Being the last real home game before they go on a 10-game roadtrip, I really wanted to witness the last game of the Met’s series Wednesday night. I’m sorry, but I think interleague play is a complete farce even if it is against the Angels.

This was a spontaneous affair. I had this hankering this morning and made a couple of IMs to friends. One of the reasons I love baseball so much is the fact that I can be this spontaneous and still be able to get tickets rather effortlessly.

What I witnessed was a completely different Dodger’s team than the one I saw last Friday night against the Toronto Blue Jays. Once Wilson Betemit sparked the offense with his home run in the bottom of the fifth, the game was over. The Dodgers scored two more runs in the fifth, three runs in the sixth, one in the seventh and two in the eighth to sweeping the series. James Loney, put into the game to relieve Nomar, hit a solo homer in the eighth off of Billy Wagner, arguably the best closer in baseball right now.

Once the offense sparked up, the Mets looked like they caught the same strain of mono that afflicted the Dodgers the last several weeks. The Mets couldn’t connect on routine double plays, and looked very lethargic on defense. On offense they could only muster one run which was scored in the first inning. They were so bad they made Useless look like an All Star.

While everything is all smiles in the Dodger’s dugout, one thing is really sticking in my craw.

Back on a warm Saturday afternoon on October 7, 2006 in game 3 of the National League Division Series with the Dodgers down two games to none, I witnessed the Dodgers fall behind 4-0 against the Mets. They managed to take a 5-4 lead in the fifth only to give it up in the sixth and go on to lose the game 9-5 and be swept out of the playoffs.

Why couldn’t they show the effort they made in this three-game sweep back then?

AP Photo by Mark J. Terrill