Reviews

Dog Days Are Here for Mets

7/10/2019

Hey, kids, don't emulate Jeff McNeil with the analytics people watching.

New York City will clean up the tickertape from the parade for the soccer champions on Wednesday. But who will clean up the Mets?

This is the lament of a Mets fan facing the dog days of summer – jealous as hell about the Yankees’ talented young players starting with that nice Aaron Judge, but not able to switch allegiances.

For a Mets’ fan, what is there? More than half the major-league teams stink, either through ineptitude or lack of money, and the Mets would seem to suffer from both.

They are now going to divest themselves of some players who were supposed to be part of a contending team this season. Now begins the ugly dance of summer for bad franchises – when players get sent away.

The Mets’ TV caught Zack Wheeler skulking in a corner of the dugout the other day, and the knowing commentary was that he might be making his last start as a Met last Sunday (which turned out to be a stinker, surprise, surprise.)

So what does a fan have left? As a Mets fan in my certified old age, I go on line daily to read the New York Post’s fine sports section to find out what is happening with the Mets.

But some things a fan can figure out for oneself. The closest thing to “fun” for the rest of this season could be Jeff McNeil winning the batting title He is currently leading the league with .349, despite the Mets’ brain trust having hoped he would be crowded off the roster by opening day.

If Jed Lowrie – 35 years old, career average .262 – had not suffered some kind of lingering injury (it really doesn’t matter), my feeling is the Mets would have been playing him ahead of McNeil. Even so, McNeil has been banished from his best defensive position, second base, currently deeded to the ghost of Robinson Canó, trying to come back after a suspension for a performance-enhancing drug.

McNeil’s skills are throwbacks to another era – that is to say, Tony Gwynn or Wade Boggs, hitters who knew how to stroke a pitched ball to a vacant patch of fair territory. This conflicts with the analytics promoted by techies in a dark room somewhere in New Shea Stadium. Launch Arc! The techies insist. And the Mets’ management seems to go along.

The general manager is a reforming agent named Brodie Van Wagenen, who apparently tossed a chair to demonstrate his manly-man qualities during a post-game tirade with his coaching staff. And the manager is Mickey Callaway, emphatically not from this franchise, who makes me appreciate, more every day, the old-school style of Terry Collins.

What do Mets’ fans have?

The Post’s Joel Sherman praises management for allowing Pete Alonso to make the team on opening day rather than tying him up in the minors to keep a legal hold on him for another season. Alonso won the home-run derby and drove in two runs in the All-Star Game and has 30 homers this season. Sherman compares Alonso’s run with Jeremy Lin’s short, furious spurt with the Knicks a few years ago. He calls Alonso “a rose floating in sewage.”

Jacob DeGrom is looking more and more grim as he faces years of pitching six great innings and watching the bullpen blow it.

And Jeff McNeil, reviving an unwanted art, is hitting it where they ain’t, as Wee Willie Keeler exemplified more than a century ago.

The Mets also have Gary, Keith and Ron in the TV booth. Their informed excellence makes it hard for me to watch network baseball.

That’s it. The dog days.
Where have you gone, Megan Rapinoe?

Hansen Alexander

7/10/2019 01:03:44 pm

Oh no George,

Tell me you did NOT write about the Mets on this historic day in which Megan Lapanoe and Alex Morgan joyously passed Veuve Clicquot back and forth on the float while hamming it up with their goal scoring celebration signs, shouting at the crowd after stealing the microphone from Channel 7's reporter, it all being recorded on their instagrams, both sights and sounds, and thus broadcast instantly around the world. Taube and I were at the 200 block of Broadway, right on the metal barrier, and my friend, this was a celebration of the ages, no boring male athletes weakly smiling on this morning. The photogenic Alex Morgan, who could make a fortune in movies or in modeling (her swim suit work shows that each year in Sport Illustrated) not afraid to play second fiddle to Rapinoe, and my friend, that's CONFIDENCE. No sign for a nano second in France that her identical statistics in the World Cup to Rapinoe should have meant she should have won all the awards. Morgan is the most dynamic team player since Joe Namath used to run out on the field after each defensive stop and high five his Jets. with these two stars leading the way, the team sang its way up Broadway. This was a patriotic soccer crowd and early attempts to get an "Equal Pay" chant going quickly fizzled out. It made a short comeback when the equal pay leader herself, Morgan, demanded, and got, the chant for a few seconds right in front of us. If Rapinoe is the new darling of the adults, the press, and all things against Individual No. 1, Morgan is the darling of the young girls and young women: there were Morgan look- a- likes all over the street, complete with her signature, classic Polaroid sunglasses which have made such a fashion comeback this year. In fact, one Morgan look-a-like behind me looked more like Morgan herself and I had to do a double take. The real Morgan has either dyed her hair a lot or is growing grey early, as the roots of her hair were visible in red streaks in the middle of all that silky, long black hair. Indeed not a few of the female US Soccer officials themselves were made up to look like Morgan as well, as they waved from the early floats in the parade. Mayor Blasio, of course, got his bit of the action by standing behind Rapinoe and Morgan, but it was like standing behind Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin in their heyday, so he was upstaged by the photogenic two. Rapinoe is no Morgan in looks, but you got to have the "it" to be the love life of Jennifer bird, the most entertaining basketball guard since Sam Jones. And what Rapinoe has is that sudden sense of drama, and perfect timing, as she calmly stretches our her arms, lowers them, teases the crowd with a slight up turn, and then boldly raises her arms like a skilled ballet dancer. While their Coach rode an early float, and was only recognized by a few of us, Governor Andrew Cuomo, the recipient of much weight gain since I last saw him walk majestically through Penn Station in his days as HUD secretary, was relegated to a later float. Against the family tradition of showing up with tired, droopy eyes, for public events, looking like they had spent a sleepless night preparing just to talk to you, Andrew had a splendid tan and looked like he went to bed early last night.

George Vecsey

7/10/2019 03:25:50 pm

Dear Hansen: I could afford to move on to the Next Big Thing (!) because I knew you would contribute the on-the-spot reporting and analysis of the parade. The check is in the mail, dude.
Thank you for your enlightened vision of the parade and the leading figures.
Cuomo and DeBlasio in different parts of the parade?
I'm shocked...shocked.
Thanks again for being there and describing it.
GV

Gene Palumbo

7/10/2019 06:05:50 pm

To get a taste of what Hansen has written about here, check out the short video in this NYTimes piece:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/10/sports/soccer/soccer-parade.html

Josh Rubin

7/10/2019 02:40:07 pm

I agree with everything you wrote, GV. Especially about McNeil. Basically the team has about three real bright spots, 2-3 solid players to partly fill out the team, and a lot of mismatched and underperforming parts. Not sure why the rotation has largely regressed to the mean. Bullpen is awful. And f it weren't for a wandering second baseman, they'd be getting no punch from the outfield at all. I can't see what direction this team might even try to move in to get better.

George Vecsey

7/10/2019 03:30:50 pm

Josh: I agree. I don't see a future for this outfit. They've already given away the next generation for Cano and Diaz, "dead at the present time," as Casey used to say.,
I've seen managers scuttled in their first season....sometimes you can just tell. So why not scuttle Van Waganen before it gets worse? He's probably already lost the clubhouse (or at least the coaches' room) with his faux-macho tirade.
Can you see the Wilpons absorbing his contract?
I didn't think so.
GV
PS: This is fan talk. If I were still working, I would be more reasonable. GV

ahron horowitz

7/10/2019 06:12:50 pm

amazing to watch mcneil being played out of position and keep on hitting 340

George

7/10/2019 08:43:54 pm

Ahron: good point. How often do you see a player shift positions and get distracted? Conforto, possibly.
McNeil in RF looks awkward but he’s still hitting.
I think Chili Davis has been good for him about hitting. Thanks for the insight. GV

Mendel

7/11/2019 04:56:38 am

"Jealous as hell?" "Switching allegiances?"

Covet not, George and be happy with your lot.

Ineptitude is entertaining, too.

Randolph

7/11/2019 05:45:42 am

George,
You need a burst of inspiration my friend. I might suggest that you spend a wee bit of time watching the Tour de France. It is a good year, exciting stage wins, and for the first time in years there is no favorite. Get back to the bike my brother.
All the best from your hillbilly friend. Give my best to Ms. Whipple.
RF

George Vecsey

7/11/2019 10:49:15 am

RF: A good point. I just have trouble watching early-morning TV, anything. Wimbledon. The Tour. I used to watch hours of the Tour, more for La Belle France than for La Cyclisme. But in my certified old age, I like to read the NYT (Trump! Epstein! Acosta! Barr! All these fine fellows) and nibble breakfast and let the day break slowly and quietly. But you have prodded me to watch the Tour any day now.
Merci., GV

Randolph

7/11/2019 05:51:43 pm

George,
No problem, take it easy in the morning!
NBC Sports provides condensed Tour coverage in the afternoon. It’s not live, but it is well done.
RF

George Vecsey

7/11/2019 10:43:01 am

Mendel: always listen to your rabbi, I say.
Is coveting they neighbor's Judge the same as coveting they neighbor's spouse? This is a Talmudic question worth pondering.
Plus, ineptitude was indeed charming in 1962. It is the DNA of this franchise. In 1962, Casey was raging about being stuck with some "frauds." His theory was, "I can make a living telling the truth." (I heard him say these things, often.) Imagine what he would say about what remains of Cano? To coin a phrase, Oy! GV

Ed Martin

7/11/2019 12:06:57 pm

Hansen, you must understand, (PS what great writing-thanks), it is an addiction, started with being a Dodger fan, it is where the phrase, “Long suffering,” was born.

GV, each time I look at the box scores I wonder why they are playing Cano? No insult, he was a fine player, emphasis on WAS.

This team was supposed to be built on pitching, four starters with talent, Diaz to shore up the diminishing bullpen, which had been pretty good a year or two ago. As we say in Quebec, “que pasa.” Sad to watch, but why? Fading physical talent/injuries, depression? Yearning for greener pastures.

I follow Baseball on Facebook, “The Boys of Summer,” “Brooklyn Dodger Nostalgia.” Remember 1955 and keep it holy!

ahron horowitz

7/11/2019 03:36:48 pm

mendels grandfather was an immigrat from isreal in 1933.in fell in love with the brooklyn dodgers.iwas brought to 3 ganes in ebbetts feild.then in 1962 started our familys unholy alliance with the mets

bruce

7/12/2019 02:58:30 pm

george,

who are these mets you talk of?

i assumed you were a bit off the tour de france after the drug circuses.

just watched the wimbledon men's semi double header.

not a bad day when federer and nadal go head to head.

one thing i've noticed about federer over the years is that tho he might not have the best serve, he seems to be able to smack aces when he really needs 'em.

both finals will be interesting.

williams might have to do more than show up to win, but halep seems to get a bit shaky at times.

federer will be the underdog, rightly so, but they play the game for a reason.

bruce

Rick Taylor

7/14/2019 10:28:03 am

George, I'm done. From rooting for the Mets after moving from Montreal in 1964, when I was nine to today as a 64 year old man I've followed the Mets through thick and thin. I really thought this year would be different but the same crummy beat goes on. I could write paragraphs on why the Mets are such a disappointment but suffice it to say I will ignore the New York Mets until the Wilpons sell the club.

Ed Martin

7/14/2019 05:55:24 pm

McNeil, Cano homers spark Mets' win. DeGrom pitches 5, one run 6 Ks, and 6 hits. Bullpen effective! Huzzah!

Of course the Marlins are even worse, but “look for the silver lining....”

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Dog Days Are Here for Mets

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