Friday night on SNY Keith Hernandez submitted one of his be performances as a color commentator that I can remember. On several occasions Keith played the role of former player perfectly, and a few times he had to reel Gary Cohen in before Cohen went of the deep end.
Early on in the game David Wright was called safe on a play at third base. Replay showed that David was clearly out. Replay also showed that the umpires were out of position. Hernandez stated that the umpire has been bad since all the umpires were let go a few years ago. I got to agree with Keith on that, who thought the umpiring could get worse than it was in the Eric Gregg days?
Later on in the game Gary Cohen was saying how Mets starting pitcher Tim Redding was pitching “for his life.” Keith felt that Gary’s position was a bit over top. Keith went on to say that the Mets brought Redding in to do a job, and the Mets are going to give Redding every opportunity to succeed. Keith followed that up by saying he liked Redding when he saw him last season with the Nats.
Gary Cohen’s favorite target to criticize this season has been young Daniel Murphy. For whatever reason Gary does seem to like the kid. On two occasions Friday Keith provided counterpoint.
Cohen was drooling over the idea of Nat first baseman Nick Johnson coming over to Mets. To this Hernandez inquired, “do you mean the often injured Nick Johnson, who is in the walk year of his contract.” Seriously, what would the Mets be willing to give up for a guy who is hurt a lot and in his walk year? Could you imagine how Mets fans would scream and cry of the Mets traded for Johnson, and then he got hurt?
Second bash on Murphy, Cohen was saying how Daniel needs to start hitting, they just can’t play him if he doesn’t hit. To this Keith pointed out to Gar, that Murphy has never hit .300 in the minors, and the Murph was in fact rushed up to the Mets last season. The fact that Murph was rushed up here late last year is forgotten by a lot of fans. As far as Murphy goes, I don’t know what the answer is. But Tatis and Sheffield aren’t hitting much either. If someone should go, I would say the old guys.
Its obvious that as much as Cohen has no use for Murphy, Keith likes the kid. Earlier this week Keith was talking about how some kind works from Willie Stargell, Lou Brock, and Pete Rose helped him when he was a younger player. Maybe Keith is trying to pay it forward with Murph.
Friday on SNY Keith Hernandez came off looking every bit the professional color commentator. His partner Gary Cohen came off looking like Gary from Flushing, a first time caller on WFAN.
