Ike Davis makes losses exciting

The Mets got thumped by the Cubs 9-3 last night. Ollie Perez was effectively erratic, allowing only 3 runs while pitching only 5 innings. The bullpen did its best imitation of Mets bullpens past by giving up 6 runs and slamming the door shut on any potential Mets comeback. The highlight of the night by far was Ike Davis' spectacular catch in foul territory where he flipped over the railing to the Mets dugout. I'll post a YouTube video of the catch, but once they remove it you can just go to this post from MetsBlog.com to see the catch as well as David Wright talking about...well, something. I'll be honest, I didn't pay much attention since was standing there looking all buff and rugged in his sleeveless shirt.

Progress

In the offseason Mets manager Jerry Manuel stressed timely hitting as an area they needed to address. He worked with his coaches to invent drills to help put his players in the correct mindset and talked to the players individually to make sure mentally they were taking the right approach at the plate. Case in point, David Wright hits the game-tying home run in the bottom of the 5th inning with two outs, giving the team new life and taking a struggling Mike Pelfrey off the hook for the loss.

Less of a priority in the offseason was defense. Case in point, the game winning run the past two games was scored after a dropped fly ball in the outfield. Last night, one of the lone holdovers from last season's crappy bullpen even balked in the winning run for good measure. On the bright side, Citifield got rave reviews from those in attendance and the crowd seemed a little more involved at key moments in the game.

Maybe we should rethink this WBC thing

As far as I can tell in my 12 seconds of research, the US is going to LA for the semifinals of the World Baseball Classic with exactly one position player on the bench. Hey, now that sounds like a good idea. David Wright fouled a ball off his toe, dropping him to his knees in the first inning of the meaningless game last night against Venezuela. He crawled around in agony, a fact the US trainers willfully ignored because if no one tends to him he can't be injured and there's no other third basemen on the roster so suck it up you fucking pansy! In all seriousness, the US is pulled hamstring away from being entirely unable to field a team in LA and being forced to forfeit. I'm thinking the injury substitution rules may need to be tweaked before they play another one of these things.

(Doug Benc/Getty Images)

I think the Mets would do well in the WBC

Last night the US eliminated Puerto Rico and moved into the semifinals of the World Baseball Classic but that's not important. No team sent more players to the WBC than the Mets, and last night's game featured past and (hopefully) future All Stars Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, David Wright, and J.J. (it rhymes with PUTS) Putz. ALL would deliver on the night. Delgado crushed a home run to center field to tie the game at 3. Beltran leapt and took a home run away from Brian McCann to keep the game tied at 3. With Puerto Rico leading by a run in the 8th, Putz retired future hall of fame lock* Ivan Rodriguez, superstar Beltran, and future hall of fame lock* Delgado in order, the last two on strikeouts. I'm sure that'll be a fun conversation in the clubhouse when they all reunite after the classic is over. Anyway, after Phillie J.C. Romero loaded the bases with 1 out, Kevin Youkilis walked to bring David to the plate with the winning on second. With the count in his favor, Wright deliver a soft line drive to right field, much to Jerry Manuel's delight I'm sure, and the US mobbed Wright at second. Don't hurt him, don't hurt my David! I want him nice and strong for the celebration after the World Series when I tie him up in my basement with whips and chains and, wait, what?



* Lock pending steroids investigations

Mets sign Manuel

In the interest of keeping the Manuel manager ratio in the NL East up at least 40%, the Mets signed Gangsta Jerry Manuel to a 2 year contract. Manuel led the Mets to dramatic turnaround this season, only to watch the team collapse under the weight of its ineffective bullpen. I was a big fan of the job Manuel did this season, but more important David was a fan, and dammit that's good enough for me!

In news of teams that actually made the playoffs, the D**** Rays and Sawks took 2-0 leads in their respective series, the latter leading to Boston fans everywhere popping their collars and smashing empty Budweiser cans on their heads in delight.

Oof

Let me take you inside the life of a Mets fan living in Eastern CT without satellite TV. You sit anxiously on the edge of your seat, occasionally chuckling at Jon Stewart's witty antics with former President Clinton, but mostly you make sure to keep sliding your finger around the touchpad of your laptop. See due to the illegality to broadcast Mets games in CT, even though you could have watched the game live on ESPN last night in Uzbekistan, you are relegated to the mlb.com gamecast. You cringe every time you see "In play, run(s)" when the other team is batting. You guess a solo homerun isn't so bad. DAMMIT! Why can't Ollie Perez get that bunt down? Ooo, a walk to Jose Reyes? Ok, we got something going. All right, a walk to Daniel Murphy! Two out rally! Two out rally! Tie game! Zambrano walked in the tying run! Yes! All right Carlos, let's get it done. "In play, run(s)!" YES! Yes! Yeah, baby...how many, how many...GRAND SLAM! Holy crap go Carlos! A little later on, if you're lucky, you'll notified that gamecast has posted a grainy video of the home run. If you're REALLY lucky, it'll even play for you! All right Ollie, got a 4 run lead, just bear down, throw some strikes, let's get this one home. Ok, 1 out single, that's all right, at least you're throwing strikes. No, fucking throw strikes. FUCK! D Lee walked. Come on Ollie, let's get out of this. AUGH! STOP FUCKING WALKING PEOPLE! All right, bases loaded, let's trade an out for a run. "In play, run(s)." Son of a bitch! How can you not get out of the 5th innnig? Fuck, this, you decide to go to hockey. Actually, you probably only do that if you're me.

Fast forward to a room full of sweaty naked men drinking Coors Light. Try not to get too excited. Hey, hey, hey now, bottom of the 9th, game tied at 6, winning run at third, no outs and oh baby, oh baby David Wright and his steely good looks are up! Come on little cell phone, refresh and tell me the good news! Struck out swinging? FUCK! That's all right David, I still love you! Ok, now they have to navigate the twin Carloses. Intentional walk? Well, I guess that makes sense, set up the double play. Intentional walk? All right baby, bases loaded, one out, you can win the game with an out. Come on Ryan Church! Your last name is a place Christians go to pray, you have to come through here, right? Right? Fucking force out at home plate? Fuck. All right, all right, still one more chance. Let's see Ramon Castro come through with two outs. He kind of looks like this guy so it's a forgone conclusion, right? Just need a little bloop single. Strike one. Man, a grand slam would be cool, but a little broken bat dribbler that no one could field works too. Strike two. All right I got a little greedy there, just a solidly hit ground ball in the hole. Nothing too fancy. Strike three! Well fuck, I know where this is headed.

Sure enough the Mets would lose a heart-breaker in 10 innings. A game in which they had a 5-1 lead and then had that incredible 9th inning. They managed to wrestle defeat from the jaws of victory. It's an incredibly difficult loss to take as a fan, especially with Philadelphia getting smoked by Atlanta and Milwaukee winning to draw even in the wild card race. What merely hours before seemed like a shot at the NL East title now feels like the penultimate blow in yet another Septmeber collapse.

Just when I think I'm out they suck me back in!

Love a good Godfather quote in the morning. Last night the Mets turned to their automatic collapse protection in an effort to prevent yet another September collapse. Just when I was coming to terms with the inevitable Johan spun a gem on the mound, going 8 strong innings and actually winning for a change. Behind the strength of Jose Reyes' and David Wright's steely good looks, I mean offense, the Mets held on for a 6-2 win. Most teams would probably find a 4 run lead in the 9th inning pretty comfortable, but Pedro Feliciano decided to give up two hits despite the fact he didn't actually face one of the Cubs' 8 best hitters. Luis Ayala came in to secure the win (this time) and the dream stayed alive for another day.

Last season Plaxico Burress gimped around on a bum ankle. Despite not practicing all season Burress established himself as one of the very best game day receivers. He made a huge deal out of reporting to work this offseason despite his unhappiness with his contract. Just before the season started, the Giants and his agent managed to work out a deal paying Burress as one of the top receivers in the game. I wondered at some point if Burress' success without practice was going to carry over to this season. Monday Plax decided not to show up. He did not tell anyone, he did not respond to efforts to contact him, and this morning coach Coughlin was unipressed with Burress' excuse for his absence. The star receiver was suspended this morning for the next two weeks, which is not as big a punishment as you'd think because the team has a bye this week. Burress will still miss two of his new fat paychecks. Fortunately for Giants fans, that means he will only miss Seahawks game a week from Sunday, and not a game against an actual NFL team. Still, kudos to Burress for proving once again he's just a big a douche as I always thought he was.

Good thing they play in a pitcher's park

The Mets and Nationals concluded their brief series at Shea last night, following a 10-8 affair with a 13-10 slugfest. The 41 combined runs was a record for a two game series in Queens, a fact that I made up and can't be bothered to verify. That's good math skills though, I did that in my head. Mike Pelfrey and Odalis Perez proved it is a bad idea to stay up all night drinking tequila lamenting why David Wright won't return their calls by giving up a combined 12 runs in 8 total innings of work. Amazingly, Pelfrey left the game after 5 innings in line for the victory before Aaron Heilman did what Aaron Heilman does and surrendered the lead on a 2 run homer. Fortunately, Saul Rivera and Joel Hanrahan are desparate to get out of Washington, and gave their best audition for slots in the Mets 2009 bullpen by surrendering 6 runs in the final two innings.

It is a little unfair to the Mets overworked bullpen that had been outstanding during the team's recent hot streak, but working with Oliver Perez and Pelfrey to surrender 18 runs to the Nationals is no small feat. The cellar dwellers from our nation's capital rank near the bottom in major league baseball in most offensive categories.

Where we stand

And by "we" I of course mean the Mets. Except for not showing up to the three remaining games for which I possess tickets, there is very little I can do for the team. As of right now, with September looming, the Mets are in first place, which is a pretty good place to be. The bullpen is still in disarray, the offense is inconsistent at best (except in the first inning), and at some point someone is going to realize 36 year old former sluggers don't often enjoy midseason resurgences. Seriously, will someon make Delgado pee in a cup? The man slugged another two home runs last night, including the tying shot with two outs in the 8th before the wheels came off for the Phillies bullpen. Sucks, doesn't it? Before the carnage was over, Daniel Murphy had a go-ahead RBI double and Brian Schneider hit a bloop single to drive in two more runs for the final margin, proving once and for all that white guys on the Mets wearing numbers in the 20s are always clutch. All in all it was nice to see the Mets put Tuesday night's tough loss behind them and come from behind late in a game.

In pathetic attempts to justify my stalkerish obsession news...read this little blurb on ESPN.com this morning: "Despite the gut-wrenching loss Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, Mets All-Star 3B David Wright stopped to sign autographs at 1:35 a.m. for a group of fans who were waiting outside the ballpark." Seriously, how can you not want to chain him up in a cage in your basement?