by John Walters
Tweet Me Right
Starting Five
The Mendoza Line
I dunno what ESPN’s Jessica Mendoza, a fixture on their Sunday Night Baseball telecasts who also happens to be a paid consultant for the New York Mets, was thinking here. She’s essentially saying that cheating is not okay, but snitching is worse.
Then she goes on to “Men’splain” her comments on Twitter, which doesn’t help:
What did Mendoza think was going to happen if Fiers went to the Astros or MLB first (for all we know, he did)? Has she been paying zero attention to what’s going on in this country the past six months? In the immortal words of Geno Auriemma, “What a dope!”
ESPN should dismiss Mendoza, like, immediately. She wants to work in the shadows, go for it. Keep your job with the Mets. Don’t talk to us about baseball, though. Our guess is that the WWL gives her the Groundhog Day treatment and has her disappear for six weeks because she saw her shadow.
Carlos Danger
Meanwhile, the Mets tossed newly hired manager Carlos Beltran onto the George O’Leary Memorial Garbage Heap of History by canning him (“mutually agreed to part ways”) for his part as a player in the Astros cheating scandal. There’s nothing more Mess than baseball having a scandal, in another league, and it somehow affecting the Mess. Remember when Anthony Weiner was Queens’ most notorious Carlos?
Jose, Can You Cheat/By The Dawn’s...
That’s Jose Altuve after he hit a series-ending walk-off home run against the New York Yankees in the ALCS last October. Altuve, the 2017 American League MVP and SI Sportsperson of the Year that year along with J.J. Watt, would be named MVP of the ALCS.
Here’s the problem, though, as the photo above suggests: he was wearing a buzzer under his jersey that would tip him off about pitches. In this photo he’s warning his teammates to not pull off his jersey in celebration. According to people who were there, Altuve was yelling some form of “Don’t rip off my jersey!” to teammates as he rounded third. Watch him go into a rope-a-dope cover up as he approaches home plate.
Two people, one of them Carlos Beltran’s niece, alleges that Altuve was wearing a buzzer beneath his jersey during this game. If Altuve is not suspended, he may become the most-beaned player in baseball next season. And he’ll deserve it.
At the time, The Athletic’s and Fox’s Ken Rosenthal asked Altuve about his telling teammates not to tear off his jersey. You can watch the clip here.
Now I don’t know if Altuve is telling the truth or not, but I will point out that he asks Rosenthal to repeat the question. Kind of the way Bill Barr asked Kamala Harris to repeat the question at his hearing when asked if he had ever been asked by the president or anyone at the White House to investigate someone. At times a liar needs a few seconds to process an adequate response, which is where “Can you repeat the question?” comes in.
Laura The Explorer
We don’t know exactly when Fox News’ Laura Ingraham began drinking the Rachel Maddow Kool-Aid, but twice in the past week she’s pushed back on elected Republican officials to be more accountable. On air. To their faces. What a time to be alive!
First, Ingraham scored an interview with No. 1, a.k.a. President Trump, and asked him to name more specifically the nature of the “imminent” threats that in his mind made it acceptable to assassinate General Soleimani. That question prompted the famous “four embassies” response.
Then, last night on her show, after Arizona stand-in senator Martha McSally made news (and campaign donation hay) by calling a CNN newsman a “liberal hack” for a perfectly valid question, Ingraham had McSally on her show—and asked the very same question. And when McSally attempted to deflect, she wouldn’t back down. Chris Wallace. Shepherd Smith. Now, Laura Ingraham. Soon Donald’s only friends at Fox will be Fox & Friends (and Sean, of course).
Five Films: 1996
Two thoughts: 1) Was there ever a year with so many deserving films in which such an undeserving one won Best Picture (probably, but this year may be the best example with The English Patient winning). 2) This is the third consecutive year with a deep lineup of films and we haven’t even gotten to Titanic or Saving Private Ryan yet. Were the 1990s the best film decade since the 1940s?
- Fargo: The brilliance of the Coen brothers was never on better display 2. Jerry Maguire: Tom Cruise in his best role since he was Joel Goodson , with Cuba Gooding, Jr., and Renee Zellweger stealing the show. More Cameron Crowe brilliance. Cruise still does not have an Oscar. 3. Trainspotting: If a movie could be arrested for delinquency, this one would be. What a rush. 4. Swingers: I remember going to see this at a now-defunct theater on Broadway at 4:30 on a weekday afternoon and the only other people inside were dudes, mostly sitting by themselves. You’re so money and you don’t even know it. 5. Primal Fear: Edward Norton is tremendous in his first major role. He transcends what could have been just another slick ’90s (see: Presumed Innocent… or don’t see it) crime procedural drama.
Worthy, but not in our Top 5: Sling Blade, Kingpin (saw this on a plane, with the headphones on, and was laughing so much that people in other rows turned back to give me the stink eye…or maybe I had gas…. not sure), Beautiful Girls, Big Night, Shine.
Also, a leftover from yesterday’s list, 1995: While You Were Sleeping.
Little bit of a rush to judgment on Altuve, no? As least as far as the buzzer is concerned? MLB’s investigation said there was no evidence of any electronic communication like this; the Beltran family said yesterday that the “niece” making the claims on Twitter was not in fact a relative; and he was directly asked about the jersey thing moments after crossing the plate and had an explanation. And citing Gottlieb’s cherry-picked, small-sample home/road splits — are you saying that McCann and Correa were buzzered-up as well? I don’t have any idea what happened, and maybe it’s true, but I don’t think we are at the “he may be the most-beaned player next season and he’ll deserve it” point.
It’s a blog and I’m trolling for hits, baby!
Seriously, though, I’m not going to subscribe 100% to what MLB finds. There’s little upside in them admitting the walk-off hit in the ALCS was a scam and that the 2017 MVP is a charlatan. I’ll wait for the disinterested parties (i.e., the media) to conduct an investigation.
Either way, I do think the Astros batters are going to get beaned a lot this season. And it’s hard to blame any pitcher for doing so.
This wouldn’t be the first time in history of sports that the league didn’t uncover evidence that third-party sources later would.
Let’s not forget that this is also the ball club that fired their general manager only after denying claims that his comments were directed at an individual reporter.
Not the most kosher of organizations…
Yeah, it’s the “I’ll wait” part that I would like to see more of right now, and less flame-throwing.
It’s in MLB’s best interest to not “expose” another scandal in a day an age where they are losing fans rapidly.
They went to the grave saying that the balls were different this season and then suddenly in the postseason they switched balls.
I also find it hard to believe that they suddenly stopped “cheating” a year after they lost to a team 4-1 in the ALCS that was managed by their former coach. You need a new method. I would be more interested to know who told the Nationals.
Excellent points, here, Gene. I think you left out a “not” in the second graf, though.
JW