I Walk the Thin Line Between Love and Hate

I hate the Mets. I've hated them for as long as I can remember. I hated them when they sucked and their "stars" were the likes of Craig Swan and Joel Youngblood. I hated them because there was a Mets fan in my neighborhood growing up, and after I routinely kicked his ass in whiffleball and kickball, he routinely kicked my ass in fisticuffs and wrestling. (At least until I took a page from the Flyers playbook, and rostered a goon.) I hated seeing those disgusting looking orange-y Mets uniforms when going to see them host the Phillies in that disgusting piece of shit ballpark. I hated the time they gave me a stupid shaving kit when I entered their shit ballpark. ( I'm wearing a Phillies hat. A 1950 Whiz Kid Phillies t-shirt. And I'm 9 years old. I do not want your fucking shaving kit!) I hated that whole 1986 thing. My hate of all things Met has increased exponentially since then. Needless to say, I was kind of hoping for a Phillies win against the Mets today.

Well, that didn't happen. There were some good things to take from today's game. LHP Cole Hamels was effective, allowing 2 ER in 6 IP, with 7 K. His ERA is now 1.38, but he has 2 no decisions to show for it. (The NDs are both courtesy of the motley collection of borderline "major-leaguers" the Phillies trot out there as "relievers.") Ryan Howard and Chase Utley each hit his 1st HR of the season, staking the Phillies to a 5-3 lead after 6 innings. That's pretty much it for the good.

There was quite a bit of bad. Abe Nunez started at 3B. WTF? Not the best time to give starting 3B Wes Helms a day off, Charlie! With a 1-5 record, playing against the Mets, who already have a 3 game lead in the standings? Yikes. Nine more LOB. Double Yikes. Howard made his 3rd error of the year and Jimmy Rollins made his first, as a result, 4 of the runs allowed were unearned.

Relievers Matt Smith (2 outs recorded, 1 ER allowed), Geoff Geary (2 outs, 5 R/2 ER), and Jon Lieber (2 outs, 2 ER) were "not very effective." Like Charlie Manuel is "not very smart." Charlie brought RP Geoff Geary in with 2 outs in the bottom of the 7th, but, with the pitcher's spot leading off the top of the 8th, Charlie did not do a double switch. Then, with a 1 run lead in the top of the 8th inning, he let Geary bat for himself. Un.Fucking.Believable. Then everything went totally to shit in the bottom of the 8th, when a 5-4 lead turned into an 11-5 deficit. One of the worst Phillies innings I can remember. Game over. Phillies' record falls to 1-6. Aaaaaaaaaargh!!!

I need an immediate injection of Borat. Borat and Jack Bauer will take me to my happy place...