Category Archives: Other Baseball
In other things mentioned on the forthcoming podcast:
Because of the endless entertainment (and significant traffic) I’ve found in archiving embarrassing photos of Cole Hamels, I felt it seemed appropriate to make a small gift in his name to his eponymous charity as a small token of appreciation for his efforts on and off the runway. The money I gave will pay for a desk in the school Hamels is establishing in Malawi. If you’ve enjoyed yourself some embarrassing photos of Cole Hamels in the past, I encourage you to do the same.
It will help impoverished children and make Hamels as happy as this autographed guitar did:
Extremely longtime readers from the ol’ Flushing Fussing days – i.e. my mom — probably don’t even remember that before the 2007, when the last good Mets team was starting to fall apart and I didn’t realize it yet, I advocated the Mets’ acquisition of then-Cubs Minor Leaguer Mike Fontenot to play second base because Fontenot had enjoyed success against Triple-A pitching and seemed to be stuck behind a logjam (including Ronny Cedeno) in the Cubs’ middle-infield mix.
After Jose Valentin went down with a knee injury in the 2007 season, I maintained a half-kidding regular section at the bottom of posts called “Fontenotes,” tracking Fontenot’s progress. I stopped, I believe, when the Mets traded for Luis Castillo.
Toby Hyde tipped me to the current Phillie-fan clamor for Fontenot on the podcast we recorded last night that should be up later today. The situation is very different than the Mets’ in 2007: For one, Fontenot’s actually in the Phillies’ system, so it’s a lot less ridiculous for fans to be calling for him.
For another, no Phillies fan is viewing Fontenot as a potential longtime regular — he’s not an unproven 26-year-old anymore, and they’ve got Chase Utley slated to return at some point. Fontenot will turn 32 in June, and he’s got five years of being a worthwhile but unspectacular part-time infielder under his belt (and a World Series ring on his finger). Phillies fans see him as a potential offensive upgrade over Freddy Galvis and his .538 OPS.
Still, with Met-fan optimism/delusion running high after the team’s three-game sweep of the Phillies in Philadelphia, the symbolism seems to rich to ignore. Fans of crumbling, aging teams hamstrung by a lack of roster depth demand Mike Fontenot.
I’m way too scarred by the last five seasons to say the Phillies won’t bounce back from their rough start. Plus, they’ve got too much pitching. But in this stretch, isolated by a small sample size and amplified in our heads by one woeful series against the Mets, the cracks are really starting to show.
Also, while writing this post, I became crushed by the overwhelming weight of time. In the time I’ve been covering roster minutiae on the Internet, Mike Fontenot has gone from one side of his prime to the other.
Presumably you know about this already, but last night Josh Hamilton went 5-for-5 with four home runs and a double. I’m posting it here for posterity: Four home runs in a game is easily my favorite single-game accomplishment, because it requires four home runs in a game.
Now you join the ranks of Mark Whiten!
Other awesome things include the Mets’ come-from-behind win over the Phillies last night. Here’s how this goes: When the Mets lose a series to the Phillies, I say, meh, just another series, sure it’s a division rival but it’s only a couple of games. When the Mets take a series from the Phillies, it represents not just a notch in the standings but a triumph of good over evil, a victory for the human spirit in the face of adversity.
A sweep would be the best thing.
Over at HardballTalk, Craig Calcaterra links to a series of Tweets from Giants beat writer Henry Schulman about the way Dodgers fans may or may not have treated the hobbled Matt Kemp during last night’s game.
I wasn’t watching the game and can’t speak to the particular incident in question, but at the single Dodgers home game I’ve attended in my life, Clayton Kershaw threw nine innings of two-run ball, struck out 11 Angels and walked none. He left on the short end after allowing a home run to Vernon Wells to put the Angels up 2-1 in the top of the ninth, but as he walked off the mound I stood up to applaud his effort anyway. And practically no one else did.
No way that happens at Citi Field, right? I have to figure if the Mets had a young, homegrown ace of Kershaw’s caliber, the fans that didn’t irrationally blame him for everything would harp on just about everything he did, and would certainly notice and appreciate a stellar outing like that one.
The Dodgers came back and won the game in the bottom of the 9th and the place went nuts. But am I wrong to say that, based on one game’s worth of evidence, most Dodgers fans are not like most Mets fans? Is Schulman wrong to suggest as much based on years of covering the beat in the NL West?
Because it sure seems like there are cultural differences: Mets fans are one way and Yankees fans are another way and Phillies fans are a whole different way, but there’s certainly a lot of confirmation bias in play, and obviously plenty of fans who don’t embody their team’s fanbase at large.
Not really much else to say. Beating Jonathan Papelbon while he’s on the Phillies is like sausage wrapped in bacon.
Here’s hoping Josh Thole is OK, or at least is OK soon. Wigginton’s slide looked clean and the collision unintentional to me: Wigginton is a big dude, and if he’s coming full-tilt there’s going to be a hell of a lot of momentum behind him. Thole’s face was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Chipper Jones exited Coors Field late Saturday night incensed that Jamie Moyer had accused him of relaying signs from second base. The Braves’ third baseman continued to talk about the incident when he returned early Sunday morning.
Jones said he believes Moyer is paranoid because he spent most of the past five years playing for the Phillies, a team the 40-year-old third baseman said is known for stealing signs….
Jones revealed on Sunday morning that his anger increased when he learned Moyer came to the plate in the bottom of the fifth and told McCann, “that’s how people get hurt” in reference to his belief that some Atlanta players were stealing signs.
“At that point, I told [Todd] Helton and Tulo to tell [Moyer], because he was already out of the game by then after those 900-foot homers with nobody on base,” Jones said. “I said he could meet me in the tunnel to discuss it and I never heard back.”
Oh boy. There’s so much to chuckle at in this story, first and foremost 40-year-old Chipper Jones vaguely challenging 49-year-old Jamie Moyer to a showdown in the Coors Field tunnel.
Perhaps even funnier than that, though, is Chipper’s insistence throughout the story that he has never stolen signs, as if admitting to doing so would be a mark against his Hall of Fame candidacy. And maybe he really never has, but if not, why not? It’s not against the rules and it helps your team win. If they believe they can get away with it without earning themselves some beanballs, all players should try to steal signs. The goal is to win the game, not the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Moyer is probably especially vigilant about it because he doesn’t have much recourse. Though a 77-mph fastball to the ribs would sting the hell out of you and me, it’s probably not something Major League hitters live in fear of.
You know who probably hates sign stealing? Old-school baseball bro Cole Hamels.
I was trying to hit him. I’m not going to deny it. That’s something I grew up watching, that’s kind of what happened. So I’m just trying to continue the old baseball because I think some people are kind of getting away from it. I remember when I was a rookie the strike zone was really, really small and you didn’t say anything because that’s the way baseball is. But I think unfortunately the league’s protecting certain players and making it not that old-school, prestigious way of baseball…. It’s just, `Welcome to the big leagues.’
Whoa, is it me or has there just been a lot of tough-guy posturing from Cole Hamels the last week or so? First he publicly shuns the strawberry drink he clearly wanted, now he plunks Bryce Harper then admits it — which no one ever does — in a bizarre and mostly nonsensical tirade about old-school baseball.
Which I guess makes sense, because I know when I think about contemporary players maintaining the gritty, old-school, bloody-uniform legacy of guys like Ty Cobb, Bob Gibson and Nolan Ryan, the first fella that comes to mind is this guy:
After Ruben Tejada suffered a strained right quadriceps yesterday, a Mets source told The Post that MRI exam results on the shortstop were “not good’’ and that a trip to the disabled list was “very likely” though not a given.
With two outs in the fourth inning of the Mets’ 3-1 win over the Diamondbacks, Tejada’s spike caught in the clay as he legged out a bunt single. He stumbled onto first base, laying motionless for a minute before being helped off the field and replaced by Justin Turner. The status of Tejada, who also sustained facial bruises on the play, remains very much up in the air, subject to further evaluation today.
“The final decision won’t be made until he’s evaluated. Tejada still thinks he can play in a few days,’’ a source told The Post.
- Brian Lewis and Mike Puma, N.Y. Post.
So per one source, it’s very likely but not a given that Tejada goes on the disabled list, Tejada thinks he can play in a few days and a final decision won’t be made until he’s evaluated. OK.
Tejada’s header was one of the worst-looking falls you’ll see on a baseball field without an obvious bone break or ligament tear. I was watching in a bar so we couldn’t hear the audio, and my friends and I watched the replay trying to figure out exactly which part of him seemed most likely to be hurting: Something in his leg prompted the fall, then he appeared to catch his wrist on the bag, then slammed his face on the ground.
If he’s actually bound for the disabled list, Ronny Cedeno can’t get back soon enough. Neither Justin Turner nor Jordany Valdespin is quite qualified to play shortstop at the Major League level. Turner will likely make the plays hit to him without covering much ground. Mets fans <3 Valdespin something fierce, I know, but Valdespin made 32 errors in 98 games at short in the Minors in 2011. Pro-rated to a full season, that’s about 50 errors. Maybe a first baseman of Ike Davis’ caliber saves him a few on throws, but it’s… well, it’s not good.
Cedeno won’t likely hit much, but he appears to be a capable and adequately rangy defender at short — something the Mets certainly need with Daniel Murphy and David Wright flanking the position and pitching staff that yields a fair amount of contact. The former Pirate, sidelined since April 21 with an intercostal strain, is set to begin a rehab assignment tomorrow and will be eligible to return on Friday.
If there’s a setback in Cedeno’s rehab, the Mets’ next best option is likely Omar Quintanilla. Quintanilla’s not on the 40-man roster and his career Major League offensive numbers are downright woeful, but he can play shortstop and, for what it’s worth, is off to a real nice start in Triple-A Buffalo. The 30-year-old has a .291/.378/.523 line through 28 games with the Bisons.
Also, if you’re still somehow greeting injuries like Tejada’s with a “here we go again, only the Mets, LOLMets” thing, you probably haven’t been paying much attention this season. From Wednesday-Saturday, the Brewers lost one starting player to injury every day — three of them requiring DL stints. The Nationals have Jayson Werth, Michael Morse, Ryan Zimmerman, Brad Lidge and Drew Storen on the DL, among others. The Phillies are down Cliff Lee, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and two bullpen arms. The Yankees have 10 guys on the disabled list, including Mariano Rivera. The Red Sox have 11, including Jacoby Ellsbury, Kevin Youkilis and Carl Crawford.
Injuries suck, but they happen. Best-case scenario for the Mets, Tejada only needs a few days and Turner doesn’t hurt them in the interim. Worst-case scenario, a fireball from space destroys the planet. Most likely, the outcome will fall somewhere between those two.
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