Games 79 + 80: Double header Subway Series Split

June 28, 2008

By DailySkew

The Yankees organization (and I) had already cried foul due to the unfair schedule that the Yankees had to endure before the 2:00PM Mets game. So we were preparing and bracing ourselves for a loss. Sure enough, Carlos Delgado single-handedly defeated the Yankees in the day game, with 9 RBI. Although A-Rod, Betemit, Cano, and Melky did well, the Yankees pitching was horrible, allowing 15 runs. Final score 15-6 in da Bronx.

Dan Giese (1-3, 3.50) had his first bad appearance of the year (6 runs in 4 IP), while Edwar Ramirez, Ross Ohlendorf, and LaTroy Hawkins did nothing to stop the bleeding (a combined 9 runs in 5IP). [Ross, 6.53, was sent down to AAA after this game.]

Across town at Shea Stadium, the night game was dominated by the Yankees, as Sidney Ponson (5-1, 3.50) defeated Pedro Martinez (2-2, 7.12) 9-0.

Sidney proved me wrong, and made Brian Cashman look like a genius. And I’m happy for that. Sidney got out of jams, Shea Stadium style, and went 6 innings. Farnsworth, Veras, and the recalled Kei Igawa completed the shutout, hurling one inning each.

The offense was brought to you by Bobby Abreu (4-4), Robinson Cano (HR), and Jose Molina (2 hits).

Thankfully, the Yankees dominated the night game, so the New York MEDIA is fully on their side, and the 15-6 lopsided Mets victory is seen as a fluke since the Yanks had a poor schedule, and poorer pitching.

Anyway, congrats to Sidney Ponson.

Now, onto my review of the METS BROADCASTING TEAM of Keith Hernandez, Gary Cohen, and Ron Darling:
It’s “amazing” how all three worked in Queens when Tim McCarver was in his prime, and they hated when he criticized players, management, MEDIA, and ballclubs- yet that is exactly what all three have become- wannabe Tim McCarvers.

Ron Darling is the worst of all three. He sounds like he’s 60 years old, and at a Chicago bar, rambling about pitching. “Ronnie”- who has lost his Hawaiian model looks- not to mention his memory- called out SHAWN CHACON for hitting his General Manager, who is such a small man. It seems like Ronnie is forgetting that he and BUDDY HARRELSON had a swingout in the Mets dugout on WOR-9 years ago. Ronnie also called Trot Nixon, “Otis Nixon”. Methinks Ronnie had too many piña coladas in the 1980’s.

As far as Keith Hernandez goes- he is a no-nonsense straight shooter who calls out both Mets and Yankees alike. He’s a trouble-maker, and just adds to the misery of the Shea faithful. He, like McCarver, focuses on the minute details of baserunning, cut-off men, the proper way to slide, holding runners, pitch-counts, and other small things that take the focus away from the simplicity of the great game of baseball. Keith also said that the Yankees hitters are not as dominant as when the team was in its “heyday”.

Gary Cohen…Yankees hater. Why? What did they ever do to do? He spent some time describing all of Sidney Ponson’s criminal history and personality flaws, when he should have been praising him for kicking Pedro Martinez’s ugly butt 9-0 last night.

In other words, all three announcers take everything way too seriously, like YES’s Michael Kay. It’s like they feel they have stock in the company or something. I’ll take Joe Morgan any day of the week.

Watching the Mets play at Shea, and listening to those 3 announcers made me LONG for hearing Bob Murphy on the radio or good old RALPH KINER on TV. Bob Murphy was THE best play-by-play man, and Ralph Kiner may have messed up the names of players, but he was 100% entertaining and never openly called out and embrassed players, management, or ownership. He never speculated about things. Ralph is probably one of the most underrated announcers in New York history. I’d rather listen to him now than Darling, Keith, and Cohen- who take themselves too seriously.

I’m probably being a little bit too hard on those three, as I’m sure they have value, but with all the bullcrap that the Mets have been through these last few years, I was hoping that they would just call the game without inserting their skewed opinions, snap judgments, and speculations about what Jerry Manuel is telling Pedro in the dugout, or how the Yankees and Mets are both “old teams”.

Transactions and Injuries
Godzilla was put on the DL due to his knees.
Ohlendorf is back to Scranton, and Igawa got recalled.
Ponson is on the team for at least a couple of more starts to see if he is the real deal.