Frankie Says Relax

Yet another 80's musical reference in the title, we're afraid. Sorry, it's a sickness.


Let's focus on our new closer today, shall we? He has not yet pitched in a regular season game for the Mets, and already the drama is piling up. Frankie arrived in camp yesterday after his Team Venezuela lost in the semi-finals of the WBC. When he arrived, he was asked a pretty simple question by one of our fav beat bloggers, Dave Lennon. Dave wanted to know if Frankie was going to need to rest after being used for two four-out saves during the tournament. Frankie was not pleased with the question. Okay.


During the WBC, post-game interviews became lessons in diplomacy for Venezuelan team officials, as Frankie refused to meet with the Venezuelan media at first because of what he perceived to be poor treatment. However, this decision affected all the media. Okay.


Upon signing with the Mets, Frankie immediately stated we were now the "team to beat" in the NL. An innocous statement, given as it was phrased in such a way as to state, "look at the great team we have!" However, here in NY-Philly battle central, the meaning is entirely different. K-Rod was apparently unaware of this.


So, as Steve Popper asks, how's he gonna handle the NY media the first time he blows a save, and the calls for Putz begin?


To add to the media-driven drama, we have a few observations ourselves. During last years' All Star parade in New York, a close personal friend of the LadyMet family was at work. He is a law enforcement professional in Manhattan, with many years experience dealing with the famous and infamous. As he was policing the crowd, some fans took to throwing balls towards the players, who would then sign them and throw them back. The players and fans had been asked repeatedly not to do this, as it could easily endanger someone (imagine a five year old getting beaned, and the resulting multi-million dollar lawsuit). Upon catching K-Rod doing just this, our friend asked him to stop. K-Rod, in all his 95 mph fastball glory, gave the immortal line: "You can't tell me what to do, don't you know who I am? " Oh dear. No paraphrasing here, this is a direct quote (of course, our friend, being the jaded, cynical cop he is, responded with "I don't give a shit. Cut it out!" Imagine our friend's reaction when he, a lifelong Mets fan, found out K-Rod is now our bullpen savior.


We'll leave you with a positive K-Rod note. A Mets fan who attended the WBC games in Miami reports that K-Rod (as well as most players) was friendly and accommodating, and she amassed a huge collection of autographs (given that her seats were practically on the field didn't hurt). She also reports that K-Rod had quite a following of scantily dressed nubile young women who propositioned him with interesting options (our friend also understands Spanish), but he, being the good fiance that he is, declined.

So let's get ready for some interesting K-Rod stories this year, as he celebrates his way into the NL East Public Enemy #1 title!

Kisses!

P.S. You only have two days left to vote in our David Wright/moustache poll, so make your voice heard!