My Popcorn Odyssey

I recently went on a popcorn odyssey, four days and nights of eating popcorn in 4 different places in 3 different states, and I documented the entire thing to share with you guys.

Day 1:
Popcorn from Target for Game 1 of the NLDS.

Day 2:
Popcorn from AMC Theaters for Hotel Transylvania 2. The movie was actually pretty cute and funny. The boys loved it.
The popcorn was also good. And we get the refillable size so we chow down before the movie starts, and refill. Then we refill again after the movie and take home. On this night I enjoyed it with Game 2 of the NLDS.

Day 3:
Popcorn from Sesame Place. With the same bucket we've been using for years, and our season passes, refills are only $2.22. And I can eat the entire bucket in the time it takes the kids to wait on line and ride one ride.

Day 4:
Popcorn from CitiField.
Behind section 125 there is a stand that sells popcorn in a Mets helmet with unlimited refills for $12. It is the best food value at CitiField. I bought and ate one helmet-full myself when I sat down. Then during the introductions I ran to get #2. I sent Poop On Me for refill #3 at which point even I was sick of eating popcorn.

The Mets Move On

Daniel Murphy may not be a Met next year, but tonight he cemented his legacy as a Met.
Not only did Murphy win the game with a game-winning home run (his third of the series) he made one of the biggest surprise heady plays in baseball history when he went from first to third on Duda's walk and scored on d'Arnaud's sacrifice fly.

My favorite part, and you can't really see it in this video, is how he casually trotted to second base and very sneaky like, took off for third.

Add to that his double (could have been a triple) in the first inning that got the Mets on the board you have an amazing legendary performance that will not soon be forgotten by Mets fans.

Tough game for Jacob deGrom. He did not have his good stuff, or his command and was not pounding the strike zone as he normally does. But he was able to dance between the rain drops for six innings, constantly getting out of jams, and not always of his own making.

deGrom taking this through 6 allowed the Mets to go Thor and Familia and skip all the Clippard/Reed craziness.

I admit I was very worried about bringing in Syndergaard, not because of the starter in relief thing, but because he had warmed up and sat down three different times and his arm is not adjusted to that workload. But he looked pretty damn strong.

And of course great job by Jeurys Familia doing his best Mariano Rivera impression during the game and his best Mary Lou Retton after it.

I am very tough on Terry Collins as I think he uses emotion and intangibles over logic and data in too many of his decisions. But tonight he did all the right things. I would have taken deGrom out earlier, I would have been nervous about using Thor after all that up and down, but he made all the right moves. I might have wanted him to let Thor start the 8th and bring in Familia if anyone got on, to avoid the awkward situation of Familia batting with two men on. But it all worked out and I hope he continues pushing all the right buttons in the next round.

Speaking of the next round, I am terrified about playing the Cubs because they are pounding the ball right now and we have two key hitters, Wright and Duda who didn't do shit in this series, and Cespedes who for the most part didn't look much better.

The Mets survived the spotty offense and the less than stellar pitching (though no starter allowed more than 3 runs) but they will need to step it up to advance.

Let's home they can, I don't want this ride to end.

Let's Go Mets!

If Martha Stewart Were a Mets Fan

A few years ago we bought a pumpkin painted with the Mets logo. When we went back to that store this year they didn't have any. So I tried to do it myself.

Here's what I did:

I printed out a Mets logo on a piece of paper and then covered the entire back of it with blue painter's tape.

Using scissors and a box cutter I cut out the logo and those little empty bits in the middle were a bitch.

Then I folded a bunch of pieces of tape into tiny little circles to make sure the edges would stick to the pumpkin.

Then I slapped it on the face of the pumpkin and tried to smooth it out as much as possible.

I sprayed the entire thing with blue spray paint and let it dry overnight.

We removed the paper and tape logo and lo and behold the orange of the pumpkin made a pretty nice Mets logo.

2015 NLDS Game 4: Dodgers 3 Mets 1

I just never had a good feeling about Game 4.
I was still tired from Game 3. My energy wasn't the same, the crowd's energy wasn't the same and certainly the offensive production wasn't the same.
Our seats weren't as good either, though we still had a nice view from left field.

Steven Matz did not pitch great, though he could have easily avoided that disastrous innings if a couple of those hits didn't drop in or get by.

But the Mets just ran into the best pitcher in baseball on a good night.
All that stuff about Kershaw not being good in the playoffs was just nonsense. He's a great pitcher and he doesn't turn into a pumpkin on October 1.
Yes, his results were puzzling but they weren't as bad as they seemed because W-L record is not a good indication of a pitcher's individual performance, and because even 40 or 50 innings is a very small sample size.

But please remember, momentum is only as good as the next day's starting pitcher. We've got Jacob deGrom, but they've got Zack Greinke.

So who knows what will happen.

All we can do is wait, watch and scream "Lets! Go! Mets!"

Song of the Week

"Back in My Arms" - Jaheim
Whenever I make a song like this the SOTW, I feel I need to post a disclaimer that Mrs. Poop and I are not having problems.
It's the downside of a happy, healthy relationship that I never get to sit in my room and listening to this song on repeat while crying.

2015 NLDS Game 3: Mets 13 Dodgers 7

Thanks to the connections of Master Bates, I was able to attend Game 3 of the NLDS at Citifield.
After the controversial Utley slide, emotions were running high, especially when Ruben Tejada limped onto the field in pregame introductions.

The game got off to a rough start as Matt Harvey, clearly without his best stuff, allowed 4 straight hits and 3 runs in the second inning.

But the Mets immediately turned that around and Curtis Granderson got a huge hit off a lefty (he struggled vs lefties all season, finishing with a 559 OPS against them), a bases-clearing double.

Harvey settled down a little, and then d'Arnaud homered to make it 6-3 and Cespedes put the final nail in the coffin with a three run homer to make it 10-3.

From our seats in left field

we had a great view of both home runs, passing right in front of us. d'Arnaud's was in doubt, but Cespedes's was a bomb.

Cespedes with quite the bat flip, justifiably excited.

The atmosphere for the entire game was awesome. Mets fans being happy and excited to have such a good team and such a good chance to win this series now.

And I was thrilled to have gotten to share this special moment with my family.

Sic Semper Mets Fans

Everything seemed to be going the Mets way, up 1-0 in games, 2-0 in Game 2 with Syndergaard dealing, but if you've been a Mets fan for more than five minutes you know stuff like this happens to us.
For the quick review, Syndergaard allows two base runners in the 7th (I thought Terry should have yanked him), Colon gets Kendrick to hit one back up the middle, Murphy flips to Tejada who gets destroyed by Utley as the tying run scores. As Tejada is being carted off, the umpires review the play and say Tejada never touched the base. They put Utley back, making it 1st and 2nd with one out, and Addison Reed came in and allowed 3 runs to score.

Here are some quick thoughts:

1) The slide was borderline, but on the dirty side. Excessive force to break up the double play, and he slid as late as you can to possibly be considered starting to slide before the base.

2) The ruling to put Utley back on second even though he touch the bag makes a little sense. If you're going to have replay you have to give umpires the latitude to make reasonable corrections in conjunction with their calls.

For instance, a running back fumbles, defender, the only player near it picks it up. But refs blow the play dead so they can't grant a recovery after the whistle. On review they see it was a fumble but can't grant a change of possession. That used to be the case in the NFL. It sucked, so they have to give umpires some leeway.

3) Terry Collins still should have appealed to second base and played the game under protest because both are no-risk propositions.

4) I have no problem with bringing Colon in. He had a great record against Kendrick and he got him to hit a potentially inning-ending double play.

As for the series going forward:
1) The loss of Tejada hurts, but I love Flores and think his defense at short has been just as good or better than Tejada's this season. And his bat is far superior even though he never walks. Let's see if Wilmer can have another magical moment to further cement his status as a fan favorite.

2) The bullpen is absolutely awful. They pretty much need every starter to go 8 innings, or have a 3-run lead to win a game. That's not a recipe for postseason success. If you're Terry Collins can you really trust Addison Reed or Tyler Clippard in the next big spot in the 7th or 8th inning.

3) The core of the Mets lineup is not hitting. Cespedes is 1-7 (the one was a huge home run), Wright is 1-7 (the 1 being the game-winning hit), Duda is 1-6 and D'Arnaud is 0-7. I know it was against Kershaw and Greinke but if those guys don't hit, and the bullpen sucks this bad, they Mets have no chance.

But this is the Mets fan experience: hope, hope, hope, crushing defeat. But this is what we signed up for. And when we ever do win, or IF we ever do win, all that pain will be turned to a feeling so wonderful we'll all agree it was worth it.

Remember this one last thing though,

Momentum is only as good as the next game's starting pitcher and they have Brett Anderson and we have Matt Harvey.

Let's Go Mets!

Weekly Picks

A promising start to the week until the Cardinals went down in flames. As always with my seasons I do much better on regular picks (11-5) as opposed to best bets. Let's see what Week 5 holds.

BALTIMORE -7 cleveland
Remember when the Ravens were a Super Bowl contender? They could easily be 0-4 right now. But I still think they are a good team. And should be able to beat a bad one at home.

KANSAS CITY -8 1/2 chicago
I correctly picked the Bears last week and Jay Cutler came back like a hero and led them to their first game. Well, the Bears still stink. And even though there's a lot of points to lay here, I like the Chefs, great googley-moogley, the Chiefs.

seattle +3 CINCINNATI
All of the sudden the Bengals are world-beaters? Well, they still have Andy Dalton and the Seahawks still have a good defense.

arizona -3 DETROIT
The Cardinals are still good. The Lions still suck.

BEST BET
new england -8 DALLAS
I've just got a feeling the Patriots are going to kill the Cowboys.

Last week: 3-2 (2 points)
Season: 13-7 (13 points)
Best Bets: 0-1 (2-2)
Home Favorites: 1-2 (5-2)
Home Underdogs: 1-0 (1-1)
Road Favorites: 0-0 (5-4)
Road Underdogs: 1-0 (2-0)