putting the band back together

Game 40: Cubs 5, Mets 4
26-14 for the season


the day started out poorly for me, with my stomach being messy, which meant I wasn't able to get to Shea until a little after noon, at which time it was too late to get onto field level with my nose-bleed ticket. though I walked the length of the park on the next level up looking for my dad down in the orange seats, I was unsuccessful. I guess we'll have to try again later in the season.





this must have been a give-away at some point in the last 15 years. it was pretty cute to see a grown man carrying it.

though I wasn't able to get onto field level, I did spy Willie having a conversation with some folks out the side of the dugout 45 minutes or so before game time.

the field was messed up by the rain yesterday and then the playing on soggy ground, so the choir that sang the National Anthem was forced to do it on the dirt.

our seats were where I usually sit, in the upper deck as close to home as possible. SRL and I were there when the game started, but when KJB showed up he was really freaked out by the height. rather than force KJB to look away from the game the whole time, we set out to find seats closer to the field.

after being kicked out of the Lodge boxes all the way in right field, we settled in the back of the section, a little closer to 1st base. I remembered why so many people think of Shea as a crappy ballpark-- in most of the Mezzanine and all of the Lodge sections, the overhang means you lose sight of the ball when it goes up in the air. since I normally sit in the upper deck, I don't face that problem, and so have great sight lines and not many complaints about the stadium.

we missed a little more than a half-inning before getting settled again, which caused me to stop scoring the game entirely-- missing so much made it seem futile. I'm now a bit sorry I stopped-- it would have been fun to get the bottom of the 9th down-- but it doesn't really matter. it was the first time I'd been to a game in a loooooong time with folks who aren't really invested in baseball, and so it seemed better to hang out with them than to cling to my desire to score the game.

Carlos Gomez, just a bit older than 21, is having the time of his life in the show. He'd picked up his first two RBIs the night before.

BFFs for more than half our lives: we've been having so much fun putting the band back together since they both moved back to NY last summer.

at the end of the 8th, it was looking like the Mets were going to lose 5-1, and SRL had to head back to the city for a work function. KJB and I moved down to the boxes at that point, and so were in a great position to see David Wright get a hit and an RBI in his first major league appearance as a pinch-hitter ever, and to watch Carlos Delgado hit the ball that drove in the winning run of the game. it did look as the ball was moving off of Delgado's bat and toward right field that it was going to be an out, but the Cubbies second baseman dove for it and missed...



...and the crowd went wild!

the team was too excited by the awesome win to do any kind of formal lineup-- the jumped all over each other and then off the field. it was the perfect way to end the last game before the Yanks come to Queens this weekend.

later on that night, after a yummy dinner and lots of fun hanging out with my cousins and their awesome partners, JRG and I rested up for the excitement of the weekend series against the Yankees. her papa is pretty excited about this series... his mom kept teasing him last night that you could say "M, how's the baby?" and he would say, "the Mets are going to bury the Yanks this weekend!" which may be true, but in fairness, he'd be saying it right after having given his daughter the perfect swaddle and while cooking dinner for all of us.

holding our breath

Game 39: Cubs 1, Mets 8
25-14 for the season

Jose Reyes hurt himself either on his swing or his first step toward first in his 5th at-bat of the game, in the bottom of the 8th. he came out of the box limping. limping! Jose Reyes, limping! I could cry just thinking about it.

before the game was over, the report from outside the clubhouse (emphasized as completely unofficial) was that he'd felt tightness in the left hamstring in between pitches (you can clearly see it in the replay of his walk outside the batters box), and was scared that he'd really injure himself if he ran. the implication was that it was precaution that had him lamely gaping toward 1st, an action taken to prevent getting hurt rather than a reaction to being hurt.

upon getting the report from outside the clubhouse, Gary, Keith, and Ron started talking about all of Reyes' prior injuries-- he was out for portions of the '03 and '04 seasons for ankle and hamstring problems, respectively. I was shocked. this is the hazard of taking a break from the love of a team; I had no idea that there was a time when folks thought Reyes would never be a consistently healthy player. I had no idea because there hasn't been even a hint of Reyes being injury prone in the last two years-- the two years since I started paying attention again. it hurt. I felt like a bad fan for not knowing this about Jose-- like I'd somehow let him down by not being aware of his history of injury.

never the less, I blame the haircut.

Willie Randolph's demeanor in the top of the 9th and once the game was over was reassuring-- he was smiling in the dugout after getting a report from the assistant trainer and was teasing his young pitchers (Maine and Perez) on the way off the field. i reminded myself that Willie wouldn't have appeared so jovial if he thought Reyes was really injured. his press conference after the game bore that theory out-- he said that Reyes is ok, that it was just a slight cramp, that Jose says he's fine. "I don't think it's anything serious," he said. I choose to believe him, rather than acknowledge the fact that Willie would be unlikely to tell the world in a 1 am press conference that his star player is really hurt. I guess we'll see tomorrow.

Ruben Gotay came in to run for Reyes and stayed in at short. this is interesting because Damion Easley's best position is shortstop. I won't be surprised if we see him in the shortstop position at tomorrow's game, but I also won't be surprised if he stays at 2nd tomorrow, since he's hot at the plate and there are those managers who wouldn't want to chance disrupting that by making him think about playing a different position. I hope we won't need to find out, because Jose will be playing shortstop.

the important information that came out of Willie's post-game press conference was that Moises Alou is going on the DL and Jason Vargas is starting tomorrow's game. his ERA is over 7.00 in triple A. I'm not all that optimistic about our chances, but my pessimism has been blown to pieces before, and regardless of the outcome of the game, I know I'm going to have a great time, since I'm going with SRL and KJB.

in all this injury gloom (Pedro. El Duque. Valentin. Alou. Baruch Hashem, not Reyes...) and all my frustration with myself for not being at Shea tonight--just for the irregular experience of it all, and the real possibility that I'll never have another opportunity to be at a Mets game in Queens that starts at 10:16--its almost easy to forget what a fun, well-played game this was. it was really quick-- 2 hours, 38 minutes by my count-- because Jorge Sosa only allowed one hit in his 7 innings pitched, had 5 strikeouts in that span, and the Mets were efficient with their run-scoring. Sosa had a fantastic outing and goes to 3-0 for the season with the Mets, with only a 1.80 ERA. the wild-card pitcher who pulls it together rather impressively upon getting to the big club is a recurring phenomenon on the Randolph/Peterson pitching staff, and for a pitching fan like me, it's great fun to watch.

it was an offensive bonanza, too, with every single starting Mets player getting a hit in the game. Carlos Delgado had his first steal in (no kidding) five years on a double-steal with Beltran in the 3rd inning. Delgado's laugh upon reaching 2nd said it all. the third Carlos, Gomez, the call-up from New Orleans who's now got a .400 batting average and a .400 on-base percentage with a .600 slugging percentage in his two games in the show, had another great night, this time in the opposite field from the one he ran so well last night. he's the third youngest active player in baseball, and he's having the time of his life. it's a pleasure to watch. David Wright and Paul LoDuca had good nights too, both with RBIs and LoDuca even drawing an intentional walk with just a .290 batting average-- so fearsome is this particular hot streak, apparently. and the MOT in right field his having a great season thus far at the plate. sure, he's not so reliable in the field, but Shawn is batting .322 with 20 RBIs.

so while there is plenty to be happy about at the end of this game, I will be holding my breath until I see that Reyes is healthy and able to steal bases as he has been thus far this season. I'm hoping that this thing with Jose is as nothing as SNY is trying valiantly to reassure me it is. the short interview with Jose in the clubhouse they just aired for the first time (at 1:40 am) didn't reassure me much-- he seemed rattled, and looked like he'd been crying. I just want to give him a hug.

coming from behind to win...

Game 37: Cubs 4, Mets 5
24-13 for the season

... is a thrilling thing to witness, particularly when it happens in the bottom of the 9th at home.

of course, it's not good that the Cubs were able to take and hold the lead for most of the game, but it was sweet to watch Chicago punished for insulting Carlos Delgado by choosing to pitch to him over Carlos Beltran. Delgado didn't do it with power or hitting-- he did it with a great at-bat, making Cubs reliever Michael Weurtz throw 10 pitches, get tired, and walk home the winning run.

this is a locus at which some ball fans part ways with other ball fans. there are those fans who feel at least a little let down by Delgado's failure to hit a heroic walk-off grand slam homer when presented with the opportunity. then there are the other kind of fan, who sees the talent inherent in working a pitcher the way Carlos did at the end of the 9th and recognizes that talent as equally impressive/important as one's ability to hit homers. it was a truly professional at-bat and it did the job just as well as a walk-off homer would have done-- but even a little better, because if he'd hit a homer, Chicago could chalk it up to his bat finally warming up. instead, he worked Weurtz over, and made the opposing pitcher walk in the winning run for the home team.

I was in the car driving home from teaching as the bottom of the 8th ended, and though my practice is to go into the firehouse to say hi to the others there when I pick LHJ up after work, I called when I got there and said I was outside but not leaving the radio-- the game was tied 4-4 in the bottom of the 9th, two on, two out, Beltran at the plate. he was in the car quickly then, putting the car in gear to drive home just as the Cubs decided to finish Beltran's at-bat by intentionally walking him and taking their chances with Deglado. we drove home through Delgado's at-bat, parking just as the 8th pitch of the at-bat was coming across the plate. "Make them pay, Carlos," I muttered under my breath. "Make them pay for that insult."

he did. it was beautiful, made better by Howie Rose calling it.

here's an interesting question-- if you're Lou Piniella, and your bullpen has been giving you pretty consistent trouble, why do you go to your bullpen in the 6th inning against a lineup like the ones the Mets send up when you're ahead in the game, but only by 2 runs? my dad told me that Piniella said something I really agree with about the way pitching has changed in major league baseball in the last 10 years or so-- "it seems like you're just looking for the guy who will lose it for you." this makes me even more confused by the call in this game, but not sorry-- after all, I'm sure their going to the bullpen early aided in the win.