolute ageda, misery, torture, and pain that was so bad I felt like a pit bull trained by Michael Vick. When Carlos Delgado by the grace of God hit a two-run homer to give the Mets a 2-0 lead, everything looked great. Little did I know that would be the last time a Met would touch home plate. And Paul LoDuca. Goodbye. He left more guys out in the field then Tiger Woods. Two double plays with at least one runner on base. And I have to watch Jose Reyes refuse to take pitches. He went 0 for 5 tonight and saw 13 pitches! For a leadoff hitter! And he's 0 for 9 in this series.

Then after Tom Glavine pitches an excellent game, we come up in the top of the eighth.
After two strikeouts, Beltran and Alou walk. Delgado comes up against JC Romero and reverts back to from, striking out on a fastball right down the heart of the plate. Then the lovely bullpen comes in the bottom half. Our most reliable reliever, Pedro Feliciano, starts. Jimmy Rollins promptly homers. 2-1. Utley grounds out, all is well. Then the Met killer, Pat Burrell, comes up. He walks and their best power hitter, Ryan Howard flies out. Oh, but not before pinch runner Shane Victorino steals second and moves to third on a horrible throw. Then Aaron Heilman comes in. I like Aaron, but I am losing faith quickly. Aaron Rowand dribbles an inside pitch down the line. And it trickles parallel to the foul line. Fair ball. Victorino scores. Tie game. Greg Dobbs walks, loading the bases, before Heilman gets a ground ball to send the game to the ninth.

We do nothing in two innings against Brett Myers. Meanwhile, Mr. Steroids comes in. Guillermo Mota. Gets a 1-2-3 eighth. Now all year long, even when he has one clean inning, Willie Randolph tends to leave him in the game and then everything goes to hell. So guess what? Mota comes in for a second inning. And I knew right there the game was over. Victorino, the fastest player nobody knows about, singles. Howard homers to left. Game over, Mets lose 4-2, their third straight loss and second straight in this series. The lead in the NL East is down to four games.

I don't want anyone to tell me about we're leading the division or we have all this talent. This team is not good enough to win a playoff series, I can't say it enough. The bullpen stinks, the offense is more up and down than a pogo stick. Bottom line is this: this year has not been fun. Last year was great. This team is just not any fun to watch. It is time for them, and I specifically mean the bullpen, to produce.

You can't make this up

I actually should have posted this a few days ago. This past Tuesday was the final day of three that I worked my entire school alone without my partner who was in Wisconsin celebrating his wedding anniversary. So I had been loaded with a lot of work and pretty happy things would be slowing down a little bit.

So I have 5 minutes to go before I leave and I check out what documents the campus has scanned that I can accept. I get to this one student (whose last name I won't disclose) and and it's labeled FA-other. Usually that means something to do with benefits like social security or military, or maybe a plus loan override. In this case, it was a change of name document. Not something I've seen more than once or twice, but I open it up and it looks all official, "I hereby declare so and so has changed their name..." and all that. Then I looked at the name of the student. They changed their name from Samuel D to Jada D. Yes, you read that right.

On their proof of graduation, it says Samuel on the document but Jada under the profile. But the best is yet to come. Then I go into their student information page and what does it say for their gender? Non-disclosed. That's one decision they made I agree with. Some information we just don't need to know.

On a side note, I'm ready for the rain to take a hike until March.

The review, the pain

Well I had lunch at Ted's Montana Grill yesterday. When I first walked in, I noticed that a lot of the restaurant was made of wood, fake wood, but I like that look. And I expected more of a bar and grill type atmosphere. Instead there was one flat screen TV at the bar and straight to the left of the bar is the kitchen which is completely visible to the customers. I'm not sure if I'm a fan of being able to see the kitchen, but what does it matter. And at every booth, there's a mirror on the wall. I don't know if this was give the restaurant more light with the dark wood or (co-owner) Ted Turner's practical joke, or what. The other thing is the wall at out booth was really high, so I felt a little closed off from the rest of the place.

A few things I noticed on the menu. They have fresh lemonade, but you can only get one free refill. I guess that's a good sign it really is fresh. I was surprised they only offered four appetizers aside from soups and salads. I like that they have blue plate specials, seven rotating items that are only served one day a week. Saturday's bps was barbecue bison short ribs. Tempting, but I passed.

We started with a ramekin of sliced pickles being brought to our table. I'm a pickle fan, so this was a good start. Now it was a cool day outside, so I was in the mood for something hearty and I went with the bison chili. I don't order chili much , so I don't have much to compare it to. But it hit the spot. It had cheese onion, a few jalapenos, beans, and a lot of ground bison.

Then I ordered a Philly bison burger, which has bell peppers, grilled onions, mushrooms, and American cheese. Out of this world. The vegetables were cooked exactly right. The bison tasted like very lean beef. Bison has more iron and about a quarter the fat of beef, so that makes sense. Even after eating the burger I didn't have that heavy feeling in my stomach that I sometimes do after eating a regular burger. And the cheese complemented everything. The kaiser roll was fresh and thick so the juice of the burger didn't make it soggy. I hate it when that happens. And the fries have that fresh taste too. I also tried a few pieces of roasted asparagus, which was seasoned very well.

I'm not a big dessert eater, but for whatever reason, I went for a slice of key lime pie. Now klp's are very hit-or-miss for me. This was as good as it gets. It wasn't too sour as it is at Cheeseburger in Paradise or Pappadeaux. It had a lighter taste, almost like cheesecake. And the graham cracker crust had some bite to it, like it had cinnamon and fresh nutmeg.

All in all, the atmosphere was okay but the food was very enjoyable. It was a very good experience and I would certainly return for some more bison and key lime.

Now onto the Mets. Now they have won five of six games, but have you ever seen a less inspiring such streak? And last night, everything went right. Braves lose, Phillies lose, Mets win. And they lose Damian Easley with a torn ligament in his ankle, a Grade 3 sprain. He was just running to second on a wild pitch and all of a sudden his ankle completely turns and gets jammed into the infield dirt. It was horrifying to watch. This is one of our best hitters of the bench, a guy who has had clutch hits all season, and was batting .280 with ten homers.

So let's see, on the DL are both catchers (LoDuca and Castro), our top setup man (Sanchez), our ace starting pitcher (PEDRO), our fourth outfielder (Endy), our second baseman (Valentin, granted, who's lousy), and our top two outfield prospects (Gomez and Martinez). The more things like this happen, the more I'm thinking this season is headed for aggravation.

By the way, the Cubs may be in first place in their division, but six NL teams have better records. In other words, even if they make playoffs, they're likely not doing much anyway. Let's see what they do when they don't hvae the NL Central to beat up on.

Music pick: "Yard Sale" Sammy Kershaw

The Scooter, bison, CEC

It was sad to hear the news that baseball legend Phil Rizzuto had passed away this morning. Even though I was never a Yankee fan when growing up in New Jersey, it was always fun listening to his broadcasts in the 80's and early 1990's. He was a little zany sometimes, but he was so charming. Whether it was announcing birthdays of half of New York City, talking about his love for cannollis (which I am suddenly in the mood for!), leaving the games after the sixth inning to beat the traffic, or "Ho-llllly Cow" he was a pleasure. Thanks for the memories, Scooter.

Well, I have in mind the next restaurant that I'm going to try: Ted's Montana Grill. Supposedly, they're known for their bison steaks and bison burgers. A friend of mine who went to this place said it was one of the best burgers they've ever had. Now I haven't had much game meat, but what I've had, I've enjoyed. The elk meat I had was okay, but I am a pretty big fan of buffalo meat. I was actually in Whole Foods this weekend and I walked by the meat counter. And I saw bison steaks selling for about 22 bucks a pound. Despite my appetite, that's a bit rich for my blood. So there are four locations in Chicagoland. I'll probably visit in the next two weeks and post my review.

And what a week of work this is going to be. Tomorrow and Thursday, all the schools' DFA's (basically the school's financial aid leaders) will be visiting us. And they will be spending a lot of time with us, watching how we do everything. And from Friday through Tuesday, the guy I split SBI-New York with will be gone on vacation. So I have to make up all his work, plus carry my usual load. Oh, and we just hired four new people into our team with two more coming next month. Let me put this in perspective. When I came on board last January, the team expanded from 6 to 10. Now it's up to about 18. Crazy stuff going on.

The champ is here

Always an adventure running into Greg and Stacie. Man, I wish we were in the same playoff tournament bracket with his team. Would have been fun. Now I have no problem with the man. But then I showed up at Melas Park today for the game. I'm checking out the playoff schedule and he comes up to me. And what is he sporting on his head? An Atlanta Braves visor! Mr. Cardinal Mr. front-running St. Louis Cardinals fan, especially during my heartbreak last year, and now he's a Braves fan? Come on man, are you a Colts fan too? By the way, I hear he's a Anaheim Ducks fan, at least until next June!

Back to the game, our final regular season softball contest. The big showdown I was talking about against Rommel didn't happen last week, due to rain. So they played a game before we played the fifth place team. If both teams had the same result, we would have to play a positioning game against them next week at 8 a.m. And then we could have two more playoff games right after that. So we find out that Rommel lost by seven, leaving the door wide open for us.

Most of our games have been high-scoring, 23-8, 21-20, 16-15, 21-21, etc. Not today. The humidity was crazy and whenever we hit the ball in the air, it just kept hanging. The pitchers threw strikes, the defenses were on top of their game. In the top of the third, they scored a run on a blooper that I couldn't quite haul in. I made one of my trademark dives, but missed it. But I did make 5 other catches in the outfield, including one that I had to really run back on, but I got it and prevented at least one run from scoring.

On offense, well, there was one highlight. Paul, our left handed slugger, whose wife just had a kid last week, drilled his third or fourth homer over the 285 mark in right field. And that was all we'd need. We won 2-1, finished 7-1-1 (after not winning a game two years ago) and have the No. 3 seed out of ten teams in the playoffs.

I don't know who our opponent is yet, but it'll be the No. 6 seed, which is set for the worst team in the B Division. And it's single elimination, so it's time to man up.

What do you do?

You spend the beginning of your life visualizing yourself as an adult. You have this fantasy as a kid, whether it's a passing thought or you ponder on it daily. You'll have this dream job, get married at such and such an age, live in this place and there won't be too many serious problems that come your way. The one day you realize it's not going to happen. Things just never seem to turn out how you plan them.

I got some advice today about something I can do with my future. I'm not about to go into it here, it's not something I would have thought of otherwise. I don't want to abandon my old plans, because I want to be able to utilize my skills or lack thereof or whatever. I mean, some people talk about there's one person for every person in terms of marriage. Does the same go for our work and where we spend our time? I believe God gives everyone different natural gifts and abilities but then we have to develop them. If we don't use those gifts, are we not living our lives the way they were intended to be lived? And in a broader sense, why do we tend to always want the things that we know we'll never be able to get?

And I have had several instances in the last few days where I said things where I not only put my foot in my mouth, I think it was more like my knee joint. I guess I'm just feeling this strange mixture of gratitude for what I have and frustration over what I don't have. And here I am tonight, actually it's 12:45 am, eating El Ranchero chips and spinach artichoke dip and drinking a Sunset Wheat. Mets lose again, what a shock. Now onto a few other things.

1) I finally got to meet John Ortberg, probably my favorite pastor in the world. I got an autographed copy of his new book and though I have a few other books to finish before I get to his, I'm excited to read it.

2) Chris Rock may be crude, but he's funny and intelligent.

3) What in the world is Project 161?

Music pick: "Pour Me Another Tequila" Eddie Rabbitt. (May God rest his soul)

Quite a week of baseball

Well I've started my 26th year on earth. A friend of mine, who's in her 50's, has told me 26 is the best year of most people's lives. Well, we'll find out soon enough.

Since I watched two games live this week, that's what we're talking about in this space. But before that, let me point this out. Just picked up Johnny Cash's Live From Folsom Prison album from the library. It's no wonder this album is so legendary. Honest music from the soul, well played, lyrics that hit home with the prisoners in attendance. It's funny, yet serious; uplifting, yet sobering. Excellent stuff.

Milwaukee was excellent on Thursday, and all in all, it was a 13 hour deal. The 2 hour trip to Madison and following 1.5 hour commute to Milwaukee went smooth. Nef and I caught up on old times. He's give me a bit of an idea on what it's like being a husband and father of two infant girls.

After arriving at Miller Park, I headed straight to the brat stand and got one with that secret sauce and grilled onion. 4 bucks, it's good stuff. And a Honey Weiss to top it off. Nef had some ice cream and as hot as it was, he had the right idea. It was seriously humid in that stadium. Then the game. Brian Lawrence, who hadn't pitched in the majors in a year and a half started on the mound for New York. And he held Milwaukee at bay. Damion Easley nailed an inside-the-park home run and Wright and Reyes both went yard in the Mets' 12-4 win. Took 2.5 hours to get back to Madison. The traffic getting out of there in rush hour was insane. I wound up home around 9 p.m.

Saturday at Wrigley Field was a little different story. I got to the city around 12:45 and headed straight for Merkle's, where there was a Mets fans rally. There must have been 20-25 of us in that tiny pub. We hung out, drank a little, and it was cool meeting some fellow backers of the orange and blue.

I watched batting practice up close and saw a conversation going on near the batting cage. Omar Minaya, Willie Randolph, and Lou Piniella. Since they were teammates on the Yankees in 1997, I'm sure Wilie and Lou discussed "The Bronx is Burning" and how inaccurate ESPN made it. I actually think it's an entertaining series, but I know Willie isn't a big fan of it.

The Mets stranded two runners in the first. John Maine pitched well for two innings but in the third, everything collapsed. With two outs and runners on first and third, Ryan Theriot dribbles a grounder off the mound and towards Jose Reyes. He fields the ball and fires it to first and the umpire calls Theriot safe, allowing the first run to score. It aggravated me because I'm still convinced Theriot was out. But Maine lost it and allowed five more runs. The Cubs shouldn't have had one run, instead they scored all their runs in the 6th. The Mets got two homers from Moises Alou, but never for a minute did I think they were winning.

I thought about going to the rubber match tonight, but I was a little tired and I knew if I went I wouldn't get home until around midnight and I'd be pretty worn down for work tomorrow. And the Mets did win tonight 7-3, taking the season series 5-2. Congrats to Tom Glavine for winning his 300th game tonight. I just couldn't go home for this one. So I actually went back to Rookie's for the first time since last December to watch it.

The Mets have officially befuddled me. In my last post, I ripped them. Since then, they've won 4 of 5 on the road against the Brewers and Cubs. Now comes three games against Atlanta in Shea Stadium. I really don't know what to expect. But we've lost three 3-game series to them this year. It's time for a change.

Not too much coming up this week outside of work.

Can football be far away?

Has a first place team ever been so inept and so uninspiring? After what has transpired, as I have now turned 26 years and 1 day old, I am again one disgusted Mets fan.

It starts with the trade deadline which began today, though the flurry of moves started yesterday. It was one thing when I heard Atlanta was about to land Texas slugger Mark Teixiera. Makes their lineup even more potent. I could deal with that. About 5:30, I'm at the gym getting to the end of my elliptical workout. I'm watching ESPN and I see the Braves are likely to acquire reliever (and former Met) Octavio Dotel from Kansas City for starting pitcher (and a pretty inept one) Kyle Davies. I fell off the machine and said out loud in front of the a lot of people "You have got to be kidding me. This can't be true!"Eighteen hours later, it was. And they add Royce Ring, another former Met pitcher, who we gave up in that ingenious trade along with Heath Bell (who has been lights out for the Padres) for Ben Johnson and Jon Adkins. Ring is in the minors, but I'm sure he'll get some Met lefty out in a big spot this year.

As for the other teams. The Phillies add Kyle Lohse to bolster their rotation, have just gotten back Brett Myers and Tom Gordon, and can barely lose a game right now. The Brewers add Scott Linebrink in the bullpen. The Cubs add Jason Kendall, are going to get Kerry Wood back, and can barely lose a game either. The Padres get Rob Mackowiak and Morgan Ensberg, who will add some life to their lineup. They addressed their needs.

The Mets? No Jeff Conine. No Chad Cordero. No Eric Gagne. Not even a Solomon Torres. We get Luis Castillo to play second base. Good defensive player, good hitter, but Ruben Gotay, Marlon Anderson, and Damion Easley have all been doing a decent job at second base. Their real need was helping this brutal bullpen. And we get nothing to help it. Which means more appearances for guys like Mota, Sele, and who knows who else. Oh, and Carlos Beltran is officially on the DL again and will miss the series against the Brewers, Cubs, and Braves.

And then tonight's game. Remarkable. Tom Glavine going for career win #300. I think SNY had shots of his wife every 3.5 minutes, I was tracking this. Milwaukee takes an early 1-0 lead, but Glavine was amazing on the mound. 6 innings, 2 hits, 1 run, 1 walk. But the Mets show how consistent their offense is. Against Jeff Suppan, the pitcher who kept us out of our rightful spot in last year's World Series, we can't score until the sixth inning. David Wright grounds a single to score Jose Reyes and he would score on a sac fly. Could have taken a 3-1 lead in the next at bat, but on Shawn Green's double, Carlos Delgado gets thrown out at home. Glavine leaves the game leading 2-1 in the seventh.

The the bottom of the 8th inning. Pedro Feliciano, who has been amazing all year, is wearing out quickly. He hits Prince Fielder with a pitch in the back for runners on first and second with one out. Then Willie Randolph brings in Guillermo "The Juice" Mota to pitch and I knew Glavine was not getting the win. Bill Hall nails a ground rule double to tie it. Mota then walks Kevin Mench to load the bases. But to his credit, he comes back to retire the next two hitters and we go to the 9th. With two outs, Reyes gets on and steals second. Castillo, the new acquisition, can come through with a big hit. Flies out to left.

Then the bottom of the 9th. Jorge Sosa, Thursday's probable starter, comes in. Unable to control his pitches, he loads the bases before even recording an out. I figured the game was over. Checked back, saw he got two outs. And then he got Hall to fly out to extend the game to extra innings. The Mets open the tenth with walks to David Wright and Delgado. Moises Alou, the veteran hitter, the guy who will come through in the clutch, grounds into a double play. Easley strikes out, rally killed.

Fast forward to the 11th. Aaron Sele come in to relieve Sosa, who did well. Before I blinked, base hit, base hit. And I'm thinking, it's over, just put me out of my misery. JJ Hardy bunts and Delgado throws a strike to Wright to force the runner at third. I'm still not too confident we the heart of their order up, but we have a chance. Ryan Braun, a red hot rookie comes up. Sele get his to ground into a double play. Onto the 12th.

Castillo, who had done nothing, bunts his way on. Next batter is Wright, who drills a bomb to right field. I thought the ball was going to Lake Michigan. No. Kevin Mench jumps the fence and robs him. Next batter: Delagado. First pitch: double play. Inning over. Prince Fielder leads off for the Brewers. He hits two mammoth shots into the upper deck, but both go foul by a few feet. He still gets a single, but Sele gets the next three out.

In the 13th, the Mets get Moises Alou on second base with one out and then Ramon Castro and Lastings Milledge can't hit the ball out of the infield off the immortal Chris Spurling. Bottom half, Graffanino doubles, Jenkins homers, Mets lose 4-2, what a shock.

Here's the stat I can't get over and this goes back to what I was saying earlier. From the 6th inning on, the Mets pitched only one inning where they got Milwaukee out 1-2-3. That's 1 out of 8. These are the games we would have always found a way to win last year. With the upgrades all these other teams have made, hope is dimming by the day.

Can football be far away?

Heading into the week

I've been eating great today. Tuscan toast, 4 scrambled eggs with cheese, pepperoni pizza, jamba juice, milk and a Carole's oatmeal raisin pecan cookie. Think I'd better do some cardio this week...By the way if you've never seen these cookies, you have got to stop right now and click.

Speaking of which, I've barely gotten to the gym this week thanks to my illness and car trouble. I did 30 minutes of cardio, but hardly any lifting. And amazingly, I felt as loose and comfortable today at swinging the bat as I have all season. Does this mean I should stop training?

Well, we got the win we wanted in softball, 24-9 in a game that really didn't get decided until the 5th inning. I batted 2-for-4, scored once, and made two good catches. But the truth is it really doesn't mean that much. Because it all comes down to next week against Rommel. Whoever wins that game wins the division and is seeded third in the playoffs. And I have to say it is time to man up. Even though we're scoring a lot of runs, I'm not thrilled with our offense. We still swing at too many first pitches and pop balls up. They key to a successful offense in this league is taking pitches, and when you do swing, hitting line drives and grounders and let the other team screw up on defense. And as for our defense, we're still a little uneasy. Until recently, we'd been getting a lot of groundball outs, which we can do with the ability of our infield. Now it's a lot of bloop hits to the outfield and hard grounders that our infielders can't quite reach. And Dan's pitching hasn't quite been the same. To beat that team, whom we owe a receipt for last season, we have to play seven great innings. We'll see what happens.

As I've mentioned, this is a big week of baseball for me with two live games coming up and I'm excited about it and dreading it. Carlos Beltran is now almost certain not to play in either of these series or the really big one which comes the following week against the Braves. Oh the pain. How easy must life be for Cubs fans right now?

Congratulations to Claudio Castagnoli on winning ROH's Race to the Top Tournament last night. And shame on Dad for not going.

Song pick: "Some Broken Never Hearts Never Mend" Don Williams

I am aggravated

OK, I've gone 6 posts without ranting. That streak is over.

1) Got stopped by 4 freight trains today.

2) I seriously hope the person who has been leaving me comments on certain posts is not someone I know. If you're going to leave comments, don't write a bunch of hogwash that is not worh reading and then sign it as Anonymous. That's a cop out.

3) The Jets refuse to get their number one draft pick, Darrelle Revis, signed and in camp. And this Pete Kendall soap opera/drama/fiasco will not go away. Though there is hope for the long term, this season will be miserable with Satan's demons likely buying yet another title led by that scumbag in the blue #12 jersey.

4) And just as the Mets look like they're ready to turn the corner, they hit the wall. Just when Moises Alou comes back, Carlos Beltran goes out. Now Paul LoDuca hurts his hammy. They've lost 3 of their last 4 to pathetic teams. And the future? I am going to see two Mets games this week in Milwaukee and Chicago and I am likely in for a week of pure heartache, ageda, and torture.

Anyway, softball is tomorrow. We need two wins to at least secure second place in the division and a perfect 3-0 will secure the division title. Haven't been able to train much this week due to my illness and car issues, but we'll do what we can.

I'm going to pop in some ROH on the DVD player. I need a break right now.