Misery Loves Company: Two Guys Watch Baseball

Game 99 - Mets

Mets 7, Phillies 5
Record: 42-57

There was a whole lot of good to draw from this game:

1. Mets 7, Phillies 5. That's the the score of the game as well as the overall tally of games this season. With seven more to play, seven cases of Golden Anniversary (est. total: $62.93) is probably what I was realistically aiming for at the beginning of the year.

2. Wigginton, Phillips, Reyes, Duncan. Each had a good game, each continues to play solidly. None are bucking for Rookie of the Year, but perhaps that's not a bad thing – the less focus on this team, the more they can work on what matters.

3. Dan Wheeler.
He pitched well again, saving the day when John Franco was off, again, meaning––

4. Whitney was right again. Franco is but a shell of the former stud stopper for the Mets, and before that, the Reds. (Just as an aside, do you think he asked to be traded for Randy Myers so he wouldn't have to be known as one of the "Nasty Boys"?) It looks like a rock and a hard place right now for Art Howe, but it's not. Sure, the masses might squawk if Franco is relegated to mop-up or appears to be ousted from important roles, but Art Howe's focus will always be to win ballgames, even in a terminally ill season where John Franco sauntering off into the sunset might be a welcome distraction. I am hoping Franco can shake off this bad stretch and give the people what they want: their venerable closer closing out the season by saving ballgames for his hometown Mets. It's that easy, right?

The one negative creeping into this season is related to point #1. Koch's Golden Anniversary Beer, and its sister swill, Golden Anniversary Light, do not seem to be in the mass market any more. By mass market I mean pockets of liquor stores on Cape Cod such as Shop Ahoy, which used peddle the nectar at a reasonable (comparitively speaking, of course) rate of $9.69/case. Recent Cape ventures by Mr. Russell and his fellow Sox fan Coby Beck have been fruitless endeavors (though half-hearted, I'm sure) to obtain some of the "good" stuff for me. My competition in the Phils bet Rhys Lloyd thinks he might be able to track the stuff (brewed by High Falls Brewery in Rochester) in PA. I am worried. It would really taint the winnings if I have to resort to Schlitz.