Friday, April 17, 2009

He's On A Mission From God

Heath Bell wants you to sell him your women.

And why shouldn't you? After all, he's made New York his personal playground with two saves out of three games here ... and if the Padres didn't play so sloppily it very well could have been three for three after tonight's 6-5 loss.

On the one hand, those who think that Heath Bell should pipe down with all his anti-Met propaganda have a valid point. After all, Bell hardly set the world on fire when he was with the Mets, and he should be thanking them for trading him to the Padres and affording him the chance to be the new Trevor Hoffman, instead of worrying about the social habits of his former team. If you look at the obsession meter, Heath Bell lies somewhere in between Lisa Sheridan and a Philadelphia Phillie.

On the other hand, if Gary Cohen's account from today's game is true (and why wouldn't it be), and that Bell was closing in the minors while being a long man while up on the New York part of the shuttle, then he does have a point. It does nobody any good to keep switching roles upon entering and exiting the majors. It reeks of no organizational plan. But again, that's our problem (apparently), and Bell should be happy to be gone. I'd be too if I had five saves the first week of the season after going nowhere with the Mets. But dude, enough. You know? Enough. Enough of your saves, and enough of your chatter. Go save the world somewhere else while Braden Looper comes to town this weekend and points out more of the Mets' organizational flaws.

Honestly, it breaks my heart to see a boy that young goin' bad.

And speaking of piping down:
"This is the most gratifying win I think I’ve ever been a part of as a Padre, watching the total team effort that we gave tonight result in a win." -Jake Peavy
Somebody show Jake a calendar and tell him it's April!!! Really? Most gratifying win? A victory in the first week of the season for a team that's one ten-game losing streak away from trading you to Milwaukee for Seth McClung and a case of Schlitz? Does anyone have perspective anymore?

Oh, and Mike Pelfrey might miss a start. If he does, expect the Mets to call up Chan Jose Lawrence.

8 comments:

El_Nariz said...

HEATH: It's 106 miles to Philadelphia, we got a full tank of satisfaction, half a pack of sunflower seeds, it's the first week of the season, and we're wearing sunglasses

JAKE: Hit it.

Unser said...

Bell can use whatever motivation he wants. He sounds like a baby but whatever. I kind of like the fire. I don't see any Mets taking things so personally. Perhaps they could use a Heath Bell or a David Eckstein.

Bad call on Delgado in the ninth by the way.

Sean said...

I always liked Heath while he was here and thought the Mets really gave him the run-around. But he's gotta get over it, at this point.

I bet he carries a photo of Mr. Met in his wallet, which he tucks under his pillow as he cries himself to sleep after his "team parties".

Dan said...

Not that anybody cares, but here’s my two cents on the ballpark.

There are some sight line issues. Tracking the ball in the right-field corner ain’t easy and, depending on where you’re sitting, it can be a nightmare. Deep right field is completely hidden if you’re sitting in most of the seats in the Pepsi Porch, but I anticipate most people are gonna like the freedom of being able to stroll atop the Porch, and elsewhere in the park, on warm summer days.

I guess I would feel differently if I’d plopped down a couple of G’s for season tickets and had to peer over and around people making their way to and from concessions all game. That’s the other issue. Somehow the architects built a stadium in which (on the Promenade level) the first rows offer worse vantage points, or more opportunities for human or object impediments, than the rows behind them.

The lack of “Mets” signage and regalia is noticeable inside the park, but the exterior of Citi Field is decorated with banners of past heroes, like Doc and Lenny and Gary Carter and Seaver and even current Mets, like Wright, Reyes, and Santana. Not sure why people are down on the rotunda, which is pretty freakin’ awesome in my opinion. Definitely check out the park for yourself before passing judgment.

A lot of the negativity about the ballpark I attribute to the overall uneasiness a lot Mets fans have about this team. Deep down, I think we think of these guys (and the organization generally) as un-clutch losers, or maybe that’s just how I see them today.

Hazeleyes said...

Methinks he doth protest too much.

He didn't want to be traded and I am not sure he should have been to be honest. So if there are sour grapes it's okay. But it is really unbecoming to publicly air them. The trade afforded him a nice opportunity in a pleasant city. If he makes the most of it, at some point he can write his own ticket. One day he will grow up and realize that while it feels good to bash in the moment, it doesn't reflect well on you down the road.

But there is always someone taking a swipe at the Mets. The Mets must be doing something right to engender such interest from rival players.

Anonymous said...

Lovin' Peavy's schedule...that's pretty funny!

Metstradamus said...

Unser, I love when strike zones move ... especially during the same at-bat. Pitch after pitch lands there and they're called out of the strike zone, then the ump decides he wants to go home and it's all of a sudden strike three. Dynamite.

Dan, I think part of it that this fan base is generally negative right now to begin with. Part of it is that the Mets had one chance to get this right, with about 15-16 new stadiums built giving them the opportunity to take the best features of each one, and avoid the pitfalls like obstructed views too. But it didn't happen and people are all "what the hell?"

Some might also think with the invented quirks and all that the ballpark might look like it's "trying too hard", which I understand. But this will all die down one way or the other. If the Mets win, nobody will complain about the park. If the Mets lose, nobody will complain about the park, because nobody's going to go. And they'll be too busy complaining about Luis Castillo to complain about bad sightlines.

Anonymous said...

The Mets are guilty of FRAUD. They advertized "seats with perfect sightlines everywhere." They fell short of that goal by 40%. I paid $105 for the opener in 107. You couldn't see the bottom of the main scoreboard. You couldn't see about 40 feet of RF because the line is so close. 530 row 1? Well, watching plexiglass and metal is fun; not seeing LF is even more fun. I can go on...

Heath Bell? I used to watch him warm up on the field at Shea from the RF corner. Guy. Never. Shut. His. Mouth. I wish him a wonderful, obscure career in SD---forever!