When I was on Kenrick Thomas’ radio show the other day, he asked me what I thought of the Mets honoring the 2000 NL Champs team this weekend. I said I thought it was okay to honor that team – after all, they did make it to the World Series. Heck, if the San Francisco Giants could honor their 2000 team last month, a team that the Mets beat in the first round of the playoffs, then why couldn’t the Mets honor their own team that year?
Besdes, at least it’s something different than the incessant 1986 talk on SNY (if you had a bottle of an adult beverage while watching a Mets broadcast, and took a sip every time 1986 was mentioned, you’d be soused by the third inning!)
But I do think the timing of the 2000 celebration – during last night’s Subway Series game – was just plain bizarre. Leave it to the Mets organziation to give Yankee fans something to laugh about. And for a team struggling with attendance, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for the Mets not to do this on a separate occasion.
How about that first pitch, thrown by John Franco to Mike Piazza? And no, my problem isn’t with Piazza (for once!); it’s with Franco throwing out the first pitch. You have Al Leiter in the house, and you don’t have him do it? Leiter may now be a Yankee broadcaster, but he was the ace of that team. Franco wasn’t even the closer in 2000; Armando Benitez took over that role. So why Franco? Heck, why not Mike Hampton, who was actually in the stadium – and was also a big part of that 2000 team? I was snickering on Facebook last night that Roger Clemens should have thrown out the first pitch! Heh.
There were eight 2000 Mets in Citi Field last night: Piazza, Franco, Leiter, Benny Agbayani, Turk Wendell, Rick Reed, Edgardo Alfonzo, and Turk Wendell. Of course, the Yankees had four members of their own 2000 World Series team in the house – Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera, and Jorge Posada!
But eight seems kind of low. You would think the Mets could have had more people from 2000 in the house – where was Robin Ventura? Or Bobby Valentine? And what, Todd Zeile has something better to do?
Anyhow, I do have a vested interest in celebrating the 2000 World Series – it gives me something to mock Squawker Jon with! And that’s priceless.
What do you think? Leave us a comment!
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