The first game after the All-Star Break is supposed to feel like a warm bath.
Oh that’s better, you think as you sink back into the routine of having something to do a little after 7 or 4 or 8 or sometimes even 1 in the afternoon on the weekends. At first that little break was nice, and there were All-Stars doing All-Star things and looks back at the first half and trade talk and predictions about the second half, but then the novelty faded and you remembered that all you wanted was the metronome of knowing there will be a game tonight, unless it’s a day game or an off-day or it’s going to rain.
Four days without baseball, what a terrible idea! Blink your eyes and it will be winter and then four days will be the very least of it.
Well, Friday night was not a warm bath.
It was a motel bathtub full of ice, the one in which you wake up blue and groggy and wondering what the hell happened, only to realize your back hurts really badly, and then you find the note on the floor, the one in which the organ traffickers explain that they’ve removed one of your kidneys (or your liver, or hell maybe everything) and you should probably call someone with access to an ambulance.
(The note thing always struck me as oddly polite for organ traffickers, but then I am unacquainted with their ways.)
The Mets kicked off the second half against the Pirates, the same ramshackle ballclub that made the supposedly first-place Mets look like a bunch of shambling oafs last Sunday to send us into the break miffed and muttering. And then the outcome of Friday’s game made that wretched loss look like a walk in the park. In that one, you may recall, the Mets jumped out to a 5-0 lead and then got hare-and-the-tortoise’d; in this one, they didn’t even bother with a first hop away from the burrow.
They faced someone named Chad Kuhl, who walked five guys and threw approximately 54,288 hanging sliders, every single one of which a Met hitter popped up or missed or grounded straight at an infielder.
Mets pitchers didn’t throw quite as many broken breaking pitches, but every single one they did throw was hit into the next county by some Pirate or other, and it was not amusing.
Marcus Stroman was once again somewhere between unlucky and not particularly effective on the mound and got into a ridiculous tiff with Pittsburgh’s John Nogowski, possibly about whose baseball team it’s currently more dispiriting to be employed by.
And Francisco Lindor got hurt. The Mets weren’t providing updates, but he grabbed at his side after hitting a grounder, barely got out of the box and then disappeared, and given the nature of injuries to the oblique, he may remain disappeared for some time. For all his early-season troubles, Lindor has been a useful offensive contributor for the last few weeks and a plus defender and leader the entire year. So that’s bad, to say the very least.
And the Mets had finally gotten the lineup they’d envisioned off the IL, too. Of course they had — haven’t you learned baseball’s cruel like that?
Anyway, it was that kind of night. So call the ER, tell them, “you’re not going to believe this,” and then read them the note left on the bathroom floor. But first, tell them you’re a Mets fan. It’ll all make sense after that.
If I recall correctly, the envisioned line-up didn’t score. Its characteristic look, which showed last night, is RISP LOB. Facing worse pitchers and gifts from defenses just means more RISP LOB.
A 3 game only lead versus a mediocre division is letting the competition hang close like the Nationals left the door open for the Mets in 2015. An opponent doesn’t need to get hot to catch the Mets at this pace, just warm.
Stroman was typical Stroman. Gives you about 5 innings, and just as many jumping jacks and embarrassing childish tantrums. He appears to be an extremely immature individual who simply cannot control his emotions. And what’s with running off the field, taking his shirt off, and then disrespecting the manager and teammates who tried to calm him down.
Can you imagine Seaver, Koosman, or Gooden behaving like that under any circumstances? And remember when he came out of a game earlier in the season because he was cold?
As for Lindor, McNeil, and Conforto, this is a black hole (please don’t call me racist, Marcus) in the lineup that has picked up just where it left off. Need to trade Conforto, as he is a Boras client and will not sign.
Love that Lindor visits the mound sometimes, but does that really justify his roster spot? Maybe give him some time on the IL, as he gets no big hits, like the Bench Mob does. We are in First Place because of them and for no other reason, except for deGrom, who appears to be MIA.
We are in first place primarily because the rest of the N.L. has sucked. Case in point-beginning June 1st, the Mighty Mets are 21-21 and have lost only 1/5 a game of their lead. This can’t last. Phils or someone will get hot.
Not a fan of bench clearing, especially when the instigating team is losing badly (and every game the Mets are behind, they are losing badly). It has a real sore loser, taking out your frustrations feel. For all of Marcus’s yapping and gesturing, who got the loss in the end? Embarrassing…
On another note, it was nice to hear Gary Thorne again, although he’s a bit rusty and still Orioled. And it’s not easy to call a game off the monitors. But still an old familiar voice.
If Lindor is going to be out for as long as an oblique injury usually takes to recover — which could be almost all the remainder of this season — I hope Guillorme is given the chance to play full-time at SS for an extended stretch.
yea, was glad to have baseball back with a good dose of disbelief suspension thrown in *just because*
and the mets didn’t disappoint at disappointing.
a long week, the game was dull at the start and i actually *did* fall asleep. thankfully no organs were gone but with the game was virtually in the same place it had been when my i crashed it felt like *something* had been taken.
just like that i’m back to hating (my chosen team’s current brand of) baseball again.
strohman, aside from being ineffective these days is a frustratingly easy mark for anyone baiting for conflict. like a small dog that won’t stop barking. it was indeed embarrassing to see him still at it for the dugout while his team was presumably trying to score a run or two.
he’s wearing a different uni next season as far as i’m concerned, along with conforto and possibly mcneil. (it is amazing how the mets organization can convert such promise to mediocrity so fast!)
so much for a fresh start after a horrible loss.
we’ll see if pete left any homers in the tank for his TEAM.
…with better things to do til 7pm, i wish all a good day.
There will be a living memorial service for the Billy McKinney Fan Club
at my house sometime in the not too distant future. Exact time and date to be decided.
…Oh that’s better, you think as you sink back into the routine of having something to do a little after 7 or 4 or 8 or sometimes even 1 in the afternoon on the weekends. At first that little break was nice, and there were All-Stars doing All-Star things and looks back at the first half and trade talk and predictions about the second half, but then the novelty faded and you remembered that all you wanted was the metronome of knowing there will be a game tonight, unless it’s a day game or an off-day or it’s going to rain.
Perfect, just perfect. It’s something I’ve felt forever but never been able to articulate anywhere near as good as this. Thank You!
[…] his way, he’s generally kept the Mets close. That’s what he was doing in his previous start, last Friday in Pittsburgh. In that game, Stro worked out of a touch of trouble (runner on third, two out) by coaxing a […]