Tuesday, April 12, 2011

April 11, Mets vs. Rockies

Long time no see.

Honestly, I wasn't planning on firing up this blog again, not even after the Wayner opened his first 2011 spring training broadcast by saying the Mets had just had "a tremendous off-season." I figured I had made my point last year and was just gonna let Wayne be his incompetent self without drawing any further attention to his many, many faults.

But just when I thought I was out, Wayne pulls me back in. Such was the case last night.

The scene: Bottom of the 7th, Josh Thole batting. He grounds out to Troy Tulowitzki, who guns him out with a strong overhand throw. That prompts Wayne to give us the following analysis:

That's the difference between a Jose Reyes and a Troy Tulowitzki -- Tulowitzki comes right over the top. Now, the Mets very early in Jose Reyes's career tried to alter his throwing style, because he's such a natural, coming from the Dominican Republic, and that's how he learned, is to throw kinda three-quarter, almost sidearm at times. And, quite frankly [pregnant pause], he hurt his arm. His shoulder. And the Mets said, "Just do it any way you want." And that's what Reyes does.


Now, I'm not the biggest Mets fan on the entire planet, but I follow the team pretty closely and am reasonably knowledgeable about the players, and I can tell you I have no memory of the Mets tinkering with Jose Reyes's throwing motion, or of Reyes ever having come down with an arm injury.

The Mets did once try to alter Reyes's running style, tinkering with his stride, because he was having ankle and hamstring problems, but the new style ended up giving him leg cramps, so they eventually let him go back to his usual running style. And they did once try to make him a second baseman, which was a fiasco. But a change in his throwing motion, with a resultant shoulder injury? That was news to me.

But hey, maybe I was just having brain-lock, right? So I started googling, trying to find any evidence of this throwing episode. Nothing. Then I checked with a bunch of serious Mets fans and bloggers to get their take -- none of them had ever heard of this supposed shoulder injury.

Finally, I checked with someone who I won't embarrass by naming him here, but let's just say he's one of the top living authorities on Mets history and goings-on. His response: "My recollection is exactly the same as yours."

So did Wayne just make this up? Maybe, although I think it's more likely that he's confusing the altered running style and the leg cramps with an altered throwing motion that was never taught and an injury that never happened.

Hey, arms, legs -- they're all limbs, right? What's the diff?

And so let the full-throated call echo once more throughout the land: Fire Wayne Hagin already!

5 comments:

  1. Looks like the Rockies are living up to my prediction! I knew it was going to be a good year for them so I downloaded a special app that I’m using just to keep up with them. I work for DISH Network so I found out about their recently released Dish Remote Access app and downloaded it right away. Now I can stream the game live on my smartphone or laptop anywhere I have internet access. I’m not missing anything Rockies, that’s for sure!

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  2. I'm sure Wayne is a nice enough guy and all, but anyone who makes me miss Lorn Brown or Steve LaMar really needs to be sent on his way.

    It's not like there aren't dozens of high quality options to replace Hagin -- but I have a suggestion: Robert Ford. Ford does the pre- and post-game shows for the Royals, but was the play-by-play man for Binghamton (the Mets AA team) for a number of seasons. He's smart, knowledgable, works his butt off on prep, — a native New Yorker — African-American, probably cheap (comparatively to name NY guys), a great guy — and of course, really, really good. I think Ford could eventually be of the same quality of Howie Rose and Gary Cohen.

    As I like to say, never complain about a problem unless you have a solution. So, I say: Fire Wayne Hagen and Hire Robert Ford.

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  3. Are we sure that's the only difference between Reyes and Tulo? Really?

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  4. he stinks. however, howie "i hate the islanders, when do pitchers & catchers report" rose had quite a doozie on opening day. he said, in regards to the crowd, that "everyone who is no one is here today", and went on to state that the people who show up on opening day don't show up at any other time during the season. seemed pretty rude to state that for several reasons. mostly, how can you make that assumption? also, this franchise does not even deserve to have anyone show up, and their announcer slams those who do? total nonsense!

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  5. Glad to see you back. There needs to be a record kept of all the ridiculous things The Wayner says.

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