I Had To Turn It Off When

Item # 1 - When the Mets were pounding out 14 hits against Todd Wellemeyer and the Cardinals on Monday night en route to their 6-4 victory, Mets analyst Ron Darling mentioned that perhaps this is the type of game that the team could use as a "springboard" to bigger and better things. Shouldn't we know by now that there is no such thing as momentum or a "springboard" to anything in baseball? Naturally, the Mets were 2-hit the next game by pitcher Joel Pineiro in a 2-0 loss.

Item # 2 - In the sixth inning of Wednesday's 11-0 rout of the Cardinals by the Mets, catcher Brian Schneider checked his swing on a pitch that was called a ball by the third base umpire. SNY cameras gave us ONE view of the play from the center field camera. That was it! Both Mets analysts, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling, were quick to point out that Schneider DID NOT swing at the pitch even though we never saw a camera angle from overhead or third base which would have given us a better perspective of whether or not it was a swing. The boys made their emphatic call just from this one - and bad - camera angle. Schneider would go on to double home a couple of runs which suited the boys in the booth just fine.

In the ninth inning of Thursday's game against the Mets, St. Louis had runners on second and third with two outs trailing the Mets 3-2. Catcher Yadier Molina checked his swing on the first pitch he saw from Francisco Rodriguez. Naturally, Darling thought first base umpire Dale Scott missed the call even before he saw the replay. An overhead camera angle confirmed that Darling's initial belief that Molina swung was correct. Hmmm. Darling needed - and got - an overhead view by SNY of the swing by Molina to confirm the fact that, yes, he did go around but we got NO such camera angle from SNY on the Schneider checked swing? All we got were assurances from Darling and Hernandez. Now, I'm not a conspiracy theorist but ...

Item # 3 - Recently, in a game against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Mets Ryan Church hit an 0-2 fastball right down the middle from Rays reliever J.P. Howell for a base hit and an RBI extending a Mets' lead to 5-3. Naturally, we were told by Mets analyst, Keith Hernandez, that it was "a good piece of hitting" by Church, and NOT a bad pitch by Howell. That's right ladies and gentlemen, all 0-2 base hits, no matter how bad the pitch, will always lead to credit being given to the hometown hitter. No blame will ever go to the opposing team's pitcher. Ain't gonna happen.