the mets are so bo derek

I had this whole visual joke all ready to go but then I see that Metstradamus has beaten me to the punch. LOL@me.

Last night’s game was a rollercoaster, equal parts excruciating, exciting, disappointing, hilarious, and ultimately deeply satisfying.

But I won’t call it surprising. Not after these ten games. I’m not surprised by the fight back we witnessed last night. I’m not surprised by Fernando Tatis anymore, because now it seems that the only time he ever gets a hit is when someone’s on base, waiting to get driven in. I’m not surprised that Carlos Delgado is resembling an honest-to-God Major League hitter again, because he’s been taking his walks like a patient man and waiting for a meatball to smoke, which he inevitably does. I’m not surprised by David Wright’s heroics, because when Argenis Reyes singled in the top of the ninth I nonchalantly thought, “Well a third two-run homer would get us back in business,” and then instantly I heard the ball ricocheting off his bat, Wayne Hagin’s voice soaring with it and optimism and my pumped fist as it went over the wall. And I’m not surprised the succession of hard hits by Beltran, Easley, Delgado, and Tatis, because over the past ten games we’ve seen this team get on these runs, stringing together hits for a big inning, moving the line along like automatic assembly to craft something so lovely and satisfying like a four-run ninth, tenth win in a row, and a tie for first place.

Not surprised by the pitching either, sorry to say. Not surprised by Santana’s terrible start; it figures the one time the Mets actually score oodles of runs during a game he pitches it’d be after he was knocked out in the fourth. He’s had his dominant-looking performances here and there this season, but usually they’ve been spoiled by lack of offense and/or bullpen meltdown. I’m not sure I’ve been wholly satisfied with Santana since the first game of the season, and I expect that to change soon enough. It’s enough that Pelfrey has started to look the stud. But you could sense Santana’s troubles a-brewin’ during that second inning when the Reds loaded the bases. He just didn’t have it, and a few innings later–afforded a 2-0 lead thanks to Delgado–it all went down the tubes real fast.

The bullpen’s 19 1/3 scoreless innings streak had to end sometime, and after Muniz relieved Santana and Feliciano relieved Muniz, it was looking pretty good. You’d of course have to think that any runs given up by the bullpen would eventually–according to recent history at least–happen with a combination of Aaron Heilman and Scott Schoeneweis, which is exactly what happened, despite their recent efficacy. The troubling part about it was Heilman, as fantastically good over the past month and a half as he was bad during the first two months, getting two quick outs in the inning, only to give up a double, intentional walk, and another walk. Smart move by Jerry Manuel to bring in Schoeneweis, who’s been great at inducing ground balls but, if my memory is correct, not-so-great at stranding inherited runners. Enter bases-clearing double. Thankfully for them, Sanchez pitched a scoreless eighth and the offense would work its magic.

And what to say about Wagner? Sure, I was feeling a little shaky considering his All-Star appearance, but after Encarnacion popped up on the first pitch I remembered, “Wags only blows it against the Phillies!” (insert wah-wah horns). At any rate, nice to see an easy 1-2-3 deal-sealing after the offense’s tremendous comeback in the top of the inning.

So many heroes last night, from big (Delgado) to small (the other Reyes), but with a two-out, 2 RBI single to cut the score to 5-4, and then to tie the score at 8 in the ninth, player of the game has to be David Wright. And of course, let us gaze upon his bounteous beauty:

Let’s go Mets. Turn it up to 11.

it would be nice to beat the phillies more than 10% of the time, but let’s call this a stepping stone

Go Big Pelf!

Well that’s more like it. Our nine-game losing streak to Phillies has finally (huzzah!) been snapped. Break out the bubbly!

After a stressful day of trying to find ANYONE who would go to the game with me tonight (considering all my friends were sick/busy/unresponsive after initial interest/had experienced in-person at least two Pelfrey losses last season and had had enough/more injured than Pedro, Alou, and El Duque combined), I warily posted an ad on Craigslist only to have a very nice Chicagoan via Los Angeles who’d spent time in New Orleans–attending many a Zephyr game–respond, and we had quite the pleasant evening, mist be damned. It helps when your team wins 8-2.

The offense tonight wasn’t exactly sterling (how in hell do you manage to have the bases loaded in both the first and second innings and only score one run?!) but the Mets were able to capitalize on some ungodly/comical errors by the Phillies, including two by my favorite Phillie Eric Bruntlett. Can he play all the time plzkthx. That lovely man got a very warm Shea round of applause when he came up to bat later in the game.

The big story for me was seeing Pelfrey (of whom, ahem, I may have said some not-nice things about once upon a time) look loose and comfortable on the mound, doing a lot to alleviate at least some of the fears that Mets fans have regarding our starting rotation. Not all, of course, but some. If he can pitch with any semblance of the consistency and–forgive me–flat-out cojones of tonight, then I’ll be more than happy to see him up here all year. What was most impressive to me was working out of that jam in the second inning: by rights he should’ve been out of it if not for a SPECTACULARLY HORRENDOUS fielding job by Jose Reyes on what should’ve been the inning-ending DP. I may or may not have yelled “Wake the fuck up Reyes!” with children around. A run would eventually score, but instead of channeling an ‘07 Perez/Maine Ritalin commercial, Pelfrey hunkered down and got through the inning relatively unscathed. I really wanna buy me one of them shirts.

Other tidbits:

• I am very excited for CitiField. I hope I’ll be able to go at least once.
• There’s some kind of ridiculous fan dance-off that occurs at some point. The PA guy played some Bee Gees and some white girl and some white boy were the contestants. After watching their atrocious moves I certainly screamed “Y’all whitefolk can’t dance!” To the amusement of the Dominican father and son behind me. The white boy eventually won, mainly because he did a terrible worm while the girl just kind of did the “Wooo I’m so drunk!!!!” sorority girl shuffle.
• Very many people commented approvingly on my Mets-colored Converse sneakers, which I custom designed on their website. Dorky yes, but this happened when I was listening to a John Maine-pitched spring training game, and I was full of optimism and light.
• Phillies fans are really ugly and boorish. There was at least one fight that broke out, which prompted a lot of jeers and laughter from the Mets fans in attendance
• My favorite at-bat songs: Brian Schneider’s “In The Air Tonight” (Phil Collins, lolz) and Pelfrey’s “Nasty” (Janet, Ms. Jackson if you’re…well you know. Song rulz!)
• There’s nothing better than a 7-train ride home after a win and everyone in the car chants “Let’s Go Mets!” and gives each other high-fives and fist-bumps and thumbs-up. Hey Mets, please give us fans more of these moments please and thank you.

EXCUSE ME WHILE I SOIL MYSELF WITH GLEE

What a striking group of men.

I am already so excited for baseball to start. I need something to take up all my emotional energy, something to keep my awake at nights, something to ruin my days. A couple of hot guys in blue and orange: that’ll do.

congrats, sox

In honor of the Red Sox sweeping the Rockies, I present you with limited photographic evidence of a Halloween party this weekend where my costume was “Masshole” (aided by a shirt from one Masshole and a Sox hat from another). It, coupled with the accent, was apparently so authentic that I had dudes convinced I was Boston all night (in spite of my non-whiteness!), all of whom kept talking to me about the Sox and would come up to ask the score at various points in the night.

Behold some frightening images:

I think I was pretending to be Pedroia.

Oh, also:

The sad thing is that these photos were taken early in the night, and I progressively started to look even worse/drunker. I really dove headfirst into this characterization. YES, THAT MUST BE IT.

OH MAH GAHWD DOOD

What a bunch of chowdaheads.

Congratulations to the Boston Red Sox for winning the AL pennant and advancing to the World Series! Behind a–finally–impressive performance by Dice-K and a big offensive performance by Dustin Pedroia (the pride of Woodland, CA wutwut), the Sox survived a taut six innings before exploding in the seventh and eighth, and rallied from yet another 3-1 series deficit.

Truth be told, it didn’t even seem that close. Once Jake Westbrook gave up four hits in the first inning (though only one run)–after Dice-K looked dominant, with that rowdy Fenway Park crowd–it seemed like a foregone conclusion. Actually, for me, it seemed like a foregone conclusion after game five. Before that game, I remarked to someone, “If Cleveland doesn’t close this out at home tonight, the Sox are winning it all.” Look at me predicting shit.

So. It’s the Team of Destiny vs. the New Yankees.

There are a few oddities in play here. For one, COORS FIELD HAS SNOW ON IT OMG. Second-of-ly, entering game one, the Rockies will have not played a game in nine days. Will any of this matter considering they haven’t lost a game in over a month? OVER A MONTH. They last lost on September 15th, for Holliday’s sake.

As for the Sox, well–they seem like a team that, when they get on a roll, they’re unstoppable (versus the actual unstoppability FOR A WHOLE MONTH of the Rockies). The lineup in the past three games has seemed to finally wake up, and they finally decided to start Jacoby Ellsbury in favor of Coco Crisp, which the entirey of Red Sox Nation (or at  least, those to whom I’m privy) had been clamoring for in the past week. Also, on paper, doesn’t Beckett-Schilling-Matsuzaka look incredibly frightening?

I don’t see how the Rockies can match up with the Sox in either pitching or hitting. But then again, the Rockies took two out of three at Fenway earlier this year when they were nowhere near the Team of Destiny. I guess teams of destiny just find a way to win.

Still: Red Sox in six.