Random Thoughts of Goodness

It was an opening night with much less fanfare. That’s because it was the Metstradamus opener … my baseball version of “it’s new to you”.  My opening night at Citi Field.  And I gotta say it was quite fascinating.

First thing I noticed was the overabundance of Quebec Nordiques fans at the game.  That’s right, a team that doesn’t exist.  Apparently, enough Nordique fans to pack 30 buses invaded Citi in between their quest to profess their love of hockey.  All 600 of them will be invading tomorrow’s Bruins/Devils game in Newark after they were nice enough to boost attendance for the Wilpons.  Hopefully they’ll wear their new Mets giveaway ski caps so we can recognize them.

Maybe they were good luck.

More random thoughts after the jump.  And they go a little something like this:

First off, here’s a great way you can tell you’re rusty as a fan in April: I’m sitting in right field and I hear the crowd chant “Ja-son Bart-lett” at Jayson Werth.  I had no idea what the reference was.  I’m racking my brain trying to recall this material.  Does Werth owe Bartlett money?  Did they fight when they were teammates in some rec league?  Did Bartlett win this fight over a guy twice his size?  Did Bartlett have relations with LeBron James’ mother?  I didn’t know.  And I felt inadequate as a heckling blogger for not knowing.  These are the kind of things I must know!

Then it hit me.  They were chanting “Jay-son Werth-less”.

What a relief.  I’m not inadequate, just deaf.

As for Carlos Beltran, I love Met fans sometimes.  They chant his name after the first of his two home runs, he graciously responds, and then they ride him for an errant throw in the top of the very next inning.  Schizophrenia much?

Angel Pagan, to me, made the play of the game in the fifth inning. Wilson Ramos doubles to right center with Ryan Zimmerman on first.  Pagan gets to the ball and does his Willie Mays spin around toss it across his body, and I’m thinking: “WHAT ARE YOU DOING????” as the throw limps into the infield.  Well, Angel is smarter than me.  Because the quick throw, though errant, kept Zimmerman from scoring and Chris Capuano worked out of the jam after that.

(Get it, Mike Pelfrey?  Worked out of the jam?  Get it?  Hello?  Pelfrey?  Anyone home?  McFly?)

The sixth inning was fascinating to me.  First off, here I thought I was recording history, instead I just recorded stupidity.

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I know, I know, you don’t see Jerry Hairston Jr. drop the fly ball, but you know it happens.  So then you have second and third and Scott Hairston up.  Now Tom Gorzellany is probably going to pitch around the guy the Mets got to hit lefties to get to Ike Davis, no?  So what does Hairston do?  Swing at the first two slop pitches of course before striking out.  Of course.  It’s like one brother trying to out-witless the other.

So now Gorzelanny is sure to pitch around Ike Davis to get to Chin-Lung Hu, no?  I know Davis/Gorzelanny is lefty-lefty, but who would you rather face with two runners in scoring position, Davis or Aqua-Lung?  Well, Gorzelanny chose Davis.  Bad move, he triples to give the Mets the lead.  And then Gorzelanny gets pulled for a righty, and Murphy gets a base hit to give the Mets a two-run cushion.  Again, which matchup do you want if you’re Washington, Gorzelanny/Hu?  Or Broderick/Murphy?  Eh, what do I know?

(After Murphy’s hit, Terry Collins got Mike Nickeas a base hit on a hit and run.  And if Saturday was any indication, Collins is going to run a whole lot, and put some plays on, isn’t he?  Let’s just hope it doesn’t turn somebody’s hit into a triple play.)

Then came the top of the eighth, and my only question there was this: Did Terry Collins not trust his lefty specialist enough to face Matt Stairs, instead going to Frankie in the eighth?  Not that he expected Frankie’s turn to come up in the bottom of the eighth with the bases loaded, but that could have turned ugly.  I wonder if Tim Byrdak was ever an option.  (Jerry Hairston Jr. must have thought so, he automatically thought Terry called for the lefty too.)

Now in the bottom of the eighth, Brad Emaus was up in a classic bunt situation with first and second and nobody out. Nationals infield plays in.  Does he bunt?  Are you kidding, Mr. OBP?  Absolutely not, and he reached base on a hit by pitch. I thought it was a telling moment for a new regime.  Hell, you could almost hear Snoop Manuel in his mansion screaming “BUNT OR I’LL CUT YOU!!!”  I swear I saw a light shine down from heaven at that point.  And hey, if Emaus bunts, this doesn’t happen:

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So Frankie goes back in for the ninth and he faces a guy who had an article written about him about what a good manager he’ll makewith a four run lead.  You know this man as Alex Cora.  What does Frankie do?  Walks the f***ing future manager with a four-run lead.  You have to be kidding me. At that point, I’m scanning the dugout looking for Justin Maxwell.  Thankfully, he’s no longer on the roster, and Frankie got out of it and that was your ballgame.  But man, if this is how it’s going to be with Frankie this year, let me know and I’ll leave in the eighth.