we had an awful game to watch Tuesday, we’d all rather have been down the pub…on the other hand had we been there last night and subjected to the usual rabble we would have wanted to be home to savor what we saw this time…in a game of memorable images, woo-hoo feats, there was one i woke up with this morning above the rest.
if you watch a couple of hundred baseball games a year these images have a short life, almost always…but you never know, so here’s mine…
if i had attended the Centuro Educalivo in San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican and finally found myself, age 25, in the majors last year with a bad team but a Major League team none the less who got me in the free agent draft back in ’06…and they had called me up last year and i had made an impression to the extent i was their starting CF this new season i would have gone to Atlanta as such with a good deal of pride…
and then in the first inningĂ‚Â our man – our main man now the other guy’s gone down- is getting smashed around the park in the first innings…the crowd’s roaring, there’s some guy called Freeman up and he’s hot…crescendo noise as he smacks it over my head, i’m on alien ground…and i turn and i chase and i catch it high on the torn wall and the crowd is silent…
what impacted me in all this was not the marvelous catch per se but the look in his eyes as he took his position on the field…smouldering, FU!…this is what i can do, were you watching, did you see me?Ă‚Â there was not a trace of hot dog in any of this, it was all in the eyes, pride…he had done something remarkable, on foreign soil, something he was intensely proud of and he wanted to be sure we Atlantans knew that he was.
So i close, again, with Philip Larkin, and celebrate with Juan Lagares...
‘What calls me is that lifted rough tongued bell
(Art if you like) whose individual sound
insists I too am individual. ‘
that was his art i saw last night…and i thank him for it.
Apparently Chipper is on the field talking to BJ about hitting right now. Can’t hurt.
Also, Lagares’s catch was amazing. We were treated to some pretty incredible defensive plays last night. I’d much rather see that every night than a few home runs. I guess that’s what growing up watching Andruw Jones every night does to you.
For reasons you saw last night, the Mets really want Lagares to be their CF.
He’s off to a fast start at the plate, but he never really hit in the minors, so the Flushing front office isn’t really brimming with confidence either.
It was a heckuva catch, blazon, no doubt about it.
I wish Lagares was our CF.
@2
ububba…
your sources in the Mets clubhouse remain impeccable, clearly!
can we therefore assume they all escaped the current post-Madoff clean up?
cheers, always enjoy your stuff on NYC.
Why do the Braves hate America?
http://i57.tinypic.com/2vv8d9l.jpg
No one’s going to say, “D’oh, mitt”?
Great, no Simmons and BJ back in the lineup.
“Great, no Simmons and BJ back in the lineup.”
And David Hale pitching.
@9
And Ryan Doumit catching and throwing the baseball into right-center field.
#5
It’s all by osmosis.
I live 2 express subway stops from Flushing, my Long Island office is loaded with Mets fans and, of course, there are more sports-media outlets here than anywhere in America. Interest in baseball remains huge in NYC. Can’t get away from it, even if you wanted to.
Madoff Dept: If you look at the overall reduction in their recent payrolls (they went from spending $120 M to about $80 M last year to about $89 M this year), it’s safe to assume that the Mets are still smarting from the Madoff debacle. It was reported that the owners took out a $250 M loan, which had stipulations that the club couldn’t expand payroll. Then, they reportedly got some “re-financing” that allowed them to increase spending a bit.
Still, for a New York baseball club with its own TV network to spend only $89 M does not sit well with Mets fans.
I’ll take Jason’s tardy stroll to first over Dan’s presumptive bat flip after a called third strike on a 3-2 count.
Boom, on an 0-2 pitch…
Interesting: the current top two teams by record in the National League are the Nationals and Brewers, each with two losses on the young season. All four of those losses came at the hands of the Braves.
So Chipper fixed BJ in 30 min? Fire Walker
The Mets radio announcers just referred to Freddie as “Larry Wayne Freeman.”
Edit: Ka-boom, JUpton…
Maybe Chipper fixed Justin too
The Braves need to hire Chipper as a special hitting assistant pronto.
Hale’s bunting “attempts” bring back memories of Tommy Hanson.
Get a triple, give a triple.
Oy, BJ…
Sigh … only 3.95 years and $58.136 million left to go.
Lighter fluid.
EDIT: Reverse jinx.
Apparently we have a lot of respect for the Mets bullpen.
Chip was certainly impressed. But not a word about giving away outs in the bottom of the sixth inning.
So we pinch hit to try and sacrifice bunt. Please tell me why our pitchers are unable to do this task. Such a wasted AB and pinch hitter.
Chipper has forgotten more about hitting than anyone else in this clubhouse has ever known.
Boy oh boy, it sure seems easy to run on Ryan Doumit.
Taking out Avilan to put in Pickles. Goddamn. Fredi is like some kind of drunken gambler that never knew the odds.
There’s men on the bases, and Pickles is this team’s designated Gryboski.
Dammit.
Sorry, I just don’t see what Pickles brings beyond a warm arm.
Pickles just isn’t getting it done. Another Gearrin like hack
This game is turning into a master’s class in game mismanagement. Step 1: start playing for one run three innings too early. Step 2: Pickles. Step 3…
And there’s a classic Grybo.
That was a really bad pitch to Lagares.
@34 Unfortunately you called that in @29. Is a Moylan the designated Gryboski who actually (usually) does what he’s supposed to?
Step 3…keep batting BJ in the 2 hole…maybe that’s step 1
@36, yeah, I’d say so. The basic idea is that they love sinkerballers who can get double-play balls to get out of jams. But what that means is, they bring in pitch-to-contact guys with men on base. Bad things happen.
Wow. Regression has had a game that would make BJ blush – 4 Ks!
Regression is doing a helluva job in the clean up spot tonight
Well, Pickles is not the answer. Neither is David Hale.
I think Pickles throws a stinker, not a sinker. There was a good chance we were done scoring anyway
Doumit sucks at catching
Fredi sucks at bullpen management
Half the lineup is useless
Schafer suuuccckkkkssss
I think Pickles needs some more seasoning.
It’s still so early, but Fredi drives me crazy
It doesn’t seem Pickles is an answer.
Watching Kyle Farnsworth baffle our hitters is like rubbing pickle brine in an open wound.
Some innings, I’m pretty sure a tee-ball would baffle our hitters. That’s Hibernation Mode for you.
Hibernation mode is just sickening, but not as sickening as a Jose Valverde 1-2-3 inning
First bad outing of Hale’s career.
Using Schafer to PH bunt is one of the most annoying decisions Fredi can make. Not letting Avilan finish an inning is a close 2nd.
recapped…without enthusiasm..the jokes are good