If all rock’n’roll venues across this great land were equipped with free wi-fi like Dallas’ Gypsy Tea Room, well, they’d still be smelly, dank places that no self-respecting adult would choose to spend an evening. But at least watching the Mets beat the Yankees would be an option, as it was last night for your very tired correspondent. Tired, because the no-doz doesn’t just eat itself.
Carlos Beltran robbing Hideki Matsui of extra bases was equal parts Fred Lynn and Tori Hunter, and another example of the uncanny way the Mets’ CF has supported Pedro Martinez in the majority of his starts. And he could be doing the same thing for the Yankee pitching staff right now, had Steinbrenner overpaid for an young outfielder rather than extending Randy Johnson’s contract.
Bernie Williams (above) once again proved himself to be a defensive liability, though I’m weary of hearing about a Cano for Cameron trade (mostly because I think the Mets would be nuts to go along with it).
Braden Looper continues to show that he’s the 19th or 20th best closer in the major leagues. It would be unfair to say “no lead is safe” with Looper on the mound because there’s plenty of evidence to the contrary. But I don’t think it is a stretch to predict that the ex-Marlins reliever is one implosion away from making Jose Meas a favored topic of discussion on WFAN.
You could say the Yankees are playing a stretch of games, but it might be more accurate to say they’re playing a stench of games. There’s no crime in losing to Pedro Martinez, the Mets’ new magic man, as they did Friday night, but the downside is that they are now officially nobody’s daddies.
“We have got to come out with a warrior-like mentality [Saturday],” Alex Rodriguez promised after the Mets’ 6-4 victory.
Something new would be nice.
There used to be a few things you could count on in Yankeeland. One was that they’d regularly pound the tar out of the Devil Rays. Another was that they’d put in an extremely professional effort against Martinez, their wayward son.
However, this Yankees team is full of surprises, the latest being a couple of mailed-in efforts against terrible Tampa Bay leading up to a showdown so dominated by Pedro that the “Who’s your daddy?” chants were down to a muffled whisper.
Martinez, virtually ignored this past winter by the Yankees, whose pursuit of him consisted of one free steak dinner, threw eight more superb innings of two-run, six-hit pitching.
“Pedro’s one of the best pitchers in the last hundred years,” Rodriguez said.
Perhaps the Yankees should have consulted Rodriguez before they made their offseason plans. Maybe then Pedro would be in pinstripes.
The Yankees’ braintrust, such as it is, might actually have gone 0-for-the-offseason.