Anyone who tuned in to catch the early innings of Tuesday night's Mets game was greeted by a blue screen explaining that SNY was suffering technical difficulties that limited them to bringing you Gary Cohen's audio call of the game. It would appear that such difficulties are contagious.
Did SNY catch the disease from the Mets bats? The offense was held to five hits and a run over eight innings by Barry Enright, a rookie making his fourth start in the big leagues. Enright was on the ropes in the top of the first when the Mets loaded the bases with one out. A couple of early runs against a callow pitcher has a way of working out well but Enright was able to whiff both Ike Davis and Jason Bay to get out of the jam.
Bay should be the poster child for the Technical Difficulties Association of America. The back of his baseball card says that he's physically able to provide offense to major league lineups, just like SNY is usually able to provide both audio and video to interested viewers, but all season long he's failed to do anything close to that. Won't you dig a little deeper and help find a cure for Technical Difficulties so that kids like Jason have a chance to stop infuriating Mets fans with their dismal showings with a bat in their hands?
To the best of our knowledge, Carlos Beltran doesn't have Technical Difficulties, although we do know that he has knee problems. Those problems showed themselves in the fourth inning when Gerardo Parra's fly ball eluded Beltran's grasp and became a run-scoring triple. Beltran's rustiness also played a role, his first step was in, but it looked like a ball he would have caught with ease in past seasons.
Parra would wind up scoring the third run in what turned out to be a 3-2 defeat, although it is difficult to hate on Beltran too much. It's actually shocking that the Mets were that close as it felt like they were losing by a dozen runs and circumstances dictate that he get a little time to reacclimate himself to big league baseball.
Tempers might not make it possible for Beltran to get that time, however. The Mets are starting to feel the strain, as evidenced by a scene in the clubhouse after the game. Alex Cora was upset about a group of reporters and players laughing as he made his way out of the room.
"Show some respect. They just stuck it up our butt."
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A fair request, but when you're dealing with such a severe case of Technical Difficulties sometimes you've gotta laugh to keep from crying.
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com. You can follow him on Twitter.
