Mined from the notebooks, Wednesday night, July 24, 2019. Posted Monday morning, July 27, 2020.
Conforto at the Wall: Mets center fielder Michael Conforto failing to get his glove on a ball that turned out to be a double off the fall by Padres catcher Austin Hedges in the 8th inning of Mets’ 7-2 loss to the Padres at CitiField tonight [Wednesday, July 24, 2019]. Photo by Kathy Willens/AP via NorthJersey.com.
From the Sports desk of the Department of In Search of Lost Time: July 24, 2019. Haven’t watched any ball games so far this “season.” Can’t bring myself to. It’s not just that I think it’s foolish to the point of insane We don’t need baseball. Comparisons to Word War II and FDR ordering the baseball season to go on to help keep up morale at home are stupid. The Germans weren't bombing Ebbets Field every day. But just as a fan, I think the “season” won’t provide any satisfaction even if the Mets manage to make a run for the pennant because I doubt they’ll get to play all 60 games, let alone a postseason. There doesn’t seem to be any point in investing if they have to shut it all down in a couple of weeks. Anyway, I’m having more fun reliving last season, which I’m doing through my notebooks. I watched almost every game the Mets played and took pretty good notes, not just on the play on the field, but on the stories the Mets broadcasting team told during the games. Analysts and one-time Mets stars Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling are good storytellers and play by play announcer Gary Cohen is skilled at getting them to tell those stories, and he has more than a few stories of his own to tell and he’s good at telling them. Baseball to me is one long ongoing story anyway, with what happened when the Red Stockings took the field in 1869 as much a part of it as what happened at CitiFied on July 24, 2019, when the Mets lost to the Padres, 7-2, and Ron and Gary got Keith to distract us from the Mets’ lackluster play with this…
Three innings in and the Mets are losing to the Padres, 4-2. Syndergaard is pitching a good game but the other Mets don’t seem to have their heads in it, either at the plate or on the field. Talk in the booth has turned to Keith’s less than friendly demeanor when he was a player. The question at hand is how he greeted the opposing team’s player when he came up to bat the first time in a series. Ron asks if he had a standard opening line like “Hi, how are you?” or was he too focused on his hitting and couldn’t be bothered to chat. Ron asked the question after watching Mets shortstop Amed Rosario yak it up with Padres catcher Austin Hedges. Ron and Gary are chuckling over the question because they know Hernandez wasn’t the most gregarious guy on the field. Keith insists he was friendly, just “brusque.” Claims he said hello to every catcher---except Jerry Grote.
My kid self, a fan of the ‘69 Mets for whom Grote was the star catcher, to My Still a Mets Fan Self Now: What did he have against Jerry Grote?
Myself Now: I got no clue.
Hernandez started his career with the Cardinals in 1974 when Grote was still with the Mets. I don’t know if the animosity started right away or developed over time or dates from a specific game. It might not have even been animosity, but an agreement between them---maybe Grote himself made a policy of not talking to opposing teams’ batters---or an inside joke. Keith doesn’t say and Ron and Gary don’t get into it, as if they know not to go there. I’ll have to try to look it up. Meanwhile, it’s gotten me thinking. Keith’s defense was that he was no Rogers Hornsby whom the three agree was not the most “matey” of men. Hornsby's nickname was "The Rajah", a statement on his high and mighty attitude. There’s that famous story: Hornsby is at the plate. The pitch comes in. Hornsby lets it go by and the ump calls it a ball. The opposing pitcher, a rookie, objects. “Ball? That was a strike!”
“Son,” the ump replied, “It’s not a strike unless Mister Hornsby says it's a strike.”
Hornsby was a lifetime .358 hitter. He knew balls from strikes. I always thought the ump was reminding the piecher of his youth and lack of experience, putting the ump’s emphasis on “Son” in my head. But maybe the emphasis was on “Mister Hornsby” in deference to Hornsby’s imperious self-regard. Like I said, it has me thinking.
Hernandez came up in a different era when there was less casual fraternization. But he came up with the Cardinals, Hornsby’s team for the best part of his career. The Cards were also Bob Gibson’s team, and Gibson himself wasn’t known for his “matey”-ness. Gibson was even less than matey with his own teammates on the field. Once, when he was a rookie catcher with the Cardinals, Tim McCarver decided he needed to go out to the mound to talk to Gibson about to handle the opposing player who was at bat. Gibson sent McCarver hurrying back behind the plate with a glare before he was halfway to the mound. Maybe Hornsby established a tradition of less-than-mateyness in the St Louis clubhouse that Gibson inherited and then passed on to Hernandez.
My favorite story about Gibson’s less-than-mateyness is the time he got on an elevator at the hotel where the team was staying on his way to that day’s game which he was starting and found a player from the opposing team already on it. The player happened to be a former Cardinal who’d recently been traded. He and Gibson were friends. Gibson was known for being even more unfriendly before a start than was usual with him, and it was a good idea not to talk to him, but I guess his former teammate, who you’d think would have known better, forgot, and he greeted Gibson cheerfully. Gibson said nothing. But when the player stepped up to the plate for the first time in the game, Gibson drilled him with his first pitch. Afterward, the still shocked player asked Gibson why he’d thrown at him. Gibson answered as if it was obvious. “You said hello.”
Post-game wrap-up: The Mets went on to lose 7-2. Syndergaard took the loss. He went 7 innings, struck out 8. He gave up 8 hits but those resulted in only 3 earned runs. The Mets field players couldn’t manage enough timey hitting and made several costly defensive mistakes. Dom Smith, playing out of position in left, made two errors in the same inning. Maybe the Mets were tuckered out from all the unexpected winning they've been doing lately. They’ve won 6 of 11 since the All-Star break, including a 5-2 win over the Padres last night. Robinson Cano hit 3 home runs.
Thursday's Cubs-Brewers game was worth it just to see Hendricks pitching. I'm not terribly invested in it either, especially since 14 Marlins players and coaches tested positive for COVID tpddau.
Posted by: JD | Monday, July 27, 2020 at 02:27 PM