Wednesday, May 02, 2007

I'm back. Where are the bats?

I'm FINALLY ready to resume my regularly schedule blogging activities.  Last Tuesday and Wednesday were dedicated to final exams, and then (very) early morning I headed up to D.C. and Baltimore for work (and of course a weekend at RFK!) 

First of all, what a dump RFK is.  I've been there before, and said this before, but it honestly makes Shea look like the Taj Majal.  Luckily for Expos fans, this is the last season at the stadium, with the new park opening next season.  Yes, somehow, even though construction for both parks began last year, DC's new, as yet unnamed, stadium will be ready a full year before Citi Field. 

I originally didn't think I'd be able to make Sunday's game, but my cousin who lives in the area told me last month that I had to make sure I was there because I had to be there to see the sweep completed.  well, halfway through Saturday's affair I turned to him and reminded him that we might indeed see a sweep though not the one he predicted! 

Friday's game was a mess.  O'Perez pitched well enough, especially after Austin Kearns hit a homerun in the first to give some lucky brat an autographed baseball.  Unfortunately the Mets have completely forgotten how to score runs.  It doesn't help that three members of the Mets lineup (LoDuca Wright Delgado) are automatic outs.  Thank God for Beltran Feivel and Reyes! Despite the Mets recent loss of hitting ability, Randolph oddly allowed Perez to bat for himself in the 6th inning down by a run and bases loaded with one out.  Perez struck out and Reyes grounded out to end the inning.  The ninth inning was a little fun.  Chad "the Chief" Cordero was brought in to preserve a one-run lead. Reyes and LoDuca were quickly retired, and Cordero threw a strike to Beltran.  Catcher Schneider tossed the ball back to Cordero, who didn't wait for Beltran to settle in before firing a second strike in.  Beltran argued that time had been called, but the umpire didn't budge.  Beltran screamed and yelled and got in his face.  Give credit to the ump - it's the most I've ever seen anyone argue without getting bounced.  Beltran stepped back into the box and popped out to second.  Mets lose 4-3.

Saturday,
the Mets made some punk named Jerome Williams look awesome.  The guy came into the game with a 7.77 ERA but he had a no-hitter going for 5 innings.  The Expos had a 2-1 lead in the ninth inning, but Old Man Franco scored Endy Chavez with a pinch-hit single.  The Mets wound up winning the game in the 12th scoring runs off of a two run double by Beltran and a Wright two run single.  The real story was the first base umpire, Tony Randazzo, previously known as Friday night's homeplate umpire (see above) who was absolutely horrible calling the plays at first.  The Mets were robbed three times on calls down there, which finally prompted Willie Randolph to come out and argue, getting himself ejected.  He put up a decent spectacle, but probably could have been even more vehement.  Also notable in the game was in the fourth inning, Jose Valentin suddenly walked off the field.  Turns out he's got a bum knee and was off to teh DL.  Great.  One of the few guys hitting.  Mets win 6-4.

Sunday, Beltran scored the only run of the game for either  team, hitting a solo homerun in the 6th.  John Maine was awesome, and it was a gorgeous day to sit in the ugly stadium.  Still too bad the Mets suddenly can't hit.  Transplanted ex-Met Jesus Flores got a second straight start behind the plate.  At the plate, he attempted a sacrifice bunt with runners on first and second, but Julio Franco made like Keith Hernandez, charging the ball and throwing to third for the forceout.  By the way, here's a non sequitor, albeit a true one: Ronnie Belliard is a fat bastard.  Mets win, 1-0. On the whole, it was a good weekend in DC. 

Some notes:  The Expos have this idiot running around the ballpark playing trivia games or shooting T-Shirts between innings on the scoreboard.  The guy is a total frat-boy and inning after inning the guy's voice wears on you like a parasite.  I don't know who this schmuck is but he needs to shut up.  29 innings of him over a 3 day span was just too much.  Another thing RFK could do to enhance the fan experience is to ask the players to pick some more songs to come to the plate to.   Austin Kearns comes up to some country song that sings something along the lines of "some girls from my hometown have no teeth in their mouth but Some Girls Do.  Some Girls Do," Ryan Church i think came up to "Crazy Train," and Ryan Zimmerman struts up to a diddy with the lyrics "This is why I'm Hot This is Why I'm Hot I'm Hot Cause I'm Fly You Ain't Cause You Not This Is Why I'm Hot."  Over and Over again for 29 innings.  Pretty bold for a guy hitting .230.  Why does the team have a giant chicken (or is it a seagull?) for a mascot?  With attendance as poor as it is, why were there no giveaways all weekend.  You'd think sponsors would want to put their name on a tchotchke the weekend the Mets are in town, the one chance they have to get in front of some fans!  The one promotion, if you could call it that, was a pre-game concert Friday night by a Bobby Montez or something like that.  A dude singing melodramatically while playing keyboard.  Music to do heroin to, or something. 

Monday night I hoped to be home early, but due to flight delays I had to watch Monday night's debacle at a dive in the Charlotte Airport called the Fox Sports Zone.  I didn't get home until 11:30, complete with heartburn from the nachos.  Regardless, that should be the end of the Chan Ho Park Project.  Mets lose to Miami, 9-6.

Last night I was so friggin exhausted I slept right through the Mets 5-2 loss to the Fish. Missed David Wright's first homer of the season!

Today I listened to the 6-3 win on Gameday Audio, at my desk.  O'Perez continues to look good, but Wright, who although he had another RBI, made two errors, one in the ninth that allowed two runs to score.  Mets Win, 6-3.

Stay tuned to this spot for Transplanted ex-Mets updates and more of what you usually can expect here. 

Lets Go Mets!

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