With Time Warner and Comcast reaching in to their deep pockets to help out their SNY partner the Skill Sets , it has all the earmarks of the old 3 Card Monte games you used to see around the ol’ Forty-Duce back in the day. Instead of having a kid yell out “5-0!! 5-0!!” to warn that the cops were in route, I picture Jeffey standing on the corner playing chickey yelling “PICARD!! PICARD!!

I guess it makes sense for TW and Comcast to help bailout the Skill Sets as the Mets are the main TV programing on SNY, speaking of SNY do you watch any of their programing other than the Mets or any Mets related programing? I didn’t think so. I’m waiting for them to broadcast Classic Giuseppe Franco commercials. Wouldn’t that be the kicker if old Joey ended up buying a share of the Mets?

The Kid toughed it out last night as he headed out to see his Palm Beach Atlantic University baseball team open it’s season.  A very bittersweet night is was as Carter hasn’t made any public appearances since his fight with cancer and with the tumors retuning who knows if he ever will again. If you were shocked by the Carter’s appearance then I guess you have never had a friend or family member stricken with this insidious disease. Consider yourself fortunate.   

Sunday is shaping up to be one of the great sports viewing days in a long, long time. Start off the morning with Chelsea-ManU at Stamford Bridge at 10AM; follow that up with Grizzles-Celtics at Noon with a switch over to Rangers-Flyers at 1PM then a little break and head over for a Super Bowl party with some friends-A Giants fans only party I might add-for Giants-Patriots.  Good thing I’ve been training for years for this kind of endurance test.

Mark it down on your calendar May 27^th it will be Banner Day at Citi Field and before you read anything else today you MUST read Mets Police posting today on what Banner Day means and how you should properly behavior on this day.

Yeah, Yeah I know the owners suck, team sucks, Citi Field sucks yada, yada and more endless yada. That’s why it is time for you to stop all of your sobbing (right Ray?) and get involved in something that is fun and a big part of the fabric of what it is to be a Mets fan.

I hope all you red-ass Mets fans know that any derogatory signs or banners you feel is your right to bring to Citi Field that day will never make it on to the field and before you kill the Mets for screening the banners that will be on display think about what’s worse screening banners or being refused access to use the rest room during God Bless America?

How great is it to be Steve Cohen? Cohen is a true hedge fund impresario. He is in the running for ownership of the Los Angeles Dodgers but he also is buying a minority stake in the Mets. It’s a win-win all around for Cohen, if he gets the Dodgers, he becomes sole owner, if he loses out on the Dodgers, he’ll still have his wallet in the door to be sole owner of Mets. In fact I wouldn’t be shocked if Bud Selig is working a backroom deal with Cohen, Wilpon and MLB to drive up the sale price of the Dodgers with Cohen getting a bigger piece of the Mets, still a minority share but more that 10-20% with the agreement that is the Wilpon’s have to sell they sell outright to Cohen.

Last night I attended the media hour before the Thurman Munson Dinner to benefit AHRC of New York. Among the many guest invited to the event were Mets Daniel Murphy and R.A. Dickey and a surprise guest that I chatted with, former Met Carlos Delgado.

In talking to Murphy he has to be the most optimistic person of Irish ancestry I’ve ever met.  As you can hear in this clip, Murphy feels the Mets can contend in the NL East and beyond.  He also speaks of the work he has to do in order to play 2^nd base this season and the fact that he has been working out with the cooperation of the fine weather in his hometown of Jacksonville Florida .

After Murphy, R.A. Dickey was made available to us for a Q & A session and of course R.A. was in fine form with thoughtful answers about his climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro, his hope that Johan Santana can come back and reclaim his spot as Ace of the pitching staff and his pragmatic view of the upcoming season for the Mets in a very tough NL East as you can here is this clip and this clip.

After talking to both Dickey and Murphy, I thought about all the angst and anger of Mets fans over this off season towards ownership of the team. I thought about all those who say they won’t come out to Citi Field as they feel it’s a show of support of the Wilpon’s.  To those fans I say, I feel sorry for you. While talking to Dickey and to Murphy , the thought came to me that I can’t wait for the season to begin because I can’t wait to root for both these guys as they are more than worthy of positive support.

Murph is the guy who blocks out the negativity. When the media scrum dispersed from the group Q & A, I was lucky enough to hang around and got to talk to him one on one (I turned off the recorder because I just wanted to have casual conversation) and one topic we discussed was the negativity of the organization from a segment of the media and the fan base and does that negativity ever creep into the clubhouse. He told me it doesn’t because the manager, who I believe Murph has tremendous respect for, would never allow it and he also felt that the guys in the clubhouse are united in such a way that “woes is us” would never make it past the outside clubhouse door.

From Dickey I get a guy who is very confident in his ability and seems to have grown as a big league pitcher but the days of struggle are always in the forefront of his mind. Where Murph seems to be the half full guy, I wouldn’t say that Dickey is a glass half empty guy but more of a realist who has been around a while and knows the score.

A pleasant surprise of the evening was running into Carlos Delgado who looks in great shape (dare I say The best shape of his life?) and was quite gracious in giving me a portions of his time to talk about the Mets of the present and his experience as a Met and playing in New York in this clip.

When I was done talking to Murphy and Dickey I went over to the refreshment table to grab a bottle of water, it was there I met up with legendary  St. John’s coach Lou Carnesecca, who was on hand to present an award to Chris Mullin at the dinner. Again I didn’t have my recorder on as my conversation with the Coach was more a casual deal than an interview.  He told me about having dinner with John Franco on Monday night and how happy he was that the Mets will honor him on June 3 with induction into the Mets Hall of Fame. It was easy to see the love and pride Carnesecca has for Franco, the coach then asked me if I thought Franco would get into Cooperstown, I was as diplomatic as could be in saying it would be very tough. I went on to tell the coach about my wedding day and how happy I was there was a TV in the limousine, as I’m seen and heard in our wedding video wanting to watch St. Johns-Auburn second round NCAA Tournament game.  Carnesecca laughed and then said “Jesus, you remember that game”? He then asked me to sit down with him and talk about basketball. That was quite an honor.

It will be tough to read any Mets news this week as NYC has turned its sports eye to this Sunday’s Super Bowl (with a squint at Madison Square Garden as Knicks fans await the firing of coach Mike D’Antoni and Mike Woodson taking over for the season) and the over saturation of information that will come out of Indianapolis all week. One of the more interesting aspects of this fountain of information is the two sports radio station in town going head to head on Radio Row.

David Hinckley has a column in today’s NY Daily News on how both station will be on Radio Row fighting for guests and for the ears of the New York sports fan.  What makes it even more interesting is FAN is the flagship station for the NY Giants games and WEPN carries NY Jets games. Both station have players under contract for weekly spots with Anonte Rolle , a provocative weekly guest of Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts and Eli Manning who calls in to Michael Kay show each week.

WEPN has never made a dent in the ratings and as the Great Sports Pope, Mike Francesa likes to say, “Dey cum ta wawr wit pea shootas” .WEPN’s biggest problem is they can’t decide if they want to be national sports radio broadcasting in NYC or a hybrid National/Local station. To be honest here, I’ve kind of weaned my way off WFAN. I’ll listen to the station at work but when I’m in the car I’ll listen to Sirius/XM radio, mostly MLB Radio.   

As much as I would love to listen to someone other than Francesa, when I tune into the Michael Kay Show it’s the sports talk equivalent to fingers nails on a chalk board.  What make it worse is I really like Don LaGreca and I’ve always felt he was being wasted as a second banana on the Kay show.

When you look at the WEPN line up, it’s no wonder it gets miniscule ratings.  Even though Mike and Mike is an ESPN infomercial, I kind of enjoy listening to them but again they are a National show which makes it more puzzling why they follow M & M with the totally unlistenable Colin Cowherd, again another National show.  At 12 noon the station puts on its best effort of the day in airing Ryan Ruocco and Robin Lundburg. Ruocco and Lundburg are young and come with a fresher, hipper way of doing sports talk that is quite refreshing, the problem is they only get two hours of air time as at 2pm WEPN turns into old foggey radio with the Mike Lupica Show. Lupica has not been relevant on the New York sport scene in about 10 years when he was at least watching sporting events on television (stories were all around that Lupey never attended games he wrote about it seems he’s beneath siting in a press box) what line of thinking is going through WEPN program director Dave Roberts head that he feels an hour of Lupey is better radio than an extra hour of Ruocco and Lundberg?

Sure it’s a tough task to overtake WFAN in the ratings as they are the founding fathers of sports talk radio not just in NYC but the country but it can be done if you go out a get younger hosts who are social media savvy who can talk about multiple subjects instead of beating listeners to death with Rex Ryan coaching critiques and 1960’s Yankees retrospectives. WEPN is missing a great opportunity to reach hockey fans by not giving LaGreca a weekend hockey show especially with the station airing NY Rangers games. Same for doing an NBA show. I know Stephen (Screamin’) A. Smith can polarized listeners but he is in tune with the NBA and by paring him up with the underutilized and underrated Larry Hardesty I’m sure they would move the rating needle north.

When you think about it here we live in a city that is sports crazy with multiple teams in four major sports but we don’t have a decent sports talk radio station to listen to. Sad, don’t you think?

I will be a guest on Mike Silva’s NY Baseball Digest Live radio show tonight on Blogtalk Radio, talking Mets and John Franco’s Mets Hall of Fame induction.

Have you been watching MLB Networks Baseball IQ quiz show? I watched the first couple of shows and for the most part it’s a pretty good show. It would be even better if Matt Vasgersian, who just oozes douchebagness were not a part of it (I hope to see you one day at Citi Field Vasgersian as I have a gift for your ass, a size 11 Nike) and if the participants had just a smidge of personality. Mets representative, Ben Baumer ,who has been the clubs Statistical Analyst for years has finally been seen in public but before he was free to be seen the Mets PR staff should have given him a primer in how to smile and not act like he’s being held by Al-Qaeda for questioning, Ben, sweetheart, lighten up!

I will give the contestants this, it is very tough to answer question on TV than when your ass in in a chair at home stuffing Cheez Doodles in your mouth. Some of the questions do take a bit of thinking like name the top 15 players Colorado Rockies history in games played, but if you work for the Baltimore Orioles, like their rep Jay Moskowitz does and not know Brooks Robinson (tied with Carl Yastrzemski) played   the most seasons for one team, that’s disgraceful.

Most of the questions on the show are about listing the top 10 or 15 in a bunch of categories. One question that intrigued me was when the contestants had to name the teams with the most World Series championships. We all know the New York Highlanders and St. Louis Cardinals rank 1^st and 2^nd  but if I asked you off the top of your head who was 3^rd and 4^th would the Athletics and Red Sox come to mind right away? For all the Curse of the Bambino bullshit, the Red Sox have the 4^th most World Series titles in history at seven the A’s are third with nine, again not easy answers to come with under hot studio lights.

The questions on the show got me to thinking, if I were asked to name the top ten Mets in different categories, how well would you do? So I took out my NY Mets 2011 Media Guide and opened it to the All Time Mets Record holders list to see and I found more than a few surprises.

I’m sure if I asked you who played the most games in Mets history, you’d come up with (bow your head) Ed Kranepool. If I asked you was second, would you know it was Bud Harrelson? Yes, Bud played in 1,322 games to Krane’s 1,853. The only current Met on the list is David Wright who comes in 8^th place at 1,004. With the way baseball is today, I wonder if Kranepool’s record for game played as a Met will ever be topped.

As I looked over the twenty categories listed in the Mets media guide in the all-time leaders section, the name Edgardo Alfonzo popped up on fifteen of the twenty categories, that put Alfonzo second just behind Darryl Strawberry for most top ten categories. (Straw is top ten in seventeen of the twenty failing to crack the top ten in  batting average, pinch hits and pinch hit home runs. I think we should be clamoring for number 18 to be retire don’t you think?)

Here is a list of the fifteen categories and his rank all time as a Met for Fonzi:

8^th in HR w/ 172

10^th in RBI w/456

6^th in Total Bases w/1736

7^th in batting avg. w/.292

7^th in games played w/1086

8^th in at bats w/3887

5^th in runs scored w/614

4^th in hits w/1136

4^th in 2B hits w/212

6^th in OBA w/.367

7^th in HBP w/29

5^th in Sac Fly w/40

7^th in BB w/458

5^th in Multi-hit games w/314

The only offensive categories Fozi failed to make the top ten in were stolen bases, triples, SLG (just missing w/.445 avg) and two he’d never qualify for pinch hits and pinch hit home runs.

Which brings me to this conclusion, Edgardo Alfonzo is a much more worthy inductee to the Mets Hall of Fame than John Franco.  Talk about underrated versus overrated. After looking over this all-time list it’s somewhat embarrassing that Fonzi is not in the Mets hall, sure Franco is an ownership favorite but if you polled Mets fans I bet they vote for Fonz over Franco for Hall of Fame honors, oh I forgot who cares what the fans think.

Yesterday the New York Mets announced that John Franco will be indicted into the team’s Hall of Fame this coming season with the pomp and circumstance commencing on June 3^rd.

There has been much speculation this winter on who would be selected as the next honoree to the Mets HOF, some folks feel Mike Piazza should have been named and of course he should but it looks like the Mets are waiting for his enshrinement into the Baseball Hall of Fame so they can throw a really big shindig with Mets HOF honors and a number retiring ceremony as well.

Franco gets the honor this season for many reasons, he played 14 seasons with the Mets, holds the record for most saves in franchise history and most importantly he’s a Wilpon loyalist. Franco holds a job with the club sort of like the Mets Ambassador to Public Functions, in which he’s perfectly suited for. Late season, he volunteered his services to mentor Bobby Parnell in finding his way to the craft of closing baseball games, which if I were the pitching coach I would have strongly voiced my opposition to but it seems the front office didn’t have a problem with since it seems the GM really has no use for Parnell as we see with the addition of Jon Rauch and Frank Francisco which relegates to Parnell to fighting for a bullpen job.    

As I say, I really don’t want to piss in the punch here on Franco’s honor of Mets Hall of Famer but in my opinion, this year’s Mets Hall of Fame honoree should have been us, the New York Mets Fan.  How great a ceremony would it be to honor the long suffering Mets fan? The team could have selected the longest tenure season ticket holder to accept the award in our behalf and then commission a plaque with a nice mosaic of Mets fans who may be the most diverse of all sports teams in this town.  What better way to celebrate 50 years of Mets baseball than honoring the folks who really are the heart and soul of the organization, the Mets fan. Without us there is no NY Mets and in this upcoming season of apparent discontent, what better way to show how much we mean to this organization but to honor is with a plaque in the Hall of Fame.

Mike Silva at NY Baseball Digest has an outstanding piece on his site this morning on Carlos Beltran and his time as a Met and his comments on Mets fans needing to “get over 2006”.

I have to say it took me a while to appreciate Beltran and his contribution during his tenure. I think the turning point in the relationship came when Beltran went to Colorado to have surgery on his knee after the club, namely Omar Minaya and Tony Bernazzard handled his medical care piss poorly.  Beltran was furious when the club made it seem he went rogue and receive an unauthorized procedure on his knee. When the truth came out it was Minaya and the team who were disingenuous.

What soured me with Beltran at the beginning of his Mets career was the double dealing he did behind the Mets back by offering himself to the Highlanders at a discount after the Mets made their substantial offer. It pissed me off because I saw Bobby Bonilla all over again. Bonilla, after getting the best offer out there from the Mets during his first free agent foray, took that offer to the Phillies to see if they would match it or go higher. By all rights, Bonilla was within his right to find the best deal possible and it was in my right as a Mets fan to call him a greedy prick.

The other problem Beltran had was not wanting to be the out front guy in the clubhouse. Some guys thrive in that spot, some guys, it’s just not their personality.  Beltran to his credit produce as well or better than any position player the Mets ever employed but his personality as seen through the media left something to be desired. But in listening to players in the clubhouse, where the opinions count, Beltran was not just respected but revered.

As for Beltran telling Mets fans to move on from 2006, it shows the major difference in how fans are more of the fabric of a team than the players.  Can I get over Beltran watching a wicked curveball break over home plate for strike three thus curtailing the Mets from getting to the World Series?  No, and I shouldn’t.  I’m a Mets fan, I can’t be traded or released or designated for assignment. I could leave as a free agent but the thought never entered my mind. I’m here for life. Players come and players go but fans are here forever. I still hold a grudge against Yogi Berra for not using George Stone properly in the 1973 World Series, costing the Mets a  championship, what makes Carlos Beltran think he’s  so special to escape my scorn?

With the word that Cody Ross has signed with the Boston Red Sox with the Mets in contention for his services, the question of the day is whom would you rather  have as your 4^th outfielder, Cody Ross or Scott Hairston?

Ross put a .240/.325/.405/.730 line last season with the Giants in 461 plate appearances. Hairston, stepped into the batter’s box, a sporadic 145 times to fill a line of .235/.303/.470/.773. while Ross banged out 14 home runs last season Hairston put seven baseballs over the outfield walls in his limited action. When you look at FB/HR rate Hairston’s beats out Ross 13.0% to 9.3 %.

Ross hits lefties very well especially for power with a .912 lifetime OPS to Hairston’ .813 OPS which is impressive as well making it even more a head scratcher on why Terry Collins didn’t use Hairston more before a rib injury at the end of August ended his season.

I would bet that Hairston re-signed with the Mets with the promise of more playing time, especially in CF against RHP unless Andres Torres can repeat his 2010 season. But between CF and spelling Lucas Duda in RF and staying healthy, Hairston could be a very productive 4^th outfielder for the Mets.

Cody Ross would have been a nice choice as well for the Mets but with the Red Sox offer of $3mil plus incentives the Mets will get as much value from Hairston as they would from Ross and Hairston only cost $1.1 mil. No way Cody Ross is worth $2mil+ more than Jerry Hairston.

Sorry for the lack of posting at the site the last couple of days. I spent my weekend at Camp No-Be-Bosco just outside of Blairstown, NJ on a camping trip that had everything you’d want in winter camp out, snow, cold and a 2AM run to the latrine, ahhhh……… yes the great outdoors. The camping trip and the New York Football Giants incredible post season (not to mention the best New York Rangers regular season in many an year and trying to come to grips that the great run of the Big 3 of the Boston Celtics looks over) run has greatly distracted me from the comings and goings of the New York Mets .

Again Eli Manning has proven you can be tough, fearless and a leader without being a rah-rah screamer.

I guess Tom Coughlin can make that big purchase he’s been putting off as he is the Giants head coach until he deiced he doesn’t want to be Giants head coach anymore. Who knows what move TC will make if the G-Men win the Super Bowl?

I’ll admit it, I never thought the Giants would go on this roll especially after the loss to the Redskins on December 18^th  but thanks to the Jets and the 99 yard Victor Cruuuuuuuuuzzzz TD, which TC said was the turning point, I started  with the “what if’s” in my mind. But of course that dominant Mets fan gene that I possess always makes me brace for the worse.

With all the analysis that goes on about the NFL to the point you’re numb by game time, last night’s game broke it down to the games simplest form. If you turn the ball over multiple times and can’t convert 3^rd downs on offence, good chance you’re going to lose. If you are plus in the takeaway column and convert those takeaways into points, chances are you’ll win the game.  

Like a baseball team that is strong defensively up the middle is most successful, in the NFL you’re only as strong as your offensive and defensive lines. The Giants offensive line has been very good for the most part in keeping Eli Manning upright, but last night they allowed him to take a beating. Plus this OL has a tough time getting the running game going, albeit Brandon Jacobs could do better than he does. What has been the big push in this playoff run is the DL especially a star is born, Jason Pierre-Paul.  Without that DL playing at the level it has, which has taken the pressure off an injury riddled secondary, has led to a defensive resurgence that Giants love and cherish.

Saturday night the NY Chapter of the BBWAA held their annual dinner and Gary Carter was the recipient of the “You Got To Have Heart” Award which was accepted on his behalf by his children. Thinking of you Kid.

Lots of chatter about what cap Mike Piazza will wear on his Hall of Fame plaque. Piazza himself has said he wants to enshrined as a Met. Since he played more games as a Met (972) than a Dodger (726) it’s only right he wears a Mets cap on his plaque. I’m sure with Freddy Skill Sets being Uncle Bud’s favorite nephew the word will get to those in Cooperstown to etch that Mets cap on Piazza’ head.

As for the writers not voting Piazza into the Hall on the first ballot, I think they know if they don’t vote Piazza, they will end up like Murray Chass, just a broken down old bitter blogger grazing on a farm.