SUBWAY SERIES - FUTURE & 2012 REVIEW

MLB has determined that, beginning next year, the interleague schedule will be revamped dramatically because of their prior decision to reposition the Houston Astros from the National League to the American League.  With that, both leagues will have 15 teams instead of the present 14:16 ratio.

In regards to the Yankees & Mets, it will mark the end of their yearly scheduled six games (three at Yankees Stadium & three at Citi Field).  Two possible scenarios being reported for the New York teams is either scheduling two games at Yankees Stadium and two games at Citi Field or three at one of the NY ballparks with alternating years.  My preference is the alternating years.  Of course, the Yankees & Mets could have additional games to play if they both make the World Series as they did in 2000.  Of course, that's a long shot & worth a Yankees fan laugh, since the Mets don't seem to play too much October baseball as they've only been to the World Series four times in their "historic" 50 years of existence!

Well, based on the upcoming changes and the fact that both NY teams have just finished their Subway Series this year, I would like to take the time in the remaining and majority of this blog to boast and gripe...

My boasting begins with the bottom-line point that the Yankees took five out of the six games.  The rest of my points are summarized as follows:

-The Yankees hit 15 home runs, while the Mets hit 4.

-The Yankees bullpen responsibly helped collect 3 wins, while the Mets bullpen's only responsibility was collecting 3 losses.

-The Mets had both their aces (Johan & R.A.) face the Yankees after Johan's no-hitter and R.A.'s back-to-back 1-hitters, but the bottom line is that the Yankees demolished both of them.

My griping is regarding their TV announcers.  I would like to first point out that I dislike most of today's TV & radio announcers including the Yankees radio announcer, John Sterling.  But, one day I'll blog my complaints about him specifically.  These gripes are focused on the Mets TV commentators, especially Gary Cohen:

Gary, Keith Hernandez, and Ron Darling were all demeaning the Yankees home run totals by insinuating that the dimensions at Yankees Stadium were dramatically aiding their leading MLB home run totals.  Amazingly, during the 6-game series, the Yankees hit 15 altogether with slightly less than half (7) at Citi Field.  Well, I guess their ignorant point was pointless.  Additionally, have they (or all the others who typically go down that insinuation) ever noticed that the Yankees do not readjust the walls at Yankees Stadium while the opposing team is batting?

Furthermore, since MLB allows all baseball teams to have their own unique stadium dimensions (well over 100 years now), the teams generally build their stadiums based on those dimensions or vice-versa to enhance their home field advantages; just like the Yankees & Mets did in 2009.  Oh, wait, that didn't pan out for the Mets, as other teams actually won more games there!  So, this past winter, they readjusted their own stadium walls to help guys like David Wright hit more home runs.  Oh, wait again; David is certainly having a great year, but not overwhelmingly in the home run department.  Nor is any Mets player, for that matter.  Of course the Mets commentators failed to recognize any of that!

Gary kept referring to the Yankees' David Robertson as "David Roberts".  Maybe, once in a while, he could tune into the other (and main) team in NY and learn the correct and easy last name of "Robertson" since David has been the second best reliever (of course next to Mariano) in the state of NY for several years now!  In fact, David was also an All-Star pitcher and led the majors with the lowest ERA last year.

At least Ron & Keith offered a few objective comments regarding the Mets, even a few against Gary's non-objective angles.  In fact, it was apparent to me that Gary frustrated them, too, as their disagreeing comments had a perturbed tone.  In each of those instances, Gary backed off without a sound.  Ah...that would be great - not hearing the sound of Gary Cohen!!

GREED

Oh, those Mets are at it again! First, as noted in my previous blog, they lucked out by getting their first no-hitter in over 50 years of existence a few weeks ago thanks to a well-pitched game AND the assistance of a stubborn, blind umpire. Now, they get another very well-pitched game - this time by R.A. Dickey - and they attempt to look for assistance from another non-team member. This time they greedily want the Commissioner's Office to help them.

The game was this past Wednesday, June 13th. During the very first inning, B.J. Upton grounded a ball towards the Mets' third baseman, David Wright. David (a below-average defensive third baseman) chose to use his bare hand instead of his mitt to grab the ball. Well, he missed grabbing the ball entirely as B.J. raced to first base safely for the game's only hit. Many (including David Wright) stated that B.J. Upton is one of the fastest players in the game and that even if David had chosen to scoop the ball up with his mitt, transferred it to his bare hand, and threw to first base, B.J. would have still been safe.

Anybody, including me, that has seen B.J. Upton run knows he more than likely would have been safe at first base - even if Graig Nettles fielded the ball at third base for that play! Thankfully, today, experienced leaders from the Commissioner's Office including Joe Torre and Tony La Russa realized one or both of these conditions to conclude the ruling remains intact as a 1-hit game:

1) B.J. would have been safe no matter what David Wright executed on that play.

2) Even if B.J. was somehow called out by the first base umpire, presuming David Wright managed to grab and throw it accurately, that the whole scope of the game would have changed. For instance, R.A. would have had much more adversity dealing with the next 8 innings of no-hit ball and every single play would have had to transpire exactly the same way as each had done during the "1-hit" game.

What will the Mets think of for their next attempt of a no-hitter? Oh, I know:

They'll ask all members of the Commissioner's Office to rescind their 1971 trade of Nolan Ryan and 3 other Mets to the Angels for Jim Fregosi. If all goes well, the ruling would negate the trade and reallocate the 7 no-hitters from the Angels, Astros, and Rangers to the Mets so that they can add 7 to their official 1 no-hitter in almost 51 years!!

THE TWILIGHT ZONE

I'm convinced that the supposed stars shown in the Twilight Zone picture are actually baseballs from this year in which Rod Serling is manipulating from the heavens above us.  It's been a very strange baseball year thus far (now, close to the first third of the 2012 season).  Teams like the Yankees & Phillies are not dominating, while teams like the Dodgers, Mets, & Orioles are.  The Yankees do have the most home runs, but the team with the 2nd most is the 1st-place Orioles!  The Yankees are hitting, but it seems to be only when the bases are empty.

More evidence of the strangeness is that the Mets' Johan Santana threw the franchise's first no-hitter in their 51st year of existence!  Their fans have been waiting for quite a long time to finally celebrate something sensational, since they have not won a World Series in over 25 years (sorry, Mets' fans, I just couldn't resist.)  I do offer my kudos to Johan as he deserves a lot of credit for throwing the no-hitter (or arguably a 1-hitter) especially after having major shoulder surgery just two seasons ago.

As alluded to above, this past Friday's no-hitter by Johan didn't happen without controversy.  In the sixth inning, a lined shot by former Mets' player Carlos Beltran was hit onto the foul line, but the 3rd-base umpire (Adrian Johnson) called the ball foul even though the ball hit the foul line just a few feet in front of him where the chalk erupted into the air and left its marked impact!  In the end, it proved to help the game's results as becoming an official no-hitter in the records.

It certainly wasn't the first no-hitter with a wrong call!  Two years ago, the opposite affect happened when Detroit Tigers' pitcher, Armando Galarraga, lost his chance at pitching a perfect game (a step above a no-hitter, but still a no-hitter) when Jim Joyce called a runner safe at 1st base on what would have been the final out of the game.  It would have been part of the rare perfect games thrown, only 21 as of today.  I can easily go on about other impacted poor calls, but that topic will be detailed in an upcoming blog.

Will the year continue with more unexpected happenings in the Major Leagues?  I'm sure it will, but I hope some things will turn back to expectations, such as the divisional placement of teams in the standings before the season is over.  It seems as though the Cubs, Padres, and Pirates are the only teams truly following the original script before most of the other teams entered into the Twilight Zone.  Hopefully, at least the Yankees will get back into their prior dimension!