If the 2010 Mets were one of those 60s era war movies with an ensemble cast led by, oh, say, Lee Marvin, then Rod Barajas would be played by Ernest Borgnine. He’d be the sergeant with the barrel chest, the stubbly beard and big forearms who, on the right occasion, throws the rule book away to save a buddy – in this case, Francisco Rodriguez and his misbegotten change-up right down Broadway in the top of the ninth last night. It was a meatball Ernie Borgnine never called for, and it came after K-Rod though he’d deposited strike three on the Giants’ John Bowker, on a swooping curve that looked like a strike to everyone in the park save Hunter Wendelstedt. We’ll toss the mike to Jason Fry for the color:
Two foul balls later, either Gary or Keith or Ron (I don’t remember which one, because I was crabbing about K-Rod needing strike four) notes that Rod Barajas is calling for an inside fastball but has been shaken off by Frankie, who wants to throw the change-up. That’s not a good idea, I think to myself on the couch. WHAM! Bowker swings at a high change and the ball stitches a line across the sky, vanishes from Citi Field, and comes sizzling back to earth in the middle of the Iron Triangle, where it strikes an eminent-domain lawyer who is using a dented Honda Civic door to fend off three chop-shop owners armed with welding torches, after which it is devoured by a feral dog. OK, not quite, but Bowker does hit it a really long fucking way. Tie game. Pelfrey’s work wasted. Boooooo.
So there was a lot at stake when Barajas came up in the ninth. Jim Brown was locked up in a Gestapo holding cell, while Donald Sutherland was racing a stolen German tank to the French chateau that served as Nazi headquarters, as Lee Marvin berated a bemused David Niven about “those Goddamned explosives.” And Ike Davis, having already smashed two homers on the night, was standing on first, smoking a cheroot and calmly knocking the Normandy mud from his boots. And here came Barajas and there went the ball, a hanger from Sergio Romo, just over the rather large wall in left. Walk-off homer. Explosions everywhere. Roll the credits.
Here’s all Rod Barajas has done this short season (aside from nursing the Mets’ fragile starting pitching into some semblance of competence) – 9 homers, 17 RBI and one exceedingly ballsy statement about Arizona’s vicious anti-immigrant legislation, which has many Americans remembering World War Two movies for other reasons. Your papers please.
Then there’s Ike, whose two long balls were complemented by another spectacular catch of a pop-up whilst somersaulting in the dug-out – a play that helped keep K-Rod’s horrible ninth mercifuly short. Has there been a young Mets player of recent vintage who looks so immediately like the real thing – at least since Wright and Reyes made the scene?
So today, a chance for more redemption: Johan Santana takes the hill versus the Giants, and tries to atone for the worst start of his career, that ambush behind enemy lines last Sunday in Philadelphia. While I’m sticking to my 86-win over/under pick for this years’ Mets, there is something abou this team that compels you to watch.
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- Barajas, Davis both homer twice as Mets handle Giants (cbssports.com)
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