Mets

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

What you missed: Doug Glanville was talking about how disappointed he was that a visiting American couldn't identify a photograph of Pete Alonso, even with hints about his nickname: "there's three types of bears…brown bear, black bear and ?"

The tourist thus completely flummoxed Glanville by guessing "koala bear". Grizzly bears and panda bears everywhere hung their heads in shame. To say nothing of our California Golden Bears, who thought they were, well, golden, what with being the official state animal and on the flag and everything

The word "missed" at the top is trying to do a lot.

[Amazin69]

Tim Kurkjian is proud that he could not only identify "Don't Stop Believing" (which played on the speakers between innings) as a Journey song, but that he (sort of) knew Steve Perry's name.

He also claimed Don Henley led "the Eagles" (Eagles, like Carpenters and Commodores and other bands, disdained the definite article), but cannot identify a single Duran Duran song.

Meanwhile, in what Tim is (we presume) actually there for, he notes that Edlose Diaz is threatening to come off of the Incapable List, and makes excuses for him, Tim says that Edlose is struggling because (being injured last season) this year is the first time he's had to use the pitch clock, and also because Spider-Tac is now banned, whereas it was a boon to Diaz in 2022.

Yes, Tim Kurkjian, who is paid a lot of $$$ to report on baseball, managed to forget that Spider-Tac was banned halfway through 2021. Which came before 2022. We even noted Edlose (coincidentally, I'm sure) losing his, er, grip in the second half of that season, much to the consternation of then-Mets "manager", Luis "Arm Care" Rojas. FFS.

I hope that when Tim returns to the ESPn studios, he is roundly cuffed by Chris Berman, for not recalling all the times Boomer referred to an ex-Phillie pitcher as Randy "Hungry Like the" Wolf. Make it stop. Seriously. Make.It.Stop.

[Amazin69]

Tim Kurkjian's mother is English by birth, so while in town, he looked up his 92-year-old aunt, whom he has not seen in 25 years, and his cousins, whom he has not seen in 50 years.

I'm not much for family, myself, but given that Tim makes more $$$ than I can conceive of (I've never had a large income), you'd think he could swing a trip to Blighty once or twice a decade. I grant you, this is none of my business…but that's why Tim (and Michael K) probably shouldn't have raised the subject, to begin with.

Jeff McNeil has a Belgian fan club, who are at the game. This came before Jeff was lucky enough to have Alec Bohm lose his foul pop-up in the rafters, followed by reaching on a bloop hit. The Pinheads think Jeff should have reached second, given how the bloop bounced on the spongy turf. In other words, they accused Jeff of waffling.

Vientos hit for Baty. Tim Kurkjian points out that Vientos is hitting .371 against lefties, which accounts for the switch. I grant you, Tim doesn't point this out until after Vientos draws a walk, but it's still better than how the Pinheads handled Bader's pinch-hitting last inning.

(With two on and none out, Torrens makes out, Lindor flies to the track in left, and Peeete hits an aggressive foul down the line before striking out on a pitch in the dirt. No runs.)

[Westheim]

Well, that was one way to end a baseball game. oO

[Amazin69]

Carlos Mendoza Line decides to have Dedniel Nuñez start the 7th, a 3rd consecutive inning, because beyond Ded-arm, he only has Drew Smith and Reed Garrett in the pen before he would have to use a pitcher on consecutive days!

The horror! Those poor widdle babies!

Oddly enough, after LHB David Dahl has pinch-hit against the RHP Nuñez and untied the game, Mendoza brings in Creakin' Jake Diekman (a lefty) even though Diekman pitched yesterday! Who knew you could do that? Shocking!

(Diekman gets two outs and then Garrett gets out of the inning without further damage, which is good, as otherwise it would have ruined the joke.)

[Amazin69]

Originally Posted by Westheim

Well, that was one way to end a baseball game. oO

Oh, that doesn't look good. Ah, well.

[Amazin69]

Well, that was a pleasant surprise.

Good thing the Mets "put up a four-spot" in the top of the 9th, per Michael Kay. (The Mets actually only scored 3 runs, helped out by the 1-4 batters only managing Pete getting plunked and a PB, but Michael Kay has only spent decades doing this job, so we can't expect him to know how to count to 4, after all.)

Mets had a 92% win probability heading into the bottom of the 9th. Looked more like a 9.2% chance for a while there, but even long shots come home.

[Amazin69]

Hannah Storm, on the postgame, looks damn good, considering that she turns 62 on Thursday.

Alas, in checking her Wikipedia page to discover her age, I found out that her name is actually "Storen" (as in Drew) and she changed it for professional reasons. I suppose Hannah thought she was going into porn rather than broadcasting.

(Easy mistake to make, but even so.)

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

Well, that was a pleasant surprise.

Good thing the Mets "put up a four-spot" in the top of the 9th, per Michael Kay. (The Mets actually only scored 3 runs, helped out by the 1-4 batters only managing Pete getting plunked and a PB, but Michael Kay has only spent decades doing this job, so we can't expect him to know how to count to 4, after all.)

Mets had a 92% win probability heading into the bottom of the 9th. Looked more like a 9.2% chance for a while there, but even long shots come home.

Admit it, the Mets winning on a heads-up defensive play was quite the shocker!

[Amazin69]

Alvarez is back and Nido is DFA'd. Gary tries to scare us by showing "highlights" of the Mets losing 2 out of 3 in the Fish Tank last month, but Edlose Diaz is still on the Incompetent List, so we're safe.

(From him, anyhow.)

[Westheim]

Why would you DFA Nido, the best slugger on the team?

[Amazin69]

Stat of the Day:

MIA v. PHI, ATL, WAS: 2-11
MIA v. NY: 3-1

[Westheim]

You must beat up on the bottom feeders. As marine species, the Fish know that.

[Westheim]

What surprises us more:

A) Until yesterday, J.D. Martinez had never hit a walkoff homer

B) Somebody on the Mets can hit a walkoff homer!

[Amazin69]

Huh. Look what I missed by going over to the hockey!

Ah, well, I'm still happy. (I'm only not [yet] gloating in the NHL thread because I'm afraid of jinxing things.)

[Westheim]

Just starting with last night's game against the Padres now, but before I forget this tidbit...

Only one MLB player has more career home runs than J.D. Martinez had without hitting a walkoff home run: Norm Cash (377)

[Amazin69]

Surprising, as you would think they might have pitched around Al Kaline to get to Stormin' Norman, a time or two.

[Westheim]

Adam Mazur walks six Mets in just three innings. Well, well, you might say, the Mets must have a good-sized lead here, then!

No.

Zilch-zilch.

Screaming stupid team. Just a screaming stupid team.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Westheim

Adam Mazur walks six Mets in just three innings. Well, well, you might say, the Mets must have a good-sized lead here, then!

No.

Zilch

Hasn't been done in the NL since 1979, folks! We got a truly special team here!

Special needs.

[Amazin69]

Was it the Mets in 1979, as well? That team earned that #1 Darryl Strawberry-shaped draft pick, you know.