EL BARRIO, EL FALLS – Interesting sports week for me. Of course baseball dominated the week but a couple of other sports side notes got my attention. Everyone has talked about the MLB Trading Deadline, so I will give my thoughts re watching your team stop being the best or becoming dream fulfilled. Today’s topics are: Break-up the Mets, Man Utd falling, MLB Fan-Turned-Player.
Break-up The Mets: So the Mets have won 7 of their last 8 games. It was 7 straight until Friday night but so what! The Amazins had the longest winning streak in baseball and are 4 games out of the Wild Card spot. That is insane, considering how they have been so inconsistent this season. At one point everyone was sure manager Mickey Calloway was getting fired. GM Brodie Van Wagenen stayed pat at the trade deadline, demanding a high price for Ace 1B Noah Syndergaard and third starter Zach Wheeler. Oh yeah, he added Marcus Stroman from the Toronto Blue Jays. According to Brodie, the Mets are built to win now and in the future. I am not sure about the future, when the Mets have traded away so many top prospects to get closer Edwin Diaz and Stroman. Only one of their top ten prospects plays above Single A.
It does mean, though, that their rotation of Ace Jacob deGrom, Syndergaard, Stroman, Wheeler and Steven Matz is as good as any starting rotation in the league. It is quite possible that if the offense can provide them three runs, the Mets can get a win. I know last season after the first 20 games, Mets fans were talking playoffs and that turned out to be a disaster. But this is a helluva rotation and the Flushing Flashers will have a chance every game. THAT is key in baseball. If pitching wins playoff games, then the Mets can make .500 and claim the final playoff spot.
Man United Falling: Being a New York Sports fan, I haven’t seen many dynasties. Especially since my baseball team is the Mets and not the Yankees. Six years ago, Man U had a coach that was one of the greatest in the game retire and has been a shambles ever since. They are now into their 4th head coach in that time. They don’t have a football equivalent of a GM, which every other team does so they’re just free-falling. The same guy that directs business operations is in charge of signing players, which is insane and has been a key part of the fall from grace. It has been painful and weird to watch. At times the losses hurt but at times I am watching a weak offseason, with very few reinforcements being bought… and I don’t even know if it feels like my team. I have no hope of us winning the title any time soon so I am just watching them play but it doesn’t look like my team anymore.
MLB Fan-Turned-Player: It seems like a Hollywood crappy summer movie. Nathan Peterson was a former high school baseball player who use to throw kind of fast. After graduating and moving on with life, he got into a car accident and worked hard to rehab. He decided to go a Rockies game and then his life changed. As part of one of the silly games, there was a throw hard booth challenge. Peterson was clocked at 96mph a few times and his brother broadcast it on social media. Apparently that got the attention of JG Clancy’s Oakland A’s and they decided to sign him to a minor league contract. So in the span of two weeks, he went from a nobody to a baseball somebody. It would be insane if he becomes the A’s closer in 2-3 years.
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