SaberMets.com: Two jacks beat a save every night

June 03, 2004

Two jacks beat a save every night

The words uttered by Mets closer Braden Looper as a crowd of reporters left his side to speak with the hero of the day, Todd Zeile. For the second consecutive day, Zeile sent me into a curse-laden tirade, and both were of the good variety. "YOU'RE THE F!@#ING MAN TODD ZEILE!" I proclaimed to anyone unfortunate enough to be within earshot as Zeile's 8th inning, three-run homerun cleared the hitter-friendly power alley wall at Citizen's Bank Park, tying the score at three apiece.

Two innings later, after Karim Garcia's double narrowly missed going over the fence in right-center, I was at it again. "YOU'RE THE F!@#ING MAN TODD ZEILE!". The words flew out of my mouth as if placed there by Lucifer himself. This time, their impetus was Mr. Zeile's second homerun of the night, third in two games, an opposite-field two-run job that wouldn't have been out of most parks, certainly not Shea Stadium. But it had enough oomph to get out of this park, and a shaky bottom of the 10th later, the Mets had themselves a 5-3 victory and a series sweep of the Phillies.

Of course, it wouldn't be a Mets dramatic victory without a ridiculous Art Howe quote, so check out this gem, RE: Todd Zeile is awesome:

"If he keeps going like this, he's going to have a hard time convincing me he's walking into the sunset, because I'll be right there at dawn waiting for him," Howe said.

Priceless. The only topper would have been if he added, "And then we would really battle."

The Marlins just completed a reverse-sweep of the Reds (i.e. got swept), and the Mets are back where they started before last weekend, 3.5 games out of first place, with a critical series coming up against the World Champs. Despite Josh Beckett's absence from the rotation, the Mets face a tough group of arms in the next four games.

Thursday: A.J. Burnett vs Jae Seo
Friday: Carl Pavano vs Steve Trachsel
Saturday: Tommy Phelps vs Matt Ginter
Sunday: Brad Penny vs Al Leiter

Eric | June 3, 2004 - 10:45 AM EST | TrackBack: 1
Category: Mets Game Notes

Comments

Love your site and I can see making fun of Art Howe's "battle" comments (and some of his managing) but what's the issue with that quote? If anything, it's a good quote. I think Mr. Howe will give you enough good openings for sarcasm in the next few months without seizing on one of his genuinely good moments.