FRIDAY on SNY, as the D-Backs’ Luis Gonzalez batted, Howie Rose noted that Gonzalez was nearing 160 consecutive at-bats without homering. Then, in a flat, non-judgmental tone, Rose added that Gonzalez, who has five home runs this season, in 2001, hit 57.
Oh.
Rose might have noted plenty more. He might have noted that Gonzalez averaged 12 home runs his first seven years in the majors.
Then, suddenly, that number doubled.
Then it tripled. And then he hit 57. And this year, he has only five.
Rose said nothing more, but what happened?
Did Gonzalez decide to cut back on his HRs, go more for doubles and singles, this season? Did he lose interest in hitting HRs, even though he often bats third in the lineup?
And this year, Gonzalez, who once wore a batting helmet so big that he looked like a character from “The Flintstones” – he looked like The Great Gazoo – now looks to be wearing a smaller helmet.
And if Luis Gonzalez is being unfairly suspected, his gripe is with MLB and the MLBPA, not with us, the organizations that exchanged winks and nods and let it all happen.
Don’t blame us. We’re just baseball fans. We watch games on TV and can’t help but notice what’s impossible to ignore.
And to think that MLB now continues in its self-portrayal as fierce and noble crime-fighters.
That’s right, MLB will get to the bottom of this!
But heck, just a couple of years ago, when it was clear that the lid would blow on baseball’s all-in drug addiction, MLB still tried to make you believe that it was a no-big-deal thing, that only 5 percent of players – a teeny tiny fraction – were dirty.
“Break it up, break it up; nothing more to see here. Now run along back to the ballpark.
Barry Bonds is in town, ya know.” Luis Gonzalez’ annual HR totals track like Enron stock. In order: 13, 10, 15, 8, 13, 15, 10, 23, 26, 31, 57, 28, 26, 17, 24. Thus far, this season, he has five. Buy low, sell high.
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Not since Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s On First?” has the radio provided anything like it. Thursday, Mike Francesa revealed that, following medical tests, he must change his diet. For starters, Francesa said that he can no longer eat meat from “fourlegged animals.” His partner, Chris Russo, asked for an example.
“Cows,” Francesa replied.
“What about hamburgers?” asked Russo.
Francesa also said that he should no longer eat bread.
“Can you eat bagels?” asked Russo.
Francesa told him that bagels are made from bread.
“French toast?” asked Russo.
French toast, Francesa told him, is made from bread.
“Pancakes?” asked Russo.
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John Wiedeman, his radio play-by-play deal with the Islanders expired, is the leading candidate to move to the Devils, who last week let go radio play-by-play man John Hennessey and 10-season analyst and ex-Devil Randy Velischek. Wiedeman, a solid play-caller, joined the Isles in 2001.
Sorry, but there’s nothing more cynical, more greed/TV-driven than starting the second half of an NBA Final at 10:30 – on a Sunday night. Last night’s game couldn’t have tipped at 6 or 7 p.m., allowing everyone in the country a reasonable shot at it on a school/work night? David Stern, marketing genius.
ABC, Saturday, kept the Belmont odds in view, which made sense, unlike NBC’s blinders-on Kentucky Derby and Preakness coverage … Bobby Murcer on YES, yesterday, said that while the A’s have hit more HRs than the Yanks, “the Yanks have outscored ’em, as far as runs are concerned.” That Nevada Sen. Harry Reid accepted freebies from the Nevada Athletic Commission, a story that recently hit the news, was first pointed to in Teddy Atlas commentaries on ESPN2’s “Friday Night Fights,” more than a year ago.
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John Sterling, Saturday during A’s-Yanks, noted how much rain we’ve had then marveled that the Yanks have still averaged 50,000 at home. Of course, Sterling would never take into account the tens of thousands of tickets that were bought but went unused because of the weather.
And, shill that he is, he’d never even hint that patrons have to decide whether to be a stay-home sucker – eat your tickets if the game isn’t rained out – or a leave-home sucker – travel to Yankee Stadium in bad weather and risk a rainout and/or a long delay.