Hit Man

In the 5th inning of yesterday's Phillies/Nationals game, Nats rookie pitcher John Lannon hit Chase Utley in the hand, before hitting Ryan Howard with the very next pitch to earn a prompt ejection. Utley broke his hand, and the word from Philly is that he could be out up to 4 weeks.

Utley will miss some time; the Phillies today turned around and acquired Tadahito Iguchi from the Chicago White Sox to serve in his absence.

As this has become newsworthy, the word on the street in New York today is that John Lannon grew up in Long Beach, New York, went to Siena College, and happens to be a Mets fan. Hmmm.

The part about Lannon being a Mets fan has been refuted by a couple of sources (like his father) who claim that he was "always more of a Yankee fan," but these are minor details.

Let me just say that if Lannon, making his Major League debut for a last place team going nowhere, hit Utley and Howard on purpose in order to help the Mets because he knows that it doesn't really matter what he does for the Nationals...that would be awesome. It's my impression that that sort of thing used to happen a lot more in baseball and personally I'm kind of sad that the game doesn't seem to be as dirty as it used to be.

I hate to root for opposing players to get injured, but regardless of John Lannon's big apple baseball allegiances, he's certainly done something of a service to the Mets. No harm in pointing out the obvious.

And despite his claim that both pitches were fully unintentional, maybe he just doesn't like Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, and felt like having some fun because he knows the Nationals are going nowhere. That would be cool. Heck, I don't like Chase Utley or Ryan Howard. Utley could be a perfectly nice guy, but he looks like one of the same kind of cocky Connecticut prep school sissies with whom I used to compete and try to start fights in high school sports. For crying out loud, his name is Chase Utley. If I ever made it to the major leagues I might plunk him as well.

Chase Utley reminds me of this kid

So thanks for that, John Lannon. You've helped the Mets while making me feel better about myself in the process.

And get well soon, Chase. No decent human being should be denied the opportunity to engage in this country's great pastime. And I'd hate for the fans of your city to have an excuse when the Mets seal another year of playoff-less fate for you and your team.

(Pics courtesy of allposters.com, maxpreps.com)