Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Mota's Back. Boo Him, Too

The columnists are right. We Mets fans are hypocrites if we don't boo Guillermo Mota when he returns tonight, a day after we booed our brains out at Barry Bonds. True, we booed Bonds even before he became the focus of a steroid controversy, but I'd like to see someone look me eye and with a straight face say that last night's boo-fest was not steroid-related.

We made fun of Giambi and Sheffield and howled when Rocket and Pettite were on the front cover of the Times for steroid-related news. Just because Mota is wearing orange and blue does not exonerate him from his actions. And it's all well and good that he apologized, but he still cheated.

I expect a mixed reaction tonight if he pitches. I don't think he'll get a standing ovation or anything like that, but I also don't think he'll get booed very much, if at all. More telling will be a month down the road, and how the crowd reacts to his performance.

Personally I'd like to see him run out of town, along with Ramon Castro.

Who Let The Dogs Out (Reprise)

How do you top a three game sweep of the Fish? How do you overshadow the arrival of Barry Bonds as the story of the game? How do you chase A-Rod's cheating ways from the back covers of the sports pages?

With an amazing, Amazin' win in teh 12th inning. Down by a run, Jose Reyes redefined teh meaning of a manufactured run by drawing a walk, drawing a balk over to second, getting sacrificed to third and then drawing another balk to score the tying run... off Armando freakin Benitez! How is that night the highlight of the game on Sportscenter? Because Carlos Delgado immediately followed Reyes' balk job with a long homerun into right-center field... his second of the game... off Armando freakin Benitez. Good things come in twos, off transplanted ex-Mets. How sweet it is!