BRONX, NY – What wondrous times we live in! Why, just in the past week I early-voted in the primary for the next disastrous Mayor of New York, went to a Mets game, and actually hugged someone outside my immediate family. All of a sudden, it feels like anything is possible. Are you listening, Christina Hendricks? Anyway, back to the Mets. My brother, known in these parts as cnc63, snagged us a couple of tickets to last Friday night’s game, and it was great!
Jacob deGrom is deBomb. On my checklist for this summer was to see the ace of all of MLB, Jacob deGrom, pitch. Thanks to my big bro, I got that one out of the way fairly quickly. Though he left the game early with what’s looking like mild tendinitis (fingers crossed), he still managed to put on a show, striking out 11 in 7 innings while lowering his ridiculously low ERA to a minuscule 0.62. He’s so good right now that the second best pitcher in the league (take your pick) is a distant second. deGrom is the only show I care about binge-watching this summer.
Back at the Ballpark. After the long layoff, it was a tad strange being back out watching live baseball. A few things stood out. First, it was weird being lumped together in a clearly “vaccinated section.” It was clear because there were other sections with better sight lines that looked way more empty/spread out. Next time, I’m moving to one of those sections. What do I care? I’m vaxxed! Second, and my brother pointed this out, the Mets grounds crew seemed enormous. It was like an infield-grooming rave at the end of the sixth. One annoying thing that really stood out; the canned noise at Citi Field is constant. You are bombarded with sound effects and music ALL THE TIME. There are very few moments of silence and regular ballpark sounds. One last thing, I really like that Kevin Pillar’s walk-up song is Queen’s “Fat Bottomed Girls.” Well done. Meanwhile, closer to home…
The Yankees Don’t Suck… But They’re Not Good Either. As I finish this thing up, the Bronx Bombers are deadlocked at 5 with the Toronto Blue Jays. More importantly, with a third of the season fully in the books, they are 9 games out of first place in the AL East, with only the lowly Orioles to look down upon. I’ve said this multiple times, so one more time won’t hurt: Aaron Boone needs to go. Forget that George Steinbrenner would have fired him at least 20 different times already and/or launched him into the sun, even the most patient of owners would have relieved him of his duties by now. Is it Boone’s fault that the Yanks decided to go shopping for starting pitching at the Tommy John Five and Dime? No. Did he beg Brian Cashman to give him a roster of musclebound monsters that probably shouldn’t be playing in the field? I’m guessing not. But the Yankees have the second highest payroll in baseball, are struggling to string together any kind of consistency, and have a thin-smiling skipper who spouts mundane platitudes like “we really need to step it up.” The easiest thing to do is to can Booney and hope that it wakes at least a couple of this roster full of sleeping giants up. Whatever happened to the team that craved the back page headlines? Fire Boone and hire someone crazy like Rickey Henderson or Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.
That’s all for today. Come back tomorrow for Buddy Diaz, who is interviewing for Assistant to the Traveling Secretary of the Yankees.
