Kind of like "World's Wildest Police Videos," except on at the same time as MauryOne of the first videos we watched was of a scruffy sideburn and goatee-wearing guy who looked like he was about 30 screwing around with some kids, a book of matches, a large metal garbage can, and a container of gasoline. These videos, of course, are all real. Remember that.
In the video the man starts by pouring a reasonably large amount of gasoline into the garbage can, passing the container on to the kids so that they too can have a go at the gas-pouring. As soon as there's no more gas to be poured, the man strikes a match and begins trying to light the inside of the garbage can, starting with the inner-rim as the kids look on eagerly.
When nothing catches fire immediately, though, the man becomes discouraged and strikes another match, which he tries to move around the lower parts of the garbage can. When the man still struggles to get anything lit, he leans over the can, reaching down as far as he can and sticking his head in the top of the metal bin, presumably to get a better view of what he's doing.
Of course, the minute the scruffy man puts his head in the can, there's a small explosion and a fireball rushes upward as the man pulls his head out of the trash bin, screaming and running as the burst of flames that was on his head dies down and goes away. So extreme!
I feel bad when I watch "Most Extreme Videos" and someone falls off their motorcycle and gets hit by a car, a flaming car, and 2 Mack trucks before their mangled body comes to a screeching halt on the side of the road. It sucks, but it's really not their fault. And then I'm happy when the clip continues and I find out that somehow they had the foresight to wear 5 leather jackets and a gas mask and ended up living to give a taped video testimonial about their ordeal.
But garbage can guy was a legitimate moron. With a lit match in his hand, he stuck his entire arm and head into a trash bin that he had just doused the inside of in gasoline. I certainly didn't feel too sorry for him, and I wondered how he couldn't have expected what happened to happen. He was asking for it.
This looks like it was also a pretty bad idea What does this all have to do with the Mets, you ask? Let's just say I was painfully reminded while watching the gasoline video of Scott Schoeneweis' appearance in the 11th inning of Tuesday night's Mets game. With the score tied at 3 after the Mets had drawn even on a dramatic double by Jose Valentin with 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, after a scoreless 10th Willie Randolph turned to Schoeneweis to preserve the tie in the top of the 11th. Why, Willie, why?
Schoeneweis, of course, promptly gave up a tie-breaking leadoff home run on a 3-2 pitch to career minor leaguer Brendan Ryan (the home run was Ryan's FIRST CAREER EXTRA BASE HIT) and went on to give up another unearned run in the inning, eventually taking the loss in a 5-3 Mets defeat. When Willie took the ball as he left the mound, the manager and his pitcher barely made eye contact before Schoeneweis walked to the dugout to a chorus of boos that could just as easily have been for Armando Benitez.
That's saying somethingLike the man in the gasoline video, Willie was asking for what happened by putting Schoeneweis in in the first place. And like the man in the gasoline video, he and the team were burned for it. It's true that the Mets were playing their second straight extra inning game, and Schoeneweis was one of only 3 relief pitchers left in the bullpen, (Joe Smith and the frequently used Aaron Sele were the other two) but even that doesn't absolve Randolph of any blame here. Scott Schoeneweis is terrible. Even before he started pitching really badly, (around mid-May or so) he wasn't exactly lights out. And since the month of May, he's failed to do pretty much anything right. During a 5-outing earned run-less streak that preceded Tuesday night's outing, Schoeneweis still had more baserunners than innings pitched.
Into the game for the Mets: Scott SchoeneweisJoe Smith should have been in the game in that spot, no question. But the bigger problem here is what the Mets can even do with Schoeneweis, who was signed in the offseason to a 3-year contract worth 11 million dollars. The unofficial excuse so far for why Schoeneweis is even still with the team is that his contract is so prohibitive, but it's becoming more and more clear that independent of his contract, Scott Schoeneweis can't be counted at all. Ever.
At least Willie knows not to use Schoeneweis in the 11th inning of any more tie games...one would hope. But really, what should the Mets do? From a business standpoint, I guess he has to pitch. 3 yrs., 11 mil. From a baseball standpoint, though, players are signed and kept on teams in order to help the team win. And it's clear that by pitching, Scott Schoeneweis isn't helping the Mets in any way. Wouldn't it make sense to either release him or shut him down, (it is doubtful that he even could be traded) which would put the Mets in the position of effectively paying him not to lose games? They'd certainly be getting more for thier money.
Regardless, it's quickly being demonstrated that this guy needs to be shown the door. Sorry, Scott.
----
A few other notes from the game on Tuesday night, and the Mets/Cardinals series in general:
- What is up with the Shea faithful? After the Mets were retired in the bottom of the seventh inning with the Cards up 2-1, scores of people left the upper deck. In a one-run game! Then, with the Mets having drawn to 3-2 on a Paul Lo Duca home run after the Cards went up 3-1 in the 8th, another significant batch of fans left after Carlos Beltran grounded out to end the inning.
What is going on here? Mets fans are some of the most loyal fans in baseball...or at least I thought so. It just seems very uncharacteristic for anybody to leave in the 8th inning of a one-run game just because the Mets were losing. Maybe in LA. But not here.
-The other thing I noticed about the crowd on Tuesday night is that it seems to be taking a lot right now to get the fans at Shea to stand up and cheer (like prompting from the Public Address system, for instance). Other bloggers have commented on this all season long, but I definitely noticed it for myself the other night. The same collective hangover from last year, maybe, that I suspect the team still has? Perhaps. But the Mets could have one of the most dominating home-field advantages in baseball, and it's up to the crowd to take advantage of that. This is New York, for crying out loud. It's frustrating to feel like you're in the minority when you root enthusiastically and are nasty to the opposing team.
- It's been nice to see the Mets string together a few wins over the course of the past week, but the team is still flawed right now. What was supposed to be a dominating lineup has a lot of potential firepower night to night, but it has been maddeningly inconsistent all season long. Carlos Beltran leads the team in RBIs with 44. For a little perspective, David Wright had 71 going into last year's all-star break.
And Carlos Delgado still isn't hitting. The Mets have two solid run producers in Wright and Beltran, but this year there is a glaring hole in the middle of the order that wasn't there last season, and it's because the Mets don't have the thunderous run-producer that Delgado was last year. I'm not quite sure what the solution is to this problem, other than for Delgado to stop playing horridly, so I guess we'll just have to continue to wait, hope, and see.
In general, though, the lineup needs to produce with a little bit more regularity. The team is winning games again, but if the Mets are 10 games over .500 and in first place by 3 games at the end of June, after losing 15 out of 20 or whatever it was, while all year the hitting has still not really come around to its full potential, just think of what could be. That's why I'm still a little frustrated. This will be a big road trip coming up as we head on to Philly for 4, (including a Friday doubleheader) Colorado for 3, and Houston for 4 before we pack it in for the all-star break.
- For the love of God, can the Mets please start hitting against bad pitchers? We faced Todd Wellmeyer on Tuesday night and scratched out just 2 hits through the first 7 innings. Then we only got 2 runs off Anthony Reyes (by the way, he's 0-10) in last night's rain-shortened contest. Mike Maroth did have pretty good stuff on Monday night, but he's still Mike Maroth. Come on. And if another example is necessary to illustrate the Mets' struggles against weak pitching, I submit one Tyler Clippard and rest my case.
-I wrote about Julio Franco on Monday, and my opinion still stands. This guy cannot be the go-to pinch hitter for the Mets. He grounded out to second to end the threat we had mounted in the 9th after tying the game on Tuesday night, leading to a collective "ohhhhh" from the crowd. And while I realize that he and Damion Easley were the only 2 options to come off the bench in that scenario, I still would rather have Easley up there. Easley can hit a fastball.
Not to mention the fact that Ricky Ledee would have been available to pinch hit in that spot had he not been used the at-bat before for Carlos Gomez, a move that I still don't understand. When you're managing with a somewhat short bench, as Willie Randolph is right now, you can't be using up pinch hitters to hit for guys like Gomez, who may be a rookie but still is fully capable of pulling his weight and thus shouldn't need anybody to bat for him late in a tie game. I'm a steadfast Willie backer but that move was not a good one. Kind of like bringing Julio Franco up to pinch hit one batter later. Kind of like bringing in Scott Schoeneweis to pitch two innings later. Not a good game for Willie Randolph.
----
Even with some of the team's shortcomings, it's still going pretty well for the orange and blue right now. And even though we're playing the Cardinals 4-A squad this week, it still feels good that we've beaten St. Louis 5 out of 6 this season. Hopefully we can make it one more tonight before this weekend's big series against Philly.
Let's go Mets.
(Images courtesy www.primetv.co.nz, www.guzer.com, www.blogger.com, www.metroactive.com)
At least Willie knows not to use Schoeneweis in the 11th inning of any more tie games...one would hope. But really, what should the Mets do? From a business standpoint, I guess he has to pitch. 3 yrs., 11 mil. From a baseball standpoint, though, players are signed and kept on teams in order to help the team win. And it's clear that by pitching, Scott Schoeneweis isn't helping the Mets in any way. Wouldn't it make sense to either release him or shut him down, (it is doubtful that he even could be traded) which would put the Mets in the position of effectively paying him not to lose games? They'd certainly be getting more for thier money.
Regardless, it's quickly being demonstrated that this guy needs to be shown the door. Sorry, Scott.
----
A few other notes from the game on Tuesday night, and the Mets/Cardinals series in general:
- What is up with the Shea faithful? After the Mets were retired in the bottom of the seventh inning with the Cards up 2-1, scores of people left the upper deck. In a one-run game! Then, with the Mets having drawn to 3-2 on a Paul Lo Duca home run after the Cards went up 3-1 in the 8th, another significant batch of fans left after Carlos Beltran grounded out to end the inning.
What is going on here? Mets fans are some of the most loyal fans in baseball...or at least I thought so. It just seems very uncharacteristic for anybody to leave in the 8th inning of a one-run game just because the Mets were losing. Maybe in LA. But not here.
-The other thing I noticed about the crowd on Tuesday night is that it seems to be taking a lot right now to get the fans at Shea to stand up and cheer (like prompting from the Public Address system, for instance). Other bloggers have commented on this all season long, but I definitely noticed it for myself the other night. The same collective hangover from last year, maybe, that I suspect the team still has? Perhaps. But the Mets could have one of the most dominating home-field advantages in baseball, and it's up to the crowd to take advantage of that. This is New York, for crying out loud. It's frustrating to feel like you're in the minority when you root enthusiastically and are nasty to the opposing team.
- It's been nice to see the Mets string together a few wins over the course of the past week, but the team is still flawed right now. What was supposed to be a dominating lineup has a lot of potential firepower night to night, but it has been maddeningly inconsistent all season long. Carlos Beltran leads the team in RBIs with 44. For a little perspective, David Wright had 71 going into last year's all-star break.
And Carlos Delgado still isn't hitting. The Mets have two solid run producers in Wright and Beltran, but this year there is a glaring hole in the middle of the order that wasn't there last season, and it's because the Mets don't have the thunderous run-producer that Delgado was last year. I'm not quite sure what the solution is to this problem, other than for Delgado to stop playing horridly, so I guess we'll just have to continue to wait, hope, and see.
In general, though, the lineup needs to produce with a little bit more regularity. The team is winning games again, but if the Mets are 10 games over .500 and in first place by 3 games at the end of June, after losing 15 out of 20 or whatever it was, while all year the hitting has still not really come around to its full potential, just think of what could be. That's why I'm still a little frustrated. This will be a big road trip coming up as we head on to Philly for 4, (including a Friday doubleheader) Colorado for 3, and Houston for 4 before we pack it in for the all-star break.
- For the love of God, can the Mets please start hitting against bad pitchers? We faced Todd Wellmeyer on Tuesday night and scratched out just 2 hits through the first 7 innings. Then we only got 2 runs off Anthony Reyes (by the way, he's 0-10) in last night's rain-shortened contest. Mike Maroth did have pretty good stuff on Monday night, but he's still Mike Maroth. Come on. And if another example is necessary to illustrate the Mets' struggles against weak pitching, I submit one Tyler Clippard and rest my case.
-I wrote about Julio Franco on Monday, and my opinion still stands. This guy cannot be the go-to pinch hitter for the Mets. He grounded out to second to end the threat we had mounted in the 9th after tying the game on Tuesday night, leading to a collective "ohhhhh" from the crowd. And while I realize that he and Damion Easley were the only 2 options to come off the bench in that scenario, I still would rather have Easley up there. Easley can hit a fastball.
Not to mention the fact that Ricky Ledee would have been available to pinch hit in that spot had he not been used the at-bat before for Carlos Gomez, a move that I still don't understand. When you're managing with a somewhat short bench, as Willie Randolph is right now, you can't be using up pinch hitters to hit for guys like Gomez, who may be a rookie but still is fully capable of pulling his weight and thus shouldn't need anybody to bat for him late in a tie game. I'm a steadfast Willie backer but that move was not a good one. Kind of like bringing Julio Franco up to pinch hit one batter later. Kind of like bringing in Scott Schoeneweis to pitch two innings later. Not a good game for Willie Randolph.
----
Even with some of the team's shortcomings, it's still going pretty well for the orange and blue right now. And even though we're playing the Cardinals 4-A squad this week, it still feels good that we've beaten St. Louis 5 out of 6 this season. Hopefully we can make it one more tonight before this weekend's big series against Philly.
Let's go Mets.
(Images courtesy www.primetv.co.nz, www.guzer.com, www.blogger.com, www.metroactive.com)
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