More Than A Little Strange

Last night's game seemed surreal. I'm not sure why.

Maybe it was seeing the greatest position player in the history of the New York Mets wearing #33 in a uniform that looked nearly purple. Maybe it was hearing the rousing ovation that must have distracted him throughout that first at-bat, or that Jimi Hendrix music which seemed out of place.

Why didn't Adrian Gonzalez get that kind of reception? I think it's clear. For once, the fans of New York grew attached to everything Piazza, and I know I wasn't the only one who wanted him to throw one of those baserunners out, as I'd been rooting in vain for such a thing for nearly 8 years.

And there was more surrealism, seeing Mike Cameron in that same Padres uniform. While his comeback was clearly overshadowed by Mike P., Mike C. had a longer way to go, returning from an awful injury to play his home games in the ballpark where he sustained that injury.

Nothing to worry about: the centerfielder who replaced and collided with him did okay tonight.

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Willie did a good job managing tonight, once again using Darren Oliver in a setup role. And like Crosstown Rivals predicted, it was a rousing success. For, uh, the first inning. Then Mike Cameron had a superhuman at-bat which ended in a walk. But Bert managed to nail down the PizzaMan, followed by Pedro Feliciano's out against Adrian Gonzalez.

But there were two things that weren't weird.

Billy Wagner had a ton of trouble in the ninth inning. Although admittedly some of it was caused by David Wright, it goes without saying that Billy should normally be able to quickly dispose of the bottom of the Padres' order. Hell, he walked Geoff Blum! I thought Billy was at least supposed to bring an upgrade in security over Looper. I'm still waiting for it.

The other thing was that it was all David Wright at the dish tonight. He didn't have that Piazza power, but he delivered some big hits and looked like he was breaking out of his funk. Unfortunately, Firstings needs to do some breaking out. Otherwise we're in trub-trub.

And one last surreal thing. Paul Lo Duca, according to the New York Post, was sleeping with a nineteen year-old. Ugh. You know this will go on forever. Yes, there are pictures.

The Daily News covered Lo Duca's press conference.

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