Last night was a great win for the Mets, it's too bad I wasn't there to enjoy it. I had tickets to last night's game but ended up not seeing a single pitch.
After convincing my fiancee to come to the game with me, we ended up getting a late start on account of her doctor's appointment, and didn't leave the house until almost 6:30. In inauspicious start to say the least. Coming from Bergen County, NJ, we took 4E to the GWB and traffic was light. The Yankees and Mets were both playing home games last night so we were expecting the worst. We got through the bridge in good shape and had three routes to choose from:
a) Cross Bronx -> Whitestone Bridge -> Whitestone Expwy
b) Harlem River Drive -> TriBoro -> Grand Central
c) Deegan -> TriBoro -> Grand Central
With the knowledge that (c) would be backed up on account of the Yankee Stadium traffic and that (a) was bad because of an accident on the Whitestone, we opted for (b). The HRD was smooth sailing, but about halfway over the TriBoro Bridge we hit a wall. Not literally, though the effect was similar. Traffic moved very slowly over the bridge to the GCP, at which point we got off, turned around and drove home. It was already 7:30 when we turned around and I have no reason to believe we would have made it to Shea in less than an hour from that point.
The game wound up featuring moments of exitement (Reyes' stolen bases, Jacobs' double, Piazza going first-to-home), bewilderment (the lights going out), the mundane (shoddy pitching performances from Looper and Takatsu) and stunning aberrance (Cairo game-winning RBI?!?).
Great win aside, the Mets' recent surge has left them in a tie with the Brewers for 16th overall and, since the Brewers had a worse record last year, I believe the Mets would actually have the 16th pick in next year's draft. What makes that pick so critical is that the top fifteen picks in the first round are protected from free agent compensation. #16 is the first pick that is not protected, and that's where the Mets sit right now.
Last thing, hat tip to Miguel Cairo for a solid game. He's still a terrible player but I will give credit where it is due.