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!!