Player of the Game: Tom Glavinetin?

Perhaps it wasn't actual baseball games I've been missing. It could be I just missed spending my evenings with the Mets broadcast combos of Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and/or Ron Darling and Howie Rose and Tom McCarthy. This year on Zisk I'll be writing about Keith Hernandez and his crazy comments on SNY and CW 11, but since this was an ESPN game I chose to turn down the sound and listen to Howie and Tom. (And just like the past 10 years, Joe Morgan sucks. When he started rambling about Jose Reyes being able to follow in his footsteps during Baseball Tonight, I wanted to shoot my TV. These guys know what they're talking about.)

By the 3rd inning it seemed as if Rose and McCarthy were in mid-season form. Howie said he was excited to be reunited with his broadcast partner, a man thoughtful enough "to call me on a cold winter's day and let me know that there was a Three Stooges marathon on A&E." Tom already showed off his psychic ability, correctly predicting Tony LaRussa would do a suicide squeeze and that Willie Randolph would not call for one in a similar position. Add in comparing Moises Alou's stopping ability to that of a Hanna-Barbara character, how appropriate that the Bowling Hall of Fame is on Dick Weber Lane and that the player of the game was "Tom Glavintin; why not combine the efforts of Tom Glavine and Jose Valentin" and you've got all the ingredients for an entertaining broadcast. Glad to have you guys back. And with the Islanders tanking without goalie Rick Dipietro, Howie will miss only a couple more Mets broadcasts.

Oh, and the Mets won too. That was good. The defense was sparkling all night. It seems that sloppy play of spring training got left back in Florida. I guess this team can really turn on the focus when they need it.

162-0 anyone?