While I was riding the Staten Island Ferry on my way home from the Mets finale at Citi Field yesterday, I was reading over the notes I took during the game. I decided to invoke my “sleep on  it before writing” rule because it was quite an emotional day and even after “sleeping on it” I’m still having a tough time deciphering where this organization is headed, positive or negative. It’s the most confused and befuddled I’ve ever been in my 47 years of Mets fandom.  

Before my stream of semi-conscience begins please turn to page 1986 in your Mets Missalette to read the words of fellow Mets blogger/fan/Staten Islander by way of Brooklyn, Ed “Rusty Jr.” Marcus who lays out the events of yesterday quite eloquently.

Usually when I ride the 7 train to Citi Field, it’s filled with a full platoon of uniformed Mets fans excited to be headed to see their beloved Metropolitans. Yesterday on an 11AM 7 train out of Times Square, I was the lone infantry man in the car. If there was an invasion of Loyal Order of Red Legs. I’d have fought a losing battle.

I spent the time on the train reading this outstanding book, I had no real emotion about the day. It wasn’t until we left the 111 St station and Citi Field was on the horizon, I stared having flashbacks to Mets games of yore, good days, days when you could not get to the ball park fast enough. Games I went to that Tom Seaver pitched in, for some reason the game he struck out Manny Sanguillen for his 200 K back in 1975 to become the first pitcher to K 200 batters in eight straight seasons, popped in my head, another obscure game I was at that flashed in my mind was the walk off home run by Steve “Hendu” Henderson against the Giants in 1975. What sticks out for me in that one is, my friends and I bet on the Mets in this game for the sole reason we had hung out at a bar in Bay Ridge with Pete Falcone the weekend before and he was the games starting pitcher. I have to come clean and let you know we didn’t stay for the whole game, and we didn’t know the outcome until we got back to the neighborhood when we were informed of our “busted ass” luck.

When I got off the train at Citi Field-Willets Point the depression set in. The weather didn’t help that grey muggy one second it’s warm, the next it’s chilly temps, just like our Mets. After a summit on the Shea Bridge that Ed reported on, I headed to the Shake Shack for a burger (the line was long but not the usual four wraparounds) and then made my way to my $2 (Stub Hub-a Hub-a) buck seat in Section 519, just in time to see Jose Reyes’ first at bat of the day. Little did I know it would be his only at bat of the day.

This is why I invoked “my sleep on it rule” because at the moment Reyes came out of the game I was one ornery fucker. What bother me the most and still does was THE WAY he came out of the game. Reyes should have gone to his shortstop position and have Bastia step off and call time and then let Turner enter into the game. Would I have liked to see Reyes play the whole game? Of course, but his coming out of the game to protect a batting title is not unprecedented.

What also conflicts me with Reyes is the fact I really like him as a player and a person and I hope he’s back as a Met next year but if he signs elsewhere I’m not going to be sad or heartbroken. I still feel that Jose wants to stay a Met but I’m sure there will be One Dumb Owner who will make an offer that Sandy Alderson can refuse.

It’s time for us Mets fans to face facts, and the to face those facts we are fortunate to have someone like Howard Megdal to report the facts as he does here in his piece for New York Magazine which lays out the awful truth about the Skill Sets, their finances and the direction the club his headed due to money that would have been funneled into the baseball team will instead go to lawyers, creditors and maybe the Madoff Trust.

If you don’t have the stomach for some tough times in Flushing, it may be time for you to find another rooting interest in baseball because it looks like a very rocky road here for a couple of years. The team in the Bronx may have some openings, especially after the Mowtown Cats sweep them in the ALDS.

Lot’s of talk about the Mets giving the Highlanders the thumbs down on their proposal to bring the Scranton/Wilkes Barre Highlanders to Newark NJ for one season as the clubs stadium gets a much needed overhaul.  The Mets are being made out to be the villians here when they did nothing wrong. As per the agreement with MLB before either the Mets or Highlanders try to do something like this they issue of territorial rights has to be addressed. The Bronx Bastards did just that and the Mets said no.

The outcry you hear most is that the Mets are being petty and by not allowing the Highlanders to let their Triple A team play in Newark is not in best interests of the City of Newark or baseball fans. That is pure out and out bullshit. I’ve been in Newark many more times that the folks who are crying about this so called injustice and I can tell you no Highlanders fans from Basking Ridge, or Bernardsville are coming into Brick City to see the Triple A Highlanders.  I’ve been to Riverfront Stadium in the past and found it to be a nice ballpark but in recent years the park has not been kept up and lacking in any positive atmosphere to the point I really have no desire to go from Staten Island to Newark (about a 20-30 min ride) to watch a ball game. In fact the same conditions can be found in the Ball Park at St. George where the SI Highlanders play. The Newark Bears have fallen on hard times and it has nothing to do with the city but with poor management and the fractured economy as well.

Throughout this whole Mets bashing argument there has been no mention of the fans of Scranton/Wilkes Barre, who I doubt will make the trip to Newark to watch their team play. I would guess there are colleges that have baseball fields in the Scranton area that could be converted into a temporary home for the Triple A Highlanders like what was done back in 1999 for the SI Highlanders, turning the College of Staten Island baseball field into a temporary home until the St. George park was built.  

As Mets fans, we all know that is the shoe was on the other foot, Highlander President Randy Levine would have to told Freddy Skill Sets to kiss his ass. That’s the Highlander way. So now that it’s Freddy who gives the Highlanders his ass to kiss, he’s a bad guy. As much as I’ve killed the Skill Sets over the years here, I’ve got their broke ass backs on this one.

If it weren’t for the idiocy of Major League Baseball, all the talk last night and this morning would have been about the emotional and beautifully choreographed pre-game ceremony at Citi Field to honor the memory of the attack of September 11^th and the first responders that gave their lives and the others who risked theirs to help others.

I was brought to tears seeing Mike Piazza lead a parade of heroes from the right field side of Citi Field and John Franco doing the same on the left field side.  Then having the ball park lights dim for a moment of silence followed by a spine tingling rendition of the Star Spangled Banner by Marc Anthony. Franco and Piazza then took center stage in their snow white Mets uni tops with the words “9-11-01 we will never forget” embroidered on the sleeve just like it was 10 years ago, to deliver the first pitch of the game. In an eerie silence, Franco, a “Noo Yawk” guy through and through tossed a perfect strike to Piazza, the man who made the Mets relevant again. In fact  what struck me about last night was how sad it was for two reasons, the first was what the commemoration of the evening was for of course, the other, it reminded me when the last time the Mets were a big deal in this town, that choked me up as well.

The Mets wore the same snow whites that they had on 9-21-11, the first sports event in NYC since the demise of the Twin Towers, but on their heads that night were the caps of the FDNY, NYPD, and PAPD the three groups the club had become very close to due to their working side by side during the awful aftermath of the attack. At the time MLB said the Mets couldn’t wear those caps during a major league game and the Mets in turn led by Bobby Valentine told MLB to kiss their New York City ass, we’re wearing them.  What did MLB do? Nothing, just like every other bully that is stood up to. The Mets wore the first responder caps and celebrated in those caps when Mike Piazza, he of the NYPD batting helmet as well, hit his home run that put a smile on faces that thought they’d never smile again. It was not just a classic NY moment or one the best moments in Mets history it showed that baseball, just like during all of the countries dark times, came through once again, it always does, its what makes baseball the great pastime it is.

The Mets of 2011 asked MLB if they could have permission to wear the hats of the first responders again as they did 10 years ago. MLB said no, just like they did 10 years ago. This time though the Mets rolled over, scared to take a stand. There was no Valentine, or Franco, or Ventura, or Zeile on the team to tell MLB to take their no cap memo and shove it up their tight ass’s. The players thought about ignoring the order but claimed the organization would have been severely punished if they did. If the Mets banded together and wore the caps, what was MLB going to do? Absolutely nothing.  Again to beat the bully you need to stand up to the bully.

I don’t know if I’ve told this story here but if I did I apologize but I think it should be told here.  As I’ve mention on numerous occasions, I manage a 14-15 year old Babe Ruth Team on Staten Island.  During the heat wave of the summer, a day that was 97 degrees, I had scheduled a practice. We try to have at least one practice a week during the season to work on some deficiencies and to go over the pitching rotation for the upcoming games. We also take a round of infield/outfield drills and batting practice, in all it runs about two hours. The place we like to practice is Miller Field in the New Dorp section as it was a one time air base during WWII and has plenty of fields to choose from. Now because of the heat I was ready to cancel practice and let the boys enjoy their pools or whatever they were doing to stay cool. Every kid that I called said, “ah coach it ain’t that hot we can practice” my son told me he was getting texts from some players asking him to convince me to hold practice. What could I do? They want to play, fine let’s go practice. So with the equipment and a case of water, off to Miller Field we go. We were the only people in the park. Acres of land at our disposal. As we were half way through batting practice a federal parks department employee pulls up to the field asking “who is in charge here”? “ Well, that would be me”, “do you have a permit to play here” Ms. Fed asks. “A permit? For what? To play baseball”? “Yes” she said, “Ah no” I say “Well, she says then you will have to leave”.

After I stopped laughing I ask here to clear her cart from the pitcher’s mound so we could continue to play. Again she ask me if this was an organized team and where was our permit and on and on really annoying the living shit out of me. I told her the organization we played for and that we had permits to play games here but being a programed bureaucrat all she knew was I didn’t have permit for the field and I had to leave. At this point I asked her what her title was and she rattled off some administrative rank, I then told her to call someone with authority to make me leave, like the Federal Park Police, and while I wait for the police to come, we will continue to play baseball.

Well, instead of calling the police, she called her supervisor who in turn called the league president who had to come down to the park to make me leave the park.  So while I’m being screamed at with threats, I told my assistant coach, to continue with the practice this way I’ll go argue with these women long enough for all the players get their batting practice swings.   For a good half hour, we argued back in forth about the lack of common sense being applied here, which was enough time for the team to finish practice. When the coach told me practice was over, I thanked the ladies and said “yeah you know what, your right we don’t belong here, we’ll leave”.

I didn’t give a shit about the two Federal Flunkies but the woman who ran the league was so mad at me she stopped talking to me. It didn’t bother me in the least, you know why? She couldn’t do anything to me, what could she do, tell me I can’t manage the team anymore? No. Luckily I had all the parents of the kids behind me 100 %. That’s why I took the stand. I knew there was nothing anyone was going to do to me to make me regret my decision.

As I told the Feds, this will make a great story in the Staten Island Advance “Youth Coach and kids Thrown out of Park For Playing Ball” or maybe one of the local TV stations would love to expose the story, I had me some bullets in my gun.  Sometimes you have to take a stand.

That is what has me pissed off at the Mets, especially David Wright. If Wright led the way and wore the NYPD cap he wore in the dugout on the field what was MLB going to do? NOTHING! If the whole Mets team would have worn the caps on the field what was MLB going to do? NOTHING!

The bad publicity from this should be a huge embarrassment to MLB and I can’t believe no one in the P.R. department didn’t beg Bud Selig or Clueless Joe Torre, who by the way showed is true colors as a big time phony,  to let the Mets wear the caps.

You know what in the long run maybe MLB was right did it really matter if the Mets wore the first responder caps? No one was watching anyway, especially with the Jets-Cowboys game on NBC.

Enjoy those single digit post season ratings in the post season Bud, you douchebag.

The “paid” attendance for last night’s Mets-Padres game was 39,589. Many of those who paid to attend the game for one reason or another did not “attend” the game. In fact I’d say between 13, 000 to 14,000 of the paid folks found something to do other than attend a baseball game they “paid” to attend. If you are one of those paid attendees who didn’t bother showing up last night, can you let me know what big event was so great that you passed on this game?

I knew this would not be a well-attended game since tickets were discounted 50%  but when I arrived at Citi Field parking lot that was so sparse I wondered if an inexperienced airline pilot might mistake the lot for a LaGuardia runway? This was a 6PM as well. There were no lines to enter the ball park and as I headed to the Promenade I saw many of the concession stands closed. That’s not good in September, but it’s downright depressing to see in August.  The Shake Shack though still had a huge snaking line, I get the feeling they could open Citi Field in the middle of a winter snowstorm and there would be a line at the Shake Shack.

I never tell people how to spend their money but if you’re a Mets fan and can afford the time and money (50 % off tickets has to be an incentive) why not go out to the ball park and watch this team?

The slider, when thrown properly, is a devastating pitch. As the batter’s hand to eye coordination gets in synched and sees the pitch as coming over the plate and the mind makes that split second decision to swing at it, the ball breaks downward to a point where the batter is fooled and cannot adjust his swing. But when a slider is not executed properly, it hangs up in the hitting zone. If the batter has some power that flat slider usually leaves the ball park screaming like in a cartoon. This is what happened yesterday to Bobby Parnell and his pitch to Logan Morrison that left Whatevertheycallit Stadium like it was shot out of a cannon.

As bad as that pitch was and the outcome, negating the 2 run blast by David Wright to put to Mets ahead 4-3 going into the bottom of the 7^th, pisses us me off as a Mets fan, I think we are now at the point of the season where we can chalk this up to closer in training Parnell’s learning experience.

Look, the season is what it is, a fight to finish with between 81-85 wins. If the Mets can do that the season is a positive and if Bobby Parnell and Pedro Beato work on being the future backend of the bullpen then that’s fine with me. Same thing with keeping Izzy around for the rest of the season. What can you get for Izzy? A C level prospect? He is much more valuable to the Mets as a veteran reliever working with Parnell and Beato for the next two months.

I think one thing in the Mets favor of keeping Jose Reyes with the Mets for years to come, is the consensus from the Mets players this season that the Mets clubhouse is a great place to be. Izzy for example, went to Sandy Alderson to tell him he doesn’t want to be traded. Carlos Beltran, understands the reasons why the GM is trying to move him, but Beltran will not be sad if he’s not dealt.  In fact Beltran would love to stay as he has cited this being the best clubhouse he’s been in since he became a Met.   Remember back early this season when Willie Harris caught hell from Mets fans when he spoke of the distance in the Mets clubhouse? Well, I wish those who have access to Harris would ask him if he still feels that way now that we have played more than half a season. I doubt it. For this you have to credit the manager, for keeping that clubhouse positive.

I’m worn out reading about when and where Carlos Beltran will be dealt to.  With all the debate over which team will offer the Mets the best prospect, the best take I’ve read so far on dealing Beltran comes from Paul of Random Baseball Stuff, who left this comment on my post from yesterday:

 I enjoy watching Beltran play, but I’m going to be annoyed if he’s still a Met on Aug. 1st. Sandy has got to move him for the best return he can get – the 2011 Mets aren’t going anywhere, and I don’t think Beltran fits in the 2012 budget.

 Even if he only gets salary relief, it would be better than nothing. The Mets haven’t finished signing all of their high-round draft picks yet.  

When you think about it, if you trade Beltran to a team that would take the rest of his salary for the year, it comes out to about $5-$6 mil. You could use that money to sign Brandon Nimo and RHP Logan Verret, not to mention any free agents in the Latin market as well. It may be worth more for Alderson to do that than any prospect the Giants, Phillies or Braves are willing to give up.

I’m not going to lie to you, I am ecstatic that the NFL lockout is over. I am ready for some football.

When it’s 87 degrees at 5AM you just know it’s going to be a day when putting a complete thought together is going to rough (or rougher than usual) so as I wipe the svitz off my forehead he are some thought’s for a Friday where my fingers and toes are crossed that Con Edison doesn’t fuck us over today.

Last night, I attended maybe the worst baseball game I have ever seen . It was a tilt between the Staten Island Highlanders against the Tamp Bay Rays NY-Penn League affiliate the Hudson Valley Renegades . It wasn’t bad enough that the heat and humidity in the soulless Richmond County Ballpark was suffocating, the play on the field was atrocious. Both teams combined for NINE ERRORS, the baby Highlanders account for six of them. The home plate ump Brain Miller made the night even more unbearable, allowing both teams to conducted marathon visits to the mound to the point I had to scream out to him “Blue com’on move it along” which could be heard clearly by the umpire as the stands were inhabited by about 1,000 or so sweaty ass’s in the seats and I was right behind home plate. Umpire Miller glared at me and I gave him an “are you fucking kidding me look” when he used his best judgment of the night and put his mask back on and continued the game. Asshole.

Oh by the way, the baby Highlanders won 8-7 and have an incredible 25-8 record that no one on Staten Island gives a rat’s ass about. This is one of the biggest head scratchers for me, Staten Island is Highlander country, you see about 10 Highlanders t-shirts/jersey’s to every Mets piece of apparel but for some reason the Baby Highlanders can’t draw anyone to the downtown ball park except when the Brooklyn Cyclones make the trip over the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.  I get a few different reasons from Highlander friends and acquaintances on why they don’t patronize the minor league team. Some tell me they’d rather see the “real” Highlanders, some live on the South Shore of the Island and hate making the trek downtown. Some will go on the weekends when the club draws a bit better but the biggest segment of the fan base comes by ferry from Manhattan.  Manny of the fans at last night’s game were Manhattanites who live in Tribeca or SoHo and love taking the ferry over watching the game and then head back to the city.  

Give me MCU Park and the  Coney Island Boardwalk anytime.

David Wright is back tonight (as is Kevin Burkhardt on SNY) so it will be interesting to see how the offense works with Reyes lighting the fuse at the top and Beltran, Wright and Murph in the middle of the lineup. How long Beltran will be a Met is an ongoing saga. It seems from what you read Alderson is more than willing to trade your team Carlos Beltran and about $6 mil to cover his paychecks for the rest of the year for one of your prized farm hands. If you feel Beltran is the missing piece to your post season run you can have him, but he’s not coming cheap. Seems most of the GM’s who are in position to deal suffer from irritable bowel syndrome when Sandy Alderson rings the phone.  Bottom line, one of these contenders will cave as the bat of Beltran is too powerful to pass up and the Mets will get a top prospect in return.

I can’t stand the NJ Devils but I am very sad that Doc Emrick is leaving MSG and Devils play by play to be the exclusive voice of the NHL on NBC/Versus. I’m sure most of you have read the articles on Emrick on what a great guy he is and his play by play of hockey is unmatched and having met Doc I can tell it’s all true.

About 5 or so years ago, my wife and I were Christmas shopping at the Paramus Mall. As usual I had  enough of shopping and Christmas, so I told my wife to continue her spending spree while I hit the bench with a Starbucks Latte for a while.  A few minutes after I took a load off, a gentleman sat next to me, it was none other than Doc Emrick. I sat and talked hockey and baseball l with him for about a half hour when he had to leave. When he got up, he put out his hand and said to me “thank you for making this trip to the mall worthwhile for me, I enjoyed our conversation” I was like, “are you kidding, thank you for making me  glad I came here” we both laughed  and shook hands. Great guy that Doc.

(Sorry the link button is not working)

There is no reason for Mets fans to panic…….yet over the news that Scott Boras has been pitching woo to Jose Reyes. If and when it happens I’ll react but right now it’s just heresy.

Now that doesn’t mean it won’t happen and if it does don’t scream at the Mets, Reyes or Boras if it does and Jose goes elsewhere. Never forget this is a game to us but it’s a business to the team and a livelihood to the player. As great as Reyes is playing right now and that he is a homegrown Met that we all want to see stay and retire in orange and blue he is not getting more than 5 years contract from the Mets nor should they.  By the same token, Reyes should go out and get the best deal he can as he has paid his dues in baseball to reach the point where he calls the shots on where he’ll play the rest of his career and for how much money and never ever forget, it’s all about the money.

If the Mets go to Reyes in the weeks ahead and make him an offer of minimum 5/$100mil with all kinds of exotic clauses and options that could send that deal to 7/$140mil and he and whoever his representative  is turns it down, what would you like Sandy Alderson to do?  What Alderson would have to do is what he feels is best for the Mets organization. That’s his job. Same as it’s the player agent job to get the best deal for his client and it’s up to the player to do what’s best for him and his family. Unfortunately fans are the least of the equation in this process.  Just like at the ball park, we’re just spectators here.

Having had the pleasure of meeting Jose Reyes I can tell you first hand he is unbelievably charismatic and extremely likeable. I am sure it touches him dearly the fan support he has gotten to the point of obsession about him staying a Met 4 Life and I bet in his heart he would love for that to happen but he has a chance to not just set up his current family for life but his grand kids and even great grandkids as the money he can make on his next deal will help generations of Reyes for years to come. That is where Reyes’ loyalties lie.

As crushing as it would be to lose Jose Reyes, the Mets will survive. One thing about this franchise, it’s damn near indestructible from M.Donald Grant letting Whitey Herzog get away, to losing Gil Hodges to a heart attack, to trading Tom Seaver, to not drafting Reggie Jackson to the De Roulet daughters nearly killing the franchise to the current dunderhead owners, this franchise has survived all that, so even though it will suck to go on without him, the franchise will survive the absences of Jose Reyes as well

As I mentioned yesterday, I took a trip to the South Bronx to watch the Highlanders-Indians game which was my first visit to the new Highlander Stadium, so I’d figure I’d give you  some of my observations of the ball park.

It’s big, very big much bigger than Citi Field and because of that you are much further away from the field than at Citi.

As soon as you head down the stairs of the 4 train you know you’re at HIGHLANDER STADIUM because the Highlander brand just suffocates you. Maybe suffocates is too strong or maybe as a Mets fan I wish Citi Field was as Mets-centric as Highlander Stadium. Hell, even the hot dog stand is named Highlander hot dogs. Every single inch of the place is decorated in Highlander colors and there is no mention of the old Baltimore Orioles , who became the Highlanders and then the Yankees. No its’ Yankees, Yankees and more Yankees.

They sell t-shirts for just about every member of the team and of course all the retired stars. I was very, very tempted to buy a MARTIN 1 t-shirt as I always admired Bill Martin and his style of managing. His off the field way left a lot to be desired for sure but as a manager Martin was as good if not better than anyone who ever ran a baseball team.

For me to get to Highlander Stadium is a breeze. I took the 10:30 AM ferry out of Staten Island, then walked up to Bowling Green to get the 4 train and I was in front of the ball park by 11:45. It takes me that long to get from my house to the Gowanus /BQE merge going to Citi Field.

There are no ushers at Highlander Stadium. There are security people and the Highlanders post a number you can text to report a problem in your section. I sat in Section 420B yesterday and while everything was fine there was this one young lady who kept getting up looking for friends of hers and blocked the view of some fans. One of the blocked fans must have texted the number given as a security guard with ear piece came to the section and went right to the row where this gal was and asked if everything was ok here. Pretty impressive.

The Stadium itself (it’s not a ballpark it’s a STADIUM) has no charm. As you walk in the concourse level is just like entering a high end shopping mall. There are many, many workers who hold up signs “How May I Help You” and whatever you’re looking for at the Stadium they can tell you where it is. Unfortunately that doesn’t happen at Citi Field.     

The food choices were ok I guess, there wasn’t a concession that I said I have to have that. The garlic fires looked enticing but the smell of the garlic was so overpowering I passed. There was a Boar’s Head deli which I guess is very good but I can have a Boar’s Head deli sandwich any time I want. Johnny Rocket’s? There’s one in the SI Mall. Brother Jimmy’s BBQ? I have that before NY Rangers games. Hard Rock Café? If there was ever an organization that was the antithesis of Rock n Roll it’s the Highlanders   So I settled for my favorite sausage and peppers hero.

As for the fans, I guess because it was a Sunday there were a lot of families mostly from NJ, Rockland and Orange County and beyond. Listening to some of the conversations, many were of the casual fan variety but the fan of the day had to be the woman in back of me decked out in here Rivera jersey, cap who cheered and cheered for Jeter and A-Rod who upon seeing a man walking down from the upper rows of the section with a Highlander jersey with the number 5 on it asked her the guy who was with her, “Who’s number 5” to make it worse the guy who was with her didn’t know. My son who was with me just stared ahead watching the action, shaking his head back and forth. That was the best part of the day.

Citi Field has a lot of warts, most of them brought on by ownership but the atmosphere at Citi is much better and more of a festive block party, hanging out in the back yard BALLPARK whereas Highlander STADIUM is a massive high rise apartment building  where no one knows your name and they like it that way.

As most of you know, I have a strong dislike for the rent a cops at Citi Field ( and at MSG as well) as it seems in order to get a job as an usher, concessioner or security person you must have a lack of social skills and the inability to use common sense.   It seems last night at Citi Field, which could have been Tumble Weed Field as the crowd seemed to be “by invitation only” with all the empty seats that were shown coast to coast and to all the ships at sea, the powers that be, have had enough of the “Don’t Trade Reyes” crowd as we see here from this dispatch from Darren Meenan of The 7 Line who brought his “Don’t Trade Reyes sign with him on Sunday just as he did on Friday. On Friday the Mets were cool with the rally but it seems on Sunday night the retreated back to the same old management and Meenan and his sign were tossed from the ball park.

Think about that for a moment, the Mets are hemorrhaging in red ink, they are the laughing stock of baseball, and they are sitting on tens of thousands of unsold tickets, so you would think the last thing this organization needs is any more unwanted bad publicity but they are getting it now with the treatment of Meenan last night. 

Was I there when this incident occurred? No but I know from firsthand experience how the Green Jackets operate and quite frankly they haven’t changed since the days at Shea. They do have some fear in them though as I saw a fan try to slip a few bucks to one usher to get a seat in the Field Level and the usher nearly shit himself telling the fan ”no, no we can’t do that anymore, they’re watching us” Well, it’s about time.

I hope the Mets hear about what the staff did to Meenan last night and invite him back to Citi Field for free and with a limo ride door to door. The credibility that this team has with its fan base is at a low I haven’t seen since the mid to late 70’s. It’s time to retrain the staff at Citi Field in a crash course in customer relations or the only sign the Mets will have to worry about will be the For Sale sign outside the ballpark .

When I was first notified of this event I thought it was stupid. Why? Because it’s pretty obvious that Mets fans don’t want Reyes going anywhere and I don’t think Sandy Alderson wants him to go anywhere and no matter how much you stomp your feet and scream that won’t put funds in the in Mets empty coffers.

But my view of this event has changed and I now feel this is a great time an opportunity for Mets fans to show the new minority owner that Reyes (and David Wright) needs to be A Met 4 Life.  Frankly I would love to protest the keeping of Reyes by having a mass walkout of Citi Field during the bottom of the 5th inning of a game, just to show the Skill Sets and Minority Einhorn, what the ball park will look like next year without our beloved shortstop.

I know I’m putting too much faith in Minority Einhorn to stepped up and kick some Wilpon ass but I have to believe the Stealth Bomber GM (Sandy Alderson) will have a big say in this as well.  Alderson chucked Ollie Perez and Luis Castillo not only because they sucked but he felt negative fan sentiment was so strong, it was the right thing to do. Now with that same Mets fan passion in a positive way, Alderson seems to have gotten the message that he needs to be as creative as possible in keeping Reyes a Met. If he doesn’t then the message will be sent to the Mets fan base, WE DON”T WANT YOU EITHER!