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Hop To It

When I went to sleep, I was rather annoyed with the lack of Mets involved in the postgame "bunny hop" (Chris Russo's term) at home plate. I thought it paled in comparison to that which I saw from the Marlins after Dan Uggla's walk-off grand slam not long before, and its paled comparitively from those which I've seen from a team like the Rays (who as a colleague noted: "They're the team you wish yours was.").

However, upon second look, thanks to a photo from the NY Daily News, and watching the highlight, I feel a little better.

Those teams are younger, and a little more demonstrative. The Mets are old and creaky, so it's hard for them to match the spirit or leap-height of those other squads (didn't it look like Beltran jumped off the wrong foot?). It may have been a celebration lacking in fire, but not in numbers.

I can see Beltran, Wright, Delgado, Schneider, Easley. Maine, and Aguila...via TV I saw Reyes (first one in line for any hopathon), Moises Alou (no hop, but a congratulatory helmet tap), Vargas, Chavez, Tatis, Castillo, Perez, and Pedro (a little late, but why risk injury?).

Who else are we looking for? (My apologies if any of these guys were spotted)

* Castro- Showed up for it an hour late

* Heilman- he's usually there...he may be one of the unidentified sets of legs, though he's easy to spot because of his height

* Pelfrey- showered and street-clothes attired

* Santana- Guessing he probably went home, since he's pitching at 1

* Sanchez, Schoeneweis- still in the bullpen

* Wagner- not too popular these days

* Willie- off to the side, in his usual spot

They say you can tell how much a team likes each other by how many guys are at home plate for the "bunny hop." I think we already knew that there's some tension with these guys, but I don't know that judging the bunny hop is the way to go.

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