NEW YORK, NY — “Lindor towards right-centerfield! This one is back, it is gone! Grand slam! And Lindor puts the Mets on top! The biggest swing of the season for New York!” -Fox Sports play-by-play broadcaster Adam Amin in Game 4 of the 2024 NLDS
FRANCISCO LINDOR GRAND SLAM!!
METS TAKE THE LEAD!!
📲 Watch in 4K on the FOX Sports App: https://t.co/7VdFOZOrzv pic.twitter.com/vAmYTMiZ22
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 9, 2024
There have been plenty of heroes responsible for the Mets’ improbable 2024 postseason run, but no one has been more important to the team’s success than shortstop Francisco Lindor. After a slow start to the season for the second straight year, Lindor returned to form as soon as the weather warmed up.
As Mets fans are aware it was Lindor’s dramatic ninth inning home run against the Braves in Atlanta on the last day of the season which earned his team a wildcard playoff berth. Last Wednesday, Lindor hit a grand slam home run to account for all the Mets’ runs in their 4-1 win over the Phillies in Game 4 which clinched the National League Division Series.
Francisco Lindor with the swing of a lifetime, came up big for the Mets, hitting a grand slam in the sixth inning of Game 4 of the NLDS – Image Credit: George Napolitano/Latino Sports
Ironically, the Mets and their fans would not have sweated the final two weeks of the regular season had it not been for fluke injury against the Phillies in Philadelphia where Lindor hurt his back as he awkwardly stumbled around second base after hitting a double.
The result was Lindor had to leave the September 13th game because of back spasms. For those who are superstitious, it was Friday the 13th. He wound up missing most of the remaining regular campaign season. Happily for the Flushing faithful, Francisco was as productive a hitter and fielder when he returned as he was before the injury.
The Puerto Rican superstar has the Mets off to a West Coast trip for the NLCS against the Dodgers – Image Credit: George Napolitano/Latino Sports
Aside from being a talented player, Francisco Lindor is a top-notch person. He is always smiling and enjoys interacting with fans. He saw me in front of the Mets dugout as he was coming off the field after batting practice and shook my hand. I was about to ask him quickly if the dorsal health issue had been resolved when a Mets staffer admonished me not to engage in any conversation. I was surprised because the personable Lindor enjoys chatting with the fourth estate.
A Mets executive later told me the team needed to manage his time during the playoffs. That made sense because they wanted their star player, who would otherwise be talking to fans and the press, to sneak in as much rest as possible. The Mets had endured a grueling and pressurized three weeks, and they wanted to reduce anything which could add even a small dose of fatigue for their MVP.
Harrison Bader, Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor, and the Mets look to take down the Dodgers in the NLCS – Image Credit: George Napolitano/Latino Sports
During Game 4, Amin said that Lindor has needed 40 minutes of physical therapy on his back every day to be able to play. Amin articulated the real, and very understandable reason, why the Mets staff was vigilantly guarding Lindor.
Mets fans must hope Francisco Lindor’s balky back issues do not affect his career the way David Wright’s back health prematurely ended his. If that were to be the case, 2024 will be remembered more bitter than sweet by them.
Mets Fans’ Complaints on Fox Sports broadcasting in NLDS
There were numerous complaints on social media from Mets fans expressing their belief that the Fox Sports broadcasting team of Adam Amin, AJ Pierzynski, and Adam Wainwright were rooting for the Phillies in the National League Division Series. This was simply a case of fans missing Gary, Keith, and Ron calling Mets games.
Postseason Baseball in Queens – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
If there was a subtle bias towards the Phillies, it was because Fox Sports was drawing great ratings, and everyone associated with the company obviously wanted the series to go the full five games. Since the Phillies never led in their series with the Mets, they would catch up so there would be a deciding Game 5. Follow the money.
TBS Criticized for ALDS play-by-play
Astoria native and the Vin Scully of our generation, Bob Costas, also took a lot of criticism on social media for his broadcasting work on TBS for the Yankees-Royals American League Division Series. Costas does not do much baseball play-by-play anymore, and there were signs of rust, but overall, he was fine.
Royals and Yankees line up for the national anthem on Saturday night at Yankee Stadium prior to Game 1 of the ALDS – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
The biggest complaint is he did not sound excited enough. Costas provided all the proper details of what was happening on the field, but his attitude at this point in his career is it’s only a baseball game, and nothing more serious than that. Viewers could not expect Costas to have the same chemistry with analyst partner Ron Darling which Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez enjoy.
A Chat with Phillies’ president Dave Dombrowski
Phillies president Dave Dombrowski is one of the most personable and approachable baseball executives I have ever met. I spoke with him in the Phillies dugout before Game 3 on Tuesday. I told him every caller to Philadelphia’s two sports talk radio stations, WIP and WPEN, sounded like they were about to either jump off the Walt Whitman Bridge or carry pitchforks onto Broad Street. “That is why I never listen to sports talk radio!” Dombrowski chuckled, although he conceded many of those enthusiastic fans are the team’s best customers.
Southern California baseball fans long had reputations for being laid-back. That was not the case with the National League Division Series between the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers. There was speculation Padres third baseman Manny Machado threw a baseball at Dodgers manager Dave Roberts although he denied that.
Manny Machado and the Padres were bounced out of MLB’s Postseason by the Dodgers in Game 5 of the NLDS – Image Credit: Emma Sharon/Latino Sports
There were fights between Dodgers and Padres fans both in the stands and the parking lot at Dodger Stadium during the first two games. San Diego Padres CEO Eric Greupner felt the need to send out an email to Padres ticketholders urging them to always show decorum at Petco Park or they would be evicted from their seats by security.
Dombrowski chuckled when I told him, “Who would dream there would be a day when Dodgers and Padres fans would become the equivalent of the Bloods and Crips, while Mets and Phillies fans would be the models of good behavior?”
Carlos Beltrán, assistant to Mets’ president of baseball operations, David Stearns
Carlos Beltrán, who is a probable Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, is currently assistant to Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns. Beltrán surprisingly was not visible at Citi Field during the regular season but was on the field before and after Game 4 of the NLDS.
Carlos Beltrán and José Iglesias celebrate on the field with their loved ones after the Mets’ Game 4 NLDS win – Image Credit: George Napolitano/Latino Sports
He told me his principal role is to function as a conduit between Mets players and management.
Phillies’ GM Sam Fuld, from a Big Leaguer to General Manager
Phillies general manager Sam Fuld, who enjoyed an eight-year career in Major League Baseball as a center fielder. He also holds a degree in economics from Stanford University. I told him Beltran enjoys his role as an ombudsman but is leery of having to ever be in an adversarial position with players such as when it comes to contract negotiations. “Many former players have difficulties reconciling that when they become part of management,” Fuld said.
The coolest name in baseball: Orion Kerkering
Orion Kerkering may make for the best name in all of sports – Image Credit: Pete Lerro/Latino Sports
Phillies relief pitcher Orion Kerkering has the coolest name in the majors. I asked him if he was named after the constellation or the defunct movie studio which produced Academy Award-winning films as “Silence of the Lambs” and “Dances with Wolves.” “My parents just wanted me to have a unique name,” he said with a smile.
Prime Video set to release “Game 7” later this month
Amazon’s streaming division, Prime Video, will be debuting a new documentary series titled “Game 7″ later this month which will look at the greatest postseason “winner take all” decisive games in Major League Baseball, NBA, and NHL history.
New York Rangers fans will be happy to know one of those games will be 1994’s finale against the Vancouver Canucks at Madison Square Garden thirty years ago.
Image Credit: Prime Video
Advertising Week New York takes place in the PENN District
Advertising Week New York, the annual four-day confab dedicated to pop culture, media business, and of course, reaching consumers through advertising, celebrated its 20th anniversary last week. As always, sports were well-represented at AWNY. Among the panelists were WNBA legend and Christ the King High School alum Sue Bird, retired Knicks star Carmelo Anthony, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, former Barclays Center CEO, and current Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark, and YES Network Brooklyn Nets analyst Sarah Kustok. The CEO of Advertising Week New York is Bayside native Matthew Scheckner.
The American watch company, Axia, is relying on college football to raise its profile. Last month it signed a licensing deal with the College Football Playoff, and last week it did the same with the Heisman Trust. The 2024 Heisman Trophy winner will not only get that iconic stature but will get a classy timepiece as well.
One of the biggest stories in the entertainment world this year is the 50th season of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” A new film, “Saturday Night,” is a fictional composite account of the frantic 90 minutes leading up to the first episode which aired on October 11, 1975.
The focus of the film is supposed to be on a young TV producer from Toronto named Lorne Michaels ably played by Gabrielle LaBelle. His Michaels is so Zen-like calm and unassuming in dealing with the literal and figurative fires (a sofa actually goes up in smoke during rehearsals), it is easy to forget he has always been the glue which got the show on the air to begin with and has kept it going all of these years.
Image Credit: Advertising Week New York
Michaels tells wary NBC executives his goal is to create the first show for the first generation which grew up watching TV. He is careful to avoid calling it a “variety show,” even though it was, and is, because it made the show sound unhip. It is not surprising Michaels runs afoul of the old comedy guard of Johnny Carson, and “Mr. Television,” Milton Berle (JK Simmons playing him with glee as an egomaniac).
More Advertising Week with “Saturday Night”
The real fun of the film is how uncanny the resemblances are of the actors who portrayed the “Not Ready for Primetime Players.” Cory Michael Smith is a dead ringer for the show’s heartthrob, Chevy Chase, and the same can be said for Dylan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd. Anyone who watched the debut episode of SNL will marvel at Matthew Rhys’s take on host George Carlin who was at his peak of being a counterculture comedian. The same can be said for Tommy Dewey’s spot-on impression of the show’s macabre head writer, Michael O’Donoghue.
Director Jason Reitman tries to tell his story in real time, and because of that, the pace is dizzying. Nonetheless, “Saturday Night” is worth seeing since it does provide plenty of behind-the-scenes nuggets.
Gluten-free foods tend not to be as tasty as their gluten counterparts, but happily, that is not the case with Mightylicious Cookies. They are free of common allergens and are individually wrapped. They also have variety as they come in seven different cookie types.
You can read more of Lloyd Carroll’s columns posted weekly on The Queens Chronicle.
