Slam Diego as side piece
Roger Cormier recalls his recent dalliance with Padres fandom during the darkest period of the Wilpon era; Colleen Sullivan scopes out the current San Diego situation
Trivia question: No Met has ever led the National League in intentional walks, a category in which Pete Alonso currently tops the majors with six. The Mets’ team record is 25 intentional free passes, set in 1988 by which player? For a bonus, who led the NL with 27 IBB in 1988?
LFGM: Now available at the Willets Pen shop… Pride and Rocky hats and shirts and stickers, and of course we’ve still got the rad Willets Pen logo merch that definitely does get people to ask “what’s Willets Pen?”
Half of the money we get from the Pride sales will go to the Ali Forney Center, which helps queer teens and young adults experiencing homelessness in New York. Even if you don’t want rainbow LFGM stuff, go check out what they do and support them!
Who’s your Padre?
By Roger Cormier
I wouldn’t call it cheating. It was more like this: after 30-some-odd years living and dying with the same entity, I needed something new. Just to see how the other half lives. Actually, to see how another 1/30th existed.
It was 2019. I was done with being in an exclusive relationship with the New York Mets. The Wilpons finally broke me. I was tired of parsing every single news item, figuring out where the truth came in, if at all. I was exhausted from arguing with people on Twitter over whether or not the Wllpons were cheap or poor. So I merely watched most of the games during the first half, when they weren’t doing so hot. I thought the diehards to be fools. I was once you, sweating out every pitch a Met threw or saw, all the while ownership never did enough to win.
So I flirted with San Diego Padres fandom. They had just shown they were willing to try when they signed Manny Machado to a big, fat contract. The Padres basically were the Mets, but worse. They still had no no-hitters, *and* no cycles in their history. And zero championships. They were owned by Ray Kroc, “the founder” of McDonald’s, and at the 1974 home opener, as a streaker ran across the field, Kroc said to the crowd over the PA system, “Ladies and gentlemen, I suffer with you” and referred to the Padres’ play as “the most stupid baseball playing I’ve ever seen.” The Pads almost boycotted. Where the Mets were playing in the shadow of 1969 and 1986, this franchise had nowhere to go but up.
I would watch the Mets at 7 local time, then watch the Padres at 10 on MLB.TV. I listened to Ted Leitner, a Bronx native, and Jesse Agler on the radio broadcast. I was fascinated by Leitner’s voice. He didn’t sound like he was from New York, nor Southern California. He kind of sounded like he was from Oklahoma, where he went to college, but that was only for a few years. I had long discussions with a friend trying to figure it out. The Pads during the first half maintained a .500 record. When they won, sweet, and when they lost, it was cool baby. I relished in the detachment. I was merely dipping my toe in the water. Either way, I got to see Fernando Tatís Jr. play.
When the summer rolled around, the Mets won 14 out of 15 games and I was sucked in again. I should have seen it coming: the Mets succeed just enough to keep you glued to the TV, but never enough for sustained success. I was aware and didn’t care. That comeback against the Nationals is why chef kisses were invented. Meanwhile, San Diego faltered when Tatís got hurt. I watched them less often, opting for late night games with playoff implications instead. It wasn’t a big deal. I felt no guilt for bailing on them. It felt good to not feel obligation in watching every game.
I maintained my Padres fandom in 2020. I took the extraordinary step of buying team-related merch, something I had not done since the Mets brought back José Reyes after he was suspended for throwing his wife through a glass door..The shirt read “Slam Diego” in old-school Padres lettering and colors. The team hit a grand slam in each game of a four-game series against the Texas Rangers, and hit a few more for good measure, and a nickname was born. They also happened to do well in the shortened season, and the Mets did not.
On a late September day I wore my Slam Diego shirt to North Shore Animal League, where I adopted two kittens. An employee chatted me up — in a mask and from a respectable distance of course — about it. He was a big Met fan, it turned out. My explanation that the Padres spend money and the Wilpons do not didn’t faze him one bit. I was kind of surprised that I didn’t feel like a traitor or like a new person that day. Maybe the cute kittens distracted me.
The Padres made the playoffs. They won a decisive Game 3 against the Cardinals in a bullpen game. It was rather exciting. Then they lost to the Dodgers, obviously. Oh well. That Game 3 was cool as hell. We’ll get ‘em next year. Or not.
In November, Steve Cohen became the new majority owner of the Mets. It was clear he was going to spend money. He said Black Lives Matter unprovoked in his introductory press conference.
Ah shit, here we go again.
Behind Enemy (Base)Lines: San Diego Padres
By Colleen Sullivan
The Mets managed to not get swept out of L.A., splitting the series with a pair of scrappy wins after tough sledding on Thursday and Friday. Pete Alonso showcased his Home Run Derby champ talents in the Saturday night 9-4 win, followed by a comeback, collapse, retaking of the lead in the 10th and Adonis Medina’s first career save in the 5-4 thriller on Sunday. Now, for the first and probably last time this season, the team is off to San Diego on the next leg of the California trip.
2021 Padres: 79-83 (3rd in NL West)
We just talked about how the Dodgers didn’t actually win the division despite winning 106 games last year, because the Giants won 107. The Padres ended the season in third place, a whopping 28 games back from first, despite having led the West through much of May. The Padres were expected to challenge for a World Series berth, especially after many splashy offseason acquisitions, but they ended up disappointed, just like every other year in their history. They stuck around the Wild Card standings through late August, but completed their implosion by going 7-21 in September and October, finishing under .500 after having been as many as 18 over in August. Jayce Tingler was rightly wished the best in his future endeavors.
Things started going sideways starting with Fernando Tatis Jr. and Trent Grisham going down with injuries. Then the pitching staff simply collapsed, posting a 5.04 ERA in the second half after a 3.41 mark before the All-Star break.
A highlight for the Padres was when Joe Musgrove pitched the first no-hitter in team history, nine years after the Mets got theirs. Musgrove ended the 2021 season with a 3.18 ERA, and was much more consistent than Yu Darvish, who has not been the same since Tommy John surgery and might just be getting old. Mike Clevinger missed 2021 with Tommy John and should be back later this year.
Despite Tatis Jr. missing 32 games due to shoulder injuries, he still managed to slash .282/.364/.611 with a .403 wOBA. He led the team in about every offensive category with the exception of RBIs. He had NL MVP potential but two major shoulder injuries sidelined those chances. He also provided some excellent trolling of some guy who is better off forgotten.
2022 Padres: 33-21, 2nd in NL West
After six playoff appearances in the last decade managing Oakland, Bob Melvin moved down the coast to manage a team that actually spends money, but you can’t buy health.
Tatis Jr. has been out all season with a fractured wrist, with no timetable to return at the moment (a recent MRI was not encouraging) so in his absence, Machado has been carrying the load. He’s leading in all the offensive categories (.333/.409/.551, nine home runs, 32 RBIs, and 66 hits) with 198 at-bats. Clevinger has returned to the rotation but hasn’t yet gone more than five innings.
Luke Voit joined the Padres in a trade that sent Justin Lange to the Yankees, while fellow former Cardinals prospect Tommy Pham left the Padres and signed with the Reds during free agency. After a collision at the plate between Voit and Tyler Stephenson, Pham offered to fight Voit, which is apparently Pham’s whole deal. Voit also has missed some time this year through injury, and has a .696 OPS, which is not the number he was brought in to put up.
The Friars have a 13-10 record at home and a 16-6 record in games when they don’t allow home runs. In the last 10 games, they’re 5-5 with a .240 average, 3.03 ERA, and have outscored opponents by six runs.
The Pitchers
Monday night, it’s Carlos Carrasco against Blake Snell, who’s had Francisco Lindor’s number at 2-for-20 over the years. Lindor should be much happier on Tuesday facing Darvish, against whom he’s 5-for-10, while Taijuan Walker takes the hill for the Mets. For Wednesday’s finale, it’s Chris Bassitt facing Sean Manaea in what might be a rematch of an intrasquad game from an A’s spring training. Melvin will be managing Manaea’s team, while Bassitt has Mark Canha on his side.
Trivia answer: If you said Darryl Strawberry, the obvious choice, you’re wrong! The Straw Man was intentionally passed 21 times in 1988, second-most in Mets history to his teammate Howard Johnson, who actually only hit .230/.343/.422 that year — his 30/30 season was 1987, maybe that’s what got him the respect before HoJo led the Senior Circuit with 38 homers and 117 RBIs in 1991. The 1988 NL intentional walk leader? Will Clark.