2 out of 3 in the first series of the season, even if it is the lowly Marlins, is a nice start for the Mets. Sure 3 straight would be better but hey, due to the circumstances I’ll take it. Now it’s on to Atlanta and the real fun starts. Check out the pitching match ups for the weekend:

Friday John Maine v. Tim Hudson

Saturday  Mike Pelfrey v. The Choker

Sunday Johan Santana v. John Smoltz

Hopefully the Mets make a statement in this series and the bats remain en fuego, especially on Saturday I’m rooting hard for Big Pelf and I can only hope the Mets give Glavine the ass kicking he deserves.

So Petey’s strain hammy is not as bad as first thought. Word out of Skill Sets Central is 4-6 weeks which in the world of Orange and Blue is like converting Fahrenheit to Celsius so double that estimate and add 2 weeks minimum so I’ll put Petey’s return at June 15. What do you think over or under?

Here is why Tim Marchman is not only the best baseball writer in the city but the best writer period:

    Two ways of thinking about this should make the point clear. The first is that the Mets won 88 games and missed the playoffs by a game last year, when Martinez made only five starts, and are a better team now than they were a year ago. Johan Santana, rather than Tom Glavine, fronts the rotation; Jose Reyes and David Wright are a year older and a year closer to their absolute primes; John Maine and Oliver Perez have matured, and the team didn’t have a regular second baseman then, and does now. A minimal contribution from Martinez didn’t cripple them last year, and won’t this year.The second is that because starters take the ball only every fifth game, even a long stint on the disabled list by a very good pitcher being replaced by a very bad one doesn’t, overall, affect a team as much as you might think. According to simple Marcel projections available at FanGraphs.com, Martinez looks good for a 3.83 ERA this year, which works out to 2.5 earned runs in the six innings he can be expected to pitch each start. By the same measure, Orlando Hernandez rates at 2.9 per six, Jorge Sosa at 2.97, and Claudio Vargas at 3.2. These are significant margins, but over 10 or even 15 starts they add up to a difference of a win or two. 

I feel so good after reading that I’m thinking of putting the shoelaces back on my shoes.

So after our terrific SPORTSTALKNY show last night (if you missed it check out the archive and you can even see me on camera) I flipped on the Giants-Dodgers game. The Giants were in the field and on the mound was someone named Murkin Valdez. The paper said Tim Lincecum. I had shut down my laptop and didn’t want to turn it on again and waiting for Duane Kiper or Mike Krukow to tell something of interest you’d have to be dusted off. Then the Dodgers took to the field and another no name, Hong Chih Kuo not Chad Billingsley was on the hill for the Hollywood Bums. WTF? Is going on here? Finally, Kiper and the Polish Prince finally get around to fill us in that there is a heavy rain shower moving in to Chavez Ravine so Joe Torre decided not to go with Billingsley as not to have to pull him after an inning or two and lose him for the game. A sharp move by St. Joseph. After the Dodgers informed the Giants of the switch Bruce Bochy decides, “hey, good idea” and he replaces Lincecum with Valdez. Okay so far. But then Bochy brings in Lincecum in the 4^th inning from the bullpen. Then in the 5^th inning the rain came and came hard and the umpires call for the tarp (who knew they even had a tarp in LA?) Now comes the head scratching part.

After a 1hr and 15 min delay, the game resumes and Bochy trots out Lincecum to resume pitching. What? The kid just sat for over an hour and not only do you bring him back in the game but it’s like 50 degrees at the time? Can you imagine if Willie Randolph ever pulled a move like that? Myself and my Mets blogging brethren would have smashed the living shit out of our keyboards. What in the name of Dusty Baker was Bochy thinking? For a guy with a huge noggin you’d think there would be a brain in there somewhere.

Torre brought Billingsley into the game as well to start the 5^th inn but after two straight singles and a fielding error pulled him (21 pitches) for Esteban Loazia

Strange weather, strange managerial moves but the strangest thing of all is why I’m up at 12:30AM watching Dodgers-Giants  when I have to get up at 5:30 AM to go to work.

Donnie Walsh was a great hire by that slob Jim Dolan. Walsh is a guy who knows basketball and has a very good eye for talent and will bring some much needed class to the den of dickheads in charge of Madison Square Garden. I love how the main stream media was pressing Walsh on what will be of Isaiah Thomas. Walsh being a gentleman would not tip his hand and because of his feelings for Thomas and will allow him to finish the sorry season and then sit down with him face to face and hand him an empty cardboard box and tell him to clean out his office by close of business. Walsh knows the deal here and he is giving Thomas, one of the worst weasels to ever arrive in this town better treatment than Thomas ever gave to Anucha-Brown Sanders. Good riddance Zeke.

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