Pulling An Estes

The night had started so well. The 1986 Mets had started the evening off with a great ceremony which ended with Gary Carter’s kid D.J. leaping into Jesse Orosco’s arms to recreate the final out of the World Series, which I’m sure was emotional for everybody. And then Sandy Carter leaped in the air to slap five with me on the way out … that was emotional for me, especially while wearing my Carter jersey.

Then it was all downhill.

I’m not of the mind that Noah Syndergaard should have been ejected for this. Major League Baseball owed us this, just as they owed us one for Roger Clemens throwing a bat at Mike Piazza during the 2000 World Series. And just as Shawn Estes missed Clemens a year and a half later, Noah Syndergaard also missed (here to forth to be referred to as “pulling an Estes”.) But unlike Estes, who was allowed to stay in the game to hit a home run off Clemens because the umpires understood nuance and subtlety, Syndergaard was ejected.

Now here’s where I would ask Syndergaard a question … not that he would answer me or anything, but if I had some truth serum to spike his drink with, I’d ask him this: Why then? Why that very moment? You had a game before this to take care of this if you didn’t want to wait for a blowout. So why the third inning of a 0-0 game on a night when the bullpen needed the rest? It was an odd time to drill him or do what Syndergaard did, which was “pull an Estes”.

But that said, with no warnings issued, and precedent set for this situation that foretells a lack of consistency, Adam Hamari tossed him. Now, let’s be real: Syndergaard was sending a message. He wasn’t “sweaty“. That pitch had purpose. But here’s why I have a problem with the ejection and certainly with a suspension if it happens: Chase Utley got nothing for breaking Ruben Tejada’s leg with a dirty slide. And yes, it was a dirty slide with the rules in place last year. He wasn’t even called out. He didn’t get a two game suspension from MLB, who bent over backwards to explain it all away with the reasons of having new rules in place and how a suspension didn’t make sense under the circumstances. There was nuance involved in Joe Torre’s decisions. But Syndergaard throws behind Utley, and BAM! Ejection, and possible suspension … for a pitch behind Utley’s ass. And for all the nuance that Joe Torre had for not suspending Utley, let’s see him try to find some common sense as to why Syndergaard won’t be suspended. I bet you he comes up with nothing, even when the whole world … even Utley himself … knew this was coming.  So the only punishment that has been and will be doled out will be to the team that didn’t break anybody’s leg. I have a big problem with that. And that’s why I don’t have an issue with what Syndergaard did, except for … maybe … the strange timing of it. If MLB had done what they were supposed to do and suspended Utley, even if it was for the token two regular season games, this doesn’t happen.

And to show you how the rest of my night went: I knew it was coming because I was sure to take a picture of Utley just in case, and I caught it right before the pitch whizzed by him. But I can’t post it, or anything else, here or anywhere right now. My camera won’t let me upload the pictures to my phone because it keeps telling me “incorrect password”, even though I never changed the damn password. That was merely the cherry on top of the feces sundae as Utley went to hit two home runs including a grand slam to help the Dodgers to a 9-1 win, with some guy named Kershaw going tomorrow. Oh and also, Adrian Gonzalez hit a home run. I bring that up because right before he hit the home run, he hit a screaming line drive foul … right off the empty seat I sat in for six innings, and would have been in. Except I was off charging my 97-year-old cell phone because heaven forbid I get four hours of battery life anymore, so I had to go to the Verizon charging station. And it was there that my friend who was still in the seats was almost killed by the foul ball … because we were texting him to tell him that we were at the Verizon station and he was looking down at his phone to look at our text. Hooray, technology.

I could look at this two ways: fate prevented me from making a great catch of a foul ball and get cheered. Or … fate prevented me from breaking my fingers from trying to catch a foul ball, because the baseball gods prefer my death be slower so that I can attend more stupid games like this one, or the one with 15 rain delays and 75 Padres home runs. Thanks, baseball gods. You did it to me again. I should have done what Doc did and left the park in solidarity.

Today’s Hate List

1. Adam Hamari
2. Chase Utley
3. Adrian Gonzalez
4. Clayton Kershaw
5. Telling everyone to be in their seats by 6:15, but not opening the gates any earlier than 5:10 so it can take a half hour just for everyone to get in the damn park. Eight years at this new park, you’d think people would have their acts together by now.