I thought I would check in this morning as the Mets are trying to have a big weekend.

As I have mentioned a few times, I write less often now because Google doesn’t surface anything (you’ve probably noticed the AI results), Twitter (X) doesn’t surface anything, and Facebook doesn’t surface anything – so blogging is kind of a ghost town.

The other issue is I don’t care.

Long time readers know the down spiral here – Pete and his vulgarity, the Mets using the SS that Hates The Fans in 98% of the marketing, Youtube TV doesn’t even carry SNY so I’d have to hop on the pirate ship to watch, but even if I did, Gary Cohen has been awful for years even though you guys can’t admit it.

Anyway…

BELTRAN

The Mets retired 15 for some reason.  Sure Beltran was a nice player, even managed the Mets for 5 minutes in the winter one time, and played enough years that he got into Cooperstown.  You wanna stick him in the Hypothetical Mets Hall of Fame, a collect of objects spread across the stadium because Steve Cohen dismantled the Mets Museum the Wilpons built so he could expand a store – sure, put Carlos in the Hypothetical Mets Hall of Fame.

But retire his #?  We went from not retiring numbers to an absurd amount, and I don’t think this one warranted it.  But it is done, and in the scheme of things to rage about, I put it below The Dance Team

PETE ALONSO

Why are people surprised or upset that Pete got cheered?  He was beloved by the foolish, and they expressed their rage at David Stearns by cheering Pete.

Of course, Pete is best known for not really leading the Mets to any championships, or even making third wild cards, as the Orioles Fans are about to find out.  Sure, the stats look like they are there at the end of the year, but let me put it to you this way – put Pete’s stats next to those of Keith Hernandez.  Who do you want leading your team?

HOWIE ROSE

This is where I should feel something, and honestly I don’t.  I like Howie. I think he calls a game better than anyone in the game right now.

But – and I guess this is the theme here – remember when WOR had the wah-wah sound and the games were unlistenable?  Remember at that same time the MLB App the commercials would blow your ears off every half inning?  I stopped listening.  And after a while, I didn’t miss Howie any more.

And when I stopped watching, after a while, I didn’t miss watching any more.

I went to David Wright’s last game (which feels like another era now) and since then one game because my son’s boss gave him tickets and my son wanted to hang out with me and I made it a point not to spend a penny that day.  When I stopped going to games, I didn’t miss it.

This is what the Mets have done to the brand in the 2020s.  So enjoy the dance team and whatever the next gimmick is.  Maybe Lindor will go away and they will build around this new group of young players (THEY seem likable, except the idiot that jumps after strikeouts).  Maybe I can get back into it – and long time readers know that I don’t just get in when they win (or lose) it is HOW you win and who you win with.  Lindor can win 5 MVPs and 5 straight rings and I won’t care. Meanwhile, 2012 was a really fun season!

Anyway, Howie, I wish you the best and thanks for lots of companion time going all the way back to Mets Extra.

I will continue to check in as I have something to say.

Over at Uni Watch, Paul Lukas has the intelligent version of discussing Jefry Yan’s strikeout celebration.  I will refer you there.

I’ve been super-busy with work and haven’t been able to chime in on this but since Paul motivated me…

1. This should have been stopped in youth baseball
2. This should have been stopped in the minors.
3. This should have been stopped in the pre-game locker room but whatever the interim manager’s name is.
4. This should have been stopped by whoever is the de facto “captain” of the current Mets.
5. This should be stopped by Steve Cohen, but Steve Cohen let Lindor be a jerk to the fans so this one ain’t happening.
6. Pitchers should bat so he could take a dusting
7. If he does this to me, the next time I’m up I lose te grip on the bat and it accidentally goes flying at the mound.

Go read Paul  and if you’re on the Mets, please act like a professional baseball player.

A few years back it was the racist leprechaun hats for St. Paddy’s Day — mercifully retired, may they rest in a landfill somewhere. But now the Mets have gone and stumbled into actual Irish politics.

The good news first: August 28th is Irish Heritage Night at Citi Field, and that’s genuinely great. I remember Irish nights at Shea, standing there listening to Black 47 — if you don’t know them, go look them up. They’ve since retired, but Shilelagh Law is taking the stage this year, and honestly, no complaints there. I like them.

Buy a special ticket, you get a special Irish-themed jersey. Naturally, I had to take a look.

Green? Good. Can’t argue with green. The Celtic-style font is nicely done, and the Celtic scroll around the sleeves is a genuinely nice touch — somebody in the design room knew what they were doing.

And then there’s the number.

26.

Not good, folks. Not good at all.

But Dan, it’s obviously the year. It’s 2026.

Yeah, I get it. But pair “26” with anything Irish and you’ve wandered — unknowingly, I’m sure — straight into a political minefield. Here’s the quick history lesson nobody at the Mets front office apparently got: Ireland is made up of 32 counties, same idea as our states. Twenty-six of them make up the free Republic of Ireland. The other six are still part of the UK. Put “26” on an Irish-themed jersey, and whether you meant to or not, you’re making a statement that you support a divided Ireland.

I will absolutely give the Mets the benefit of the doubt here – I don’t think this was intentional. I’d bet real money the intern who mocked this jersey up had no idea. Neither did the boss who signed off. Neither did that boss’s boss. Nobody, it seems, thought to Google “Ireland 26” — because if they had, this exact issue is the very first thing that pops up.

I love that Irish Heritage Night is back. I love pieces of this jersey design — genuinely, the font and the scrollwork are well done. But I won’t be wearing it, because of what it accidentally says and symbolizes.

Come on, Mets. Do better. It’s not that hard to check.

An interesting read from The Guardian..

“A predatory project is being dumped in our community that disproportionately harms our people,” said Jack Hu, 35, a Flushing resident and member of the No Casino in Flushing Meadows Corona Park campaign. “This community is really upset about this project and how it was pushed through without our consent.”

Metropolitan Park is a casino and entertainment project backed by the New York Mets owner, Steve Cohen, and Hard Rock International through Queens Future LLC. The development would turn parking lots next to Citi Field at Willets Point into a casino, hotel, restaurants, an entertainment district and a public park between the Flushing and Corona neighborhoods.

Mets Police would like to point out it already was a public park, perhaps not the kind of visual you like, but it was parkland, which was handed over to billionaires.  There is already a casino in Queens by Aqueduct.

Elon has ruined twitter to the point I don’t even know how (or if you can) embed videos any more.  So click on this link to watch an actually fun Mets related video!