A Touching Tribute

First off, I have to say that I was touched tonight by Pedro Martinez's tribute to the fallen Victor Zambrano.

Did you see it?

Then you must have gotten to the television late. Well allow me to explain how Petey honored Zambrano, the pitcher that Pedro claims pitched through excessive media pressure...

He walked two batters in the first inning.

I admit, although it wasn't quite Bo Kimble shooting the first free throw of every game left-handed, I dabbed a tear or two from my eye.

If tonight's game was any indication, this new found rivalry with Philadelphia is going to be fun. There was a certain electricity that was palpable tonight, even through the television...with all the Met fans that travel to Philly on a yearly basis, and all the Philadelphians (Philadelphites? Philadelphers? Drunks?) that come to Shea, tonight sounded like it was the most fun a Philly/New York crowd has had in Philadelphia since the Phillies swept the Mets in 1986 to keep the Mets from clinching the division for three days. And maybe, the most fun ever.

Think of how fun Mets/Phillies games will be now that Billy Wagner has jumped from one rival to the other, and it looks like both teams are going to be in the hunt. Think of all of those Phillies fans that will make their pilgrimage to Shea to create a fun atmosphere for the whole family...on second thought, don't bring the family when Phillies fans are in town. It will be like Yankees/Red Sox games in the stands, only bloodier (not that I'm advocating violence or anything like that). It's a lethal yet fun mix that can't be provided by Braves fans.

As for the game tonight, I ask again: Why are there so many blind umpires, but no deaf ones? Tonight's winner of the Angel Hernandez award is Doug Eddings...who called Kaz Matsui out on a chest high curve ball, and then has the gall to toss Mr. Egg Whites from the on deck circle before he had a chance to come into the game. Yeah Doug, you're the show. You show up in the standings between the Mets and the Phillies...they all came to see you. The vendors make a nice business selling Doug Eddings tee shirts and replica jerseys. Nice job.

You knew that Carlos Delgado was going yard on Flash Gordon didn't you? You knew it when you learned from Gary Cohen that Delgado was 2 for 30 against Gordon lifetime. Kiss of death...or more accurately, the kiss of life.

And the ninth inning rally that culminated in Delgado's home run was great for two reasons. The first reason is that a trademark of Mets teams, especially the good ones but sometimes the bad ones too, was that there was never a ninth inning where the Mets were down that went quietly. Even if it didn't end with a Mets win, they were always in the game. And this team is carrying that torch that was only interrupted in the early nineties, when the guys that wore those uniforms weren't fit to wear clown suits (and Jeff Kent even flat out refused to wear one).

The second reason the rally was great was that this Flash Gordon dominance nonsense had to stop. Gordon's opponents batting average against lefties was around .084, and against righties, it was freakin' zero. Or maybe it was the other way around, I'm not sure. But Gordon was Philadelphia's booby prize for losing Country Time...Flash Gordon dominant at age 38 and an overworked arm while Billy Wagner has three blown saves is rather creepy. It freaked me out, and I'm glad it's over. I hope Flash sees Carlos Delgado in his nightmares for the rest of the series.

But instead of Country Time raising the proverbial middle finger to the city of Philadelphia with three strikeouts in the bottom of the ninth, the Mets fell shorter than David Blaine with a freakish two out rally which culminated in an Aaron Heilman throwing error which drowned the Mets once and for all. But the Mets live another day...and another opportunity to stage Wagner's Family Reunion.