Just Shoot Me

Game 63 - Mets

Diamondbacks 9, Mets 5
Record: 30-33

Skipping past Rob's magnificent eulogy to his Grandpa and obnoxiously focusing on Nick's negativity, I nominate these players as my Least Favorite Mets of All Time:

C through Manager: The 2008 New York Mets

Okay, not really, of course. But last night didn't make me like these bastards any more. You know you're grinding through a rotten season when your team sports a 5-1 lead in the second inning and the overriding thought is, "They'll blow this. I know they'll blow this." A quote from one of my all-time favorite films keeps coming to mind during this season:

It's over, don't you get that? Your time is over and you're gonna die bloody, and all you can do is choose where.

Obviously, nothing is over at this point. It just feels like these Mets have nothing near the mettle to get the job done. Don't blame injuries; I saw an article lamenting the fact that they haven't had their true starting lineup intact all season. Not buying that. Unless you count Pedro -- and I don't think anybody in their right mind had elevated him out of wait-and-see status this winter -- the Mets have avoided the huge, devastating injury. Ryan Church is missed, but the true Mets superstars are on that field night in and night out.

Sucking.

Last night I actually missed the quintet of Mets runs, making it all that much more fun. I saw the D-backs scrape a run across after John Maine spit his dip out with a 3-2 count on Orlando Hudson. He seemed to be distracted by it, like maybe he'd swallowed some, maybe gotten the sweats a little, maybe was staving off mound-barfing. Anyway, it surprised me that he chose then to take an extra few seconds to eject the wad, run tongue 'twixt teeth and gum, eradicate the remnants, and take an extra second to regain his composure. Really, a 3-2 count with a man aboard? Now?

And then he walked Hudson, natch. That didn't surprise me at all. And then he gave up a single, of course. 1 run in. It's the Met way these days.

I was called away for fatherly obligations for the next hour, and since I'd been watching and not recording, only 30 minutes would be saved by the time I returned. The back end of the delay featured David Wright touching home plate to record Run #5. Like I said, 5-1, Mets, second inning.

So what I'm saying is that I got to enjoy seven or eight innings of a Mets baseball game last night in which the Arizona Diamondbacks plated nine runs and the New York Mets scored none. Thanks, boys, next time I'll just punch myself in the eye and get some sleep.

Mike Pelfrey vs. Brandon Webb tonight. Ugh. And then I get this e-mail from Mets.com:

Take Off Work This Thursday
Play Hooky from Work - this Thursday at 1:10 PM. Job got you stressed? Come to Shea instead. Johan Santana is set to take the mound against Dan Haren and the Diamondbacks. Buy tickets now!

1 part irony, 2 parts audacity. Stir. Guzzle. Repeat.