The Only Logical Explanation For The Mets Winning Streak

To quote the great Slim Pickens in Blazing Saddles, “What in the wide wide world of sports is a going on here?”

The Mets are in first place?

AFTER Tax Day?

And you can’t just attribute it to them playing slumping teams like the Dodgers and the Braves.

The Mets beat the Phillies last night…and it wasn’t close… and they were in Philadelphia.

And guess what? With the Phillies loss, the 2 time defending NL Champs and 3 time defending division champs fell to third behind the Mets and Nationals! Is this the National League or the Bizarro League.

It doesn’t make any sense.

No player is being a dominant slugger.
The Nationals rocked Johan Santana.
They started the season 3-7.

I called the team a Car Wreck.
I compared the team to Two Girls One Cup.

And now they rattled off a 10-1 since the arrival of Ike Davis.

But is Ike Davis really the reason for such a turn around?

Is it Mike Pelfrey’s surprising season that sparked this team?

Was it the 20 inning marathon?

Nope, the explanation lies elsewhere.

Specifically the explanation lies with my friend Jaime Fallon.

A member of the rock band The Ex-Debutantes and creator of the site Mart Brooklyn.

My former colleague from The Daily Show has started frequenting CitiField and chanting The Mets Really Are The Amazin’s.

A simple chant.

Simple but effective.

She wasn’t chanting it before her first Mets game this year in Mid April.

And what has happened since she started?

The Mets have won 10 of 11 and went from being irrelevant to suddenly an exciting team.

My Met fan friends are filling up my e mail box. And wins against the Phillies are always worth stockpiling (did someone say 2007?)

And Jaime is the only explanation I can think of. Seriously, it isn’t the personnel. It isn’t the management.

I say it is because of Jaime.

So Met fans… Go to Mart Brooklyn.
Download some music.

The more you support Jaime, the better the Mets will do.

(Hey, that makes just as much sense as any other analysis I can do about the Mets!)

STOP THE PRESSES! JAVIER VAZQUEZ IS HAVING A BAD OUTING!

Three innings in… and he has let up three runs.

That sounds about right.

Why do I have the feeling he will be dealt before the All Star break?

HE’S A HORSE!

I may not remember Bryan Clutterbuck… but evidently a lot of people DO!

Back in January of 2009, I wrote a quick post about former Brewers pitcher Bryan Clutterbuck.

Basically I was saying how I don’t remember him… but who am I kidding. I was basically giggling because his last name sounds like 2 or 3 words that George Carlin would include among the “Seven Words.”

But it is funny how that post keeps getting hits, comments and private e mail messages.

Evidently a lot of people know Bryan Clutterbuck… and the consensus is he seems like a terrific guy.

He may not have blazed through the big leagues, but evidently he has been a positive person to people who remember him more than even the most die hard Brewers fans.

He evidently does a lot of charity work and also coaches little leaguers in Michigan.

Sometimes we forget that the men on the baseball cards are actual people… and their brief careers might not get them into Cooperstown, but there are a lot of other small towns where their careers make them memorable.

So good work Bryan Clutterbuck.
I wish that I had your career.

And to honor you, I will post the link to your lone complete game victory in the major leagues.

On April 25, 1989, Brewers manager Tom Trebelhorn gave the ball to Clutterbuck to face the Twins.

He had to face solid big leaguers like Dan Gladden, Wally Backman, Kent Hrbek, Gary Gaetti and Greg Gagne as well as World Series heroes like Gene Larkin and Jim Dwyer and oh yeah… future Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett.

Paul Molitor led off the game with a home run for the Brewers… and the offense unloaded on Twins starter Roy Smith who let up 5 runs (and 3 homers) in 4 innings.

Clutterbuck had a 5-0 lead going into the 6th and a 10-2 lead going into the 9th. Trebelhorn didn’t go to the bullpen, even when Clutterbuck let up a 2 run 2 out double to Gene Larkin.

He got Jim Dwyer to ground out to second and Clutterbuck went the full 9.

Only 10,034 were at Milwaukee County Stadium to see his finest moment on the field… but it seems like his finest moments in life came afterward.