Seven Red

Am I supposed to be torn now when the Mets play the Cubs? Nope. I heard somewhere that in baseball, you inherit your team rather than choosing it. This is one of the things that irritates me about the obnoxious “Red Sox Nation.” Never mind that the Red Sox go out and buy talent almost as aggresively as the Yankees, or that the illusion of Red Sox long-suffering-ness is one of the most resentful discourses in modern America. What really irritates me about these jokers is their choosing of their baseball team. I mean, fuck off, Nation. Really. Now, there are many Red Sox fans (I’m about to use the word “authentic,” which has as much meaning as “authentic New York pizza” in California…) who are (can I say it?) authentic, but the vast majority of the bought-worn Red Sox caps are donned by , like, y’know, total fucking poseurs. Yeah, you hate the Yankees. I get it. Shitheels.

So, here we are in north Chicago, and I should certainly start getting behind some Cubs action. And I do. I really do. I hope they win the division, because it will be so much sweeter to see the Mets dog they ass in the playoffs than in this early August homestand. But I’m not in any Cubs nation. I’ve seen my landlord three days now. On each of those days he was wearing a different Cubs hat, including a really snazzy vintage one today. That was alright. But I could live here 30 years and I won’t have it. I’ll still hope that the Mets beat the Cubs, regular season and playoff.

That said, I did feel bad when Soriano pulled up limping tonight. I love the guy as a player (even when he was on the Yankees), and I think he’s just great for the team. That was a tough break. Mets bats were just on fire tonight, even though with 23 base runners it could well have ended up 18-3 as 8-3. It seemed like everybody was putting in work. ESPN Sunda Night Baseball viewers also saw the outlines of how in fuck this – THIS – Mets team could have the best record in the national league when you have guys like Joe Smith trying to pick up 7th and 8th inning slack: base running. Yes, the announcers made a big deal of the aggressive base running. Joe Morgan even noted, with a fair sprinkling of the obvious, that aggressive base running – when it doesn’t turn into outs – gets you more runs. No shit, Joe. But tonight was certainly a clinic in how to reduce your distance to the plate by 90 feet without hitting the ball. Milledge stole second with Glavine at the plate, and was knocked in when Glavine contributed to his own effort with an RBI single. Luis Castillo tagged up from first on a long fly ball – Cubbies were asleep at the wheel. There was a double steal, a stolen third, and a stand up triple from Reyes – all hard-charging-we’re-gonna-take-it baseball. Poor Sweet Lou looked a little shell-shocked.

Of course, this is milestone weekend in baseball, with A-Rod touching ‘em up for the 500th time, Bonds dinging 755, and – tonight – Glavine (with hardly any objection from the usually dismal Mets bullpen) nailing down 300. I have to admit, when I look at the scope of those achievements I feel a bit small. It’s still nice to see. Yes, even Bonds, and I’m a bit tired of the generalized Bonds-hating mostly emanating from folks who had no problem with Mark McGuire, who was apparently too white to upset them with his suddenly giant forearms.

And yes, I’m still poaching kind neighbor’s wireless. Thank you anonymous Cubs fan (everyone’s a Cubs fan on the northside), for allowing me to downtalk your squad tonight.

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