Watchdog

I sometimes worry about making too many baby boomer references that go over the heads of younger readers.

Keith Hernandez does not seem to have such concerns, and if he does, it doesn't stop him.

During Thursday's telecast from the upper deck at Shea, he used the term "bet your sweet bippy."

And he described the funk the Mets are in this way: "As Jimmy Carter would say, 'malaise.'"

And in the top of the fifth, he said, "There's all these pigeons flying by. I feel like Rod Taylor. I'm looking for Tippi Hedren, or for Hitchcock to walk by walking the dog or something."

I turned to Hernandez after that one and he waved his hand over his forehead, indicating he knew the reference went over the heads of most viewers. ("The Birds," 1963.) But that's Mex being Mex.

Hernandez did find time during the game to make pointed observations about the game, calling Luis Castillo's failure to run hard on what would be a dropped fly ball "embarrassing," and criticizing Jose Reyes' base-running by saying, "You just can't run yourself out of an inning when you're down by a run."