Dusty Baker Officially a Genius

The Cubs unmercilessly pounded the Mets at Shea today, 15-2. Besides the miserable play of the Mets, at bat, on the mound, and in the field, the Cubs' and Dusty Baker's every postseason move gelled perfectly:

- Mark Grudzielanek, the veteran who played sparingly this spring and yet unseated highly touted rookie Bobby Hill and became the leadoff hitter in the process despite a .324 on-base percentage, went 3-for-3 with a walk and a run scored.

- Alex Gonzalez, who owned a .306 in-base percentage and yet is batting second, went 2-for-5 with a walk and a run scored.

- Corey Patterson, who was NOT traded for Mike Lowell in the offseason, was the star going 4-for-6 with 2 runs scored, 2 home runs, and 7, count 'em, 7 RBI.

I criticized Dusty Baker and the Cubs for many of the moves that they made, but on this day Dusty is a genius. Now let's see what the Cubs can do against a team that plays defense.

The Mets, on the other hand, seemed to continue their woes from the first half of 2002. Roger Cedeno, who is inexplicably playing center over Shinjo and Timo Perez--OK Shinjo is a righty--, went 0-for-3 in the leadoff spot and misplayed a Mark Bellhorn fly into a triple. In fact, the top three spots for New York were 0-for-9, but they did draw three walks. The only man with more than one hit was also the only man with an extra-base hit, Jeromy Burnitz. Tom Glavine was booed off the mound in the fourth, after throwing 90 pitches and facing 21 batters. Mike Bacisk "took one for the team" with a nine-run performance in 2 innings (on 4 hits, one of which was the Bellhorn "triple"). The Mets gave up 16 hits and 12 walks for a WHIP of 3.11.

Somewhere Bobby Valentine is laughing his tuccus off. Meanwhile, the Mets appear set to sign retread Shane Reynolds. And around we go...