Mets-Angels Recap

Mets-Angels From Citi Field

Tonight, the Angels came into Citi Field and defeated the Mets 4-3 to spoil the Mets return home after a very long road trip. Joel Pineiro pitched pretty well and got the victory, the 100th of his career, while Chris Capuano (Cappuccino) pitched well as well, but got the loss instead. I have to admit, there were many boring moments from this game, but it ended up coming down to the final pitch. I will start at the beginning. The Angels opened the scoring in the second inning on a terrible throw to first by Justin Turner. It was pretty funny and typical Mets. However, Angel Pagan tied the score at 1 in the bottom of the inning with a single. The next inning, each team scored once more to tie the game at 2. The tie was broken in the 6th inning on a Peter Bourjos double, and the Angels added an insurance run in the 7th. Ronny Paulino doubled in a run in the 8th to cut the LA lead to a run. In the bottom of the ninth, things really started to get interesting. The Angels closer, Jordan Walden, was brought in to finish off the Mets and get the save. Jose Reyes was leading off, and this should have been bad news for the Angels, especially when he earned a leadoff walk to start the inning. After stealing second, Walden then walked Justin Turner to put two runners on with nobody out and the 3-4-5 hitters coming up in the lineup for the Mets. However, Walden then proceeded to strike out each hitter and the Angels came away with the victory. It was a typical way for the Mets to lose a game, especially at home where they try their hardest to disappoint their fans. This game marked the end of my KHH season, as I am leaving for camp tomorrow. At the end of this article, I will take a moment to say goodbye to all of my loyal fans. For now, you can see a video of the final out of the game and some pictures from the final inning:

Jordan Wal(fish)den

Jose at the Plate

Walden On the Mound

Jose

An Angels Meeting on the Mound

The Situation. Reyes on First About to Steal, Walden on the Mound.

Now I will talk about some of the jokes from the game:

• After we had arrived to our seats, we realized that the tarp was on the field and there was a rain delay. The tarp quickly came off, but then the groundscrew had to start prepping the field for the game. It took way too long, about half an hour. And it was raining for 0 minutes during that half hour. Actually, it didn’t rain once when we were in Citi Field. Here are some pictures of the groundscrew and the rain delay:

The Citi Field Groundscrew Working On the Raintarp

The Groundscrew Working On a Huge Puddle

They Obviously Failed

•  Tonight was police and firemen appreciation night at Citi Field. I’m sure that they felt very appreciated by the Mets’ great performance tonight. I kind of feel bad for them that they had to go to this game. This is another example of a completely failed Mets promotion.
• One interesting note from this game was that it featured Angel Pagan vs. The Angels. And the Angel vs. Angel matchup was a good one. Pagan had two hits and two RBI’s, but the Angels (plural) got the victory.
• At one point in the game in between innings, the Mets put up some welcomes to random fans on the scoreboard. In order to have your name on the scoreboard, you have to pay the Mets. At one point, it said “The Mets Welcome Daniel G.”. I wonder who Daniel G. is. Oh, I got it! Daniel Gadzuric! Dan was obviously in the house tonight watching terrible baseball. Congrats, Gad!
• Tonight for the Angels, Jeff Mathis was batting 8th because the pitcher had to bat 9th. Mathis is batting .197 for the year. Despite this, the Mets intentionally walked him twice to get to the pitcher’s spot. Jeff is probably thanking god for letting him raise his on base percentage while doing nothing.
• The Angels had two errors tonight, and they were both on Jason Bay ground balls in the infield. In fact, they were both overthrows of first base that went into the crowd. I enjoyed both of these plays.
• Our seats for this game (before we moved up right next to the Angels dugout in the 9th inning) were right next to the left field foul pole. Actually right next to it. Here are some great pictures of the foul pole in left:

The Foul Pole By Our Seats

The Foul Pole and the Scoreboard

The Foul Pole in the Dark

• Here are a couple more of our best pictures from the night at Citi:

Jason Bay in Left Field

Travis Outlaw, the Mets Ballboy

Vernon Wells in Left Field for the Angels

Vernon Wells in Left Field for the Angels

Jason Bay Preparing for a Fly Ball

The Mets Infield

The View From Our Foul Pole Seats

Russell Branyan. Ew.

The Angels Third Base Coach

Russell Branyan at the Plate

As I wrote earlier in this article, this will be my last article of this KHH season. I hope to continue blogging while at camp for the next 8 weeks, but I cannot promise my readers anything. Maybe an occasional Sport-cle of the Day, or maybe a Mets preview and recap every night; we will just have to wait and see. Right now, I would like a moment of silence for us all to think about this great KHH season and look forward to the future.

 

 

Thank you. I also want to recall every place and event that your favorite KHH bloggers have been to this year. The Rock, Citi Field baseball, Citi Field soccer, RedBull Arena Red Bulls, RedBull Arena Caribbean, Yankee Stadium, Newark Bears Stadium, Hofstra University, and possibly more. We used every form of public transportation to get to our events, and we paid the minimum possible. It was a successful year, and I look forward to blogging in the future.

Mets – Braves Live Updates

The Mets are hitting in the top of the 7th inning of a twice rain delayed game against the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field. This game was delayed for over two hours and almost everyone left the stadium. There was severe hail at one point tonight. As a result, you can hear hecklers in the stands. It’s 11:30 p.m. right now and this game is still far from over. Since this game has become a joke, the Mets have a good chance of beating the Braves.

The Mets are on top 3-0 now. The Mets scored the 3 runs on Tim Hudson before the 4th inning rain delay. Dillon Gee pitched 4 scoreless for the Mets. Keep in mind, if the Mets win tonight, they’ll be 34-34 on the season. .500, not bad! Here are some notes:

Top of 7th inning.

• Jason Bay just hit a single to left field for his 2nd hit of the day. Mets commentator, Gary Cohen, thinks that Bay is playing with anger because his favorite hockey team, the Vancouver Canucks, lost in the Stanley Cup Finals.
• Freddy Gonzalez is the Braves skipper. He used to coach the Marlins. He must be a Mets killer because he’s been in the NL East for so long.
• It’s bases loaded with no outs for the Mets. Willie Harris at the plate. Cristhian Martinez on the mound. Lets see if the Mets can avoid being a failure here.
• Inning over. Mets scored one run on a bad throw by Erik Hinske as he tried to complete a 3-6 double play. Lucas Duda made the jog home. It is now 4-0

Bottom of 7th inning.

• There was only one TV advertisement. That goes to show that almost no one is watching this game.
• Bobby Parnell is on the mound. This game could get dicey.
• Bobby Parnell strikes out the side. Three strikeouts in a row – all swinging.

Top of 8th inning.

• Pagan was caught stealing. He beat the throw by a mile but did not slide. He slowed up before the base as if there was no throw coming. Pagan completely lost his focus. What happened, Angel?

Bottom of 8th inning.

• Oh boy. Lightning is approaching and Jordan Shafer is at bat with two outs. Shafer was caught taking performance enhancing drugs earlier this year. Come on, Jordan!

Top of 9th inning.

• The clock just struck midnight. The game started about 5 hours ago. The hail is gone but lightning is still overhead. What a game!
• Where’s Tim Byrdak? He was a no-show tonight because he had to attend a family matter. Apparently, Terry Collins refused to talk about it before the game.

Bottom of 9th inning.

• The rain has returned, but it doesn’t dampen the Mets’ cheerfulness as K Rod comes in to pitch in a non-save situation and seals the deal.

That’s all. Mets win! Mets win!!

Mets – Peggle Comparisons

During the past few years of high school, the KHH bloggers have often found themselves mired in complete boredom. Sometimes we had nothing to do during free periods. Other times we needed something to do during joke classes. On (many) occasions, we were bored during serious classes. Faced with each of these situations, the KHH bloggers often played Peggle.

Peggle is a very addicting game. It involves firing a magical ball at different colored pegs. It’s sometimes fun and always challenging.

Today, I will compare all your 2011 Mets players to Peggle characters. Without further ado, let’s begin!

Mets Pitchers
RP – Pedro Beato: Pyramid Ball

 

KAT TUT - Pyramid Ball

RP – Tim Byrdak: Gopher Ball

 

JIMMY LIGHTNING - Gopher Ball (Multiball)

SP – Chris Capuano: Lobster Ball

 

CLAUDE - Lobster Ball (Flippers)

SP – R.A. Dickey: Flower Ball

 

TULA - Flower Ball (Flower Power)

SP – Dillon Gee: Magic Hat

 

WARREN - Magic Hat (Lucky Spin)

RP – Jason Isringhausen: Zen Master Hayon

 

MASTER HU - Zen Master Hayon Ball (Zen Ball)

SP – Jon Niese: Unicorn Ball

BJORN - Unicorn Ball (Super Guide)

RP – Michael O’Connor: Gopher Ball

JIMMY LIGHTNING - Gopher Ball (Multiball)

RP – Bobby Parnell: Dragon BallZ

LORD CINDERBOTTOM - Dragon BallZ (Fireball)

SP – Mike Pelfrey: Lobster Ball

CLAUDE - Lobster Ball (Flippers)

RP – Francisco Rodriguez: Spooky

RENFIELD - Spooky Ball

RP – Dale Thayer: Flower Ball

TULA - Flower Ball (Flower Power)

Mets Batters
C – Ronny Paulino: Space Blast

SPLORK - Space Blast

C – Josh Thole: Unicorn Ball

BJORN - Unicorn Ball (Super Guide)

1B – Nick Evans: Pyramid Ball

KAT TUT - Pyramid Ball

1B – Daniel Murphy: Zen Master Hayon

MASTER HU - Zen Master Hayon Ball (Zen Ball)

SS – Jose Reyes: Magic Hat

WARREN - Magic Hat (Lucky Spin)

2B – Ruben Tejada: Flower Ball

TULA - Flower Ball (Flower Power)

IF – Justin Turner: Dragon BallZ

LORD CINDERBOTTOM - Dragon BallZ (Fireball)

LF – Jason Bay: Gopher Ball

JIMMY LIGHTNING - Gopher Ball (Multiball)

RF – Carlos Beltran: Spooky

RENFIELD - Spooky Ball

OF – Scott Hairston: Unicorn Ball

BJORN - Unicorn Ball (Super Guide)

OF – Willie Harris: Space Blast

SPLORK - Space Blast

CF – Angel Pagan: Magic Hat

WARREN - Magic Hat (Lucky Spin)

OF – Jason Pridie: Lobster Ball

CLAUDE - Lobster Ball (Flippers)

And the Ultra Extreme Fever award for best Peggle player belongs to…

Daniel Murphy!  Congratulations!!

Mets-Pirates Game 1 Recap

Memorial Day Baseball!

The Mets won their second game in a row tonight with a 7-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. They outplayed the Pirates in all aspects of the game and had a fairly easy win, though there were some nervous moments. The scoring started in the game with a long 2-run homer to left by Chris Snyder, the Pirates’ catcher, of all people. However, the Mets came back with 2 runs in the bottom of the inning. It was one of the most disgusting innings of baseball I have seen all season, but more on that later. The Mets added a run in the 5th, but Pittsburgh countered with a run in the top of the 7th to tie the score. In the bottom of the 7th, Josh Thole had a clutch double, bringing in two runs and giving the Mets the lead for good. It was one of Josh’s first clutch moments of the year. He has been terrible in crunch time until tonight. The Mets hitting tonight was impressive. 5 players had multi-hit games, and the only players who did not record hits were Dillon Gee and Willie Harris, though Willie made up for it with his defense (more on that later). For the first time this year, I was actually a little bit impressed with the Mets. They actually played well and closed out a game for once. Even though they should have scored a few more runs with all the hits they got, they scored enough to win. Also to note is that of the Mets 15 hits, 13 of them were singles and the other two were doubles. Interestingly enough, they did this without Jose Reyes and Jason Bay in the lineup.

Carlos Beltran, who went 2-4

Now on to the pitching. Dillon Gee was pretty excellent tonight, giving up 3 runs (2 on a home run in the second inning), 5 hits, no walks, and 8 strikeouts. The strikeout/walk ratio there was key to his great performance, and 5 base runners in 7 innings is good as well. The Mets bullpen finished off the game with Izzy and K-Rod pitching scoreless innings. For the Pirates, Charlie Morton was good enough. He pitched 6 innings and gave up 3 runs (only 1 earned) and did not walk a batter, though he gave up 11 hits. The problem for the Pirates was the bullpen. It gave up 4 runs to the Mets in 3 innings and Daniel McCutchen got the loss.

K-Rod

It is time for the Shea Experience and the jokes from the game. I will start at the beginning.

• As we arrived at Shea, we noticed the Chevrolet shirt give-away located outside the stadium. We had arrived early to see batting practice because we were bored out of our minds at home. We filled out a form and got a free Mets shirt. I love ripping people off like that. I wonder how many people will actually buy a Chevrolet after visiting that booth and not just doing it for the shirt. Raphi decided to put his shirt in his Mets Tote Bag from Saturday. It was still covered in peanuts and it covered the shirt in peanut grossness. More on peanuts later. Raphi, I still have your shirt, by the way.
• Because we were so early, we decided to go to the Mets box office and ask about tickets for the Ecuador-Greece soccer match at Citi Field on June 7th. We ended up buying tickets and we will be in attendance. We are looking forward to it. Also, we will be sitting in section 401!!! If you do not know about this, I think that this will be all you need to learn about it.
• When we arrived to batting practice, the Pirates were practicing. The mets practiced before we arrived so we did not get the chance to observe them. The Pirates were extremely boring, so after watching a while in the first row, we went up to sit in the shade. The Pirates hit very few home runs during batting practice. No wonder they are so bad. See pictures below:

Pirates Batting Practice

Pirates Batting Practice

• Raphi got Shea Fries for dinner. As he went to the ketchup stand to put ketchup on his fries, he pushed on the ketchup knob too hard and squirted ketchup all over the Mets employee standing by the stand. Luckily, she did not get mad but she definitely could of. Raphi was embarrassed and I thought it was very funny.
• Today was Memorial Day. To open the game, planes flew over the stadium after the national anthem and they were extremely loud and annoying. See video below. Also, Memorial Day baseball is kind of a joke. People make too big a deal about it. People came here to see baseball (if you consider Mets-Pirates baseball) not honor soldiers. Just play ball!

• We tried to Gadzuric our peanuts in Raphi’s Tote Bag again tonight, but we were less successful because of the people in front of us. Still, here are the peanut pictures:

Peanuts in our Tote Bag with Peanut Bag and All Star Ballots

Peanuts in our Tote Bag with Peanut Bag and All Star Ballots

Peanuts in our Tote Bag with Peanut Bag and All Star Ballots

• Just a note from the game, the cleanup (4th place) hitters tonight were second baseman Neil Walker for the Pirates and Daniel Murphy for the Mets. All I can say about that is ew. No wonder these teams are so bad.
• We noticed while looking at the scoreboard tonight that Pittsburgh shortstop Ronny Cedeno may have braces. I checked on the internet for it and found nothing, but I have my suspicions. We’re on to you, Ronny.
• The bottom of the second inning tonight might be the worst inning of baseball I had ever seen. The badness started with runners on second and third and Jason Pridie at the plate. Pridie strikes out on a normal pitch, but the ball goes past the catcher. I have no idea why he didn’t catch it. Pridie was safe at first and a run scored. But that was not all. The next batter, Ruben Tejada swung and hit the ball about 5 feet. A run scored from third and Ruben was safe at first. Then, with Dillon Gee at the plate, there was a wild pitch and the runners went to second and third. Gee then missed a bunt and ended up striking out. It was truly a terrible inning.
• Do you know those annoying guys who walk down the aisles at sporting events trying to sell memorabilia? Well tonight, we witnessed a very honest vendor. He was selling foam fingers and baseball pennants on sticks. While he was walking by, he was saying, and I quote, “Get your overpriced items here!”. What a great and honest guy. People still ended up buying from him.
• In between innings the Mets have something called “Mets Phrase Game” which is a little like hangman. Tonight, the clue they gave was something like “a holiday celebrated in America for our soldiers”. Hmmm… I wonder what that can be on Memorial Day. The guy playing the game obviously won.
• The singers singing “God Bless America” in the 7th inning stretch were awful to say the least. See pictures below:

Memorial Day Baseball!

Awful 7th Inning Stretch Singers

• Despite going 0-5 from the plate, Willie Harris had a few great defensive plays. See his best play from ESPN’s Web Gems below. It was number 2 tonight.

• Both teams tonight wore Memorial Day hats. The Pirates’ hats were especially bad, as they were red. They were really disgusting. The Mets’ hats were better but not great. See pictures of this as well as other pictures of the game below.

Justin Turner

Carmelo the Ball Boy

Murph in Action, Dillon "Alonzo" Gee on the Mound

Lyle Overbay

Garrett Jones

Pirates Outfield

Murphy and Tejada

Pirates Garrett Jones

K-Rod and Willie Harris

Andrew McCutchen on First

Andrew McCutchen on First

Lyle Overbay

• Before the Pirates batted in the 9th inning, we stealthily sneaked our way from close to the right field foul pole to behind the Mets dugout. We did this so that we can get a better view and also see the Mets players exit after the game was over. When the players left, they were happy that they won. When this happens, once in a while a player throws something of his into the crowd. Tonight, Angel Pagan was happy because he had just made a great catch in the 9th inning that didn’t save the game, but it did preserve the win. I was in the second row of people behind the dugout so I did not think that I would have a chance at catching Angel’s hat as he was throwing it. I was wrong. I leaped into the air (yes, it was this dramatic) and got my fingers on it. I tugged it away from 5 other hands and brought it low where I ripped it away from one last person. It was mine. I took it away with authority just like Dan Gadzuric would. It was basically the same thing as GadZoom dunking over Kwame Brown, the other people in the stands being Kwame Brown. Yes, I am declaring myself Dan Gadzuric. This is among the coolest things that I have gotten at sporting events, along with Jason Kidd’s armband with a #5 on it and Cliff Robinson’s shoes. It was kind of sweaty and gross, but I washed it when I got home. It was a great moment for me and KHH fans everywhere. See pictures below:

Angel Pagan's Hat

Angel Pagan, #16

Our next KHH event will be either Wednesday, Thursday, or both when the Mets host the Pirates again. The Mets do not return home again after that until the day before I go to camp, so we will be off from Mets action for a while. However, we will be returning to the Citi on June 7th to see Ecuador and Greece in a soccer game and we might also see some Red Bulls action one of the next two weekends. Until next time, so long.

Mets-Nets Comparisons: Outfield

Fernando Martinez and Terrence Williams.

Both of these players are young and talented, but they have yet to harness their talent and turn it into production. Midway through the season, T-Will got into a fight with Coach Avery and was traded. I can imagine a similar thing possibly happening with F-Mart, especially because he doesn’t really seem to have a place in the Mets’ lineup.

Fernando Martinez and Terrence Williams

Carlos Beltran and Devin Harris.

Beltran and Devin are both pretty talented players, but they haven’t been able to turn that talent into wins. Devin was traded in part of the D-Will trade and a Beltran trade also may be imminent. They are both aging (Beltran more than Devin) but still have a few good years left in them. In Beltran’s younger days, he was quick like Devin and got quite a few stolen bases, just as Devin is averaging 1.2 steals a game in his career. I’m sure that Carlos wants to be traded to a contender ASAP.

Carlos Beltran and Devin Harris

Jason Bay and Travis Outlaw.

This was a very easy choice for me. These were two terrible signings. I guess the Bay deal made a little more sense, only because he was good in his days as a Pirate (if that’s even possible) and contributed a few good years to the Red Sox as well. However, giving Outlaw $35 million just because he was the 6th man for Portland? That’s ridiculous. Since both players were signed, they have not performed up to expectations and fans of both teams are mad at them for sucking. We shall see if Bay will be able to turn his season around.

Jason Bay and Travis Outlaw

Scott Hairston and Joe Smith.

Both these players are random journeymen, with Smith playing for a shocking 12 teams and Hairston playing for 4. Joe Smith was traded almost immediately after the start of the season and the Nets could not regret making that move. Hairston currently has 1 home run (which we saw) and 5 RBI’s and doesn’t appear to be going anywhere this year. Smith averaged 0.5 points (yikes!) for the Nets and Lakers last season. The Mets probably regret signing Hairston and will try to make him a throw-in in some trade involving Beltran or Reyes.

Joe Smith and Scott Hairston

Angel Pagan and Sundiata Gaines.

These two players have the potential of being solid bench players, but injuries have really slowed them down. Pagan has only played more than 100 games in a season once in his six-year career and Gaines only played 10 games for the Nets before a season-ending injury. Hopefully, Gaines will be the backup to Jordan Farmar (the backup point guard) next year and also play some 2 guard and hopefully he will not take advantage of the Nets giving him a two-year contract and become lazy. Mets fans hope that Pagan will return at some point this year and not just sit on his ass after colliding with another Met in the outfield. Both these players might just turn into bums because of their injuries.

Sundiata Gaines and Angel Pagan

Jason Pridie and Damion James.

This was also a pretty easy comparison. Both these players are rookies and have massive beards (especially Pridie). And they both also sort of suck (Pridie does, we’re still not sure about Damion). Damion missed most of the year with various injuries and only played 25 games. It seemed like whenever he finally came back from an injury, he just got injured again. The injury bug has not hit Pridie yet, but I’m sure it will. My guess is that he will try to stretch a single into a double and pull a hamstring within the next two weeks. Hopefully Damion will have a better sophmore season and avoid all the injuries. Maybe he will even replace Travis in the starting lineup!

Damion James and Jason Pridie

Willie Harris and Quinton Ross.

These players are both journeymen and they both suck. Quinton had his famous “defensive specialist” role removed half way through the season when he was cut from the roster, thank god. Willie is currently batting .203 and that is sure to drop some more. The reason I chose this comparison was because of the way the teams acquired these players. Neither team actually wanted to get the players. The only reason the Nets got Ross was because they wanted to get rid of Yi (thank god, I could not stand one more minute of him). The only reason the Mets got Harris was because he was a “Mets Killer” while on the Braves and Nationals. Whenever the Mets were facing him up 1 in the ninth inning, he would hit a home run and the Mets would lose. Because of this, the Mets thought that they would have to get him to assure that he would not sign with the Phillies and torture them even more. They should have just let him go to the American League and forgot about him instead of signing him. And the Nets should have cut Q long before they eventually did.

Quinton Ross and Willie Harris

“It wasn’t me!!” KHH blogger is threatened at Mets – Astros game. (Part 2 of 2)

Let us pick up the story from where we left off. A drunk, furious, beer-bathed man was pointing at Jonah in accusation…

Mr. Mars exclaimed, “It wasn’t me! I’m 17 years old!!” Everyone turned and glared at “The Big J.” It was clear that no one believed him.

The beer-drenched asshole started yelling out a long line of angry threats and curses at Mars. Then from out of no where, his friend appeared next to me and calmly threatened to stab Jonah.

I glanced at the guy who threw the beer. He was silently observing all of this. He gave no indication that he would come clean.

Later, Jonah recalled, “I didn’t want to rat out the guy who threw the beer because I thought he’d punch me if I did. I also didn’t want the asshole’s friend to stab me.”

Soon, eight (or so) security officers came onto the scene.

Citi Field Security

One officer asked Jonah to give him his ticket. Since we were not sitting in our purchased seats, this request did not help Jonah’s cause at all.

But Jonah was smart. He stalled for a few seconds and fumbled around in his pockets for a few more. Then at the last possible moment, Jonah’s prayers were answered, even though he is an atheist.

The beer tosser confessed.

He was quickly whisked away by the security.

Maybe he overestimated the Citi Field security and assumed that they would eventually realize that Jonah isn’t old enough to have a stadium beer. Mars is 17 years old.

Or maybe Mr. Beer Hurler just felt bad for Jonah.

Either way, it probably doesn’t matter. Jonah survived. Thank goodness.

But what about the beer-drenched fellow and his friend? For some reason, they weren’t taken away by the security…

Of course! The asshole’s friend stayed around to act like a tough guy!! He reiterated that he wanted to stab Jonah at one point. He also got in a screaming match with a security guard passing by. Wow.

Mercifully, it all came to an end when Mets outfielder Jason Bay hit a 130 foot inside the park home run. Astro right-fielder Hunter Pence stood directly under a weak popup and completely missed it. The ball bounced away from him and gave us half-assed Mets fans something to laugh and cheer about. Read Jonah’s recap of the game here.

Tomorrow, Jonah is getting on a plane and taking a vacation. I, on the other hand, will be here all day and I plan on taking advantage of the time by making fun of Skip Bayless on Kim Has Humps.

Update: By the way, the asshole kept the baseball.

Mets-Astros Game 3 Recap

The Mets finally get a win! And it was a blowout! The Mets got their 3rd win in their last 15 games on a cold, windy night in Flushing. Cappuccino was great, Bay was good in his return, and there were as many terrible plays as you would expect from a Mets-Astros game. Lets start from the beginning, and by beginning I mean second batter of the game.

The second batter of the game for Houston, Angel Sanchez, probably went around on a third strike call, but the umpires did not see it that way. An enraged Terry Collins decided to go out and argue and after a few minutes of yelling was thrown out of the game. Everyone in the crowd cheered including me. I love seeing managers get tossed. It’s great. I love yelling. It was very ESPN. The first scoring of the game came in the third inning in the form of a home run by, yep, you guessed it, Nick Mickeas. It was the first home run of his career. I was shocked to say the least. The Mets actually had a lead! And it would only grow. The 4th inning featured a homer by David Wright, Beltran scoring on a wild pitch, and a sac fly. 4-0 Mets. In the 5th, Wright added a 2 run double. Even though the Mets were ahead by 6, I was skeptical that they would be able to hold the lead, knowing them, but they proved me wrong. In the 7th, the Astros finally got to the coffee by scoring a run, but that was all they would do the whole night. Then, in the bottom of the 8th, Jason Bay hit a pop fly down the first base line with a runner on first. Hunter Pence went for it and missed it (probably because of the wind) and it rolled to the wall. At first, they called it an inside the park home run, but then changed it to an error. That upset me. Ike David added a homer and the Mets won 9-1.

Now on to the jokes of the game:

• J.A. Happ is now officially a joke. I thought that he was a serious pitcher, but I was very wrong. He was awful. He gave up 6 runs to the Mets. On the other hand, he led the Astros with 2 hits which were part of a 2-2 night for him. He is now batting over .500 for the year. Shocking.
• Mike Nickeas hit a homer. That is the joke.
• In the 7th, Nickeas went out to the mound to cool Cappuccino after he allowed a few base runners. What did Nickeas actually think he was going to do by going to the mound? Make iced coffee (get it? Like cooled the coffee, like cooled the cappuccino, like cooled down Capuano?)
• The wind was swirling the whole game and this caused some disaster plays including Justin Turner colliding with Angel Pagan’s hand and the Hunter Pence drop inside the park home run.
• There was another peanut disaster under our seats tonight.
• We were sitting in the Jew section again tonight. They were jealous of our Matzah (yes, we brought Matzah to a baseball game (for the second night in a row)).

Mike Nickeas and Taylor Buchholz after Buchholz closed out the game