Laugh-In

Game 7 - Mets

Mets 8, Phillies 2
Record: 3-4

Yesterday I asked for an end to the losing streak against the Phils; specifically, I believe I asked for "busting out . . . in impressive fashion." Well, the Mets managed five hits, committed a fairly hideous error, and Mike Pelfrey threw 100 pitches in five innings. Not altogether impressive.

Yet the Mets won in a laugher, with us chuckling mostly at the mitten-wearing fielders on the Philadelphia Phillies.

Big thanks go out to the Phillies for taking it upon themselves to provide six (6) unearned runs. I'm quite sure the Mets would've managed to botch this game without the gift-wrapped favor. Now that is brotherly love.

With Jimmy Rollins out with a sore ankle, understudy Eric Bruntlett made a couple of comically poor plays that directly led to runs scoring. The heralded Chase Utley booted another costly one; the Phils had four errors on the night, and each hurt.

To flog the demised equine, let's take a look at how the Mets scored:
D Wright safe at first on error by second baseman C Utley, J Reyes scored.
D Easley singled to left, C Delgado scored, R Church to second.
J Reyes safe at first on error by shortstop E Bruntlett, R Church scored, D Easley to third, M Pelfrey to second.
A Pagan doubled to left, D Easley and M Pelfrey scored, J Reyes to third.
D Wright safe at first on error by shortstop E Bruntlett, J Reyes scored, A Pagan to third.
J Reyes grounded into double play, second to first, D Easley scored, B Schneider out at second.
(As an aside, Jose has darted out of the gate with a .475 OPS and no SB's since 9/15 of last year. At least the hypotheses that it was fatigue are being debunked.)

The point of all of this, if there has to be a point, is that the Mets didn't exactly lace 'em up and get after it last night, so there's much more row to hoe. Pelf did acquit himself fairly nicely, and there was definitely a timeliness to the Mets' offense last night, one that had gone missing since . . . sometime around Rosh Hashanah. But this game was a gift, make no mistake, one which led to one of the more macho text message transmissions during the middle innings, my message to Rob that if the mets blow this i am throwing a serious hissy fit.

So let's thank the Phightin' Phils for it. As Crash Davis would say, when you speak of them . . . speak well.