You’ve gotta admit, Buck Showalter’s asking the umpires to rub Joe Musgrove’s ears was the perfect way for the Mets to go out. It was the combination of dysfunction, desperation and unintentional comedy that has defined this organization pretty much since its inception 60 years ago.
At first, requesting a sticky-stuff check made sense. Musgrove had allowed just one base runner through the first five innings, his spin rate was up from his seasonal average and his ears appEARed shiny on the broadcast. The check for illegal substances was fruitless, though, and soon it became clEAR that this was nothing more than a last ditch effort to fluster the Padres‘ righthander in New York’s eventual 6–0 loss.
Frank Franklin II/AP
