Monday, September 15, 2008

All My Rowdy Friends Collapsed On Monday Night

You're going to tell me now that I'm supposed to be excited that Bobby Parnell had a scoreless inning in his debut?

Well if that's the only choice I have, I guess I'll be on board. Because there's nothing else to be excited about after tonight's 7-2 debacle at the hands of the putrid Washington Nationals. Certainly not Pedro Martinez, who was one out away from getting through his six inning outing with only two runs tacked against him, but instead is continuing his descent into the ordinary. Used to be that Pedro would muddle through a game, but knew when that last batter was coming and would dial it up to finish strong ... especially with runners on base. Tonight, sixth inning ... runners on second and third with Anderson Hernandez at the plate (you know the one who hit under .200 in New Orleans this season), and Petey couldn't put him away. (Gee, an ex-Met killing us? That neeeeever happens!!!)

Certainly not the Mets offense, who somehow turned John Lannan from lamb to lion in just one week. He was a lamb against the Mets last Tuesday, lion tonight as the Mets "resilient" offense could only knock one hit off him tonight.

And definitely not Filthy Sanchez, who came in and only had to get one freakin' out in the seventh after Ricardo Rincon came out of seclusion to get the first two outs in the seventh without incident. Then, in came Filthy to put out the fire once and for all:

Walk, single, home run, scorched earth.

To think the rookies dressed like Michael Phelps yesterday. Dressing like gold medalists seem a little bit out there for this bunch. Investment bankers, I would have believed.

***

I loved that Matt Yallof asked Lee Mazzilli during the pre-game if Pedro Martinez has it in him to step up because ... "you've played against him for years." Of course Mazzilli played against Pedro ... in Playstation. Because as you know in the real world, Mazzilli was retired for three years before Petey made his debut in '92.

Oh, Matt must have meant "managed" against him for years. One problem: it was only one year. Pedro pitched with the Red Sox in '04 while Maz was the Orioles manager ... and Petey gave up 22 earned in 24 innings against Baltimore that season.

In actuality, Mazzilli only "bench coached" against him for years ... which is kinda the same as "well, I was in the park and saw him pitch a lot". Yeah, Maz and about 25,000 others. There's some perspective you can't find anywhere else.

P.S. Maz thinks that Pedro needs Shave Zone ... tough guy.

***

There's actually a precedent for what happened to Ned Yost yesterday (by the way Ned, thanks for showing up against the Phillies ... proving once and for all that you can't depend on a choke artist to help prevent a choke of your own ... that's like hiring Robby Alomar to be employed by the New York Chamber of Commerce), and you're familiar with it if you're a New York sports fan.

The 1989 New York Rangers were battling for a division title with 15 games to go in the season. Coaching them was Michel "Le Petit Tigre" Bergeron, famous for his hot goalie system and his hot temper. Bergeron's Rangers went 3-10 when, with two games left in the regular season, GM Phil Esposito fired Bergeron and took the coaching reins himself of a team that was headed, albeit while limping, to the playoffs.

The Bergeron/Esposito relationship mirrored the Steve Phillips/Bobby Valentine relationship in certain ways near the end of their two year relationship. Certainly, the relationship between Bergeron and his players kinda looked like the Valentine/Player relationship. I can only assume that things were completely unmanageable between the Brewers clubhouse and Ned Yost if this move was made at this point. Heck, if it was the choking itself, there were plenty of opportune chances to fire Willie Randolph down the stretch last season.

(Editor's note: Esposito did no better than Bergeron, losing the final two regular season games and then getting swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Penguins. So I wouldn't expect this firing to really make a whole lot of difference unless things were really as bad as some think in that Brewer clubhouse. The moral to the story is, don't f***ing get swept by the Phillies and maybe you can keep your job.)

11 comments:

metswalkoffs said...

Tom Webster...holy crap!

Great comparison...we were talking about others of this sort on Monday, at work...there aren't many to talk about.

Rickey said...

Rickey does not approves of this Castillo fellow.

weesle909 said...

Is it just me, or did David Wright look horrible at the plate last night?

Two HR's the night before, then last night some of the worst swings I've ever seen him take. He has a lot of RBIs but his average with RISP sucks. And, he's had more RBI opportunities than any other player in baseball this year.

Look, I love the guy, just saying....

Anonymous said...

Sanchez . . . absolutely pathetic effort last night. Walking the first batter he faced? How many times has that happened?

It's time for someone, anyone, to step up.

Anonymous said...

Thank you....

Bad enough I wake up to the Mets now only a .5 game ahead but I read your blog and you mention the 1988-89 New York Rangers and you make me remember how much of a show Mario Lemieux put on against Beezer, Bob Froese and Mike Richter....Thanks a lot....hump!!!
Beezermess

Coop said...

Gosh, I'd forgotten completely about that Ranger season. That was the very first year I started to understand the sport...funny. I thought I'd heard the Yost story somewhere before...

Anonymous said...

Last night I came up with a 5 point plan to avoid a repeat of last year. Unfortunately, I tend to forget my dreams so I don't remember them.

Charity said...

Its as I told John, The Mets weren't playing well because they were so worried about their Cincinnati Fans who pay all this extra money to get their games on tv and couldn't watch because Ike blew all the power away.

Seriously though, if they keep playing like this, Ike can take my power back because I don't want it!

Demitri said...

Schneck-

I bet you also know who killed Laura Palmer.

Too depressing. I can't even leave a thoughtful comment.

Anonymous said...

Re Yost, think Devils in 2000 - although I know Ranger fans don't like to think about that too much.

Metstradamus said...

CSS,

Oh, I remember. I caught a cold from Ed Belfour during the Finals.

Long story. Let's just say you should cover your mouth when you f***ing sneeze.