I suppose I could take care of Sunday’s game by writing Saturday’s post backwards: The Mets zoomed from amazing back to confounding, the offense was crummy, they wound up way behind before the merciful conclusion, and a few hours later the Phillies kicked them out of first place. And all this against the Giants, who fooled people with some early-season eyewash before reverting to being a fundamentally unsound team that can’t play defense and sometimes appears less than interested in the other aspects of baseball.
The highlights? Francisco Lindor hit a home run in the brief pre-debacle part of the game. Austin Warren pitched effectively in bulk relief, for which he’ll undoubtedly be rewarded with a bunch of HR paperwork. Luis Torrens didn’t give up a run, which Ryne Stanek sure can’t say. With the Mets down to a last out in a foregone conclusion, Mark Vientos and Francisco Alvarez didn’t give away ABs and put two runs’ worth of lipstick on the pig.
It’s not a lot to celebrate.
David Stearns has had a pretty good eye for reclamation projects, but it’s getting late for Frankie Montas to add his name to that list. Listening to Montas miss locations and turn his head to watch balls head up gaps and over walls, I kept thinking to myself that it might be time for the Mets to choose an alternate strategy, the exact details of which are to be filled in but which can be broadly summed up as Not Frankie Montas.
The Mets have talked up Nolan McLean and Brandon Sproat, both of whom stayed at the trade deadline and are increasingly looking like the lessons they need to learn can only be learned against big-league hitters. Surely a C- with some encouraging teacher comments for McLean or Sproat would be better than another F or D- hitting the desk for Montas. (Speaking of teacher comments, let’s just say Carlos Mendoza‘s postgame review of Montas didn’t drip encouragement: “He has to be better.”)
One other thing did stand out as praiseworthy from Sunday’s game: We were listening to the radio feed, and Howie Rose noted it was the 21st anniversary of Bob Murphy’s death. Howie spent the better part of an inning reminiscing about the father of Mets radio, and he was warm and wise, offering an affectionate look at the past that never strayed into grousing about the present. He also talked movingly about Murph’s last years, not sugarcoating the sadness of watching a great broadcaster in decline. Howie praised Murph’s ability to stay optimistic even during a game that was a lost cause, giving Mets fans something to think about and enjoy; he gave his mentor the best possible honor by doing the same.
Until he leaves the team it’ll bug the heck out of me that we could have signed Severino for the same annual money as Montas. He just wanted a third year.
I’m ready to see McLean. Could be Sproat but McLean’s been a low walk pitcher all season, not just the last month.
Murphy was the Mets to a kid growing up in the Catskills listening on his radio.
I would hypothesize that McLean’s stuff (which is slider heavy with terrific movement) will play better at the next level than Sproat’s heavy yet straight fastball. Montas has shown many teams over the years what he is — a somehwhat tantalizing tease who can’t put it all together. I see his sole utility if he continues to start will be to eat some innings and regularly back-up homeplate. I don’t anticipate Stearns rushing Tong to the majors, although I find him the most intriguing of the 3 main SP prospects. The Mets are run like a hedge fund now — the starting pitching value at the deadline did not match the opportunity so they passed. They are also running this team for the long haul, which is a welcome relief from former Mets ownership’s predilection to follow the advice of blathering (paid and volunteer) voices on WFAN and similar outlets. I also agree that Bob Murphy = Mets to many of us.
Although Howie has not lost a step during his broadcasts, and undoubtedly takes better care of himself than Murphy, it was impossible to miss the foreshadowing (intentional or not) in his remarks about “not traveling with the ball club” and winding down towards retirement (hopefully much, much longer than Murph’s). It’s been evident that over the last few years, the club and its broadcasters have been trying out candidates to take the reins from not only Rose but all three of GKR on SNY. All four are now in the Mets Hall of Fame; the only thing that precludes them from forming the second “golden age” of Mets broadcasting ( the first being Lindsey, Ralph and Bob) is calling or commenting on-air during a world championship season. I enjoyed the walk down memory lane but the game itself, and my own recent retirement, left me a bit melancholy about the prospects for that happening.
Post Lindsey, Bob Murphy and Gary Thorne were the voices of the Mets in the glory years of the 80’s. I will never forget his call of Orosco striking out Kevin Bass to end Game 6 of the 1986 NLCS. I like Howie, but he’s no Murph. Howie’s best work was with Mets Extra, which was his forte.
I think it’s all due to your own personal taste, but to me Howie was never better than with Josh Lewin, although I did like Wayne Randazzo quite a bit.
What I hope the Mets are thinking about is putting together broadcast teams that represent some institutional memory. The three TV teams that have had the most success each have a unique perspective on the franchise. Nelson, Kiner and Murphy were there from the beginning, and could take us back to those days by remembering every error, malaprop and ultimately triumph of 1962-76, including the 1969 and 1973 triumphs. The next team I remember was McCarver, Kiner and Zabriskie, and Thorne and Murphy on the radio; they were all excellent but other than Ralph on TV and Bob on the radio, lacked much of a personal perspective on the franchise. But they did have the honor of calling the 1984-86 seasons, and at least bonded with fans over that ultimate triumph. But what we have now is a quartet of broadcasters ( Howie, Gary, Keith and Ron) who either grew up as Mets fans and/or played on that 1986 team, so among them they cover the history of the entire 60 years of Metdom. The great irony is that I think most of that quartet , like most fans who are in or approaching their seventies, are hanging on to call (or see) a third Mets championship season.
When eventually they leave the stage, I know that will be almost impossible to replace, as the team is now in its seventh decade, and no one person can possibly have that kind of institutional memory. From what I read, most current Mets fans were born after at least 1969 – and probably a significant percentage after 1986 – and seem to focus most on the Piazza/Wright/Reyes years as their touchstone. So the club is rightfully focusing on Zeile, Reyes, Murphy etc., to appeal to those fans (I’ve liked all three on their various tryouts). But Nelson, Murph, Gary, Howie etc. were/are professional broadcasters. I don’t think a team of all ex-players would work very well. So I’m really interested in Gelbs, Raad, etc. getting some more opportunities to call games both on TV and radio. If Lewin or Randazzo can be lured back, so much the better but I wonder if in this day and age, the sun belt is more attractive; and while I think Kevin Burkhardt would have been a worthy successor to Gary he’s now calling Super Bowls with Tom Brady.
Those of us who remember Lindsey, Ralph, and Bob, well know that Lindsey was the leader and the greatest of them all. Why his microphone is not in the rafters is a tragic disgrace. To think that any one of GKR might go up there before Lindsey Nelson is just plain sick. They all suck, anyway.
I don’t totally agree, but GKR long ago became enraptured with their iconic status and tended towards lazy self-parody. Lately I’ve become most irked by Gary Cohen, who needs to learn 1) that he is not funny 2) that he should never, NEVER sing and 3) he is not the ultimate authority on all things baseball.
Could not agree more, Rudin.
Gary is an unfunny schmuck who thinks he is the funniest guy in the world. Further, if one of the other kiss-asses makes a somewhat humorous reference, Gary has to continue the reference just to show us (and them) that he gets it, and that he knows more than anybody.
I would pay Gary Cohen NOT to sing.