Queasy as One, Two, Three

What is there to say? I am starting this blog in the bottom of the 6th inning between the Sox and Yanks (NYY up 7-3,) and would be absolutely shocked if I was done by the time the game was over. Sometimes sports--particularly that baseball team in orange in blue--throw my brain into some kind of shutdown mode of incomprehension. I'ts like the movie Wall-E, when they all return to Earth and everything seems fine, but Wall-E is not himself anymore; lacking his inner personality and emotions. Today, the Mets drove me to this indifferent, puzzled, Wall-E shutdown mode.

I sat in front of the television dumbfounded. I has stuck through a game in which the Phillies went 1-2-3 on Oliver Perez in the 1st inning (3 batters, 3 runs before an out was recorded,) took a 6-0 lead before the interminable inning was finished (thanks, Ollie,) and were up 8-2 when the Mets came to bat in the 3rd. But for some reason, this game was never over for me. Though it was probably over in real life, I just didn't think that was the case. And don't get me wrong...I'm not some kind of Mets angel of optimism. I've seen the Mets go down by 2 or 3 and declared the game to be over. But not this one. Not with a jittery/emotional/just plain old Pedro Martinez on the mound for Philadelphia, and not with some members of the Mets lineup being ridiculously hot with the bat (Angel Pagan, Dan Murphy, Jeff Francouer, and most of all Luis Castillo.) Something just seemed different on this particular Sunday. And boy oh boy would it be different...

Now it must also be said that in order to put Conor into Wall-E mode, something extraordinary had to happen between the 3rd inning where it was 8-2 and the end of the game. If the Mets simply mailed it in and took their whoopin, I'd understand and get ready for tomorrow. But the Mets lineup (probably better than the best AAA team, definitely not better than a league-wide AAA all-star team) gave the fans a reason to stay, and a reason to keep hope in the face of an alarming amount of Philly fans in attendance. The top-half on the lineup kept clawing and clawing, one run at a time, to make it a 3-run game in the 9th.

That's where everything lost control. The game became a circus. It was like James Taylor turning into Rob Zombie. Like Golden Girls turning into Metalocalypse. Like a white wine spritzer turning into a Sparks. Wall-E mode mode is a brainchild of the 9th inning of today's game. Pagan reaches 3rd on a Ryan Howard error, then scores as Castillo reaches on an error by some cake-eater named Eric Bruntlett, (who's Eric Bruntlett? We would all know soon enough...) and Murphy reaches on another play Bruntlett can't make. Done and done, first and second, no outs, down by 2 with Jeff Francouer coming up.

Francouer is the best hitter in the Mets lineup. And though I hate myself everytime I do it, I actually expected something big to happen. As cited in an earlier blog, the 2009 Mets have taught us to never expect, just always appreciate. This time, I expected. And though my expectations of a walk-off homer were a longshot, the chances of it happening were probably 800,000 times more likely than what actually happened. Castillo and Murphy both took off, and Francouer did his part on the hit-and-run play by smoking the Brad Lidge offering up the middle.

And, well...if you haven't seen/heard about it by now...my words won't be enough to describe the carnage. Bruntlett, who was racing to cover 2nd (remember, both runners were in motion) catches the liner, lands on second after the jumping catch, and tags out Murphy who was now standing right next to him. Unassisted triple play. By Eric Bruntlett. The three-tier emotion swing felt by Mets fans was extremely unique. There were three distinct feelings, all strong, but none lasting more than a second. Francouer absolutely laces the ball (Hell yeah!) to Bruntlett being in position to make the catch (a Scooby Doo "Gawououuuu" noise) to realizing that Bruntlett is only in position because the runners went and now have no chance to avoid a triple play. (This)

I don't even know what to think anymore. It's about 6 hours ago when this all happened (Yankees just won by the way), and Wall-E mode has mostly worn off. But is anything out of the question for this Mets team? Can anyone really discount the notion that they can lose on an unassisted triple play? More importantly, if someone that didn't see the game hears that an MLB team lost on an unassisted triple play, would it take more than 1.6 seconds for them to know it was the Mets? I can't be surprised anymore. After today, I will have some small form of Wall-E mode in every game for the rest of the year. If and when (mostly if) the Mets win a title in my lifetime, a good amount of that immense joy might just come from 2009. All of this failure, all the bad luck, all the Wall-E modes...might someday be turned on their head.

And that's what it's all about. Sports would be boring if it were easy every year. Finishing a marathon wouldn't feel the same if you ran the entire thing on an airport-like treadmill thing. It's the aches and pains and doubt and worry and endless hope that makes it incredible. (I think this is true...the Mets/Jets/Isles/Knicks have been unable to confirm this for me. But I guess under the theory of failure and heartache, they will be the greatest titles ever experienced.)

The bottom line...when in doubt, always seek the the guidance of Miley. It's all about The Climb. And soon enough, there will always be an Eve robot to revive Wall-E mode, if only for a little while (J,E,T,S, JETS JETS JETS.)

NFL preview starts Wednesday, thanks a lot for reading.