As I sat and watched last nights game and another Mike Pelfrey melt down I wondered if Mike Pelfrey still had minor league options and would the Mets make a move to send him to Buffalo? I was set to tweet this to find an answer  and just as I was about to type, Gary Cohen (belated Happy Birthday to Gary by the way) answered my question for me, yes Pelf has options and Cohen took it a step further and asked would the Mets send him to Buffalo? Cohen and Ron Darling thought that might be the move to make but Keith Hernandez was not in favor. If you ask me, if you can option Pelfrey to Triple A then you have to do it for his sake, the teams sake, and maybe the least, for the fans.

It’s to the point where watching Pelfrey pitch has become very uncomfortable. The hand licking thing is really, really annoying, it’s like a nervous twitch.  I always get the feeling we are one hit or walk or balk away from Pelfrey  curling up on the mound in the fetal position and sucking his thumb. Especially in Philadelphia where he routinely melts down.

The 4^th inning last night was a prime example. You knew as soon as Ryan Howard hit that home run, Pelfrey was done for the night. That home run would stay in his head for the rest of the start. There is no “turn the page” in the Mike Pelfrey Playbook.  After the home run, next batter Ben Francisco gets a base hit and steals second because Pelfrey is still thinking about the home run and Josh Thole is still a green horn behind the plate and that’s a problem as well. Pelfrey needs a veteran catcher to call the game for him. He’s stated this as the less he has to think the better he is, that’s why he loved pitching to Henry Blanco, and to an extent pitched his best game of the year throwing to Mike Nickeas. If the front office feels they want to keep Pelfrey up here then they should make Pelf become Ronnie Paulino’s pet project and have him become his pitching chauffer.

The decision on what to do with Pelfrey becomes even dicier with Dillion Gee still here. It’s clear, if the Mets are not going to put Gee in the rotation then they need to send him to Buffalo and let him pitch every fifth day. It’s not fair to him. His mind set is as a starting pitcher and I felt Terry Collins (who did an awful managerial job last night, how do you walk Brain Schneider intentionally with two out and the pitcher up next?) did Gee a real disservice by bringing him in relief like he did. Collins wanted to start Gee last night to give Pelfrey a couple of more days to get over the flu bug that wore him out. Collins let Pelf talk him into giving him the ball. I hope TC learned always go  with your first instinct next time.

So my patience is up with Pelfrey and a shuffle up to Buffalo or a trip to Dr. Phil’ couch look to be in order. As for Pelfrey being the ace of the staff, that was some made up main stream media mumbo jumbo bullshit. As Bobby Valentine says, the ace of your staff is that day starting pitcher. Amen!

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I just saw this on Metsblog about an interview Willie Harris gave to MASN last night about difference playing for the Mets and the Nats and I think it’s safe to say there’s a shit storm a-comin’:

“The (Mets and the Nationals) are a lot different. You know, over here in New York it seems as if everything is somewhat segregated, guys stick to themselves pretty much. In DC, it was more unified. It’s different each place you go. I’m trying to get accustomed to it. I really miss those guys on the other side. I miss playing here in DC, I miss the fans, and wish them the best only except when they’re playing against us.”

I’m sure using the word “segregated” will be what sets fans off and Harris will have to explain that word choice but what gets me is the part where he says he misses playing in DC and the fans, are you fucking kidding me?

Take care Willie don’t let the door hit ‘ya where the good Lord spilt ya’

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Well, if anything comes as a positive out of breaking the winning streak last night, it’s that we won’t see the black uni tops hopefully for a while. I’d say it’s a safe bet the all grays will be in play tonight.

Strange line on Chris Capuano last night.  Cap had no problem throwing strikes (67/27 K/BB ratio) and he was ahead in the count from the start with 21 first pitches to the 28 batters he faced were strikes. The Nats did knock him around for 10 hits but no walks but only 2 K’s. Weird.

The 4^th inning did Cap in as the Nats started teeing off but it was a bizarre sac/fielder’s choice thingy with fat ass Livan Hernandez getting in Josh Thole’ way as he couldn’t get around El Gordo. But when the smoke cleared is just a one run Nationals lead. The pitch that Cap regretted the most was the one he threw to Ian Desmond in the 5^th , that went  over the right field fence to give DC a two run lead.  That home run hurt more as the Mets came back in the 6^th when Ike Davis (of course!) doubled home Carlos Beltran to make it a one run game again.

Okay, I’ve seen enough of Willie Harris for a while, time to put Harris on the shelf . A little bit of Willie Harris in our lives is good, a lot of Willie Harris? No good.

Either play Jason Pridie every day until Angel Pagan comes back or bring up Captain Kirk for a taste of the big leagues but really enough Willie Harris, he’s not an ever day player.

I’m sure Big Pelf will be on a short leash tonight between battling the flu and not having a great track record against the Phuck Phaces, if he starts getting knocked around in the first or second inning, I’m sure Terry Collins will go right to Dillion Gee as this management cares about wins not hurting players feeling.

I’m so anxious for Ronnie Paulino to be activated and joining the big league team for the simple fact, I’m not convinced Ronnie Paulino actually exists.

It’s nice when there is competition of a roster spot, as it lit a fire under Josh Thole to get that bat going to stay in the bigs. That was one of the biggest problems in the past for the Mets, a sense of entitlement of a job, that is no more.

I want all of you to go over to the Real Dirty Mets site and wish Ed Marcus a/k/a Rusty Jr. a very happy birthday.

So now the Skill Sets are ready to give some juice to whoever buys into a minority share of the club. According to the NY Post (line up for your grain of salt) the Skill Sets will grant veto power to the new investor as it pertains to team payroll and player contracts. If all this is true and comes to fruition (again it’s in the Murdoch fish wrap) this could a huge boost for the Mets organization. What the organization needs is injection of fresh money and fresh ideas and most of all someone who doesn’t have a Skill Sets bloodline sitting in the boardroom. Everyone who is a decision maker except for the Baseball Ops division is related in some way or the other. It reminds me of when I worked for Century 21 department store; every department manager of the store was a member of the Gindi family. It didn’t matter if they were competent as long as they were a Gindi. Now we just have to hope the new partner is a Stu Sternberg clone.

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Tomorrow George Foster will be at the Citi Bank branch on Canal St and Edgardo Alfonzo will be in Levittown, doing a meet and greet with the Mets fans. Here are the details:

Mets Alumni Association Presented by Citi

George Foster

12:00PM – 1:30PM
309 Canal Street
New York, NY 10013

Edgardo Alfonzo
12:00PM – 1:30PM
3375 Hempstead Turnpike
Levittown, NY 11765

I may take a walk over to Canal St during my lunch hour to say hi to George Foster.

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What will the Mets beat writers do?  This is not what they envisioned; they were all giddy with the awful start of the season so they could use their best material,the team is broke,  the team can’t hit, the starting pitching stinks, how could Sandy Alderson think he could rebuild a bullpen with cheap knocks offs, and what’s with this manager ? All this positivity in the clubhouse, going to each player during the early season losing and giving encouragement, doesn’t he know he’s the manager of the Mets?

I’m sure the beat men will find a way to get an ownership story or a slow ticket sale story in there some way today because why should we Mets fans have joy? Why should we think that this six game winning streak and the way they came back has put a jump in our step today, and have folks who know of our devotion to the Blue and Orange greet us with “I know your enjoying this” . YES, yes I am and so are all Mets fans, even Daniel Murphy, who is the quintessential Met (on offense the fans yell,” YEAH MURPH”, on defense the yell “AW SHIT MURPH”) is getting tipsy with the success calling out 100 wins as the goal for the Mets. As I say, I love Murph like he’s a cousin, but let’s not get crazy, I love the enthusiasm but YIKES!!!

What more can be said about visually challenged  umpire Marvin Hudson’ and the horrific crime he committed against the Mets and Jose Reyes.  After my initial outrage and my simple response to this Tweet from David Lennon, I noticed from the many replays that not only was Reyes safe and his hand never left the bag but the way Reyes flipped out by tossing his helmet didn’t get him thrown out of the game, nor did Chip Hale who was Rodman-esque in his box out of Reyes but still got in position to scream in Hudson’s face didn’t get tossed and neither did Terry Collins who got in Hudson’s grill and bumped him when he ran to argue. Add in that none of the other shitheads in blue came to Hudson’s defense, solidifies this major fuck up by Hudson.

One thing about the call, it woke up the club. Up to that point, this was a pedestrian contest  that feature a close to one hour rain delay, and a sparse crowd that was made up of mainly Mets fans  (on TV replays the whole lower bowl of Nationals Park seemed to be all Mets fans)  and Bob Ross R.A. Dickey painting away with just a few happy accidents. Then came “The Call” and then Danny Boy Murphy clocking a home run that had Gary Cohen make one of his classic “IT’S OUTTTTTTTAAAAAA HHHEEEEEEREEEEEEE” calls to tie the game.

I know, I know Murph was a spectator on the “double” by Adam LaRoche (something I preach with my kids, no spectators on the field know where to should be on every play) but the ball was in Bay’s glove and popped out but what gets lost in the inning is the passed ball by Thole that advanced pinch runner Brian Bixler to third allowing him to score the go ahead run on Wilson Ramos Sac Fly. Enough blame to spread around.

I despise the Black jersey’s but I love the wins and if I have to put up the sight of dreaded black to keep this winning streak going then so be it, let the Mets be the Princes of Darkness.     

When Roger McDowell was a Met he was one big goof ball. With all the crap that swirled around with the team you never heard anything negative about McDowell . Now there is an allegation of McDowell making homophobic slurs and telling a man and his family “that kids don’t belong at the fuckin’ ballpark”. If the allegations are true and I say IF and can be proven then the Braves will have to take some sort of disciplinary actions against McDowell.  What I find unseemly about this is the alleged victim looks like he’s looking for a payday. As soon as you hire Systerest to the Stars, Gloria Alldred you lose me as an ally. If Mr. Quinn went to the media with this, he’d have more creditability with me.  McDowell has apologized for his actions but that won’t be enough for the Quinn’s, but I’m sure the apology with a nice six figured check would suffice.  Everyone is a victim until the check clears.

Dodgers owner for now, Frank McCourt ,was in the NYC to meet with officials of MLB about the fate of the Hollywood Bums. After the meeting, McCourt was seen strolling along Prospect Park West in Brooklyn checking doorbells for anyone named Ebbits or McKeever.

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Another game another win, and the Tea Party Mets fans have quieted down as there isn’t anything to get hysterical about.

I’m not ready to block out the month of October yet on my calendar, as the caliber of opponent  has not been challenging during this win streak but again good teams put the bottom feeders away and it’s made this weekend’s games in Philly a must see.

Chris Young admitted after the game that his command was off but he hadn’t pitched in over two weeks and at 88 pitches he made the mark that club set for him. The home runs were a product of not being able to hit his spots but then again they were all solo shots.  The big test will be today for Young when he gets to the park. If he feels as good as he said he did last night after the game, then it’s a win and if he does feel fine to make his next start, then you’ll see Dillon Gee go back to Buffalo.

It also helps that the bullpen has settled in to a groove and Terry Collins has a reliever for every situation. The back end is set with Taylor Bucholz and Pedro Beato as 7^th inning or 8^th inning guys depending on the status of set up man deluxe Jason Issringhausen followed by closer for now Frankie Rodriguez.  You also have Tim Brydak and Ryota Igarashi as the LOOGY/ROOGY Yin-Yang and the Gee/Carrasco long man role. It’s always nice when relievers know their set roles. It’s a beautiful  thing.

I’m looking forward to Friday night’s game against the Phuck Phaces just to see who catches Big Plef.  Even with Joe Blanton going for the Phuck’s, I be surprised if Josh Thole is behind the plate. I could see Mike Nickeas or Ronnie Paulino getting the task to talk Pelfrey through his start. The Mets could activate Paulino and keep Nickeas up going with three catchers for this game only and sending Dillon Gee back to Buffalo. Then after the game send Nickeas to Buffalo as well and bring back DJ Carrasco to take up long man duty in the bullpen. If Nickeas catches Pelfrey then it would give Paulino a chance to work with Pelf between starts. Listen, if finding a personal catcher for Mike Pelfrey translates into quality starts then I’m all for it. Josh Thole shouldn’t be upset, it’s not personal it’s business.

I guess we won’t be hearing any of the stupid trade Ike talk anymore huh? How about Ike for MVP?

I’m ready to throw some batting practice today to my team so I have go out and re-stock the medicine cabinet with some Extra Strength Tylenol and some Icy-Hot patches. Later!

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pic courtesy of Bob’s Blitz

No Mets game last night so I tuned into the NY Highlander-Chicago White Stockings game from the South Bronx. I had two options on where to watch the festivities, ESPN or YUCK. The one outlet I wanted to watch it on CSN-Chicago (I know I’m in the minority but I enjoy listening to Hawk Harrelson do White Sox games) was blacked out because MLB Extra Innings feels that since I live in a NYC zip code I enjoy watching the YUCK Network, which could not be further from the truth. In fact, I rarely watch the YUCK Network, but last night I did and all I can say is, whatever SNY is paying Gary Cohen, Ron Darling, Keith Hernandez and Kevin Burkhardt they are getting away cheap, in fact if I were the agents for those gentleman I would use tape of the games on YUCK to get my clients big pay raises.

I started off watching this game on ESPN and was quite happy that Sean McDonough was the play by play man. Then when I heard Rick Sutcliffe and Aaron Boone chiming in, I ducked for cover. Sutcliffe always sounds like he had a few Rob Roy’s before the game and Boone brings nothing of substance to the telecast. In fact these three men in a booth is a disaster on every sporting event except for Mets games on SNY. Gary, Keith and Ron are the gold standard for the three man booth. The Mark Jackson, Jeff Van Gundy duo would work very well as a three man booth if the third man wasn’t Mike Breen.Put Marv Albert with those two and you’d have the basketball version of sports broadcasting nirvana.

So back to YUCK I go and as I tune in Michael Kay brings in Kim Jones to the broadcast. Jones is a very good nuts and bolts reporter having been the Giants beat writer and general NFL correspondent for the Newark Star-Ledger but as a “personality” well she’s lacking in that department . When she fills in on WFAN she comes off at times as a female version of Mike Francesa, but anyway, Kay brought her in to take about Phil Hughes and his “dead arm”. Jones went on a dissertation that made me think Highlanders fans have a problem comprehending information as Jones spoke…….very……..slowly…….and…..accented……some….key…..words……in…..her……report……like….it…..was…..remidial…….tv………watching……….

The fact that she reported that Hughes stopped his throwing session because his arm felt very heavy, to me was a major story and one if I were of the Highlander persuasion would cause me some alarm. When Jones threw it back to Kay, he acted like it wasn’t a big deal. To his credit, Al Leiter, a man we all know who pitched in the big leagues, showed the kind of concern I would have thought the newly wed Mr. Jodi Applegate would have.  As Leiter spoke about the effects of this on the Highlanders and on Hughes himself, Mr Applegate asked “Al did you ever go through a dead arm period”? Now if Leiter and Kay weren’t BFF’s I’m sure Letier would have exposed Kay for the fraud he is. Just about every pitcher deals with a dead arm problem, mostly in spring training but the bounce back after a day or three and Leiter was making it known that this situation with Hughes could be very serious. I guess Kay was more concerned with going home and having some Chicken Parm and then sharing the wedding bed with Madame’ Applegate.

For an extra added attraction, former Met Philip Humber, now a ChiSox pitcher was in the midst of no hitting the Bronx Bastards. It was hard not to know the BB’s were hitless as Kay mentioned it every ten seconds. When Alex Rodriguez got the first Highlander hit in the 7^th    there was a sigh of relief coming from the YUCK booth because not only was the calamity of the Highlanders being no hit averted but now it was time for some good old fashion  Mets bashing, everybody take your pants off WOOOOO-HOOOOOO.

Kay went into full rant about the Mets never having been on the celebratory side on a no-no but of course pitchers who at one time toed the rubber for the Amazin’s have and of course he couldn’t wait to felate  his partner Leiter by bringing up his no hitter against the Colorado Rockies when he was a Marlin.

After ten minutes more of the reading of names of former Mets pitchers who pitched no hitters with clubs other than the Mets I was done.  I watched the rest of the game on ESPN which was more entertaining anyway as Rick Sutcliffe was on his 5^th drink by the time I tuned in.

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Today is the 35th Anniversary of Rick Monday saving the American flag from being burned by a couple of assholes at Dodger Stadium. What made this attempt at flag burning even more galling back then was the country was getting ready to celebrate the Bicentennial.  I hope those two morons in the picture that tried to light the flag on fire have had 35 years of misery.

So much for same old Mets.  As we see no matter your contract, if you don’t produce, you can be replaced and Sandy Alderson is calling the shots.

After Dillion Gee’ start on Saturday, Terry Collins stated in his post-game press conference that it would be better to have Gee pitch on a regular basis in Buffalo than in the Mets bullpen. Well, the GM had a different idea, keeping Gee and shipping D.J. Carrasco out to the Bison. The names bantered around that would be effected by solid outing by Gee were Chris Capuano or Chris Young and I felt Jon Niese could be the odd man out, I have to say I never thought about Carrasco getting the boot to Buffalo. Who the hell knew that Carrasco had options? Sandy Alderson that’s who.

Ronnie Paulinohas had another set back with a strained rib cage so that means the  Nickeas /Thole catching combo lives on.  When it comes time to activate Paulinoit may be Thole who gets sent back to Buffalo. Thole has not done much with the bat and it looks like he will not be behind the plate when Big Pelf pitches (we will know if Nickeas catches Pelfrey on Friday when he is scheduled to go up against the Phillies and Joe Blanton) so Thole has a week or ten days to get the bat going or he could be gone.

Ian O’Connor has written a book on Derek Jeter and part of the book was excerpted in the NY Post yesterday.  It does not portray El Capitan’ in a very good light. Not much earthshattering here, Jeter hates A-Rod, St Joseph of Torre favored Jeter over Rodriguez, and Pee Wee Cashman  doesn’t have much love for Jeter who told Jeterwhen A-Rod was having his problems withHighlander fans and with his admittance to steroid use and not having The Captain stand by his side that “he has to lead them all” a big shot to the legend of the Jeter leadership fairy tale which takes a bigger hit when Cashman tells CC Sabathia during his contract negotiation the he needs him to help fix a fractured clubhouse.

I interviewed Tyler Kepner of the NY Times on THIS CALL TO THE BULLPEN last Wednesday as we talked about the bookDerek Jeter: From The Pages of The New York Times, where we spoke about the A-Rod/Jeter relationship and how much of the Jeter leadership portrait is fact and fiction.

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Happy Easter to one and all. It’s a great day to head to Citi Field to watch the suddenly hot NY Mets. I have a bunch of family coming over or else I’d head to the ballpark. I’d sneak out but with my luck I’d end up on TV like George Costanza with chocolate ice cream all over my face.

You hear the rumblings, how can the Mets send Dillon Gee back to Buffalo. In fact Ron Darling said during the telecast yesterday that Gee has nothing to prove at Triple A that he belongs in the big leagues and I concur. But if he stays, who goes to either the pen or Buffalo?

The names Chris Young and Chris Capuano come up as bullpen squatters which I think is ridiculous. One of the traits you need to be a reliever is the ability to warm up quickly and sometimes as in Tim Brydak’s case, often. With the pedigree and injury history neither pitcher fits the profile of a reliever.

For some reason today’s starter, Jon Niese’ name doesn’t come up when it comes to removal from the rotation or bullpen relegation and I can’t understand why it doesn’t?

Since a fine start on April 2^nd against the Marlins, Niese has not been very effective getting blown up by the Phillies and Rockies and allowing 7 hits and 5 BB in 6 innings to the Astros in his last start a 6-1 Mets loss. I hope Niese throws a gem today at Citi Field but if he has another of these more hits than innings pitched along with 4 or 5 BB, then maybe Gee takes Niese’ spot in the rotation and Jon take a turn or two or three in Buffalo.

The St. Lonesome Mets of the FSL are 15-2 after another win last night and another outstanding pitching performance. After rising star Matt Harvey pitched himself closer to Binghamton on Friday, RHP Jeurys Familia tossed 7 outstanding innings for the baby Mets.

I know the strikeouts make fans crazy but really, how in the world do some Mets fans hate David Wright? There are some of you who think Wright is a JAG (just another guy) but with Bay back in the lineup and Ike on fire and Beltran back to being a solid everyday mainstay in the lineup, Wright will have the protection in the lineup that will make him not only more productive but getting it out of his head that he needs to hit 6 run home runs to get the Mets a win. It just seems to me all the Wright haters are just lazy louts who parrot what they hear on talk radio.

The Murph giveith and the Murph takeith away. Daniel Murphy is a work in progress at 2^nd base to say the least but the boy can swing a baseball bat.

It’s tough to say anything bad about R.A. Dickey but Bobby Ojeda went off on The Dickster for his interview with Matt Vagisil and Tim McFullofshit last Saturday. Dickey was asked about his trip to Mt. Kilimanjaro that he will partake in in the off season. Bobby O filliped his rug  about R.A. talking about an off season endeavor in April. I can see Ojeda’s point, in fact I hate all these in game interviews and I’m sure the players and managers dislike them as well but Dickey was asked specifically about the trip and it is for charity so what was The Dickster to do?

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On May 28th the Mets will host the Philadelphia Phillies at 7:10 PM it will also be Brain Tumor Awareness Night that will be sponsored by the National Brain Tumor Society which is leading the fight in brain tumor research and paitent support.

The Mets have made a block of tickets in the Pepsi Porch available to the NBTS for this game. to order tickets please use this link as a portion of the ticket sales goes to the NBTS

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