[Amazin69]

Good news from Thursday: The Mets got a win, Carrasco kept rolling, and we made it past Clemente Day without that "Make his #21 retired throughout MLB" mistake happening.

(Yes, I'll be That A-Hole, and say it: Roberto was a great player and a great human and he died tragically. He completely deserved accelerated induction to the Hall, the Award in his honor, and Clemente Day.

BUT…he didn't represent the specific change [to both the sport and America as a whole] that Jackie did, and grouping him in there not only diminishes Jackie, IMO, but takes away the unique nature of "42".

Otherwise, if we're going to open that door, I'll start campaigning for MLB bans on #19 and #3 and #24…and maybe good old #41, as well. Let's not go down this road, I say. Leave well enough alone. Let the teams honor their legends, so Milwaukee can have #19 be about Robin Yount and Oakland can have #24 be about Rickey [and Pittsburgh can remember pre-roid Bonds, who was a great player even clean], and keep the MLB-wide statements to Jackie and Jackie only. JMO.)

On the negative side:

• Vogelfat got a key hit. Now Buck will never admit Eppler screwed up. It will be Very Good Hitter Ruf and Vogelfat, no matter what.

(Even Joe Davis basically said that if the problem is that Marte can't throw, why not DH him and sit the losers? Mets DHs, in the 20 games before last night, had gone .091, with 0 HRs and 2 RBI. Just because Vogelfat moved the numbers slightly higher doesn't make the screw-up any less screwier.)

Meanwhile, Dom Smith is stranded in Syracuse, apparently for the crime of being under 30 and able to play defense. Grrrr.

• Since this was a FOX game, I had to listen to Suck-Up John Smoltz, the only man who may hate baseball more than Manly Manfred. Non-stop enthusing about how the rules changes are going to be the greatest thing since the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, or whatever.

Did you know that banning the shifts will mean we get to see outstanding defensive plays? Because apparently having fielders in position means they can't make great efforts on balls or something. Lucky for Suck-Up that he works for FOX instead of ESPn, or the "Web Gems" producers might want a word with him.

Oh, and don't worry! The shift-ban won't turn .320 hitters into .350 hitters, it will just help the guys hitting .220 do a little bit better.

In other words, guys like McNeil who already know how to hit aren't being hurt by the shift, it's just the brain-dead "launch angle" Kris Bryant wannabes who are too stubbornly stupid to adapt. So yeah, let's cram in new rules to help marginal players who should be washing out of the majors on their own. That makes SO much sense!

I swear, if a certain part of Manly Manfred's anatomy was a bumper on a vintage car, Suck-Up would have sucked all the chrome off of it long ago…

(I wonder if he's a shill because he thinks it's his job, or if he got the job because they knew what a shill he would be?)

BTW, why couldn't the shortstop set up one millimeter on "his" side of 2B and then step into shift position as the pitch is released? What, are they going to ban that, too?

(Yeah, probably. Which is why I'm almost glad I'm done with this farce after this season. C'mon, Mets! One last good memory, that's all I ask.)