But he brought a winning culture.

"And as gallant as he was that night and as much as he fought back to get back on the mound in 2012, all he does now is go in with so many other bad contracts the Mets have given out, the money they wasted on guys like him and on Jason Bay and on Pedro Martinez, the insane contract they gave to Bobby Bonilla once, a contract that seems to have Bonilla somehow cashing Mets money from now until the end of time."

Funny how Lupica finally concedes, indirectly, that the Pedro Martinez contract was a bust.


"Maybe CC Sabathia will be an exception with the Yankees, maybe he won’t break down eventually even though he has already had his first elbow surgery in pinstripes. But if he had gotten hurt sooner, say in 2009, then maybe the Yankees are looking at him differently and maybe the Yankees are still looking for their first World Series since they beat the Mets in 2000."

Just a reminder that the 2009 World Series is the only Championship that doesn't really count.


"Maybe if Pedro had stayed strong, the Cardinals wouldn’t even have pushed the Mets to Game 7 in ’06, maybe they would have won that NLCS before the Mets and Cardinals got anywhere near that fat pitch that Aaron Heilman threw to Molina that night at old Shea. Before the game ended with the bat on Carlos Beltran’s shoulder in the bottom of the ninth."

Maybe CC, maybe Pedro, maybe Schilling, maybe anything.

If the things that happened had never happened, our memories of the events would be different. Far out, dude.


"There is so much conversation now about the Mets bringing Santana to town, especially now that there is the chance that he could set a world’s record and become the first pitcher to have anterior capsule surgery twice. It just makes this the capital of short memories all over again, because when the Mets made their play for Santana in the first place, it was treated like one of the best plays they had ever made."

Wrong.

In fact, Mike Lupica from Dec. 2007 disagrees with you:

"The Yankees have already spent $400 million the past few weeks and you know what that means, right?

They're ready to spend more!

They're ready to break the bank for Johan Santana and thereby go against all the data on signing starting pitchers to longterm deals.

Why?

Because they want him.

Why else?

Because the Red Sox do.

Why won't Santana break down sometime during the length of his contract?

Because he's going to be a Yankee, that's why.

...

Johan Santana is a great pitcher, no doubt.

He isn't the Bionic Man just because the Yankees want him, and the Red Sox might get him."