Mar 28 2019 10:46 PM
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Hey, I'm talented, inconsistent, handsome-but-sad, married-to-a-Contemporary-Christian-vocalist Steven Matz.
I get it. I get why you don't get me. When folks give up the long hit, some guys are like Bartolo, and get all zen and just detach themselves from the disappointment. Some other guys are like Leiter, getting angry, but turning that anger into focused adrenaline. Some guys are like Pedro and do a little of both — act unflapped as the batter rounds the bases, and then unleash on the next hitter.
Then there are guys like me. I see the ball fly toward the gap, and I make that "Oh, God, it's happening again to me!" face. It comes across as fatalistic and defeated. Bad body language follows and I don't focus and the next guy gets away from me, and soon the game gets away from the team. I get it. I'm not the first. Ron Darling used to make whiney faces after a big hit, and he's always telling folks how he's fourth all-time in Mets wins.
You know what he had? He had Keith coming over to the mound to tell him to stop with the defeated face, and get his head out of his ass and back into the game.
But I don't have a Keith. I'm one Keith short of being Ron Darling or somebody. Maybe my new catcher Ramos is Keithy. I don't know yet.
But I've got something Ron Darling never had. I've got a reason. I wear #32 on my jersey, and this year, I'm making that meaningful, dedicating my season to the memory of Tom Hausman. Every strike I throw, any successful thing I do that you feel you might want to cheer, give a passing thought to the legacy of my fellow Mets #32, Tom Hausman, the first-ever Mets free agent signee, and a gloriously injury prone (but decent enough when healthy) swing-man over 4+ years during the Mets cultural valley that was the Torre era.
We're both handsome mo-fos too.
So root for me this year. And if you can't bring yourself to do that when you see me on the mound, make it an occasion to root for Old Tom. I'm pitching for both of us. And if folks cheer for both of us in 2019, I'm certain that ...
... I'm certain of what? What's gonna HAPPEN?! The season's started, but not my season, so there's still time to tell me.