Careful What You Wish For...

Be careful what you wish for.Remember that old saying?Ever since Beltran took a called third strike In '06 ,sealing a Mets World Series elimination ,I've been In a kind of numb,sleep walk.I had gotten so used to failure  ,with all the front office legal issues that came after,ultimately handcuffing any and all future attempts at making any significant signings.The disbanding of  one of my all time favorite Mets team would ensue with the trade of Beltran and the failed attempt at resigning Jose Reyes.After that It was kind of like,whatever.A Mets World Series Is something I've wished for, more so after those past failure's because of how close we got.Well,now we're In the World Series,and I'm literally sick to my stomach because of It.I'm not sure how I will react to us losing .It's this defeatist little voice inside my head saying "Well,you asked to be In the World Series,now what?"It's not that I don't have faith In my team,because even since the beginning of the playoffs,I knew our young pitchers would show up and give 100 plus percent effort.It's just that,I really don't want to loose,but If we do I'm going to have  to figure out a way to cope with  It.I can't walk around Zombified again like In '06.I won't be able to jump off of  my roof because It's not very high and I'd probably just suffer a broken ankle from the fall,subsequently landing me in a hospital bed right next to a K.C. fan who also broke his ankle because of  excessive celebrating.To say that I'm a little neurotic would be an understatement.I'm actually beyond being very neurotic.Hyper neurotic maybe,If that  term even exists.Or maybe I'm just hyper.IDK.One thing's for sure.I'll be watching the series with my dad.Staunch Met fan #1.Now I can scratch "Watch Mets World Series With Dad.." off my bucket list.And then hopefully,I'll also be able to put a line through "Watch The Mets Win The World Series With Dad!".Worst comes to worst,I can  always scratch off "Cry Like A Little Girl With Dad After Mets Lose World Series.."

Congrats To My Metsies!

Please forgive my lack of posts,for I have been In a bit of a trance due to this years  Mets epic playoff run. I'm not about to go off on some long prophetic rant about how I knew the Mets would make It Into the World Series because frankly, I knew that It could have gone either way.I liked our chances and knew that our pitching would show up,I just wasn't sure about our offense.I certainly wouldn't have foreseen the big blue  machine that was Daniel Murphy throughout pretty much the entire playoffs.To me,Murph was  the epitome of a player making the most out of an opportunity.He knew the size and importance of the stage he was on ,and  put on one hell of a show.The Mets can be streaky.We can go a week without hitting the ball,and then turn around and rake for two weeks.Our stretch of  timely hitting couldn't have come at a better time.I don't have cable,so I was forced to watch every game on MLB's Gameday,pitch by pitch.It really wasn't so bad.In fact It was cool to see every pitch location ,determining what calls the umps were getting wrong.At some points In the game,I felt like Mets pitching was being squeezed a bit,but no use In crying over spilled milk.We're advancing and that's all that matters right now.I'm still In shock of It all but should be back to normal as the excitement wears down.The Dodgers made things interesting and Justin Turner was a thorn In our side throughout.Adrian Gonzalez wasn't the force that I expected him to be,which In hindsight was  a good thing. The Cubs definitely had presence.Every guy In that lineup could hurt you in various ways.From game 1 all the way to 4 ,I think I came up for air once.I did ,however, expect more out of them,and I don't think I'm alone In that sentiment.I know they'll be back with a vengeance next year.In the meantime,looks like I'll be keeping tabs on the Jays and Royals to see who we get to match up against.

Honorable Mentions-

Bartolo Colon

Addison Reed

Michael Cuddyer

Kelly Johnson

John Niese

Let The Games Begin!

The playoffs are upon us ,people,and I'm both  excited and nervous going into our match up against the Dodgers.I'm still sort of shocked that the Mets took the division this year and I'm having a hard time dealing with the emotion of It all.When your team's more than 5 years removed from a pennant race,you tend to forget how to act ,and playoff etiquette  takes a back seat to girly giddiness. I don't have cable T.V. so I've watched most of this years games on my phone/cpu,and I think I'm going to keep It that way.It seemed like every time I went over to someones house to catch a Met game on  T.V. ,they'd lose.I certainly don't want want to jinx them In the play offs so maybe I'll catch one game live on the tube but the rest will be from my phone or computer on MLB's Game day pitch-by-pitch feature.One thing I've noticed  about this years play offs Is the sheer number of blue that will be taking the field  this October. Mets,Dodgers,Cubs,Blue jays,Rangers and Royals all sport one shade of blue or another.The orangy Astros on the other hand seem to fit In nicely with the month of October .



ASTROS                                                                                    YANKEES

         .                    

CUBS

                                        PIRATES
     

                                                                                                       BLUE JAYS

RANGERS




















METS                                                                     DODGERS 

                

ROYALS

CARDINALS

This morning,while waiting for my daughters school bus to arrive,I took some time to doodle a bit.I tend to do this whenever I'm excited about something and  can't seem to get It off my mind. As a kid I'd draw pictures of action figures I had just gotten and couldn't wait to get home to on the sides of my dittos work sheets and on the backs of my tests.That's how I felt this morning,like a kid again,anticipating  pitch numero uno of the 2015 Postseason!

Singles Only

Cherry picking cards off of Ebay can be risky.As demanding as It may seem ,I find that If a seller has a  quantity of the card your purchasing,a polite note to sender may get you the better looking one of the bunch. I've had sellers send me off -centered singles or cards with noticeably bad corners.I can expect that from an older card.Also,when a seller states that a card Is new ,just out of pack ,It's not saying much.Even the newer stuff can sometimes come right out of a pack with minor factory defects.These are the newest additions to my collection and for the most part,all cards came In decent shape.The Rizzo has one corner that's kind of off but I'm not going to let It bug me.The good centering off sets that.It's not like I'm ever going to have them graded so ,no biggie.

I've been after this Correa for the longest .I was  finally able to find one for a decent price as most of his stuff seems to be going up in value as of late. It's a pedestrian paper  Bowman Prospects ,but I believe It's a first year card.

I didn't realize how bad ass Rizzo was until I decided to look at the back of his baseball card.The Cubs epic playoff run also has alot to do with It.I might still go after his first year Bowman that has him In a Red Sox uni.

I recently got rid of a couple Jeter rookies,a move I now regret. Looks like I'll be working my way ,slowly back to acquiring them again ,but In the meantime a third year card will do.I love picking up earlier  cards of established stars  that have "Future Star" or  some kind of predictive header on them because It makes me say to myself  "You know what,they were right!".So many undeserving players got the "Future Star "label put on their cards and never amounted to much In the big leagues.Remember Mike Harkey?