I have a confession to make. Bless me, Mets fans, for I have sinned. I turned off the game last night right after the immortal Javier Valentin hit that bases-clearing double to put the Reds up 8-6. "Shit!" I said, to my cat and two dogs (the wife is visiting family, and she doesn't typically watch with me anyway). "There goes the streak. Nice going, Schoeneweis and Heilman!" And then, I clicked the red "X" in the corner of the Firefox window and disgustedly went to bed.
Yeah, I know, Crash Davis said that a player on a streak must respect the streak, and that goes for fans as well. I should have stayed up the extra half-hour to watch the rousing 9th inning comeback. I see that David Wright hit a two-run bomb to tie it, and Carlos Delgado put us in the lead with a double, and scored on Fernando Tatis' double. All of this came off the normally reliable Reds closer, Francisco Cordero, who had his worst outing of the season. Dammit! I wish I had seen that.
I had only been absentmindedly checking in on the game periodically from the beginning. I was listening to an audio book that I bought so that I could participate in an online book club. Every so often, I'd minimize iTunes and see what the score was. It started out well, with Delgado hitting a two-run homer in the 4th to give the Mets a 2-0 lead. The next time I checked, it was 5-2 Reds. Wow, back-to-back homers, a double and a triple off Johan. The Reds can definitely hit. No wonder they got rid of Josh Hamilton for some pitching. The Mets quickly made it 5-4, and then 6-5, and I thought, "Ok, the bullpen has been stifling of late, looking good." I finished the book about then and headed up to the Man Cave to watch the rest of the game.
By the time the "Buffering..." stopped, the Reds had two men on and Aaron Heilman was doing his trademark nibbling. He walked Dan Ross to load the bases, and Manuel brought in Scottie Schoeneweis to face the switch-hitting Valentin. Scottie had Valentin looking pretty foolish early in the at-bat, but then he laid in a spinning slider that Valentin crushed to right-center. Reds announcer George Grande went into that weird high-pitched thing he does when he gets excited as everybody scored, and I sat there steaming. I momentarily debated with myself on hanging on to watch a potential comeback, but with the time approaching 9:30 pm, I didn't think I could make it, and it probably wasn't forthcoming anyway.
So, I'll do two three "Meet the Mets" and ten "Ya Gotta Believes" as penance (or is it pennants?). The Mets win puts us in a flat-footed tie, whatever that means, with the Philadelphia Wife Beaters (as I have taken to calling them) at 52-44. Man, we were two games under .500 when this thing started. John Maine takes on Bronson Arroyo and his mad licks tonight to try for 11 in a row. It's Friday, and I'm staying up all night if necessary. Unless it's 15-0 or something, of course. I'm not a masochist. Or I least I won't confess to being one here.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
BREAK IT DOWN
Wow, nine straight wins. Who predicted that? Certainly not me. I've been teetering on the edge of shutting this stupid Mets blog down on numerous occasions this year due to poor play, lackadaisical attitudes, crippling injuries, and bad general management. Then, Mike Pelfrey turns into the right-handed Randy Johnson, and we're a half-game out at the break. As per the usual Mets luck, the All-Star break is timed perfectly to halt the nine-game winning streak, and all the momentum of the streak will be drained by having to watch some 10-minute schmaltzy video produced by FOX during the pre-game show. A half-hour of Jeannie Zelasko alone will make you never want to play or watch baseball again.
That being the case, what happened in the last few games? We'll do a quick recap again, because I have reverse jet lag and the home run derby is coming on.
Wednesday - The Mets clobber my Strat team pitcher Jonathan Sanchez, and Johan goes five innings until the rains come. The bullpen goes the other four after the skies clear in scoreless fashion for a 5-0 win over the Giants.
Thursday - A four-run seventh off two more guys clearly using aliases, Sergio Romo and Jack Taschner, breaks open a 3-3 tie with San Fran, and the Mets win 7-3. The bullpen doesn't even give up a hit.
Friday - The Rockies are in town, and even grab a 1-0 lead, before the Mets quickly tie it and then win it 2-1 in the bottom of the 8th. The bullpen has an epic meltdown over the previous night and gives up one hit.
Saturday - Petey starts but can only go four (yet another injury), but with this bullpen, who cares? Wait, what? Yes, the bullpen is clearly taking performance-enhancing something, and once again goes hitless. Maybe it's just the Rockies. The final is 3-0.
Sunday - Who even needs a bullpen? Mike Pelfrey is a golden god. Pelf goes eight and continues the Rockies woes as the Mets get ANOTHER shutout, 7-0. This is getting monotonous.
The Phillies have also been winning, or we would be in control of this division. They took two of three from both the Cards and D'backs after we left town. The Phils start eating their own tails in the NL East for the rest of the month. We get the Reds for four in Cincy right off the break. After Cincinnati, we play the Phillies and Cards at Shea and then at Florida and at Houston. The Phils make the full circuit: at Florida, at us, home for Atlanta, and then back on the road in Washington. After two home series with Florida and Pittsburgh, they have to make a west coast trip. I'd say slight advantage to us until after that trip, but it looks remarkably close after that, with both of us having to play the Cubs and Brewers down the stretch. It'll probably be decided by starting pitching, as it usually is. If the Phillies get one of the remaining starting pitchers available in trade, like A.J. Burnett, that might be enough. We're going to have to stand pat (because we have nothing left to trade), but at the moment, that's not looking too bad.
That being the case, what happened in the last few games? We'll do a quick recap again, because I have reverse jet lag and the home run derby is coming on.
Wednesday - The Mets clobber my Strat team pitcher Jonathan Sanchez, and Johan goes five innings until the rains come. The bullpen goes the other four after the skies clear in scoreless fashion for a 5-0 win over the Giants.
Thursday - A four-run seventh off two more guys clearly using aliases, Sergio Romo and Jack Taschner, breaks open a 3-3 tie with San Fran, and the Mets win 7-3. The bullpen doesn't even give up a hit.
Friday - The Rockies are in town, and even grab a 1-0 lead, before the Mets quickly tie it and then win it 2-1 in the bottom of the 8th. The bullpen has an epic meltdown over the previous night and gives up one hit.
Saturday - Petey starts but can only go four (yet another injury), but with this bullpen, who cares? Wait, what? Yes, the bullpen is clearly taking performance-enhancing something, and once again goes hitless. Maybe it's just the Rockies. The final is 3-0.
Sunday - Who even needs a bullpen? Mike Pelfrey is a golden god. Pelf goes eight and continues the Rockies woes as the Mets get ANOTHER shutout, 7-0. This is getting monotonous.
The Phillies have also been winning, or we would be in control of this division. They took two of three from both the Cards and D'backs after we left town. The Phils start eating their own tails in the NL East for the rest of the month. We get the Reds for four in Cincy right off the break. After Cincinnati, we play the Phillies and Cards at Shea and then at Florida and at Houston. The Phils make the full circuit: at Florida, at us, home for Atlanta, and then back on the road in Washington. After two home series with Florida and Pittsburgh, they have to make a west coast trip. I'd say slight advantage to us until after that trip, but it looks remarkably close after that, with both of us having to play the Cubs and Brewers down the stretch. It'll probably be decided by starting pitching, as it usually is. If the Phillies get one of the remaining starting pitchers available in trade, like A.J. Burnett, that might be enough. We're going to have to stand pat (because we have nothing left to trade), but at the moment, that's not looking too bad.
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