Thoughts on Gay Marriage

I have a lot of thoughts bottled up that I've kind of been pouring out in rapid-fire succession over the past couple of days, which coincides with procrastinating for my English Paper. I don't even know why I thought of now to write this down (other than the procrastinating thing). Also, I'm listening to Reel Big Fish as I write this, which is literally the most happy-go-lucky music on the planet, so it'll be interesting for me to be angry while listening to it. But here goes...

While the issue of gay marriage has been unusually dormant over the past few weeks/months, the topic of whether to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" has been a hot topic. To anyone who knows it, it's probably no secret that idealistically, I'm on the far left. It's not a conscious choice; I don't merely believe the things I do to conform to the Democratic lifestyle, I feel that form of ideology is phony and counter productive. People who believe something to fit the Democrat/Republican belief system is a waste, but it is much more productive to choose your political affiliation after deciding what you belief. But I digress...

I'm not very politically minded, but I never understood how "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was a debatable item. To me, it serves no discernible purpose. It seems more than logical to me to allow anyone who truly loves the country to join the armed forces and defend the cause he/she believes in.

I could never quite grasp what the hell bothered people about gays serving in the military, but to hear the ridiculous ignorance some people have towards gays serving is just mind boggling at times. And then to hear people like John McCain constantly contradicting himself is mortifying to me as someone who thinks the man should honor his past commitment to repealing it if he gets evidence that military members have no problem with allowing gays in the armed forces. I guess this is the topic that sprung this idea back in my head.

But I'll get back to gay marriage. The fact that the government is having to put up with so much resistance to repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" reminded me of the struggle with finally legalizing gay marriage and the ignorant resistant that is coming up against the cause. Simply put, I am for gay marriage. I see absolutely nothing wrong with allowing two people who love each other who don't fit the 'traditional' idea of marriage to be wed. More power to anyone who is truly committed to someone they love. It always saddens me how much opposition many heterosexuals put up to gay marriage. I am straight, and a gay getting married in no way affects me or anyone I know negatively. Why can't everyone have a chance to be happy.

I always hear the same reasons for why gays should not be allowed to marry. Perhaps the most used reason is the Bible. Yes, that Bible. The one written many, many, many years ago by people who may or may not have been insane about an all-powerful being that may or may not exist. But it's against gays getting married, so we should take their word for it. The Bible wasn't even written by God, so how we take its word so seriously surprises me. Furthermore, following the Bible, such an ancient book that took place in a world FAR different from our own, is ignorant. The world chances and we adapt to it. The Bible talks about stoning, yet do we stone people in America today? NO.

As humans, we believe in Progress. Slavery regrettably used to be legal in this country, but now it is no longer legal in this country, because we made progress. So why do we still not allow homosexuals to get married because that's what a really old book tells us is the right way to do things? Besides, there is such a thing as "seperation of Church and State", which means that the religion is separate from the law-making bodies that govern me. So furthermore, we're letting religion dictate this? Did I miss something?

Furthermore, it amazes me how much Republicans, who claim to love this country and what it stands for so much, would not want to see its biggest promise of equality used in full force. Allowing gays the right to marry is another way of offering another group of citizens of this country the opportunity to have freedom, and if anything Republicans love freedom so much that they should love this idea. We're merely hindering progress by being so close-minded.

My last point is this preposterous idea that legalizing homosexual marriage will somehow ruin the sanctity of marriage. Ah yes, so it has come down to this. We are worried about harming the sanctity of an institution that ends in divorce over half the time. People like Britney Spears have been married for 55 hours before getting a divorce. Yes, marriage is alive and well. Face it, the idea of true love has approached myth status. If anything, allowing gays to get married might, oh... I don't know... actually improve marriage. Maybe allowing two people who have fought so hard for the right to experience marriage will improve it. Fighting so hard for something makes it more precious when you achieve that satisfaction, no matter what the circumstances are. Maybe allowing gays to marriage will add some true love to marriage, or maybe it won't. But it can hardly hurt marriage any more than it has already been hurt.

Maybe I'm just naive, maybe I'm thinking too hard about this, or maybe I'm missing something. But to me, allowing gays to get married is a no-brainer. Who are we to deny someone the right to be happy because we are afraid to accept change and because we are only looking out for ourselves, not others. Then again, it's a puzzling world we live in...

My Thoughts on Pop Music

I recently thought of the perfect way to describe my distaste for mainstream pop music. I was so happy when the idea dawned on me, and I've been planning on writing these thoughts down. Then I decided to search the internet to see if it had been talked about before. Lo and behold, the has come up before... shocker (thank you Google). Anyway, I've still had a lot of feelings on pop music bottled up with the recent surge of terrible "music" that has struck the airwaves like a deadly plague.

The thought I had about pop likened it to fast food. There is a quote by a man named Marcus Eder, described as a rogue scholar and an angry liberal who wrote a book called, "Rorschach’s Ribs" ... his quote is in the exact vein I was talking about. It goes:

"Pop music is like fast food. It's always available quickly and might even taste good while you're eating it...but eventually you're going to shit it out and see it for what it really is--all the packaging in the world can't cover up the fact that it's excrement."

I'd like to expand on his beliefs with some of my own observations. What I wanted to say originally is that pop music is like fast food, in that it's quick, always available, and you don't have to look far and wide to find it. It's shoved in your face, or should I say on your ears, every time you turn on the radio, much how like every time you turn on the television there's a commercial for McDonald's, Wendy's, and Burger King. But this music, like this food, has little substance. Its availability does not make up for that fact. It takes hard work to find truly worthwhile music. You have to dig a little deeper, strain yourself a little more, like finding a truly good eating establishment with food that won't keep you in the bathroom for hours on end. In the end, the satisfaction of finding that truly worthwhile music, like that truly tasty food place, will be more than fulfilling.

Unfortunately, the masses don't want to go through the trouble. They are more than happy gobbling up the first catchy, brain-dead song the industry will throw at them and the radio will overplay and oversell. The problem with so much pop music is that it is mass produced to satisfy a wide group of people who aren't looking for anything other than a catchy beat and generic, recycled lyrics. Like Mr. Eder said, it's presented in a shiny packaged that's heavily glossed up to hide its major flaws and shortcomings and to convince you it's really wonderful.

The illusion of catchiness as a suitable substitute for style is disheartening for me. To me, music is an art form. It is absolutely inexcusable in my eyes to accept sacrificing the artistic component of music to make a product everyone will like. The excuse that music is "fun" and "catchy" as a reason why it is a good song boggles my mind. Ke$ha, Miley Cyrus, and Katy Perry are hardly talented. Don't get me wrong, they are fantastic pop musicians... because they know exactly how to succeed the same way people like N*Sync and Britney Spears knew the formula for becoming successful.

What about their songs is truly inspiring? The lyrics? I don't think so... unless you count the same generic words regurgitated over and over as progressive lyrics. The music itself holds no weight of its own. Music, like writing a book or painting, is art and should be cherished as such.

The point of my rambling is that I can't take when people say they have good musical taste and list off generic pop acts as something that is more than it is: terrible music covered up by high tech production (especially auto-tune... God I hate auto-tune) hoping to package it off to the masses as the newest "big thing". Look no further than Willow Smith's "Whip My Hair Back and Forth". The song is awful. Do you really think the 9-year-old wrote this damn song by herself? She is the daughter of two powerfully rich celebrities and probably had the finest people working on the song for her to recite. The lyrics are terribly brainless and the beat itself is mind-numbing.

I do want to stress that any person has all the right in the world to listen to Willow's song or Ke$ha's "We R Who We R" or Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" or 3Oh!3's... well, any terrible song they've ever written. But don't try to spin it as music gold when we've heard those tunes before, just like you shouldn't try to tell me that McDonald's is great food. It's not. You can enjoy it, you may enjoy it, no one should stop you from enjoying it, but don't act like it's good. I myself enjoy a couple of guilty pleasure songs/bands that I know are musically unimpressive (not to the extent of Willow Smith or Ke$ha, thankfully).

How many people talk about and listen to Thrice? Kevin Devine? Brand New? Rx Bandits? Streetlight Manifesto? Those musicians have talent. They dig deeper, they evolve, their music progresses from album to album and they always try to improve. Bands like Brand New had a formula that everyone loved, and they still changed their sound to challenge themselves without worrying about what others think. That's what pop music lacks; that conquest, that sense of discovery. Mainstream pop is complacent in its own filth. Ever listen to Vheissu by Thrice? I highly encourage that CD, because it represents the musical thought I wish you could find in the mainstream. Same goes to ...And the Battle Begun by the Rx Bandits, truly one of the greatest albums I have ever listened to in my entire life. And there are a ton of great bands I've never heard of and you've never heard of, but it's so gratifying to hear them and discover their music.

Before ending this rant, that's not to say all mainstream music is trash. There are musicians that will challenge the mainstream norm and expand on the formula most pop acts will rely on. It's just frustrating to wonder where they are sometimes.

Enjoy the music you listen to. God bless the artist for making the most money they can, that is well within their right to do so. But do know that there is good music beneath the surface. You just have to find it.

The Mets SHOULD NOT trade Jose Reyes

I was only 14-years-old when Jose Reyes made his major league debut. I feel old (I'm only 21), but what scares me more is that Jose Reyes was only 19. On June 10, 2003, the promising young shortstop made his major league debut at Texas just a day shy of his 20th birthday. The hype machine around this kid was startling, and just a few days later (on June 15, 2003), he had his first big major league moment, launching a grand slam into the left field stands at Anaheim for his first career home run.

We all knew the deal with Reyes: The kid had talent and speed but also came with the injury cloud hovering over him. Over his minor league career, he was hampered over and over with leg injuries that attacked his biggest strength. During spring training one year, the Mets even tried to change the way Jose ran.

But Jose Reyes persevered, and began making his mark on the Mets over the next seven years. Next to Pedro Feliciano, he is the longest tenured Met. He has provided many highlight reel moments in the field, with his bat, and on the base paths. He is one of the marquee stars that brings excitement to this team, and he has been paired with David Wright as the face of the Mets youthful core. Both Wright and Reyes came up through the Mets farm system and have been the face of the team in the past few years but also presumably in the foreseeable future.

This might soon change. Jose Reyes has one year left on his contract with the Mets, and trade talks have surrounded him in the early parts of this off-season. While the Mets acknowledge that they will need a deal that will basically knock them out, the talks over trading Reyes are all too real. The thought of breaking up the core has never appealed to me, because I have never seen a reason to trade a player who has never been responsible for the failures of this team. At this point, a better option at short stop is not available in the open market (since we can assume Derek Jeter is not leaving the Yankees) and the Mets can spend their money in much wiser ways than shopping Reyes.

Maybe I'm just being selfish, but when the Mets win, and I hope it is sometime in the somewhat-distant future (we'll say 10 years), I want Reyes and Wright to be a part of the team. They are the core and face of the team's successes and failures, but I don't find it fair to blame them when things go wrong because it is never all on them or even primarily on them.

Since his debut, Jose Reyes has been solid. You can argue that he has never lived up to the initial hype he came up with, but he is still young and has a lot of potential still ahead of him. It's scary to think we can give up on a kid who still has such a career ahead of him. With Wright and Reyes, the problem isn't with them but the team around them. I don't want either of them to lead this team on their own because that rarely ever leads to a successful team. We need a better supporting cast for them.

Another big issue is the injuries, but before 2009 Reyes had almost completely eradicated the injury problems. Between 2005 and 2008, Reyes played in at least 153 for 4 straight years, totaling 633 games over that span. I have to wonder what all the people who are saying he is always injured are thinking, because even though his injuries have resurfaced over the past couple of years, Reyes has proven that he can play on an almost daily basis (he played 161 games in 2005 and 160 in 2007) and has put up solid numbers over that span. I don't see the Mets replacing someone with much better than that.

Finally, you have to look at the numbers. From 2005-2008, he totaled at least 12 triples, topping out at 19 triples in 2006. Over those 4 years, he stole 78, 81, 78, and 82 bases, respectively. Even last year, he stole 63 bases in a year where he played 133 games. Jose Reyes is not a power hitter, nor is he or should be the main offensive star. What Jose Reyes offers is one of the best lead-off hitters in the league. He is the perfect table-setter: His speed is unquestionable, and a lead-off single can turn into a double after just 2 or 3 pitches. He gets in the pitcher's head with his speed, as he showed back in 2007 with Armando Benitez, and he has been known to draw balks. He is still the ideal hitter for Citi Field, as his ability fits into a stadium with huge gaps in left and right center that allow Reyes to take advantage of his speed.

Jose Reyes is an thrilling player. When healthy, he is the catalyst for the Mets offense and improves the RBI potential of David Wright, Carlos Beltran, and hopefully Jason Bay in 2011. There is no reason we should be looking to trade him because he can still be part of the youth movement, seeing as how he is only 26 himself. Maybe I've just grown so attached to Wright and Reyes as a fan, but I want these two to stay their entire career with the Mets, and I want to see them win here, not with another team. It will make the good and the bad all that much better. In the end though, are we looking to trade Reyes because we will improve the team, or are we doing it just to do something. If it's the latter, then the Mets may be making a grave mistake.

METS FANS: Patience is Key

This week, the new General Manager of the New York Mets, Sandy Alderson, named Terry Collins the new manager of the team. Terry's resume includes managing the Houston Astros from 1994-1996 and the Anaheim Angels from 1997-1999. He served on the Tampa Bay Devil Rays' coaching staff in 2001 and recently served as the minor league coordinator for the New York Mets.

My initial reaction to the hiring was disappointment. I know very little about Terry Collins, though I've heard that he has never led a team to the playoffs and resigned from his last managerial position in 1999 when the team petitioned to the GM to get rid of him. The last bit of information did little to change my initial perception of Terry. Combine that with the fact that he hasn't managed in over 11 years, and I'm beginning to worry about the New York Mets.

But all of that doesn't matter. The Mets will not win in 2011. They probably won't even win in 2012. The Mets are rebuilding, and as frustrating as that can be, it's something Mets fans have to accept. Terry received a two-year deal which tells me that unless Terry Collins miraculously leads the Mets to the playoffs, this is the end of the road for him. I could be wrong of course, and all this is mere speculation. However, the Mets seem to like both Wally Backman and Chip Hale and are keeping them close by in case they need them to take the reigns. This will most likely come in the 2013 season.

But for now, Terry Collins is our manager. Love him or hate him, he's here for the next two years (at least) and, barring another player revolt, we will have to deal with him. Mets fans wanted a fiery disciplinarian, and we got him, which makes Mets fans hating him even more baffling. His job appears to entail instilling a level of discipline in the team that has lacked over the past three and a half seasons. Terry may be perfect for that. The Mets are laying down a blueprint for the team, so that when they're ready to seriously contend, they won't trip themselves up down the stretch. That's not to say the Mets won't try to contend in 2011 and 2012, but with only $5 million available to spend this year, I can't imagine the team will look much better than it did in 2010. It's all about shedding the heavy contracts held by Oliver Perez, Luis Castillo, Carlos Beltran, and Francisco Rodriguez after 2011.

The point is, this is what we have, and we need to be patient. Mets fans are already criticizing Collins and chastising him for something that he hasn't even done. He hasn't failed yet, and we don't know if he will fail. We shouldn't root for his demise because we wanted Wally Backman or Bobby Valentine. Believe me, no Mets fan wanted Bobby V more than I did. The fact of the matter is, he would have clashed with Sandy Alderson, based on how Sandy described his ideal manager/GM relationship, and if anything that would have hurt us even more.

Mets fans have to get behind Terry Collins. It's not going to be easy for him, to say the least. He will be taking over a team whose last four seasons has contained two late September collapses and two under .500 records. In addition to that, the team will have no money to make any moves, will have a new General Manager, and has a fan base that already doesn't like him because his name is not Wally Backman. This attitude is not healthy for the team nor for the fans.

I'm frustrated with the team and I am realistic about the team's prospects for the near future, but I'm not going to let that lead to snap judgments. One thing I hope not to see, but fear I will, is the blame game being passed around if the Mets have a bad first month. I don't want to see people calling for Terry's head if the Mets have an under .500 April. Would Mets fans have done the same to Wally Backman or Bobby Valentine? I'm not sure they would, so I hope they won't do that to Terry Collins. It's unfair to him and it is unrealistic to expect success right away from him or Sandy Alderson.

Let's be patient, for once. Let's shed our New York attitude and give this team a chance. We need to search for the subtle improvements on a game-to-game basis or else we're going to hate this team. The organization has shown a commitment to a youth movement, which means we will be seeing a lot of Josh Thole, Ruben Tejada, Fernando Martinez, Jenrry Mejia, and an assortment of other prospects.

2011 will be a success if we see improvements from these players and a cohesion that begins to make the Mets appear like a real team. We need to see hustle: No more jogging on fly balls, no more one-handing pop-ups, no more bad defensive plays late in games. While wins and losses will always be important, it may be over before it's begun for the 2011 Mets, but there's still a lot to look forward to. For once, our farm system is full of ripe young prospects who have real potential to become major players on this team. We also have a front office all-star team comprised of three of the game's brightest minds who are committed to using the "Moneyball" philosophy to build this team on the right ideas and players. I really am excited that for once, this team may actually know where it is going. Whether or not that translates into winning, both now and in the distant future, remains to be seen.

A New Era in Citi Field

I woke up this morning feeling like today was going to be very important. Maybe it's because there was a Communications Internship Fair at Hofstra, a big deal considering I still need to get an internship to graduate. But that wasn't it. About 15 miles away from my Hofstra University dormitory, something big was brewing in Citi Field. The Wilpons were introducing a new general manager for the New York Metropolitans, the dawning of a new era that will

Mets fans like myself have suffered through four of the most brutal years the franchise has ever endured. If you have closely followed the team, you realize it's not as simple as wins and losses. It's about the culture that has surrounded the team, a culture of failure and embarrassment. It's about overpaying players that have underperformed or our old General Manager, Omar Minaya, just giving money to players who flat out didn't deserve it (Oliver Perez, Luis Castillo). It's about the way the Mets have lost, going from the emotional peak of reaching Game 7 of the NLCS in 2006 to pulling off back-to-back collapses and... well, you know the rest. It's about the off-field issues, turning the Mets into a perennial punch line of jokes from SNL to Letterman. It seemed that the Mets couldn't do anything right for almost four years.

So it was no surprise that the Mets fired Omar Minaya, whose tenure as Mets General Manager will always be remembered as a time of great promise, centered around stars like Jose Reyes, David Wright, and Carlos Beltran, that never panned out like it could have. The Mets also let go of manager Jerry Manuel, ending a regime that began in embarrassing "Midnight Met-sacre in 2008 when Willie Randolph and Rick Peterson were unceremoniously fired.

Bringing Sandy Alderson aboard to be the GM of the Mets is more than just a hiring. It's a conscious effort by the organization to correct all the mistakes of the past regime, a task that will not be easy, nor will it be quick and painless. It represents a philosophical shift for this franchise. Sandy Alderson is a decorated individual. He is well known as the General Manager of the Oakland Athletics from 1983 to 1997, where he won four division titles, three pennants, and the World Series in 1989. But he is also famously known for shaping that franchise through youth, which unfortunately links him to the steroids era and his team, which included two of the biggest names to be linked to steroids: Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire.

Still, Alderson is a man who appears patient, with an incredible eye for young talent and a sound baseball mind. He left the A's for the commissioner's office during two different stints before joining the Mets (with some work within the Padres organization sprinkled in between). We need a man who has an eye for the bigger picture in Flushing, something Omar Minaya, in his best and worst times, never had. We can no longer employ a General Manager who will look for quick fix off-season solutions to appease a rabid fanbase, because simply put, the "win-now" mentality will not do us any good in the long run.

Sandy Alderson is a solid choice. I've heard many say they preferred somebody younger, an up-and-comer, and maybe Alderson won't be here much more than four or five years. That's alright. Sandy is essentially here to teach the Mets how to build a solid team. The Mets have proven they don't know how to do that. Five years is a long time, and if Alderson can implement a formula for building a strong, young team that the Mets can use in the future, his hiring will be a success. If the Mets cannot learn to make this formula work, than the hiring will be all for naught. The Mets, as it is, have never had a stretch of more than two consecutive playoff berths. That needs to change. With Alderson's help, the Mets may be on their way to building a team that can contend year after year.

The next step is a manager, and it will be an interesting search. Right now, who I think or anyone else thinks should be manager is a moot point. It's all on Sandy Alderson. He has been given the key to this organization by the Wilpons, assuming they are planning to do this right and give him the full autonomy they promised Omar Minaya but never quite trusted him with. From what I've read and heard about today's press conference, I am more than satisfied with the hiring and believe that Sandy Alderson knows exactly what he's doing and will make the most educated decisions for the growth of this franchise.

I'm excited. All Mets fans should be excited. 2011 may not produce anything more than a sub-.500 team, but it's not about next year. It's about 2012, 2013, the farm system, the new way of thinking in Flushing. In five years, we could look back and say October 29, 2010 was a day that changed the course of Mets history. I remember when Omar Minaya and Willie Randolph were the package GM/manager combo presented to us as the future, and for a couple of years it worked out very well. I expect more this time, and I truly believe that better days are ahead, hopefully in the not-so-distant future.

It's not often that a team signs a new GM and manager in the same off-season. There will be a lot "new" about the Mets next year. It will take time getting used to, but for the first time in a long time, the Mets are on their way to fixing everything they've messed up. Let's just hope they don't mess this up. There's only so much we can take.

2010 New York Mets: Moving Forward

The 2010 baseball season is over, at least for my beloved New York Mets. With few expectations going into next year, this season was a bit easier to swallow and endure. The Mets weren't quite as putrid as they were when they won a mere 70 games and suffered debilitating injuries almost daily in 2009. They also weren't the choke artists they were in 2007 or 2008. They were simply, for a good portion of the season, a .500 team that had the ups and downs of any normal average baseball team. At times, they looked poised to make a run, at times they couldn't get out of their own way, and the result is a 79-83 season as average as they come.

Since the season's basically been over since that nightmarish west coast trip (2-9) that pretty much eviscerated any chance of the Mets competing this year, the season's mostly been about moving forward and looking to the future. It's been clear for some time that Jerry Manuel will not come back as manager next year. While many of the team's failures were no fault of his, that's still little excuse for the bad managerial decisions he made day in and day out with the bullpen and lineups and such. His passion also seemed lacking at times and it appeared he didn't command his players like a true leader should. It's truly time for a change, and with his contract up, firing him won't cost the Wilpons a dime, which is sure to make them happy. Adios Jerry.

Then there's Omar Minaya, who is still owed $2.5 million over the next 2 years. Reports say he will most likely be fired, and deservedly so. Because of his lack of foresight, the Mets are now tied up next year giving bad money to Oliver Perez, Luis Castillo, Carlos Beltran, and maybe Jason Bay (yet to be determined, I still think he can become a valuable asset to the team). Omar became part of the face of this franchise when he was brought in with Willie Randolph to be the team that put together a contender in Flushing. It's now time to say goodbye to the final piece of this puzzle. Adios Omar.

My immediate feeling is that Omar will not so much be fired as he will be reassigned within the franchise. The Wilpons are no fans of paying someone money to do nothing, so they will probably put Omar in a lesser role within the organization where he can't do much harm. The Mets need to establish a new hierarchy that will change the culture and motivate the fans to become invested again. I've heard names like Gerry Hunsicker, Sandy Alderson, Josh Byrnes from the D'Backs and I honestly don't know enough about them to say anything worth noting. What the Mets need to do, in whoever they hire, is bring someone in who can plan for the future as well as the present. They need someone who can see the long term, develop a top notch minor league program and not offer bad contracts to people even the fans notice isn't very good. I'd much rather the Mets bring in someone who has had experience before in building a franchise up from the bottom, which is basically what the Mets are up against right now.

As for manager, I have been a fan of Bobby Valentine forever. It seems almost too perfect; Bobby V is looking for a job and the Mets are looking for a manager. He didn't choose the Marlins and I've read that it could be between the Mets or Mariners, with an outside shot for the Marlins. I think Bobby V is perfect for this team; he has a proven record winning in New York, he was a national icon in Japan, and he is a hard nosed guy who won't accept the lollygagging that this team has been prone to in the past. The Mets cannot bring a bland, laid back guy to manage this team. They need someone with fire who will command attention, respect, and the best out of the young team the Mets are sure to have next year.

Other viable options are former Mets Wally Backman and Lee Mazzili. I think a dream scenario would be to put Bobby V as Manager and Wally Backman as bench coach. He can pick up valuable experience working behind a smart manager like Bobby so when it's his time to take over the club, we'll have the right guy. Unfortunately, Bobby V might not like the idea of someone looking over his shoulder and Wally might not like the idea of being simply second in command, so time will tell if this could ever work in reality. Still, it's intriguing, and if anything the Mets will never be boring next year.

As for the team itself, the Mets have to swallow their pride (and their wallet) and outright cut Ollie Perez and Luis Castillo. Enough of these two eating up a roster spot, no good comes of it. Luis will surely be replaced by youngster Ruben Tejada, or potentially even Reese Havens if he matures and improves quick enough. If I could do anything to this team, I would find a way to trade Carlos Beltran and replace him with Carl Crawford. Carl is made for Citi Field, he has gap power and speed and could lead the league in triples in a ballpark like Citi Field. Pairing him with Jose Reyes near the top of the line-up would be a deadly combo for opponents. Unfortunately, the Mets's payroll after raises and arbitration and such is projected to hit 130 million, meaning the Mets will make little to absolutely no player moves all off-season, save the occasional reliever and scrap heap pick up.

The Mets will most likely enter 2011 a young team looking to impress and prove themselves at the big league level. This could turn out to be very good for the Mets if all these young guys click in their first years, and could help the Mets fly under the radar and be a surprise NL team. More realistically, however, it will be a young team struggling to establish itself in the majors and lead the Mets to win between 70 and 80 games. There's no doubt that 2011 will be a transitional year, and the signs are pointing to another year without the playoffs. However, if the Mets bring in a manager and General Manager that fires up the fans and have a scrappy young team that makes going to Mets games exciting again, then I'm sure all us fans can deal with an average year one more time. It's all about the future now, but it's up to the front office to make it a bright one.

Opening Day 2011 Line-Up (Realistically):

Jose Reyes (SS)

Carlos Beltran (CF)

David Wright (3B)

Jason Bay (LF)

Ike Davis (1B)

Angel Pagan (RF)

Josh Thole (C)

Ruben Tejada (2B)

Mike Pelfrey (P) - (With Johan Santana on the DL)

LET'S GO METS!!!!

"The Event", NBC's new Monday Drama

My two favorite TV shows are LOST and 24. I love these shows for so many reasons, not the least of which is their constant ability to keep me hooked through their best and worst moments. Each show had episodes that made me cry, that made me think, that kept me up, and that had me entertained above all else.

So when I heard NBC picked up a new show called "The Event" that many likened to LOST and 24 (or as one critic said, it's what would be the result of LOST and 24 having a baby) I had to check it out. Flashforward was the rightful heir to the LOST throne but unfortunately was cut short by short sighted ABC execs who didn't give it a fair shot and had no long term idea in mind. The trailer for "The Event" was mysterious, compelling, and and convincing. In need of a new drama, I decided to try the show out.

It's hard to judge based off one episode, but LOST and 24 had the two best pilot episodes I have ever seen. "The Event" was a tale of two halves, as the first 30 minutes fell well flat of what made love my two favorite show (the action, the character connections, the truly compelling drama) while the last half accomplished the main goal of any pilot: to get viewers to tune in next week.

To begin, the show was all over the place and many times I didn't have a clue where it wanted to go (again, hard to tell after one episode). This accusation seems hypocritical since LOST is built on flashbacks and flashforwards intertwined within the actual narrative, but that show did it tastefully and related it in a fashion that made sense when each episode/season/the show itself ended because of the characters. "The Event" was sloppy and at such an early stage in the show built a confusing narrative will take considerable patience from viewers to follow. We caught sight of so many characters but had no idea why we should care about them as their personal lives were strung together in and out of a major event that we are never made aware of (until the end... I think). The show built little connection and many of the storylines felt contrived and forced.

The show features a Cuban President (Elias Martinez) who follows a lot of the same ideologies as President Obama. He is trying to pass a new clinic bill (health care bill anyone?) and is trying to release some prisoners (Guatanamo?) The plot felt way too close to 24. This man bears an even more striking resemblance to President Palmer, ideologically speaking. Although, as a 24 fan, it was nice to see the son of Victor Drazen (Andre Drazen) from Season 1, as well as Juliet Burke's ex husband who gets run over by a bus (LOST) on the show as the Director of National Intelligence, as we see the beginning of unrest in the President's party among his closest allies (again, shocking).

With that said, the show picked up in the second half by moving past the seemingly misplaced flashbacks.We see a clearer image of the show's plot and hints of the conspiracy leaking all over. Jason Ritter's acting was one of the the highlight of the show, and hopefully we grow to care about the characters, something Flashforward severely failed in. The cliffhanger was as crazy as many that happened on LOST, and will have many tuning in.

Hopefully it was just the premiere that jumped around to establish a narrative that will be followed, because I can see some potential in this show. The show seems to be based on government conspiracies and stuff of that nature so it's trying to build itself as a 24 type show with the general mysteriousness of a show like LOST. The problem is, people might not be as patient with this show, so if their goal is to be LOST and confuse the fan-base week after week, this show will be joining the scrap heap soon. Epic shows like 24 and LOST are a dying breed, as people cannot be relied on to follow a show with such a commitment. Ratings for shows like V and Flashforward were extremely low. It's hard to invest so much of your time into a show that requires the big picture to understand week after week, so clarity will need to be a big part of this show. With Flashforward getting the quick boot after one compelling season, The Event might be digging its own grave. I guess we'll have to see next week.

Also, a warning for future TV shows: STOP REFERRING TO YOURSELVES AS THE NEXT "LOST" OR "24". Same goes for reviewers. Those two shows were epic and groundbreaking, shows that imprinted themselves in TV and will stay there forever. They changed the rules on what television could be and how it could operate. Trying to write the next LOST or 24 is a death sentence, because the comparisons will never live up to the hype. Try something original, and let LOST and 24 live on in history

METS AUGUST WRAP-UP

Unfortunately for the Mets, their trend of following a terrible month with a great month did not continue as it did with May/June. After a 9-17 month of July, the Mets posted a mediocre 12-16 month that saw the team fall out of contention, leading to questions about where the future of the club lies. The Mets ended the month 2 games under .500 for the first time since May (65-67). The Mets also sit in fourth behind the Braves, Phillies, and Marlins.

Honestly, the worst thing about the 2010 Mets is that they're so boring and predictable. They were a much worse team in 2009 and a much bigger disappointment in 2007 and 2008, but in 2010 they've been completely and utterly predictable. They follow up a great homestand with a horrible road trip. They match up good pitching with bad offense and later bad pitching with offensive outbursts. They are only consistently disappointing and can never seem to keep a good vibe going longer than a week. They couldn't take advantage of series against bottom feeders like the Pirates and Astros or even against the Marlins at home.

The month started ominously with a disasterous 14-1 loss against the Diamondbacks in front of the new members of the 2010 Mets Hall of Fame Induction class. The Mets went 2-4 on the road trip that pitted the Mets against their biggest divisional rivals, further cementing their place as a non-contender.

However, it was their inability to dominate teams at Citi Field, like they have all year, that made August an alarming month. The Mets managed to split six games against the Rockies and Phillies in the first homestand and later split six games against the weaker Marlins and Astros. This sandwiched a road trip that saw the Mets go only 4-3.

The Mets ended the month with the first two games of a four game series against the first place Atlanta Braves. Mathematically, the Mets are still alive, but it was already hard enough to take them as contenders without seeing them going into Turner Field and sweep the Braves. Two losses in the first two games all but eliminates the Mets from the division hunt. The Mets enter September 12 games back of the Braves.

It's all about 2011, and sadly maybe even 2012 for the New York Mets now. With so many contracts not set to expire until after next season (Luis Castillo, Oliver Perez, Carlos Beltran). The Mets have shown they have no intention of raising the payroll. Whether it's because of the Madoff scandal or not is up for debate, but actions show that this team is cash strapped. They lowered payroll from $149 million to $132 million this year and with so many large contracts next year, it may only go down next year. Players like P Cliff Lee and OF Carl Crawford would be a major help to the club but at this point, this seems unreasonable.

September will be geared towards the young guys. While Jerry Manuel will try his hardest to win because he knows he is the lame duck manager going into the offseason, eventually guys like Luis Castillo, Jeff Francoeur and Pat Misch will no longer get much playing time. Ruben Tejada, Lucas Duda, Kirk Niewenhuis, and Jennry Mejia will get a lot of playing time as the Mets try to find pieces they can use next year in lieu of expensive pieces in the offseason. If any of these guys can sort any progress and promise, the Mets may catch a big break in 2011 and finally begin to build a team that is capable of contention. If not, it's looking like a long 2011 season.

25 Best Episodes of LOST

In honor of the release of LOST: The Complete Collection, I am posting what I think are the 25 best episodes of my all time favorite TV show.

25. Exodus (Season 1, Episode 23/24/25):
The culmination of a season that introduced us to 14 characters we would growto love, hate, and grow with was the launching of the raft, which featured abeautiful musical score. The dual stories of Walt's abduction and the hatchexplosion paved the way to a dynamic season two.

24. Beginning of the End (Season 4, Episode 1):
This episode followed the best finale in the show's history and picked up rightwhere it left off. It got us better acquainted with the flashforward structureby focusing on Hurley, whose scene with Charlie was very well done. The tensionbetween Jack and Locke also picked up full steam.

23. They Died For (Season 6, Episode 16):
As good a penultimate episode as LOST could have possibly done, this episodefeatured a fantastic scene between Jacob and the remaining candidates that wasboth well written and performed well by all. Flocke's scene with Widmore wasterrifying and revealing, while the parallel of Desmond being a "fail-safe" wasa nice touch.

22. The Variable (Season 5, Episode 14):
Daniel Faraday was the smartest character in LOST history, maybe too much for his own good. In this tragic one hour funeral to a misunderstood genius, Jeremy Davies turns in his most masterful acting work that led to the ultimate realization that his mother sent him to his demise. As far as science fiction based episodes, this only trails "The Constant".

21. Dr. Linus (Season 6, Episode 7):
Ben Linus sold out his daughter to save his own ass and maintain his power, but in this breathe taking one hour epic, he was given what so many of us crave, a second chance. Michael Emerson was at his best, as always, in making us care about the Ben Linus and his shot at redemption.

20. The Man From Talahassee (Season 3, Episode 13):
Locke's dad on the island? An amazing in-season twist wrapped around the explanation for Locke's paralysis, something LOST fans wanted to know for a longtime. Props to Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn.

19. All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues (Season 1, Episode 11):
This episode offered so many heart stopping moments, including the Jack fightwith the superior Ethan and Jack trying desperately to save Charlie. This alongwith Jack selling out his dad made this episode a season one epic.

18. The Candidate (Season 6, Episode 14):
There wasn't a dry eye at the end of this episode, as three show mainstays were taken out in excruciating fashion. LOST wasn't always successful in its action packed episodes, but this one was well done.

17. LaFleur (Season 5, Episode 8):
Sawyer was given his chance at the show's star and showed he could hold his own. He was cunning as ever in convincing DHARMA of his lie. An unexpected love story between Sawyer and Juliet is hindered when Jack and crew earrive, and Sawyer is taken aback by Kate.

16. The Other 48 Days (Season 2, Episode 7):
The Other plane survivors had just a tragic a first 48 days as our beloved crew, but with less compelling characters. Still, the episode provided many compelling moments (Bernard in a tree, Goodwin, the kidnappings).

15. Happily Ever After (Season 6, Episode 11):
Desmond episodes are always a doosy. This episode however, set the scene for the end of the show, and for that, along with the always touching Desmond/Penny moments, deserves all the love it's given.

14. Pilot (Season 1, Episode 1/2):
Man wakes up in the jungle. Man runs out of jungle. Man sees peaceful beach.Man hears screams. Man saves people. The show's beginning was two hours of non-stop action that introduced us to 40+ survivors of a plane crash, monsters,survival, and the ride of our lives.

13. The Man Behind the Curtain (Season 3, Episode 20):
LOST took us into the world of master manipulator Ben Linus and showed us that,like everyone, he had a dark and troubled path that ultimately led him to become evil (sort of). On the island, Locke and Ben's visit to Jacob's cabin introduced us to a whole new kind of crazy LOST mysteries.

12. Do No Harm (Season 1, Episode 20):
A simple case of the circle of life. Boone's death and Aaron's birth displayed the show's ability to play with our emotions at an early point in its history.

11. The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham (Season 5, Episode 7):
Locke is dead. Locke is alive. As always, Terry O'Quinn does his best worst inmaking Locke the show's most tragic figure. Locke goes from determined tobeaten down to manipulated, but ends up back on the island, more full ofpurpose than ever.

10. Orientation (Season 2, Episode 3):
DHARMA orientation videos were always a point of interest for fans. The first one showed us that the island was hardly ordinary but exhibited special properties that eventually became a basis for the rest of the show.

9. Ab Aeterno (Season 6, Episode 9):
LOST fans like myself waited for this episode for a long time, but the ageless wonder, Richard Alpert, finally got his day. Nestor's acting was brilliant,traumatic and depressing, and his conversation with Jacob opened our eyes to the island's history. This episode balanced all the show's best aspects.

8. Flashes Before Your Eyes (Season 3, Episode 8):
For the first time, we discover Desmond being "stuck in time" as he fights with his past decision to dump Penny, only to do it again. The episode also introduces another mysterious figure who plays a big role later on (Eloise Hawking).

7. Greatest Hits (Season 3, Episode 21):
Few, if any LOST characters ever got a proper funeral. Fan favorite Charlie Pace was fortunate, as this one hour tear jerker showed us the five best moments in the life of a has-been rockstar who is about to sacrifice his life. The bond between Desmond and Charlie, which was such a great part of season 3, was portrayed well by Henry Ian Cusick and Dominic Monaghan.

6. The Shape of Things to Come (Season 4, Episode 9):
We discover who Ben Linus really is in this episode. He's a man so obsessed with power he would sell his own daughter out to keep his hold on the island. , an Off island meeting with Charles Widmore displays the dramatic prowess of Alan Dale and Michael Emerson.

5. The Incident (Season 5, Episode 16/17):
In my opinion, this episode is as solid an episode as the show's ever done. We finally meet the mysterious Jacob, along with his nemesis, and see him visit our beloved outcasts in their normal lives. The episode stands alone and introduces us to the bigger power that is taking over.

4. Man of Science, Man of Faith (Season 2, Episode 1):
After the exhilarating season one finale, fans had one question on their minds:"What's in the hatch?" We finally find out! Plus, Jack's rise to the point of miraculously saving his wife gives him some relatability, for once. And who canargue with introducing us to Desmond, one of the show's best characters?

3. Walkabout(Season 1, Episode 4):
Locke was once paralyzed, now he's not. In a moment that expanded the show's fanbase and showed us this show could do anything it wanted, we are introduced to the mysterious hunter who was once a pathetic, depressed man looking for purpose and acceptance in the wrong places. Locke grows to become an icon of the show and its most powerful figure of fate.

2. Through the Looking Glass (Season 3, Episode 22/23):
This two hour mind bender began a huge shift in direction for the show, but still established it as a classic capable of developing major "WTF" moments.The sadness of Charlie's death and happiness of Jack calling the freighter to get everyone rescued is overshadowed by the famous lines "We have to go back Kate!" The fact that Jack's flashbacks, showing him as beaten and desperate man,turn out to be flashforwards isn't the big development, but the fact that the man that tried so hard to get his people off the island is now trying to get them back is.

1. The Constant (Season 4, Episode 5):
This episode is perfect, there's no way around it. It functions as an emotionalmasterpiece and a scientific showcase, mixing to make the show's best work.Henry Ian Cusick and Sonya Walger are magnificient, and their love story takesa hold of the show and becomes a big part of it. Not to be lost is the impressive work of Jeremy Davies as Daniel Faraday, as all three of them do a great job of portraying two separate versions of their characters 8 years apart. The writingis flawless, the musical score is moving, and the acting succeeds in making usfeel with the characters. The episode provides "the phone call", an iconicscene in LOST. There is little debate about this episode being the best episode.

METS JULY WRAP-UP

After a stellar 18-8 June, the Mets followed it up with a horrendous 9-17 July that catapulted the Mets out of serious playoff contention. The Mets, who found themselves a mere 1.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves and up a full game on the Dodgers and Cardinals to start July, are now hanging on for dear life. They sit 6.5 back of the Braves and are now trailing 5 teams in the Wild Card, including the leading Giants by 6.5.

From early on in the season, many fans pointed to the 11 game west coast trip as the make or break point of the season, and with the team struggling so much on the road, it ended up being the breaking point. The Mets went 2-9 to cap their worst month of the season.

The Mets started off July with a road split against the last place Nationals, which included a big blown save by Francisco Rodriguez the third. The Mets returned to the friendly confines of Citi Field, but uncharacteristically lost both series before the All-Star Break. The Mets only pulled off one victory against the Reds before the division leading Braves came to town and took the first two. The Mets salvaged the last game thanks to a shut out by Ace Johan Santana, 3-0.

After a thrilling victory by the NL All-Stars, the Mets hit San Francisco. They lost the first three, unable to solve San Francisco aces Lincecum, Zito, and Cain. They only managed to win the final game of the series thanks to a blown call by home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi. Up to that point, the Mets were leading 3-1, but Francisco Rodriguez again blew the save. The Mets managed to come back in the 10th inning and push the go ahead run across the plate for a 4-3 victory.

The Arizona desert was no welcome sight for the Mets, as they got swept by one of the worst teams in baseball. Against a terrible bullpen, the Mets had no answer, and Pelfrey had one of his worst starts in game one, going only 1.1 innings and giving up 6 ERs as the Mets lost 13-2. Offense was the problem the next two nights, as the Mets lost by one run. They flew to LA, where they Dodgers took 3 of 4. The Mets got shut out twice in the Giants series and another two times in the Dodger series, proving to be the downfall of the trip, as the Mets staggered home at 2-9.

The Mets got it together and won 2 out of 3 against the Cardinals behind strong outings by Jonathon Niese and R.A. Dickey. However, the Mets still had no answer for the Arizona Diamondbacks as they beat the Mets Friday night 9-6, even with 2 HRs and 5 RBI from David Wright. However, with less than two hours left in the month, the Mets rallied on Saturday night, and a walk-off sac fly by Carlos Beltran with the bases loaded pushed home Jesus Feliciano, who led off the inning with a triple.

With two months left in the season, we know exactly who the Mets are. They are a .500 team. Those type of teams always have as many great stretches in them as they have bad. The Mets have gone 9-1 on a homestand and 2-9 on a road trip. In the same vein, they went 12-3 over a 15 game stretch in June and 3-12 over 15 games in July. It's hard to expect a team that can't prove to anyone that they can win consistently to put together a solid two month run and make the playoffs. If 92 wins gets you in as a Wild Card team, then the Mets must go 39-19, and that's asking a lot from a team that has only won two road series against two terrible AL teams.

In one more month, it'll be time for call-ups and it will be interesting to see who comes up and who gets more playing time. Jenrry Mejia? Kirk Nieuwenheis? The big road trip coming up against Atlanta and Philadelphia will clearly determine the season, and going 2-4, 1-5, or 0-6 spells the end for the 2010 Mets. Still, if they can win either or both series, it will provide a small flicker of hope going forward, provided that they can also win at home still.

The anemic offense which killed them out west will have to do a better job of hitting in the clutch. They cannot continue to have these prolonged stretches where the entire team shuts off for large chunks of the game and expect to win. Even if it's too late for this season, this is an important lesson for the future of this team, as many of the same players will be back next year. With a limited amount of leeway, seeing as how it appears money might be a problem, this team will have to learn to hit, and with it being almost impossible to trade guys like Castillo and Perez, the Mets will have to work around these players. Big help might be 2 years away, and the Mets will have to build a contender from within and be crafty with their acquisitions.

Trade Deadline 2010: Idle Mets

The New York Mets are an organization with an identity crisis, which is a main cause for the unsurprising yet still infuriating trade deadline. While our two main division rivals and our cross town rival bolstered their team with some sort of move, the Mets sat idly by, and as early as yesterday we were told that no moves would happen for the Mets. While Roy Oswalt joined Roy Halladay on the Phillies, the only move the Mets could muster was dumping Mike Jacobs off in Canada.

I'm not one of the fans who believes in making a move for the sake of appeasing the fans or because it's the trade deadline, and the Mets have shown in the past that they do make deals post-trade deadline (the August waiver wire). But what's so infuriating is that for the past three years, we have no idea where the Mets stand.

Most teams fall under the title of buyer or seller, in that they believe they are a contender and will add pieces to make a playoff run, or realize their season is over and sell pieces off for the good of the future. The problem with the Mets is they never know which they are. Omar and Jerry often trick themselves into believing the Mets are contenders, but also into believing that they have the pieces to compete. If they are a contender, they need to make a move. It doesn't have to be Cliff Lee, but you can't hold on to a Double A prospect who isn't highly regarded when you can add a reliable reliever in Octavio Dotel. A lot of the Mets needs (bench, bullpen, starter) can be addressed without gutting the far. The last time the Mets thought they were contenders at the deadline, they sold off Scott Kazmir and Ty Wiggington (plus other prospects) for Victor Zambrano and Kris Benson, while they continued to tank the rest of the season.

Unfortunately for the Mets, their pieces aren't worth much in the open market. If we're sellers, we won't get much. The point of selling is to add more prospects and build a better future, but Beltran is still recovering from an injury and wouldn't bring back a big reward. Ollie and Castillo are albatrosses, but the rumor that Ollie could be had for Carlos Zambrano was enticing. While Zambrano is making more money and is a head case who is known to divide locker rooms (Seriously, he fought with the nicest guy in baseball, Derrek Lee), he is worth getting rid of Ollie Perez and is at least slightly more talented.

This leads to the other problem: money. We will probably never know how much money the Mets lost to Madoff. The Wilpons say us money isn't a problem and have the money to spend, but they won't cut Ollie Perez and eat his money. Hell, for the longest time they refused to DFA Gary Matthews Jr. You have to wonder if Omar's extension, as well as Jerry's contract is keeping them from making moves. They didn't want to take on Ted Lilly's $4+ million, which for a serious contender should be chump change for a guy who could stabilize the bottom of the rotation and provide an added reliever in Hisanori Takahashi. This is another identity crisis: Are the Mets a big market team willing to spend (within intelligent realms) to win, or will they have to win by a conservative amount. The Mets can't keep saying they have the money to spend, but contradicting themselves by avoiding to take on money. After 2011, Ollie Perez and Luis Castillo come off the books, and you have to wonder if that's what the Mets are waiting for.

This problem always leads back to the fact that it appears to us that the Mets have no plan. We don't know if we're building around prospects or throwing money around to win now. The Mets always reserve one big-money signing per off season (Jason Bay, Francisco Rodriguez, Johan Santana) and believe that it's enough. As a result, we are left with enough of a splash to make it look like they did something but holes in the bullpen, bench, and offense because they filled those holes with minor deals (even though some work out like R.A. Dickey). At this point, our core is hitting its prime, and if the Mets truly believe that they can't win right now, they should make a plan that builds this idea. I have no problem that the Mets didn't trade Ike Davis for Cliff Lee or even Josh Thole for Brett Myers. I like those players, as I also like Jennry Mejia and Wilmer Flores. But, if the Mets want to build on their prospects, then they need to approach free agency differently. They need to know what they want, and make moves based on that. Sign younger players, build your team around a certain concept (specifically pitching and speed).

The Mets need to figure out who they are. If they want to be the Yankees, then they need to spend. If they want to be more conservative, they have to be smart and not hand out Ollie or Castillo like contracts. They need to build by trading smart, drafting right, and building up prospects. But they need to figure it out fast, because fans are getting impatient.

METS JUNE WRAP-UP

June, despite struggling to end the month, will be remembered as the month the Mets found their mojo. Now, if the Mets miss out on the playoffs, this will just be a great month in a wasted season, but with 3 months down and 3 more to go, the Mets have put themselves in an excellent position to challenge for the NL Eastern title. The Mets finished June at 18-8, all while breaking their road woes (until the San Juan series at least), and compiled 3 sweeps during the month.

The Mets split the first two games this month in San Diego, although losing the last game in heartbreaking fashion (walk-off Grand Slam), but home proved to be all the Mets needed to get back on track. They returned the favor and swept the Marlins, who swept them back in May, and took two of three against the Padres, going 5-1 on the homestand. This included Ike Davis's dramatic 11th inning walk-0ff HR and Jonathan Niese's impressive 1-hitter.

Feeling confident, the Mets hit the road to face two of the AL's weakest in round two on interleague play, and proved to everyone that they can win on the road. Despite the opponent's pitiful record, that didn't damper the good feelings of back to back road sweeps. The Mets, who hadn't won back-to-back road games since July '09 or swept a road series since September '08, beat up on the O's and Indians, before heading to Yankee Stadium and losing the last two after winning the opener.

Interleague play ended with the Mets winning 2 of 3 at Citi Field against the Twins and Tigers, the AL Central's two best teams. The Mets posted a franchise best 13 wins during their bouts with the AL, going 13-5, including splitting 6 during the Subway Series. The Mets promptly flew to Puerto Rico to play the Marlins, the first professional games held in Puerto Rico since the Expo played part of their home games there. They took only the last game of the series, bringing back some of their earlier road woes but ending the month of June with an impressive 18 wins.

The big issue this month was pitching. With R.A. Dickey and Hisanori Takahashi pitching so unexpectedly well, the big concern was them coming back down to earth. Each pitcher struggled in their last start, but while Dickey is still a surprising 6-1, Takahashi has shown a lot more weaknesses and struggles and his time in the rotation may be up. To top it off, Pelfrey and Santana have struggled of late, especially Santana, who has given up 4 runs or more in his last four starts, which is uncharacteristic of the Met ace. Many are concerned that he is still suffering the effects of his surgery.

The pitching concerns and the approaching trade deadline has led to questions about who the Mets can acquire. Cliff Lee is by far the most enticing name, but he will cost a fortune and wants to test free agency for the big bucks. Roy Oswalt has a lot of money owed to him in the upcoming years but is another big name on the market, and after that the names range from Cubs starter Ted Lilly to the Orioles's Kevin Millwood. I like Ted Lilly personally, as he is a gamer, a lefty, has handled the big stage with the Yankees before, and would add stability to Takahashi's position in the rotation. That is, of course, if the Cubs are willing to sell, and also if the price of Lee is far beyond the Mets are willing to give. The deal will have to center around Jenrry Mejia or 18 year old short stop Wilmer Flores.

July brings Fireworks night, a home series against divisional leaders Atlanta, the All Star Break, and then a 11 game west coast trip, where the Mets will visit San Francisco, Arizona, and LA. If the Mets are serious contenders, they will have to prove it by going out west and holding their own. Their road record has me worried, and those teams, minus the D'Backs, are very strong overall. The Mets will have to go at least 6-5, hopefully, to show that they can win away from Citi Field. Until next month... LET'S GO METS!!

METS MAY WRAP-UP

The month of May was not kind to the New York Mets. Coming off a 14-9 April in which the Mets got off to a good start against a tough schedule, they did a complete 180 and reverted back to disappointment with some smaller glimmers of hope, going 12-17 for the month. The Mets have morphed into a team that is nearly unbeatable at Citi Field, but completely hapless while on the road, taking their "We Believe in Home Field Advantage" slogan to heart.

After beating the Phillies to end April, Mets aces Pelfrey and Santana turned in their worst performances of the season, resulting in two brutal losses to the division rivals. They followed up by losing 2 out of 3 to the Reds, both on walk-offs, and returned home to split 6 games vs. the Giants and Nationals. The troubles came to a head when the Mets got swept away in South Florida against the scrappy Marlins before splitting 4 against the Braves and Nationals, ending a very disappointing 2-6 road trip.

The high point of the month came against two bitter rivals, the Yankees and Phillies, at Citi Field. The Yankees won game one of the Citi Field Subway Series behind the unlikely heroics of Kevin Russo, but the Mets responded by winning the next two games, 5-3 and 6-4. The Mets then turned around and swept away the Phillies, shutting them out all 3 games. This was only the second time the Mets swept a team and shut them out in all 3 (The Mets swept the Phillies in 3 in similar fashion in 1969). The shutout streak ended in the 9th inning of the next game when reliver Ryota Igarashi, who had limited work since returning from the DL, served up a walk-off HR to Corey Hart (The third walk-off Home Run the Mets allowed in May). The Mets ended May with road losses to the Brewers and Padres. They are 19-9 at home and 7-17 on the road.

The biggest issue of the month was starting pitching, specifically the injury to Jonathan Niese and the struggles of John Maine and, most notably, Oliver Perez. The Perez saga has become suitable for a television drama, as his refusal to accept a minor league assignment has led many Met fans who were already fed up with his pitching to want him off the team. It seems at this point that the bridge has been burned far too badly to be repaired. Ollie has been asked a second time and still refuses to go down and work on his pitching, while he just sits and plays mop-up man for the Mets bullpen.

At this point, the Mets have to seriously consider cutting all ties with Perez if they deem his a lost cause. He is doing no good in the Mets bullpen, to himself or the team. While he is owed nearly $20 million over the next two years, the Tigers recently cut ties with Dontrelle, who is owed $9 million, and the Angels payed $21.5 million over a two year span for the Mets to take Gary Matthews Jr. The Mets have to think about what's best for the team and if reports that Met players are fed up with Ollie are true, it's only a matter of time before he becomes an even bigger distraction in the clubhouse.

Another lingering problem is the inconsistency of the offense. Bay has heated up at times, but the power still hasn't been there for him, and Francoeur completely cooled off after his hot start. The Mets have to find a way to establish a consistent offense which at this point sits near the bottom of the National League. This includes David Wright, who has still not found a consistent stroke and has an uncharacteristically low batting average. The catching position has been a nice surprise as Blanco and Barajas had a good month, both offensively and defensively (Blanco has thrown out 7 of 8 batters). Scoring always comes down to Jose Reyes for the Mets, as when he scores, the Mets win. His batting average, which is hovering around .260, will not suffice for the Mets, and neither will his low OBP. He must find a way to be Jose, getting on base, stealing bases, and irritating the opposing pitcher, if the Mets want to shake off the .500 record and improve.

As the season wears on, the Mets have to figure out how to win on the road. It has become frustrating that they can't keep any hot streak going because as soon as they pull off a nice home streak, they head out and lose on the road. It cements them as a .500 team and a bigger problem is that at this rate, every time it looks like Jerry is on thin ice the team comes home, wins, and buys him extra time, while no real progress is made. The road losses are getting worse in nature, too, inclunding this loss in San Diego. Sadly, there is no clear cut remedy for curing road woes, and at the very least it's nice to see the Mets developing a home field advantage which makes trips to Citi Field more enjoyable.

Onto June for the Metsies, which includes part two of the Subway Series, trips to Baltimore and Cleveland and visits from Minnesota and Detroit for interleague play.

The End of LOST

The finale is here, and after months of debating what happens, we will finally get all (well, most) of the answers and the story will offically come to a close. “What They Died For” gave us some insight over how the show will end. We know it will involve Flocke trying to destroy the island using Desmond as a fail safe, much like Desmond using the fail safe key to implode the hatch and release all the electromagnetic energy. To make this an SAT type question: The key is to the hatch as Desmond is to the island. At the same time in the flash sideways timeline, Desmond is trying to collect all the Oceanic members (well, the important ones) to bring them to a concert, but we have yet to see how they will react and what effect this will have on the island timeline.

I think that Desmond being a fail safe applies to the light and the source. The way for M.I.B. to destroy the island is to throw Desmond in there, and because of his resistance to electromagnetism, it will cause a catastrophic event that will lead to the island sinking, much like we saw happen in the beginning of LA X. I don’t think he will be successful though, as that would create a cluttered ending to the show, although it would certainly be definitive. If that were the ultimate ending to the show, my guess is that we would actually be transported to the beginning of this season, with Jack on the plane looking confused and the island under water. Well, this actually makes more sense now that I think about it. With the island destroyed and the people in the flash sideways discovering the island timeline, one will have to win out, or the two will converge, but I still can’t see how the island timeline will then be transported back in time to the flash sideways timeline which we saw at the beginning of this season.

When I first heard the name of the finale as “The End”, I thought it was boring and incredly vague, but then I think back to the conversation between Jacob and his brother/Smokie on the beach. “It only ends once, anything that happens before that... is just progress”. That makes the finale title so much more meaningful. The title is “The End”, and I see the show ending with the end to a game that’s been going on for 2,000 years involving Jacob and his brother but who knows how much longer than that involving Fake Mother and other island protectors. This whole show has shown us a never ending game and in the finale, we’ll finally see the end of this game, the cycle broken, and the need for an island protector come to an end.

Jack is annointed the new Jacob, protector of the island and the source, and tasked to defend it against the Smoke Monster. I don’t think for a second though that we should take this as the conclusion and I also don’t think that Jack will have to defend the island, because that would be too obvious and would only keep this game going on longer. With Jack drinking Jacob’s magic water Flocke can no longer leave the island, so he will definitely try to kill Jack and the remaining candidates, that much I know. What I don’t even have a clue about is to how the cycle will be broken, but the game will come to an end, whether it’s the island being destroyed, much like the hatch was at the end of season 2, or the death and destruction of the Smoke Monster, meaning there is nothing left to protect.

We don’t know what M.I.B.’s intended end game has been this entire time. I feel like throughout the show he’s been changing his course of attack to follow what’s going on. Now that there is a new Jacob (Jack), Smokie doesn’t have time to kill him, but with the appearance of Desmond he can now use this as his new end game: Destroy the island and escape that way, which meets all his needs. I do feel that originally though, he has always intended to leave the island. I think if destroying the source meant he could leave, that seems likely to have always been his means for getting off the island.

LOST is over, and it will be very sad. This show has given us fans something to wrap our brains around and become invested in. I hope everyone enjoys the finale because we’ve earned it! There will never be another show like LOST ever again. NAMASTE!

LOST Episode 16 - What They Died For

LOST followed up one of the most polarizing episodes in the show’s history with one of its finest, setting us up for the big finale extraveganza. This episode even made “Across the Sea” make sense and gave us a very good idea about why they even bothered showing us that episode.

In LA, we see the culmination of all our favorite LOSTies meeting up in one place. Jack is back home, again noticing that scar on his neck and looking into the mirror. He eats breakfast with his son and Claire when Jack gets a call from an Oceanic Air official who notifies him they found his father’s coffin. It turns out the call comes from Desmond, but they never give us a clear cut reason why Desmond would fake this call. Desmond makes the call from outside Locke’s school as he scopes him out again. Before he can get to him, Ben intercepts, but Desmond tells him he merely wants Locke to “let go” before beating him up, leading Ben to remember Desmond beating him after after shooting him. This must be an inside joke for the LOST makers, as Ben has probably taken more beatings than Jack Bauer has at this point.

A nurse at the school is tending to Ben when Locke rolls in and they discuss the incident. While Locke calls the cops, Ben says that’s not a good idea, as the man says he was trying to get Locke to let go and Ben believed him. The term clearly has an effect on Locke, as Jack just told that to him, and as LAPD is on the other line, we see Desmond stroll into the Police Department. He specifically asks to talk to Sawyer, and ends up turning himself in as the suspect. He is thrown into a cell with... surprise surprise, Sayid and Kate, both of whim have been arrested. The next day Detective Sawyer alerts the prisoners that they’re being taken to another holding place, which doesn’t phase Desmond. Turns out he has this big plan, that he needs them to agree to do whatever he says, and thinking that he’s just some crazy criminal, they agree. The truck stops and Ana Lucia opens the door. She is only concerned with her money, which is delivered by Hurley. He remarks to Desmond that he didn’t know Ana Lucia would be there, showing a clear awareness to the island timeline, but when she asks who he is, he remembers he’s not supposed to know her. She leaves after receiving her 125G’s, before Desmond gives Kate a dress and tells her they’re going to a concert (probably Jack’s son’s concert, where Claire, Jack, Miles, maybe Sawyer, Pierre Chang, Charlotte, and presumably others from the OT will be).

On the island, we finally see Miles, Richard, and Ben again, as they find their way to the Barracks. They make their way to Ben’s house, where he grabs enough C4 to “blow the island to hell). They hear ruffling in the house, and find Zoe, and later Widmore, who have let themselves in and told Ben they are his best chance at surviving. As Zoe goes to take care of some equipment she left in the outrigger, she sees Flocke approaching the island. Widmore demands that she return at once, and informs the others they should hide. Ben and Richard have other ideas, deciding to confront Richard. Bad move for Richard, as Smokie comes and hurls him into the air before coming to Ben as Flocke. He tells Ben there are some people he wants him to kill, and once he does the island will be his. He agrees and rats out Widmore and Zoe. Flocke finds them, slitting Zoe’s throat before demanding that Widmore tell him what he’s doing on the island. He tells her after he threatens to kill Penny, and as he whispers in Flocke’s ear the reason, Ben shoots him dead, saying “he doesn’t get to save his daughter.”

Elsewhere, Sawyer, Hurley, Kate, and Jack have little time to mourn their fallen friends before Jack tells them they must find Desmond. Sawyer laments the deaths, saying they were his fault, before Jack assures him that “he” killed him, taking the high road as opposed to Sawyer, who accused Jack of killing Juliet earlier this season. Hurley sees young Jacob, who steals his own ashes from Hurley and runs off. Hurley finds a fire and adult Jacob, who says when the ashes burn up, he’ll never see him again and also says they’re very close to the end.

Hurley gathers the others, who can now see Jacob, and they have an old fashioned heart-to-heart. Kate wants to know what they died for, and Jacob merely says he made a mistake many years ago, and they must do what he couldn’t (protect the light). Sawyer questions Jacob, asking why they have to pay for his mistake and he was doing just fine, but Jacob rebutes this and says that he didn’t pull any of them from a happy existence. He says they were all miserable and need the island as much as the island needs them. He also tells Kate he crossed her name off because she became a mother, thus having something to live for, but it’s just a chalk drawing on a cage and she can have the job if she wants it. Jack, realizing this was his destiny, takes the job as island protector. He says his prayer and gets some island water in a cup. Before drinking it, Jack asks how long he’ll have to do the job, to which Jacob replies “As long as you can”.

Flocke and Ben approach the well, where they find Desmond was helped out, but says this person actually did him a favor. Widmore told Flocke that Desmond was a “fail-safe” and he’s going to use Desmond to destroy the island, which sucks for Ben. But in the end, we know Flocke’s ultimate end game and have many possible paths for this show to end. Namaste!

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LOST Episode 15 - Across the Sea

"Across the Sea”, the 15^th installment of LOST’s final season, is one of the most polarizing in the show’s history. It’s hard to get a firm read on this episode, because there are so many things I loved as well as hated, both of which are equal. I won’t recap it, but instead I will just talk about these things.

It’s clear from the beginning that Fake Mother’s entire goal is to keep the purity of these children. She doesn’t tell them about death and protects that from ever happening to them. She is trying to spawn the perfect children. She brought a pregnant woman to the island (much like Jacob brings people) so that she can have a child that she would raise away from humanity to be her successor. She didn’t plan on there being two children, which complicated the matter, but like she tells Jacob later she killed their mother to make sure they are never corrupted by other men. She tells us what M.I.B reiterates later: That all men come, corrupt, destroy, and it only ends once. It’s odd that she shares a lot more similarities with Jacob’s brother but Jacob ends up becoming the successor.

It’s also clear that once M.I.B. joins the others on the island, his candidacy is officially revoked. Fake Mother later tells Jacob that it was always him and she should have seen that, which to me means that Jacob is more naive and easily manipulated, and as a result she was able to get him to believe everything she told him. M.I.B. had more curiosity to him and wanted answers, so it was harder for him to accept what the mother was telling him and he decided to bolt for the other island inhabitants.

What really irked me about his episode was “the light”. To me, it was beyond cheesy and almost tried to give a simplistic answer to a far complex idea. The light possesses “life, death, rebirth” and everything else, according to Fake Mother, and furthermore all people have a little inside them but want more. If the light goes out, it goes out in all men, so it appears light is what keeps us going. The idea itself though seems to be that it’s the electromagnetism, and it somehow connects to the frozen donkey wheel (which isn’t frozen in this episode). It begs the question of if they’re the same thing or similar, and if so how.

We finally discover M.I.B.’s ultimate motive for leaving the island, but I’m not sure why it carries so much wait after almost 2,000 years. Is his ultimate goal still to leave the island to see what’s “across the sea”? He knows he didn’t come from the island but he’s trapped and wants to leave, but where does he go from there. I’m sure him leaving is equivalent to the light going out, which is why Jacob must keep him on the island, but it still raises some doubt over why he himself wants to leave.

Which raises the next question: Was the Smoke Monster always there in the cave with the light? I don’t think so. I think that is Jacob’s brother’s soul, but the evil of it, being released. Everytime we’ve seen the M.I.B., either as himself, Smokie, or Flocke, he always echoes the brother’s sentiments of leaving the island and having a crazy mother. I think that is always him, but his form was just released as the Smoke Monster after he went into the light. I don’t think that creature had always been there. Furthermore, I did love the scene where he was released into the world.

I loved the conversation between Jacob and his brother about leaving the island. Man in Black uses the term “means to an end” to describe the people he’s with, which is something that Widmore could use to describe Desmond or the Man in Black using Sayid or Claire and further reiterates people using others to get to their desired goal. I also liked the idea of Jacob “looking down on” M.I.B’s people from above, almost as a god like figure which he eventually becomes. Jacob is shown once again to be ignorant, as he has no idea about the pockets of electromagnetism around the island. We saw Flocke talking to Desmond about the smart people that were curious and dug those holes, and we finally meet them in this episode.

Jacob eventually accepts Fake Mother’s offer and becomes the new protector before M.I.B. kills her. Jacob, following what his brother told him 30 years earlier, creates his own game with his own rules but we never find out what that is. He never wanted to be the successor, realizing that his Fake Mother wanted his brother to be the one, so he goes on trying to find a replacement. We never find out the nature of this search though, and when it began. We know from past episodes he wants to prove his brother (and Fake Mother) wrong that all people are always evil and “it always ends the same”.

In the end this episode left a lot to be desired. We found out that M.I.B. and Fake Mother are the Adam and Even skeletons, which was great, but we still aren’t clear on a lot and with only two episodes to go we’ll have to accept that some things will be explained once the show ends.

"You're right, brother, this really doesn't make any sense..."

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LOST - The Candidate (Thoughts and Feelings)

The last few scenes of this episode are exactly what I love about LOST. They were emotionally potent, well written, fantastically acted and above all else they were well executed and fit the show’s purpose. It’s been clear all season that Sayid’s character was being written off and his demise has seemed almost certain. He already died once this season and arose to be “claimed”, and in this time allowed Smokie to kill many people and acted as his right hand man. Sayid’s character has always been about redemption, about weighing the good he’s done with the bad, which makes him as big a part of this show as anyone. His death showed him choosing a good deed, giving himself the ultimate redemption, as Desmond’s words at the well snapped him out of his evil state. We got the old Sayid back, even if it was just for a little bit. While I’m sad at the plight of this once great LOST character and disheartened to see how much the writers had written him off, I couldn’t think of a better last image for the fans to have of him.

Jin and Sun have always been fighters. Since Season 5, these two have been working tirelessly to find each the one they love, and finally in “The Last Recruit”, they were reunited, albeit briefly. Many fans have shown anger at their deaths, but for the show’s purpose the death was powerful and fit well without feeling forced at all. It was meant to show us that Smokie is truly evil and capable of killing anyone, according to Damon and Carlton, and in that case they succeeded. Above all else, them dying in each other’s arms is the testament to the battle they’ve put up to be together. Even with death staring them in the face, Jin wouldn’t flinch and showed no fear. The acting was brilliant, and what I personally loved was his use of Korean, their native tongue, to deliver the most emotional line of the episode. The death made their fight to be together all the more worth it.

The John vs. Jack scene in the hospital was so well scripted and really lends itself to die hard LOST fans who hang on every word the show writes. One of the most underrated aspects of season 6 are just how many conversations and moments take place that direcly mirror an older moment of the show, but in an opposite way, this being one of the long list of these moments. Jack telling John “I wish you had believed me” seems to trigger a flashback to the island life, which makes sense since we hear John saying that phrase earlier as he was sleeping. The question is how much does Locke remember and is he conscious that on this island, he is an evil smoke monster. Does he recognize Jack from this timeline? This scene portrays Terry O’Quinn’s always phenomenal acting, as you truly get a sense of how broken and defeated he is at his father’s death and how much of a burden it has put on his life.

One thing I wondered all episode was: “Where is Widmore?” Obviously we see him locking them up early on, but after Smokie’s attack he is no where to be seen. The question is how much of a hand did he have in the day’s events. He moved the pylons, for no good reason since they were blocking Smokie from getting past the beach, and left only two men to guard the plane he presumably rigged. Was Flocke being truthful when he said he wanted those men to die and put them there for show? Obviously Widmore must have known all his men would die, as he seemingly didn’t really give them much protection. It’s clear, I think, that Widmore is neither good nor evil. He wants to stop Smokie but clearly doesn’t value the lives of anyone, as he proved by threatening to kill Kate. Much like many of the larger forces of the show, he will manipulate and lie to anyone about anything to get them to follow him. The question is also why he wasn’t on his sub, and if he knew anything about the attack or the LOSTies trying to escape on it. Without a sub, what will become of Widmore and how will he leave the island (if he survives)?

You have to wonder what Flocke means when he says he’s going to finish what he started. Obviously he wants to kill the remaining candidates to get off the island, but he can’t directly kill them. He has two options he could go: attacking Kate/using her as leverage against Jack and Sawyer, or going straight for Desmond. I think he’s heading for the well, as he probably recognized that Sayid did not kill Desmond but couldn’t stall in his plan and needed Sayid to still think he trusted him. Also, Jack is presumably heading straight for the well as per Sayid’s direction. Will Locke kill Desmond and if he tries, what can the surviving 815-ers truly do to stop him? It’ll be interesting to find out, as right now Smokie seems unbeatable.

The episode on Tuesday, May 11^th is entitled “Across the Sea” and will center around Jacob and the Man in Black. I feel like most of the remaining “burning” questions will be answered in this episode. Among them, I think we’ll find out who the young boy is, when Jacob and MIB got to the island, why they are there, what relation they have to one another, who MIB’s “crazy” mother is, why Jacob was tasked with keeping MIB guarded on the island, and various other historical moments between the two enemies. We’ll probably find out when the statue of Taweret was built, seeing as how we’ll probably get a historical time-line of the island through the eyes of the two oldest inhabitants of the island. Should be a great episode. Namaste.

LOST Episode 14 - The Candidate

The 14^th episode of the final season of LOST is arguably the most tragic in the show’s history. There’s almost no way I can even write about this episode, so I’m going to skim through what happens on the show and get to the episode’s biggest scene.

The LA timeline focuses on Jack trying to fix Locke, who repeatedly denies his requests (Locke is a candidate for surgery). Jack tracks down Locke’s dentist, Bernard Nadler, who won’t disclose how Locke was injured but tells him he was in the accident with Anthony Cooper. Jack runs into Helen at the home where Anthony Cooper is staying at and tells him to leave this alone, something Jack cannot do because he needs to fix everything. She eventually shows him Anthony Cooper, John’s father, who is in a vegitative state, hardly the man we are were familiar with. Claire meets Jack at the hospital and Jack finds out she was also on the flight, much like Bernard and Locke, which strikes Jack as odd. She then reveals a music box that Christian was very adament about her having. The box plays “Catch a Falling Star” and Jack and Claire both have a mirror moment, much like every other person has in the flash sideways.

The flash sideways ends with the most underrated scene of the episode. Jack catches Locke before he leaves and tells him about his encounter with his Cooper. John emotionally reveals that he got his pilot’s license and wanted his father, who was afraid of flying, to be his first passenger. They barely got off the runway before the plane crashed. It’s reasonable to believe that this accident prevented Anthony Cooper, who still conned Sawyer’s parents in the 70’s, from betraying Locke, and that is why they have a “good” relationship. Jack reminds John of what he told him at the airport: That his father was gone and he could never get him back, and tells John that it’s too late to change things. What happened happened and Jack encourages John to let go. Locke laughs and leaves, before Jack says “I wish you believed me”, the exact words Locke wrote in his suicide letter to Jack.

Back on the island, Jack wakes up on Hydra. Flocke tells him his friends were captured by Widmore’s crew. He wants Jack to help convince them by saying he could kill any of them at any moment, an obvious lie as we know it’s against the rules and he hasn’t already done it. We see Widmore locking everyone up in the polar bear cages “for their own good”. As Kate and Sawyer discuss her name being crossed off on the cage, the power goes out, and while Seamus and Widmore’s crew frantically try to find the source of the problem, Smokie comes around and goes Midieval on their asses. Quick question: Why does everyone try to shoot the Smoke Monster?? SO STUPID. Anyway, Jack helps them escape. John kills two men guarding the plane but discovers that it’s rigged with 4 bricks of C4 set to go off if they start it up. He alerts the crew they need to take the sub, but Sawyer tells Jack he still doesn’t trust that thing “one bit”. He devises a plan for all of them to get on the sub while Jack pushes Flocke into the water. The plan unfolds, as Sawyer and a few more people storm the sub and take it. When the rest of the crew runs to the sub, Jack tells Flocke that “John Locke” told him to stay before pushing him into the water. Kate is shot by Widmore’s crew, but unfortunately does not die, as a firefight ensues. The remainding people get on the sub, minus Flocke and Claire, but Flocke ominously tells Claire that “you don’t want to be on that sub.”

Jack discovers that Locke packed the C4 into his backpack with a timer. Sawyer is adament about diffusing the bomb, but Jack clearly thinks they won’t die. He questions why Locke hasn’t already killed him and thinks it’s because he’s not allowed to. Sawyer tells him he doesn’t trust him before pulling two wires out, stopping the timer momentarily before it restarts again at a faster speed. Sayid quickly tells Jack about Desmond being alive in the well and that because Flocke wants him dead, Jack’s going to need him. His last words are, “It’s going to be you, Jack!” before running off with the bomb and exploding. The bomb tears apart the sub. Lapidus is hit by a door while the others try to get Sun out of a trap. Hurley takes Kate out of the sub and Sawyer is hit on the head and knocked out. Jin encourages Jack to save Sawyer, and while Sun cries for Jin to save himself, he refuses, saying in Korean that he’ll never leave Sun again. Shots of the sinking sub are shown before we see Jin and Sun’s grasp of each other’s hand loosen, signaling their demise. Back on the beach, the four remaining survivors cry at the realization of their fallen friends, while Flocke realizes the sub sunk but not everyone died. He tells Claire that he’s going to finish what he started.