MLC x GTB: Vol. 1, Episode 6

Shitty-Ass Red Sox Update

Record: 75-75

4.5 GB AL Wild Card, 6th place in Wild Card race

When we commenced this exercise in fandom, futility, and friendship, the Red Sox stood at 65-57, a mere 2.5 games out of the postseason picture. Since then, the math ain't been kind. 10-18 during the season's stand up and be counted phase is suboptimal. Redolent of the 2011 Fried Chicken and Beer Kerfuffle when the Sox went belly up, finishing the campaign on a 5-16 run to miss the playoffs after leading the AL East for 72 days during the season. As in, they both stink.

So were left effectively playing out the string and having fun with great baseball terminology. We talked about TOOTBLAN in a previous episode. Today we bring you ducksnorts, seeing-eye singles, bloops, and gorks. Cedanne Rafaella gave us the former to plate a couple of runs in a win over Baltimore early last week before the Sox shit the bed in the Bronx. The letter three came during a lively text conversation between me, Whit, and Marls as the Sox and Mets were part of an epically poor series of results last Tuesday.

On that evening, we were following six games with outcomes that impacted the race for the postseason. the teams we were rooting for all...ALL...lost, by a combined score of 49-10. I'm told by reliable sources that such a combination is scientifically impossible, and as such have filed a protest with CERN.

Those gorks led us to one of the great baseball movie quotes of all time, from likely the greatest baseball movie ever made:

“You know what the difference between hitting .250 and .300 is? It’s 25 hits. Twenty-five hits in 500 at-bats is 50 points, OK? There’s six months in a season. That’s about 25 weeks. That means if you get just one extra flare a week, just one, a gork, a ground ball — a ground ball with eyes! — you get a dying quail, just one more dying quail a week and you’re in Yankee Stadium. You still don’t know what I’m talking about, do you?”

And so, if I get nothing else out of this godforsaken exercise, I get to talk ball with my pals. And that's worth something.

This Week in Mets (T.W.I.M. Notes)

81-68
9 GB NL East, Tied for Last NL Wild Card

Well, the Mets Machine has sputtered a bit in the past week.  Here are quick hits, something the Mets haven't had enough of lately.

3-3 since last update:

1. Losable win vs Jays, a real gift thanks to 8th inning progression of walk / infield single & error / walk / wild pitch / passed ball
2. Ugly loss vs Jays, former Met Chris Bassitt confounding our guys
3. Losable win vs. Jays, Mets were no-hit through 8 innings, then Lindor homered to open the 9th* and the Mets poured it on for 5 more
4. Lovely win vs. Phils, an 11-3 romp with Earl Weaver's principles ("pitching, defense, and the three-run homer") on full display... Alvarez, Nimmo, and Bader each hit 3-run bombs
5. Winnable loss vs. Phils, blew a 4-run lead, bullpen was leaky, Mets' bats were 2-14 to close the game out
6. Winnable loss vs. Phils, blew a 1-run lead in the last pair of frames and the Phillies walked off with a Diaz loss

*I was watching the game and text-chatting with rob and Marls. Ending the no-hit bid looked like this:

Fun stuff. 

The Metropolitans were pretty close to a disastrous 1-5 road trip that would mean a steeper uphill battle down the stretch. We'll take 3-3 as they come home for 7 games.

The truth is that as middling as the past week was in outcomes, when it comes to scratching out wins in late innings against the odds, the Metmen are faring pretty nicely. Sometimes lucky, some times skilled. Let's be both.

Tonight is the first of 3 must-win games against the Washington Nationals. The Nats have the inverse record of the Mets, with 81 losses and 81 more runs allowed than scored. They're not great. But they've won six of the past nine and three in a row. 

They are historically flies in the Mets' ointment. Gnats, if you will. 

With 4 daunting games against the The Phightins coming up next weekend, the Mets cannot afford to lose even one of these three games. 

LFGM. Here's some closing theme music and some images of bygone years, players, and plays to inspire all of us, especially the boys in royal blue and blaze orange.