The Snowman That Almost Melted

The Mets entered the bottom of the ninth inning with an 8-0 lead over the hapless Marlins. Matt Harvey was brilliant through seven innings. Yoenis Cespedes had another RBI. Lucas Duda had three. Juan Uribe almost took out the right arm of a Marlins fan by hitting one over the Clevelander. Sure, Daniel Murphy continued his boneheadedness by getting lazy on a ground ball to second by Dee Gordon that only saved him when it was reversed to “out” by replay. But life was good. Very good. They were on their way to their sixth straight victory, so you could forgive Mets fans for counting their chickens at that point. I counted right along … there were eight chickens.

And then Eric O’Flaherty from Walla Walla Washington came in to get his feet wet and almost drowned. He closed out the eighth inning but only mixed in one out in the ninth with four hits and left the game. Hansel Robles came in and got a K but then walked Jeff Mathis and his .118 batting average before giving up a three run double to Miguel Rojas, who I had to check to see if he was related to Mel Rojas. He’s not, but how much not fun would that have been?

That made the score 8-5. Then somebody had to wake up Jeurys Familia to tell him that Timmy fell down the well, so in he came to save the day. He gave up a single to Dee Gordon to make the score 8-6, and then an infield single to Derek Dietrich. All of a sudden flashbacks of Tommy Herr and Mario Diaz flooded my brain. Because I really didn’t want to believe that it would get this close, but here we were. But here’s the difference between this Mets team and the Mets team from two weeks ago: If this had happened then, I wouldn’t have thought of Mario Diaz, who represents a happy memory, but Tom Glavine in that last game in 2007 against the Marlins. A very bad memory. It’s like all the trades reprogrammed my brain like the Model 100 was reprogrammed in Terminator 2.

Sure enough, Christian Yelich tapped softly to Duda to end the threat, the game, and the series. That bottom of the ninth, which could have been a raging three alarm fire, only turned out to be that annoying noise you get while watching cable at 2:45 in the morning while the emergency broadcasting system does it’s monthy test, and you miss your favorite joke from the Family Guy episode you’re watching. No biggie. Life is still good. (The only problems the Mets face right now is who to get rid of when Michael Cuddyer, David Wright, and Jerry Blevins get back.) The Mets move on to Tampa where they will no doubt have a nice meal at the Parkshore Grill in St. Pete during their off day They will do so with a two game lead in the division after the Nationals were throttled by Oliver Perez and the Diamondbacks by a score of 11-4. Bryce Harper will surely attribute this to Arizona not having faced Max Scherzer since yesterday.

Today’s Hate List

You guys want to write tonight’s #HateList? I’ll start with the Marlins grounds crew. Include the hashtag #HateList & I may use it tonight.

— Metstradamus (@Metstradamus) August 5, 2015

@Metstradamus #HateList Marlins Guy

— billy white (@nevr4get343) August 5, 2015

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@Metstradamus that friggin monstrousity in CF!! #HateList

— mercedes rogalewski (@HaveMercyMets) August 5, 2015

@Metstradamus Innings limits for incredible pitchers. #Hatelist

— Harry (@koosman2pointOh) August 6, 2015

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@Metstradamus Long, meaningless replay reviews in blowout games #Hatelist

— dcowan (@dcowan850) August 6, 2015

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