It was a wonderful night at Coors Field, for Mets fans anyway.
As soon as we clicked through the turnstiles, it was clear that the Mets would rule this evening. There were Mets fans everywhere, in full regalia. It was like a Grateful Dead concert except that instead of everyone wearing their tie-dies and Steal-Your-Face shirts, it was a multi-generational festival of Mets garb, from the 1969 World Champs shirt to the Todd Hundley jersey to the Mr. Met caps (bravo!) to the Vote for Pedro shirts. Rockies fans were barely to be seen. And when they were seen, like all good children, they weren't heard.
A standard, incredible Colorado sunset unfurled behind the left field stands by the time CBMVP clocked a low line drive over the right-center field wall to get the evening started. It was quite a serene and meditative moment. I woke up from my trance just a bit when D-Dub managed a single to plate Delgado, the beginning of his slump-busting evening.
As Trax took the mound, I was clever to remind my baseball-tolerating wife that she might as well settle in for a while, given this pitcher and his wacky ways. The Human Rain Delay was never in fuller Go-Slow mode than last evening. He gets the ball, he circles the mound. He tugs on his shirt. He shakes his leg. Entire sausage races, presidential cycles, and tectonic shifts of earth occur, yet there Trachsel remains, on the mound, spider webs forming in all directions. He looks at the ground. For a while. What is he thinking about?, she asked me. No idea, I replied. Maybe there's some aspect of his shoe that he had never quite taken particular notice of, but which turned out to be quite entrancing, for those long, drawn-out moments.
When he did decide to deliver the ball, he was his usual self. Loading up the bases, getting out of most jams, pitching just well enough not to lose. I don't know if he does that on purpose or not but it is just short of infuriating to watch, even when the Mets are carrying a big lead.
But, aside from the general delightfulness of the evening, and the treat of seeing so many Mets fans in person, and seeing Carlos Delgone-o actually get a triple, and D-Dub break out a little, and Reyes and Beltran homers, there are a couple of Rockies players I wanted to mention.
First, our boy Kazuo is all growed up. I mean, he was raking it. 3 hits, 2 stolen bases, involved in all the Rockies runs one way or the other, and generally showing his value. I was happy for him. I was never a Kaz-hater, maybe because I sympathize with being a Japanese player in the US - it can't be all that easy (especially with a potential blood-enemy Korean on the mound but that's another historical anomaly). I noted that Kaz is still stuck on that 1 homer for the season, King of Irony that he is. Anyway, he played well. The Rockies are apparently thinking of converting him to a CF if they keep him next year. As long as the Mets sweep here, I'm happy to see Kaz tear it up in the Rockies' losing causes. He was kind enough to ground out when it counted most, with the tying run on 2nd and 1 out on the 4th, before the game got out of hand.
Second, I need to say a word about Brad Hawpe. Good grief, ladies and germs, I don't believe I've ever seen a more life-draining performance in my life. Batting in the 1st with runners at 1st and 2nd and one out, he whiffed. Batting in the 3rd with runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs, he whiffed. He did single in the 5th, but made up for that by striking out looking to end the game.
But that says nothing of his defense, which was as atrocious an example of outfielding as I've seen this side of the green monster. His gift-wrapped triples for D-Dub and Delgone-o were greatly appreciated, but my gracious, I have no idea what he was thinking about. You could see the train wrecks of both those plays unfolding from miles away - he had no chance on either ball, yet made enfeebled desperate dives for both. Great fun.
Alright then, I'm not going tonight (stupid Cirque du Soleil) but will be back out there tomorrow. Hang in there, Mets fans, our magic number is at a Hernandez. Good times.