Monday, September 21, 2009

Mainechez

Everyone 'round these parts are excited over a certain rookie quarterback. And why not? Mark Sanchez stared down Tom Brady, called his bluff, and came away with the pot (not the pot you're thinking of.) It was a day where 80,000 answered the call from their head coach (quite literally) and for their efforts, get to figure out how to split a game ball 80,000 ways (I call laces).

While Sanchez sent the Jets to the top of the AFC East on the wings of a Rex Ryan phone call, all John Maine did was help clinch fourth place with five shutout innings, without the help of a pre-recorded phone call from Snoop Manuel. (Well, that's if you don't count that drunk dial he made where he tried to convince me that Kate Gosselin was the victim in all this ... sorry, I've said too much.) But it was hard to tell the two apart as Mets announcers talked as much about football on Sunday as they did about baseball, with Gary Cohen giving constant Jets updates, as well as Carolina Panthers updates to keep Keith Hernandez in the loop as to whether he was going to win his pool whether they can beat the Falcons for some strange reason. While Sanchez was gunslinging a mere 20 miles away, Maine made throws that were, in the long run, every bit as important as Sanchez has in the short run.

If for nothing else, he stands a better chance of being gainfully employed next season. With reports ranging from "The Mets are standing pat" to "The Mets are going to consult Rachael Ray's Forty Dollar a Day show for help on payroll", Maine presents a viable, inexpensive option so long as he can prove to the team and to himself that he can still crank it up if need be.

Maine isn't the franchise, nor does he need to be. Only players that are traded for the 17th pick in the draft carry such lofty expectations. Maine was traded for Jorge Julio Kris Benson (how quickly I forget), which means that if his arm doesn't fall off it's a winnable end game, still. But these five shutout innings will give me at least 1/80,000th of the excitement as say, getting awarded a game ball does.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kris and Anna were traded for Maine and Julio

Metstradamus said...

That's right ... Julio went for Orlando. It's finally starting to happen: the trades are all starting to bleed together. I'm getting old. Thank you.

Unser said...

Given his history of injuries, I don't we should have one iota of confidence that he can pitch 100 innings next year.

I love how Gary Cohen keeps applauding the Mets' faithful - those that still come to the games. I'd bet 80% of them are corporate give-aways to people who just want to sample a Shake Shack burger in Queens.

rakeback said...

Mark Sanchez has come a long way in a short period of time. His own coach, Peter Carroll said that he wasn't ready for the NFL before the draft and encouraged him to stay another year. I think Sanchez has all the intangibles to continue to win in the league, and the arm and guts to stare down the barrel and deliver a strike.