Granted, it hadn't done much to repair or losses or been much of a blessing to us recently. But last night was a night to remember the simple sweetness of what baseball's like when your team isn't trying to remove your heart from your body with a rusty box cutter while you bite through your own hand. I mean, sit on the couch, admire a good pitching performance, take in a little drama and then be able to relax? I could grow to like this sport.
Given our recent awfulness and the late rally that turned this one into a laugher, the Twins were kind of beside the point. Not that I know them anyway — I kept peering at the screen and wondering if that was Mauer or Morneau. Minnesota Twins … hmmm. It's the place where Jerry Koosman, Wally Backman and Rick Reed got exiled. The hats say TC, which baffled me as a child. There's a weird stadium and a baggie. Kirby Puckett played there. They beat the Braves in the best World Series I've ever seen. They never beat the Yankees in the playoffs. Bud Selig tried to contract them. Everybody forgets they're an original American League franchise. They're run cheaply and make up for it with smart GM-ing. And that's a wrap. (I know that sounds a lot like my mental checklist when we played the Tigers. What can I say? I'm not going to take AL Central for $100, Alex.)
I'm giving the Twins short shrift not to be insulting, but because tonight was so much more about us, about looking for positives and finding some and then finding a whole lot more and then finally exhaling because there were enough positives that you could select them randomly instead of counting them up. John Maine, last seen handing out souvenir dingers to the entire Dodgers lineup? He was terrific. Carlos Delgado? Hit a home run and came within a Jason Kubel half-tumble of driving in two more. Carlos Beltran? Had good at-bats and actually got rewarded for them with a rifle double up the gap. David Wright? Three hits, nearly hit a home run, continued his sharp play at third. Jose Reyes? Scampered about gleefully. Heck, even Ricky Ledee went deep.
It was a game from the template of April or May. It was baseball like it oughta be. And it was wonderful.
Update: If you followed the link from Deadspin, welcome. To be clear, we doubt there's any truth to the blog post whispering about some kind of racial divide in the Mets clubhouse. Or to Julio Franco stirring it up. By the way, our sources tell us Roger Clemens subsists entirely on a diet of live kittens. Pass it on!
I'd been waiting a long time for a reunion of the 2007 Mets.
geez louise, when do you guys SLEEP?
Sorry, Laurie. But not too sorry.
This is the first complete game I've seen out of our boys in a LONG, long time.
Good pitching, good hitting, decent defense, and a win have been rare in the same nine innings this month.
Let's do it again tonight!
This is the best of times and the worst of times for a Mets/Twins fan. I mean, I can't lose. And Jace, I'll tell you anything about the Twins you need to know. They're my second family. :-)
About 90 seconds after that less-than-compelling post hit the blog.
And in the offseason. :-)
This was the type of win we needed. An outstanding pitching effort by
John Maine just would not have been enough to indicate the team slump
coming to an end. A low scoring victory 2-1 would mean the bats were
still cold. It had to be convincing. It had to be a team performance.
And it was. We scored eight and would have had more if it wasn't for
two sensational plays by Minnesota. Everyone hit the ball hard – even
Beltran's outs were solid (and now we know he hasn't been playing 100%
physically for a few weeks). We again got the lucky break on David
Wright's pop up down first (the downside was he didn't run hard out of
the box**). Our relief pitching didn't let down our starter. And John
Maine didn't allow a blown call from the first base umpire on David
Wright's throw rattle him.
We scored eight on Saturday but lost. We hit somewhat yesterday but
blown out. With tonight, it might be safe to say that the Mets seem to
be climbing out of the batting slump.
Perez pitched a gem Friday but the veterans let us down the rest of the
weekend. If Sosa comes though tomorrow our starting pitching, though
still shakey, can also be seen making signs of a comeback.
Heilman threw a scoreless ninth in a meaningless situation but at least
he appeared as he did the past two seasons. If he gets his act
together, then a pen with Smith, Feliciano, Heilman and Wagner can't be
considered a weak link in the chain.
Yes, we stunk (as Lee Mazilli put it) playing against Arizona, Philly,
Detroit and Los Angeles). However, all that could be put behnd us.
We're 2-2, against the hot Yankees and a Minnesota club which, despite
it's .500 record, is a club to contend with. It could be one small step
for the Mets and one giant step for the remainder of the season.
* Neither the Yankee TV or radio crew would
have pointed out their player not hustling
coming out of the box – just the hustle going
from first to second.
If you could have seen me and my friends last night… Twins shirts, Mets caps and cheering for everything that happened on both sides. We were freaking people out. The sight of three “Twins fans” howling and high-fiving after, say, Delgado's HR, was more than they could comprehend. We completely confused everyone… we answered the “Mets or Twins?” question a hundred times.
Tonight we'll go with Mets shirts and Twins caps.
They beat the Braves in the best World Series I've ever seen.
Eh, I remember a better one, happened about 21 years ago.
…. and I remember an even better one that occurred 38 years ago.
On SNY they pointed out some Twins fans in the crowd and Gary was like, “I didn't know there were Twins fans in New York.” Obviously he's never Met you, Laurie.
Maybe this time SNY will pick up on the strange Twins/Mets clad fans.
A nice win last night, but did anyone else notice Wright shoot a “WTF?” look over towards 3rd base after Beltran failed to score from 2nd on a double off the wall?
Wright didn't hustle out of the box on his bloop to short right and could have been out at second on an accurate throw so, at least on this night, David should not be giving looks to other players.
Any idea why this post is linked from a Deadspin post about a claim that Julio Franco is a racist?
I'll see if I can spot you from Mezz section 25.
I'll be in pink Mets cap and blue David Wright shirt – the uniform of middle aged Mets fan moms everywhere.
Not sure but MetsBlog has already said they are skeptical of the story and specifically requested that MetsBlog not be associated with the blog entry in any way.
Perhaps Greg and Jason ought to do the same with the F&F link.
This post was linked because the Mets won last night. That was the part of the post that FAFIF supported.
That was a great World Series, and perhaps objectively the best one ever.
Blog. Objectively. Naah. 1969 and 1986 can fight it out for best one ever.
What I do always think about in the 1991 series was the amazing play in the top of the eighth, where Knoblauch and Gagne deked Lonnie Smith, who ended up on third when he should have scored from first on the double. That tiny play was the difference in the game and in the World Series. That's why it drives me nuts when I don't see every player take every possible advantage every time. (It's also why I like it when, in the rare instance that Jose Jose Jose Jose makes a mental mistake, you can see from his face that it really bothers him.)
It's official. If the Mets ever go out of business, the Pirates will be my favorite team, based solely on this.
The '91 World Series was nonpareil. Two teams with nothing to lose playing like it. Four games settled in final at-bats, a fifth in the bottom of the eighth for the home team. Game Six snatched from defeat by the team that was about to be eliminated, Game Seven, 0-0 after nine. I was rooting for the Braves (three years from their infection of the National League East) that fall but both teams played like winners. I loved the way Lonnie Smith and Brian Harper shook hands before the final game's first pitch.
I'd slot '75, then '01 a little behind. '86 would be fourth objectively (Games One through Five not all that thrilling), but who wants to be objective about '86?
Deadspin dropped the ball here IMO. I don't understand why they linked that kid's blog. Can I start a blog and post random and pretend things that have to do with the world of sports so they can link me too?
That was the ultimate awesomeness…!
Done.
'75 was awfully good because the teams were so perfectly matched. I remember somebody saying after game 6 that whoever won game 7 would have a decided advantage in the series.
I heard it was live kittens, and babies.
The Twins are a fun team to watch, we've got their AAA team up here and its always a good time. Much better than when Baltimore ran the place.
About that kid's blog with the Franco rumor: He's only 16, so presumably he isn't fully briefed on the concept of libel just yet. But I trust it works the same whether your “rumor” is diseeminated in pixels or in ink. Not that I don't think it's possible, but one more time: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. Prove it.
So Laurie, what's going on with Santana this year?
I'd root for the kittens to scratch his face off, but I doubt he'd feel anything.
I thought Johan looked just fine tonight…
Jason, baseball game has the universe of different sides to discuss. Though, sometimes instead of watching TV I prefer to download games. It maybe useful or not. It depends on your emotional state.