The John Starks Corollary

In 2006 the heroic late-inning win became something of a Mets specialty. The statisticians of the baseball world contend that a disporportionate number of one-run wins defines a lucky team—not that you're not good, you're just also lucky. My head knows they're right, my heart says, "Did you see that drag bunt?! En-dy! En-dy! En-dy!" I'm a big believer in having it both ways, you see.

Kevin Burkhardt tells Chavez in the post-game interview that he'll have his own statue outside the stadium before too long. And Endy is already reaching toward that firmament of New York folk hero unassailability next to John Starks, Jeff Van Gundy, possibly a few football players I've never heard of, whoever. Chavez tells us that he didn't plan the drag bunt; he made the decision when he saw the pitch. Imagine! Maybe in the scheme of things it's not that unusual for a professional athlete to make that kind of decision on the fly, maybe it's routine, but imagine from your layman's couch how that works. "Don't know what I'll do here, let's see, ohshitithinki'lldragbunt!"

And by the way, happy first major league win wishes to Diamond Joe Smith.

Good night, kids. I'm off to watch Steve Nash and Kobe and bask in what a ridiculous random Tuesday night of sports this is.