If anyone can get there at 6:30PM tonight CB7 in Flushing will vote on a very important re-delopment plan to convert the environmetal hazzard known as the “Iron Triangle” next to Shea/$iti Field. The city wants to take over the properties which have numerous violations from a cross section of city agencies, and turn itinto a baseball village wit hstore, restaurants, hotels and affordable housing. A win, win for the City of New York and for Mets fans.

The vote will take place during the CB 7 Board Meeting tonight at 6:30PM at the Union Plaza Nursing Home, 33-23 Union St Flushing NY

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I’m late with this post but a big thank you to Joe McDonald for helping me get back on to the site. I’m heading out to the SI Highlanders-Aberdeen Iron Birds game tonight and tomorrow night so I’m trying to get my real work done and post something some what coherent so I’ll try to make this short and sweet.

Is Ollie Perez a big tease or what? From listening to Gary Cohen and Mex it seems that Dan Warthen took the pyrimids and all that new age bullshit that Rick Peterson used and tossed in the dumpster and is working with the pitching staff in an old fashioned way. Tweaking their deliveries and asking the pitchers where their comfort level is and working with that to improve the player. So OP has shifted his feet to the center of the rubber, positioned his hands a little lower, increased his rocker step a bit which has stepped up his momentum to the plate giving his  a more lively fastball. Yes OP was exceptional yesterday but we have seen this kind of outing before but not consistently. If he does this say in his next five starts then Perez will have to split the money on his next contract with Warthen.

I know as a member of the middle age white guys club I’m supposed to be outraged by Jose Reyes behavior. Instead I’m more outraged by Mets fans behavior towards Reyes. Willie Randolph had no “fire” he had to go. Beltran is too laid back. Delgado never gets his uni dirty. Reyes gets filthy, sparks the team, and is the catalyst of the offense. For some reason that me, you or even Reyes can’t figure out Jose is having an awful year on defense. So yesterday when he made an error on a ball that he knows should have been an out  he got pissed off and threw his glove on the ground and old men watching the game were appalled. Give me a break!!! When Paul O’Neil was whinnying about balls and strikes and beating the living shit out of water coolers when he struck out was a fiery player and a “warrior” but Reyes who plays as hard as anyone in the game, shows emotion it’s a bad thing. I wonder why that is?

Barry Bonds has made it known that he will sign with any team for the major league minimum at a pro rated scale and will donate the money to charity. So what is Omar Minaya waiting for? No I haven‘t lost my mind. What is the draw back here? A middle of the line up of Wright-Bonds-Beltran-Church wouldn’t score runs?  What makes you angrier, seeing Barry Bonds as a Met or watching more bases loaded situations go to waste? It’s not like Omar is not into older men so why not? Do it now and bring Bonds to Citizen Bank Ballpark for the weekend.

That’s it I got to get to work. Later

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I’m not mad at Johan Santana but I do feel he’s got to man up and well, be “THE MAN”. This is what bugs the living shit out me about professional athletes, they want all the money and glory they can get their hands on but so few of them step up and show they deserve it. The Mets have two players who cashed in big time and have not lived up to their huge paychecks in both Santana and Carlos Beltran. Again don’t take this as a Santana/Beltran sucks rant as it’s no where close to that as both players a solid performers and not the reason for this season of suckitude but I think as Mets fans we look at both players and say “ You chose to come here, and take the big money and I thought we paid for great not good or very good”.

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I know that television rules the sports world but you would think two high powered baseball clubs like the Mets and Highlanders would have doubled teamed the Used Car Salesman to let him and the dickheads at FOX know that playing a day/night double header on a Friday in the summertime is beyond ridiculous. Traffic? What traffic? The Grand Central Parkway and the Deegan are a parking lot on a normal day now add tens of thousands of fans in cars going to the Bronx and Shea and the police vehicles and other emergency vehicles that will be involved in this endeavor today makes the 1 train to the SI Ferry and my living room look like the best bet to view today twin bill.

Note: Mets Merized Online feel sthe same way.

I can’t get to work up about this series but reading the fish wraps you’d think the Highlanders were head and shoulders better than the Mets. In reality as bad as the Mets have been this year they are only 3 ½ games (2 in the loss column) back of the Phloundering  Phillies  while the Highlanders are 5 ½ back of the World Champion Boston Red Sox who show no sign of faltering.  Again as much as the Mets spin their wheels this season they have the better shot of a post season berth than the Bronx Bastards. Dan Giese and Sidney (Olde English) Ponson. HA HA HA HA HA How fucking pathetic.

Yesterday I posted a story on Ike Davis and the Cyclones acting like fools toward a reporter from Hudson County as it turns out the story was a bunch of bullshit as we found out via the excellent work of Mark Healy of Gotham Baseball and Toby Hyde of Mets Minor League Blog. By the way Davis went 1-4 (double) in the Cyclones 4-2 win over Aberdeen. First round pick RHP Brad Holt pitched 5 innings of no hit ball with 1 BB and 6 K’s and Ryan Church on a rehab start went 3-3 but had some stiffness in his legs and may play tonight at Coney Island before being activated tomorrow at Shea.

Howard Megdal has a great column today in the New York Observer on Jerry Manuel being the opposite of Willie Randolph and that is a good thing.

All you Captain Red Ass fans, checkout this post of P-Lo’s post game rant that shows that Paulie still has a passion to play the game but is frustrated with the attitude and mistakes that his young teammates in D.C. have shown. Carry on old solider.

Attention All Mets Season Ticket Holders: YOU”RE NEXT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Last night was one of those nights that when Shea Stadium is demolished, I’ll look back on. The weather was perfect just warm enough to be comfortable. The fans were in an upbeat mood in Section 8 of the Mezzanine (I laugh when I looked at that my tickets that said Section 8 because as a city worker I know Section 8 in the NYC Housing Authority is a rent subsidy for welfare recipients so I guess it’s my warped sense of humor that I got a kick out saying “Comon’ kids we’re going Section 8”) even though out heroes have been zeros of late. Add in the smell sausage and peppers wafting through the concourse you had a street fair atmosphere at Shea. During the 5^th inning or so it hit me as a looked out to $iti Field getting closer and closer to completion, this festival atmosphere most likely won’t carry over to the new place. Between the corporate take over of the stands I can see where $iti Field will be like Grandma’s parlor where the kids were never allowed to go into ( I’ve spent so much time down basements I’m surprised I never became a building superintendent) . Sorry to get all surpy on you guys but I just thought as I saw kids letting ice cream melt on the concrete and spilling soda and peanut shells all over the place, that next year when a shell hits the floor someone with a broom and dust pan will be there to clean it up and that makes me kind of sad.

As happy as I was with the win last night and the newly rejuvenated D-Wright and the House on Fire Jose Reyes hitting the long ball plus John Maine playing Stopper, my son had to spoil the party on the way home. He has taken over as the family statistician by keeping score of the games we attend. As he tallied up the number from the back seat of the car we were listening to J-Mann’s post game comments on the way home my son said” Hummm, interesting,   I said “Care to share with the rest of us”? He came back with “Well, after scoring all their runs in three innings, the Mets did not have a base runner from innings 4 through 8. I didn’t  hear anyone ask Jerry Manuel about that ”  I’d like it better when he would just sit and slobber Carvel all over himself instead of being a little cynic. I swear I wish I knew where he gets that from.

Back in January I wanted Omar Minaya to go get Andy Phillips as I felt he would be a descent right hand bat off the bench and a very good late inning replacement for Carlos Delgado who by the way celebrated his 36 birthday yesterday and I guess was going to wear his baseball pants to his birthday party as that’s the only reason I can think of why he didn’t make a diving attempt on Jeremy Reed’s single in the fifth, any how I see today that the Mets have claimed Phillips off the waiver wire from the Reds and he will play this weekend against the Highlanders.

So it seems with Phillips on board, Robinson Cancel will go back to NOLA but when Ryan Church is activated tomorrow or Saturday the odd man out looks to be Trot Nixon. I ‘d love to see Trot hang in there but the fact of the matter is he’s a lefty bat on the team with an overflow of lefty bats so the switch will be Nixon for Phillips. We’re not talking a huge difference here as Phillips being right handed is not just a plus over Nixon but Phillips will now be the late inning replacement for Delgado at first and righty bat off the bench. It’s not THE move but I guess it will do for now.

What the hell is going on with the Cyclones? First manager Edgar Alfonzo ( a dark horse candidate for Mets manager) had to bench 2^nd baseman Josh Satin for failure to run out a fly ball and then yesterday their was an incident in the Cyclones clubhouse concerning a female reporter some of the players and specifically first round pick Ike Davis. A tip of the Mets cap to Mets Merized Online for the story Link:

{Actually, the entire Mets organization should be embarrassed by their behavior. They certainly don’t know how to treat a woman. I’m sorry to have to report this, but here it goes: Earlier today, one of my colleagues, staff writer Mira Wassef, a hard-working and conscientious reporter, went to Dutchess Stadium in Fishkill to interview Davis. Brooklyn, the Mets’ Class A New York-Penn League affiliate, is in town to play the Renegades.

According to Mira, and I totally believe her, once she walked into the Brooklyn clubhouse, several players began whistling at her and making cat calls. She was unnerved to say the very least. You think the Mets look bad on the field? Well, check out this group of chumps. The performance by the Cyclones was pathetic. A disgrace.

Then came Davis, the Mets’ first round pick (18th overall) in the draft earlier this month out of Arizona State. Mira asked for Davis and, sitting in the clubhouse, he raised his hand. Mira asked if Davis had a few minutes to talk for an interview. His reply? “I’m not playing tonight, sweetheart. We don’t have anything to talk about.”

Sweetheart? Apparently, Davis, who signed for $1.5 million yesterday, thinks he’s still on campus or something. He’s not. Davis disrespected a professional trying to do her job. Good luck with that if  you ever make it to the Mets.}

Ah, shades of the days of Alhaj Turay when he autographed a baseball for a Brooklyn fan by signing the name ‘Tom Jones” and then having the fan tear into him for being an asshole. Then manager Howard Johnson made Turay apologize and the suspended him. Turay was a promising hitter but he is now out of baseball. Alfonzo rules with an iron hand so I’m sure he will deal with this immediatly but maybe it wouldn’t hurt for Omar Minaya to take a trip to Coney Island and let these lads know that just because they are bush leaguers they don’t have to act that way. Davis seems like he could be a handful as he brawled with a teammate before a College World Series game but hey we Mets fan are looking for guys with attitude right?  To me it doesn’t seem like what they did was so bad,  I ‘d will say if the beat reporter wants to move on in covering sports she might want to get some thicker skin. I’m more upset with Davis “big timing” the reporter than calling her “sweetheart” and until I see a picture of Ms. Mira I will hold judgment on whether the cat calls were justified. But with all the bullshit lately that the organization has been involved with this season, I guess this randy group of Cyclones need a talking to.

I know one thing about Jerry Manuel, he’s not Irish.

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If you told me that Omar Minaya released a player last night after that embarrassing performance I don’t think Claudio Vargas would have been the player I would have picked. I know Vargas got lit up last night but I don’t see how he gets his walking papers. I mean it no great loss that Vargas hit’s the waiver wire and I am a fan of this years Heath Bell, Carlos Muniz but when you list the names of players who need to be chucked Vargas is down the list.

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I don’t know what to say? Really, I’m speechless after last night loss to the lowly Seattle Pilots. What? They’re not the Pilots? So I’m off base trying to figure out why Joe Shultz didn’t bring in Diego Segui to close out the game. I digress.

What can you say? D-Wright suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome as per Warlord J-Man and will take a seat tonight, booted a routine groundball that would have ended the inning. But you figure that Felix Hernandez goes from a King to a serf when it comes to batting so you brush off D-Wright miscue right?  Ahhhhhhhh NO. The first pitch to the King, a fastball up and away no where near the strike zone had Hernandez “bail and whale” as Arthur Lee Rhodes told Kevin Burkhardt on the post game show on SNY and the ball goes over the wall in the right/center gap. An opposite field Grand Slam the first Grand Slam by an AL pitcher since the legendary Steve Dunning did it on May 11^th 1971 (I was 13 in the 7^th grade in 1971 spending my afternoons trying to figure out how I could unhook Andrea Davis, the girl you sat  in front of me in school’s bra strap) against those Swingin’ Oakland A’s.

If not for that pitch this would have been an unbelievable pitching duel as both pitchers were dealing but King Felix dealt much better until he got drilled in the ankle by Carlos Beltran on a heads up dash to home plate.

What annoys you more about the game is once Hernandez got knocked out of the game you figure the Mets could get to the Mariners bullpen well you, me and the Mets figured wrong. As J-Mann said in his post game stand up, the Mets offense does not lend itself to the three run homer so small ball is what will have to do. Not just the use of bunts or the wonderful return of the hit and run (my favorite play) but by calling out the Mets lack of  “strike zone recognition” J-Man has put HOJO on notice to find a way to get the hitters to work deeper counts to get either walks or better pitches to hit. J-Man is on target there.

Can some one in the Mets hierarchy just step up and tell the media that the reason Willie Randolph was fired was because he did a bad job and he made the Mets clubhouse a tension convention. It’s admirable that Freddy Skill Sets is staying classy and tip toeing over the fact that Randolph did not get the job done as a manger and wilted under pressure. PLEASE ENOUGH CAN WE MOVE ON FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bob Klappish lays it all out in a great column today in the Bergen

Record detailing a looser more together Mets team.

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I am really starting to like J-Man. He made a statement yesterday about Shea Stadium being “fertile” ground and how the demeanor of the fan base that frequents the soon to be demolished Housing Project of a ballpark tends to add to the fertilization to promote growth of the team.  Of course the New York Post got the story all wrong, not beat man Bart Hubbuch but the headline writers who took it as Warlord Jerry saying we Mets fans ain’t shit. If anything he was commending the fans for letting the players know that their effort is not acceptable when they boo and how they feel when the team busts its ass when they cheer. In one week J-Mann’s pre and post game pressers have been more entertaining than four years of Wet Blanket Willie.

So far this morning I have been hit with paper clips, rubber bands, and empty Dunkin’ Dounuts cup for proclaiming that the Mets are back in the Pennant Race. It’s the hazard you have when your office is infiltrated by Highlander fans. The facts are with the Phlacid Phillies in an offensive tailspin and the Mets looking rejuvenated this past week we Mets fans are looking at our summer coming back to us beginning tonight at Shea (The Big Shithouse?) with a marquee match up of King Felix Hernandez and Johan Santana in the first of three with the Mariners and then four with those Bastards in the Bronx.

Another quality of J-Man is if your not 100 % then take a seat as we have seen so far with Jose Reyes and now with Gimp Castillo. For a guy with the rep as a kind of quiet easygoing fellow, Warlord Jerry has no patients for bullshitters. It seems like he asked Castillo if he was able to play and I guess Gimp hemmed and hawed to the point where Manuel said sit and played his hot hand Damien Easley. Now there is talk about Gimp going on the 15 day DL but Gimp says he just needs a couple of days rest. J-Mann will not tolerate playing a man short and with Brian Schneider claiming he’s day to day look for Manuel to push for Gimp to either play or pick up a handicap parking pass for a fortnight. Whatever happens, Omar Minaya has to go get a middle infielder. With Ryan Church coming back by the end of the week and with Endy Chavez playing well and Trot Nixon added to the outfield the Mets should be set for now (I also like J-Mann hinting that Medicare Moises should pack it in, I’m telling you the guy doesn’t stand for bullshit) so a middle infielder is really a must get. Nothing earth shattering, there are guys out there like Matt Katta playing for Indianapolis for the Pirates farm team , Josh Barfield who has split time between the Indians and the Buffalo Bisons, Jamey Carroll of the Indians would be a great pick up as well and then there is always one time Mets bloggers favorite Marco Scutaro in Toronto. I’m pretty sure the Anderson Hernandez ship has sailed.

Call off the search as Mets phenom Fernando Martinez is back in action playing for the Gulf Coast Mets yesterday. F-Mart had a hit and was hit by a pitch in four plate appearances.

The big news over the weekend was from Neil Best in Newsday who broke the story of Mike Francesca and Chris Russo looking to be headed to divorce court to end their union together after 19 years. It’s about time. These two have gone from being the gold standard of sports talk radio to a couple of grumpy middle aged assholes. They hate pro and college basketball, the NHL, the internet, blogs, current movies and music and their audience. Russo has a really bad habit of hanging up on callers who debate him once they have the upper hand and Francessa is annoyed that he has to leave his mansion in Manhasset to listen to the commoners. What a big pompous ass. While I’d like to believe that these two are done as drive time hosts the whole stinks more than the Shea Stadium stands as its most likely just a ploy to grab more dollars out of management.  After losing cash cow Don Imus the station can’t lose its drive time hosts who even though they are vile and nasty still draw big ratings and ad dollars. It’s not that they are that good it’s just the alternative is 1050ESPN where the unic Michael Kay has his show opposite MMD Kay is Suzyn Waldman with a vagina as he can never ever criticsie the Bronx Bastards which makes his show unlistenalbe for me. What hurts is that his sidekick Don LaGreca is very good and is a hockey guy so if Francessa or Dog were to leave Astoria I’d love to see Donnie Pucks head to the FAN CAVE.

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I was stunned this morning when I heard the news that George Carlin had died from heart failure overnight in LA. Lot’s of time the word “genius” is thrown out that it loses it meaning but Carlin was truly a GENIUS. Whether it was his “Hippy-Dippy Weather man” or his amazing take on the difference between football and baseball or his most famous “7 words you can’t say on the radio” that made him a champions for free speech and that guys like me can tell blowhard baseball team owner to fuck off . I am sure they will be tons of tributes to Carlin and from watching his routines he would probably tell everyone to “cut the bullshit and get on with your fucking lives” and we will George we will but not without missing you.

Check out Shyster Ball where they have a clip of the Football vs. Baseball routine.   

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Yesterday was the first time in ages that I didn’t turn on my computer. No e-mails read, no game stories no posts nothing. We had our annual end of year picnic at Staten Island Little League so I was busy there then from that we headed to 50^th and B’way to see The Quantum Eye a terrific show where mentalist Same Eaton does some amazing mind tricks with audience members from there my kids wanted to go the Nintendo store at Rockefeller Center to check out the Rock Band for the Wii. How proud am I that my son and daughter are experts playing guitar on Paranoid. From there we traveled over to 6^th Ave and watched Lee Mazzilli and Chris Cotter do the Mets pre game show. Maz gave my son a thumbs up for his Mets cap. Then even though we ate all afternoon my kids were starving so we went to the Heartland Brewery for a burger and to watch the Metsies.

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