A presidential candidate once tried to win votes by suggesting his opponent had shown poor judgment in selecting a running mate. The candidate, Hubert Humphrey, ran an ad that revealed a television screen bearing the message “Agnew for Vice-President?” accompanied by the sound of hysterical laughter. It’s considered a classic of the genre.
Of course, Humphrey lost the election, Agnew became vp, Nixon wound up president and, as ridiculous as it sounds after the events of the ninth inning in Philadelphia this afternoon-turned-evening, Billy Wagner is the Mets’ representative in the upcoming Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
Not Ollie Perez, who threw seven sparkling shutout innings.
Not Carlos Beltran, who drove in the Mets’ only two runs of regulation.
Not Fernando Tatis, who crushed the twelfth-inning homer that gave the Mets a blessed reprieve.
Not Joe Smith, who gutted out 2-1/3 innings of solid relief for the win.
Not Jose Reyes, who went 3-for-6, stole two bases and scored what loomed clearly as the insurance run.
Not David Wright, who barehanded a potential stick of dynamite in the eleventh.
Not Carlos Delgado, who calmly worked a walk to set up Tatis’ clutch swing.
Not Damion Easley, who bunted Delgado over to exert pressure on Chad Durbin.
Not Scott Schoeneweis, who recorded ten strikes in twelve pitches to secure two lifesaving outs.
Not Pedro Feliciano who waited out a 2:48 rain delay and re-emerged to fan Ryan Howard in one-two-three fashion.
Not Aaron Heilman who finished off the eighth after Feliciano got his man.
Not Endy Chavez, who made a sensational catch before the rains poured down.
Not Brian Schneider, who crouched for three innings more than it appeared he would need to.
Nope, none of those who contributed to the Mets’ dramatic 4-2 win over the first-place Phillies were named to the National League All-Star team Sunday. Billy Wagner, who served up a two-out, two-strike, game-tying home run in the ninth inning to Jayson Werth, much as he was serving ’em up with regularity to various Padres and Diamondbacks a month or so ago? He, for now, is your sole 2008 New York Met All-Star.
Because we won, it’s to laugh.
Insane game, in that it was a game they had no business losing and then a game they had no business winning.
I'm finished with Wagner. He's basically a rich man's Benitez at this point; just the guy you want to close unless the game really means something.
amazing.
Billy Benitez?
Braden Wagner?
Insightful write-up. You are right that it is a laugher because of the result. We are now .500. We have a damn good chance of being in first place before a week and two days. We play SF and COL for the series' heading into the AS Break. I'm glad that DW or Jose or Beltran aren't there this year. I'd rather they have the rest.
However, I do want the NL east to represent this year and get a W. I'd like home field against the Rays in Shea's last year here.
Sounds like a lyric to a song. hmm
This column is hella-funny.
Oh, the irony. Wagner is slipping dangerously into Armando territory. Great column.
i agree the lads would do better getting the rest, but i do think it sucks dinosaur eggs that the all-star game being held crosstown will not have a single mets daily player.
you know the subtheme for at least some of the local coverage will be how the mets are permanent second-class citizens of new york baseball.
It wouldn't shock me if the Paranoid Progeny of the Bronx Baron might have had a say in this situation…
I wanted to post this in the previos thread in response to the Giambi-moustache caomment, but the captcha option seems to have disappeared, so I'll do it here.
Here is some rare footage of Jason Giambi's recent visit to Arthur Avenue.
For once, you can't fault the fans for their voting – Chipper and his .380 BA (!) and Hanley and his all-around game deserve the starts. But the players voted in Aramis Ramirez and Steroids Tejada over David and Jose! I wonder just how disliked those two are among their ML brethren.
Ordinarily I love the All Star Game – the pomp, the pageantry. This year, the absence of deserving Mets and the nausea generated by the sheer volume of Yankee Stadium weepiness may make it unwatchable.
I hate Wagner about ten million times more than I ever hated Benitez, who IMO caught more abuse simply by virtue of having less ability than Wagner in crafting a brand image in the marketplace.
Indignation is usually as much fun as pride where your team's All-Star selections are concerned. On paper and probably on the field, room could have been made for David and Jose with little legit blowback, especially given the city where the game is taking place, but I sort of approve their omission (though I voted the David ticket in the Last Man balloting after not voting at all for the first time I can remember) in that the Mets need to be reminded as a collective that they can't coast on their reputations. I hope I can write something next year to the effect of “can you believe the 2008s these guys had and they weren't even All-Stars? What a sham!” Like I said, indignation can be fun.
I'm looking for alternate entertainment the night of July 15.
What started yesterday as a standard “a shame my guy having a good year didn't get picked” answer from Joe Girardi regarding a question about Mike Mussina not going (which surprised me, too) ended up with one of those “he's a Yankee, he'd appreciate it more than most” answers that makes you want to pull somebody else's hair out. Even allowing for the locale, there was just this air of “it's our game, how dare they not pick another Yankee?” presumptuousness to the response. Perhaps it's the raw hatred talking but it felt of a piece with the “you can't let David Ortiz 'call his shot' in the home run derby here” bluster.