Spent the majority of the day at Mets opening day, courtesy of a last minute invite from convention guy Jon Manzo. The festivities were all great, and Citibank Park is coming along nicely. The only thing disappointing about the day was the Mets’ level of play as they dropped the final Shea home opener 5-2 to the Phillies. It’s bad enough when a team plays well and they’re outplayed by a better team. But the Phillies were thunderingly unimpressive, with dinky, unimpressive seeing eye hits. What won them the game was the Mets bullpen, handing bases to them courtesy of hit batsmen (well, one batsman, Utley, who kept getting plunked. Who the hëll did he pìšš øff, anyway?), walks, and sloppy fielding that, in one instance, turned a potential inning-ending double play ball into an error that resulted in a run scored and everyone safe. When you hand a team five outs per inning, you’re going to lose. Feh.
More cheerful was the evening spent at the screening of the Harlan Ellison documentary, “Dreams with Sharp Teeth” at Lincoln center. Present were Harlan, the doc’s director, Erik Nelson, as well as such luminaries as Josh Olson, Norman Spinrad, and others (as well as Kathleen, who met up with me in the city and looked QUITE fetching, I have to say). Harlan and Erik did a Q&A afterwards that easily could have done another hour if they hadn’t kicked us out. Good times.
PAD
• 
1 Unimpressive?..maybe, but the Phillies have won the last 9 games against the Mets. I don’t think you can discount the fact that, just maybe, the Phillies are a better team.
Hey Peter,
Josh’s name is spelled “Olson”. He hates it when it gets spelled the same as the wimpy photographer with the annoying buzzing watch.
Unless you knew that and were just trying to poke the bear. In which case, go with God (or whom/what/whichever).
I don’t think you can discount the fact that, just maybe, the Phillies are a better team.
Sure I can.
PAD
Hey, I’m a Phillies fan and even I’ll say the Mets were probably the team that should have won yesterday.
But I can make the statement that the Phils were the better team yesterday because they were the ones who did NOT make the errors the Mets did, using the metric that average play beats negative play…
well, one batsman, Utley, who kept getting plunked. Who the hëll did he pìšš øff, anyway?
I’m surprised he didn’t pay a visit to the mound on the 3rd plunk of the day. You may not like the Phillies as a team, but you have to admire a player who does what he’s supposed to do and just trot on down to first base.
Oh, and the Phillies are a better TEAM than the Mets. The Mets have some better individual players though, especially Santana. However, it’s a team game. Play as a team, win as a team. Play individually, lose as a team.
Well, the Mets have 17 more games against the Phils to prove it.
“well, one batsman, Utley, who kept getting plunked. Who the hëll did he pìšš øff, anyway?”
It’s part of his game. He doesn’t move, unless it’s heading for a sensitive area. He was hit the most times last year, but yesterday set a record.
Once the Mets quit beating themselves, I’m sure they’ll be glad to prove it.
He was hit the most times last year, but yesterday set a record.
I heard about taking one for the team, but isn’t he carrying it a bit far?
Any information on when “Dreams With Sharp Teeth” will be coming to a theater near me? Or maybe just available on DVD?
Not just that, but not it turns out that the “error” responsible for the Phillies tying the game consisted of Utley, who was running from first, deviating from the baseline just enough so that he got hit with the throw to second that would have set the double play into motion. A normal player tries to slide in ahead of the tag or slide into the second baseman to break up the play. Not Utley. He puts himself in the path of the ball.
It’s starting to look like getting himself hit by baseballs is part of his game. Nice.
PAD
If that is the case, Utley will be lucky to remain relatively unscathed. If Delgado’s throw was higher, Utley could have set himself for a nasty blow to the head.
Apparently Billy Wagner agrees with me in principle, anyway:
“It’s plain as day. I don’t know what it is, but they’ve outpitched us in the bullpen. I think we’ve hit the ball, I think the starting pitching has been pretty similar. It’s just timely things, timely plays, making plays and making pitches. They’ve done that better than we have.”
Utley crowds the plate to the point that SNY showed an overhead shot of him at the plate, and his front elbow was over the plate (I can’t quote the exact rule, but it is a no-no.)
As a lifelong Mets fan, I’m taking this all in stride and not panicking. That doesn’t mean that I’m not pìššëd that they lost to the Phillies (four years of college in the metro Philly are gives you a nice level of hatred for Philly fans. They may be knowledgeable, but they would boo their own kid if he muffed a play in a little league game).
It’s a long season. As someone once said that’s why they play the games.
Agreed, it’s too early to panic.
I’m tempted to start a “how many times with Utley get hit” pool at the office.
All these comments about baseball and only one about Dreams with Sharp Teeth? Phht! To answer George – I think it’ll be around over the summer – I assume only in artsy movie houses.
Don, you might want to check the ICON entry for comments on the documentary.
Utley is far from the only player to crowd the plate in such a fashion. Barry Bonds and his better-than-the-military-gets elbow armor, anyone?
Pitchers can’t pitch inside, and when they do, the batters have a fit with accusations that they’re being thrown at intentionally.
Alas, if only MLB would’ve been proactive from the start, instead of reactive like they’ve been to *everything*.
“Dreams with Sharp Teeth” was a lot of fun last night. And while I didn’t get home until almost midnight because of it, I can’t say I’d have been disappointed if Harlan had decided, dámņ it all, to continue the Q&A. I was amused to note that my train home was headed to Ronkonkoma, of which Harlan spoke ever so fondly.
Long live the National League. Down with the American League and the DH. Down with interleague games.
I too was at “Dreams With Sharp Teeth” at Lincoln Center – great fun, both the movie and the Q&A. As for where it’ll be playing, it’s booked to play at New York’s Film Forum in June, and I’m sure other cities will follow.
How cool would it be if DWST got nominated for best doc?
Is there any way to help see to it that copies get to the proper people?
Imagine Harlan at the Academy Awards!