Out FOXed

I really try not to complain about announcers that aren’t Gary, Keith, and Ron. I listen to a lot of them at different points and appreciate the different points of view. And when announcers start to make no sense, I just tune out and it becomes background noise.

But we’re obviously in the Twilight Zone, which makes sense because a Twilight Zone marathon was dominating the airwaves on SyFy channel. So why would things make sense? First it was Harold Reynolds noting that the Mets should manufacture more runs, which is great except the last time the Mets attempted a suicide squeeze Ruben Tejada wandered into left field. Besides, ever since he fell head long into former-player-speak by arguing with Brian Kenny all of last year on MLB Network, I think “manufacturing runs” is his solution for everything. Leaky faucets, dead car battery, worn upholstery … he has become the Billy Mays of manufacturing runs.

Then it was Tom Verducci telling us that the Mets lead the N.L. in line drive rate. Which is just fantastic because it’s obviously going to become this year’s “Pythagorean W-L Record” where it becomes an excuse for fans, executives, and owners to think that this team is better than it actually is. Jeff Wilpon would like to thank Verducci for the life preserver.

Then it was Reynolds wondering what would happen if John Mayberry Jr. got a chance to play a full season of baseball. Reynolds must have ingested a lot of hallucinogens during 2012. Then he complained about the pace of the game when it was almost over and nearing its climax. I mean … I know we weren’t in Kansas anymore but this was ridiculous.

But the best was Reynolds crediting Alex Torres on a lucky behind-the-back play in the sixth inning for “looking the ball into the glove”. Even Verducci took the tone of “what kind of mushrooms are you smoking, Harold?” Even more hysterical was Torres proving Verducci’s point by trying and failing that behind-the-back play not once but twice later in the game.

Maybe I point all this out to distract from the fact that the Mets lost to the Dodgers, with the eventual winning run coming on one of those Torres tries that went up the middle and was botched by Wilmer Flores, who would have been better served to let the ball go to Tejada to try to turn that double play. A more nuanced middle infield might have turned that. But to hope that these two could turn two on any ground ball not labeled “routine” is expecting way too much.

Add to that Matt Harvey laboring through five innings with five walks and seven hits through five innings, and also battling a bloody nose:

Bloody nose Harvey again #mets pic.twitter.com/EjeTOoA7ib

— Earl (@EarlTSB) July 4, 2015

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Terry Collins’ reaction:

“He wasn’t the same. Maybe the bloody nose attributed to the lack of focus but certainly he had to work hard.”

Collins obviously forgetting that the last time Harvey’s nose trickled with the blood of lesser humans, he pitched nine shutout innings against the White Sox and got a no-decision because his team couldn’t hit then either. Some things never change.

Today’s Hate List

Me … because this really is the Twilight Zone … for titling last night’s blog Because Baseball Makes Perfect Sense after winning a game that Clayton Kershaw pitched. Why do I hate myself for that? Because almost a year to the day ago I came up with Where Nonsense Makes Total Sense after the Mets touched up Yu Darvish. And I complain about Hollywood running out of ideas. Jeez.