Oh yeah, Philly? Let's see the Eagles score this much!If 2006 was more like say, 2004, then the following statistical oddity would be a microcosm of the franchise. But against the backdrop of a season of domination, it's just weird:
Jose Reyes has performed two of the rarest tasks in baseball in one season. He's hit for the cycle, and now he's hit three home runs in a game. I can't imagine anybody having done both in one season.
The Mets have lost both games. Figures, eh?
(P.S. The only other player since 1900 to hit for the cycle and hit three home runs in a game in one season...and do both in his team's losses: Jim King for the 1964 Senators. Now go win some bar bets with that and have a beer on me!)
You want microcosms? How about the fact that Orlando Hernandez is the first Met pitcher to give up eleven runs in a game. The first! Ladies and gentlemen, this is a franchise that fans used to call around to ask how they did...and after being told the Mets scored 19 runs, the fans would ask "oh that's nice, did they win?"
This franchise had Roger Craig. This franchise had Anthony Young. This franchise employed Frank Tanana when he was so old, doctors would cut off the tip of his finger to count the rings. Glendon Rusch. Pete Schourek. Charlie Puleo.
Victor Zambrano!
And yet, Mr. Battle Tested Clutch Yankee is at the top of the Met record book mountain for none other than giving up eleven runs. Great job.
Speaking of the Yankees, how about this for a microcosm: SNY showed the Mets stats after the game...with a Yankee logo on the left side of the screen!
"Hey, why did you get fired from the Mets network?"Except that this Mets owned network is so Yankee conscious, that guy would probably get promoted for his A-Rodian slip. I'm not going to continue on my usual rant, but I fully expect Aaron Boone's home run against the Red Sox to be spliced at the end of the next Met classic...right over Buckner's error, perhaps!
"I put a Yankee logo where the Mets logo should have been."
Back to the game...wait, do we have to go back?
Tonight was another spankin' courtesy of everyone's favorite salary dumpers, the Philadelphia Phillies. This time, it was Hernandez who couldn't get out of the first inning unscathed...although there are no reported problems with Orlando's calf (he's just old). Speaking of calves, does it worry you that there was an MRI on Pedro's tight calf, yet there will be no news until tomorrow? Straun Coleman, the club physician, has seen the results. Yet there is a need to study them overnight. That, my friends, is not good. What exactly is there to study? A strain? A tear?
Termites?
And if Pedro is injured, does he go back to the Browns with Lee Suggs? (Then again, maybe their MRI's got switched and that's the root of the confusion.)
The Dodgers played cloak and dagger with Kirk Gibson's injuries all throughout the 1988 World Series...will he play? Won't he play? The Mets taking an extra day to study Pedro Martinez's calf reeks of that cloak and dagger, and it tells me the news isn't going to be very good at all. Call me pessimistic if you wish (and I know you will), but something tells me that this is not a drill.
Someone ought to tell Lastings Milledge that this isn't a drill either. Oh and while you're at it, please tell him that the white thing flying at him does not, I repeat: does not have sharp metal spikes sticking out of them, has not been infected with bird flu, and will not give him cooties. There's no need to be afraid.
6 comments:
The potential significant injury to Pedro has me thinking back to the Mets (and Minaya's) lack of significant activity at the trade deadline. They needed that extra starting pitcher even if it was going to cost. Now you're seeing the Mets and Red Sox starting to buckle by not reinforcing their pitching as other teams did. The only difference is that the Mets will make the playoffs and Sox probably won't. I said it once and i'll say it again...for all of the great moves that Minaya has made...the inactivity at the deadline will cost the Mets dearly. I wouldn't want to be the one to explain to Mets fans in October that "we didn't want to trade away the future and didn't want to sacrifice it for a chance in 2006". The time is now for the top three older guys in this staff (the position players are fine for years to come). The "Young Guns" Part II will not carry this thing next year.
Mr. Oswalt,
So very sorry you couldn't be in New York (really I am).
But it was Peter Angelos that failed to pull the trigger on the trade...not Omar. And even if Angelos did pull the trigger on the Tejada for Oswalt deal, Angelos might have flipped him to the Rangers instead of the Mets...so don't blame Omar that you still have to remain Roger Clemens' teammate.
Let's not go all retrospective bitching about Minaya's inactivity at the deadline - let's not forget that although the names of Zito and D-Train were dangled, they weren't "really" available and the starters who were available were no Pedros by any stretch of the imagination. Pedro will be fine, no worries. Extra rest for the playoffs.
And the only reason El Duque gave up a franchise high 11 runs was the bullpen had already been worked so long following Pedro's injury - any other scenario and he'd have been pulled after the first half dozen runs.
You see, everything is coming up golden from here, all you need is a little trans-Atlantic perspective.
Omar refused to be victimized at the trading deadline - and rightly so. He floated some fair proposals which were rejected. He refused to panic and overpay for a Livan Hernandez type pitcher. Other than Oswalt (who was not really avaiable), there was not a single pitcher available capable of anchoring a staff. If Pedro is not available for the post-season, the Mets will be hurting - but there was nothing that Omar could have done about that. All that Omar did was to ignore some ridiculous offers that would have hurt the Mets more than it helped them - in 2006 and in the future.
In closing, may I say this: Kazmir.
In closing, may I say this: Kazmir.
You may not.
I really wish you hadn't. I'm still bumming this morning that Young Clemenza died, and that the Mets got spanked again by those bumblers from Philly. And then you have to go and mention Kazmir.
I thought we Met fans stuck together in times of pain. We're together in this!
I can't believe Bruno Kirby died - didn't know until I saw Mike's post. In addition to Clemenza, he was great in GM Vietnam ("and if you dooo? and if you dooo?") and The Freshman (the "baci di tutti baci").
Mike Francesca says there's nothing to worry about with the Mets - now I'm really concerned.
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