Baseball and the Derby Too !

You can imagine my embarrassment. My last column was entitled “When the Mets Take First”. At the time they were just a series win from the top spot in the NL East. They were facing the Houston Astros, the perennially weak, some would say pathetic, Astros. But since the game they’re playing is baseball, naturally the Mets got swept in convincing fashion and now they’re a little closer to last place. That’s baseball. I won’t re-hash the proceedings there in Minute Maid Park as almost nothing that happened there was memorable. It seemed that the park itself haunted the visitors. Nothing worked. That’s all I remember. No hitting, no pitching, no nothing. Really the only bigtime recollection is of that Pelfrey replacement, a fellow named Schwinden who seems to be making a case for not pitching. Geez, that was awful baseball. Houston fans are wondering how their terrific baseball team could have lost all those games before the Mets came to town. If most Mets fans are anything like me, they’re wondering if that series won’t prove to be a harbinger of even worse times to come. But the name of the game is baseball after all. In all probability though, things may get worse before they get better. I’d sooner believe Dillon Gee will have another lackluster effort tonight than that the D-Backs new lefty phenom, Wade Miley, will somehow falter against a mostly lifeless Mets roster. Then it’s another lefty named Patrick Corbin for Arizona against our ace, Johan Santana. We have a chance in that one for sure if all those lefties in the Mets lineup don’t totally fold. Then we get a righty but it’s a guy named Trevor Cahill, a good pitcher, versus the so-far middling R.A. Dickey. Given that the D-Backs have a lineup that includes Justin Upton and Miguel Montero and Jason Kubel, I’d have to say the D-Backs will probably get their share of big hits against the likes of Gee and Dickey, and even Santana if he’s not locating as he usually does. Thank the baseball gods, Chris Young, the pretty great centerfielder for the D-Backs, will remain on the DL for this series. But still, the Mets would seem to be out-gunned. Yes, the Mets have David Wright and Lucas Duda and Ike Davis, all capable of putting the ball into the seats but they haven’t done too much of that lately. Watching Ike at the plate has been a fate worse than death for me. And, collectively, the lineup’s chock full of lefties, and lefties that aren’t that accomplished at hitting lefties. In fact, even most of the righties can’t hit lefties. As much as I hate to admit it too, Mike Pelfrey’s injury may have had an unsettling influence on the team. Pelfrey was the horse, Pelfrey was the iron man who never went down. Pelfrey, as bad as he had been earlier this season, seemed to be hitting his stride right before his arm problem and I have to think his loss had an immediate impact on the Mets young team. But the Mets are coming home. And this game is baseball. And this team they’re facing ain’t the ’27 Yankees. It’s just the D-Backs without Chris Young. As a fan, I’d just like to see some fight from these guys, starting with the power hitters like Ike Davis and Lucas Duda. Even if they lose two of three, I’d like to see a team with heart, something the Mets did not show in Houston. Maybe I should just start thinking about the Derby tomorrow. It looks to be a very competitive race tomorrow and one that’s well nigh impossible to handicap. There’s Bob Baffert coming off a heart attack with the favorite, a colt named Bodemeister after his son. D. Wayne Lukas will be there with a longshot and the second-favorite, Union Rags, many think should be the favorite. And there’s a weirdly white horse too that has a good chance, a colt named Hansen, whose owner is a little strange himself, a fellow named Hansen who wanted to dye the colt’s tail blue but was turned down. Can you imagine how cool it would be to have this outrageously-white colt leading the charge around the final turn for the wire? Shades of the Lone Ranger! And there could be really good horses to his left and right, starting off with Union Rags and Bodemeister but also including 6-1 Gemologist and 12-1 Creative Cause, and several other legitimate nags, like 20-1 Daddy Long Legs who has actually won more money this year, 1 mill two, than any other contender. Luckily for the Mets, there are any number of things for New Yorkers to think about right now besides them. The Knicks, um, I mean Carmelos, continue to stink it up at the Garden, which, though not surprising to anyone who follows basketball even remotely, has seemingly surprised some observers who apparently attached some super-hero status to the coach-killing Anthony. The Rangers and Devils both are making tough Stanley Cup runs and now the beloved Mariano Rivera has gone down to an ACL fielding a fly ball as has been his routine for a zillion years. Now there’s a hero for you, Mariano. That’s a mouthful for a Yankee-hater, believe me. But Rivera has always been a humble guy, a happy guy and a real baseball player, a guy who always fielded his position and in fact wanted Girardi to give him a shot in centerfield someday. You’ve got to love a guy like that. The Yankees certainly do. If Pelfrey’s loss had a bad impact on the Mets, you can only imagine the potential impact of Rivera’s loss to the Yankees. Pelfrey was a well-meaning plugger. Mariano was an All-Star, and everybody says he’s the greatest closer of all time. Meanwhile, there’s the Derby and the rest of baseball. I’m watching Bobby Abreu as a Dodger now vs. the Cubs at Wrigley. Ya gotta love it.