Not Fit For Public Consumption

I had tickets for last night's game, but for a variety of reasons, I couldn't attend. I attempted, rather halfheartedly, to sell the tickets, but I couldn't find a taker. After getting home to find the game in the 5th inning at close to 9pm, I can say without hesitation that I'm not only really glad I didn't go to the game, but I'm also glad I didn't foist the tickets onto some poor slob who would have gone out to Citi Field and been subjected to the utter quagmire that was this 3 hour, 32 minute slog of a baseball game.

It was bad enough that Daisuke Matsuzaka didn't have it. Worse, perhaps, was the fact that the Phillies weren't able to hit him solidly, thereby allowing him to survive into the 5th inning in spite of the fact that he'd a) thrown about 271 pitches and b) worked at a pace that was somewhere in the neighborhood of Shaun Marcum times the square root of Steve Trachsel to the Oliver Perezth power. This immediately equaled no good whatsoever, and yet only after he departed following a hit batsman with the bases loaded did the Phillies finally break open a game they should have broken open 3 innings ago. It is only a small miracle that the Phillies didn't win this game 15-2, and perhaps it's a testament to their own ineptitude that they didn't score so many runs. Matsuzaka has shown so little of value in his first two starts that I'm hard pressed to think that he'll be remembered as anything more than simply a warm body who can vaguely get the ball over the plate and eat up some innings in his time with the Mets. And I'm dubious as to just how many innings he can eat because the ones he's pitched, he's done more harm than good.

In a season where I've left games early multiple times, I shudder to think how I would have reacted to being at this game. It was one of those miserably humid nights where you wish it would rain, but it never does, and the heaviness of the air combined with the absolute crawl of this game could very well have combined to make me leave after the 5th inning, once our good buddy Cole Hamels slapped a 2-run single to effectively ice the game at 4-1.

Based on what I saw on TV, I see I wasn't the only one who seemed to find this night a near perfect storm for disaster. With the Mets in complete Buzzkill mode and having dealt away enough pieces to boast a lineup featuring 6 rookies, can you blame people for not wanting to show up? There looked to be about 800 fans at Citi Field at best, sporting absurd bow ties and not looking especially pleased to be there. I usually hate missing games I have tickets to, but after seeing the results, I have to say I don't feel bad about not being there tonight. I missed absolutely nothing and spared myself a lot of self-examination about why I keep going to all these games. Fortunately, I've avoided the existential crisis. At least for one night, that is. I still have tickets to 4 more games this season.