What looked after Monday like an imposing bullpen looked on Wednesday rather like an inept fire department.
If after one mere game you were under the delusion that every day was going to be a cakewalk, a play-it-as-they-drew-it-up-on-the-board sort of sleepy victory, no doubt your Mets skin became a little more calloused after the gruelling 9-7 victory over what looks to be a fairly mediocre Reds team.
But they got there eventually....
Not only did the quintuple of Bobby Parnell, Pedro Feliciano, Sean "I get hit hard every day" Green, Mr Poootz and K-Rod allow 9 base runners and three runs over 4 innings (5 of which were gifts, free passes, attempts to give the game away) but K-Rod nearly blew an ugly, ugly save by nearly giving up a game-losing homer to Lance Nix, a career .235 hitter. Yeah it "only" made it to the warning track but a little gust of wind the other way and the Mets would be looking at a chilling 11-9 loss on a grand slam walk off homer instead of an ugly 9-7 win.
On the bright side, well, the Mets won. It's important to keep that in perspective.
But ugly, ugly, ugly.
Votto watches his three-run blast that gave the Reds the first inning lead
Ugly from Big Pelf giving away a 2-0 lead in the first inning by surrendering a three run homer to the third batter he faced and using 44 pitches to finally get out of the inning.
Ugly from Jose Reyes' first inning error that allowed another run to score and kept the inning alive for the Reds forcing more pitches from an already unsteady Pelf.
Ugly watching Pelf hitting for himself with the bases loaded in the 4th and the Mets down by two runs. Sure, there probably wasn't much choice under the circumstances but Pelf clearly didn't have his best stuff out there and his rocketing pitch count meant he was likely to be out of there after another inning anyway. Presumably Jerry figured with the Reds pitching staff there'd be plenty more opportunities.
Ugly double play ground out by Ryan Church to end what should have been an even more extended rally in the 5th at a meagre three runs.
Welke takes a quick smoke break after the strain of the 9th inningUgly all the way to Bill Welke's absolute CHIMP call in the 9th, awarding a safe passage to Edwin Encarnacion by ruling Carlos Delgado had taken his foot off the bag prematurely on an easy ground ball second out that gave life to an otherwise lifeless Reds rally.
But look, what wasn't ugly was looking at 2-0 for the season, regardless of how they got there.
Point to Pelf surviving without his stuff. Good. Tough.
Point to Delgado's two-run homer in the 1st.
Point to Brian Schneider's rather unlikely three run double in the 7th.
Point to victory, kids. That's all that matters this early.
******
Next up is the Magical Mystery Oliver Tour in an afternoon game, which, if you translate to English time, is perfect. First pitch just after 5:30 in the afternoon just in time for week-ending cocktails for the onset of a four-day bank holiday. Perhaps flagons of stiff English ale will get us through the Ollie's performance. He should be well-rested at least. And perhaps flagons of stiff English ale will also get us through watching what might project to be the Mets' B team given they are playing an afternoon game following a night game and stars will be rested, even this early on no doubt. High doses of Alex Cora and Balloon Head Castro will do that to you.
And what's up with Hillbilly Wagner?
I thought he was pretty much gone for the season. Written off.
And there he is out there speculating he's going to throw off the mound and maybe back in August? Can you imagine that bullpen? The heart attack kids. On the other hand, can you imagine what kind of goods a reasonably healthy Wagner might be worth on the trade deadline market? Hmmmm. Something to consider. Our future.
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3 comments:
I feel a lot more comfortable with HillBilly pitching the 6th than the 9th, The 6th is a good inning for Gutless. Flagons of ale sounds pretty good, even at 8 in the morning. As for the Chimp call, well, just remember, other teams hate us more than they should, the umps hate us despite their pledge of impartiality; what could the reason be? Could it be: JOSE REYES???!!! Just kidding. And besides, Jerry does not mind that teams hate his antics. Thank you Jerry. Remember that when the Astros are drubbing us out of the playoffs some Sunday in October behind the 1-hit pitching of ???Brian Moeller??? The thing that really disturbs me about this team is the way Delgado reacted in the 9th. Jumping off the base like that, cheating, if you will, an excepted practice most of the time, but doing it here for a runner that DID NOT MATTER. Or when Beltran sacrifices on his own. Or when Jose Reyes steals on a 3-1 count. A fastball count. Do you wonder why David Wright, a turtle by comparison,, has a better percentage stealing than Jose? And even more frightening, what if that steal was actually a hit and run?. Forcing a batter to swing at an inferior strike on 3-1? That gives me an even greater sense of foreboding. That means our manager is dumb as well. Jerry has been gently hinting around that the team is stupid, so I guess it is on Jose. But that is my point. WE ARE DUMB!!!
yeah jdon, who knows where the Hillbilly will end up. His arm is probably not going to be much use even if he can throw off the mound - it takes more time than this to recovery from surgery. The Chimp was behind the plate yesterday, causing more damage but I can't fault Delgado for doing what he did. As you say, it's an accepted practice most of the time so why does a Chimp have to play god and decide it's time to call someone out on it?
Reyes, I dunno. In dreamland. Still reeling from the WBC, no doubt.
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