The Mets fell to 10 games behind the Phillies on Tuesday night, thanks to the latest futile effort by their overmatched offense. The 4-0 loss marked the fifth shutout in the last 13 games, and the second time that Long Island's own John Lannan has gone the distance in a humiliation of his hometown nine. Taken all together, you might think that there were better ways to spend the rest of your summer than watching a nightly train wreck.
There probably are better ways, but you won't come up empty if you decide to keep an eye on the Amazins. Here's three reasons why the Mets are still worth a bit of your time in the 2009 season.
1. Tony Bernazard might kill a man - The Mets' vice president for player development is coming apart at the seams in very public and very angry fashion. On Tuesday, there was a story about him verbally abusing another Mets employee during a game at Citi Field for suggesting that he wait until a half-inning ended before kicking another team's scout out of the seat that he wanted to use. That was followed on Wednesday by an account of Bernazard's trip to speak to the team's AA-Binghamton affiliate.
According to the Daily News, Bernazard dressed down the team, reportedly for alcohol-related problems, and then removed his shirt and challenged the players to a fight. He also called one player "a slang term for a woman's anatomy," which may or may not rhyme with something you do on a suicide squeeze play. With a bit more than two months to go, Bernazard could go for broke at any time and you'll want to be there to see it.
2. Jerry Manuel's post-game press conferences - The Mets manager's nightly atttempts to explain the inexplicable are verging on the theater of the absurd. Fits of laughter, faux-gangster posturing and wildly inaccurate statements are all on the table, and all of them are a lot more fun to watch than the game that precedes them.
One highlight from last night's performance, paraphrased by Metsradamus: "When you have a pitcher who has 17 walks in 17 innings, you have to play good defense." Now it's true that a poor play by Jeff Francoeur contributed to the loss, but you've got to be intrigued by a man who thinks the defense is the problem during Oliver Perez's starts.
3. The annoucers - Lannan, with a 3.38 ERA, deserves to pitch for a better team than the Nationals. Gary Cohen, Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez deserve to announce games featuring better teams than the Mets. They're simply a joy to listen to, both when explaining nuances of the game and when discussing topics that have nothing to do with baseball.
Sports
John Koblin of the New York Observer did a fantastic job of capturing the magical trio's appeal last week, but it can be summed up as the rare announcing team that doesn't pander to the lowest common denominator or talk down to their viewers. The best part is that as the games matter less, they'll have more freedom to explore the corners of their minds and take us all on a free-form ride of distraction from the carnage on the field.
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.
