Big Games in the Regular Season

Mike Francesca did his best to aggravate Mets fans yesterday after their second game against the Red Sox. He kept baiting them with lines like “they spit the bit.” He kept referring to the Mets-Red Sox series as a “big” series for the Mets; a “big” test. Of course he only said that after the Mets lost the first two. He said: “We went up there to broadcast as a sign of homage to the Mets, but they blew it.” All of this proves that Francesca knows little about baseball or the meaning of “big series.” Either that or he can’t see the truth through his Yankee-blue colored glasses.

A big series in the regular season is when you are playing a division rival and you are within a few games of each other. And, the closer it is to October, the bigger such a series becomes. The Yankees playing Boston right now would be a big series, for example. When the Mets played the Phillies a few weeks ago in Philadelphia, the Mets had a five or six game lead and had the opportunity to knock the Phillies out of the race in June with a sweep. THAT was a big series for the Mets. An inter-league game is only a big series to a team that still has to battle to make the playoffs.

Note to Francesca: The Mets lead in their division is greater than the leads of the other five division leaders COMBINED. After the Philly sweep, the Mets could look at their schedule and note that they had just played their last big series in the regular season. The Mets next big series will come in October. And, now that the Red Sox have a four-game lead on the Yankees, every series is a big one for the Yankees. Maybe that’s what Francesca meant to say. The Mets just buried his beloved Yankees.