“It just kind of felt like we were waiting for our moment. Just a matter of time.” –Ryan Howard
Funny Ryan should say that. Because for seven innings I was watching Mike Pelfrey mow down the Phillies thinking “How is my favorite baseball team going to screw the pooch on this one?” Answer: just a matter of time. Patience is a virtue, after all.
I probably would have put money on Pelfrey imploding, but he seems to be in one of those good streaks so that wasn’t going to happen. And once he gave up a hard base hit with two outs in the eighth, Collins yanked him before he could spiral out of control. Excellent. He probably left him in too long against the Yankees, so Collins made the correct play this time. Of that, I can be sure. That left one out for the bullpen to get before they handed the ball to Frankie.
Well, by the time they got that out the ball went not to Frankie, but to Daley Cakes Thayer (who at some point in his baseball career tried to earn Rollie Fingers’ mustache, but had to settle for Dan Schatzeder’s). Because by the time Mike O’Connor, Jason Isringhausen, and Tim Byrdak were done, the Phillie fans in the crowd were out-yelling the Mets fans because it was 4 to f***ing 2. All O’Connor had to do was get Chase Utley out and instead he threw him a chest high curveball that Utley served to left. Then O’Connor, and here’s the really funny part, went to the bench, sat down next to Pelfrey, and chewed on his jersey. And that isn’t one of my cute little exaggerations. He really chewed on his jersey. It’s like the being that was possessing Pelfrey’s soul all these years left him temporarily and went to O’Connor. Or … it’s simply spreading like a virus.
This was David Einhorn’s first Mets game attended as prospective minority owner. He said that he was excited, but after this game I wonder if he’ll back out by the end of the holiday weekend. I sure as hell hope not. For one, he’s got a sweet deal that will most assuredly get him a majority share in the Mets in three years (just a matter of time, right?) unless the Wilpons pay him back the $200 million he invested. (These are the same Wilpons that had to search their couch cushions to come up with $5 million for Chris Young.) And most importantly, there’s work to do. Forget about the team, I’m talking about the young boy who was so disgusted by Saturday’s game and the multitude of Phillies fans in the stands that he took his giveaway tote bag and chucked it in the garbage upon exiting Citi Field*. Tragic, because not only is that kid about to become a fan of another team, but because it’s a waste of a perfectly good tote bag that I could have suffocated myself in. (That’s okay, I’m sure the Wilpons have retrieved it from the receptacle and have already put it up for auction on eBay. Price for tote bag: $200 million. Hey, it’s a reserve auction.)
*Absolutely true story.
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