The Five Aces

The Five Aces

Promise is a funny thing. Not promises — those aren’t real — but promise. Hope. Optimism. It’s a funny thing. It whispers of love and happiness and success. Of clear skies and security and beauty. It’s a tease. But in my experience, promise, more often than not, leads to heartbreak. Spring is supposed to feel […]

MLB: New York Mets at Chicago Cubs

Matt Harvey and the 162-game memory

Matt Harvey gets to start over. Most of us don’t get that chance. We’re stuck with our lives, with our jobs and our apartments and our choices. We talk about a new life, about moving to Spain and opening a bookshop or to Australia and running a bar. But we don’t. We stay in our […]

MLB: New York Mets at Seattle Mariners

The Jay Bruce signing is fine

This is not going to be a hot take, nor is it going to revolutionary analysis. The Jay Bruce signing is fine. Jay Bruce is fine. The deal is slightly below what I expected, but it’s fine. It’s backloaded enough that he probably won’t be on the team in 2020, which is fine. Jay Bruce […]

MLB: New York Yankees at New York Mets

BP Mets Unfiltered: The long con

There’s something about trust and hope and faith and optimism, or maybe there’s something about me, that makes it so hard to find and so easy to lose. Yet for some reason, I keep believing the Mets. I believe them when they tell me they’re going for it, when they’re going to bring in power […]

MLB: New York Mets at Philadelphia Phillies

Game recap September 29: Only two more of these to go

Primer The Mets are bad. The Phillies are worse. Ben Lively is mediocre (bordering on bad). Matt Harvey is worse. Both teams are better served by losing. It’s late season baseball at the bottom of the standings, folks, so get excited. Game Recap In what is probably (hopefully) his last series in a Mets uniform, […]

MLB: Cincinnati Reds at New York Mets

Game recap September 10: Sewald the Tank Engine

There was a moment on Sunday, ever so brief, that I forgot the Mets were supposed to be bad. When Jacob deGrom, who couldn’t locate a pitch early in the game, remembered that he’s an ace and started throwing like one. When Dom Smith tied the game with a single and then set the team ahead on […]

MLB: New York Mets at Houston Astros

Game recap September 3: The season goes on

Eventually, we reach a point where there’s no analysis needed. Honestly, we reached this point weeks ago. The Mets are bad. The offense is bad, the defense is bad, the pitching is bad. The team is bad. Chris Flexen is probably not a major league pitcher, or, at least, not yet. Brandon Nimmo smiles on […]

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Reds series preview August 29-31

A three-game series between the Mets and the Reds is an exercise in futility, two teams with nothing to lose but their last thread of dignity. It’ll be a blast. When and Where Game 1: Tuesday @ 7:10 p.m. EST (TV: SNY; RADIO: 710 WOR, ESPN Deportes) Game 2: Wednesday @ 7:10 p.m. EST (TV: SNY; RADIO: […]

MLB: Game Two-New York Mets at Washington Nationals

Game recap August 27: BOGO

Sunday Mets games are a disaster. Games against the Nationals are a disaster. The Mets, short most of their starting rotation, almost every veteran and their two good outfielders, are a disaster. Yet here we are, on the other side of a split Sunday doubleheader. The offense (huh?) started early in Game 1 as Brandon […]