By the time I was able to get my television tuned to the Mets game, it was already 1-0 Atlanta. Something about Jason Bay dropping a fly ball in the first inning, which I’m glad I didn’t see because somebody on the sidewalk would have been hit with a flying television set. (And since it’s only a 25 or so inch model, the poor victim would have survived it, which may be worse than a quick and painful death from a 46 inch LED model.)
I watched this game, no joke, for ten minutes in the second inning … and it was already 6-0. So at that point, after Johan Santana was pulled from a game where he clearly didn’t have it, I split my time between this game and the Stanley Cup playoffs where the Florida Panthers, down 3-0 to the New Jersey Devils in Game 3 of their playoff series, pulled their goalie to put in Scott Clemmensen. Clemmensen had a goals against average of 2.57 this season. Johan Santana’s replacement? Miguel Batista, whose WHIP entering the game was 3.75.
I said “screw it” and went to Burger King. I wasn’t in the mood for carnage that late at night.
The Panthers won. The Mets, though Batista got his WHIP down below Clemmensen’s season GAA, did not. My fish sandwich, which had a lower ERA than Ramon Ramirez in April, was pretty good. Ramon Ramirez came in and gave up two runs in his two innings of work, and his ERA now sells Slurpees. If the Mets only had a guy like Clemmensen, right?
I thought the Mets were pulling out their inner Panther when they scored a couple off of Randall Delgado in the fourth. But then the Mets must have realized that this was Randall Delgado, and when the Mets face a guy with a name that sounds like one of those fake random names from MLB the Show, they’re not supposed to hit him. So they went back to sleep and made Delgado a winner. And it’s now off to the rubber game in the afternoon where the Mets get to face Jair Jurrjens, who has been pretty horrid this season in part because the Mets hit him hard in Flushing. The Mets will send the Braves off on their road trip with a healthy dose of R.A. Dickey, the perfect relief for a taxed bullpen with his streak of quality starts still going strong, and the perfect pitcher to throw at a team hitting .224 going into Tuesday.
It might be as pivotal as an April game can get for the Mets, who can go 8-4 heading into a homestand featuring Angel Pagan’s Giants, and Jose Reyes’ Marlins. And the big Tuesday brouhaha was the news that Jose was going to get a video tribute before his first game back as a visitor (and by the way, gotta admit that it’s jarring to hear Alex Anthony’s pitch to come to Citi to see “Jose Reyes and the Marlins” come to town) … and he should get a video tribute. Hell, Larry Jones is getting some sort of video tribute at least, and he never wore a Mets uniform. So let’s give Jose something. Hell, give him the bunting with his likeness on it that they took down. Wrap it up an a bow, and give it to him along with some chocolates. But if you want to cement the assertion that the video tribute is no big deal because you gave Todd Pratt one, then hell, give Pagan one when he comes in earlier in the week. Play one of his odd routes to a fly ball and set it to the Chariots of Fire theme. That’ll be fun, and emotional too.
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