No Bandwagon Here: I Have Not Been, Nor Will I Ever Be, A Mets Fan

Refreshing candor from New York’s junior senator:

One crowd Hillary Clinton will never be accused of pandering to? The one at Shea Stadium.

Clinton, appearing at the National Press Club Tuesday, made it clear that her hometown loyalty extends to only one of New York’s baseball franchises — and it’s not the one next to the body shops of Flushing.

“I cannot let stand that I have ever, ever been a Mets fan: Let’s set the record straight,” said Clinton. “The Cubs and the Yankees — those were my teams and remained my teams growing up and now in my mature years.”

After all, this is a team that last night took eight innings to score off of Phillies reliever Ryan Madson. Not very impressive:

The game, of course, did not have to last as long as it did. It could have ended much earlier — when folks remembered that Steve Trachsel started and David Bell knocked in five runs — if . . .

If Paul Lo Duca had held onto that throw in the fifth inning, then the Phillies couldn’t have scored four runs.

If Ryan Howard had fielded that grounder cleanly in the eighth, the Mets couldn’t have scored three.

If Beltrán would not have slid past second base in the 10th, then David Wright’s single probably would have scored him with the winning run.

If José Reyes were not so athletic, he couldn’t have jumped high enough to spear Bobby Abreu’s liner in the 13th, doubling Chase Utley off second and thwarting the go-ahead run.

Then again, such a resolution would have been unsuitable last night. Too simple. So they kept playing.

The five hour, 22 minute game was the longest of the season. A pox on both your houses, I say!