Over the weekend while looking while watching the shingels of my roof fly through the air with the greatest of ease, I did a Q & A with the talented author of Crashburn Alley, Bill Baer (and Baseball Prospectus and Baseball Digest Daily and ESPN The Sweet Spot) on our beloved Metsies. Bill is hoping the Mets are fit to fight this season so as to keep the flames of this new found rivalry stoked. Be careful what you wish for Bill, be very careful

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For the second year, the biggest names in baseball and the fantasy baseball industry join together to raise money for a worthy cause: to help the families of soldiers protecting our nation overseas.

From 12 noon on Feb. 27 until Sunday, Feb. 28, 2010, Baseball Digest, FantasyPros911.com and BlogTalkRadio.com will join forces to host the second annual 24-Hour Talk-a-Thon.

About Operation Homefront

Operation Homefront provides emergency assistance and morale to our troops, to the families they leave behind and to wounded warriors when they return home. A nonprofit 501(c)(3), Operation Homefront leads more than 4,500 volunteers in 30 chapters nationwide and has met of the needs of more than 250,000 military families. Operation Homefront provides aid to families struggling not only with emergencies, but also with the problems of everyday life.

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19 days until pitchers and catchers

I have been invited to attend  a presentation of Bloomberg Sports new baseball statistic and analytic tool that will be offered to fans and a more intense version to all 30 MLB teams.  I hope to be giving some updates at this event through TWITTER so check out my Twitter account during the day tomorrow if you’re interested and if you’re a fantasy baseball player this is looks like a product that will interest you very much.  Check out this article by Paul Greco of Baseball Digest Daily who got a look at the product at the winter meetings this past December.

Mario Lemieux has made an offer to buy the Pittsburgh Pirates. Could Mark Messier make an offer to buy the Mets (PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE!)

Over at Bugs & Cranks they want  to help find out if you have a “baseball problem” so they have seven events that you could watch instead of  watching  a Cincinnati Reds-Florida Marlins game at Golden Girls Stadium. Of the 7 questions, I answered Reds-Marlins to 5 of them. The only two events I chose over the baseball game were watching UConn- Tennessee  women’s basketball game (Gino Auriemma and Pat Summit are two of the greatest coaches in sports history) and Fulham @ Aston Vila in the EPL.  So I guess I have a serious baseball problem.

I’m getting a little worried about my Boston Celtics. KG is not close to his top condition, Rasheed Wallace has no conscience at the 3 point line, and the corrupt NBA refs are all betting against the C’s in every game. At least no one has pull a piece in the clubhouse yet. Tomorrow is a big game as the Lakers ship off to Boston, if there are three NBA refs not on the take I hope the league assigns them to this game.

Hey Johnny Damon, shut the fuck up! You want to blame someone for the reason you’re not employed by the Bronx Bastards any longer? Look in the mirror caveman.

I don’t hide the fact that I’m a Daniel Murphy fan and I take a lot of shit for that. But it’s nothing compared to the abused I took for my support of Gregg Jeffries.  It wasn’t until I met Jefferies that I realized what an asshole he was. I’ve told the story before where John Franco brought Jeffries to a club in Brooklyn one night where my friends and I were at as well and Jeffries tried to pick up every girl in the place not caring who they were with. Not the wisest move to make at a club in Bay Ridge.  It’s good to see an older and wiser Jeffries as I read in this piece by Kevin Kernan in the Post. Best thing that ever happened to Jeffries was leaving the Mets.

We’ve always paid our gas bill to the Brooklyn Union Gas Co., in fact my dad’s first job in NYC was laying down gas pipe for the Brooklyn Union Gas Co. out in the wilds of Canarsie in the early 30’s. Then one day the gas bill came in with the name Keyspan on it, no more Brooklyn Union but Keyspan was the name of the new ball park in Coney Island so I was cool with Keyspan. Then one day the mailman delivered a bill from National Gird. What the hell is National Grid? National Grid is what Keyspan and Brooklyn Union were but now since there is no more Keyspan and I guess the folks at National Gird are not baseball fans, the name has to come off the ballpark in Coney Island and a new name is needed.

The Mets who own the stadium could do the right thing and name it after Gil Hodges or even rename it Shea Stadium but I doubt they will.

On Twitter yesterday I mention how a good ball park name would be Egg Cream Stadium or get Fox’s U-Bet Syrupto buy naming rights. In fact, why don’t’ the Cyclones (forget the Mets doing this as they can’t even put a deli in $iti Field where I can get a good pastrami or brisket sandwich and a Dr. Browns soda. I think a lot of my Mets anger would go away with a good brisket and a Dr. Browns Cream Soda at $iti Field) put in an Egg Cream Bar at the Coney Island ballpark?

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I will be joining Mike Silva on his NY Baseball Digest show tonight at 7PM

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Tonight at 6:30PM EDST I will be a guest of Mike Silva’ on his New York Baseball Digest radio show on Blog Talk Radio and then later tonight at 9:30PM EDSTalso on Blog Talk Radio we will have our Pro Baseball Central show. I wonder what the subject matter will be?

We’d love your input on PBC so call in the show at (646) 595-4462

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I did not see last nights Mets-Brewski game as I was attending the Staten Island Highlanders-Aberdeen Iron Birds game that was delayed 1 hour due to daily rain event here in NYC, but before the game I was a guest on Mike Silva’ NY Baseball Digest radio program, where Mike and I discussed the state of the Mets and what direction we felt this team should take. We both agreed that Mets fans have to relax a bit with their yelping for Omar Minaya to make a knee jerk trade as it’s not about trading, in fact this would be the worst time to make a deal of top prospects for a D-list of players that some fans think will lift this team. But one of the things we discussed was a Tweet I read from ESPN1050 that the had info that Jerry Manuel was told by the front office to knock off the rhetoric about injuries and calling out the front office to make a deal that has added gasoline to the fans/media bon fire this by the way I brought up yesterday and I agree with management telling Manuel to zip it.

Well it seems J-Man has gotten the message loud and clear as he closed the doors to his clubhouse after the game (another suggestion I brought up) and from the sound of it, reversed his sermon and told his team to stop looking for outside help and look at each other. Manuel tried to stem the tide of individualism that seems to have crept into his clubhouse and from this vantage point it looks like Manuel’ job is on the line. Not for this season but for next.

I don’t think it’s the fact that the team is losing but the way they lose that has them being mocked and laughed at throughout baseball and has caused embarassment to all who root for the Mets. The Mets players are lucky I’m not the team owner because I would have closed the club house door with a handful of player release forms in my hand and tell the players that the forms are loaded and “I’m not afraid to use them”

The last time the Mets had a month like this June was back in September 2003 when the Walking Cadaver Art Howe was in charge and “battling” all the way to a 7-19 record. That was the Met team with such notables as Jason “Goggles” Phillips, Vane Wilson, Tsuyoshi Shinjo, Danny Garcia and The Brothers Glavine. Another fact that gave me a “WOW” moment was that Pedro Feliciano is the only player to play for both losing Mets squads. Felicano has been a Met for 6 years AMAZING!!

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Of all the baseball web sites out there Mike Silva’s New York Baseball Digest is one of the best and Mike is a great great guy as well. Most time Mike and I see eye to eye on most things about the Mets but this time I have to take issue with his post of yesterday calling out Mets fans and their conduct and complaining about $iti Field.

 

Mike took issue with the way Mets fans treated Daniel Murphy by booing his defense (I agree with Mike here as you fans need to understand that Murphy in the outfield is a work in progress) and the complaining by some about the amenities and obstructed views  at  $iti  Field. Those I can not comment on until I make my way to the new house which I will do on Saturday and for sure I will have a full report for you. 

 

What I would tell Mike and anyone else you wants to take Mets fans to task for behaving badly is when you’re treated like shit, shit happens. From the ownership to the ushers to the concessionaires we Mets fans are treated more as an annoyance than a valued customer. If the Skill Sets ran any other business that relied on customer service like they do the Mets they’d be more broke than how Bernie Madoff left them.

 

Is some of the fan complaints picayune and off base ? Sure. Fans need to cut management some slack as $iti is brand new and the kinks need to be worked out. If long lines and crowds annoy you then stay away until August or even next season otherwise just shut the fuck up and wait for your Box Frites like the rest of us.

 

However, when the true Mets fan, the fan that is true Orange and Blue, the fan who buys all the merchandise, the fan who sits through the 2 hour rain delay to then be told “sorry folks game’s cancelled oh and you don’t get 15 bucks for parking back” is treated like a red headed step child, while the stuffed shirts who care more about Chablis and Chardonnay rather than Delgado and Castillo have Skill Sets lip marks all over their privilege ass. All you here about is the Acela Club, The Ebbits Club, the Caesars Club, and the Metropolitan Club and the rest of us in steerage should be grateful there is indoor plumbing in the cheap seats.  

 

Maybe with this new ball park and new era in Mets history (maybe if the ownership plashed some blue and orange around the place it would common the savage beast in the stands) The Skill Sets will have an Epiphany when they see the Promenade packed like the 7 Train at rush hour and the Club Seats as empty as Amagansett in January and treat the REAL METS fan with the respect that they deserve. Remember Skill Sets to earn respect you must give respect.  

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Just a quick post as I’ running  out the door, I will be a guest on Mike Silva’s NY Baseball Digest show tonight on Blog Talk Radio at 7PM EST I’m pretty sure we will a few topics to discuss.

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Dear Mister Fantasy play us a tune
Something to make us all happy
Do anything take us out of this gloom
Sing a song, play guitar
Make it snappy
Yeah, yeah

Over at NYBD, Frank Maniscalco (A/K/A Frankie the Sports Guy) has set up a Fantasy Baseball League on CBS Sportsline (some how Frankie and fantasy just don’t go together LOL….. just a joke Frank a little levity com’on we all should be happy as I’m sure nobody here saw there name on the Madoff Rip Off List)

There are prizes and it should be a lot of fun, I’m already signed up (my team name is Son of Skill Sets) and I suck at fantasy baseball but I’m willing to give it a go.

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Looks like Omar saw his shadow yesterday and declared winter is over with the signing of Ollie P to a 3yr/$36 mil deal. The best part of that deal is the 3 yrs forget the money part it’s the years that are key as Ollie/Boras were looking for at least 5 years but had to settle in at 3.

 

Add to that news that Manny/Boras have turned down the Dodgers latest proposal of 1 yr/$25 mil deal which means the Manny to the Mets talk will never die as you have figure that Boras had to talk  Manny with Omar. He had to right? RIGHT?

 

More Mets news today as the off season levee has broken. It looks like the deal with Citigroup for the new Pleasure Palace is under fire and Citi Group may look to void the deal due to pressure from Congress. Is the karma changing in Flushing? Will we see the ball park named after Gil Hodges or will it keep the Shea name atop the façade?

 

Mike Silva has a great post on New York Baseball Digest on how the Mets strive to be good and not great and as I commented on Mike’s post as long as the Skill Sets strive to be just good me and the rest of the Mets bloggers will continue to fight them to strive to be great. That doesn’t mean to spend like our neighbors in the Bronx but to have a plan stick to it and make any necessary move to attain greatness. Signing Manny would work well to achieve that goal. The Skill Sets remind me of the landlords I deal with who get violations on their buildings and cry to the court that they have no money to make the necessary repairs to meet the city code. Usually these buildings have address on Park Ave and Central Park West and are worth umpteen millions of dollars and just like with the Skill Sets I give them a big yawn when they cry to me about how hungry they are when they have not just loves of bread under their arms but the whole damn bakery.

 

Joel Sherman in his HARDBALL blog talks up Ty Wiggington who makes so much sense for the Mets it’s guaranteed the Mets won’t sign him.

 

Excuse me now while I pry my eyes out with a fork. 

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