Thursday, May 14, 2009

A few random thoughts on the Yankees and the Mets

Great game last night. Andy Pettitte pitched well, Mark Teixeira had a big night, Brett Gardner got his first career home run (even if the Yanks did pull a prank on the home run ball), and Francisco Cervelli and Ramiro Pena also had big contributions. Given that the aching Derek Jeter and Hideki Matsui were out of the lineup, it was a surprising win.

As Squawker reader Jeanne noted about last night's win:

I saw things I haven’t seen in quite some time:

1) Speed on the bases

2) Great defense

3) Good hitting with men in scoring position.

I agree! I also have a few other observations to make on recent events:

* They had a text message poll at the Mets game we were at the other night asking who the best Met second baseman of all time was: Edgardo Alfonzo, Wally Backman, or Tim Teufel. I asked Squawker Jon why Kaz Matsui was left off the list. Dude was robbed!

* Fortunately, "Sweet Caroline" was not played at the game we were at. But it was a little sad that the biggest cheers of the night came when fans did the wave. Sheesh.

* John McEnroe in the Mets' broadcast booth? You cannot be serious!

* Have you seen the worst ceremonial first pitch ever thrown at a baseball game? Gary Dell'Abate of the Howard Stern show is the perpetrator. Click here to see more about it.

* This is the third year in a row the Yanks have been ravaged by injuries early in the season. Two years ago, they fired their strength and conditioning coach over it. Maybe the Yanks should investigate as to why it's still happening?

* Kevin Millar still gets under my skin, after all this time. Maybe it's because he pumped up the Blue Jays for this series by having them watch a DVD on the 2004 Red Sox. Yes, I'm still bitter.

* Who does David Ortiz think he's fooling by saying he's "shocked" about Manny Ramirez's PED news? And when is some reporter going to investigate Ortiz's ties to banned trainer Angel Presinal?

* Incidentally, Brett Gardner now has more homers this year than Ortiz does.

* I forgot to make a Suzyn Waldman "goodness gracious" joke in my Roger Clemens blog entry yesterday. That's inexcusable.

* The great Neil Best of Newsday mentioned me in his Watchdog blog yesterday. The subject - cheap ticket deals on the secondary market. Lots of good deals out there!

* What's up with Alex Rodriguez? He's been back with the team almost a week, and he hasn't said or done anything wacky. The last time I commented in Subway Squawkers about him being quiet, the very next day he was accused of canoodling with Madonna. This time, I hope he won't be caught with Joan Rivers or something.

* But it does look like Madonna has moved on. She was seen at a Mets (!) game at Citi Field on Mother's Day with her kids, and her new boy toy, Jesus Luz. Which means Madonna has dumped A-Rod for Jesus!

* A-Rod got grief for only tipping 15% at Hooters. But at least he didn't do what Chipper Jones did with a Hooters waitress!

What's on your mind? Tell us about it!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

* John McEnroe in the Mets' broadcast booth? You cannot be serious!

Come on, is it really any worse than having Michael Kay in yours?
km

Uncle Mike said...

A-Rod hasn't done anything wacky yet? I'm a little surprised, since Toronto is where the "Ha! Incident" happened.

Maybe, in the words of Al Pacino, he's just gettin' wawmed up! Sooner or later, he'll be back in the tabloids. Every time he thinks he's out, they pull him back in! Just watch, he'll do something screwy, and all the We-told-you-so-ers (like me) will say, "Hoo-ah!"

KM: There's a difference between Kay and McEnroe: Kay understands baseball and is merely annoying. Baseball is not McEnroe's game, and if he weren't from New York he'd have no fans here because he's such an @$$.

Uncle Mike said...

Having nowseen the preceding entry, I take it back: John McEnroe DOES know baseball. He called Jose Reyes a "bonehead."

At least Reyes doesn't have McEnroe's hair, circa 1980. (With that hair and headband, he looked more like a basketball player of the period.) Or Jimmy Connors' hair, for that matter.

Somebody once described Connors as being tennis' Pete Rose, a prima donna with more charisma than talent, who nonetheless won the love of the fans -- and even bore a resemblance to Rose with the same haircut and the squinty eyes.

But as bad as they were at times, neither Connors nor McEnroe (or even Ilie Nastase -- I hope I spelled that right) -- never disgraced his game the way Rose did his. And Met fans hated Rose sooner than most, from the fight with Bud Harrelson in the '73 Playoffs onward. I guess they were right: "A Rose by any other name still stinks."

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