This Crap Again?!

Man, talk about the highs of winning and the lows of losing. After reaching the apex of their season this week by sweeping the Subway Series from the Yankees, the Mets went down to Miami to play the horrible Mickey Mouse Marlins and apparently turned back into a pumpkin en route, because their display tonight was pretty much indistinguishable from every other performance they had from about April 20th through last Sunday. No offense, no hope.

I know that Keith and Gary were talking about maybe the long plane ride after the late finish of last nights' game taking the wind out of their sails, but let's be realistic here. The Mets are playing the Marlins. The Marlins right now are drawing comparisons to the 1962 Mets for utter ineptitude and hopelessness. If such a thing is possible as to have looked worse than the Mets this season, the Marlins have done it, and done it in spades. And yet, for reasons I'm clearly just not meant to understand, the Mets turn into complete assholes every time they see the Marlins. The Marlins have a winning record against one team this season: The Mets, with 4 wins in 7 games. And these aren't just wins, these are usually exercises in torture.

Tonight, it was Jacob Turner who did it to the Mets. Remember Jacob Turner? Yeah, neither do I. But here he was, making his season's debut and sticking the bats up the Mets asses. Shaun Marcum actually held the line just fine, at least until he didn't in the 7th inning, when his luck ran out and he had a Jon Niese inning, where the Marlins get one solid hit and then 4 dying quails, and the whole thing snowballs out of control and 1 run is all of a sudden 4 runs, and the game is out of reach.

Conveniently, Marcum had a Jon Niese inning tonight, because the bitch of all of this is that Niese is missing his start tomorrow. Instead, the Mets will try to break this Marlins hex with Collin McHugh, who was last seen putting forth the kind of performances that make Jeremy Hefner look good. The Marlins will counter with Jose Fernandez, who might be the only reason a Marlins fan might pay attention at all. This doesn't bode well for the Mets. You know, I was really starting to believe that the Mets might be past this. Even though they weren't hitting a ton against the Yankees, they were hitting enough, and if they were hitting enough against the Yankees, why, then, do they go back in the tank against the awful Marlins? This should have been a springboard. Think about it. Yankees/Marlins, Marlins/Yankees...Does not compute.

Gee Whiz!

It is a pretty significant night for the Mets and their fans, who have, for the past 17 seasons have been playing these games against the Yankees, and although they've had plenty of nice moments over the years, they've also had some pretty lousy ones too, and more often than not, the Yankees and their fans have been all too happy to kick the Mets while they're down in these instances.

But tonight, the Yankees can't say much of anything (even if the TYFI response is something like "DUH! 27 to 2! (garble drool grunt)"). Particularly since the Mets came into this 4-game series in about as bad a shape as you could possibly be, not hitting, barely pitching and generally looking listless, and somehow the entire team decided to wake up and beat the Yankees in all 4 games. Though just about everyone contributed, this sweep was accomplished primarily by 4 consecutive outstanding pitching performances, one of which was expected, since Matt Harvey has done it all season, but the other three were rather surprising.

Tonight, Dillon Gee was the culprit, coming out of nowhere to post his best start in close to a year, pitching 7 1/3 innings, allowing only a Robinson Cano Home Run and striking out a career-high 12 batters. This from the same pitcher whose line has been something like 5 innings, 8 hits, 4 runs, 3 walks and 3 strikeouts every time out for the past month. Gee didn't allow a baserunner after Cano's Home Run and when he got pulled in the 8th, after only 88 pitches, there was sort of an uproar. When the hell did you ever think Dillon Gee being removed from a game would cause an uproar?! That's how good he pitched tonight.

But as has been the story this week, pretty much anything anybody expected out of the Mets ended up turning out exactly the opposite. Most Mets fans probably would have accepted it if the Mets had won 1 of the 4 games and not gotten totally embarrassed in the process. Instead, the Mets played with a chip on their shoulder all week. They fell behind on Monday and Tuesday and came back. Last night and again tonight, they got an early lead and made it hold up. The offense wasn't gangbusters against Vidal Nuno, but they made their hits count. Marlon Byrd hit a real Yankee Stadium Home Run last night and tonight he hit one that would have been a Home Run in Citi Field, too, accounting for the first two Mets runs early on. Late, it would be the Mets small-balling their way to an insurance run, as a pair of walks and a Wild Pitch from Hobo Chamberlain set the stage for John Buck to take a mighty swing...and tap a roller up the 3rd base line that kept rolling and rolling and rolling, but stayed fair, giving Buck a rare Infield Hit and plating Omar Quintanilla with the 3rd run.

In the hands of Gee, Scott Rice, who has become the Pedro Feliciano of the current era, and Bobby Parnell, this lead appeared plenty secure. Rice picked up after Gee left and allowed nothing, and Parnell, who has really begun to enhance his stature as he's grown more and more comfortable in the closer's role, buzzsawed the Yankees in the 9th inning to finish off a most impressive series sweep.

There have been plenty of 3-game sweeps in the 17-year Subway Series history on both sides. But only once had an entire season series ended in a sweep, when the Yankees did it in 2003. That was a pretty humbling moment which I don't care to remember. It's taken 10 years, but the Mets have finally returned the favor. And, as such, it's a fine time for the Mets fan to take a little pride in this moment, because it's not something that comes along very often. It's too bad that Big Stein isn't alive to see this. Can you imagine? He probably would have gone to the mound on Wednesday night and fired David Phelps on the spot. I can only hope he's turning over in his grave multiple times. Sure, the Yankee fan might offer some pithy response spoken mostly in lower case, but they can't take anything away from us this week or this season. Particularly when you consider that there's a very good chance that this is the high point of the Mets season, unless this now 5-game winning streak ends up turning the tide completely. Time will tell, but for right now, this is pretty awesome.

Much Better

I guess the Yankees were just the cure for what was bothering the Mets.

After weeks of slumping and scuffling and not doing anything especially productive, the Mets, perhaps buoyed by their midnight lightning last night, came out guns blazing tonight and attacked Yankee starter David Phelps with a barrage of well-placed hits in the 1st inning, which resulted in 5 early runs that set the tone for the night and allowed the Mets to mostly cruise to a 9-4 victory.

I don't think I remember the last time the Mets scored 5 runs in a game period, let alone 5 in an inning. It could conceivably have been that Friday Night against Washington for all I remember. But they certainly picked a nice time to break out like this; their resounding win tonight gave them their first season series win over the Yankees since 2008 and placed them in position to actually sweep the season series with a win tomorrow night.

The Yankees certainly aren't the superteam they once were, but even with several of their mainstays either sidelined or retired, their replacements had done the job and had them in first place. Certainly, for as bad as the Mets looked to this point, you had to figure the situation ripe for the Mets to get beaten into oblivion, particularly when you consider how the Mets have this annoying tendency to stick their heads up their asses when the Yankees come around. But through 3 games, the exact opposite has happened. The Mets haven't hit much, but they've made their hits count, and their pitching was great on Monday and Tuesday and even Jeremy Hefner acquitted himself well tonight. On the flip side, this has to be alarming for the Yankees, because they've sort of been relying on a tape and bubble gum lineup this season, and the Mets have shown them what's what in 3 games.

The Mets won Tuesday night by attacking Rivera and stringing hits together, and this strategy served them well in the 1st inning, which was bookended by Ruben Tejada and Ike Davis. Fittingly, it was these two who were central in this inning, because these two were officially put on notice by Terry Collins yesterday after weeks of stinking up the joint. As much as I or any other Mets fan hates to admit it, they both deserve it. After an awful game last night, Tejada kicked things off by singling to lead off, and then scoring on a gapper from Daniel Murphy. Then, there were some hits, some walks, an error from Jayson Nix and finally, it was Ike Davis putting the finishing touches on the inning, as well as finishing off David Phelps for the night with a 2-run single. 5-0 before Jeremy Hefner ever set foot on the mound. I'm sure he was shitting himself just as much as we were.

So, staked to a 5-run lead, that would eventually become an 8-run lead by the 4th inning, Jeremy Hefner went out and performed adequately well, or at least well enough to finally pick up his elusive 1st win of the season. He didn't really keep the Yankees down, since he allowed 2 hits in every inning, but he kept them off the scoreboard for the most part, and when he departed after 6 innings, he'd allowed 9 hits, but only 3 runs.

So, now the Mets have a chance to kick the Yankees in the nuts tomorrow night and pick up a rather unlikely sweep of the Subway Series. That would really be something after all the crap that's gone on up to this point this year.

Man Up

After 8 and a half innings, I was probably in as foul a mood as Matt Harvey. I was all set to be subjected to an endless barrage of hooting and hollering from the legions of Yankee fans, ready to crap on the Mets, running around crowing about how "Dat Harvey ain't so tough (drool drool duh)" and "You knew he'd fold against a REAL TEAM (snort duh drool)." It was playing out, more or less, like all of Harvey's starts have gone lately: He goes out, pitches great, gives up a run, maybe two, and leaves with the game either tied or the Mets behind because his stupid teammates can't get him a run. And tonight, it was going to cost him his first loss of the season, and of course it was going to come against the Yankees, on a run that probably shouldn't have scored.

Hiroki Kuroda, whom I will forever remember melting down on the mound at Shea Stadium on a Sunday night in 2008, somehow went from that to becoming a pitcher of reasonable regard, and at the moment the best thing the Yankees have going. That's all fine and good, but he's not nearly as good as the Mets probably made him look over his 7 innings. Harvey, on the other hand, is as good as he looks, and against the Yankees, he basically did what he's done all season long and pitched a good game with pretty much zero margin for error. He snaked his way out of a jam in the 3rd by gassing Cano with 2 men on and other than that, the Yankees posed little threat. That is, until the 6th, when Brett Gardner, who has officially become Annoying Brett Gardner for what he's done in this series, led off with a single that Marlon Byrd misplayed, allowing Garner to 2nd. This, of course, was the kind of stupid break the Yankees usually get, and although Harvey damn near got out of that mess, an errant changeup to Scrap-Heaper Lyle Overbay ended up shot through the middle to bring Annoying Gardner home with the lead run.

It appeared for all the world that this run would hold up, primarily because the Mets just couldn't get out of their own way. Ruben Tejada got on in the last of the 6th, and advanced on a Passed Ball, but Wright struck out and then Tejada managed to get himself unconscionably picked off 2nd base, a play so badly botched that the umpire screwed up the call and made Terry Collins throw enough of a fit to get himself thrown out.

Harvey, who by this point appeared to have smoke coming out of his ears, came back, shook off getting hit in the back by a line drive (and likely would have thrown Ray Ramirez back into the dugout had the situation presented itself) and pitched two more scoreless innings, finishing up allowing 1 run, 6 hits and no walks with 10 strikeouts over his 8 innings. That might not have been enough to stop the Yankee fan from screaming "'Ey, Harvey sucks (duh slobber slobber)!" but those who paid attention would at least appreciate that they were fortunate to get the one run they did, take the victory and shut up. But, sometimes, that's a bit much to expect.

So, it came down to the last of the 9th, with the Great Rivera about to come in, throw the same pitch over and over again and retire the Mets with a quickness. If most Major Leaguers over the last 18 seasons haven't been able to figure out his stupid cutter, what chance would these Bum-ass Mets have? Which is why calling the final 9 pitches of the game shocking doesn't do it enough justice. Somehow, the Mets, who spent the entire night unable to get out of their own way, grew some Yarbles, dug in and knocked Rivera around. Fittingly, it was Daniel Murphy and David Wright at the center of the rally, since they're the only position players who seem to act with any kind of a sense of urgency. Murphy just sort of reached out and flicked a cutter just enough for it to drop inside the left field line and bounce into the stands, instantly jump-starting an inning. Wright, who already has a history of success against Rivera, subsequently shot another cutter right back up the middle to score Murphy and tie the game. Gardner, who had been a royal pain in the ass the last two nights, finally gave it back by alligator-arming the ball home; a bad enough throw that not only did Chris Stewart not handle it, but Murphy kicked it away, allowing Wright to go to 2nd (Rivera did not back up Stewart either, which didn't help). That brought it up to Lucas Duda, who, for as empty as his numbers have been of late, can sometimes run into a pitch and make something good happen. Fortuitously, this was one of those moments, and his looper to right fell in front of Ichiro, allowing Wright to dash home with the winning run and set off a raucous celebration, which culminated in Duda getting the coveted "double-pie" from Justin Turner and Ruben Tejada.

So, the Mets have somehow managed to sweep the Citi Field portion of the Subway Series, the first time they've swept a leg of these games since 2008. The pitching both nights was great, the hitting was terrible, and yet somehow the Mets managed to win both games by doing the absolute minimum necessary. Of course, both nights it was the same people doing the heavy lifting, but then again, that's why we keep having faith in Daniel Murphy and why David Wright makes the big bucks. It's for moments like these, little victories in a lost season, that keep things interesting and worth paying attention to. Because even though the Great Rivera has never blown a save without recording an out, you never suspect that it's going to be that lousy Mets team that's going to be the one to do it to him. Mostly, however, it was nice that the Mets were able to treat Rivera the way they should be treating him—Rudely—rather than the nauseating lather job that the higher-uppers lavished on him before the game. Bears repeating, but maybe if upper management were more interested in themselves, rather than kissing the asses of their rivals, maybe we wouldn't be in this mess.

Hip Hip Oy Vey

A major Arts Festival precluded me from keeping too much of an eye on the actions of this past weekend, which meant that I didn't get a chance to say anything about the folly of Friday's suspended game, but then again, given how that game and Saturday's subsequent game turned out, there wasn't much I could say that was either a) Kind or b) Already said by someone else. Sunday, the Mets actually won, although I really can't gather whether or not they skillfully outplayed the Braves or just kind of fell ass-backwards into a victory because that does happen sometimes, even to the Mets.

So, that brought us to Monday, and the return of the highly anticipated or utterly loathsome (or perhaps both) Subway Series with the Yankees. Once again, I'm not going to any of the games, for reasons I've explained previously. That's not to say that I was a little tempted, seeing as how they can't seem to give away tickets to these games (fine seats are readily available on a variety of outlets). But, no, I've decided I can't deal with it. The past few years, the Mets have generally looked rather bad against the Yankees, no matter how well they might be playing, and this year, well, forget it. The one upshot to all of this is that instead of having to be subjected to the Yankees and their semi-educated legion of fans 6 times a season, that number has now been reduced to a much more palatable 4, all of which are conveniently this week. So, there's that.

Monday's opener brought the biggest crowd since Opening Day to Citi Field this year (and I'd assume that after Tuesday, the largest crowd you'll see will be at the All Star Game), a paltry 32,911. If 10,000 seats went completely unsold for a Subway Series game on a National Holiday, then you know things are really going badly. Fortunately, the 10,000 available seats were not bought up by enterprising Yankee fans determined to take over Citi Field with their circus chants and chicken sacrifices, so the crowd appeared to be mostly slanted towards the Mets (The 7 Line, who could easily be described as Mets Freedom Fighters, were quite visible in Center Field, which pleases me). I was at home, in front of the TV.

Jonathon Niese, who has been sort of the poster boy, along with players like Ike Davis, Lucas Duda and Ruben Tejada, of the struggles the Mets have had this early part of the season, came out and pitched one of his better games of the season, scattering 8 hits over his 7 innings, and only allowing a run when the aforementioned Duda face-planted on a dying quail by Brett Gardner, allowing the ball to roll behind him for a triple in the 6th. Fortunately, this was the only run Niese would allow. Unfortunately, the Mets offense has often been hard-pressed to match a run, and at the plate, they were making Phil Hughes look like the phenom stud pitcher every Yankee fan continues to insist he is. Thus, it appeared Niese was destined for a Matt Harvey, a fine outing in which he got no run support and left the game either tied or losing.

But...David Wright did what he's been doing all season and got a big hit, in this case a tying Home Run in the 7th.

But...David Wright did what he's been doing all season and made a big play in the field, starting an inning-ending DP in the 8th.

But...Daniel Murphy did what he's been doing some of the season and drove in the lead run in the 8th inning.

And Bobby Parnell, who really ought to be commended for the job he's done this season, finished things off in the 9th, shutting up the Yankees and their fans and actually getting this season's incarnation of the Subway Series off to a winning start. That's not to say it was pretty, because Parnell did allow a single to Ichiro with 1 out, and couldn't you just see one of these scrap-heap Yankees like Overbay or Hafner somehow pulling a Home Run out of their ass? This seemed like the kind of thing that's been happening for the Yankees over pretty much the entire history of the Subway series. But, no. Parnell was up to the task of gassing Overbay for the 2nd out, and then induced Hafner to pop up—and probably give every Mets fan a heart attack as they waited for the ball to come down—to Wright, who held the ball and gave the Mets a fine victory...and come back with Matt Harvey on Tuesday.