That’s right, I’ve been predicting the outcome of Major League Baseball seasons since I was 6 years old and twice in those 44 years I’ve picked the winner of the World Series correctly,  the Mets in 1969 and 1986. That’s because I pick the Mets every year to win the World Series even in the mid and late 70’s when the franchise was in the toilet I still picked them to win it all so take these not just a grain a salt but with a whole damn silo full of it. So without any further adieu here are the Eddie Kranepool Society 2008 Baseball Prognostications.

National League East

New York Mets

Atlanta Braves

Philadelphia Phillies

Washington Nationals

Florida Marlins

I’m of the mind set that the Mets lost the NL East last year not the Phillies won it. Let’s face it if the Mets just played one game under .500 in the last 17 games last year the Quakers would have had gone 16-1 just to tie. Think about that and tell me you didn’t‘ just puke in your mouth. But as Elliot Spitzer says let old whores die, it’s time to move on. Admit it Mets fans we have the best four man rotation in baseball. The bullpen looks quite fortified as well even with Dirty Duaner staying in summer school to regain strength to pitch on back to back days. Billy Wags looks nasty and that’s not just because of his chin stubble but he looks to have realized that his gas ain’t what it used to be but if you reach back now and then and add a good off speed pitch you can be very effective. The defense is very underrated as the addition of Brian Schneider is an upgrade over Girls Gone Wild collaborator Paul LoDuca. But of course our boys in Blue and Orange are not perfect. Carlos Delgado alternates from tired and old looking to old and tired. I don’t know what’s more disturbing Delgado’s inability to hit an inside fastball or Elliot Spitzer wearing knee socks during sex. I’ll be SHOCKED, SHOCKED if Delgado hits 20 HR’s this season. All in all it’s the pitching stupid and the Mets have the best in the NL. 90-95 wins or the season is a failure.

The Braves also have health and age issues in the starting rotation. If the Smoltz-Glavine-Hudson-Hampton stay healthy the Braves will be right on the Mets tail. The Phillies are short on arms especially in the bullpen but the Rollins-Utley-Howard trio of hitters is fucking scary. The Phillies will be in the hunt as well as this race goes three deep but the Mets just have more pitching than either team so it’s Mets for me.

National League Central

Chicago Cubs

Cincinnati Reds

Milwaukee Brewers

Pittsburgh Pirates

Houston Astros

St Louis Cardinals

I wanted sooooooooo badly to pick the Red Legs to win this division. I like their starting pitching very much especially with the two young guys Johnny Cueto and Endison Volguez making the rotation plus closer Francisco Cordero was a top flight addtion this winter but the one thing stopping me is the manager, old Dust-A-Roo Baker will find a way to fuck this up. So that brings me to the Cubbies and Louie Pinnella he won’t fuck things up and he has an ace in Carlos Zambrano and good cast of starters with Ted Lilly and Rich Hill but it’s the bullpen that will shine Bobby Howry, Carlos Marmol, Scott Eyre and if healthy Kerry Wood is more than enough to lead the Cubs to the division flag.

National League West

Los Angeles Dodgers

Arizona Diamondbacks

Colorado Rockies

San Diego Padres

San Francisco Giants

The best division in the NL.  Any of the top four teams could win this division. The Dodgers have a strong rotation and a deep and effective bullpen in fact they have depth all over that’s what will seperate them from the pack. Again this is a division that will separated by a game or two and be very tight down the stretch that’s why  I pick the D’Backs to win the Wild Card as a consolation prize.

American League East

Toronto Blue Jays

Boston Red Sox

New York Highlanders

Tampa Bay Rays

Baltimore Orioles

Last year if you remember and it’s okay if you don’t   I picked the Blue Jays to win the World Series. Injuries were the Northern Birds down fall so I’m betting that it can’t happen to them two years in a row so back to the Ontario well I go. Again Roy Halladay has to stay healthy and BJ Ryan has to bounce back and if they do there is more than enough offense to carry this team to a division championship. Tim Horton Dounuts for everyone. The Red Sox won’t roll over that’s for sure in fact if they need a part or two down the stretch they have the personnel and cash to make any move happen. I worry about the back end of their rotation with Lester-Wakefield and Buckholz   and Beckett breaking down. I know I’m an unabashed Highlander Hater but please believe me placing them in third place was purely objective. They just do not have enough pitching to win a division. Wang has not gotten over last years ALDS, Andy Pettite is breaking down, Mike Mussina is shot to shit and they are counting way too much on the kiddie corps of pitchers. Add to that Matsui and Damon will spend a lot of the summer on the DL and first base is a black hole it all adds up to a 3^rd place finish, in fact Giradi’s G-Men will not be a factor in the race. The Rays win 75 games and it’s like an all day early bird in the land where retirees go to die. The Orioles are relegated to the International League and the Buffalo Bison move to the AL East.

American League Central

Detroit Tigers

Cleveland Indians

Kansas City Royals

Chicago White Sox

Minnesota Twins

Love those Tigers. Excellent pitching. Solid lineup. Great manager all the ingredients of a winner. All the Dontrelle Willis nay-sayers will be eating their words when the D-Train shows his “soul” and becomes the Comeback Player of the Year.  Arguably to me the Motown Cats are the best team in baseball. The Indians lose out to the Tigers by 10 games in the division and are nosed out by the Old Town Team for the Wild Card but still the Tribe is very good. The Royals will be pests as they have an underrated starting staff. Thank you Bill Smith for your gift of Johan Santana.

American League West

Seattle Mariners

Texas Rangers

Los Angeles Angles of Anaheim

Oakland A’s

Love the tandem of King Felix and Erik Bedard as having both pitchers will prevent long losing streaks. Richie Sexson can’t bat .205 again can he? JJ is no putz but a solid closer. Rangers could surprises but of course it all rides on pitching. The Angles could be the best or the worst of this division and will be fun to watch. Billy Beane is thinking about Freemont.

So what does the post season look like in my Cristal Balls:

NLDS

Mets over D’Backs

Dodgers over Cubs

NLCS

Mets over Dodgers

ALDS

Tigers over Red Sox

Blue Jays over Mariners

ALCS

Tigers over Blue Jays

2008 World Series

Mets over Tigers

The NL better win the All Star Game this year because this World Series is going seven games.    

The Tribune says it’s for $1.3 mil now that makes Matt Murton expendable and Omar would be wise to get on the horn with Jim Hendry and take Murton off his hands. A platoon of Endy and Murton in LF would be an upgrade over Endy/Pagan. Plus Murton would spell  Church in RF. Murton is no Gold Glover but I’m willing to sacrifice corner outfield defense for a live righty bat.

Someone in MLB that still has at least one or two brain cells that actually function has to step up and stop these opening days overseas. The Red Sox just defeated the Oakland A’s 6-5 in 10 innings (Manny Being Manny went 2/4 two 2b and 4 RBI  I love MANNY) in a game that should have been played at Fenway or the Al Davis Mausoleum but no some old white guy in MLB Office decided it was the right thing to do to play this game in Japan. So Sawx fans got up at 6AM and A’s fans got (or never went to bed) at 3AM and to top it all off from what I’ve read this morning DirecTV lost the signal on ESPN2 and NESN so fans were shout out for most of the game. Fucking brutal!

As most of you al know I have no use for A-Fraud in fact I was glad he never signed with the Mets in one of the only things Steve Phillips ever did right in his Mets reign of failure but after reading John Harpers piece in the Daily News today I honestly believe him when he says the feels he made a big mistake when he didn’t take the Mets offer and sign with the Blue and Orange. That’s why he says he dumped Scott Boras as he didn’t want to make the same mistake twice:

  The three-time MVP says that at some point after his opt-out decision in October, he realized he could have been heading for a similar scenario, with Boras dictating his next destination. “So to make the right decision just feels really good,” Rodriguez said, “versus being taken down a road where I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, where am I? Oh, $400 million to play in some place I hate? Great, I’ll blow my — head off.’“I wanted to remain a Yankee and for once I put my money where my mouth was. It felt good to make a decision on my own and execute it - to deal with Hank and Hal (Steinbrenner) on a one-on-one basis and get a deal done.“If people want to question why I did it, I don’t care because it made me happy. If I had gone to Team X, Y or Z, it wouldn’t have made me happy. It would have been because Scott wanted me to go - it would have been for the most money. And then I’m always going to be known as a guy who always wanted the most money.” 

Someone needs to cut this article out and paste it on Oliver Perez’ locker.

With all the sky is falling over Mike Pelfrey and El Duque lack of effectiveness this spring John Maine’ blossoming has been under the radar so to speak. Maine who stumbled down the stretch has really looked Ace-like this spring and filling heads with the idea that this could be THE breakthrough season for Maine.

I know My Big Fat Obnoxious Talk Show Host (MBFOTSH) and his little Poodle Partner are big money men for WFAN but it would have been nice if a couple of afternoons this spring they could have put on a few  Mets games from Florida. MBFOTSH and the Poodle talk about the NCAA Tournament ad nausea but never talk basketball during the regular season. Same with the NBA and NHL? Are you kidding they would never lower themselves besides it would cut into their sports they really enjoy tennis, horseracing (Francesca shouldn’t hang around the paddock to much as someone might throw a saddle on his fat arese) and berating callers?

I’ve yet to watch the new shows on SNY but I did see Joe Benigno on SNY last night and every time I see him I have get the urge to play the numbers. When I was a kid the book maker in our neighborhood looked just like Joey Bada Bing from the hair style to the clothes.  I work in the corner butcher shop all through high school and when I would deliver meat and groceries to our customers I would also take their numbers and money for the bookie. For those of you foreign to the “numbers” in what was called the Brooklyn number, the last three digit of the mutual handle at either Aqueduct or Belmont  was played by many folks in the city and is the  benchmark for the Lotto pick three. I just went off in a whole other direction there sorry. Back to SNY. It’s nice to see the station trying to have some original programming but all these “talk shows” are worthless. How about a weekly recap of the Mets week and that of their minor league affiliates. Or a show that recaps the week in the NBA and NHL?  Even better how about a show say a bloggers round table where we would discuss the sports news of the day? I’d be happy to participate.

I spend a lot of time critiquing Willie Randolph and Rick Peterson on the way they handle the pitchers and the pitching staff. I’m always quick to blame either Willie for mismanagement or Professor Rick for being too cerebral and not having enough Leo Mazzone-Johhny Sain in him. But today after watching Mike Pelfrey pitch like a scared rabbit on Easter Sunday, all I can say is Pelfrey is lucky he plays for Randolph and Peterson and not for me. If he played for me, he’d have found his belonging s in a cardboard box in the middle of the clubhouse floor with a one-way ticket to ‘Nawlins sticking straight up.

Disappointing is not even close in expressing my feelings about Pelfery’s Piss Poor Performance yesterday.  I’m not a patient guy to begin with but I’m tired with the same broken record approach that Pelfrey takes to pitching. It’s the same thing time and time again, he falls behind in the count, throws a very straight and hittable fastball to get ahead, it’s always up in the zone, and it gets whacked hard for a base hit. That’s Mike Pelfrey’s Major League Pitching career in a nutshell.

I don’t blame Professor Rick because his mantra is pound the strike zone and Pelfrey can’t do that if his life and career depended on it. It has to be utterly frustrating for Peterson to have go over this with the neophyte Pelfrey after every start.

And some point in his young life Pelfrey has to strap on a pair of balls and take fucking charge and grab this fifth starter’s job. For Christ sake he is going up against a senior citizen with bad feet and he can’t out pitch him. Can you feel my frustration? I’m beating the shit out of this keyboard because the kid has a live arm but either he hasn’t the stones or the brains to be a big league pitcher and that is sad.    

Now Steve Register, there is a role model for Pelfrey. Here is a guy who is a Rule 5 players came to camp without any promise of a job and has opened eyes in management to the point where Omar is comfortable to leave Dirty Duaner down South to build up strength to go back to back days. Register looks like he will head to South Beach with the Mets next Monday.

What are the Mets going to do with the bench? Figure Lumpy Ramon is the back up catcher, Marlon Anderson and Damien Easley will be the “everymen” and Angel Pagan looks safe until Grandpa Moises comes back which means he should buy not rent when he gets to NYC. That leaves on spot open which most likely would go to Ruben Gotay but with the Blue Jays releasing Reed Johnson yesterday it opens up a different possibility. If Gotay has any options left to Triple A why not send him down and sign the right handed hitting Johnson? And if Gotay doesn’t have options then use his sprained ankle as an excuse to DL him to start the season. Whichever way, Omar can’t let the opportunity to add a good righty bat like Johnson’ get away.

We all remember Jane Jarvis, she of the famous Shea Stadium Thomas organ, well it seems Ms. Jarvis was one of the people displaced after the tragic crane collapse on Manhattan’s East Side. The good news is she was not injured and her apartment was not damages in the collapse but her building did sustain damage. After staying at a hotel in Chelsea the 92 year old musician was ready to go back to her apartment. Links courtesy of Ron Kaplan’s Baseball Bookshelf.

On Saturday we held the draft for our SPORTSTALKNY Fantasy Baseball League. Here is Team Kranepool Society:

C Russell Martin

C Bengie Molina

1B Prince Fielder

2B Howie Kendrick

3B Ryan Zimerman

SS Troy Tulowitzki

CI Scott Rolen

MI Freddy Sanchez

OF Carl Crawford

OF Jeremy Hermida

OF Lastings Milledge

OF Ken Griffey Jr

OF Michael Cuddyer

UTL Bill Hall

BN Scott Hattenberg

BN Brian Schneider

BN Ryan Church

BN David Eckstein

SP Justin Verlander

SP Barry Zito

RP Takasi Saito

RP Manny Corpas

P Bronson Arryo

P BJ Ryan

P Gil Meche

P Ubaldo Jimenez

P Carlos Silva

BN Brian Bannister

So what do you think? Not a bad collection of talent eh? I had the last pick in the first round (12^th pick in the draft) and I took Carl Crawford. Then I had the first pick in the 2^nd Rd and I picked Prince Fielder. I was happy to land Tulo and LMillz and I was very surprised to land Brian Bannister in the last round. I picked Freddy Sanchez  but released him as he has health issues and I have a wavier claim in for Mark Grudzielanek It’s very scary how much I care about this team and league really really scary.

We’re 10 days from opening day and some things with the Mets are ready to go and some are a work in progress and others are just some old farts healing. I love the headline in Adam Rubin’s Daily News story today: METS ARE VULNERABLE TO LEFITIES. And I’m vulnerable to blonde women with shapely asses. It’s just stating the obvious the question is what to do about it? The ansewer may lie with an ex-Highlander, Andy Phillips, still hanging in there at Reds camp and a maybe soon to be ex-Highlander Morgan Ensberg who is making Pee Wee Cashman spend sleepless nights deciding which extra infielder to keep. If either one gets cut, Omar needs to pounce at once and corral one. At this point, I’d take Ensberg over Phillips.

So where is the room for the righty bat? Hey this is why Omar is the big cheese around here and by hiring so many elderly baseball players he created this problem.

Here are my picks of players who will call Flushing home for 2008

Position Players:

Delgado (for better or worse)

Castillo (and his electric scooter)

Reyes (more mature?)

Wright (The Golden Boy)

Chavez (stretch those hammys)/Pagan (Platoon Partner)

Beltran (old aches and pains)

Church (I have not seen enough yet to make a wise crack)

Catchers

Schnieder (the lefty entry)

Castro ((the righty entry)

Add these ten to the 12 man pitching staff (I’ll get to them in a minute) that leaves three spots on the bench.

One spot goes to Damien Easley who to me is very much underrated. He can play any where in the infield and he has that all important right handed bat. Ruben Gotay gets a spot as well more for his bat than his glove, in fact if it weren’t for his ankle injury, I would have loved to see him work out at a corner spot in the outfield. That leaves one more spot.

Marlon Anderson is a Willie fav and if he were right handed there would be no question about him making the team but the Mets desperatley need not only a righty stick but someone to play first base on a part time basis. That’s why Anderson unfortunately has to be collateral damage here and be given his release and hope that Morgan Ensberg falls in our lap.    

The pitching staff has a little more clarity. The starting five is strong and stellar:

Santana (worth every de-valued American dollar he was signed for)

Petey (Rembrandt in baseball uni)

Maine (20 Wins? Anyone want Kris Benson back? HA, HA, HA, HA, HA)

Perez (Ollie wake up and sign a contract extent ion)

Pelfrey (What’s that Jay Black? It’s Now or Never? Yes we know)

The bullpen has both quantity and quality. We will go from the back to the front:

Wagner (looks outstanding this spring, I think he even bought Willie coffee one morning)

Heilman (This is his niche)

Wise (flying under the radar 1BB 8K in 8IP)

Feliciano (You’re more than a LOOGY to me Pedro Lite)

Register (STOLEN BY OMAR!!!!!!!!!!!)

Schoenwiess (The real LOOGY here)

Sosa (is SHWING? Or Swing Man?)

OK I know what your saying where’s El Duque and Dirty Duaner? They’re on the DL in extended spring training as the pen and overall pitching staff is as deep as a James Joyce Classic , so why rush back these two wounded warriors? Let’s see if Register is as good as he has shown this spring and he has shown a nasty fastball. Let’s throw Pelfrey in the deep end of the pool without his swimmies and make him perform. If everything goes as planned then you have  precious commodities to trade with but then again these are the Mets so watch out for falling rocks.   

This is a quickie post today as I’ve missed three days of work battling the flu and I have a shit load of work on my desk to process.

I will be part of MLB BlogPoll this season on BaseballHappenings.com. What this will be is  and 27 other baseball bloggers will rank who we feel are 1-2-3 as MVP, Cy Young, and Rookie of Year in both leagues, similar to how the AP does the top 25 College Football and Basketball Poll. The first week we will rank the American League and then switch off each week. The results will be posted each week on Basebalhapennings.com and I will post my selections here with comments on my picks. The other bloggers involved in this venture are some of the best baseball bloggers around and I am honored to be included in this group as I am really swimming in the deep water now folks.

It figures I go back to work on National Fuck Off At Work Day A/K/A the first round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament but I may be able to watch some of the games at lunch time I am in various pools so here for  entertainment purpose only are my FINAL FOUR PICKS:

East-North Carolina

Midwest- Georgetown

South-Marquette

West-UCLA

I have the Hoyas beating the Tar Heels in a close game to advance to the Championship Game where they will meet the Bruins of UCLA who will end the dream of the Golden Eagles and go on to beat G’Town.

I think we are all suffering from spring training fatigue as we crawl to opening day in thirteen days. I tired of talking about injuries and age and lack of right handed hitting off the bench and the desperate need for a back up first baseman PLAY THE REAL GAMES ALREADY!!!!!!!!

We have come to the part of spring that is known as paralysis by analysis where we have rehashed this team’s make up so much that we stop making sense after awhile. I hate to wish time away but I swear I wish tomorrow was March 31 and Mets and Marlins are playing for real.

This whole Pelfrey or El Duque 5^th starter deal is puzzling in as far as how many starts do the Mets think they are going to get out of El Duque this year? I’d say 10 to 12 max and they all won’t be in succession. So why not give the job to Mike Pelfrey and stop all the dicking around with the simulated games and put Pelfrey in a regular rotation for the start of the season. In fact just tell El Duque not to worry about making the roster as you leave in St Lonesome in extended spring training and when he’s ready tell it’s either the bullpen or the wavier wire. I love El Duque but he’s at the end of a great even I’d say border line Hall of Fame career as he is one of the great big game pitchers of his generation but I hate when players try to make policy and force teams into bad decisions.

It looks as though both Brian Schneider and Ramon Castro will be ready for opening day as they battle through hamstring issues. Both catchers are as lumpy as grandmas mashed potatoes so a little tougher conditioning workouts with lots of stretching looks to be in order for the Lumpy Rutherford Twins.

The Washington Nationals with a glut of outfielders have designated Alex Escobar, yes the ex-Mets, former phenom, sent to Cleveland for Robbie Alomar Alex Escobar. Escobar refused assignment and is now a free agent. A right handed hitting outfielder, former Mets farm hand, can play all three out field positions oh and did I mention a right handed hitting outfielder? Granted Escobar has never come close to th player he was projected to become due to a deluge of injuries but he could be a cheap fix for the righty bat to spell End and Church until Grandpa Moises gets back. Worth a shot.

Don’t forget to tune into SPORTSTALKNY tonight at 9PM EDT. At USTREAM The chat room is open throughout the show but it’s YOUR phone calls we want we want to hear YOUR opinions on not just New York sports but all sports call in at (631) 615-4799

Take that Houston The Boston Celtics are the best team in basketball

Rumble tonight in Newark THE BLUESHIRTS ARE COMING! THE BLUESHIRTS ARE COMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The NY Football Giants winning the Super Bowl, The Boston Celtics looking like the team to beat in the NBA, The NY Rangers making the Stanley Cup Finals is no joke and the NY Mets favorite to win the NL Pennant This hasn’t happened to me in over 20 years of fandom that all the pro teams I root for (damn Fighting Irish ) are on top of thier sports heap It’s good to be the King!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’ve been battling a nasty stomach flu the last two days but I feel a little bit better so today I am writing a simulated post no live batters just a few links and a few announcements.

Tonight I will be a part of a Mets bloggers round table live chat on The Happy Recap website. If you’re not a member just log on and sign up and join the chat room. I’ve gone to these live chats on The Happy Recap and they’re lots of fun with great guests each week so join in tonight at 8PM EDT.

Tomorrow on SPORTSTALKNY we will have Greg Logan who covers the NY Islanders for NEWSDAY and Jon Springer, co-author of the book Mets by the Numbers plus your phone calls at 631 615-4799 and in our always lively chat room so tune tomorrow night at 9PM EDT over USTREAM

A great article on Lenny Dysktra by Ben McGrath in the current issue of The New Yorker which goes in depth on how Dykstra has gone on to become this day trading superstar in the financial world and how he is trying to help pro athlete from squandering away their money.

That’s it for today as I’m on a strict pitch count. I have to read upon the Mets news I’ve missed for the last two days. Hopefully I’ll stretch it out tomorrow.

Guys like me scare Bob Costas.  Costas in a story in the Miami Herald today calls out bloggers as bullies and low life’s but read this quote from Costas and tell me that he is not an insecure prick:

   “I understand with newspapers struggling and hoping to hold on to, or possibly expand their audiences, I understand why they do what they do,” Costas said. ‘But it’s one thing if somebody just sets up a blog from their mother’s basement in Albuquerque and they are who they are, and they’re a pathetic get-a-life loser, but now that pathetic get-a-life loser can piggyback onto someone who actually has some level of professional accountability and they can be comment No. 17 on Dan Le Batard’s column or Bernie Miklasz’ column in St. Louis. That, in most cases, grants a forum to somebody who has no particular insight or responsibility. Most of it is a combination of ignorance or invective.”

 OUCH, I’M WOUNDED!!!!!! First off I love how guys my age and older HATE new things. Whether it’s technology or music or teenagers, the folks of  my generation either never got a date during their teen age years or got the shit kicked out of them in school and now that they have some success they knock anything that’s in vogue these days. Sad.  Now as much as I have a fucking ball with my computer and surfing the internet I love to read an actual newspaper. Nothing better than having the 5 daily’s spread out on the dining room table and going through each and every one of them. But then again there is something incredible about reading about my Celtics every morning in the Globe and reading what’s going on in Philly, Atlanta, D.C. and Miami all on my laptop.     I don’t want to be the bully gang that Costas thinks I belong to but the truth is Costas has not been worth listening to since he abandoned baseball. To be honest his COSTAS NOW show blows. You need to be funny and engaging on a show like that which are two traits Costas lacks. Same thing on Football Night in America where Costas and Keith Olberman form the duo Jerk Offs Squared. For a guy who has no use for websites he sure follows them pretty closely:     ”Today, I saw on ESPN a poll about which Western Conference teams would not make the playoffs,” Costas said. “Well, 46 percent said the Denver Nuggets, which has zero percent influence on anything. No reasonable person who cares about the NBA should care about that. Who has the time or the inclination to do this, even if you’re sitting on your computer?

Why would you weigh in on it?”Bob-A-Loo you’re losing your mind here. Let me get this straight your ranting about a poll on a website that you feel is useless but you went to it anyway?  Again the majority of the websites Costas hates are because they are hip and happening as was Costas at one time but now he’s just old, tired, and irrelevant. Maybe his beloved Highlanders could cheer him up and make him an honorary bat boy.

Then Costas goes on how posters and bloggers are nasty and  mean spirited:

What bothers Costas — and he’s not alone — is Internet and talk radio commentary that “confuses simple mean-spiritedness and stupidity with edginess. Just because I can call someone a name doesn’t mean I’m insightful or tough and edgy. It means I’m an idiot.“It’s just a high-tech place for idiots to do what they used to do on bar stools or in school yards, if they were school yard bullies, or on men’s room walls in gas stations. That doesn’t mean that anyone with half a brain should respect it.” 

The best part of Costas rant is that he’s scared. Like Sonny told C in a Bronx Tale  he’d rather be feared than loved I’m glad that I have people close to me that love me and guys like the Great Bob Costas who fear me.  Maybe one day I’ll get lucky and meet Costas walking around Mid Town, I’ll jack his ass up for his lunch money.

It’s only March 14^th and my patients with Willie Randolph is being tested. The first story I read this morning thanks to the links from Mets Geek was Steve Popper’ story on a struggling Carlos Delgado. This quote from Randolph has by BVD’s in a bunch:

 “But the bottom line is that Carlos is going to have a big year and I’m not concerned about spring training one bit. When the bell rings is when we have to really evaluate most of the guys.”

 This the most idiotic statement made by a Mets manager since the Late Art Howe died in office. Delgado a big year? Based on what Willie? In the limited at bats he’s had so far he might want batting tips from Billy Crystal. “When the bell rings” is when Randolph will evaluate the talent? How stupid is that remark? I’m hoping this is just Willie blowing smoke up the media’s ass but from what we saw down the stretch last season I’m not so sure.

If Randolph is not concerned that his first base looks like toast, his second baseman hasn’t done anything but be humiliated in the dugout, that the next time his elderly LF’er plays in a game, children will be frocking under fire hydrants in the city, his CF’er  is so worried about injuries that he may need to lay down on  shrink’  couch instead of an applying an Ace bandage to his boo-boo, his #2 starter and # 5 starter  say that they are ready for season to start but have yet to throw a pitch to a enemy batter, his top set  up man in the bullpen can not pitch more than once a week and his starting catcher has sore hammy’s , but hey who am I to panic.

 The only reason I see Willie acting like he has no worries is maybe in his mind he feels that the string of injuries make him safe from termination. I hope that’s not the case as if it is he’s making a huge blunder. If this team does not get out the gate like Secretariat at the Belmont Stakes there will be an uprising by the Flushing Faithful that will force the hands of the Skill Sets. Please Willie wake up and smell the Ben-Gay.

Hey Elliot Spitzer’ trollop is very cute but I don’t think she is worth $4,500, losing the Governorship of New York and humiliating your wife and three daughters.  By the way, I’m sure with the Post putting Miss Dupre’ topless pic on the front page, they will break a circulation record  today. If I ever put this blog in print, you know I will put a topless 22 year old girl on the cover. It’s good bussiness. Hey Billy Crystal dream was to play for the Highlanders mine is for Hugh Hefner to leave me the Playboy Mansion when he kicks the bucket.   

$iti Field will be environmentally friendly with options like water less urinals which are now used at Shea Stadium but a Shea they call it the Mens Room floor.

It looks like the Mets will be the host of the 2013 All-Star Game at $iti Field. So that gives you 5 years to work a second job to but a ticket for the game.

 If Mike Pelfrey doesn’t learn how to get ahead of batters he will never make it in the big leagues. The guy constantly falls behind in counts and then has to come with a fastball that is very hittable which lead to big innings and losses. I want to be patient with Pelfrey but the thought comes to my head that he may need a change of scenery to blossom as a Major League pitcher. Something here is just not clicking with this kid. I don’t know if it’s him or Professor Rick but something is just not right as Pelfrey still makes the same mistakes start after start. Maybe he needs a new voice to help straighten him out.