Tales of the 2010 Season: Part 2: A 20-Inning Marathon

The Mets proceeded to lose the last two games of the series to the Marlins. Then they lost two of three to the perennial bottom-feeding Washington Nationals. Then they lost two of three to the Colorado Rockies. They entered a series against the St. Louis Cardinals and lost the first game. Their record stood at three wins and seven losses. It was Mets baseball as usual.

This leads me into my second 2010 Mets game story.

The matchup for the second game of the series pitted the aforementioned Johan Santana against Cardinals rookie Jaime Garcia. Game time was set for 4:05 (the game was on FOX, and took place in the Central time zone, explaining the slightly odd game time).

I was at my friend Joe’s house that afternoon. We were playing some dumb online game which we were obsessed over for a couple of hours. Every once in a while I would go to his nearby TV and check the score of the Met game.

His family invited me to stay for dinner and I obliged. At this point it was around 7 o’clock. As we ate our pizza, we turned on the TV in their kitchen. The game was still tied at 0-0 in the 10th inning. In that inning we saw Alex Cora, who had close to zero career experience at first base, dive into the stands to make an inning-ending catch.

After we finished our pizza, we played Skip-Bo, a relatively non-notable time passing card game. Joe and his dad each won one game. At this point the game was still scoreless, and in the 13th inning. We put away the card game. The time was around 8:30 PM, and, being not exactly party animals, that meant it was nearly the point where we called it a day. We’d just watch another inning, we said.

In the bottom of the 14th inning, with the game STILL scoreless, Joe Mather (remember this name) doubled off of Mets pitcher and 34-year old Japanese import Hisanori Takahashi. Brendan Ryan reached on a Takahashi error and advanced to second on defensive indifference. The Cardinals had runners at second and third with no one out. Surely they would break through here. This game can’t stay scoreless forever, we thought.

Two strikeouts later, the superhuman slugger Albert Pujols stepped to the plate. A base was open, so we walked him (this was a common theme throughout this game). Due to a dumb earlier move by St. Louis manager Tony La Russa, slugger Matt Holliday was gone from the game and the pitcher now batted behind Pujols. Instead of having to face the fearsome Holliday, we easily struck out the feckless Blake Hawksworth.

So I would stay for the 15th, I thought. My mom texted me that she was going to sleep, but that she left the door open. I live five houses down from Joe’s house, so that wasn’t a concern. In the top of the inning the Mets went down 1-2-3 (Hawksworth was not feckless on the mound like he was in the batter’s box). In the bottom of the 15th, rookie fireballer Jenrry Mejia entered the ballgame for the Mets. I was at the point where I wanted to call Mets manager Jerry Manuel and say “USE K-ROD ALREADY!”. K-Rod, for the uninformed, is Francisco Rodriguez- a declining but still very good reliever who was available in the Mets bullpen. Manuel sadly still refused to use his closer in this game. After two quick outs, the Cards drew a walk and singled to put runners at first and third.
“They’re going to blow it here,” I said, and my tired confidants concurred.
They didn’t blow it though. Mejia got Cardinals shortstop Brendan Ryan to ground out. We would go to the sixteenth inning, still locked in a 0-0 tie.

We all stayed put in the kitchen, eyes fixed to the TV. The top of the 16th was uneventful and was highlighted by an Angel Pagan single. The bottom of the 16th began. As the FOX camera crew showed the mound, there stood Mejia again.

I yelled “DAMMIT JERRY JUST BRING IN K-ROD ALREADY!” or something of that sort. I don’t think he heard me, sadly. The bottom of the 16th saw the Cardinals finally use their last position player, backup catcher Bryan Anderson. Anderson came up with one out and men at first and second. A groundout and Ryan Ludwick baserunning blunder later and we headed to the 17th inning, and still both teams were scoreless.

The FOX Sports research team or whoever the hell coordinates this nonsense started giving their viewers a barrage of completely meaningless statistics designed to put this game into proper perspective. This was the longest scoreless game since 1975, the longest game the Mets had played since 2006, nonsense like that which had no application to the game at hand.
The 17th inning saw literally almost nothing except Tony La Russa finally using his closer, Jerry Manuel bringing in Mexican League import Raul Valdes rather than K-Rod, and me yelling about how Valdes was in rather than K-Rod. This inning, like the sixteen others before it, would be scoreless.

I finally went home just before the 18th inning. After sitting in the Bevilacquas’ kitchen for the past 3 hours watching the Mets and Cardinals not score runs, I resituated myself in my bed. I proceeded to laugh out loud and roll on the floor laughing when La Russa brought in infielder Felipe Lopez to pitch, and pitcher Kyle Lohse in to play left field.

The Mets didn’t score this inning, though we may have if pitcher Raul Valdes hadn’t foolishly chosen not to slide into second base after his first major league hit. I shook my head in disgust. Damn, this was pretty sad! The Mets couldn’t score a run off of an infielder who was pitching. For those who are unaware, non-pitchers typically don’t have success on the mound on the major league level (that’s why they’re not pitchers). It seemed at this point that I could step onto the mound and hold either of these teams scoreless for an inning or two. You began to feel as if it were just destined to continue on forever.

The Cardinals did not score off of Valdes in the bottom of the 18th inning. This sent the game into a 19th inning. They had been playing for 6 ½ hours, played two full regulation games basically, and yet things still churned on.

In the top of the 19th, the Cardinals, surely just fooling around at this point, brought in outfielder Joe Mather to pitch. And believe it or not, after humiliating themselves once again by swinging at pitches thrown by a guy who clearly could not find the strike zone (considering said guy wasn’t a pitcher), they managed to score a run on a sacrifice fly by Jeff Francoeur. Amazing!

For the bottom of the 19th, Jerry Manuel was faced with a difficult choice. Should he go look for a glove and enter the game to pitch, or should he bring in his best reliever Francisco Rodriguez? Finally, he made the right choice. I was thrilled. Of course, since this game was crazy, K-Rod blew the save opportunity. Cards catcher Yadier Molina (brother of the infamous Bengie Molina) drove in a run with a single. We were tied at 1 run apiece. This was just dumb.

We headed to the 20th inning. Mather was still in for the Cardinals (as pitcher Kyle Lohse still stood in left field). The Mets scored another run on a sacrifice fly. They led 2-1. In the bottom of the 20th, starting pitcher Mike Pelfrey came in for the save and finished off the Cardinals. The clock was at just about 11 PM. This game took 6 hours and 53 minutes to complete. That’ll be one I’ll remember for the rest of my life.

Tales of the 2010 Season: Part 1: Opening Day

(Author's Note: The first few installments of this- and maybe the only few, depending on my drive to write more- are taken from a public speaking speech I gave last May. References may not be completely current as a result, though I changed some things to make them relevant to the audience)

April 5th, 2010 was a date that my classmates dreaded, the return to school after spring break. Ah, but I had little to dread. I had scored tickets to Opening Day at Citi Field, and it would be glorious.

The day started when we arrived in Flushing Meadows Corona Park around noon, after a relatively traffic-free drive in. This extreme good luck quickly ended as we searched for a spot near the park. After approximately seven years of driving in circles, we found one inside the stadium’s main lot. Parking in the stadium’s main lot is never a good idea for two reasons. First of all, you pay an obscene amount (19 dollars!) for these spots. Second of all, unless you leave early, you will be faced with a preposterous amount of traffic getting out of these lots. Nevertheless, a spot is better than no spot.

Once we had parked, I made a mad dash to the stadium, ticket in hand. Normally, I get tired walking up and down flights of stairs. The distance between our car in the stadium was obviously quite larger than the distance of a flight of stairs, regardless though, the allure of the stadium gave me sudden superhuman running abilities for that short period of time.

I got into the stadium, scanned my ticket, received my souvenir Home Run Apple bank and made a beeline to the new Mets Hall of Fame and Museum. The time now was around 12:35, with game time being 1:10. I knew they always had a ceremony of sorts before the game on Opening Day though, announcing the rosters, unfurling a large flag, and the such, and I didn’t want to miss that. For that reason I didn’t really get to enjoy the museum as much as I could have. Regardless it seemed pretty damn awesome.

I exited through the gift shop (which they required you to do, it’s like it was Disneyworld or something), and made another beeline (do bees make lines?) to our right field Field level seats. As I ran once more, this time through a large crowd of people (most of whom were walking the opposite direction), I heard the Marlins training staff being announced. Sadly, I did not get to see the legend that was Marlins team trainer Sean Cunningham as he was introduced. I spent a few seconds holding back tears over the missed opportunity, and then continued my rush to our seats.

I got to the seats just as they were introducing the Marlins coaching staff. Then the Marlins reserve players. The Marlins lineup followed. Then the Mets trainers and coaches. Then the Mets reserves. Then the Mets lineup.

“Batting first, the shortstop, Alex Cora” Various cheers, I clap a bit. Don’t care for the guy too much, but I don’t hate him.

“Batting second, the second baseman, Luis Castillo” The stadium is split. Cheers for a guy who had pretty solid offensive production last year. Boos for a guy that dropped a pop-up to end a game against the hated Yankees last year. I cheer. 

“Batting third, at third base… David Wright!” The cheers are deafening, and you can barely hear the PA guy finish. David had had a mediocre season in 2009, but we didn’t care. He was our guy. He had always been a Met and he hopefully always would be. He’s one of those once in a generation stars, a guy that will never, ever have to pay for a drink in the city of New York.

‘Batting cleanup, at first base, Mike Jacobs” The crowd gave Mike a good round of applause. He had started his career with the Mets way back in 2005.

I booed, and booed, and booed, to the extent that the people around me likely thought I was on leave from the insane asylum. Jacobs was bad. Really bad. Chris Carter and Ike Davis would both be much better options at first base, I thought. Why was Jacobs there but not them?  (Of course, the joke is now on me. Jacobs is now in AAA and Carter and Davis are both on the big-league club)

“Batting fifth, in left field, Jason Bay!” Lots of cheers. Ownership bankrolled the Bay signing this past offseason. He was supposed to be our savior, he was supposed to bring us out of this era of mediocrity. We didn’t know if he would, or if he wouldn’t. Regardless of our ignorance, we gave Jason a hell of a welcome to Flushing.

“Batting sixth, in center field, Gary Matthews Jr.!” 

“THAT SHOULD BE PAGAN!” I yelled, making reference to superior center fielder Angel Pagan. 

Matthews had been acquired in an offseason trade with the Angels, who paid 22 million of the 24 million owed to him. If that doesn’t make it obvious how bad he was, his level of play did. In that game he would have two hits, and afterwards he seemingly decided to stop hitting. Pagan would be slotted into the center field spot within two weeks or so.

“Batting seventh, in right field, Jeff Francoeur!” Jeff, picked up last July in a trade with Atlanta, had quickly become a fan favorite in Queens. I cheered, we all cheered. He was a bit of a free swinger but there was no reason to boo the guy.

“Batting eighth and catching, Rod Barajas!” Rod, like Bay, had been acquired as a free agent this past offseason. Although he was a veteran, he was generally an unknown quantity to this crowd. He wasn’t an Albert Pujols or an Alex Rodriguez. Ladies didn’t swoon upon sight of the mighty Rod Barajas. Fathers didn’t tell their sons to keep playing ball so they can one day be a star like Barajas. Like so many others, he was known, he had proven himself enough, but he was far from a name-recognized star. The cheers reflected this. They weren’t “Yeah, this guy is awesome!” cheers. They were “Yeah, this guy is wearing a Mets uniform. Since I’m a Mets fan, I’ll cheer for him!” cheers. In his first few weeks with the Metropolitans he would make himself known, however, this was just Opening Day.

“And batting ninth, the pitcher, #57, Johan Santana!”

The tones of “Smooth” by Rob Thomas and Santana blared through the loudspeakers across the ballpark, as Johan stepped out of the bullpen gate and jogged to the pitcher’s mound. The roars of the crowd were deafening. Johan was our ace, the guy we always felt comfortable about. He’d have one, maybe two, bad starts most seasons. He was a thrill to watch, whether the Mets were in a pennant race, or completely out of contention.

He reached the mound without obstacle. The music ended and the crowd’s roar died down. Johan threw a called strike to Marlins leadoff man Chris Coghlan. With that the 2010 Mets season had begun.

The Mets would win this Opening Day game 7-1. David Wright, unjustly deprived of homers the previous season, would hit one out. Johan would throw six strong innings, and get the victory. I spent excessive amounts of time in places besides my seat (which was actually a very nice seat), including a 2-inning wait on the Shake Shack line (the Shackburger wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t that great- not worth the long wait), and an inning-plus stay in the bullpen viewing area, an area of the ballpark not widely known of. While there, I listened to a kid, who seemed to be around ten years old, harass the entire Mets bullpen, including the bullpen coach, until they threw him a ball.

“RANDY! MR. NIEMANN! CAN YOU THROW ME A BALL MR. NIEMANN? RANDY CAN YOU THROW ME A BALL? PLEASE MR NIEMANN? MR. NIEVE CAN YOU THROW ME A BALL? FERNANDO NIEVE CAN YOU THROW ME A BALL? FERNANDO THROW ME A BALL PLEASE WHEN YOU’RE DONE!”

Yes, there is a happy ending to this little story. They did throw him a ball when they were done