On Wimbledon and Tennis

There’s not too much better in life than this, can’t go out as the air-quality index is high ( I find any reason), the women’s Wimbledon semifinals is on the tube and the action has been really good. That spider on the wall still hasn’t moved, the gutter guy hasn’t called (not that that means he’s not coming) and I can look forward to a nice workout followed by some baseball action tonight.

But what’s this? “Days of Our Lives” just interrupted the NBC coverage. How stupid is this? Okay, I switch to ESPN and now, instead of watching a continuation of a great match between Kvitova and Pironkova, I’m seeing an interview with Sabine Lisicki (of the powerfully serving Lisicki’s), which is fine, I guess, but where’s the live action?

So I try the Tennis Channel. Nope, it’s not there, they’re showing “Tennisography” whatever the heck that is. Ok, back to ESPN and, finally, here’s the semifinals again but it’s well into the third set now and Pironkova is down 2-love, all of which means we missed the key games in the match.

I’m of course pulling for the decided underdog, Pironkova, but even more so as the broadcasters and court officials have been doing nothing but disparaging her and making bad calls. If it weren’t for the Bulgarian’s prudent challenging, she’d have lost already.

“Sneaky, clever, off-putting”, they’re now saying of Pironkova, which reminds me of a description of Japanese at Pearl Harbor. Geez, ya think ESPN’s pulling for the blonde? Do they just hate Bulgaria?

Now I’m really pulling for the Bulgarian. She calls for another challenge but this time is wrong, but not by much. The Russian now holds again for the 3-1 lead. I’m thinking we missed the action in the first two games, the action upon which the match was decided. Now they tell me all the action is available online or on my cell phone.

Okay, so the coverage leaves a lot to be desired but it’s still better than “Days of Our Lives”.

The Bulgarian holds again for 3-2 but then Kvitova looks to hold too at 4-2. She really does have an impressive game, especially when she’s serving. That favoring of the big servers that characterizes the action here is what makes it unique, that and the fact that anybody who’s anybody shows up there.

And that’s why we’re seeing the Bulgarian at all. One of NBC’s disparaging remarks was that the Bulgarian only shows up at Wimbledon. I think that’s great. Whoa! A great get by the Bulgarian, then a great forehand by the lefty Czech, then an incredible rally and they’re both playing great tennis. So ESPN goes to commercial. Geez.

Now, as the Bulgarian goes down still another break, the broadcast team decries the loss of Venus Williams and the Dane blonde from the tournament. Yeah, I feel bad too. Imagine the pain of seeing some new faces.

Okay, now Pironkova’s finished. The big Czech (and all of these players are anything but vertically challenged) had too much power.

Okay, now I can break from tennis for a while to contemplate baseball.

It’ll be Cliff Lee and the Phillies against Josh Beckett and the Red Sox, the two best teams in MLB and two of the best pitchers. Surely this could be a preview of Game 2 of the World Series. (The Phils have Halladay, the Sox (no, not those White Sox) have Jon Lester ). Me, I’ll be pulling for my two fantasy pitchers going tonight, Michael Pineda and Ryan Vogelsong, against the Braves and Cubs, two teams that can’t boast of many hitters, although Aramis Ramirez and Brian McCann might disagree.

Now the fourth semifinal has been suspended by rain. This is ridiculous. Where’s the roof when you need it? Who the heck is on Center Court? Great, a Legends match. It takes 15 minutes to close the roof and move the matches around to courts they should have been scheduled on in the first place.

Okay, back to baseball, the Cubs game starts at 2:20PM and, Eureka! It’ll be on WGN! Cool. Now I can switch between tennis and baseball, if ESPN and Wimbledon ever come to their senses. It’ll be a continuation of Azarenka-Paszek, which Paszek, another Eastern European, is leading 1-0. It’ll be interesting to see how long it takes them to make a decision on the switch.

The Giants just took the lead in the Cubs game, on bloopers mostly, much like watching a Mets game. But Kung Fu Panda helps out the Cubs by grounding into a double play. But the pitcher refuses to get out of trouble and it’s now 3-zip. It’s looking good for Ryan Vogelsong.

Meanwhile, ESPN is babbling about Rafael Nadal and Mardy Fish. Where’s the women’s semifinal?

A peek back at ESPN and they’re covering the men’s prospects; there’s been no mention of the women’s semifinal everybody’s been waiting for. Vogelsong, meanwhile, is starting well but now is facing Starlin Castro, a tough hitter who can be pesky on the bases. Getting this out will be big.

But a sidetrip to the kitchen for three perfect eggs and a coffee leaves that result unanswered. Upon my return though, the Giants are up again and it’s still 3-nothing. Back to ESPN to finally find out that they will indeed do the smart thing and play the women’s semifinal on Center Court. It’s pointed out that Azarenka’s obnoxious screaming will even be more annoying under the roof. You can’t make this stuff up.

Vogelsong is now getting banged around a bit as Carlos Pena just went deep with a man on and Soriano flied out very deep to center. Maybe he’ll be more careful now. So far I’m not that impressed with the Giants Number 4 starter with the nice ERA.

A Coy Hill has now tied up the game. It’s high time for a new fantasy pitcher.

And it’s high time too for the women’s semifinals, ESPN.

Mets Doctors Strike Again

Has there ever been anything more boring than a Mets series against the Oakland A’s? I can’t think of anything offhand. I mean, really, the Yanks got the Cubs and then the Reds, interesting (in the case of the Cubs) or exciting (the Reds) opponents while we got the friggin’ Angels and A’s.

I wouldn’t mind so much if the Mets were having a little more success. But they’re not and the future doesn’t look too good either. The Mets doctors have struck again. Now we hear they totally blew the diagnosis and treatment of Ike Davis’s bruised ankle. The walking boot they recommended did nothing but inhibit blood flow to the affected area. No healing occurred as a result, and, oh yeah, there’s cartilage damage too.

I’ve had it with the Mets medical staff. Ike was the last straw for me. How many players do the Mets need to see get worse after visiting the Mets witch doctors before they make a change. Who recommended their staff in the first place, Madoff?

Ike Davis was the Mets most promising player. A bruise will now have Ike out until the middle of August. That’s unforgivable in light of their past failures with Beltran and others too numerous to mention. If Alderson wants to really cement his standing with Mets fans, he’ll do something about this deplorable Mets medical staff.

For his part, Davis will be finally getting a second opinion, demonstrating at the very least that he’s much smarter than the Mets management. Just to recap the situation, Ike Davis was the Mets leader in rbi’s and batting average when Wright came across to destroy his leg. It only happened at all because the gork pitcher Pelfrey made no attempt to help his fielders out with a fly ball to the mound.

Meanwhile, the Mets plod on at two games below .500. The rookies who had been hitting stopped. Several of their veterans stopped hitting too. Jose Reyes keeps truckin’ though and Justin Turner continues to be the luckiest ballplayer in the world. Last night, he won the game by getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the 13th inning.

Of course, that only happened because Dickey was lights out and K-Rod blew the save in the 9th. As this is written, the last game of this colossally dreadful interleague setup is taking place and, predictably, it’s been pretty boring. I’m even getting tired of Gary Cohen, something I didn’t think was possible.

Thank God for Wimbledon tennis action and other real baseball action. Nothing I’ve watched in the last month was better than the Tsonga-Dmitrov battle I just witnessed and the Nats walk-off win against the Mariners was very cool too, with Nats reliever Tyler Clippard shutting the Mariners down for his offense in the bottom of the ninth.

Reyes just made a strong throw from shortstop to keep the speedy A’s second baseman Weeks off the basepaths. Set your DVD’s to “record”, Mets fans, because every at-bat , every nice play, every triple and every smile you see from Reyes this year might be his last in a Mets uniform.

Reyes wouldn’t agree to having contract talks during the season. I was nevertheless happy to see the Mets make the offer to talk. I’ve decided too that I’d rather see Reyes finish the season here than pick up a couple of prospects for him in some rent-a-player scheme devised by one of the real contenders for a World Series berth.

Even if the Mets wind up losing Reyes with no compensation received in return, we’ll at least get to see him finish his outstanding year in which he’s making his bid for MVP. And, by the bye, Reyes just scored again for the Mets, this time by reaching base on an error, moving right along on the basepaths and scoring on a, wait for it, Daniel Murphy 2-out rbi.

Pagan just made another bone-headed play in centerfield, bobbling a ball because he once again tried to do something he’s incapable of pulling off. Now there’s a guy I’d like to see traded. He’s a player who’ll never get better. He lacks focus, the Mike Pelfrey of the offensive side of the ball.

One exciting thing about this time of year is that I can imagine fantasy trades I’d like to see. For example, Mike Pelfrey to the Yankees for their doctors, Pagan to the Angels for a legitimate established relief pitcher, K-Rod to anywhere for a couple of hitting prospects with power.

While the Mets continue to plod along, it’ll be nice to see the NBA draft tonight, a draft most experts agree is short on talent but still, there must be some big guy out there that the Knicks could use to grab some rebounds and play defense while the most selfish player in the league, Carmelo Anthony, calls for the ball with three players draped all over him.

One of the keys I look for when a player is traded is the opposing coach’s reaction to the trade. George Karl, for example, the Nuggets coach, looked like a kid on Christmas Day when Anthony left for the Knicks, this despite his battling cancer. There’s been no more ecstatic reaction since that Bulls coach long ago couldn’t believe his good fortune when the stupidest GM in the league, Isiah, took the world’s stupidest center (Eddy Curry) off his hands.

So, now that the Knicks have Anthony and nothing else but Amare, they have needs all over the place. Anybody they draft tonight will have to fit a need. The Nets meanwhile will try to pretend they know what they’re doing. It’s just a matter of time before their ballyhooed acquisition of point guard Deron Williams goes kerplunk when he declines to sign whatever paper they put in front of him.

But even THAT might be amusing at least, more entertaining than this god-awful interleague play or another oops by the Mets (for lack of a better word)” doctors”.

One Mothful of an If

Lately I’ve been asking myself, “can a team be really serious about winning a pennant, or these days, just making the playoffs, if it has only one lefty relief pitcher? That, of course, is secondary to the other big question, namely “Why should I care”?

I mean, really, the Mets are now just the Buffalo minor league team with a few ringers named Beltran and Reyes and Bay. But they’re one hell of a minor league team! They proved that again last night when first baseman (using the term loosely) Duda muffed the grounder that gave the hated(by me anyway) Braves the win.

So, once again, the Mets fell below .500. And it’s not the end of the world. As Collins said after the game, they beat two of their best pitchers and finished the road trip 6-4. But, to me, it would have been great if all of Chipper’s heroics went for naught and if K-Rod could have come through with another save in that spot.

But he couldn’t. He parked a pitch around belt high and over the plate and some Braves nobody belted a 2-run homer for the tie in the ninth, setting the stage for Duda’s frolics at first base, or more accurately, about 10 yards out from that bag. Geez, Tejada could’ve had it too.

And that sequence of events is a lot like a lot of other events of the same nature that have happened to these ridiculous Mets. But it’s ok. They’ve also had those days when the pitching was great and the hits just kept coming. And I’ll take triples over home runs just any old day.

One wonders how long these guys can keep it up. The most prominent of “ these guys” would have to be Justin Turner. I mean, really, you can stick him in at second or third, and he just hits with men on base nearly all the time. He surely has more ribbies per at-bat than anyone else on the planet.

To me, the second “guy” is Reuben Tejada. I liked him even last year when he couldn’t hit to save his life. But, this year, he’s killing the ball, especially for him based on last year’s performance. He’s a natural at second base and plays shortstop in a pinch, that pinch one that may be experienced quite quickly, either this year or next.

Then there’s crazy Daniel Murphy who, it seems, will either win one for you or lose one for you in either the most unlikely or embarrassing way. You really don’t know what you’re going to get from Murphy, and, while that may not be a good thing, it surely is interesting to watch.

The catcher, Josh Thole, would probably be right up there with Murphy. Besides holding down the most difficult position on the field, he also seems to hit in the clutch. And he’s lucky, because most of the big hits I recall are just little Texas-leaguers down the line. You can’t over-estimate the value of luck.

And then there’s Duda. He’s not one of the “guys”yet. But he could become one really easy. He’s big and could be dangerous at the plate, if a home run is what you need. The problem with Duda Is that he never seems to really come through. A check on his BA reveals a paltry .139 average. But for him at least, it’s still early. He’s had 36 at-bats.

To me, Pagan isn’t really far removed from the rest of the bunch. He can be pretty exasperating for a veteran player. He surely won’t be on any of my favorites lists until he stops making mistakes on the bases. That drives me crazy. He’s supposed to be an asset on the bases.

Of course, there are the pitching “guys” too. They’re all coming through. Niese, Dickey, Gee, even Parnell, they’ve all been pleasant surprises. And thank the baseball gods for that! Without the excellent pitching in the last couple of weeks, that right around .500 clip could have been a lot worse.

The upcoming schedule is really ridiculous. Interleague play will be bringing us the Angels and the Oakland A’s. I don’t even know what to say about that! The only good thing about it is that we’ll play without a designated hitter, as always in National League baseball, while those teams will have to figure out a way of fielding nine and still maintaining a viable lineup.

But then it’ll be at Texas and at Detroit. That seems like bad luck to me. They’re both pretty much at the top of the heap in the American League. But, at the very least, we should enjoy seeing how Daniel Murphy will react to being a designated hitter. The man without a position will finally have his spot.

The only sure thing is that this team will probably be broken up. Beltran, K-Rod, and maybe Reyes will be gone. That’s the only move that makes sense, especially for a franchise having its financial troubles. But, as each player move will just be a rental for the receiving team, the Mets can’t even expect much in return that will help the team this year.

As that’s the case, life after the All-Star break for Mets fans could be pretty bleak. Tejada can move to shortstop and probably lead off as well. That’ll free up second base for Turner. And all that’ll be lost will be all those hits, all those triples, and all that excitement.

I’d hate to think Duda is the only answer to spell Beltran in right field. Jason Pridie, still another one of the lesser “guys”, is hitting just .234 as this is written, and, while he can provide some pop, he’s no Carlos Beltran. (Not that many others are).

If Jason Bay starts providing some pop, the absence of Beltran might not be so conspicuous, especially after Wright and Ike Davis return to the lineup. But that’s one mouthful of an if.