Bon Voyage, Barajas... Josh Thole, Here Are The Keys

It's been a good run, Rod! Well-liked by all accounts by all the Mets, Barajas was just shipped off to Los Angeles in a straight up waiver claim.

There was much hand-wringing in Mets circles about the Mets promoting Barajas and carrying three catchers. Obviously, with the Mets out of the race, educated Mets fans would all prefer Josh Thole be doing the bulk of the catching duties as an audition for next year. At the time, I said:

This arrangement might last a week at most, as Blanco or Barajas might get flipped through a waiver trade. It’s not worth all the wringing of hands and “wah wah same old Mets” attitude. It’s bad enough that the product on the field is pedestrian… we don’t need to wallow in things that mean nothing. If I’m wrong and this arrangement lasts the season and Thole loses playing time, then I’ll complain. A lot.

In any event, it looks like we, once again, are getting what we asked for.

My Brief Brush With Fame at Citi Field

Last Friday, something happened at Citi Field that has never happened before. Never in the history of the Mets has this happened! And on that fateful night, it happened twice.

I was on the jumbotron[1].

Twice.

After literally hundreds of games - at Shea and at Citi Field (and numerous away parks and minor league games); on field level and in the Upper Deck; in street clothes, suits, and Mets gear; as a cute kid and as an adult; with hot girls and with unattractive dudes - I finally made it.

It just goes to show you that things happen when you least expect them.

For one thing, I gave up my partial season ticket plan last year when it turned out that the Mets were terrible and my idea of having nice seats in the upper deck behind home plate turned out to be a losing investment. If that weren't enough, despite being an enormous Mets fan[2], last Friday's game was actually my first game of the season.

But back to the story.

In addition to it being my first Met game of the year, I am pretty sure that I was being "that guy" at the game. I showed up late to the game, getting to my seats in the fourth inning. I had gotten hung up at work - an unfortunate side effect of being a grown up. I arrived at my seats in the middle of the inning (cardinal sin) with a bunch of beers. I didn't bring my scorecard to keep track of the game. I was being uncustomarily "bro-like." We were sitting in the Pepsi Porch, so the seats were real nice.

In between half-innings, either in the fifth or the sixth, the stadium did their patented "Boogie Cam." It's the second best "cam" of the game - miles behind the Kiss Cam and ahead of the lame Smile Cam. As the Boogie Cam splashed across the jumbotron, my friends and I noticed a very cute girl on the screen ... turns out, she was only five or six rows behind us. With the camera primed, we started to boogie.

We did not actually expect to get on the screen, but when we got back, we were in full BOOGIE FORM. It was amazing. In fact, at the moment I saw myself on the screen, I didn't know what to do. I stopped the boogie. I looked at the jumbotron, at my friends, and back at the jumbotron. What do you do in the one moment in which more people will be looking at you than any other in your life?

I pointed at my Mets jersey (an Alfonzo of course), and then pointed to the sky. I don't know why, but it felt appropriate. Let's go Mets.

The story does not end there, however[3]. After a few inning detour to the speed pitch and Shake Shack, we settled back into our seats for the eighth inning (told you, was really not being a good fan today). The Mets trailed 4-2 as R.A. Dickey gave up a pair of solo home runs in the seventh. They went meekly in the eighth, and it was on to the ninth, where the Braves did not extend their lead.

Sitting in our seats, my friends and I were still basking in the glory of our previous incident on the jumbotron. A few beers in, and heroes in our section, we were having a great time. Before the bottom of the ninth, Citi Field displayed one of those "noise meters." It started low, with "clap" or something, moved up through "scream" and "dance" and ended with something wild. I of course, went up through the stages like a good fan, dancing and yelling and stomping my feet to help hype the crowd.

That is when we got on the jumbotron a second time. Whether it was the good seats, or the Alfonzo jersey, or the frenzied dancing, or the camera man remembered us, there we were again. This time, however, we were not on the jumbotron as part of a boogie medley - this time we were on the screen for about ten seconds, imploring the crowd to get up and make some noise for the final inning.

It only took Alex Cora and Rod Barajas about seven pitches to snuff out the Mets chances of winning, but that second time up on the big screen was euphoric. And this time, I didn't simply point at the sky and hold a pose. This time, with people from the surrounding rows bounding around like crazy (some kid actually fell into our row trying to get in the shot) we had ten seconds of fame. Fist-pumping, jumping, hand-clapping goodness.

The Mets lost, and ultimately I did not get to see that much of the game, but wow. What an experience.

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[1] Is it even still called a jumbotron? Am I dating myself here?

[2] I do operate a Mets blog, of course.

[3] It was also my first time seeing a knuckleballer.

The Most Important Thing From... Mets v. Reds, May 4th

These Mets don't quit.

We first mentioned this back in April when the Mets battled back from a 3-1 deficit to tie the game against the Rockies. They ultimately went on to lose, but they stayed in that game and battled. Just a few days later, they battled the Cardinals for 20 innings. They've already played four extra-inning games - and although they've lost three of them, they have shown serious stick-to-it-iveness.

Last night, the Mets scratched and clawed their way to victory when other teams might have folded. After two deflating losses fo Philadelpha, and a loss in the series opener, the Mets werer staring down the barrel at their fourth consecutive loss.

They had just wasted a great start by Oliver Perez the previous night, and had coughed up the lead in this game in relatively painful fashion. After John Maine gave the Mets six good innings, and Jenrry Mejia shut down the Reds for another, Fernando "Nightly" Nieve gave up back-to-back home runs to Joey Votto and Scott Rolen to tie the game.

A lesser team, on the road, might had given up. I feel like there were dozens of games last season where my Mets did just that -- not for any massive flaw in character, but simply because they were not good enough to be put in a position where they had to steal back a game under difficult circumstances. This team, however, fought back.

It may be that if not for one swing by Rod Barajas, my tone is completely different today. But what took place last night fits in the overall narrative I have seen so far this season, and with what I think I see displayed on the faces of our Mets on a nightly basis.

None of this is to say that the Mets are back (though they could be) or that they are going to the playoffs (though they could be). They clearly have some growing to do against the Philadelphia's of the world. But taking 2-of-3 from the Reds and sweeping the Dodgers when they are reeling are the kinds of things you have to do if you want to have a legitimate chance to go anywhere over the course of a long season.

The Mets might not stack up with the Phillies right now, but not a lot of teams in the National League are distinguishing themselves right now. If the Mets can take 2-of-3 from the Cubs, and from the Nationals, or split a four-game set with the Cardinals, we will go a long way.

I hate to point to any specific series as definitive, but I think this weekend series against the San Francisco Giants is going to be very important. Coming home from the road trip, we are going to be facing some very good pitching over the weekend. We are also going to have the opportunity to build on our momentum from the last homestand and aer being given the opportunity to prove that it wasn't a fluke. The Giants are a decent team and it'll be huge for us to get a couple wins here over the weekend.