I'm back from LA and Saratoga Springs. We had a wonderful time losing money at both the harness races and the Preakness, and regaling each other with stories about my late Uncle Joe, whose remains were interred at the Saratoga National Cemetery (he was a Navy man).
The Mets lost 3 of 4 to the pesky (G)Nats while I was away, which prompted a much-celebrated and profane diatribe from our closer, Mr. William Wagner. After the Mets 1-0 defeat in game four of the series, in which Billy did not appear, he was asked to comment on the team's fortunes. He mused on why he was being interrogated, since he didn't even play. He then asked, rhetorically, "Why don't you ask those guys?", pointing to the lockers of Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran, and Luis Castillo, who had already left the stadium. "Oh, they aren't there," said Billy. "Big fucking surprise."
This led to a round of navel-gazing from the larger New York media about Latin players forming cliques and ducking interviews, using their limited knowledge of English as an excuse, which led to more introspection about racism and group dynamics and calling out one's teammates, which eventually resulted in the solving of everyone's problems and a peaceful, productive world. Ha! Well, at least we beat the fucking Yankees two out of two, so who cares about the rest of it?
I saw part of Game 1 at The Stadium Cafe in downtown Saratoga Springs. This was actually the scheduled Game 2, because Game 1 had been rained out. I believe they will end up playing Game 1 as part of a two-stadium, day-night doubleheader in June. Johan Santana started the game against Andy Pettitte, and was touched up for a Derek Jeter (Peter Eater) two-run homer in the first. Pettitte held the Mets scoreless until the 4th, when Ryan Church, Beltran, and David Wright all singled to start the inning, and then Brian Schneider walked home a run and Castillo hit one of his patented infield singles to give the Mets a lead they would not relinquish.
Jose Reyes and Wright hit Yankee Stadium short-porch homers in the 7th off million-dollar-arm-ten-cent-head reliever Kyle Farnsworth to make it 6-2, and then Santana gave up two more homers, to Giambi and Abreu before Wagner finished the game with a four-out save and a 7-4 final. So, how do you like him, now, NY media?
Game 2 was a Sunday night ESPN affair, which is probably why they didn't play a doubleheader yesterday. Gotta keep ESPN happy with well-rested players! I only caught the first couple innings, having just returned from New York State after an interminable 5 hour layover at Newark Liberty (oh, the irony) Airport. It was 0-0 at that point, with Chien Ming Wang looking unhittable and Joe Morgan prattling on that it was better to walk a guy with two outs than with none out (really, Joe? That's an amazing insight. You would think that Baseball Prospectus hadn't figured out the run expectancy of every possible baserunner/out situation and calculated that a man on first with none out resulted in an average of 0.783 runs while a runner on first with two outs resulted in an average of 0.209 runs, but they have in fact done that, and we all know that, so nice try!) I decided to catch up on my DVR recordings, and by the time I got back, the Mets led 4-2, with a couple of clutch two-out singles by Moises Alou and Delgado in the 4th. Oliver Perez immediately surrendered a two-run jack by Hideki Matsui in the bottom of the inning, but again, the Mets never trailed, as Ryan Church homered in the 6th and the Mets teed off on some guy who will be heading back to Scranton-Wilkes-Barre soon named Ross Ohlendorf for the final four runs of a six-run 8th to post an 11-2 drubbing of the last-place Yankees. "Last-place Yankees". Mmm, it sounds so sweet.
The Mets are now a game back of the Marlins, tied with the Phillies for second place in the NL East. The Fish are starting to return to at least near-Earth orbit, having lost five of six to the likes of the Reds and Royals. They move on to play the D-Backs and the Giants at home before traveling to play us and the Phillies. I suspect their grip on first place will relent by the weekend, and now it's up to us and the Phillies as to who will take over. We have a pretty tough schedule coming up, starting with the Braves in Atlanta followed by the Rockies in Denver, and then the Marlins and Dodgers at home. The Phillies have it easier, with Washington there, the Astros at Minute Maid, and then home for the Rockies and Marlins.
Can I say it again? "Laaaast-plaaaaace Yaaaaankeeeeeees." Gotta savor it!
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