Is the game over yet?
No.
Is the game over yet?
No.
Is the game over yet?
Yes.
The Mets and Giants ceased their Friday night hostilities so quickly it was as if they were worried about staying one step ahead of the Sharknado. As it happened, only the Giants bared their offensive teeth, with two runs early, three runs later and no problem staving off whatever guppy-like attack the Mets could muster. The home team managed three baserunners, two hits and one plate appearance beyond the bare minimum. The only Met run came on a Lucas Duda opposite-field home run, which shouldn’t raise as much as an eyelash, since Lucas Duda homers daily. Once the Mets were behind by five runs, I figured their only chance was The Man Science Forgot belting a six-run homer.
Seriously, ol’ Lucky Duds rounds the bases in the eighth with Duda Dinger Twenty, and it’s as swell as swell can be, but then you unfasten your seat belt because you know nothing else is going to happen against Ryan Vogelsong from there to the end of time (which was all of 2:06). What I would have liked to have seen at that juncture was Lucas’s New York teammates taking a cue from Rudy’s Notre Dame teammates.
“Coach, I want Duda to bat in my place.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, David. You’re a captain. Act like it.”
“I believe I just did.”
That’s probably against the rules, but sending Duda to the plate no more often than every nine batters presents the Mets with a severe competitive disadvantage.
On the flip side, Jon Niese was spectacular, except when he wasn’t, which was when he allowed those five Giant tallies. They’ll all look line drives in the morning paper, according to Keith Hernandez, but the first couple of runs were a result of Niese forgetting whatever he learned in pitchers’ fielding practice, not running a comebacker toward the runner at second, instead flinging the ball sloppily at his shortstop and setting up the second-inning scores that would all but bury him. Then Niese settled into Niese Classic mode, that state where you can’t believe anyone ever touches him. Then he gave up a couple of triples and three more runs in the seventh.
That’s how you lose, 5-1, in two hours and six minutes. Duda goes right by going left, Niese goes terribly wrong in the midst of going mostly right and Vogelsong goes so long that the whole endeavor turns out very short. Just like that [insert snapping-finger sound], Friday’s gone with the wind. Come Saturday morning, there’ll be plenty of time to set up those fireworks Christina and Alexa love so dearly.
I’m tired of Niese. Classic million-dollar arm and ten-cent head.
Not a fan of the all-too-common 3 1/2 hour games, but this one seemed even more off-rhythm (which wasn’t helped by the alarmingly lifeless “effort” on the part of the Mets). It really had a second-game-of-a-doubleheader / last-game-of-the-season vibe to it. I just hope it wasn’t the delayed post-All Star Break letdown that we’ve become accustomed to (or worse, a reaction to the trade deadline inaction).
Before last nights loss, the Mets had played 108 games, exactly 2/3rd of the schedule. They were 52-56 7GB.
Last year at that point, they were 49-59 and 15 1/2 GB. They were 26-27 in this June and July, exactly the same as last year. They would have to go 30-24 .556 to finish above .500 (now 30-23). Last year they won 25 in the last 54, the best they have done in the last 5 years.