George Thorogood

Game 29 - Mets

Mets 6, Diamondbacks 2
Record: 19-10

Strange things are afoot at Chase Field. Last year's Cy Young winner couldn't even raise Arizona's hopes against fill-in starter Jorge Sosa. In fact, it was Sosa who looked the ace last night, surrendering just a pair of runs in the sixth inning after Jose Reyes dropped the transfer on a woulda-been IEDP. (I'll not chastise the star shortstop even a little for the rare slip; I only mention it to asterisk the pitcher's ERA.) The last couple of lines of my last post were written as if playing with a stacked deck, and yet it played out against the odds. Strange days indeed.

The performance Jorge Sosa delivered last night might even make us take a closer look at Mike Pelfrey's start today, wondering if perhaps Sosa would supplant the youngster if he reverts to early April form. Before we get there, though, a second asterisk needs application on Sosa's outing last night. (Hey, with Barry Bonds nearing 756, those little things are everywhere.) Because he was pitching in the Met-friendly Twilight Zone of Phoenix, very little can be drawn for the outcome.

The myth of the Arabian Phoenix goes as such:

As the end of its life approached, the phoenix would build a pyre nest of aromatic branches and spices such as myrrh, sets it on fire, and is consumed in the flames. After three days there is a birth -- or as some legends say, a rebirth -- and the phoenix arises from the ashes. According to some sources, the phoenix arose from the midst of the flames.

Not coincidentally, Diamondbacks leftfielder Scott Hairston performed much the same ceremony last night, minus the rebirth. As he charged a low liner off Paul LoDuca's bat with two on, you could smell the myrrh. When the ball skipped under he glove, he gave a sideways glance as if deadpanning to the camera, "Somebody just light me on fire." Brandon Webb offered a match.

And so 2-0 with us wondering when the D-backs would get to Sosa suddenly became 4-0, then 5-0 when Shawn Green (who'd already homered off his former team to provide the 2-0) singled in LoDuca, then 6-0 when Green stole second (more unexplainables in the desert), was grounded to third and was sac flied home in true scratch-across fashion. And with a six-run cushion in the sixth, it was time to relax and marvel at the oddity of the Mets's success in this park. 13 straight wins in Arizona. All this talk about it will undoubtedly give the Diamondbacks a much-needed win this afternoon, but it's been remarkable.

For now, we'll hope that what Jorge Sosa pulled off last evening was his own doing, but we sort of have to assume it was Arizona. If not Arizona, then a land not too far away. Where all parents are strong and wise and capable. And all children are happy and beloved.

I don't know. Maybe it was Utah.