As we were learning of the Shaun Marcum signing and I was inspired to question the knowledge the rest of the NL East has on our Mets rotation, I decided to text my Phillie Friend Ted to tell him what I thought of the Michael Bourn rumors. A warning to all of you: Some of the symbols that replace letters may be inappropriate for young readers...
Me: I think Michael Bourn seriously may become a Met. This is a move I
endorsed weeks ago so I so hope they follow through even though its
another lefty.
Ted: I don't really care
It'd be better for me if he didn't
But in general there is a lot of other shit that concerns me way more
Me: I can tell you as a friend you *$^@#ing asshole. I could give two &%$# when u send me phillies stuff
%$#& u haha
Ted: Honestly it's the braves and the Nats division. We're both looking up
Me: I don't expect to win the division
Ted: So who cares if we're even with you or better there is no prize for 3rd
That's my logic
Me: I only care in the season starting. And enjoying 162 games.
Your logic allows for less fun no matter what happens
Ted: My standards are higher based on recent successful years. Do we return to relevance or fall further from it.
That's the unfortunate story line of our upcoming season
Our team is in a tough year age wise
Me: (Nothing to do with standards. everything to do with loving baseball.)
You could easily win the division, btw. But probably Nats. And u are one
of wild cards. I fully believe in what I see on paper from ur team.
And u will probably do a better job bouncing back from nagging age injuries.
Ted: Hopefully.
Me: Ur the phillies. U finished 3rd and almost squeezed ur way back in, then in offseason made nice moves.
Ted: It's just the Nats are good and Young
Me: Yep. They prob take division.
But I'd bet on you in playoffs.
Ted: But the other teams made better ones
Me: Justin upton is sick
Ted: Yeah
Me: We could have packaged something. There's was bull
Ted: And I bet he makes inconsistent BJ much better Not to mention heyward
Me: Yeah oh $%#& that's right!!!!!
The braves They both make each other better. Including better lineup
Ted: And thats what I'm saying. The braves are %&$#ing scary
Me: Both uptons protected better
Ted: So sign Bourn...I still think we're both kind of in trouble
Me: Creepin' and crawlin' like a sniper in the null...
Yesterday, on a whim, I woke up, stretched, and said to myself, “I want a Tom Seaver Bobblehead today.” After doing a little writing, I threw my Mets gear on and headed to the Citi for what turned out to be a fantastic 4-3 win by our Metropolitans, giving Johan Santana the first W next to his name since September 2010.
Of course, when you look at this game, the first things that pop out at you are Johan Santana gritting it out for a 7-inning, 3 run day, and Daniel Murphy going 4-4 at the plate. Then there is Andres Torres, who has an RBI in every game he has played in since arriving back with the team, including 2 yesterday. And of course, Cap’n Kirk Nieuwenhuis keeps doing exactly what we need for wins, getting on base 3 times and tapping home once. The man who got the scoring started, however, is Mike Nickeas, who plated Murphy and Justin Turner on a single in the 4th inning. I mark this as the turning point of the game. The Diamondbacks have a 1-run lead. The bases are loaded with 1-out and the bottom end of our line-up is on its way to the plate. The Dbacks, I am sure, are very confident they can get out of this unscathed. Nickeas had been hitting .188 in his limited playing time, and was made to look foolish swinging at 2 change-ups in a row to start the at-bat. He took a fastball inside, and then turned on an offspeed pitch outside, lining a single the other way into right field. With that the Mets had a lead the would not relinquish. I give him a lot of credit for adjusting and putting a great swing on the ball, and maybe, just maybe, this is a turning point for him up at the plate.
What a breath of fresh air it was to see the bullpen finally lock one down for Johan. Bobby Parnell has really turned the corner, and it is so much fun to watch him pitch. Frank Francisco had a great bounce-back game, and after a tiny scare with a runner on 2nd and Justin Upton at the plate with 2 out, what a thrill for myself and the rest of the crowd to see the slugger swing and miss to end the game.
Also, I want to correct something I said yesterday. It might look to a fan like me that Ike Davis didn't put much effort into the play where he failed to grab the grounder, resulting in a loss on friday, but this is a really hard game to play. After reading his explanation (and taking ownership of the loss) I decided that I am in no position to say whether or not the full effort was there. Had he made the play, it would have been because he's really, really good at baseball, and did something most of us cannot do, which is consistently grab a baseball coming at you really fast and slicing and curving and what not all different kinds of ways. And he makes those plays 9 times out of 10 (and really 99 times out of 100.)
RA Dickey and the Mets will try to take series today at 1:10PM against the right-hander Trevor Cahill. Let's miss some bats, Robert Allen.
LET'S. GO. METS.
Thanks for reading! Converted Mets Fan is now on Twitter. Follow me @convertedmetfan. And for Rising Apple twitter updates, click here.
