It is a testament, I guess, to the Mets’ improved roster management that there’s really no place for Val Pascucci on the 2010 team. For once, they are not devoting a roster spot to a useless bench player that could easily be upgraded with a Quadruple-A masher like Boss. Even though Alex Cora is eminently replaceable, he can at least sort of play the middle infield and so is way more valuable to his club than Marlon Anderson was back in 2008.
But Pascucci soldiers on in Triple-A regardless. And what a show he’s giving the people of Buffalo.
Pascucci has 10 hits in his last 30 at-bats. Nine of them have been for extra bases. Six have been home runs. Over the stretch, he’s slashing .333/.412/.1.033. For the season, he has a .934 OPS. For his six-year Triple-A career, he’s at .907.
Quad-A mashers like Pascucci, and hell, all so-called “organizational” players fascinate me. Are they just ignorant of all the indicators that they’ll never have a Major League career, or do they persevere in spite of them? Does Val Pascucci love playing baseball enough to put up with the crappy accommodations and poor pay that come with the level, or does he shoulder them hoping he’ll finally get a shot, something a little longer than his ill-fated 62-at-bat cameo in 2004?
Who knows? Maybe Pascucci simply loves hitting home runs, and is just thrilled people keep paying him to do so. What a stud.
Oh, and Jesus Feliciano has two three-hit nights in the Major Leagues. No one can take those away from him, even if he’ll likely be the odd man out when Carlos Beltran returns. That’s kinda awesome.
Tedquarters 
Maybe he just really loves the Duff’s wings and beef on weck.
I had him for an Anchor Bar guy.
nobody actually goes to anchor bar. more of a tourist thing.
Mmmm, Duff’s. Damn you Catsmeat, now I want wings, and I don’t have anything remotely resembling an excuse for a trip to Buffalo anytime in the near future.
Also:
“Are they just ignorant of all the indicators that they’ll never have a Major League career, or do they persevere in spite of them? Does Val Pascucci love playing baseball enough to put up with the crappy accommodations and poor pay that come with the level…?”
I have to imagine that it still beats the hell out of bagging groceries at Walmart.
You are not giving Val Pascucci much credit here by making the assumption that his only other option besides baseball would be bagging groceries at Walmart.
I didn’t mean to imply that mindless menial labor would be his only other option (for all I know, Pascucci is going to go to medical school once he hangs up his spikes), it was just meant as an example of a “work my 8 hours, take home my paycheck, repeat” job to which playing minor league baseball would seem to be preferable.
I know, I was just joking.
You don’t have to go all the way to Buffalo for great wings. Albany is far enough. But why can’t anyone make decent wings in the NYC area?
OK, but I don’t have any trips to Albany planned in the near future either. It’d basically be worth it if and only if I could plan far enough in advance, and pick the right day, to get one of those $1 seats on Megabus.
If you are a Giants fan, go up to Albany to watch practice and hit the bars for beers and wings before heading back downstate. There are two bars right across the street from the practice facility with good, upstate wings — Sutters Mill & Mining and Across the Street Pub. I did that with some friends a few years back. Our own “two-a-day” workout. A few pitchers and some wings at Sutters before a Giants/Jets scrimmage and a few more pitchers and some wings downtown at the Hill Street Cafe after the scrimmage.
And while we can’t get good wings down here, you can take solace in the fact that they can’t get decent pizza up there.
We can’t get good wings down here? Wing Wagon on Flatbush Ave. in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. I lived on it for three years, and oh, I miss it so.
I don’t get to Brooklyn much (or at all), but I have yet to have a wing in the metro area which compares with an average upstate wing.
Wing Wagon, you say? Hmm, might be worth a try; I wonder whether their delivery area is as far West as I am, but probably not.
Don’t bother. Wing wagon is every bit as unreliable as it is delicious. Sometimes they don’t show, sometimes they screw up your order, sometimes it shows up so quickly that you suspect they actually meant to deliver wings to someone else two hours earlier but just happened to knock on your apartment door by coincidence ten minutes after you ordered wings.
A couple of times I went in there and they were all out of wings. At wing wagon. And that never stopped me from going, it just made me want their wings that much more.
The Candlelight Inn (Scarsdale, NY) has some pretty solid wings. It’s but a hop and a skip from Mt. Pleasant…or a short Metro North ride from the City.
Seconded. Not the best wings I’ve had but certainly solid ones, like you say. I like most of what they have to offer there.
The wings at Hill Street are pretty phenomenal. I’d also advise folks looking for a little drive to make their way over to The Ale House in Troy, which has some of the best wings I’ve ever eaten.
Ted, why not just start a food blog? I feel like your food posts get more attention than anything else.
Several reasons. First and foremost, I’m not very good at describing food beyond “awesome” and “delicious.” People who write good food blogs talk about citrus notes and oaky undertones and such. Though it would be hilarious to discuss Taco Bell in those terms, I don’t know them well enough.
Second, though there tend to be a lot of comments on food-related posts, they don’t actually get more traffic than baseball stuff. And I guess most importantly, I can’t imagine I could convince SNY to pay me to write only about food, although it would be pretty awesome if I could. But I’d get bored of that I think. There’s another food post coming today though.
Fair enough, although I’m having fun imagining your food blog being akin to those Chris Farley interviews from SNL.
Ted, if you add literature as well as food and become more caustic, you will have turned into Keith Law.
Isn’t everything I do a little like those Chris Farley interviews on SNL? Actually, come to think of it, the audition for that Jack-in-the-Box commercial way back when included an improv bit in which I had to pretend I ran into my favorite celebrity on the street. The director who eventually hired me said he liked the “Chris Farley Show” aspect of mine, which was unintentional.
A Hill Street Cafe fan. I figured I was the only one reading this blog who had frequented Hill Street. I’m driving upstate this weekend and, as usual, I will be getting off the thruway at exit 24 to get an order of wings from Sutters, two year old son in tow notwithstanding.
Definitely a fan. It’s about two minutes from my office so I’m there for lunch or dinner with a fair amount of frequency.
You live in Albany? What’s the best place for wings these days? I plan on getting some this weekend.
In my day, it was Hill Street Cafe, Skippers and Thirsty’s, which was on New Scotland by St. Peter’s Hospital.
Hill Street is still up there. Sutter’s (as you also mentioned before), Bombers Burrito Bar (for the Tequila Wings – it’s a great flavor), Legend’s. Further afield, Ale House in Troy or City Squire in Schenectady.
Also, So Dam Hot in Valhalla is like the 2007-08 Ollie Perez of wings. Inconsistent, but occasionally awesome. Sometimes they’re actually too spicy to enjoy.
Nice. My friends (or, more like friends of friends) own this place. I think they firmly believe that if your eyes aren’t tearing up a bit, then they’ve failed you. SDH held a hot dog eating contest a few weeks back…the guys clearly take the Hall of the Slain moniker to heart.
Nice. They got a shoutout here back in October, in the blog’s fetal days.
Croxley Ale House. locations in NYC, and Long Island. Best wings i’ve had outside of western NY.
I haven’t been to Croxley for wings (mainly just because Avenue B is a schlep) but I’ve been told the same by others as well.
Seems like Val would be an upgrade over Tatis at this point. As would Nick Evans. As would Hessman (before his injury). I know a lot of Met fans have a special place in their hearts for Tatis, but he looks about done.
Catsmeat, thanks for the recommendations. I’ll be staying outside of Schenectady this weekend, so I’ll check out City Squire, unless my Dad drags me down to Wolf’s Beergarden in Albany as he has promised, in which case I’ll hit the Hill Street cafe. But no trip upstate is complete without wings.
If you find yourself at City Squire, they do some really excellent flavors. The Green Monster wings are a sweet/hot jalepeno-based wing that are probably my favorites there. There are about 20 flavors to choose from though, most of which are pretty great.
If you find yourself at Wolff’s, I might be the guy passed out in the corner. I basically live there.
Too funny about Wolff’s. My old man is a german beer fanatic (as am I) who recently retired to the capital region, and he has been raving about the place to me for months. Gonna have to check it out this weekend.
I’m jealous of you. Albany is such a great town, and so well situated. I have a blast whenever I make it back up there. NYC metro area too damn big and crowded for my taste.