Pirates 11 Mets 4- The view from 143

Another night at the ballpark and lots of good stuff came out of this one.
  • The first was of course the pleasant surprise to hear in the car on the way to the game (since I'm came from home instead of the Bluff today) that Craig Wilson was activated after tearing the cover off the ball in Indy and with Kaz Ishii (a soft tossing lefty) on the mound for the Mets. He came out of tonight with only an infield single, but it's good to have two Wilsons in the lineup again.
  • Since tonight was Pittsburgh Crawfords cap night there was the great effect of almost all 37,000 people wearing a red hat at once (a friend called my cell phone from across the park telling me to look for him in the bleachers, he was the one in the red hat). I always like giveaways that have a clear visual effect on the crowd.
  • A couple hundred Mets fans along the first base line tried to get a "Let's go Mets!" cheer going. They were roundly booed until they shut up.
  • Three hits apiece for Freddy, Humberto, and Jack, of course with the crown jewel being Jack's grand slam to cap off our seven run seventh (in which we scored more runs than the entire four game Phillies series).
  • Another effective start from Dave Williams, who upped his record to 7-6.
  • Honestly, Humberto Cota isn't even human right now. If there's someone on base, it's pretty much an automatic hit. He pulls everything for weeks, then launches a homer directly into my row in right field.
  • Come on, who doesn't love funny looking uniforms?
  • The subtle irony of us starting Craig Wilson, Ryan Doumit, and Michael Restovich on Pittsburgh Crawfords night at PNC with the Bucs and Mets dressed up as the Crawfords and Cubans in honor of the Negro Leagues.
  • Seeing Cliff Floyd get almost booed off the field for getting a fan kicked out for talking trash to him after Wilson's salami (the fan was later re-admitted and the taunting continued).
  • Phone calls from people watching back home who got a prime view of me munching my Cracker Jack in the 7th inning during a pitching change (which I got to see later thanks to the wonder that is Tivo).
  • Speaking of Cracker Jack, on the way down to the park my dad and I discussed the great baseball novel, Shoeless Joe, which was of course, the basis for Field of Dreams. I had just finished the book last week. When I open my Cracker Jack and pull out the "Baseball Legend" card on the inside, I see no one other than Shoeless Joe Jackson himself staring at me. Creepy.
  • The fans acknowledging Jack Wilson and getting him out for a curtain call after his grand slam.
  • Two nights, two great games, a total of about 70,000 fans that were in to every moment of both games. Honestly, people that say Pittsburgh isn't a baseball town need to get to a game a little more often.
  • UPDATED BULLET POINT (1:07 AM): And Michael Restovich wasn't completely useless tonight!!! He walked three times and shattered the unintentional humor scale by making a leaping grab and trying to brace himself on the wall, while barely on the warning track and instead almost falling over. An added bonus was the immediate almost synchornized comments by Jason the usher and another season ticket holder in the seat next to me: "Wow, Lawton would've definitely turned that one into a triple."
I love baseball.

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