Nice of Carlos Beltran to join us this season.Is it a coincidence that Beltran's latest hot streak, which has helped the Mets to a series victory over the Reds with an 8-3 victory on Sunday, and brought his RBI total from 13 to 21 over the last two days (with the help of his pink bat), has coincided with Keith Hernandez coming back from his sixteen week vacation to join the booth for a few games*?
Yes, it is a coincidence.
And that brings me to my latest rant:
Goose Gossage decided to weigh in on the Joba Chamberlain fist pump controversy. For those who don't know or care, Chamberlain acted like a lunatic after striking out David Dellucci, one night after giving up a game winning home run to Dellucci, who did not act like a lunatic. Gossage, when asked, volunteered the fine art of being a "True Yankee", and took a shot at the Mets in the process:
"That's just not the Yankee way, what Joba did. Let everyone else do that stuff, but not a Yankee," Gossage said by telephone on Saturday. "What I don't understand is, the kid's got the greatest mentor in the world in Mariano [Rivera]. He's one of the leaders of the team, so you'd think it wouldn't happen on that team.
"But there's no one to pass the torch anymore, no one to teach the young kids how to act. The Mets did a lot of that [celebrating] last year, and look how it came back to haunt them."
This, an quote gone unchallenged by the story's author (Bob Klapisch), is why our society is in a downhill spiral. Sure, let's not blame the facts that Jose Reyes was in a three month slump, the bullpen stunk, and Tom Glavine had the worst outing ever by a New York Met. No, none of that mattered ... because it was the dancing that did it. Dancing and celebrating came back to haunt us. Funny that the total arrogance of Reggie Jackson never came back to haunt the Yankees, huh? No, because Reggie was a "true Yankee". So how exactly did the dancing (dancing which has been done since the N.L. East Championship of 2006, mind you) come back to haunt the Mets?You know Goose, if you wanted to take a shot at the Mets, and things that came back to haunt them last season, I'm surprised you didn't bring up that big fight in the shower after that weekday afternoon game last season.
Oh wait, that was you!
But I guess that can be chalked up to the Yankee way. (By the way, Cliff Johnson is in a urinal at the Dolly Madison rest stop waiting for his rematch.)
The above Heil-o-meter is for the whole weekend ... and he gets on the right side because his bad outing came in the blowout, and his good outing came in the game that was close. And in that game that was close, it was actually Filthy Sanchez that got booed for his bad outing during the second game of the DH. And it occurs to me that the completely uncalled for booing of Filthy wasn't really because Sanchez gave up all those runs in the eighth inning ... they were booing as if to say "Why couldn't you have been Aaron Heilman, so we could boo without feeling guilty about it?"And I could swear I read something on the www (that of course I can't find now to save my life so please don't question my journalistic integrity on this one ... like I have any to begin with) that it was indeed Aaron Heilman who alerted Willie Randolph that David Ross was batting out of turn during the ninth inning. So good for Aaron Heilman. And before you blame Randolph for not waiting until Corey Patterson came up to bat to report the flaw and potentially take Patterson off base: Heck, I didn't know what rule 6.01 was either. Honestly, I thought that if you were caught batting out of turn, that the entire inning was over. So what the heck do I know?
*Oh, and nice of Keith Hernandez to join us this season.
11 comments:
You think Keith will start leaving games in the 7th inning, ala Rizzuto? I could see that happening.
Maybe I'm reading into things here, but is it possible that Matt Wise is in limbo because they're trying to trade someone, maybe Heilman, for a second baseman?
Sunday's game was further evidence that Dusty Baker is a terrible manager. Batting out of turn goes right up there with Joe Gibbs calling back to back timeouts resulting in a 15 yard penalty.
Anonymous,
Did you know that was the third time Dusty Baker was involved in batting out of turn as a manager (he also batted out of turn as a player).
To Metstradamus:
I had the rare pleasure of listening to the game and post game comments that did mention Dusty's history with the rule. Dusty also mentioned it in his post game comments.
It is tough to pick up WFAN in Maryland but eaiser when on the NJTPK.
Interestingly, I had read a quote where Baker had said that the only other time where he was involved with the rule was the one time as a player ... which is not correct.
Two Yankees writhing around on the ground with each other in the shower. Sounds about right.
I sometimes wonder why I hate the Yankees more than the Mets. This post is a reminder of that.
Metstra
Your Yankee inferiority complex is showing itself once again. What did you expect Klap to challenge? The comment on the Mets was a small part of the overall statement. He actually reports that Gossage doesn't like what Joba did and condemns all types of showboating etc. Give some credit for speaking his mind and telling it like it is (against a current Yankee). The shower fight that he had in the 1970's is completely irrelevant as it was a dispute among teammates...not something with the other team. To draw any comparison is irrelevant. Yes - the "Yankee Way" wording is overused and there are plenty of characters that have played for the team that do not fit the on-the-field DiMaggio mold....however there is something to be said about tradition and a culture of success. Success measured over the last 30 years...success over the last 100.
As far as celebrations go, the Mets did pay the price in 2007 for their antics. Did they in 2006? Hard to know. I don't believe they have been a well liked team around the league the past couple of years. I believe there is a difference between showing some emotion for a brief moment on the mound and performing a dance contest outside the dugout after a solo home run. Who cares what the individual did last night (win or lose)? Getting emotional is human nature and making everything or expecting everyone to be robotic does nothing for the game. Don't we tune in for the drama, the human stories, and emotion of the game? This entire blog is one big emotional rant about someones love and passion for their team! The Nationals were doing a fun root chant (such as in Little League) today during the Mets game....Figgeroa (before he got shelled) took it as an insult and made angry genstures toward the other dugout. THIS TEAM WAS PULLING FOR THEIR OWN GUY. Are they supposed to stay silent and look bored in the dugout? Whether justified or not, fans connect with players and feed off their emotion...live and through the tv...people have to stop being so sensitive and politically correct and let people be. Keep doing it Joba...just don't gesture at the player or the opposing dugout...keep it brief...and we'll feel good going into that commercial break.
Brother, you noted that getting emotional is part of the game and we cannot expect everyone to be robotic. I agree. That's why I love the emotion Joba showed. It's just the pompous comments of Goose that make me roll my eyes. I don't think Metstra was showing an inferiority complex in this post, just the corporate, suit & tie comments by Goose (in my humble opinion).
(I hope you don't mind me responding to your comment, since you were talking to someone else)
No problem. What Goose said was a bit holier than thou. I just find it funny that Met fans seized on the comment about them and not that Goose was slamming someone from his own franchise. Could you imagine the outrage if Goose backed Joba? You can easily see the blog rant the other way. Dammed if you do...dammed if you don't.
Wrong again Mother Goose. If Goose had backed Joba, chances are he doesn't mention the Mets. Which means, it's none of my business and I don't mention it.
Survey said:
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!
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