Misery Loves Company: Two Guys Watch Baseball

Games 10, 11, 12 - Mets

Expos 10, Mets 0 (Friday)
Expos 5, Mets 4 (Saturday)
Expos 2, Mets 1 (Sunday)
Record: 4-8

Oh, what a whale of a weekend for the boys in royal blue and orange. I had hoped the Puerto Rico Experiment would be yet another P.R. (no pun intended) nightmare for MLB and their handling of the Expos, but after this trio of entertaining wins, it looks like the greatest thing in San Juan since Ricky Martin. I was unable to catch any of these games, only able to see final scores and disastrous highlights. Game 1 saw David Cone fall back to earth and get hammered while Tomo Stinkin' Ohka two-hit the Mets. Game 2 featured a couple of hideous errors, generally sloppy defensive play, the inability to hit Livan Hernandez, and Cliff Floyd leaving with a strained Achilles tendon. And Game 3 was another Armando Benitez explosion, this time blowing a chance for a 1-0 win when the first batter he faced hit one into the cheapest of cheap seats. Mike Stanton picked up his second loss in the 10th when Puerto Rican born Jose Vidro parked another one. Whatever flimsy training wheels were on this cart have come flying off this weekend.

The only solace in this extended episode of ineptitude was that I spent the weekend with, among others, my Met-loving brother-in-law-to-be. Patrick, who provided me with the means to watch most of these Met games, suffered through the three days of unwatchable (apparently in more ways than one) losses right alongside me. And many a discussion of the woes of this club filled the time. Before leaving today I insisted we desperately needed Al Leiter to throw a dandy of a ballgame this afternoon. If only I'd known I could just order up such things, I'd also have asked for a tad more scoring and a bullpen playing up to its ability. Benitez is killing us, but the lack of offense is a more consistent killer. Roger "I Shall Be Released" Cedeno went 0-for-5 again today, sending his average down to .146. The team is hitting at a .218 clip, they've stolen but one base, they've committed 10 errors and had 10 more plays that should have been errors, and they just look like crap. Art Howe has got to be beside himself. I know I am.

But then . . . we're just one real closer (those three games Benitez blew) behind the Red Sox!