Thursday, September 24, 2015 headlines: New York Mets Statements on Yogi Berra


Cal Ripken Jr. says Mets pitcher Matt Harvey is in 'no-win situation'



Download 347.03 Kb.
Page7/7
Date18.10.2016
Size347.03 Kb.
#2108
1   2   3   4   5   6   7

Cal Ripken Jr. says Mets pitcher Matt Harvey is in 'no-win situation'
BILL PRICE, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Cal Ripken Jr., a man who didn’t take a day off for 16 years, was in town Wednesday with Ron Darling promoting TBS’ coverage of the National League playoffs.
When asked about the controversy surrounding Matt Harvey and his innings limits, baseball’s Iron Man said the Dark Knight of Gotham is in a “no-win situation.”
“It’s gotta be really, really hard for him,” Ripken said on the lastest episode of the Daily News SportsTalk podcast. “The only way he can win is if he pitches maybe once in each series and the Mets go on to win the World Series, then the story has a happy ending.”
He added that if he were Harvey, he would get as much info as he could from the doctors and then decide if he should “assume the risk,” especially with the Mets so close to the postseason.
“To me, the sad part about it is when you are right here on the edge of making the playoffs, you don’t know if you are going to be back in that situation again,” said Ripken, the 19-time All-Star. “Your team is fighting to try to win the World Series, they feel this is their best opportunity and you want to try to put your best foot forward, so it’s a really difficult situation to be in.”
Darling, also an analyst for SNY, said it’s been hard to watch Harvey go through this, especially when no one knows for sure if/when an injury can occur.
“You never know when an injury is going to happen, does it happen on pitch 92 or 102? You don’t know,” said Darling. “I find it hard to watch Matt go through this, he’s in a difficult place. I’m not saying he didn’t play a part in it, but he’s 26 years old and all of us would love to have the mistakes we made at 26 years old back.
“And as Cal said, a couple of wins in postseason repairs all of this.”
Daily News Sports Talk Podcast: Cal Ripken Jr. and Ron Darling talk Matt Harvey and innings limits
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Matt Harvey’s innings limits have been the talk of the town this week, and on Wednesday baseball’s Iron Man, Cal Ripken Jr., and former Mets pitcher, Ron Darling weighed in on the whole situation.
Ripken and Darling, who will be calling the National League playoffs for TBS this October, sat down with Daily News sports editor Bill Price for our weekly Daily News sportstalk podcast to discuss Harvey, the passing of Yogi Berra and the upcoming NL playoffs.
Mets’ backing-into-playoff approach is dangerous
KEVIN KERNAN, NEW YORK POST
The Mets would be wise to heed the words of Yogi Berra.

Berra passed away late Tuesday and the Mets had a moment of silence for their former manager Wednesday night at Citi Field.

Considering what happened in their 6-3 loss to the lowly Braves, the Mets still have work to do before they start making postseason plans.

Like Yogi said: It ain’t over ’til it’s over.

This isn’t Panic City, yet, but it’s not a good vibe around the Mets as they dropped two straight to the Braves and head out to play two more terrible teams — the Reds and Phillies — before finishing the season at home with a three-spot against the Nationals.

The Mets can be thankful the Nationals continue to be chokers.

Washington dropped a 4-3 decision to the Orioles to lower the Mets’ magic number to five.

The highlight of the night for the Mets happened in the food room. That’s where they saw the Nationals lose.

“It’s always nice when that magic number shrinks,’’ David Wright said. “Ultimately, we’d like to play better and have that magic number shrink because we’re winning.’’

That would be nice. Right now, backing into the postseason is the favored mode of transportation for the Mets.

If the Mets don’t clean it up, they could be scrambling instead of setting up their postseason plans to perfection.

“It was a poor homestand, but we have some of those young horses going in Cincinnati so maybe we can go win a series and get that much closer,’’ Wright said.

Wright singled in the seventh to tie the game at 3-3, but Freddie Freeman’s three-run home run in the ninth off closer Jeurys Familia was the difference. It was the first home run Familia had allowed since July 30.

Freeman also ripped a pinch-hit double to drive in two runs in the seventh to put the Braves on top, 3-2.

“Freddie is a thorn in our side and I wasn’t expecting to see him [because of a wrist injury]. So he comes off the bench and kills us again,’’ Wright said. “I’ll be glad to get rid of him and Andrelton Simmons and everybody else that beats us up over there.

The Braves, by the way, are 62-91 so it’s not like they are any good — though Wright and manager Terry Collins talked them up like the Greg Maddux Braves.

The Mets have lost five of their last six series at home and are 6-12 in their last 18 games at Citi Field dating to Aug. 14. It’s a home horror show.

Maybe the Mets shouldn’t grab home-field advantage in the NLDS.

Right now the Mets are a team that has lost its edge. They don’t look or act like a playoff team. There is no swagger to the Mets, other than Yoenis Cespedes.

As an offense, it looks like they are just going through the motions, when they should be going for the kill. They have lost their killer instinct and they need to get that back. They also have been playing without much emotion of late.

Until the Mets get rid of the Ghosts of 2007-08, this will be a team with self-doubts.

When the Mets get to Cincinnati, perhaps they will have T-shirts at their lockers proclaiming: “Finish the job!’’

On Wednesday night, the Mets allowed Freeman, the only true power hitter in the Braves lineup, to do them in and he didn’t even start the game.

Since 2012, Freeman has 15 home runs and 61 RBIs against the Mets.

The Mets could use a little offense like that before it’s too late.

Wright said he knows it’s a problem.

“We need to do a better job offensively of tacking on runs — we had chances and let them off the hook,’’ he said.

Again, it’s the Braves.

The Dodgers in the playoffs will be another story — especially facing Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke, who was scratched from Wednesday night’s start because of a sore calf.

“Right now we’re not giving our pitchers much room for error,’’ Wright said.

Heed Yogi’s words Mets, and get this over.

Terry Collins says Mets need to get back to being patient at the plate
GREG LOGAN, NEWSDAY
Hitting might be cyclical, but Mets manager Terry Collins believes the recent drop-off in production during the nine-game homestand that ended Wednesday night can be attributed to a recent increase in strikeouts.

"One of the things we're getting away from is our chase rate is up a little bit, which is something we have not been doing," Collins said before the rubber game against the Braves. "We've been making pitchers bring the ball in the strike zone. Look at what we did on the road. You've still got to be patient enough to make sure you're getting balls you can handle."

Collins also acknowledged the Mets hit better on the road after their previous two homestands, so, he's hopeful the tide will turn during a seven-game road trip to the hitter's parks in Cincinnati and Philadelphia.

"For six years, I've said this is not an easy place to hit," Collins said of Citi Field. "It never has been. It's a big park still, even though we've made adjustments to it. There's wind factors a lot of times. We live and die with power, and this is a tough place to have power."

Rest helping Wright

David Wright's home run Tuesday was his first at Citi Field since returning from the disabled list on Aug. 24. His average in those 22 games entering Wednesday night was .297 with nine extra-base hits, eight RBIs and 16 runs scored.

"I think he's swinging great," said Collins, who is giving Wright regular days off. "When he plays three or four in a row, he gets that general body stiffness.

"I told him today the difference in the day after the day off is unbelievable. His bat speed is so much different and the energy level. I just know that, after this winter, he's going to be healthy."

Extra bases

The Mets held a moment of silence before the game to honor the passing of Yogi Berra . . . Relief pitcher Carlos Torres (leg) will perform pitcher's fielding drills Thursday . . . Juan Uribe (sore chest) took batting practice Wednesday after sitting out a couple of games.



Mets' bullpen has tough time on homestand
JOE TREZZA, MLB.COM
Like a hungry man salivating at the sight of a hamburger commercial, Terry Collins watched on television and wanted what he saw. He'd seen it for years, teams riding rock-solid bullpens to October success, each arm thriving in their specific role. What the three-headed monster of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland did for Kansas City last postseason comes particularly to mind.
"We thought we had that scenario when we left Spring Training," Collins said recently.

Much has changed. In March, Collins figured Jeurys Familia and Bobby Parnell would supply a solid bridge to Jenrry Mejia in the ninth. As October approaches, Mejia has been suspended twice, Parnell marooned to mop-up duty and it's been Familia handling the ninth, for months now. He's been brilliant, the three runs allowed in Wednesday's 6-3 loss to the Braves aside.

But the Mets still don't have an automatic bridge, despite the early returns of Tyler Clippard, Addison Reed and other acquisitions. This homestand, over which the Mets limped to a 3-6 record against the Marlins, Yankees and Braves, only reinforced that.

"It's the same thing we talked about last night," Collins said Wednesday.

Collins has been talking about it all week. And while most of the conversation has yo-yoed between New York's suddenly struggling offense and its starting-pitching restrictions, the bullpen woes are beginning to creep to the surface again after weeks on the back burner.

Mets relievers posted a 6.42 ERA in 28 innings this homestand, over which eight different pitchers were touched for multiple-run innings. That number doesn't include Reed, who allowed all three runners he inherited Wednesday to score (those were charged to starter Bartolo Colon).

Who it does include is every other pitcher Collins will rely on to get big outs if the Mets make the postseason, which would be his first as a manager and the Mets' first since 2006. Hansel Robles struggled Sunday night against the Yankees, and his own errant throw to third base was the only reason just one of his five runs allowed was earned.

Clippard, who allowed two runs Tuesday before working a scoreless frame Wednesday, has given up six runs over his past five innings. Carlos Torres, Erik Goeddel and Sean Gilmartin qualify as offenders. And Wednesday the virus spread even to Familia. He had allowed just one earned run over his last 25 innings before surrendering Freddie Freeman's go-ahead three-run homer in the ninth.

"That's about as uncommon as anything we've seen in a long time," Collins said.

"You like it when your seventh-, eighth- and ninth-inning guys have a lead, hopefully a couple of runs to play with, so they don't have to be so perfect and so fine," Mets third baseman David Wright said.

The good news for the Mets is, they still have time. Clippard allowed just one run over his first 20 appearances with New York, and Reed has still technically not allowed a run since coming over from the D-backs on Aug. 30. They'll have to rebound if the Mets plan to make a deep October push, because no more reinforcements are on the way.

Collins' quote from Tuesday about the starting rotation rings true for his relievers as well: "These are the guys we got," he said.



Rookie Matz can move Mets closer in Cincinnati
JOE TREZZA, MLB.COM
The Mets' magic number will sit at five when Steven Matz opposes Josh Smith to start a four-game series in Cincinnati on Thursday, which means champagne mixed with skyline chili could be on the horizon.
New York would prefer not to wait until returning home Oct. 2 to clinch its first postseason berth since 2006, especially since it still sports a 6 1/2-game lead on the Nationals in the National League East despite losing six of nine.

The Reds enter play having lost four straight. Thursday will mark the second start for Smith (0-2, 7.71) after two relief appearances followed his callup from Triple-A Louisville on Sept. 8.

For the Mets, it begins a seven-game road trip and represents a return to normalcy of sorts. After a month of skipping, pushing and holding back their young frontline starters, New York will feature its four most dynamic arms in succession. Matt Harvey (starting Saturday) and Noah Syndergaard (Friday) remain on pitch and innings limits to varying degrees. But Matz (4-0, 1.80) should face few restrictions when he toes the rubber Thursday for his sixth Major League start.

Things to know about this game

• When Smith takes the mound, it'll mark the 54th consecutive game that Cincinnati has started a rookie pitcher. The Reds have already set the Major League record for such a streak, bypassing the 1902 Cardinals in September.

• The Mets are 23-15 all-time at Great American Ball Park, good for a winning percentage (.605) better than any other NL team, including the Reds (.525).

• Matz made his Major League debut June 28 against Cincinnati, dazzling with 7 2/3 strong innings and four RBIs at the plate.

Experienced Colon should start in postseason
BARRY M. BLOOM, MLB.COM
The Mets will undoubtedly win the National League East and make the postseason even though they are limping to the finish line.
And when they get there, manager Terry Collins and the baseball operations team is going to have to figure out how to fit the seemingly ageless Bartolo Colon into the rotation.

"That, is a big question," Juan Uribe said after the Braves stunned the Mets, 6-3, on Freddie Freeman's three-run, ninth-inning homer off closer Jeurys Familia on Wednesday night at Citi Field.

With all the controversy surrounding young starters Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard, Colon simply takes the ball every five days and pitches. At 42, the right-hander looks like he should be pitching in a beer league, but he's tossed a staff-high 188 2/3 innings so far this season.

And nobody is worried about his pitch count, cumulative innings pitched or his arm falling off. Colon has 10 postseason starts on his resume. The other five starters have a grand total of zero. That's the kind of experience a team wants and needs when it gets to the postseason.

"I know what you're saying," Uribe said. "But I'm just a player. I'm not the manager. I don't make those decisions."

On Wednesday night, Colon allowed only one infield single through the first five innings and pitched unscathed out of a first and third, one-out situation in the sixth. Collins came out and got him with the bases jammed and one out in the seventh.

When he left in lieu of Addison Reed, the Mets had a 2-0 lead. Two batters later, including a two-run, pinch-hit double by Freeman, that lead was gone and the Mets were behind by a run.

Colon had tossed just 75 pitches at the time and Collins might as well have given him another chance to wiggle out of the situation. It couldn't have turned out any worse.

"He was tremendous," Collins said when asked about Colon's performance. "I didn't see too many good swings against him the entire night. Just, all of a sudden, they got some hits and I went to a guy who has been pitching brilliantly. [Colon] was outstanding."

That's the point, isn't it? Colon spots the ball well and doesn't walk many batters, 24 on the season. He gives the Mets a chance to win, which is all a manager can ask.

The Mets will probably face the Dodgers in the NL Division Series, barring a historic collapse in the last 10 days by either of the teams. Despite a disappointing homestand in which the Mets lost six of the nine games, they hit the road for four in Cincinnati and three in Philadelphia with a 6 1/2-game lead and 10 to play.

The Nationals have picked up three games in the standings since the homestand began with a Mets win over the Marlins on Sept. 14. It could have been much worse if Washington hadn't lost to the Orioles the last two days while the Braves were beating the Mets.

Still up for grabs is home-field advantage in the best-of-five series with the Dodgers, who now hold the narrowest of leads.

Collins knows the Mets will face Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke in the first two games regardless of whether the series opens in New York or Los Angeles. If the Mets can somehow split those two games, they'll have an advantage.

"If they start Harvey, deGrom and Syndergaard you have to like their chances," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said before the game.

You'd figure those young right-handers will indeed get the first three games even if their innings are limited by either performance or overuse.

It would make sense to have the lefties, Steven Matz and Jon Niese, in the bullpen for immediate backup and give the Dodgers a different look in the middle innings. That way Dodgers manager Don Mattingly will exhaust his bench early.

Thus, Colon is a perfect choice for Game 4, tossing his funky offspeed stuff after the bevy of hard throwers. But right now, there's a little matter of nailing down the division title. The magic number for that to happen is any combination of five Mets wins and Nationals losses.



"I told you before the game that I haven't looked there. I haven't investigated, I haven't even talked about [the postseason rotation] to anybody," Collins said. "We have business to attend to first. [Colon] has one more start left and I need him to pitch as well as he did tonight in that start."

Mets notes: Bats are quiet
CHRIS ISEMAN, THE RECORD
Bats quiet
While trying to clinch the NL East, the Mets' offense fell into a slump at an inopportune time.
They entered this nine-game homestand on a seven-game winning streak, and the powerful lineup was beating up on opposing pitchers.
In the last eight games at Citi Field entering Wednesday, though, Terry Collins' team hadn't been as productive.
With the final week of the regular season approaching, it can't afford to fall into an extended offensive malaise.
Collins said one thing he's noticed is that his hitters have been chasing pitches out of the strike zone, straying from their typical disciplined approach.
"We've been pretty much making pitchers bring the ball into the strike zone," Collins said.
Duda's power outage
Right around the time the Mets bolstered their lineup at the trade deadline, Collins told his team that whoever hits will play. Lucas Duda heard the message loud and clear.
The first baseman went on a tear, hitting nine home runs in eight games.
Then he went on the disabled list with back stiffness Aug. 22.
Since returning from the DL on Sept. 7, Duda was hitting only .154 with only one homer entering Wednesday.
Collins said Duda's been taking extra batting practice because "with him, it's reps that he needs to get."
"We're hoping that he starts to catch fire here right now, this next week," Collins said. "We're going into two places where they're great hitters' parks.
"You want to get in the groove now."
Torres unavailable
Carlos Torres is still dealing with the effects of a strained left calf suffered Sept. 7.
He pitched Sunday against the Yankees, but hasn't been available since.
Collins said Torres will do some fielding today to test the leg.
Mets injury report: How're Juan Uribe, Carlos Torres doing?
MARIA GURADADO, NJ ADVANCE MEDIA
Mets infielder Juan Uribe took batting practice before Wednesday's series finale against the Atlanta Braves and said he feels much better after suffering a deep bone bruise in his chest cavity.
Uribe was injured while making a diving play against the Yankees on Sunday and missed the last two games due to lingering soreness. Manager Terry Collins said he would wait to see how Uribe feels after hitting before determining the veteran's availability against the Braves.
Right-handed reliever Carlos Torres will be kept out of Wednesday's game as his left calf strain continues to be an issue. Collins said Torres plans to test his ailing calf on Thursday to see if he's capable of fielding his position.
"Apparently tomorrow they're going to try to do some pitcher's fielding stuff with him to see how his leg reacts," Collins said. "So that we know that not only is he capable of covering first, but that he can back up the bases, that type of thing. We'll find out more tomorrow."
Mets prospect Gavin Cecchini talks breakout season, Arizona Fall League
MARIA GURADADO, NJ ADVANCE MEDIA
After struggling in his first three minor league seasons, Mets prospect Gavin Cecchini enjoyed a breakout year with Double-A Binghamton in 2015.
The 21-year-old shortstop, who was selected by the Mets in the first round of the 2012 draft, was named the Eastern League Rookie of the Year after hitting .317 with 26 doubles, four triples, seven home runs and 51 RBI. (He also committed 28 errors.)
On Monday, the Mets honored him with another accolade, presenting him with a 2015 Sterling Award, which are given annually to the most valuable players on each of the organization's minor league affiliates.
It's a remarkable turnaround for Cecchini, whose previous career-best batting average in the pros was .273. While his early professional baseball career was also slowed by injures, Cecchini said Monday that he owes his success this year to simply being patient and continuing to work hard to further his development.
"Just staying with the process," said Cecchini, who's currently rated as the Mets' No. 4 prospect, according to MLB.com. "Just staying with what I always do and being myself. Being Gavin and just keep working the way I've always worked. I knew it was just a matter of time.
"Sometimes you need a little time to work things out. This game is about making adjustments and the quicker you can make them the better off you'll be. That's one thing that I've had to learn. I'm going to keep going and keep working hard and being the best player that I can be."
A hip injury cut Cecchini's Double-A season a little short this year, but he'll be back in action next month, as he's been assigned to play in the Arizona Fall League. Cecchini said he plays to use that experience to continue to refine all aspects of his game.
"I'm always working hard on everything," Cecchini said. "Offensively, defensively, baserunning, the mental side. Whenever someone says that they can't get any better at a certain aspect of the game, then they're lying to you. That's when they're going to go down heels home. I'm not just working on one thing, I'm working on everything. Just polishing all my tools and just keep going."
Arizona Fall League play opens on Oct. 13.
How does Mets' Terry Collins feel about being a candidate for National League Manager of the Year?
MARIA GUARDADO, NJ ADVANCE MEDIA
Despite having to deal with injuries, a once-woeful offense and controversies over innings limits, Terry Collins is on track to steer the Mets to their first winning season since 2008.
With the Mets also poised to break their their nine-year playoff drought, Collins' name has deservedly entered the discussion for National League Manager of the Year.
Still, when asked about his candidacy for the award, Collins downplayed his role in the Mets' success this year.
"It's always nice to get an award," the 66-year-old Collins said Tuesday. "But those kind of things -- it's all about the players, believe me. I've talked to a lot of the great managers who have won these awards hundreds and hundreds of times and very few of them have ever said, 'Oh boy, I managed my a** off.' They put the right names in the lineup is what they've done and let them go play.
"It's nice to be mentioned -- you know why? Because our players are playing good. That makes me a lot happier than anything else. If we can finish this off, nothing can top that. With what we've gone through for five years, nothing can top the fact that we've finally given this organization and this fan base something to cheer about."
Autumn Arrives at Citi Field
MARK SINGER, THE NEW YORKER
A hardly impartial witness’s notes on observing the putatively cake-walking-to-the-National-League-East-title New York Metropolitans entertaining weekend visitors from East 161st Street, Bronx, NY:
Friday, 7:15 P.M., exiting the 7 train, ticketless. Reliable intelligence indicates Yankees already on the board, 1–zip.
Scalper (less reliably): “Middle level, behind home plate. These are my seats. I’ll be right next to you. Hundred bucks … Nope … Nope … O.K., ninety.”
Translation: “You’ll be in Section 501, the uppermost, outermost, beyond-the-foul-line reach of right field, three rows from the top, and the nearest familiar face will be that of Curtis Granderson, miles below, patrolling right. On your left will be Andrew, a thirteen-year-old purportedly pretty good pitcher from the Island; next to him is his brother, Jesse, eight; and they might as well have stayed in their living room, in Patchogue, because the only game capable of engaging either will be on Andrew’s phone or Jesse’s iPad.”
* * *
Bottom sixth: Elsewhere in Section 501, seven members of the Class of 2013, Robert F. Kennedy Community High School, Flushing, Queens—five outlier Yankeephiles (Michael Gottlieb, Chris Regan, Nick Liotta, Ron Baxter, Walter Spangenberg) and two loyal Metsies (Joe Bursch, Alex Plavnicky)—are greeted by the Bud Light-hoisting father of an absent friend. He wears a visiting-team jersey with “9” on the back—Graig Nettles’s old number, evoking the most operatic Steinbrenner years, when seriously hating the Bombers was an honorable enterprise.
Number 9: “Greetings, my brothers of different mothers and fathers. What’s going on?”
Instanter, Daniel Murphy goes deep to right-center, the second of three Mets homers that will seal a 5–1 “W.”
* * *
Heading home, Corey Mittenberg, a resident of Elmont, and his friend Kristen Chiacchia, of Bushwick, clad mostly in black, are the happiest Goths on the subway platform. Amply inked and ghostly pale, pierced sufficiently to trigger a metal detector, Kristen wears a sparkly Jacob DeGrom jersey. Corey, a lifer with his own engraved brick embedded in the Citi Field Fanwalk, sports a custom-made Mets shirt. Number on back: “0.” Above that: “Sisyphus.”
* * *
Saturday, 1:05 P.M.: Second of three sell-outs. Again, the Yankees begin unloading the lumber before the stragglers summit the escalators. This time, they’ve brought a bigger truck. Jacoby Ellsbury leads off with a soft single to center and Brett Gardner does likewise, setting up the creaky but still-great erstwhile Met Carlos Beltrán, who strokes a perfect nine-iron shot to the right-field upper deck.
Unfortunate coincidence: on inflatable-thundersticks-giveaway day, the home team has brought no thunder. Down by five runs in the sixth, they stir faintly before capitulating. The stands begin to hemorrhage.
* * *
Sunday, 8:08 P.M.: Matt Harvey, possessor of the most fetishized arm in the tri-state area, is on the mound and in form, and for once the top of the first goes one-two-three. His opposite, CC Sabbathia, roller-coasters from the get-go—lead-off doubles, two Ks, two BBs, bases loaded, thirty-two pitches—and somehow gets off the hook only one run down.
The stadium reverberates with bilateral bonhomie—LET’S GO YANK-EES! … LETS GO METS! LET’S GO YANK-EES! … LET’S GO METS!—the evening zipping along until, after five splendid innings (seventy-seven pitches, one hit, one walk, seven strike-outs), Harvey gets benched by a committee of investment advisers.
Cue the wheels coming off. Yanks, top of sixth: two-run double by Beltrán, three-run dinger by Dustin Ackley. Mets: two infield errors. On a dime, autumn arrives.
By the time a certain Yankee named Rodriguez pinch-hits in the eighth, even the boos are perfunctory, lowercase. Five more runners cross the plate. Dust clears. Infield stands as bare as grocery shelves on hurricane eve.
The bitter-enders in the left-field bleachers include Coleman Feeney and Melissa Greco, of Astoria. Melissa’s parents and brother just spent five hours driving from Guilford, Connecticut; sat in traffic on the Grand Central Parkway long enough to watch forty-seven planes land at LaGuardia; finally showed up at the bottom of the fourth; departed in the middle of the eighth (“Tomorrow’s a work day”), and went home happy. Yankee fans.
Not so Coleman and Melissa. “We’ve been together four years,” he said. “Our tradition has been to come in September and sit out here in the cheapest seats. Last year, we had the entire outfield to ourselves. I’ve been a fan for twenty-five years. A week ago, we were watching a game at home and Keith Hernandez said something along the lines of ‘The Nationals are done. This race is over.’ I told Melissa, ‘That’s a curse. This is the beginning of the end.’ You can never be too careful. I don’t think they’re going to botch it, but I’m very aware that they can.”
* * *
Monday, 12 A.M.: Slow walk to the exit. Weekend tally: 130,803 paid, twenty-four runs, forty-six hits, four errors (all Mets), one XL Mets T-shirt, one Matt Harvey bobblehead, one deflated orange thunderstick.
No. 7 express to Queensboro Plaza. Front of train occupied by concession-stand workers, some chatting in Spanish, but most quiet and looking exhausted after another shift shovelling fries and chicken fingers. Among them, Eric Ramirez, wearing a green Jets jacket and a black Yankees cap. For ten years, he’s worked Mets games at Shea and Citi Field, Yankees games in the Bronx, and Rangers and Knicks games in the Garden, unless he’s playing in a winter baseball league in Ponce, Puerto Rico.
Whom does he root for?
“The home team. Wherever I am.”
And when they play each other?
“That’s a no-win situation.”

Download 347.03 Kb.

Share with your friends:
1   2   3   4   5   6   7




The database is protected by copyright ©ininet.org 2024
send message

    Main page