I had to go to bed before I listened to a single pitch last night. I was hoping for similar alerts on my phone to when I woke up yesterday morning, most of them focused on Michael Conforto's game-winning grand slam. Unfortunately, the first alert I saw before the At Bat ones showed me the blown game was a friend of mine in LA texting, "nice finish by LA." Other fans really know how to push Mets fan's buttons, that's for sure. I texted back, "Terrible text to wake up to."
I cannot make absolute statements, however, that Edwin Diaz is just another bum closer and the Mets lost the trade. Yes, Cano has left a lot to be desired, but Diaz has been pretty lights out up until last night, give or take a couple home runs during tie games. It is a symptom of the reactionary social media environment, as well as the Mets track record, that we would make definitive statements about the legacy of certain players, or even seasons, before anything has actually run its course. Robbie Alomar was a letdown, we know that now. The 2005-2008 Mets stretch was a great disappointment, we also know that now. Jason Bay didn't pan out, that is for sure. No matter how well Jared Kellenic is doing in single-A, however, and no matter how poor we think the players we got back are performing, nothing is definitive as of yet. We do ourselves a disservice by making such statements before everything has played itself out, as far as I'm concerned. I'm guilty as much as the next, but I'm trying to train myself wherever possible to remember the words, "So far." This stretch will continue to be a big test for this team, and so far, they have unfortunately fallen flat when they had a chance to gain a lot of goodwill last night. We're only 3 games into it, and though it will not feel like a lot have progress has been made if they don't come out of this over .500, we have to remember you're supposed to go .500 on the road, win at home. They've been so bad on the road, if they can go .500 on this stretch, that will certainly be progress. Maybe I'm settling for mediocrity, but you have to start somewhere. Considering I am having trouble in my personal life this week staying optimistic, color that progress for me to even stay this optimistic about the Mets. I'm going to be talking to Gil Hodges, Jr. about his father's Hall of Fame candidacy at 12pm ET on my Bedford & Sullivan podcast today. That's certainly something to be optimistic about. Please, take a listen when you have a chance.
I usually don't make posts during gametime but I haven't written anything since before the weekend, so I figured, what the hey? I'll go ahead and just type some words.
There's no way to cover everything that has happened since Thursday night. It was classic baseball and classic Mets at that for the Nats series to go the way it did only for the Mets to lose a back-and-forth affair to Detroit Friday night. Though they went 6-1 on that homestead, there were still some glaring issues seen with this ballclub, including the bullpen and the lack of quality out that way. Last night, that issue was front and center as the pitching fell apart after deGrom was taken out. I wish sometimes I could just not care about this club. That, however, is not how all of this works. My attention is divided around a lot these days, but I make sure to give the team some of that attention, as hair-pulling as they can be. And maybe I aught to write during games more often, as Steven Matz just scored the first run of the game. (But then Cody Bellinger crushed it to scratch that point I just made. but then Todd Frazier ties it....) My brain, however, is truly fried today. Yesterday was the first anniversary of my dad's death, and it wasn't too emotionally wrought throughout it. Today, however, it kind of all caught up to me. Now, I must get some sleep with the sounds of Howie and Wayne subconsciously entering my brainwaves, while I dream of the Mets winning the last major league game of the year. If you will indulge me, however, I threw together a home video montage of my dad being his goofy self over the course of my childhood, as well as during his sickness. It speaks to the fun-loving, outgoing human he was and how much he just saw life as his playpen. Enjoy the montage, and enjoy the game. Let's win this.
KEEP. ON. PUSHIN'.
LET'S. GO. METS.
This #MemorialDay is extra heavy for my family and I as it is the 1-year anniversary of our dad #Max’s death. Time flies, c’est la vie and whatever other clichè you can think of, but in his memory, I decided to edit together a quick home video montage showing off our Dad’s... pic.twitter.com/DYMaSbnrGw
...goofy personality. We’re editing together plenty more for the #documentary, but for now, I hope you enjoy this personal clip of Norman “Max” Maxwell, a father, brother, actor, teacher and veteran. Love you, Dad.
No matter what we think about Saturday's ugly and league-shaking situation, that's done and over with, and guaranteed 2 games at Citi Field. I'll take that any day. Or two. And I'm guaranteed to be there working at Two Boots Center Field. With the Center Field big screen always in my view.
MANDATORY CREDIT: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports
Regarding the slide, I'm done, I've been ranting and debating it for 2 days now, and it looks like for dramatic purposes, Chase Utley will be there tonight, introductions and all, to bask in the Mets fans' venom. Remember, this is someone who once told the Yankee Stadium All-Star crowd, "Boo? Fuck you," before the TV feed quickly cut away. He'll flip the finger right back.
So, it's go time, with none other than Matt Harvey on the mound, just the way he scripted it all those endless nights when he sat at his typewriter while he couldn't pitch, furiously banging at the keyboard till the sun came up and he woke up drooling on the greatest screenplay ever written. This is what he has wanted. This is what WE have wanted. And we get to do it to those dirty, good for nothin', low-down stinkin' bums who deserted these here parts those many years ago.
Well, that brought on a new era, a new world, a New Breed. And the newest of that new breed gets their first crack at letting the New York Metropolitan Baseball Club know their rooting in the stands.
In October 2006, in the living room of a friend of mine not into baseball at all, I watched Endy Chavez make an incredible catch...and subsequently Aaron Heilman, Carlos Beltran, and a nasty curveball that absolutely pissed me off.
In September 2007, my friend Ted, a huge Phillies fan I've discussed on here before (in fact, first) texted me something I can vaguely remember now, but my response might have straight up been, "What are you talking about?"
To which he responded...
"Do you know what's going on?"
He had snapped me out of a season-long credit-card-max-out-inducing vinyl disc binge I had been going on, and I got back just in time to watch the 1st inning (or 1/3 of...) of Tom Gl%£¥ne's non-devastating 7 run performance. I vowed to never NOT follow the Mets daily again.
In September 2008, in a White Plains bar, I watched the bullpen put a bow on a very exciting yet uneven, odd and bittersweet last season of Shea Stadium baseball. About a week before that, I watched on the SNY Plaza monitor Daniel Murphy, who led off with a triple, get stranded on 3rd in the 9th inning against the Cubs. A disgruntled fan, with as thick of a New York accent as you can imagine, walked away, exclaiming, "Dey Stink!" Luis Alaya blew it right thereafter. I shook my head at Lee Mazzilli.
I got myself to Shea Stadium the next night, my last time ever in the building, and the Mets walked off on the Cubs in what everybody knew was an evening too late.
In October 2009, after the worst season, still to this day, I ever experienced as a baseball fan, I watched the Yankees take on the Phillies. I rooted for the Phillies...eesh.
October 2010, I watched Sandy Alderson introduce himself.
October 2011...
October 2012...
'13...
'14...
'15.
In August, I found out that the friend whose house I watched 2006's Game 7 at, whom I hadn't really seen since 2009, overdosed back in April and passed away. Besides being the first person my age (30) to die that I once spent a lot of time with, he died, unbeknownst to me till August, while I was in the middle of writing the 1st draft of a screenplay that takes place during the time I knew him.
Now, I don't mention this to bring the mood down, but my point is how long 9 years really is. A lot can change in that matter of time. And I, and we, have been through a lot as Mets fans in that time.
I thought about my former fandom some as I watched the Yankees and their fans go down in 1 game. I have an interesting perspective as having been raised in the Yankees world in my initial baseball years, then coming of age and becoming a Mets fan as an adult (the way I see it, I was born again, and now have been thoroughly raised in Mets fandom.) While Mets fans can sit in their anxieties that the other shoe will eventually drop, Yankee fans are cocky about the ghosts eventually emerging and swinging things the navy pinstripes' way, or at least that was the attitude till 2004. 11 years of a different world where the Yankees no longer dominate the Red Sox and have only been to and won only 1 World Series might have quelled that inevitable feeling for those fans, but while watching that Wild Card game, I couldn't have felt farther removed from the Yankee fan mindset.
I stopped having fun in my Yankee fandom. I have, including during my time rooting first and foremost for the Yanks, never not had fun rooting for the Mets.
We New Yorkers are lucky.
Unlike other towns, where the only flags you see flapping are Phillies flags, or Indians flags, or Red Sox, or Cardinals, or Brewers, etc. you see not only the local baseball flavor worn here, but basically every other team in all of human sports accounted for, since New York is a domestic and global phenomenon. In the 4 major U.S. sports, we have 9 local sports teams to mix and match with.
And in baseball, over here, we choose the Mets. In reality though, the Mets chose us.
And it doesn't matter how shallow or deep our playoff run ends up being.
After 9 years, I am about to have the time of my life.
KEEP. ON. PUSHIN'.
LET'S. GO. METS.
(Thanks to Greg Prince of FAFIF for the song selection. Only one that makes sense.)
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...
(Firstly, before I start today's rant, props to Curtis Granderson for his first 3-hit game as a Met, going 3 for 5 with a single, a double, a home run, two runs scored and an RBI.)
I'm at that point I just want to see it crash and burn. I ALWAYS like seeing the Mets make a comeback and win, but I am so fed up with Terry Collins that I just want to see a humongous losing streak that he either HAS to resign from or gets fired because of it. Do I REALLY want to see that in my heart of hearts? No...I guess. As far as I'm concerned, any success the Mets have under Terry Collins is just covering up all the problems of this team. Is it squarely his fault? No. BUT GET HIM OUTTA HERE!!!!
What's remarkable about playing the Dodgers right now is that they are WORSE than we are with the bases loaded...AND WE SUCK!!!
Dodgers are something like 3-45 with the bases juiced this year, compared to our 6-45 or something like that. Not a crazy difference, but it was on full display last night when we were unable to finish a comeback. We had the bases loaded what felt like a hundred times, and clearly what is becoming too familiar continued. Pop ups, strike outs, not even productive outs. It's outlandish.
Last night, I ironically listened to the game from Flatbush, Brooklyn, where Dem Bums used to play.
Last night, the Faith and Fear in Flushing duo, Greg Prince and Jason Fry, joined myself, Danny Abriano and Mike Lecolant on the 75th episode of the Rising Apple Report for an off day Roundtable Rant on the current state of the New York Mets.
Along with voicing our frustrations at the "holding pattern" the Mets seem to be in, we also discussed number 75, Frankie Rodriguez, and the 1975 New York Mets season, which lent itself for plenty of correlating and contexting where the Mets currently stand.
I was totally up for the first game in LA, but I've been feeling under the weather recently and clearly it annoyed me as much as anybody regarding the Mets defense and the bad umpiring.
The 2nd game, I was near Gameday, but mostly avoided the happenings after checking in on it right before Matt Harvey fell apart with only a 1-0 lead.
And the 3rd game...Well, I conked out right after hearing LaTroy give up the tying run, checking the score when I woke up.
So, it was nice to hear the Mets get some go-ahead and winning runs in last night, even though I was halfway in and out in a Benadryl stupor.
Though I am looking forward to hearing the game when I get off from work tonight, I expect sleep will come along with it as well, hopefully waking up when Howie yells, "Put it in the books!"
What I love about Wilmer Flores is how much of a veteran he already looks with the bat. He's been playing professional baseball for about 6 or 7 years now, and has made it to the Big Leagues with quite the first week. I want all of us to watch video together on here. But they won't let us embed any and I am too lazy to grab the link.
Juan Lagares and Wilmer Flores both know how to hit, and while the latter might need to adjust back once the league adjusts to him, it is clear they have natural talent at the plate. Flores handles his own in the field, but Juan Lagares has been the best defensive center fielder in baseball since coming up. It's nice when players you know have so much talent translate relatively quickly to the Major League level. We'll see how much they keep performing, but I have a lot of faith they will continue to succeed.
Now, the Mets are finally, on August 12th, starting the SoCal stretch, and they once again showed against the Diamondbacks how that they know how to bounce back after a devastating loss (though they need to stop losing devastatingly and just turn this good stretch of baseball playing into 15-game winning streaks.)
I've been talking a lot about the Brooklyn Dodgers lately, currently working on a 2nd draft of a pilot for my show, and now our Metsies take on the team that helped give birth to them in the town that team headed off to. The Dodgers are the hottest team in baseball, but the Mets won't take on Kershaw or Grienke. And they throw Mejia, Harvey and Gee against them.
For a recap of today's Mets loss, head over to Rising Apple. At 6:30PM EST, Will Deboer and I will wrap up the series loss to the Dodgers, and Ted (you know, THIS Ted) will call in and brief us on his Fightin' Phillies.
I completely spaced on Julian's Met, which normally arrives every Wednesday. Well, with the walkoff Grand Slam from Mr. Jordany last night, we present a baseball card Valdespin most likely has blown up and hanging over his bed.
I was working the Rising Apple twitter feed for the majority of the game, when my internet went out just in time for the 9th inning. I had been watching the game, but my dad wanted to get his American Idol fix (.........................) in an upstate house with only one TV (he's renting his house out soon so we're up here getting it ready.) After the 6th inning, I started listening to Howie and Josh on gameday audio until the internet went out, 'cause for some reason Sprint just stopped working around here yesterday after being one of the better Sprint spots I've found. So, 3G gameday audio pickup was impossible.
Anyway, you could care less about my technological angst. I got to watch the Mets comeback in the 9th inning (with me ranting and raving to my dad about the sac bunt to get Mike Baxter over to 3rd after his double, but that's really a whole 'nother discussion for a whole 'nother post.) With the internet still very, very flimsy, I hopped into the car and listened to the 660 feed that had very tolerable amounts of static. THAT was where I heard Josh Lewin's call on Jordany Valdespin's Grand Slam walkoff, the first Mets Grand Slam walkoff in 22 years, which...
@2stepsaway @convertedmetfan You might have been able to hear Josh all the way to wherever you are without the radio on that last one. — Mets WFAN (@MetsWFAN) April 25, 2013
I am upstate, and my hotspot stopped working just about the time Robert Carson was scoring a run last night....
I started writing the recap for Rising Apple, but unfortunately I didn't think of this McDonald's internet idea until this morning (but it looks like they would have closed by 11 anyway...) So Danny Abriano finished it for me (Thanks, Danny.)
There'll be ballin' tonight.
Jealous of all you folk that get to go to Citi Field tonight.
