Friday, April 18, 2008

FRIDAY MUSINGS for 4-18-08.

Last night’s event with Mets By The Numbers and Benchclearing went swimmingly well, I thought, despite some initial nerves and a minute or two of, WTF am I doing up here interviewing baseball writers about baseball books. But I am good at the interviewing thing, pretty good at the writing thing, and not so bad at the baseball thing, so it all turned out well. Thanks to those who attended, and thanks again to Word Books and Jon Springer for the opportunity. For those of you who didn’t show and live in the area, just see if I buy you a hot pretzel at Shea this year.

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We didn’t see the game tonight.  I know, Santana-Hamels, but our hearts needed a little solace.  If the car would have made it to Jersey we would have been down the shore, but lacking that we headed for Rockaway, sharing earbuds on the train there and back, getting the last out of the 9th inning two seconds before the A train went back underground. Once we got home, I watched the Reyes collision, just to reassure myself that he was doing okay.

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A few favorite press quotes:

Adam Rubin

”I see when somebody’s not happy,” Beltran said. “I didn’t think he was happy. I told him, ‘I want you to be the Reyes you’ve always been.’ Him being quiet, that’s not him. … We don’t care if other teams get offended.”

Said Reyes: “Everything is back.”

Thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Also from Rubin:

Billy Wagner had the line of the night. Referring to the booing from the Citizens Bank Park fans as he entered from the bullpen, the closer quipped:

“When I ran in, I thought (Scott) Schoeneweis was with me.”

I *like* Billy Wagner.

Jayson Stark:

PHILADELPHIA—As you watched Johan Santana overmatch the Phillies on Friday in his first visit to Philadelphia as a Met, it was hard to resist asking this question:

Suppose he’d been a Met last year.

Hey, Jayson: Suppose my mother was a bus. We could all go for a ride in her.
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Tomorrow we will miss the game because we will be arriving in Jersey for the family Seder right about the time of first pitch, and although TBF mumbled something about sitting at the other end of the table and stealthing an earbud, I don’t think that’s gonna work. I freely confess that a big reason I agreed to go was so that TBF and I wouldn’t decide to head to Philly at the last minute.

A happy and kosher Pesach to all you readers of the Hebraic faith.