The way SNY portrays Willie Randolph was one of the subjects Willie spoke about in the now infamous Ian O’Conner interview. Here New York Times sports media writer Richard Sandomir reminds us that back in 1998 then Mets broadcaster Tim McCarver was likely fired because of his outspokenness from the booth.
McCarver said: “Nelson told me that Bobby Valentine said, ‘McCarver’s got to go,’ and Nelson told the manager, ‘I’ll handle it.’ ” Doubleday asked McCarver to soothe Valentine by telling him that he’s done a “hell of a job” with the players he had. “And I said, ‘If I felt that way, I would have said it already,’ ” McCarver said. “At that point, I didn’t feel real good about keeping my job.” Doubleday dallied until February 1999 to tell McCarver he was gone, saying that Valentine had nothing to do with his dismissal.
The New York Times also writes about the booing at Shea Stadium. Francis Clines piece in the Op-Ed section is a interesting read and one that I could not agree with more.
Booing, once directed only at the visiting team, has become the dagger du jour as hometown fans bestow loud, selective blame on that relief pitcher or this heavy hitter for the Mets’ thus far mediocre record. Such disloyalty is hard to witness, particularly as youngsters learn from Dad and Mom to condemn one of their own. The song goes: If they don’t win it’s a shame — not a personal affront.
Greg Berlin of NL Beast is one of many who totally disagrees.
Mike Lupica of the Daily News got it touch with Yogi Berra who, as Lupica points out holds the distinction of being fired by both NY teams. Yogi tells Lupica what we all know to be the truth…
“Yeah,” Yogi said. “Tell him to win some games.”
Lupica’s main point is if Willie wins games then all the drama, self inflicted included, will just go away. What I found interesting is Lupica revisits the notion that is accepted by almost everyone, saying that the Mets collapse last season was the worst in baseball history. Now, while I hurt just like every Mets fan I always thought the Yankee collapse in the playoffs against the Red Sox was much worse. I have found very few people, whether in the media or people that I know who agree with me. But, alas Lupica wrote this today and obviously I agree 100%.
We constantly hear that last September was The Worst Collapse in Baseball History. No, it wasn’t. The worst collapse, in context, and because of the aftermath, because of who was involved and the way it happened, was the Yankees blowing a 3-0 lead to the Boston Red Sox in the 2004 American League Championship Series.
In the Daily News Adam Rubin shares some reactions to yesterday’s smashing debut by rookie Nick Evans :
His first hit: off Jeff Francis on the first pitch he saw in the big leagues. His Binghamton Mets teammates watched that moment on the scoreboard before their game while taking batting practice. “There was no way we were going to miss that,” Double-A closer Eddie Kunz said…Said Evans: “I was very nervous. I haven’t really eaten.”
