Rubber Match...Live Blog!

7:09 PM I take a seat at the home office to live blog the rubber match between the Diamondbacks and the Mets. Got my potato chips and my Diet Vanilla/Cherry Dr. Pepper (the official soft drink of Metstradamus), and the first thing I notice is that Tony Clark is in the lineup. It’s never good news when a former Met is in the lineup.

7:15 PM Pedro Martinez has two outs, two balls, and two strikes on Luis Gonzalez when the freakin’ sprinklers go off. What happened, did the groundscrew think it was a day game? Were they out looking for action on the spelling bee? Pedro was in that commercial where he runs through the sprinklers, and now he gets to do it for real. Only this time, he takes a drink. I see the headlines now: “Martinez to miss next start due to catching cold from bathing in the sprinklers.” Great.

7:17 PM Order restored, as Pedro K’s Gonzalez to keep the no hitter intact. (The Mets have never had a no-hitter in team history, so to hell with superstition. I’m pressing my luck…NO-HITTER NO-HITTER NO-HITTER NO-HITTER…STOP!)

7:20 PM Estes delivers to Jose Reyes. With all the talk about Reyes and walks, I did a little research. The closest leadoff hitter on a winning team that I could find so far to Reyes is Willie Wilson for the 1985 World Champion Royals. In 575 AB’s from the leadoff position, Wilson batted .275, had an OBP of .314, and slugged .400. Wilson only walked 29 times and struck out 90 times. Reyes is on pace for 24 walks in 681 AB’s as his numbers are similar to Wilson’s (.278/.306/.426).

7:24 PM NOOOOOOOOOOW Shawn Estes has a 1-2-3 inning.

7:29 PM Kaz Matsui’s going after a pop-up (holding breath), he caught it (exhales).

7:30 PM There goes the no-hitter. Tony Clark hits a dinger to make it 1-0 Snakes in the second. And what did I tell you about Tony Freakin’ Clark! That’s why I’m Metstradamus, damn it!!!! (Stupid groundscrew and their sprinklers!)

7:39 PM Note to Chris Woodward…this isn’t cricket.

7:42 PM Do I see a Kevin McReynolds jersey in the background, drinking a beer in the first base field level? KEVIN McREYNOLDS?????

7:43 PM First round of boos for Carlos Beltran tonight, as he looks like the 1973 version of Willie Mays, sliding and stumbling on a looping fly to center as the ball goes off his glove, then gets outsmarted by Craig Counsell as he fakes out Beltran and gets him to throw to first as Counsell advances to second. Nice job by Counsell. I wonder if that’s an easy play for Beltran if he’s 100%.

7:51 PM First round of boos for Kaz Matsui.

7:53 PM First reference to the Estes/Clemens game by Mets announcer Dan O’Brien.

7:55 PM First Michael Bloomberg re-election commercial. Do we really have five more months of this?

7:58 PM First round of boos for Tony Clark.

8:02 PM Beltran ties it up with a HR to right center. Stop that booing right now! Beltran oddly enough has hit all 7 of his HR’s with Pedro pitching. This was his first one righty. More importantly, there’s a smile from Beltran in the dugout. Quick, someone massage that quad!

8:04 PM WPIX shows a shot of a “Vote For Pedro” shirt being sold at the concession stands for $24.00. Meanwhile, you can get the original “Vote For Pedro” shirt on eBay for eight bucks. Boy, it’s not bad enough that you get gouged by the Mets on water, iced tea, and premium Giants tickets even though Barry Bonds isn’t playing, now Fred Coupon marks up a pop-culture reference t-shirt 200% and all he does is change the letters from red to blue. I know you spent a lot on Beltran’s contract but come on now!

8:07 PM Welcome back Cornelius! 2-1 Mets

8:08 PM Now there’s the Shawn Estes we know and love! 3-1 Mets

8:15 PM Note to David Wright, your team has enough strained quads, bruised rotator cuffs, and tweaked hamstrings. Please stop diving into second after the ball is fouled off.

8:16 PM When you pull a 6’ 7” first baseman off the bag throwing from second base, it’s a sign you may have contracted Steve Sax disease. Counsell should seek help immediately…that’s his second error of the inning.

8:25 PM WPIX Trivia: Since 1992 who are the two Mets lefthanders to throw complete game one hitters. I know Pete Schourek did it for the Mets but I think that was actually between 89 and 91. I think it’s Estes and Glavine. And I actually got it right…look at that!

8:30 PM I’m going to have nightmares about that replay of Mike Piazza scoring from first base on the Cliff Floyd hit. Why am I all of a sudden getting a vision of Robin Ventura’s rain delay impression of Piazza at Yankee Stadium in 2000?

8:34 PM Doesn’t Craig Counsell look like a Dick Tracy villain?

8:36 PM OH MY WORD WHAT A FREAKIN PLAY BY MIKE CAMERON!!!! Was it pure athleticism? Was it luck? Words can’t do this one justice. Go watch SportsCenter, RIGHT NOW!!!!!

8:41 PM No, I really mean it! Stop reading this and go watch SportsCenter if you haven’t seen the Cameron catch. I haven’t seen anything that ridiculous since they had “Ridiculous Day” at the deli…where prices were so low, they were ridiculous.

8:43 PM Counsell throws another one away. Craig, I know you were on the run but your first baseman is 6’ 7”! What kind of target do you need? Three throwing errors = Steve Sax disease! Watch out D’back fans!

8:45 PM A two run double for Kaz Matsui to make it 5-1. Thanks for waiting until I dropped you from my fantasy team to become useful!

8:47 PM Just a thought, why is Shawn Estes still in the game? He’s down by four and he’s well over the 100 pitch mark.

8:48 PM Pedro gets hit number one as a Met; a tape measure job. No, I mean an actual tape measure. One of those metal hardware store ones that go about 25 feet, because that’s all it traveled.

8:52 PM Oh boo hoo! Look at poor little Shawn Estes showing emotion in the dugout after being pulled…taking it out on the water cooler. Where exactly was this four seasons ago? Estes is the left-handed Donne Wall.

8:56 PM Reyes’ comebacker goes off Estes for a hit in the bottom of the 6th, while Shawn Green’s combacker goes off Martinez and caroms right to Reyes for an out in the 7th. I think this game is officially lights out.

8:58 PM Stupid Tony Clark with his two hits! I hate being right.

9:09 PM Aaron Heilman warms up in the bullpen with the Mets up 6-1 in the 8th. I hope Willie Randolph isn’t going to save Heilman for only garbage time innings. He’s a better pitcher than that.

9:14 PM Another test for Beltran and his quad with a short fly to center. Beltran, who plays a deeper center field than most, made a nice running catch to pass the test.

9:18 PM Good job Pedro.

9:27 PM Heilman comes in to pitch the 9th with the Mets up by five. Again, Aaron Heilman is a better pitcher than that.

9:29 PM Glaus and Green get hits off Heilman, completely blowing my argument. And Tony Clark is up. Uh oh!

9:32 PM Heilman gets Clark out on a fielders choice (exhaling).

9:34 PM Ball game. Mets take two of three from the Snakes. Nice job by Pedro. Go watch SportsCenter.