A Tale of Two Franciscos

The cast and crew of Studious Metsimus (along with the genius behind My Summer Family) made a trip to San Francisco this past weekend in the hopes of seeing the Mets win a few ballgames against one their rivals in the National League Wild Card race.

Another Francisco (not a San, but a Frankie) did his best to give the Giants a chance to sweep, but some bad umpiring and a timely hit by Ike Davis allowed the Studious Metsimus/My Summer Family World Tour to leave the Bay Area with one victory in four games.

As seen in the photo above, whenever F-Rod comes into a game, Mets fans feel like their team needs an insurance policy in the bullpen. (State Farm? Nationwide? Chico's Bail Bonds?) But seriously, what insurance provider would be foolish enough to cover the team that gave $37 million to Mr. BS (Blown Save) for three years?

In case you hadn't noticed in the paragraph above, Studious Metsimus will no longer refer to our closer as K-Rod. Instead, we will call him F-Rod, pronounced like the word "fraud". Feel free to call him BB-Rod as well, since he has a better chance of issuing a base on balls than registering a "K".

With F-Rod giving up leads left and right, especially when members of Studious Metsimus and My Summer Family are in attendance (as detailed here), I'd rather take my chances on Fernando Nieve, with or without his dentures, in the ninth inning.

That being said, our trip to San Francisco was still quite pleasant, despite the three losses in four games. From visiting the Golden Gate Bridge to dining at fine restaurants (La Cumbre Taqueria and Uncle's Cafe in Chinatown top the list), San Francisco gave us a warm welcome wrapped in a 68-degree breeze.

Of course, some Giants fans were rude to us, especially after their third victory of the series, but once the My Summer Family portion of our World Tour reminded those fans of the number of World Series championships their beloved San Francisco Giants had claimed since moving to California (think Jason Bay's home run total minus six), they were quickly put in their place.

No leg of the World Tour would be complete without photos, so please enjoy the selected shots from the Westernmost stop of the Tour:








Although Carlos Beltran returned to the lineup in San Francisco, the offense didn't follow him out west. The Mets have scored four runs or less in every game for the past two weeks and must right their ship quickly or else any move they make at the trade deadline won't be enough to save their season.

Also, F-Rod must find a way to become the closer Omar Minaya expected him to be when he signed him to the three-year, $37 million contract in December 2008. Meltdowns against San Diego, Washington and San Francisco (three teams not known for having an intimidating offense) must not become the norm if the Mets want to have meaningful games in September.

As for the Studious Metsimus staff, our season of touring major league ballparks is still going strong. We will be visiting the Keystone State on two occasions in August, first in Philadelphia and then Pittsburgh. Let's hope the Mets' bats and Francisco Rodriguez's mojo join us on the trip.