All-Star Break … From Norms!

[Benjamin Grimm]

=Marshmallowmilkshake post_id=71233 time=1626180622 user_id=119]
Bears Repeating is brilliant, and I'd say a slam dunk winner for the contest -- except I'm hoping for a selection of World Champs! covers come fall.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

God love him, but doncha wish Pete could somehow port this desperate hunger for victory he exhibits here into more regular season magic. I know it's not the same thing.



Love the covers but I'm already prepping my argument that a home-run hitting contest isn't that newsworthy

[Benjamin Grimm]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: I'm already prepping my argument that a home-run hitting contest isn't that newsworthy

I agree!



Newsday's ARCTIC BLAST advanced as far as the Elite Eight in 2019:



http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/images/2019/2019_tcd_005.png>

[LWFS]

yeah, it would've been a better show if he didn't express any sense of fun, confidence, or fan engagement, and just went out there like he was turning screws in a factory. bored. apathetic. almost annoyed that he has to do this thing instead of heading down to he fishing hole with a brew in his hand. that's what we all would tune in to watch. i thought it was fantastic, and i'll wager you'd be hard pressed to find anyone on the field last night, especially any of the competitors, who was offended or otherwise bothered by his approach last night. the pause in the second round was sublime. i wish he would have run up the foul line and high-fived the fans afterwards.

I watched the final rounds in our restaurant's bar area while having a post-shift tipple, in mixed company.



I laughed out loud a few times watching the goofball do this goofy swagger business... and so did a number of Yankee fans, neutrals, and "not a baseball person"s. It was cocksure AND self-aware silly all at once, and I enjoyed every second.

[TransMonk]

Yeah, the HR Derby is supposed to be a spectacle for the fans and Pete gets that. He never acts that way during regular games.



Good for Pete. He dominated the derby.

[Edgy MD]

So, side note: Am I the only one who thinks he's hair-pluggin'?



He seems more or less as thin up top, but with a more defined hairline.

[Methead]

I can't understand how everyone in the good ol' USA doesn't just love this Mets team. I don't get it at all.

[Lefty Specialist]

=metsmarathon post_id=71225 time=1626177623 user_id=83]
yeah, it would've been a better show if he didn't express any sense of fun, confidence, or fan engagement, and just went out there like he was turning screws in a factory. bored. apathetic. almost annoyed that he has to do this thing instead of heading down to he fishing hole with a brew in his hand. that's what we all would tune in to watch.



i thought it was fantastic, and i'll wager you'd be hard pressed to find anyone on the field last night, especially any of the competitors, who was offended or otherwise bothered by his approach last night.



the pause in the second round was sublime. i wish he would have run up the foul line and high-fived the fans afterwards.

[kcmets]

Hey you kids, what's going on?

Nuthin'.

Yeah, well make sure, uh, it stays that way!!



Congrats to Pete, get some rest, come out guns a'blazing on Friday!

[kcmets]

Lazy Q - that 'league who wins the All-Star Game gets home field advantage in

the World Series' (dumb) thing is no longer the case? Right?

Edited July 13, 2021 by Guest

[bmfc1]

I loved the show that Pete put on, all of it, and I'm the guy who is a little uncomfortable with his new arm pumping as he gets to 3B after a HR and posing for a picture with Dom as the cameraman.

[Ceetar]

HRD Was fun. I don't know if I would've stayed watching if Pete was not a Met, but maybe. It was pretty decently compelling imo. I mean, it's not baseball, and still went on a little too long, but it was fun.



I was on ESPN2 the whole time by design. That may play into why I had a good time. I don't know if any of the player interviews or whatever were compelling, but i imagine mostly not. Mike Trout calling Ohtani mid-round was pretty awesome. And I believe it was Griffey that gave Alonso the bling necklace right?



my only complaint was they didn't track all the balls with the camera, but I think that was a factor of them changing the rules so you didn't have to wait until it landed. They did split-screen a lot, which was nice.

[Frayed Knot]

Saw parts of the first round.

Was asleep by the second.

[Edgy MD]

Watching the Home Run Derby. Pete put on a record-breaking performance, goes to the next round. Number 8 seed Juan Soto beats Number 1 seed Ohtani, and the ESPN announcers are distraught. Jessica Mendoza actually said, "We can go home now." ESPN seemed focused on making this all about Ohtani, who understandably is an incredible story. Not sure if Stephen A. Smith's ridiculous comments were planned to stir the pot and play to the storyline, or whether he really is that stupid.

Drew Margery https://defector.com/this-is-what-happens-when-espn-only-has-one-pundit/looks at the foot-shooting process behind Stephen A. Smith's awful hot take.

[Ceetar]

he made that take so that people would write articles about it. clearly he's winning.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Stark: Pete Alonso, the greatest Home Run Derby monster of them all



Excerpt:

There was no point where I thought I was going to lose, ever,” the Mets' happy-go-lucky masher said after his leisurely 74-homer evening. “Even months before, when the seedings came out, teammates came up to me (and said), ‘Oh, that's disrespect. You're defending the title. What guy that's defending their title is a fifth seed? Nobody. And are you pissed about that?' I'm like, ‘No, I'm going to win anyways. It doesn't matter.'” And those weren't just words. That wasn't just a Home Run Derby champion saying the stuff he thought Home Run Derby champions are supposed to say. That confident joy is a quality Alonso exuded all day long, from the time he met the media on an outdoor plaza Monday afternoon to the dance moves he busted out between all those mighty hacks. At one point, as he waited for his cue to step into the batter's box for his championship round against the Orioles' Trey Mancini, Alonso even led a sellout crowd in the “on and on and on and on” portion of “Don't Stop Believin'.” You can stop believin' in him, but he'll never stop believin' in himself. “I'm a power hitter,” he said. “And for me, I think I'm the best power hitter on the planet. And being able to showcase that and really put on a fun display for fans, I just think that it's truly a dream come true for me.”

https://theathletic.com/2704012/2021/07/13/stark-pete-alonso-the-greatest-home-run-derby-monster-of-them-all/https://theathletic.com/2704012/2021/07/13/stark-pete-alonso-the-greatest-home-run-derby-monster-of-them-all/

[metsmarathon]

=Ceetar post_id=71268 time=1626197743 user_id=102]
my only complaint was they didn't track all the balls with the camera

[Ceetar]

I mean, the statcast broadcast did have them side by side, so that was nice. But at times they'd just be on him, or something else. There was this nice side view camera that was probably the best view, especially as like the 60% of a 60/40 two camera split, that I've ever seen of a home run. Because you could see the swing, AND the launch of the ball, something you almost never get except in person. So you don't have to try to pick up the ball on a moving camera image that you just cut to.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

Edgy MD wrote: Watching the Home Run Derby. Pete put on a record-breaking performance, goes to the next round. Number 8 seed Juan Soto beats Number 1 seed Ohtani, and the ESPN announcers are distraught. Jessica Mendoza actually said, "We can go home now." ESPN seemed focused on making this all about Ohtani, who understandably is an incredible story. Not sure if Stephen A. Smith's ridiculous comments were planned to stir the pot and play to the storyline, or whether he really is that stupid. Drew Margery https://defector.com/this-is-what-happens-when-espn-only-has-one-pundit/looks at the foot-shooting process behind Stephen A. Smith's awful hot take.

I think the Four-Letter Network has reached the point where it has decided that the network itself is the news. That's slightly different from the previous practice, where each show existed to promote all of its other shows.



It seems like there are themes or narratives that get selected and focused on. This is the month-long period where it can pay closer attention to baseball, with LeBron injured and the NFL camps not starting for a while.



I get that Smith's role is to be the lightening rod, and who knows whether he actually believes half of what he says, or whether it is just what he is supposed to do. I don't know if a producer actually says to him, "Say something stupid about Otani -- stupid enough so it gets some buzz, and you can extend the cycle by a day with an apology - but not so stupid where you get fired." He might just know that's what he's supposed to do, and know where the line is that he shouldn't cross it. Kind of like Don Cherry, until he became too over the top and crossed the line.

[Frayed Knot]

I doubt it was anywhere near as calculated as all that.

You say this is the one time of year for them to talk about baseball but they don't anyway. The HRD is the one DAY of the year they focus on baseball because it's a property they own

and that kind of 'non-event event' is the sort of thing that's right up their alley. They think last night was the highlight of the bb season.



S.A.S. is merely doing what every other ESPN "personality" does which is to find a way to tell everyone how baseball gets it wrong, and in this case he's saying that it hurts the sport

when the hot new thing in town doesn't speak English well enough to 'connect' with fans. For a guy like Smith, whose main focus is the star-driven entity that is the NBA, 'star power'

is the lens through which he's going to see things.



Now granted it's a stupid take, but I doubt it was all that calculated and at least it wasn't as stupid as Colin Cowherd saying (maybe two-three years back) "if baseball is supposedly so

complicated how come Dominicans are so good at it".

[Edgy MD]

"Keep it crass and stupid, Stephen, but not Cowherd stupid."



　　"How about Francessa stupid? Can I go there?"



"Mmmm ... yeah, let me chew on that one."

[batmagadanleadoff]

14 HR's in his next 30 games. That's what it's gonna take for Polar Pete to tie Ryan Howard's record for least games (325) to 100 HR's.





Also, the players Alonso's most similar to through Alonso's current age 26 season are Cecil Fielder and then Shohei Ohtani, per BBref's similarity scores. So there's your replacement for Joey Lucchesi.

[MFS62]

Frayed Knot wrote: S.A.S. is merely doing what every other ESPN "personality" does which is to find a way to tell everyone how baseball gets it wrong, and in this case he's saying that it hurts the sport when the hot new thing in town doesn't speak English well enough to 'connect' with fans. For a guy like Smith, whose main focus is the star-driven entity that is the NBA, 'star power' is the lens through which he's going to see things.

When he's not a hyper-obnoxious vociferous fan of the basketball team for which he roots, SAS generally views everything through the prism of race. In this case it wasn't even his race.



Later

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

Watching the pre-game. Didn't realize the AL would be wearing blue pants, too.



Good interview with Kris Bryant. I remember in 2003 when Armando Benitiz went to the All-Star Game as a Met, came back from the break as a Yankee and three weeks later was a Mariner. I'll take Bryant during the break.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

Boos for Cole and Chapman!

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

There are two Pirates and two Reds in the NL starting lineup....Yikes.

[Fman99]

Ugh. Joe Buck is a jar of farts.

[G-Fafif]

=Marshmallowmilkshake post_id=71306 time=1626220587 user_id=119]
There are two Pirates and two Reds in the NL starting lineup....Yikes.

[Fman99]

And nary a Met to be seen. Grouchy

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

=G-Fafif post_id=71309 time=1626222289 user_id=55]
=Marshmallowmilkshake post_id=71306 time=1626220587 user_id=119]
There are two Pirates and two Reds in the NL starting lineup....Yikes.