Mets Fans For Yankees...seriously

OK, I know that I said that no Mets fan can ever root for the Yankees, but, given the way the standings are right now, I am rooting for the Yankees to win the AL East. Let me explain why, as a Yankee Hater, I am actually rooting for the Yankees to win the AL East. In the American and National League playoffs the four teams that qualify from each league are the 3 division winners (East, Central, and West) and the team with the best record among the non-division winners qualifies as the wild-card. Now, the wild card is precluded from playing the champion from its own division; for example, if the Mets, who play in the NL East, were to win the NL East and the Phillies, also an NL East team, were to win the NL wild card as the best second place team, then the Mets and Phillies would not be able to face each other in the Division Series. Any match-up between the two would have to wait until the next round, the National League Championship Series. The Phillies would face the division champion with the best record out of the Central or Western division champion, and the Mets would get the remaining team in the Division Series. So, let's now go back to reality...

Currently the Yankees (88-57) lead the AL East by half a game over the Tampa Bay Rays (87-57), who are actually the 2nd best team in the American League; the Minnesota Twins (86-58) lead the Central by 7 games over Chicago; and the Texas Rangers (81-63). So, the Rays could not play the Yankees in the Division Series because they are from the same division. Therefore, if the season ended today, The Twins, by virtue of having a better record than Texas, would draw the Rays in the Division Series and the Yankees would play Texas. Now, if the Rays were to overtake the Yankees for the division lead and championship, then the Rays would play Texas and the Yankees would play the Twins. The latter scenario is just about the worst thing a Yankee Hater could hope for because the Twins cower when they see the Yankees on the same field; last season the Yankees swept the Twins in the Division Series, swept them at home in 4 straight during the regular season, and this season the Yankees beat the Twins in 4 of 6 meetings. Against Texas, however, the Yankees have split their 8 meetings this season, including losing 4 out of 5 to the Rangers since Texas acquired Cliff Lee from Seattle; Lee, mind you, also beat the Yankees twice in last year's World Series.

As a Yankee Hater I want the Yankees to have the toughest road possible through the playoffs and World Series; therefore, if the standings remain the way they are, I want the Yankees to win the AL East so that they have to play Texas and Cliff Lee in the Division Series instead of Minnesota, who the Yankees would sweep with little effort. If the Yankees got through Texas, then they would have to face, hopefully, the Tampa Bay Rays, who are 7-6 vs the Yankees. And if the Yankees win the American League, then hopefully they don't face the Braves, Phillies or Giants. If they do make it to face those teams, then at least football will be in full swing and hockey will be starting up. But yes, for the rest of the regular season while the standings remain the way they are, I will be joining the church of METS FANS FOR YANKEES!

Mets Fans For Yankees

The church of Mets Fans for Yankees is now open thanks to WFAN's Craig Carton, co-host of the Boomer and Carton show. Carton does a great job on WFAN and I am a big fan of pretty much all the bits that he and Boomer do on the show, and normally I would say that a church (or temple, mosque, etc.) should be respected and not defamed, but this is not one of those cases! If you want to be a bandwagon fan, then by all means go and join Carton and the other infidels in this church. However, if you're a real Mets fan, there is no way that you can possibly bring yourself to root for the Evil Empire; nor will I ever root for the Braves, Phillies, or Marlins. Once you choose your team there is no switching allegiances, especially to a rival; however, I do believe it is acceptable to root for your rival's rival (the enemy of my enemy is my friend).

Pink Yankee hats, another thing that bothers me: I'm sorry, but I can't stand seeing people wearing a team's hat that is not the official one. Seriously, how stupid do these pink, yellow, orange, green, or white Yankees [or Mets, et al.] hats, and the people who wear them, look? The same thing goes for pink Yankee shirts...and A-Rod jerseys. I also don't think I could wear a jersey that had the wrong style lettering for a player's name; in the case of a Yankees jersey, you should not wear a Yankees jersey that has ANY name on the back. I mean, you go to a sporting goods store and you see a David Wright jersey, but the lettering on the back is in all blue, which is not the style of a real Mets jersey. To me, this is just a waste of money. I realize that the authentic player jerseys are ridiculously expensive, which is why I prefer to get the player t-shirt, especially since these players don't last with their teams for very long. I was at Modell's the other day and saw Mets player t-shirts with "Reyes", "Wright", "Santana", and "K-Rod." NO! Even though K-Rod, Francisco Rodriguez, is obviously a stain on the Mets now almost as bad as Oliver Perez, the name on the back should be "Rodriguez." Alright, enough of me sounding like a total sports snob.

Finally, a few trivia questions about the Yankees. If you're a real fan of the team, you should know these; and, if you really hate them, you should know these too.

1. Who is the last Yankee to win the American League Rookie of the Year award?
2. Who caught the final out of the 1996 World Series?
3. Prior to winning the World Series in 1996, when did the Yankees win their last World Series and who did they beat?
4. Name all of the players who have worn numbers 1-10 to have their number retired by the Yankees.

Answers to be posted tomorrow