Baseball analysis for people who know nothing about baseball.

"Admit it. You thought you had a handle on the New York baseball scene. The Yankees are destined for October. The are trying not to embarrass themselves before they fade from contention."

Please don't presume my baseball opinions.

Before the season started, I thought the Yankees would win about 95 games and the Mets would win about 85 games.

Since that time, I've lowered the Yankee prediction because I realized they're gutless punks. But the AL East is under-performing as a whole, so I'd still predict about 90 wins. It could still bump up to 95 or so when one considers their ability to acquire new players in mid-season trades.

As for the Mets, as long as there is a wild card, no team is out of contention. The Mets won't catch the Phillies.


"And then you get the Subway Series and it gives you a whole new look at things."

That makes no sense.

Both teams stunk on Thursday and both teams still stink.


"The Mets beat the Yankees, 2-1, in a pitching duel Friday night before 47,874 at the Stadium on the strength of R.A. Dickey's best performance of the season and Daniel Murphy's tie-breaking home run. And now the Mets (22-22) have exactly one fewer win than the Yankees (23-20)."

Now we're getting to the difference between the teams.

The Mets are proud of their .500 record.

So the key to success is to set expectations really low. Then, you can never fail.


As for the game itself, a Yankee fans has seen it all year.

-- One-for-ten with RISP .... and that "hit" didn't even advance the runner. If I was an opposing pitcher, I'd just intentionally load the bases at the start of every inning.

-- The Yankees score on solo HRs and nothing else.

-- The Yankees can't score in the final three innings.

Whether or not the team is truly gutless, it's hard to say. Gutless is as gutless does.

When your team has outscored opponents by 40 runs overall, but has been outscored by 20 in the last 3 innings ... when you have one walkoff win the whole season ... when your 1-through-5 hitters can never get a sac fly ... you're gutless chokers.

If the Mets' success is pegged to the Yankees' success, then the Mets should be ashamed of themselves.