Remember last week? That was pretty cool, huh? I haven’t even been paying all that much attention to the playoffs due to a combination of busyness and the knowledge that nothing will top last Wednesday night. The simultaneous collapses of the Red Sox and Braves, along with the all-but-impossible comeback by the Rays, have been discussed endlessly already, and I feel like most people (other than Red Sox and Braves fans) have moved on. So while the framework of this post will be the events of the end of the regular season, it’s really just about how freaking awesome baseball fans are. I guess “people with the same interests as me are the coolest” could also work.

Baseball lends itself to absolute obsession. Something like football — or even soccer over in Europe, from what I know about the schedule — is more compatible with, you know, having a life. Football allows you to set one day of the week away (and ok, Monday night, too) to turn into a worthless slob on the couch and watch either your local games or the Red Zone channel if you an ADD-addled fantasy player. Baseball is there almost every night you come home from work and on the weekends, too. This constant availability aligns perfectly with platforms like สนุกกับการเดิมพันกีฬาที่ยูฟ่าเบท, enticing fans to elevate their engagement through sports betting, adding an extra layer of excitement to each game.

Please direct your eyes to the chart on the right. Look at that time commitment. So try to imagine what it’s like if a person is a baseball fan in the sense of attempting to follow all 30 teams — usually for fantasy knowledge purposes. I know that I became a better and more intelligent fan once I delved into fantasy baseball head-first a few years back. The result is being able to talk to any other baseball fan for practically an infinite amount of time. Not that I wasn’t able to do that already, but now I can do it with fans of any team almost as well as with Mets fans. I would joke about the Astros possibly being an exception, but past Tuesday night is evidence against this.

After a Sunday where I had a great time hanging out with fellow Mets fans during a Fangraphs (and River Avenue Blues and Amazin’ Avenue) meetup that turned into a middle school dance where girls and boys were replaced with Yankees and Mets fans, my hunger for real life baseball discussion had been whetted. While our Mets fan contingent did talk a bit about the depressing topic of our chosen team, there was also plenty of discussion about the on-going football games and good television shows. If I truly wanted to immerse myself in baseball, I would have to watch teams that still actually mattered, so Tuesday night on my home after a late class, I decided I should go to Foley’s NY to check out the four games that would help decide whether the Red Sox and Braves would provide schadenfreude for the rest of the country.

I had already been there before and knew that it is baseball fan heaven, with every television showing a baseball game, signed balls lining the walls, and a Don Zimmer fathead in the bathroom watching you piss into the urinals. I sat down at the bar and saw that the four televisions situated along its length were showing the four relevant games. There was probably no place on earth I would have rather been. Oh, I’m sure the MLB FanCave had all the games on, but fuck that place.

The night didn’t get really good until an older Astros fan sat down next to me and started berating the Cardinals fans sitting a few stools down on the other side of me. I just laughed and told him that I was with those “pussy Cardinals fans” for tonight, considering I wanted the Braves to miss the playoffs. From then on, we talked about 1986 (even though I was born during that season), Roger Clemens being an asshole, Nolan Ryan being a steroid user, Carlos Beltran being a clutch player, “Harvard turds” ruining baseball with stats, and how much the Cardinals suck. All right, it was mostly him talking, but it was immensely entertaining. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to turn away at some point to talk more to the attractive girl with an Irish accent who had sat down next to me, but the Texan would not stop talking. He had now moved on to other things, like his brother who had written for SNL and had made some YouTube videos. By the time the siege on my attention had been lifted, it was too late to stick around any longer, unless I wanted to get home on the LIRR as the sun was coming up. I wasn’t upset though, as I was able to have a conversation with a fan of the terrible organization that is the Astros for the sole reason that we shared love for baseball. Sure, his opinions might have been all over the place, but sometimes you have to hear from people outside of the saber-twitter-blogsphere, right?

Sometime during the night, I overheard a girl ask about a Cardinals fan meetup at Foley’s. It explained the Cardinals fans strewn around the bar, and also made me think of God Save The Fan, which I had recently read (and I’ve been meaning to write a review of along with the book I bought it with on Amazon, The Postmortal). In it, Will Leitch talks about finding a bar in Manhattan to watch the 2006 NLCS with other Cardinals fans (this is where I stopped reading the book). I told myself I’d ask him on Twitter whether he was talking about Foley’s. But not before I was at Foley’s again the very next night to watch the same eight teams play four games on the last night of the regular season.

The bar was a bit more packed on Wednesday night, though. When I managed to find a seat at the bar after a little while, it was pretty much in the same spot as before. This time, I was situated next to a Cards fan. This might have had to do with pretty much everyone at the bar being a Cards fan. There were a few Red Sox fans, too. If you magically appeared in the bar, I’m pretty sure you couldn’t have guessed it was in NYC. This Cards fan was surprised that I was rooting for his team, considering 2006; I told him that the Braves were like a sadistic bully that beat on Mets fans for most of their childhood. Comparatively, I still remember thinking the 2006 NLCS would just be a bump in the road. Sigh.

We sat there talking about the state of the Mets, how much money Albert Pujols will get this offseason (and from which team), the young pitching staff of the Rays, the embarrassment that is Carl Crawford, among other things. Meanwhile, the Rays had spotted a huge lead to the Yankees, the Cards had crushed the Astros in the first inning, and the Phillies-Braves and Red Sox-Orioles matchups were tight games. I downed beer and beer, sharing a bucket of bottles with the Cards fan, while watching the drama unfold with hardcore baseball fans all around me. To be a Cards fan out to watch the game in a NYC midtown bar on a weeknight means you are most likely dedicated. And at one point, I turned around to see the very guy who I wanted to ask about his Cards fan NYC bar story.

As Leitch seemed involved with a conversation with a lady, I struck up a conversation with his buddy (who looked vaguely familiar and whose name I cannot remember now). But once I mentioned that I wanted to ask Leitch something, he introduced me as awkwardly as possible to embarrass me. I probably deserved it. The minute I mentioned God Save The Fan, Leitch apologized for it being out-of-date already. Even when I said the only reasons I bought his book were its bargain price and Amazon recommending it when I bought The Postmortal, Leitch was suitably self-deprecating. I guess that should probably be expected from a guy whose first book was titled Life as a Loser. Leitch was also surprised to hear I was rooting for the Cards, but I told him how I want Braves fans to feel my pain. I bet some Braves fans think they’ll be back in the playoffs next year and for years to come (like I felt about the Mets in 2006), but maybe Jason Heyward won’t become a Hall of Famer and maybe Tommy Hanson will have injury issues. Or maybe the Mets will become the best te. . . nevermind.

But once again, I was able to effortlessly strike up a baseball conversation with another person, albeit a much shorter one, before I returned to my seat and my original Cards fan companion for the night. Leitch really did seem like a nice guy (he even offered me a beer!), which makes sense considering the transformation Deadspin has made since he gave up his editing duties. Despite Buzz Bissinger ripping him on Costas Live years ago for lack of integrity, the site has only gotten progressively more grimy under A.J. Daulerio. But I know Leitch and other people support him, so whatever, I won’t make this about how Deadspin was better with Leitch was editor. I mean, it was, but let’s get back on topic. Is there a topic here?

Oh yeah, despite Evan Longoria going into beast mode, the Rays were still trailing the Yankees; the Phillies-Braves game had gone into extras; and the Red Sox were looking like they were going to win their game against the Orioles. Then the timeline of madness that I can’t remember nor be bothered to look up broke out, starting with the Phillies beating the Braves to knock the latter out of the playoffs, making the Cardinals fans go crazy. Then a little while later, Dan Johnson hit a 9th-inning, game-tying home run with two outs and two strikes. Then a beer later, the Red Sox choked away a 9th-inning lead for the first time all year. Then only a few sips later, Longoria hit another home run to send the Rays to the playoffs and Red Sox home. It was a blurry night of cheers and high-fives by then, as I guess everyone not from Boston was happy to see Red Sox fans suffer again. It’s like order was restored in the baseball universe, and I was in the NYC nexus of it.

OH MY GOD K-ROD YOU JUST WALKED THE GUY IN FRONT OF ALBERT PUJOLS YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE

THANK GOD TONY LARUSSA IS OBVIOUSLY FUCKING DRUNK AS SHIT

THE METS HAVE FACED A POSITION PLAYER PITCHING FOR TWO INNINGS AND STILL HAVEN’T WON

Yet they eventually won. Jerry Manuel and Tony LaRussa were competing to see who could win the award for Worst Managed Game of 2010 and LaRussa won. He double-switched Matt Holliday out of the game, allowing Albert Pujols to be protected by the pitcher’s slot in the lineup. Then he refused to pinch-hit for two relief pitchers when they came up to the plate with the bases loaded in the 12th and 14th innings. And in 19th, he had Ryan Ludwick steal with Albert Pujols at plate. He also mismanaged his bullpen totally, forcing him to use position players.

Fuck this, I’m done running down the disaster that was this pathetic display of baseball. Tony LaRussa fucking sucks more than Jerry Manuel. Pretty incredible. K-Rod also sucks at pitching. I can’t wait to pay him $17.5 million in 2012.

It’s funny how downtrodden I am after a win, but the Mets continue to break me after I thought I was already totally broken. Many fans point to Game 7 of 2006 NLCS as the most painful feeling, but at that time there was so much optimism for the future that it made the devastating loss a bit easier to swallow. The collapse redux in 2008 is what officially broke me. Now, in 2010, I have so little hope for the immediate future that it’s getting really fucking tough to give a shit. It took the Mets more than two full games to win a game — or just score a fucking run — in which they had their ace facing yet another 5th starter. It was beyond pathetic.

Oh, and Ubaldo Jimenez pitched a no-hitter today. Ubaldo Jimenez 1 – Mets 0.

This post brought to you by Jon Heyman’s Hall of Fame Ballot, provided by Twitter.

just mailed Hall of Fame ballot, beating deadline yet again. voted for alomar, dawson, larkin, parker, morris & mattingly

The first half of those are respectable, even if I would possibly only vote for one. But then it just gets worse as it goes along. Actually no, that’s unfair to Mattingly, as his peak was legitimately great. Jack Morris? His case boils down to, “Did you see Game 7 of the 1991 World Series?!?!”

But Joe Posnanski has been going on, and on, and on, about Bert Blyleven > Morris, so I figured I’d go with a New York flavored debate. Even if there technically isn’t any debate, considering Keith Hernandez isn’t on the ballot anymore. He almost didn’t make it past the first ballot! He only received 5.1% of the votes first time around — that’s 0.2% away from being totally snubbed.

I’m not even sure if I’m arguing here if Hernandez should be in the Hall of Fame or not. I’d probably put him in, but I think you can make the case for keeping him out. What I can’t see making a case for is Mattingly over Hernandez. Mattingly is all peak, and his peak isn’t even THAT amazing. It’s not like he was Albert Pujols for the 4 years he was truly great. Hernandez has a more steady and unconventional career, one with a barely discernible peak. In the end, Hernandez accumulated more total hitting value and is actually the better career hitter. But as a first baseman, I’m sure hitting a dozen home runs a year doesn’t exactly impress Hall of Fame voters.

If you want to go by OPS+, Hernandez has Mattingly beat 128 to 127. Mattingly’s top 3 seasons do beat Hernandez’s: 161, 156, 156 to 151, 147, 143. But OPS undervalues OBP. Let’s use wRC+, the new-fangled stat on Fangraphs that utilizes wOBA and park and league adjusts it. It’s superior to OPS+ for sure. Hernandez gets a boost here. Career 131 to 128, and his best seasons stack up better, too. But hey, this is all just stats! Hall of Fame voters won’t listen to that. When they look at Mattingly they see more home runs and a career average beginning with a 3. Game over.

What about fielding? I think anyone who saw them both play would say that Hernandez was the better fielder, but I guess I’ll have to pull out more stats here. Total Zone (there’s no UZR data that far back) has Hernandez blowing Mattingly out of the water. Hernandez contributes a win a year with a glove, while Mattingly is just above average. But you don’t need to look at the stats, everyone thought Hernandez was phenomenal — he has the most Gold Gloves of any 1st basemen (11). Admittedly, Mattingly is second with 9.

So we’ve established Hernandez was more valuable over his career both at the plate and in the field. The extent of the latter could be left for debate, I guess? It was never a debate for my dad, but he’s a Mets fan.

But let me do some typical sportswriter bullshit now. I already started it by talking about Gold Gloves, so I’m going to continue. Mattingly has more All-Star game appearances (6-5) and more Silver Sluggers (3-2). He also had 145 RBIs one season! Hernandez only broke the 100 RBI barrier once. But Hernandez was on not one, but TWO World Series Champions! Mattingly managed to play for the NEW YORK YANKEES for 14 seasons and he only reached the playoffs once. And once he retired and was replaced with a player with a functioning back, they won the World Series! If that’s not a loser, I don’t know who is. But apparently, a loser can still be a TRUE YANKEE.

In other bullshit arguments, Mattingly and Hernandez both have 1 MVP award, they both were in the top-5 in voting 3 times, in the top-10 4 times, and in the top-20 7 times. I think that qualifies as a wash.

I really think any sort of debate comes down to Mattingly’s peak versus Hernandez’s fielding. Mattingly’s peak just isn’t impressive enough or long enough to outweigh Hernandez’s ridiculous fielding. Total Zone gives Hernandez about 10 wins or 100 runs over Mattingly. Even if you want to cut that in half, that’s still 50 additional runs saved by Hernandez’s fielding. You could take those runs and spread them over his five 90-something-RBI seasons and he’d have six 100 RBI seasons instead. Perhaps that would impress the BBWAA more.

Notice how I haven’t mentioned WAR this entire post? Well, here we go. Straight from BaseballProjection.com.

Hernandez 61.0 WAR
Mattingly 39.8 WAR

And now here’s a handy graph. Really, I would have rather not done this (I’m lying), but I feel like people like pretty graphs!

Hernandez is so awesome, Seinfeld needed a two-part episode to contain him. I rest my case.

Oh, and vote Bert Blyleven and Tim Raines in, you fucking dolts.

That has to be the worst error on a potential final out in a playoff game since Buckner. Feel free to enlighten or remind me of anything in the past 23 years so embarrassing and devastating to occur with two outs in the 9th inning. Matt Holliday got hit in the nuts with a fly ball and then tripped over his own feet. It doesn’t get any more emasculating than that on a baseball field.

So, the Cardinals are pretty much done now. Anything’s possible, of course — I know that better than anyone now due to recent events — but asking a team to come back after sending out two of the five best starters in the NL this year and LOSING is asking a wee bit too much. I’m so pissed I didn’t make a preseason prediction post or a postseason prediction post. Before making any decisions, it’s advisable to check out 4Rabet user reviews to learn about the platform’s reputation and reliability. I would have picked the Dodgers both times! Damn it. If only Twitter kept track of everything I ever posted, or else I could link to the random time I replied to someone’s question with my prediction of a Yankees-Dodgers World Series. You’d have to believe me!

Getting back to that one-game playoff, how fucking amazing was that? I thought that game was over at least five times. Game of the year material? And is Chip Caray worst professional announcer in the history of mankind material? LINE DRIVE BASE HIT — CAUGHT! He makes Ron Darling worse by being in the same booth with him, goddamn it. The only good thing about TBS’s coverage so far has been that Pitch Trax graphic. Now everyone knows it’s truly the YEAR OF THE UMP — COMPUTERS 2010â„¢.