Tag Archives: mets

1999 Project

1999 Project: Games 135-140

Click here for an intro/manifesto on The 1999 Project.

99_ordonez.jpgSeptember 3, 1999: Rockies 5, Mets 2 (10)

The Mets began their homestand with an ugly incident reminiscent of their early season struggles. Rey Ordonez and backup shortstop Luis Lopez got into a fistfight while on the team bus to Shea, following their flight back from Houston. The fisticuffs were bad enough to give Ordonez a six-stitch gash over his eye.

The cause of the fight was unclear, although it was rumored that Ordonez tried to defend Jorge Toca (a fellow Cuban defector) against some rookie hazing. Both players kept the party line repeated by GM Steve Phillips, that they’d patched things up between them and there were no hard feelings. A few days later, after the dust settled, teammates would say they were surprised it took so long for someone to deck the abrasive Ordonez.

However, there were definitely hard feelings involved with a disappointing extra-inning loss to the Rockies. The Mets managed a mere two runs two runs against Colorado starter Jamey Wright, wasting two separate scoring opportunities with a man on third and only one out. Orel Hershiser pitched well enough to keep them in the game, and Pat Mahomes, Dennis Cook, and Armando Benitez combined to throw three scoreless innings.

Turk Wendell came on for the tenth and did not fare well, giving up a one-out walk to Todd Walker and a single to Dante Bichette. The righty had suffered a bit of a rough patch recently; ironically, it came after Bobby Valentine tried to give him a few days’ rest in the hopes of keeping his arm fresh down the stretch. (“The more I pitch, the better I get,” Wendell told reporters later. “Those six days off killed me”)

Valentine called on ex-Rockie Chuck McElroy to clean up Wendell’s mess. He struck out Todd Helton, but walked Vinny Castilla (who’d been 0 for 7 against McElroy previously) to load the bases. That brought up Met-for-a-minute Jeff Barry, who made his first, brief major league appearance for the team in 1995, then languished in the minors for the next four seasons.

“I felt real good for some reason before the game,” Barry said afterward. “I had a real good feeling about today.” He had reason to, since he went 3-for-3. His third hit was a bases-clearing double off of McElroy that put Colorado on top to stay. The loss dropped the Mets 4.5 games out of first in the NL East, their largest deficit since July, though a loss by the Reds maintained their four-game lead in the wild card standings.

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Baseball

“This One’s Got a Chance!”

It’s still the best game I ever went to. And for the reason why it’s the best game I ever went to, I hope I never see a better one.

Thanks to Amazin Avenue for posting this video.

Baseball

The Deal with Jose Reyes Part 2: Electric Boogaloo

Apparently my Jose Reyes piece has gotten a bite or two (which is great, so if you Tweeted about it or emailed a link or sent it to your friends via passenger pigeon, many thanks). Of course, not everyone agrees with my take, which is fine and to be expected.

I did see a tweet that gave me pause, however. Dave Lennon, Mets beat writer for Newsday, had this to say:

I don’t buy the “Media vs. Reyes” premise. No one who actually knows Reyes calls him a slacker. Just fans or radio hosts.

And a short while later:

I could be wrong, but I don’t remember reading in any of the newspapers (or their web sites) about Reyes being a slacker.

And you know what? That’s probably true. Newspapers usually confine their coverage to the games themselves, and even their opinion pieces tend to not be reckless.

Unfortunately, the sports media is no longer confined to newspapers. There is an enormous Sports Media Landscape, and the percentage of it that actually reports sports news gets smaller every year. The rest of it is composed of the “fans and radio hosts” Lennon mentioned, whether they call into WFAN or write their own blogs or comment on newspaper web sites.

I understand why a beat writer would feel it’s unfair to think The Media is ‘out to get’ Jose Reyes. Because when a beat writer thinks of The Media, he thinks of guys like himself, who  travel with a team 162 games a year (plus spring training) and do actual work. He doesn’t feel like he’s on the same level as the Mike Francesa’s of the world (nor should he), who make sweeping pronouncements from their thrones in Astoria.

But Average Joe Sports Fan doesn’t just read beat stories anymore. He listens to Francesa and reads blogs and comments on stories and watches guys yell at each other on ESPN. To him, all of these things are SPORTS now. Lennon’s a reporter, Francesa an entertainer–yet they’re put on equal footing in the eyes of most fans.

So when I talked about a media narrative, I meant the entire amorphous modern sports media, of which reporters are a disturbingly small part. I don’t think there’s a Vast Anti-Reyes Conspiracy. The Trade Reyes Groundswell is just one those Big Dumb Ideas that a large group of angry people can latch onto and get swept up in.

Mets fans are certainly angry these days. I suggest they channel that frustration in healthy ways. For instance: buy a punching bag and put Shane Victorino’s face on it. Just don’t let this anger make you hate one of the best players the Mets have ever produced.