I was in rehearsal all day and missed it. Sounds like an amazing game.

So, I only monitored the game via some GameCast and then, ultimately, cell phone. Without seeing it, to me, John Santana gave one of the guttiest, clutch performances I can imagine in the situation. 3 days rest, threw a ton of pitches, and didn’t let the bullpen come near the game to get a shutout. And not just a shutout, gave the bullpen a much needed day of rest (especially seeing that we haven’t had a day off in weeks.)

But, is 2008 another 2007? Check out the parallels.

In both seasons, we obviously spent a portion of the season totally sucking. Our offense shows this rare ability to find magical ways to blow scoring chances.

In the last month, the Mets start to slide a bit. With a sizable lead (albeit larger in 2007), the Mets start losing games to bad teams and fall behind late in the season.

Here’s where it gets creepy.

Both seasons feature a ball-buster loser. In 2007, it was the game where the Mets scored big runs late against the Marlins to seemingly win it — only to have the Marlins put up 4 or so runs in the 9th and go on to win…a cruel, cruel defeat.

In 2008, it was the Cubs game where the Mets failed to hold the 5-1 lead, only to find themselves tied 6-6 int he 9th when Murphy leads off with a TRIPLE. Somehow, with their three best hitters to follow, the Mets fail to even get the ball out of the infield and don’t score…then lose in the 10th when, after getting 2 out, Ayala explodes and give up 3.

The same cruel loss.

In both seasons, the Mets enter the last series tied with the other team (we’ll stick with the Brewers for this analogy). Both final series’ are against the Marlins. At home.

In both seasons, the Mets lost the first game (in lame style) and fall a game back. Now, that leads us to today.

Do you remember what happened in 2007? John Maine pitched a near NO-HITTER and the Mets win in a shutout over the Marlins. HOPE IS RESTORED.

So, now we lead into tomorrow, a day game against the Marlins. The Mets will pitch a lefty. And what happened in 2007? Glavine gave up 7 runs in the 1st and that sealed his Mets career.

Yes, folks. Remember how you felt when Tom Glavine gave us no chance in the final game? We are at this EXACT point again. In fact, Perez’s first inning will give me chills. All I can say is I hope he gives us a damn chance this time.

the best of all brohams, or the effing best of all brohams?

Since some of us are hailing farewell, I’d like to go ahead and get mine on the record.

First and foremost I would like to thank Eric Simon:
1. For not banning me in the early days.
2. For managing the blog, making it informative and entertaining at the same time. (That’s hard to do w/almost anything these days).

AWARDS:

• Most Accommodating Blogger goes to: Bobby V Incognito – Thanks for your friendliness on the blog BVI. Intonation is always hard to figure in anything written in an electronic format such as: Emails / Blogs. So your patience and friendliness are much appreciated.

• Funniest Blogger goes to: ITSMETSFORME. Hands down, some of the funniest comments this side of the Mississippi. I’m still laughing…

• Most Difficult To Get Along With Blogger: “On no…We have a tie!” Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright and Anonymous. Upon my third or fourth day blogging they were on my a$$ like stink on Limberger. However, this was a good thing, because they forced me to understand that, this isn’t your typical blog and we’re trying to maintain a blog that can be “unlike” other blogs in their crassness and vulgarity. Indirectly they’ve also made me pay more attention to ‘stats’, something I’ve never done before. Sure, I’ve been a METS fan since ’97, but I had never bothered to take a look underneath the surface for what makes a baseball team tick. Hell, I always thought it was just good enough to yell. Thanks kids!

Finally, I would like to give a shout out to some bloggers that didn’t receive awards however, were influential in my growth as an Amazin Avenue blogger: “Pingel, Josh NY (man, you’re tough), KenDynamo, RodGasperFanClub, & LosAngelesMets. I know that I’ve left some people out, for that, I sincerely apologize. "Who Loves Ya Baby?!”

LET’S GO METS! YA GOTTA’ BELIEVE!! WHATEVER IT TAKES!!!