Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Barry Bling

I guess we'll just have to rotate one set of karma at a time.

The Mets finally have Armando Benitez's number. And after all that Met fans have been through with Blow-nitez, the Mets owning him is just right.

The Mets, if justice were to come all at once, would have Barry Zito's number already. And not because he took more money to sign with the Giants. Because it really doesn't matter that he chose the money and the short move over the immediate chance to win the pennant and World Series. That's his prerogative and I'm not going to begrudge him that.

But this nonsense that Zito came out with regarding the Mets being "arrogant", and spinning it to sound like that was a main factor in him signing with the Giants is so ridiculous that if it Barry was to do any more spinning I'd have to tie myself to the couch to keep from hitting the wall. Sure, I wanted the Mets to open the checkbook as much as anyone, but the Giants blew the Mets out of the water. And maybe the Mets were arrogant, although I thought that the Mets dragging their heels on the negotiations was a more deciding factor than any arrogance (and considering the performances of John Maine and Oliver Perez this season, turns out that Omar Minaya and the Wilpons had every right to be arrogant).

But the largest factor started with a 1 and ended with a 26...as in the number of millions in Barry's bank account after these seven seasons are up. For him to pretend that it's not reaks of some major hypocrisy on his part...and some major spin doctoring as well. He took the money, so bless his heart. Honestly, if I was left-handed and could pitch like Barry Zito, I don't know what I would do. What I hope that I wouldn't do is insult everyone's intelligence and make something like "arrogance" a factor more major than making enough money to add a movie theater or a regulation size hockey rink to the back of the house.

So in that respect, if karma was one hundred percent right this season, the Mets would have hit Barry Zito as hard as say, Zito's former teammates did when he faced them. Instead, Zito twirled seven scoreless as the Mets were shutout for the first time all year. Instead, karma will just have to come one step at a time. So we'll take solace in the fact that the Mets have the best record in the National League, and Zito's team is not only a game under .500, but still employs Armando Benitez...although you wouldn't know it from his conspicuous absence in a save situation tonight.

***

(Editor's note: "The Met Fan" booed Guillermo Mota upon his return, before he threw two scoreless innings tonight. Happy, Chris? Probably not.)

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

The SF fans who phreak into Shea are the most rude and obnoxious. Standing up nonstop for Bonds--who is a sociopath--is patheic. Makes me almost like the Philly and the NYY brigades--at least you can analyze them. Methinks there's some LSD left in the waters of Berkeley.
Being at Shea on Tues for 12 innings--heaven. Tonight, leaving after the 7th--much relief. Something about Glavine giving up 2 with 2 outs in the 1st sucked the air out of the stadium...

Anonymous said...

is anyone concerned about the inmalance int mets record at home vs. on the road?

i feel they are over performing on the road and under performing at home.

hope they start improving at home becuase they will have home field advantage thtoughout the payoffs.

by the way KJS, water off berkeley is in Oakland A's territory. Most giants fans hang out in teh CASTRO DISTRICT..

Jaap said...

Whatever Zito's tainted rationale for joining the Giants in lieu of the Mets, let's be thankful he doesn't have any kids lest we be subjected to another "better schools for my children" sermon.

Karmically speaking, remember Hampton's less-than-triumphant return to Shea with the Rockies?

In his first inning he gave up a single, a walk, an RBI single, pop up Zeile, threw a wild pitch, gave up another walk, induced Jay Payton into a fielder's choice, hit another batter, gave up a two-run to Rey Ordonez of all people before finally striking out Leiter to end the inning. 41 beautifully horrific pitches in all.

And for an encore, he gave up a mammoth shot (alleged to have travelled 463 feet) to Mike Piazza.

I still hate Hampton for his hypocrisy and although Zito did spin his reasoning for signing with the Giants, he was never a Met to begin with.

Hampton, in case you forgot, tore the flexor tendon in his left elbow and will miss the rest of this year. Heeheehee hohoho hahaha. And yes, next season his salary jumps to $15 million, PLUS the Braves will have to spend another $6 million in '09 to buy him out of a $20 million option.

Think about that and Zito's progressive salary topping out at $20 million dollars several years form now when he's already long gone and forgotten...

Anonymous said...

After Ron and Gary speculating on it for over an inning, terrible job by SNY not showing Mota's entry and fan treatment.

Interestingly, while Gary described it as "muted but definitely negative", the Daily News chose to spin it as "mostly cheers with boos mixed in". Likely wishful thinking on the DN part, hoping to tar us as frontrunning tools like those who cheer rabidly for the Giambalco.

Anonymous said...

OK. Then there's LSD in the CASTRO district. Thanks for the clarification--never been out there, physically and metaphorically.
Yes, I've been to Shea 11 times thus far, and many of friends there comment on how dull, flat, and listless Mets baseball is there in 2007, albeit Tuesday nite. I am concerned, though I'd like to be heavily concerned in October, when it counts--and I think they'll wake up then.
I think Reyes should stop doing potato chip ads--not many SBs lately, no triples, and barely a scratch hit now and then. I hated that preseason Reyes=25 HRs hype; he has two, projected out to six for 2007, and he is not a slugger. A walk is a run if he'd only wake up.
No blogger should concern himself with an insect named Christopher Russo. Just say "Noo Yawk 1954 1954 1954."

Anonymous said...

The "fuss" over Zito is in my opinion overblown. He did us a favor. by his non-signing..Ollie was gauranteed a rotation spot. Nuff said. Plus with Ollie, Maine, El Duque plus Sosa pitching well Those extraa $20M $$$ loom as large in the race as the Mets offense.

Consider the above rotation, then the factor Pelfrey, humber, Devaney, Deolis and Vargas as stashed away, PLUS throw in Green, Gomez, Carp, and Lastings as potential bait.

To me we can add an arm such as Santana, Eric Beddard, AJ Burnett at the deadline. Personally if his health and attitude are adjusted I like Burnett.

On Gomez: I will re-iterate I really like him. But interestingly his growth curve is resembling Milledge...at the plate.

as far as Hampton, he had to take the $$$ that is always what it comes down to. In contrast there is Andy Benes, david wells and biggio who refused contract offers from the Mets at one point or another, saying they did not want to play for the Mets.

Anonymous said...

the castro district, by the way, is an exclusively gay & lesbian neighborhood in san franscisco

Anonymous said...

The Castro district? Interesting...does Rusty Staub hang out there when he's out West? Does Jeter long for IL play with SF?