Extra Innings

When I was a kid growing up, I was the biggest Mets fan you could imagine, so cut me some slack, would ya? I suffered enough through the '70s and '80s. The worst were those West Coast games. They would start around 10 p.m. on the East Coast, and I would sit in my bed, the room dark, the radio on until 1 in the morning, waiting in futility as the Mets blew another game to the Padres, the Dodgers or the Giants. I remember one particular game against the Astros went into extra innings. I remember giving up around the 16th, thinking it would be over soon because they were starting to run out of pitchers. The next day's newspapers revealed nothing new in another Mets loss. The real news was that it took 23 innings, or something crazy like that. Most amazing to me, though was that both sides had used catchers, shortstops, and any other warm body on the bench to come in and pitch an inning or two as the innings piled up.

I remember this because it reminds me of the Bush White House. The Administration is notorious for only employing people they know, and they only had a small circle of friends to begin with. As more people leave and new positions open up, I begin to wonder, how soon before Dubya has gone too deep into the bench? How long before he's got two out and two on with a one-run lead? He needs a fireballing closer, but he looks down at the bench and all he's got is a good-field, no-hit utility infielder? Or have we passed that point already?