Not much detail from me today as I have to get some work done so I can leave early and head to the field for a 5:30 game. The good thing about the 5:30 games is there is a two hour time limit and the ride from the there to my house is about 10 minutes so I might just miss an inning of Mets-Phillies. How things have changed from one season or even one week to the next, I can’t wait for Mets-Phillies tonight, tomorrow and Sunday. It’s a good feeling to be excited about your favorite baseball team. Check out this post by Greg Prince of Faith and Fear in Flushing who feels the same way.

I’m contributing some posts to NYB Blogs and yesterday I submitted my first one on Jeff Francoeur’ influence in the Mets clubhouse.

Buffalo Bison pitcher R.A. Dickey went 0-2 on Fernando Perez of the Durham Bulls. The next pitch Perez hit a single. The next 27 batters all were set down by the knuckleballer Dickey. Talk about the imperfect game. It was the second complete game for Dickey this season and he hasn’t gone less than 8 innings in his other starts. What’s a Dickey got to do to get some love in the Mets organization?  

That’s it for me LET’S GO METS, LET’S GO BIG PELF, PHUCK YOU PHILLIES!!!!!!!!!

Posted under Uncategorized

When it came time to step up, John Maine did just that. Or maybe it was the fear of seeing Jerry Manuel yank Ollie Perez after 3.2 innings that scared Maine straight or should I say scared the movement out him as Maine, still unable to hit 90 mph on the radar gun with his fastball, had his fastball dancing like Bo jangles Robinson. It was a fine piece of pitching by Maine.

I’m sure we can all agree that it’s “the pitching stupid” that has set off this Mets revival, but don’t overlook the aggressive way the team plays on defense and on the bases. The team is starting to figure out how to use the vast gaps of the $iti Field outfield. The players have adopted this terrific bust your ass attitude when it comes to base running. Balls hit in the gap are not taken for granted as before. How many times last year did we see Mets batters hit one to gap and watch them jog into second base? Now the mindset is go for three. This might backfire once in a awhile but most times this aggressive type of base running will pay great dividends. At least once this year, Frenchy will throw someone out on at 1^st base on one hopper to RF.

I will concede that Daniel Murphy’ days as Mets first base man are over. But what has me pissed is Mets fans acting like Murphy is a leper. When Ty Wigington was a Met he was a folk hero and Murphy is cut from the same blue collar cloth as Wiggy. When he gets healthy, Murphy will play in some extended spring games and then do some rehab games at Bingo or Buffalo. I would think the plan is to make Murphy into a super sub where he can fill in at LF, or 2^nd, 3^rd or 1B. Yes I know Murphy was awful in left field but working in the minors and with the work ethic he has I’m sure he could become serviceable in the outfield. I guess all you Murphy haters enjoy watching Frank Catalanotto.

Remember Mike Bacsik who pitched for the Mets back in 2001-2002 ? Bacsik came to the Mets as part of the Robbie Alomar deal with the Indians. Bacsik had a nondescript career with the Mets and his claim to fame up until a few days ago was giving up Barry Bonds 756^th home run. I saw Bacisk’ name on Twitter so I started following him and found out that he was a sportstalk radio host and show producer, was is the key word as Bacsik was canned from his job at KTCK in Dallas. Bacsik lost his job due to his rants on his private Twitter page during the Mavs-Spurs game the other night. I saw some of Bacsik’ Tweets that night and they were quite amusing especially his complaints about the officiating of the Mavs-Spurs playoff series in which he Tweeted about NBA Commish David Stern and his refs sucking. It was when Bacsik Tweeted about the “dirty Mexicans” in San Antonio that he got his ass in a sling. Bacsik claims he was at a bar and drinking heavily while watching the game and Tweeting. So if anything Bacsik is guilty of TUI, Tweeting Under the Influence. Bacsik is hoping to get his job back though by playing the Rickey Bobby card, asking the little baby Jesus for forgiveness.

The Mets and NY Water Taxi have brought back the service to $iti Field after a one year hiatus. This was my favorite mode of transportation to Shea. It took a bit longer than by car but it was much more enjoyable. When I saw they were bringing the service back and it was free I was jumping for joy but then I read the fine print, the boat is a one way trip. Why? The best part of the ride was the return trip. You could sit outside have a cold drink and just chill. My guess is the free one way trip is a way to gauge interest in fans taking the water taxi to the game and maybe after a few trips one way and having to fight the crowds of the 7 train back to the city, fans will clamor for round trip service and not mind paying a fee. I hope it happens as I’d be a frequent sailor.

Posted under Uncategorized

We have not had much to be happy about around here in awhile and believe me I want to dance a jig in a blue and orange kilt but I have to step back a bit and look over this week of prosperity and critique it just a bit.

The play of the game last night was in the top of the 4^th inning, when Ollie Perez was imploding on the mound, and Jerry Manuel bolted out of the dugout and raised his left arm like he was hailing a cab to take OP to LaGuardia to get on a Delta Shuttle flight to Buffalo. The only thing missing was Manuel having a packed suitcase and plane ticket in his right hand. After the game, Manuel talked how Perez will make his next start but with Perez and today’s starter John Maine being ineffective, I’m sure Manuel is singing a different tune to Omar.

I know if I were the manager, I’d let the GM know, “if you don’t find me another starting pitcher, then get used to seeing me with a Grand Marshall sash across my uniform as I lead a parade of relievers to the mound” in fact if John Maine starts sucking in the 3^rd inning of today’s game, I hope J-Man comes out again with his arm held high.  Omar has a choice, let the manager run the bullpen into the ground or find a starter (Dillon Gee) in the bushes or make a trade for an at least league average starting pitcher.

I’ve never been a big fan of St. Joseph of Torre but watching him in the Dodger dugout last night, I felt sorry for him. With the towel around his neck and that slow gait of his, he looks like a guy at the end of the line and between the McCourt divorce and the poor play of his team, by July Torre could be ready to hand over the reigns of the team to Don Mattingly.

I’m not going to link to the story but if Ken Rosenthal has nothing else to write about  when it comes to the Mets but bat shit crazy Tony Bernazard,  then maybe it’s time Rosenthal thought about another line of work.

Toby Hyde has a great write up on the Mets minor league teams from last night. Two things stand out, Dillon Gee got roughed up for the first time this year and Fernando Martinez did not play as he has a strained back. One injury F-Mart will never get is a groin strain as the kid has no balls.

I don’t want to piss in the punch but I think a little bit of Angel Pagan is good, a lot of Angel Pagan ? Not so good. Problem is the alternative, GMJ, shouldn’t even be in the big leagues. Free Chris Carter.

Almost game time, better man up today John Maine!!!!!!

Posted under Uncategorized

Don’t forget tonight at 10PM ET I will be hosting THIS CALL TO THE BULLPEN on BLOG TALK RADIO. My guest will be Steve Slowinski of DRAYSBAY. Steve and I will talk about the Tampa Bay Rays and the AL East race. I’ll also recap the Mets-Dodgers doubleheader and also look at the upcoming weekend series between the Mets and Phillies in Philadelphia. If you can’t listen live, you can hear the replay right here at Kranepool Society (check out the lower left hand side bar) or at my show page on BLOG TALK RADIO.

The only thing missing from tonight’s twi-nighter at $iti Field is a Banner Day procession between games. With the way Mets management has all of a sudden become “fan-friendly” I’m surprised they haven’t green lighted that event already.

This is one of the perks of having a ton of tickets available for every game. It makes management humble. I know the word was there were a lot of fans at Sunday night’s game walking around the concourses and watching the game either under the stands or in McFaddens but the bottom line for the Mets, MLB and ESPN is empty seats are not very photogenic. Give the Mets credit, not only did they encourage the hardy fans who sat in the rain in the Promenade to move down and sit with the swells in high rent district (those of the silk stocking ilk who did show up Sunday must have been in the single digits) but all ticket holders for Sunday’s game were offered a freebie for another game. I’ll give the Skill Sets the benefit of the doubt here but something tells me that a call by MLB was placed to Freddy and Jeffey during the game to find as many seat fillers as they can to  make $iti Field look like the place to be on a rainy Sunday night.

The best part of Frenchy’s,  One on One with Pope Francesa on his daily snoozcast was D-Wright, Rod Barajas and Jason Bay screaming at Francouer during his interview. Pope Mikey I was not thrilled by this which is what made all the more fun to listen too. Also another awkward moment on the Francesa Time Warp Machine radio show (“Charlie un da car phone, whazz up” ) was another of those mind numbing Brad Benson car commercials where Benson talks about his “40 foot erection”.  It seems Benson, the one time NY Giants OL, bought one of the goal posts from Giants Stadium and had it “erected” it on his car dealership property. He asks everyone to come down to Brad Benson Hyundai to see his erection. As soon as the spot was done Francesa comes on and says “Steve Phillips will join us at 5:05” It made me wonder if Philips was bringing his erection along with him as well.

Posted under Uncategorized

I wonder who Mother Nature was more sick of, home plate umpire Mike Esterbrook or the inane droning of Joe Morgan but whoever it was, Mets fans thank her for the heavy rain that ended last nights Mets game and Big Plef’ heavy lifting pitching performance with a rain shortened win over the struggling Braves. For the Mets it’s about time they got a positive break and lost in this awful game was the fact the Mets swept the Braves, which should be big time news around these parts.

Pelfrey was not as bad as his line indicates; he was mostly the victim of Esterbrook’s tight as a fly’s asshole strike zone. If the game was on SNY instead of the steady in decline WWL (ESPN’s 2010 NFL Draft wasn’t even public access quality) we would have gotten the overhead view of home plate to see just where Pelf was missing. On the ESPN telecast it looked to me he was hitting the corners consistently.  

Of his 106 pitches, Pelf threw 61 of them in the first two innings, from the third to fifth it took him only 45 pitches to get through those frames. The ability to locate his fastball low in the strike zone and mix in the slider as well has been key for Pelf in getting ground ball out after ground ball out.

I haven’t verified this yet, but the rumor is when the game was called last night, Jerry Manuel sent Fernando Nieve to the bullpen to throw a simulated game. J-Man said he wanted to keep Nieve “sharp”.

A tip of the solid blue Mets cap to Caryn Rose (a/k/a Metsgrrl) for not only going to the game last night but for letting us know though her Tweets on Twitter, that the game was well attended even though on TV it looked like there was a major evacuation in Flushing. Seems now that we have a new fancy pants ball park, there are plenty of places to get high and stay dry. Whereas Shea, during a game in the rain your choice was get wet sitting in your seat or get wet standing in the concourse. I give anyone who went to the game last night a ton of credit as it was so cold and misserable last night in NYC, that I broke down and put the heat back on last night.  

The Hollywood Bums come to town starting tonight and the very hittable Hiroki Kuroda will start the first game of the series tonight against Ollie Perez. This game has the potential for both teams to hit double digits.  The Dodgers are statistically the best team in the NL but fall to the bottom in just about every pitching category in the league. The Mets have smacked around Kuroda every time they’ve faced him (0-2 one no-decision 10.1IP 23H 10.45 ERA) Ollie Perez has been OK Ollie so far this season but lets hope the outstanding pitching the starters have shown this past week or so rubs off on OP.

I hope you can join me tomorrow night at 10PM ET for THIS CALL TO THE BULLPEN on BLOG TALK RADIO. My guest will be Steve Slowinski of the DRAYSBAY site as we talk about the Tampa Bay Rays and their surge to the top on the AL East. I’ll have a recap of the Mets-Dodgers game as well and a look ahead to what is now a big weekend series with the Phillies. If you can’t join me live you can hear a replay of the show right here at Kranepool Society or at my show page on BLOG TALK RADIO.   

Posted under Uncategorized

I wonder if Theo Epstein in the privacy of his domicile, switches his Extra Innings package over to SNY to root for the Mets ? The Mets right now are playing the way Epstein had hoped his Red Sox would when he ran all his statistical analysis that told him pitching and defense is the way to go. Right now the Mets are fueled on that formula.

When you compare the Mets up the middle versus the Red Sox up the middle the only position the Mets lose out on is second base. Even with a healthy Mike Cameron would you take him over Angel Pagan? Forget a healthy Beltran (I won’t link to the Munchkin’s story but he thinks that the Beltran contract is bad for the Mets, this from a guy who has been mailing it in for the past ten years, who stopped attending the events he writes about, and treats his colleagues like shit. If anything Mike Lupica has been stealing from Mort Zuckerman for years ) and the catchers spot, Theo would be beaming if he had the tandem of Barajas/Blanco behind the plate.

With all the fun and frolic over the last week or so of Mets baseball, when was the last time we saw a Braves team this bad? Maybe back when Ted Turner started they games on TBS at 7:35PM ? I have never seen a Bobby Cox team play so badly, I ain’t complaining, just a bit taken back.

I agree with Christopher Guy of Mets Minor League Blog, it’s time to bring up Dillon Gee and let him start over John Maine.  Not only is Maine hurting physically but these interviews with him are painful to watch, the guy is a mess physically and emotionally . Put him on the 15 day DL and send him to St Lonesome to get his game and head in order and as for the spot on the 40 man roster for Gee, I think it safe to say the Mets can put Kelvin Escobar on the 60 day DL to free up a spot.

I am really starting to worry about David Wright. Forget the home runs he’s not hitting doubles either and the one thing he was doing, getting on base via walks, has dried up as well.  Maybe it time to move him to the 2 hole with Castillo leading off (if the Reyes in the 3^rd spot continues) some kind of shake up with Wright is needed as a lot of Mets fan are starting to feel he’s not the go to guy on this team anymore.

Mets management should do everyone a favor and call tonight’s game now. Not only is raining but it’s cold and the forecast for tonight is for rain and 50 degrees. Folks have to go to work and school tomorrow and if it was a comfortable night you wouldn’t mind but to be cold and wet, I don’t think so. So if you do play the game tonight, be prepared for the national audience to see 25,000 or so empty seats at $iti Field.

Posted under Uncategorized

I hope Frankie Rodriguez can pick up a fork and knife this morning to eat his breakfast, I mean the guy had to come in to pitch in the 8^th inning last night instead of his customary 9^th inning to get a (GASP!!!!) 5 out save!!!!!! Rodriguez had to throw 25 pitches to complete this unbelievable test of endurance and I’m hopping the 6ft 200lbd K-Rod is not just totally exhausted from that heavy duty work load.

All sarcasm aside here, when did baseball lose its way when it comes to pitching? Sure we could throw this all on The Genius as he reinvented bullpen use with the A’s and Denis Eckersley in the late 80’s but why did the rest of the sport follow suit and turn TLR into the baseball version of L. Ron Hubbard? Why hasn’t any organization stepped  up and denounced LaRussa-ology ? I know Nolan Ryan has as he is going about changing the mind set of the Texas Rangers organization into developing starting pitchers to go deep into there starts, but why are other organization so scared to follow The Express’ as an example?

As far as I know, TLR was a marginal journeyman player and as much as I can’t stand his hide behind his Foster Grants ass, he knows baseball. Just ask him he’ll tell you but when it comes to pitching if it comes down to TLR or even his top disciple Dave Duncan, or Nolan Ryan, I’m going with the Hall of Famer fireballer.

Watching Jerry Manuel work this bullpen drives me up a fucking wall. Fernando Nieve pitches in every game, as does Vitamin Pedro. Jenry Mejia, the kid who Manuel told management he needed desperately is being totally misused. Now that Ryota Igarhasi is on the DL look for Ruben Valdes to become an everyday pitcher.

Manuel manages his pen like he still in the American League, it’s excruciating to watch. But back to my original question, why does it have to be this way?

Yesterday I wrote about the 40^th anniversary of Tom Seaver’ 19 K game against the SD Padres. That year the 25 year old Seaver threw a baseball in 290 innings. That’s almost two seasons worth of innings in today’s game. Seaver threw for the fourth most innings that season in the NL as Bob Gibson was third with 294 IP, Fergie Jenkins was second with 313 and Gaylord Perry led the league with 328.2 IP.

In 2009 Justin Verlander led MLB pitchers in innings pitched with 240. In 1970 that would have ranked him 29^th overall (Dick Drago of the Royals threw 240 IP in 1970) Bronson Arroyo was10th overall in IP last year with 220.1 IP. In 1970 Rick Wise of the Phillies threw for 220.1 IP good for 40^th overall.

One would think with the advancements today in the physical training and with all the computer and video that teams have they could come up with some kind of pitching program that would get more length and production out of starting pitchers. Instead of paying tens of millions of dollars to a guy to come in and work one inning and throw 15-20 pitches wouldn’t it make sense to spend those millions on cultivating an organizational pitching program to train pitchers go deeper into games they’ve started ? Call it Reverse-LaRussa-ology.

Posted under Uncategorized

A very busy couple of days kept me away from here yesterday. It all started Tuesday morning. I had a 5:30 game that evening so I wanted to get my work done in the morning so I could take a couple of hours off. I get an e-mail from fellow BBA member, Daniel Shoptaw of C 70 at the Bat to see if I could pinch hit as host for the BBA Baseball Talk podcast that night. With my game at 5:30, there is a curfew of 2 hours after first pitch as we have no lights at the field where we play. The podcast was scheduled for 11PM so it all works out for me.

The way the game started for our team I thought it might even be an earlier night as there is a 10 run mercy rule after 5 innings. We were down 6-0 after 3 as our pitchers didn’t throw many strikes and the one’s they did were hit hard. After showing my annoyance with my offense for not being aggressive at the plate (“enough window shopping fellows, time to make purchase, swing the bats, next guy who takes a called third strike will need some big tweezers pull the splinters out of their butts”) they took my advice and got aggressive, that and the opposing pitcher getting gased, we get back in the game and make it 6-5 in the bottom of the 6^th (we play 7 innings) and it’s getting darker and darker. Now to this point we have bases loaded two outs and as I say not much offense, I tell my runner on 3^rd to get a good lead as he’s not being held and the pitcher is focused on the batter. First pitch, my runner goes more than half way down the line, and the pitch is a strike. When he gets back I tell him, if the ball gets past the catcher, run to the plate. Sure enough the next pitch is in the dirt, I scream to my runner (I coach 3^rd base) GO! GO! GO! So he tears down the line and as he attempts his slide in the plate the catcher puts the tag right on his lead leg and is called out. Game over.

It took me a good half hour to leave the field. The kids were pissed off and I told them this loss is on me, I told him to run and if you guys want to be mad at anyone be mad at me. I know one of my other coaches wasn’t happy with my decision and I’m sure some of the parents weren’t happy either but to tell you the truth I don’t care. I play aggressive and sometimes it works sometime it bites you in the ass, so Tuesday night I had a sore ass.

Now by the time I get home, it dawns on me, “oh shit, I’ve got to host the BBA Podcast.” So I scramble to get some material together and at 11PM Daniel and I are on the air. Check out the show here I think it went pretty good for two guys pinch hitting at the last minute.

So yesterday I took a mental health day as my managerial decisions were still driving me crazy.

Metsermized online has a great must read post on the events of April 22, 1970, the day Tom Seaver struck out 19 San Diego Padres, the last 10 batters in a row. How fitting is it that The Franchise is in town to help inaugurate the new Mets Alumni Association where former Mets players from all eras of Mets history will be on hand at $iti Field and also represent the Mets at community events. I’m ecstatic over this new Met Alumni Association because, it’s long over due and the initiative of the association of having former Mets on hand at the ball park and having them rep the organization at events has been something I’ve been advocating for some time. Maybe someone in the front office is reading this stuff if they are, thank you. 

Looks like my projection of Carlos Beltran coming back to the lineup around the All Star break now looks like an optimistic view.

If Mets fans want to be ignorant enough to boo David Wright that’s there prerogative, but as bad as Wright has looked at the plate the last week, I still believe if Jason Bay and the suddenly ice cold Frenchy could start getting productive it would help Wright. No doubt the middle of the batting order is not very productive right now and maybe it’s time for a big shake up like say, moving Wright to the lead off spot and Reyes to the 3 hole? Then move Castillo to 8 and Pagan to 2 ? The lineup would look like this:

Wright

Pagan

Reyes

Bay

Francouer

Davis

Barajas

Castillo

Pitcher

All this is moot if you have a healthy Beltran and a productive Bay, in fact with both those player in the lineup and productive with the very good pitching the team has gotten early, the 6-9 record the Mets have would be no worse than 9-6 or 10-5 and with the Phillies at 9-5 in first place, Mets fans would be in a much better state of mind.

Ryota Igarhashi going down with a strained hammy is a killer right now. I guess Tobi Stoner can’t be called back up for 10 days from the time he was sent down so it looks like we’re stuck with Manny Acosta.

Now that we know Carlos Beltran is a couple of months away from rejoining the lineup, can we please give GMJ his release and bring up Chris Carter ?

Posted under Uncategorized

Look over yonder/what do you see?

The sun is a risin/most definitely  

Maybe all those who jumped off the Mets bandwagon will end up like a European tourist stuck at JFK, while those of us who stick by our team, through good times and bad, in pulled hamstrings and very rare good health till death or utter disgust do us part, can feel a little better about our favorite baseball team. It was more than the debut of Ike Davis that has put a spring in my Mets fan step this morning, maybe it was the opponent, the Cubbies, Sweet Lou Pinella, whose every day personality was similar to an Icelandic volcano has turned docile. This is Pinella’ last season on his managerial contract and he’s acting like a guy who is ready to go back to Florida and hit the Golden Corral for the 4PM early bird special. It’s kind of sad to see the man who once as a player for the Highlanders challenged Earl Weaver and the whole Baltimore Oriole dugout to a fist fight turn into a guy hoping Walgreen’s is open late so he can pick up his Flomax prescription.

Sure the marquee story today is Ike Davis and how nice is it to see a Met on the back page of the newspaper this morning and word to the Highlander fan, your team did not invent the shaving cream pie to the face, that ritual is as old as Yogi Berra’s tired stupid sayings, and besides A.J. Burnett started his pro baseball career with the Mets so he could have learned that skill way back then. I know most of you Highlander fans didn’t know Burnett was once a Mets farmhand. Most self-centered blowhards never look beyond what’s in front of them. (as I type this I’m listening to Beningno and Roberts first call they take is a Highlander fan who went to the Mets game last night and claimed he wore his Highlander cap to the game and was impressed by Ike. It just proves my theory that Highlander fans will drop their allegiance to their team in a Manhattan minute when things go sour and jump on the Mets bandwagon.  You Highlander fans who troll this site know I’m right. The Highlanders biggest fear is not the Red Sox, it’s the Mets. That’s why that fan base loves to ridicule us and act the fools that they are because of fear, they fear that someday the light switch in Flushing will go on and the Mets will become a contending team and take over the town. It will happen. There are far more Highlander fans that go to Mets game than vice versa and you don’t need to interrogate  them a la Jack Bauer for them to tell you our ball park is where the cool kids hang out unlike their shrine to pomposity)

Jon Niese showed what the “spit tobacco juice in a cup” baseball guys like to say, a lot of bulldog. When a pitcher has all his pitches working and is in command for most of the games, fans go overboard with praise but for me when a youngster like Niese pitches a game where he gets into jams, doesn’t panic and gets out of those situation more on the plus side and not, that is the true test of a big league pitcher. Niese threw a lot of pitches in a limited amount of innings but he threw strikes, got more ground balls than fly balls and only three line drives.

Angel Pagan has done the only thing that could stop J-Man from using GMJ, he has produced at a high level. Hopefully it continues as Carlos Beltran is off to Colorado to get his knee checked and even if he comes back with a positive report I doubt we’ll see him back until after the All-Star break.

Welcome back Jason Bay

Sure I’m overly giddy today after last night’s game, I don’t apologize for it and your right it most likely is a premature ejaculation of optimism but I just hope our baseball season started last night. Mets fans just want to have fun!!!!!

Posted under Uncategorized

Ike Davis was pulled from the Buffalo Bison line up today and is en route to Flushing. Is he the Savior? No and no one is claiming he is what he is, is a player to get excited about watching as the rest of the team flounders.

If you prefer Mike Jacobs or Fernando Tatis at first base or Frank Catalanotto batting clean up then you deserve to have Jeffey Skill Sets as your owner and Omar Minaya as your GM.

Posted under Uncategorized