Momma Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Armando Benitez and Barry Bonds hates ESPN

I’m not sure why Barry hates ESPN these days, maybe it’s because they didn’t pick up his reality tv series. OK, maybe he doesn’t hate ESPN, curiously though, whenever the Giants are the nationally televised ESPN game be it Sunday night or Monday night, Bonds takes a night off.

IN YOUR FACE ESPN, HA! I’m BARRY BONDS, they are tuning in to see ME. Screw you and your ratings..

Maybe that is not precisely the message Mr. Bonds wishes to convey – but it seems to be in the same zip code. Personally, I’m all for it.

What I’m against is Armando Benitez. Always have been. Why? Saw him with the Orioles and the Mets. Great stuff when he’s on (and he no longer has that type of talent) but he does not have the psychological make up to be a closer. He was run out of NY on a rail for sucking far less than he has for the Giants. Basically we’re in year 3 of a 3 year contract where he spent most of the time injured, and the time he was not injured, he sucked.

But it’s obvious he doesn’t have a closer mentality. It always has been. Plus, when you hear him speak he seems so nice and friendly. I want my closer to be nasty and surly. Sabean needs to be fired. He brought him here and the finest moment EVER in the Giants new ballpark was when the Giants were down 3-1 in the 9th with Armando Benitez on the mound for the Mets when he self-combusts, puts men on base and then gives up a 3 run homerun to J. T. Snow to tie the game. The Giants went on to lose, but no thanks to Benitez.

It should be easy enough to create a standardized testing to see if an athlete has a closer’s mentality. I mean I’m not tough enough to be a Navy Seal, and on the off chance that I thought I was, they have a lot of testing to prove me wrong. I’m not tough enough to be a Navy Seal. But I’m NOT a Navy Seal.

Armando Benitez is not tough enough to be a closer in the MLB – and he no longer has a 98MPH fastball either (barely 90 according to ESPN’s gun) – but he IS an MLB closer and is being paid millions of dollars.

Before anyone thinks, “it’s easy to second guess now”, my reaction to finding out the Giants had acquired him was “Oh my God, please no!”

As these things go I am OK with the Navy having better testing protocols than the MLB, but given the millions of dollars spent, I think Sabean should be ashamed of himself

Tonight the scene was the bottom of the 12th in NY. Giants had gone up 4-3 in the top half when in walks Armando Benitez to close. The crowd heckles him mercilessly, he walks the first batter. Melting down, he balks the runner over to second. The next batter sacrificed the runner over to 3rd…when the meltdown continues and Benitez BALKS IN THE TYING RUN.

I saw it coming a mile away and I felt bad because I was kind of rooting for the Mets at this point. It wasn’t so much I was rooting against the Giants – just Benitez . I turned the TV off with the score tied 4-4 and wrote this. Then braved looking at the box score on the internet. Benitez gave up a walk-off home run to the next batter after I turned the TV off…