Swirlywand Baseball Awards- Week 3

The curse continues...last week's Baseball Husband- Chris Young went from probable to DL in the blink of an eye...My predictions failed miserably too except for the obvious- Jason Bay is still not back from the DL.

Things I learned this week: The 3rd week of the season felt like it lasted 3 months. I feel like I'm in mid-season form- already checking the NL East standings and worried about call-ups...but for all the wrong reasons this early in the season.
The Rockies are REALLY good and for all the grief they used to get for playing in a homerun friendly atmosphere, they came to the toughest ball park in the country and went derby on the Mets.
I really love baseball. I love the intersection of frustration and glimmers of hope. I love the communal if not universal (among fans) appreciation for the random nature of the game. My twitter time line would make Shakespeare proud in that the Mets fans have been through enough in the past five years to pull out comedic/sarcastic references for nearly every occasion.

Swirlywand Baseball Husband of the Week: I don't have the heart to curse another NY Met, and I honestly haven't watched enough baseball that is non-Met related to curse some poor soul on another team...but there is a tiny group of people who were my baseball heroes this week- the SNY gang in the booth. So, they don't suit up, and while I like other broadcasters to be objective, I found this past week's broadcasts to be very comforting because (esp) Gary and Ron talked an entire fan base through the psyche, the frustration and the circumstances of the Mets players. They sounded frustrated when I felt frustrated, and they offered great commentary on how to salvage any glimmers of hope. Kevin Burkhardt did an in-game update that brought tears to my eyes- not just the content, but because he sounded like he felt horrible for the team- the way a fan does, not the way an overzealous, "trying to get the story" reporter might condescendingly describe the same situation.

The Holy Roy Oswalt Award- I should probably give this to Jair Jurgens or one of the Rockies' pitchers, but the Mets make every pitcher look like Roy Oswalt these days.


The "Stay Classy San Diego" Award- Citizens Bank Park South aka Nationals Park. Yes, I remember when I once made a sign that said "Welcome to Shea Stadium- SOUTH" a few years ago during a weekend series when NY METS fans took over the stadium. Now, going to cheer against the Phillies at Nats Park is like being in Philly. Yes, if Nats had enough fans to go to games, this wouldn't happen...and yes, I know the weather was crappy and Nats fans can go any time (but Phillies fans had to come from Philly in monsoonal weather!). However, I followed along on twitter about the rude factor of the Phillies fans being out of control, especially during the first game when the phillies lost. But, the news that a Phillies fan punched out Thomas Jefferson during the Presidents' Race solidified my decision to remind Phillies fans to Stay Classy!


Wait! Wait! Don't tell me....The NY Mets are a disaster/circus/ _______. And while I may be blinded by orange and blue beams of light, I was not prepared for the amount of schadenfreude every radio host, sports reporter, and broadcasters are enjoying at the Mets expense. I suppose I don't blame them...Mets are an easy target, but there are two re-occurring themes in the commentary by outsiders that grates on me the hardest.
1) The Mets just need to hold on until Jason Bay comes back. LIKE JASON BAY IS THE METS SAVIOR! Was I high all last season? Do I have early onset dementia? What Jason Bay was so great for the Mets last year that his mere arrival will suddenly turn this team around? Not having the mysterious illness prone Jason Bay is NOT the reason the Mets are floundering (much like David Wright isn't the reason either...but he seems to be an easy target for Mets fans...). Okay, so he replaces Willie Harris....okay, then what? We replace mediocre with a higher priced promised superstar version of Willie Harris? Maybe the media just likes to harp on and remind Mets fans about another overpaid contract to a under-performing player so they bring Jason Bay up every chance they get.

2) Constant speculation in the Jose Reyes-to-Team-X sweepstakes. For the past six years, the media has been both enamored with the spark-plug and happy-go-lucky personality of Jose Reyes and critical of his "showboating/flaunting". To the latter, he has had an unfair amount of criticism for simply celebrating with his teammates and having fun- he's a baseball player not a surgeon. But now, the media can't stop speculating about which team would be SOOO lucky to get Jose- it's as if the only reason to cover the Mets at all is to throw it up in our face that this season is the long goodbye to one of our own. I'm in denial. My frustration the past week has been less about being the worst team in baseball, and more bitterness for the players complete lack of getting it together to keep JOSE...but they know better than I do that the end is inevitable and then they are left on a team with NO JOSE...what is the incentive? I know it's very "RUDY" of me to want a pre-game speech from Terry Collins that points out that our boys need to be playing TO KEEP THE TEAM TOGETHER- IN CONTENTION SO THAT WE DON'T LOSE JOSE. I know that would never happen, but when I see David miss a bare-hand throw to first or our outfield makes a boneheaded play or Emaus has another horrible at-bat....I'm screaming in my mind- "YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT JOSE AT ALL". Again, I'm completely irrational.

The Aaron F****** Heilman Award- DJ Carrasco? Mike Pelfrey? Heilman 3 or Heilman 4...or anyone in the bullpen who is not named Beatto. Even Pat Misch wasn't Awful this week, but he was sent down so we could keep the almighty, incapable of getting an out DJ CARRASCO...I know the Mets had to play 5 games in the span of 96 hours and that is brutal on a weak pitching staff, but our bullpen should be renamed after Heilman. You don't blow leads in 5 of 6 games in GRAND FASHION unless you have a bullpen that is smoke and mirrors. One blown lead a week is what a good team hopes for.

Thank Goodness that Isn't My Team Award-
Sarcastically, I'm glad the Rockies aren't my team....one loss on Saturday night, and rumors of injuries, slumps, and panic because Jim Tracy was 5 minutes late for his post-game presser...seems like an overreaction for the best team in MLB. I always thought Rockies fans were among the most sincere in baseball...they never give up, they stand behind their team when times are tough, and they are never obnoxious about success. But their irrational "the sky is falling" overreaction to ONE LOSS made me laugh. And then my brain cells churned out the following- success breeds entitlement and comfort. But the Mets fans benefit from another kind of breeding....epic failure. Epic failure, in this sense, breeds honesty and clarity. The Mets aren't really that good. But so what? The rest of baseball gets to say "at least we're not the METS"...and that's fine. There should be no expectation that Mets fans should just give up on their team though.

The Wand Says Bibbity, Bobbity, BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO:
The Atlanta Braves broadcasters (TV and RADIO) and Joe Buck....Seriously, was there a worst weekend for baseball for the METS off the field? Don Sutton is a southern, more jabbing version of Bob Carpenter. And a simple catch in the outfield by Jason Heyward is described as something suitable for a biblical reference.


Wand Rising: I'm giving a sentimental shout out for this week's Wand Rising award. Carlos "KNEES" Beltran takes a lot of grief from everyone....he's selfish, he is the reason for every bad thing that has ever happened since he struck out looking in Game 7 of the NLCS. He is the poster child for the old Mets front office's HUGE CONTRACT addiction and thus unless he won a World Series for the METS, it wouldn't matter what he was being paid- it would be too much. But, in this 3 week span, he has jumped in as a starter without the benefit of full spring training, he has so many accessories on his lower limbs, it's amazing he can even walk, and he played 3 games in less than 24 hours this weekend. I am sure he probably needed a game off, but desperate times require desperate measures and the exhaustive effort to ink ONE WIN IN A CALENDAR WEEK included a Beltran start. In my mind, I like to think that he made the decision to start all 3 games because he wants to set an example of strength and giving it all for the team. If Carlos can do it, you can do it.

Wand Demotion Alert: Dan Warthen. I usually feel like this must be the worst job in baseball- and I certainly don't do baseball strategy well enough to do pitching match-ups and in-game adjustments. But, he has a string of bad luck with the Mets pitchers that appears to be systemic instead of acute. There are too many miscues and either poor pitch selection or inability to throw the requested pitch.
Swirly Prediction for the upcoming week: What the hell! WINNING STREAK OF EPIC PROPORTIONS.