Thursday, July 29, 2010

THERE MUST BE SOME WAY OUT OF HERE. [7-28-10]

It’s easy to get lulled into a false sense of security, even if you know better, even if you’ve been burnt time and time again. You think, the Mets are home. It’s a Johan start. I am still gun-shy after the roadtrip, not ready to commit to the concept that The Team Is Different, because I am not seeing a different team yet. Tonight, even more so.

Even with all of that, the last thing you expect to see in a Santana start is to go through the opposing lineup once and then come back to the top (and get a few deep) IN THE FIRST INNING. Not to mention, of course, the 6 runs. I know people claim they heard boos, but I don’t even think people were booing Johan per se (if they are, they’re idiots) but rather OH MY GOD SIX IN THE FIRST INNING?

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

I’LL GO CRAZY IF I DON’T GO CRAZY TONIGHT. [7-27-10]

Let’s get this out of the way first. Obviously, the win was awesome and fantastic and Jeff Francoeur earned genuine applause from me tonight, instead of the usual derisive commentary that escapes the side of my mouth when he is at bat.

But I sat there thinking: Why the hell couldn’t you idiots do this on the road? And I was more than a little disgruntled. Sure, Wainright didn’t have his best stuff tonight, and Niese did have good stuff. It’s not that I wanted them to lose tonight in order to prove some idiotic theory, just seriously - really? 8-2? Where the hell was this offensive power on the west coast?

Sunday, July 25, 2010

DAN HAREN TO THE ANGELS.

I just thought I’d use the news of the Haren trade to post one of my photos of his second-to-last start with the Diamondbacks. (It is amusing to consider that we saw his last two starts with the Dbacks.)

I would have loved for this to have worked out for the Mets but at least he’s going to the Angels, and not anywhere else, if you get my drift.

DODGER STADIUM BP, 7-24-10.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

SAY GOODBYE TO HOLLYWOOD. [7-24-10]

The end came as it always does, ingloriously, us beating a hasty retreat up the stairs to the concourse so we can get out of the ballpark as quickly as we can. Oliver Perez may still have been standing there; I don’t know, because I wasn’t looking. Randy Newman booming out “I Love L.A.” as we bob and weave through the Dodgers fans who are strolling confidently out of Dodger Stadium as though their triumph was somehow predestined and they hadn’t run out of position players and didn’t throw an uneffective Broxton, Weaver and then Sherrill. By the time we navigated the acres of parking lots back to our rental car, we couldn’t even remember which Dodger had teed off of Oliver and had to look it up on Gameday so TBF could complete his scorecard. I guarantee you we hit the quickest exit out of Dodger Stadium ever executed by a non-home team fan who stayed for the entire game. In this town, that is sadly an accomplishment to be proud of.

DODGER STADIUM BP, 7-22-10.

Friday, July 23, 2010

FREE FALLING. [7-22-10]

Mets v Dodgers
7-22-10
Dodger Stadium

It was almost love at first sight, me and Dodger Stadium. It was just as gorgeous as all of the photographs. The sky was bluer than blue, the palm trees silhouetted in the distance, the air crisp and clean. History hung heavy in the place. There were families and teenagers and a sprinkling of Mets fans. I sat in seats two rows behind the fancy-shmancy seats right behind home plate, my seats just as good except that I didn’t have a free buffet in the club downstairs. I sat there and felt enormously lucky. It has been an amazing trip.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

THIS ONE GOES TO 14. [7-21-10]

Mets v Dbacks
7-21-10
Chase Field

However bad you think it might have been, sitting in Chase Field tonight, let me assure you it was worse. It was worse because there was, again, negative offense; because Jason Bay achieved the Golden Sombrero, because the guys behind us said things like Luis Castillo was the Mets’ version of Eric Byrnes, because the dad in the front row behind the dugout wearing the Affliction shirt waved at the cameras and taught his son to wave at the cameras at every single goddamn opportunity. There was that goddamn snake noise, there was an acrobatic mascot with a mask that looked like a homeless Disney fox running around the field, there was a large scary Randy Johnson running around the other side of the field.

The Mets lost. In extra innings. To the Diamondbacks.

And it was not surprising.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

BATTING PRACTICE, CHASE FIELD, 7-20-10

GET BACK. [7-20-10]

Mets v Dbacks
7-20-10
Chase Field

After the game ended, we went in search of food. We walked out of the restaurant around 10:15 pm, waved goodbye to our companions, and headed for the light rail station. The area around the ballpark was deserted; it was a Tuesday night, after all. The game had lasted a brisk two hours and twenty-three minutes, and it wasn’t a sellout; everyone had already headed for home. I wasn’t exactly worried but I also wasn’t pulling out my phone or camera as we waited for the train.

Luckily, it pulled up in less than five minutes, and we climbed on board. The denizens of the train were a rough bunch, and we tried to find the most neutral seats possible for the 20 minute ride back to our hotel by the airport. We thought we had chosen judiciously until a scruffy, over-tanned dude climbed into the seats across from us and took a good look.
“Leaving the game early? Can’t say as I blame you.”
Our mistake was that we didn’t just nod and smile and take out a book or something and do what you do on the subway in New York when someone starts to be chatty with you.
“No,” TBF said, “The game is over. It was done around 9.”
“No way! Wow, how about that. Good game, huh?”
“Not really.”
“What was the final score?”
“2-3.”
“Oh, so it was one of those games, huh?”
“Not really.”

See, that was our mistake. In the interest of being informative and helpful, because we were no longer in New York City, we might as well have hung up a neon sign that said TALK TO THE PEOPLE NOT FROM HERE.