About the Site

    A daily account of the trials and tribulations of the New York Mets. Contact me at sinymets@aol.com

BASEBALL BLOGGERS ALLIANCE

Blogroll

LIVE STREAM OF 66 WFAN

Recent Comments

Meta

Sponsors

2 Out of 3 Ain’t Bad

Some thoughts on the Mets while I re-finish my basement, coach my Little League team and working for the citizens of NYC:

Count me in on the side of giving Mike Pelfrey one more start in the big leagues. Yesterday, everything that Pelfrey threw was straight down the middle, like he was tossing batting practice. Even though he had some great bullpen sessions as per Professor Rick, when he went live, he lost all his command of his pitches. He broke the first commandment of Rick Peterson’s teaching by not pounding the strike zone down low. Everything was up, up and middle in. What all the alarmists forget is, Pelfrey is the FIFTH starter    that’s not to say the leash is not short on Pelfrey, whose next start is scheduled for Tuesday night against the Fish at Shea. Pelfrey has to be effective in this start to keep his place on the team as there is a pennant to be won here and Naw’lins is where you go to get your stuff straight.

I’m not worried about Carlos Delgado and his less than stellar numbers. Overall he is .193/.261/277 but with runners in scoring position he is .320/.400/.560. Now David Wright has me a bit concerned for a few reasons. It seems simplistic to say that the home run derby has ruined Wright but his power numbers are as low as his buddy the President’s approval rating. Wright’s numbers are the opposite of Delgado. Overall Wright’ numbers are .263/.371/.329 but with runners in scoring position he’s .143/.357/.238 with 4 RBI 21 AB. Maybe Randolph should go with his spring premonition of batting Wright in the 2 hole, it may be what he needs to get on track.

The game on Tuesday night gave me a flashback to 1969. Damien Easely’ homer was very Al Weis like and Endy Chavez’ very heads up drag bunt had a Rod Gaspar feel to it. Guys who know how to do the little things and guys who come up with big hits off the bench equals championships.

Petey says all is well and feel better than he has in years. I’m trying hard to conceal my delight.

The best part of yesterday’s game was seeing The Franchise back at Shea. His inning on TV with Darling talking pitching was outstanding. If I ever find a genie with a magic lamp one of my wishes is to spend a day with Tom Seaver to talk pitching.

Posted under Uncategorized

This post was written by kranepool on April 26, 2007

SO YOU WANT TO PLAY ROUGH EH?

First let’s thank the NY Highlanders for losing 3 straight to the Old Town Team and taking away the back page of the tabloids. It may be there first time in a long time I’m not bitching about the media coverage of the Mets.

Yesterday’s loss was very tough to take, especially after dropping 2 of 3 in Atlanta last time the two team met and having a 3 run lead late. Friday’s game you chalk up to an ace pitcher, Tim Hudson being on his game as he kept the Mets batters off balance all night. Saturday’s game was proof of the solid work that Professor Rick does with this pitching staff. Oliver Perez went from having no command of the strike zone in his last start to no walks and 9K’s in 6 2/3 IP.

So now it looks like we have a race in the NL which should make for some fun this summer. As much as it sucks to drop 4 of 6 to the Braves, it does a couple of things for the Mets. First, this should light a fire under the ass’ of the 25 players and coaching staff. Willie Randolph should put a big highlighted mark on the games of May 22-24 as that the next time the Mets play the Braves and the games will be in Atlanta. This should be the first big statement game for the Mets this year. Randolph loves to be this understated guy, never too low, never too high well this should be the time he gives his team a challenge and go to the Ted and apply an ass kicking.

Speaking of Randolph, A lot of people are giving him some hell over not matching relievers/batters in the 7th. With a 6-3 lead and Tom Glavine done for the day, I would guess that Randolph would have loved to get 2 innings out of Burgos as Amby threw 13 pitches Friday night but did not pitch on Saturday and to get 2 innings out of him and then let Aaron Sele finish off the 9th was the best laid plans but of course there are times when those plans don’t go according and yesterday was one of those days. The Mets bullpen has been as close to perfect as you can get and if this loss happened against any other team but the Braves, you’d shrug it off but to lose to Atlanta like this just irks the shit out you.

Posted under Uncategorized

This post was written by kranepool on April 23, 2007

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE AND NOT A DROP TO DRINK

No I haven’t entered the witness protection program or been abducted by enemy bloggers. No I‘ve been busy bailing out a flooded basement after the record rain of Sunday. I have never had a flood in my basement in the 13 years of living here but then again there hasn’t been 8 inches of rain in NYC either. At least I was home when the I discovered the water entering into my basement and I was very lucky that a 40 year old sump pump I have worked, so I was able to pump out water from the front of my basement while sucking out water from the back of the basement with a wet vac and buckets. I also found out through a neighbor of mine who is also a cousin of the family I bought my house from, that back in the day a stream used to run down my block right where my curb is today. The stream still runs underground so add that to my next door neighbor having no drains in his yard and a record rain, voila, water in the basement.

So I will try to post some Mets stuff today or tomorrow as I have a ton of work to catch up on but all systems seem fine with the Mets as Jose Reyes has been unreal as has the whole lineup which now looks to be a pitchers nightmare as there are no holes or batters to pitch around except the pitchers spot. The bullpen has been dominant as RHP Joe Smith is cooler than air conditioning. Both Mosies Alou and Shawn Green are making me look like putz but that’s fine  The defense has been rock solid and now with the warm weather supposedly headed our way, the Mets could go on a nice little tear and put some distance between themselves and the rest of the division. By the way, how about Mex and Darling calling out the Phlacid Phillies the other night as going down without a fight to the Mets? I’m amazed Charlie Manuel has not been fired yet.

So hopefully I will be back in business soon as I have 3 huge blower fans drying out the carpet in the end of my basement I use as an office so I have to wait another day or two before I can get back to the computer and spew venom. As I said hopefully I will get another post up tomorrow.

Posted under Uncategorized

This post was written by kranepool on April 19, 2007

DID YOU SEE JACKIE ROBINSON HIT THAT BALL? IT WENT ZOOMIN’ CROSS THE LEFT FIELD WALL

No baseball today in New York as it is pouring as the awful winter like weather of April continues. Yesterday was the first day in about a month in NYC where you didn’t need a winter hat, scarf or down coat. It was so good to see the kids on my LL team practice without four layers of clothes on.I didn’t see any of yesterdays Mets-Nats game as right after LL practice we headed to Manhattan to see a show at the New Victory Theater. My wife is in charge of education and cultural events in our house and I run the sports and mindless entertainment end of things as well as being the family ATM. By the way, there were loads of Mets fans back from Shea walking around the Theater District and downtown as some I spoke to said the took the subway to the game as instructed by Mets management and decide to hit the city on their way back to the burbs and outer boros. What could be better than a day at Shea and an evening in Manhattan?

I wish I knew what was in home plate ump Brian Winters mind yesterday when he tossed El Duque out of the game for plunking Nats pitcher Shawn Hill. No one, not even Hill, thought El Duque was trying to hit him even as El Duque gave up back to back homers. What an overreaction by Winters. So far this early in the season the umpiring has been just like the weather, GOD AWFUL! Friday night, Mike Pelfrey was getting squeezed like an orange at the Tropicana factory by plate umpire Brian Runge and through it all Willie Randolph remains calm and cool. Doesn’t anything get him pissed off enough to scream? It’s not healthy to bottle it up inside like that Willie, please give these ump some hell once in a while.

Good to see David Wright is human after all, with his brain fart in the field yesterday. By the way, at the Mets Clubhouse store on 42 ST, they sell t-shirts for girls that have the Mets script on the front and “Mrs. Wright” and his # 5″ on the back.

Today is the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s ML debut. It’s a shame that the game at Shea was washed out but it should be very moving ceremonies tonight in LA before the Dodgers-Padres game.

Most of the stories today are of the lack of African-Americans in the big leagues. John Delcos does a great job with his story today on the reason’s why and Mets bench coach Jerry Manuel touches on the big reason, the NFL and NBA offer the quickest way to fame and fortune than baseball does. You have to serve an apprenticeship in baseball though the minor league system. But even before that college football and basketball also offers a much bigger stage than college baseball ever sees.

After reading this story about the Highlanders getting upset over the reaction to scoring the winning run the other night by Travis Buck of the A’s, I sat here thinking “Brain Bruney? Who gives a shit what Brian Bruney thinks? Oh and Benedict Damon, you do have a rag arm.

Posted under Uncategorized

This post was written by kranepool on April 15, 2007

OLD MAN TAKE A LOOK AT MY LIFE, I’M A LOT LIKE YOU WERE

Titan Tom Glavine stepped up like an ace last night, after Oliver Perez’ night of wilding. A cool calm and collected Glaivne accessed his shaky first inning and relaxed. He was pitching like he was doubled park. Glavine then relaxed and pitched to a beat a bit slower and was solid for the rest of his start. Hopefully Oliver Perez was there taking notes on how to right yourself in mid game.

RHP Jose Smith got a another call from Willie Randolph last night to pitch, his 6th appearance in 9 games as Smith looks to be the guy along with Aaron Heilman to become part of the 7th and 8th inning bridge to Billy Wagner.  Add that to solid work by Scott Schoeneweis , Pedro Feliciano and Aaron Sele’ fine performance Tuesday, it looks like Omar Minaya has again built a better bullpen.

GOOD NEWS: Mike Pelfrey makes his 2007 debut tonight against the Nats. It looks like a perfect place to start as it’s a home game, the club is starting to hit with men on base and the Nats are the worst team in baseball.

BAD NEWS: Juan Padillia is going under the knife to repair his right elbow and it looks as though he’s gone for the season if not for good. Sad.

Looks like I’m not the only one to question the Highlanders new strength and conditioning coaches.

Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson got their pound of flesh as CBS joined MSNBC in firing Don Imus for his awful remarks. There are no tears shed here for Imus as he is just a nasty out of touch old man who in the end got what he deserved. Yes we all know that Imus has done a lot of charity work and the good part of his firing is he can continue to do that good work but I think Imus underestimated the hurt he caused the women of Rutgers basketball and I think a lot us did as well. Yes the rappers and hip hoppers use lyrics as bad or worse as those Imus used but I guess these women said “Enough is enough”, and if his firing puts a halt to the hate and disrespect then it will be worth it.   

What disturbs me as much as what Imus said is that race baiters and stone cold racists like Sharpton and Jackson now feel rejuvenated and will now look to get back on the national stage which is just as bad as Imus’ racist and misogynist’s words.

As for WFAN, Now what? I could see them going with Mike and the Mad Dog in the morning for a while until they find a morning host(s) but not only does it leave a PM drive time void but M&MD ain’t what they used to be. Both have become close to unlistenable as the bloated pompous Francessa hates anything young and hip and Dog is just clueless as to what is going on in the world of sports and in life. Both guys hate the modern athlete and really have narrowed their show to baseball and the NFL. Of course Mike throws in horse racing and Dog tennis as that’s their games but try talking about the Stanley Cup playoffs or the upcoming NBA playoffs, you will be called a fool and an idiot and then hung up upon before you can defend your view.

So in essence if WFAN goes to M & MD in the AM they will go from one fool to two fools in the morning.

Posted under Uncategorized

This post was written by kranepool on April 13, 2007

IT’S RAINING (FAT) MEN HALLELUJAH IT’S RAINING (FAT) MEN

Over 56,000 fans at Shea on opening day for some poor fat bastard to fall on and he plops on a lawyer  Unbelieveable!

Posted under Uncategorized

This post was written by kranepool on April 12, 2007

THE WILD AND WHACKY

Don’t listen to the Kevin Kernan’s of the world; all is not lost for Oliver Perez.

Sure he was as wild as a Saturday night at Paris Hilton’s house but let’s not call him a lost cause. The biggest problem with Perez last night was brought out by Keith Hernandez, on TV when he said that Perez was “goosing” the ball, which would be short arming it or aiming the ball. As bad as Perez was, when he left the game them Mets were down just 3-0 and came within a run of the Phillies, who had they lost this game may have had a new manager in place for tonight’s game, the Mets were still in this game. That’s why my Met of the Match goes to Aaron Sele even though he gave up 2 runs in his 4 innings of work, showed that the Mets have depth in the pen.

Let’s not critique Perez or even John Maine on a start by start basis this early in the season. The “He’s great”, “He sucks” analization by the media is just plain ignorant. Let these guys and Professor Rick get at least 5 to 7 starts under their belt before we decided yea or nay.

I know that it could be over blown but I thought last night would have been a great time for Willie Randolph to get himself tossed out of the game. Carlos Delgado was called out on strikes even as he was hit with a pitch in the bottom of the first. It was close if he swung before he was hit but it was arguable. Then in the 8th home plate ump Marvin Hudson who was not very authoritative all night deferred to 3rd base ump Bill Miller who looked like was either working an expedition in the North Pole or ready to rob a bank with his ski mask and gloves (even Ron Darling mocked him) and who proved that my Little League team is more macho that he is as we practiced right off the Narrows yesterday under less than ideal conditions and the kids wore short sleeves, ruled that a pitch had hit Chase Utley when the replay reveled he fouled it off. Paul LoDuca went after the home plate ump and Miller upheld the call then Willie Randolph came out to argue but not to the extent that I feel he should have. It would have been nice to see Willie get hot under the collar and get tossed to send a massage that this team won’t get pushed around by incompetent umpires.

The best part of the evening was seeing Jerry Koosman in the SNY booth. Luv the Kooz!

The attendance last night was 41,927 and according to Gary Cohen it was a true number of people in the stands. Cohen said it was the biggest second game crowd at Shea he has ever seen.

Far be it from me to tell the Highlanders how to run their team (into the ground) but if I had a say in the South Bronx , I would fire the whole strength and condition staff as it’s obvious they are not doing their job.

Posted under Uncategorized

This post was written by kranepool on April 11, 2007

WRIGHT WAXED

So a David Wright wax figure is now on display at Madame Tussauds’ New York City Tourist Trap well I ain’t going back to that high priced rip off joint again even if I did have a good time rubbing the ass of the J-Lo wax figure.

Mike Pelfrey gets to join the adults table at Shea as he will be recalled from Naw’Lins tomorrow and activated for his Friday start against the Nationals. Take care Lastings, we’ll see you soon.

Dauner Sanchez had surgery on his shoulder yesterday and is expected to be back by August. Hopefully he will put more effort in his rehab and be back by September.

Something that seems to get lost in the “Mets are old” spew of bullshit is the fact that three-fifths of the starting pitching staff is 25 years old and younger. But that of course is what puts a smile on Professor Rick’s face.

I’m not a fan of Don Imus or his radio show. What he said about the Rutgers Women Basketball team was hateful and turns out extremely hurtful as well. Imus is like the majority of rich, fat cats in the media that he has no concept of life in the real world. His mocking of Mets GM Omar Minaya is as insulting as his remarks about the Rutgers team but for some reason there was no outrage over that. I’ve felt for a long time that the Mets allow not just Imus but WFAN and especially those two past their prime hosts in the afternoon, to take cheap pot shots at the organization and even though the FAN does possess 50,000 watts of power and can be heard as far south as Georgia I wish they would find a new radio affiliate. But back to Imus. As much of a jerk as Imus is, I want to know how Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson got involved in this? Both Sharpton and Jackson are two of the biggest racists in the country. Sharpton called white store owners in Harlem “White Interlopers” this from a guy who wanted to run for Mayor of NYC but lived in Teaneck NJ. Jackson of course is famous for his “Hymietown” remark about NYC. Sharpton also ruined the life of a prosecutor in Dutchess County when he got suckered in to the Tawana Brawly hoax and still owes money to the prosecutor who won a civil suit against him.

As far as Imus goes for what he said I don’t know what the punishment should be. I don’t think he should be fired because he tried to make a joke even though it was an awful one. Is two weeks suspension enough maybe a month would have been better as it is the spring book in radio where the stations that carry his show can set their ad rates and with no Imus on WFAN for that month would severely hurt their bottom line.

As for Sharpton and Jackson, they need to crawl back under the rock they came from as every time they open their racist mouths they damage any progress in race relations in this country.

Leave this to Coach Stringer and her team to meet with Imus and either accept or rebuke his apology.

Posted under Uncategorized

This post was written by kranepool on April 11, 2007

OLIVERS ARMY IS HERE TO STAY. OLIVERS ARMY IS ON THEIR WAY

I juts got back from baseball practice with my Little League team and I am trying to thaw out. Today was not the day to practice on a field about 100 yards from the Narrows Bay. It’s about 30 degrees here in Staten Island and by the Bay it’s about 25 degrees and even with batting gloves on I still could not get a grip on my fungo bat. But I can get a grip on the Mets as they sailed last night to an 11-1 win over the Braves in what used to be our house of horrors, Turner Field. Some observation from last night:

My Met of the Match came down to two guys. Oliver Perez and Jose Reyes and either one would be a great choice. Perez was outstanding pitching 7 innings and striking out 6 and not allowing a walk. But my Met of the Match goes to Jose Reyes who right now is arguably the best player in baseball. Forget stats and numbers and all that sabermetric stuff. If you watch Reyes everyday like we fans do, you know there is nothing that he can’t do. Last night he leads off the game batting righthander and drills a ball into the gap the opposite way to right center. With that comes the most exciting play in baseball today, Reyes running for a triple. To watch him live at the ballpark doing this is worth every penny you spend on a ticket. Reyes added another triple and an RBI single to finish 3 for 6 2RS and 4RBI.

During last nights game Gary Cohen said ” In the first week so far this season , you could say Rick Peterson is the MVP of the team” How true. Professor Rick’s students have gotten the lesson. Last night was a prime example. Perez not only worked quickly (remember Peterson told to mambo not waltz) and he was hitting that low strike zone.

The worst part about today’s game is it’s on FOX so no Gary, Mex and Darling and that just sucks. What’s McFullofshit and Doofus Joe going to do since they can say bad things about the way the Mets are playing?

Got to go as tomorrow I’ll have a house full of people and I got to get some last minute shopping done so unless Titan Tom throws a no hitter today I won’t be back here until Monday after attending opening day at Shea. It’s supposed to be near 50 degrees on Monday but we all know Shea is 20 degrees colder that the real feel temp. Ah break out the North Face jacket!

Everyone have a great Easter.

Posted under Uncategorized

This post was written by kranepool on April 7, 2007

COULD BE WORSE, WE COULD LIVE IN CLEVELAND

Sorry for the late nite post but it’s been a long day. A fabulous day but a long one starting with my day at Shea.

If you are planing to attend a Mets game at Shea Stadium this season be prepared to block out the whole day for the excursion. Oh and leave your car at home. I don’t care if your coming form Connecticut, Westchester or Forest Hills, TAKE THE TRAIN!!!!!!!!

Finally the NYC Transit got it right and ran express trains on the 7 line this morning and they took the turnstiles out of that bird cage like entrance outside of Shea. Now as you go up to the platform, the turnstiles are right there. Plus the NYCTA ran trains every 2 ½ minutes after the game. That’s great but how about some express trains after games to Manhattan? Why not run a limited train that stops at transfer points in Queens and then straight to Grand Central , 5th Ave and Times Square?

The first site you see now as the 7 train pulls into the Willets Point/Shea Stadium Station is Citi Field. You can’t miss it as it is right on top of you. In fact there was a bottleneck as fans stopped to take pictures of the construction. I stopped as well to get a shot of my son next to the rising new home of the Mets.

It was very very cold at Shea but not as bad as past opening days. Last year was rainy and the year before was bitter cold due to high winds. Today, if you were in the sun you were fine but if you were in the Mezz reserve like me and my son it was cold. But the win took the bite out of the shivering.

The two most relived guys in the ball park had to be Ambionix Burgos and Willie Randolph. Burgos, who gave up the 3 run bomb to Ryan Howard would have had that as a game winner hanging over him and Randolph would have to spend the off day Tuesday explaining why he didn’t bring in Pedro Feliciano to face Howard.

Jimmy Rollins can deny it but I guarantee he’s tossing and turning in bed tonight regretting opening up his big mouth. You can’t talk shit like he did in spring training then have a stinker of a game like he did today.

John Maine looked like he would dominate this game after the first two innings then came the third and his command started to get away from him. Then came the fourth and fifth and his control followed the command out the door.

Welcome to the 2007 season Carlos Delgado my Met of the Match

I know Shawn Green has some nice offensive numbers but he does not instal a lot of confidence in me when he’s up at the plate or in the field. Can Willie please give Lastings Milledge a start before he ships out down on the bayou this Friday?

As far as ovations go. HOJO returned as a hero, Lastings Milledge got a great hand as did Willie Randolph, and first pitch tosser Keith Hernandez and of course the Gold Dust Twins, Reyes and Wright but the ovation of the day goes to Paul LoDuca, who was serenaded in his 8th inning at bat to a chant of PAUL LO-DUCA that would give you chills on an 85 degree day.

I want to know who is responsible for the ads above the urinals in the Mens room just off of Section in the Mezzanine. One add was something called Bald Guyz that is a towlette for us men of sparse pates to rub on our heads. In the add the “Bald Guy” has the top of his shinny head burried between the tits of a young blonde. Yeah that happens to us “Bald Guyz” daily. Then over the next urinal is an add for Old Spice in which the twin sister of the chick in the “Bald Guyz” ad is licking an ice cream cone like a ……….well a melting ice cream cone. Now it’s bad enough that my hands were cold and I have grab the one eyed snake to drain it do I have to look at a hot young blonde licking an ice cream cone while I do it? Fucking sadists!

Posted under Uncategorized

This post was written by kranepool on April 3, 2007

Search

NYMR Radio

Categories

Schedule and Results

Mets Headlines