Ding ding dong

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Groundbreaking investigative journalism: I overheard Willie Harris sending a request up to the Citi Field control room to change his at-bat music for the rest of the season, so I jumped on it.

From here on out, Harris will use Kool & the Gang’s “Get Down On It” and Don Omar’s “Danza Kuduro.”

Before this he had used, among others, Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight.” I think he noticed me judging him when he said it.

I asked him what his favorite closer music was, and he said it was Brian Wilson’s “Jump Around” or Eric Gagne’s “Welcome to the Jungle.” I suggested Dr. Dre’s “Keep Their Heads Ringin’.” Harris downloaded it and played it in the clubhouse.

“Someone uses this as closer music?” he asked.

“Not yet,” I said. “But how awesome would that be?”

“I might use this,” he said. “I have to think about this.”

Sweet.

Lyrics not safe for work or family-friendly stadium environments. But hey, there has got to be a radio edit:

Last night’s game and offensive woes, briefly

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Am I the only one that thought last night’s game was kind of awesome?

Yeah, the ending sucked for the Mets. But there’s some sick fun in a 10th-inning Mike Stanton lazer-shot grand slam on a 3-2 pitch that absolutely had to be a strike because there was no open base for Stanton because of a Daniel Murphy mental hiccup. Throw in that the Mets had tied the game in the bottom of the ninth on a moonshot from Lucas Duda, and that Stanton himself had earlier gunned down Jose Reyes at the plate, and it all adds up to an entertaining if ultimately disappointing August game between divisional rivals.

Stanton appears tailor-made to be a great Marlin. As a 21-year-old already crushing the ball in the big leagues, he looks like he’ll be better than most we’ve seen from that (or, hell, any) club. But his massive home runs and mighty whiffs befit the style of hitting we’ve come to associate with that team. Guy makes Dan Uggla look like a contact hitter.

As for the Mets’ recent offensive woes: I wouldn’t get too concerned. The absence of Carlos Beltran leaves the lineup looking quite a bit thinner, but the Mets are still hitting the ball. They’ve managed at least eight hits in each of their last three games, they just haven’t strung them together in any fashion that produces multiple runs. They appeared a bit flummoxed by Jordan Zimmermann, but for the most part they have put the ball in play.

But it doesn’t sound like anyone’s too worried. These things tend to even out, and there’s a lot more evidence showing that the 2011 Mets can hit than that they can’t. They have to try it without Beltran now, but now they’ve got David Wright.

As for Murph: It happens. More often with Murph than most, it seems, but it’ll take a hell of a lot to convince me that his mental mistakes on the basepaths and in the field cost the Mets more runs than his bat provides. It’s all a tradeoff. I’m sure you could dig up some slick-fielding, weak-hitting first baseman without too much trouble, but you’d rather take your chances with Murphy and his 126 OPS+.

As for that: There’ll be plenty more time to discuss Murphy and his future with the club in the offseason. But for all the talk about how his bat will play anywhere, I’d be at least a little concerned about how well his bat will actually play in the future if he’s walking so infrequently. No one should complain about a guy who’s hitting as well as Murphy is, and a .320 batting average seems to imply he’s seeing lots of pitches to hit. But not many guys can sustain this type of production over time with a walk rate as low as Murphy’s 5.8 percent.

Of course, Murphy’s plate-discipline stats don’t make him out to be any type of free swinger, so there’s probably a bit more to it than that. Lots more on this to certainly follow in the future.

Nassau County voters fail to support hockey team that Nassau County citizens never seem eager to watch play

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Nassau County voters rejected a referendum to invest taxpayer money in a $400 million overhaul of Nassau Coliseum and its environs. We’ll see what the Islanders do from here, I suppose, and on one hand it’s sad to think this could end with the club leaving for greener pastures. But as the son of a Nassau Community College professor dealing with the fallout from rampant budget cuts, I find it hard to get too broken up about the fate of a woefully mismanaged hockey team that can’t draw well in such a densely populated area.

Sandwich of the Week

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This one came recommended by Ryan. I’m still looking for your sandwich recommendations. I misplaced a pad I had with a list going on it, so if you’ve sent them in the past, feel free to pass ’em along again, especially if you happen to know of a good sandwich that’s reasonably accessible from Midtown.

The sandwich: Chicken Parm hero from Manganaro’s Hero Boy, 38th and 9th in Manhattan.

The construction: Chicken cutlet with melted fresh mozzarella and marinara sauce on a hero.

Important background information: Every time I’ve seen Manganaro’s Hero Boy mentioned in any media, it is noted that the place is not affiliated with Manganaro’s Market next door. I suppose this is to avoid confusion. Now you know. Apparently there was some family spat in the past that doesn’t much affect my sandwich today.

Second, it’s worth mentioning that I eat some form of chicken parm sandwich more often than I eat any other sandwich besides peanut butter and jelly. Most of the best take-out places near my home are pizzerias, so whenever I want a change of pace from pizza I wind up with chicken parm. Plus the best of the crappy lunch places near my office makes a decent chicken roll, basically chicken parm wrapped in pizza dough.

At Hero Boy, the chicken cutlets sit in chafing dishes already topped with melted mozzarella but not swimming in sauce as you see elsewhere. They ladle the sauce onto the sandwich last, presumably to prevent sogginess.

What it looks like:

How it tastes: Good. Very good, even, but I feel like chicken-parm heroes have a pretty high floor. They are fried chicken covered in cheese and tomato sauce.

Let’s think on this: How would you craft the ideal chicken parm hero? I’d start by fresh-frying my chicken cutlet. Hero Boy’s were sitting out in the chafing dish, but there was enough traffic in the place that I imagine they don’t sit there long.

The chicken cutlet tasted reasonably fresh, and keeping it out of the sauce until the moment of sandwich completion meant the breading stayed crispy. That’s a nice touch. On my perfect-world chicken parm, I might season the breading a bit more than they did here, but that’s nitpicking. It was tasty.

The mozzarella was good: melty, stringy, a touch chewy, and delicious. I think on that exemplary version of the sandwich I wouldn’t put much effort into melting the cheese, but that’s a personal preference. The way it worked out at Hero Boy, the cheese was evenly distributed over the chicken.

The bread fit the sandwich perfectly. It was soft and fresh, and strong enough to hold up despite the tomato sauce and without rendering the whole thing too dry or bready. Did its job but stayed out of the way. A great role player in this sandwich.

The sauce — at Hero Boy and at basically everyplace I’ve eaten a chicken-parm hero in the last year — calls to mind a problem that has tortured me since my life-changing experience at Ricobene’s. In isolation, the sauce is fine; it adds moisture and a bit of tangyness and sweetness to the sandwich.

But I fear that though the chicken parm hero has a very high floor, it might also have a limited ceiling due to the narrow range of flavors involved. Marinara sauce is great; I grew up on it. But there’s nothing on a standard chicken-parm hero to give it that extra bit of oomph I enjoyed at Ricobene’s thanks to the spicy giardiniera. So I wonder if someone should experiment with a spicier sauce, bolder flavors.

Except when I think about it, there are plenty of delicious sandwiches out there that aren’t spicy. Is it possible that the breaded steak sandwich at Ricobene’s has set my standards for parmigiana heroes inordinately high? Because the chicken-parm hero at Hero Boy, like most chicken parm heroes I’ve had since September, left me wanting. I might have to move to Chicago.

What it’s worth: $8, and it comes with chips.

How it rates: 80 out of 100.