Helloooo Keeeeeds. My name eeees Yo Esmiff. Please beat me repeatedly with a stick...
The Mets came aaaaaall the way back from deficit, rallied hard to tie the bloody game in the 8th, really - the whole team felt this was the Mets' game by now - only to see Joe Smith enter the game in the 8th (why? we're still checking on that) and walked a guy on four pitches with one out, allowed a ground ball single (to be fair with David Wright protecting the line at 3rd and widening the infield gap) and then, after a mound visit, after he convinced Rick Peterson he was man enough to get the job done, allowed a single to Geoff Blum that gave the Padres the lead right back and well, BLEEEEEEEEEEW the game.
How did Smith feel about this hideous act? "It's horrible."
Yes, indeed it is.
On the other hand, a night after the Mets underwent what we all thought was a revitalisation at the plate, they were steamed by the artwork of future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux who faced only 19 batters over five innings, struck out six and retired another seven on weak ground balls.
I mean imagine that - one night the Mets face the NL starter of the All-Star game and the next night they face a Hall of Famer. No wonder they only took one out of three in this series.
But once the Padres bullpen was allowed to grind, the Mets began to chip away at the 4-0 lead the Padres had accumulated.
First it was former Met Royce Ring surrendering a lead off homer to Carlos Delgado in the 7th which just barely cleared the glove of Mike Cameron in centerfield. Then David Wright hit his game-tying three-run homer in the 8th, santa maria!
Cha-Ching! Wright's Wake Up Call in the 8th
Of course there was no slouch going on the mound for the Mets in John Maine who allowed seven hits, two of which unfortunately, were homeruns.
Is the Delgado finally out of the box? After his horrifc beginning he is still continuing to hit as if he means it this month, at a .375 clip to raise his batting average all the way up to .251. By gawd, he might hit his weight yet this season.
Unfortunately, his fielding got in the way of the fun last night - it might have been slowness of foot which saw that ground ball hit to his left in the first inning carry on for a double which was in essence, the key stroke of an early two-run Padre lead.
Although the loss feels demoralising when after the comeback the victory felt in hand, even in losing the Mets are not looking too bad.
With the hated Dodgers looming - are they really "hated" or does the embarassment of that last road trip sweep still sting? - the Mets return to the scene of the earlier crime for some vengeance at Chavez Ravine.
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