So, it's the final series pitting two out of contention teams against each other, it's out of town, it's not even the NL West, and you are wondering why you should even bother with games 159-162 anyway. Never fear, I'm here with the answers- er, questions- some serious, some less so:
Mr. Met has no ears, so telling him his team's in trouble is pretty futile.
- What exactly do Mr. Mets' parents look like? I mean seriously, his mother has to be one strong woman to give birth to a baby with that melon for a head. Personally, I'm saying Mr Met was born in in an incubation tank and as a freak found a natural home in the mean streets of Gotham. And why is he smiling all the time? Has he even seen the Mets play these last few years? Weirdo.
- Will Arizona discover they're missing a World Series hero? No wonder Luis Gonzalez has played so well for us this year. Check out the picture, apparently sometime when we were playing AZ, we made a secret switch of Luises. Update [2005-9-29 15:4:25 by Rox Girl]: Apparently the official site figured out the guy in the photo wasn't the guy they were talking about in the article and the mistake's been fixed. So, as a bonus question, how many seasons until our LuGo outperforms the D-backs version? I'll be among the first to speculate that it should be as early as next season.
- Which rookies won't play when the Rockies start the other nine? That would really drag to be one of two left out if Clint Hurdle goes ahead with his idea of an all rook starting nine. Forever said player(s) would have to live down being the "tenth or so best rookie" on the 2005 Rockies. Early money is on Choo and JD being out in favor of Sullie and 30 year old wunderkind Danny Ardoin.
- Will the amazing Kims announce they are forming a WWE tag team to bulk up during the offseason? I think the key to getting success from a pitcher named Kim is to actually have two pitchers named Kim. It's seemingly worked for the Rockies, and although BK is likely travelling elsewhere this offseason, the two South Koreans' performances for the Rox in post all-star 2005 have been a real bright spot. Sunny starts tonight, BK tomorrow.
- Will Rockies management find a good excuse to lose in 2006? A team with all these rookies is supposed to be bad. Next year most of these players will have well over a full season plus of experience and real strides forward can be expected. Not wild card strides, maybe not even division champion strides depending on how the Dodgers rebound, but certainly we have to see a strong move toward .500.
- Is Andrew Miller a pipe dream? The Rockies right now are sandwiched into the third slot for the 2006 draft, a game and a half "behind" Pittsburgh for the second pick and a game "ahead" of Tampa Bay and Seattle from dropping to number five. KC gets the top pick but there's a strong chance that the Royals won't go with the most anticipated (read "priciest") college pitcher since Mark Prior. Pittsburgh, being small market, might shy away from him too, although if you've subscribed to Baseball Prospectus you'll have noted this recent article, "Pirates of the Allegheny", which would seem to suggest the Bucs have a stash of booty they haven't used recently. The real question come next draft (whenever the Lords of Baseball decide that will be) will be whether our own Rox pull the trigger or find a lesser player who they will falsely claim has equal talent. in the meantime, after this weekend we'll at least know who's picking ahead of us.
- Wow, I can't believe I found seven so far. Alright, back to the field. Will two hot starting, cold lately rookies find a groove to carry into the offseason? The Clint Barmes and Brad Hawpe that left midseason have come back from injury as two different, below replacement level players, and it would be nice if they could find some sort of positive note to end the season on. Barmes had a pretty nice game last night against Braves scrubs, hopefully it will carry through against a tough Tom Glavine tonight. Hawpe meanwhile is mired deep in a slump and is running out of time and opportunity to get better in 2005.
- Will Mets fans wake up and realize their team still needs some major work to be competitive in the NL East? Or will they just keep on deluding themselves as their management throws away money on bad contracts? Never mind, I already know the answer to that one. The Mets have promise at one position, third base with David Wright, and help from two more prime prospects coming in Lastings Milledge and Yusmeiro Petit, but they have about six positions and at least two rotation slots that are in serious needs of upgrading, and that's not even touching their bullpen. Sometimes I'm glad to be a Rockies blogger and can be calm in my knowledge that my team is bad, it needs fixed, and I'm okay with admitting where the problem spots are.
- Speaking of which, can we even consider centerfield, catcher, and second base problem spots anymore? Man, Cory Sullivan, Danny Ardoin/JD Closser, and Luis Gonzalez have sure been playing great, maybe we don't need to look for any help for 2006. I mean, they have had a month or two each of really solid play, which convinces me we're all set. Okay, sorry for the sarcasm. The truth is that we're looking much better at these slots than we were at the end of July, but two months is not enough in my book to answer all the questions.
- Which Rockies will be playing their last games in purple and black? Jamey Wright? Aaron Miles? Dustan Mohr? These three are likely gone after the season as well as a couple of others, and as necessary as severing the ties to them might be, each has provided memorable moments as a Rockie and for that we're grateful. These last four games should be a nice time to remember the good they brought, and forget the bad until some other team is trying to send them back.