I see where some people are linking Johan Santana’s “Black Magic Bat” base hit to the black Cat incident of 1969, but to me the Santana hit is more like the September 20 1973 play when Dave Augustine of the Pirates hit a shot to left field at Shea that hit off the top of the bullpen fence, shot straight up and was bare handed by Cleon Jones (who I hope will be at Shea this weekend) who wheeled and threw to Wayne Garrett (who better be there as well) who relayed to Ron Hodges to tag out Richie Zink at the plate in the 13th inning in a game the Mets needed desperately just like last night. 

 

As I read the comments left on this blog I sometimes shake my head and wonder why people think the way they do. If your not a fan of Omar Minaya’ that’s fine but to compare this Mets organization to the days of Al Harazin reign of error is out and out stupid. If your not a fan of Omar Minaya’ because of his ethnicity then your just a racist asshole. Yes we all agree the Gimp Castillo contract was a bad decision but when the Mets needed a play with some cache some oomph Omar went out and got Petey, he went out and got Carlos Beltran, he went out and dealt for Carlos Delgado. When Dirty Duaner went down he went out and got Roberto Hernadez and got the Pirates to throw in Oliver Perez in the deal. Sure we all have a man crush on X Nady but tonight in a huge game I’m glad it’s OP on the mound and Dropkick in LF. The Mets needed a closer he went out and signed Billy Wagner and as much as we bitch and moan about the roller coaster ride that Billy Wags gave us, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t not have blown 16 saves if he was healthy.  And of course there is landing Johan Santana and not only not giving up an everyday but he also may have cost Pee Wee Cashman his job as Cashman didn’t have either the balls or brains to pull the trigger on a deal that would have brought Johan to the Bronx and now Pee Wee has to deal with the retarded Steinbrenner off spring this off season.

 

Sometime it just pisses me off that the Highlander fan mentality has crept in our land of Orange and Blue. Look I don’t know what is going got happen the rest of this week but I know the Mets are going down fighting there is no give up with this team, especially with the big four of Reyes/Wright/Beltran/Delgado and with Santana/Big Pelf/OP who are laying it on the line down the stretch. Yes the bullpen blows and the sight of Aaron Heilman makes us all physically ill and don’t you think Omar Minaya knows this? Do you really think he won’t be in the bidding for K-Rod? Haven’t you been paying attention the last few years as Omar never ever tips his hand, if the he wants K-Rod and I’m sure he does, he’ll get him.

 

I hear some people ridicule Omar for not being an eloquent speaker like all of you went to fucking Oxford. He’s a New Yorker and he speaks New York-ese just like me so all you haters can kiss our Corona/Bay Ridge ass.

 

Tonight I will have the great pleasure of being a guest on Mike Silva’s NY Baseball Digest along with my favorite Mets player ever Edward Emil Kranepool. That’s right me and the man this site is named after on with Mike Silva at 6PM on Blogtalk radio. 

 

Now you know why I ‘so fired up today. GIDDY THE FUCK UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I know this will not make a segment of my audience happy but ESPN is reporting that Omar Minaya will get a 4 year extension of his contract and I say BRAVO to the Skill Sets for this. 

I know from reading some of the commentators here that Fire Omar is a battle cry but to me Minaya has done a lot more good than bad and his and First Lt. Bernazard have rebuilt the farm system to wear it is bearing some very sweet fruit. If you want ot blame the collapse and the lack of an reliable bullpen, he wasn’t going to give up young talent and cripple the system to bring in a middle reliever. You build through the farm and patch holes with free agents and trades. You can kill Minaya on the Castillo deal but he has much more check marks in the plus column than the minus as far as I’m concerned.

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sorry about no posting today but I had to go to a training class for work at my old office in Queens. 

As I type this it’s 2-2 in the top of the 6th on a D-Wright 2 run single and I don’t know about you put I can feel the pressure coming through my televison

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WELCOME TO MY NIGHTMARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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What a mess. I mean it is so difficult to sit down and watch games that should be closed out and put in the win column just to be pissed  away by incompetent relief pitching. I thought yesterday we finally saw the frustration of Warlord Jerry when he used both Aaron Heilman who should just be sent home at this point and told wait for notification of a trade to a new team and for using Mush Schoeneweis against right handed hitting Omar Infante.  It’s hard for me to kill J-Man here as the Mets were not facing Murder’s Row here but a team playing out the string in the Braves, but right now J-Man has to go strictly with a platoon of relievers the rest of the week in order for the Mets to have a chance of post season play. Right now I would like you to click here and read Howard Megdal piece in today’s New York Observer on the state of the bullpen and how J-Man has to mix and match. Read that now I’ll wait,  then meet me in the next paragraph.

 

Good stuff from Howard right? Ok now here is how I would manage this fucking mess of a bullpen. My two late inning guys now are Luis Ayala and Bobby Parnell. Ayala is the best of the slop and Parnell right now is the only guy in that pen who can throw a fastball with any authority.  From there I’d team up my pitchers like hockey defensemen:

 

LHP Schoeneweis                             RHP Smith

 

LHP Rincon                                      RHP Stokes

 

LHP Feliciano                                   RHP Figueroa

 

 

Those are my mix and match specialists and then I’d use Bobby Parnell and Luis Ayala to close.

 

We really should be getting ready for a great week at Shea Stadium with all kinds of memories and great festivities and looking forward to the post season but after this latest road trip 3-4 road trip this team is really wearing me out.

 

I’ve about had it with people blaming the Mets offense for not taking on late innings runs. Yes it is quite frustrating to see men on base with less than 2 out and not score a run but the Mets offense is averaging 5 runs a game if that’s not enough to win then you don’t deserve the make the post season. I don’t know how guys like David Wright, Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran keep their cool as I would have called out every rag armed fuck in that bullpen by now for not stepping up and doing their job.

 

I watched the eerie/strange ceremonies at the last game at Highlander Stadium some observations:

 

Having people dressed like the 1923 Highlanders was very very odd and creepy. Instead of actors maybe they should have gone with pinstriped coffins for the deceased players and lined them up on the warning track.

 

Most disturbing was the sons of Mickey Mantle, Billy Martin,  Roger Maris and Thurman Munson come out in full uniform

 

Wade Boggs is the perfect example of you are what you eat

 

No Joe Pepitone

 

No Roger Clemens

 

 No one from the Kekich/Peterson Families

 

No one from the Peterson/Kekich Families

 

No Howie Spira

 

And no one from Joe DiMaggio’s family

 

After seeing the happiness exhibited by Willie Randolph I offer an apology to the Skill Sets and Omar Minaya, not only am I now happy you fired him like you did, I wish you waited until he feel asleep then woke him up and fired him. Yes I am fucking bitter. Word to Joe Giradi-watch you r back

 

My first memory of this Highlander  Stadium was of going in 1976 (I consider this Highlander Stadium II because it has no resemblance to the original Highlander Stadium which I was visited in 1968 for the first time for Bat Day with about 10 of my friends) in a 1966 White Caddy Coup with red interior with Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath blaring out of the cars 8 track  while cruising into on of the off site parking lots and having the citizens of 158 St trying to figured what the fuck these crazy white boys were up to.

 

I also went to the 1977 All Star game but details are very sketchy of that due to heavy alcohol consumptions.

 

No mention of St. Joseph of Torre or of Donnie Baseball. CLASSLESS!

 

It looks like the Highlanders are grooming Bernie Williams for the Greatest Living Highlander title as he was introduced last. Should have been Yogi’s honor.

 

I kill Captain Craptastic a lot but he was great at the end of the game with his eloquent address to the crowd and leading his team around the stadium for one last lap. CLASSY!

 

If the Bravos showed as much guts against the rest of the NL as they did for the Mets they might still be I the thick of a pennant race Mike Gonzalez is an a number one ass clown.

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There is no better place on earth than New York City on the first crisp cool fall day even though we haven’t had one of those classic “Con Edison can’t handle the electrical demand summers” there is something invigorating when you step out the door and it’s 51 degrees with a chilly breeze. The afternoons are even better as the shadows of the sky scrapers bring back memories of Seaver/Cuellar and Koosman/McNally and just makes me root harder for the Mets to get into the post season as this season HAS TO KEEP GOING. Not just because fall baseball is the ultimate sporting event (made even better that my son was asked to play on a team in a fall baseball league today even though he didn’t sign up as he rather play soccer this time of year but the coach knew of him from Little League and asked him to play for his team today. Talk about your late season call up)  but it’s only fitting that the team from the South Bronx which has looked down it’s nose at us for years closes it’s stadium doors with no post season game but a with a meaningless play out the string game tomorrow night and that Shea the old clapboard house that many an insult has been hurled at it finishes out in style with post season baseball. 

Last night’s game was no work of art by any means but OP was great, Brain Stokes had his fastball back and Daniel Murphy will find a place to play for the Mets this post season and for many seasons to come.

Is FOX kidding by putting Cards-Cubs on in NYC with the Brewers-Reds on at the same time?

Let’s hope Petey has some magic left in that right arm tonight

I can’t say this enough please Skill Sets and Omar shut down John Maine for the season get him the surgery he needs and let the cow chips of the bullpen fall where they may.

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Ah!!!!! why can‘t they all be like last nights game. No irritable bowels. No wretching. Just pleasure watching your ACE take car of business. Oh and muchas gracias to Geovany Soto for that three run bomb in the 9^th yesterday. The cuchifritos are on me baby.

 

I read a lot of stuff and I write down a lot of stuff and stuff just flies into my spacious head so here is some of that stuff in no order or no rhyme or reason:

 

The Mets are scaring the living shit out me with their treatment of John Maine. The more I keep hearing that he can’t do further damage to his shoulder the more I feel he will be making a trip to Dr Andrews office in the near future. Just goes to show that the fans, manager and front office have no faith at all in the bullpen.

 

Now don’t tell me that you won’t go after K-Rod because it may cost too much. Don’t lay that bullshit excuse on me. I’m not totally sold on signing K-Rod but it has nothing to do with money, as the Skill Sets are making enough money to bail out a bunch of mortgage lenders. Even if you think the money K-Rod will be asking is outlandish please for once blow a little smoke up my ass, and tell me the bullpen will be upgraded by any means necessary.

 

There has to be more to the release of Al Reyes than saying it was loss of velocity.

 

Looks like Gimp Castillo will be the getting the bulk of the playing time at 2^nd base. I love Argenis Reyes’ glove and his pluck but Castillo is league average in the field and he’s a better bat. Even though Brain Schneider hit two bombs last night, the 7-8-9 in the Mets line up is a black hole, and puts tons of pressure on the guys ahead of them and that’s a big part of the Mets late inning offensive woes.

 

I told you this week during my morning walk to work as I got to Wall St,  Boulevard of Broken Dreams was on my iPod. Today when I passed there my iPod died. I need to find a new route to work.

 

How much will it bother you if the Mets make the post season as the Wild Card rather than NL East Champs? Last week it bugged me but the more I look at to paraphrase that Crazy Old Bastard who runs the Oakland Raiders, “Just Make The Post Season Baby”.

 

Shout out to Kathy Foronjy. I swear to God I am going to take fucking hostages at the Dunkin’ Dounts on Murray St some day. First I was shocked as there were only two people ahead of me on line there this morning as the incompetent staff is so fucking slow that the line is always out the door. Then a woman in front of me spoke limited English as did the worker behind the counter. The customer wanted one of those unappetizing sandwich on flat bread that she could not pronounce and the worker could not understand what she wanted so me,  speaker of two languages Brooklynese and Profanity,  is trying to interpret for this duo while trying to order a simple Extra Large Coffee just milk.  “Fucking flat bread with vegetable spread” got lost in the translation.

 

I don’t get all this weepy stuff over Highlander Stadium closing and I really don’t get what the picture on the front of the NY Post today has to do with it either as that stadium has been gone for 35 years . As far as I’m concerned the House That  the Womanizing Boozing Home Run Hitter Built closed on September 30 1973. This edifice that’s closing in the South Bronx, The House That The Costra Nostra Made A Killing On, is a shell of it’s former self.

 

There are guys like me who rant and rave and then there are sane guys like Howard Megdal who make tremendous statements quick and to the point. Even I feel better after seeing this.

 

Even with my baseball team in the heat of a pennant race, I am looking forward to watching Rangers-Senators hockey tomorrow night on MSG

 

Also Manchester United-Chelsea on Sunday morning FSC.

 

Com’on folks broaden your horizons.

 

I usually look at Phil Mushnick as a “Get off my lawn” kind of guy but today he was dead spot on with his critique of Mike Francesa and Chris Russo. I felt sad for Francesa in away, as he is tired of fans of his show and others saying how bad he is as a solo artist. His rant about having three number one shows and how he’s been very successful just comes off as Mike being extremely jealous and petty of the attention that Russo is getting with his new gig at Sirius.  Francesa can be a big blow hard but I guess out of habit I turn the radio on at 1:05PM to his show but I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t feel he needs desperately needs and injection of youth and enthusiasm to his show fast.

 

I have no ambition to do any work today. It’s sunny and cool out so it is definitley a walking day so it’s pizza at Ben’s on Thompson St for lunch. Later, kids

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I’m speechless. Really what can you say about when your team wins and you still feel like it was a loss.  Eight pitchers to win a nine inning game? That’s almost impossible. And why is Al Reyes warming up in the bullpen and you don’t use him? In fact what is the deal-ieo with  “I can call you Jose or Argenis and Jose and Argenis when you call me you can call me Al” Reyes? Why hasn’t he seen the light of day as this Lehman Brothers Bullpen continues to flounder?

 

As bad as last night was what made it worse is Brandon Knight could only go 5 innings. No fault of Knight’s even though he was not very effective, he hasn’t pitched in a while and he left the game with his team up by 6 runs so Knight more than did his job but as we know unless the starter goes a minimum of 7 innings the Mets are fucked.

 

I think it’s safe to say, that Aaron Heilman will not throw another pitch in a meaningful game this year for the Mets. In fact the next pitch he throws in a big league game should be in another uniform. Time to cut Heilman loose. Yeah I know, brilliant deduction Sherlock. I don’t know what else to say really, watching Mets game is not a pleasure anymore. Your team is up 6 runs to a rag tag fourth division team as a fan you should be thinking magic numbers and post season instead of pacing the floor and sticking your head in a puke bucket.

 

Just when you thought all is lost we get this video via the Daily News of a guy so drunk at last weekend’s double header that he doesn’t feel or hear the fans around him stacking empty beer cups on his head. As I watched this over 9 min video besides wondering if the guy was dead because how could you not feel the beer cups or hear the fans screaming, I thought where were the Shea Gestapo? Here is a guy getting abused by fans in the stands and none of the SkillSets Storm Troopers intervene? But when I try to walk from the SUBWAY sandwich stand in LF through the Field Level concourse to get to the RF ramp, I’m not allowed as the Jeffy’s Thugs tell you only Field Level ticket holders can go through that concourse. If you argue, these belligerent assholes give you a hard time. I know they are only taking their orders from Skill Set High Command but their attitude still sucks. Fucking Rent a Cops.

 

    

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Saw this on Mikefrancesa.com don’t know if I believe it or want to think this stems from last year or what but look at it and decide if we should be worried or if it means nothing.

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The Mets have moved up the opening of $iti Field to Monday so they can have Tuesday the 14th as an open day in case of a postponement. Now the opposing team for the series, the San Diego Padres, will fly from San Fransisco on the 12th and because they are fly coast to coast their next game can not start BEFORE 7PM. The average low temp in April in NYC is 45 degrees. I guess if it is too cold or snowing/raining they can close the roof. What? No! Really?

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