Yankees pummel Red Sox, and I miss all of it!

Squawker Jon and I were meeting up in Battery Park City to see the premiere of Knuckleball! last night, so we missed seeing the Yankees-Red Sox game. To be blunt, when I saw that Freddy Garcia was pitching for the Yanks, I didn't expect much, especially given that it was a FOX broadcast, which the Yanks have a bad record on. Nor did the Yanks get much -- Garcia didn't make it out of the second inning.

Anyhow, when I saw that the score was 9-0 Red Sox, I figured that the game was over. Then the Yanks kept on coming back. We ran into the Mighty Quinn Media Machine in the VIP section of the movie showing while waiting for the movie to start (more on the flick in a separate post!) and every time one of us took a look at the score, it seemed like the Yanks were threatening. Then somehow, they ended up putting on 15 runs on the boards, without Boston scoring another run in the game! Unbelievable!

Needless to say, I was pleased as punch at the results, while my Red Sox fan and Met fan cohorts were not exactly thrilled by the turn of events. Heh!

I am watching the replay of MLB TV via Roku right now. I just bought a subscription to MLB TV, and this is the first time I've watched a game on it. I immediately skipped to the top of the inning, and was thrilled to hear no broadcasters. No McCarver, no Buck. It was aweseome! Then they started yakking again -- the reason some of the broadcast replay did not have them is because apparently the FOX broadcast had cut to Philip Humber's perfect game, so people watching live missed seeing Nick Swisher's grand slam live! If I had been one of them, I would have been ticked off. (By the way, how about it -- yet another former Met pitches a perfect game!)

Yankees ruin Fenway's 100th birthday party

Shocker -- Squawker Jon and I had an argument over today's New York Post cover. I left a message telling Jon to check it out -- it features, of course, Alex Rodriguez hitting a homer to help beat the Boston Red Sox and put a damper on Fenway Park's 100th anniversary celebration, with the headline "100 Years of Ass Kicking."

Anyhow, here is the email I received from Jon in return, with the subject line "The Math Is a Little Off':

Since 2003:
Championships: Red Sox 2, Yankees 1
Pennants: Red Sox 2, Yankees 1
Head-to-Head Playoff Series: Red Sox 1, Yankees 0

Nice "Met math" we have going there. 100 years gets cut down to eight. And he doesn't even actually include 2003, a year the Yanks beat the Red Sox head-to-head in the ALCS. Lovely.

So, Jon, if you want to cut 100 years down to eight, I have a few suggestions for the years to pick:

1936-1943:
Championships: Yankees 6, Red Sox 0

Pennants: Yankees 7, Red Sox 0


or maybe these eight years:

1949-1956:

Championships: Yankees 6, Red Sox 0

Pennants: Yankees 7, Red Sox 0


or how about these eight years?:

1996-2003:

Championships: Yankees 4, Red Sox 0

Pennants: Yankees 6, Red Sox 0
Head-to-Head Playoff Series:  Yankees 2,  Red Sox 0
Mets Being Humiliated as the Yankees Beat Them Head-to-Head in the World Series: 1

You see? This is why the Yankees simply had to beat the Mets in the 200 World Series. Because the way the Met math works, like the way Jon tries to twist around the Yankees/Red Sox numbers to most disfavor the Yankees, it would not matter how many times the Yanks beat the Mets head-to-head, or how many rings the Bombers had. In Met math, like it is in Red Sox math, every other time the Yanks dominated the other team would not matter if the Yanks had lost head-to-head.

Fortunately, Jon's Mets did not win in 2000. So all he has to crow about is how another team did against the Yanks in some teensy slice of history. Is that all ya got, buddy?


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Win an autographed poster and VIP tickets to "Knuckleball!"

The baseball documentary Knuckleball! will be premiering for free on Saturday, April 21st as a part of the Tribeca Drive-in at the Tribeca Film Festival.  Here's your chance to win a chance to sit in the VIP section, and get a movie poster autographed by four famous knuckleballers, including R.A. Dickey, Tim Wakefield, Jim Bouton and Charlie Hough.
Simply tell us what your favorite sports movie is -- you can email us at subwaysquawkers@gmail.com -- and you could be on your way to winning!

Here are some details on the film:

This classic sports story recounts the 2011 journey of the last professional knuckleball pitchers: Tim Wakefield, a 17-year Red Sox veteran, and Mets up-and-comer R.A. Dickey. Together with just four other living knuckleballers, they shine a light on their remarkable brotherhood and the shared pursuit of honor and craftsmanship.

The Tribeca Drive-in will open at 6:00 p.m. Saturday, April 21st, and include live music, giveaways, baseball trivia contests and pitching clinics with pro knuckleballers R.A. Dickey; Tim Wakefield, formerly of the Boston Red Sox; Charlie Hough, formerly of the Dodgers and Rangers; and former New York Yankee Jim Bouton. The world premiere of Knuckleball! will follow at 8:15 p.m.

LOCATION:
Tribeca Drive-In® At the World Financial Center Plaza (West Street between Vesey & Liberty Streets)



For more info about the film, visit www.knuckleballmovie.com


Simply tell us what your favorite sports movie is -- you can email us at subwaysquawkers@gmail.com -- and you could be on your way to winning VIP admission, as well as an autographed movie poster signed by Dickey, Wakefield, Hough, and Bouton!! Please send in your entry by Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. Thanks!

Honor Chipper Jones? How about with a gift certificate to Hooters?

Sorry, Mets fans, for jinxing your team. (Well, not really, but I have to be nice!) Squawker Jon is right -- I am the Citi Field jinx!

But when it comes to making dopey moves, your team doesn't need any help. Like the reported notion for the Mets planning to somehow honor Chipper (Larry) Jones in his last season. Why would you give a moment's tribute to somebody who mocked your team by naming his child Shea, and who has kicked your team's fannies ten ways to Tuesday? When I wrote on my Facebook page that the Mets were going to do something to commemorate Chipper's career, even Yankee fans were outraged. More than one said that it would be like the Bombers honoring David Ortiz for his career!

You guys have one retired player number in 50 years, and you're going to do something to honor Chipper? Really? If your team does so, I strongly suggest giving him a gift certificate to Hooters (Google Chipper Jones and Hooters for the details!), coupled with a showing of "The Three Stooges," with everybody chanting "Lar-ry!"

What I remember most about the Mets first post 9/11 game at home was not Mike Piazza's home run, or Liza Minnelli singing "New York, New York." It was how jarring it was to see Mets players hug Chipper Jones! Please, keep the hate. Don't do anything to honor this clown!

* * *

Speaking of the Mets, I want to point out two things about Dillon Gee, the starting pitcher in the game we attended. First of all, he was seen on this pre-game clip on Diamond Vision telling fans not to jump on the field. Then he pauses, and strokes his beard. What's up with that? Is he auditioning for the new season of "Duck Dynasty"?

Then there is the matter of his theme song. The part of the song played when he enters of the game says: "You can run on for a long time, run on for a long time, run on for a long time." It sounded like Johnny Cash, and it was. The song is entitled "God's Gonna Cut You Down," and the lyrics that weren't featured in the intro are pretty intense:

Go tell that long tongue liar
Go and tell that midnight rider
Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down

Yikes!

* * *

As for today's Yankees Opening Day, sadly, I am not going. But it makes me feel like an Old Timer to see that the now-retired Jorge Posada is throwing out the first pitch!


What do you think? Tell us about it!

Squawker Lisa, the Citi Field Jinx

It seems like every time I go to a Met game with Squawker Lisa, the Mets lose. Tonight we were at Citi Field to see the undefeated Mets. The first batter, Ian Desmond, homered. The jinx was on.

One look at the Mets' lineup and I knew it would be a long evening. No David Wright. No Ike Davis. Ronny Cedeno batting second. Jason Bay hitting cleanup.  At least David Wright should be back soon, I thought.

Then I got home and found out that his finger was fractured. Can we blame this on Lisa as well?

It must be the Lisa jinx. How does Daniel Murphy save Monday night's game in the field and revert to the Murphy who can't field when Lisa's in the house?

Bobby Parnell comes in the game, and by the time I finish telling Lisa how he's turned over a new leaf this year, he's given up two doubles, another hit and a walk.

Against my better judgment, I bought in to the Mets' fast start while seeing it on TV. Then you go to a game and find yourself sitting in a mostly empty ballpark where the biggest cheer all night was for a girl who correctly guessed which Met cap on the video board hid the bag of potato chips.

When we left the ballpark, we headed for the platform where the express 7 train left for Manhattan last year, only to find that there were no express trains tonight. Are the crowds too small to bother with express trains now?

Tomorrow will probably be warm and sunny (we could have used blankets tonight). Johan Santana against Stephen Strasburg. There's a chance things could go well for the Mets - Lisa and I won't be at the game.

Which Subway Squawker Will Jinx the Mets Tonight?

The good news for me today is that our long national nightmare is over; the Yankees finally won a game. Yippee! And the good news for Squawker Jon is that his Mets are still undefeated, after a walkoff win last night. However, the bad news will be starting for the Mets soon enough tonight, since Squawker Jon and I will be in the house! And you will be shocked to hear how we got the tickets.

Yes, I signed up for that Club Mets thing --for $19.95, you can get the MLB audio for your computer for the entire season, as well as two free tickets to a game in the Nationals series, and other discounts and whatnot. Of course, this would happen to be the series where the Mets are selling $2.50 tickets, so it's not quite as sweet a deal as it seemed to be a few months ago. But it's still a pretty good deal -- the audio alone is worth $19.99, more than the Club Mets membership! (The Yankees' type of membership for this -- Yankees Universe -- isn't even anywhere near as good a deal, by the way -- if you want free tickets, you have to sign up for the $295 membership. Yikes!)

So anyhow, Squawker Jon and I will be at the game tonight, and the question is, which one of us will jinx the team. It would seem like I would be the jinx, since I am the Yankee fan in enemy territory. But then again, we are talking about Squawker Jon here, the man who killed Mike Pelfrey's career after he purchased a Pelfrey t-shirt!

But what if the Mets (gulp) win tonight, and the Yankees lose in their own game? Jon will hurt himself doing the Snoopy Dance all the way back home! Good grief, as Charlie Brown would say!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Look who's 3-0 and look who's 0-3

Squawker Lisa, there's still plenty of room if you want to climb aboard the Met bandwagon. See what a closer looks like when he's 3-for-3 in saves. See a veteran pitcher coming back from a serious injury pitch five shutout innings on Opening Day instead of jumping on a trampoline. See a young starter who shows up in camp in shape, isn't nervous about pitching in New York, and instead of going on the DL, takes a no-hitter into the seventh.

I'm going to enjoy the Mets' success as much as I can now because it isn't likely to last. Maybe it's not a coincidence that they swept the Braves, who are coming off a historic collapse. The Red Sox are also 0-3 and there are lots of theories that it could be a hangover (no clubhouse pun intended) from last year, so it could be the same thing with the Braves.

One of the best pieces of news for the Mets might have been that Jon Niese's no-hit bid was broken up in the seventh inning. Terry Collins said emphatically after the game that he would have have pulled Niese after 115 pitches, no-hitter or not.

But the Mets are desperate for good publicity. They've been accused of pushing players to play through injuries. If Niese had been pulled, the Mets' great start would have been drowned in boos. Instead of celebrating Niese's strong performance and new contract, the fans would come away feeling cheated.

Last year, the Mets found a way to spoil what should have been a franchise triumph - the team's first batting title - when Jose Reyes abruptly came out of his last game in the first inning. I didn't have a problem with Reyes making an early exit, but the whole situation could have been handled better.

Imagine if Niese had thrown 130 pitches and the Braves broke up the no-hitter in the eighth or ninth. Now it's the clueless Mets risking the health of a pitcher they just signed to a five-year deal.
 
So things are actually looking pretty good for the Mets at the moment.

At least until Mike Pelfrey pitches tonight.

What's the Worst Thing About Friday's Opening Day Debacle?

It is only one game, but geez, Squawker Jon and all the Yankee-haters of the world had to enjoy yesterday's Yankees loss. As my friend Joe, a Red Sox fan, put it to me on Facebook, "My joy in seeing Sabathia give up the grand slam was only exceeded by watching Mariano blow the save AND take the loss." And Squawker Jon may be on the disabled list from doing the Snoopy Dance!
Sheesh.

And what was up with Joe Girardi intentionally walking the immortal Sean Rodriguez to load the bases in order to have CC face Carlos Pena, who then hit that grand slam? Yikes. Sabathia seemed to be laboring in this game, that's for sure.

Oh, and so much for that five-man infield, eh? Raul Ibanez home run aside, it wasn't a good day for the Yanks. Not to mention having to hear the trash talk! Not a good day.

I heard Suzyn Waldman going on and on in the pre-game about the exciting Game 162 the Rays had to get into the playoffs last year. You'd hardly know, though, that it was against the Yankees!

* * *

Jon also asked when the Michael Pineda era was going to begin. Smartypants.

An aside -- there has been nothing that has happened since the Pineda/Montero trade that has made me any less queasy over it, from Pineda showing up to spring training overweight, to the lack of speed on his fastball, to the tendinitis. He seems like a nice enough guy, but I still think the Yanks should have not made the deal.

And to be blunt, after Brian Cashman's little scandal, suffice it to say that I have even less faith in Cashman's judgment than I did before. And it's not the infidelity itself, it's the fact that it apparently took him literally years to realize that Louise Neathway was a few fries short of a Happy Meal. Not to mention how he wrote that bunny-boiler a letter of  recommendation on Yankees letterhead. How appalling, as is him reportedly having her sit in the same section as the Yankee wives.  What was he thinking?

On a brighter note, looking forward to the rest of the season. And Jon, you can chortle now, but at least my team will be playing meaningful games past Opening Day!


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Opening Day: The more things change...

It was great to see Johan Santana's successful return from a serious injury, combining with the revamped bullpen to shut out the Braves on Opening Day. But the Mets can't get through a day without several reminders of their numerous problems.

With two on and two out in the fifth inning, the Mets had their first scoring opportunity. It was time to pinch hit for Santana, who was going to come out anyway. So the Mets sent up...

Mike Baxter.
 
The Mets' unwillingness to spend the little it takes to have a major-league bench might be the most frustrating thing about their financial issues. If you don't have productive stars, you can't win. If you don't have depth, you can't compete.

Do the Mets expect to not have any injuries? That idea went out the window in the seventh, when Andres Torres pulled up lame while chasing Tyler Pastornicky's triple.  Now I have to learn how to spell Nieuwenhuis.

This franchise desperately needs to restore its credibility. But it doesn't help to trumpet sellling out Citi Field on Opening Day with the largest crowd in the ballpark's history, not when every story about the game mentions the patches of empty seats, which were clearly visible on TV.

Even the much-maligned Mets medical staff offered its own bit of self-promotion, touting Santana's successful surgery and recovery.  Yes, it's great to see Santana back out there, even if he may never be the Santana of old. But Santana had reduced velocity and barely made it through the fifth inning. It may not yet be time to start celebrating.

At least, however, the Mets are over .500, tied for first and have a better record than the Yankees. So I'm going to enjoy it while I can.  

Opening Day: 2012 Mets more like 1978 squad than 1984

It's impossible to sell the current Mets squad as a contender, so some are attempting to draw comparisons to 1984, when a team that had won 68 games the year before and had not been good for years suddenly won 90 games. But the 1984 Mets already had Keith Hernandez and Darryl Strawberry and were adding a rookie named Dwight Gooden.

The 2012 Mets have three players who have had multiple All-Star appearances - David Wright, Johan Santana and Jason Bay. If all three of these players have seasons representative of what they've done in the past, and a lot of other things go right, the Mets can win 90 games.

But everyone knows that's not going to happen. Even team apologists have given up hoping the new fences will help the hopeless Bay and are muttering about platooning, though there's currently nobody to platoon him with.

While Santana's comeback is probably the most positive thing about the 2012 Mets, the most optimistic projections fall well short of his former status as perennial Cy Young candidate.

David Wright does have a good chance to return to his former glory, and if he does, what's a potential scenario?

He gets traded.

When the Mets finally return to contention,they are going to look drastically different than they do now. While Ike Davis, Lucas Duda, Ruben Tejada and Jon Niese could all be part of a future contender, with the possible exception of Davis, all figure to be complementary pieces more than part of an All-Star core.

At this point, I'd settle for comparison to 1983, when that 68-win squad did finish the season with a lineup that included Hernandez, Strawberry, Mookie Wilson, Hubie Brooks and George Foster.

But in the short run, the 2012 Mets figure to be more like the 1978 version, when the team that got rid of Tom Seaver and Dave Kingman the year before tried to make do with what was left.

Jose Reyes is no Tom Seaver, but he might be just as irreplaceable. And the Mets also start a season without Carlos Beltran and Francisco Rodriguez, who were both with the team last year into July. With all these players, the Mets were one game over .500 at the All-Star break, only to go 31-40 in the second half.

It was almost like rubbing it in when ESPN's kickoff of the 2012 season (at least on American soil) featured Reyes and Beltran performing for their new teams, the Marlins and Cardinals.

Let's hope it's not too long before the Mets are again worth featuring on ESPN.

But in the meantime, I expect 72 wins this year and a last-place finish, but at least some hope for the future with positive showings from Davis, Niese and Duda and a late-season appearance by Matt Harvey.

As for the Yankees, 92 wins and the playoffs. Robinson Cano competes for MVP while A-Rod continues his decline. Brian Cashman blames Seattle for overusing Michael Pineda.

Squawker Lisa has at least one Met prediction I'm willing to print - the team announces on Opening Day that they are retiring Gary Carter's number. Let's hope so.