The Will To Rock Flushing

I think I’m going to be sick.  I can’t believe I stayed up to watch that nightmare.  What a waste of precious sleep.

It was pretty miserable weekend for a Mets fan.  Saturday I was finally at a game when John Maine took the mound.  It didn’t exactly go as I had planned.  My head was in my hands most of the game.  Either that or I was witnessing my first fan fight of the season.  Not exactly my favorite day at Shea this year. 

Then Sunday comes along and I am angry from the very beginning. I’ve been pretty much angry at the offense for a while now… Seriously why is it so freakin’ hard for this team to hit a long fly ball when the bases are loaded and one or no outs???  And giving up two home runs to batters who are not home run hitters?  C’mon.  Why don’t they just put me on the mound in the 10th inning.  I have a mean underhand pitch. 

Then Maine is placed on the DL and Gimpy is back.  Oy vey.

BUT then Pelfrey and Delgado happen and all is right in Metsland again. 

I’ve been neglecting this blog, I know.  I’ve been busy doing non-baseball related things.  Last week I tried to write a post about all the kids on the team.  My problem was (and still is) whenever I attempt to write something Pat Benatar’s “Love Is a Battlefield” gets stuck in my head.  When that happens the limited creative writing skills I might have are sucked into a Benatar black hole.  I apologize if I just got that song in your head now. 

We are young, heartache to heartache we stand
No promises, no demands
Love is a battlefield
We are strong.........

Okay sorry again.  So tonight begins my mini Mets marathon.  I’ll be going to the next four games.  Tonight Brian Stokes will be pitching.  I think I’ve seen every single pitcher the Mets have had on their 25 man-roster this year—Oh! Except for Maine and Santana.  What is that about???  Although it looks like Santana will be on the mound for the last of the four games in D.C.  (If anyone has any tips or suggestions for Nationals Park please let me know. Thanks!) Unfortunately my dreams of Paul LoDuca playing left field this game were shattered last week when the Nats released him.  Oh well… I’ll have to settle for just yelling to Nicky or Danny in left field.  No complaints from me there.  (Love is a battlefield.) Also extra bonus it’s Teddy Roosevelt t-shirt night.  If you’re reading this you probably know about the Presidents Race at Nationals Stadium.  And you probably know that poor Teddy never ever wins.  I think Tuesday could be his night.  I’m a big Teddy groupie.  Well, I suppose as big as I could be without actually being a Nats fan.

I went the the game on Saturday night.  I wanted to do a recap with photos however I’m still behind on uploading my photos in the last couple weeks.  So that’ll have to wait… in other words it may never happen.  However I would like to discuss something completely random… Aaron Heilman’s pants and the fact that they are too small. 

Looking back I’ve realized that his pants have been a size too small all year… probably even longer.  I didn’t noticed this until a few weeks ago.  This could be because up until a few weeks ago every time Aaron was pitching my head was in my hands.  That’s beside the point.  What matters is that I know now and I am so completely distracted by his pants that I can’t even tell you what is going on in the game when he’s pitching anymore.  Who can I call to complain about this?

I’m trying really hard not to get excited about this.  I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.  Obviously I want the Mets to do well.  I want to be excited for them.  I just want to be cautious, too.  They’ve broken my heart too many times this year alone for me to be sucked back in so quickly.  That said… I’ve like to profess my fleeting love to both Ollie and Delgado. 

In other news - how about Brad Holt with 14Ks in 7IP last night?  He struck out the side in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.  And I was impressed with his 11Ks I saw a couple weeks ago.  He’s totally dominated the NYPenn League this year. I wish I could say the same for the Cyclones team as a whole. 

I started writing a post at least 6 times in the last 2 days.  I just wasn’t feeling it.  I didn’t know what to say.  I wasn’t sure how I felt going into the Phillies series.  At least I wasn’t sure about anything except my anxiety.  Sure we were coming off a pretty good run.  That good run that ended with a few sloppy games won and lost.  Is that something to be excited about?  Sure it was great to see us come from behind (more than once) despite errors on the field and lousy calls by the umps.  Yes, the 10 game streak was nice but the last 3 months are hardly forgotten.

Now first place is on the line. We’re playing the Phillies. The A team needs to show up.  They did.  Three run lead.  Three outs left.  Easy Peasy… oh unless you’re watching the 2008 Mets.  I blame Wagner. This is not because I would have rather seen him pitch in the 9th inning than Sanchez.  Wagner could have blown the lead all by himself without the help of Reyes and the rest of the bullpen.  I blame him because he just wasn’t available.  This team completely chokes when the go-to guy isn’t there.  In this case Wagner was the go-to guy.  Okay so there were other factors that could have determined the game, too.  Honorable mention blame would have to go to third base coach Luis Aguayo. 

Since my last post I have been very busy. Instead of giving you a full recap of everything (which you don’t want to read) I’ll just list some events and highlights from the past few days.

Sunday-

• Lost in Queens.  (Living nearly all of my 33 years in Queens you’d think that this would stop happening.)
• NY Aquarium with some old and new friends.  (By new friends I don’t mean the fish. I’m not your crazy H.S. art teacher!)
• Got yelled at by a “puppet master” for taking his photo and not leaving a tip. 
• Got a t-shirt and a voucher instead of a jersey at Keyspan Park.
• Said hello to Angel Pagan before realizing it was Angel.  He said hi back.
• mmmm...knish.
• Shouted “Angel you rock!” from the bleachers.  There’s no way he didn’t hear me.
• Watched Laura (a Yankee fan) give in and do the Angel(s) in the Outfield wave.
• Got a beautiful sunburn which is now a beautiful farmers tan.
• Cyclones Win!
• Traffic.  Traffic.  Traffic.