Stange Days

Strange days in Met land. After traipsing through the daisies in early May, the Mets made a brutal slog through a baseball minefield and took pretty heavy casualties. I don't know if a four game losing streak and a ten game road trip are supposed to feel as long and draining for the fans as the players, but the schedule makers took pity and gave them (and us) the Nationals for being such troopers. Sure the schedule makers didn't know for sure the Nationals would be quite this bad, but 2005 and its 81-81 record is a looooong ways away.

The only normal game in the series was the first one, and that's including the home run review call that went against Long Beach native John Lannan. The next night Mets fans were treated to the spectacle (the good kind) of Livan frakking Hernandez being the first Met pitcher to pitch a complete game in 2009. Once again, everyone who predicted that, raise your hands. And you are lying once more.

Then we get Johan Santana striking out eight through three innings before deciding to pitch with his eyes closed or something for one inning. It cost him thought. Not the game, because this is still the Nationals we're talking about here, but his ERA rose to an unsightly 1.77. Hah! This guy is so awesome even when he sucks he does everything right. Just let it sink in that Johan Santana has allowed more than three earned runs just five times since last year's All Star break. Johan also struck out double digit batters for the fourth time this year, something he only did four times last year total. You know, the other day I couldn't remember who was traded for him outside of Carlos Gomez and Kevin Mulvey. God, remember when we had our hopes invested in Kevin Mulvey?

And finally of course, the insanity of Citi Field literally swallowing up a home run. Did Daniel Murphy's home run really leave the field? Someone who scored way better on the physics regents than me (I got a 65, I think, may have been lower) says it was a home run, and since the only other explanation for the trajectory of that baseball is that the Wilpons installed baseball attracting magnets to drag down potential home runs hit by the opposing team and now the magnets are malfunctioning because the stupid Wilpons cheaped out and now the magnets are dragging Met home runs back into the stadium. That is seriously the only other explanation for why the ball would travel like that.