Gregg asks..
Quick Pitching, Bat Flips, Stare Downs, Styling, Showboating? Maybe I’m wrong, but don’t you think it’s a bit early and presumptuous for the Mets to be doing those things before they’ve won anything? At least when the Phillies were doing those things, they had won the World Series to back it up. What have we won? Do we really want to put a target on our backs now?
Joe D. replies…
I understand where you’re coming from, and you’re right the New York Mets have won absolutely nothing. But I think the Phillies overreacted to what we saw on Monday and Tuesday. Essentially this is still a game between some of the most highly competitive players in the world. Sometimes the enthusiasm and adrenaline take over in the heat of that competition and you say or do things before you have a chance to think about your actions. So it happens.
However, if it happens too much and very frequently it does create some animosity between your team and the rest of the opposition. Things like that, especially in this age of social media, have a way of spreading fast and you can build a reputation, good or bad, very quickly.
Do the Mets want to be that guy? Do the Mets want to be that team? I hope not. At least not until they’ve racked up a couple of division titles or more. And certainly not coming off six consecutive losing seasons. It could lead to some bad karma.
Also, if you want to be pimping and swagging, you better get used to seeing plenty of chin music and a lot of fastballs to the wrist and hands. Because that’s part of the game too. And when you’re a last-place team with nothing to lose, nobody will care if the player gets a three-game suspension.
I happen to like bat-flips, I think they are part of the game. But the timing has to be right, you don’t do it in the third inning or the fourth and the fifth inning.
Plus it’s different when an all-star like Daniel Murphy does it who has been among the top offensive second baseman over the last five years, or when a catcher does it who barely has 162 games under his belt and has a .240 career batting average.
(By the way, that was an incredible at-bat by d’Arnaud last night and the turning point in the game.)
Anyway, Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard loved bat-flips and talking smack, but in addition to five straight post-seasons they each won MVP awards. Chase Utley was different, he did all of his talking with his bat and glove, and nobody in baseball played the game harder than he did.
Now, have we reached that level of accomplishment where we could start doing bat-flips or admiring their home runs on a regular basis? I’d say not yet, and not until you actually have something to brag about. No need to be so Valdespin-esque yet.
But in the end, I just hope that the Mets consider how other teams will perceive them and most of all I hope these types of displays do not lead to any player injuries which almost always ends up happening.
Let’s continue to play hard and win ballgames and get to the postseason and go as far as this team can go. We have a great young team with a nice blend of veteran players who are exciting to watch. Let’s keep our eyes on the prize. Let’s just play some baseball.
