A tip of the cap to Mother Nature for washing out Monday's game against the Pirates and giving us another full news cycle of Curtain-Gate. Yee-haw. Kudos to Carlos Delgado for taking questions for roughly 20 minutes about Sunday's episode and giving everyone plenty of material for rainout stories. Katie Strang was there for Newsday and you can read all about Delgado's lengthy explanation here. The rain also forced the Mets to shuffle their rotation, with Johan Santana taking the mound tonight.
So what happens now with Delgado? He said he was not trying to send a message to the Shea fans when he refused to come out for a curtain call on Sunday, but it seems like he did anyway. Does Delgado now get booed every time he steps onto the field simply out of spite? Or will the fans try to move beyond this incident, which mushroomed into a media circus over the last 24 hours?
After what I've witnessed at Shea this season, I'm betting that Delgado gets jeered every time he shows his face. I don't agree with it, but the fans already despised Delgado before Sunday, and this just gives them more ammunition.The next time they hand out foam fingers at Shea, it should be a different finger.
Comments (10)
This whole thing is ridiculous. Delgado obviously walks to the beat of a different drummer (remember the whole national anthem "fiasco"?). So, in his mind, he only reserved curtain calls for when he hits four home runs in a game, and when he reaches 400 homers. To me, I don't think that's a problem. If he feels like the "excessive celebration" would be premature or inappropriate then it's just as much his prerogative for him to NOT do it as it would be for some of these rabid sports writers to DO it. Without a clear tome written that explains what is demanded in situations like Sunday, we're kind of left with a little moral relativism.
Oh, and my wife bought that chick magazine with John Maine in it, talking about Jennifer Aniston's hair. Priceless. Goofy and priceless.
Wow to think all this could have been avoided. Oh well I hope Delgado enjoys this mess. He helped create it and then he makes it worse by making these dumb excuses that everyone knows are fake. He should've just went all the way been honest.
Paul, good to see that something stirs emotions outside of baseball in John Maine. Will he write a song called "Hey There Jennifer," do you think? Might work: Tom Higgenson eventually *did* get a date with Delilah DiCrescenzo
I might have never seen the media over react about a story more than this one...everyone has to relax and realize that if he does well he will not get booed and if does awful he will get booed...it is absolutely absurd to think that the met fans will boo him just because he didn't come out for a curtain when he really didn't deserve one anyway which is what he said...met fans are smart enough to realize what this guy did and if there not then theyre not big met fans...this is what comes with getting 50,000 plus people coming to a game...not everyone is going to be a huge fan and the average joe who comes to a game just to enjoy that one game is gonna boo if he doesn't have a good time and remember the weekend crowds are far different from the ones during the week...all some people care about is doing the wave over the weekend and i assume these are the same people that boo because they do not what is going on. So David, can you please tell your colleagues to stop bashing this guy and these met fans before you actually see what happens these next couple of days.
Vin .. Incredibly, Delgado has emerged from this a sympathetic figure among the media. Just a few days ago, he was being blasted, and now that negative wave has been reversed. I guess we'll see where he stands among the fans tonight. Interesting little subplot for this evening's game, wouldn't you say?
haha i suppose i would...i'm just getting tired of this boo story by now and am in need of mets baseball...and i think other people would agree with me.
David, you beat writers need to stop living in your Ivory Towers. It is offensive to me that you lump all Mets fans together. I would neither boo Delgado nor implore him to take a curtain call, and I think the majority of Mets fans would agree.
This whole matter is nothing more than a tempest in a teapot. I could not care less whether Delgado is a sympathetic figure to the media. The fact is that two home runs do not reverse a full season (going back to last season) of mediocrity from a guy who was supposed to be a pillar of the team.
The fans are booing as much for the failure of Minaya to address the obvious shortcomings of this team. Players like Delgado, Heilman, Shoenweis and Sosa are merely the convenient targets. The problem is that this team does not hit enough, does not score runs, does not work pitchers and does not hit with runners on base. This all dates back to last season, and Minaya has done nothing to address these problems.
As long as the Mets continue to struggle in all of the above areas, I expect the boos to continue, though I will not be participating in the booing. Because the fact is that this Mets team, as presently constituted, is difficult to watch and unlikely to accomplish anything meaningful this season.
Wonder if continued displays of Delgado power would provoke a "Pick Up His Option!" chant. Power is in such short supply...
I agree with everything Joe said. I don't advocate booing Delgado but cannot get mad at those who do. I like Willie but I think some of those problems, especially not hitting with runners in scoring position can be addressed by spacing the lineup more so that guys who can hit into gaps like Castilo and Pagan can hit in between guys like Beltran, Delgado and Cassanova. One good game by Delgado does not mean he is a productive hitter. Even a blind man can pee in a hole after spraying up the whole wall.
Carlos Delgado is one of the players who is responsible for bringing the Mets back to elite status, so the treatment he's getting is absolutely criminal. Mets fans are better than that and you know who you are.