Put A Lid On It?

After Joba Chamberlain struck out Jose Guillen for the final out in the 8th inning last night, he simply walked off the mound. That was right around the time Jose Reyes, the mercurial shortstop for the Mets, scored the winning run against their nemesis, the Phillies, and, although he couldn't totally wipe that infectious grin off his face, the celebration was a bit subdued for Shea, especially in light of the occasion.

It would seem the fun grinches have won, at least for now. Joba Chamberlain was roundly criticized last week after his growling and fist-pumping upon recording a final strikeout back on April 1^st. There have also been quite a few disparaging comments made about the Mets celebrations, especially the ones from last year, characterized by a lot of twisting, jumping and hip bouncing outside the dugout.

These comments are usually made by those who take themselves and their occupations much too seriously, pointedly opinionated commentators such as portly Yankee fan Mike Francesa of WFAN and Tim McCarver of Fox Sports, the latter no doubt still aggrieved that his “run and hit” over-analysis never caught on.

I wish a healthy helping of raspberries to all of them. Self righteous hypocrites they are. They’ll say that that kind of behavior isn’t professional, or that it provokes the other team. I think it was Jack Buck who last week rhetorically asked “who cares if the other team gets offended?”

The 1986 Mets were the poster-boys for supposedly offensive celebrations and general overall arrogance. Those Mets featured colorful, to say the least, types such as Lenny Dykstra and Darryl Strawberry, Mookie Wilson and Keith Hernandez, and were skippered by an easy-going Davey Johnson who could be pretty fiery on the field.

And, long after Tim McCarver and Mike Francesa are forgotten, fans will still recall those ’86 Mets with nothing but pure delight. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that they also won the World Series.

Which brings me back to today’s Mets and Yankees.

The Mets looked to be ripe candidates for another embarrassing loss to those annoying Phillies last night. It seemed as if they had blown one opportunity after another and their pitching resources were getting kind of thin.

So, after Brian Schneider and Brady Clark made the first and second outs of the inning in rather unspectacular fashion, I didn’t expect much from Jose Reyes, whose batting average has been hovering around the .200 mark since August of last year.

But Jose turned on a pitch and drove it deep into right-center, and, for a second or two, I thought he had a chance for a triple. But Reyes pulled himself up (would he have done that last year?) for a double. It was then up to Angel Pagan, the latest Mets darling to come out of nowhere, to play the hero once again.

Pagan didn’t disappoint. He lined a hard one back through the middle, so hard in fact that, for any other base runner, it would have been a mistake to send him. But not for Jose Reyes. With wings on his feet, Jose made a nice turn at third and streaked home.

It was a perfect throw. The catcher blocked the plate beautifully. Jose slid, was blocked, then bounced up and over that catcher’s leg to touch the plate just as the glove was put on his back. The call was safe and I think the video replay confirmed that, although thousands of Phillies fans might disagree.

ANY other base runner would have been called out. It was a perfect throw to the plate, a classic block of the plate, and, even in Shea Stadium, with thirty or forty thousand fans holding their breath, that call would have gone to the opposition for anyone else.

The difference was that it was Jose Reyes. No umpire is going to call Jose Reyes out at the plate in the 12^th inning of a tie game to last year’s pennant winner when the call was as close it obviously was, when both ends of the fielding play were made to perfection.

I certainly thought the moment was worthy of some fancy carousing, but it didn’t really turn out that way. I didn’t see one bump. What there was of a celebration can be seen above right.

Although Joba’s performance last night wasn’t of the same significance as that of Messrs. Reyes and Pagan, that may be only because Joba doesn’t let the game get out of hand. Joba has experienced no real fires, he has put out every spark.

In his four appearances so far this year, the scores were 3-2, 3-2, 2-0 and last night’s 4-1 when Joba appeared on the scene. He has struck out 6 batters in 5 innings and a third. He’ll throw a 98 mph fast ball on the corner or high in the zone, then a wicked slider outside or in the dirt.

Anyone who performs to Joba’s almost peculiar type of excellence is surely entitled to a show of verve. His job is not easy, the situations are always pressure-packed and surely a growl, a fist-pump, whatever, is in the natural order of things, a totally spontaneous release of tension.

After last night’s Joba strikeout of the always-dangerous Jose Guillen for the final out in the eighth, I was hoping for that fist-pump. I didn’t get it, of course, nor did the thousands of fans on hand who, I’m quite sure, would have appreciated one, a chance at sharing that good feeling with the man on the field. We may not get to see it for the rest of this season. And that’s a shame.

Although Major League Baseball has not thus far implemented any celebration-curtailing rules, as has the NFL, it would seem that we may be heading in that direction. The worst thing I could say about that fun-killing prospect is as follows.

Dick Cheney, today exposed as the face behind the torture of suspected Al Qaeda operatives, would approve.