Combination Of All Things

The adage goes, I believe, that each time you go to a Major League Baseball game, you have a chance to see something you've never seen before. Last night at Citi Field was my 20th game of the 2016 season and my 399th in total. I've seen lots of things happen at a Baseball game.

• The Mets get a 9th inning Home Run to tie the game and an Extra Inning Home Run to win? I've seen that before.
• The Mets win a game on a Home Run that takes them from trailing to winning? Seen that before too.
• The Mets use 27 players in a game...Well, that I haven't seen. That was a club record and I've got the scorecard to prove it. 
• The Mets come from behind 3 times in a game to win? Yeah, that I've seen too.

But I don't think I've ever been to a game that packed all of these things into one crazy night, with the backdrop being the Mets in the thick of a Pennant Race and coming off a 3-game losing streak. In spite of all sorts of things going wrong, the Mets managed to get up off the mat and tie the game in the 9th inning on a lightning-like Home Run from Jose Reyes. In the 11th inning, the Mets fell behind again, and with the clock pushing midnight, Asdrubal Cabrera tolled the bell for a 3-run Home Run to give the Mets a 9-8 victory that has to rank up there with some of the most rousing games I've ever been to.

This long night of Baseball began innocently enough, with Seth Lugo on the mound for the Mets and Adam Morgan for the Phillies. The imminent drama that would unfold over the course of the evening barely seemed plausible given a matchup like this. The Mets jumped ahead in the 2nd on a Curtis Granderson 2-run Home Run, and with Lugo mostly humming along, everything seemed fine. The Phillies scored a run in the 4th after Cesar Hernandez hit what was kind of a fluky triple to lead off the inning, and Roman Quinn followed with an RBI groundout.

Then, of course, the Phillies ambushed Lugo in the 5th. They'd been hitting fly balls off of Lugo most of the night, and of course the perfect storm for bad tends to be the combination of a fly ball pitcher on the Mets and Ryan Howard. And of course, Howard led off the 5th and blasted a Home Run out into the night of the Center Field seats. This, of course, is mere rite of passage for Lugo, since Howard has hit what, 79 career Home Runs against the Mets? However, when Cameron Rupp followed with a Home Run of his own to put the Phillies ahead, that wasn't a rite of passage, that was a sign that Lugo was probably done for the night and thus the parade of relievers would begin.

The Mets managed to rally back in the last of the 5th. Ty Kelly hit for Lugo and walked, moved up on what was charitably scored an infield hit by Cabrera and a Morgan Wild Pitch, and then scored when Yoenis Cespedes stuck his bat out and flicked a single to right. In the 7th, Cespedes put the Mets on his back again, finishing off a two-out rally against Michael Mariot by nailing a double to score Reyes.

The Mets have been using their bullpen liberally and often lately, which has been a side effect of a decimated starting rotation combined with taking advantage of every possible expanded roster spot. As such, it took Sean Gilmartin and Erik Goeddel to complete the 6th and Fernando Salas to pitch the 7th, and once Addison Reed hit the mound in the 8th, it seemed like things would be stable. Of course, how wrong I was. Reed allowed about 20 feet worth of singles sandwiched around a sac bunt and the Phillies had runners on 1st and 3rd and 1 out and Maikel Franco at the plate. I mused that what Reed needed was a Mike Pelfrey Special—the bowling ball that's chopped right at the Shortstop for an easy DP. What Reed got instead was something completely different—the ball flying over the fence and into the Phillies bullpen for a 3-run Home Run that put the Phillies ahead 6-4 and sent a multitude of fans streaming for the exits.

A rather fair-weather fellow with a man-bun sitting directly in front of me stood up, slapped his cap down and started screaming, "HERE IT IS, THE GREAT COLLAPSE OF 2016!" This, of course, was not helpful at all and turned into one of those moments where, were I more of a hothead, I might have kicked him in his bun or smacked the shit out of him. I know that there's this general trepidation because the Mets are in a pennant race with 10 games to go, and I know that there's a whole quadrant of Mets fans that think Terry Collins just fell out of the stupid tree. But how is it a collapse when the Mets just came back from 5.5 games out altogether, ran past 4 teams and somehow sit tied for the 1st Wildcard just 27 games later? And never mind that, how about the fact that the Mets have done this while 3/5 of their starting rotation is hurt (and if you want to throw Wheeler in the equation, that's 4/6), 2 guys that were in the Opening Day lineup still standing, and the team is basically stuck throwing out lineups that include Alejandro De Aza, Rene Rivera and on this night Eric Campbell, and they're relying on unknowns like Brandon Nimmo and T.J. Rivera for meaningful contributions? The fact that the Mets are in this position at all is a minor miracle. This is a team that's refused to throw in the towel all season. But this jackass is screaming collapse. Really, I think he should have just admitted he actually was a fan of the other New York team rather than continuing his charade, but as the 8th moved to the 9th and he continued his nonsensical rants, I realized I was doing myself no favors sticking around where I was, and I did something rather out of character for me—I left my seat and walked down to the Field Level, where I ended up just standing around the concourse, figuring that if this was going to end, at least I'd get out of there quick and get away from Yelly McDoofus.

Hansel Robles cleaned up Reed's mess in the 8th and he and Josh Edgin got the Phillies in the 9th, while the Mets managed nothing off of Joely Rodriguez in the last of the 8th, and while he apparently was ready to come out for the last of the 9th, Pete Mackanin decided to get cute and once Travis d'Arnaud was announced to hit for De Aza, he pulled Rodriguez in favor of his closer, Jeanmar Gomez, which you had to figure was coming because why the hell would Joely Rodriguez be closing games? And at this point, Terry Collins decided to just throw his entire roster at the wall. He called back d'Arnaud and sent up Brandon Nimmo, who got a hit in a similar spot on Wednesday, and of course Nimmo did what he does best and hit a line drive single. Jay Bruce followed and was met with bewildered looks, calls of "Where's Duda?!" and, oddly, cheers, because hey, if Bruce could get a hold of one and tie the game, maybe all would be forgiven. But that didn't happen. Although Bruce hung in for a while he still struck out, which was only helpful in the sense that he didn't hit into a Double Play, which was quite fortunate because Reyes followed by drilling a 2-1 pitch into the Mets bullpen to tie the game and spark a frenzy of crazy people jumping all over the concourse.

So much for quietly slinking off into the night. Rather than a silent finish, the real action was just getting started. Mackanin, now having burned his closer, removed Gomez from the game in favor of Hector Neris, who walked Cespedes but allowed nothing more of consequence. So, it was off to Extra Innings, and after not catching an Extra Inning game for the first 5 months of the season, I was now in for my second in less than a month, and this one was coming on the heels of an already long game, as the clock was pushing 10:40 and although it was Thursday, it was still a school night. At this point, I decided I was good for one more inning, and then I had to get out of there, loath as I was to do so.

Jeurys Familia came in for the 10th and worked a quick, uneventful inning, and Severino Gonzalez did the same, in spite of the fact that Lucas Duda came up as a pinch hitter for Rivera and came within about 6 inches of hitting a Game Winning Home Run. In fact, as it was more or less directly in front of me, I couldn't quite see just where the ball landed and for a second I, and the people standing near me, thought it was gone. But Duda pulled up around 1st and wheeled back to the plate...where he then struck out.

Familia came back for the 11th and I held my ground...The 10th was quick. One more inning, I tell myself. Next thing I know, it'll be 1am and the 15th inning if I'm not careful. Freddy Galvis led off by lining a double in the alley in Left, which wasn't helpful at all. Familia then rebounded by striking out Aaron Altherr and getting Tommy Joseph to ground out. With two outs, he then walked Hernandez intentionally, which was the right move with A.J. Ellis and his .190 batting average on deck. If Ellis beats you, he beats you. Unfortunately, that's what Ellis did, floating a little dying quail of a single in front of Nimmo to score Galvis and put the Phillies back ahead. Collins then did nobody any favors by continuing to run more guys in from the bullpen in an attempt to get the 3rd out. Jerry Blevins came in and hit Odubel Herrera. Collins then removed Blevins for Jim Henderson. Henderson walked Maikel Franco after an excruciating 10-pitch At Bat that was like watching paint dry. Now the score was 8-6 and at this point I was ready to leave right then and there. The Mets had pulled a July move and resurrected themselves from the dead only to shit the game right back out again. Only then did Henderson manage to get the last out of the inning as more people vacated and I stood around stewing.

The Phillies brought in a fellow named Edubray Ramos for the last of the 11th in order to pick up the Save for them. This was the Phillies' 9th pitcher of the night, which is a lot, until you remember that through 11 innings the Mets had managed to run through 10 pitchers, which is the sort of thing you can only accomplish in a game like this, at this time of year when you carry 20 pitchers on your roster, and this combined with the 16 position players they'd used tied a club record. I didn't realize this at the time. I was too busy thinking about a) who was left on the bench to hit in the Pitcher's spot which was due up second and b) If the Mets tie this game again, who's left to pitch? After Nimmo grounded out, I got one of my answers when Michael Conforto emerged from the dugout, remained patient and walked on 4 pitches. Reyes followed, and I started thinking that Reyes might turn back into the Homer Happy ninny he used to be after his 9th inning heroics, but instead he did what his M.O. normally is and singled the other way. And this brought up Cabrera, and at this point all I was hoping was that he didn't hit into a DP just so Cespedes would have a chance. And, of course, Cabrera rendered this hope and my second question irrelevant by nailing the second pitch he saw over the fence for the Game Winning 3-run Home Run. He knew it right away, I think everyone else did too. It was just one of those hits that had that arc, sort of like Reyes' did. These fly balls look a lot different when you're sitting downstairs and I'm used to the view from the Promenade.

Whew. This was exhilarating, but also exhausting. As I said, I know I've seen a lot of crazy, wild things happen at Baseball games, but never one that seemed to cram so much action, absurdity and intrigue into one 4 hour, 23 minute melange of madness. Hell, I watched the last 3 innings standing, that's how messed up things got. But this game was truly emblematic of the fact that the Mets refuse to simply lie down, no matter how much they have to absorb as far as injuries and inconsistency. As weird as it seems, the Mets are now essentially run by these three gentlemen at the top of the lineup, Reyes, Cabrera and Cespedes, and they're winning these games just because they're getting things done. Go back and look at that scorecard again. The Mets had 9 runs and 11 hits for the game, and these three guys accounted for 4 runs, 8 hits and 7 RBI. Think about it: That's 3 out of the 27 players the Mets used in this game accounting for that much offense. But these guys are paving the way. They refuse to throw in the towel and dragged the whole team back into this game and didn't stop until it was won. I don't know how far it will take them over the next 10 days, or if they play beyond that, but they've kept the Mets alive and at this point I don't think there's more we can ask of them.

Coup de Grâce!

The Mets weekend was already a rousing success before they took the field on Sunday. They'd successfully won the series from the Cubs, and were now poised to pull off a clean 4-game sweep with Noah Syndergaard on the mound.

They didn't just finish off the sweep, they did so in style, whacking 5 Home Runs in a game for the 2nd time this series and booted the Cubs out of the building altogether in a 14-3 pasting.

I guess you could say everyone led the charge in this one, although Wilmer Flores earned the prize for the day by hitting 2 of the Mets 5 Home Runs and collected 6 of the Mets 22 hits for the game. Flores' day placed him in the Mets record books alongside his countryman, mentor and Ballclub All-time Favorite Edgardo Alfonzo. But he didn't accomplish it himself. Curtis Granderson's 1st inning Home Run tied the game after the Cubs scored early and appeared to be nicking Syndergaard to death. Rene Rivera hit a 2-run Home Run shortly after Flores' first shot in the 2nd inning and set the stage for the Mets to basically pick away at Jon Lester until he was little more than a carcass.

In keeping with the way this series had been going, the Mets 7-run 2nd inning was basically the Coup de Grâce. Lester was basically throwing the kitchen sink at the Mets, but they hit everything he had available. He was mercifully pulled after 8 straight batters had reached base and 8 runs had crossed the plate for the Mets, by which point the game had become mostly uncompetitive.

Syndergaard, given the luxury of a big lead, was then able to settle down and make his way through 7 innings mostly unmolested, save for his difficult 1st inning, at which point the game dissolved into farce and we saw things like Miguel Montero take the mound for the Cubs and Jacob deGrom get an at bat as a Pinch-hitter.

I'm sure nobody figured on this sort of a result from this series. Based on the way the Mets were limping in, even the most optimistic of fans probably figured there would be a lot of booing, sighing and early exits. The early exits did happen, except that they were induced by rain and blowout scores on Friday night and similar reasons on Sunday. Instead of asking What do we do now?, I guess most Mets fans are saying Go Figure.

Meanwhile, I guess we can say that the Cubs have a Mets Thing right now. They certainly didn't look at all like the team that's been storming over the National League for half a season. What I saw was a team that swings far too freely, strikes out far too often and appears rather sedentary on the bases. Defensively, they appear confused, probably because Joe Maddon has guys playing different positions on a daily basis (to wit: Baseball Jesus, a natural 3rd Baseman and not a bad one from what I can tell, played a game at 3rd, a game in Left Field and a game in Right Field) for no apparent reason, and it seems to have duped the "experts" into drooling over how "wonderfully versatile" all his players are. The Cubs pitching, which has carried them, looks kind of tired; Lester's performance on Sunday was an embarrassment to a Pitcher of his stature, GOLDEN JAKE seems to be relying on nibbling, and any team could wait him out if they're willing to be patient enough, and Jason Hammel and John Lackey are what they are. This works when you play 18-19 games a year against the Reds and Brewers and all your home games are in the middle of the day when most players are out of their rhythm. It didn't work this weekend.


I don't know. Perhaps I'm saying too much, because the Cubs scouts might read this and then trade for more big names. Or maybe, just maybe, they woke the Mets up.

Turnabout's Fair Play

I mentioned this to George, and basically everyone who would listen to me after Friday night's Mets bombarding of the San Francisco Giants: Last season, I went to a Mets/Giants game and watched the Mets get No Hit by Chris Heston. I watched the 9th inning of that game stewing in silence as the true horror unfolded.

Last night was the exact opposite of that. Rather than not hitting, the Mets hit, and hit, and hit some more in a 3rd inning that just kept on steamrolling until the Mets had plated 12 runs, something they had never before accomplished in team history.

These games usually begin innocuously, as most games tend to do. It was, of course, Friday, which means I got a Free Shirt and as I was coming off the train before going inside I passed the WOR tent, where they were giving out free shirts for answering trivia questions. I'd planned not to stop, except that I knew the answer to the question that was asked, so essentially, I shouted it out as I passed by and got a second free shirt, which appears to be a leftover from last season. Inside, it was crowded, as you'd expect on a Friday night against a contending team like the Giants and a team with a fan base that travels well like the Giants. I expected to see large swaths of Black and Orange and I certainly did, and the Finnerty's crowd was in full force out in Left Field. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary.

Steven Matz was on the mound for the Mets, against Jake Peavy for the Giants. The discussion that spurred involved things like George not knowing that Peavy was still in the league, twice confusing him with Brad Penny by assuming he'd pitched for the Marlins and the Dodgers, and neither of us being able to remember which teams he'd actually pitched for outside of the Padres and Red Sox. It was raining at the start of the game, kind of lightly, intermittently, but then somewhere around the 2nd inning, it started raining a little harder. My scorecard was getting wet and I had to pause and put it away as several people ran for cover outright. Someone several rows down from me put up an umbrella and blocked my view of home plate, which was just lovely. It was turning into one of those nights.

In other words, nobody knew what was about to ensue.

The Giants had been dinging Matz around over the first few innings, picking up 5 hits, but nothing of consequence. Peavy didn't allow the Mets much over the first two innings. That, of course changed rather quickly.

Peavy's control hadn't been great to begin with and of course when he walked Curtis Granderson and David Wright to start the 3rd inning, he was asking for trouble. Michael Conforto followed, and generally Conforto with men on base has been a winning proposition for the Mets. So it wasn't surprising that Conforo smashed a double to the left-center field gap to score Granderson with the first run of the game. Yoenis Cespedes followed with a single that scored both Wright and Conforto and got the Mets out 3-0.

At this point, George and I were discussing clichés to describe Peavy's situation. At this point, we felt he needed to minimize the damage and let the game come back to him, but instead he only made things worse by walking Lucas Duda and giving up a long double into the Right Field corner to Neil Walker to score Cespedes. At this point, Bruce Bochy had had enough of this and removed Peavy from the game, I suppose in an effort to stop the madness, but his choice of pitcher, Mike Broadway, only managed to make things worse.

Broadway was greeted by Asdrubal Cabrera drilling another double up the alley in Left Center, the Mets 3rd double of the inning, that plated Duda and Walker to make the score 6-0 and officially close the book on Peavy's forgettable evening. Kevin Plawecki walked. Matz followed and at this point, with 6 runs home, George and I were wondering whether or not he should be bunting, or what the protocol for proper sportsmanship was in this place. Surely, Matz has proven himself capable of swinging the bat, but it seems bunting isn't quite his bailiwick and he struck out on 3 attempts.

That's the first out of the inning, after 9 batters, if you're keeping score.

Here's where the inning began to get completely out of hand. Granderson followed by smoking a Broadway offering deep to Right Field, into the dopey alcove where nobody can hit Home Runs. It looked for a brief moment like it might land in the Pepsi Coca-Cola Porch, but it didn't, and Hunter Pence I guess was distracted by whatever signs were prepared for him because he got a glove on it but didn't hold on, and instead the ball fell, Cabrera scored and Granderson was aboard on what was charitably called a very long single. At this point, any sort of wheels that remained on the Giants had come off, and the Mets were either just going to keep on hitting forever. The inning was by this point well over half an hour long and the Mets had tied my personal best inning with 7 runs. So I just wanted to see how much further they could take this. Wright dunked a single in to load the bases. Conforto did his part by lining a single to right to score Plawecki and make it 8-0, and then Cespedes followed, and basically the thought in everyone's mind at this point was that he was either going to swing like he was trying to hit a grand slam, or that he was actually going to hit a grand slam, and really, that was the only result of that at bat. And, of course, he launched the 1st pitch into the seats in the Left Field corner for said grand slam and capped off the first 12-run inning in Mets History.

So at this point, everyone was bouncing off the walls with joy, George and I are both dumbstruck by what we've just witnessed and, of course, there's still a whole rest of a game to be played with the score 12-0. And there was still only one out in the inning. But as these things tend to do, Cespedes' grand slam killed the momentum and the next two batters grounded out. That didn't take anything away from the 13 batters that came to the plate before that and the crowd responded with a standing ovation.

But as I said, there was still 6 innings left to play, and by this point, after an inning that took close to 45 minutes and an unheard of 67 pitches, 30 from Peavy and 37 from Broadway, the clock was nearing 9pm...and the game started at 7:10. Also, Matz had to sit around through that long inning. But for the most part, both teams played like they wanted to get out of there quick. Matz didn't help himself by coming out a bit wild in the middle innings, probably because it's not especially easy to

pitch with a big lead like that, and he kept walking guys and giving up hits, but again, the Giants didn't cash in, Matz finished out his 6 innings, and Jerry Blevins, Logan Verrett and Antonio Bastardo each pitched sloppy innings to finish out the night. I could expound on how messy the Mets were on the pitching side of things, but that really isn't the story of this game.

The 3rd inning of this game is of course what everyone will remember, because never mind that the Mets have never done it, but you just don't see 12-run innings very often altogether. It takes a rare combination of contact and momentum steamrolling out of control, combined with a pitcher who has the poor fortune of just having to suck it all up, which is the case of Mike Broadway, who aside from being subjected to a litany of Broadway Musical jokes had to just do his best to navigate his way through a completely hopeless situation. I'll remember it because after Matz came to the plate, I turned to George and said "The Mets have officially broken the scorecard," as you'll see here. It's not often I have to run an inning across two columns and then shove each subsequent inning down the list, but that's what happened here.

The Giants and I are now even, I believe. This sort of a game seems proper retribution for what they made me witness last season. I suppose watching Matz throw a No Hitter might have been nice, but History is History and all the better that I was there to witness it.

Riding The Wave

In Late August of 2007, the Mets kicked off a crucial 10-game road trip in Philadelphia, against a hard-charging, up and coming Phillies team that was out for blood. The Phillies exploited every Met weakness, got every key hit and got every break over those 4 games, swept the series and rode that wave to a Division Title. Since then, well, we know what's happened.

Now 8 years later, the shoe is somewhat on the other foot. Those up-and-coming Phillies are now a shell of the team they once were, with yet another piece of their glory years, Chase Utley, jettisoned to the Dodgers, who may as well call themselves West Phillies since they've picked up half the Phils' infield. Meanwhile, the Mets are the hard-charging, up-and-coming team that's out for blood. Since the calendar flipped to August, the switch has come on for the Mets and after 4 months of not really being able to get out of their own way, now, they're just steamrolling the lesser opponents that get in their way. The Phillies are one of those now-lesser opponents, and while the Mets had done a good job of handling them to this point, on Monday they took handling a lesser opponent to a whole other level.

It makes sense that the Mets would go into Colorado, face a team that can't pitch at altitude and score 33 runs in 3 games. But the Mets outdid themselves on Monday, setting a pair of club records with 15 Extra Base hits and a mind-boggling 8 Home Runs in a 16-7 thrashing of the Phillies. Needless to say, the game was at Steroid Field, where the jet stream was obviously blowing in the Mets' favor. This happens sometimes, though it feels like a lifetime ago that the Mets hit 7 Home Runs in a game at this same locale. The Mets also scored 16 on that night, but in that season, there was no buildup to this kind of game. There was no struggle, no trade and no resurgence, and also no sense of urgency, because that game was in the middle of April. Monday's was in the thick of a Pennant Race that continues to tilt ever so gradually in the Mets favor.

It's also worth mentioning that in the midst of this offensive barrage, the Mets overcame a 7-2 deficit in the process.

The story of this game after 3 innings was more that Jacob deGrom just didn't have anything. He gave up a pair of 3-run Home Runs to Ryan Howard's carcass and Domonic Brown and generally looked out of sorts. In what was easily his worst start of the season, deGrom was gone before he could get out of the 3rd inning. On the road, against an opponent they should be handling, and they end up getting thrashed.

But oh, they were just getting warmed up.

By this point, the Mets had already hit two Home Runs, the first off the bat of David Wright, who returned to the lineup and promptly smoked a pitch into the Upper Deck in his first AB. Juan Lagares also hit one in the top of the 3rd inning. In the 4th, Wright singled, and then Wilmer Flores and Travis d'Arnaud belted back-to-back Home Runs; d'Arnaud's being hit so far out to Center Field that it disrupted the line at the Cheesesteak factory. This got the Mets to 7-5. In the 5th, Flores attacked again, hitting his 2nd Home Run of the game, a 3-run moonshot tucked just inside the Left Field foul pole that put the Mets ahead. Two batters later, Michael Cuddyer joined the party with another Home Run. One inning later, Daniel Murphy chimed in with the record-tying 7th Home Run, a ball hit so well that Murphy did his own unique style of hot dogging.

After that, the Mets resorted to more conventional ways of scoring runs. d'Arnaud drove home the Mets 12th and 13th runs with a double, and Juan Lagares singled home a run in the 7th. It took until the 9th for the Mets to reach the seats again, although you kind of had a sense it was coming, with Adam Loewen, the Pitcher-turned-Outfielder-turned-Pitcher on the mound just trying to throw strikes and end this Philly nightmare. But Yoenis Cespedes seemed bound and determined to get in on the action. After all, if the Mets were going to set a club record for Home Runs, wouldn't something be a bit afoul if Cespedes was kept off the board? But he wasn't. His drive clanged off the front of the 2nd deck in Left Field and the Mets had their record setting Home Run.

A lot was made after the game about the Mets turning it on like this coincidentally falling on the night David Wright returned to the lineup. While it's nice to have Wright back, at least from a leadership standpoint, I don't see how Wright got everyone so juiced up that they started hitting Home Runs all over the place. They've been doing this for the past few weeks already, while Wright was beating up on A-ball pitching. Wright's presence makes an already good lineup a little deeper, but clearly the addition of Cespedes, combined with the midseason resurgence of players like Flores and the return of d'Arnaud that have really given the Mets lineup some teeth. People are now starting to notice just how good Flores in particular has played since the no-trade and that maybe there's more to him than just a sentimental cult hero who cried on the field. It's the lesser guys stepping up and playing better that's making the difference. Earlier in the season, Flores was shoved into a power hitting/run producing role that he really wasn't mentally equipped for and the performance showed. Given the opportunity to be more of a wheel-turner and he has absolutely shined.

The other unsung hero of this game, who'll get no ink at all is Sean Gilmartin, who came into a completely untenable situation after deGrom left, and all he did was pitch 3.1 shutout innings, keeping the Phillies off the board while his team came back. And he even chipped in with a single and scored on Murphy's Home Run.

Washington, of course, was off tonight and so the Mets now lead by 5 1/2 games, their largest 1st place lead of the season and the first time they've been this far ahead since the Clinton Administration, or at least it feels that way.