Forgive me for not getting to this sooner. I made the severe miscalculation of eating yesterday evening at a random chicken place in Elizabeth, NJ. After I was done with my Lyft rides last night, I came home, listened to the game, brushed my teeth and Listerined. All of a sudden I felt sicker than I have in a long time. I have rarely gotten all that sick as an adult, but I must have gotten food poisoning from this place. After being sick all night, I slept all day trying to crush this fever so I can get back to work Friday morning. My nausea ironically started when Jeurys Familia was giving up hit after hit.
Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports Photo via twinsdaily.com
Prior to that moment, I had only been checking the score in between rides, with my first check-in coming when it was 1-0 Twins and the Mets had not gotten a hit yet. Just in the nick of time for me to go to Twitter to comment on the lack of hits, they collected their first one. Good timing. I received a request for a ride and based on his North Bergen location, which is more or less right near the Lincoln Tunnel, I decided to make it my last. That allowed me, afterwards, to not only check on the score but put the Mets radio on. I do so immediately after the Mets had scored 6 runs, taking a 6-1 lead. I wondered to myself, "How'd the Mets string all those together?" I imagined a Pete Alonso 3-run home run, a Michael Conforto 2-run double, and Robinson Cano hitting a solo shot. Naaaaaaaah. I haven't even brought myself to watch the highlights because I can only imagine the moans and groans from Keith Hernandez, even if we're all on the Mets side. I might muster up the strength just to hear the collective eye roll from the whole crew and ballpark, even if it must have been the most non-clinical pitching inning in baseball history. The frustrating part, and the one that coincided with my sickness, was that the bullpen continues to induce nausea. Noah Syndergaard, who was brilliant all night, might have lost some steam at the end, but the bullpen were the real culprits in making it a closer game than it should have been. Familia signed back with us because he wanted to be a Met, not because he was going to close again. Yet he seems, like when he was the closer being put into non-save situations, that he just can't psychologically put himself into these must-hold innings. Forget about the 30 million dollars. He's got to figure out his stuff because right now it is not all that inspiring. Now, at 7-4 tied with the Braves and the Phillies at the top, the Mets enter Atlanta for a 4-game series needing to make an early-season statement that they will be playing with the cream of the crop from last summer all summer long.
I envy folks like Jacob deGrom. From what we know of the pitcher, he’ll take a setback like last night's loss to the Twins, as angry as it will make him, and use it to make himself even better. He’ll analyze what he did wrong, even if certain things are out of his control, and go into the next start that much more determined to be the best possible Jacob deGrom he can be.
(Not sure where the photo went when I clicked on the link, but google said it was this link from nypost.com yet it's not on that page and so I got no mandatory credit to write. Take it up with them I like this photo too much for this post to not use it)
Even when things are out of my control, I struggle to keep the positivity and focus, not letting the negativity just completely ensconce with my emotional wherewithal. It always feels like 1 step forward, 3 steps back, and even though I will be reminded at a certain point that everything happens for a reason, I can’t help but feel my emotions get the best of me every time a setback occurs.
This morning, I woke up ready to drive Lyft after a fantastic day yesterday, one that got me more or less exactly where I wanted to be going into the middle of the week. Once I got on the road, however, I discovered my back tire so low it was at 12 PSI, which, if you’re city kid unaware of what this means, isn’t a good thing. Knowing I may be one pothole away from a flat one way or another and also knowing I needed an oil change today anyway, I tried to take it in stride. The negativity, however, just completely overwhelms me and I just feel like I’m always on the brink of completely losing it. I went to put air in the tire because I would just rather drive over to my local pep boys instead of being forced to change the tire (admittedly something this Manhattan kid has never done.) As I filled the tire up at the Speedway gas station in Hoboken, I saw exactly where the issue lied: a nail/screw at the top of the tire, the fates giving me the chance to glare directly at the issue based on where the tire was after I had rolled to a complete stop. As I filled it up, I could hear the air mocking me, expunging with a “hissing” sound, making me all that more upset. Instead of driving a couple hours before the oil change, I’d have to change my schedule completely, a benefit of the Lyft gig but annoying as I miss the morning rush that can be so lucrative.
I should, however, recognize immediately what moments like this provide me. They provide me reflection, the ability to build from these struggles and get some writing done, which I had planned on doing one way or another while the car soon hereafter had originally been planned on being serviced anyway. Maybe it is just my emotional immaturity and my nature to be dramatic in the moment, immediately thinking the worst about what this life throws my way. I am fully aware how blessed I am. Whether it is just the news filtered through places like Twitter or the TV or just the examples from some of the people I pick up as a rideshare driver, there are constant examples of how I have it relatively easy and how my life is substantially better than a lot of what this world gives a lot of other people. It just becomes hard for me to not consider that every step I take towards feeling better about myself and gaining more success in this world, the world just keeps pushing me 3-4 steps back.
Oh, I’m sorry…did you come here to read about the Mets? That could very well be one of the reasons I became a Mets fan in the first place; I feel I can relate to the rest of Mets fans and the Mets overall. After a game like yesterday, and at many different junctions the Mets find themselves at, the nature of Mets fans after the experiences we have gone through leads us to a “sky is falling” mentality. They’ve trained us to hope for the best but expect the worst, even though we also have the knowledge a miracle could be on the way. Reading the pulse of Mets fans last night, you could very well find plenty of examples of immediate remorse, immediate “woe is me” moods, immediate feelings of, “There goes the season.” If deGrom isn’t going to be our knight in shining armor that keeps us afloat at the top of the division, what do we have to look forward to? The thing is, once I’m back on the road, just like once the Mets play tonight, there will be something to remind us why all of this makes sense…why we love this team, or personally, why my schedule had to be rearranged this way. Even last night, there were glimpses of what to look forward to. Pete Alonso just continues to rake. The offense overall continued to fight, even through all the pitchers' struggles. Last night was just one of those games where no matter how hard you push to get closer to the goal of winning the game, the finish line just keeps being pushed back. The Twins’ runs continued to climb farther from where your runs stand. A failure like last night gives us a chance to be reminded of how remarkable Jacob deGrom has been 26 straight games. He will forever be listed next to one of the greatest pitchers to ever play this game, Bob Gibson, when the subject of “quality starts” is discussed. He may have not been able to break the record, but he sure reminds us of how Amazin’ this game can be, and how Amazin’ life overall can be even when the score continues to get away from us.
All I can do is remind myself of all the positivity I have in this world even as air slowly edges out of my back right tire. It’s all any of us can do.
No. We should have not split that San Diego series.
No. Matt Harvey's wins should not still be in single digits (though I do like the number 9...)
No. The Mets should not still be 10 games under .500.
They should not have been 4-6 on the originally scheduled road trip.
Though, hey, Travis d'Arnaud made his debut 'cause John Buck Baby Watch ended. He did not collect his 1st hit yet, but he did collect 2 walks yesterday. So, that's cool.
Now, the Mets head into Minnesota today to finish the 3-game set from April.
I wouldn't be surprised if the temperature rapidly dropped and it snowed by 2PM ET, you know, for continuity's sake.
It always feels like bonus baseball, but only in the moment.
The void was felt in April.
Can we seriously just sweep this interleague series?
Relatively. Here is my Rising Apple game recap of the Mets' 4-2 win over the Twins. Over here on Converted, we've got Marlon Byrd's first home run as a Met, which got the scoring (and a 7-hits-in-a-row barrage) going in the 5th.
I had to go with a pun, and I'm sure somewhere out there someone already
used this. I thought briefly of going with "Let it Snow, Let it Snow,
Let it Snow," but that was too cliché. I was just going to go with "Snowball" but I overdid that one on Twitter last night, to the point where Twitter was like, "Um...dude...You're tweeting WAY too much, man." So, I'll just go with Flurry Fever. Wow, I just wasted a lot of time that could have been spent talking about baseball talking about snow puns.
Anyway, last night was one of the most memorable Metsian moments in my fandom history. Watching the Mets throw up two early 5-spots while it snowed was fun, surreal and just plain awesome. And it's hard to comprehend the ridiculousness that is currently John Buck.
And why did this sweet twinkle-toes double play not get any Quick Pitch Premier Play love, MLB Network? Also, I can't imagine what Met fans would have said had the Target Field dimensions been the original ones at Citi Field. One of its issues is that all the walls are way too tall. One of Citi Field's issue, though obviously about The Great Wall of Flushing, was that they generally tried to force quirkiness everywhere. Anyway, before the 4 'O Clock Baller session in Minneapolis today, I'm gonna go see an early Saturday showing of 42. I've attempted to avoid all reviews so I can start my judgements from scratch ('cause I'm going to most likely be ubër critical. Though I'm sure I"ll enjoy it.) Between my dad and my friend, the avoidance has not worked. But whatever. We'll get into it more before the weekend is over.
I'm looking forward to this game tonight at 8:10PM EST. Regardless of your opinion, an April Met game in an 35-degree American League Ballpark 24 hours after it snowed close to 10 inches is unprecedented. The weekend should certainly be interesting, though its sans Big Pelf pitching against us.
Enjoy your weekend everybody. I'm gonna see 42 this weekend (probably after the game) and I'll have a review up at some point in the next two days.
I'm not sure why I didn't post about this podcast before it aired on Monday, but I do know why I didn't today.
Regardless, tonight, myself, Danny Abriano and Rich Sparago discussed the Phillies series loss before Ben Noble of Fansided'sPuckett's Pond called in to talk about the Twins prior to our series in Minneapolis. If you missed it, here you go:
