Wednesday, September 26, 2007

More Than You Will Know

Here's to you, Philip Humber.

A borough turns it's lonely eyes to you.

Whoo, whoo, whoo.

Phil, surely you have been given the tools to make your first start in the major leagues a success as you had the advantage of being in the dugout while Pedro Martinez was holding court for the better part of two innings. It was interrupted, of course, by the crowd's outburst at seeing the final score from Philadelphia flash on the screen. It really was amusing seeing your group, which included yourself, John Maine, and Mike Pelfrey sponge as much knowledge as they can from Petey. But it is you who gets to use that knowledge first.

You sure as hell need it to stop this latest horrific slide which, while only two games long, has seen the lowest scoring team in the National League score 23 runs in two games, which was one too many to accommodate our grand but short comeback in the ninth. And guess who gets to face Embezzlement Row next? That's right, you.

Just pretend it's Stanford or Hawaii, and you'll be fine.

***

Was it me, or was Tuesday night the first time that Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez approached ripping Willie Randolph?

No, I don't think it was a conscious effort by them to do so, but Willie made some curious moves in the seventh which saw the Nationals score two important tack on runs. First, he had Scott Schoeneweis warm up with two or three right handers coming up, but not a righty along with him while Carlos Muniz was pitching his second inning in relief and walking the park home.

"The have two mounds out there, right?"
Never has so much been said by saying so little.

Again, I'm not implying that the announcers are going after the manager here, but that, combined with Willie not bringing in Schoeneweis to face Brian Schneider after warming him up for practically the whole inning only to see Schneider whack a two run single off of Jorge Sosa, brought about the Gary and Keith underlining the fact that Willie's decisions that inning were a bit bizarre. And for the announcers to highlight it like that is a little bit out of character for them. I wonder if the growing discontent among fans and bloggers, along with the increased buzz by the mainstream media has made the SNY guys just a little bit more aware of Randolph's moves and methods, and more inclined to discuss them?

And if that is the case, then it's a first class lesson in why bloggers not named Metstradamus are important...and influential. (Bloggers who are named Metstradamus are just plain annoying.)

***

What was once this:

Is now a concept so foreign I can't even find a picture for it. Mets...rooting for Braves. Mets fans doing the chop...and not in derision.

It's a phenomenon sweeping the country as the Braves play spoiler. This was from Wrigley:

Black is up. East is white. And I'm not sure I can handle it.

8 comments:

MetFanMac said...

Frankly, I don't believe this year's Mets even DESERVE to win anything. Sure, if they win the WS *ptoo ptoo ptoo* I'll be happy, but there will always be a voice at the back of my mind saying: "We didn't earn that."
(This is different from the 82-79 '73 Mets, who came in with low expectations and rose to the challenge late in the year.)

Charity said...

This is honestly driving me up the wall. Please will you just freaking win. I would've taken the comeback last night, really I would've...but I want a good old fashioned beat down on some the Nats now.

Anonymous said...

It's a testament to the weakness of the division leaders and the resurgence of the guys close behind that everyone wants the Braves to win. Braves could definitely knock Philly not only out of the division but the Wildcard too. Go Rockies!

Jaap said...

I'm still holding on to the faint belief that this is all some sort of mewling buildup to a grandiose finish that see the Mets suddenly right themselves and run the table in the postseason.

One of the themes of these not-so-New Mets: starting pitchers with little experience in very big games. Goes with the territory of a geriatric starting rotation.

Anonymous said...

Yes indeed, Cohen ripped Willie (and rightfully) last night and I can't remember him ever being that critical.

Was it just me, or did Humber, Maine and Pelf look like a captive audience, just hoping Pedro would eventually wrap it up?

Speaking of wrapping it up, my thought is this: instead of using these God awful pitchers, Willie should just put the ball on a tee for the opposing hitters. At least there will be no walks.

This is excruciating . . .

katherine said...

Re Willie: he hasn't been the same since his shoulder surgery - I wonder if he is still in pain or having trouble sleeping, which might affect his judgement.
Anyway, I was absurdly comforted by a few things last night. One, at least we didn't roll over and give up. Two, Reyes may have broken out of his slump. Three, we made Chad Cordero look bad - I wonder what would have happened had the Mets been succesful in getting him for the pennant drive, as apparently they tried to do.....

Anonymous said...

Looks like the beatdown didn't happen and there was no rolling over on the part of the Nats. Looks like rooting for the chop didn't work and the hope of another young Met pitcher playing over his head did not come to fruition. Every night its either doomsday on this blogsite or diehard fans desperately looking for a bright side. Now the gap is only one game and no game is a given. Yes, the Mets are home but that hasn't helped. Yes, the Mets are playing inferior divisional opponents and that didn't help. Yes, the Cards are sweeping in for one meaningless game. Will that help? I wouldn't count on it after seeing this story unfold over the last two or three weeks.

With four games left, the Mets are very much in danger of dropping the division and falling out of the playoffs altogether in a historic collapse. This is very real...and you can analyze it all you want...what the Mets have done and how they've done it has been horrific.

Anonymous said...

Metstradamus:
I'm worried silly. I can't muster a smile. I can't even look at Yankee or Met fans!

According to Shpigel of The Times, "No team has ever missed the postseason after having a seven-game lead in its division or league with 17 to play, but the Mets are in danger of doing exactly that."

THAT NUMBER 17 really bothers me.
I'm losing sleep over that number.

MET HISTORIANS, is it not true that in 1962, the Mets lost 17 straight games???

17.
The age you give your kid the car keys.
I did a little research and now I'm starting to flip out!
Did you know:
-It takes 17 muscles to produce a smile.
-The 17-year locust has the longest cycle of development of any known insect.
-Friday the 17th is unlucky in Italy.
-The mummy King Tut was wrapped in 17 layers of linen.
-President Bill Clinton's dog Buddy was killed by a vehicle driven by a 17-year-old girl.

We're in deep trouble. I can't find the muscles, all 17, to smile.
That's not good.

-Bulldog Dad.
17 minutes before 1 a.m.