Fighting, Choking, Losing: An NL East Story

With just four games left, the NL East is getting just plain crazy. So much so, that the Fightin’ Phils are, um, fighting and the Mets are tanking on purpose just to make things more interesting! Actually, no. No, they’re not tanking on purpose. They’re just that good at choking away wild card/divisional leads.

Case in point: Last night, as they blew a four-run lead in the 5th inning against the Cubs. And then, with the game tied and a runner on third with no outs in the bottom of the ninth, they blew a chance to win the game. And finally, in the 10th, they blew it one last time, surrendering three runs to the Cubbies and going down without a fight in the bottom of the inning.

The Mets latest choke-job left them 1.5 games behind the Phillies in the East (and tied with the Brewers for the wild card), who, luckily for New York, lost as well to the Braves. But, as eluded to before, that game didn’t end without a classic baseball fight. And by “fight” I mean someone says something about somebody’s moms, the bullpen gets its run in for the day, they all decide to slap fight a little, realize they don’t actually wanna do this, and then resume play. (Video via of The Fightins):

Take note opposing pitchers: Do NOT use unorthodox pick-off moves on Shane Victorino lest you wish to say aloha to his lil’ friend. His lil’ friend, of course, being his finger, which he will wag disapprovingly in your direction while he waits for back-up to arrive.

(Note: The “losing” part in the headline didn’t refer to the Phils or Mets. I was speaking about the Nationals, who lost again last night and are now just one loss from 100. It’s going to be a grand celebration over at my other blog.)

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.