Recaps all Happy in Mets 9th Straight Win

Game stories are what they are. If a particular game had a great story, then the recap certainly seems to have a little more zest to it. The only intangible, I believe, a writer can bring to the table in re-hashing a game's information, is to make the readers feel like he was there, or in the case that they didn't see the game--to make them feel they didn't miss anything. Anyone could just check out the box score, and see the results, but the writers--with the aid of quotes and stats--have the opportunity to tell even more of the story.

The game stories I reviewed were from the Mets-Rockies Sunday Night game, the last contest heading in to the 2008 All-Star Break. Behind eight shutout innings from starter Mike Pelfrey and a first-inning Carlos Beltran 3-run Home run, the Mets beat the Rox 7-0. In the process they won their ninth straight game, moving a half-game behind the NL East-leading Philadelphia Phillies.

So for this reason, the three stories I looked at were all "Happy Recaps" to borrow a line from Mets Legend Bob Murphy.

Adam Rubin's story in the Daily News seemed to be peppered with the most opinion. He starts off by talking sarcastically asking whether the Mets really do have to take the All-Star Break. Then he hits the reader with the basic game details, and the current division standings. His first quote is from Beltran, but it's not about the home run or the game for that matter, the subject was back to the rough start the team got off to. Beltran says the other teams in the division didn't take advantage of the way they were playing, because of that they hung in there, and now he's happy where they're at.

Other details were the longest winning streaks by Mets pitchers, Pelfrey has won six in a row, and how his ERA has shrunk thanks to his 16 straight scoreless innings. And within his big-picture look in the single-game story, Rubin did highlight the double-play Damion Easley turned with two on in the fourth. He then opined that Easley was making injured second basemen Luis Castillo an afterthought. Rubin also quoted Pelfrey and Jerry Manuel in the article. Pelfrey's quote were actually about the game, where Manuel was talking about heading into the break.

Dave Skretta in the AP started his recap off also writing about the team heading into the All-Star break, but not surprisingly he takes a more optimistic approach. He wrote that Jerry Manuel said the break is coming at a good time, because players can rest up. "Care to reconsider?" was his question, and Manuel said that he is looking forward to getting back, and he's excited about the second half. I'll take that as Manuel saying he's not worried about coming out of the gate slow on Thursday, like Rubin might have been worried about in his News article.

Skretta then really gets into Pelfrey's performance, and the ovations he was recieving. He gets in a Pelfrey quote about how he was booed last year, and he never thought he wasn't capable of getting cheered. He counters those graphs with the other point of view. He provides some information about Rockies starter Mark Redman, including a quote from the lefty. Skretta gives a stat that Colorado now has the third-worst Pre-All Star Break record of any World Series team (in a non-strike year).

The reader then gets the info about the big double-play Easley turned in thr fourth, and he ends with Clint Hurdle saying the break is coming at a good time for his team, they've lost four in a row.

Long time Mets writer Marty Knoble on Mets.com gave the most passionate and detailed article. He opened up on the subject of the star of the game, Mike Pelfrey, and it seems finally, the reader would have been able to know that the Shea faithful were standing and chanting "Pelfrey...Pelfrey...", and the Mets starter took a curtain call after his eighth inning of work. Watching the game, it was the moment that made it. He quoted the righty with the power sinker with him saying how it sounded cool, and the whole night was really cool. Knoble even wrote "Pelfrey made the night, period," which was absolutely true.

He included all the game details, and went back a little further too, not as far as Rubin however. Knoble quoted Closer Billy Wagner talking about the three straight wins in Philadelphia changed the team. He had Manuel quotes, this time including that the manager said Pelfrey might leapfrog over some pitchers on the staff. He mentioned the team calls Pelfrey's sinker and bowling ball, and somewhere it was mentioned that Long Island's own Billy Joel will have a tough act to follow when he plays Shea on Wednesday.

I obviously liked Knoble's story the best. He met what i take to be the criteria of a good game story, as he really did a good job of capturing the game for the fan that didn't see it. The truth is, after reading the three articles, I can't say I am surprised. I don't think Rubin's a bad writer, but he took a slightly more pessimistic approach to the game story, and that's a huge problem that New York has--glass half-empty kind of sportswriters. The AP story was kind of basic, which again was not surprising, Skretta had to write the story for both Colorado and New York fan bases, and as far as that he did also did a good job in getting the details out there.