Two Years of Baseball
Oct. 5th, 2009 08:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
unforthI've always been a Mets fan. I remember as a kid collecting baseball cards (entirely because my brother and dad were collecting them, I wouldn't have come to it on my own) and being excited when I got Mets cards, and thinking Darryl Strawberry, and Dwight Gooden, and Keith Hernandez, and the other Mets were awesome. But back then I got bored at baseball games, and couldn't sit through a whole one. I rarely actually watched baseball as a kid, and by the time I got to 1999, I hadn't watched any in ages. 1999 was different - once we were in the running, I watched a lot of games in September and into the post season, including all of the amazing 14 inning game against the Braves (which Adam B. was AT, I was so jealous...). But after that I didn't watch any baseball at all in college. I mostly just asked my dad periodically for updates, with only mild interest.
Last year, in March, I made a conscious decision to give it a try. Let's watch some games, and see if I like it...and I did. I loved it! I hardly missed a game last year, but in the end it was crushing - I just looked through my journal, and I have three entries from those last two days - they're short, so I'll just paste them in rather than link to them:
9/27 - It's All on the Line
2 games left.
2 games behind the NL East
1 game behind the Wild Card.
Johan up with only 3 days rest.
If we lose, our season is over. Unless the Brewers lose today and tomorrow - then we have one more chance tomorrow to tie for the Wild Card.
I've watched at least a hundred baseball games this year, and it all comes down to today.
GO METS!
We ended up winning that game, and it was amazing. Johan Santana pitched a full game shut out, and man, I was high as a kite I was so excited.
9/28 - It's All on the Line...Again
Yesterday, the Phillies clinched the NL East.
The Cubs beat the Brewers handily.
And the Mets played the game of their lives and beat the Marlins.
Johan pitched a 3 hitter, 9 innings, one of the best pitched games I've seen this year.
Out of the running for the NL East, tied for the Wild Card.
If we lose, and the Brewers lose, then there'll be a play off game on Monday for the Wild Card.
If we win, and the Brewers win, then there'll be a play off game on Monday for the Wild Card.
If we win, and the Brewers lose, then we get the Wild Card and we're in the Play Offs.
And if we lose, and the Brewers win, then our season is over, down in flames, just like last year.
It all comes down to today.
Again.
Go Mets!
(I know none of you care, but I'm SO invested in this, I have to make posts like this just to blow off a little tension. ;) )
9/28 - Speechless
Marlins 4
Mets 2
Game over.
I guess that's what it is to be a Mets fan. Somehow, though, it hurts worse to get close than to miss by a mile.
So...last year sucked. And I was left with a lingering question: I had been super into baseball when we had a shot. Would I still give a shit when hope was gone and it was just crushing loss after crushing loss?
I didn't think I'd get a chance to answer this question. Going into the first games of spring, things looked so bright! We had a great line up, even better than last year with the return of some of our injured players, and the addition of Frankie Rodriguez as a closer, and JJ Putz as a set up guy. Spring training bore this out, the world looked shiney.
Than Carlos Delgado got hurt, and Jose Reyes, and Carlos Beltran. Putz hurt his arm, and Ollie Perez, and John Maine. In the end, something like 15 players spent time on the DL this year. In one memorable instance, Alex Cora, the back up SS because of Reyes injury, got hurt. Then Ramon Martinez, who was Cora's back up at SS, ALSO got hurt. We were literally playing the back up of a back up of a back up.
No wonder we sucked!!
Yesterday was the last game of the season. We went out on a high note, sweeping the Houston Astros. Of course, this was just after getting swept ourselves by the worst team in baseball (the Washington Nationals). Still, you gotta take what high points you can get in a season where you go 70 wins to 92 losses. I just say...well, if we'd lost to the Astros, it could have been 67/95.
What went wrong? Mostly the injuries. Most teams have a core of four people, generally your first four batters. With three of the four on the DL, what were we supposed to do? Then David Wright (my fav player) got a concussion after getting hit in the head with a pitch...so we had two weeks without a single one of our core strong four. God, we were doomed...
There were high points. Despite his bloopers in left field, Daniel Murphy came through at 1B, and I hope we keep him. Alex Cora, playing with torn ligaments in both thumbs. Jeff Francoeur, replacing my man Ryan Church, and then playing so well that he won me over even though I was determined to hate him for replacing my fav player. Angel Pagan, despite his base running mistakes, also with his grand slam, he can stay. Nelson Figueroa, who has earned a place in my starting rotation (not that I get a say...). Players got a chance who never would have, and while most let us down, a few really came through. And poor David Wright, who spent most of the season as the last man standing - until he got hit in the head - with the reprobation of the world when ever he went into a slump, and praise to the sun when he got hot, man I felt bad for him...
There were very, very low points. Two walk off grand slams allowed by our All-Star closer. Brian Schneider dropping below the Mendoza line. Luis Castillo dropping A-Rod's pop fly at Yankee stadium. Ollie Perez, every time he pitched. Livan Hernandez allowing more 1st inning runs than he had pitched first innings. There are a lot of painful moments in this season, many of which I've blissfully managed to forget, though![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ultimabaka had to go and remind me of when whoever was playing center that day (Fernando Martinez?) face planted after tripping on a divit, thanks dude, I'd managed to forget that one. (I tried to find video of this, but not remember for sure which player it was, I wasn't able to...still...it was just one of those moments you have to feel sympathetic pain for a guy...it looked like something out of a cartoon.) And of course, who can forget the 9th inning triple play? Man, I wish I could forget the triple play...
I went to a few games. I paid an astonishing amount of money to go to the first regular season game ever played at Citifield, and I got to see one really great game - indeed, watching the footage it's possible to hear on TV a chant that I started! - and some less memorable ones.
And ya know what?
I'm sorry it's over. I'm really going to miss it. As terrible as it was, as many agonizing blown games as we had, as bad as our starting pitching was, as pathetic as our AAA players often were, I'm sad that tonight, there's no game waiting for me.
So I guess I answered my question: as arbitrary as my decision to start watching in 2008 was, win or lose, I'm a Mets fan to the core now, and I'll watch the good just as happily as the bad.
There's always next season...I'm curious to see how our line up is going to shape up!
Go Mets?
Last year, in March, I made a conscious decision to give it a try. Let's watch some games, and see if I like it...and I did. I loved it! I hardly missed a game last year, but in the end it was crushing - I just looked through my journal, and I have three entries from those last two days - they're short, so I'll just paste them in rather than link to them:
9/27 - It's All on the Line
2 games left.
2 games behind the NL East
1 game behind the Wild Card.
Johan up with only 3 days rest.
If we lose, our season is over. Unless the Brewers lose today and tomorrow - then we have one more chance tomorrow to tie for the Wild Card.
I've watched at least a hundred baseball games this year, and it all comes down to today.
GO METS!
We ended up winning that game, and it was amazing. Johan Santana pitched a full game shut out, and man, I was high as a kite I was so excited.
9/28 - It's All on the Line...Again
Yesterday, the Phillies clinched the NL East.
The Cubs beat the Brewers handily.
And the Mets played the game of their lives and beat the Marlins.
Johan pitched a 3 hitter, 9 innings, one of the best pitched games I've seen this year.
Out of the running for the NL East, tied for the Wild Card.
If we lose, and the Brewers lose, then there'll be a play off game on Monday for the Wild Card.
If we win, and the Brewers win, then there'll be a play off game on Monday for the Wild Card.
If we win, and the Brewers lose, then we get the Wild Card and we're in the Play Offs.
And if we lose, and the Brewers win, then our season is over, down in flames, just like last year.
It all comes down to today.
Again.
Go Mets!
(I know none of you care, but I'm SO invested in this, I have to make posts like this just to blow off a little tension. ;) )
9/28 - Speechless
Marlins 4
Mets 2
Game over.
I guess that's what it is to be a Mets fan. Somehow, though, it hurts worse to get close than to miss by a mile.
So...last year sucked. And I was left with a lingering question: I had been super into baseball when we had a shot. Would I still give a shit when hope was gone and it was just crushing loss after crushing loss?
I didn't think I'd get a chance to answer this question. Going into the first games of spring, things looked so bright! We had a great line up, even better than last year with the return of some of our injured players, and the addition of Frankie Rodriguez as a closer, and JJ Putz as a set up guy. Spring training bore this out, the world looked shiney.
Than Carlos Delgado got hurt, and Jose Reyes, and Carlos Beltran. Putz hurt his arm, and Ollie Perez, and John Maine. In the end, something like 15 players spent time on the DL this year. In one memorable instance, Alex Cora, the back up SS because of Reyes injury, got hurt. Then Ramon Martinez, who was Cora's back up at SS, ALSO got hurt. We were literally playing the back up of a back up of a back up.
No wonder we sucked!!
Yesterday was the last game of the season. We went out on a high note, sweeping the Houston Astros. Of course, this was just after getting swept ourselves by the worst team in baseball (the Washington Nationals). Still, you gotta take what high points you can get in a season where you go 70 wins to 92 losses. I just say...well, if we'd lost to the Astros, it could have been 67/95.
What went wrong? Mostly the injuries. Most teams have a core of four people, generally your first four batters. With three of the four on the DL, what were we supposed to do? Then David Wright (my fav player) got a concussion after getting hit in the head with a pitch...so we had two weeks without a single one of our core strong four. God, we were doomed...
There were high points. Despite his bloopers in left field, Daniel Murphy came through at 1B, and I hope we keep him. Alex Cora, playing with torn ligaments in both thumbs. Jeff Francoeur, replacing my man Ryan Church, and then playing so well that he won me over even though I was determined to hate him for replacing my fav player. Angel Pagan, despite his base running mistakes, also with his grand slam, he can stay. Nelson Figueroa, who has earned a place in my starting rotation (not that I get a say...). Players got a chance who never would have, and while most let us down, a few really came through. And poor David Wright, who spent most of the season as the last man standing - until he got hit in the head - with the reprobation of the world when ever he went into a slump, and praise to the sun when he got hot, man I felt bad for him...
There were very, very low points. Two walk off grand slams allowed by our All-Star closer. Brian Schneider dropping below the Mendoza line. Luis Castillo dropping A-Rod's pop fly at Yankee stadium. Ollie Perez, every time he pitched. Livan Hernandez allowing more 1st inning runs than he had pitched first innings. There are a lot of painful moments in this season, many of which I've blissfully managed to forget, though
ultimabaka had to go and remind me of when whoever was playing center that day (Fernando Martinez?) face planted after tripping on a divit, thanks dude, I'd managed to forget that one. (I tried to find video of this, but not remember for sure which player it was, I wasn't able to...still...it was just one of those moments you have to feel sympathetic pain for a guy...it looked like something out of a cartoon.) And of course, who can forget the 9th inning triple play? Man, I wish I could forget the triple play...I went to a few games. I paid an astonishing amount of money to go to the first regular season game ever played at Citifield, and I got to see one really great game - indeed, watching the footage it's possible to hear on TV a chant that I started! - and some less memorable ones.
And ya know what?
I'm sorry it's over. I'm really going to miss it. As terrible as it was, as many agonizing blown games as we had, as bad as our starting pitching was, as pathetic as our AAA players often were, I'm sad that tonight, there's no game waiting for me.
So I guess I answered my question: as arbitrary as my decision to start watching in 2008 was, win or lose, I'm a Mets fan to the core now, and I'll watch the good just as happily as the bad.
There's always next season...I'm curious to see how our line up is going to shape up!
Go Mets?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-10-05 09:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-06 01:27 pm (UTC)It's true - even when we watch from home, we are a part of it. Even when we suck, I feel so proud when I wear my Johan Santana or David Wright shirts...like, "Yeah, I AM a Mets fan, and yeah, we suck, you wanna make something of it??" ;)
no subject
Date: 2009-10-05 11:32 pm (UTC)On that note, I'm glad to be of service :P
no subject
Date: 2009-10-06 01:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-06 12:43 am (UTC)Here's hoping next year will be better! (And that the Jets and Nets pull through, so not all my dad's teams lose.)
no subject
Date: 2009-10-06 01:30 pm (UTC)I hope the Jets pull through, for your dads sake, they had a bad game on Sunday but otherwise were off to a strong start (though I'm a Giants fan...) ...and I don't know how the Nets are shaping up, I don't follow basketball. But here's hopin' for good seasons for all the teams we care about! ;)
(except the Yankees.)