It’s hard to explain why, but yesterday’s loss did not cause me to hang my head. I was disappointed. I was even annoyed, especially since I let Howie and Wayne take up almost my entire afternoon, when I should have been working, rather than “working.” But I did not hang my head. I shook it for a few minutes. I might have smacked it once or twice. But I did not hang it.
My best guess as to why I was not completely dejected about the game is that the Mets fell behind twice but came right back both times. There’s no point in recapitulating the things they failed to do yesterday, except maybe to point out that Jose Reyes made a positively bone-headed play trying to cross over to third on Jason Bay’s grounder in the 5th, one that was hit so deep in the hole that Bay might have reached first safely if Christian Guzman had been forced to try throwing him out. I assume Reyes thought the ball was going through to LF and was trying to score the go-ahead run, but still, you learn at a relatively young age when you play this game that you don’t try to advance to third on a ball hit in front of you.
Speaking of Reyes making a boneheaded play, I cannot understand his failure to get down the sacrafice bunt in the 7th. When I see a guy fail to get the bunt down in that situation, I always wonder if he thinks it’s beneath his dignity and isn’t really trying.
Regardless, I think the reason I couldn’t get too down is because the Mets were beaten yesterday singlehandedly by rookie Roger Bernadina. What Bernandina did to the Mets yesterday with his bat and glove is what we ballplayers call “having a day.” I can hear his teammates now, sitting on the bench, yelling out at him in the 9th inning, “Have a day, Rog! Have a day, kid!” That is, if any of them know his name. Francoeur basically got the job done and all but put the game back in the Mets’ hands, except that Roger Bernadina was busy having a day, so Francoeur’s bases clearing extra base hit turned into an “F9″ in the book. “F,” indeed.
(It’s always the no-name rookie who beats the Mets, right? Well, the rookie and Chipper Jones. And I guess Willie Harris’s glove. And… oh, never mind.)
Anyway, for some reason it seems to me like the Mets are ready to reel off some wins this week/weekend against Florida and Atlanta, so I’m anxiously awaiting tonight’s first pitch. Because days like the one Roger Bernadina had yesterday simply do not happen on a regular basis.
And he can’t reach us from Denver, anyway, which is where he’ll be tonight.
