Kerplunk.

I guess it should be considered a good thing that I missed a game post, and a winning one at that. Considering I'm in the last week of classes specializing in a field I expect to make a career, it's good to be distracted from the item that normally does the distracting.

Though last night, I had enough gameday in my view to be well aware of the inning that got away. I haven't seen any video or heard any audio, but I did hear that Eric Young, Jr. and Tim Hudson got into a crazy accident during the 8-2 loss. That sucks, 'cause I respect the guy, you know?

Alright, before I add last night's awesome Rising Apple Report podcast, with myself, Dan Haefeli and Rich Sparago, let's look at last night's lineup and consider its strikeout potential at the bottom.

Starting Lineups

	Atlanta Braves				New York Mets
1	Andrelton Simmons	SS		1	Eric Young	LF
2	Jason Heyward	CF		2	Daniel Murphy	2B
3	Justin Upton	RF		3	David Wright	3B
4	Freddie Freeman	1B		4	Marlon Byrd	RF
5	Brian McCann	C		5	Ike Davis	1B
6	Evan Gattis	LF		6	Kirk Nieuwenhuis	CF
7	Dan Uggla	2B		7	Anthony Recker	C
8	Chris Johnson	3B		8	Omar Quintanilla	SS
9	Tim Hudson	P		9	Jeremy Hefner	P

I don't even want to show you how many strikeouts it was, though it's nothing insane. I just read about some strikeouts that lead to a rally-kill.

It REALLY sucks that Hef has had two bad starts in a row, but I'm not about to jump to any conclusions considering.

Considering...

OH! Last question: What the Los Mets' All-Time Record?

Seriously, I don't know, but I somehow remember a bunch of them being losses...

That is all.

Here's the Rising Apple Report.

LET'S. GO. METS.

Listen to internet radio with Rising Apple Report on BlogTalkRadio

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, and follow on Twitter here.

Wrapping it Up Well

It's unbelievable how much the Mets have forced the opposition into making mistakes lately. They have been playing some great baseball over the last month and a half or so, much in part to the errors their foes have made.

All weekend, the struggling Milwaukee team kicked and bobbled the ball around, and though the Mets turned it into a 12-5 romp on Friday night, they eeked out a 2-1 win thanks to the continuing brilliant pitching of Jeremy Hefner, a couple mistakes that lead to a couple runs, and a 4-out save by Mr. Bobby Parnell.

The most impressive part is of course Mr. Hefner. I had a feeling he was better than we were giving him credit for as he fought for a spot in Spring Training, and with a few tweaks here and there, he has turned himself into not only a serviceable Major League pitcher but a quality one at that. It might not exactly be flashy, but it's becoming quite fun watching the guy work through an order.


We're heading into San Francisco for a 3-game set out there. No matter how much the "New York Giants of San Francisco" may be struggling currently, the Mets and their predecessors always seem to play crazy games that excite us, frustrate us, and scare us all at the same time. Let's not even think about how our fanaticism might keep us up WAAAAAY TOOOOOOO LATE into the early eastern seaboard morning.

Settlin' into the Mondays, everyone.

LET'S. GO. METS.
(Cliche, I know, but screw it. I hadn't heard it in a while)

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, and follow on Twitter here.

Another 4-3 Victory

The trendy thing for the Orange and Blue to do this week was win 4-3.

They did so last Sunday. They did so in the 1st game on Tues. They did so on Thursday. And they did so last night against the Philadelphia Phillies.

What's been the most refreshing regarding these wins, besides the come-from-behind nature of some of them, is the young (and, in some cases, the new "Young") talent that is chipping in.

For some time, we've been used to getting nothing out of the lineup other than at the Wright and Murph spots.

Last night, though, belonged to Juan Lagares and new Met Eric Young, Jr. (other than the continuing stellar pitching of Jeremy Hefner.) 

Just traded for Collin McHugh this week, Young scored the 1st Metsian run of the game after doubling to open the 4th, and tied the game at 3 with 2 out in the 5th on a single. 

Lagares, who went 3-4 and seems to finally be seeing the ball properly at the Major League level, drove Duda in for the go-ahead 4th run in the 6th. He has always hit whatever level he is at, so one could say it was only a matter of time till he finally got the hang of it in The Show. 

With the status of the outfield, Lagares and Eric Young, Jr. should get plenty of playing time to prove, or disprove, their worth.

Unfortunately, though, we found out that Niese has a partial tear in his throwing shoulder, and was placed on the DL. When there is a plethora of starting pitching and a tough decision needs to be made regarding who gets the boot when a prized prospect comes up, fate always seems to rear its ugly head, and an injury naturally takes care of any decision. Jon shouldn't be gone too long if everything goes well since it's only a partial tear, but he will most likely be out at least a month.

Here's to him making a speedy recovery.

Enjoy the 4:05PM game, everyone.

Well, That was Unexpected

I cashiered away, my phone too low on battery to keep in front of me as I do during games, so it charged away with Gameday playing out behind me in the 1st inning. The store was busy, but once the crowd dissipated I turned around, wondering where everything stood after I had just caught Ruben Tejada's lead off single.

5-0?!

Sweetness.

Going into the game, I was worried about Jeremy Hefner and how his game would play in the joke that is the Yankee Stadium dimensions (something that ended up helping us on Marlon Byrd's fly ball homer.) He has been pitching rather well recently, and continued last night in the Bronx Bandbox. Right now, Dillon Gee has gotta get his crap together, because barring any injury, he's unfortunately the odd man out when Zack Wheeler arrives.

What's that clichè they say? "Too much good starting pitching is a good problem to have."

Talk about your downer of a sports day

First, I had recap duties for what turned out to be an 8-2 loss to the Cubbies, then the Knicks fell apart in crunch time after making it real interesting (stop blaming the refs, people.)

I'm sure some other team with Orange & Blue as their colors lost somewhere out there in the ether.

If you wanna know how the Mets lost, you can either read my recap over on Rising Apple, or I can tell you here that it was LOBs, a bad 4th inning and shitty relief (but it all comes back to no RISP.)

Angst

This is when we all get a little angsty.

This is when we throw remotes across rooms.

This is when we look for someone to blame.

This is when the fingerpointing begins.

This was bound to happen eventually.

Not every team loses 6 in a row every year. But I'm sure we all knew it was going to happen to the 2013 Mets at some point.

I guess they've conditioned us to expect it in July rather than the end of April.

But it's all good.

Everything will be fine.

Eventually...


Regardless, we'll keep watching.
We might not completely agree with the roster.
We might not completely agree with the manager.
We might not completely agree with the General Manager.
We might not completely agree with the owners.
But we'll keep watching, this time at 12:40PM EST.
There'll be some good Orange and Blue on.

...Eventually.

LET'S. GO. METS.

Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter @convertedmetfan. And for Rising Apple twitter updates, click here.

Yeah. THAT Kyle Kendrick.

I still haven't seen The Duda's two BOMBS. I was driving so I only heard Howie (and Josh.)

Shall we do that together since, other than another Buck Shot, there wasn't too many Metsian thrills after Hefner couldn't handle the 1st? (One of those "Shoulda Woulda Coulda" games.)

Let's go see if any of the homers can be embedded....


Awww, that's too bad. Well....here's the first one.

And here's the second one.


Buck launched it on the first pitch he saw from Kyle Kendrick. Great Cohen Call.

And Jordany got 3 infield hits, making a couple nice catches. (still needs to hone A LOT of his skills.)

Buuuuuuut lotsa chances by the wayside, leading to a 7-3 loss to the Phillies for the first series loss of the year.


And now we head to the Twin Cities.....which are supposed to receive 10 inches of snow by the end of today's off-day.

Isn't Interleague play WACKY?!

LET'S. GO. METS

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Mets Legacy Photo of the Day - Campy

For a recap of today's 5-2 win over the Braves (including 7 SO in 5 IP by Jeremy Hefner and a HR by The Duda), head over to Rising Apple.


Today's Mets Legacy Photo is of arguably the greatest catcher of all time, whose career was unfortunately cut short.

Don't forget about USA v Puerto Rico tonight. 

Winner goes on. 

Loser is done.

MLB Network at 7:00PM EST.

ROY CAMPANELLA.
LET'S. GO. METS.

Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter @convertedmetfan. And for Rising Apple twitter updates, click here.

Soaking up the 162nd

In the middle of the last Orange and Blue game of the season, I heard of Josh Hamilton's mishap in Oakland, CA, that not only capped his team giving up a 4-run lead they had early, but capped the crazy charge those A's had down the stretch to yank the division from Texas' grasp. I decided to put the game on my dad's Ipad and spent the rest of the Mets' win with OAK/TEX in the foreground with the volume down. I couldn't even hear how crazy the crowd was, but I could certainly see it; A sold out sea of Green and Yellow cheering as loud as they could for their Amazin' A's.

The Mets game had many highlights (which I will probably watch on loop at some point tonight.) Andres Torres homered; Jeremy Hefner continued to make his case for a role next year with another great start; Scottie Hairston got his 20th home run; Ike Davis made it an even 90 RBI with an opposite field shot for his 32nd home run of the year; Daniel Murphy made a sick snare on a hard hit ball to his left (which I wish was an mlb.com video); Ruben Tejada had a 3 for 5 day; and the bullpen didn't blow it. All great individual awesomeness that combined for the Mets' 74th win of the year.

By the time the OAK/TEX game was 2 out in the 9th, I paused Bobby Parnell in our own last inning (who had a couple crazy ricochets that got converted into outs) and turned the volume up on the West Coaster. The intensity, the excitement, the every-cliché-word-that-describes-the-Oakland-crowd in that moment was something I very much craved. I imagined that sold out sea of Green and Yellow as a crazy Citi ocean of Orange and Blue, and for the first time this September yielded to everybody else's definition of Meaningful September Baseball. I had tried to rationalize our September all...well, September, calling every game meaningful in the evaluation of every player we had. And I still believe this is the way it's supposed to be, that this is the journey this franchise is meant to be on and when we're ready for what Oakland just went through it will be that much more...Amazin'. And look how long it took the A's to get back to this point. But MAN, I wanted what they had in the worst possible way as I watched Coco Crisp grab the last out, he, his teammates and the entirety of the Oakland fanbase going absolutely insane.

After about a minute, I turned the volume back down and pressed play on our Metsies. The last handshakes and fist pounds and high fives of the year were very bittersweet, and certainly not just for every Met fan tuning into that moment. I could see how tight knit those 2012 New York Mets were as they greeted each other for the last time, a cancerous clubhouse certainly not the reason for the failings of the 2nd half.

Many highs, many lows, and many inbetweens. There will be plenty of time to process it all, but for now we say goodbye to the 50th Anniversary season of the New York Metropolitans. Thank you to the 2012 Squad for giving me memories and thrills that will last a lifetime. And thank you to each and every one of you who tuned in, supported me and pushed me further than I ever thought I would go in my first season of blogging. My life has been effected for the better by becoming this much more apart of the New York Metsian family.

We shall reconvene in the 'morrow.

LET'S. GO. BASEBALL.

LET'S. GO. METS.

 

Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter @convertedmetfan. And for Rising Apple twitter updates, click here.

Just One of Those Nights

After watching the game for a while, I got fed up with how everything seemed to be rolling the wrong way for the Metsies. The outfielders seemed to get there just in time to make the catch, Jose Reyes' hit down the 3rd base line is just enough to get passed a diving Wright. It was just one of those nights, and I wasn't taking the idea of finishing the season losing a couple to the Marlins all that well, especially at the expense of RA's record. And with my sinuses flaring up a little, I thought it was time to go lay down while listening to Howie and Josh. I mean, I didn't have too many more opportunities to hear those guys.

At some point, though, I was feeling a little restless, so I decided to get up and pace back and forth while listening to the game. "What the heck? Give me one more thrill...TWO more thrills." By myself in my mom's upstate house with my dad down the hill in his own abode, watching some new show, "Elementary," (I have a complicated family dynamic, a story which will be told in film form one day) I decided to start a one-man cheering crew, giving every batter and every pitcher some extreme enthusiasm. I didn't have too many more chances in the season to act the fan, and isolated in a house in the woods was as good a time as any. And as I did, 1 run was in. Two runs were in. And then in was tied. I. Was. Pumped. R.A. Dickey was off the hook for the loss, and that in and of itself was a victory.

Until the last pitch of the game, somewhere a few extra innings after the Mets should have won, I was treating game 161 as if it were this game. Why not? I'll drive this sentence into the ground, but we don't have too many more Orange and Blue opportunities to root our socks off in 2012.

With the way we were leaving men on left and right as the innings added up, it only made sense that a Jose Reyes triple would eventually spell the end of the Orange and Blue. Though at home last year, it was that gentleman that kept us engaged through an extra inning 161, which ended in the 12th with the exact same score as last night, on a Justin Turner line drive double play. The two games weren't too similar other than the LOB, and Manny Acosta didn't blow this one in the 9th the way he blew last year's in the 9th. Either way, it was only fitting that more baseball be handed to us yet again, even if the finishing touches were by that Marlin team instead of our Metsies. It was still at least one more thrill.

I'm glad my eyes didn't witness the end, though.

Some time in the 7th, when Manny Acosta was on the mound, Howie spoke of a base hit right as my connection was cut off to receive a phone call. It was my dad. Earlier in the day, he had emailed a letter he once wrote to me while I was at camp. A letter that was a relic from another baseball time, detailing events from the summer of '99. Then, it was McGuire, Gwynn, and the New York Yankees, but this evening, my dad was calling for only one thing.

"On this show, Elementary, Lucy Liu is a big baseball fan in New York. Guess what team she roots for?"

"....................................eh......The Mets?....."

"Yep," he said with a big smile on his face. "The last scene she's wearing a hat and cheering for them. Thought you'd get a kick out of it. Anyway, get back to your game."

"Ha! That's awesome. Thanks, Dad."

I might not root for the same ballclub anymore, but my dad is still as passionate about me as he's ever been.


I don't want to type this, but today is game 162. At 4:00PM. Jeremy Hefner finishes it up.

Sigh.

I just got sad.

ORANGE. AND. BLUE.

LET'S. GO. METS.

Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter @convertedmetfan. And for Rising Apple twitter updates, click here.