Oy Vey!

Cabbie's Prescription For Mets' Fans

My suggestion to all Mets' fans is to take off tomorrow and sleep the day away. If you're musically inclined, a little blues harp under the light of the moon would probably being soothing to the soul. And if you really find yourself unable to function, I would suggest a swift and sudden tirade. Throw a chair, break a glass, pick up your dog's droppings with a Tommy Glavine card. The long and short of it is to take the day and let yourself express the agony of the worst September collapse in New York baseball history!

If you follow my advice I promise you'll feel less worse on Tuesday. And hopefully by Wednesday you'll feel well enough to watch what should be one heckuva postseason.

A Couple Of Playoff Notes For Non-Mets' Fans

If you're a Philly-fanatic, you've got to be ecstatic that the Padres and Rockies are playing a one game playoff tomorrow (Jake Peavy vs Josh Fogg). Not only will the winner only have one day of rest before they travel to Philly, but if the Padres win, the Phillies will only have to face Jake Peavy ONCE! That's a huge advantage for Philadelphia.

Padres' fans might need to coalesce with Mets' fans by the end of the week. Besides blowing a nice wild card lead over the Rockies over the past two weeks, they have to travel to Colorado tomorrow with the most injury ravaged team that's still alive for the playoffs. Their have been plenty of signs in the past couple of weeks that karma might not be on their side.

First, Mike Cameron gets a viral infection and misses a bunch of games. When he finally returns last Sunday, he tears a ligament in his thumb. His availability for the playoffs is now in doubt. Next, they lose their best hitter, Milton Bradley, to a torn ACL when Bud Black, the Pads manager, throws a ballistic Bradley to the ground while trying to prevent Bradley from ripping the first base umpire's head off. If those two major injuries weren't enough to make Pads' fans doubt their team's destiny, the Rockies win 13 of their final 14 games, including a three game sweep of the Padres in San Diego.

Mr Padre's Son Beats Padres---Ouch!

But, the omen of all omens that would really make me shutter if I were a Pads' fan happened in the bottom of the ninth on Saturday. With Corey Hart on second and the Pads one out away from clinching a playoff berth, all-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman faced off against Tony Gwynn Jr., the son of the greatest Padre ever. Hoffman tossed eight straight changeups at Gwynn Jr. before Gwynn hooked one into the rightfield corner for a game tying triple. As karma would have it, the Pads would go on to lose the game a couple of innings later.

AL Playoff Notes

Angels' fans have to be delighted with how Kelvim Escobar pitched on Saturday. He looks good to go for Game 2 of the ALDS.

Since the Red Sox won home field advantage, they will get an extra day off during their series with the Halos. That means they can use just three starters if they want should the series go five games. Both Josh Beckett and Daisuke Matsuzaka would be available to pitch twice on normal rest.

The Yankees on the other hand will now have to use four starters should their series go four games. That leaves Joe Torre with a big decision. Does he start veteran Mike Mussina if there's a Game 4 or young phenom Philip Hughes? Who ever doesn't get the Game 4 start would be up early in the bullpen for Game 3 in case Roger Clemens' bum hammy is still giving him problems next Sunday.

The postseason starts Wednesday, so get your rally caps ready fans, the first round match-ups look to be the most competitive they've been in quite a while.

Wed. October 3rd

Angels @ Red Sox (John Lackey vs Josh Beckett)

Cubs @ Diamondbacks (Carlos Zambrano vs Brandon Webb)

Padres or Rockies @ Phillies (Greg Maddux or Jeff Francis vs Cole Hamels)

Thurs. October 4th

Yankees @ Indians (Chien Ming Wang vs C.C. Sabathia)