Monday, April 03, 2006

National History "X"

"Welcome back...to the same old place that you laughed about."

And what a way to be welcomed back, with a game that has to go down as one of the classic Met openers ever.

You've got Xavier Nady going 4 for 4, albeit an Alfonso Soriano aided 4 for 4, in his Met debut. You say you want X getting hot at the right time, and not at the beginning of spring training? There, you have it. Four hits, four at bats, and one very confused Nationals left fielder who is still jogging after Nady's RBI double in the fourth, and took a route to X's pop fly single which went through Brooklyn.

You've got Paul Lo Duca driving in the first run of the season in his Met debut. So much for any questions about him batting second, right? Too bad most of New York missed it because of a power outage in the production truck which has already produced one of the weirdest moments in television history as SNY started airing a Mets Classic without ever announcing what was going on. And by the time the picture game back, it was 1-0. But who's splitting hairs here?

You have Tommy Two Teeth going six strong...getting in and out of jams but never really giving the impression that he was in any real trouble, as he looked like his 1996 vintage, and not a 40 year old. Much better than his opener in 2003.

Of course, you have a David Wright dinger. Sophomore jinx my ass.

You have the mother of all relay plays in the eighth which was part Cleon Jones, part Rey Ordonez, and a touch of Don Denkinger thrown in for good measure, as Soriano should have scored the tying run on a Ryan Zimmerman double in the eighth off a shaky Aaron Heilman. But the umpire was facing the wrong way and never saw Lo Duca bobble the throw. Meanwhile, the Nationals never argue. They were asleep, as they seemingly were all game long between Soriano's antics in left field, Livan Hernandez's Rumplestiltskin type fielding, and that whole team's general lack of a pulse.

You have Country Time...Billy the Anti-Looper...coming in and getting three straight outs. Of course, the last out was Jose Vidro trying to stretch a single into a double, but what a novel concept...three up and three down from your closer. You mean closers are allowed to do that?

And you have Carlos Beltran going 0 for 4 and getting booed mightily...starting to earn his contract only with his strike to second in the ninth inning to end the game. But you can't have all cheers in Shea Stadium. You have to have some boos just to remind you that you're home...just to remind you that it's baseball season.

Yup, baseball is most definitely back. Welcome.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

The X-Man Cometh!

Anonymous said...

The Mets looked more intense and focused than OJ after discovering his wife talking to a young waiter!

Mets Beast said...

check out my post... i think its pretty good... i havent had a comment in quite sometime...

Anonymous said...

HI Metsradamus

Great way to start 2006 yesterday-a far cry from Looper blowing it for Pedro last season.

Anonymous said...

Yeah everything was great but the booing of Beltran bummed me out.

Chill on this guy a little bit let him relax and see what happens.

Putting negative tones out there is only gonna do more damage. This guy is not Matsui or Benitez. Yet.

I gave him a pass last season and will reserve judgement for more than the first game or perhaps even month or 2 of the season.

Really I left being disappointed in Mets fans yesterday. While I savored the win I just felt by booing him it is contradicting the often spoken "most knowledgeable fans" tag on NYers. Not to mention booing the guy in the first game of the season.

I wasn't happy with his performance I made some jokes "glad to see Belt is in mid season form"

But I didn't boo him because that ain't gonna help him & WE NEED HIM this season to be the player he was in Kansas City not the player he was in Houston's playoffs.

Metstradamus said...

Meet, welcome back.

Shari, when that top of the ninth came, you bet my mind flashed back to Braden Looper. Don't think I wasn't nervous.

Tommy, it is probably way too early to boo him. But by the same token he needs a fast start. What worries me about Beltran is that he seemed lost on the basepaths. I just want to see him more alert out there. The booing is an interesting debate.

Debeech, Mikey slammed one out to right field at Petco last night. No small feat. But Lo Duca is going to do a lot of little things just like the acting gig on opening day. And he'll be a good fit in the room.