Who’s Stroking Out On First?

The Mets beat the Padres 11-5 Monday night, with their offense jacking 16 hits and starter Carlos Carrasco striking out 10 batters. Since the game was in San Diego, possibly past the usual bedtimes of Mets broadcasters Keith Hernandez and Gary Cohen, things got a little loopy in the booth. Any fans who stayed up until midnight on the East Coast were treated to a Socratic debate on strokes.

In the sixth inning, Hernandez noted the Mets' offensive prowess, commending them for "stroking out" eight hits. It then became clear that he and Cohen had different interpretations of what that term meant.

OK, so there's the baseball kind of stroke, the medical kind of stroke, and then the kind of stroke that you don't want to do because then you'd be a "creepy old man." They're mostly talking about the first two here. Mostly. The announcing fellas kept the bit going through the rest of the inning, with Hernandez wondering whether there was such a thing as a "nice stroke, medically?" There is not, as Cohen pointed out. The pair kept giggling, before Hernandez said, "We're getting silly."

If these two continue this conversation during tonight's game, they can try to discover a fourth meaning for "stroking out." Then they'll go from goofs to pioneers.