Padres relief pitcher Heath Bell (left) said what the world was thinking yesterday before his team’s game with the Mets when he said out loud what everyone has known about ESPN for quite some time–that their coverage is slanted toward teams in larger markets.

“I saw John Kruk on ‘Baseball Tonight,’ and he said, ‘They’re playing real well, but I don’t believe in them,’ ” Bell said before Monday’s game. “And I saw ESPN’s promo for tonight’s game. They mention the Mets are opening Citi Field, they mentioned the starting time, but nowhere did they mention the Padres. That gave me the (expletive).”[...]

“I truly believe ESPN only cares about promoting the Red Sox and Yankees and Mets – and nobody else,” said the closer, a former Met. “That’s why I like the MLB Network, because they promote everybody. I’m really turned off by ESPN and ‘Baseball Tonight.’ When Jake Peavy threw 8 1/3 innings on Saturday, they showed one pitch in the third inning and that was it. It’s all about the Red Sox, Yankees and Mets.”

I also heard that he said that John Clayton has a balloon-shaped head and that Mike Greenberg has an appetite for black guys, but that was over a cell phone and I was in a busy hallway.

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