Thank you to everyone who commented and emailed me with suggestions to help me with my pitching staff. I am happy to report that we won our first game of the season 10-0 (now 1-3 on the year) with only three walks against us in the game. Rick Peterson would be proud of all of you.

Speaking of The Jacket, he will play himself in the movie version of “Moneyball” with Brad Pitt playing Billy Bean.  Art Howe will also be in the film playing the cadaver they extract  the ligaments from for Tommy John surgery.

The Mets are rolling through NOCAL yesterday 9-6 win. Another strong start I felt, by Johan Santana who had one bad inning (the 6^th) in the 7 innings he pitched as he had an incredible 79/22 K/B spilt plus he got the win to go to 5-2.

The pitching and hitting is as good for the Mets as any in baseball right now but the fielding needs to tighten up a bit especially with Wright and Castillo. Yes I’m never happy I have to find something to bitch about with this team.

With Carlos Delgado on the DL (what a shock!) the Mets have to make decision on what to do with first base. I don’t see how Jeremy Reed is an option over Daniel Murphy if they want to go a righty/lefty platoon. In fact it looks like the increased playing time for Reed is more of a showcase as why would you need both Reed and Angel Pagan on this roster that now is top heavy with outfielders? Pagan can do as much if not more than Reed both with the bat and in the field plus the added bonus of being a switch hitter. Maybe  a deal with the Orioles for Aubry Huff that would have the Mets send Reed and Eddie Kunz to Baltimore could snare Huff? By the way can we let Murphy play tonight at first base? It’s been four games since his last start. FREE DANIEL MURPHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A reminder, I will be a guest tonight on The Seven Train To Shea Radio Program tonight at 7PM EDST.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Great win to start the road trip last night. John Maine steeled in nicely after a shaky first innings and he and Big Pelf have impresses be with their maturation on the mound this season by bouncing back after rough innings and pitching deeper into games.

 

I guess sore calf is a euphemism for benched for bone headed base running.

 

Mets Geek has a great piece on J-Man’s use (over use? miss use?) of the bullpen so far this season. One of the commentators made a good point that the Mets play so many close games that it dictates more bullpen moves than usual.

 

I stopped trying to figure out what management is thinking about with Carlos Delgado’ hip. It has cone from stiff, to sore, to a rip in a ligament , to arthritis, to total hip replacement okay we’re not at hip replacement yet but you know if he did need a new hip the Mets would still list him as day to day. Same with JJ Putz. The rumors were true that his was hurting for certain and now we find he has a bone spur on his elbow. No surgery is needed say the Mets which means the elbow was be hanging by a string. Not good not good at all. How can you start a 10 games road trip with just 23 players? Call up Baltimore or DC and see what the price is for Aubry Huff or Nick Johnson oh wait that would be a ballsy move by the GM gee I forget what team I root for a second.

 

This would be my lineup for tonight

 

Reyes SS

Castillo 2B

Beltran CF

Sheffield LF

Wright 3B

Murphy 1B

Santos C

Church RF

Hernandez P

 

Only reason I bat Church 8 is the lefty/righty scenario. Time to let Murphy play so 1^st if he can handel it and start to hit leave him there as I am getting ready for the word that Delgado is done for the season. Of course I’m a pessimist there is no such thing as an optimistic Mets fan. If you think your one then you’re to damn young to understand it.

 

  

 

Don’t forget tonight PRO BASEBALL CENTRAL tonight at 9PM EDST and on the pod cast afterwards as Joe McDonald and I preview tonight Mets-Giants game and look at Tim Lincicum-Livan Hernandez tale of the tape. Plus I get to vent on all things Mets for this week Listen live here or on the podcast later here.

 

Also this Sunday night at 7PM EDST I will be a guest on Seven Train to Shea radio show so tune in and turn on!!!!!!

 

Get ready for an ass whipping on Sunday Orlando you will need more than “Magic” to beat the C’s in Boston in a Game 7.

 

  

 

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Only the New York Mets could finish an 8 game home stand with 6 wins and have the fan base up in arms. Bad base running , lack of late inning hitting, and pitching failures have made our puss’s sour. Now we have a 10 game roadie that makes stop in San Francisco and a meeting with the  Great Lincicum, Brooklyn West (LA) and Boston, home of a team that I root for proudly and has the heart and soul of the many championships and champion players that have worn the shamrock, the Celtics (maybe someday D-Wright and Jose Reyes can grow up to be like Rajon Rondo and Big Baby Davis) that could be the difference between a great summer and a shitty summer on 126^th and Roosevelt Ave.

 

Oh where oh where to start on my bitch and moan session on this team. First I’m ready to give Jose Reyes the nickname of Scarecrow (if he only had a brain) because he knows his base running is fucked up and he knows that he needs to use his head better but he still makes the most mind boggling blunders. At some point we have to drop the “he’s young and still learning” bullshit and admit that he is baseball retarded.

 

Same with Wright maybe it’s enough with the face of the franchise stuff and put a foot in his ass as well. I’m sorry for attacking the children like this but as I mention above I’m a fan of the Boston Celtics and watching two kids like Rajon Rondo and Big Baby step up like men when their team has been hit by injury after injury and they have stepped up and taken charge in this playoff series against the Magic. Of course it helps that Paul Pierce and Ray Allen are their to lead (Carlos Beltran is our Ray Allen) but Rondo and Big Baby (is there a better nickname in sports than a 6’7” 280 lbs man who is called Baby by teammates and fans?) have not once blinked when the game was on the line. Rondo has turned into Bob Cousy and Baby has not only hit big shots but he has played a physical game that has pussified the Magic. I want Reyes to be our Rondo and Wright to be our Paul Pierce unfortunately we don’t have a Big Baby (maybe Frankie Rodriguez) 

 

In the time honored tradition of being clueless about how to treat their injured players the Mets put Carlos Delgado and his bad hip on a cross country flight to then decided if he should go on the DL  Yeah I love this team!!!!!!!!!

 

Hey J J Putz why not draw a big “L” on your forehead as well. Putz claims he can’t get his adrenalin up when he comes into to pitch as a set up guy and not a save situation. The guy saved 15 games last year for a team that lost over 100 games. Really tough pressure situation there JJ how much adrenalin was oozing out you then?  Just shut up and pitch

 

 

Pro Baseball Central will be on tomorrow night  Friday May 15^th at 9PM EDST as Joe McDonald and I will preview Mets-Giants and talk about the big 10 games road trip and other news and notes from around MLB

 

Sunday night at 7PM I will be join the guys at Seven Train to Shea as their guest.

 

I’ve been fired up like this since Dave Singer sent me this clip of Wally Backman addressing his team. I’m thinking of using this on Saturday before our Babe Ruth League game. Our game Saturday is at 8:30 AM and my son has warned all of his teammates not to even mention the early start to me as he did and got the whole “I walked though 10 miles of broken glass with snipers on the roof through the streets of Brooklyn in the dark to play ball you little candy ass” rant.

 

  

 

  

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Larry Jones needs to shut the fuck up, Beltran was safe at 3rd. Finally the Mets get a call in their favor from these inept umpires, and I don’t give a rats ass what Larry thinks of $iti Field and how he misses Shea what I’d like to see is a Mets pitcher nail him in the ribs with a fastball. I am so sick and tired of the fawning over of Larry Jones.

Can we just put Carlos Delgado on the DL already? what are the Mets waiting for? They’ve played three games now with a short bench, Delgado’s hip is still sore and won’t get better without rest. Please let’s not make him fly cross country and then DL him.

Great not only are the Mets wearing there miserable black unit tops but the Braves have decided to wear their Midnight Blue tops. Fucking stupid!

I guess Jose Reyes admitting that me made an awful base running blunder last night is progress.

Can’t kill J-Man on taking Big Pelf out in the 7th. He was in a zone and pitching great but the Mets have to be careful of over using him.

I don’t know what is higher on the douchebag meter the streaker or the asshole taking the video screaming “that’s my boy, that’s my boy” I will say nothing is as funny as over weight security guards risking a heart attack chasing a guy on the field

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Omar Minaya’s Best Week Ever came to an abrupt end last night as his team ended it’s winning streak, his Ace pitcher again received no run support and this time the defense betrayed him as well, the best free agent pitcher on the market last winter who camethisclose to being the second banana to Santana that the Omar will be looking for before July came to $iti and showed the Mets what could have been, his rejuvenated first baseman is headed for a DL stint and his manager made some head scratching moves before and during the game last night.

 

Big thank you to Dave Singer at NY Sportsdog and James K at Amazin Avenue for doing the heavy lifting on dissecting J-Man’s brain farts last night. Let’s hope he learns a lesson from last night.

 

Carlos Delgado’ tragically hurting hip could send him to the DL. He already had cortisone shot this spring in the hip and is a little leery of taking another one so soon because as we all know cortisone is a steroid. That’s why I don’t get all in a huff over players using PED’s  as cortisone injections are given out to athletes like flu shots at a nursing home.

 

It’s no secret that J- Man doesn’t think Ryan Church is Gangsta’ enough for him but the truth is Jeremy Reed is the same player as Church but with better and more versatile outfield play. Even more bad news for Church is if Delgado goes on the 15 day DL you could see Murphy and Tatis spilt the first base duties with Reed going to RF and Gary Sheffield going to left and Church going to sunflower seed distributor.

 

 

 

 

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Another way I know I’m getting old is I remember when George Steinbrenner bought the Highlanders from CBS back in 1973. In his new book GEORGE The Poor Little Rich Boy Who Built The Yankee Empire, (published by Wiley) bestselling author, Peter Golenbock tells the story of Boss George and his team only the way Golenbock can with extensive interviews and highly entertaining anecdotes throughout this book. No one knows the history of the Highlanders like Golenbock . Of course the Highlander fan would love this book but put aside your Highlander hating for a moment, this book is a history lesson as the Highlanders were down and out and love him or hate him Steinbrenner brought them back to prominence to the most valuable sports franchise in the world.

It takes a gifted writer like Golenbock to tell the story of such a complex man as George Steinbrenner GEORGE The Poor Little Rich Boy Who Built The Yankee Empire is an informative and entertaining read.

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I’m sure you have seen all the Few and Chosen books in this series at your local book store and now there is a Mets volume added to this great series in Few and Chosen: Defining Mets Greatness Across the Eras written by Rusty Staub with Phil Pepe , foreword by Keith Hernandez (published by Triumph Books)

Amazing as it seems but we are heading toward the 50^th Anniversary of the first game in Mets history (April 2012, those awful black uni tops better be a bad memory by then) so it is a great time for this book to come out.

Staub and Pepe go position by position to name who they feel are the five best players ever at each ion in Mets history. There are a few surprises like Bud Harrelson rated over Jose Reyes as the best Mets shortstop ever and Bobby Bonila as the second best right fielder in Mets history (Staub left himself off the list which is foolish as he contributed in more in a week than Bonila did in all the years he stole money from the Mets) and Lee Mazzilli the third best center fielder over Tommy Agee and Lenny Dykstra ? NO WAY IN HELL!  In fact Lance Johnson was better than Boardwalk Lee sections like this are what make this book a great conversation starter.

It’s not just the inside of this book that is mesmerizing the cover is a thing of beauty as well with the traditional blue cap on it.  

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 Bert Randolph Sugar is THE sports historian of our time and he has a new book out that is a comprehensive look at the Baseball Hall of Fame called Bert Sugars Baseball Hall of Fame, A Living History of America’s Greatest Game (published by Running Press) I have been to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown NY four times and each time I’ve been there I’ve seen an exhibit or artifact I’ve missed in my previous trip and now with this outstanding book that is full of great pictures and of course the writing of Bert Sugar  it puts it all the awe and beauty of the HOF in your hands.

There is a section on the great concessions and give aways by teams throughout the history of baseball. One of my favorite pictures is of the fans of the White Sox during the Bill Veck era where he gave the fans in the grandstand cue cards to decide managerial decisions.  There are of course stories and pictures of all the great players enshrined in the Hall that leaves you wanting to make a trip upstate.

This book is a must for the baseball fan that loves the games history and loves the photographs of players and teams from the beginning of the game to the present  Give it a spot  of honor on your coffee table.

 

  

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Even being a huge Mets fan can’t get Gary (Baba-Booey) Del’Abate off the hook for what could be the most embarrassing first pitch not only in Mets history but since the New York Nine lined up in Hoboken.

This pitch is so awful that if I were Booey I’d claim to have a disabilty and even with that it’s still em brassing.

a hat tip to Rowdy Yates for the clip

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Maybe Mets management is right by banning the daily fish wraps from the Mets clubhouse. The NY Post and Newsday were kind enough to put the Mets on the back page of their papers today but the NY Daily News thought it better to post a picture of Aubry Huff letting Joba the Hut get a taste of his own medicine by pumping his fist after hitting a home run off the Golden Boy pitcher. Who knew that Mort Zuckerman was such a Highlander fan? When the Mets are in the throes of suckitude, the News will post their pics in living color but when it’s high times they burry the evidence. 

 

It would be nice if Omar Minaya calling out his roster was the reason for this great Mets turnaround or the fan base calling out the players to “man up” as well, but as always it’s the starting pitching that has gotten this machine humming. Yes I am obsessed with pitching these days, I’m still stewing over 15 walks by my pitchers on Saturday this isn’t healthy for me or the kids. I’m lighting candles in church. The homeless in the ferry terminal are running away from me telling people “that guy there needs help he keeps muttering –low in the strike zone, pitch to contact- and is rocking back and forth; I’m trying to release my inner Mazzone. I’m leaving work early to day just to get my X-Box-ing, text messaging, girl infatuated, 13 year olds to the park today for some remedial baseball practice. I shouldn’t have shaved this morning as I do my best work when I look gnarly. But I digress…

 

Any game the Mets can get 6 innings at least from a starter the odds are they will come out on top now that the 7-8-9 innings are in the hands of the firm of Parnell, Putz and Rodriguez, the New York version of the Reds “Nasty Boys” (we need our own nickname for these three) plus the fact that this team is hitting and starting to score runs (how about tonight they put up some crooked numbers for Johan ?) so it’s nice to have no complaints about what’s going on in Flushing. Maybe my kids will turn it a round as well. Just once I’d love total serenity from baseball.

 

Even though his numbers are not pretty, it is kind of fascinating watching Livan Hernandez pitch. He went mostly with fastballs and change up and spotted his slider and curve, mostly the slider as he had trouble locating that pitch due to the very windy conditions. What I enjoy about watching a pitcher like Livan is he has a large repertoire of pitchers and he uses them early and finds what’s working and what’s not. He never panics when the pitches aren’t working he just goes with the one or two that are and tries to make the best of it. The results are not always favorable but I like how he thinks things though. Okay, no more about pitching.

 

Let’s go on to catching. Looks like J- Man has made up his mind by saying that Omir Santos “Isn’t going anywhere” not matter when Brian Schneider comes back. Maybe the team in the Bronx would have an interest in Schneider? Could the Mets and Highlanders become trade partners? Last they did I believe was in 2004 when the Mets shipped Mike Stanton to the Bronx for Felix Heredia. Problem is there is no one on the Highlanders the Mets want or need so it would have to be for prospects.

 

    

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