You Gotta Bereave
I'm not happy. I attended opening day at Shea in 2006. Tom Glavine pitched against Dontrelle Willis. A pitcher's duel. The Mets won it in the 9th. david Wright had a triple - I'd never seen that live before. I was impressed with Glavine, I was impressed with Duaner Sanchez and Billy Wagner. I hadn't been to a Mets game again until last Saturday. I was prepared for the Mets to end the Phillies playoff hopes. Instead, Carlos Beltran misjudged a ball lined into center. The Philly fans got rambunctious and several of them were tossed. This week, I atended two games in D.C. Willie Randolph let John Maine pitch way too long on Tuesday. On Wednesday the Mets won handily. Last night I sat at a bar in Fairfax watching the game with another local Mets fan. Oddly, he went to school with the NY Sun neo-conservative journalist Eli Lake - who recently called my magazine an anti-American publication. "Eli's as liberal as they come," my new friend said, "but he voted for Bush. He's all 'We can't fuck with this terrorism shit.' Ha ha. "
Anyway - the Mets blew two three-run leads in the gams the Phillies made a tremendous comeback to defeat the Nationals in the last homestand for RFK stadium. The Phillies look confident all the time now, even when they play from behind. The Mets look nervous , even when they lead late.
Who decided firing hitting coach Rick Downs would be a good idea? Reyes looks like he did in early 2005 - swinging wildly at balls that fall at his feet. The only difference is that he pops them up more and gets caught stealing more often. Also, why did we let our most reliable bullpen pieces go? We could use Chad Bradford. We could use Darren Oliver - the most underrated member of our excellent 2006 pen.
I still think we're going to pull this out. But every time Mota runs toward the mound I'm going to sink lower in my seat. Every time Reyes is up with an RBI oppurtunity I think I'm going to sarcastically say "pop-up." When Heilman cruises through the first two outs in the 8th with a two run lead, I'm going to expect him to throw a meatball that will land in the CitiField construction site. 2006 is over - now I remember what it's like to be a Mets fan.
Michael Brendan Dougherty
in Sports
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