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OUT OF LEFT FIELD |
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BASEBALL TIME!  |
Baseball, Baseball, Baseball:
Mets, Mascots, Redbirds
By STAN ISAACS
of TheColumnists.com
The name of the game, ladies and gentleman, is baseball.
This is the time of the year when pro football is beginning to muscle into the coverage and conversation in more than a few pro football-crazy precincts. I am reminded of an incident that occurred in the Cincinnati Reds press box in 1964 when the Phillies were on their way to blowing a big lead and the pennant.
I was sitting with Stan Hochman of The
Philadelphia Daily News and Jimmy Cannon of the Hearst papers.
We were joined by Joe King of The New York World Telegram
and Sun.
King had come in from touring the pro football training camps.
Pro football didn’t command attention in those days as it
does now. King was one of the few people who specialized in pro
football to the extent of covering the camps in August. He came
in all abubble with football talk--about fine prospects, team
strengths and the like.
He went on like this for a while, Hochman and I listening respectfully. Finally, Cannon, a waspish, guy, could take it no longer. He slammed a fist down on the shelf in front of him and said, “Baseball, gentleman, baseball!”
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Baseball Heartache is what the NY Mets have been playing for three seasons now. Consider the disasters that have befallen them of late:
In 2007 they blew a seven-game lead with
17 to play, one of the all time great collapses.
In 2008 they blew a 2 ½ game lead on Sept. 20 for the
wild card spot, dying with a loss in their final game. They blew
29 saves that year.
In 2009 their season has been marked by bad breaks on top of poor fielding, mismanagement and large dollops of stupidity.
The loss of three of their four best players probably doomed the Mets early. It was too much to expect that they could overcome Injuries to Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgardo. But still…
From my outpost in Philadelphia environs, I didn’t see many Mets games. Two instances were enough to suggest that manager Jerry Manuel lacked brain-power in key situations.
On June 28, the Yankees led the Mets by a run in the top of the ninth. They had men on first and second with two out. Derek Jeter was at bat. Mariano Rivera, who had come on in the eighth to retire the final out, was to be the next batter. The Yankees put a phony in the on-deck circle for Rivera, but everybody knew that Rivera would bat so that he could pitch to the Mets in the ninth.
It called for the Mets to walk Jeter intentionally. That would load the bases to bring up Rivera, who has rarely batted. But the Mets didn’t walk Jeter intentionally--at first. Manuel allowed Francisco Rodriguez to throw a pitch to Jeter. It was a ball. Only then did the Mets walk Jeter intentionally, averting what would have been the disaster of him getting a base hit. (As it turned out, Rivera then walked with the bases loaded for the only run-batted-in of his career.)
In another game, the Mets were in the process of blowing a lead in the eighth inning. Manuel used several relief pitchers trying to stem the tide. It came down to the opposition having the bases loaded with two out in the eighth inning.
In such instances, the Yankees have brought in Rivera to get the third out and go on to get three more outs in the next inning. Manuel had his ace, Rodriguez, waiting in the bullpen. He would be the logical guy to get that final out in the eighth. Manuel did not call him. This time, though not smart, Manuel was lucky. Sean Green, no world-beater, got the last out in the eighth and Rodriguez mopped up in the ninth.
And there was the recent contretemps. Team executive Tony Bernazard’s bullying of underlings and an argument with Rodriguez got him fired. That set up General manager Omar Minaya disgracing himself by accusing Daily News reporter Adam Rubin of gunning for Bernazard so that he could get a job in the Mets organization.
This was a reminder that Minaya, who has been given tender loving care by the media since he became the first Hispanic general manager, let manager Willie Randolph twist in the wind before firing him last year. He had Randolph accompany the team to the west coast only then to be told that he was fired. And Minaya lost his genius credentials when he gave a long-term contract to the oft-deficient Luis Castillo.
When it comes down to it, I believe the
symbol of the 2009 Mets will be the most egregious of all the
errors they made on the field. On June 12, with the Mets ahead
by a run and two out in the ninth inning at Yankee Stadium, second
baseman Luis Castillo dropped an easy pop fly, allowing two runs
to score. The Yankees won, 9-8, the Mets headed toward oblivion.
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The Washington
Nationals stage a footrace every game among their four mascots
representing George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln
and Theodore Roosevelt. Teddy Roosevelt, like the Washington
Generals of Globetrotter fame, never wins. There now are fans
in Washington like Nick Snow who say that the Nationals will
never start winning until they let Teddy Roosevelt win a race.
Here, here.
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I took it upon myself a long time ago to pin a name on the two redbirds, the two cardinals on the front of the St. Louis Cardinal uniforms, the best uniforms in baseball. I persisted in this even though Cardinal management showed no enthusiasm for the effort. For a long time I thought Dizzy-for Dizzy Dean-was a logical candidate, but I couldn’t come up with a partner. (His brother, Paul, had the name Daffy affixed to him: this was a misnomer, because he was an unassuming fellow).
It has been obvious for some time that one of the Redbirds should be named Stan--for the immortal Stan Musial. I couldn’t find a mate for Musial until I took in a Cardinal game recently, and spotted the adoration in St. Louis for Albert Pujols reflected in the media guide. He is hailed as a super player assaulting many batting records, an outstanding citizen, a great guy.
Stan and Albert!
I like it-even if this puzzles Cardinal management.
©2009 by Stan Isaacs. The Stan Isaacs caricature is ©2001 by Jim Hummel. This column first posted Aug. 3, 2009.
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