(Crazy) Lima Time
He's Back! The Jose Lima we've all come to know and (maybe) love was in the MLB yesterday was back and did not disappoint. I've just got to quote parts of the MLB.com story:
[The Mets] also attributed an element of the most lopsided of their 10 defeats to home-plate umpire Angel Hernandez. . . .
The Mets believe the tenor and the positive tension of the game changed prior to and during the second inning . . . . Lima alleged before the inning began that Hernandez told the Mets' substitute starter he wouldn't be afforded the same strike-zone benefit of the doubt afforded Braves starter John Smoltz. [This plus] a balk called early in the inning "changed everything," Lima said. "It changed my day and the Mets' day ... in a bad way."
Lima filled out his bingo card, as they say in the dugouts, in his first big-league start this season. The 33-year-old veteran of 10 Major League seasons and 231 Major League starts, allowed five runs, seven hits, four walks and a home run, threw a wild pitch, hit a batter and balked -- all in five innings.
But his postmortems focused on the balk, Hernandez's strike zone and the tag.
"I could have come out of that inning, nothing-nothing," he said. "But you know what happened."
And what happened was this, according to Lima. As he walked to the mound to start the second, he engaged Hernandez in conversation about the strike zone. "He said to me, 'You're not going to get those three or four extra inches. You're not John Smoltz.'"
Lima, as outspoken as any player, said, "He treated me like a rookie. He knows me. He knows I've been here. He treated me like I was new."
See? Same old Jose. Man, I could have watched it if only I rearranged my whole weekend. Thank you, Jose Lima, for giving me a good reasons to watch the Mets in the future.
posted by amr at 5/08/2006 11:33:00 AM
5 Comments:
That's fantastic. And, btw, I'm backing Lima Time if the ump really told him that he was getting a smaller strike zone than Smoltz. I know it's how umps have worked, probably since Cy Young, but it's still bullshit.
Okay, if you're an ump, even if have a different strikezone for Lima than Smoltz, why the hell do you tell Lima, of all people? Maybe this ump thought Lima was a rookie (last-minute AAA-callup) and wanted to put him in his place. I'd doubt that he knows Lima more than I do, because I doubt he wanted that published, and no way I expect Jose Lima to keep shut.
Or Jose Lima's full of it.
Or maybe, something got crossed in the conversation. But that might just be me talking to a toddler a lot, and having to rephrase half of the stuff I say.
The next time you host a Princess Party, maybe you should invite Lima Time! Imagine how much fun/loco that would be.
I'm always afraid of talking to people I consider famous: Matt Guerrier, Seth Strohs, BatGirl,
Chris Heintz, my parish priest. Jose Lima is way above all of them. Plus, he lives in New York. If I did invite him, I'd probably have to be sure to be out of there personally or really embarrass myself. C would probably like him though.
I've blabbered to Moby, DJ Spooky, and Chuck D. Oddly enough, Jesse Ventura is real easy to talk to. Bring up football.
So, should I take the fact that you talked to me as an insult? just kidding.
I'd love to talk to Jesse about the grand old days of the XFL. I believe that I'm the only person in the world to run an XFL office pool.
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