Things looked promising Saturday night right from the get-go in the top of the first when Carlos Beltran doubled for the 1,854th hit of his illustrious career and Daniel Murphy doubled right behind him for the 268th hit of his illustrious career to give the Mets an early 1-0 lead. But then Tim Lincecum settled down and allowed only the 61st hit of Justin Turner’s illustrious career and the 123rd hit of Josh Thole’s illustrious career.
I had a modicum of hope in the ninth when Scott Hairston came up with a runner on and the Mets down two with two out in the ninth considering how Hairston came up with the 433rd hit of his illustrious career — a home run! — in the ninth the night before, but it wasn’t meant to be, as Hairston struck out against Sergio Romo and therefore failed to collect the 434th hit of his illustrious career.
What a shame the Mets lost 3-1 [1], especially in light of Chris Capuano pitching six strong innings and surrendering only the 1,174th hit of Aaron Rowand’s illustrious career, the 250th hit of Nate Schierholtz’s illustrious career and the 447th and 448th hits of Pablo Sandoval’s illustrious career.
Caps left with the Mets trailing 2-1. Bobby Parnell then came in and gave up the 1,175th hit of Rowand’s (still) illustrious career and the 2,354th hit of Miguel Tejada’s illustrious career, which contributed to extending the Giants’ lead to 3-1, but what really wound up dooming the Mets on Saturday was a series of double plays not made and the clutch pitching of Lincecum and the three relievers who followed him.
There’s so much more to baseball than the hit totals accumulated within players’ illustrious careers. Sometimes, however, that can be hard to tell.
And now, apropos of nothing [2] in particular, enjoy some truly splendid defensive highlights from my own personal favorite New York rookie shortstop of 1996, who had 767 hits in his illustrious career, which apparently concluded in 2004:
Per Moe Szyslak on why he chose a mechanical bull over cable TV for his bar, “I made my choice, and I stand by it.”