07/14/2020 Mets Summer Canp
The Mets lost a tough one in Arizona as on 2 separate occasions the bullpen failed to hold a lead in both the ninth and tenth innings with the team’s five winning streak getting snapped in walk off fashion by the Diamondbacks in an extra inning 6-5 loss.
The Mets led this one 4-0 behind a 2 run homer from Dom Smith plus 2 sixth inning runs as Francisco Lindor tripled home a run followed by a Dom Smith sacrifice fly. But a bench clearing incident after the fifth inning seemed to energize the Diamondbacks who got a 3 run homer from Pavin Smith. The Met bullpen held that lead with strong innings from both Aaron Loup and Jeurys Familia but Edwin Diaz suffered his first blown save of the year sending the game to extra innings.
James McCann delivered a pinch hit RBI double to give the Mets a 5-4 lead but the Diamondbacks plated two runs in the bottom half of the frame on a double by Josh Reddick even though the ball looked foul on every replay I saw. But the talk after the game was about the bench clearing incident between Marcus Stroman and Diamondback second basemen Jose Rojas. Stroman declined to comment on the incident after the game but it seemed the 2 exchanged words after Stroman retired Rojas to end the fifth inning.
But that was not the only Arizona person who took on Stroman as Diamondback announcer Bob Brenly took a cheap shot on Stroman saying on the broadcast of the game, “Pretty sure that is the same durag Tom Seaver used to wear when he pitched for the Mets.”
Now I have to get something off my chest as this was a reprehensible racist filled comment that needs to be addressed by MLB. These are the types of comments that incite hatred and promote racism and simply can not be tolerated.
I have covered the Mets since 1984 and I have seen the closet racism that is very scary. I saw it with the mid 80’s Mets on how Darryl Strawberry was covered and saw it again on how Willie Randolph was covered as Met manager. I also saw it on how the concept of “Los Mets” were criticized in every corner of the press box. Marcus Stroman has been nothing but respectful to me and all others in the media since he arrived in New York. I find his positivity very encouraging as he ALWAYS looks at the glass as half full which I find very inspirational.
And for an announcer to cast a racist comment like that so easily really makes my blood boil. Closet racism sparks hatred and creates so much bad blood in our country and tolerating it will only make matters worse for all of us.
On this night, the Mets suffered a tough loss but that Bob Brenly comment cut us all deeper than any loss in a baseball game. It illustrates we have a long way to go in this country. And the fact that this comment occurred in a state that for years would not recognize Martin Luther King Day as a holiday makes me stop and think. I am a white male who knows that I can never fully understand what a black person goes through just walking down the street, But I know I am either part of the solution or part of the problem and comments like the one I heard last night are so un-American in every concept of the word.
All I ask is for all of you to watch the clip and ask yourself if that should be tolerated. I am going to take a page out of the way Marcus Stroman treats others and assume it makes you as angry as it made me. And I am also asking you when you see closet racism speak out and expose the people that are doing that. We simply can not improve anything in our country until we all fight closet racism together because it is like a cancer which could eradicate our values if we do not disarm it and defeat it from spreading throughout the United States.
Tomorrow I return to reporting on baseball but I had to get this off my chest. Thanks for listening.