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

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

Baller.

Everything about last night's game was baller.

The Duda?
Baller.

John Buck?
Baller.

David Wright?!
Always.

IKE DAVIS!?

But clearly, the most baller of the evening is Matthew Edward Harvey.

I have written about Matt Harvey's baller status before and all of us at Rising Apple poked slight fun at it in a Weekly Top Ten post. When somebody pitches that way, you don't have to say anything.

You just have to watch.


Dillon Gee goes for the series sweep with Eric Stults on the mound for the Fathers (what? that's what they're called...)

1:10PM Start time.

And we're just getting started...

BALL-ER. BALL-ER.
LET'S. GO. METS.

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

The Duda Abode

You know that feeling you've gotten this 2nd half, and many times in your Met fandom, that they were yet again going to squander a 0-out RISP opportunity? I got that feeling when The Duda was up in the 7th last night. Having the game a few minutes behind on the DVR, I found my finger on top of those two forward triangles, ready to push past the next round of commercials. It wasn't even like the idea of The Duda swinging and missing a low breaking pitch was perturbing me all that much. I've been almost conditioned to believe that's what would happen. Of course I had visions of a home run that would turn the game around, but those are only natural as a fan. Foul after foul after foul after foul, the Atlanta crowd going crazy, as juiced as they've been all year with it being Chipper Jones Night in the land of Georgia. Those home run visions didn't go away, but neither did that swing and miss image.

And then, on the 9th pitch...

It happened.

"He did it!" I exclaimed.

"He actually got a mistake and he CRUSHED IT!"

Tim Hudson, who was dealing all night, left a sinker up, and The Duda took full advantage. THAT'S the way you win a ballgame.

Of course, I naturally thought this might only set up a vintage Braves-'gainst-Mets-bullpen-blown loss where the man of the evening is the 3-run-home-run hero or something along those lines. When Larry came up with no one on and 2 out in the 8th, those fears were pacified some.

And so, the bullpen, including Bobby Parnell with the save, looked solid in locking down a late-season "Let's ruin their plans for making a run at the division lead" win.

Jon Niese was fantastic this year. I got very picky at certain times about his performances, and at certain times we still saw the big inning that can ail him. But Jon Niese definitely turned that metaphorical corner a good amount of us said he should turn. He will be a solid rotation piece for years to come. He was real sharp last night and literally, literally, made one mistake, which Freddie Freeman absolutely crushed. I applaud Niese's effort in the first year after signing the extension, and I look forward to even more growth in 2013. 

It's hard to figure out what we have in The Duda. You first think he can be a great hitter who will run into 30 to 40 baseballs that go traveling far distances every year, then you think he's never going to adjust to opponents' adjustments because his confidence is too low. THEN, he has an at bat like that against one of the best pitchers in baseball.

Who knows what the future has in store between our favorite ball club and The Lumberjack?

But for one night, at least...

The Duda Abode.

LET'S. GO. METS.

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

Miller Park: The Anti-Voodoo

On the night of the second performance of The Zeal, and with the 1 train delayed because of "a police investigation at Christopher Street," the commencement of the evening happened around 10 minutes after the game's beginning. The Mets already had runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out when I got to my At Bat plugged in underneath the stage, where there was a spot for me to follow what I could out of the way of everyone. With how the Mets have been scoring runs at home (or how they haven't been scoring runs) you'll take the RBI groundout by Ike. A greater bonus having The Duda...well...you know...Abide.

That was basically the way the evening went for me. Whenever I checked in, they would score immediately thereafter. Completely the opposite of every update I got during the week's rehearsals. The next time I got a chance to check up on the game after The Duda drove in Wright, the first update said, "In Play, run(s)," with Murph up. I thought to myself, "Man, I hope Murph just blasted a 2-runner." Sure enough, he had. While I also saw the Brew Crew score their runs via the words on the page, The Duda Abided once more for my next update, with his solo blast plastered across the screen the second I picked up the phone again. That top of the 6th was lovely. Josh Thole driving in Torres, Ruben Tejada driving in Thole. I had forgotten what the number 7 looked like.

Maybe we needed to be actually performing the show instead of rehearsing for the Mets to actually score some runs.

Maybe I needed to not check the At Bat in front of the Big Bad Baseball Gypsy, which is what I didn't do when I saw him walking by.

Maybe Citi Field is in some weird 2nd half-killing Bermuda Triangle or something.

Oooooooooorrr maaaaaaaaaaaaybeeeeeeeee the Mets just played the game of baseball better than the Brew Crew yesterday evening.

Oh, superstition.

Around the 6th or 7th inning, we got to a bar.

"Hey, bar..... Is there anyone watching the Tennis Channel or 10 Things We Love About Tim Tebow on the NFL Network? I'd love to watch the Mets Game."

My eyes can't roll back any further.

LET'S. GO. METS.

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

8 Men Up and 8 Men Down

It's extremely rare we get to say something like that. I can't remember ever saying it this year. But Josh Edgin, Robert Carson, Jon Rauch and Frank Francisco did just that to lock down the 3-2 win for Matt Harvey, The Duda and the Mets. The work of the bullpen the last week or so has been extremely refreshing for this entire fanbase.

Matt Harvey once again showed his guts by pitching well without his best stuff. He wiggled out of a few jams, with some excellent plays made behind him, including a key double play by Tejada and Murph (seriously!? mets.com? No video of that awesome turned-2?) and The Duda going with the ball, making an over-the-shoulder catch to get out of 5th inning trouble. He also stole a base, and went 2 for 4 with 2 very important RBI on the go-ahead 2-run homer. It's such a beautiful swing when he's on. Backman apparently worked real hard down on the Farm to get Lucas to believe in himself. It has paid dividends, so far. Certainly, The Duda gets our Abider of the Game (yeah, I know "abider" isn't a word, but neither was "abide" before somebody created it. So, whatever. I think I'll give it out after every remaining win.)

Oh, yeah. and Harvey got his 6th hit in 12 at bats, driving in the 1st run of the game, his 3rd RBI in the Majors. We have a DH every 5th day.

Looking forward to going for the Phillie sweep once more this afternoon.

LET'S. GO. METS.

 

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

Breaking the Ice

After completely clobbering the ball in the 4th for the 1st run of the game, Ike just got it into the "Thank you for making it more rational" Mo's Zone for his 2nd HR of the day and the walk-off win. Hefner was fantastic, and got burned in the 9th by unsound defense in the form of The Duda (where was the 9th inning defensive replacement?) But the left fielder finally Abided, working in cahoots with Kelly Shoppach to nail the poorly-sliding runner at the plate. Shoppach, who just didn't get anything on a throw to a runner stealing 2nd earlier in the 9th, blocked the plate the way you are supposed to block it.

"Reporter: Did you get hurt by the contact?

Shoppach: Are You kiddin' me? I love the contact."

Nice. (via Postgame Live)

Glad to see them pick up Parnell, who did a good job bouncing back after the he initiated the play at the dish.

Oh, yeah. And MURPH.

First home series win since we played Philly before the break.

First back-to-back wins since the San Francisco series.

Down the Turnpike and through Cherry Hill we go for a 3-gamer after a day off.

But until next pitch...

What a thrill.

I'm looking forward to that continuing.

LET'S. GO. METS.

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