It wasn't pretty, but like any victory, I'll take it. Especially the way the past few games have gone for the Mets.
After it was a key error that turned Tuesday's game in Philadelphia's favor, the Mets were finally the recipient of a few breaks in the form of 4 Philly errors on Wednesday, which combined with 9 walks by Philly pitching, served to mask yet another paltry 5-hit effort from the Mets offense.
Jimmy Rollins and his sprained ankle couldn't save the Phillies tonight, as his replacement, Eric Bruntlett, made two errors which contributed heavily to the Mets 6-run rally in the 3rd inning, capped off by Angel Pagan's two run double.
Seems like Pagan is one of the few Mets able to cash in with any kind of regularity, lately. The meat of the order, Wright, Beltran and Delgado combined for a paltry 1-for-12 (although Wright reached on two errors and seems to be hitting into a lot of bad luck lately) last night, which really can't continue if the Mets really want to consider themselves contenders. I maintain that neither Philly or Atlanta are especially good teams, and if the Mets play the way they're supposed to (ie not like they did in Atlanta, or on Tuesday, or as they generally have since June, 2007), they would easily romp through the division. At least, that's what you'd think. But I digress. Philadelphia does just as good a job as the Mets of looking like world beaters one day, and not able to get out of their own way the next.
It could very well be that the NL East could be won by a 79-83 team. That's the way these top 3 teams have looked in the early going. If there is a good thing to take from last night, other than the Mets finally beating Philly for the first time since last June, it's that Mike Pelfrey managed to pitch well enough to earn his first victory of the season in his first outing of the season. Though he certainly didn't dominate, and appeared downright skittish at times, Pelfrey held the line and got the outs he needed to get over 5 innings and 100 pitches, before Sosa, Feliciano and Muniz finished up. I'd like to see him spread those 100 pitches over 6 or 7 innings, but then again, I'd like to see most of the Mets starters do that. More 7 inning outings means less Scott Schoeneweis, and maybe even less Aaron Heilman, too.
I guess I shouldn't be complaining so much. I should just be happy with the win. But Philly isn't so bad that they'll hand games away every night. The Mets need to get consistent, both on offense and in the bullpen, before I'll feel comfortable.
Maine tonight, looking, I'm sure, to prove that last weekend in Atlanta was a minor hiccup.
And, thusly, the Final Home Opener at Shea Stadium has come and gone. What began with excitement, anticipation and reflection had given way to misery and depression, another loss at the hands of our nemeses, and trying somehow to find a silver lining on a day that had gone horribly wrong at the hands of a continually impotent offense and a pair of pitchers that can't get the outs the need to get.
So, with that in mind, let's take a look at some photos to remind us of what we can look forward to, after having spent a warm, sparkling spring day in Queens. Rolling up on the 7, my first look at Shea in 2008. One last season about to get underway. You can see the Citi Field light towers rising above Shea as you pass 111th Street. The crowds were already pretty good by time I arrived, which was around 11:30. But I was about to experience firsthand what I'd seen in photos prior. You have no idea until you see it for yourself. First, there's this. Rather than walking out and sucking in that fresh Stadium air, now we exit the subway, to mostly darkness. The staircase was indeed finished in time, and here it is, in all its glory.
Then you step out, and this is the first thing you see. Citi Field itself, rapidly nearing completion. Gone is most of Stengel Plaza, the road that the ramp used to go over has been truncated, now beginning near the Shea ticket booth. In its place, mass MTA presence. The Metrocard Mobile on one side... ...A cute, canopied token booth on the other side... ...A new area to meet and convene... ...Some dirt and dust... ...And a reminder that we are, indeed, almost home.
Given the opportunity, I took some time to walk through what is now a new parking lot, built to the right of the new staircase (if you're walking down it), away from Shea, and towards Citi Field. Here's what I saw. Plenty of people were out and tailgating before the game, more than I've seen in a long time. It's an odd juxtaposition, with the construction literally going on in the background. A closer look at the Rotunda...The construction elevators are a nice touch. There's the David Wright elevator and the Carlos Beltran elevator... I'm a big fan of the light towers... And down by 126th Street... And looking back... Making my way back towards Shea... Past the stairs (It's awfully weird without the ramp, but given the way Citi Field is being built, the space needed and the configuration of the plaza, it really was more in the way than I had thought)... Past meets present... And...Welcome to Shea! There's not much new inside Shea this year. That wouldn't have made much sense, considering it's days are dwindling. Outside, however, we have a veritable tent city. First, where the tents used to be, there's now a satellite team store... The ticket booth, which remains unchanged... And about a zillion vendor tents lining the perimeter of the stadium. Finally, through the masses, to Gate C, and inside... "Well, here we are, Pismo Beach, and all the clams we can eat!"
-Bugs Bunny
(Better shot, without the netting) It's difficult, but I tried to capture a shot of what things used to look like here... The Cup, The Strength, and the signs... Views from the Upper Deck... A nice view from our seats... And, some bonus video, too! First, the introduction of Johan Santana...
And the Mets starting lineup...
A closer look reveals the construction workers looking in on the festivities... Here's the moat around Citi Field... Citi Field LF corner... And the blowing of the Shofar, and the beginning of the 2008 National League season in New York! Oliver's Army... Wright at the plate in the bottom of the 1st... At some point, there was some rhythmic clanging echoing in from Citi Field, at a point in time when there were two strikes on a batter. We initially thought it was a new noise being played. Turns out there was work going on... Schmoozing in the 6th... Things were pretty much downhill from there.
This game wasn't any different than the two games before it. The Mets can't hit, and they didn't hit a mediocre pitcher in Jamie Moyer, or the three relievers who followed, at all. Schoeneweis and Heilman then vomited the game up in the late innings. Yes, Schoeneweis got the DP ball he needed, and lost it when Delgado pegged Utley in the back, but he dug his own hole before that anyway. We were wondering where Feliciano was, and it turned out that he didn't even arrive at Shea until the 7th inning. This for reasons that have yet to be explained. But Schoeneweis did it to himself is what it boils down to.
It's depressing, especially when you consider that the Mets bullpen is just as lousy as every other bullpen in this division. But at least those bullpens seem to get it done when they really need to. The Mets bullpen can't do that. Two games in a row now, Heilman has been entrusted to keep a 1-run deficit at 1 run and managed to turn the deficit into 3 runs. Not good, and not acceptable.
The Mets are too good of a team to play like this all season, that's a given. Teams go through bad spells and play poorly, that's a part of the game. And the division isn't good enough to get away from them. But if there's more to this slump, if there is truly a nagging tightness with this team working as if it were a hangover from last year's finish, well, we're probably screwed before we even get started.
I hope I'm wrong. Just like I hope they somehow manage to get their act together with the egress problems. Even with a lot of people leaving early, it was still jammed at the staircase. The line to get on the Passerelle to the LIRR was even worse. Police were blocking people from walking onto Roosevelt Avenue for some reason. I don't know. We ended up walking down to the Main Street station and taking the train back. Of course, by time we got back to the Shea stop, it was empty.
So, what, if any, silver linings could we take from today? We spent the train ride home asking ourselves this over and over.
It was a nice day out. Really nice. The sausage and peppers were delicious, as always. There was a really cute girl sitting in front of us. We didn't get into any fistfights (although there were several). We got to take a nice walk and get a good cardiovascular workout on a nice afternoon after the game. We got seats on the subway on the ride back. We didn't get angry and strangle each other.
Needless to say, I've been chomping at the bit for today to finally arrive. Finally ready to return to Queens, return to Shea and begin another season, officially my 22nd and final season with the Mets at Shea Stadium.
It will be my 6th Opening Day (7th if you count the rained-out 1997 Home Opener) at Shea. I've been ready for today for about 2 months. I'll be meeting The Former El Guapo and The Former Shirts v. Blouses at around 11:30, at what used to be the tree and bench-lined plaza near where the ramp from the 7 train used to be. Of course, I might get to the stadium at 10am. I might be so amped up I'll run out there. This happened last year, too. We agreed to meet at 11. We were there by 10:30 easily. A few minutes earlier and we could have been the first people in the stadium.
Today, we had a long discussion about exorcising the ghosts from last year. We decided there needed to be some sort of ritual. Among our suggestions were sacrificing a lamb or a virgin, Burning the Guap's old Al Leiter jersey and cooking sausage and peppers over it, buying new Game hats at the team store (provided we a) felt like spending $25 for a hat and b) were able to stand waiting on line for an hour just to get in the team store), buying this hat, and getting into a fistfight with Scott Schoeneweis.
It took me some time to brainstorm, but I think I finally figured out what the proper exorcism would be.
We need to start a car fire.
Early in the 2000 season, El Guapo and I were watching a game on TV, and off in the back of the parking lot, the cameras caught a car on fire. It burned and burned, and there was no sign of a fire truck pulling up. Black smoke billowed from the car and blew into the stadium. Finally, after about 10 minutes, firemen finally showed up and put the fire out. That year, the Mets went to the World Series.
On Opening Day, 2006, we were present at Shea, and during the first inning of the game, with Paul LoDuca stepping up for his first Mets AB, we saw some smoke creeping over the left field side of the Upper Deck. We peered around into the parking lot, and, sure enough, there was a car on fire. Fortunately, it was extinguished rather quickly. The Mets won the game and went on to roll to a Division title.
That October, we were present at Shea for Game 1 of the NLDS against the Dodgers. With Pedro Martinez and El Duque hurt, John Maine was set to take the ball for this most important ballgame. There was a palpable tension filling the stadium. El Guapo and I were searching for any sort of a sign, a good omen to let us know that things would be OK. And sure enough, during the 1st inning, there it was. A car fire had broken out in the parking lot, behind the left field seats, right next to some fencing put up around the Citi Field site. The fire burned for quite a bit of time, and nearly managed to light the fence on fire and burn down what little of Citi Field had been built at the time. That was the sign. The Mets won the Game and the Series.
This being any indication, if we are going to perform any kind of an exorcism ritual to remove the bad feelings of last season, this would be the way to go. Either that or I have to yell at some nuns.
Coming tomorrow: Opening Day at Shea Stadium and Citi Field, too...
The Mets did not play well this weekend, certainly not at the caliber that we've been expecting them to play. It didn't help that this poor play came against the Atlanta Braves, in Turner Field, House of Horrors that it is.
The situation remains the same as it was last year. Poor situational hitting, bad breaks, inopportune longballs by the opposition. This weekend, this manifested itself in the form of David Wright's inability to get a hit with runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs on 2 separate occasions on Saturday, followed by Kelly Johnson's Grand Slam off Sosa, and Teixeria's HR on Sunday off of Heilman. Santana certainly did everything necessary for him to win, but the Mets as a whole seemed rather impotent offensively against Smoltz, after not looking all that much better against Tim Hudson on Saturday.
I can only imagine the rant my lunatic co-worker will have for me tomorrow morning. Perhaps he'll suggest the Mets bring in Brian Daubach or Mark Johnson to play 1B.
Listening to WFAN tonight, there's about 95% panic among the Mets callers. People are apoplectic. It's disheartening to see them play this way, given that there's a general fear around Mets Nation caused by last year's finish, and the fact that this is a team built to win now. There's no time or means to rebuilding. The team is what it is. Mets fans as a whole have an innate inferiority complex, as if we're just waiting for that other shoe to drop. I'm like that myself, and I picked the team to finish first. But combine all of these factors together, and it's easy to see that this is how this year is going to be. Every victory will be met with guarded optimism. Every loss, especially a loss or two to Philly or Atlanta, will be met with Alarm Bells and Panic. We can look forward to it all season long, especially if the Mets go through an extended stretch of inconsistency as they did for the better part of 4 months last season.
While it's true that the Mets have yet to play with any sort of consistency so far, and they haven't given any of us a reason to think that this would change, it's as though Mets fans have forgotten that the season is only 5 games old. The Mets won 2 out of 3 in Florida, and asserted their offensive prowess twice against a team they should beat. In Atlanta, they struggled against the Braves' two best pitchers. When Philly comes to Shea this week, they'll be throwing the back end of their rotation (Moyer and Kyle Kendrick scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, not sure who's up on Thursday). It's certainly possible that the Mets could catch fire against Philly. Certainly, coming home, with a packed house ready to energize the team on Tuesday, the Mets ought to be able to rebound from the weekend and assert themselves against their primary competitor.
They have to, if nothing else, for the sanity of 80% of Mets fans.
It might make sense that I, being heavily involved in Theater, might listen to a good deal of musical scores and soundtracks. Not so. In reality, I can't stand most musicals. The closest you would find to a Musical on my iPod would be The Who's Tommy, which is atypical of most musicals in and of itself.
Unlike Greg, I was an early member of the iPod revolution, acquiring my first in early 2003, and replacing it (and the early iPods are like a truck compared to the newer ones) with a sleeker model late last Summer. I live and die by it; my 90-minute work commute would not be the same without one.
I keep in the neighborhood of 4,700 songs on my iPod, far more than I would ever listen to, well, ever. I have a standard playlist of a much more manageable 400 songs, although even those don't get played on a regular basis, unless it happens to be stuck in my head for a particularly long period of time (Damn you, Feist!)
At any rate, Greg's post yesterday got me thinking about the songs I most associate with the Mets, either on my way to a game, coming back from a game, or watching a game on TV, or whenever. I don't always listen to music on my way to games. For several years, the Former El Guapo and I have usually met in Union Square before heading to Shea, although music has often been a frequent topic of conversation. If I am traveling alone, I do have the iPod on. And, generally, I do have a list of songs that I prefer to listen to for one reason or another. I'd consider that to be the Official Ballclub Pregame Playlist, although there are always variations, additions and honorable mentions.
I offer the following:
Elastica - Never Here This has nothing to do with sports, and if you listen to the lyrics, it's not even a very upbeat song. But for some reason, it's always fired me up. It's become a tradition for me. I listened to this song before the first game of the NLDS in 1999, the first game of the NLDS in 2000, the first game of the NLDS and NLCS in 2006, and before each of the previous 5 Opening Day games (Home openers only).
Van Halen - Right Now Before Game 1 of the NLCS in 2006, they played this song during the interminable TV delay at an ungodly high decibel level while a giant Mets logo rotated on the scoreboard.
Radiohead - Airbag I've always said that if I were a Major Leaguer, this would be my At-Bat music.
Other songs that generally get me in the right mood for a ballgame: Nirvana - Come As You Are The Flaming Lips - Fight Test The Who - Go To The Mirror! Blur - Colin Zeal Beastie Boys - Sabotage Yo La Tengo - Tom Courtenay Elvis Costello - Oliver's Army (only for Oliver Perez starts) Nine Inch Nails - Just Like You Imagined Oasis - Supersonic Rush - Limelight N-Trance - Stayin' Alive Radiohead - I Might Be Wrong Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine (Cancelled due to usage by Tom Glavine)
Songs for Victories Nirvana - On A Plain Bruce Springsteen - Glory Days
Songs for Losses Liz Phair - Shane Counting Crows - A Long December The Killers - Smile Like You Mean It Radiohead - How To Disappear Completely
The list tends not to change much; even following last season, I'm sure I'll be listening to many of the same songs as I make my inaugural ride into Queens on the 7 train Tuesday morning. Maybe I'll mix in some newer music. Maybe some of you have some suggestions for me (other than an emergency iPod transfusion). It remains to be seen.
A recycled comment: Maine today, in a most important and anticipated start.
It wasn't pretty, but like any victory, I'll take it. Especially the way the past few games have gone for the Mets.
If there is a good thing to take from last night, other than the Mets finally beating Philly for the first time since last June, it's that Mike Pelfrey managed to pitch well enough to earn his first victory of the season in his first outing of the season. Though he certainly didn't dominate, and appeared downright skittish at times, Pelfrey held the line and got the outs he needed to get over 5 innings and 100 pitches, before Sosa, Feliciano and Muniz finished up. I'd like to see him spread those 100 pitches over 6 or 7 innings, but then again, I'd like to see most of the Mets starters do that. More 7 inning outings means less Scott Schoeneweis, and maybe even less Aaron Heilman, too.
