Wednesday night
with SHR, Mooney, Yu, Dave, Dave's friend Matt, Marc, Amy, and Donovan
Shea Stadium
Pennant race time. The Mets were in the thick of things but not in the way we all wanted. Their three game lead over the Phillies was gone but at least they still had a one game lead over the Brewers for the wild card.
At least the sunset was pretty.
When I ordered the tickets for the game, SHR realized a theme. She e-mailed the group, "The men of Coffee Flats totally have Yellow Fever! Too bad Jen can't make it!"Amy responded, "That is the funniest thing I've ever read. We're going to look like some weird club."
Beth, who was supposed to come but was a no-show, wrote, "Everyone will think I am Mrs. Balgavy!"
To which Balgavy replied, "You make that sounds like a bad thing!"
Beth wasn't trying to hurt anyone's feelings and responded, "Oh no, I didn't mean it that way!! It is not bad, just funny and more importantly, wrong!"
Beth must have felt the pressure because she bailed on us. Which ended up being interesting because a few seats down from us in our row (completely coincidental) sat a good friend of hers. Odd.
Anyway, we settled in our seats for a big Mets victory.
Chris and Yu arrived. This was Yu's first ever Mets game. In fact, it might have been her first game in North America but don't quote me on that.
With a friend!
(photo by Mooney)Doala was a big hit with the crowd. Especially when Carlos Delgado's grand slam gave the Mets a 5-1 lead in the third. Doala gave everyone nearby a high five. Everyone that is for the girl in our row who was too afraid to touch him when she was offered the chance. Did you know that in Japan and Korea the term "bases loaded" is said as "full base?" I love that.
(photo by Balgavy)Things didn't look so good in the 5th when the Cubs tied the score on a Mark DeRosa two run double, a Reed Johnson RBI single, and a Daniel Murphy error. Ugly. Oliver Perez did a bit better in his final start of '08 than he did in his final start of '07 but it was still pretty bad.
I still can't believe that this was Marc's first and last Mets game this season.
The Cubs scored a run in the 7th on a Soriano double. The Mets were down 6-5. In the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings, the Mets were incredibly unclutch. They put a runner on 3rd with no outs in each inning but could only score one run - an 8th inning bases loaded walk by Ramon Martinez.
The 9th was the absolute worst though. Daniel Murphy led off the inning with a leadoff triple. Shea went nuts. SHR was besides herself with glee. David Wright then struck out after starting with a 3-0 count. Delgado and Beltran were both intentionally walked. Ryan Church's fielder's choice and Ramon Castro's strike out ended the threat. Everyone was completely deflated.
It wasn't a surprise about what happened in the 10th.
The Cubs scored three on the strength of a Derrek Lee double and an Aramis Ramirez 2 run homer. I very rarely agree to leave a close game early but I had had enough and we departed before the Cubs were even finished hitting. I haven't seen a ballpark empty as quickly as Shea did after Ramirez's home run since that night at Camden Yards in the early 90's when a Ken Griffey grand slam in the late innings sent Orioles fans packing.
Even the blue and orange sneaks as modeled by Matt didn't change the Mets luck.
Doala couldn't believe it.
After the game, Jerry Manuel said, "When tomorrow comes, hopefully the sun comes up. It might not." When the sun rose, the Mets were one game behind Milwaukee for Wild Card.The Movie
Cubs: 96-61
Mets: 87-71
Posted: 11/12
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