Cliff a Kid Again and Our Kid Comes Home
Sunday was a huge day for the New Mets. After going down 5-0 they bounced back with an 11-run 6th inning, their biggest inning in team history to go on to beat the Cubs 13-7 and to take the series.
This series was huge. I bet my buddy from work an all-you-can-drink night of bowling on it and not only do I hate losing, especially in gambling, but I really do love bowling.
Through Friday we looked great. An easy win Friday with Glavine on the hill for us on Saturday and Sean Marshall going for the Cubbies on Sunday.
Unfortunately, Saturday didn’t work out and then El Duque threw up his second stinker of the season.
But all was not lost, as our favorite Met remembered how to hit again.
With the bases loaded in the top of the 6th, Uncle Cliffy smacked a line drive to left. I didn’t see it live, I had some friends in town, but I received my requisite text message update from my 30 year old divorced buddy.
Good for Cliffy. This homerun was the best I had ever seen via blackberry.
It wasn’t until I got home till I got really pissed at myself for missing it.
AFOMG had left a message on my voicemail talking about Cliffy’s expression as he rounded the bases. He said it was something that I had to see, so I searched the highlights and caught a look.
And there it was. From the time he hit 2nd base till the time he was bombarded at home, Cliff had the biggest smile I had ever seen.
It reminded me of my first homerun in little league as a 9-year old, an absolute rocket to left field. I was rounding the bases with a megawatt smile, hands up in the air looking at my dad. I got home and all my teammates mobbed me at the plate. I couldn’t have been happier.
Until of course, the other team’s coach came out, gave a new baseball to his pitcher's helper and insisted that he throw to 3rd base, claiming I didn’t touch the bag. The umpire of course called me out, despite us being up something like 18-2 at the time, permanently fucking up my childhood and indirectly causing me to one day become a lowly blogger.
But back to Cliff. Cliff has always worn his emotions on his sleeve. We all see him during those many times when he gets beaned. He doesn’t rub it off. He just gets really, really angry.
Cliff’s emotions are a huge reason for why he is so streaky. When he is in good spirits, like he was for most of 2005, the guy was a star. With his pals D Wright and Mike Cameron painting the town with him and a baseball that looked like a volleyball coming to him 4 at bats per game, Cliff had a monster 2005 season and was the star of our team.
Unfortunately, much of 2006 has been a struggle for Cliff. Mired through extended slumps and injuries, Cliff had 7 homeruns going into Sunday’s game on July 16th.
As good as the Mets have been, you could always tell how disappointed Cliff was in his inability to carry his share of the weight.
He wanted so badly to contribute to the magic, instead being carried for much of the season by his supporting cast.
That is why Sunday was sweet. In his homecoming to Chicago, where Cliff grew up a baseball/basketball star, a child was reborn.
Cliff’s two homeruns were integral in a big Mets victory. With the Braves surging and the Mets off to a poor start, Cliff’s homeruns were the difference in the game, the series and the week.
The thought of Cliff getting going is really scary. If the 2nd half of 2006 allows Cliff to return to 2005 form, it will only make our league leading offense that much better, which may prove huge if our pitching continues to struggle.
Welcome back, Cliffy. Hopefully, you’re back for good.
A STAR RETURNS
In one of my happier logins to Mets.com this season I saw that the Mets had signed Edgardo Alfonzo to a minor league contract.
Fonzie, often the forgotten star of the ’99 and ’00 teams, was truly a Met. The guy defined what it meant to be solid; he was the perfect 2 hitter and a very solid 3 hitter in 2000. He played great D and both 2nd and 3rd base and really never did anything but be a great teammate.
After the 2000 season, the Mets front office decided that they did not want to give Fonzie a 4th year for a contract extension. Much like the Red Sox with Pedro, the Mets thought Fonzie was starting to wear down a little bit and decided to let him go the Giants, the most boring team in the whole world.
Sadly, Fonzie could never really hack it outside of Shea.
Those liners to right field that we grew so accustomed to all of a sudden stopped falling and Fonzie really struggled.
This season was really bad. He floated around the bigs with the Angels and then Blue Jays, batting around .100 and being released by two teams.
I haven’t seen much of Fonzie over the last couple of years and I don’t really care. It is fucking great to have this guy back. Back where he grew up as a player. Back where he became a star. Back where he led a team to a World Series.
Fonzie will start his Mets career in the minors, I assume in Norfolk.
There is nothing in the world that I would want more than for September 1st to come around, Fonzie get the call back to Shea and receive a standing ovation. Then, to see Fonzie contribute in some way, on a field where he was such a special player in the late '90’s. That would really warm a Sip’s heart.
Maybe we can bring back Robin to give D Wright some defensive spells as well.
Either way, this is a nice story here.
Welcome home, Fonz.
VCD,
SM
This series was huge. I bet my buddy from work an all-you-can-drink night of bowling on it and not only do I hate losing, especially in gambling, but I really do love bowling.
Through Friday we looked great. An easy win Friday with Glavine on the hill for us on Saturday and Sean Marshall going for the Cubbies on Sunday.
Unfortunately, Saturday didn’t work out and then El Duque threw up his second stinker of the season.
But all was not lost, as our favorite Met remembered how to hit again.
With the bases loaded in the top of the 6th, Uncle Cliffy smacked a line drive to left. I didn’t see it live, I had some friends in town, but I received my requisite text message update from my 30 year old divorced buddy.
Good for Cliffy. This homerun was the best I had ever seen via blackberry.
It wasn’t until I got home till I got really pissed at myself for missing it.
AFOMG had left a message on my voicemail talking about Cliffy’s expression as he rounded the bases. He said it was something that I had to see, so I searched the highlights and caught a look.
And there it was. From the time he hit 2nd base till the time he was bombarded at home, Cliff had the biggest smile I had ever seen.
It reminded me of my first homerun in little league as a 9-year old, an absolute rocket to left field. I was rounding the bases with a megawatt smile, hands up in the air looking at my dad. I got home and all my teammates mobbed me at the plate. I couldn’t have been happier.
Until of course, the other team’s coach came out, gave a new baseball to his pitcher's helper and insisted that he throw to 3rd base, claiming I didn’t touch the bag. The umpire of course called me out, despite us being up something like 18-2 at the time, permanently fucking up my childhood and indirectly causing me to one day become a lowly blogger.
But back to Cliff. Cliff has always worn his emotions on his sleeve. We all see him during those many times when he gets beaned. He doesn’t rub it off. He just gets really, really angry.
Cliff’s emotions are a huge reason for why he is so streaky. When he is in good spirits, like he was for most of 2005, the guy was a star. With his pals D Wright and Mike Cameron painting the town with him and a baseball that looked like a volleyball coming to him 4 at bats per game, Cliff had a monster 2005 season and was the star of our team.
Unfortunately, much of 2006 has been a struggle for Cliff. Mired through extended slumps and injuries, Cliff had 7 homeruns going into Sunday’s game on July 16th.
As good as the Mets have been, you could always tell how disappointed Cliff was in his inability to carry his share of the weight.
He wanted so badly to contribute to the magic, instead being carried for much of the season by his supporting cast.
That is why Sunday was sweet. In his homecoming to Chicago, where Cliff grew up a baseball/basketball star, a child was reborn.
Cliff’s two homeruns were integral in a big Mets victory. With the Braves surging and the Mets off to a poor start, Cliff’s homeruns were the difference in the game, the series and the week.
The thought of Cliff getting going is really scary. If the 2nd half of 2006 allows Cliff to return to 2005 form, it will only make our league leading offense that much better, which may prove huge if our pitching continues to struggle.
Welcome back, Cliffy. Hopefully, you’re back for good.
A STAR RETURNS
In one of my happier logins to Mets.com this season I saw that the Mets had signed Edgardo Alfonzo to a minor league contract.
Fonzie, often the forgotten star of the ’99 and ’00 teams, was truly a Met. The guy defined what it meant to be solid; he was the perfect 2 hitter and a very solid 3 hitter in 2000. He played great D and both 2nd and 3rd base and really never did anything but be a great teammate.
After the 2000 season, the Mets front office decided that they did not want to give Fonzie a 4th year for a contract extension. Much like the Red Sox with Pedro, the Mets thought Fonzie was starting to wear down a little bit and decided to let him go the Giants, the most boring team in the whole world.
Sadly, Fonzie could never really hack it outside of Shea.
Those liners to right field that we grew so accustomed to all of a sudden stopped falling and Fonzie really struggled.
This season was really bad. He floated around the bigs with the Angels and then Blue Jays, batting around .100 and being released by two teams.
I haven’t seen much of Fonzie over the last couple of years and I don’t really care. It is fucking great to have this guy back. Back where he grew up as a player. Back where he became a star. Back where he led a team to a World Series.
Fonzie will start his Mets career in the minors, I assume in Norfolk.
There is nothing in the world that I would want more than for September 1st to come around, Fonzie get the call back to Shea and receive a standing ovation. Then, to see Fonzie contribute in some way, on a field where he was such a special player in the late '90’s. That would really warm a Sip’s heart.
Maybe we can bring back Robin to give D Wright some defensive spells as well.
Either way, this is a nice story here.
Welcome home, Fonz.
VCD,
SM
posted by Sippy Momo at 11:58 AM
1 Comments:
A shame about your childhood. But you're not alone. This ump has to be the same guy who called one of your nine-year old colleagues out for throwing the bat after the kid got literally the first hit he had gotten all season, in like the last game of the year. In fact it was basically the first time this kid's bat had been within a foot or maybe a yard of any pitch ever thrown from the mound. Call it the tenth game of the season, which would have made it I guess about the kid's hundredth swing more or less, and so finally, the random nature of the universe being what it is - bang. A line drive no less. Clean hit, maybe extra bases. Upon hitting the ball, the kid, quite understandably, pretty much jumped out of his skin from the electrifying shock of actual contact with the ball so of course the bat went flying out of his hands. The bat didn't hit anybody or come close to hitting anybody, it just went rolling harmlessly into the fence. Anyhow, as the ball streaks into the outfield, everyone present is watching in disbelief plus joy (even the opposing team, I think, was happy for the batter)--except for the ump, who instead of following the flight of the ball, is grimly studying the path of the discarded bat. Up goes his right hand, thumb extended. He marches triumphantly out from behind the plate, and whips off his mask. Out!! You're out! No one can begin to understand what's going on. Out! The ump explains the call. A howl of protest ensues, enriched by a creative exchange amoung Little Leaguers and parents alike of some colorful and decidedly unflattering metaphors regarding the ump. But the batter's still out, still officially hitless for the season. This was about 15 years ago and you know I still have a hard time believing it.
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