Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Scott Schoeneweis: Behind the Blow

Well, another red letter season has come do an end (and that red letter is F ... I'll let you figure out what that stands for.) And believe it or not, I still have s**t to say. The following is one in a series of random stuff I'm throwing against the wall about person or persons of my choosing. These are your New York Mets: Behind the Blow.

2008 has been full of tragic symmetry. Last season, the Mets lost two out of three to the Marlins, only winning the second game. I delivered a Manifesto, and then my first post after that involved Scott Schoeneweis. This season, the Mets lost two out of three to the Marlins, only winning the second game. I have already delivered my end of season Manifesto, so let's keep the symmetry going and talk about Schoeneweis, shall we?

You do realize that Scott Schoeneweis is 2008's Tom Glavine. He's going to be seen as the guy who f**ked up the final game with the bomb he gave up to Wes Helms.

(Jeez, Wes Helms.)

When Glavine was interviewed after the game, he came up with the final nail in his own Met coffin in the hearts of Met fans when he came up with the infamous "I'm disappointed, not devastated" line.

One year later ...
"Scott Schoeneweis wrapped his hands around the sides of his Mets locker, seemingly trying to prevent himself from stumbling. He removed one hand to rub his eyes, kicked away a shoe and then sniffled. An hour after the Mets’ season ended disastrously, Schoeneweis, with tousled hair and red-rimmed eyes, looked as if he had not slept in three days."
Sure, Schoeneweis also said that sometimes there were more important things in life ... but he was going through one of those important things at the time!

Yet he still seemed to care about baseball. And that's an important thing to point out because I've heard more than one person say that they could deal with Glavine's 2007 meltdown up until the "disappointed not devastated" line. Then, Glavine was dead to a lot of people ... even when Glavine may have been feeling lower than the dirt that the Marlins scooped up from home plate on Sunday, he certainly didn't let us in on the joke. Schoeneweis at least wore his emotions on his sleeve and showed us that he at least shared the emotions of his fans at that point. It's a fact that at the very least deserves to be acknowledged and credited before he, in all probability, packs his bags to head for parts unknown in 2009.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I felt bad for Scott too. The effort and the desire was there. Unfortunately, so was the suck.

This stupidity I'm hearing on FAN about trading Reyes or Wright is utter nonsense, but totally expected. Mike needs to get some ratings you know. For this reason, I've decided not to listen to the drivel on that station until next March.

Just let me know if Mike starts talking about contracting the Mets out of baseball.

Anonymous said...

Spot on about Show. He has been much maligned in his tenure here, and for good reason. But damn it all, the guy gave a hoot.

Anonymous said...

Scott gets way too much of the blame with the fans. He is what he is, and unfortunately he gets put into shitty situations that he doesn't have the ability to handle due to his lack of skills.

Anonymous said...

You know, Unser Im glad someone said it. I listen to Mike alot due to my job, and that whole thing pissed me off. The very thought of trading either one of those two guys is nonsense. You just don't trade .300 30 100 guys because they're bad in september. Especially when this is a team that has exactly 1 guy whos spent his entire career here. Besides.... look at David's swing. I dont think im the only one who saw why he struggled. He was fouling himself up trying to carry the team. Trying to get a homer everytime, pulling the ball. He didnt want the walk. He wanted to win the game himself. He was trying to do everything by himself. I know Hojo and Jerry talked to him about it...but i dont think it sunk in at all. One last thing. I really hope Daniel Murphy learns how to play second base, because if this guy could be decent in the field, I think offensivly he'll be this teams Edgardo Alfonso. The guy who does so much right situationally, that he scares opposing teams.

Anonymous said...

Add to that the fact that Reyes and Wright are both 25 years old. I'm pissed off about two consecutive choke jobs, believe me, but the whole idea here is ridiculous.

And Mike knows this, BTW. He's baiting the Mets' fans to get ratings. Don't even waste your time on it. Follow the Presidential election instead.

Anonymous said...

that whole trade wright or reyes is raw stupidity he wants to make a panic move lets destroy this young core for the sake of making a mess you give them more years to really find out what they are wright was big in o6 big at the end of 07 not big in 08 yes he failed in the last couple series but to say those games are a summary of what he is as a player his defining moment and we should trade him based on those games is stupid fools make moves to make moves unless you get exactly equal or better and god comes from the heavens and lets you know its equal or better this trade talk is bull(that being said keep them both and move on to bigger things)

MetFanMac said...

I accept feel a little bit sorry for him. I mean, he had a great start to the year and all... maybe he thought he was finally to put it all together.

Then he and everybody else fell apart. :(

Anonymous said...

Scott had heart and was really effective this year as a lefty specialist. We needed someone in that spot who would be effective against righties and lefties, and that guy used to be Heilman. That is obviously no longer the case. I wish Scott nothing but good luck in the future if he is no longer with us. For his sake, it is probably best to start over somewhere else.

Anonymous said...

great post ... it's not so bad when your team loses if it's clear they care ... last year, the delagdo "bored" comment, the asinine "disappointed not devastated" glavine line, the fact that reyes stopped playing smart baseball, rickey henderson (lol), etc. etc., pissed me off more than this year.

i was on the treadmill watching the game. i saw sho facing a righty. i changed the channel. why did manuel do that? why load the bases for smith? i'd liek to see the numbers on that move, but even if the mets pen wasn't lacking confidence, i think it's a stupid move: because with the bases loaded, you gotta throw cookies if u fall behind a batter. i wouldnt mind seeing both omar and jerry manuel go. why doesn't omar get run out of town? the man is a fool. almost all his good moves were free agency signings, which he is privileged enough to play in a large market to enjoy... ambiorix burgos anyone?

run this dunce out of town! let's get someone who knows about sabermetrics. minaya doesn't even understand team chemistry. he keeps getting boring players with no heart. he's lucky steve whatshisface drafted wright and reyes.

Anonymous said...

Great post. I was at the game on sunday too, and even sitting 30 feet away from jerry seinfeld and tim robbins couldn't reverse the feeling created by that strange mixture of grief and nostalgia.

I'm excited to see some major changes in the roster next year too, but at the same time I have this fear that such changes will cause the team to dip into a new era of suck, like it did in 2001. And there's no way they're trading wright. He's the face of the mets, the way Derek Jeter has been the face of the Yankees.

What do you guys think about getting Pat Burell? He's the kind of rightie slugger we need, and he would fill our hole in left field.

Anonymous said...

i posted above, and now i just checked out the stats for schoenweis ... left handed batters hit .178 against him. only 6 walks, and OPS against of .550... it can't get lower than that! and he did the same thing in 2007, so it's no fluke... plus the guy has a ton of heart. his story is inspiring- he was a star at duke when he got testicular cancer.

(1) why let him pitch to a right-handed batter with the season on the line

and

(2) why get rid of him? doesn't every bullpen need one left-handed specialist??

Anonymous said...

When I saw Scho being brought in, I was really hoping that if anyone was going to blow it, it wasn't going to be him, because I really like the guy. He's a great Loogy, and we tried to get him to be more, which he failed at.

Given everything that has happened over the past couple years, if Reyes or Wright were to be traded elsewhere, I think my allegiance would go there as well, especially with Wright. There are some guys you don't trade EVER, even if someone like Johan is on the table. They're both those guys.