Squawker Lisa and I went to the game tonight. I should have realized that she would jinx Johan Santana and the Mets. The last time Lisa went to a regular-season Met home game was a Subway Series game on June 28, 2008, the last time Johan Santana lost a home game before tonight.
Lisa, do you want to jinx Santana because he was traded to the Mets and not the Yankees? Look on the bright side – your team still has Phil Hughes!
After a week of everything going right, I suppose the law of averages had to catch up with the Mets. Last Tuesday, Luis Castillo let a ball go through his legs and Carlos Delgado dropped what should have been the game-ending play, but the Mets still won the game. But tonight, an error by David Wright allowed a run to score, and an error by Jose Reyes opened the door for four more runs.
Jerry Manuel’s moves have all been working out lately, but tonight, not so much. He took Santana out too soon, then played lefty-righty percentages with Bobby Parnell, but not with Pedro Feliciano, who gave up the game-winning hit to Matt Diaz. Diaz hits lefties well and had already gone 2 for 3 against Santana.
(In fairness to Manuel, his moves would have worked out had Reyes not made the error that would result in four unearned runs, but if you are going to play lefty-righty percentages, you need to treat Feliciano like the specialist that he is.)
At least our seats in Section 520 offered a good view of the field. And though we arrived at the game later than we hoped, at about 6:45, we did not have to wait too long on the line at El Verano Taqueria. I have now enjoyed the tacos all three times I’ve been to Citi Field. We also tried the special corn on the cob, which was very good. But it seemed pricey when it was $3.50 and now it is $5, a price more suited for Yankee Stadium.
One good thing about going to the game with someone who is not a Met fan is that Lisa was willing to go in the middle of the game to Catch of the Day, which we had not yet tried. It was on the other side of the ballpark from where we were sitting, and Lisa missed two innings before returning with a shrimp po’ boy and a fried fish sandwich. The fish sandwich turned out to be another Citi Field winner, but we were not so crazy about the po’ boy.
A lousy game with good food is still a lousy game, but at least the Mets are still in first place. And they have another five days to figure out how to play better behind Santana.
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