Hellooooooo, Marlins!
How was that for a first inning? Jose Reyes adds to his caught stealing total (now double his amount of successful steals, way to use that head for speed, Jose) and then Josh Johnson's 98 mph fastball struck out David Wright. You can actual hear the ball sizzle on the telly broadcast.
Second inning highlight, everybody's hero, The Magical Murph makes his first true bonehead play of the season, dropping an inning ending fly ball for no apparent reason, to allow the Marlins to stay alive and go ahead 2-0. A two run lead against Johnson looks formidable.
Marlin announcers race to the finish...
At one point, a foul ball is hit into the seats, an adult male jumps up and snatches it just as a little kid (on Kids Day at the Marlins Football Stadium) is going for. The muppet Marlin announcers tsk tsk taking a foul ball souvenir from a kid but then the guy gives it to his own kids. Should be enough right there but then one of the Marlin Muppet Announcers says, completely unprovoked, must be a Mets fan. What the fuck does that mean? Floridians hate their own children? A Marlin fan wouldn't snatch a ball for his kid? Bastids. It's like listen to a hillbillies give jug band commentary. Lead Muppet, Tommy Hutton. Apprentice Shisterhosen, Rich Waltz. Champion Arseholes. I know, not proper Easter thoughts but fuck it, the Mets are down 2-0 and it ent looking good. Listening to these half wits only compounds the aggravation.
After four innings we wouldn't want to jinx it or anything but Johnson hasn't given up a hit yet. No jinx mind, just a no hitter already, no hitter, no hitter. Johnson's got a no hitter through four...
Nope, that didn't work. Mets still hitless after five.
On the other hand, Santana has 10 strikeouts through five.
That's what they call a pitcher's duel, as advertised.
Johnson's pitch count is low, I think 57 or so after 5 so there's a chance the Mets might not even get the hits and runs buffet of the Marlins bullpen this afternoon.
Whew, finally. Took Castillo's one out shattered bat to bloop a single, the first Met hit of the day. Whilst Santana bunts him to second, with two outs, not looking hopeful for a big rally. And it's not. Reyes, who was thrown out stealing second in the first, adds to a generally unexceptional day by weakly grounding out. Maybe today is not his day to focus. Or maybe he's still pouting about getting thrown out trying to steal. Hard to tell.
Just to add to a previous observation, for the avoidance of doubt, Marlin Announcers Are the Spawn of Jackals. In the top of the 7th they bring some kid up in the booth to talk to. Presumably because a small child is the only one who won't show up these two intellectually but in the midst of it and the kid holding his own, the Marlins infield begins to resemble a Chinese fire drill, screw up an easy double play and the Marlins equal the Mets in bonehead plays for the day.
Unfortunately, the best the Mets can manage are infield squibbers instead of massive fly balls to the warning track so even errors are marginalised on this fine day.
Bottom of the 7th, Santana around mid 80s in number of pitches, Luis Castillo lets an easy grounder roll between his legs, d'oh, Mets behind 2-0 in runs, but ahead 2-1 now in bonehead plays.
Santana finished the 7th with 98 pitches. He's batting 4th in the top of the 8th but who's betting there isn't even an opportunity to pinch hit for him after the Mets bow down meekly again to Johnson?
Is this Johnson tired yet? Doesn't appear so. He's only thrown 80 pitches going into the 8th. The hope of getting to the Marlin Bullpen Buffet continues to look weak.
Hey! It's not just the Marlins announcers who are the idiots, the security guard in the canary yellow top interferes with Ryan Church's fair ball, god only knows why, too much Easter bunny chocolate, but with none out a man in scoring position....Jesus, Johnson not tired. Consecutive fastballs, 97 and 96 mph against Balloon Head. Jeremy Reed, pinch hitting for Santana, walks, first and third, two outs and Reyes coming up to show his enthusiasm for the game, swings on the first bloody pitch and bounces it back to the pitcher. Maybe he should join those two up in the Marlin's broadcast booth.
I reckon you can fish wrap this little bastid. It's not looking promising any more. Down two, Santana gone and Johnson not looking like he's planning on giving up his shut out.
Looks like Jason Johnson is the early favourite for the NL Cy Young.
(I just said that to try and jinx him against Delgado. Worked. First career hit off Johnson...)
Beltran singles up the middle! 2-1 and a conference to see who is going to pitch against Ryan Church. C'mon Church, Sheffield is right there on the bench...
Bahhhhh. Shoe string catch in left. Bollocks!
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6 comments:
So they are off, splitting 6 games with two second tier teams. There is no reason to be excited about this team. They always struggle with the Marlins, Phillies and Braves. Their chance of even getting a wild card is severely compromised. There are weak divisions that will probably spit out a WC. They have to finish first, and they won't. And despite their lefty heavy lineup, they can never do a thing with Josh Johnson, by the way.
If I told you before the season started that after 1 week:
Delgado, Beltran, Church, Wright and Castillo would all be hitting over .300
Santana would have an ERA of 0.71
Livan would have a W and a great first outing.
Putz and K Rod would perform as expected
-you'd have been pretty happy. It's too early to panic.Just let things shake out. I think we'll be OK.
Panic? Me Panic? I am not in a state of panic. I am in a state of calm despair. Omar-induced. I tried this thing called hope when we were down 3-2 in 2006. Optimism is just another flavor of Kool-Aid as far as I am concerned. This group is a bunch of losers. Losers find ways to lose. If they were to win the division by 10 games (the only way they could hold onto the lead) they would lose to a decidedly inferior team in one of the playoff rounds, a la 2006. It is inevitable. As sure as the turning of the earth, with apologies to John Ford.
P.S. Katherine, everyting you say is true, but it was only good enough to get us to .500
so, jdon - time to start the Fire Jerry facebook page yet?
well Katherine, hopefully, you're right. on the other hand if you'd have been told all that you mention AND that the Mets would be under .500, what would you think would happen when Delgado, Beltran, Church, Wright and Castillo return to earth? Hopefully when some are doing well, others are doing better but an opening park loss is demoralising, even just 7 games into the season.
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