Go Away, Please

Oh, someday there will be a day when the Mets are able to rise up and beat the Mighty Washington Nationals in their own building. It could happen next month, when the Nationals return to Citi Field to finish out their season series. But for now, whatever the Mets seem to try, it's not working against this team. They didn't hit against their struggling phenom Stephen Strasburg, their other struggling phenom Bryce Harper hit his second Home Run of this series, Adam LaRoche did what he usually does against the Mets and hit a Home Run, and the end result was a lifeless 4-1 loss and another series sweep at the hands of a team that always seems to waltz in here and make this spacious ballpark look rather small.

Taking into stock the results of the last few seasons' worth of Mets/Nationals games at Citi Field and you might think that the Nationals have hit more Home Runs in New York than the Mets have in entire seasons at home. One of these things that you can't figure out and it makes you rather sick the more you think about it. Even when the Nationals were 100-loss doormats, they somehow always managed to beat the Mets in Citi Field and now it's reached an epidemic. I've been to 38 games where the Mets have taken on the Nationals/Expos, and since 2005, when the Nationals came into existence and shamelessly and systematically erased the rich and storied tradition and history of their Quebecois predecessors, I have seen 19 games. My record in those games is is a miserable 7-12, and at Citi Field, where it seems the Nationals turn into some bizarro 1982 Brewers clone, my record is 4-9 and most of those 9 have involved either torturous, lengthy squeakers or utter massacres like I witnessed Tuesday night. Somehow, I've witnessed 4 wins, which seems a small miracle in and of itself, because I sometimes think my Citi Field record against the Nationals is something like 3-14. At least, it feels that way. I feel like every season I go to a Mets/Nationals September game and the Nationals usually win 3-0 every time. That's what this has turned into, and so it's not so surprising that the Nationals have won 11 straight games at Citi Field.

Yesterday was no different. Dillon Gee, who actually pitches reasonably well against Washington, gave up a pair of 2-run Home Runs in the 1st inning and the 4th inning and the Mets spent the rest of the game standing around not doing anything particularly meaningful. That pretty much sums it all up. For an 11th straight loss to the same team in your own ballpark, it's completely demoralizing and that's how the Mets played. Does not bear any further explanation.

Fortunately, Washington is now leaving town. Unfortunately, they still have 4 more games left to play here in September. I don't have tickets to any of these games and I'm quite certain I don't plan on making it to any of them randomly. Why subject myself to this horror show in person any more than I already committed to?