Misery Loves Company: Two Guys Watch Baseball

Game 26 - Mets
Bonds Bails; Fonzie Jumps the Shark

Mets 6, Giants 2
Record: 11-15

Thanks to Barry Bonds succumbing to a sinus infection (sounds lame, but we'll take it), this was just another game against another opponent. Thanks to Edgardo Alfonzo's comedy of errors at second base, this was a win. When Fonzie left town after the '02 season, he thanked the fans of New York with a series of ads on cabs and buses. Last night he provided an extra thank-you: firing a wild throw, booting a grounder, and letting a bloop single from the pitcher drop in to account for 5 unearned runs in a 6-2 finish. No, Fonzie, thank you.

Steve Trachsel continued his diesel-like ways, scattering hits and walks as he ate up eight more innings to even his record at 3-3. One of the runs he permitted was unearned, thanks to errors by Mike Piazza and Danny Garcia in the second. Then Alfonzo schooled Garcia in how errors at 2B were committed in the old days at Shea. Actually, I always really liked the guy when he was a Met, but the salary he earns from San Francisco ($6.5 million this year) was just too risky. (Instead, they signed Roger Cedeno with the money!) Plus, last year the Giants probably got everything they could from him (.259, 13 HR, 81 RBI, .725 OPS, .966 in the field). Ty Wigginton posted .255, 11 HR, 71 RBI, .714 OPS, .962 in the field for $316,000. Alfonzo provides more than the numbers show, but the man upstairs (Steve Phillips, not God, though some contend he'd say "same difference") made the call and it looks to be one of the few sound ones of that era.

The Mets picked up a game in the division when Armando "O Ye of Little Faith" Benitez blew his first save of the year. True, the run he gave up was unearned, but it was his error that advanced the runner, and he then gave up the critical single with two outs. I always thought pitcher's errors should impact their ERA, anyway. So New York is four back in the standings now. But look out, Montreal has taken two in a row, including last night's 10-run assault. Sacre bleu! Perhaps they do have the savoir-faire, the repertoire, and the je ne sais quoi to battle tres bien in this tete-a-tete, vis-a-vis the rest of the division. We shall see, mes amies.