Yes, MLB is different than in Goose Gossage's day. That doesn't make it bad.

I turned 49 a few weeks ago, but I still feel pretty young. Aside from being in the best shape of my life, thanks to adopting a fitness regimen I have stuck to, I think a lot of that has to do with my attitude. IMHO, nothing ages you faster than being closed to new ideas, and to viewing any change as a bad thing. If you want to look old, keep up a "get off my lawn" attitude and rip millenials because they see the world differently than you do. Before you know it, you'll look and sound like you've got one foot in the grave.

My friend Phil Watson, who is my age, shares a similar attitude to mine. He writes on basketball for Fansided, and had this to say when it came to basketball players of our generation ripping the current game.  

I’m almost 50 years old (it’s true, my birth certificate has the yellowing to prove it), but I can’t subscribe to the “it was better back in my day” chants that so many former players and so many media members are throwing around right now. About 20 years ago, I made a discovery that has shaped much of my life as I transitioned from mere adulthood into this dreaded ground people refer to as “middle age.” That discovery? For most people, there is one simple rule: All change is always bad, always. 

Is the NBA game different now than it was 20 years ago? Unquestionably. Is it worse?

Not that I’ve noticed.

It’s just, well, different.

I couldn't help but think of that astute asssessment when I saw two things in the news yesterday, from a current superstar and a crotchety Hall of Famer, that illustrated that very well.

ESPN the Magazine has an interview with Bryce Harper, in which the National League Most Valuable Player  

“Baseball’s tired,” he says. “It’s a tired sport, because you can’t express yourself. You can’t do what people in other sports do. I’m not saying baseball is, you know, boring or anything like that, but it’s the excitement of the young guys who are coming into the game now who have flair. If that’s Matt Harvey or Jacob deGrom or Manny Machado or Joc Pederson or Andrew McCutchen or Yasiel Puig — there’s so many guys in the game now who are so much fun. 

“Jose Fernandez is a great example. Jose Fernandez will strike you out and stare you down into the dugout and pump his fist. And if you hit a homer and pimp it? He doesn’t care. Because you got him. That’s part of the game. It’s not the old feeling — hoorah ... if you pimp a homer, I’m going to hit you right in the teeth. No. If a guy pimps a homer for a game-winning shot ... I mean — sorry.”

He stops, looks around. The hell with it, he’s all in. 

“If a guy pumps his fist at me on the mound, I’m going to go, ‘Yeah, you got me. Good for you. Hopefully I get you next time.’ That’s what makes the game fun. You want kids to play the game, right? What are kids playing these days? Football, basketball. Look at those players — Steph Curry, LeBron James. It’s exciting to see those players in those sports. Cam Newton — I love the way Cam goes about it. He smiles, he laughs. It’s that flair. The dramatic.”

I, of course, completely agree with Harper. Especially with his affection for Cam Newton and Steph Curry. And it makes me wonder if Harper becoming a Yankee is the fait accompli that so many seem to think it is. After all, the Yankees are a franchise that, with the exception of A-Rod, isn't really known for styling and profiling. Is he going to sacrifice the ability to have facial hair, cool hairstyles, and a flamboyant personality to be a Yankee, when these days he can get the big bucks from other teams? I dunno.

I'm personally tired of the whole "act like you've been there before" stiff upper lip attitude. As I've written before, what's wrong with having some fun during what is supposed to be a game? Human emotion is what separates playing baseball on a video game, as opposed to watching real-life games.

Now, Squawker Jon pointed out to me that none other than Jonathan Papelbon shows emotion. But I say he's a jerk, so that's not what I'm talking about. (And Papelbon and Harper, of course, don't have the same worldview, given Harper also thinking that throwing to hit other players is "tired." That's what they fought about last fall!)

Ironically, yesterday former Yankee and MLB Hall of Famer Goose Gossage unleashed one of his tirades about these kids today. He complained to ESPN New York about the current state of the game:

"[Jose] Bautista is a f---ing disgrace to the game," Gossage told ESPN. "He's embarrassing to all the Latin players, whoever played before him. Throwing his bat and acting like a fool, like all those guys in Toronto. [Yoenis] Cespedes, same thing."

Why is Bautista or Cespedes representing all Latin players? Does Harper (or Gossage) represent all white players? Those are really unfortunate comments by Gossage. But even if you take out the racial issue, it's silly to complain about this stuff. Yes, the game today is different from Gossage's day. And I agree with Harper that MLB could use even more loosening up. Different eras, different styles.

Toldja!: Jonathan Papelbon continues to be Cinco Dopo.

What can make me cackle and rub my hands together in glee? Why, it's seeing Jonathan Papelbon getting heat for doing something really stupid! And choking Washington Nationals teammate Bryce Harper, only the best player on the team and an MVP candidate, was mind-numbingly idiotic, even for Papelbon..

In yesterday's game, Cinco Dopo yelled at Harper for not running a ball out. There was already some bad blood between the two of them, after Papelbon threw at Baltimore Oriole Manny Machado's head -- twice -- the other night, pitches that got him a three-game suspension from MLB. Harper told the media then that he expected to be hit in retaliation, and made it clear he wasn't happy about what his teammate did.

As for yesterday's fight, here's how Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post described it:

On Sunday, Papelbon yelled at Harper, accusing him of not running out a ball even though Harper had reached first base and was actually playing in a day-after-elimination game — when many 150-game-plus regulars rest — for the sake of the fans. Papelbon followed Harper, yelling, essentially giving him little choice, until Harper said (according to lip readers), “Let’s [expletive] go.” So they went.

Click here to see clips from the fight.

I think running out every ball is overrated, anyway. Conserve your energy for the plays that matter, Given Harper's injury history, he doesn't need to get hurt on a meaningless play. But at any rate, Harper did get to first on the play. Just not as fast as Papelbon demanded.

Cinco Dopo was clearly out of line here. But Matt Williams, the team's manager, was out of line as well in keeping Papelbon in the game after his closer just choked his best player! Meanwhile, Harper was taken out of the game for the ninth inning, even though it was a tie game. At any rate, Papelbon blew the game and the Nationals lost.

Williams claimed he didn't know how bad the fight was at the time. If that is the case, he ought to be fired just for that (not to mention this team's historic collapse this season!) Here's why. I asked Chris, a Nationals fan who belongs to the same Facebook baseball group that I do, what he saw when he attended the game yesterday. Here's what he said:

I had moved toward the back to visit some friends, and saw it on the TV monitors they have in the back attached to the overhang. They must have played it 2 or 3 times & each time a whole new section saw it & let out an involuntary gasp. It really was that stunning.

So basically, many of the fans in the park saw what was going on via TV screens, but nobody around Williams could get word to him how bad the fight was? Not to mention all of the teammates and coaches who were right there when Papelbon choked Harper! And Williams didn't even bother to watch the clip before meeting with reporters after the game! Williams ought to lose his job just for being so ignorant.

You know, yesterday was Fan Appreciation Day for the Nationals, and they have a giveaway where lucky fans literally get the jerseys that each player wore in the game. Whoever got the Papelbon or Harper jerseys just hit the jackpot!

And Papelbon is just the worst. First, he dissed Red Sox fans in favor of Philly fans when he left town. Not exactly a classy move to insult those who paid your salary. Then there was his incessant crotch-grabbing as a Philly, capped by years of complaints about the Philadelphia fans, and the team itself. In fact, he basically whined his way out of town -- and then dissed the Phillies some more after leaving town.

So what happens? As Squawker Jon noted, the Nationals were in first place over his Mets by three games when they traded for Papelbon and displaced closer Drew Storen. If you remember at the time, a lot of fans thought this was a bad move, and would screw up Storen -- and team chemistry. And sure enough, that's exactly what happened. Storen busted up his thumb punching his locker in frustration. The Nationals, who were projected to win the World Series this year, blew their division lead, and the Mets ended up winning the division.

Now the Nationals have another year of Papelbon -- they picked up the option in his contract to pay him $11M next season in exchange for him agreeing to the trade. How's that going to go? Papelbon is a loose cannon, to say the least. Who's going to trade for him?

Wait a minute. Uh-oh. He's a former Red Sox, something that is catnip to Brian Cashman. Please oh please don't let Cashman trade for Papelbon! Good grief.

* * *

Congratulations to Squawker Jon and our many Met fan friends for their team winning the NL East division title and making it into the postseason. For whatever reason, I actually have more Met fan friends than Yankee fan friends. Especially in the blogging community. I hope a Subway Series is in the cards for this year!

Mets: That's a clown bullpen, bro

Has the Mets' season really come down to trying to hold on until Frank Francisco gets back?  Interim closer Bobby Parnell had his second straight blown save Tuesday night. While Francisco will never be confused with Mariano Rivera, he did have just three blown saves in 21 chances before getting hurt.

As if blowing a save in the ninth wasn't bad enough, the Mets' bullpen lived up to its status as having the worst ERA in the National League by blowing a save in the tenth as well. After the Mets took the lead in the top  of the tenth, Tim Byrdak allowed a game-tying triple to the Nationals' Bryce Harper.

The game was still tied with two outs and the bases loaded when Pedro Beato decided there was room for one more bullpen goat when he threw a wild pitch, allowing the winning run to score.

The Mets have been competitive this season in large part due to the performances of R.A. Dickey and Johan Santana. Not only was Dickey putting up the best numbers in the National League and Santana was having a hot streak of his own, including the no-hitter, but they were going deep into games. Dickey and Santana have five complete games and three eight-inning starts between them. The Mets won all eight of those games. Nothing like avoiding that bullpen as much as possible.

Now the Mets are seven games out of first and six games ahead of the Phillies, closer to the cellar than to first place. The Phillies got Roy Halladay back last night and figure to be a lot stronger in the second half as long as they don't trade Cole Hamels. 

There's still plenty to root for this season - finishing above .500, staying ahead of the Phillies sticking around the wild-card hunt. But the Mets can't contend with this bullpen, and it will take more than a trade-deadline patch to fix it.

On Bryce Harper, A-Rod, R.A. Dickey, no-hitters, and clown questions

As a note in preparation for the upcoming Yankees-Nationals series, I have to say that I'm digging Bryce Harper as a player, and as an interview. He gave that idiot Canadian reporter's question about drinking a beer the answer it deserved: “That’s a clown question, bro.” I'm going to start using that phrase as an answer to everything. Hear that, Squawker Jon? That's a clown question, bro!

Here's the thing. Reporters ask those kinds of questions not to get a good story, but to drum up controversy. How was Harper, who is a non-drinking Mormon teenager, supposed to answer that? If he had said yes, there would have been a whole story about how Harper, age 19, thinks he's above it all. It was a total gotcha question. So Harper gave an obnoxious question an obnoxious answer. Good for him. Frankly, I wish A-Rod would do that sometimes, with some of the clown questions he gets.

Speaking of which, I heard some Yankee "fans" devalue A-Rod tying Lou Gehrig on the all-time grand slam because Alex took PEDs. Everytime I hear a Yankee fan complain about that, I ask them how they feel about Andy Pettitte taking PEDs, and if that devalued his career achievements. Every single time, the fan goes into contortions to explain that Pettitte only did it once (not true!) to recover from an injury,  blah blah blah.

If you are going to criticize A-Rod for PEDs, then you have to do the same with Andy Pettitte, even if Andy is part of the Core Four, has five rings, etc., etc. To do otherwise makes you a hypocrite.

In other news, I noticed that R.A. Dickey should have gotten a no-hitter last night, but an obvious error by David Wright was ruled to be an infield hit. That's the perfect rejoinder for those who complain that Johan Santana's no-hitter doesn't really count, due to the Carlos Beltran hit being called a foul ball. Because even though the Mets are appealing the infield hit ruling in the Dickey game, there is very little chance they will win that appeal. And Dickey will not get the no-hitter he earned last night.

Speaking of which, Squawker Jon sent me an email last night about Matt Cain's perfect game, and I was about to write him back that Cain pitched a perfect game, while the Mets still do not have a no-hitter, only to remember that they do now! So thanks to Santana, something I loved to mock Jon about is done. Oh well.

What do you think? Tell us about it!