Enough Of This

Rare is the Friday when I end up having to listen to the Mets on the radio, but here it was, a Friday afternoon game, which of course meant that the Mets were in Chicago to play the Cubs. I've mentioned several times in the past that for some reason I have very little recollection of the Mets playing in Chicago at all over the past number of years, and one of the reasons why is that they play a dearth of afternoon games at Wrigley Field. I'm usually just not home when they're playing there. And, of course, I'm so limited in the amount of attention I can pay to games in my office that it makes these Chicago trips even more of a blur.

Today's game was no different. Sure, there was a little extra juice in today's game because Matt Harvey was pitching, but I still have work to do, so you know, you do the best you can. I usually stream WFAN online, but because of the usual MLB rights restrictions, I can't actually stream the games. I have a pocket radio in my desk for such occasions. This is noteworthy because today, I actually forgot to take the radio out of my desk and at some point, I realized I was listening to a replay of Boomer and Carton. Horrified, I quickly clicked the stream off and got out my radio, turning it on just in time to hear David Wright hit a Home Run and give the Mets an early lead.

I know that the Mets hitters seem to have this feeling that one run is all Harvey needs, but Harvey is, in fact, mortal and sometimes he will give up more than 1 run. This happened rather mysteriously in the bottom of the first inning. Somehow, in between writing some checks and giving a copy machine tutorial, the Cubs got some runners on, and apparently they both scored while I was working at another station. So by time I came back, the Mets were down 2-1 and I figured, "Of course, This is finally the day that Harvey doesn't have it."

But apparently, I was wrong. Harvey just didn't have it in the 1st inning. I heard Daniel Murphy hit a Home Run in one of the middle innings, and then engrossed myself in a project that pretty much ate the remainder of my afternoon and ate up my attention so much so that by time I stopped for a breather, it was the 7th inning. In between that period, Harvey basically stopped the Cubs cold, which was a good thing, because the Mets were doing what they usually do and not scoring any runs for him.

I suppose Harvey must have been fed up, because I tuned back in just in time to hear him drive in the game winning run. Well, why not? Nobody else seemed prepared to step up for him. Although he'd never say it, I'm sure he was tired of pitching his ass off for 7-8 innings and getting no run support. So, given the opportunity with Ankiel on base, he got the hit, drove in the run, and then went back out to the mound and I went back to work.

It was the 9th inning when I looked up again, and by this point I'd missed the key play of the game, which was Marlon Byrd pulling Scott Rice's ass out of the fire and throwing out Barney Rubble at the plate (Barney apparently helped the process by pulling a Carlos Beltran and not sliding). Bobby Parnell, who continues to impress me in the closer's role, finished out the job, giving Matt Harvey his 5th win, which probably should have been his 8th win if there was any justice in this world. I then went back to work and promptly forgot what time it was, because I got in such a zone that I didn't look up until about 6:50. I'm supposed to leave at 6. Whoops.

So, the Radio streak continues. I'm tempted to go to work over the weekend and listen on the radio if that will help the cause.