Then again, the I seem to have this every-other-game thing going this year. After winning the first two games I went to this season, the Mets have now alternated wins and losses in every game since. So, last night, I was due for a loss, and I got it. It's better than, say, 2009, when they just lost every game.
It seems like every year there's a "forgotten late-season game" in August or September, usually a game the Mets lose, where nothing particularly interesting or noteworthy happens and after some time, I forget that I went to the game until I'm flipping through my album of scorecards and I discover that I was, indeed at this game. Given the way it played out, I see no reason why I'd want to remember being at this game.
It started out well enough, a nice pitching duel for the first 3 innings, until Jonathon Niese had an attack of whatever-the-hell-it-is-that-always-gets-him in the 4th. This time, it appears that he was undone by about 73 feet worth of singles from Justin Rugelach and Jose Reyes, the former of which David Wright just couldn't find the handle on, and the latter of which was probably an out. Nonetheless, the stage was set for the inevitable meltdown, and meltdown it did, replete with Andres Torres saving Niese from a 6-run bloodbath by running down Giancarlo's drive, and Josh Thole costing Niese a run by somehow managing to forget to tag Austin Kearns despite having the ball well before Kearns arrived at the plate. So, if, but, etc, etc, instead of 1 or 2 runs, it was 4, and it probably could have been worse. So let's count our blessings.
This didn't seem like an insurmountable deficit given that Wade LeBlanc had thrown about 103 pitches through the first 3 innings for the Marlins, and he was backed up by a bullpen that actually made the Mets bullpen look good by comparison. That's saying something.
Nonetheless, the Mets set about doing what they do best: Banging out single after single after single, and yet somehow never getting a long, key hit that would erase the deficit. Bases loaded in the 4th, Ruben Tejada grounds out. Bases loaded in the 5th, Terry Collins doesn't pinch hit for Niese (because giving Niese that extra inning was really important), Niese strikes out. 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, the Mets basically stood around with the bats up their asses. Ho hum, another boring 4-2 loss.
A performance as ridiculous as the license plate holders that were given out last night. Amazingly, I didn't notice anyone playing License Plate Frame Frisbee or anything, although I'm sure people were tempted to fling them at the field at any given moment during the game. I didn't even see any smashed License Plate Frame Pieces scattered around the Promenade level. But I did see plenty of sights like the above, where people deposited them under their seats and left them there, as if to say that they hold more utility being left at the place they were obtained, rather than being taken home.
That sounds an awful lot like the way most of us feel about the Mets nowadays.
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