Wednesday, May 27, 2009

PLAY IS UNDER REVIEW. [5-27-09]

I suppose none of it should surprise us any more, that what for any other team would be a bulletproof win - a Johan Santana start against the Washington Nationals - would end up being a comedy of errors and almost painful to watch. Before this game started, people were proclaiming that tonight would be the no hitter - I blame each and every one of you, whether someone on Twitter or this random guy sitting behind us in row 15, who felt the need to vocalize this directly, for Johan’s off night. Yes, TBF asked me what would cheer me up before the game started, and I had the good grace to describe it as “the thing whose name we dare not speak”.
“Well, that would cheer me up too. But so would a one-hitter, or a sweep, or Johan hitting three home runs.”
“No. I don’t want him to get hurt. You were the one complaining that he should be kept in bubble wrap between starts.”
“But he’s pitching tonight. He can hit.”
“No. I don’t even want him running hard.”

Of course, that would be the least of our problems, and by the time Johan walked J. Zimmermann (two n’s!), the Nationals pitcher - who didn’t have a major league hit - all of that talk seemed very, very far away.

Johan Santana got 11 K’s. But Johan also had over 100 pitches by the 6th inning. He just had no control tonight. The beautiful thing about sitting up behind home plate is that you can at least clearly see inside, outside, or over the plate; no, you can’t see high or low, but you know you are seeing something different than everyone else based on the disgruntled moans you hear from sections to the left or right of you. Of course, I would rather hear disgruntled moans from people who are playing attention, than disgruntled boos because someone’s trying to do the wave when we’re 3 and 1 on a batter with 2 outs, or any kind of boos directed at JOHAN SANTANA.  No really. Someone wearing Mets gear was booing JOHAN SANTANA. Do you actually know anything about baseball or do you just not have anything else to do on a Wednesday night?

But the Mets hit, for the most part, with the exception of David Wright, who earned himself the Golden Sombrero. It is odd indeed to look out on the field and feel like you don’t recognize anyone out there. They’re your guys, at least in name; they’re wearing your laundry… but they don’t feel like it. You don’t know how they’re going to play or if they can be trusted to catch that ball or make that out. It’s like watching someone else’s team at times. Rookies making very, very rookie mistakes (welcome to New York City, Fernando Martinez).

Even Daniel Murphy breaking out of his slump couldn’t just be straightforward. I just thought he hit a fly ball. TBF and the guys behind me were saying it hit the Subway sign. And then the familiar dance begins again, as fans make the HR sign. I feel an incredible case of deja vu coming on as Jerry comes out of the dugout and the umpires huddle briefly in the infield before heading off into the bowels of Citi to watch the video review… again.

In the end, we won - but not without JJ and then Frankie offering their own drama, Mr. Rodriguez giving the Nationals the gift of another run, before just throwing goddamn strikes and ending the freaking game. It was a sweep, but it felt like the most drawn-out painful ending to one I have yet to endure.

Here’s the Flickr set from tonight.

Other things:

1. THEY ARE NOT PLAYING ‘MEET THE METS’.

This is an outrage even larger than “Sweet Caroline”. I made a joke about it earlier this week on Twitter - something I stole from a friend who said ‘The song says ‘knocking those home runs over the wall, not over the orange line’ and I got a bunch of responses on Twitter saying that the Mets weren’t playing it any more. Well, they didn’t play it tonight. Listen, I know that they want to change the uniforms and who knows, the logo and the colors and maybe we’re in for a D-backs style rebranding exercise - but for the love of all that is good and holy, what is wrong with “Meet The Mets”? Why is this organization so bound and determined to destroy any tie to its past?

2. Edie Falco throwing out the first pitch, just because I got an awesome picture:

3. For some reason, they cut down some of the flagpoles on the Pepsi Porch. TBF says he thinks it’s because they meant to have enough for the banners, but didn’t.

4. And finally, another delightful encounter with Mets security, who accused us of sneaking in alcohol in water bottles, and claimed that it’s always been Mets policy to not allow unsealed bottles.

I just spent 15 minutes re-reading the Mets A-to-Z guide and I do not see anywhere where I can only bring in sealed bottles of water. For the four years we have been going together, we have brought in water bottles filled with water, or Arizona iced tea. Sometimes we just fill up Poland Spring bottles we have in the house, other times we fill up a sport bottle. In the four years we have been plan holders, there has never ever been a problem at security, ever, with doing this. The most that they’ve done is open the container and smelled what was inside. Today we were curtly informed that we cannot bring in open water bottles, that it has ‘always’ been like that. The security guard refused to call his supervisor until we refused to move, and then we were told that we “got away with it” - for FOUR YEARS? I *know* there are many ballparks that only allow sealed bottles - some don’t allow water at all - others limit the size and quantity - but all of those ballparks CLEARLY state that policy on their web site.  There is nothing on the Mets web site that says this. Change the web site, publicize the policy, but selective enforcement is bullshit, accusing patrons of wrongdoing with no proof is bullshit, and being rude about it is also bullshit. “I’m sorry, ma’am, you must have dealt with security who wasn’t aware of the policy. If it doesn’t say that on the web site, thank you for mentioning that, I’ll make sure to bring that to someone’s attention.” Not “We can’t let that in, you could have filled that bottle with vodka.”  I am so thoroughly tired of this crap. Having people standing at the top of the escalators saying “Welcome to Citi Field” means nothing.