Misery Loves Company: Two Guys Watch Baseball

Game 3 - Mets

Cubs 6, Mets 3
Record: 1-2

This season has started well for me as a Mets fan if only for the amount of Mets baseball I have been able to catch on the tube. Oh, maybe that's a bad thing. After following much of this game on ESPN.com's Game Update, I gave up and stepped across the street to the Irish Times only to find the 9th inning on the TV. So I was able to watch them scratch out a pair of ninth inning runs to cut the deficit to three with a man on first and one away. After 8 innings of anemic hitting (9 more K's!) and woeful pitching (Steve Trachsel could find the strike zone . . . and the wheelhouse), they were obviously just waiting for me to tune in to see the dramatic finish. Rey "F9" Sanchez flied out to right and Big Mo stepped up in a pinch-hitting role. A 3-0 count and things are getting exciting. Alas, Vaughn doesn't want to walk and bring the tying run to the plate, he wants to do it all himself and hit the big homer that wouldn't tie the game but would clear the bases. (?!) He goes fishing for several dirtballs to get to 3-2, then he pops up. This team has no discipline at the plate, it's obvious after one series. At least the D looked better: they gunned two runners at the plate (in one inning!), picked off two guys (in one inning!), turned two double plays (in one inning! . . . okay, not really), and made no errors.

So they took one of three from the Cubs. It's not the ideal way to start off the '03 campaign, but the Cubs are supposed to be a contender this year, so we'll take the one win and await the division-leading Expos . . . What the . . . ? Is there a strike on the way? David Cone starts for the first time in a year and a half tonight. This season we aren't expecting the Cone of 15 years ago (20-3 for the Mets) or even 5 years ago (20-7 for the Yanks), but maybe for one night we can get back the Coney of four years ago when he pitched a perfect game against guess who -- the Montreal Expos.