After coming home from a long weekend I found out that one of the people killed in that crash in New Jersey played baseball for me for two seasons and competed against me in  Staten Island Little League for eight years.

Eric Colligan 15, was killed in the early morning of July 4th as he and his friends and his friends family were returning home from Atlantic City. Eric played baseball and football for McKee/SI Tech. He was also the ace pitcher/3rd baseman and cleanup hitter for my Babe Ruth League team up until this season. The only reason he didn’t play for us this season is due to his football career was really taking off and he couldn’t commit to baseball due to football camp.

I’m at a loss for words here, this was one terrific young man and to be taken at the age of 15 is just staggering to me. As much as I wanted to write about some Mets stuff today especially about Jason Bay, it all means nothing to me right now.

My heartfelt condolences to Eric’s family for their tragic loss

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Take a bow Mets fans, you did it. You voted and voted until you couldn’t make up any more e mail address and got Jose Reyes the starting job at short stop in the All Star Game.

In years past I’d be totally pissed off after the Mets lost 2 of 3 to the Highlanders at home, but yesterday’s comeback win and the way it unfolded makes this years’ series  loss a little easier to take. This is not the same old Mets anymore.

Besides the fact that you can see this team actually hates to lose and I can write every clichés about toughness, the one thing that is clear is the reputation of the Mets being a bunch of losers has all been erased. Sure, they are not a championship team yet but they are creeping into “team we hate to play” status. Have you noticed there are no more “Replace-Met” stories or writing on and on about when the injured stars will be back? It sucks big time to lose 2 of 3 at home to the Highlanders but if the Bronx Bastards (along with the Phuck Phaces and the Sawx) are the gold standard of baseball, the Mets a close to silver status which is a pretty good jump from last year’s given up status.

The biggest fallacy written about Jose Reyes is that he is injury prone. In 2009 the organization was much to blame for his injuries as they tried to change his running style was bad but the inept strength and conditioning staff made it worse. Last season he missed the start of the season due to illness more than injury  but that doesn’t stop hacks like Joel Sherman to play up to the ignorance of his readership that Reyes is injury prone.   Here is the breakdown of games played by Reyes since 2005 which is when he took over as the everyday shortstop after the other great idea of converting him to 2^nd base so the great bust of Tokyo Kaz Matsui could be the starting shortstop:

2005 161 g

2006 153 g

2007 160 g

2008 159 g

Even with the illness and injury from trying to come back to soon last season, Reyes played in 133 games. So far this year he’s played 80 games. He took off yesterday due to the tweak of his hammy (a grade 1 strain) and he may take the next few games off before the All-Star Game as well.

We do see that Sandy Alderson may be won over by Jose Reyes and from meeting him myself it’s hard not to be. Alderson seems ready to make a very competitive offer to Reyes (I think we can forget all the Don’t Trade Reyes angst he’s not getting dealt) as he sees the contribution Reyes makes on and off the field.

If this weekend becomes the turning point where the Mets gain respect throughout baseball for being a team to avoid and Sandy Alderson decides that Jose Reyes is worth fighting to keep, then losing 2 of 3 to the Highlanders ain’t to tough to take.

Last up certainly not least, I want to wish all of you a happy and safe 4^th of July. I have a couple of more days here in the Pocono Mountains, surrounded by Phuckadelphians in there Phuck Phace shirts and jerseys. Makes me sick.

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A quick note before I get rolling here, posting will be sporadic the next four days as I head off to a mini family vacation in Pennsylvania, after an 8:30AM baseball game tomorrow I’ll be off to the Pocono’s where I may or may not have a lot of internet access. I will try to fit in some posts in the mornings if I do since I get up with the roosters even on days off if not here I may just throw some stuff out on Twitter (follow me there @ kranepool )

My heartfelt condolences go out to Willie Harris and his wife on the loss of their child. I cannot think of anything more heartbreaking than what the Harris’ are going through. My prayers and thoughts are with them.

I thought that gesture the Mets make when they reach base when the put their hand over there head was a way to say the spotlight is on you. I thought I read that or heard some place early this season but I guess it’s not. It seems it’s similar to what the Texas Rangers made famous last season as the Antler but the Mets call it the “Claw” which is quite ironic since the owners are involved in a claw back suit against them by the Madoff trustees. If Irv Picard wins this case and wipes out the skill sets I wonder if he will give the “Claw” in the courtroom.

Being that I’ll be away for the Subway Series, I doubt I’ll get to see any of the games live (my  wife decided tonight would be a good night to go see “Catch Me If You Can” on Broadway) unless of course I can get everyone to agree to a late lunch/early dinner at restaurant with a TV, a good possibility, but this should be one of the better Subway Series in a while. Both teams are playing winning baseball; the Highlanders are the hottest team in the game, closing in on the Phuck Phaces for the best record in MLB. They have gone 21-9 in their last 30 games. The Mets though are not that far behind them winning 18 of their last 30. As it is, this series is more important for the Mets as they try to continue to keep pace in the NL Wild Card Race. They come into the series on a high note (Yesterday’s loss the exception as Mike Pelfrey was bad again, more on Pelf in a minute) taking 4 of 6 on the road from the Rangers and Tigers and really needing to keep winning series. We have reached July 1 with the end of the month the trade deadline so if the Mets want to put the pressure on the front office and ownership to decide to buy and not sell at the end of the month they need to continue this string of winning. If the team is in striking distance of a Wild Card spot, no more than 5 games behind, Sandy Alderson will have to make an effort to upgrade the bullpen as it’s the bullpen that will decide if the Mets stay in the post season hunt. As well as the team has played the last two months, the bullpen is a problem and it doesn’t look like there are any candidates in Buffalo or Bingo to help out. Since Jeffey Skill Sets proclaimed that Alderson can add whatever he feels is necessary to make run. We’ll see. Talk is cheap.   

What to do with Big Pelf? Yesterday was his second straight bad start as he proclaimed after the game that just like Arlington, he could not command his fastball for strikes. So his fastball contributed to his walking 5 batters and falling behind in the count and coming in with pitches that were quite hittable, led to Pelf’s downfall. You wonder what the front office makes of Pelfrey? Terry Collins does what any good manager would do, he protects his player, although I don’t think he even believes the positive spin he has put on Pelfrey’s last two starts but I’m sure Alderson already feels like Mike Pelfrey will not be a Met in 2012. Pelfrey makes a shade under $4mil and is arbitration eligible I believe for the last time this off season so what kind of deal do you offer him?  A multi year deal? Hell no! A one year deal at $5mil+ ? Not with the tight budget the club is projecting for next season. So with that it looks like either Big Plef gets dealt or non-tendered. Kinda sad though but deserved.

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