Maybe it’s that phenomena of the Mets playing down to the competition as they come off a 2-4 abbreviated road trip against the Bucs and Nats the suck and suck more teams of baseball and now the biggest three weeks of the Mets 2009 season starts tomorrow here in the Greatest City on the Planet against the Phucking Phillies in the biggest series of the season.

 

To start off this series I sat with an enemy correspondent , Bill Bear of Crashburn Alley who has been a guest on PRO BASEBALL CENTRAL and a guy I like to e mail back and forth during the season as I like to be an annoying ball breaker but even though Bill has a major character flaw being a Phucking Phillies fan he’s a good guy and is always great when he comes on PBC and I like his in depth stat work on Crashburn Alley so click here to read the Q & A I did with Bill .

 

Over at Jorge Says No they have a very good interview with Wally Backman who is now managing in the Northern League for the Joilet Jackhamers. Backman of course would love to get a shot at a big league managerial job and the hard work as a player and perseverance as a manager at the most obscure outposts of baseball only make his resolve stronger. Maybe some day he will be back in Flushing where his work ethic and passion for the game would be a boost for the organization and the fans.

 

Doug Branch at Mets Merized Online is getting drawn and quartered for a post that suggests that the Mets might look at being sellers and if they do maybe Carlos Beltran would be the guy to trade. Well if you read the comments Branch is called out for not only suggesting that the Mets become sellers but think about trading Beltran. I won’t speak for Branch but as for myself I’ll say I don’t want the Mets to be sellers and I don’t want to deal off Beltran but as I wrote in a post over the weekend maybe it’s time for the front office and ownership to take stock in what it is the team and what this franchise is looking to accomplish. The reason I think like this is that as much as I think Omar Minaya has done a pretty good job he could do much better and I never feel like there is a plan in place or a course of action for this team. Sure Omar went out and retooled the bullpen to the point it’s one of the best in baseball but he never addressed the need for a left fielder with power and seems to be more enthralled with finding players left on the side of the curb than being creative in making a deal for bona fide major league talent.

 

It is good though to see the Mets fan exuding passion like the commentators are doing on that site and of course here. Too bad that ownership is to inept to realize what a great fan base they have.

 

 

The Mets Police checked out the cuisine at Highlander Stadium and found it to be overpriced and bland just like its tenants.

 

After watching my kid’s soccer games yesterday I had to make a trip to the mall to buy a sports jacket (one that didn’t have METS or an NY on it but a sports jacket that adult men wear. The two that I own are way too big and my son is graduating from grammar school this Friday and I need to dress up like a grown up so hence the sports jacket. I guess it’s a shame that a soon to be 51 year old man owns just two pair of slacks but 12 pairs of jeans, and has more than 200 t-shirts and maybe three dress shirts, one pair of shoes but  2 pair of Cons’ 3 pair of running shoes, 2 pair of basketball shoes, and 2 pair of baseball cleats and the only neck ties I have are hand me downs from my brothers. I’d be more than happy to live everyday in shorts, a t shirt, flip flops and my Mets cap) when I returned home I relaxed by watching the Padres-D’Backs game that went to 18 innings. I picked the game up in the 10^th inning and when it ended in the 18^th I realized the D’Backs bullpen did not give up a hit from the 10^th to the 18^th inning an extra inning no hitter! The D’Backs blew a 6-0 lead and the Padres had shortstop Josh Wilson pitch the 18^th and he almost got out of jam with two on and 0-2 count on Mark Reynolds before Reynolds put one just over the right field wall. Wilson by the way was a D’Back just a month ago before he was claimed by the Padres. Even stranger was of the 27,000 plus who were in attendance for the beginning of the game morphed into empty seats by the 18^th inning.

 

I’ll leave you with this from Henry Aaron on the release of Tom Glavine and the apology from John Schuerholz:

 

“I wouldn’t have said anything if I were John Schuerholz. I think that was a mistake, because it was a no-win situation in his case, as much as [Schuerholz] tried to patch up the differences,” Aaron said. Then he laughed, adding, “This is the first time I’ve ever been on management’s side. I mean, Glavine got paid very well through the years to play here, and there’s never a good way to handle these situations. But if you’re the Braves, you’ve got to throw those kids out there and let them pitch. If you’re Glavine, you have to be gracious enough to step aside.”

 

Why don’t the Glavines of any sport do so? “The hardest thing for anybody — especially athletes — is to wake up in the morning and realize everything has stopped for them,” Aaron said. “The cheering. The booing. The traveling. All the things that you used to be doing are no longer there, and it’s hard for you to realize that, along with the idea of losing all of the money that I made. It’s just not there any more.

 

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