For New York- It's wait till Next Year

A bittersweet ending for the Bronx faithful and a bitter bitter ending for the Flushing followers.

The Yankees finished their first season since 1994 out of the Postseason, but it ended on a joyful note for the one most written off to start the season and the one who ended the season most successfully, Mike "Moose" Mussina. In what may have been his ticket punch into Cooperstown, Moose went six strong shutout innings and needed a 4 out save for what might have been the greatest regular season for the Greatest Closer of All Time, Mariano Rivera, to become the oldest pitcher in baseball history to win 20 games for his first time (at the age of 39).
To start the season, Moose was written off as the guy who would be replaced by Joba in the rotation once he was ready to step into that role. All Moose did was win 20 games, throw 200+ innings for the first time in 6 years and end up with a 3.37 ERA, his lowest ERA since 2001, his first as a Yankee. While Moose never won a Championship as a Yankee, he was actually once of the few pitchers who lived up to his big contract as he compiled a 123-71 record in his 8 years as a Yankee. While Moose wasn't a great postseason pitcher he was always one of the primary and consistent performers who got them there. Where he will be next season still remains a question, but Moose gave 8 very good years to the Yankees.
The Yankees showed some optimism going into 2009 as Phil Hughes had 2 excellent starts to end the season, they might have found the bridge to Mariano in Phil Coke, who in his short stint this season showed incredible poise and promise with a .61 ERA in 14 IP with 14 K's. Cano found his hitting stroke late in the season, Wang looks to be fully recovered from his season ending injury and the coffers are way open to sign a CC or a Burnett in the offseason.

The same cant be said of the mess that ended in Queens yesterday. In 2007 like fashion the Mets were finished off by the lowly Marlins and go into another offseason wondering if things will or can change with this current squad. The Wright, Reyes, Beltran and Delgado led Mets once again failed to produce any offense down the stretch and wasted two of the greatest pitching performances in Mets history on the final Saturday of the season (Santana's unreal performance this Saturday and Maine's equally great performance last year).
The bullpen let them down, but no more so than it's stars, sans Beltran who has proven he is one of the great clutch players in the game today. Wright finished in the .240's with runners in scoring position, Reyes batted .243 this Sept after a season well over .300 to that point, and as great as Delgado had been down the stretch he finished 2 for his last 15 with 1 RBI his last 4 games of the season, a most uninspiring time for a slump.
The Mets have a lot to build on with a good core of players, including Beltran, Wright and Reyes. Santana has been even better than advertised if that's even possible. They will undoubtedly shell out MAJOR buckos for K-Rod. They will have the excitement of a new stadium but they will also have the giant monkey on their back called September Collapse. With that being said, I loved the job Manuel did this season. He held it together and scraped together and a chance going into the final game with perhaps the worst bullpen in major league history that almost made a postseason. For crying out loud, Louis Ayala, a man cut by the Washington Nationals was their closer! I think the Mets ownership should think long and hard before they extend Minaya to a long term deal. He left a lot of gaping holes this season and for all the credit he gets for locking up Santana when Cashman and Theo couldn't, he needs to take the blame for this collapse. He deserves another year, just not four

A most fitting end

On the night the Yankees were officially eliminated from Postseason play for the first time in 13 years, the man that could have gotten them there might have just pitched the crosstown rival Mets back into it.
It was only a few short months ago that Brian Cashman, Yankees GM, decided the future lied with Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy and Jose Tabata and not with whom was known around the league as the best pitcher in the game, Johan Santana.
Not to be a Monday Morning Quarterback, the People's Champ officially liked this aproach back in the winter because of a few reasons:

• The Yankees needed to develop their own pitchers and Hughes and Kennedy showed exceptional poise and promise in their brief 2007 debuts.
• Santana for all his greatness had a declining strkieout rate, WHIP and ERA were increasing ever so slightly over the last few seasons and he had a very uncharactaristically bad 2nd half in 2007 (5-7 4.04 ERA). Plus..........
• He would command a new contract that the Mets eventually paid $137.5M for 6 years, a lot of money and a lot of years to tie up in a pitcher. Pitchers, much more than hitters tend to not live up to their big and longterm contracts (some notables, Mike Hampton, Zito, Kevin Brown, Carl Pavano and even the Mets own Pedro Martinex who did well his first year and not so well since). With that being said, usually the greats do live up to the signings, such as Maddox with the Braves and to a large extent Mussina with the Yanks). With the hope of Andy Pettitte and his 1 year deal and figuring Andy would maybe get 2 less wins than Johan, it wasn't worth the gamble.
• The Yanks had a good core of young pitchers (at least we thought) in Wang, Joba, Hughes and Kennedy, with Pettitte to round out the core (notice Mussina and his current 19 wins and counting were an afterthought?).

Well, we now know Hughes has spent most of the season on the DL and when healthy has been less than impressive (although he has shown some return to his promise form recently). Kennedy was putrid at the Major League level, Joba was brilliant but also fell to injury and Wang missed most of the year with an injury.
Santana? All he's done is pitch 16 STRAIGHT GAMES WITHOUT A LOSS in a pennant race. He leads the NL with a 2.64 ERA. He broke a 3 games losing streak for the reeling Mets last night in convincing fashion going 8 strong ininng and a career high 125 pitches. That's what an ace is. He gives his team a chance to win every game he goes. While Brandon Webb has 6 more w's and Todd Lincecum has equal if not better overall stats, you can make a very good case for Santana to be this years NL CY Young winner.
Where this eventually will lead is a postseason birth for the Mets, an eyebrow raising extension for Omar Minaya and a free agent spending spree on pitchers not in Santana's class for the Yankees (Sabathia and Burnett are the two most mentioned names).

The lesson: when you can lock up the best pitcher in baseball in his prime, a left hander no less, for 3 propects you must do it. Now, if the rumors were true and the Yanks would have had to have given up Hughes, Wang or Cano and Melky, plus Tabata, that would have been too much for the Yanks to pull the trigger. Either way, if Santana would have been in the Bronx this season, the Yanks would be getting ready for the White Sox and the Mets would have had their second straight most disappointing September and offseason. Amazing how one great pitcher reverses that.

TPC's Random Thoughts- Fans questions answered and why we need a hot First Lady

On my Fantasy Football Message Board the Ducks posted the following:
As a loyal People's Blog follower, the people want to know many timely things that the People's champ simply ain't providing: --TPC's endorsements. Sure, Palin sounds like TPC (real name), but we want to here more. How are we to vote, TPC, if we know not who our leader is endorsing.
--The bank crisis, the economy, gas prices, and yes, the war on terror. Where are we headed.
--The last game at Yankee stadium. The people want to hear TPC's thoughts...and his memories there. --The truth to the rumors that TPC and the Ducks will be forming a sports talk radio show since the loss of mike and chris. TPC, you can be the smart, arrogant one. I'll be the raving know-nothing lunatic. perfect no?

To the answers and much (or maybe not so much more).

1. While TPC won't get to heavily involved in politics for this site, TPC heavily endorses the McCain-Palin ticket. While TPC wouldn't want to be married to Sarah (she seems even tougher than The People's Lovely Bride) he does endorse her leadership skills and her ability to mix it up. Great choice by what would have been a dead Republican ticket without her.
The fact that she is a somewhat attractive 40+ year old woman in a very unattractive business might have something to do with it. I mean, before Palin, Monica Lewinsky was it. At least Palin brings the game back to respectability.
2. On that note, why can't we get a first lady like Carla Bruni? Now, I'll give France the fries, some pastries and I'll even throw in the toast, but no way should they have a hotter First Lady than the good ole U.S. of A. I think we need to institute a trophy wife policy. Seriously, if that old dude can land Anna Nicole Smith just because he was a billionaire, you don't think we can find someone much hotter who wants to be with the Most Powerful Man in the World? I think this would be the Reality Show of all Reality Shows. The Bachelor on Steroids and HGH while doing shots of Tequila. You throw in some Survivor type challenges, Howie Mandel and his banker and folks, we have "The Next First lady". Hold on while I call Marc Burnett.
3. The bank crisis is a disaster. The Fed is taking some good steps and some bad steps (particularly the current halt on shorting- takes all the checks and balances out of the market and limits hedging). Get Bloomberg in there to fix it. We need a business man not a politician. And F the gas prices. I like Howard Sterns old idea. Drop a bunch of nukes in the Middle East (sans Israel) and put up a flag and call it the United States of America II. Free gas for everyone!
4. TPC's Yankee Stadium memories will be part of an all new piece.
5. TPC is ready to join forces with the Ducks and put Francessa where he belongs. Retirement.
6. If you can't find any other reason but his name is BARACK OBAMA (yes, that might be labeling a whole culture but last I checked we are in a war with Islamic Fundamentalists). Now, he might be a great man and a great potential leader (although most evidence points to the contrary) personally, I'm not willing to find out. The risk is too great.

The People's Champ- Week 3 NFL thoughts

The Giants didn't play great. They actually didn't even play that well at all. However, when time came to put up or shut up, Eli led the team on two relatively easy scoring drives. For those scoring at home, Eli is finally the franchise QB the Giants hoped he would be when he was taken #1 overall in 2004.
Speaking of 2004 let's do a quick draft review.
FIrst rounders included Manning, Rivers (who is entering stud city himself), Larry Fitzgerald (stud-check), the late Sean Taylor who was great, Winslow, Roy Williams, DeAngelo Hall, Big Ben,. Jonathan Vilma, Lee Evans, Keneche Udeze, Stephen Jackson, Chris Perry and Ben Watson. A great 1st round. Julius Jones, Bob Sanders went in round 2. Cotchery in round 4, Gibril Wilson and Michael Turner in 5. It goes on. Just a great all around draft.
Michael Turner through three games. 366 yards and 5 TD's, both leading the NFL.
Matt Cassel another awful game. He has the bye this week so maybe they get to work on some things, but like I said when Brady went down. There's a reason why he didn't start a game since H.S.
Ronnie Brown had a great game Sunday. He will not come close to repeating that performance again this year.
Desperate supposed contenders who started 0-2 came through this week. San Diego destroyed the J-E-T-S last night. The S.D. offense looks great as Rivers is really coming into his own and LT is still LT. The defense without Merriman looks average at best.
The Jags squeeked out a great win against a Colts team that looks absolutely lost. Their run defense is back to their Pre-Super Bowl winning days (meaning putrid) and Manning and teh offense looks off.
The Browns looked awful again and there are talks in Cleveland that Brady Quinn is getting ready to start. Don't say I didn't warn you about Derek Anderson.
The Broncos offense continues to look scary with Cutler and Marshall leading the way. If Shanahan would just let Young carry the load they would be much better off. With that said, the Broncos D is very shaky.
Buffalo continues to win as Edwards and Lynch are playing very well.
Pitt got surprisingly manhandled by Philly as Big Ben is still hurting. Westbrook got banged up and I wouldn't be in the least surprised to see this continue all season.
Tennesse's D is for real and if Collins can give them anything, they are the favorites to win the AFC. They run the ball well, which will help them control the clock against the other AFC squads, who are all offense, no D, besides Pitt.
Dallas continues to show the most well rounded offensive game in the league. Romo still scares me in a big spot and I don't like the Dallas D. With tha being said, the NFC EAST is So far and away the best division in Football this year, it's scary. I don't see another NFC team even competing with the Giants, Dallas or Philly. Minny could give the Cowboys a run with their great running game and good D, but I don't see Ferotte beating any of those 3 teams in January.
Good to see Larry Johnson get some work. He had a very nice game.
Glad to see Herm Edwards continue to destroy the KC franchise. The Rams, KC and Detroit are far and away the worst teams in the NFL. There isn't even a close 4th.
Miami and Cincy showed some life, Cincy in a loss, but Palmer and TJ looked good and Chris perry is quietly having a nice start to the season.
Can someone locate Santonio Holmes and Braylon Edwards for me? Thank you very much.
I know Tenn D is looking great and Andre Johnson dropped two TD's, but Matt Schaub has to be better than this.
Oakland is playing with a lot of heart for their on the verge to be fired Coach Kiffin. Davis should just leave him be and let him develop that young squad.
Continues to be a great season for Rookie Backs- McFadden, Slaton, Chris Johnson, Forte all have been off to good starts and all are exciting to watch.

Quick thoughts- Ryder Cup, Yankee Stadium Farewell and more

Just some quick thoughts until I have to time to give the following it's proper due:

1. Yankee Stadium Farewell- No one, AND THE ROCK MEANS NO ONE, does that type of celebration (whether it's the farewell, retiring someone's number, ring ceremony, etc) better than the New York Yankees. yes, it's a lot easier when you have that type of tradition to go to. Still, it's nice to see it done properly.
2. ESPN did a very good job on it's pre game show. Good thing FOX and Joe Buck weren't involved.
3. The Yankee faithful gave Bernie Williams the biggest applaue of the night on Bernie's first return to the Stadium since his "retirement". One of the classiests and greatest Yankees of all time.
4. Paul O'Neil is just plain out Cool.
5. I think the most telling moment of the night was the complete and utter ommission of Roger Clemens from the evening. Not one mention of him. Not one video moment of him. Nothing. And good for the Yankees for doing it that way. F him. The lying bastard deserves it.
6. Great job by the Tiger less U.S. team that defeated the Euro's in the Ryder Cup and finally bringing it home, for the first time since '79. Mahan, Kim, and Boo really shined bright for the U.S.
7. Great job by Azinger for his picks and his leadership.
8. Harrington, Westwood and Sergio all failed to show up for the Euro's.
9. After watching Mahan and Kim, it says here, they will win many majors in the future. Both have incredible talent and the game to win majors. I wouldnt be surprised to see a combined 5 between them.
10. What the hell happened in Flushing? Can this happen again? I thought with the great job of Manuel and having Sanatan and Pelfrey on the mound two of the 5 days they would prevent a collapse. As great a job as they are doing, their bullpen is miserable and Reyes is showing two years in a row he doesnt have the stomach for September baseball. Not many Jeter comparisons nowadays.
11. It was great watching Jim Furyk clinch it for the U.S. He's a great guy, a good role model and the only Major Championship winner that ever had the honor of playing a round with The Peoples Champ.