It was all going so well. A 2-0 lead, albeit on a ball that Neil Walker misjudged badly, but still … a 2-0 lead with Chris Capuano dealing. But you can tell then that the fun was going to start. When Andrew McCutchen singled and Walker reached on a beautiful bunt, you knew what was coming. The swinging bunt by Matt Diaz only confirmed it. The Mets were in for another beaut.
Then came the portion where the Mets beat themselves. Chris Snyder hits a grounder to third, and Ruben Tejada’s only play is to third, where Willie Harris was waiting with bated breath and lousy fundamentals. Now, I realize that we’re dealing with a post-apocalyptic lineup … but when the veteran of the group can’t differentiate between a force play and a tag play with the bases loaded, you can’t blame having a minor league lineup on that. Willie! It’s a damn freakin’ force play!
Then, the defensive wizard center fielder dropped a difficult yet catchable line drive and, to paraphrase the great Warner Wolf, you can set your televisions on fire right there, folks. More infield hits, more exemplary relief work by Mike O’Connor and friends, and you had the Pirates second victory ever at Citi Field. At least being at the first Pirate win at Citi Field would have been a slice of history. Sure, nobody’s selling t-shirts to commemorate it, but it was at least a story you can tell your nieces and nephews after getting drunk and ruining Thanksgiving (yeah, like you’ve never done that.) Who cares about the second Pirate win at Citi Field? Only the people that were walking out of Citi Field muttering to nobody in particular: “I can’t believe we lost to the Pirates.” Oh, you mean the team that has a better record than the Mets? Yeah, a real stretch right there. It’s so much of a stretch that the Pirates went to their lockerroom on Wednesday thinking “I can’t believe we lost to the Mets on Monday.”
I knew that the Mets had something gruesome in store for me since I was going to be present. And I will be there again for the series finale later this afternoon. But I appreciate the effort this team takes in providing the kind of entertainment that only a mediocre roster with their best players on the disabled list can provide. The fun of the season is in watching the new and exciting ways this team can come up with to … “screw the pooch.” (Gives a new meaning to “Bark in the Park”, no?) Pirates fans are used to it … the anticipation of doom. It’s been around for those poor souls for too long. But our doom is so saturated and intense I think Mets doom can trump Pirates doom. And if I can view more “pooch screwing” history in person, then the season will not go down in vain, since I’ll have more stories to ruin major holidays with while inebriated.
Poor relatives.
Poor pooch.
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