On The Road With Joey & Iggy: Weekend At Bernie's

Hello again, everyone!  We're Joey and Iggy Beartran and this is the road trip recap you've been waiting for!

Earlier today, we posted a recap of the Chicago part of our road trip, in which we visited U.S. Cellular Field (home of the Chicago White Sox) and Wrigley Field (home of the Chicago Cubs).  But the Mets were not involved in either game.  Instead, they were playing in Milwaukee, which according to the GPS system that got us lost and sent us to a seedy area of Milwaukee (where no Cheesehead would dare enter), was only 82 miles north of our hotel room in Rosemont, IL.  (Note to selves:  We might need a new GPS.  Just sayin'.)

After a winless week at Citi Field, the Mets tried to get back on the winning track at Miller Park.  Jonathon Niese was on the hill for the Mets, although the scoreboard crew in Milwaukee wanted us to think otherwise.

Spell Check, people!  It's Jonathon, not Jonathan!

The Mets scored two runs in the first and second innings, taking an early 4-0 lead over the Brewers.  The four runs scored by the Mets before we had gotten our first whiff of the bratwurst were completely unexpected, especially considering that the Mets had gone over a month since the last time they had scored four runs in a home game.  The road seemed to agree with them on Friday.

We almost missed the early outburst, as we were enjoying our dinner for the evening.  A Food Network cart had found its way into the ballpark, serving up buffalo chicken mac and cheese and a bacon sloppy joe sandwich with Fritos corn chips.  We only had two words for that.  Yes, please.

A cupful of buffalo chicken mac and cheese goes beautifully with a bacon sloppy joe sandwich.

After emptying Miller Park of all its napkins (the sandwich was a little messy but dang, was it exquisite), we returned to our seats for a few innings.  We got to see two things we hadn't seen in a while - a home run by Lucas Duda and an RBI by Josh Thole (on an extra-base hit, no less).

Once the Mets had a comfortable five-run lead, we decided to hit the Brewers Team Store, where you could buy the T-shirt of any Brewers player on the team.  No, seriously.  Any player.  They're all on the racks and on the walls, as seen in the photo below.

Yes, that's Bob Uecker's No. 9 T-shirt at the top right of the photo.  As always, he's got the furthest seat in the house.

Before we could start mumbling and grumbling about how the Mets took a million years to get a Jonathon (not Jonathan) Niese T-shirt in the Mets Team Store, we noticed a subsection of the Brewers Team Store called The Meat Locker, which is dedicated to the competitors in the daily Sausage Race.  In case you aren't familiar with the speedy sausages, they're in the photos below.

The top photo features the meaty racers and the bottom photo features our travel companion and sometimes correspondent, Ballapeño, with a stuffed version of his favorite sausage, Chorizo, whom he spotted in The Meat Locker.

After our pit stop in the team store, we finally made it back to our seats just in time for the ninth inning and another shaky effort by Ramon Ramirez.  With one out in the ninth, Ramirez walked shortstop Jean Segura and allowed an RBI triple to Tony Plush himself, Nyjer Morgan.  But faster than you can take out the Rolaids (which must be popular at Miller Park due to the artery-clogging ballpark fare), Ramirez retired the next two batters, preserving the victory for Jonathon (not Jonathan) Niese.

It was time to celebrate for the dozen or so Mets fans in attendance at Miller Park, so we whooped it up near the Mets dugout and fooled around on a lifesize replica of the Brewers' primary mascot, Bernie Brewer.  We then went back to the Brewers Team Store to let the Brewers bears have it as well.

The Mets went on to lose the next two games of the series to the Brewers, but at least we got to see their only victory of the weekend series at Miller Park.

We (including Ballapeño) totally enjoyed our Milwaukee experience, and we were very happy that the Brewers bears had no hard feelings because of our playful ribbing at their expense.  We had great seats, great food, great company (okay, so maybe there were a baker's dozen of Mets fans in attendance) and even got to see a rare Mets offensive outburst.  It was a perfect night if you were a Mets fan in Milwaukee.

Now about that Bob Uecker T-shirt in the team store, I wonder if it would fit this statue of him, located outside the ballpark.  He's got to get cold standing out there in the cold Milwaukee winters, don't you think?  (Thanks for reading our road trip recap!  See you on the road!)

Bob Uecker finally made it to the front row.

It's Deja Brew All Over Again

Last night, after struggling to find their offensive groove at Miller Park in Milwaukee, the Mets scored five runs in the eighth inning against Brewers' reliever Kameron Loe to turn a 2-1 deficit into a seemingly comfortable 6-2 lead. The key words are "seemingly" and "comfortable". Because if you've been following the Mets recently, the late innings have been anything but comfortable.

Let's look at the the Mets' last six losses. Methinks you'll be able to notice a pattern in these half-dozen defeats:

• May 27: Mets lead 3-2 in the eighth inning; lose to Phillies, 6-4.
• May 28: Mets lead 2-1 in the eighth inning; lose to Phillies, 5-2.
• May 31: Mets lead 1-0 in the eighth inning; lose to Pirates, 5-1.
• June 1: Mets lead 2-0 in the seventh inning; lose to Pirates, 9-3.
• June 3: Mets lead 3-1 in the eighth inning; lose to Braves, 6-3.
• June 8: Mets lead 6-2 in the eighth inning; lose to Brewers, 7-6.

The Mets haven't exactly been writing the book on how to hold late-inning leads, have they? In fact, the Mets haven't been able to hold on to leads, regardless of the inning, all season. In 18 of their 32 losses, the Mets were in front at some point. However, it's those late-inning losses that everyone seems to remember. Ready for more?

• April 10: Mets lead 3-1 in the eighth inning; lose to Nationals in 11 innings, 7-3.
• April 30: Mets lead 1-0 in the seventh inning; lose to Phillies, 2-1.
• May 16: Mets lead 1-0 in the seventh inning; lose to Marlins in 11 innings, 2-1.
• May 22: Mets lead 3-1 in the seventh inning; lose to Yankees, 9-3.

That's ten losses this season in which the Mets held the lead going into the seventh inning or later, or nearly one-third of their 32 losses. Had they held on to those ten late-inning leads, the Mets would be proud owners of a 39-22 record, which would give them the best record in all of baseball. Even if they had split those ten games, which would still allow for five blown late-inning leads, the Mets would have a 34-27 record and would find themselves in the thick of the National League playoff race. (The Milwaukee Brewers are currently leading the Wild Card race with a 35-27 record.)

But no, the Mets have not won any of those ten games and are now in a position that has become all too familiar to them, fourth place in the NL East with a 29-32 record.

Last night, two swings of the bat from Milwaukee's most famous duo since Laverne & Shirley (Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder) turned a four-run eighth-inning lead into their latest "what if?" loss. It's getting to the point where Lenny and Squiggy could probably lead a late-inning charge against the Mets.

Heck, Nyjer Morgan claimed he didn't even know that his ninth-inning double off Goose Gossage's less successful clone, Dale Thayer, was a walk-off hit. I guess Morgan has been spending too much time as his alter ego on Twitter, Tony Plush. Otherwise, he would have known that blowing late-inning leads has become commonplace for the Mets.

A certain pennant-winning manager for the Mets once said that it's never over 'til it's over. Perhaps the current Mets should heed the philosophical words of that wise man. If they don't do something soon, the 2011 season might be over before it's over.