The Mets lost to the Royals last night in a game that was eerily reminiscent of the World Series or, as Yogi would say, it was like deja vu all over again. It's nice that the Mets have such great starting pitching but everything else is a question mark at this point (even if the starting pitching holds up): fielding (little range and a routine fly ball dropped by Cespedes), hitting (clutch and otherwise; David Wright and Cespedes both struck out in the ninth with the tying run on third), the bullpen (the starters will, of course, not go nine innings and Bastardo and Blevins are question marks) and speed (there was some taking of an extra base in the game; will that continue and is anyone a threat to steal?).
As I've said before, I don't root for a particular team, I root for the elegant geometry of the game itself. Unfortunately that elegance is mostly absent from the TV coverage -- which misses most of what's going on by focusing almost exclusively on the pitcher and the batter --and the announcers. The announcers for the ESPN Mets game -- Boone, Medoza, Schulman -- stated mostly the obvious and redundant, seemed oblivious to the difference between the meanings of "less" and "fewer" and did not seem to understand that subject and verb should agree. Vin Scully is finally retiring this year and one can hear him calling the ninth inning of Sandy Koufax's perfect game on YouTube if one wants to hear an excellent announcer. For now I will listen mostly to Mets games on the radio with announcers Josh Lewin and Howie Rose, perceptive professionals. The less said about the hapless Yankee radio announcers -- inarticulate Yankee rooters -- the better.
Spring is here and baseball -- a beautiful game played every day and never against the clock -- is back.
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