3AM Lightning

You had to stay up half the night in order to see how the game turned out last night, and my being on that excessively late schedule proved somewhat advantageous. I didn't get home until the bottom of the 9th,  just in time to see that the Mets had a lead, and Bobby Parnell was on to close out the game. I, like most Mets fans, was leery, since Bobby Parnell hasn't been able to close out much of anything lately. Predictably, he was terrible, getting only one out before Terry Collins, who must be apoplectic at this point, pulled him in favor of Josh Edgin. This was more of a "Well, why not?" move more than anything else, certainly Edgin hasn't been groomed as a closer, but here he was, and for the most part he did what he needed to do, getting a ground ball out of Schierholtz that probably should have resulted in Eli Whiteside being thrown out at home had Ike Davis gotten any part of the ball. But, he didn't, and the game was tied, and at that point, I figured the Mets would probably spare us a lot of misery if Edgin just grooved one to Brandon Belt and the Mets just took a collective dive into McCovey Cove.

But, he didn't. Somehow, the toughness of the 1st half of the season crept back into the Mets spirits. Edgin didn't break, although he did bend, and he got out of the inning.

Somehow, in the 10th, it was the Mets doing some extra inning damage instead of having it done to them, courtesy of Scott Hairston doing what Scott Hairston has done all season and somehow manage to get the bit hit. Somehow, Jason Bay was skittering around the bases. Somehow, the Giants had the mental breakdown when Clay Hensley vaporlocked on Rob Johnson's bunt. Somehow, the Mets re-led in a game that they probably had already lost twice.

And of course, with Manny Acosta, my favorite, coming in for the save, they almost lost it a 3rd time.

I don't know why bringing Manny Acosta back to the team was some kind of a solution. He claims to have studied the mechanics of Mariano Rivera while he was in the minors. This is fine, but that still doesn't mean he can pitch like Mariano. He's just copying his mannerisms and then just heaving his eminently hittable/wild crap all over the place. That was quite clear in the bottom of the 10th, since he walked two batters, gave up a run, and only by sheer luck did Brandon Belt's fly ball get swallowed up in the spacious Pac Bell Park outfield, rather than sail out for the predictable walk off HR.

So, the Mets win a game that seemed reminiscent of the kind of games they would win when things were going well. Remember those days? Those were fun. But I can't really trust that this is anything but a wacky game that they happened to win right now.