Part two of This Week In SNY catch-up week starts now!
Wednesday, April 24th
The Citi Field snipers aimed for Jerry Hairston trying to catch this Daniel Murphy foul pop-up but they missed and hit the poor attendant instead:
Sunday, April 28th
Let's check in with Kevin! Kevin interviewed the talented Don Cheadle, who threw out the first pitch before the game:
Keith Hernandez fondly recalled watching Cheadle perform on the New York City stage:
Keith Hernandez: I saw Don Cheadle in a play Off-Broadway, in the '90s I believe. It was down in Union Square, a play called Top Dog/Underdog, I could be wrong. It was a fabulous play, I sat second row. I could almost reach out and touch the actors. It was a wonderful play, a wonderful performance from Don. It brought tears to my eyes.
Keith's memory is pretty sharp; Cheadle starred in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Top Dog/Underdog along with Jeffrey Wright, only it ran in 2001, not the '90s. Who knew Keith had such high-class taste in entertainment?
Cheadle joined a growing group of celebrities who have managed to crack Kevin up:
Here's Kevin with Emmy Rossum:
Here's Kevin with Logan Morrison:
And here's Kevin with John Leguizamo:
Monday, April 29th
Gary Cohen spoke for baseball fans everywhere when he had this to say about slow-on-the-draw umpire Tim McClelland:
Gary Cohen: He's been doing it for 30 years and no one in Major League Baseball has had the wherewithal to get him to change. There are others who are slow, but he's the worst. It's not even close. It doesn't make him a bad umpire, it's just confusing for everybody, including the fans. They come here to watch the game, not him.
The Marlins apparently feature a sixth-inning sea-creature race:
It's pretty silly, but still nowhere near as awful as the Braves' tool race:
We nominate this for the Kevin Burkhardt Out-Of-Context Quote Of The Year:
Kevin Burkhardt: Gary, Ike Davis's sister is a lesbian.
Monday, May 6th
This passage by Matt Cerrone of Metsblog, presented by Verizon about Darryl Strawberry struck us as familiar, like we'd read it before:
On July 3, 1990, I abandoned an attempt to buy a pretzel and fled through the tunnel to see Strawberry hit against Xavier Hernandez, as the Mets trailed the Astros in the late innings. The ball popped from his bat and slammed into the scoreboard, shattering an innocent light-bulb, doing its job to help spell ‘OUTS.' The bulb remained busted for more than a decade, and was only replaced toward the final days of Shea. I liked when the bulb was out, because it reminded me of his career: so many bulbs, too few at-bats to knock them all out.
We took to Metsblog's archives and sure enough, we were on to something. From September 26, 2008:
On July 3, 1990, I abandoned an attempt to buy a pretzel and fled through the tunnel to see Strawberry hit against Xavier Hernandez. The ball sprung from his bat and slammed into the scoreboard, shattering an innocent light-bulb, which remained busted for more than a decade, and was only recently replaced. To me, the busted bulb represented Strawberry's career: so many bulbs, and too few at-bats to knock them all out.
And from March 14, 2005:
On July 3, 1990, I abandoned an attempt to buy a pretzel and fled through the tunnel to see Strawberry hit against Xavier Hernandez, as the Mets trailed the Astros in the late innings. The ball sprung from his bat and slammed into the scoreboard, shattering an innocent light-bulb, doing its job to help spell the word ‘OUTS.' The bulb remained busted for more than a decade, and was only recently replaced. To me, the busted bulb represented Strawberry's career: so many bulbs, and too few at-bats to knock them all out.
Given this pattern, expect a repeat of this passage sometime in the year 2020. Stay tuned.
Wednesday, May 8th
SNY presented a flashback to Kevin Burkhardt's rookie season, 2007. He was floating around in a kayak in McCovey Cove:
Kevin had been on the job for about a month at that point. He greeted Gary and Keith with a spirited "Hellllooooo boys!" and failed to paddle after a home run ball later in the game, to Keith's dismay. TWISNY encourages SNY flashbacks, especially when Kevin is involved.
We would describe Kevin's look during this Verizon Ask The Booth segment as "hipster cop":
Friday, May 10th
We were lucky to be paid a visit from Professor Kevin Burkhardt! Kevin explained several advanced statistics, with the help of an old-school chalkboard:
Explaining wins above replacement during a live baseball broadcast is not an enviable task, but Kevin did okay. Thank you, Professor Kevin!
Saturday, May 11th
The "Byrd's Perch" crew first showed up when Marlon Byrd wasn't yet mashing the ball:
We spotted them at Citi Field in August, at the first game after Byrd was traded to the Pirates:
Hat tip to Byrd's Perch for sticking with their guy to the end.
If no fans are in the stadium to watch a baseball game, does the game really count?
Sunday, May 12th
The average 28-year-old male would probably enjoy any time spent in Las Vegas, but Andrew Brown is not your average 28-year-old male. He was quite blunt when talking about his experience with the Las Vegas 51s. Read the transcript below:
Andrew Brown: Most hitters love it but I truly hated it. The ballpark is not fun to be at. It's hot, it's rock hard. Playing in Vegas is just a different monster because of the heat, the desert, the atmosphere. There are bad fans. They're not true baseball fans, because people are there to party. Normally they're really hammered and don't know who you are. You get screamed at worse than any other place I've ever been. They take their aggression out on the home team, not the away team.
Wednesday, May 15th
SNY forgot to inform viewers who was batting so Busch Stadium picked up the slack (that's Lucas Duda at the plate):
The look on Jon Niese's face here should tell you that he was positively thrilled to be interviewed by Kevin Burkhardt during the game:
Thursday, May 23rd
It's time for Nitpicking With TWISNY! Over three months later I'm still discovering new mistakes in this graphic from the Royals broadcast team:
SNY noted that Mike Baxter was 0-for-3, except that it was only the second inning and he was really 0-for-1:
It's spelled "Cory," not "Corey," Vaughn:
SNY deemed Vernon Wells and David Adams unworthy of headshots (we don't blame them):
Monday, May 27th
This is the proper reaction to a game-tying David Wright home run:
That's all for now. Check back tomorrow for part three. Send any tips or suggestions to ThisWeekInSNY@gmail.com. You will be credited if we run the material.