• Endy Chavez with the greatest catch of all time. You can have your over-the-shoulder Willie Mays catch; I’ll take Endy’s any day of the week.

• Can’t really second-guess any of Willie’s decisions last night. Heilman looked good, and the bottom of the order was coming up, so no need for Wagner in the ninth. Also, no way you send up a pinch-hitter to bunt with two on in the bottom of the ninth: down two runs and with three outs, you really want to give up an out? The run expectancies are nearly the same anyway, and I think sending Floyd to the plate to get the big hit was the right call.

• Finally, I have to say I’m not nearly as despondent as I thought I would be. The Mets had an awesome regular season and a trip to the World Series came down to a coin-flip Game 7: I’d take that result any year. The core of the team is young, and most of them will be back again to try next season.

Also, Jeff Suppan. But, honestly:

Yadier. Fucking. Molina.

Also, Endy Chavez! Whoa, Endy Chavez!

But, in the end:

Yadier.

Fucking.

Molina.

Let’s go Mets!

Let’s go Mets!

So am I. I’ll be rooting for the Padres to extend the Cardinals today, then for the Cardinals to win tomorrow to keep Peavy away from the Mets’ lineup and Carpenter away from Game 1.

Next game is Saturday in the City of Angels. Let’s hope the Mets can wrap it up then and spare us the terror of seeing Oliver Perez on the mound in the postseason until the NLCS.

Let’s hope Glavine can go seven tonight and give the bullpen a breather, but with the off-day tomorrow I wouldn’t be surprised if Willie goes with a quick hook again today if Glavine struggles.

One win down, ten to go.

Pedro hadn’t been himself all year, so the loss of him hurts the Mets less than many analysts seem to think. El Duque, on the other hand, has been solid since Omar picked him up. The scariest outcome of the El Duque injury is not John Maine (who became one of my favorite underrated guys this year) taking the ball in Game 1, but Oliver Perez actually being slated to pitch a potential Game 4. Perez has been one of my favorite enigmas in recent seasons, but it’s either feast or famine with him, and sometimes it’s both in the same inning.

If the Mets are going to beat the Dodgers, they need to score early and often. Not such a revelation, I know, but I don’t foresee them winning 3-2 games anytime soon. Crooked numbers in early innings are the key, and hope the bullpen can hold the line.

I still think the Mets are the favorite to make the World Series from the NL, and as for their chances against whichever team they meet there…let’s just cross that bridge when we come to it, shall we?

Mets in 5 over LA.

Later: 60 minutes until the first pitch and I can’t remember the last time I was this nervous. Do Yankees fans get like this the first day of the playoffs?

It’s very strange to be rooting for the favorite. Since my real baseball awareness began around 1993 or so (the Jeff Torborg/Dallas Green era), the Mets have either been laughably awful (the Jeff Torborg/Dallas Green era) or made it to the playoffs by the skin of their teeth (they won nearly 100 games in 1999, but still needed Leiter’s immortal effort in the one-game playoff against the Reds). Now it’s not even August yet, and the Mets probably won’t play a meaningful game until October. Even Yankees fans have never been able to take the last two months of the season off (save perhaps 1998, when it looked like they might win 200 games). So how’s a once-suffering Mets fan to stay interested? Subplots!

Given the Mets’ record and the city in which they play, it’s possible that Albert Pujols will not be winning his second consecutive MVP award this year. The Mets have two legitimate MVP candidates in Carlos Beltran and David Wright, and a third marginal candidate in Jose Reyes. Although Beltran has the clear edge in production so far (did he really hit three grand slams in July? Yeah, he did.), Wright’s media-friendly persona probably gives him the edge here.

The other big subplot to follow is the age-old “Who will start game 3 of the NLDS?” It seems like people have been asking this question since the first week of May, and there’s still no satisfying answer (though John Maine’s looked pretty good of late). If anything will keep Mets fans interested in the next eight weeks, this is probably it.

More minor subplots abound. Will fans see the return of the goatee that Willie Randolph sported for one game in Cincinnati? Will Jose Valentin win the Viagra® Comeback Player of the Year award? Will Paul Lo Duca bat over .200 in September? How many people will Keith Hernandez offend with his next ill-advised comment from the booth?

I’m just going to try to enjoy the remainder of the season one day at a time. In August, it’s easy to forget the excitement of April’s first games in half a year. I know that regardless of the ultimate outcome of the Mets’ season, I’ll be missing the daily games come the NFL’s hype week. So, in that spirit:

Let’s go Mets! Beat the Marlins!

And so, with the caveats that I am a (somewhat biased) fan first and an analyst…well, not at all…I give you my predictions for the 2006 baseball season.

AL East

1. New York Yankees
2. Boston Red Sox
3. Toronto Blue Jays
4. Baltimore Orioles
5. Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Easy one to pick, with the caveat that I do not think that the wild card will come from this division this year. The Red Sox aren’t as good as they’ve been the past two years, and the Yankees are still the Yankees. I’m not a huge fan of the moves that JP Riccardi made in the offseason, but there’s not much they could do at this point to get out of third place. The Rays are making strides toward respectability (give them a few years), and the Orioles are pretty screwed.

AL Central

1. Cleveland Indians
2. Chicago White Sox
3. Minnesota Twins
4. Detroit Tigers
5. Kansas City Royals

Hey, this is an exciting division! This pick is not a knock on the White Sox, because I really think that the Indians are going to put it all together this year. They’ve got a great young core and a solid pitching staff, and they’re looking to be very good for the next several years. The Twins don’t quite have the offense to compete, the Tigers will continue their mediocrity (but at least they’re better than they have been), and the Royals are an embarrassment to the game of baseball.

AL West

1. Oakland Athletics
2. Anaheim Angels (Wild Card)
3. Texas Rangers
4. Seattle Mariners

Two very good teams and two not-so-good teams. Flip the top two if you like, but I think they’re both playoff teams. That’s all I really have to say about this division.

NL East

1. New York Mets
2. Atlanta Braves (Wild Card)
3. Philadelphia Phillies
4. San Antonio Florida Marlins
5. Washington Nationals

And the bias is made apparent. I’m a Mets fan, so this pick isn’t terribly surprising, but I really feel like Omar Minaya addressed the problems the team had last year and that they’re finally going to end the Braves’ dominance. That’s not to say I love all the moves the Mets have been making this spring (and a lot depends on Willie Randolph’s maturation as a manager), but I suppose that could be an article of its own. Elsewhere in the division, I think that the Nationals have the potential to completely fall apart under the watchful eye of Jim Bowden, winning 55 games or fewer. Sorry, Washington fans.

NL Central

1. St. Louis Cardinals
2. Milwaukee Brewers
3. Houston Astros
4. Chicago Cubs
5. Cincinnati Reds
6. Pittsburgh Pirates

The Brewers finishing in second is a bit of a long shot, but in any case, it looks like the best thing to ever happen to the Seattle Pilots was for the Selig family to finally sell them. I don’t think they’ll necessarily challenge the Cardinals this year, but I don’t really see any other team stepping it up here. The Pirates are on their way to becoming the Royals of the NL.

NL West

1. Los Angeles Dodgers
2. San Diego Padres
3. San Francisco Giants
4. Arizona Diamondbacks
5. Colorado Rockies

Just like the AL West, I don’t really have a lot to say here: with the unbalanced schedule, it’s hard to follow the teams on the west coast too closely. This assumes a decent season from Barry Bonds, so if he’s hurt or otherwise unable to play cough cough, the Giants will finish lower.

NLCS: Mets over Cardinals
ALCS: Indians over Athletics

World Series: Mets over Indians

And there you have it! Just a note: if you’re reading this after June 1, 2006, mock away, I can take it.