We Got The Beat - 2015

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Outlet	Beater	Years on Mets Beat	College	Fun Fact
Daily News	Kristie Ackert	2 (since 2013)	Syracuse	Prone to Twitter typos; former Modesto Bee reporter
NY Post	Mike Puma	7 (since 2007)	Fordam	Not an actual Puma
ESPN NY	Adam Rubin	15 (since 2000)	U Penn	Was Daily News beatguy from 2000-10
Newsday	Marc Carig	2 (since 2013)	Nevada-Reno	Former MFY beater for the Star-Ledger
NY Times	Tim Rohan	1 (Since 2014)	Michigan	Looks like Bob Seger
Mets.com	Anthony DiComo	7 (since 2007)	Boston U	Once made Dillon Gee balk.
Bergen Record	Matt Ehalt	1 (since 2014)	Syracuse	Predecessor now does social media for ShopRite
Wall Street Journal	Jared Diamond	4 (since 2011)	Syracuse	Once victim of an Opening Day headline surprise
Star-Ledger	Mike Vorkunov	1 (since 2014)	Rutgers	Broke the cheesesteak story

[Ceetar]

first time no new guys or gals in a while.

[G-Fafif]

Vorkunov's the guy who has usage problems and/or an absentee editor.

Not pictured: Ed Coleman, beat guy of the air since the 20th century.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I had to go to a meeting and may have left some out. The Staten Island and Westchester papers have ocassionally had reps. Then there's the local Flushing Asian lady.

[Ceetar]

I had to go to a meeting and may have left some out. The Staten Island and Westchester papers have ocassionally had reps. Then there's the local Flushing Asian lady.

Dunno if those count as 'beats' if it's just sporadic coverage. But then again, it might be regular coverage come August.

This is who is on DiComo's public twitter list of beat writers:

[G-Fafif]

Once watched the flock follow Terry into the pregame interview room very much like ducklings on the heels of their mama. It was all kinds of adorbs.

[Ceetar]

G-Fafif wrote: Once watched the flock follow Terry into the pregame interview room very much like ducklings on the heels of their mama. It was all kinds of adorbs.

With Kevin Burkhardt their shepherd. What will they do without him?

[G-Fafif]

Pac-10 basketball?

[MFS62]

G-Fafif wrote: Not pictured: Ed Coleman, beat guy of the air since the 20th century.

And, he'll be at Spring Training this year. IIRC, WFAN tried to save money by having Sweeney Murti as their only ST Florida reporter when the station went over to the dark side. Now they've decided to send Eddie. Good for him and good for us, because we might listen to WFAN's ST coverage, now.

Later

[Edgy MD]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: NY Times Tim Rohan 1 (Since 2014) Looks like Bob Seger

[fimg=350]https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/476086391734956032/FJIrgUOD.jpeg[/fimg]
In a just world, I'd be the one they called "Mike Puma."

[Edgy MD]

Adam Rubin and Michael Kay, rolling around under the bus they're trying to throw each other under.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Rubin knows when he's feeding the fans red meat, so I think Kay actually has a point. But hes objecting because he knows how true it all is, and that this will usher in a new round of humiliating comparisons to Francessa. GFY, Kay.

I've been reading that Carig blog I linked to in the meantime; mostly old posts from his MFY days, but good stuff.

The Journal News in Westchester (LoHud) definitely used to cover the Mets on the beat. I checked tonight only to find they only have a Yankee beater. Sure that's an indictment of the newspaper industry but very much also the Wilpons.

[Edgy MD]

My problem with the Rubin-Kay beef is that Francessa comes out the winner.

[Edgy MD]

Bring your scoops and greatest hits of the beaters.

Kristie Ackert isn't really a scooper, but somebody who's good at taking a little bit different angle at the story everybody is plowing ahead with. I associate her with "Puerto Rican Mets actually liked Tony Bernazard"

Not a big moment, but a good one. How about Mike Puma?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Mort Zuckerman acknowledges the Snooze is up for sale.

[Edgy MD]

Mike Puma isn't so much known for stories he's broken, but the manner in which he broke them. He was the guy who triggered the Mets to rally in solidarity around Bartolo Colon when he made fat cracks. He also famously infuriated Ike Davis for reporting at the start of last year that Davis had acknowledged to him that he hid an oblique injury in 2013. His reporting kinda left Davis out to dry, making it look like he was making an after-the-fact excuse while whining that he didn't want it to sound like he was making an after-the-fact excuse. He could've stuck to the facts a little more and still gotten the story, but he was right, and Davis only looked worse getting pissed at him for how he reported it.

Pooms joked in the midst of it that if Davis took a swing at him, he'd probably miss. You got a good story there, Mike, but keep yourself out of it. Your Shecky act ain't playing.
__________

Rubin has no shortfall in his share of scoop action, as long as he's been on the beat, but his greatest hit is still the one he put on Tony Bernazard. I don't know if it necessarily hastened the end of the Omar era by a day, but it sure seems to have pushed us along to the where we are today, presenting the Minaya regime as a potent cocktail of unprofessional management and disappointing outcomes in the development field.

As the big league contracts of Bay/Perez/Castillo/Beltran/Delgado/Rodriguez/Wagner/Santana/Martinez were all collapsing on top of the organization, it was doubly damning to see how spindly the infrastructure was underneath. Rubin got that story for you.

What has been Carig's big moment in his two-year tenure?

[Edgy MD]

I think the Syndergaarbage story may yet qualify as Marc Carig's big scoop.

[G-Fafif]

Carig's shining moment, prior to Port St. Lunchgate, was a passive-aggressive Twitter war with Rubin last September the night Mejia closed out the Nationals for the Mets' only win over Washington at Citi Field. Jenrry was reeling in the last out in that colorful way he has and Rubin was all "oh, this will not go over well," and Carig got on him, though not by name, for writing up the incident as inflammatory yet not actually talking to Mejia in the postgame. Thought Carig had a point there (and that Adam was a little over the top in his "oh no" take).

[Edgy MD]

Tim Rohan owes his career to a Horatio Alger-esque break. He came to work for the Times as an intern fresh out of school. He got menial copy editor stuff, and wire rewrites, but he begged the sports editor Jay Schrieber for an assignment.

It's summer, so you can't just send the kid off to cover high school sports. So, one Friday night, the Mets beat was uncovered, and Schrieber threw the kid a bone. I mean... the Mets. Who cares, right? What's the big deal? Give it to the kid.

That Friday night was June 1, 2012, with the Cardinals in town and Johan Santana on the hill. As Johan ground out the last two innings, there was as much pressure on the Rohan as there was on Santana. The Times could have dispatched a seasoned guy after the seventh inning or asked one of the wire writers to do their write-up, but Rohan brought the story home.

Nice first assignment, kid.

[Ceetar]

Edgy MD wrote: Tim Rohan owes his career to a Horatio Alger-esque break. He came to work for the Times as an intern fresh out of school. He got menial copy editor stuff, and wire rewrites, but he begged the sports editor Jay Schrieber for an assignment. It's summer, so you can't just send the kid off to cover high school sports. So, one Friday night, the Mets beat was uncovered, and Schrieber threw the kid a bone. I mean... the Mets. Who cares, right? What's the big deal? Give it to the kid. That Friday night was June 1, 2012, with the Cardinals in town and Johan Santana on the hill. As Johan ground out the last two innings, there was as much pressure on the Rohan as there was on Santana. The Times could have dispatched a seasoned guy after the seventh inning or asked one of the wire writers to do their write-up, but Rohan brought the story home. Nice first assignment, kid.

I like Rohan. He wrote up a nice story the other day about all the filming the Mets do for the Citi Field scoreboard and what not. more than the snarky tweets by others "haha, Harvey can't tie a tie!" at least.

[Edgy MD]

"The Mets are in the conversation for the N.L. East title � assuming Washington�s entire roster decides on the same day to quit baseball and enter the burgeoning marijuana business in Colorado."


� Andy Martino, channelling his inner Shecky Green

He also was disappointed the Mets didn't open the purses for... Francisco Rodriguez.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Tracky seems like a good enough guy when he's on SNY, opinionating. And he seems to burn through a Rubinesque amount of cellphone minutes and shoe leather in doing his job. AND he shows from time to time that he knows how to turn a phrase, when he really wants/tries.

So why is it that when I read his stuff, about 40 percent of the time I want to reach through the electronic reading device and shake him, like, so hard it makes his goatee flake off?

[G-Fafif]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Tracky seems like a good enough guy when he's on SNY, opinionating. And he seems to burn through a Rubinesque amount of cellphone minutes and shoe leather in doing his job. AND he shows from time to time that he knows how to turn a phrase, when he really wants/tries. So why is it that when I read his stuff, about 40 percent of the time I want to reach through the electronic reading device and shake him, like, so hard it makes his goatee flake off?

I find certain writers -- Martino, Pearlman -- compelling and repelling in the same paragraph. There's the ability to tell a story, make a point, articulate a sense, yet there's also this tendency to never let you forget whatever their core beliefs are and emit the impression that nobody sensible could possibly see it another way. (And Pearlman drops 500 words on every passing thought that afflicts him in the course of the day, making him all the less effective.)

Martino in covering the playoffs in 2014 kept moaning about the possibility of having to wind up with Giants-Royals in the WS. "OMG, so boring!" he kept insisting, leaving me to wonder what the hell he was talking about. From a baseball standpoint there was nothing wrong with it. From a personality standpoint, I had no reason to be turned off by 25 Royals, 25 Giants and whatever stories they brought to bear. I still have no idea what was up his ass. That tic keeps coming back around, always with some kind of "everybody knows this is a troubling issue" or "everybody understands this guy is the best/worst" tone. The column he wrote last year about how he couldn't believe he was wrong about first base -- that Lucas Duda thrived when Ike Davis deflated -- was all his bests and worsts rolled into one. He really soul-searched and retraced his steps and questioned his assumptions but also left me thinking he'd wake up tomorrow and write "Ike's got the makeup to make it in New York, Duda doesn't" all over again.

I like that there's a strain of originality to his work, which offsets a good bit of what I can't stand.

[metirish]

Carig is decent, tends to get in to it on Twitter with people which can be fun......seriously, the dogs abuse beat writers take ?, fuck that gig.

[Edgy MD]

ISIS and Phil Collins. Somebody get the mic off of that guy.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

IT'S NOT ISIS IT'S DAESH YOU'RE A PROFESSIONAL JOURNALIST YOU CLOWN

As a former furtive-whiskey-nipper from Dukes of Hazzard thermoses, I approve of his poison-of-choice.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

G-Fafif wrote: LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Tracky seems like a good enough guy when he's on SNY, opinionating. And he seems to burn through a Rubinesque amount of cellphone minutes and shoe leather in doing his job. AND he shows from time to time that he knows how to turn a phrase, when he really wants/tries. So why is it that when I read his stuff, about 40 percent of the time I want to reach through the electronic reading device and shake him, like, so hard it makes his goatee flake off? I find certain writers -- Martino, Pearlman -- compelling and repelling in the same paragraph. There's the ability to tell a story, make a point, articulate a sense, yet there's also this tendency to never let you forget whatever their core beliefs are and emit the impression that nobody sensible could possibly see it another way. (And Pearlman drops 500 words on every passing thought that afflicts him in the course of the day, making him all the less effective.) Martino in covering the playoffs in 2014 kept moaning about the possibility of having to wind up with Giants-Royals in the WS. "OMG, so boring!" he kept insisting, leaving me to wonder what the hell he was talking about. From a baseball standpoint there was nothing wrong with it. From a personality standpoint, I had no reason to be turned off by 25 Royals, 25 Giants and whatever stories they brought to bear. I still have no idea what was up his ass. That tic keeps coming back around, always with some kind of "everybody knows this is a troubling issue" or "everybody understands this guy is the best/worst" tone. The column he wrote last year about how he couldn't believe he was wrong about first base -- that Lucas Duda thrived when Ike Davis deflated -- was all his bests and worsts rolled into one. He really soul-searched and retraced his steps and questioned his assumptions but also left me thinking he'd wake up tomorrow and write "Ike's got the makeup to make it in New York, Duda doesn't" all over again. I like that there's a strain of originality to his work, which offsets a good bit of what I can't stand.

Totally with you on the Paerlman-Tracky comparisons. They're both like guys perpetually in their 20s -- ambitious but lacking perspective, and absolute suckers for populist politics and committed to the belief they're the only ones with the courage to consider it.

[Edgy MD]

Intellectually stubborn young guys in their 20s have a habit of becoming intellectually stubborn old guys in their fifties and sixties really fast no matter how much leather they wear out and how many phrases they turn.

I mean, if the Great Speedo Incident of 2010 didn't wake you up to the notion that you might want to temper the know-it-all act, what will?

[G-Fafif]

Bryan Curtis has the best beat in American sportswriting. He writes about other sportswriters, not to frame their flaws but spotlight their strengths...and he does it magnificently. He focuses his high beams here on the late Dave Goldberg, for a long time the AP's key reporter of NFL affairs.

We live in the age of omniscient NFL �insiders.� Well, three decades ago, NFL writers were just called NFL writers. And their power was divided among newspapermen who ruled like territorial governors. Don Pierson in Chicago. Ira Miller in San Francisco. Rick Gosselin in Dallas. Chris Mortensen in Atlanta. Every week, these NFL writers left their home bases, squeezed into airplane seats, and went in search of the big game. If they were lucky, they might run into the schlump. Because Goldberg was just like them, only instead of writing for one newspaper he wrote for hundreds. �They all had their little fiefdoms,� said the Los Angeles Times�s Sam Farmer. �Dave had the whole country.�

Never heard of Dave Goldberg? Neither had I. Life as a wire-service reporter will do that to your Q rating. But the guy had a story, and Curtis, as usual, tells it. Plus, for what it's worth, there's an allusion to his fondness for talking about the Mets.

[G-Fafif]

Good news! John Harper has evidence Michael Cuddyer is like Jete who must not be named.

Genuflect & read (retching optional).

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/harper-new-met-cuddyer-earns-comparisons-jeter-article-1.2156265?utm_content=buffer6774c&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=NYDNSports+Twitter