Rocky Road

Yesterday was free cone day at Ben and Jerry's, but I abstained since beach season is around the corner. However, I still got a dose of Rocky Road watching the Mets last night. And against the Pirates at that. Almost worse than watching a bungling against the Nats.

Ugly night. Crap throw by Reyes, bullpen dramas (Heilman continues on a trajectory that looks like Fred Thompson's presidential bid - doomed from the third week; two run scored off Billy Wagner; Sanchez loading the bases), and the usual high number of stranded runners.

After 11 innings, they won 5-4. That was the dessert.

Settling In For the War

For just a moment watching the Mets v. Braves today, I felt bad for the Braves. In an emotion I am all too familiar with, I watched an aging pitcher fall part. But this time it was John Smoltz (because of course, every aging Mets pitcher is already on the DL).

This tiny weakness was enough for the Mets bats to wake up, including two, yes TWO, big ass home runs by Carlos D. Beautiful. I, along with pretty much all of Metland, have been trashing Carlos D. for not performing. Today was a welcome change; I guess Friday's mental health day did its' voodoo.

The bullpen even held it together, Schoenweis included. 6-3, the boys are back. We won the battle. The war? Tied for second with Philly, where half the team is on the DL. Let's settle in for a long season gang, just like another contest that won't be settled until later this year.

Is Willie's Time Up?

Now, I love Willie Randolph. Love. Seriously. An exceptional player. A Brooklyn boy. But this team has so much talent, has spent so much damn money, and has so much opportunity. Last night's loss against the Braves was not just the bullpen or the starting pitching, but slopping fielding and lost hitting opportunities. It's a serious funk. Benching Carlos D isn't a bad idea, but I wonder if that's just throwing the wrong man overboard.

Sometimes when things start to feel Titanic-like, you've got to look around and make some changes. More fundamental than a new player here or letting go a manager coach. Hillary Clinton did it by dumping Patty Solis Doyle, who was a longtime, very loyal staffer. McCain did it by dumping the Bush crew last year. And look at where we are now.

After last year, after this type of start, I just wonder if a complete change of atmosphere is needed for everyone in Mets nation. I'm not screaming in New York-ease, "Get him the fuck out" but maybe it's an option to consider. There, I've said it.

#6

Last night was my premiere of the Nats new stadium, which is absolutely lovely. Gleaming like a shiny pair of new shoes, the stadium stands in a neighborhood of the city that once housed titty bars and gay male strip clubs. Now, instead of rave clubs (that I once went to), hulking shells of buildings that promise urban reclamation are being slapped together by a developer who also happens to be the majority owner of the team. How convenient for me, a taxpayer shouldering one of the largest individual municipal tax burdens in the nation. No fretting though, there's also MLB's largest jumbotron!

At least there was something for me to enjoy because the game was a complete disaster for the Mets. Every potential weakness became as magnified as that big ass TV in centerfield. Ugliness from everyone - Perez, the relievers that bring no relief, Carlos Delgado, and Reyes and Wright not hitting. A Mets apocalypse, 10-5.

Nearly all of these things are not new. I have bitched about them in one form or another since I have been blogging. But there's a new one on the list.... Carlos D. I was talking about him last night to my friend who I went to the game with. In our conversation, we talked about his move to 6th in the batting order. She revealed that she too had been cast into the role of #6 when she was in a slump. Just as interesting, she was also at first.

She got over her slump. Let's just hope #6 is the tonic.

Loss in Politics and Baseball

Am home watching Pennsylvania returns, no baseball. And after last night's gut wrenching loss to the Cubs, I was grateful to miss the Mets daytime slaughtering. Last night, 7-1 and today 8-1.

And a bloodbath it was today, identical to yesterday. Bullpen takes over; Mets fall apart. Last night Heilman, today Sosa. My relievers that not only give no relief, they give away the damn game. Bats asleep, even my boyfriends couldn't get it going.

I mourn, I loss, I grieve, I move on. Is this how life feels at Obama HQ tonight? Spent so much, but just not getting enough to win.

Exorcise the Ghosts

Poor Metsies. Last night's 5-4 loss to the Phillies was a tough pill to swallow. It was supposed to get easier without Jimmy Rollins. And it was. Until last night.

Pelfrey's pitching was ok (nothing remarkable and nothing near his last appearances). The Mets defense, on the other hand, was excellent - they contained the Phillies to just four runs until a 6th inning that was as momentous as Iowa for Obama. Four runs, tie game.

But the relievers came in and the Mets went back to their early spring ways. Stranding base runners, striking out while swinging. The ghosts of the past.

My PTSD

Yesterday was the most loveliest day so far in 2008. The temperature in DC was nearly 80, amazing sunny skies and a lovely breeze AND the Mets were atop the NL East for the first time since last year's "special time". But it's only April, so I spent the day on my beautiful new bike and caught the extremely tense last two innings of the game against the Philles.

I'm sure I've written about how I want to be a pitcher in my next life. I'm not sure, however, if I would not end up suicidal if I were to actually become a pitcher. The idea that you can almost give the other side the game in the 8th inning, as Heilman almost did yesterday, would induce me to a pawn shop or a pharmacist for sure. Who can take the tension of knowing that YOU lost it? Gave the shit away! But then I realized that you need a whole posse to back you and unless the ball goes out of the park (which is no too hard in Philly), you are not alone with the burden.

But none of this happened. Heilman pulled through, Wagner pulled through, the outfield pulled through. I think I just have PTSD from last year. Deep breath. One day at a time.

Praying for a Surge

The Mets have had a lovely week thus far, pounding the Nats in a manner reminiscent of Desert Storm. Pitching, alive and well, even Mike Pelfrey. But tonight, it is now 11 pm and things are starting to look more like the more recent foray into a large, oil filled country in the Middle East.

It's the 12th inning, the Mets barely scrambled to the 2-2 tie in the 8th. It's not the pitching. Again, we are suffering from the bats that are as flat as matzoh. Passover is Saturday boys. I need my surge today. It may or may not work, but if it's all you got, it's all you got.

Bitter Boos

Life took over for a few days (while the Mets crumbled and bungled), but now I am back, baby! Not going to bring you the now rancid leftovers of the last two days, but the chattering on Mets blogs and even the notoriously lame NY Times sports section is the boo. For you non-rabid Met fans the 127 137.5 million dollar pitcher, Johan Santana, was booed by Met fans on Sunday for a less than 127 a 137.5 million dollar worthy appearance. He's not the only one - Mets fans will boo at any sliver of ineptitude, particularly from pitching.

The Times asks if this because of last year's collapse, which I don't think it is. Met fans always booed. We are a rowdy, angry bunch. Bitter, some might say. Not just from last year but from two decades of not making it. And the last time we did, it was with the meanest, craziest, nastiest guys in baseball. What the hell do you expect?

I just hope our bitterness doesn't drive us to guns or religion. Or the Yankees.

They're Alive

I saw the NY Mets last night - capitalizing on every error by the hated (but not reviled, I save that for the Braves) Phillies. Now where the hell were they this weekend?

8-2 and the bullpen held it together. Pelfrey held it together. The bats sort of performed (not so much as the Phillies bullpen melted down, but I'll take it).

Change in momentum = change in attitude= wins. In life and in baseball.

Three Makes a Trend

And we're almost there.... Yesterday was a repeat of what we saw with the Braves. The relievers that bring no relief giving up the hard earned lead of the starters. That and again with the stranded runners.

The Mets are starting to look a little bit like the Democrats. Where is our Obama now? Not that he would be a guarantee of victory in the fall, but at least we could bump up our win/loss record.

Early Spring Torture

Yes, tortured today with the Mets getting creamed by the Braves. The source of torture? Death by pitcher. The same pitcher I raved about just days ago - Johnny Maine. Johnny only led me down to the dungeon. The true pain came from the middle relievers that haunted me all of last year - the S's... Smith, Schoeneweis. But the best - Sosa, who gave the Braves a grand slam. Goodbye.

The pisser in this, aside from the damn pitching, is the Mets leaving so many runners stranded on base. This eluded them last season and today aided in the trouncing.

I ordered the MLB package which seems a little sadistic after today. 160 bucks for nearly daily torture.

Early for Ugh

I'm trying not to meltdown, it's early for a meltdown. Maybe Pedro's injury last night was an April Fools' Joke? It wasn't. This seems worse than Howard Dean's scream was for the Democrats - or at least how it scream seemed in January 2004.

We still got Johnny, we still got Ollie. As long as our Johnny isn't like the Dems Johnny, we should be all fine.