5

5

September 24, 2008
Cubs- 9
Mets- 6

Ouch! This definitely is going into the top 5 painful/worst loses of the year. I don't know what to say...It's games like this that make me wonder why I decided to write about every September home game. It even makes me wonder why I care so damn much about something I can't control. We had this win in the bag and as my friend said, 'we shit the bed'. This was terrible. What else do I have to say?!

Fine. I'll try. A lot of people went to this game, meaning friends and friends of friends. On our way to the game, Matt told me he felt confident going into this one. Perez made me nervous like he usually does. What made matters worse in my head was that Zambrano was facing our lineup. Even though he

So we all go there in time for first pitch. It was one of our friend's birthday, Sunil. Great place to celebrate your life. His name was even put on the scoreboard in the middle of the game. Yes, I was jealous. The Mets haven't played a home game on my birthday since 2005 and they won't during the 09 season either. Oh well.

Perez looked strong early, but gave up a solo home run to Mark Derosa in the 2nd.
The Mets would come back in a huge way in the third inning. Although Zambrano looked dominated early, getting the first seven batters he faced to record outs. He struggled with his control that inning. Argenis Reyes started it off with a 1 out single. Perez bunts him over to second. With two outs, the Mets ended up scoring 5 runs! It was a freaking miracle. Jose walked, as did Dan Murphy. With the bases loaded, David Wright produced an excellent, patient at bat. He was walked and just like that, the Mets tied it up. Then came Delgado, the best clutch hitter we've seen all season. It was a full count. Delgado hits a blast! It was an opposite field grand slam that just went over the left field wall. We went nuts. There's nothing more exciting in baseball, in my opinion, than to see your team hit a grand slam. What a feeling. Suddenly, it was 5-1 Mets. We thought it was going to be a breeze and we had a laugher on our hands. Oh...how naive.

The fifth inning came. It started so innocently. Soriano struck out, again. But Theriot singled. Then Lee walked. Then Ramirez walked. I thought these guys were supposed to rest for the playoffs! Stop trying so hard. Derosa, who hit the home run earlier, killed us again with a double to left! 2 runs score. Now it's 5-3. All of a sudden, none of us feel safe or confident. Ollie had one of those vintage Ollie innings. It's like everything is going well for the guy then there's one inning, one instance where the bottom falls out! Sound familiar? He sort of represents the team.
So Jerry took him out at this point and puts in Duaner Sanchez, who hasn't been good at all this season. Listen, we'd all love to pretend like he's 2006 Duaner. But he's not! He may never be. If he will, it won't be this year so stop bringing the guy in. What does he do? He gives up a 2 rbi single to Reed Johnson. Game tied! What happened?! One thing I know. There's no way we can lose this game and still expect to play in October. Both teams were quiet offensively until the 7th.

It was a matter of time until the mighty bullpen gave up a run. This time it was Stokes, who gave up a couple of singles and a double to Sori. At the middle of the 8th, it was 6-5 Cubbies.

Of course the Mets offense was no where to be found. Zambrano settled down and the bullpen was effective. I wonder what it feels like to have an effective bullpen. Hmmm...

Delgado hit a lead off double in the 8th. Beltran followed with a singe. Runners at the corners and no outs. No way we mess this one up. But ultimately, it was the Cubs who messed up the inning. We gave them chances to get out of it. Like Church striking out. With Ramon Castro grounding out. Two outs. Then something happened. Piniella, the world's greatest manager decides to intentionally walk Endy Chavez to load the bases. Why he would do that, I don't know. Maybe for a second, he looked like Albert Pujols. Loading the bases intentionally never works anyway. Ramon Martinez then drew a walk! Already better than Castillo The Terrible. But the Mets didn't put the nail in the coffin as Reyes grounded out to 2nd baseman. We were glad it was tied but very well knew this might come back to bite us, especially with our pen.

But Ayala pitched a 1-2-3 9th inning! This could be it, we thought. This has to be ours. Dan Murphy led off the inning with a triple. It was so exciting. The dude just kept running his ass off and was aggressive as a man can be. The slide! All we need was a fly ball or something to that effect and we win a huge game and keep our 1 game lead over the Brewers.

Ughh. Do I have to continue? Can't I just end it here? Afraid not. Because David was up. The count was 3-0 to Wright and he swings and fouls it off. He was obviously pressing. What does he do shortly after that bonehead move?! He strikes out on ball 4. The ball wasn't even close to being a strike! How outside was that pitch! At this point, I knew Murphy wasn't going to score. The Cubs walk Beltran and Delgado intentionally to get to Church who's stunk it up ever since coming back from the DL. He grounded into a force out. Now two are gone and the possibly of a sac fly is gone too. Castro came up and had a horrendous at bat where he looked totally overmatched. K'ed. Inning over. The game was over.

Cubs scored 3 in the 10th because the bullpen couldn't give the team a chance in the 10th with just a 1 run deficit. THINK BIG is the bullpen's motto. And that they did. Ramirez hit a two run homer off Ayala to make it 9-6. There's the ballgame.

As terrible a loss as you can see. It's games like this that make you say, 'I can't do this anymore.' Happy birthday! Unreal.

No scorecards this game and thank God. I seriously wouldn't have been able to physically write down what just transpired in front of me. how I'm doing it now just shows how sick I am. Let's get to Shea Memories.

My Shea Memories: It was June of this year. I went with a friend from school to see the Mets-D'backs game. She's very unique. She's a die hard Diamondbacks fan. I can't explain why and won't try. This one was memorable for three reasons. One was because we had upper reserved seats, as I normally do. But this girl, the daring fanatic that she is, wanted to see batting practice so she could hold up a sign for her favorite player, Mark Reynolds. WE were late for BP but the guy let us in the field level seating anyway to see the field. Game time starts and we sit literally the second row of the visiting dugout. These were the best seats I've ever sat in at Shea. And they weren't even our seats! How fitting. No one came to sit in them, meaning someone out there decided to waste two amazingly expensive ticket. Man, don't you just hate rich people sometimes? This is why! But I was thrilled. I got to see Santana pitch from the closest vantage point a fan can have, besides the bat boy. I will say this. I love the nose bleeds but by sitting this close, you really start to appreciate the game more. You realize how difficult it truly is and how much effort it takes to play a good ball game. You sort of take it for granted.
Second reason it's memorable is because Wagner blew another freaking game! This time a 4-0 going into the 9th. Johan pitched amazing and didn't get the win. Mets ended up losing that one of course. It was probably the game that sealed Willie's fate and everyone at Shea knew that. Third reason is because I was on the kiss cam with my friend. This was not a date mind you. And the girl could care less about me or anyone for that matter who wasn't named Reynolds. I was pretty mortified by those 5 seconds. I always pictured this glorious and special moment if I ever got caught on the kiss cam. I planned act nuts and go crazy. And what happened? A kiss on the cheek by me. Crazy. Shortly after, the girl yelled, "I love you Reynolds!" This was one of probably 20 times I heard that all game. I wish I was kidding. I've had better moments, but it was pretty hilarious.

I have no pictures or videos. Too disgusted. Here's one though from the first game of this series. A "Mets fans' tries to start the wave