From Dallas to Uvalde and back
Roger Cormier faces the challenge of being rightfully cynical and trying to maintain some kind of hope, whether it's in baseball or our horrifying reality; Colleen Sullivan stings the Nats
Mr. Can’t Fix It
By Roger Cormier
It was shamelessly instantaneous. I read a tweet that said Dallas Keuchel was designated for assignment. That means the Mets could acquire him. The Mets need warm bodies to throw a baseball hard, and fast. Keuchel used to be really good at that. He stopped being so good last season. But it could be different this time. I’ve read about the Rays and the Dodgers and the Mariners turning schlubs into rock stars. I’ve read that the Mets have brain power now. They spent a lot of money on a bunch of cerebrums for situations like this.
Maybe the White Sox had their guy all wrong. Maybe the Mets can truly understand. Maybe they could fix him.
“Oh dear god please don’t,” Colleen Sullivan wrote. “[He’s] so washed.”
“He’s been trash since he joined [the White Sox and was] only ok before that.”
I hated that it was so cynical. I hated that it was so accurate.
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It seems all so trite because America is fucked. Republicans keep taking millions from the NRA, then blame mass shootings not on guns, but on anything else, even video games, in the year of our Lord 2022. They listen to their wallets and not their hearts. It’s reductive to call someone heartless, but sometimes you’ve got to call them like you see them. How do you walk all of this back?
You can’t.
I remember a couple of school shootings ago — I fucking hate that I had to write that — I mean fuck, look how long this Wikipedia list is — when children from the school where the avoidable tragedy took place got the support of billionaires like New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who used his private jet to fly them to Washington for the March For Our Lives. I remember my mother bringing this up while driving over the Verrazano Bridge and saying it could be a turning point. I disagreed. I said there’s too much money at stake for congressmen and senators.
I hated that it was so cynical. I hated that it was so accurate.
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I see people, smart people, tweeting out all of the ridiculous hypocrisies that Uvalde and its aftermath present. Maybe it makes them feel better. I hope it does. Either way, it doesn’t fix it. The Yankees and Rays tweeted out gun violence facts instead of game updates. That was nice, until someone pointed out that the Yankees still employ Aroldis Chapman, who never admitted to the domestic violence incident that got him suspended, but did admit that he “used bad judgment” with his gun in firing eight shots in his garage. Besides, Major League Baseball donates to all politicians, including the ones who will never side against the NRA. Hypocrisy. Nothing is fixed.
I saw Beto O’Rourke crash Texas governor Greg Abbott’s press conference to call him out for the blood on his hands. I saw that people did the same to Ted Cruz in a restaurant. It makes me feel less alone. It made me think that some gestures are probably going to be futile, but you’ve got to try anyway. You never truly know.
Behind Enemy (Base)Lines: Washington Nationals
By Colleen Sullivan
The Mets are playing the Nationals yet again which isn’t notable because they play the Nats 177 times during the season (time is meaningless). However, the Mets did it – they finally swept a series! Three games, right in a row. That’s some Amazin’ Mets shit. I’d feel bad for Joe Girardi for getting swept out of New York this weekend, but I don’t.
On to the Nationals! In fact, the Mets already have moved on, taking Monday night’s series opener, 13-5, which gave New York sports fans like Francisco Lindor more time to focus on the Rangers’ victory over the Hurricanes in Game 7.
What happened last time?
The opener of the Mets’ visit to Washington earlier in the month featured an on-field critter joining the fray amid a three-run rally as Jeff McNeil’s two-run double tied the game and James McCann hit a sacrifice fly that sent the Mets on their way to a 4-2 win. GKR called it a rat, but I think it looked like a shrew. Unless rats are just huge in Chicago compared to D.C., I stand by my assertion. Either way, the Rally Vermin made a good choice appearing on that particular night as it was Pups in the Park and not the Cat-urday game (cats not welcome). Everyone is in agreement on one thing: it was not a raccoon.
The next night, Pete Alonso did what he does and nailed a two-run homer in the first, but Tylor Megill not only couldn’t hold an early three-run lead, he got knocked out after giving up eight runs in 1⅓ innings – including homers by Juan Soto and Nelson Cruz.
Reader, it was not a nice game, and Megill went on the injured list immediately afterward with biceps tendinitis. The good news is that the Big Drip is nearing a return.
The Mets took the rubber game in D.C. with Taijuan Walker on the bump through seven scoreless innings and his iconic stuff of Soto on fourth-and-goal.
Mark Canha drove in three runs for that 4-1 win, which was one out away from being a shutout until Soto put an Edwin Díaz pitch into orbit. If you’ve got to give one up to Soto, that’s how to do it – two outs, bases empty, in the ninth inning of a non-save situation.
How are things going?
For the Mets, great! For the Nationals, not so much. Through 50 games, the Mets are 15 games better than their rivals – 33-17 to 18-32. Some good news for the Nationals is that Steve Strasburg threw five hitless innings during his recent rehab start. Erick Fedde, on the other hand, got lit up by the Mets as he was unable to hold the three-run lead on Monday that Washington ran up on David Peterson. Peterson settled down, Fedde very much did not, and that was that.
Josh Bell is leading the Nats in batting average at .299 after his three-hit opener, while Soto has nine homers and a .236/.382/.449 line because why would you ever pitch to him in anything approaching a big spot? This is a team that employs Alcides Escobar and his .266 on-base percentage. At least they don’t have him leading off?
The Mets already saw Washington’s de facto ace, Fedde, and clobbered him into next month. Unless there’s another de facto ace, and also “de facto” means “not actually a facto.” Sean Doolittle pitched 5.1 scoreless innings out of the bullpen before he got hurt.
Pitchers, everyone’s got some
Today is Patrick Corbin against Trevor Williams in a battle of hurlers who have equal chances of activating Corbin’s $500,000 Cy Young bonus this year. There’s no way around it: Corbin stinks this season. His xwOBAcon is .450 this season, stunningly higher than his .398 career mark. Any stat that spells an actual word is going to get used but for those playing at home, it stands for expected weighted On Base Average on contact (takes wOBA and adds in contact things like exit velocity, launch angle, batted balls, and sprint speed).
Anyway, Corbin is still riding high on goodwill for his 2019 performance of a 14-7 record and 3.25 ERA in 33 starts. As with managers before him (looking at you, Ned Yost), he’s also riding along on being the Game 7 winning pitcher during that year’s World Series.
The Mets have won both of their games against Corbin this season, but he’s fared surprisingly well against them considering the rest of his season – only two runs in nine innings, with six walks but no homers. Williams also has faced the Nationals twice this season, in relief. He allowed a pair of unearned runs on April 10, then twirled 3⅔ scoreless frames to give the Mets a chance in the Megill game, though that was a rare night that the Mets didn’t mount a comeback.
Tomorrow afternoon is TBD against Carrasco, who has held the current Nationals to a .244/.270/.428 line throughout his career. Cruz, though, has five homers in 35 at-bats against Cookie, while Bell is 5-for-12.
Drink plenty of water to recover from this weekend, folks. Hangovers are fun for no one.