Michael Conforto

Jose Alvarado Needs To Be Suspended

In the first game of the doubleheader between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies, Michael Conforto came to bat against Jose Alvarado with two outs in the bottom of the sixth. In that at-bat, Alvarado showed no intention of getting Conforto out.

The first pitch was at Conforto’s head. If Conforto does not get out of the way, there is another Mike Piazza/Roger Clemens situation. That said, pitches do get away from pitchers, even 100 MPH fastballs. However, the benefit of the doubt should have been gone when Alvarado threw the second pitch.

Alvarado’s second pitch was again a 100 MPH fastball up and in on Conforto. This time, Conforto was unable to get out of the way. He would be hit on the wrist. The end result was Conforto taking his base. He would get another at-bat in the game drawing a four pitch walk. However, Conforto would get an x-ray after the game and miss the second game of the doubleheader.

Make no mistake, going inside to a batter is acceptable. It is also entirely possible pitchers make a mistake and lose control. Not every pitch up and in is done with a purpose. Not every purpose pitch is meant to come up near a batters head. However, what Alvardo did was different.

No matter how much Alvarado seemed to dismiss it, he very clearly meant to hit Conforto with a 100 MPH fastball. You don’t go up and inside like that twice and not mean it.

For the sake of argument, let’s say Alvardo didn’t mean to do it. After all, J.T. Realmuto wasn’t set up for the inside fastball (which is not exactly definitive proof). Alvarado STILL thew near Conforto’s head with 100 MPH fastballs twice. That is not acceptable under any circumstances.

Whether or not there is intent is almost a red herring here. What we do know is Alvarado threw two 100 MPH fastballs near Conforto’s head. They were back-to-back pitches. Major League Baseball cannot accept that happening. The end result was Conforto getting hurt enough to miss a game. It could have been far, far worse.

In situations like this, it is incumbent on Major League Baseball to deliver a message. It needs to say multiple 100 MPH fastballs thrown up and in like that is unacceptable. If it was intended, or the pitcher simply can’t handle throwing those fastballs, he has no place on the mound in a Major League game.

In the end, that is why he needs to be suspended for his actions. Regardless of his intentions, what he did was dangerous. He can’t be allowed to do it again.

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Luis Rojas Doing Good Job For Mets

Certainly, the New York Mets have made some truly odd decisions this season. That began their first game of the season where Kevin Pillar batted lead-off, Brandon Nimmo was eighth, and Dominic Smith was left out of the lineup all together. The curious lineup decisions continued with Jeff McNeil batting seventh for a stretch and completely overreacting to Michael Conforto slumping.

While Luis Rojas has received his share of the blame for those decisions, it is important to note he is not the one making out the lineup card. We are well past the days of Casey Stengel playing hunches. No, the lineup now is much more of a collaborative process, and unless you are someone like Terry Francona, your standing and stature to make those decisions alone differs.

To be fair, it’s not just the lineup. There have been other decisions. There was using Aaron Loup when the three batter rule meant he had to face J.T. Realmuto. He has used Trevor May and Miguel Castro quite often so far this season. The latest was letting Marcus Stroman bat in the sixth only to let Jeurys Familia pitch in the seventh.

That last decision was one of several which has caused fans to question his abilities. There has been a growing narrative where Rojas was not ready for this job and is in over his head. Certainly, one of the contributing factors was his being thrust into the job after Carlos Beltran‘s firing. However, when it came to that decision, there was much more happening than most were aware:

When assessing managers, we far too often overlook the fact there is much we don’t know. For example, we don’t understand players have personal conversations with players, and they have to make assessments and decisions based upon those conversations. We really don’t know why some players are unavailable.

There’s also the fact we tend to only judge one or two decisions per game and blow it out of proportion when it comes to assessing the total job. First and foremost, it would seem from Stroman’s tweet, Rojas has the back of everyone in that clubhouse. To a certain extent, that is no surprise with Rojas managing most of these players in the minors, and those players respecting him.

Players certainly respect him when he goes out there arguing with the umpire after Jose Alvarado threw not once but twice at Conforto. More people respect him when he takes ownership of the team’s issues and doesn’t pass the blame to the players. He also accepts the responsibility for the decisions clearly made by the front office.

Another overlooked factor is how much certain players have improved. It’s still early, but we have seen Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo play significantly improved defense. We have also seen him make Dominic Smith passable in left field. Make no mistake, this is significant because the Mets need for each one of these things to happen if the team wants to truly compete this season.

And remember, when assessing Rojas, the Mets have had a simply bizarre start to the season. They didn’t play the first series due to the Nationals getting infected with COVID. They had a suspended game after three batters and a rain out. At one point, they had played five games and had five games postponed. Despite that, he has his team ready to play, and they seem primed to take off.

Overall, Rojas isn’t perfect, but no manager is. He is still growing into the job, and he is learning. Overall, he has a real skill-set to thrive in this job, and he is doing many thing which are helping the Mets win games. This is not a manager in over his head. Rather, this is a manager who knows exactly what he’s doing, and the Mets are better off for having him in the dugout.

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Marcus Stroman Steps Up In Mets Win

Much was made about Marcus Stroman‘s availability (and even his heart and dedication) after he said he couldn’t make a start after his facing three batters in a suspended game. He felt good after a bullpen and declared himself good to go on one days rest.

He was brilliant.

Stroman didn’t allow a hit until the fourth. A runner didn’t reach scoring position until two outs in the fifth. Just when you thought he was tiring in the sixth, he got Rhys Hoskins to hit into an inning ending double play.

His final line would be 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K. He would also get the win.

After getting the game winning RBI in the first half of the doubleheader, Jonathan Villar would do it again in the second half albeit in far less dramatic fashion.

Much like Stroman, Aaron Nola was pitching great making this a pitcher’s duel. It would take Jeff McNeil BARELY beating out an infield single to get a rally started.

The Mets might’ve caught a break there, and for seemingly the first time all season, they took advantage. Kevin Pillar followed with a single, and then Villar hit a flat Nola curve for an RBI double.

Nola plunked Tomas Nido, and Stroman would strike out. Brandon Nimmo would then come up and hit the first pitch from Nola into a two RBI single. That gave the Mets a 3-0 lead.

It was Nimmo again in the sixth. Nido would triple, and Stroman got for himself and drew a walk. Nimmo would then drive Nido home with another RBI single extending the Mets lead to 4-0.

Jeurys Familia came on to pitch the seventh in a non-save situation. In typical Familia fashion, it was an adventure, but he got the job done.

The Mets are now over .500 for the first time this season, and they have their first shutout. Their starting pitching has been great with Nimmo arguably being better. Things are getting really fun right now.

Game Notes: Stroman has allowed just one earned over 12.0 innings this year. He’s the only Mets starter so far to earn a win this season. Michael Conforto sat out after getting HBP in the first game. The x-rays on his wrist were negative.

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Mets Walk It Off In The Eighth

After the rain-out yesterday, the New York Mets started Taijuan Walker, who was great for four innings. For the second straight start, Walker’s velocity was up, and he was throwing strikes.

Walker got into trouble three times. In the second, Alec Bohm led off the inning with a double, but Walker limited the Philadelphia Phillies to just one run. In the fourth, it was Bohm again who started a rally; this time drawing a one out walk. Didi Gregorius would follow with a single, but Walker got out of the inning by inducing Jean Segura to hit into an inning ending double play. The third time would happen in the fourth, but by that time, the Mets already had a lead.

Walker needed to get out of those jams too because the Mets reconfigured line-up still wasn’t scoring many runs or creating many opportunities. We were going to see it the other day, but we officially saw Michael Conforto dropped to sixth in the order with Dominic Smith and Jeff McNeil moving up to third and fifth respectively.

In the first, it looked like genius. As is usual, Brandon Nimmo would lead-off the game with a walk. He would then come home to score when Dominic Smith hit a one out two run homer against Phillies Chase Anderson.

That meant Walker and the Mets had a lead going into the top of the fifth. At that point, Home Plate Umpire Joe West, fresh off his defamation suit victory over Paul Lo Duca, stopped being able to tell the difference between balls and strikes. To be fair to West a bit, Walker got a bit wild, and he wound up walking back-to-back hitters after striking out Andrew Knapp to start the inning.

At that point, Luis Rojas went to Miguel Castro, who seems to be becoming the Mets go-to reliever in these big spots. Castro did come up big first striking out Andrew McCutchen. Then, Roman Quinn would commit a mortal baseball sin by making the last out at third. Quinn blew it two different ways.

To be fair, he was absolutely safe initially on what first seemed like a well executed double steal. James McCann‘s throw to third was high, and it took Luis Guillorme jumping to prevent the ball from going into left field. Quinn appeared to assume it went to left field, and it looked like he started to go head for home. While this happened, Guillorme landed on Quinn assuring he was off the bag leading to the easy inning ending tag out.

Walker’s final line was 4.1 IP, 3 H, R, ER, 3 BB, 8 K. Walker would not have qualified for the win. For some reason, you need to pitch five innings to earn a win in both a nine and seven inning game. You would think the rules would be re-calibrated for shortened seven inning double header games, but that makes too much sense. Then again, shortening games two innings makes zero sense in the first place.

That all became academic as Casto would lose the lead in the sixth. He did escape the fifth, but he got into trouble himself by issuing a lead-off walk to Rhys Hoskins in the sixth.

Bryce Harper followed with a single. Castro responded by striking out Bohm, and getting Gregorius to hit into a fielder’s choice. However, that was not enough as Segura hit one off the end of the bat. Guillorme charged in, but he couldn’t get it to first in time. That tied the score 2-2 and put more pressure on a feckless Mets lineup.

You could criticize Guillorme for fielding it with the glove costing him seconds. Of course, Segura was still safe by a pretty good margin. It’s also noteworthy Guillorme is a second baseman by trade, and he played that ball like the middle infielder he is. Of course, McNeil is much more experienced as third, but for some reason, the Mets want to go with the lesser defensive positioning.

Pete Alonso led off the sixth with a strikeout against Jose Alvarado dropping him to 0-fer his last 14, but unlike Conforto, he won’t be booed or dropped in the order. Speaking of Conforto, Alvarado threw at his head and missed and then later plunked him in the at-bat. Luis Rojas was irate and argued because for some reason Alvarado was not tossed from the game. The Mets would not make Alvarado and the Phillies pay for it as McCann would fly out to end the inning.

After a scoreless inning from Edwin Diaz, the Mets would have a chance to walk it off in the bottom of the seventh.

Guillorme, one of the few Mets doing anything offensively, led off the inning with a walk against Connor Brogdon. Jonathan Villar pinch ran, and then Kevin Pillar drew a walk.

The Mets offense would again falter. Nimmo stuck out. Francisco Lindor flew out, and then Smith struck out to end the inning.

That led to a combination of the two dumbest rules in baseball. The eighth inning began with a runner on second because this was a m seven inning game. Pure idiocy.

Trevor May wound up giving up an “unearned run” putting the Mets down 3-2 heading into the bottom of the eighth on a Gregorius infield single.

The bright side is the feckless Mets offense was gifted a runner at second. Hector Neris would be the one who had the task of keeping the Mets offense incapable of hitting with RISP.

The speedy Lindor quickly scored as Alonso finally got a hit driving home Lindor. McNeil hit into a fielder’s choice, and Conforto walked. McCann singled to load the bases.

Villar, who came on to pinch run for Guillorme, had his first big moment as a member of the Mets driving home McNeil to win the game.

It wasn’t the prettiest win, and it’s dumb gimmick baseball. That said, you take the win and get ready for the second half of the doubleheader.

Game Notes: Guillorme went 1-for-1 with two walks while batting eighth. He is now hitting .571 with a 1.299 OPS on the season. This was Castro’s fourth appearance over the Mets first six games. May earned his first win as a Met.

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20/20 Hindsight: Mets Split Bizarre Shortened Series

Due to the rain-out yesterday, the New York Mets split a series against the Miami Marlins. There was a lot which happened in the span of those three days, which is just an indication of just how bizarre the start to this season has been:

1.  Not calling a game which had zero chance of ever getting played was a very Wilpon like decision. Hopefully, this is something that we will not see happen again.

2.  Whenever there is a threat of rain, teams should just use an opener. It is not worth wasting a pitcher’s turn through the rotation in the hopes of a game being played. Instead of getting someone like Robert Gsellman some work, the Mets are going to have to wait until Friday to see Marcus Stroman again.

3. Aside from David Peterson, the Mets starting pitching has been quite good this season. The best surprise might’ve been Taijuan Walker who looked like the pitcher many thought he would be when he was once a top 10 prospect in the game.

4. Why bother reading the Wilpon owned Mets website, when you can come here and read it done first and better?

5. Jeff McNeil was swinging a good bat and ran into some bad luck before hitting that clutch homer. That bat flip was reminiscent of the Asdrubal Cabrera one.

6. The umpires completely blew it when ruling Michael Conforto was hit by the pitch to force in the game winning run. The fact replay can’t fix that error is a failure of the system.

7. Just when you thought that was bad, on Sunday Night Baseball, Alec Bohm never touched home plate, was ruled safe, and the call was somehow upheld on replay. What is the point of the system when you can’t get obviously blown calls corrected?

8. By the way, Travis d’Arnaud did an amazing job receiving that throw and blocking the plate. There really is no one better in the game than him at doing that, and it is also notable the Mets have spent a ton of money on catchers who are no better than him.

9. These two plays are reminiscent of when Chase Utley went out of the baseline, tackled Ruben Tejada, never touched the bag, and was ruled safe on replay and awarded second base. By the way, the manager who asked for that review and wound up winning partially because of that absurdity was Don Mattingly, so he can save us from listening to his whining.

10. The booing of Conforto was ridiculous. Yes, he had a really bad four game stretch as all players are going to have during the course of the season. You would just think a player of his stature who has been a good Met for this long would have a longer leash than four games.

11. Dropping Conforto in the line-up was a pure panic decision. It’s not like he’s the only Mets player not hitting. For example, there was no booing of Pete Alonso despite his being hitless over his last 11 at-bats, and no one wants him dropped in the order. Remember, Conforto was great last year whereas Alonso comparatively struggled.

12. No, this is not a call to boo Alonso. It is also not a call to boo McNeil who has one hit this year. The same goes for James McCann and Francisco Lindor who have matching .176 batting averages with no extra base hits. It is was too soon to boo any of these players.

13. Conforto is eventually going to break out of his slump due to the ebbs and flows of the baseball season. His being dropped to fifth, sixth, or even seventh in the order will have nothing to do with hit.

14. If this was about rewarding the best hitters, Luis Guillorme would be playing everyday. That goes double when you consider J.D. Davis hit the IL. Guillorme is literally hitting .500 in his limited playing opportunities.

15. Brandon Nimmo has been phenomenal to start the season. He has flat out been the Mets best player with a 223 OPS+ and a 1 OAA in center. He’s been locked in to start the season. Yes, it is too soon to talk All-Star or even MVP consideration, but he looks like he’s poised to have a great year.

16. Of course, no one is better than Jacob deGrom. On the season, he has allowed one run over 14.0 innings while striking out 21. We are running out of words to describe how great he is.

17. We’re also running out of ways to describe just how terrible the lack of run support he receives is. It is beyond a joke deGrom is 0-1 to start the year. It’s really difficult to pinpoint the reason, but there is no rational explanation why this keeps happening.

18. Congrats to Joe Musgrove for throwing the first no-hitter in San Diego Padres history. Doing that for the team you grew up rooting for is like Mike Baxter making the no-hitter saving catch for Johan Santana‘s. On that topic, Anthony DiComo certainly showed his true colors.

19. People need to stop this over the top criticism of Luis Rojas. We are five games into a disjointed season with COVID cancellations and front office blown decisions on a rain delay. Like all managers, he is not the one setting the lineup or deciding whether or not to play the games. He is working with the front office on these decisions, including scripting out how long the starters go and which relievers pitch. He’s just the face and fall guy for many of these decisions.

20. The Mets already have four games to make up this season. The bright side will be those games will come when Noah Syndergaard and Carlos Carrasco have returned.

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Michael Conforto Singled Out For Mets Team Wide Slump

If the New York Mets were to have played in the game against the Miami Marlins, Michael Conforto was going to bat sixth. The reason why is Conforto is slumping.

There’s no doubt Conforto is slumping. After going 2-for-5 in the first game of the season, he’s slumped mightily.

Since that first game, he’s 1-for-16 with a double, a walk, and two HBP. Alarmingly, he’s struck out in seven of 19 plate appearances (36.8%). That would be eight times if the home plate umpire didn’t blow the call.

Certainly, you can understand why the Mets would consider dropping him in the order. However, taking that position ignores the fact Brandon Nimmo is the only player in the Mets lineup who is hitting. Here are the numbers:

No, this isn’t just Conforto slumping. It’s nearly everyone in the Mets lineup. Again, Nimmo is the only one performing well.

Dominic Smith hasn’t been bad per se, but still, he only has a .250 OBP. Of course, part of that is hitting a sacrifice fly.

To that end, it would make sense to move him up in the lineup. He’s one of the few who has performed respectably.

Then again, when we see Luis Guillorme hitting .500 with a 1.125 OPS unable to crack the lineup, we get a sense these decisions aren’t entirely performance driven. What the impetus is for these decisions is anyone’s guess.

Right now, we only know Nimmo and Guillorme are hitting, Smith is treading water, and frankly, everyone else is struggling mightily.

Despite that, Conforto is the only one criticized and dropped in the lineup. It makes zero to no sense, and it’s difficult to ascertain what the Mets endgame is. The only thing that’s known is Conforto is the only player penalized for struggling.

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Mets Fans Embarrassed Themselves Booing Michael Conforto

All offseason, New York Mets fans were pushing to extend Michael Conforto. Honestly, how could you blame them?

Conforto is a homegrown player who is true captain material. He has an opportunity to rewrite the Mets record books. From his World Series homers to his walk-offs, he’s become adored by many Mets fans.

In some ways, Conforto seems like the logical person to take up the mantle from David Wright. Of course for that to happen, he will have to stay with the Mets.

For some players, the extension talks in-season is time consuming. The walk year is too much pressure and/or a distraction. Some thrive; others don’t.

There’s also the COVID factor. Conforto had it right before Spring Training. It prevented him from working out right before reporting.

As an aside, we saw it with Mika Zibanejad with the New York Rangers. He had COVID before training camp. It took him months before returning to form.

Whether it’s the contract situation or the COVID, Conforto is struggling to start the season. Through five games, he’s only hitting .143/.250/.190. It seems like the only way he can get hit is by throwing his elbow into the strike zone.

After struggling for five games, Mets fans in Citi Field began booing Conforto.

Think about that. People who were unable to ever a ballpark for well over a year due to the pandemic were so grateful to be back they booed a homegrown star who had the audacity to struggle for four games.

If we wanted to, we could look at Mets fans cheering Jose Reyes after he returned to the Mets after his domestic violence arrest. Bartolo Colon not paying child support and joking about it was just part of his “charm.”

J.D. Davis and Jake Marisnick were caught up in one of the biggest MLB cheating scandals, and it was met with a collective yawn.

And yet, Conforto has a poor stretch, and he’s vilified. He’s booed by fans who really should be happy just to be there. Moreover, he’s booed by a fan base who is supposed urging him to be a Met for life.

Conforto doesn’t deserve that garbage. He’s been too good of a Met for that. In the end, he’ll make those fans who booed him look all the more ridiculous.

Mets fans, at least those who booed, embarrassed themselves. They’ll look worse when Conforto is Conforto again.

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Jacob deGrom Again Gets No Run Support

At this point, it’s a sick joke. Really, you have to wonder if someone is doing it on purpose. It just has to be a prank or a gag.

Jacob deGrom allowed one run on five hits. The one run coming on a Jazz Chisholm solo homer in the second. Other than that, the Miami Marlins had zero chance against him.

deGrom’s final line was 8.0 IP, 5 H, R, ER, 0 BB, 14 K. The 14 strikeouts tied a career high for deGrom.

His reward for this effort? A loss.

It’s not even like deGrom didn’t help himself. In fact, he had one of the Mets three hits.

That’s right. The Mets only had three hits. Yes, Trevor Rogers was nasty, but it just seems no matter how the opposing pitcher is, he’ll look like Cy Young when deGrom is on the mound.

After Edwin Diaz allowed two in the ninth, the Mets would go on to lose 3-0.

Michael Conforto would be booed, and we would see J.D. Davis put on the IL before the day was over. We’d also see Jonathan Villar start over Luis Guillorme due to his offense only to go 0-for-3 with three strikeouts.

This was a complete disaster which seems to be the case when deGrom takes the mound. Put it this way. On the season, deGrom has allowed just one run over 14.0 innings. He’s allowed eight hits and walked two while striking out 21.

For all that, he’s 0-2.

Game Notes: Jed Lowrie claimed he sought to have knee surgery while with the Mets only to be told if he went through with it the team would file a grievance. This is similar to the Carlos Beltran situation only he called the Mets bluff.

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Michael Conforto HBP Was An Accepted Baseball Play

With the reaction to Michael Conforto sticking out his elbow, you would’ve thought he committed treason. For some reason, just this once, trying to get hit by a pitch, is now the worst thing a player has even done.

Before getting into it, let’s take a look at the play again:

Lets call it what it is. Conforto got fooled by a pitch he thought would be more in than it was. You could see that by a function of his taking all the way (with two strikes) and his turning his back.

Because of that, a scuffling player booed earlier in the game, stuck his elbow out. He got hit with the pitch, and he fooled the home plate umpire. As a result, he took his base, and the Mets won.

With respect to the play, Conforto said, “Obviously not the way I wanted to win the ballgame. I wanted to go up there and put the ball in play, drive the ball somewhere.” (Mike Puma, New York Post).

For what is worth, Conforto claimed he wasn’t trying to get hit. In fact, he said, “With two strikes I just went into battle mode and I tend to lean over the plate when I get into battle mode.”

You can choose to believe him or not. Fact is, he did it, and he won the game. Really, he is no alone in what he did.

Craig Biggio is partially in the Hall of Fame because of his leaning into pitches. Miami Marlins owner Derek Jeter was caught faking getting hit by a pitch, and he offered no apologies.

This is a part of the game. Batters get up there trying to get on base any way they can. They’ll lean into pitches, and yes, they’ll purposefully flinch at pitches to try to get it called a ball.

We see catcher after catcher try to get better at framing pitches. Framing is designed not just to make sure a strike is a strike but also to attempt to get the borderline pitch, which should’ve been a ball, called a strike.

Here’s a hypothetical. Instead of that pitch being in the strike zone, it’s just off the plate and inside. Conforto gets out of the way, but the way Chad Wallach frames it, the umpire calls it a strike.

Is anyone vilifying Wallach? No, of course not. Will people be calling for him to be run over first chance a runner gets? That would be seen as absurd.

And yet, when Conforto did what many did before him, he’s chastised, mocked, and there are calls to drill him.

Now, no one wanted to see the game end that way. It did take some shine off the win. However, every single player in that Mets clubhouse and every single fan would rather winning on that play than losing.

That goes double for the Miami Marlins.

Let’s not forget, this is the same team who unapologetically took the field while infected with COVID. They put the season, and more importantly, lives in complete jeopardy.

Their screwing up the schedule was a factor in their making the postseason. Did they offer to forfeit the games? No. Did Don Mattingly refuse the NL Manager of the Year Award? Of course not.

Keep in mind, this is the same Mattingly who was chasing down the umpires for a replay review while Ruben Tejada was getting carted off the field because his player, Chase Utley, broke Tejada’s leg on a dirty play. Mattingly had ZERO issue winning because of that play.

Of course, he had one yesterday.

The 1986 Mets had a problem with Mike Scott scuffing balks. None of the right teams Gaylord Perry played for had an issue with his spitter. The Reds and Dodgers didn’t have an issue with Trevor Bauer‘s use of pine tar. People tip their caps to Yadier Molina and his framing.

As we know, there are certain things in baseball which are just accepted. Catchers steal strikes. Pitchers doctor balls. Batters lean into pitches. That’s the way it is.

The only time people are aggrieved is when it doesn’t benefit them. The only time the world notices is when it’s a game winning run. In the end, that’s all there is to take away from Conforto leaning into a pitch.

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GKR Once Again Prove They’re Best Booth In Baseball

When Michael Conforto leaned over the strike zone in on a pitch by Anthony Bass. The end result was a hit by pitch forcing Luis Guillorme home with the game winning run.

There’s no mincing words here. Home Plate Umpire Ron Kulpa blew the call, and he would later admit it. While Kulpa blew it, Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez, and Ron Darling immediately knew it was a blown call, and they said Conforto should’ve been out.

As you can hear, they said a lot more than just that. First and foremost, we heard Cohen knew the rules cold, and he knew it wasn’t getting overturned.

Both Keith and Ron spoke about how that should’ve been called an out, and Darling took it a step further to point out it’s ridiculous replay can’t overturn this call.

Keep in mind, this is the Mets, not the Marlins telecast. GKR wanted it called correctly because they’re honest about what they see. They’re honest even when it comes to a player in Conforto they really like and respect.

Now, this should be the norm, but we all know it isn’t. What we got there, what we always get from GKR, was an honest assessment of what transpired. These are three people who love the game, and it always shows.

Mets fans are lucky to have GKR as is all of baseball. They don’t rely on shtick, and they’re not embarrassing homers. Rather, these are three people who are honest about what they see on the field no matter how much they all love the Mets.

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