An interesting three days against the Phillies at Shea. After an Opening Day loss, the fans seemed ready to torch the building six months ahead of the wrecking ball, but the Mets recovered to take two of three from Philly and they now stand at a cool 4-4, still 1 1/2 games behind the Marlins.
Is this crazy or what? I'm referencing the NL East standings on April 11. But that's the kind of year it's going to be for these Mets, who still haven't won over their skeptical fan base. I know 
how impatient Mets fans can be, but I was surprised to see (and hear) the nasty reaction at Tuesday's Shea opener, which I detailed in this morning's Mets Insider. Even the Mets, who are accustomed to such negativity in their home ballpark, seemed to be affected.
I'm curious to see what's going to happen tomorrow if Johan Santana has a rough outing. Say Santana struggles and the Brewers rip him for six runs in three innings. Does he get booed off the mound? Do the jeers begin as soon as he gives up a two-run double? I've been covering games at Shea for the past dozen years and I've never seen Mets fans have such a short fuse. I'm sure that's tied into the expectations for this season, and the collapse of last year, but it's definitely a strange phenomenon -- and unique to Shea. I've been to every ballpark in the country and the only place that comes close is Philadelphia.
At least there was something to cheer about last night, after the boos for Aaron Heilman, who is off to a terrible start despite being untouchable in spring training. Go figure. I know spring stats are meaningless, but I never could have predicted Heilman's terrible first two weeks. The Mets have to hope Duaner Sanchez handles his back-to-back outings at Triple-A New Orleans this weekend. They could use him.
Comments (4)
Maybe because the fans were pissed about last year and some of the mets were ho hum about it last year. So this year a good start is what they need and they are playing sloppy, wasting good SP efforts and most of the problems from last year are happening this year? It is almost like nothing has changed.
Recap this season:
1. Bullpen continues to struggle. They have blown 3 games and have 2 losses.
2. Injuries to the old players signed.
3. Bad roster moves.
4. Bad timely hitting. Couldn't break open the game early Wed, almost cost us the game yesterday, couldn't put away Moyer on Tues.
5. Bench is horrible.
1-4 were problems last year. #5 seems to be a problem this year thus far.
Metsie's Recap
Just read Probable Starters for the Met-Brewer tilt tonight.
Ed Figueroa is gonna toe the rubber for the Mets? That is sad, man. What is he....68-69 years-old?
Pathetic.
Who will they sign next? Dick "Dirt" Tidrow as a set-up man?
Bruce DalCanton for spot starter duties?
Also, word has it Jorge Sosa has a strained neck...from watching all those frozen ropes whiz past him after yet another serving of his re-warmed slop.
The Amazins have also gotta be tired of Aaron Heilman bringing a gas can to the hill, especially against their divisional rivals. His ERA against the Fightin' Phils was a stratospheric 8.00. After last night, the official scorer said he needed more time to calculate, so for now it's officially listed as "TBD".
In the game, just prior to Heilman's room service pitch to Ryan Howard, who should have at least given a 20% tip to the shell-shocked hurler, the telecast was interrupted with, "The National Weather Service has issued a Home Run watch for the New York Metropolitan area...".
Sure enough, instead of "Paint it Black", Aaron-boy grooves one, a gopher ball to Howard after which Sieg Heil no doubt needed someone to come to his "Emotional Rescue".
Watching that rainmaker sail out of sight I said to myself , "That must be a Homer 'cuz the pitcher just said 'D'oh!!'".
Next they showed a camera shot of Albert Einstein, errrr, Willie Randolph, who should have played the percentages and never given the nod to Heilman. You know, "gone by the book", and kept Feliciano on the bump for a lefty-lefty matchup.
Anyway, as Howard's moonshot took off, Willie and the Poorboys wore one of those "Somebody call 911, cause there's pain in the house!" looks on their collective faces, especially surprising for WR and his normally botox-frozen grill.
Luckily, after most sane people went to sleep, Reyes pulled his Punch-'N-Judy act out of mothballs, got on base with dying quail that was not played particularly well by a Phillie flychaser and Josecanyousee legged it out for a two bagger.
Then Angel Manguel, errrr Pagan (BTY, if a man is truly a "pagan" and doesn't believe in my Main Man, our Lord and Savior J.C., I don't think he should advertise it on the back of his uni...do you?) hits one through the wickets off Tom "Flash Fire" Gordon.
Phil's centerfielder Jayson Werth-it played it cleanly and came up firing , a perfectly thrown one-hop lazer to Phillie backstop Chris Coste who snagged it and nicely blocked the dish on a bang-bang play at home.
Reyes tried a half-assed hook slide and appeared to miss the plate, quickly reaching back to touch it. Coste seemed to back slap a tag on him, but it was hard to tell. Plate arbiter Ted Barrett called him safe, after which all hell broke loose and it All was NOT Quiet On The Eastern Front.
You may have seen the replay. Watching it, I gotta admit the call could have gone either way. If I was a PhillieFan-atic, I might have been frothing at the mouth.
Speaking of frothing...
The Metropolitans started celebrating and the old booze hound himself Charlie Manuel staggered out of the dugout to argue, almost dropping his mixed drink in the process. Thank goodness he uses a Sippie Cup with an airtight lid and didn't spill any of that rot-gut, or it may have gotten even uglier.
That's it for today's Metsie's Recap.
This is Mr. Cliche` Sporty signing off...
Wow, Mr. Cliche. Just wow.
David, I do not think it has anything to do with expectations. The players and manager picked right where they left off, fans followed the lead. This is all 2007; they needed to start fast and have not. A streak into the division lead will lower temps, but the base will simmer until they are into the post season.