Mets!

It's hard not to feel optimistic coming off the two wins in the mini series against Philly.

My ignorance of the sport of baseball means I'm not really aware of the psychological impact something like, say, pulling a pitcher out of the rotation, can have on the whole team, but it sure seems to have had a good effect so far. It's not so much the string of recent wins, but that they seem to be more like whole team affairs, rather than Johann carrying them or just getting lucky when an opposing pitcher blows it.

Looking forward to seeing how Jon Niese does tonight. I don't think I remember him from last season.

Ouch

That was ugly. RIP 2007 Mets.

I will never believe in anything again.

Mets @ Phillies

What a ridiculous game. Four hours of emotional roller-coastery. So sad to see David Wright have such a great game and have it all slip through their fingers, but I guess that's part of what it means to play on a team. Sometimes one player's transcendent play can make up the difference, and sometimes it can't. And credit to the Phillies, they played excellent baseball up until their bullpen fell apart in the eighth. The Mets took their best shot, but in the end they did not step up as a team. A tough loss.

Mets @ Phillies

It's the bottom of the sixth now as I watch some baseball on TV. I do enjoy watching Jamie Moyer pitch (nullus).

Speaking of nullus, on this installment of "Baseball is Gay," someone earlier was talking about Merkle's Boner, and just now Keith Hernandez told us about how much he loves The Rose with Bette Midler.

Update: Specifically, he was talking about when he was in high school and went to see The Rose at the Ziegfeld theater because they had the best sound system.

Family Vacation

The last week of June, Nate and I drove down to Cape May Point, a charming whites-only resort town at the very Southern tip of the New Jersey shore, where my parents had rented a beach house. We saw hawks, dolphins, bunnies, crabs, a shark, and even a frog:



And we ate a cubic assload of seafood and played tons of sports.

Sadly, there was no minor league ball nearby, but we were in Phillies territory, so we got to see a bit of baseball on the television. Philadelphia had a series against the Reds, and my dad told me all about Jamie Moyer, who I guess used to pitch for Seattle. Seeing Ken Griffey Jr. go up against him was extra cool. At the end of the week they started a series with my treasured New York Mets, and I saw the good guys roll right over them in both games of a double header.

After dropping my sister off at the airport in Philly, Nate and I drove back into the city, and I listened to essentially the entire game, first on a Philly station and then on WFAN as it came into range. It was a fun game to listen to, though there was one near catch that I really wished I could see video of. It was a good way to pass the time during the drive. I've always found sports radio broadcasts really hard to follow, but with a little effort it really wasn't much worse than watching TV...maybe a little harder to catch up after you zone out, but really not that bad.

Update: I found video of that near-catch. It was by Aaron Rowand on Beltran's second homer, and it's in the highlight reel under the "Top Play" video link on the wrapup.