On the WBC Semi-Finals & Another Opening Day Mets Legacy - The First Batter, The First Out

It was a fun ride for The Kingdom of the Netherlands, but alas, The Dominicans were too much this time for the Dutch, who ousted DR in the 1st round of 2009. The game was tight for a while, but the Dutch could never respond offensively after grabbing a 1st inning run without the benefit of a hit. After the Dominicans scored 4 runs in the middle innings, it only felt like a matter of time before the bullpen would lock it down.

And Tony Peña made quite the last minute move putting Toronto Blue Jays farmhand Moises Sierra into left field.




Now, they take on a Puerto Rican team who seems determined as ever, with that guy named Yadier, and an Angel Pagan who apparently needed to leave the Mets to become a Champion-caliber player who keeps making iconic catches in San Francisco's Center Field.

They also caught a Japanese team who suddenly lost their overly-preached fundamentals at a crucial part of the game.



A Caribbean Championship game is set up.

Tonight at 8PM EST in San Francisco, MLB Network will broadcast the final game of the 2013 World Baseball Classic: a single-elimination game that will crown either The Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico baseball champions of the World.

These games have not disappointed, and I don't see tonight's win-or-go-home game being any different.

Tune in all.


Today's Mets Legacy Photo brings us back to only a year ago.

GET. SOME. GREEN. FIELD.
LET'S. GO. METS.

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Well. Here Goes Nothing.

On it's way after that called 3rd strike is a lull. No matter what happens from October 29, 2012 to February 13, 2013, we find out nothing as to what it will truly mean on the field. Spring Training helps get some kind of idea as to what you're dealing with, but even then, until that 1st day, there is nothing. Everything that happens in baseball and involving my favorite team will mean the world to me in the moment...but baseball. Baseball being played at the type of level it was played last night, does not come till Monday, April 1, 2013, which my newly downloaded iCalendar has told me is a 1:10 start time between the 2013 San Diego Padres and the 2013 New York Mets.

Yes, those New York Mets. The Highiest of Highs, The Lowiest of Lows. The Floppiest of Players, The Piccasso's of Pitching. The Marvelest of Marv's, The Miraculous Moon Walkers. The Yoiest of La Tengos, The Scummiest of Bunches. The Worst Team Ever.

The Champions of the World.

(of baseball.)

Around the 5th inning, even before I thought about the idea of Angel Pagan winning the World Series, or seeing the shot of him in center field when that last out was recorded, I was imagining R.A. Dickey on a World Series Mound at Citi Field in the 4th game in THAT uniform, pitching his heart out well enough to be on the mound in the 9th inning with 2 out, and the ruckus as he strikes the last batter of the year out with a wicked knuckler, the entire Mets family erupting into pure unadulterated elation. (In this scenario, the National League, after having won the last three All-Star games, gets its dose of what is disguised as the Citi Field Curse and loses next July in Flushing. And R.A. Dickey would have to have pitched a 7th game for the pennant and the earliest he could pitch is game 4.) It's a pretty specific scenario that played out in my head, but I'm sure other fans have similar moving pictures in their heads as they watch year in and year out other teams celebrate come Late-October.

The truth is, in all honesty, and with all my sincerest regards, we will know nothing till Friday, July 19, 2013, when the New York Mets open up the 2nd half hosting the Philadelphia Phillies. The Mets will have to play good baseball in the 1st half as well, but nothing will be secure in most Mets fans' minds till they see these guys lock it down in the 2nd half, whether that's in July, August or in meaningful games in Effin' September. This isn't just a recent issue. This is a historical issue.

There's a core forming within the depths of this Metropolitan franchise, and they have one more year under their belt. We saw glimpses of the kind of camaraderie this young group can have, and maybe with another year, and with The Older Professor and the Big Brother helpin' them along, it can translate into more success past July 19, and then into the kind of camaraderie those New York Giants of San Francisco have (that phrase was delivered to me at one of the NY Giant Fan Get-Togethers from this past week.)

There is a lot of work to be done, but I'm as excited as ever. I know the New York Mets will be the Orangest of Blues come 2013. And I look forward to extending moments like the one below into the 2nd half.

And beyond.

BASEBALL. FEVER.

LET'S. GO. METS.

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WHAT Have I Been Calling This 108th World Series?!

Well, MLB Network just informed me that I have been completely out of my mind when I referred to this World Series as the 107th World Series.

I'm really sorry, you guys.

But in the 1st game of the 108th World Series, Pablo Sandoval. I was going to write a sentence after his name, but I don't think I have to.

And then there was Angel Pagan's bouncin' 3rd base double.

And in regards to the other big name in the commencement, I yield the floor to Ted's Quote, who texted this to me pre-game last night:

"I don't really like the Giants, but if there was a team called the Barry Zito's...I'd root for them."

Here's the Random Song of the Day.

LET'S. GO. METS.

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Bravo.

That was quite awesome.

The Giants are a cool franchise, besides the fact that their entire identity was born and raised in New York, which, in turn, helped birth and raise our New York Metsian Identity.

When the Cardinals beat the Nats, I said I just wanted them to stop winning. Well, they finally did. (I'm sorry for Carlos that he was there when they stopped... #BlameBeltran?...Just kidding, though it would have been slightly poignant if he had been the last out in an NLCS game 7 once more...AND for the team who got him out. Instead, he took a walk. AND THAT RAIN!!! Umps REALLY just wanted that last out to occur, but the Giants kept walking people with a 9-0 score!!! But I digress...) While the Giants took serious control of the series at home, scoring first and later putting up a crooked number in both games 6 and 7, I never let myself think that the Giants could do it...well, I thought they could, but, as my friend Ted said, "The Cardinals will suck until they just can't anymore." Well, he said something along those lines. "'Uh, guys, we have to stop sucking now. We have 1 strike left.'" Even when it was 9-0 in the 8th last night and my dad said to me, "So, they're goin' to the World Series," it still felt like, "Excuse me. THE CARDINALS will let you know when it's over." They've conditioned me to think that way. And thank God. That's baseball. I appreciate the Cardinals, even if they are a thorn in my side and a team I root against most of the time. That thorn in my side is the Mets and them playing some seriously entertaining baseball most of their encounters. The same can be said for when the team by the bay takes on the Orange and Blue.

When those games occur, of course they get on my nerves. And their fans can take over in your home park 'cause of the way they travel in groups. But when it's just the Giants doin' their thing, it is definitely thoroughly entertaining. They are certainly a team worth modelling as we build towards respectability.

It is only fitting that they make it to the Classic as a couple New York Baseball Giant events take place this week in New York City. First, there is gathering tonight up in The Bronx that Mr. Faith and Fear alerted me to, and then on Thursday The New York Giants Preservation Society meets at the Bergino Baseball Clubhouse with Special Guest Joshua Prager, author of The Echoing Green.

Though it did sting seeing Angel Pagan interviewed on field postgame, we put our Metsian bitterness aside and salute the San Francisco Baseball Giants...I mean the San Francisco Giants, since there are no San Francisco Football Giants. 

Best of luck against the Tigers in the World Series (though either one winning will be pretty cool...and I guess I'll lean towards the Tigers since the Giants won more recently, though that city has only one World Series since they moved out there....Eh, whatever. Lets Go Baseball.)

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuh....leanin' towards a Random Song this early morning.

LET'S. GO. METS.

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2011 Photo of the Day: The Warm-up