Matt Cain: The New Hybrid of Hatred?

Roger. Rocker.

Nope, that is not a character's name from Guitar Hero. It's two names that describe absolute villains in my lifetime of watching the Mets. Roger Clemens beaned Mike Piazza in the head after years and years of Piazza domination. It was disgraceful, it was pathetic, and we're starting the be absolutely certain it was 'roid rage. The 'Freebird'-like encore from the coward was picking up a jagged broken bat and hurling it within inches of Piazza later in the year. It would be a while before the Mets could take actual revenge, since Clemens conveniently pulled these stunts behind the protection of the DH in the American League. When Clemens finally hit against the Mets..pitcher Shawn Estes missed. Threw behind him. Just typical stuff. What nobody saw coming was the home run Estes would hit later in the game that defeated Clemens. Just another weird scenerio by a weird pitcher on the historically weird franchise known as the Mets.

That's Roger. Let's get to Rocker. You know, the whackjob of a closer employed by the Braves about a decade ago. The Mets-Braves rivalry really got heated in the late '90s/early '00s. But Rocker went well beyond the field, lacing a tirade against New York and its inhabitants. I'm not going to dignify them with print space in this esteemed blog, but you can get some details here.

Roger and Rocker. Though almost ten years since they became Gotham villains, we caught an unwelcomed reminiscence of them both today with San Francisco Giants pitcher Matt Cain. First, I will acknowledge that strictly comparing Cain to both of them is too harsh. But I can't help the thoughts that conjured in my head when Cain drilled the Met's last-star-standing David Wright with what Fox announcers called a 94 MPH fastball. Not one Mets fan didn't see the image of Piazza flash back to them when Wright hit the dirt, helmet launched off his cranium.

I can't say Cain meant to hit him in the head. He had no motive to do it, and he showed legitimate concern after in happened. To accuse Cain would be unfair to an up-and-coming superstar pitcher, and it would cheapen just how much of a buttmunch Clemens was. And though Cain kept on mowing down hitters (in a good way, not the Wright way,) I actually thought it would phase him mentally. This was until he was removed in the 8th inning, when Cain showed that though he is an up-and-coming star, he's still able to be a classless punk.

No, he didn't flip off the fans or shout at the Met dugout or take a bat to Mr. Met's head. This wasn't Rocker 2.0. But before Rocker went into hyper-maniac mode, he would just get a little too into it with the fans instead of being smart and walking back to the dugout, head down. Today, Cain must have known the fans would boo. The Mets crowd that pays for tickets already knows they won't see 3 core players who they thought would being a title to Flushing. Cain took out their fourth with a heater--they are going to be upset. I don't care if you think the fans are being unfair...you walk to that dugout with your head down. Instead, Cain gave a sarcastic tip of his cap to the irate Mets fans.

It's not criminal, it's not a baseball tragedy, but why do it? To tell the fans that you're in control, whether they like it or not? Wright's condition wasn't known to the Fox announcers, so you must assume Cain didn't know either. If David is out for the rest of the year with concussion symptoms, is Cain still going to feel good about tippin' the cap? I know that's extreme, and a Giants fan that stumbles across this blog would call it a Met fan bitter over a loss. So be it...Cain may not be on the level of Roger or Rocker, but he showed today that his maturity has some work to do in order to catch up to his immense talent.

Now, on to this latest Picasso-like masterpiece loss by the Mets. After Wright got dropped, Santana did what he had to do the following inning, facing the Giants' best (and only) hitter Pablo Sandoval. Completing the Estes-Clemens comparison, he missed and threw in behind the rather large target that is Sandoval. But while Estes hit the redemptive homer later, Santana instead surrendered a homer to Sandoval just pitches later. Santana lost his shot at revenge, and pretty much lost the game in the same at bat.

The Mets' rag-tag lineup was quite impressive late, scoring 3 runs in the 8th to tie the score. The stage was set for another nightmare at Citi. Francisco Rodriguez actually managed to keep the Giants off the board in the 9th, quite a refreshing change. But it was just one batter into the 10th inning when he was back to his old suck. Homer Bengie Molina, game over. I think we're at the point where the Mets fan just prays the Giants would have won that game 4-1. Wright was hit, and that was bigger than the loss. Let's get 'em tomorrow. I truly think the Mets fan can accept that. What they can't deal with is their insanely high-paid closer to come in every night and implode out there. The triple-A lineup worked their asses off for three runs in the 8th. It's not the way it's supposed to be. A 4-1 loss wouldn't have been awful on this day. Another K-Rod loss makes this just infuriating.

So, due to the popularity of the Wednesday blog, I nominate the Top-5 songs that Citi Field should blast when K-Rod comes into the game. Enjoy. And don't worry, I will be in a better mood next blog (Mark Sanchez, baby!)

5. Hurt- Johnny Cash
4. Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman- Britney Spears
3. Don't Know What You Got Til It's Gone- Cinderella (Billy Wagner we're SO sorry.)
2. Lonely- Kim Jong Il (Please excuse the language)
1. Bringin' on the Heartbreak- Def Leppard

Feel free to suggest your own in the comments section!