Midway Destination

With the latest loss to the Braves just behind, and the threatening return of a old/new face just ahead, the Mets were in a weird little pocket. A mini-crossroads, if you will. Not that the Mets were going to make any grand statements to change the course of their history on Friday, mind you. They just flat out needed a victory. A victory to put the past in the past, and perhaps to feel better about the future. And after four and a half innings, they felt great. Travis d’Arnaud got what seems to be his first big hit of the season with a two run single in the fourth with the bases loaded to make it 4-0, and then at 5-0, James Loney put the game out of reach with a three run home run to make it 8-0.

And while the game, in hindsight, was out of reach, boy did the Braves reach. They reached with a six run fifth inning which started (in earnest) like this:

Yup. Turner Field getting their last licks in on us this year. Maybe the new place will have some real lights.

The Braves turned that … whatever the hell that was into a six run fifth and knocked Steven Matz out of the game and threw some doubt into the health of his elbow, which has been an issue lately. It seems that this isn’t a big issue just yet, as Terry Collins claimed he was fine and the elbow was never wrapped. But this season seems to be one big Final Destination sequel. David Wright, Lucas Duda, and Travis d’Arnaud were claimed already. And Yoenis Cespedes, who turned his ankle as he was picked off in the seventh, seems to be like Kenny McCormick during the one episode of South Park where he didn’t die yet he came perilously close a few times. The hip as he went into the stands, the wrist and the ankle in the same week, on and on and on.

yeah all smiles until Garcia comes up in the ninth as the winning run.

— Felipe Garcia (@confusedgeek) June 25, 2016

Well Felipe was close as Garcia was the tying run in the eighth. But somehow the Mets brought this to the end thanks to more good bullpen work by Hansel Robles, two outs from Antonio Bastardo, and a four out save from Jeurys Familia. Two of those outs came on a fortuitous double play in which Wilmer Flores caught a Chase d’Arnaud hard bunt line drive at third, or so the two Braves runners thought as they scurried back to their bases and were forced out after the ball squirted free from Flores’ death grip. The weirdo play was sorely needed as the Braves were on the verge of completing a comeback which would have made me throw stuff across the room. Seriously … I was planning that all out in terms of what can I throw that won’t break anything, freak a family member out, or injure any part of my body. I once slammed an office chair into the ground and it bounced back and gave me a bruise on my thigh the size of Mineola. So I have to be careful with my tantrums. Thankfully, Familia struck out Jace Peterson with a beautiful pick by Loney for the added 2-3 on your scorecard and ended the damn thing 8-6. No bloggers were hurt in the viewing of this game.

Somehow the Mets are now only three back as the Brewers did the Mets a solid and beat Max Scherzer on Friday. Even as the Mets look wobbly, they’re getting ugly wins and hanging in. There are two more games against the Braves to put in their back pocket and save themselves from looking back on the season a few games out and wonder what their lives would be like if they had beaten a terrible team like Atlanta more frequently. Seasons are ruined by the inability to beat the teams that are obviously rebuilding. The weekend provides an opportunity to get revenge off Julio Teheran and to beat the pants off of Bud Norris. Must games? No. But the last thing the Mets want to do is to stare down the barrel of Clayton Kershaw in a wild card game because they couldn’t beat the likes of the Atlanta Braves.

Today’s Hate List

1. Ray Ramirez
2. Brandon Snyder
3. Freddie Freeman
4. Adonis Garcia
5. Turner Field