Mets Defense's Day Off

Andy Pettitte and Joba Chamberlain

...not to be confused with Ferris Bueller and Cameron Frye

Squawker Lisa of the Subway Squawkers blog says that if the Yankees win this subway series (remember, lower-case letters unless it’s in, ha ha, October), Met fans will gripe about "payroll and injuries."

Met fans, gripe about payroll and injuries? Surely, you jest.

Met fans, gripe about payroll and injuries? Whose payroll, their own? Far and away the biggest in the sainted National League?

Met fans, gripe about Yankee payroll and their own injuries? Who do they think they are, Red Sox fans?

Actually, the Red Sox have won as many World Series in the last 5 years as the Mets have in the last 47 years. (And as many as the Yankees in the last 10... grumble... )

The last 2 games, Yankees 24, Mets 1. 15-0 two Sundays ago, 9-1 last night.

Forget Ferris Bueller, this was Mets Defense' Day Off. The Yankees scored how many times? Nine times!

Right about now, the Mets may be saying about the next 2 games, "You fellas have nothin' to worry about. I'm a professional." And it would be understandable if Met fans said, "A professional what?"

I love that movie. One of the things I like to remember about 1986.

When is a starting pitcher a "relief pitcher"? When it's CC Sabathia coming back from his injury last Sunday. If CC had stayed hurt, the Yanks would be in serious trouble as far as reaching the postseason is concerned.

The weird thing is, last Sunday, my family had dinner at a certain restaurant (I won't say which one, but it's a steakhouse with a longhorn steer as its logo), where we hadn't eaten together (at least, not with me) for 2 years, and that time was the time Phil Hughes was pitching a no-hitter against the Mets and got hurt and hasn't quite been the same since.

Like I've said before, I don't believe in curses, jinxes or hexes, except when it comes to sports. But that's spooky. The food and service are good at this chain, but I ain't never eating at that particular location with the whole family while a Yankee game is in progress. Never again. Our pitchers are depending on it!

24-1? Ouch. Then again, that number reminds me of Steve Phillips' comment about one Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod 564, Reggie 563? Uh, no. I'll take the runs he drives in, but there's no way in hell a steroid user is a better player than a non-steroid user, no matter how much talent he has.

Case in point: In the wake of the death of Michael Jackson, everyone is talking about (among other things) what an incredible talent he had.

But suppose... there was a McGwire/Bonds situation. That is, a young man with a background similar to Michael's, with as much desire to excel, but not as much talent to carry it out. And suppose also that there was a drug that gave you as much ability as Michael Jackson, and this hypothetical kid took it, and came up with 7 Number 1 hits and a dozen Grammies.

Then we find out he took the drug. Then he lies about it. "Who's bad?" Would we ever consider him the Gloved One's equal, or dare we say superior? Oh hell no.

Of course, the 1 Met run (and 1 of the 3 hits) came on a home run by Gary Sheffield. Twenty years ago, if a player had as many home runs as Sheff (say, Reggie, or Mike Schmidt), we'd be counting off every one as he kept moving up the all-time list. How many does Sheff have? At this point, he may be the only one who cares. As far as I'm concerned, every steroid user who topped 500 is, morally speaking, forever stuck at 499.

As I said before, tonight's game is on YES and SNY, not Fox, so Yankees win. Tomorrow night's game is on (N)ESPN, so the Yankees will probably lose it, and Joe Morgan will be unable to contain his glee. The little fink. A truly great player, despite being only 5-foot-8 (even shorter than I am), but as a broadcaster he's a little fink.