Oh there was some laboring happening at Citi Field on Monday. To begin, it’s a sobering thought that the lineup that the Mets trotted out today against the Phillies had their two hole hitter leading the lineup in average. A guy that was picked up on waivers 48 hours prior to game time on Monday, who didn’t even have a Topps card for the starting lineup in the rotunda.
A few of the half innings went a little long, including the bottom of the third and fourth innings where the Mets scored nine runs off Al Leiter’s nephew. In the third, Jose Reyes hit a home run and so did Asdrubal Cabrera. His was impossible to miss because you could see his orange spikes from space. The Mets then scored six in the fourth and it brought about a complaint that I just realized that I have. If a baseball team has a five run lead or higher, there shouldn’t be any visits to the mound. The fourth inning took 45 minutes and that’s fine because the Mets scored six runs. But do we really need a visit to the mound in a 6-0 or 10-5 game? Figure it out. If your pitcher can’t figure it out, get a new arm in there. Maybe it doesn’t make too much of a difference but I guarantee you it will help pace of play more than eliminating four lobs on intentional walks.
Rafael Montero looked like he was about to duplicate his wonderful outing in Cincinnati. But he ran out of gas in the sixth, and then the bullpen tried like hell to blow this game and bring the Mets to within five games of the lead for the number one draft pick (including Hansel Robles, who gave up two runs in the ninth.) But the Phillies reminded us that they’re the Phillies and the Mets hung on for an 11-7 victory (which ironically is the same score which they won by on this date in 2007, in a game that I also attended.) But not before a group of pigeons in the outfield almost took out Nori Aoki, which would have been tragic because he leads the Mets Monday lineup in batting average. (The pigeons were playing Cameron Rupp straight away.) But hey, in this season of surgeries, getting an eye taken out by a pigeon would have topped them all.
Even Lady Gaga isn’t safe from Citi Field’s curse.
The Mets are seven games ahead of the Phillies for the number one draft pick. With slightly more than 17 games to go.
Today’s Hate List
- Hyun Soo Kim
- Cameron Rupp
- Andres Blanco
- Mike Williams
- Freddy Galvis
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