Right Place, Wrong Time

Game 7 – Mets

Mets 3, Nationals 1
Record: 6-1

The New York Mets have the best record in baseball, a three-game lead over the rest of their division, and seem to be clicking on all cylinders. MASN’s Tom Paciorek praised the Mets as a “seemingly flawless,” “championship-level” team. Every facet of the team is playing at or near its peak.

That’s great. Really, it is. Dammit.

And, of course, today is April 12. I’ve been waiting years for the Mets to re-emerge as exactly what I described above, yet now that they are exactly that, all I feel is the angst of an inevitable downturn from the lofty heights in which they’ve been floating for a week. It’s coming, but the question as to whether it will be a mere slip or a massive plummet has me edgy.

Tonight Pedro Martinez pitched, and pitched well. He gave up a solo shot to Jose Vidro, but when Vidro came up later with no outs, the bases stuffed, and the Nats down a run, Pedro induced a desperately-needed K. A brilliant 6-4-3 escape job followed, preserving the Mets’ lead. Billy Wagner got the save, though we’d really like to see a little more domination out of the fireballer. Either the MASN radar gun was flaky, or Wagner’s fastball was, clocked at 89-98 mph. Let's assume that he was changing speeds as a tactic and not laboring to get some mustard on those things.

Right now the rest of the NL East looks like wreckage on the highway. Everyone else is sub-.500, and most of the teams have limped out of the gate. All of this will change – and quickly – but I’m asking for just one more day of this bliss. Rob and I are headed to RFK tomorrow for Livan Hernandez versus (gulp) Victor Zambrano. Yikes. I’d better pack a parachute.