First things first, Happy Mothers Day Let’s hope the Mets bring you a nice sweep of the Giants as a Mothers Day gift.

Nice to see Mike Piazza wants to go into the Hall of Fame as a Met and quite frankly he should. Even though I’m not a big Piazza fan (I’ll still take Jerry Grote over him forget the offense Grote was a real leader and was second only to Johnny Bench who I consider the greatest catcher ever, in his era) but it would be nice to see a Mets cap on his HOF plaque.

Just to let you know the Mets are the talk of the town once again. Yesterday before our Babe Ruth game there was more talk of the Barajas walk off than their was about who we were playing. !4 boys some Mets fans some Highlander fans all agreed on one thing, just once in their lives they’d love to hit a walk off homer, not a Little League homer but a real over the fence win the game homer. Same thing last night when I went to a father-daughter dinner-dance at my daughter’s school, the dads some Mets most Highlander were talking about the Mets back to back, catcher to catcher walk off home run wins.

Wayne Coffey has a great story on Highlander trainer Gene Monahan and his fight with throat cancer. Put your fan allegiance aside and pray for Geno.

Hank White takes a pie from Alex Cora after his walk off blast. Who will be the hero today (I Like Ike)

LMillz got caught again with his head down the other night thinking he had a home run when it hit off the wall. Milledge thought it was a grand slam his first in the bigs,  the Pirate and Cubs announcers thought is was gone, the guys who sets off the fireworks and play the music at PNC  Park thought it was gone, but as Milledge styled around second base Alfonso Soriano threw the ball in from left field to shortstop Ryan Thierot which stunned Milledge, as he ran back to 2^nd base Thierot threw to Jeff Baker who tagged Millz out.

Posted under Uncategorized

It’s been awhile since we’ve seen the Mets win in walk off fashion, in fact the last time was August 7, 2008 as David Wright took Heath Bell of the Padres yard, so watching the mosh pit at home plate for Rod Barajas was special. With all the negativity that has surrounded the Mets just seeing all the players waiting for Barajas at home plate and slamming him around was wonderful. But the best part of the celebration was after they mugged the catcher for his blast, the players all ran to Ike Davis and hugged him and patted him on the back  not just for the fact he hit two bombs in the game but his defensive play in the 9^th inning saved the game.

For the second time in his short stint with the Mets, Davis grabbed a foul pop and then used the dugout railing as a parallel bar which at 6’4” is an astonishing act of athleticism and kudos to Alex Cora for breaking his fall.

Listening to Barajas in the post game interview with Kevin Burkhardt its clear the Mets have taken on a “no one believes in us but us” approach. Barajas deflected all the talk of what he did to talking about what the team did and he also sent a message to Mets fans who have sworn off attending games at $iti Field, get your tickets now or you’ll be shit outta luck latter.

The biggest improvement with the Mets is all the news on focused on the field. No one is talking about ownership or the front office. Sure Jerry Manuel gets slapped around every other game but that’s part of the managers job to take the hits as the out front guy. Talk to Mets fans and you here real live baseball talk, sure after the Cincinnati defeats we wanted to cut a lot of guys but still it’s on field baseball talk.

If the Mets keep playing as hard nosed as they have the past couple of weeks, I’ll put up with clueless “Hospitality agents” , snail like speed of concession workers, and even the dreaded black jerseys, just keep giving us games like last night and Mets will put up with anything management tosses at them.

Not only was Rod Barajas the hero last night but he hit that home run while Bengi Molina was behind the plate. Molina did not start the game and during an interview with Kevin Burkhardt, Molina whined about how he wanted t be a Met sooooo badddddddddly and was upset a deal could not be reached. What a cry baby, I wonder how Bruce Bochy and Brain Sabean feel hearing this whine session. The Giants did Moilina a favor by bringing him back as they’ve wanted top prospect Buster Posey to take over the job. When Posey was brought up late last season, Molina was pissed and never helped the young catcher that’s why the Giants didn’t want Molina back. But once they figured to give Posey a little more time in Triple A, they threw Molina a bone, and after hearing him last night with KB, one of the best moves Omar made this past off season was not bringing this ingrate on board.

Posted under Uncategorized

I’m having some major computer issues today so that’s why this post is sooooooo late. I’m internet (as I posted on Twitter) was as slow as Ramon Castro going first to third and has surpassed Mo Vaughn after lunch slow to Bengi Molina slow so that’s why I’m shutting everything down and going out to hang out with James Gandolfini and Steve Shrippa out here in TriBeca. 

Before I write about the Mets today a word or two on Lawrence Taylor. What happened yesterday with  LT is a major kick in the nuts to all NY Giants fans of my generation. Taylor was not just the greatest Giants player of all time but arguably one of if not the greatest football player to ever approach the line of scrimmage. I don’t know if he was set up by the girls pimp or what the whole story is with this girl who was portrayed as a runaway and now from reading the news stories this morning, had a falling out with her family and removed from her home to live with an uncle, it’s such a sordid affair and a story that will just grow as more information comes out. But with all that the fact that the girl was 16 will be what sends LT to the slammer and if he did have sex with this girl, who allegedly was sent to LT against her will and was beat up by the pimp before hooking up with Taylor, then LT should go to prison for a long time.

I’m not throwing my 56 jersey in the trash just yet. I’m holding out hope that this was a frame job and that may be naive of me but LT is in my pantheon of New York sports legends so he gets the benefit of the doubt right now.

The Hall Of The Very Good has a Q & A with ex-Met and Hall of Famer, Gary Carter. An interesting exchange in this post is Carter’ take on Tim Raines making the Hall of Fame:

HOVG: This July, you’ll be on that stage in Cooperstown when “The Hawk” finally makes his way to Cooperstown. How long until Raines gets his call?

CARTER: It may be a long time or maybe never. He has good numbers but that is a tough call.

Interesting to say the least

The Mets Police has a couple of interesting items today one is a photo of $iti Field with the walls painted Mets blue and the old skyline that was above the (bow heads) Shea Stadium scoreboard and is now above the Shake Shack and Blue Smoke incorporated into the new scoreboard. This looks fabulous, absolutely fabulous. Then Mets Police Chief Shannon Shark brings up an interesting argument, should the Mets wear either their Los Mets or a roadie made up with Nueva York when the go to Puerto Rico to play the Fish and then wear them to Phoenix when they play the Snakes ? As Shannon says I don’t want to start a political shit storm here, but I’m sure long time readers can figure out where I stand on the law passed in Arizona, I would definitely vote to wear Nueva York jersey’s as they make more sense than Los Mets.

Posted under Uncategorized

Tonight on VERSUS following coverage of the NHL Playoffs (around 10:30PM or so) Darryl Strawberry will be a guest on THE DAILY LINE.

Join Liam McHugh, Jenn Sterger, Reese Waters and Rob De Angellis along with Darryl Strawberry tonight on THE DAILY LINE on VERSUS.

Posted under Uncategorized

At the end of the day, you know what I mean, it is what it is, at the end of the day that is”

From the Tao of Omar

If you came here to day for an explanation on the moves made by Jerry Manuel, well, you came to the wrong place. How do you explain taking out David Wright for Fernando Tatis ? By saying Tatis is the emergency 3^rd catcher? Well, fine but how do you justify keeping GMJ in the game in left field? How do you justify GMJ being on this team?  

The shame here is the waste of good pitching by the Mets with this anemic offense, The Jose Reyes experiment as the 3 hitter should end right now. I don’t know if it’s a matter of not being comfortable in that spot or if it’s just that Reyes was rushed back, whatever it is something’s not right with Reyes. So put him back on the top of the order. I hate to go after Luis Castillo as he is the only one other than Wright who actually gets on base, but he’s not even a banjo hitter at this point, he’s more ukulele at this point, so drop him to 8^th .  Rod Barajas has the hot power bat so keep in the 7 spot. As for Jason Bay, there is no sense in benching him, this is a bad slump for sure but if you did give him a day or two off who do you replace him with ? The Mets bench sucks, except for Hank White.  So what to do, well here would be my lineup for Friday vs the Giants

Reyes

Pagan

Wright

Bay

Davis

Francoeur

Barajas

Castillo

Pelfrey

I know that Manuel likes to spilt up left/right but you don’t have personnel for that set up. By letting Davis hit 5^th that’s the best you can do to keep from tipping too much to the right.

The biggest knock I have with management is the lack of creativity. As I stated ,the Mets bench is awful. Mets fans want GMJ gone and I agree but Frank Catalanotto is just as bad and needs to go as well. Daniel Murphy is a long way from getting back to Flushing so he’s not an option right now. But Chris Carter is an option right now. Carter can’t do anymore than he’s doing in Buffalo and with GMJ proving the Angles right in giving him away, it reeks of penny pinching that GMJ is not shown the door and Carter is not given a  shot with the big league team. I have no problem keeping Tatis as he had value as a pinch hitter and can fill in any where on the field.

How about going after Matt Stairs of the Padres ? or Mark Kotsay of the White Sox or Scott Podsednik and Willie Bloomquist of the Royals. Time for Omar and Manuel to stop with all the double talk jive bullshit and shake this offense up. If neither guy is up to the job then get out and let someone in who can. No team is going to run away with the NL east nor the Wild Card, it’s time to get aggressive.

Posted under Uncategorized

A couple of notes from last night:

On last night’s THIS CALL TO THE BULLPEN I had a great time talking to Dave Payne and Aviv Blasbalg of the website Sox vs. Stripes as we talked about the Red Sox, Yankees and the AL East.  When I gave their site a plug of the broadcast, I gave out the wrong web address and for that I apologize to Dave and Aviv for that. Check out Sox vs Stripes for your Yankees and Red Sox information.

All of baseball is sadden by the death of Ernie Harwell. A must read today is Joe Posnanski’s reminisces of Harwell, and this video of Vin Scully talking about Harwell during the Dodgers-Brewers game last night. Scully tells a great story about Ernie and does not miss a beat of the play by play.

I’m sure Fernando Nieve can file an unfair labor grievance against Jerry Manuel, give the guy a day off J-Man.

At what point do Phillies fans stop embarrassing themselves?  For me, I hope never. I can’t believe there are people who feel that Philly cop was WRONG to Tased that little jerk off who ran on the field the other night. That video was priceless. Just to watch that little shit head, prancing around the field with his  “LOOK AT ME,  “LOOK AT ME” attitude and when he wouldn’t stop, the cop zapped him and he goes down like the sack of shit he is was outstanding. By the way the reason the guy last night wasn’t Tased is that whales are protected spices and by the way you fat fuck, Uncle Floyd called and he wants his pants back.

Game time see ya later!

Posted under Uncategorized

Go to hit the road this morning for work as I have a training class to attended so I just want to send out a reminder that tonight at 10PM ET I’ll be hosting THIS CALL TO THE BULLPEN on BLOG TALK RADIO.

My guests will be Dave Payne and Aviv Blasbalg of Sox vs. Pinstripes. Dave is the Red Sox fan/writer and Aviv the Highlander fan/writer. We’ll look at the season so far for both teams and the race in the AL East and look ahead to the weekend series at Fenway Park between the two teams.

As always, if you can’t join us live you can listen later from our show page on BLOG TALK RADIO or right here at Kranepool Society (click on the widget on the lower left side bar)

Quick hits:

That was one tough game to watch last night between no one in the ball park (announced attendance was 14,350. They must have counted 350 in the seats and 14,000 driving by the ball park), Ollie with his walks and the offense stagnant, by 9PM I bailed not just because the game was dragging but it was time for 24. Just for one day, I want to be like Jack Bauer, I mean what could be better than to grab someone you can’t stand by the neck and say “Do you know who I am” and have them shit themselves.

Big Pelf went for an MRI because he felt tightness in his shoulder.   The MRI came out fine and Pelf said nothing to worry about. I guess when he books a flight to Birmingham, then I’ll panic.

First it was booing Santa Claus, then it was cheering as Michael Irvin was laid out unconscious on the field, then it was a jail at the Vet, then it was fans vomiting on children and now cops using stun guns on fans. Welcome to Philadelphia America’s Most Uncivilized City.

Posted under Uncategorized

There are losses and there are losses but then again THERE ARE LOSSES and last night was one of those LOSSES.

You will read and hear a lot today about last nights Mets 11-5 loss to the Phillies some will say it’s much to early to worry and losing a series in the beginning of May is not the end of the world and Johan Santana himself said “it was just one those games” but to me and many Mets fans it wasn’t just one of those games, quite frankly it was a major embarrassment.

It all started when the lineup was posted, the Mets Twitter Nation was up in arms over seeing GMJ and Fernando Tatis, two players who could not play on any other major league team, playing instead of Angel Pagan and Ike Davis. Supposedly the numbers that Tatis and GMJ have against Jamie Moyer favored the move but I would hope that the manager would have thought, “I have a chance to take the series from my top rival that is reeling a bit, I have my Ace pitcher going so I need to play my best eight guys today” But Jerry Manuel decided he could play his best six and win and after the first inning he looked like a prophet. To be honest this loss had nothing to do with GMJ and Tatis in the line up (even though it is very interesting that the Mariners cut Eric Byrnes after their game yesterday but GMJ keeps on keepin’ on with the Mets even as Chris Carter is more deserving of his spot, by the way when was the last time Omar Minaya made an in season trade to help the team? Don’t say Ryan Church for Frenchy as Minaya stated that John Rico was responsible for that move) it was more of Johan Santana not stepping up in the first big spot of the season.

I don’t want to kill Santana because I really like and admired him. He proved his mettle in the next to last game in 2008 against the Marlins but I am so disappointed over last nights game that anything I write here will be pure emotion, but as I watched the Santana come up small a few things whirled around in my head.

When reporters ask you who the best pitcher is in the NL East, I would hope Johan Santana now knows to shut the fuck up. Just say, “it’s not for me to say who’s the best and all that, let the records speak for themselves”. Roy Halliday said nothing in spring training but on Saturday, I don’t care how big a Mets fan your are or how big a Phillies hater you are, Halliday made his statement on Saturday on who is the best in the NL East.

The 4^th inning was one of the worst innings I have endured in a long time but the big picture here is what happened in the bottom of the 1^st. David Wright just gave Santana a 3-0 cushion and Mets Twitter-verse were popping champagne corks. But Santana broke a cardinal sin of pitching, when your team puts up a crooked number in your half of the inning, you need to pitch a scoreless inning in the oppositions half inning, Santana failed that. There were some stupid Tweets about if the game was at “Citi Field those wouldn’t be home runs” bottom line Santana needed a 1-2-3 inning there and he failed.

The other thoughts I had after this disaster was about Tom Seaver and Doc Gooden and Jerry Koosman  those three guys would not have lost that game yesterday, in fact all three  would have stepped off the mound and adjusted there cups to show the Phillie fans just what they thought of them.  I even thought of Frank “Sweet Music “ Viola or Rosalita Leiter and Petey, they would not only not walk Jamie Moyer, they would have attacked Carlos Ruiz. Neither would have Sid Fernandez or Craig Swan. Or Ron Darling or Bobby Ojeda. Or John Matlack or David Cone. Or Orel Hershiser or even T-t-t-t-o-m G-g-g-g-lavine (God forgive me!)

If Santana pitches like the Ace he says he is last night and the Mets win, I leave my house this morning without pants on as my arousal couldn’t be contained, instead I’m as flaccid as Johan Santana’ fastball.

Johan Santana has lost me right now, and I think he’s lost his teammates a bit as well. After the 4^th inning the Mets bench was dead. Their top pitcher just got his ass handed to him and all the good cheer of the last homestand and the game on Friday went out the window. Of course the players won’t say so and all would deny it loudly, but actions speak louder than words. Forget Mets fans trust, Santana needs to regain his teammates trust more.

Posted under Uncategorized

Not much to get your nuts twisted over after yesterday’ game , Roy Haliday did what he’s been doing his whole career, keeping hitters off balance and dominating. 10-0 loss mark it down to shit happens. If Jose Reyes and Alex Cora make a couple of plays (both balls hit them in the glove tough plays but it’s the big leagues ‘fellas gotta catch those) maybe the game takes a different spin.

Win the game tonight with our Ace, who has a 4-1 lifetime record against the Phuck Phaces and all is right with the Mets world again.

The thing to watch after this game is how Big Pelf responds in his next start, most likely next Friday at home against the Giants.  Will it be old Pelf, less focused or ne Pelf, confidant and secure that he is a top echelon pitcher ?  Can’t wait for Friday to find out.

Sometimes it’s the little things that tell you about a player and a team. Jerry Manuel told Jeff Francoeur he was sitting out yesterday’s game due to getting plunked on the elbow with a pitch and crashing into the wall to make a catch. When told of this decision, Frenchy respectfully told the manager, hell to the no, I’m playing. So Manuel put him in. Big props to Frenchy.

Yes I know Alex Cora is a clubhouse leader and will be a big league manager and adopts Haitian orphans, is working a cure for cancer and feeds the homeless, but he has look so bad at bat and in the field so far this season that I get pissed when he plays instead of Luis Castillo. Hard to believe but I pray for Castillo’s good health.

I’m looking forward to the HBO Broad Street Bullies presentation this Tuesday night.  I’m sure this clip will be shown prominently during the show.

Posted under Uncategorized

No need to ask he’s a smooth operator

There was something different about the Mets last night, not just the great pitching performance by Jon Neise or the bombs away hitting of Daivd Wright, Rod Barajas or Frenchy there was a confidence displayed by the team that has been missing for awhile. When you look at Jason Bay the guy never seems to get rattled.  Ike Davis is the same way it feels like Davis has been here for a couple of years instead of a couple of weeks. The players all said during spring training that they knew they had a good team and that they’ll prove once the season starts, I for one didn’t believe it. I’m not going over board just yet although beating the Phillies like they did and shutting up the louts that inhabit Citizen’s Bank Park has we ready to go overboard.

It’s easy to go crazy during this hot streak and hopeful Big Pelf works his magic to day against Roy Haliday but the test of the makeup of this team to me will be how they react when they hit a bump in the road. They’ve already hi one early in the year and have shown for guts than last years team ever did but at some point the pitching is going to struggle and the bats will slump a bit and how the team reacts to that adversity will be the test .

I don’t want to dwell on that now though I just want to see the Mets kick Roy Halliday and the Phillies ass this afternoon.

Posted under Uncategorized