G-Fafif

Games Three and Five of the 2006 NLCS were pretty horrifying. Happier was the 18-inning sigh-fest conducted by Keith Hernandez en route to a long day's journey into night victory. The Mets revved up their 2016 Wild Card chase at BSIII, with Robert Gsellman rescuing the bad idea that was Jon Niese's return. Bartolo doubled there. And Alonso homered off a college rival when we were just discovering him. Enormous late-September comeback in 2011 that didn't cost the Redbirds their eventual World Series run, though it could have!

Willie Randolph's final game as Mets manager, Jerry Manuel's first. The latter laid down his gangsta law (2008). Jose Reyes with a grand slam as his first week in the majors wound down in support of Steve Trachsel's one-hitter, the day after Jason Roach was lit up (2003). A Saturday night extra-inning win preceding a dead-ass Sunday afternoon loss that I think Bartolo got knocked around in (2014).

BTW, Game Three of the ‘69 WS is presently on SNY in living color.

Recommending this week's Metrospective with Turk Wendell taking shots at a couple of former teammates. Also enjoyed the debut episode of Sounds from Seaver Way, in which Wayne Randazzo chats up authors. Anthony DiComo guests to preview his David Wright book.

https://youtu.be/dsoEf8Yqe3Ihttps://youtu.be/dsoEf8Yqe3I

Hard to discern who's the “lousy scab” in a matchup between Doosan Bears and LG Twins.

C'mon, Charles, buy the Mets.

A-list Mets fans talk Mets. https://youtu.be/h2Z4lkwnH-Yhttps://youtu.be/h2Z4lkwnH-Y

I rooted for an opposite-field single that drove in two runs and a sharp double play in the same half-inning this morning, so I guess my team is well-played baseball.

It was light in Seoul and dark in New York when this game started. Now it's dark there and it's light here, except metaphorically.

On the out-of-town scoreboard, Aaron Altherr has homered.

I haven't heard maskless players specifically addressed. This from a wire story in the San Jose Mercury News: Players and coaches go through fever screenings before entering stadiums, and umpires and first- and third-base coaches must wear masks during games. Players are prohibited from high-fiving teammates or signing autographs. Chewing tobacco was banned to prevent spitting. Masks and latex gloves are required at training facilities. Fans will be barred from games until the KBO is convinced that the risks of infection have been minimized. If any member of a team tests positive for the coronavirus at any point of the season, the league will be shut down for at least three weeks. https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/05/play-ball-opening-day-in-korea-brings-out-cardboard-fans-medical-masks/https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/05/play-ball-opening-day-in-korea-brings-out-cardboard-fans-medical-masks/

Craig Calcaterra, too. Governors of an increasing number of states are announcing increasingly aggressive reopening strategies, to the approval of the federal government. Every few days Major League Baseball leaks some new proposal from their brainstorming sessions about how to bring back the game. How and why is that happening given that our death rates are climbing? How and why is that happening given that there is no real sign that we have even come close to getting the pandemic under control? Given that the medical and public health science doesn't really seem to back up these aggressive reopening schedules, something else is at work. Some desire, be it emotional, political, or some combination of the two, to simply return our country to something approaching normality regardless of that medical and public health science. A desire — overtly stated already by politicians, several of whom have been pushing baseball to return for symbolic and inspirational purposes — for the National Pastime to debut on or around, say, the Fourth of July so that everyone can declare the nation healed and normality restored. That stands in addition, of course, to the business considerations of baseball coming back and what I am sure is a genuine desire on the part of players to play and fans to watch them play. If the Trump administration is correct, however, and we're going to see 3,000 people a day dying of COVID-19 by June, it's worth asking how such a schedule makes any kind of sense whatsoever. And what it says of us as a nation if, despite those numbers, we decide to press on anyway. Should the assertion “baseball is returning in July” lead the conversation with everything necessary to make that happen falling into place afterward, or should, like in South Korea, public health considerations lead the conversation and the reopening of the country follow? That question, by the way, goes both for baseball and for restaurants, coffee shops, hair salons and everything else. I know the common response to that is “we can't stay locked down forever.” I know that people are suffering financially and psychologically from all of this. Of less importance, I know people simply want baseball back. I do too. But if we're going to make the decision, as a nation, to bring back baseball — and bars and restaurants and everything else –while a pandemic still rages, we should be obligated to admit, in no uncertain terms, why it is we're willing to do that. What considerations we are prioritizing above public health. What price we're willing to pay for our convenience, our comfort, and our entertainment. https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2020/05/05/why-theyre-playing-baseball-in-kbo-and-why-were-not-playing-here/https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2020/05/05/why-theyre-playing-baseball-in-kbo-and-why-were-not-playing-here/

As dippy as the piped-noise is, I prefer it to the blaring between-pitches musical/audio cues one hears at virtually empty Citi Field in contention-free Septembers.

Pessimism from Michael Baumann of The Ringer. Even if sufficient national and local authorities give Manfred the go-ahead to reopen, either the league or the union could refuse out of concern for the safety of players and team employees, or even the general population. Players like Mike Trout and Zack Wheeler—both of whom are expecting children this summer—have already expressed opposition to proposed plans that would keep them away from their families. But there's $10 billion worth of revenue on the line, and thanks to the KBO, there's already a template for how MLB can operate with the artifice of safety. Ordinarily a functioning government would take such a massive public health decision out of the hands of people with such a massive interest in returning to business as usual no matter the human cost, but, well, that ship seems to have sailed. https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2020/5/6/21248854/the-joy-and-anxiety-of-watching-kbos-returnhttps://www.theringer.com/mlb/2020/5/6/21248854/the-joy-and-anxiety-of-watching-kbos-return

LG Twins starter — an opener — sucks. Down 5-0. If they're supposed the KBO Mets, I don't need an extra set. But it's still early.

They also have sacrifice flies in Korea, though there they call them chips. Doosan up 3-0.

Early 2-0 lead for Doosan, which is something people watching a baseball game say.

Jung Soo Bin of Doosan Bears chokes up. Eduardo Perez invokes Felix Milan, if not parody runoff.

LG Twins cheerleaders masked, seeming vaguely pornographic. Also, with empty stadium, not technically leading anybody in cheers.

Less than five hours to first pitch. What?

Can't decide whether Eduardo Perez or Luis Rojas is having the intermediate if not last laugh.

Contact-free swinging, brought to you by Domino's.

Synthetic crowd noise notwithstanding, every game in a fanless setting is gonna be the first inning of the opener of a twi-night makeup doubleheader between the Marlins and whoever plays the Marlins.