Weekly Picks

I've been in this weird run lately where I've been winning or losing all my 1pm games, and then I do the opposite in the later games. Had a good start, then lost 3 in a row. Maybe having too much confidence in the Jets. Well if you think I have too much confidence in the Jets...keep reading.

NEW ENGLAND -13 1/2 washington
I hate to do this. I really do. But I think the Patriots are just pounding people and I think the Redskins are really that bad, and likely to get pounded. The only problem with doing this, is there is probably a good chance of double misery, the Redskins losing, but by less than 13 and a half.

PITTSBURGH -4 1/2 oakland
Maybe the Raiders really are as good as everyone says. But I don't think so, not yet. I think the Steelers with Roethlisberger will score enough to beat the Raiders.

miami +3 BUFFALO
Apparently all the excitement about Dan Campbell wore off thanks to one ass-whupping from the Patriots. But the Bills aren't the Patriots and the Dolphins do seem to be much improved.

SAN DIEGO -4 chicago
I know both of these teams are horrible underachievers, and even though the Chargers lost last week, they hung tough and won against-the-spread. I expect Philip Rivers to put a lot of points on the board.

BEST BET
NEW YORK JETS -7 1/2 jacksonville
Ok, so I blew it with the Jets last week. But it's possible my thesis is still correct: The Jets are a decent team with a strong running game. But they need Ryan Fitzpatrick. Once he got hurt and Geno Smith came in I knew my hopes were done for. The Jags are not a good team and Jets should pound them easily.

Last week: 2-3 (1 point)
Season: 23-17 (23 points)
Best Bets: 0-1 (4-4)
Home Favorites: 0-0 (8-5)
Home Underdogs: 0-0 (1-1)
Road Favorites: 1-3 (10-10)
Road Underdogs: 1-0 (4-1)

Not Judging But...

I don't know what Modigliani was into, but it looks like this chick has an Adam's apple.

This painting, called "Paulette Jourdain", sold for $42.8m at auction.

Song of the Week

"Planes" - Jeremih featuring J. Cole
I like this song but hate J. Cole's dumb verse. Would much prefer it as a straight R&B jam./br>/br>

My Favorite Posts

Can you believe it has been ten years since I started the Poop? I'm still enjoying doing it, though with much less frequency. I've cut back on how often I post of course, but I hope I still give you reason to come back and visit at least once a week.
I don't post as much current events because by the time I get around to doing it, they're no longer current.
But it's been a great way to catalog my life experiences and pictures, and stay in touch and share thoughts with friends.
Out of nearly 7,000 posts here are some of my favorites.

My favorite soups

My favorite song

My favorite gruesome sports injury

The funniest moment of Chase's life

An important moment in Chase's life

A funny moment on home shopping networks, two moments actually

My defense of the Charlie Brown Halloween special

The post that really started it all

My favorite tag/label

The most popular post ever

And of course this one that we all look forward to every year

If I stick with this for 10 more years, there will be a post about dropping Chase off at college.
Marinate on that.

Wait Til Next Year

At the end of the year, one team wins, every other team loses. In the world of professional sports there are no moral victories or nice tries. You either accomplished the goal and won the title, or you failed in your quest.
That's one way of looking at the 2015 New York Mets.
But there's also another side to this team.
This team took us on an incredible ride from July 31st (which should be remembered as the day Wilmer hit a walkoff home run, not the day we got Cespedes) until Game 4 of the NLCS.
It's unfortunate the car ran out of gas before the journey ended, but it was still a fun journey.

The enduring memory of 2015 for most fans will be how Wilmer went from weeping to winning in the span of two days.

And I will always remember the game two days later when the Mets blasted three home runs in one inning to sweep the Nationals and take control of the division.

2015 should also be the season when the Big 3 came together and began to dominate the National League. If Harvey, deGrom and Syndergaard stay healthy and stay together, the Mets will have a powerful rotation for many years to come.

And when I look back at 2015, I want to remember the Daniel Murphy who dominated the first two rounds

Not the Daniel Murphy who helped blow the World Series

If you have any other great memories of the 2015 Mets please share them in the comments section.

Unhappy Recap: Royals 7 Mets 2

Congratulations to the Kansas City Royals, 2015 World Series Champions.

The Royals are a great team and a very deserving champion.

As good as the Royals are, the Mets played horribly in this series. Three blown leads, in the 8th or 9th inning. Errors and otherwise dumb plays in every single game, leading directly to Royals runs. And a complete and total lack of hitting by the Mets lineup.

As good as the Royals are, they are incredibly lucky. Every bloop and bleeder fell in, every bounce went their way.

As good as the Royals are, Terry Collins gifted them this series. How did he lose Game 3? He took out a pitcher who just had an easy inning (Reed) for another guy out of the pen (Clippard). He left in a pitcher after a walk (Clippard), making it tougher for Familia.

Does that sound familiar?

I do not blame Terry for letting Harvey start the 9th. But there is absolutely no way he can leave him in after that leadoff walk. He's seen how Familia has been going, why risk putting more runners on. And why take out Niese after a strong inning for Reed who has pitched in every game?

What a great game by Harvey. He deserved a better fate. After all those asshole Mets fans criticized him and wanted to trade him. The guy was a horse in the playoffs. Now we need to pray that this ill-advised workload doesn't cause injury. Even so, we should call Scott Boras, ask his highest offer, add 10 million to that and sign him up for 8 years.

Very selfish of Cespedes to ask to stay in when he could barely walk. A pinch hitter with two good legs could have gotten the Mets an extra run there. And of course stupid of Terry to leave him in.

The 2015 Mets had a great season and a thrilling run through the playoffs but somehow it all just evaporated in the World Series.

Some of it has to do with the Royals, maybe there is something about the whole layoff things (now 8 of 9 LCS sweepers have been World Series weepers), but 3 Mets had good World Series (Harvey, Syndergaard and Granderson). Some others did ok (Conforto, Lagares, Matz). Everyone else was far below their expected performance, including playoff hero Murphy who couldn't hit or field the ball.

Obviously, I'm tremendously disappointed with losing in the World Series, especially in this manner, when it could have just as easily been the Mets winning in 5 games, but I will also remember the great 2 1/2 months from August to mid-October that this team gave us.

Weekly Picks

We keep on trucking along with decent weeks and alternating best bets, but now is the time to string together a bunch of best bets in a row. We're having a decent season, but not getting enough of those crucial key picks.

minnesota -1 CHICAGO
I guess he will keep riding the Vikings until they start getting some respect from the oddsmakers.

san diego +3 1/2 BALTIMORE
I don't pick enough underdogs. The Ravens are bad. I had the Falcons but then realized they've really fallen off in the past few weeks and the ECPs are improving. Plus I like that extra half point on the spread.

green bay -3 DENVER
Aaron Rodgers is just better than Peyton Manning right now, at this stage in their careers.

seattle -4 1/2 DALLAS
The Seahawks have been losing to good teams (their 4 losses are to teams with a combined 21-3 record) and beating the bad ones. Hopefully that holds true here.

BEST BET
ny jets -3 OAKLAND
I can't believe I am doing this. In the history of this blog, I wonder how many times I have made the Jets my best bet. I would suppose it's been very few. Two main reasons behind this: 1) Once I started hearing everyone talk about how great the Raiders are, I immediately thought they hype had gone too far. 2) The Jets are a good team when Chris Ivory is carrying the football.

Last week: 3-2 (4 points)
Season: 21-14 (22 points)
Best Bets: 1-0 (4-3)
Home Favorites: 2-1 (8-5)
Home Underdogs: 0-0 (1-1)
Road Favorites: 1-1 (9-7)
Road Underdogs: 0-0 (3-1)

Unhappy Recap: Royals 5 Mets 3

Starting pitching is important. Timely hitting is essential. Defense is imperative. But relief pitching is the most important thing in the playoffs.

And the Mets bullpen has not done the job. And of course Terry Collins makes it work with his mishandling of the pen. I do not know why he insists on going to Tyler Clippard. Reed was going well. Why not let him start the 8th and if someone gets on bring in Familia.

I cannot stand guys who come into games and walk guys. That's why hard throwers are so important. Clippard is afraid to let guys hit his pitches, so he's too fine, and he walks guys.

Also, why the fuck did he bring in Familia last night? Knowing he might need him tonight.

You absolutely, positively cannot blow games, and the Mets blew a 9th inning lead in Game 1 and an 8th run lead in Game 4. And that is why they will not win the World Series.

That, and an absolutely choke job by the two biggest reason (offensively) that the Mets have even gotten this far, Daniel Murphy and Yoenis Cespedes.

And if their horrible hitting weren't enough both of them made horrible, inexcusable mistakes, Murphy's error, Cespedes's bone-headed base-running that probably bought each of them a ticket out of town.

The Mets had their chance to retake control of this series, and they blew it.

Congrats to the Royals. They are just an incredible team that capitalizes on your mistakes and gets hits in bunches when the need to. And their bullpen doesn't blow leads.

Happy Recap: Mets 9 Royals 3

The Mets bats finally woke up!

Huge home runs by Wright and Granderson.

This game started like the others ended with the Mets making mistakes and the Royals slapping hits all over the field.

Then Syndergaard finally got some swinging strikeouts and cruised for long enough for the Mets hitters to get some hits and the Royals to make a mistake the Mets had been making.

Franklin Morales gets the ground ball he needs, but has no idea what to do with it. Funny thing is, they ruled it a fielder's choice. If he had made that bad throw to second right away, it would have been an error. But because he waited and then made a bad throw, it's not an error?

Conforto throwing out Gordon in the second inning was a huge out as it turned out. The Royals could really have broken the game open.

But Conforto has been hitting so poorly and Lagares so well, I think Lagares needs to start, even against right-handers. Also, this is just a really awesome picture of Lagares sliding in with the 6th run of the game.

Funny thing is, even with a 9-3 win, two of the Royals runs were still gifts, the botched double play by the two giants (Syndergaard and Duda) and then a wild pitch that d'Arnaud couldn't find.

The opening pitch by Alcides Escobar is not nearly as big a deal as everyone is making it out to be. I'm sure the Mets just knew he had been jumping on every first pitch and Noah wanted to make him uncomfortable. And Harold Reynolds is dumb as shit for saying it "woke the Royals up." First of all, it's the World Series. They don't need to be woken up. Second, they did exactly what they did for the first two games. I hate dumb "analysis" like that. Just words that mean nothing but are so abstract they can't be disproven. And people actually buy into it.

I don't agree with pitching Familia in the 9th. The next two games are must wins for the Mets. And using him for an inning with a 6-run lead could possibly limit his effectiveness or ability to pitch two innings in one or both of the next two games.

While this was a good first step, the Mets are still along way from having a real shot to win this series. They must win both of the remaining games and CitiField.

And they are not going to do it if Cespedes, Conforto and Wilmer don't get some hits. And postseason hero, Murphy has joined them in having a horrible World Series.

How Tall This Fall

2015:

2014:

2013:

2012:

2011:



2010:



2009:



2008:



2007:

Unhappy Recap: Royals 7 Mets 1

Maybe there is something to this thing about the long layoff. The curse of sweeping the LCS, or just too many days off, but this is not the same Mets team that swept the Cubs.

It has a lot to do with the Royals of course. deGrom just couldn't strike those fuckin guys out. And even though he sailed through four innings (mostly, barring a couple bad/unlucky defensive plays) once they got hits, they came in bunches and put the game away.

And the Mets hitting has just been atrocious. Cespdes, Wright and d'Arnaud all of them, awful. Conforto seems to have a huge hole in his swing.
He's got a big loop and is popping everything up. If he even makes contact, and doesn't just swing at bad pitches. The Royals have an entire lineup of guys hitting singles. The Mets have half a lineup of automatic outs.

There were no dramatics, no subtleties, just one big inning and a team that just cannot hit.

This series is starting to remind me of the 2000 World Series where the Mets had a lead going into the 9th and their closer blew it. They lost in extra innings, lost in Game 2 and were basically not a threat for the rest of the Series.

Song of the Week

"Night Train" - Jimmy Forrest
You may know this song from the version of it performed by Marvin Berry and the Starlighters in Back to the Future.

Unhappy Recap: Royals 5 Mets 4

What a crazy way to start off a World Series, with an inside-the-park home run. Just a crazy fluke play. I'm still not sure if Cespedes really lost the ball, or there was confusion between him and Conforto, and he pulled up thinking Conforto would catch it. But I do think Lagares makes that play 99 times out of 100.

Also, given Lagares's performance, I think there is a pretty good chance he starts the rest of the Series in center with Conforto at DH.

Kelly Johnson is 1 for 7 in the playoffs. Michael Cuddyer is 1 for 11. Unfortunately, Conforto is 1 for 17.

But the game was really lost by Jeurys Familia. I don't blame him. He's been lights out and you can't expect him to be perfect. But in a short series against a good team you just can't afford to play a game in which you took a lead into the 9th inning. Especially because of how unlikely it seems the Mets would be able to do the same against Wade Davis.

The Mets need better production from Cespedes, Duda and d'Arnaud if they are going to win this series. Cespedes looks terrible at the plate right now.
The Mets bullpen pitched well, Reed, Clippard and even Colon, but they just couldn't hold out that long.
As Reissberg pointed out, so many, rare, unusual, downright crazy things happened in this game: the inside-the-park HR, a run-scoring error, a game-tying HR, the longest game in World Series history (tied), a TV power outage, and the death of the starting pitcher's father before the game.
But here's the bottom line: the Royals are an excellent team. They are great at building rallies because they make contact and cut down their strokes to hit singles, instead of swinging like Cespedes trying to hit the ball 500 miles. They play great defense and their bullpen is spectacular (thought I can't figure out how soft-tossing junk-baller Chris Young so thoroughly dominated the heart of the Mets order.
In a short series between two evenly-matched teams, each game means so much. You never know when a bad bounce or a lucky break will turn against you (like a ball hitting third base with your slowest runner chugging down the line) so you never want to be in the position of having to play must-win games.
But as I always say, momentum is only as good as the next day's starting pitcher. Jacob deGrom has been great in these playoffs, Johnny Cueto has been bad.
If that holds to form in Game 2, the Mets will come home with the advantage again.

Let's Just Win

The New York Mets are in the World Series.
I couldn't possibly be more excited. I can barely sit still or keep a thought in my head.
The Kansas City Royals are an excellent team. Unlike the powerful sluggers of the Cubs who were shut down by the Mets, the Royals have a lineup of pesky hitters who keep rallies alive with singles and walks.
They take extra bases and they don't make errors. There will not be dropped fly balls like the ones Schwarber gifted the Mets in the NLCS.
Also, the Royals have Wade Davis. He is virtually unhittable. Since becoming the Royals relief ace last season he has a sub-1.00 ERA.
But the Mets have Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz.
The Royals will be starting (in order) Edinson Volquez, Johnny Cueto, Yordano Ventura and Chris Young.
Do this thought experiment: take the four pitchers for each team, add them to an otherwise identical roster of 21 other players. Computer-simulate 1000 7-game series. How many do the Mets win?
Reissberg and I each speculated the number would be between 800 and 900.
It is with that reason, that I believe the Mets will win the 2015 World Series.
Let's Go Mets.

Everything Sounds Better with Soul

Anthony Hamilton's rendition of Silento's "Watch Me", better known as "Whip, Nae Nae."

Weekly Picks

Tough week as the Patriots robbed us of a 5-pointer by allowing those late points to the Colts. We also missed a perfect Poop game Thursday night as the Seahawks were an obvious choice to pound the 49ers. Some good games I like on the schedule this week though, so let's see if we can get back on track.

atlanta -6 TENNESSEE
The Falcons coming off their first loss of the season. The Titans using Zach Mettenberger. We could fall into the backup QB trap here, but I think the Falcons will score more points than the Titans can.

minnesota -1 DETROIT
I stand by my man Teddy and think the Lions are a pretty awful team. And I like to pick against bad teams coming off wins.

INDIANAPOLIS -4 new orleans
If Andrew Luck is healthy enough to play, I think he will be good enough to put a lot of points on the board. I always fear Drew Brees, but they are coming off a big win over the Falcons and of course I am always looking to pick against teams that pull off upsets the previous week.

NEW YORK GIANTS -3 dallas
Another one of our corollaries is that teams that do poorly on Monday Night Football are viewed more skeptically by the oddsmakers than had their bad performance occurred on a Sunday. How could the Giants be only 3-point favorites at home against a team quarterbacked by Matt Cassell? The backup QB trap could be at work again here, but generally it applies to backups who never play. We have plenty of evidence to suggest that Cassell is not a good NFL QB.

BEST BET
CAROLINA -3 philadelphia
The Panthers are a good team. The Eagles are not. The only thing that concerns me is that last week was a huge win for the Panthers. As we always say, teams in the NFL don't always play consistently week-to-week.

Last week: 3-2 (2 points)
Season: 18-12 (18 points)
Best Bets: 0-1 (3-3)
Home Favorites: 1-0 (6-4)
Home Underdogs: 0-0 (1-1)
Road Favorites: 1-2 (8-6)
Road Underdogs: 1-0 (3-1)

Adventures in Local News

A local TV reporter delivers an entire report without having watch the last five seconds of the Michigan-Michigan State game.



I actually blame the producers back at the studio. The reporter has to be outside getting ready, can't wait for the game to end. They needed to tell him what happened, and not go to him until the game truly was over. But he looked like a douche for saying the fans were pouring out of the stadium and celebrating.

Speaking of douches in local news, a reporter in Toronto fails to use a key verb and tricks a poor Blue Jays fan.



Idiot should have said "are you going to get tickets?" The way she said it I can understand why the woman was confused.
But I'd have hated to be the person who had to break it to her.

Rotation Debation

Now that the Mets are in the World Series (the Mets are in the World Series!!!!!) with 5 days off before Game 1, the question has turned to how the Mets should set their pitching rotation.
A lot of people think they should stick with essentially what it is right now, Harvey-Syndergaard-deGrom.
But I think they should set their best pitchers first, deGrom-Harvey-Syndergaard. I want deGrom to go first because he feel he gives the Mets the best chance to win Game 1. And I do not believe in saving deGrom for a potential Game 7, as that could be a recipe for losing before you even get there.
Also, I would prefer to get Thor his first start at home, just in case there is something to his road troubles.

How Sweep It Is

The New York Mets are in the 2015 World Series!

I remember reading/hearing last year or the year before that Theo Epstein was building his team around power hitters, because they are in scarcer supply in today's game than power pitchers.

But I will always believe that most times, good pitching will beat good hitting and the Mets great young power pitchers just shut down the Cubs great power hitters for four straight games.

But we should remember there are no absolutes. Remember when the San Antonio Spurs beat the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals to prove, absolutely and indubitably, once and for all, that team basketball beats one or two great individual players.

Except for the year before, when basically the same two teams met in the Finals and the Heat won.

The Cubs are a good team and I expect many battles with them over the next few years and I would expect different results, at least some of the time.

But this is an amazing triumph for the Mets and I am thrilled as hell that they are in the World Series.

I hope they can keep this going and bring the title home.

They won the World Series when the team was 8 (kind of). The won the World Series when I was 8. And now it's time to win it when Chase is 8.

Two things will be addressed on this blog after the World Series, win or lose: the midseason drama including what I got right and what I got wrong, and the off-season moves the team would and should make.

Song of the Week

"Back in Time" - Huey Lewis and the News
Happy Back to the Future Day!