NEW YORK, NY – Hello. For those of you expecting Buddy Diaz on the bump today, the flu has knocked him out of the rotation. We are NOT managing his minutes, so you’ll get no refund. Further, any usage of the word “rotation“ has yours truly immediately jumping to the putrid Mets’ rotation. With that, here are today’s two topics from a somewhat miffed me: Mets: Twelve Under, Six Feet Under? Soccer In The City: WTF
Mets: Twelve Under, Six Feet Under?
There are bad baseball seasons, and then there are seasons that have Mets fans checking the calendar to make sure it isn’t already football season.
As of today, the New York Mets sit 12 games under .500, and the question isn’t whether they’ll catch the division leader. It’s whether they’ll catch a break.
History, however, offers a tiny sliver of hope—emphasis on tiny.
The Mets have actually made the postseason after falling 12 games under .500 before. It happened in the unforgettable 1973 season, when they sank to 13 games under .500 before somehow catching fire, winning a woeful National League East with just an 82-79 record. But they had the pitching of Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman and Jon Matlack -which they rode all the way to Game 7 of the World Series. That remains one of the most improbable turnarounds in baseball history.
Unfortunately for today’s club, that’s about where the encouraging historical comparisons end. The 1973 Mets had the aforementioned elite pitching, a weak division, and an uncanny ability to win every game that suddenly mattered.
These Mets have spent June inventing new ways to lose, including defensive disasters that have even left normally unflappable broadcaster Gary Cohen sounding like a man narrating a natural disaster documentary.
Can lightning strike twice?
Sure. And I’ll have a full head of hair again from wearing a red-light hat.
Soccer In The City: WTF
While Mets fans are trying to survive another summer of baseball misery, New York City has found something else to panic about: the FIFA World Cup.
Every day brings another story about road closures, transit disruptions, security zones and warnings to avoid parts of Manhattan and New Jersey.
Really?
This metropolitan area routinely handles 70,000-plus fans for Giants and Jets games at Sh!tbox Stadium every NFL weekend -as a WFAN caller pointed out. Adding to that, throw in tailgaters, concerts, Meadowlands traffic, trains and buses, and somehow civilization survives. Nobody declares the region closed for business because the Eagles are in town.
Yes, the World Cup is a massive global event, and security concerns are understandably heightened. But the messaging has bordered on theatrical, as if Lionel Messi arriving means the Lincoln Tunnel will collapse into the Hudson.
New Yorkers have hosted the Super Bowl, the Knicks in the Canyon of Heroes, the World Series, ticker-tape parades, marathons, New Year’s Eve in Times Square, and just about every major event imaginable. Managing enormous crowds is part of the city’s job description.
Sure, the Nordic boat-rowers have thrown a curve in the works, but NYC can handle their drunken spunk.
As, have yet to demonstrate they can manage a curve, cutter, change-up or routine ground ball. One problem is temporary. One is not.
That’s all for me. Feel free to comment/vent below and come back tomorrow for Action Jackson Sternberg, who collects oatmeal packets.
