Not much today as we await the day/nigh double dip against the Braves and our old friend Titan Tommy Glavine. Let’s hope the new found “all for one one for all” rally cry translate in to double header sweep and a good old fashion Flushing ass kicking Titan Tom.

Just a theory but can you imagine if Willie Randolph got as worked up over his team chocking down the stretch last year as he has gotten over how SNY portrays him on TV or how the fans view him maybe none of this would have gotten to the point it has. When you’re more worried about the team TV network and your out of whack idea of how the fans perceive you than giving an umpire holy hell for stealing three runs from you, then your head is really in the sand.  Wise up Willie before it’s too late.

Good to see Petey is on his way back as I am an unabashed Petey fan back from his Red Sox days. I know there is a portion of the fan base that thinks waiting on Petey is much ado about a future injury and I have no argument for that, however, there is a more positive vibe with this team when Petey is around so just having him patrol the clubhouse is a plus. Hopefully there is still a hint of vintage Petey left for this season. Prays and thoughts go to Petey’s dad who is battling brain cancer and it’s that illness that could drive him to retirement which is very sad.

Mets have signed OF’er Eric Reed to a minor league deal and assigned him to Bingo. Reed is a good defensive outfielder with no stick so he is just filler. The Mets also signed INF Abraham Nunez to a minor league deal and assigned him to NOLA. Now Nunez is a very interesting and in my opinion a fine signing but Omar Minaya. Nunez is the Gimp Castillo insurance policy as he is a descent fielder and hitter and real role player who could make a nice platoon partner with Damien Easley at second when Castillo goes on the DL as we all know he will.

Put the Blue and Orange pom- poms down for a second and applaud Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester for his no hitter last night against the Royals. I really lucked out switching around the dial and caught the last inning. After Lester got the third out to achieve his no hit status you could tell from the player, fans and Don Orsello and Jerry Remy’ reaction that this was more than just a no-no as Lester a cancer survivor was hugged by each and every member of the team and one of the best pictures of the evening was the embrace between Terry Francona and Lester. The strangest thing for me watching Red Sox games is how the Sox were always known as a 25 man/25 cab kind of team and now they are just the happiest team on earth. Yes I’m jealous.

Over at Baseball Happenings they will be posting the results of this week American League MVP, CY YOUNG and Rookie of the Year poll. Here is how I voted this week:

AL MVP

1. Manny Ramirez

2. Josh Hamilton

3. Carlos Quentin

Soooooooooooo close between Manny and Hamilton but the catch-high five-DP sealed the top spot for Manny

AL CY YOUNG

1. Cliff Lee

2. Daisuke Matsuzaka

3. Zack Greinke

AL ROY

1. David Murphy

2. Jacoby Ellsburry

3. Greg Smith       

Hopefully this “new and improved” Mets team keeps it going in Atlanta. It’s funny how the swing of emotion goes from the dumper to total elation in this city. As great as it was to see the total ass kicking the Mets administered to the Highlanders this team can’t let up. I’ll be more impressed if Willie’s Guys leave the Ted with 3 of 4 in the W column.

I read the piece by Ian O’Connor on Willie Randolph and I am happy that Willie hates the criticism and the fact that he feels he is in charge of his clubhouse and that thru O’Connor Willie showed some fight in his comments but I’m not happy that Willie played the race card. Are there Mets fan out there who are against Willie because he’s black? Sure there are. But Willie has to understand that the vast majority of the criticism towards him is due to the lackluster performance of this season and the collapse of last year. Randolph can spin the fact that he is a better manager than Art Howe but that’s not really saying much. The coaches he used as an example were not very good ones in Herm Edwards and Isaiah Thomas as both lasted much longer than they should have. If Willie wants to compare himself to anyone it would be Tom Coughlin. Coughlin is as loud as Willie is quiet but Coughlin was raked over the coals as much as any coach/manager in this town and the last time I looked Coughlin was as white as me. To paint all Mets fans with a racist brush is dead wrong. You want love Willie? Just have this team bust it’s ass like they did this weekend and the love will flow.

As bad as the home run call was last night lost in the controversy was the awful call on Saturday when Carlos Beltran threw Derek Jeter out at second base on a hit. Jeter slid way short of the base and unbelievably second base ump Alfonso Marquez called him safe. That was more embarrassing than the botched home run call.

What made the screw up on Delgado’s homer was that third base ump Mike Reilly called it right as a home run but home plate ump Bob Davidson (maybe watching Johnny Dammon wave it as foul) over turned the call. At least Davidson was man enough to say he fucked up but it’s time to think seriously about instant replay especially for the post season.

I know it’s in vogue to rip Joe Morgan for his awful announcing but truth be told both he and Jon Miller are atrocious. Jon Miller announces that Rick Sutcliffe will be back in the TV booth tonight for ESPN as he deals with colon cancer. Instead of wishing Sutcliffe well, Morgan goes on a rant on how Sutcliffe owes him big time for picking up the games that Sutcliffe missed while he took cancer treatments. What an asshole. I’m sure Morgan thought he was being cute but Miller knew he was being a dick and tried to bail him out by saying how glad we all are the Sutcliffe is back but Morgan was still on this he owes me schtick. That plus his clueless analysis makes Sunday Night Baseball close to unwatchable.

Giambi and A-Rod dress up for a night on the town

So Willie Randolph and his team had a sit down last night for an airing of grievance and for at least one day, it worked. We look to be at the Croton Watch segment of the Mets season as the season and the mangers job is at it’s turning point .

Willie was feisty last night on WFAN and as today’s game started the best sign to me was seeing the whole bench up on the top step, a show of solidarity if you will, maybe the message of united we stand, divided we fall will be the catalyst for the start of a winning run. If anything the next 10-15 games will tell us what the players think of their manager as his job is in their hands.

Johan Santana gave the Mets what they needed a solid 7 2/3 inning start to begin the Save Willie phase of the season. The long ball is a problem with Santana but as long as they are solo shots you can live with them. In the first inning what made the Jeter hommer so bad was the lead off walk to Johnny Damon.

I would have liked to see Fernando Tatis at DH today over Damien Easley (a Willie favorite) in fact it may be time to cut Easley loose and find a younger middle infielder who can play both short and second to spell both Gimp Castillo and Jose Reyes. Maybe the Gotay kid on Atlanta is available?

I guess Jason Giambi’s gold lame thong worked for him today. After the game Giambi gave the thong to Robinson Cano to help him out of his slump but Cano wore the thong over his face instead and started to suffocate . Derek Jeter tried to get the thong off of Cano’s face but ran back to help Johnny Damon take off his strap-on.

Check out Mike Silva’s Gotham Baseball Live as I was Mike’s guest on the podcast talking about the state of the Mets and an overview of the Subway Series.

No matter where you stand, Pro-Willie or Anti Willie both sides must agree that if he hasn’t lost the clubhouse yet he’s close to it. The hostility came to a head yesterday when Billy Wagner THE voice in the clubhouse aired the dirty laundry, I understand Wagner’s frustration and he couldn’t hold his tongue no longer by calling out Carlos Delgado for pulling a “McRenyolds” and going out the back door before the press enter the room but my ethnic background of having both parents born in Ireland has been instilled in me the”never put your business on the street”.

The Mets have lost that certain something they had back in 2006 what I like to call that FUCK YOU mentality. Don’t like the way Jose Reyes celebrates with dances and handshakes FUCK YOU. Don’t like the way the dugout jumps up on the top step on big hits? FUCK YOU. Don’t like the way the Mets rejoice in winning a game with leaps in the air and excessive gyrations? FUCK YOU. Don’t like all the Salsa music? FUCK YOU. All of that is missing. Jose Reyes is not the same Jose Reyes. He isn’t the ignitor of the offense. Remember in spring training how he said he was going to be more serious and no more handshakes and even no more Professor Reyes skits on the Jumbotron? It may sound like stupid shit, but someone got to him and told him to change his ways. Was it Omar? No. Why would Omar care? The Skill Sets? Hell no. They are in the entertainment business. That leaves What Me Worry Willie who should be called I Better Worry Willie. Randolph has the personality of Styrofoam. When he played for the Highlanders in the 70’s he was always below the happy horse shit of Billy Martin, Reggie, Goose and everything else that made up the Bronx Zoo.

Does he get mad? Yes. The SNY cameras show his clinched lips and disappointment but Willie is a non-confrontational person. He won’t yell at a player or an umpire. His post game press conference is dreadful. The media tries it’s hardest to get something out of him and quite frankly he comes off as absolutely clueless. When you sit there and recite the same mantra over and over again that “It’s early, lot of games left” and the all time classic “My guys battled” that tells me you have no idea whatsoever on why your team plays like shit and you have no way of fixing the problem.

I get no joy out of calling for Willie’s head but the facts are facts this team is in need of an infusion of piss and vinegar.  Since mid season last year they have been treading water staying at or a little below the mediocrity of .500 baseball. I can’t remember where I heard this but I agree 100 %, when times are tough Willie wilts. In so many words yesterday Grandpa Alou made it known he was ready and willing to play, in fact he was shocked he wasn’t in the line up. He made this known to Randolph that he wanted to play but was told he was saving him to play this weekend. The games are being played in an American League park so the DH is in play that would help Grandpa get his rest.  Even with Brian Schneider. I know the old day game after a night deal but Schneider has not played enough to get tired and again the DH rule comes into play for the next three games as Schneider could do that as well. It was great to see Big Plef pitch like a stud yesterday (the biggest crime yesterday is that Pelf’s start is overlooked by the Willie/Wagner crapola) with Ramon Castro but I would like to see Schneider catch Pelf. Gotta have a feel for your personnel Willie.

So who would replace Willie? One name that was brought to me was Frank Robinson. But Robby is 73 years old. I thought of Buck Showalter but I can’t see Omar working with a control freak like Buck. Gary Carter would take the job in a heartbeat and would be a choice of mine as would Wally Backman. I think the Skill Sets would go with Carter but maybe shy of Backman and his baggage. The guy I would reach out to if I had the authority to make the decsion on the next Mets manger would be Tom Kelly.

Now I have no knowledge if TK wants back into the managerial fraternity or not but this would be an ideal spot for Kelly. He’s a no nonsense guy who is a proven winner who would challenge his players. So Omar, Skill Sets there it is The Eddie Kranepool Society endorses Tom Kelly for next manager of the Mets.          

I’m hanging out at 30 Rock with my favorite anchor woman Sue Simmons, who is a big time Mets fan. While I’m mixing a Highball for Sue and myself to enjoy while watching our favorite baseball team, she starts screaming “THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING”!!!!!!!! I thought “oh Chuck Scarborough’ here, let me make him a drink” but no it was Sweet Sue reacting to Willie Randolph brining in Aaron Heilman.  Needless to say, I put an extra shot of Canadian Club in Sue’s drink.

Can you put a player on the DL for mental anguish? Seriously, since Aaron Heilman has not physical problems maybe he needs time off to clear his head? Maybe if he curled up in the fetal position inside his locker the Mets could pull this disabled list scam. The other thing that ran through my limited mind was, is Heilman affected again by the string of journeymen pitchers who keep getting starts over him? I haven’t seen a man so conflicted since HBO showed a bunch of He/She’s on the stroll in Honolulu, Last year it was Dave Williams, Brain Lawrence and Chan Ho Park. This year it’s Nelson Figueroa and Claudio Vargas. At what point does Heilman go home and cry to his wife, “why doesn’t Willie think I’m pretty”?  Does Rick Peterson have a say in any of this? Does he go to Willie Randolph and say it’s time to put Heilman in the rotation just to have Willie say no? If that happens does Peterson go over Randolph’s head and chirp to Omar or even to top lieutenant Tony Bernazard? Just thinking out loud here folks.

I’m going down to the Pleasure Chest today in the Village to buy a couple of blow up dolls for the Mets to ignite the offense. The can stick their bats in any orifice they like. The dolls have to be Ozzie Guilen approved of course.

Scintillating analysis on SNY Post Game show last night between Coney Island Lee and Matt Snoozoff. The topic of the post game was of course the massive melt down of Aaron Heilman. Instead of clips of his delivery or breakdown of pitch selection or even a discussion of his desire to start, what we got from Mermaid Avenue Mazzilli and that pest Yalloff was the fans are booing so much it has affected Heilman. I don’t know what’s more upsetting the simplistic approach of these two “analysts” or the fact that get paid for this.  Oh and a memo to Harold Reynolds, stop cow towing to Mazzilli, as long as you don’t play grab ass with the secrataries your job is safe.

Time to pee in your corn flakes. The Tampa Bay Rays have signed Scott Kazmir for three years $28.5 mil. Enjoy your breakfast.

Fernando Martinez “tweaked” a hammy last night while playing for Bingo. He’s day to day so he should be ready but spring training.

Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling will broadcast today’s game from the Upper Deck of Shea today. Special guest will be my Lord and Savior (bow your heads) Ed Kranepool and Art Shamsky. The under/over for what inning Mex bails out to the Diamond Club after mingling with the great unwashed is the 4^th inning.

Does Willie Randolph know that he is allowed to argue with umpires? Lat night Grandpa Moises got tossed by home plate (ch) ump Dana De Muth on a called strike that the camera proved was outside. Alou who hardly ever gets his old keyster in an uproar slammed his bat on home plate and De Muth knowing the camera was on him ripped off his mask and threw Gramps out of the game. The camera then focused on Alou going back to the dugout and there is Willie Randolph just standing there like he was waiting for the Q88 bus. If I’m a player on the Mets bench, I think I’m starting to question if Randolph has any fire in his belly (maybe a sack of White Castles would do the trick) or if he has my back. What if anything will make Willie “go off”? Please Cousin Barry shed some light on what makes Willie tick (off)?  

Let’s get to a few quick hits:

Petey is pitching a simulated game tomorrow. Hopefully he does well so he gets named to the Simulated Baseball League All Star Team. In fact I’d like to double check this with Elias but I think Petey is the all time leader in wins in the Simulated League. I know for a fact he is the leader in innings pitched down there. 

If you were wondering about El Duque he will compete in the 2K MLB game on the Wii and if he comes out of that okay he will move on to Wiffle Ball competion.

As per Metsblog, Claudio Vargas will be given the start tomorrow against Chico’s Bail Bondman’ Nationals tomorrow and Fernando Tatis could join him on the flight from NOLA as well as Gimp Castillo looks DL bound. Maybe Gimp can catch Iron Man at the Cineplex while he convalesces.

What a scandal, Sue Simmons of Channel 4 news here in NYC said “FUCK” during a promo for the 11 O’clock News. It seems she was promoting a story about high grocery prices when a clip of a woman jumping over board came on the screen and  Suzy Sims screamed “What the fuck are you doing”? A valid question if you ask me. What’s amazing is that people actually called the WNBC switch board to complain. I wish I worked the switchboard there as I’d tell the callers to go fuck off.

From all reports it looks like Joe Smith will be sent to NOLA instead of cutting  the totally inept Jorge Sosa due to money. Don’t believe the bullshit spewing from the Mets that their afraid someone might claim Sosa on waivers, as bad as the pitching situation is in baseball, no one is breaking down the door for a reliever with a 7+ ERA. So now you know what is going to happen, Sosa is going to come into a game (like last night) and get his tits lit up and hopefully it’s a day when there are 50,000 plus so the booing will be so loud that Jeffy Wilpon will be crawled up in a ball in the corner of his luxury box crying  “DADDY  MAKE THEM STOP !!!!!!!!!!!! MAKE THEM STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(UPDATE: Bravo Omar!!! Nelson Figueroa and Jorge Sosa have been DFA’d and Angel Pagan has been put on the DL. Up comes Claudio Vargas who will pitch tomorrow and Matt Wise joins the bullpen and FernandoTatis brings a righty bat for the bench. and Joe Smith keeps the spot in the pen he earned . Hugs and ass pats all around )

As you can see I’m in a real pissy mood today as I still can’t believe that Papoose tried that shit yesterday at Rikers ruined the whole fucking day. Man, Remy looked hot in that orange wedding dress and the chipped beef on toast smell so good at the mess (reception) hall.  I’m not sure I can ever forgive him.       

I had a day to remember yesterday.  I’m getting ready to head over to Rikers Island as my homey Papoose is going to get hitched to Remy Ma. Now Remy is in the joint for cappin’ a friend of hers outside a club and is doing a 25 year stretch on The Rock. But Papoose loves Remy so much that even the jail house walls can’t stop his commitment to her and wants to get married right there outside her cell block.  So I load up my Hoop-Dee and head down to Park Hill in Staten Island to pick up the Wu Tang Clan and off we go with our best jeans around our thighs and plaid boxer shorts freshly pressed we head off the wedding of the year. We pull up to gate and the guard looks in and asks us to state our business. I let him know “Yo, Yo, we are here for the Papoose-Remy Ma wedding” The guard then tells us the awful news that the wedding was off. “What?” I say nearly dropping the fatty I just rolled, “What do you mean it’s off?” I got Al Sharpton on speed dial don’t let me hit the button” The screw then tells me that Papoose tried to smuggle a handcuff key into Rikers and now he’s been banned for six months from visiting Remy.  Wow, I needed a shot a Hennessey after that. But my day got worse.

My cell phone starts ringing about 10:30 last night and I look at the call ID and it says FIGGY:

Me: What’s up? Tough night eh?

Figgy: (sobbing) y-y-y-eah (sobbing some more)

Me: Figgy, are you crying?

Figgy: (sniffing back snot into his head) no, no I’m ok. (then the crying starts again)

Me: hey, it’s alright sure you pitched like shit tonight but you have to work on getting through the batting order a second time around I guess your pitches are too predicable and…………………………

Figgy: NO NO IT”S NOT THAT! THEY WERE MAKING FUN OF ME AND DOING CHEERS TO DISTRACT ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Me: Look make up your mind. If the fans boo you’re pissed off, now the cheer and your upset, shit get over it will you?

Figgy: NO, not the fans. The Nationals. They were doing cheers in the dugout and laughing at me I’M SOOOOOOOOO UPSET  (Now Figgy is bawling)

Me: The Nats were cheering you mean like in Little League “We want a pitcher not a belly itcher type of thing?

Figgy: Yes

Me: So what did you do?

Figgy: Uh I told the media about it.

Me: You told the media? You mean you didn’t throw a pitch at someone’s ribs? Or when you were taken out of the game you didn’t’ go over to the Nationals dugout and call out the head cheer leader? Who was cheering by the way?

Figgy: Eljah Dukes and the Milledge kid. No I just walked off the mound

Me: Dukes and Milledge? Damn those two wanna be gangsta’s?  Figgy, you’re from Coney Island bro, one of the toughest places in the country. If that shit happened on Surf Ave you’d take them under the Boardwalk and beat their phony asses  Why didn’t you tear them up?

Figgy: I-I-I- don’t know. You’re right I should have nailed Milledge with a fastball or even called Dukes out of the dugout and make him face me man to man but something was holding me back I don’t know what it was?

Me: Welcome to being a Met.

Figgy: What?

Me: It’s that uniform. It wasn’t always like that, back in the day the Mets never took any bullshit from anyone especially a bunch sorry ass players from a last place team and never ever on our home field. But sorry to say the last eight years, the Mets have let asteroid charged adulterous pitcher hit their star player in the head with a fastball and then a busted bat and have let teams dictated how they shake hands and play the game without retaliation something our Brooklyn upbringing would never let us do.

Figgy: I think you’re on to something

Me: You know why a no talent bullshit squad like the Nats plays you guys for chumps? Because the word is out that the only pair of balls on the team belongs to Billy Wagner. I hope you guys prove me wrong tonight and John Maine hits Milledge right in the ribs and starts a bench clearer just to prove to me and the rest of the fan base that you guys are sick and tired of being of push around.

Figgy: WOW you’re on to something maybe I’ll say something in the clubhouse before the game.

Me: Be careful about that Willie will accuse you of making waves.      

Two out of three from the Reds is okay but I would love to see more length out of the starters as it seems they turn into pumpkins after inning number six. Ollie Perez was the Good Ollie yesterday but he TIRED after 103 pitches. I know we are in a different era of MLB but how does a big strong kid like Perez get tired after 103 pitches? But that should not overshadow his fine performance yesterday. Big Pelf pitched well in a losing cause but his was his best start in the last three. At some point Johan Santana while he has been terrific has to start giving the Mets some length in his starts. His last three starts have gone 5 2/3 6 and 6 innings his next start should be Friday in the Bronx and a complete game shout out would be mighty nice.

So the Mets are at 19-16 after the weekend with the woeful Nats next up and with the winter like conditions here in NYC today (rain and temps in the 40’s THE FORTIES!!!!!!!!!!! In the middle of May?) and the rotation in flux the Mets should call off today’s game by 11 AM.

Gimp Castillo has a sore quad and three years left on his contract. Jeff Keppinger hit Mets pitching like he was dropping tokens in a batting machine. Oh by the way Keppinger used to play for the Mets I think second base if I’m not mistaken.

Nice to see the Carlos y Carlos hitting the ball and fortifying the line up. I have set up a shrine in my basement with votive candles surrounded by pictures and baseball cards of Grandpa Alou praying for his good health for the rest of the season as his prescentes in the lineup makes a big difference. I have even started to pee on my hands before every Mets game as well. Oh yes, I can’t forget to stop at the Hal-Al market on the way home for a live chicken to sacrifice. Whatever it takes to keep Grandpa in the lineup I’m up for.

The last time I saw a team hit out of order was when the Mets played the Cubs in Japan and Don Baylor was the Cubs manager. Baylor got pissed off at Bobby Valentine for bringing it up to the umpires as I recall. The rule is so convoluted but the umpires got it right. I know the Little League rule book is similar to the MLB book as it pertains to items like batting gout of order but the way they word some of the rules leaves a lot to interopetation. Thankfully I have never had that happen to me. Dusty Baker should be embarrassed.    

 I froze my ass off at Miller Field on Staten Island yesterday as the Staten Island Soccer Federation does not have the decency that the Staten Island Little League has to not schedule games on Mother’s Day.  Miller Field was an old airport back during WW II and is now a Federal park and the place where about 100 soccer games a weekend are played (by the way my son played for a couple of seasons with disgraced Congressman Vito Fossella’s son and I’m not surprised by the latest scandal. Even though my political point of view is the complete opposite of Fossella’s I found him a nice enough fellow but I always wondered why when he came to the games, he never sat with his wife and family?  In fact my wife and his wife usually sat together away from the parents of the kids on our team who were total assholes with their yelling and screaming. After games he would walk by himself. to his car. My wife would always ask me “What’s up with Vito he’s so weird?”) I can’t remember any time in the middle of May where I wore a turtleneck shirt, hooded sweatshirt Mets jacket and gloves and was still cold. But I digress; as my son was playing I listen to the Mets-Reds game on WFAN. When Howie Rose was doing the radiocast I forgot how cold and hungry I was and just sat on my little folding chair enjoying the play by play and his witty anecdotes. He told of giving grief to equipment manger Charlie Samuels who is the man behind the Mets wearing the hideous Black uni tops. Howie like myself loves the classic pinstripe with the all royal blue hat. It was great radio. Then Wayne Haggin took over and all of a sudden I was miserable and wanted to get this damn game over with as Haggin in his totally generic radio voice did not exactly radiate much enthusiasm. Now I know it’s hard to follow a Mets mench like Rose but whoever thought that hiring Haggin was good idea should be fired. Haggin would be good for a team like the Royals or even Tampa Bay (more on their telecast in a minute) The Mets should find a way to use Howie ,Gary Cohen and Ron Darling like the way Murph, Lindsay Nelson and Ralph Kiner interchanged from TV to radio during a game.

By the way my son’s team lost 3-2 but they were down 3 nil at the half and my son was put in goal. He made three big saves that put a spark in his team to comeback and score 2 goals. I’m sending the tapes to Roy Keane (no relation) to see if Sunderland is interested.

I was watching the Tampa Bay Rays post game show Friday night after James Shields pitched a one hitter and Evan Longoria hit the game winning 2 run home run and the host of the post game show whose name I don’t know, was pleading with the good folks of Tampa to come out and support this young and exciting Rays team. He said there were 13,000 fans at the game that night and they were expecting over 20,000 on Saturday (it was some giveaway day) and to tell the truth it was really strange watching this guy beg for fans to come out to the ball park and yesterday Howie Rose telling fans the best way to get to Shea this year is by mass transit due to the large crowds and limited parking available. A tale of two teams indeed.