I don't know why the 43,000-odd who accompanied Greg and me to Shea tonight were booing Chase Utley like he was A-Rod; I really don't. I have nothing against Chase Utley — hell, I wish he were one of ours. (Granted, approximately since Alfonzo left town I've had a habit of coveting other teams' second basemen — I'd love to see Utley or Marcus Giles in our unis.) This isn't to say I was rooting for Utley, but I certainly wasn't rooting against him. What was with the venom? As was discussed often earlier this year, the Mets and Phillies have approximately zero history considering their proximity in the division and on the eastern seaboard. Nor do Shea fans have a habit of booing visitors chasing records — hell, I found it infuriating the way moronic looky-loos and supposed Met fans cheered Mark McGwire as he juiced his way toward Roger Maris in '98, when every McGwire blow at Shea was a blow to our playoff hopes. (But we're not here to talk about the past.)
Other than the outcome, that was a tidy, intriguing game: lots of action, lead changes, some anger, something you've never seen before (OK, I probably have seen two balks in an inning, but I sure don't remember it), a laugh-out-loud moment (El Duque! A triple!) and plenty of tension. It did lack one thing, though — the right outcome [1].
But, hey, we stopped Chase Utley!
Sigh.
As Greg and I remarked while wedged into a Calcuttaesque 7 train, we'd have traded Utley a cycle for a W.
Addendum: El Duque's triple reminded us that we were in the park once before for a triple by a pitcher, none other than Al Leiter — an occasion that let us hear the sound of 30,000 people laughing. And it got us wondering — surely Met pitchers haven't tripled all that often.
Nope, they haven't — that was the 29th triple by a Met pitcher ever. In fact, El Duque's three-bagger moves him into a tie for sixth place in the Met Pitcher Triples ranks, with 1.
The full list (best I could determine it from Baseball Reference [2]. Math/searching done by me, so it's probably wrong):
2006 — Orlando Hernandez
2005 — Victor Zambrano
2002 — Al Leiter
2001 — Al Leiter
2000 — Eric Cammack
1993 — Dwight Gooden (2), Frank Tanana
1992 — Dwight Gooden
1990 — Dwight Gooden
1988 — Ron Darling (2)
1987 — Sid Fernandez
1986 — Dwight Gooden
1985 — Sid Fernandez
1983 — Tom Seaver (2)
1981 — Neil Allen
1980 — Roy Lee Jackson
1974 — Jerry Koosman
1973 — Tom Seaver
1972 — Tom Seaver
1971 — Nolan Ryan
1970 — Tom Seaver
1966 — Dick Selma
1965 — Darrell Sutherland
1964 — Al Jackson
1963 — Larry Bearnarth
1962 — Bob L. Miller
(I'll save you the calculations: Gooden and Seaver are the leaders with 5; Darling, Leiter and El Sid [!] each managed 2. Now go forth and amaze your friends!)