David Wright Pulled in Fear of Retaliation

Last night, YOUR New York Mets were ready to call it a loser. On their way to an 8-0 loss at the hands of the Beer Men of The Good Land, Amazins' reliever D.J. Carrasco gave up a home run to Rickie Weeks. On the first pitch after Weeks had rounded the bases, Carrasco plunked reigning National League Most Valuable Player and object of Mambino disdain, Ryan Braun.

Carrasco was immediately ejected by home plate umpire Gary Darling, and Mets manager Terry Collins wasn't surprised. So what did he do?

When it was Wright's turn to bat in the bottom of the 7th inning, Collins sent no-namer Jordany Valdespin (cool name, bro) to the plate instead of his star 3rd baseman. Wright is to the Mets as Braun is to the Brewers, and coupled with the fact that DW notched 2 of the Metropolitans' 5 hits off of Zack Greinke, Collins knew what was going down.

After the jump, I have power-ranked the participants involved in last night's event.

5. Ryan Braun

"I respect the fact that (Wright) wanted to stay in the game. I don't fault them for making that decision at all." Nice quote from Braun, I guess. He's not one to put his name in the papers. He wouldn't hold a press conference to explain himself about anything at all.

4. Jordany Valdespin

"Hey kid, I'm not risking the face of the franchise. Go in there and bat for him. If you get hit, we'll send you down to AAA." -what Terry Collins would have said if he didn't care about the kid's feelings

Kinda reminds me of Major League 2, when Jake Taylor sent Roger Dorn into face the lefty Bucek, for the sole purpose of stepping into an inside pitch to get on base:



3. Terry Collins

The Mets manager job was such a terrible attraction, that Collins, the team's friggin "minor-league field coordinator," emerged as the best candidate for the position. Collins came into his new digs knowing that the team had owners for which "incompetent" was an understatement and "impotent" was a likely possibility, both of which due to the Wilpons' flirtation with Bernie Madoff. To his credit, however, Collins has steered this ship through the perfect storm to a 20-16 record, which currently places his team in the 2nd NL Wild Card spot.

Collins knows he's playing with house money. But unlike me, a dude who uses that opportunity to bet the farm for the chance at more money, Collins assessed the situation, pulling Wright and also, Daniel Murphy (who's hitting a sweet .336), and walked away from the casino. His boys are injury-free and live to play another day. He won't have to consider a trip to the ATM for another withdrawal.

2. David Wright

Dude wanted to stay in and get hit. What a freaking big boy move by DW. International blogging sensation KFC of Barstool Sports New York called it the best Mets moment in the last 3 years. And looking back at their tortured history, that sounds about right.

When we play sports, the physical contact doesn't bother us because people don't do that ish intentionally (unless they do). But to WANT to step in and face the music is not something that us normal people do on the daily. When we expect to get hit, that normal human element of fear usually chimes in:



1. Mets fans

I am not one of them, thank God. But it's nice to see the red-headed stepchild smile every once in a while.

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@TheGreatMambino