Mets And Marlins Play 20-Inning Baseball Game

We won't be calling this one a 20-inning thriller. The really amazing thing about this game, though, is that there are probably dozens of people who actually stayed at Citi Field for the entire game. Try wrapping your mind around that.

If you want to get a feel for what we're dealing with here, go ahead and read the Getty caption for the picture up there, which was not taken during batting practice:

A general view of Citi Field during the top of the 20th inning during the game between the New York Mets and the Miami Marlins at Citi Field on June 8, 2013 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City.

If the game itself wasn't all that fun to watch, at least writing the recap for The New York Times was.

Inning after inning, the Mets and the Miami Marlins — the major leagues’ two worst clubs in batting average — looked incapable of summoning just one more run to break a 1-1 deadlock.

The Marlins finally did, notching a 2-1 win, but only after 20 excruciating and increasingly absurd innings. Through their joint ineptitude, the teams produced the longest game at Citi Field and the longest involving the Mets since they beat the St. Louis Cardinals in 20 innings three years ago.

We're just getting started, too; Andrew Keh spends the entirety of his writeup drily eviscerating both teams and truly is a joy to read.

The Mets (23-34) have lost four straight games against the division rival Marlins, who have 17 wins this year, 7 against the Mets.

Matt Harvey did leave the game with an apparent back injury, so it's not a totally point-and-laugh kind of game. All baseball fans, not just the poor Mets ones, should be concerned since Harvey is legitimately exciting to watch. He is the anti-this game. Fortunately, he told reporters after the game that he felt fine and would not miss his next start and Mets were likely just being cautious with their young ace. So we can go back to pointing and laughing.

The remaining fans watched as the Mets squandered one chance after another, finding new ways each time to fail. They put a runner in scoring position in 8 of the last 12 innings but failed to push across the winning run. Over all, they went 0 for 19 with runners in scoring position, a franchise record.

Shaun Marcum, who was the seventh pitcher to follow Harvey for the Mets, pitched eight innings and allowed five hits and one run. He pitched one inning more and allowed one less hit than Harvey.

Strangely, it was his longest — and possibly best — outing of the year.

“Not expecting to pitch or pitch that long, it was definitely different,” said Marcum, who fell to 0-7.

At least these 20 innings only counts as one loss, though. Be sure to tune in at 1:10 PM this afternoon when both teams get back to it; you never know what might not happen.

Photo credit: Getty

Long Before the 20th Inning, Harvey’s Twinge Gives the Mets Shivers [NY Times]