OK, so Dan’s non-annoucement marathon has been pretty excruciating, but no more so than the New York Mets’ performance the past five weeks. We (and I can say “we” since, after all, I faithfully wear the Pedro shirt for every night game, having established through scientific methods that its mojo does not work during day games) were 12-15 in June and are 2-5 so far in July. This stretch has seen some great wins, but also several soul-crushing defeats. Swept by Colorado, losing the final game of the series 17-7. Geez Louise, that’s a football score. Most worrisome has been the listless style of play.
But perhaps stretching things out to the point of snapping works. Last night’s 17-inning marathon against the Astros tested the mettle of the Metsies and we came away with a great big En Fuego:
Five hours and nine minutes of baseball, 505 total pitches thrown, a Willie Mays-like catch by Carlos Beltran (Why is there a hill in centerfield? Did someone leave extra dirt on the construction site when the park was being built? ), and Keith Hernandez’s scorebook probably looks like a Grateful Dead t-shirt. (NB to non-Mets fans: Keith meticulously color codes his scorebook.)
So hang in there, DP fans. Dan’s game is in extra innings. The Mets had a happy ending last night. Hope DP gives us a happy ending tomorrow.
