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Ike Davis has an unexpected walk-up song for a 23-year-old rookie in 2010. As the big lefty lumbers to the plate at Citi Field, a lick from Keith Richards’ five-string open G tuned guitar rumbles from the speakers, and Mick Jagger jumps in a second or two later.
If you start me up…if you start me up, I’ll never stop.
It’s only 10 seconds or so, as these walk-up snippets go, and you don’t get to the “you make a dead man come” coda late in the tune. Still, an interesting choice for a dude born in 1987, six years after Start Me Up was released in advance of the Stones’ Tattoo You record, a huge hit in 1981. And the song goes back a ways earlier anyway: it was first recorded for 1976’s Black and Blue release, the year Ronnie Wood replaced Mick Taylor in the band. So the tune was first recorded the year before Tom Seaver was traded, the year Jerry Koosman went 21-10 and the Mets finished third with 86 wins, 15 games behind the powerhouse Phillies.
And there we come full circle via the Stones and brother Ike’s old school walk-up tune: I’m declaring 86 wins the over/under for the 2010 Mets, based on what I’ve seen so far and the team’s current .500 mark after today’s pleasing win over the falling Atlanta Braves.
I had thought of 81 wins as the over/under going into the year, but Ike Davis changed my mind on Friday night. As my 15-year-old and I sat up in the Promenade seats behind third on a cool and breezy evening (it was ski cap night!), Davis connected off Kenshin Kawakami and drove the ball 450 feet to the edge of the William Shea Bridge, past the bullpens out in right centerfield. Gone the instant it left the bat, for the rookie’s first career homer.
Not worth five wins in itself, but I’m also considering the return of Jose Reyes – whose seems to love the third slot in the lineup that way Jagger loved a James Brown move he could steal. Reyes emits an energy not dissimilar to the Stones frontman at the legendary Brussels shows in ‘73, and he’s so clearly back from the leg problem now. Pure opportunity. What a beautiful thing it was to see Jose and Jason Bay go back to back with triples on Friday. And speaking of Bay – who went 3-for-3 in today’s 3-1 win over the Braves – he’s clearly a professional who’s going to be just fine.
Then there’s the pitching, the half-way decent pitching. No, John Maine and Ollie Perez are excused from the main stage, but Santana, Big Pelf and young Jon Niese – who scuffled today but kept the Mets close – are a surprisingly tough trio and the bullpen has been resilient. Hisanori Takahashi looks like a find, with seven strikeouts in his three innings of emergency middle relief when Maine went down with an injury to his non-pitching arm. K-Rod’s finally getting some saves.
Sure, David Wright looks as lost as a lamb facing the Hell’s Angels at Altamont, but the lineup of guys around him should have him seeing more meatballs to hit. He’s got to quiet down in the box, hit the ball where it’s pitched, perhaps cut the pre-game caffeine. Settle in.
Yeah, .500 isn’t exactly a five-game lead in the division. But considering how badly things looked a week ago, there’s a lot more of a groove going on in Citi Field. And maybe some of that mojo comes from the veteran catching corps. Henry Blanco clearly has his own Tattoo You look going with flame-speckled forearms. But Rod Barajas is contributing quite a bit as the starting backstop. Sure he’s south of the Mendoza Line but he’s got three homers and one cool walk-up song.
That’d be Low Rider, recorded by War the same year the Stones hit the studio and demoed Start Me Up with Keith’s killer riff for the first time. I’m not sure the lyrics will meet the Commissioner’s substance abuse guidelines, but they sound great in Queens.
All my friends know the low rider
The low rider is a little higher
Who knows if the Mets will hit my 86-win over under, but they’ve got a chance. Today’s win pushed them past the Braves into a third-place tie with the Nationals. The season is no longer in free fall. Where we’ll go from here remains to be seen, but for now the journey seems worth it. Will they get 86 wins and contend? As Barajas might say: Take a little trip with me. Take a little trip and see.
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