So I had a barbecue chicken sandwich from Boston Market today. It was delicious. But near the end of the first half of the sandwich, I got one of those pieces of chicken cartilage that must have gotten in there mistakenly ... and I gagged some of it up. Trudged on after a delay to get hungry again, I ate the second half of the sandwich. While being happy that I didn't gag on anything else, I was looking at the loose pieces of chicken that had fallen off the sandwich at some point, and among the rubble, I found a bone. So my chicken sandwich experience had a gag job, ended good, but could have been the demise of this blogger.Sunday's Mets game was, on paper, that chicken sandwich.
Oliver Perez was the first part of the sandwich. Then there was the two hour and fifty minute rain delay. Billy Wagner (Mr. All-Star) provided the gag job (I wonder if Oliver thought that Country Time should have battled a little bit more). And then, Fernando Tatis and Joe Smith came through with the delicious ending which had all the potential to end in an extreme choke job (the bone) that might have ended me once and for all.
(Editor's note: The above isn't a made-up, alcohol induced analogy. All references to the chicken sandwich are not purely coincidental. And names have not been changed to protect Boston Market. The story you just read is real.)
And since we had the beginnings of a scintillating discussion about the "clutchness" of Carlos Beltran two posts ago, it's worth noting that without Beltran's RBI single in the ninth to give the Mets a 2-0 lead (and pick up the un-clutch in the ninth inning David Wright in the process), Jayson Werth's home run would have been the death blow, and these New York Mets would have been toast. So all praise due to Beltran for a clutch hit which turned out to be more important than we thought. I maintain though that a cleanup hitter in his prime should be doing that slightly more often. How much better would the Mets look today of Beltran could have only delivered in, say, two other spots this season when presented the opportunity (Friday night, for example)? Just two? But Beltran deserves a world of credit, along with your praise, this afternoon.
(I would also like to re-iterate the warmth my heart received due to the throwback relief job that Smith did in winning the game while pitching the last 2 and 1/3 innings, mostly without a net. Tug McGraw would have been proud.)
Despite losing the pitching mismatch of Johan Santana vs. J.A. Happ, if Pedro Martinez can somehow pull out a victory over noted Met killer Adam Eaton (I'm resigned to the fact that it's going to have to be a 1-0 win folks), then even I can't complain about taking three out of four in Philadelphia, even if it was the hard way. Nothing comes easy anyway ... not even a chicken sandwich, apparently.
11 comments:
There can be no 1-0 wins with this team. Ron made the point in the 9th yesterday that the last time the Mets won a game scoring 2 runs or less was last July. I wonder if that's the longest active streak in the majors....
I was shocked by that stat mentioned by queensguy. Tells you something about how our bullpen has performed over the past year. And yesterday's win? Totally shocking after that 9th inning two-out two strike implosion, the SECOND one Wagner has produced this year.
Glad you gave props to Beltran. Despite his recent failings late and close, I still think he's one of the top 3 or 4 CFs in the game.
Not really sure what's happening with Wright, who failed twice yesterday in clutch situations. And Church? This is getting real scary. There's only so many times you can get away with starting corner outfielders of Anderson/Aguila and Chavez.
They should hammer Eaton. But I'm prepared for another 2 or 3 run output.
Metstra, you're assuming the same thing would have happened in the bottom of the 9th (Werth's 2 run HR) if Beltran hadn't gotten the RBI in the top of the inning. But with a 1 run lead, Wagner probably pitches a little differently.
In fact, he probably focuses better and shuts the Phils down. So Beltran's hit actually almost cost the Mets the win. Beltran can't even pick the spot to be clutch...
Okay, just kidding folks. With all the Beltran bashing I thought a little sarcasm was in order. True, the guy has been bad in big spots, but so have a lot of other guys. He's still a pretty good CF.
By the way, was that really a 2:50 rain delay?! They absolutely should have called the stupid game. I even TIVO'ed the show after the game, tacked on 1 1/2 extra hours, and still didn't catch the end...
Regarding the Darling statistic, it should be noted that the Mets have won 8 games where the opponent scored less than 2 runs. So if the Mets offense was a little less potent on those days, they could have won with 2 runs or less.
You know you've got seriously blogging problems when you find yourself taking pictures of your food before you eat it. Much like I did with my fish taco in San Diego last month.
Toast,
If I could have done it with the actual sandwich it would have had lawsuit written all over it.
(P.S. I once took a picture of my nacho sauce at a Jets game after some idiot landed a paper airplane right in the center of it. Bullseye.)
Yeah - no kidding - I've eaten at Boston Market, and no way do they have a sandwich that looks that good. I was chalking that one up creative license.
I'm typing this here just outside Philly, and guess what? Its raining!
Rickey's hungry for an Oliver Perez sandwhich on rye. With sauerkraut.
I've heard that the Oliver Perez sandwich can be somewhat nutty.
Please explain to me WHAT the pink hello kitty bag was doing...and weather we can keep it?
I have pictures if you need them.
As per my study commented on here..
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=12468344&postID=6052526171036238782
..the Mets have just about 'gotten the ball rolling.' Just one win to go!!
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