LOUSY FINISH TO QUITE A SEASON by Tom Brennan

"Watch my throw sail away. WHEE!!" - Lucas Duda



All's well that ends well.  We did have nearly 3 thrilling months of baseball, starting in late July....

But in the World Series, it did not end well...at all.

Game 1 had the inside the park homer (error by Cespedes?) on Harvey's first pitch. See the ball roll...and roll...and roll.  "Come back!! I didn't mean it!"

Then, with victory moments away in game 1, Jeurys Familia, who surrendered just 9 homers in 152 regular season appearances in 2014 and 2015, gave up a very untimely bomb to Alex Gordon to tie it in the 9th, later lost in extras.

Game 2, Jake was uncharacteristically lousy in the 5th inning.  after two lousy 4th inning fielding plays (Duda, Lagares) made the fatigued Jake labor.

With Jake squeezed into an inning opening walk in the 5th after 2 obvious strikes were called balls, the inning was always a pitch (it seemed) from ending favorably, but didn't.  Four pivotal runs scored.  Lousy.

I rarely expect to use deGrom's name and lousy in the same sentence.  He wasn't so bad. Mets hitters, compiling only 2 Duda soft hits, were lousy indeed.

In game 3, Thor Syndergaard was anything but lousy.  Especially on his gutsy first pitch over the noggin of the Royals' swing-happy SS, which made the Royals feel lousy after Thor's Clint Eastwood moment.  "Do ya feel lousy...PUNKS? Well....DO YA?"   We win.

Game 4, Matz was fine enough, as were Colon and Reed.  

But Clippard?  L..O..U..S..Y. Murphy's lousy fielding after Clippard's lousy pitching cost them the game.  

Collins' decision to use Clippard at all? Really lousy.

Game 5, Harvey was the Dark Knight. With a 1-0 lead in the 6th and bags full, none out, Collins made it a multi- game streak of "lousy" by letting the crippled Cespedes try to hit, when Lagares had 2 healthy legs and a bat nearby. What a lousy decision.  Just one lousy run came in.

With a relatively lousy 2-0 lead after a dominant 8th, Collins loused up Harvey's head by looking to pull him. The then-too-amped-as-a-result Harvey walked the first guy in the 9th, and Collins lousily left Harvey in to surrender a double to Hosmer (who is not lousy).

The game was nonetheless about to end in a 2-1 Mets win when Duda made the lousiest throw I've ever seen (ever) to allow KC to tie.

LOUSY Mets hitting in the 7th through 12th innings, and lousy relief pitching in the 12th left the Mets and Met fans with a very lousy feeling in the pit of their stomachs.

Now we have a lousy 3 and a half months 'til pitchers and catchers.

But the 171 games of mostly thrilling Mets stuff before the World Series?

Thinking about that ain't lousy at all.

It makes me smile.