A leading candidate to be rerun into perpetuity by SNY during future rain delays as part of Abysmal Finishes: 2019 has received a reprieve, having been suspended in damp midair [1] by the powers that be wanting to get to bed at a decent hour. Thus, Edwin Diaz did not blow Thursday night’s game against the Cardinals. He blew a two-run lead and turned a very victory-leaning trajectory into a straight-up tie by coming out of cold storage in the top of the ninth at soggy Citi Field and permitting St. Louis every opportunity to catch and pass the Mets. The Cardinals opted for no more than the runs it took to bring things to a frustrating deadlock.
Then the sog took over f’reals. There had a tad earlier been some late-game rain that Pete Alonso wished away and, somehow, the umpires listened to him. This is not code, at least as far as could be deduced from television. There was a tarp coming out to cover the field, brought there by groundskeepers whose presence in these matters is never appreciated despite their hard work. Alonso had a word with the men in blue, and suddenly the tarp was told to take a hike.
The tarp should have just ignored Pete. Perhaps a better-timed timeout would have allowed a torrent to drench Citi soon enough and long enough so that instead of pretending suspending a game is a sensible option, they could have called it with the Mets ahead, 4-2, after eight. But, noooooo. The game had to go on to enough of an extent that instead of high-fiving one another over the Mets taking a rain-shortened affair and Jacob deGrom being credited with one of those things he went an entire Cy Young campaign barely getting, we got Diaz and slop and Amed Rosario not handling a relay throw and Harrison Bader driving in Kolten Wong with the Cardinals’ fourth run after Wong had singled in Marcell Ozuna with the Cardinals’ third run two outs after Ozuna walked to start the inning.
Somewhere deGrom was likely firing his glove at something in disgust. He will not be blamed if he does. Slow-burn displays of temper are an occupational hazard a person develops after being the Mets’ most consistent yet consistently unrewarded starting pitcher season after season.
There were some highlights before Thursday took a turn for the low. Jacob was fine for seven innings of two-run ball. The first run charged to him came via a dopey single that occurred because of a maddening shift (this is not an indictment of all shifts, just those that turn harmless ground balls into opposition RBIs) and one of those dang home runs that are ruining baseball (which is to say home runs hit against our pitchers). Michael Conforto’s quietly splendid resurgence added some splend with a two-run homer. Dom Smith continued to rake meaningfully. Seth Lugo was money. Before the ninth completely crumbled, there was a very nice throw from Carlos Gomez that did momentarily make it appear Diaz wouldn’t blow the first save opportunity he’s seen since he sipped his lattes at Cafe Nervosa in Seattle, where if he had a bad outing, it was all right, because I didn’t care.
My sources are telling me Edwin Diaz has fourteen saves as a Met, one of which was recorded within the past week. I am trying to confirm this report because I don’t believe it.
All the pleasant morsels of what loomed as a relatively smooth win were scattered in the top of the ninth; and then a tarp of ill will covered them; and then, after 50 minutes of waiting, crew chief Jeff Kellogg consulted with special advisor Emily Litella, who said, “never mind,” so that’s what they did for Thursday. Thursday’s game now becomes the warmup for Friday’s main event. The bottom of the ninth will pick up at 6:10 PM and end whenever the hell it feels like ending. This will be the eighth completion of a suspended or otherwise officially interrupted game in Mets history, the fourth since 2013. The Mets are 4-3 when getting around to finishing contests held in abeyance for unforeseen reasons that have included a blackout, a travel-related curfew, an upheld protest, darkness and — as has been the case the last three times — stupid rain.
I’d be more disgusted from this debacle, but who knows, we may still come back and win it in stirring fashion.
OUTCOMES OF SUSPENDED GAMES IN THE FAFIF ERA
May 25, 2013 [2]:
“As we finished our takeout — Mama’s for me, Daruma for Stephanie — I wondered if we should sit tight. Perhaps Club Amenity was lucky for these Mets. Then again, we also saw them fall behind, 7-5, from the same table, so let’s get out to our seats already and enjoy the big comeback! We got halfway down the Excelsior concourse when the game ended sans big comeback. So much for history.”
June 28, 2015 [3]:
“Duda from the growth chart was up. Dozens of growth charts got themselves unfolded, waved and mysteriously hung from the rafters (who thought to bring so much Fun-Tak to a ballpark?). The positive energy was too much for Joey Votto to bear, for when Lucas bounced unto him the absolutely perfect ball to fire home to force Herrera, thereby setting up Cuddyer’s inevitable inning-ending DP, he instead muffed it like crazy.”
August 29, 2018 [4]:
“It didn’t take long for the ivy-covered walls to come crashing in. An intentional walk was issued. An out was recorded. A pitching change was made. Daniel Zamora entered. Ben Zobrist batted. This was a classic Z-on-Z matchup. Zobrist bested Zamora, singling up the middle (where’s a shift when you need it?) to alphabetically clear away what remained of the night before’s soggy leftovers.”