The Miracles

Once upon a time, there was a team called the Miracle Mets, and they shocked EVERYBODY with their meteoric rise to the top of the baseball world, especially their fans. Sure...they had seen progress happening slowly over time, but nobody expected THAT that quickly.

The Mets... 

The Moon...

1969. 

It all made sense.

"Oh, I just can't beLIEVE it. It's been a year of Miracles, and it's marvelous. Really, really marvelous."

--Joan Hodges 

This franchise is built on Miracles, and won their next World Series with the MIRACLE of baseball Miracles, one could argue (though a stupid RED team tried to 1-up our Metsies...) 

The time when Marty MetFly raced for the lightening unsure whether he'd make it in time...

It's a Miracle when certain things happen. 

And last night was a Miracle.

It was a Miracle this offense came back after being down 2-1 somewhere in the last 3 innings. On the Road.

It was a Miracle when Eric Campbell, in his 8th Pinch Hit At Bat of the year, got his 1st Pinch Hit to put the Mets ahead 3-2.

It's a Miracle when anybody BUT the Mets make errors, and it's a Miracle when the Mets capitalize on it.

It was a Miracle this happened in the 9th inning, and it was a Miracle Kevin Plawecki got all the way to 3rd on the play.

And it was an ABSOLUTE MIRACLE this offense could muster up the strength to tack on not 1, not 2, not 3 but FOUR insurance runs.

Yes you could say that Washington's ranks weren't necessarily at top order on the mound throughout the night, but we know this offense can easily let Miracles happen on the other side of things.

That's the stuff of Miracles, and that's the stuff of this team.

It's their brand. And the Wilpons own it.

It's a Miracle we're even this close this far into the season with those clowns involved.

So, even if these Miracles play into the Wilpons' team's brand...It's up to THEM to give the Miracles better chances of happening.

Come on, dudes. Get it done.

Make Miracles happen.

LET'S. GO. METS.

More Subdued, but Rising Nonetheless

Citi Field seemed to explode so much the first two days, it needed a night to chill (though with a win as well.)

As it was the first home game I could not attend, back in Two Boots Pizza Hell's Kitchen after my weekend of Monday and Tuesday (will now work every evening through Sunday.) I am sure, though there were 15-20,000 less in the ballpark than the first two games, the fans were loud and having fun with a bit more of a breather than the Mets have been playing with a 6-1 final on the Day of 42.

The Phillies look bad, that is for sure. Who knows when the shoe will drop and someone may take on some more of those contracts, but consider Chase Utley and Cole Hamels as the definites to be moved by July, and who knows which one first. Ryan Howard is as unmovable a contract as I have ever seen. In similar, if not much more extreme fashion, to OUR 1st baseman ankle injury of 2011, the last out of the 2011 NLDS between the Cardinals and the Phillies has deteriorated almost all value from the player. And it's too bad, even if I like striking him out every time.

Now, the team I had been most worried about during the offseason, the Miami Marlins, comes to town for our first meeting of the year. You know what? I'm not worried about anybody from now on. We'll have to get through anybody and everybody if we are to achieve the goal, so bring on the most annoying team the Mets have ever played. No matter who is in those uniforms or what the uniforms look like, the Marlins will always be that pesky asshole who won't stop poking you.

Bring 'em on.

Make it Funky.

LET'S. GO. METS.

The Stopper

Last year, late in the season when we had lost 5 in a row, Jon Niese started against the Phillies and shut them down for 9 innings, completing the game for a 5-0 win.

Though Niese did not have the same dominant game he had on that August day, he was once more called upon to shut the losing streak down, and he did more than his part last night with 7 innings of 3-run ball, off 4 hits and 5 walks, striking out 5. He would have been even better had it not been for his former teammate Justin Turner tattooing him in the 7th for an original dimension game-tying 2-run homer, erasing the lead Niese helped grab with a double in the 5th inning, the only pitcher other than Jacob deGrom with a hit on this team. Turner had also helped the Mets by bobbling Daniel Murphy's grounder to let the 3rd run score in that same 5th. 

Back to Niese in the 7th, however, as he battled through and picked up the win when Wilmer Flores and Juan Lagares combined in the bottom half to get the lead right back; Wilmer singling to lead off the inning and Lagares driving him in with 2 out on a single as well.

The offense was really the star of the show last night. No, we did not have an explosion, but the productive outs that were missing in our features for so long were had by the likes of Eric "Soup" Campbell, who has done nothing but play like a serious pro since he arrived from AAA.

The AB of the night, though, and the AB of his year so far was Curtis Granderson in the 2nd inning. This is where I came in, turning on WOR probably 7 pitches into the 12-pitch AB that ended with a double over Matt Kemp's head, taking 3rd base on the outfielder's bobble. Watching some of the early parts of the game later, it was clear in the 1st inning that Zack Greinke, who had been on fire this year (and really for his last 100 starts), did not have his command when David Wright had an 8-pitch AB that unfortunately finished the inning with a strikeout looking. Curtis fouled them off and fouled them off until driving it to center, scoring on Mr. Campbell's sac fly to tie the game at 1.

As I walked Queens Boulevard towards the bridge getting ready to call Gary Mack for Mets Musings, Howie Rose had a call to match the amazing moment he was witnessing, as Yasiel Puig made one of the greatest catches you will see, almost doubling up The Duda at 1st (Howie's call is around the 2:10 mark.)



Yasiel Puig is quite the amazing talent, but the infamy of the Cuban player not having his head in the game or being unaware of the rules was evident throughout the series. He looked silly gunning the ball towards the plate with 3 out the other day. Lucky for him and the Dodgers, that didn't affect those actual outcomes, whereas last night, he burned his team on an infield fly that tailed to the outfield in the top of the 6th, where the rule clearly states, "run at your own risk."

Oh, and of course, the man got doubled off on this, in Eric "Soup" Campbell's 1st Major League outfield start.



And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Mr. Jenrry "Back-to-Back" Mejia, who took a page out of Jose "Papa Grande" Valverde's antics book to lock down his 2nd Major League save.



And some other items of note:

• Though he did get caught stealing in the bottom of the 3rd, David Wright should attempt to steal more bases if he's going to be a singles hitter. I think, however, we haven't seen more steal attempts because he's still rather timid following his hamstring issue last year.
• SNY needs to change the defensive alignment graphic that is still the original Citi dimensions. It's been like 3 years, you guys...
• Speaking of SNY, whether or not the Mets are struggling, Gary, Keith and Ron are ALWAYS on their game.
• The Dodgers were in an alternate road uniform that was a grey version of their home unis, with the classic "Dodgers" across the chest as opposed to "Los Angeles." I'm a stickler for having your nickname on your uni at home and your city on your uni on the road. Unless it's the Phillies, where there's really no difference from saying "Phillies" as opposed to "Philadelphia."

So, we salvage the final game, getting the timely hits we had not been getting. Curtis has been impressing me with his approach lately, Flores is hitting when getting the chance, and Eric Campbell should probably be playing wherever we can get him in the lineup. Clearly, one game is not going to turn my opinion around on Sandy and Terry, but a win is a win, and I'll take it. No matter how much a massive losing streak could possibly help purge this team, seeing and hearing a solid, well put-together win always trumps any vitriol that had been building up. That's all you want to see: The New York Mets win, not keep botching winnable games, and look like there is some actual growth with this franchise.

As I stated before, Mr. Gary Mack was my eyes and ears during last night's contest as I walked over the Queensboro Bridge discussing the Mets with him on Mets Musings. Make sure to take a listen on this Friday in May.

Have a great holiday weekend, folks...and as always...

LET'S. GO. METS.

Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter @convertedmetfan. For more from myself and others on the Mets, head over to Rising Apple. And for the latest on a Brooklyn Baseball TV Series I am developing, Like the Bedford & Sullivan Facebook page, follow on Twitter here, and listen to the research process here.

From a Mile Away

We've seen it a million times.

The storyline is worn out.

A very winnable game is thrown in the loss column once more because of LOBs and lack of fundamentals.

The pitcher, and in this case one making his 2nd big league start, has no margin for error and it probably leads to tightness, trying to be too perfect.

Last night, Jacob deGrom took some big league lumps, giving up 3 solo shots to the Dodgers batting order. By no means a terrible game. He was locked in and crafty the rest of the way through, but as usual, the Mets offense gave him no room for error.

It didn't help that they were facing a lefty in Hyun-Jin Ryu who had not given up a road run all year long.

But surprisingly, that changed in the 6th inning with 2 out and Curtis Granderson on 1st after reaching for a single on the outside part of the plate (some nice op-field hitting.) The new kid, Eric Campbell, got a chance to turn the game around and did...well, at least did his part with a 2-run shot that got out of the park to left field in a hurry to make it 3-2 Dodgers at the time. So far, Eric Campbell is 7-16 with 1 HR and 5 RBI. He hasn't played much, only starting a handful of games since being called up on the 10th of May. I'd like to see the kid in action more, no offense to The Duda (none ever is.)

And focusing on Eric Campbell's good night makes me think of something else I saw on Facebook, 'cause that's all I thought about for a good portion of yesterday.

The only problem I have with your postings on this particular fan fb site is that it is called Optimistic Met Fans and I joined because every once in awhile I need a breather away from the negative banter that dominates the other sites. It's a bit disheartening to come on here and find a fan who keeps posting more negative stuff. I admit it's not overly bad stuff but still it keeps me from getting too involved on here because the last thing I want to be reminded of daily on a Optimistic site is how sh*tty the Mets are once again. Please know this is just a mild complaint.

I didn't used to be this way. It has probably been a combination of the Mets and my own personal stuff that has tipped me into such negative territory. I have generally been overly optimistic, and cutting some slack where others are complaining and whining. What's the whining going to do?

And that's true. What is the whining going to do? If they keep losing, if people stay away from the ballpark, anything I dislike will probably be taken care of in due time...maybe. Regardless, let us focus on the positive. I won't even bring up the fundamentals that plagued the Mets in the top of the 7th...oops.

But seriously, Curtis looks to be turning it around...we have more kids coming up, and though they may struggle, we have to sit back and let them get their work in and give them time to adjust. Travis d'Arnaud seems to be getting better from getting bonked on the head by Alfonso Soriano and should be off the 7-day concussion list soon. And win or lose, there'll probably be some trades occurring in June and/or July.

So, while things can easily look lost for this franchise, maybe, just maybe, things will all add up in the end.

LET'S. GO. HIGH. HOPES.

LET'S. GO. METS.

Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter @convertedmetfan. And for the latest on a Brooklyn Baseball TV Series I am developing, Like the Bedford & Sullivan Facebook page, follow on Twitter here, and listen to the research process here.