This Week In SNY extends a sincere thank you to Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez, Ron Darling, and Ralph Kiner for a great season. They're often the only reason to tune in. Here are the highlights.
Tuesday, April 5th
It was a chilly night in Philadelphia for the Mets' 7-1 victory over the Philth. To keep warm, Keith opted for the conehead ski hat:
Kevin Burkhardt's Twitter account featured prominently during the same game. This image popped up on screen, eliciting some banter from the booth:
Gary Cohen: Hey, it's Kevin on Twitter!
Keith Hernandez: Kevin! Is he just trying to break through to the broadcast booth? C'mon Kev.
Gary Cohen: It's a mid-game tweet!
The Burkhardt Twitter break made another appearance later in the game:
Gary Cohen: Wait a second, there's a tweet.
Keith Hernandez: Oh Kev, this is too much for me. I can't stand it.
Friday, April 8th
The Keith cold weather fashion show continued:
We call this look "LL Bean Clyde Frazier".
Monday, April 11th
Gary, Keith and Ron reminisced about 1986 Mets shortstop Rafael Santana. Santana's OPS+ that season was 58 and he was generally regarded as a competent but unspectacular fielder. His career rWAR per 600 plate appearances was -0.3. Yes, that's a negative sign. Here's SNY's underwhelming Santana highlights graphic:
Keith Hernandez: Raffy was a great teammate. He was a character, he told jokes, always had a smile on his face. He didn't have the greatest of range, didn't have the greatest arm. But he hit eighth in the lineup and a lot of times he flipped that lineup over for us and got that pitcher up, remember Ron?
Ron Darling: He really did and the one thing about Raffy was he made the steady play. That was the key, because with that pitching staff, if you could just make the steady play, and not make any errors -- the staff wasn't going to give up three, four or five hits in a row, it just wasn't going to happen.
Keith Hernandez: He's a great guy, one of my favorite teammates.
It was kind of an awkward conversation. It's tough to be completely honest about a player's ability when there is a personal relationship involved. Santana wasn't a very good player but Keith and Ron had nothing but kind words for their former mate. They obviously value his contributions to that World Series Champion team.
Thursday, April 21st
Few men are able to pull off a leather blazer:
Sunday, May 8th
Legendary Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner made a visit to the booth:
The man is 88 years-old and still sharp as a razor. Some Ralph gems:
- Ralph Kiner: You've gotta change the script, I don't like the script.
Gary Cohen: What's wrong with the script?
Ralph Kiner: Well the script should be the Mets win every day. - Ralph Kiner: When I played, when [managers] talked to you, it was ‘you're going back to the minors son'.
- Ralph Kiner: [Loney] had some terrible swings in the first two games of this series. Makes you say ‘this guy is a major league hitter?' Maybe he has the answer of how to get a base hit off a knuckleballer -- have a terrible swing.
- Ralph Kiner: Ike was #5 in slugging percentage in baseball when this game started. Slugging is compiled by total bases. A single is one, a double is two, a triple is three and a home run is four. And then divided by official at-bats.
Gary Cohen: What's the new one now?
Ralph Kiner: It's on base percentage and slugging -- OPS.
Keith Hernandez: Is that a little overkill?
Ralph Kiner: And that's a really good stat because it tells the truth about a batter's real proficiency.
Ralph Kiner: True SABR?
Monday, May 16th
Keith started the night looking like suave James Bond and ended it looking like a duck hunter:
7:05 PM
11:32 PM
Keith and Ron were visibly upset in the postgame after the Mets lost a tough one. Via enterprising AA'er hnymustprtzl:
Friday, June 3rd
It's not often that Gary outshines Keith in the fashion department, but on this night Gary's pinstriped suit stole the show:
Friday, July 8th
SNY presented what seemed like a run-of-the-mill trivia question:
But Ron added some intrigue, saying:
I'm gonna throw it out to you Mets fans out there. Don't Google. Don't go to a computer. I'm throwing the gauntlet down -- none of you will get it. How about that?
That's quite a challenge! It surely has to be some obscure Giants hurler then, right? Maybe Greg Minton or John Montefusco? I trusted Ron and guessed Scott Garrelts, a little-known member of the 1985 NL All Star team. The answer was revealed:
Juan Marichal, Hall of Famer. He's probably the most famous San Francisco Giants pitcher in history. Ron offered a mea culpa:
I had a different answer so what a knucklehead I am. I ordered everyone to not get on the computer and I didn't get it. Marichal would be the first guy you'd go to. I need to go back to the drawing board.
We've all been there, Ronnie, no worries. Who hasn't provided an overconfident insta-answer during a trivia match, only to learn that the answer is wrong?
Friday, July 15th
One of TWISNY's favorite recurring GKR moments is when a guest joins the broadcast and one of the trio, usually Keith or Ron, is forced to sit in the back of the booth. Such was the case when Jesse Orosco stopped by. Ron drew the short straw:
It's like being stuck at the kiddie table despite being in your 20s. Also, hat tip to GKR's camouflage polo shirts blending in to the background of the booth.
Thursday, July 21st
From Lindsey Nelson, Bob Murphy and Ralph Kiner to Gary, Keith and Ron, Mets fans have been treated to some of the best broadcasters around. SNY displayed this colorful photo of the three original voices of the Mets:
Thankfully, there were no uniform powder blue polos for LBR. Dressing as Lindsey Nelson is always a strong Halloween costume option.
Tuesday, August 2nd
TWISNY was pleased to see Ron again sitting in what will be known as the "high chair" from now on, when the SNY Kidcaster Contest winner, 11 year-old Jacob Resnick, joined the booth:
We see you Keith. For the second year in a row, a Mets player homered while the kid was in the booth. Last year it was "Touch 'em all David, you deserve it!" for a David Wright longball, and this year it was "Reyes rips it, back it goes... and it's gone! A home run for Jose Reyes, and the Mets tie the game!" Here is the clip:
Tuesday, August 30th
It's time to make the donuts:
TWISNY guesses the following donut preferences for GKR:
Gary: Prefers munchkins, but only glazed or chocolate; anything with filling is unacceptable
Keith: Jelly donut
Ron: French Cruller
Wednesday, September 14th
There was a bizarre moment when some SNY crew members crashed the booth:
The crashers (that's Al the cameraman sitting front left and Dave the stat guy next to Gary) seemed happy to be there but didn't have much to say. Here is a transcript of their appearance:
Al: Hi everybody!
Dave: Hi mom.
The end. Gary then told a couple of jokes about Keith and Ron taking over Al and Dave's respective jobs that were more confusing than funny. They felt like SNY inside jokes, which doesn't really work with thousands (millions? billions?) of outsiders watching at home. Anyway, there's no problem with bringing SNY crew members into the booth but find some talkative ones willing to mix it up a little.
Tuesday, September 27th
Left to right, we have some late night iced coffee, the gun show and disapproving Gary:
Wednesday, September 28th
And here's Ralph to cap it all off, with a bonus shot of Ron sitting in the high chair:
Next week we'll check in with Kevin for the last time in 2011.