Mets Saturday sizzlers and fizzlers recap

My son, Alex, and I were at last night’s game.  The Mets opened and closed the game with pairs of deuces (Two two-run homers). We’ve got some high-points (sizzlers) and low-points (fizzlers) to report:

Sizzler: David Wright’s two-run home run in the first-inning was a nice shot. We were sitting about 20 feet from where it landed.  His blast followed Juan Lagares’s one-out single. Have we mentioned that Lagares was player of the week for the week of July 19th?

Fizzler: The Daniel Murphy t-shirt give away.  What?  You had to pre-purchase special on-line tickets to get the shirt?  We wanted those.

Fizzler: We missed the Mets 1973 commemorative playing card give away by one day.  Aaagh! I wanted those.  Hopefully, I can pick them up at an Auction this fall.

Sizzler: Parking appropriately nearby and paying homage to the Shea Stadium bases/pitching rubber brass plates.  The proper procedure is to recite the Mets theme song at each of the stations beginning with the pitcher’s mound and then moving consecutively from homeplate, to first, to second, to third, and then completing the ceremony again at home plate before entering Citi Field and taking your seats for the game.

Fizzler: John Buck played.  I was hoping he was going to be gone on paternity leave and we would get to see Travis d’Arnaud’s first major league game with the Mets.  Buck grounded out in his first at-bat and then striking out three consecutive times.  In his first two at-bats, both Ike Davis and Omar Quintanilla followed the Buck outs with consecutive singles. The Mets failed to score in those innings.

Sizzler: Cow-bell Man! We heard him right behind us in the 9th inning.  Later we passed him walking home.  He’s very congenial.  When are we going to have a special day for this living icon!  I’m thinking bobble-heads here.

Sizzler: Dillon Gee’s performance…Excellent effort by our starting pitcher.  He threw seven innings of one-hit ball.  He struck out four and walked two.

Sizzler: Ike Davis’s hitting performance.  He had three hits plus a walk and hit a lead-off double in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Fizzler: Justin Turner’s strikeout as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning.  He looked terrible.

Fizzler: David Wright led off the tenth inning with an infield single but injured himself on the play.  He’s got an MRI scheduled for today to evaluate the injury. After a short delay due to the injury, Terry Collins used Zach Wheeler as a pinch-runner.  There was a lot of discussion about both the Wright injury and the use of Wheeler.  Should Collins have given Wright a respite?  There was knowledge that Wright’s hamstring was bothering him earlier this week.  Obviously, an extended disabled list stint by Wright puts a serious crimp in the team’s anticipated performance for the remainder of the 2013 season.  Using Wheeler as a pinch-runner harkens back to the days when Davey Johnson similarly used Ron Darling in that role.  Thanks to an inning-ending doubleplay by Buck, the Mets failed to score in the inning.  Does this injury to Wright lead to a Wilmer Flores call-up?

Sizzler: There were three very nice defensive plays by the team.  Murphy made a very nice play on a grounder hit by Mike Moustakas and Marlon Byrd made a nice catch on a ball hit by Alcides Esobar in the second inning. Late in the game, in the top of the 11th inning, Byrd made another superb sliding catch to rob Elliot Johnson.

Sizzler: Eric Young Jr’s game-ending two-run homer in the bottom of the 11th inning with two out and Quintanilla’s on first after working out a walk.  The stadium went crazy while Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s Takin’ Care of Business blared away. Nice!