I STILL HATE SHANE VICTORINO

At least when we look back, we can rationalize the Mets' back-to-back collapses by telling ourselves that a Championship team beat them out.

Or we can just feel like shit.

DON'T LOOK NOW . . .

And in today's latest update from the "In The Realm Of Sports Fandom, I'd Rather Be Fortunate And Wrong Than Prescient And Right" Files . . .

(Or something like that)

. . . the N.Y. Mets are inching ever closer to first place is the (utterly suck-ass) NL East. On the strength of dominant performances by Mike Pelfrey. And Carlos Delgado. And the heretofore banjo-hitting squad of perma-backups known as Tatis, Easley, Chavez, and Joe McEwing.

Ok, not SuperJoe, but admit it, he'd fit right into this streak.

Anyhow, you can surely gather from my tone what I think of the likelihood that this represents some sort of "turnaround" for the Mets. Wright, Reyes, Beltran, Santana, and Maine are all doing pretty well lately, and that's certainly a good sign. And hot streaks from all the non-starters who start for the Mets can't do anything but help. That said, I still don't think the Mets as currently constructed are a 90+ win team.

But . . . since the Phils aren't that good either, and since the Marlins & Braves, like the Mets, have serious weaknesses, this silly division may actually be up for grabs to the first team that reaches 86 or 87 wins. So . . . and, yes, I do believe this, this extraordinarily flawed Mets team may actually have a chance to play some ball in October.

And then, as we all know (painfully so) from two years ago, anything can happen. Wow.

JANUARY 29 -- A DAY THAT WILL LIVE IN FAMY

Happy days, happy days in the Neighborhood. Very good news indeed.

What's this, you ask? Well, if you're asking you don't know me too well, because two things happened last night that brought a smile to my face, a spring to my step, a schwing to my . . .

Well, you get the idea. So what was it, those among you who don't quite know are asking?

1. Down goes Rudy! Down goes Rudy! Down goes Rudy!

(aka, Ding Dong, the Fascist's dead.)

Heh, heh.

2. And, on the non-schadenfreudist side of the ledger, Johan Santana is coming to The Mets for a bag of beans, a 1997 Ford Taurus, $250,000 in depreciating US currency, and Sid Fernandez' second cousin.

Johan motherfuckin' Santana!!!

Ohhhhhh, the joy. Ohhhh, the possibilities that life can toss atcha' when you least expect it. In the course of a few hours, one of the two men I despise the most drops from the American political landscape. In a bloody, ignominious heap. It ain't Giuliani Time now, baby.

And, far more importantly, the Mets effectively replace 173 year-old Tom Glavine with none other than The Best Pitcher In The Game™. For prospects!

Even if Rudy's exit doesn't quite guarantee the victory I want next November, perhaps this trade will at least give me the parade down the Canyon of Heroes I've been waiting 22 years for.