Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Victories! Everywhere I Look: Victories!

So much for pitch counts.

David Cone once had a 166 pitch game, but that was a nine inning game. Orlando Hernandez threw 130 times tonight, in six innings, at the age of forty...something. This means that for David Cone to match that feat, factoring in the age exchange rate, he would have had to throw 529 pitches to match tonight's performance by Hernandez.

(It's kind of like those commercials where they say that you would have to eat 250 bowls of your cereal to match one bowl of Total. Orlando, being as old as he is...or may be...should know all about the value of a healthy cereal.)

Tonight, a victory, made possible by Hernandez, and Mr. French Cooking himself, Jorge Sosa. Carlos Beltran hitting the ball hard and not being placed on the DL is another victory. Tomorrow, Hernandez's arm and Pedro Martinez's arm still being attached to their shoulder sockets would be two more victories. One more victory against the Pirates on Wednesday night and that's 5-0 in two days.

(If only moral victories counted in the standings.)

Sure, it was ugly in the minds of some people. Anything less than 12-0 against a team like the Pirates probably would have been considered ugly. But hey...in case anybody hasn't been paying real close attention lately, the Mets have been playing as ugly as Mike DiFelice sliding into third base (he may be born to catch, but tramps like DiFelice aren't born to run...no word on whether DiFelice's wife is named Wendy). So we'll take it. Take your Moises Alou go-ahead RBI's and go home before somebody changes their mind.

***

Chances are you laughed at something Keith Hernandez said during the game tonight. On those nights that I'm really paying attention, I always laugh at something he says. He's just a goofy human being, and we as Met fans should be eternally grateful for that, especially on those all too familiar nights lately where Hernandez has been the highlight of the broadcast, way above and beyond the actual game.

Does he remind you of anyone?

Never have I appreciated Phil Rizzuto more than when I realized about a week or two ago that Keith Hernandez, in all of his goofiness, is turning out to be our Rizzuto in the booth. As much as the Yankee affiliation turned me off to him, I realized later in life just how entertaining Rizzuto was.

And never have I appreciated the Scooter more than when the Yankees beat the Orioles on Monday night, and noticed a huge John Sterling likeness on the scoreboard with his "Yankees Win" phrase next to him. After I threw up upon the sight of that pompous forced schtick, I wondered aloud if Yankee fans will ever realize how good they had it once upon a time.

And twelve hours later, Rizzuto leaves us. If they don't realize it now, they never will.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Phil Rizzuto was a class act on and off the field.

My brush with Phil was when I was a little boy. I was with my family at the outlets in New Jersey. My Dad and I were waiting for my Mom and Sister outside a store and there was Rizzuto. My Dad and I went up to him just to say hi. He not only said Hi but signed a personalized autograph and struck up a conversation with us. He was also waiting outside the store but for his wife. When she came out he even introduced us to her.How is that for being down to earth?

Class acts like that are hard to find nowadays. From this Mets Fan - Phil will be missed.

Anonymous said...

i'm a met fan, have been since 1962, today i am emotional. however, kh, is not, nor will he ever be phil rizzuto. your assessment is totally wrong. we have kiner, they had phil. part of the legacy passed today. hernandez doesn't care and is only in it for the bling.

Metstradamus said...

larjoe,

Thanks for checking in. I don't believe I'm wrong here and I don't consider Kiner like Phil, just because they were both ex-players who broadcasted for a while. Kiner was different. Kiner stuck to the game and was goofy unintentionally (though he says he made some of those remarks on purpose). Ralph is in a class by himself as far as I'm concerned.

Keith, whether he's in it for the bling or not (and I'm not quite sure how you came up with that conclusion), reminds me more of Rizzuto just in terms of how much they talk about stuff that has nothing to do with the game.