It had to be a momentous occasion for Defiance, OH native Jon Niese on Wednesday night, pitching against the team he rooted for with his family in the stands. And it got me thinking: When Niese was one day short of eleven years old, Edgar Renteria singled up the middle to crush a young man’s dreams. Livan Hernandez won two games in that World Series against Cleveland. So when they were teammates last season, how many times did Niese want to kill Livan in his sleep during a road trip?
It might be a long way from the glory days for the Indians, but Niese was once again “defiant (word play) in presenting more proof that there’s no way he should be included in any deal for Cliff Lee as he led the Mets to another road win. That price is coming down the closer we get to July 31, folks. Lee’s going to be there. But there’s no way that Omar Minaya should feed into the desperation that is the Seattle Mariners. No way I would make any trade for Lee that involves Jon Niese, and I wouldn’t do something else crazy like trade first round draft pick Matt Harvey for Roy Oswalt. Hear that? No Niese for Lee, or Harvey for Oswalt.
Get it? Lee? Harvey? Oswalt? History?
(Editor’s note: I know you can’t trade draft picks for a year. It made the lame history joke work. So, I know … I know. Just hit that “read more” button. No more stupid word play, I promise.)
Okay, enough silliness. This could be a stretch where you could say “Hey Metstradamus, these teams blow large chunks of furniture polish. They’re kicking the ball around just like the Braves, Cubs and Dodgers did during that 9-1 homestand.” Fair point. But there’s a little something different going on this time. During the homestand, Ike Davis was just feeling his way around the locker room. Now, teams are playing an overshift on him. Has there ever been a player to have been in the league for so little time before he gets an overshift? Even Ken Griffey was in the league for years before he got a shift and he’s a sure fire hall of famer. Ike Davis has been around a month and a half and he has The Stimulus Overshift already.
And then there’s David Wright. Remember when everyone was talking about the light as air numbers he was putting up, when he was putting them up when nobody cared? Consider that during the 10-1 streak in April, Wright has 11 hits and drove in 10 runs. During the latest 10-1 streak, David has 17 hits and 16 RBI. Against bad teams? Sure. But what’s the alternative? Wright becomes invisible against the bad teams, the Mets go 4-6 against Baltimore and Cleveland, and I’m ready to hang myself off the apex of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame pyramid. So … yeah. There’s a difference when you’re winning on the back of say, Angel Pagan (who’s not performing so bad himself), and when your big boys are carrying you.
And then there’s Jason Bay, who was oh-so-close to starting one of those white hot streaks with four hits on Sunday and two on Wednesday before he had to leave the game with a “quad contusion” (a bruise) caused by getting out of the way of Andy Marte at first base, or as Ron Darling noted, it looked like Marte’s backside was in foul territory causing Bay to jump out of the way and look like LaDainian Tomlinson plunging ahead for a touchdown. It almost sounded like Darling thought Marte’s uniform pants made his butt look big.
But Bay should be all right after a night off (prevention and recovery, remember?) so everyone breathe. Corporal Matthews isn’t coming back and neither is Brady Clark.
You know who I feel a touch awful for, Manny Acta. He went from the Mets’ golden child and Willie Randolph’s potential successor to having to do penance in Washington for two and a half seasons, then he comes to Cleveland because he’s good with young players and the Indians are rebuilding, meanwhile he’s probably watching Mitch Talbot get hit hard while thinking “now Strasburg comes up … dammit!” Instead, Acta gets to put Jake Westbrook out there on Thursday for one of the last times before he gets traded for dirt, and he’ll go against R.A. Dickey who Snoop likes to trot out to lead off a series to mess up a team for the rest of it.
Well … he’ll mess up the Indians just in time for the big series against the Pirates. You’re welcome, Pittsburgh.
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