Thursday, August 30, 2007

Aah, Your Mangled Hearts

You never know when Sir Charge from the Verizon commercials is going to pop up and take your money.

C.B. Bucknor doesn't need your money...just the searing flesh of Met fans. And that's what he popped up and took today with his interference call. (According to the poll, I'm in the minority so far...and I know it and accept it. But Bucknor blew it.)

This loss might have been the one to take the wind out of me. Most of my blogging brethren probably went right to their keyboards banging on their keyboards chanting "Hulk Smash". Some of them might need a new computer after tonight.

I couldn't do that. I couldn't watch any postgame recaps, and I probably will stay away from ESPN and all of its brethren for the rest of the night. Instead, I watched Hard Knocks. (The title alone has to be apropos of something, right?) The latest installment featured a riveting forty second montage of Chiefs head coach (and former Jets general) Herman Edwards sitting on the couch in his office doing nothing but wonder who his starting quarterback is going be. After tonight's debacle, I did the same thing...sat on my couch and wondered what the bloody hell is going on as the Mets' season is threatening to go down in flames.

While Edwards came up with an answer to his question, I have none. Sure, the Mets did this to themselves all series. Six runs in three games off of two slumping pitchers and a rookie is unacceptable and embarrassing. But tonight was the one that just made me throw my hands up in the air in disbelief and remind me just how torturous it is to root for this team sometimes. The Mets at least hit some balls hard. But all of them were caught. The scorcher down the line that Ryan Howard turned into a double play, and the two laser beams that Abraham Nunez caught to rob Luis Castillo of two hits down the line.

And then the ninth inning, and that fateful call. And more torture. When Shawn Green grabbed a bat in the dugout, I thought how nice it would be for another franchise's fans to refer to a Met as "First F***ing Last". You know what I mean: Terry F***ing Pendleton, Brian F***ing Jordan, Larry F***ing Jones, and Adam F***ing Wainwright qualify for us (as well as Armando F***ing Benitez and Kenny F***ing Rogers even though they wore our colors). When have you ever heard of somebody else's fans ever refer to a Met that way? Ever?

A home run by Shawn F***ing Green would have had a nice ring to it. Would have torn the Phillies' hearts out.

Instead, it's C. F***ing B. F***ing Bucknor. Sir Ump. Calling interference even though Marlon Anderson touched the base on his slide. Marlon Anderson punished for trying to make something happen and not be a zombie like the rest of this roster could be sometimes.

And while I'm on this tangent: if they're not zombies, they're too nice. Nobody liked what Jimmy Rollins had to say at the beginning of the season about the Phillies being the team to beat...least of all me. But he said it, and he's backed it up by jamming it down our throats with home run after home run. Nobody liked it when Brett Myers said that he hated the Mets, again, least of all me. But wouldn't you like one of your Mets to come out, pick this team up by the scruff of its scruffy neck, and say at least a little something that's brash and arrogant, and follow it up by getting some big hits and being a leader instead of being too worried about making somebody angry? It would probably prevent people from talking about eighteen year olds on Long Island or strained hamstrings or how bad the bullpen is...okay, maybe not how bad the bullpen is. But you get my drift. The Mets are badly in need of a leader right now, and not a cliche f***ing soundbite about how they have to forget about this and move on. Of course, if that leader emerged after the game tonight, I wouldn't know it, because I can't bring myself to read anything about this game right now. Maybe in an hour or two, but not now.

C. F***ing B. F***ing Bucknor.

Buckner giveth, Bucknor taketh away. It's a hard knock life indeed.

19 comments:

metswalkoffs said...

So I IM'd my dad as they headed to the 8th...This game is begging for a Met to have a Terry Pendleton moment....GMTA, dude

By the way. I was accepting of the call, though I felt the explanation by Joe West was faulty.

Metstra...surprised you didn't link to this

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/players/06/20/poll.0620/

Buckner giveth, Bucknor taketh away...love that line, may have to reference...didja see Billy Buckner made his MLB debut for the Royals a few days ago?

Vain Saints said...

Yadier F***ing Molina.

Paul F***ing O'neil

Jose F***ing Vizcaeno

Anonymous said...

You know, it's real tough living as a Met fan in the Philadelphia area. So, I was happy to find this online petition looking to fire Bucknor, http://www.petitiononline.com/cbbuck/petition.html

I was also not so surprised to find that active players voted him the league's worst umpire in not one, but two surveys conducted by Sports Illustrated in both 2003 and 2006.

Also, if any of you out there use facebook, feel free to join this group I found at: http://hs.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5414899687&ref=mf

Anonymous said...

The way I see it, that call can not be argued - not when Marlon Anderson literally pushed Iguchi down. Metstra - you are right - the explanation was terrible. Interference was on the push, not on the slide. Yes - this could have been a non-call, but I can't argue with the actual call.

But, let's don't lose sight of the big picture:
* The Mets had scored a total of 2 runs for the third night.
* The Mets scored 1 run in the first inning - on four hits, including a home run.
* Jose Reyes was picked off. Twice.
* Only one other team scored two or fewer runs against Philadelphia in Philadelphia on two games in a row this season.
* Shawn Green hit a ball that could have been a double play ball in a situation where only a double play would have gotten Philadelphia off the hook.

The Mets did this to themselves. Yes, Metstra - they need a leader to emerge. Hopefully today.

Mike said...

in need of a leader right now, and not a cliche f***ing soundbite

Not sure if you're blaming anyone in particular, but Wright went 2 for 3 with a homer and a walk last night.

Reyes, unfortunately, picked a bad series to suck.

Anonymous said...

Good job Metstra.

That call NEVER gets made in the majors. In fact, that's why they (umps) tolerate the "neighborhood" play when turning a double play. Umps KNOW runners are coming in hard to prevent a double play. I think people have a short memory when it comes to this. What happened when Jason Kendall gave Kaz a spike to the upper shin 2 yrs ago in Oakland to break up a DP? NOTHING!!!! Except a summer on the DL for Kaz.

Lets not even going into the fact that Iguchi wasn't even on 2nd when he caught the ball. You can't call one play and not the other.

Anonymous said...

I switched to a repeat of Cyrb your enthusiasm as soon as I saw the first replay of that slide, which. let's face it, was out of line. He basically tried to drag the guys down with his arms. I don't blame Marlon for being aggressive, but, c'mon fellas.

And I'd like to add Luis F***ing Sojo.

Anonymous said...

You are all dopes. Apparantly you didn't see the highlight last week where Carlos Ruiz of the Phillies did the exact same f'ing thing and got called for interference. Go cry some more Mets fans, maybe you can cry all the way to lost & found, because you may be missing first place come this weekend. Bums.

Anonymous said...

Sorry Metstradamus, I've looked at that replay about 25 times, and it was interference. That being said, I hope Willie gets tossed during the lineup card exchange. Something has to give. Charlie Manuel got himself ejected in the first inning Monday and that certainly helped the Phillies. If the manager's ejection doesn't wake the Mets up, nothing will.

BTW, C.B. Bucknor and SNY's Brian Custer look eerily alike. Am I the only one who notices that? Anyway, Let's Go El Duque! S.O.S. (Save Our Season)!!

Metstradamus said...

Anonymous at 11AM: Last I checked, Anderson didn't put Iguchi on the D.L. as Carlos Ruiz did to Brian Giles.

Dope.

Metstradamus said...

Mike, I really meant nobody in particular.

Anonymous said...

Supplemental Rulebook - Section 6.1:

"While contact may occur between a fielder and runner during a tag attempt, a runner is not allowed to use his hands or arms to commit an obviously malicious or unsportsmanlike act--such as grabbing, tackling, intentionally slapping at the baseball, punching, kicking, flagrantly using his arms or forearms, etc. to commit an intentional act of interference unrelated to running the bases."

Like Elliot said, it's the shove not the slide. As for Ruiz, I don't recall him willfully shoving anyone. He went around the bag, caught it with his hands, but his torso still happened to be in the air when his side smacked into Giles.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and for those who seem to think the Umps are out to get the Mets in this series. Consider this...

In the first game, Jimmy Rollins is called out on a play in which he was obviously safe by a comfortable margin. Manuel comes out, argues it, and is promptly ejected (maybe that's a blessing in disguise though, he's worse than Randolph). The plate umpire's strike zone was huge (especially top of the zone), but it was consistent for both teams the entire game. David Wright pissed and moaned about one of those high strikes for quite a while, but amazingly wasn't thrown out of the game.

In Game 2, Adam Eaton hits Beltran in the ribs. He's immediately warned. Even your own Keith Hernandez thought it was excessive.

Then of course you have a legit call that went against you guys in this 3rd game for interference. 'Bout time something went Philadelphia's way...

Metstradamus said...

The umpires are terrible. Out to get the Mets? Even I'm not going that far. But yes, the umps are terrible.

And they're not why the Mets are about to get swept.

Anonymous said...

http://new.wavlist.com/movies/315/ml2-nomarble.wav

Demitri said...

It's okay. The phils will be swept by the Marlins this weekend. The only team they can beat is the mets.

Anonymous said...

Phillies vs...

East:

NYM: 8-6
ATL: 6-6
FLA: 6-6
WAS: 7-4

Central:

CHC: 4-3
MIL: 4-3
STL: 4-2
CIN: 4-2
HOU: 3-3
PIT: 4-2

West:>

SD: 4-3
AZ: 1-5
LAD: 2-4
COL: 1-2

SF: 4-4

The only teams that are beating them in the season series are Arizona, Los Angeles, and Colorado. The Phils are only going to face on NL West team in September (Colorado) so I wouldn't count on them not being able to beat anyone but the Mets...

Anonymous said...

Hi Metstra....Dis you see today's game. Simply awful. When is Minaya going to wake up and see that his pitching is horrible. This guy, Wagner, who makes $10,500,000 to lose games should be sent far away from Mets land. He has been single handedly wrecking this entire season. Oh, it doesn't help any that we have the greenest manager in the majors. Where did he learn how to handle baseball players? he has NO idea what to do.

Anonymous said...

Billy Wagner goes public in the past week discussing his tired arm. So what does Willie do? Puts him in there for a 6 out save. Smart move Willie. Real smart.