The Heath Bell Effect

Below you'll find the Heath Bell Effect. What's that you say? It's what happens when he pitches and then opens his mouth: Padres win, people start talking.

After Bell saved game #1 in Citi Field's history he proceeded to bash ESPN's Baseball Tonight for never featuring the Padres and never even mentioning SD in the build-up to the Mets' opening night. Fair enough....we know that on the West Coast we play second fiddle. So I shall propose two things to you, San Diego Sports fan:

1. Check out the time-line below.....it is the chronology of The Heath Bell Effect.
2. After reading the chronology (and listening if you have the time) follow Heath Bell's lead and make a little noise....I have a suggestion.
   

April 14th: Heath Bell dogged ESPN in an interview with Scott & BR on Tuesday morning:
[XX1090-Audio]

April 16th: HB then went on Baseball Tonight and spoke with Karl Ravech:

Click:[ESPN Video Link]

April 17th: The following afternoon Baseball Tonight's Tim Kurkjian spoke with Darren Smith:

[XX1090-Audio]

April 17th: Miami radio personality Sid Rosenberg (a native New Yorker and Met Fan) and Scott & BR regular hooked up to talk about a few things...the last of which was a brief commentary on the Padres where he bashed them mercilessly!
[XX1090-Audio]

April 19th: Bell's remarks ring true about almighty ESPN
[Union Tribune-Nick Canepa]

That folks, is the Heath Bell Effect:

1. Heath Saves Games:
2. Heath Drops Mad Quotes:
3. People Start Talking About Heath....And The Padres.
   

This folks, is my proposal:

1. Let's E-mail Scott & BR's regular Radio Active guest: Sidney Arthur Rosenberg
   

Listening to that guy Rosenberg reminded me of Bleacher Bum Jordan (if you added a brain). Brash, loud, opinionated and completely New York-East Coast-Centric. He came off as an extension of the ESPN bias that Heath Bell justly attacked earlier in the week....so let us join Heath Bell in appealing to Common Sense......here's Sid Rosenberg's email address:

sidsback2001@yahoo.com

Dear Sid:
We ruined your opening night and took the series from you....we know, we know...we listened to your interview with Scott & BR---"The Mets didn't take the series seriously"---"The Padres are an awful baseball team"---"We only have two players, and some guy named Headly who gets lucky every once in a while"---"And when the season's over the Padres will be where they belong...in last place".

Well let's look at last year: The (last place) Padres took 5 of 7 from the Mets and the Phillies won the East by 3 games....do the math and chew on that Mighty New York Fan. Your overpriced team will likely cave again and we'll just keep on battling....see you on August 8th!

For those of you who are the regular rebel-rousing-Thomas Paine-types but lack the time required of a full-time insurrectionist: feel free to copy & paste the above gibberish. Or get creative as you keep in mind that the national information outlets think San Diego and its fans are a joke....so you don't have to be nice.

How many e-mails can we inundate ol' Sidney Arthur Rosenberg with?

Editor's Note: It appears that there is another component to The Heath Bell Effect......when someone else tries to close a game......it's kind of ugly. Well, you can't win 'em all. A great week had by both the Padres and....Dodgers.

One Last Observation on Citi Field

My final rumination on the opening of Citi Field. The first three things I caught prior to the start of Monday afternoon's game, in quick rapid fire succession, were: Mike Piazza, Donald Trump's wife, and Mayor Bloomberg.

Read Caption Like A Robot, Please
I...am...ridiculously...good....looking...and.... love....comb....overs....

Now I saw Bloomberg catch a foul ball behind the plate and magnanimously pass it off to a nearby youth commoner (although if the kid was sitting in those seats on Opening Night his parents probably could have coughed up more than enough dough to secure for him an audience with David Wright directly after he had hit his game tying 3-run bomb.....social commentary digression, my apologies) but throughout the game I kept going back to Piazza.....and how he just looked.... creepy. Was he wearing make-up? Was he wearing more than Trump's wife?

Hey I like Piazza--he had a good season with us (or was it 2?). I also happened to be at the game where he hit some HR of importance (300th maybe?). I'm just saying that he had an odd sheen to his forehead and face and had it not been for the jolt of Gerut's HR I may have given it even more thought (no I'm not gay like Mike Piazza might be).

So it goes: while Tom Seaver was pitching and Mike Piazza was catching (certainly no pun intended) a woman on the other side of the country prepared to Dance with the Stars....

For one proud Met fan's reaction to Citi's opening.....
Opening night at Citi pretty much par for the course
[The Legend of Cecilio Guante]

Citi Field: Padres get all the 'firsts'

Some quick observations on the Padres 6-5 victory at new Citi Field:

• Jody Gerut: Good on ya Mate! Let us count the FIRSTS: Hit:Run:HR:RBI. Way to take the crowd out of it early!

• Wait a minute! Why are these JAGS so happy and High-Fivey!? That ball should have been fired right back on to the field....shouldn't it have been?
• The Friars have only played 8 games so let's not carried away with the accolades....but there's something going on here....and regardless of where we are at the 24/48/96 game marks, I think it's good.
• David Eckstein...he reached base four times on three hits and called a balk before even the umpire but that's not what stood out to me. It was his ten pitch AB where his walk was followed by a .......dead sprint to 1B! You just don't see that too often and when it comes from a two time World Series winner I think it brings two things to the table:
• Fire and inspiration.
• A much needed professional example.
  
• Walter Silva will continue to struggle to make it to the 6th...that may be OK though with Correia and Hill looking good. Here's to Jake and CY staying healthy!
• Jody Gerut/Scott Hairston monster could be powerful. I think Gerut needs to get the majority of the starts though. Situations permitting, Hairston can make a nice impact. Way to Christen Citi Field JG!
• Heath Bell got his wish: The 1st save in the new ball yard. Hoffy brought leadership and professionalism to pens past but HB is bringing fire and brimstone! I like it....what about you?
• The Mets arm patch is just really bad and Channel 4's Mark Grant astutely pointed noted, "....looks like a Domino's Pizza logo. You want bread sticks with that?" Could Mudcat Grant and I have been the only ones with the same thought? Research finds:
  

• Stephen Colbert thought the same thing back in January during his Tip 'o the hat/Wag of the finger Segment. Enjoy premium satire here: Click
  

For More Met Logo Bashing:
Mets inaugural Citi Field patch getting ripped on the web
[NJ.com]

With Lincicum defeated...the world is next!

Yea, we're in 1st place. True, seven games is not much of a sample size.....but we're in 1st place!
Let's enjoy the fellas having played some pretty good ball this week and having knocked off the NL's 2008 Cy Young winner.
Padres weak? Not during the season's opening week
[San Diego UT-Chris Jenkins]

Next stop Citi Field: New home of the Mets. An interesting test will be provided with this being the 1st road series and our 3rd, 4th, and 5th starters (still working on names) getting the nod against a pricey Mets squad. Need some Citi Field info? Click Here for some of the Park's features as well as the naming rights controversy.

With Citigroup Inc. paying $20 million a year for naming rights and having received in excess of $45 million in federal bailout money (your tax dollars) this new ballpark truly does belong to all of us......does that make it a home game?

Heath Bell is also excited to be visiting his former team in NY.....he wants the 1st save at Citi Field....Heath has big balls. Let's see him back it up.
Citi Field's debut has Bell buzzing
[San Diego UT-Chris Jenkins]

A message brought to you from Charger Girl: Don't forget the 2009 NFL schedule is released on Tuesday......Cleveland, Tennessee, or Pitt, Fellas?
To quote the dude from Snatch with the giant spectacles:

"Goody fuckin' gum drops!". Be sure to read that with a Limey accent.

This is the End of the week. Good Night, now.