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The Meaning of Friday Night’s Game


By Howard Megdal ~ July 2nd, 2010. Filed under: Howard Megdal.

A baseball season is, naturally, 162 games. As such, assigning vital meaning to any one game tends to be an exercise in futility.

Nevertheless, consider the following:

Going into Friday night’s game against Washington, the Mets have lost three of four. Despite an 18-8 June overall, they are still two games behind Atlanta, and just two ahead of the Phillies.

Saturday means Stephen Strasburg, while Sunday the Mets send out Hisanori Takahashi, who has been lit up to the tune of a 6.75 ERA over his last six starts.

The Mets then return home to face a very good Cincinnati club, followed by a weekend showdown with the division-leading Braves. They do this with the status of both Angel Pagan and Jose Reyes uncertain, leaving them with a terribly thin lineup.

In other words, things get awfully tough from here. Friday night, facing a rookie in Luis Altiano, the Mets have Jon Niese going, who has been consistent all season long.

In truth, all the above problems may mean even a win Friday night cannot stop a significant backslide going into the All Star break. And, in what makes this sport so wonderful, there may be a week hot streak ahead for Jason Bay or Jeff Francoeur or even Ruben Tejada to allow the Mets to sprint into the break.

But as the Mets found out in both 2007 and 2008, one game can change a season. With so many challenges ahead, the Mets really ought to bank Friday night’s game for safekeeping.

Howard Megdal is the Editor-in-Chief of The Perpetual Post. He covers baseball, basketball and soccer for Capital New York, MLBTradeRumors.com, New York Baseball Digest and has written for ESPN.com as well as numerous other publications. He is the Poet Laureate for SBNation New York. His book about Jewish baseball players, “The Baseball Talmud,” is available for purchase on Amazon.com and wherever books are sold. His next book, "Taking The Field", is available for pre-order on Amazon.com and will publish in May 2011.
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1 Response to The Meaning of Friday Night’s Game

  1. RonOK
    July 2nd, 2010 at 3:39 pm

    … and those the first 11 games after the break — 4 in SF, 3 in AZ and 4 in LA — will be a huge test as well.

    The Gianst pitching, the Dbacks have just made a GM and Field Manager change and the Dodgers are great at home in Chavez Ravine ….

    The pitching — rotation and bullpen — needs to get settled ASAP …. Reyes needs to get healthy, Bay and Francoeur need to start producing and Beltran needs to return and be productive.

    I am happy where they are — but I am just kind of waiting for the bubble to burst …. I hoe I am wrong because I just don;t believe the Braves are for real and the Phillies have a topn of their own problems ….

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