News
It's gotten so bad for the Mets that the team's play-by-play man is (politely) destroying one of the players on air
Rich Schultz
(Insert opening paragraph about how we bash the New York Mets too much, but the franchise just makes it so easy on a daily basis that it's impossible not to. Use "it's like watching a car wreck" analogy, because "you can't look away." Related links to past instances here, here and here.)
There, that about covers it.
Well, well, well folks, the Mets are at it again. Mere days after hitting what appeared to be rock bottom, when manager Mickey Callaway verbally attacked a reporter and pitcher Jason Vargas threatened that same reporter, they've somehow dug a deeper hole. Since the clubhouse debacle over the weekend, and the ensuing apologies, re-apologies and non-apologies, the Metropolitans have lost three straight to the bitter rival Philadelphia Phillies, the last two of which were blown by their gas can bullpen, bringing the team's collective blown save total to 19. Shocker alert: that's the most in the MLB. They've now lost 11 of 16 and sit 11 games out of first in the NL East and 5.5 games out of the second wild card. It can't get worse, can it?
Of course it can! These are the Mets we're talking about after all. It's gotten so bad, that the team's well-respected play-by-play man Gary Cohen felt the need to lecture Vargas, who pitched on Wednesday night, and pitched well I might add, over him not actually issuing an apology to Newsday reporter Tim Healey. The Mets ownership issued one, the general manager and manager issued one, but Vargas never actually did. We can debate for days whether that even means a damn thing, but the fact is Vargas never just said "I'm sorry." As he warmed up for the bottom of the third inning in Philly, Cohen took him to task over this:
In the words of the immortal Vince Lombardi, "WHAT THE HELL'S GOIN' ON OUT HERE?!?!?" We got broadcasters lecturing players for almost a full three minutes over something that happened a full 72 hours ago! Cohen is one of the best in the business, but this felt so strange. And yet, Mets fans are at such a loss that the majority of them had nothing but praise for Cohen, at least in the replies to SNY's tweet. I'll say this, nothing Cohen said is wrong, but I couldn't help but feel like I was taking crazy pills watching that. He's literally dragging a guy who was on the mound as it was happening. Just a wild, wild move. In other words, just another Wednesday in MetsLand.