Someone Get Ruben a Lifesaver

The Mets have been making a lot of noise in the late innings as of … er, late. But sometimes it’s the earlier innings that decide a baseball game. That wasn’t good news for the Cardiacs on Wednesday …

The first deciding inning was the bottom of the second. Now if you remember the top of that inning, you remember that the Padres scored a couple of runs, and then Angel Pagan made a throwing error which didn’t affect the score, but may have affected his back as he left the game with spasms (or maybe the spasms affected the throw … or maybe he just made a terrible throw, who knows). Now here’s the key to that inning: Aaron Harang was running the bases for a good part of that inning. Pagan’s error made Harang move far more than he probably intended. Now if you hadn’t noticed, Harang is larger than the average bear. Running could not have treated him well. So the bottom of the second, before it even started, was a good opportunity for the Mets to get back into the game. And when they loaded the bases with nobody out, it was a huge opportunity (an opportunity that’s larger than the average bear, so to speak.) Now R.A. Dickey was the first guy up with nobody out and the sacks full down 3-0, but it’s a win that he didn’t ground into a double play or reached base on a fielder’s choice. But when Pagan and Justin Turner couldn’t come through (again, who knows how the back was affecting Pagan), the huge opportunity was lost.

The next circle of hell came in the bottom of the third, which was a reminder of a lesson taught to us by Richie Cunningham (not the Padres’ Aaron Cunningham) many years ago: one day you’re a hero, the next day you’re abducted by Sheena Dubois and then you’re sharing a lifesaver with Tom Bosley because you couldn’t hit two big free throws. Just like one day Ruben Tejada is basking in the glow of a bases loaded walk, the next he’s inexplicably not sliding on a sac fly attempt when it was clear he would have been safe if he had only done what he was taught in little league, and slid. And it isn’t like he didn’t see Justin Turner flapping his arms like an air traffic controller to get down. The funniest part is that when Terry Collins asked him why he didn’t slide, Tejada apparently just didn’t know. It’s like asking a five-year-old why he took the lamp and threw it against the wall and he didn’t have a good excuse so he just shrugs his shoulders and says “I don’t know”. Awesome, Ruben Tejada is a mischievous five-year-old. (A mischievous five-year-old that cost the Mets a run.)

Then came the top of the ninth and Bobby Parnell. To be blunt, not a good night for Bobby Parnell. He gave up three runs in the ninth … his first ninth inning since the Frankie trade (considering tonight’s outings by Parnell and Pedro Beato, and that Jason Isringhausen is old, maybe having three closers really means they have none.) Granted, it wasn’t a save situation, but if that’s how he treats ninth innings, then I’m for softball rules from here on in. The first two runs were due to bad pitching. The third one? Well, Parnell misses first base while he was covering first base to try to get Aaron Cunningham, Richie’s older brother that you never saw past the first season, for the third out (that’s life coming full circle). Then if that mistake isn’t enough, Parnell has Jesus Guzman hung up between third and home because Guzman had assumed the third out, then stumbled tying to get back. Parnell, probably thinking that he would probably throw the ball away, compounds the original vapor lock and held on to the ball even though he had two chances to nail Guzman at third. Poor David Wright is doing jumping jacks to get Parnell to throw the ball, but at that point Bobby was doing good just to remain upright let alone make a play. The next thing you know, the Padres score an extra run on a double steal to give the Pods a 9-4 lead which they never would have had if Parnell had just hit the damn base with his foot. This could only mean that Parnell has to double up on those type drills in spring training … lucky him.

Now here’s the bright side in all this: The Mets made it interesting in the ninth inning, bringing the tying run up to bat with the help of Logan Forsythe’s error. But Forsythe’s leaping redemption catch off Willie Harris’ bat ended the game and the Mets hopes. But not only did their rally return us back to the days when even bad Mets teams would never simply go down 1-2-3 in the ninth, the rally does bring us some perspective: If Parnell doesn’t give up three runs in the ninth, then the catch off of Harris would have robbed him of not only a two-run single, but the game winning hit. Then how awful would you feel? (Yeah, this “never say die” team has calibrated me to think of the silver lining in everything, and I don’t know quite what to make of it, or how long it will last.) Of course, if Parnell doesn’t give up three in the ninth and Tejada slides, then I might still be in the stands watching extra innings, and possibly more fights in the stands (two ladies in the seventh inning … I’m not sure I’ve ever seen ladies throwing down at Shea or Citi Field, but it was fairly vicious, probably alcohol fueled, and definitely fun for the whole family).

But it’s yet another reminder that the Mets aren’t that good a team where they can make dim-witted mistakes and survive.