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Bill Baer, best known for his excellent Crashburn Alley blog, makes his FU debut today with a thoughtful piece about Jose Reyes — and how his on-field antics are seen around the rest of the National League:
Link
Bill Baer, best known for his excellent Crashburn Alley blog, makes his FU debut today with a thoughtful piece about Jose Reyes — and how his on-field antics are seen around the rest of the National League:
Link
"I used to be disgusted; now I try to be amused." — Declan McManus
Uh, was he watching Manuel's first game as Mets' manager, when he took Reyes out of the game in the 1st inning, and Reyes stood up like a man in the post-game, admitted he was wrong, and publicly apologized for his actions? I didn't see any "whining or hiding", just a mini-tantrum at the time of the incident which he took full responsibility for.Both times, however, Rollins owned up to his mistakes, credited Manuel's point of view, and moved on. He did not whine and he did not hide; he admitted fault with his chin up to the media. Rollins, unlike Reyes, has shown humility, something every baseball fan and member of the sports media can appreciate.
"Pretentiousness"? Nonsense! There's nothing pretentious about Jose, just a boyish enthusiasm. He plays with passion, and sometimes goes overboard in that regard, but if he's guilty of anything it's immaturity, not "pretentiousness".you have to understand the position of Reyes' critics. Reyes has always celebrated like that and he's always done it with an air of pretentiousness akin to Rickey Henderson.
Exactly right. But in a perfect world, we wouldn't need to play the games at all---we could check the results on the computer based on stats I can't even pronounce.In a perfect world, we'd all celebrate just the right amount so as not to offend our opponents and to share a good experience with our teammates.
Passion is something we need more of, not less. When we look back at the history of the game, we remember lots more about the Durochers, Weavers and and Billy Martins than we do about the Alstons, Torres, and the like.
Regardless of #s, give me Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays over Bobby Richardson and Joe DiMaggio when it comes to sheer entertainment.
Ole, ole, ole Jose!
Some see the glass half-full, and are happy.
Some see it as half-empty, and are sad.
Some see it as empty, and say that whatever you fill it with will taste awful anyway.
I’d take those four and that range of personalities any day, Bill. I’ll add Jose & Hodges, Campy (but not LoDuca) & Kiner to round an eclectic 8.Originally Posted by bill metsiac
Plagarising myself from a discussion elsewhere: What I don’t get about the criticism of Jose is that there seems to be no understanding of the real difference between celebration and taunting.
Jose celebrates. He celebrates his teammates’ successes with the same exuberance as his own. He doesn't give the finger to the pitcher he homered off, or the catcher whose throw he beat. He’s not one of those Neanderthal wrestlers, or trash-talking cornerbacks.
Hey, Philly Phans (& announcers), if you don’t like victory celebrations (except your own) stick to Sudoku.
Oh, definitely I'd take that range. But I'm a child of the 50's, a time when the Yankees were perennial winners with little "personality". The Dodgers and Giants, with Jackie, Pee Wee, Furillo, Campy, Duke, Willie, Stanky, Dark, and managers Durocher and Dressen, didn't win as much, but they were a hell of a lot more fun to watch.
And without the fun and emotion, what's the point?
Some see the glass half-full, and are happy.
Some see it as half-empty, and are sad.
Some see it as empty, and say that whatever you fill it with will taste awful anyway.
Uhhhhh..... bulldankydinky; hogwash of the highest order, with all due respect to the writer of this column.
Like most out-of-town fans who don't watch Mets games every day, you simply don't know Jose. For if you did, you'd understand why he does what he does. And it's Queens, baby...and it's the Mets, and it's a whole different attitude at Shea. It's a blue-collar, hardscrabble, joie de vivre New York state of mind kind of atmosphere, and there's nothing that hardworking and stressed out New Yorkers would rather see than a celebration of something well done, a joyous reprieve in an otherwise tough, urban, in your face, hot, muggy, tough day.
And frankly, with all due respect, I'm sure nobody in Queens cares what others think in 2008, much as they did not care in 1986 or any other time. That ain't what Shea baseball is about. It's about celebrating the life and culture of the Mets and Mets fans.
And honestly, for a Philly fan to criticize or try explain the Reyes "antics" is kind of, uh, disconcerting. Especially after the Rollins Second Base Joy Jump, the "exuberance" (read: "celebrating") of the Phillies during the first game of the series, and the constant brushing back of Mets hitters by Phillies pitching, and the whining, carping, complaining and beyatching of the hard-luck sore-loser Phillies and their fans, they're lucky it doesn't get any worse. And WE'RE the ones that whine? Take a look again, please.
My advice to the Phillies and their fans? Man up, worry about yourselves, and don't worry about what the Mets or any other team does. You can't control it, you can't quantify it, and you certainly don't understand it.
So take your wah wah and cruise on down the Turnpike to more friendly confines of Philadelphia, and I can't believe I just used the words "friendly" and "Philadelphia" in the same sentence.
Oh, and I forgot -- I suppose what Shane Victorino does out there is.... ok? Oh, I get it, him clapping into the Mets dugout and other various and sundry, uh, "antics" are ok... oh, ok, I see.... never mind.:
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