So it looks like the Mets are going to be opening their wallet to lure free agent closer Billy Wagner to Queens.
Two years of Braden Looper will do that to a franchise.
My closest brush with Wagner came about 5 years ago when I was playing some sort of baseball game against my brother-in-law on the Playstation I had bought him for Christmas. He basically challenged me to pick any team I wanted to go up against his Yankees.
It was the 1999 season we were playing, so I figured I'd give the Astros a shot. I put Mike Hampton on the mound to start, and he gave me 7.1 innings of solid work. Holding a 5-4 lead in the 8th when things started to get hairy, I sat down Hampton and called to the bullpen for Wagner.
He set down the side in the 8th, but it was in the ninth that I discovered that Yankee magic apparently had wormed its way into the digital world. After two quick outs, Bernie Williams reached on a single, and I needed to retire Derek Jeter to win the game.
I figured if he was going to beat me, he'd have to do it against Wagner's best pitch, so I started firing those patented 100 mph fastballs -- one of which Jeter turned on and deposited well over the left field fence.
As my brother-in-law cackled with delight, all I could think was that if we had played Strat-O-Matic instead, I would have crushed him.
