Mets to NLCS!

YAY Mets!! They're going to the NLCS, while that other team from NY got knocked out this weekend. I was concerned for the Mets, because although that other team was having absurd praises sung about its lineup, being called "Murderer's Row plus Cano," I knew the Mets actually had the better bats. They probably have the best lineup in baseball this year. But the dearth of starting pitching after some injuries had me worried. Luckily, the Mets also have the best bullpen in baseball. So if they can get four decent innings from a starter, they've got a good chance to win the game.

It never fails to amaze me how this game always comes down to fundamentals, and how people tend to forget that. A fundamental rule of baseball: Good pitching stops good hitting. And there's been all sorts of talk about that other NY team and what happened and why they "collapsed". (You can get lots of informative and funny commentary about them at Designated Blogger.) And I'll admit I spent a huge amount of time on Sunday morning watching the sports news shows as they all did their reports on it, and I laughed my ass off the whole time. At noon, I turned to my friend and said, "Are we getting sick of this yet?" And he said, "Hell no!" And I had to agree. Nasty, yes. Nevertheless. But my point is this: It still came down to pitching. New York had some old, run-down guys. I don't care how big their paychecks are, or how cute Mussina is. They're old. And Detroit? Their pitchers threw the shit out of the ball! People can blame and analyze all they want, but the Detroit pitchers dominated.

Anyhow, in sad news, my main man Mike Piazza and his team, the Padres, are now out of the playoffs. So the Mets will face the Cards, and let's be honest, who the hell cares what the hell is going on in the AL?

Also this weekend, I went to see the new Scorsese flick The Departed. Excellent. Loved it. This is a remake of the hugely popular (and fantastic) Hong Kong flick Internal Affairs. but Scorsese puts his stamp on it, and you can't get away from the outstanding acting. Now listen, I know, I KNOW people hate Leo, probably because of his over-the-top success from Titanic. But he's clearly Scorsese's new DeNiro, and can you seriously watch these pictures and tell me he's not fantastic? I mean, did you see The Aviator? He killed. And he does again in this movie.

30 years after Taxi Driver, Scorsese is still seamlessly blending "films" and "movies" to make the best pictures possible. I can't wait to see how the Oscars are going to fuck the guinea out of his award this year. Though it was crap that they blew him off for Raging Bull and then utterly laughable that they pwned him by handing the joke that's Kevin Coster an award for his melodrama "statement" movie over the benchmark Goodfellas, I figured maybe they just couldn't stomach anything nasty. Especially something that so perfectly showed the terrible beauty of violence. But when Marty didn't get his due for The Aviator, I just didn't know what to make of it. I still love that flick. It's absolutely amazing. The Departed doesn't have the lushness that The Aviator did, and it doesn't have a grand liberal message, either. So he's still pretty much fucked. But he's also still making the best movies in the world.

Last thought for a Monday? No matter how hard your workweek gets, you can take comfort in the fact that you're not this guy:


That's right. Proof that a $252 million salary doesn't necessarily mean your life will be a bed of roses.

Here's hoping to four good innings from Met starters this coming week.