NY Baseball Roundup: Mets Rock, Yankees Need a Bull Durham tomorrow
Wow, just got in as the Mets game was ending. They were in Milwaukee, where the Brewers were behind 7-4, but had just loaded the bases with two out. Mets brought in relief pitcher Looper. Behind in the count, he serves up a line drive --caught by the left fielder Cliff Floyd. Good.
And the replays show Mike Piazza hitting two home runs in his first two at bats. Positively crushed them both. A night to remember. Also, homers by Wright and Cameron. The Mets are red hot, and its for real. Even if they lose a few in a row, they're headed in the right direction.
The Yankees are in hell, giving up three in the top of the tenth to lose 6-3. They're a lot better than this, but they have fundamental age and starting pitching problems. Bad, bad, bad. Afternoon ballgame in the Bronx tomorrow, and rain is in the forecast. The boys are cursed, but there's rain out there somewhere. As happened in Bull Durham, they simply must pray for a rainout, a No'reaster, a soaking monsoon to drown their sorrows and end this funk. Go rain!
And the replays show Mike Piazza hitting two home runs in his first two at bats. Positively crushed them both. A night to remember. Also, homers by Wright and Cameron. The Mets are red hot, and its for real. Even if they lose a few in a row, they're headed in the right direction.
The Yankees are in hell, giving up three in the top of the tenth to lose 6-3. They're a lot better than this, but they have fundamental age and starting pitching problems. Bad, bad, bad. Afternoon ballgame in the Bronx tomorrow, and rain is in the forecast. The boys are cursed, but there's rain out there somewhere. As happened in Bull Durham, they simply must pray for a rainout, a No'reaster, a soaking monsoon to drown their sorrows and end this funk. Go rain!
i gotta say the Yankees sucking big time is pretty funny!!! not only did mikey hit 2 home runs, but it was with only 2 pitches. bam outta the park, yes, at nite and after a day game that he went 4 for 5 including a 3 run homer!!!
lets go mets!!!
the best will be if george steinbrenner's horse comes in last today at the derby!!! :)
mint julep anyone???
Posted by
Anonymous |
May 07, 2005 12:01 PM
Well, we can all agree that Mike Piazza is the best hitting catcher of all time, a Hall of Famer and a class act. Even Clemens ( who Piazza should have strangled a couple of years ago ) has to admit that.
Posted by
The Phantom |
May 07, 2005 1:24 PM
Actually, compared with Johnny Bench ( who I saw and admired ) and Yogi ( who I never saw play ), its no contest at all. Piazza has more home runs than both, despite the fact he has never hit in a friendly park for home runs. ( Yogi played in Yankee Stadium, which was a mere 296 feet down the line when he played, a joke )
And Piazza's lifetime average is 30 points higher than Yogi's, at least 45 points higher than Bench's.
Piazza's average will go down, as he is no kid, but he will finish far ahead of the other catchers-including Fisk, in every offensive category.
Defensively, he is below average now. He used to be average, and just that. But with his body type, catching is the only position you would want him in. Unless he was a DH someplace, but a DH is not a baseball player--and he wanted to play baseball.
All of his managers and teammates, incl Lasorda, respect him greatly. He's never in the papers for anything bad, and the closest he ever came to saying anything bad about anybody was from a hospital bed, when he said that he thought that Clemens threw at him intentionally. Which he did, but that is a whole other discussion.
The greatest criticism of Piazza, and the one I can come the closest to agreeing with, is that he should have taken out Clemens after the incident in the 2000 World Series. A lot of people were angry with him for not being much more forceful. But despite his strength, he's never been the guy to get into a fight, and he did not want to get thrown out of a World Series game.
Posted by
The Phantom |
May 07, 2005 9:01 PM