Wanna play in October? You gotta win blowouts and squeakers, extra-inning games and rain-shortened affairs, day games after night games and the tail end of doubleheaders. Included somewhere in that list are games that appeared headed for extra innings except the enemy reliever makes a nice pickup and unleashes disaster. Gary Majewski had a tailor-made double play in front of him, except he threaded the needle so perfectly that Royce Clayton tipped the ball over Jose Vidro's shoulder, ensuring the Nats went home in rags.
An attaboy for Victor Zambrano, who finally pitched aggressively and saw that (whodathunkit?) good things happen when you do. At least for one game Victor wasn't running away from his own stuff; that first-inning K of Nick Johnson with a fastball in on the hands gave me hope that I might not have to spend the evening swearing hideously and throwing things. Still, I kept thinking about “Bull Durham” and Nuke LaLoosh. Not that Victor is anything like the Tim Robbins character in most respects: He's old, timid, doesn't seem to be having any fun and as far as I can tell isn't sleeping with Susan Sarandon. But like Nuke, he needs a catcher who will tell him exactly what to do, and smack him in the nose until he stops doing anything else. Rick Peterson's 10 minutes have become an eternity because Zambrano isn't ever going to learn to trust his own stuff. OK, fine — since Paul Lo Duca trusts Zambrano's stuff, Plan B is that Victor learns to trust Paul Lo Duca.
Well, at least for a night it worked — it was no coincidence that when SNY caught up with Lo Duca after all was said and done, the first thing out of the catcher's mouth was praise for Zambrano.
Can one small step for Zam be a giant leap for Metkind? Here's hoping. And in the meantime? The rose goes in the front, big guy.
blowouts and squeakers, extra-inning games and rain-shortened affairs, day games after night games and the tail end of doubleheaders.
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….these are a few of my fav-o-rite things…
Question from a voice from the past to the pre-eminent Metstorians of the day (save those behind the various microphones on a nightly basis): Discussed while going down the ramps of a happy concourse last night was the fact that my buddies and I never remembered attending a game that ended on a walk-off error. Though two such instances were quite memorable (see: JC Martin taking one for the team, and the trickling E3) I can't seem to remember that many – actually, any – more. Any stick out in your Met-minded minds?
The master of the Mets walkoff says this in his 8/10/2005 entry:
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Darold Knowles is also the only pitcher to end a regular-season game against the Mets with a walk-off error (that's another story for another time).
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I don't think he's yet told the story.
July 3, 1976, the day of Darold Knowles' ill-fated fling, was also the night of the tackiest Bar Mitzvah I ever attended, referenced within this several months ago…
…or slightly after Student of the Game last saw light.
Welcome back from the Wild Card Couch, SOTG. Are you gonna resume your dormant curriculum any time soon?
(And do any of youse Knowles of any other Darolds? Unusual first name, it occurs to me staring at it just now.)
Gary Majewski having bad aim
Endy Chavez ending the game
Beating the Nats practically every week
Zambrano Fever reaching a peak
(Ya had to get me started again?)
Don't take this the wrong way, but I actually forgot about that. I think it's even more fun to read now that my SAD has officially subsided.
Everything is more fun to read when you're 17-8.
I still like:
“Atlanta Braves 11 14 6”
By the way, it's killing me waiting for the first Sixthies. I'm not going to want each successive one to come all that quickly, though…
There's Darold Williamson, star of the Baylor track team; there's Darold Treffert, an expert on autism; there's Darold Crotzer, a movie producer, and inevitably I suppose, there's even a http://www.darold.com, some guy in Winnipeg.
Darolds are indeed a flourishing breed.
So are Mets bloggers! Gary Cohen tonight credited “a blogger named Mark” for the details on the AFLAC trivia question about the last walkoff won an error. That, of course, is our friend at Mets Walkoffs. Way to go, Mark (and good sourcing, Gary).