Poor Lupica.

Poor guy had another article all ready to go about how the Mets are better than the Yankees and more intriguing and more exciting and the Wave of the Future.

Then, Alex Rodriguez hits a walkoff grand slam with two outs in the ninth.

What shall Lupica do? Shall he write a new article? Or shall he change the tone of his article a little bit? Or shall he just somehow incorporate this contrary data, but keep the same anti-Yankee, pro-Met tone? Deadline is approaching and he has to make a decision.

Lupica is forced to insouciantly dismiss one of the most exciting and dramatic and fun and intriguing plays he has ever seen on a baseball diamond.

Lupica would rather talk about how uber-awesome the Mets are:

"These past couple of years, the Mets feel as if they are starting all over again, two years before they move out there beyond right field, through the rotunda that will face Roosevelt Avenue. Even with the age we always hear about on their pitching staff, even with 40-year-old Moises Alou playing left and old Valentin at second, there is still something fresh and new to the Mets, six months after they should have made the World Series."

Odd he should say "fresh and new," because he has written this same same stale and old article for many years now.

Freakin' Mike Cameron in centerfield was fresh and new. The second coming of Ken Griffey Jr.

I think Roger Cedeno was gonna be Rickey Henderson.


"It is only the first week. The Mets make us pay attention to them already, as they try to come out of the blocks this season the way they did last season. That was an amazing series against the Cardinals in St. Louis, even if it didn't make up for Yadier Molina. The Braves' series started with that beatdown Friday night."

The Mets' first four games were exciting for Mets fans, I'm sure. Fans always pay attention to their teams because that is what fans do.

But they were exceedingly boring games for the casual fan. This imaginary non-committal entertainment-seeker to whom Lupica is alluding. The baseball fan whose loyalty is up for grabs.

Bo-Ring.

The Mets are nothing but greedy big spenders beating up on small markets, complete with Jose Reyes tacking on some useless RBIs when the Mets already had an eight-run lead.

Certainly nothing that matches a two-out ninth inning walkoff grand slam.


"The Yankees will always make headline and news on and off the field. The fans booed Alex Rodriguez in the first inning of the first game and loved him like he was the second coming of Mickey Mantle yesterday when he hit that walk-off slam into the black in center. But after four years of this, even that soap opera has gotten old.

...

How do I get some kind of reprieve from the daily A-Rod clutch-hitting watch?"

The soap opera has gotten old. I agree. Please stop writing about it.

If Mike Lupica is bored with the Yankees, then he can do us all a favor and stop watching them play baseball and stop writing about them.

If Mike Lupica doesn't understand the emotional payoff of yesterday's game after 3 1/2 dreadful hours on a chilly Sunday afternoon, then maybe he doesn't understand sports at all.

I know it's only Baltimore and I know it's only April. But that is precisely the kind of game that keeps the fans coming back for more.

Yankee fans all over the country are excitedly phoning one another. This is a moment that is completely unforgettable. You sit around with wiffle bats when you're seven years old and you intone Phil Rizzuto: "Two outs, bottom of the ninth, bases loaded ... the 1-2 pitch ... Holy Cow!"

Does Lupica really think the Yankees' future is bleak? Five million tri-state middle schoolers are going to be ARod during Monday's stickball game. If they weren't hooked before, they're hooked now.

All these fans pick up the newspaper the next day and are told how boring their team is.

They are told by a man who constantly calls ARod a "choker" that the "clutch watch" should be stopped.

Now, Lupica wants to stop talking about "clutch," does he? After the two-out ninth inning walkoff grand slam? Oh, that's interesting. Because I think a strikeout in that situation would have prompted another "choker" blurb in your article.

ARod comes to the plate after already hitting a homerun and a double, scoring three runs, and driving in two. He swings and misses a 1-1 pitch and the fans are already booing. Already, I'm angry about the unfair treatment he is about to receive.

Then, he swings at a 1-2 pitch -- a letter-high fastball, typical of a pitch that he missed a lot last year -- maybe the 12 pounds will really make a difference -- and he connects.

Not with a big, wild, homerun swing. With a quick stab.

The pitcher points to the sky, thinking it's a fly ball.

On the radio, John Sterling thinks it's a fly ball.

I think it's a game-ending fly ball. He didn't even swing hard. He didn't even get it on the sweet spot. I have seen a lot of fly balls to centerfield and that's a fly ball to centerfield.

The fly ball ends up in the black centerfield bleachers.

The man is so talented, his homeruns are optical illusions.

The "second coming of Mickey Mantle" is an insult to this man. Mickey Mantle was merely the 15th or 20th best player of all time.


There was quite an amazing story in New York baseball yesterday. Quite possibly, a once-in-a-lifetime story. That story wasn't about the Mets.

Lupica really doesn't get it. Lupica is simply too concerned with his own agenda. Lupica has pre-determined that the Yankees are joyless and a Jose Reyes ground out is more exciting than an Alex Rodriguez homerun.

Lupica, it's time for you to go away.