auspicious beginnings

apparently Cole Hamels, Philadelphia's young ace (9-3 coming into today's game, with the 2nd most strikeouts in the NL) wanted to be matched up with John Maine during this series between the Phillies and the Mets. until tonight, his walks-to-strikeouts ratio was something ridiculous like 23-101 (I'm only a couple numbers off in either direction-- but I was mashing the potatoes when Howie Rose gave the numbers, and I may not be remembering 100% correctly), and young Cole hadn't given up more than one walk in a game all year. tonight, he's given up four. he's pitched three innings.

this, along with the Mets win in the first game of today's double header, is an auspicious start to what I hope will be a productive weekend for This Fan-- I've got a lot to update here!

a good Italian temper

I found it hard to watch Paulie lose his temper at the Ump tonight. He totally lost it when he got thrown out of the game, and for a minute there I was honestly afraid that he was going to take a swing at someone-- anyone, really, who got in his way. I think of Paul as the center of the team, and it was hard to watch that center lose control and throw his equipment onto the field.

in the end, though, I think I misunderstood what was going on. Paul has been really frustrated with his team's and his own play in the last couple of weeks, and though things were looking up, he was set off. his teammates were more amused than anything else by LoDuca's antics, and I'll take my cue from them. I'm nervous that he'll be suspended for the knee-pad flinging, and I'm sure I'm not the only one, but at least one guy isn't all that concerned. According to MLB.com, "when it comes to the threat of suspension, though, Lo Duca doesn't seem to be worried. "For what?" he said."

Jump Around

Game 72: Athletics 0, Mets 1
40-32 for the season

it was a great pitchers duel tonight-- El Duque for the Mets, coming back after two bad outings and keeping the A's scoreless on six hits in seven innings, and Joe Blanton pitching for Oakland, holding the Mets to five hits in eight shutout innings in a row. it ultimately came down to the closers, and Wagner is one of the best in the game. Santiago Casilla, bless his heart, is not.

tonight was important for a lot of reasons. one, it was rather important that the Mets win two in a row again, since it hadn't happened since May. two, it was pretty important that the Mets win a series, since that hadn't happened in six straight series. three, Duque had two bad starts in a row, and that had to stop. all of that happened, and every other team in the NL East lost today. oh, and the Yankees did, too.

my favorite moment came toward the end of the 7th, when Duque let two men on base and Willie came out to bring Feliciano in. Orlando convinced Willie to let him pitch, and then delivered with an inning-ending K. when El Duque says "Si, yo puedo," you'd better believe he can do it.

of course, Paul LoDuca lost his shit at the umpire tonight, but that ended up well, too-- it got Ramon Castro in the game, and in the top of the 9th, Shrek hit his second double of the year. two batters later, David Wright drove him in with a walk-off double to win the game. it was in many ways a perfect day.

and when it was all over, the Powers That Be at Shea played the House of Pain classic "Jump Around," a much more fitting tribute for a win from this Mets team than anything Bob Seeger ever sang.

there's my team

Game 69: Athletics 1, Mets 9
39-32 for the season

tonight, the Mets played the way they did in April and June-- not only scoring first, but piling it on, and keeping the opposition to just one run. Glavine pitched like he did at the beginning of the season, going into the 9th inning and holding the A's to just one run. when Willie came out of the dugout after Glavine gave up a single on his first pitch in the top of the 9th, the crowd let him know they weren't happy to be robbed of the opportunity to see a Mets pitcher throw a complete game. Tom didn't mind, though-- I'm sure he quite enjoyed watching the last three outs from the dugout.

Marty Noble had some good coverage of the mood in the dugout after the game was done over at MLB.com:

Glavine had the misfortune of being thrown out at the plate in the sixth inning after his second hit, a single, had produced the final two runs in a five-run rally that all but determined the outcome. He was thrown out while trying to score from first base on a double by Jose Reyes. And he heard about it.

"I think that parachute went out as he came around third," manager Willie Randolph said, "and he started to moonwalk."

Wright was wondering whether Glavine had been carrying Baldwin or a Steinway. (What does a Steinway, anyway?)

And someone compared Glavine's speed to that of backup catcher Ramon Castro, but then suggested that the pitcher would have been thrown out at third if he ran like the thick-legged catcher.

"C'mon," Mets closer Billy Wagner said. "You can't get on him. He's 110 years old."

no reflection

my recent lack of posting has nothing to do with the Mets' laconic play-- I've been busy, as my summer courses have started. CBN and I were at the game on Tuesday night, though, and I'll get a post about it up soon.

I am happy, but not surprised.

Here's why:

"This was the indisputable fact of Friday night's contest. The ice-cold Mets had beaten the red-hot Yankees. Oliver Perez had outpitched Roger Clemens.

On the surface, these were surprising developments. But looking a little deeper, no, they weren't.

Perez had already stopped the Yankees once. Where is the surprise in a second victory? And if the Mets had been slumping, they still did have the potential to find ways to scratch and claw for a run. With a well-pitched game in hand, this was all they needed. They had superior pitching, solid defense and they uncovered just enough offense. It is never really a surprise when this combination results in victory."

--Mike Bauman at MLB.com

boiling blood

check out this article, titled "Father-child bond central to baseball," subtitled "Ballplayers, fans alike have shared the game with dad," on MLB.com. go ahead. please. and try very hard to find even a single reference to a father sharing the game with his daughter, or a mother sharing the game with her child of either sex.

no, don't bother. you won't find one.

apparently, MLB hasn't noticed the number of fans who are women, or doesn't understand how we got to be fans and how we intend to bond with our own children over baseball. I post on a general interest women's message board, and there are more than a dozen regular contributors to a thread about MLB. all women. all fans. many of us learned about baseball and became fans at our father's heels (as I did). the headline and subtitle apply to me, but the article ignores the fact of my existence.

because in MLB world, the way to bond with daughters not through sharing a love of the game, but by "watching cartoons and going to Chuck E. Cheese" with them, the way Twins pitcher Johan Santana reports he bonds with his two daughters. that was the only mention of girl-children in the whole article.

I'm going to write an indignant letter. you should too.

it's really making me see red.

pressing the issue

Game 64: Mets 2, Yankees 0
36-28 for the season

bases stolen against Roger Clemens (44 years old, with a birthday in August) in tonight's game:
Gomez (21): 1
Reyes (24 last week): 2
Wright (25): 1

in addition, Carlos Gomez ended the bottom of the 4th inning in which the Yanks had two on and 1 out by absolutely stealing a home run from Cairo (and fan interference from the Yankee fans), preventing it also from being an extra-base hit (and at least one run, probably two), and then throwing Matsui out at second for getting too far away from the base before the ball was caught and not being able to get back before the throw.

lesson: if you're old, and you're a pitcher, the Mets will remind you that you're old. moreover, if you're the Yankees, the Mets will remind you that they might be old, but you're older. this means we don't rely entirely on power hitting, which made the difference tonight.

Clemens went 6 and 1/3 innings, threw 105 pitches, allowed 2 runs on 7 hits, had 7 strikeouts, and 4 stolen bases stolen in 4 tries. I'm not impressed.

Oliver Perez had his best stuff tonight, and held the Yanks scoreless through 7 and 1/3 innings. He had really tough 4th, but came back with a 1-2-3 5th and had retired 12 in a row when he gave up a double to Jeter and left the game. Ollie threw117 pitches, 66 of them strikes, had 6 K's, and whatever Rick Peterson said to him between his last outing and this one and between the 4th and 5th innings has obviously had the magic Peterson effect. This was the pitcher I've grown so fond of, and it was nice to see him back.

I'll admit to being tense until the end, but wow, it's nice to have watched a game where the Mets were playing like the team I've been rooting for all year.

Mets vs. Yanks, Round II

if I hear about how the Mets and Yanks have switched fortunes since the last time they met ever again, it will be too soon.

never the less, Ollie looks like he's on tonight. I've got a lot of faith in the kid.

is MLB in bed with Neil Diamond?

the Boston Red Sox have done a singalong to Neil Diamond's classic "Sweet Caroline" for a long time now. after it was featured in the fun movie Fever Pitch, they started doing it at Shea. though I love a good singalong and like the song itself, I didn't understand why the singalong at Shea needed to be the same song they use in Boston. tonight, as SNY came back to Dodger Stadium, I heard the crowd in a singalong. you already know what song they were singing.

is this going on in other ballparks?

sportscasters annoy me

the Mets have had two bad weeks after two good months. we may very well lose first place in the next couple of days, but you'd have to be crazy to think we won't get it back, likely before the All-Star break. yes, it looks bleak right now, 14 days into a month that feels like it's cursed for my team. but seriously-- 15-9 in April, 18-9 in May. and we're STILL without Alou, and playing an injured center fielder, right fielder, and second baseman. they're going to get it back. it's going to be fine, even if it's another week before it starts getting better.

I have to type this out, because if I pay attention just to Gary Cohen and Ron Darling talking, I will be left with the feeling that things are somewhat hopelessly bleak. it's like they've forgotten the part where it's 14 days vs. 61 days that they're comparing, as though the periods of time are remotely comparable. the Mets are likely about to lose their fifth in a row for the first time this season, and make the losing streak 9 of the last 10. and they're still in first place by 2 games after they lose tonight. if anything, that's a testament to how well they've played for the first third of the season. it's certainly more that than an indication of doom and gloom for an insurmountable period of time.

to wit: remember when the Yankees were never going to win another game, according to their own fans?

I hate that kind of commentary. and I think it's beneath Ron Darling. I wonder whether Keith will join in the Doom -and-Gloomatics his colleagues have been partaking in the last few nights, or if he'll talk about how all good clubs have three bad weeks.

babies for the Mets

JRG has been concerned about the Mets recent fortunes.




you can see the concern on her face.





but she's a smart girl, and knows like Daryl that it's baseball. it's what happens. no reason it should keep her from smiling.

never the less, JRG feels that if she shows confidence in her team by wearing her gear, she's doing her part to help the guys come around.

I know all of this, of course, because she told me while we were chatting this afternoon. At least, that's what the "ma!geh!bllllllllllrgh!" meant to me.

irony

of course this fantastic story about Omar Minaya and the Mets team he's built is the cover story in Sports Illustrated this week.

this is a test.

that's what Willie said after last night's loss, making it 8 losses in the last 9 games.

I hope it's only a test.

it's tough to watch these guys playing this way. it's making me face how much I care, how distracting this skid is for me. not surprisingly, it turns out that I care a lot-- that seeing the downtrodden look on Jose Reyes and David Wright's faces, not to mention the look of Maine and Perez in their last trips to the mound, makes me sad. really, actually sad.

it's not that I'm afraid they won't come back from this. I am completely certain they will. in fact, the worse it's gotten this month, the more zen I've become about their coming around. this is counterbalanced against my panic when we first lost four in a row, when everyone was reminding me to keep the long view in mind, to give Minaya his due, to trust that he gave Willie a team that can win. now, a week later, a lot of those same people (save my father, of course) are feeling the way I did when we first lost four in a row, and I feel quite sanguine about the ability of this team to fight back from this tumble. all good teams have three bad weeks. let's take care of that now, and let the rest of the season fall back into this team's regular taking-two-of-three pattern.

Daryl Strawberry appeared on SNY this afternoon, and was of course asked about the Mets' current situation. "I don't think anything is particularly wrong," he said. "It's baseball. It's what happens."

as was the case when I was 9 years old, I'm with Straw.

all the good stuff happens after I'm gone

$35 will get you a bleacher seat and all you can eat (no alcohol) at Dodger Stadium. this is a fantastic deal, but I think the best part is that this means no lines for food-- you go down to the concourse, pick up two hot dogs and some crackerjacks, and you're back in your seat by the time the next guy has come to the plate.

genius.

schedule

one doesn't want to complain about the schedule the team gets handed every year. it feels like a cop-out. never the less, this part of the Mets schedule is unusually difficult-- six series in a row against teams that made the post-season last year-- in order, the Tigers, Dodgers, Yankees, Twins, A's, and Cardinals. our division rivals-- Atlanta and Philly-- face a significantly easier lineup of teams to beat than the Mets do in the same period.

though neither Minnesota nor St. Louis are playing all that well this year, it's hard to imagine that this tough period in the Mets schedule won't have a big effect on the final standings.

actual correspondence

From: This Fan
To: This Fan's Dad
Date: June 12, 2007
Subject: Important Question

those three bad weeks-- do they usually happen all at once?


From: This Fan's Dad
To: This Fan
Date: June 13, 2007
Subject: Re: Important Question

yes.

the Mets are in LA...

and the hometown fans are in full gear.



Jordan is all ready for the game in her Daddy's hat.



TMA is excited too, but Jordan is distracted by the game. If I still lived in LA, I'd definitely be teaching her how to score this year.

the dumbfounding stupidity of Bud Selig

the All-Star Game is a fun spectacle that shouldn't matter. for no discernible reason, Bud Selig made the call that the league that wins the All-Star Game would get home-field advantage in the World Series. though it hasn't always made a difference (witness last year's outcome), it's still a patently ridiculous policy.

the fact is, the leagues play the game differently. this has mostly to do with the use of the Designated Hitter in the American League, which makes the best pitchers those with ERA's in the low 2.00's, and hitting bonanzas the name of the game. I realize I'm completely biased as a lifelong fan of a National League team, but in simple terms I prefer the running game to the hitting game. it's not that I don't love the way that Beltran and Delgado and Wright can send the ball out of the park, but I love the way Reyes and Wright and Chavez and Gomez and even Beltran and Green run the bases even more.

in my mind, it's analogous to my preference for women's tennis over the men's game; to my eye, the men's game is all about who can hit the ball harder, but the women's game is about strategy and finesse. I find the latter significantly more interesting and fun to watch. it feels like the American League is about hitting while the National League is about pitching, and I much prefer the latter.

never the less, the differences in the way the leagues play the game is demonstrated in the American League's clear advantage in the All Star Game: in the one-game only match-up, outstanding bats have a good chance against outstanding pitching admittedly not working it's hardest, and since AL teams are geared much more toward their hitting than their pitching, they're going to win the majority of the time.

the World Series is played not just in two different ballparks but also in two different leagues, and the rules of the home league apply in each park. sometimes home-field advantage doesn't end up mattering, and some teams (like, of course, the Mets) play better on the road than they do at home. but there's a reason it's called and advantage, and a silly one-shot promotional event for MLB like the All Star Game shouldn't be allowed to confer an advantage in the World Championship Series. home-field advantage should be afforded in the fairest possible way-- to the team with the better record, as is the case in the Division and League Series.

developing superstition

last night, when the Mets were winning, I had to use the bathroom. when I came back, we were losing 8-3. today, when the Mets were losing 4-3, I had to use the bathroom. when I came back, they were losing 8-3.

yesterday, I had my 'fridge magnet of the Mets schedule out in the living room with me while we watched the game, and we came really close but lost. today, I was going to go get it for another blog-related purpose, but have chosen not to.

since I made that call, the Mets have battled back to make it 10-6 Tigers, with two on and 1 out in the top of the 6th. I sort of have to pee, but I'm holding it.

at least until the end of the inning.

dropping the ball

this last week was very busy-- the LSAT is on Monday, so I was seeing students at a pretty heavy clip, taking away from my blogging time. I fear something similar will happen once my summer courses start, because I'll be missing a lot of games while teaching 5 nights a week. the good news is that I'll be able to listen to or watch the majority of all games played outside of the Eastern Time Zone, and still be able to attend a good number of games while the Mets are at home. the bad news is that I'll be teaching in the morning three days a week, which will significantly cut into my blogging time, too.

I'm a little disappointed with myself, because I kept up with a post about every game almost until a third of the way through the season, but didn't quite make it. I'm also disappointed that I dropped the ball on the New York Sports Press Watch, though I think I'll pick it up again, possibly starting anew. At the same time, I know that even baseball recognizes that there are times when the body's needs take over the need to keep up with the game-- so I consider the last two weeks a stint on the DL for This Fan, and I'm glad to be activated again.

Quotable Darling

"Things not to have on Get-Away Day: large pitch-counts, lots of runs scored, Steve Trachsel starting, Tim McClellan behind the plate."

--Ron Darling, enumerating the things that can make a game go on forever.

Birds!

there is quite literally a flock of seagulls in the outfield at Comerica Park, in Detroit. the park is not far from three separate lakes, and I suppose that word has gotten out in the seagull community that a good time is to be had dodging base hits at the ballpark. they were there yesterday and are out in force again today, and it's hard to imagine their presence isn't distracting for the batters and fielders-- even for the pitchers later in the game, when the gulls thinned out but moved into the infield.

it's quite a sight. "It's like being in an aviary," Gary Cohen said bemusedly in the bottom of the 3rd.

Jose Reyes Spanish Academy

I know the quality is terrible, but this is probably my favorite part of every home game (that doesn't happen on the field, of course).




turn it up-- it's all about the sound on this.

Glavine vs. Moyer, Redux

Game 56: Phillies 4, Mets 2
34-21 for the season


this was the first game of the first sweep of the Mets this season. of course we didn't know at the time that the Phillies (against whom we were 3-1 this season before this series started, and who are now leading the series 4-3) and Mets bullpens would seem to trade ability levels for the duration of the series.




our bullpen has been fantastic all year, but fell apart in every game of the series, in a fashion much like the one you see above.





and we just couldn't hit. as my dad said, bad pitchers pain their fans with wrenching innings, but a struggling offense is wrenching to watch through the whole game.




though the game turned out to be disappointing, the evening was perfect-- warm but not hot, light breeze, no humidity, and a ballgame with my sister after dinner in Flushing.

I love being there before the game starts, seeing the end of the teams warm ups. It's also really fun to watch the progress of Citi Field behind the outfield, and the many many cranes that make up the view over the bleachers now.




David Wright stretches in left field, while Jose Reyes walks back to the baseline after a sprint to center.




David and Carlos Delgado have their routine catch on the grass between their dugout and the first base line just before the game starts. I still love this.




I love the bench above the right field fence from which the guys in the bullpen watch the first couple of innings of each game. I'll really miss that bench when Shea is gone.




a little league team and their parents and coaches enjoyed the game in the boxes next to ours. we actually had $9.00 Upper Reserve seats, but the park was half empty and we were able to sit in the first row of the Upper Boxes just to the third base side of home.




when the game went into extra innings, the Party Patrol broke out the banner. one imagines this was a ploy to keep fans in their seats and cheering loudly after 10pm.




check out the R2D2 mailbox right outside the stadium! it's commemorating the 30th anniversary of the release of Star Wars.

fans all over the country

I had a great chat tonight with TMA, perhaps my favorite Mets fans abroad. I remember the difficulty of being a Mets fan in Los Angeles-- only three games a year with your team at home (though the fun is also there-- the crowd at Mets v. Dodgers games in Los Angeles is at least 50/50 New York vs. LA. ), and the majority of the home games starting while you're still at work.

but the folks in LA, they keep the faith, and for that I am always proud.

losing perspective

I'm sitting here, watching the Mets (maybe, probably) be swept by Philadelphia and lose their fourth in a row. The Mets bullpen, basically perfect all season, has lost it for three games in a row. The Phillies bullpen, which has been sucking eggs all year, has held the Mets scoreless throughout this series. It's like living in Bizarro World, and I don't like it.

so I did what I usually do when I'm losing perspective (on anything, really)-- I called my dad.

"I'm worried, Daddy. Dropping four in a row in early June is not good."
"Honey, with a third of the season over, they were 18 games over 500. Do you really think this team is going to win 102 games this season?"
"Well, no, I guess not."
"Remember, every good team has three bad weeks and every bad team has three good weeks. And our whole outfield was out for a week, and is still playing at 1/3 strength."
"But four in a row!"
"With half the team on the DL. And the good news is that the starters have been great."
"But the bullpen!"
"Every good team has three bad weeks."

and I felt better, even though we were about to drop our fourth straight.

one-third gone

as of today's game, the Mets have played a third of their season. it's amazing how quickly this goes.

as I'm sure any regular reader of this blog can tell, it's been a bad week for me. I was sick, and in general feeling more like a Yankee fan than a Mets fan for the last few days.

like the Mets though, my body bounces back, and I'll be back on the blogging horse this week.