Following the Mets’ 5-2 loss to the Pirates this afternoon, SNY’s “Mets Weekly” — of which MetsBlog‘s Matthew Cerrone is a competent fixture — featured a segment in which a succession of notable Mets bloggers were shown enjoying the hospitality of a Shea Stadium luxury suite during last Sunday’s defeat to Florida. “Any good Mets fan stays current with the latest blogs” gushed hostess Joceyln Pierce, prior to SNY’s Ted Berg asking not one, but two bloggers, “why aren’t you in your parents’ basement?”

It was all light-hearted stuff, not quite Bissinger vs. Leitch.  Several of the persons who made themselves available to be stooges for this segment do very good work…which only makes it all the more curious why they participated. Whether or not SNY has successfully co-opted Cerrone’s blog is a matter of opinion, but if Ted DiBiase was correct in claiming everyone has their price, the price for many of Cerrone’s less celebrated colleagues is exceedingly low.  Whether or not the Wilpons consciously seek to limit criticism through the largesse of hot dogs and bottled water is of little consequence. That anyone went along with it is pretty weak.