Baseball's Antarctica

Kristina Horner is one of a handful of bloggers who have entered a contest to be able to blog from Antarctica. Certainly, it's a unique and interesting experience, as although people are stationed there at various times, only "cold-adapted plants and animals survive there."

I don't need to enter a contest to enter a desolate region. Definitely not tonight, for at this very moment, I'm in Washington, DC. Where the locals distract themselves from the latest foible from their beloved Redskins in many ways ... beer, politics, talking politics over a beer, stalking Alex Ovechkin, and the like. For a few, brave souls, they forget about a loss to the Lions by turning to baseball in the beltway ... the Washington Nationals ... as they combine with the New York Mets to form a rivalry with a long history, fierce competition, and 193 losses combined. There may or may not be more losses in the building then there are actual fans. But for the Nationals' faithful who've arrived, they do so because they love their baseball, and they know that a bright future is just around the corner.

For the Mets' faithful who've come all the way from New York City, they do so because they need acute mental observation. Nevertheless, I'm here ... nine innings, 193 losses, one deranged blogger.

This ...

is Baseball's Antarctica. Only broken hearts and long festering angst can survive there.

Tuesday's game featured all of the broken hearts and long festering angst you're used to seeing live, except with gray uniforms. It really was a microcosm of the season: Mets have a chance to break the game open in the first inning with bases loaded and one out but only score one run instead of the three or four they should have scored. Mike Pelfrey has his bad inning. Mets have a chance to take the lead back with, again, bases loaded and nobody out in the seventh, but score nothing. ("Ooh, we have the bases loaded, who's up? Brian Schneider! Oh, let's get on that Five Guys line.") Stellar defense featuring Anderson Hernandez and Luis Castillo (and by "stellar", I mean "stellar is to abominable as Gold Glove is to Anderson Hernandez and Luis Castillo". And these are the defensive specialists, no?

Then top it off with a heartbreaking ending in which Elijah Dukes (who's defense is also "stellar" at times), makes a spectacular wall crashing catch on a ball which, if it had ten, maybe fifteen more feet on it, would have been in my lap. Seriously ... I'm the guy in the Mets jersey in the front row standing up and stopping my camera because I think this projectile his headed right for me. Seeing that a Metropolitan hit it, I should know better ... I probably would have had the youtube video of the year. Instead, I have a drunk guy in a suit putting his arm around me screaming "Meeeeeeeeets Loooooooose!!!" after saying nothing for nine innings. Awesome.

Oh, and the pointless "Let's put Frankie in down by one" move by our fearless leader which only served to keep the game close so that Dukes can win the game right in front of my nose. Rub it in, why don't ya.

The expedition continues on Wednesday.

***

Some other oddities:

A Topps lineup? Where have we seen that before?

A helmet garbage can, where have we seen that before? (I'm guessing we ripped them off on that one.)

Hey, Ray Knight! Where have we seen him before? (I'm guessing they ripped us off on that one.)

The Mets aren't the only team to honor other franchises. Never you mind that the Nationals have only been around five years.

Hey, he hasn't even played for the Nationals! Then again, Tommy Lasorda never played for the Mets yet they honored him with his own day, so what do I know?

That Ceremonial First Pitch Had Some Serious Movement

Some may say that MacKenzie Brown's appearance at Citi Field was for a ceremonial first pitch. But in Omar Minaya's world, "ceremonial first pitch" is code for "audition". In fact, the seventh grader is already complaining that Dan Warthen is overworking her.

No wonder that Mike Pelfrey pitched relatively well against the Nationals on Saturday. You see, when it comes to having a fire lit under you, Ryan Church has Gary Sheffield (and Wily Mo Pena), and now Pelfrey has Brown. (Brown poses a deeper threat than Nelson Figueroa, who returns to Buffalo after no other franchise took a flyer on him.) Perhaps she can stick around for Oliver Perez's start on Sunday and teach him the two-seam grip along with how to pound the strike zone consistently.

Oh, never mind. Late word is that she's been designated for assignment to make room for Julio Franco.

***

The Libra in me would like to point out the following fact:

That the above was a sweet play ... not so much for the catch but the gun to double up the runner at first base. And we were worried that Murphy had an infielder's arm. It wasn't quite Endyesque (or is that "Endesque"? No, that sounds like a perfume, or a charcoal briquet brand ... "Chavesque"? No, that sounds like a political movement. Chavez Ravinous? Oh forget it, I'm tired), but it's nice to see that instead of Murphy, someone else's blooper reel is added to for a change.

The uniforms may have had no "o", but the Nationals have little "d".

The Good, The Bad, And The Certifiable

Simple. Ready:

• The Mets are good.
• The Nationals are bad.
• Elijah Dukes is insane.

And not the good kind of insane like Carlos Delgado's been for the Mets lately. No, Elijah Dukes is that special kind of crazy. Look, here are my simple rules for anger management at the plate:

• If you feel that a pitch hurled your way had the intent of ending your life, or costing you money come contract time by breaking an important bone, then by all means ... charge the mound and get down.
• If it's not quite that bad, then shut up and get in the batters box for the next pitch.

It really is that simple. Stop with this bat wagging "I'm gonna get you" staredowns, especially if the pitch comes inside and doesn't even hit you. Like I always say: Don't sing it, bring it. But no, Dukes apparently goes to the Cody Ross school of solving disputes and is willing to let someone get in front of him before he gets tough. And it's not like Dukes is 5'9" like Ross is ... in fact, Dukes could floss with the treehouse that Ross lives in since Dukes is like, six foot twelve. But apparently as a general rule, he doesn't fight anyone taller than Cody Ross.

But giving the "crotch chop" to fans in the stands for booing him is fair game. Nice job, X-Pac. You may stand tall, but you still have to stand on your toes to get a peek at fourth place ... so make a chant out of that with the rest of your softball girls.

And don't think it's a coincidence that after Dukes had to be calmed down like an overactive child for five minutes, Pelfrey all of a sudden couldn't find his game ... no doubt thrown out of rhythm by Elijah's little hissyfit. Luckily he withstood the Nationals' ongoing "dead cat bounce" and escaped the game after five innings with a 7-5 lead. But then ...

"You know, it's getting really f***ing expensive to keep throwing gasoline on all these fires."

When you come into a game, walk the leadoff batter, and then let the likes of Emilio Bonifacio have ten pitch at-bats off you, you are asking for trouble. I mean, Emilio Bonifacio is just Michael Bourn with a higher average and a cooler name, and Aaron Heilman's nibbling? Nibbling??!? Heilman would then proceed to give up a bomb to Cristian Guzman and couldn't even finish the sixth inning.

And I'll maintain that Heilman was only in the game tonight because the pen was extended a bit Tuesday night and that Pelfrey couldn't get himself to the sixth (probably because the Mets didn't want to extend him in another Nats/Mets slugfest.) Snoop Manuel has been reluctant to put Heilman into key spots lately, and that mistrust ... along with ten pitch at-bats to Emilio Bonifacio and bombs to Cristian Guzman ... is going to wind up keeping Heilman off the postseatson roster (and cinch the Manager of the Year award for Manuel). Store that in your mind's Rolodex.

(Editor's note: If that's the case, why haven't we seen Al Reyes yet ... just for a look?)

But once again, the Mets had the bat out again for 13 runs in their 13-10 win (they would have kicked that other extra point but, you know ... Mike Nugent was hurt), helped out by the fact that Lastings Milledge was playing center field somewhere on Parsons Blvd. and base hit after base hit in the seventh inning was falling in front of him (not to mention Guzman's error which went into center field where it took Carlos Beltran five seconds to realize the ball was in center ... and still had time to go to third because Milledge was playing Daniel Murphy to hit it to the chop shops.)

And kudos to David Wright not only for going 4-for-4 and smacking a dinger to give the Mets breathing room in the 8th, but for wearing his cape in the sixth and coming from nowhere to field Wil Nieves' topper off Joe Smith's glove in the seventh and bare-handing the play to nail him. To me, easily ... Wright's highlight of the night. Considering he had three sparklers and four hits, that's saying something.

***

Thursday is an off-day in Metland ... but the Phillies and Brewers kick off a super-cool four game set that either brings the Phillies close to the wild card, or knocks them out of the box completely. So here's what I'm thinking: If you guys ... you loyal readers ... want it, I'll put together a live blog of the Phillies/Brewers game so that instead of following it on Yahoo! or something, we can have a little Internet party here on the blog and have some fun following the enemy. I'm usually not feeling a live blog for a Mets game ... you're all watching it anyway, typing would be a waste of time for you. But for an out of town game, maybe you want a different and strange way of following it. So why not follow it here?

So for you guys that don't have the MLB package, or even for you guys who do, and are into this, just give me a "hell yeah" in the comment section, and if there's enough yes votes, I'll set it up and we'll make an appointment for a 7:00 enemy live blog right here. The ball's in your court.

Maine Up!

All right, first things first ... as in the first pitch of Tuesday night's victory from John Maine that nailed Felipe Lopez in the leg. Statement? Maybe, maybe not. But Maine has been in the middle of controversy before ... twice last season he had chances to dust guys. First, it was after Hong-Chih Kuo's bat flip after the third home run in three pitches. Then, it was during the Mets/Marlins brawl ... but that was while Maine was pitching a no-hitter.

Tonight, after the Nationals chanted and danced like "softball girls" (says the man who's now a minor leaguer) the previous night, John Maine coincidentally hits the first batter of the game. Well played, Bangor. He gets the controversy over and done with right off the bat so the two teams can go about their business of playing baseball instead of letting it linger and waiting for ... say, Elijah Dukes to come up so he can hit him. Should John Maine have waited and hit the man who was seemingly most responsible for the chants?

(Maine is a man, but he's not crazy. You see how big Elijah Dukes is?)

But I love what Maine did. I love that he sent a message to protect the honor of his teammate. Whether Nelson Figueroa was justified in what he said, or whether he needs to suck it up and ignore the Romper Room in the third base dugout, Maine stood up for his guy. It's not a pre-requisite that everybody in the room has to like each other off the field ... but it does help when teammates stick up for each other between the lines. Maine did that. And he did it in such a way that the Nationals backed down and didn't escalate the fray by retaliating.

Sit, stay.

Meanwhile:

Looks like Figueroa and Sosa got the boot on the Mets very own reality series. Figueroa was designated for assignment after the Nationals Cheer Squad tried to get in his head Monday night. Also on Monday night, Jorge Sosa was so bad that he actually forced the Mets do to the sane thing (something they try to avoid at all costs) and DFA him instead of sending down Joe Smith. You've got to be a special kind of awful to make the Mets do something right. So the Mets will now try to trade Sosa for what they hope will be a highly flavorful ham sandwich.