A 12-day roller coaster...

First off, great comments and analysis by my partner below...

Now onto my post...

It was Wednesday, August 22nd, I went out to Shea with my buddies Danny, Adam and Yankees fan Larry. Jake Peavy faced off against Brian Lawrence. The Mets were never in the game and despite getting 3 runs in the 9th off Trevor Hoffman they lost 7-5. After that game they were 5 games up on the Phils and 6 games up on the Braves.

I go to Cape Cod for my sister-in-law's wedding the next morning. I would be completely out of touch of SNY and WFAN for 4 full days. Of course I have my Treo giving me play-by-play and Dani-&-Lynne updating every moment for me via email but if you guys know me well, I rarely miss innings, let alone games.

That night the Mets lose a thrilling heart breaker in the 10th inning with Johnny Franco (aka Billy Wagner) blowing the save in the 9th and Heilman letting up yet another homer, this one to Adrian Gonzalez, in the 10th to lose. Phils and Braves both lose.

The Dodgers come to town over the weekend and the Mets promptly go out and do a complete reverse from the Pods series and win the 1st and 2nd game of the series. Wagner comes in the first game up 5-1 and lets up 3 hits and a run. He complains after the game that he doesn't like to pitch in non-save opportunities. The next day we hear Billy has a dead arm and needs to shut it down for a few days. The following night Heilman gets the save in a close one. While the Braves win on Friday, they lose on Saturday and the Phils drop the first 2 to the the wild-card leading Pods. At the end of Lauren & Jay's wedding, which was also my birthday, the Mets are up 7 games on both the Braves and Phils. The next morning at brunch we were all celebrating.

Then....the Phillies series. No need to re-visit this one any more than we already have. The first day was a blow out yet seemingly meaningless given the lead. The following night the bullpen struck again with Feliciano giving up a homer to JRoll and then Heilman letting up the dinker to Roward and then none other than Mota ending it with a meatball to Howard. The following night it was Marlon blowing the game on a bush league play. And then there was Thursday.

I couldn't take it anymore after the lead has shrunk to 3 in 4 days so I got my work done in the morning and headed out to the US Open for the day session. I figured a little tennis would be a nice change of pace. After I check my phone from my buddy Mark IMing me and he tells me it's 5-0 Phils, I want to jump off Arthur Ashe stadium. Then we tie it. Then the Phils go up by 3. I leave Flushing, tennis can't keep me from watching. I get on the 7 Express with my friend Erik. I'm in Port Authority 30 minutes later..run to the bar...glance at my phone, email from Goldberg, tie game. Get into the bar...moronic play by the catcher Ruiz. Mets lead 9-8!! I am in shock. They get another run and then I see it...Franco is coming in for 2 innings. You knew it. I knew it. We all knew it. This game wasn't over. Burrell homers yet again. Then the moronic steals. Then the Iguchi hit. Then the know-doubt-in-anyones-mind-he-will-get-a-hit-in-this-spot Chase hit. Ball game. Season ove....

Just before you could get that last r out of your mouth....we hit Atlanta. The same Atlanta that we were 4-8 against this year. The same Turner Field where we have previously played 26 September games and lost 21 of them. And what do the do? They go out and sweep those f*ckin Braves. Take that Tomahawk chop and shove it up your asses Braves fans. And even better, as Fink says below, the Phils do their thing and lose the series to the Marlins and the Mets lead is back at 4.

So when looked at after this season, within the span of 12-days, the Phils gained 1-game on the Mets and the Braves lost a game and a half. From my point of view right now, I feel like we have been through hell and back in less than 2 weeks and we still have 4 more weeks of craziness ahead of us.

That craziness continues with the craziest one of all, Pedro, tomorrow night in Cinci. (FYI..get your tickets now for Sunday against the Astros as it looks like that will be his first start at home). If Pedro can bring any type of magic and get through 5 solid innings in his first go, then maybe we can make this lead a bit more comfortable again and take this damn division that these Phils and Braves are just asking us to take.

With the NFL kicking off this week and the excitement of Sunday night in Dallas a mere 7 days away, I for one am quite focused on the Reds and the Astros this week. Cause guess who comes up at home the following week? That's right, those same Braves and Phillies.

When people ever say to you they don't watch baseball because there are too many games and it's too long of a season. Point them to the 2007 NY Mets and the last 6 weeks of the season.

The roller coaster continues tomorrow...all aboard.