Sunday, August 23, 2009
Triple Play
If you're a Mets fan you can only laugh. Behind 6-zip after 1/2 inning on atrocious pitching of Ollie Perez, another one of the Mets' head cases, in the bottom of the 9th, down 9-7, they had guys on first & second, nobody out, & Jeff Francoeur hits into an unassisted triple play to end the game. Now that's amazin'. In losing the game, Mets fans were treated to one of the rarest plays in baseball - only 15 unassisted triple plays & only 2 to end game in entire verifiable history of major league ball. & it wasn't even an exciting play, happening so fast neither fans nor Phillies 2nd baseman Eric Bruntlett immediately grasped what had occurred. If you were at Citi Field today & true blue enough to have stayed to the end of the game, you got your money's worth & then some. An inside-the-park home run, a diving highlights film catch by Francoeur, then the triple play. I'll take those gladly rather than a win.
Yesterday, the 1969 Miracle Mets World Series champs were honored. A team without superstars (the season made Tom Seaver into one), platooning at four positions, nobody figured they were seriously in contention until late August. They were only a few years past being the most inept team of all time - the Lovable Losers of 1962. The '69 Mets were perhaps the most selfless team to win a World Series, & they did so convincingly against the powerful Baltimore Orioles. It was quite a year in New York sports. The Jets won Superbowl III in January against the Baltimore Colts, & the Knicks made it to the second round of the playoffs with the great team that would win the NBA title in 1970. But it was 40 years ago, & I doubt many of the names resonated with younger fans. They hardly did with me - I wasn't paying attention to baseball in 1969.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
Yesterday, the 1969 Miracle Mets World Series champs were honored. A team without superstars (the season made Tom Seaver into one), platooning at four positions, nobody figured they were seriously in contention until late August. They were only a few years past being the most inept team of all time - the Lovable Losers of 1962. The '69 Mets were perhaps the most selfless team to win a World Series, & they did so convincingly against the powerful Baltimore Orioles. It was quite a year in New York sports. The Jets won Superbowl III in January against the Baltimore Colts, & the Knicks made it to the second round of the playoffs with the great team that would win the NBA title in 1970. But it was 40 years ago, & I doubt many of the names resonated with younger fans. They hardly did with me - I wasn't paying attention to baseball in 1969.
