IGT 06/18, Mets at Angels

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

MAnuel is in the win column. Makes the lack of sleep worthwhile.

Good win and goodnight.

[Guest AG/DC]

Congratulations, Jerry Manuel.

Good night, Crane Pool.

Good night, most disgraceful organization that ever filed a tax return.

[Guest themetfairy]

Rockin' Doc wrote: Woo hoo. A wild pitch moves Reyes into scoring position for Mr. Wright.

I saw this on the Fast Forward. What was great was that the wild pitch came just after Ron Darling said, "This would be a good time for Martinez to throw one into the dirt so Reyes could get to second."

[Benjamin Grimm]

themetfairy wrote: What was great was that the wild pitch came just after Ron Darling said, "This would be a good time for Martinez to throw one into the dirt so Reyes could get to second."

And Gary gave Ron his props for predicting that. (I don't recall Ron's exact words -- I think Scarlett is paraphrasing here -- but I think he said something about how Reyes should be prepared to advance because the count called for a breaking ball from Rodriguez, a pitch that might very well end up in the dirt.

I watched the ending this morning on TiVo. I set the recording to begin at 12:35 a.m., right after Letterman finished recording, so I joined the game in the bottom of the eighth, just in time to see all the fun. A real nice way to start the morning before heading in the car and driving to work.

[Fman99]

themetfairy wrote: ="Rockin' Doc"]Woo hoo. A wild pitch moves Reyes into scoring position for Mr. Wright. I saw this on the Fast Forward. What was great was that the wild pitch came just after Ron Darling said, "This would be a good time for Martinez to throw one into the dirt so Reyes could get to second."

I did too. A nice win for the good guys.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

It was, as predicted, a Big Game Win, with most of the objectives addressed positively:

* Win a series against a good team on the road
--check

* Reyes respoond positively to dressdown
--check

* Ollie not invite Peterson controversy with shitty game
--check

* Manuel win slowing Willie Sympathy Freight Train
--check

[Guest themetfairy]

I was definitely paraphrasing. And I was listening in the precaffeinated state. But it was fun hearing Ronnie hope for a pitch in the dirt and then seeing his wish granted.

[Guest AG/DC]

How about Mets showing that their vulnerablity to comebacks doesn't have to always be mortal. That they don't have to lay down when a team obliterates their early lead.

CHECK!

[Benjamin Grimm]

I know. I just wanted to give Ron his proper credit; he wasn't wishing, he was predicting.

I actually did something similar at Shea on October 25, 1986. When the Red Sox brought in Bob Stanley in the 10th inning, my friend sitting next to me asked, "Is he any good?" And I said, "You mean, Bob "Wild Pitch" Stanley?"

The rest, of course, is history. The difference here is that my "prediction" came purely from wishful thinking while Ron's came from actual insight. I later looked it up, and Stanley hadn't had a single wild pitch that season until that fateful game.

[Guest themetfairy]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I know. I just wanted to give Ron his proper credit; he wasn't wishing, he was predicting. I actually did something similar at Shea on October 25, 1986. When the Red Sox brought in Bob Stanley in the 10th inning, my friend sitting next to me asked, "Is he any good?" And I said, "You mean, Bob "Wild Pitch" Stanley?" The rest, of course, is history. The difference here is that my "prediction" came purely from wishful thinking while Ron's came from actual insight. I later looked it up, and Stanley hadn't had a single wild pitch that season until that fateful game.

D-Dad and I lived in Boston from 1983 through August 1986. We knew enough about Stanley to be able to whisper under our breaths "The Equalizer" when he came into that game. That was definitely from insight.

Ron's comment was somewhere between a prediction and wishful thinking. In either event, it was delightfully prescient

[Centerfield]

That's amazing. Scarlet once told the story that she was living in Boston during that time and Stanley had a reputation of bad luck following him around.

When he entered the game, she even put aside superstition and predicted good luck for the Mets.

You know, it occurs to me that she's here and she could probably tell it better herself.

[Centerfield]

D'oh.

[Guest themetfairy]

LOL CF

Here's one thing I remember about Stanley - when the beach balls that were inevitably being tossed around Fenway back at that time wound up in the home bullpen, Stanley would take great pleasure out of grabbing a rake and destroying them. One day he got into it so much that he hurt his arm and wound up on the DL.

Yes - seeing Stanley come into that game was enough to get me to quietly put the SBS aside and feel that something good was going to happen.

[Centerfield]

I was too young to know anything about Stanley. I just knew I liked the guy they had on the mound and wished they would leave him out there.