beisbol been berry berry good to me!
Now as most of you know, I go out of my way to call Billy Wagner a racist. For fun and my own amusement. Hell, I even wrote a fucking research paper on it~! My distrust of most Mets fans reasons for disliking Lastings Milledge since he was a rookie aside.... I actually agree with Wagner and while it may seem strange to some people that he made sure to point out that "hay, I'm not a racist!" over his latest controversy (actually, that should be air-quoted. He knows it's his last year and he's pitching better than the young kids, so, he's not going to keep quiet. So, it might just be the Media's Latest Billy Wagner Controversy).
Billy Wagner was being asked, as he often is, to explain away another loss, this latest one a frustrating 1-0 defeat to the Washington Nationals on Thursday. And Wagner, who hadn't appeared in the game, tried for a few moments and then blew up.
"Can somebody tell me why the [f---] the closer is being interviewed and I didn't even play?" Wagner said, stopping for a moment and then waving at the empty lockers across the room - Carlos Delgado seemed the particular target after the struggling first baseman had left without talking to the media. "Why they're over there not being interviewed. Oh, I got it. They're gone. [F------] shocker."
Later on, on the radio, he went on the defensive and said that he was trying to be racist or anything, he was just getting sick and tired of the same players (him and Wright) being interviewed. Because last year Lo Duca had said something similar and in true Lo Duca fashion, said it in such a douchebaggy way that he was implying that his Spanish teammates pretend not to speaky the Englishy, but they can (anyone who has heard Jose Reyes speak either English or Spanish can tell you that the boy speaks as fast as he plays, so in any language, he's more than a little hard to understand).
Wagner said it in a much better way: "Then it causes that tension because my opinion on something may not be the way it really was. If you're not there to answer the questions, the reporters can write whatever they want to. They can write you stunk, you sucked, whatever. But if you're there to say, 'hey man, I wasn't very good today, I came up and I had a chance and it didn't work out,' well, you're accountable. When you're not there, it gets a little ridiculous."
And then, he spoke to reporters again saying that; "Come on. I didn’t say a name … but now these average fans have got the perception that I’m some racist bigot that wants to get after my teammates. We want to win and yeah, I’ll say stuff when things need to be said, but to be taken that out of context where I’m pointing out teammates that I didn’t say, that’s a little much."
It hurts me to admit that I agree with him, but. 'cha that makes perfect sense.
Another article blames all of this crap on Willie Randolph.
Only, who would replace Randolph? Not Wally Backman; the Wilpons are too conservative to gamble like that. Bobby Valentine is close to Minaya, but currently happy managing in Japan. There aren't even any short-term answers on the current coaching staff. Actually, that's been Randolph's undoing, not having a bad cop among his lieutenants, the way Joe Torre had Larry Bowa to get in Robinson Cano's face last year. The Mets are full of Canos - flashy, skilled, crisp-looking players, too many of them drifting along without a rudder. Once Pedro Martinez disappeared on the disabled list, Randolph was doomed. Without the energetic Pedro to patrol the room, the "certain guys" Wagner was referring to were free to divest themselves of the passion Randolph preached about.
I feel we're drifting back into "THE REASON OUR TEAM SUCKED IN SEPTEMBER WAS ALL JOSE REYES FAULT" in that last sentence. But, yeah. Without Pedro around ... or a veteran presence, we'll say, the Double Carlos' have been shit. When everyone was bitching about Reyes, very few people who weren't me, weren't pointing out that it seemed like Delgado's only person he talked to on the field (on-field chemistry, what? Reason the Yankees haven't won a world series because of A-Rod / Jeter infighting, hey?) was his BFFE Shawn Green. And when he (Delagdo, but, even my sex god Shawn Green) and Beltran were up to the plate, it was like watching a little league game, with no hustle, and no heart.
Randolph can't reach them because most of the Mets don't understand his warrior ethos, honed by the '70s-era Yankees. Today's players have nothing in common with the Lou Piniellas or even the Keith Hernandez's of the past. That's why it was no surprise to hear Goose Gossage go off on Joba Chamberlain last week for his pirouette fist-pump after striking out David Dellucci. And it was equally predictable how Joba would react to Gossage's lecture: if you don't like it, too bad.
Exactly. They just think he's pulling an ..... Art Howe. God, I can't believe I said that name. *pukes and dies* But, Willie's not, because he does have an obvious vented interest in this team succeeding, but, no one can tell because the "calm, cool, nothing bothers me" just seems like Cap'n Art Howe on the sinking Mets ship of the post-Bobby V world.
Oh, speaking of, I got to see the ESPN movie / documentary that was made about Bobby Valentine, The Zen of Bobby V" and it was fucking amazing. In my next life, I want my next dad or grandpa to be Bobby Valentine. We'd have so much fun riding bicycles, climbing Mt. Fiji and going to the costume shop to buy fake mustaches for when he gets kicked out of games!
Finally, guess what two players they interviewed on the local NBC station about all of this tonight? Billy Wagner ....... and David Wright. Yep. That was it.
Billy Wagner was being asked, as he often is, to explain away another loss, this latest one a frustrating 1-0 defeat to the Washington Nationals on Thursday. And Wagner, who hadn't appeared in the game, tried for a few moments and then blew up.
"Can somebody tell me why the [f---] the closer is being interviewed and I didn't even play?" Wagner said, stopping for a moment and then waving at the empty lockers across the room - Carlos Delgado seemed the particular target after the struggling first baseman had left without talking to the media. "Why they're over there not being interviewed. Oh, I got it. They're gone. [F------] shocker."
Later on, on the radio, he went on the defensive and said that he was trying to be racist or anything, he was just getting sick and tired of the same players (him and Wright) being interviewed. Because last year Lo Duca had said something similar and in true Lo Duca fashion, said it in such a douchebaggy way that he was implying that his Spanish teammates pretend not to speaky the Englishy, but they can (anyone who has heard Jose Reyes speak either English or Spanish can tell you that the boy speaks as fast as he plays, so in any language, he's more than a little hard to understand).
Wagner said it in a much better way: "Then it causes that tension because my opinion on something may not be the way it really was. If you're not there to answer the questions, the reporters can write whatever they want to. They can write you stunk, you sucked, whatever. But if you're there to say, 'hey man, I wasn't very good today, I came up and I had a chance and it didn't work out,' well, you're accountable. When you're not there, it gets a little ridiculous."
And then, he spoke to reporters again saying that; "Come on. I didn’t say a name … but now these average fans have got the perception that I’m some racist bigot that wants to get after my teammates. We want to win and yeah, I’ll say stuff when things need to be said, but to be taken that out of context where I’m pointing out teammates that I didn’t say, that’s a little much."
It hurts me to admit that I agree with him, but. 'cha that makes perfect sense.
Another article blames all of this crap on Willie Randolph.
Only, who would replace Randolph? Not Wally Backman; the Wilpons are too conservative to gamble like that. Bobby Valentine is close to Minaya, but currently happy managing in Japan. There aren't even any short-term answers on the current coaching staff. Actually, that's been Randolph's undoing, not having a bad cop among his lieutenants, the way Joe Torre had Larry Bowa to get in Robinson Cano's face last year. The Mets are full of Canos - flashy, skilled, crisp-looking players, too many of them drifting along without a rudder. Once Pedro Martinez disappeared on the disabled list, Randolph was doomed. Without the energetic Pedro to patrol the room, the "certain guys" Wagner was referring to were free to divest themselves of the passion Randolph preached about.
I feel we're drifting back into "THE REASON OUR TEAM SUCKED IN SEPTEMBER WAS ALL JOSE REYES FAULT" in that last sentence. But, yeah. Without Pedro around ... or a veteran presence, we'll say, the Double Carlos' have been shit. When everyone was bitching about Reyes, very few people who weren't me, weren't pointing out that it seemed like Delgado's only person he talked to on the field (on-field chemistry, what? Reason the Yankees haven't won a world series because of A-Rod / Jeter infighting, hey?) was his BFFE Shawn Green. And when he (Delagdo, but, even my sex god Shawn Green) and Beltran were up to the plate, it was like watching a little league game, with no hustle, and no heart.
Randolph can't reach them because most of the Mets don't understand his warrior ethos, honed by the '70s-era Yankees. Today's players have nothing in common with the Lou Piniellas or even the Keith Hernandez's of the past. That's why it was no surprise to hear Goose Gossage go off on Joba Chamberlain last week for his pirouette fist-pump after striking out David Dellucci. And it was equally predictable how Joba would react to Gossage's lecture: if you don't like it, too bad.
Exactly. They just think he's pulling an ..... Art Howe. God, I can't believe I said that name. *pukes and dies* But, Willie's not, because he does have an obvious vented interest in this team succeeding, but, no one can tell because the "calm, cool, nothing bothers me" just seems like Cap'n Art Howe on the sinking Mets ship of the post-Bobby V world.
Oh, speaking of, I got to see the ESPN movie / documentary that was made about Bobby Valentine, The Zen of Bobby V" and it was fucking amazing. In my next life, I want my next dad or grandpa to be Bobby Valentine. We'd have so much fun riding bicycles, climbing Mt. Fiji and going to the costume shop to buy fake mustaches for when he gets kicked out of games!
Finally, guess what two players they interviewed on the local NBC station about all of this tonight? Billy Wagner ....... and David Wright. Yep. That was it.