Is that an earthquake?
No, it's Ramon!
Fans of Romy & Michele's High School Reunion, which include my six-pack partner and myself, will recognize the above line and may have very well applied it to the eighth inning Tuesday night. Laurie and I have been tossing it back and forth all season every time our backup catcher gets a big hit.
We've used it a lot.
Was it only in July [1] that we were all kvelling from our catcher's dramatic home runs and the curtain calls he was generating? Different month, different backstop, same response. Who was the last catcher not named Mike Piazza to receive a curtain call at Shea? The immediate answer would be Todd Pratt, but did Todd Pratt actually get a curtain call for his Finley-veiled series winner? It's not like he actually went into the dugout and returned to the top step at the audience's behest. (Just realized he was in the house tonight. Think he thought of that?)
Maybe Jason Phillips was lured out in 2003 but he was probably playing first (say, does Mike still have to break the record for most curtain calls by a catcher?). Vance Wilson? Hearty applause once or twice at best. If it wasn't Pratt, you may have to trek all the way back to Todd Hundley when he was hitting it hard [2] for the previous unMiked catcher curtain call.
So much for getting lost in the moment. The important thing is that a Met rated a curtain call. They all did.
Ramon Castro's blast off Ugueth Urbina (the second-greatest home run Uggie's ever allowed; this [3] explains the greatest) will surely stand the test of time as a touchstone in Mets history. It was a game-, season- and life-altering event.
Unless we lose the next two. So let's not do that.