Thank you to everyone who commented and emailed me with suggestions to help me with my pitching staff. I am happy to report that we won our first game of the season 10-0 (now 1-3 on the year) with only three walks against us in the game. Rick Peterson would be proud of all of you.

Speaking of The Jacket, he will play himself in the movie version of “Moneyball” with Brad Pitt playing Billy Bean.  Art Howe will also be in the film playing the cadaver they extract  the ligaments from for Tommy John surgery.

The Mets are rolling through NOCAL yesterday 9-6 win. Another strong start I felt, by Johan Santana who had one bad inning (the 6^th) in the 7 innings he pitched as he had an incredible 79/22 K/B spilt plus he got the win to go to 5-2.

The pitching and hitting is as good for the Mets as any in baseball right now but the fielding needs to tighten up a bit especially with Wright and Castillo. Yes I’m never happy I have to find something to bitch about with this team.

With Carlos Delgado on the DL (what a shock!) the Mets have to make decision on what to do with first base. I don’t see how Jeremy Reed is an option over Daniel Murphy if they want to go a righty/lefty platoon. In fact it looks like the increased playing time for Reed is more of a showcase as why would you need both Reed and Angel Pagan on this roster that now is top heavy with outfielders? Pagan can do as much if not more than Reed both with the bat and in the field plus the added bonus of being a switch hitter. Maybe  a deal with the Orioles for Aubry Huff that would have the Mets send Reed and Eddie Kunz to Baltimore could snare Huff? By the way can we let Murphy play tonight at first base? It’s been four games since his last start. FREE DANIEL MURPHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A reminder, I will be a guest tonight on The Seven Train To Shea Radio Program tonight at 7PM EDST.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Great win to start the road trip last night. John Maine steeled in nicely after a shaky first innings and he and Big Pelf have impresses be with their maturation on the mound this season by bouncing back after rough innings and pitching deeper into games.

 

I guess sore calf is a euphemism for benched for bone headed base running.

 

Mets Geek has a great piece on J-Man’s use (over use? miss use?) of the bullpen so far this season. One of the commentators made a good point that the Mets play so many close games that it dictates more bullpen moves than usual.

 

I stopped trying to figure out what management is thinking about with Carlos Delgado’ hip. It has cone from stiff, to sore, to a rip in a ligament , to arthritis, to total hip replacement okay we’re not at hip replacement yet but you know if he did need a new hip the Mets would still list him as day to day. Same with JJ Putz. The rumors were true that his was hurting for certain and now we find he has a bone spur on his elbow. No surgery is needed say the Mets which means the elbow was be hanging by a string. Not good not good at all. How can you start a 10 games road trip with just 23 players? Call up Baltimore or DC and see what the price is for Aubry Huff or Nick Johnson oh wait that would be a ballsy move by the GM gee I forget what team I root for a second.

 

This would be my lineup for tonight

 

Reyes SS

Castillo 2B

Beltran CF

Sheffield LF

Wright 3B

Murphy 1B

Santos C

Church RF

Hernandez P

 

Only reason I bat Church 8 is the lefty/righty scenario. Time to let Murphy play so 1^st if he can handel it and start to hit leave him there as I am getting ready for the word that Delgado is done for the season. Of course I’m a pessimist there is no such thing as an optimistic Mets fan. If you think your one then you’re to damn young to understand it.

 

  

 

Don’t forget tonight PRO BASEBALL CENTRAL tonight at 9PM EDST and on the pod cast afterwards as Joe McDonald and I preview tonight Mets-Giants game and look at Tim Lincicum-Livan Hernandez tale of the tape. Plus I get to vent on all things Mets for this week Listen live here or on the podcast later here.

 

Also this Sunday night at 7PM EDST I will be a guest on Seven Train to Shea radio show so tune in and turn on!!!!!!

 

Get ready for an ass whipping on Sunday Orlando you will need more than “Magic” to beat the C’s in Boston in a Game 7.

 

  

 

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Larry Jones needs to shut the fuck up, Beltran was safe at 3rd. Finally the Mets get a call in their favor from these inept umpires, and I don’t give a rats ass what Larry thinks of $iti Field and how he misses Shea what I’d like to see is a Mets pitcher nail him in the ribs with a fastball. I am so sick and tired of the fawning over of Larry Jones.

Can we just put Carlos Delgado on the DL already? what are the Mets waiting for? They’ve played three games now with a short bench, Delgado’s hip is still sore and won’t get better without rest. Please let’s not make him fly cross country and then DL him.

Great not only are the Mets wearing there miserable black unit tops but the Braves have decided to wear their Midnight Blue tops. Fucking stupid!

I guess Jose Reyes admitting that me made an awful base running blunder last night is progress.

Can’t kill J-Man on taking Big Pelf out in the 7th. He was in a zone and pitching great but the Mets have to be careful of over using him.

I don’t know what is higher on the douchebag meter the streaker or the asshole taking the video screaming “that’s my boy, that’s my boy” I will say nothing is as funny as over weight security guards risking a heart attack chasing a guy on the field

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Omar Minaya’s Best Week Ever came to an abrupt end last night as his team ended it’s winning streak, his Ace pitcher again received no run support and this time the defense betrayed him as well, the best free agent pitcher on the market last winter who camethisclose to being the second banana to Santana that the Omar will be looking for before July came to $iti and showed the Mets what could have been, his rejuvenated first baseman is headed for a DL stint and his manager made some head scratching moves before and during the game last night.

 

Big thank you to Dave Singer at NY Sportsdog and James K at Amazin Avenue for doing the heavy lifting on dissecting J-Man’s brain farts last night. Let’s hope he learns a lesson from last night.

 

Carlos Delgado’ tragically hurting hip could send him to the DL. He already had cortisone shot this spring in the hip and is a little leery of taking another one so soon because as we all know cortisone is a steroid. That’s why I don’t get all in a huff over players using PED’s  as cortisone injections are given out to athletes like flu shots at a nursing home.

 

It’s no secret that J- Man doesn’t think Ryan Church is Gangsta’ enough for him but the truth is Jeremy Reed is the same player as Church but with better and more versatile outfield play. Even more bad news for Church is if Delgado goes on the 15 day DL you could see Murphy and Tatis spilt the first base duties with Reed going to RF and Gary Sheffield going to left and Church going to sunflower seed distributor.

 

 

 

 

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Busy day as I’m having my wood floors refinished and I’ve moved so much furniture that I’m changing my name to Mayflower, plus I have to put together a practice plan for my team as it finally stopped raining but I’m sure the dirt infield at the park we practice at is full of puddles so it will be 90 minutes of “Fundi Drills” this afternoon.

As for last night a win is a win but that was a Susan Boyle win, dog-ass ugly.

I know Livan threw only 75 pitches but J-Man did the right thing going with Bobby Parnell in the 7^th. For all the angst this team has given us the first month of the season the Parnell, Putz, Rodriguez back end of the pen has made every game with a 6 inning lead tilt in the Mets favor. I don’t think that’s it’s to much to ask for the starters not named Santana to give the Mets a quality start each time the take the mound.

I have to disagree with Mex about Castillo showing emotion on the field after making an error in the 8^th inning haven’t we Met fans been clamoring for someone other than us to get pissed off?

I think I need Carlos Delgado to come to my practice today so I can yell out to him “TWO HANDS, ALL-STAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

With all the hand wringing over Daniel Murphy’s defense has anyone noticed he is hitting .313/.379/.470. Plus the kid gets to the ball park 6 hours before game time taking fly balls and now he is also taking ground balls at first base so it’s about time we pat him on the back instead of jumping on it.

Only a matter of time before Gary Sheffield takes over as the regular right fielder.

Maybe J-Man is a master of motivation since the embarrassing pinch hitting episode in Miami Shrek has been on a tear. Maybe the flame has finally hit his ass.

The Oliver Perez situation is looking more sticky by the day. On one hand Omar Minaya looks gutless by having Scott Bora$ dictate how to him how to run his team and on the other, Ollie is such a fucking head case that maybe he is better off in the bullpen so Santana and the Carlos’s can be his caretakers not to mention he is fond of Old School Dan Werthen. If OP comes into a game a starts walking the ball park or gets shelled then it will be time for Omar to man up and take back his team from Agent Bora$ and do what’s best for the Mets and not OP.

Think I’ll wear my BELTRAN 15 jersey to practice today.

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Looks like I didn’t miss much this weekend as it pertains to the Mets. I didn’t find out until Saturday morning that Big Pelf and Murph had big games to help the Mets beat the Phillies and with the help of another Scoutmasters Black Berry (one of the things about camping on a military installation is you get cell service in the woods) we followed the Mets, Ollie P collapse while cooking dinner that almost spoiled my appetite (but not quite as I hiked about 4 miles around Lake Fredrick so I was starving) but one thing we learned this weekend is if you want to know the state of the Mets, just ask a Mets fan.

 

What Mets fans have been crying in despair about since the called third strike that Carlos Beltan took in the 9^th inning of  Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS has finally been realized by the teams architect Omar Minaya that his team is not exactly a group of manly men. Minaya has finally realized that his team is a bunch of Fluffer-Nuters” :

 

    “We have good guys, solid professionals,” Minaya says. “There is a smile on David Wright’s face, a smile on Jose Reyes’s face. But there is not an edge to them.

 

“Some people see edge as leadership. Sometimes, you need a little meanness to your game. Some people perceive leadership as meanness.

 

“I couldn’t tell you that we have that type of guy. We have leaders. But everyone’s perception of leadership is different.”

 

Minaya says that Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado possess a makeup similar to those of Wright and Reyes. He adds that two new Mets, outfielder Gary Sheffield and infielder Alex Cora, provide more of an edge.

 

The problem here is both Sheffield and Cora are bench players so their edge is kept on the pine most days. This the same problem the 90’s Mets had when their guy with the edge was John Franco you have to have an everyday guy that has the ball sack to get in guys faces and tell the oppositions to kiss his ass. David Wright, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado are very proper gentlemen in fact the one ornery guy in that bunch (Reyes) gets reprimanded when he tries to fire up his team and is told “Tisk, tisk young man that dancing and prancing will not be tolerated here”

 

So there may be only one solution here and that means one or two of this core would have to go. Don’t look at it as Mike Francesa being right but more the Bill Simmons ‘Ewing Theory” coming true once again. If I had to make the call I’d be shopping Beltran and Delgado today. Nothing against them especially Beltran as I feel he is an outstanding player but by dealing him you would get back multiple players that just might ignite this team and get it back on track. Think the Red Sox, Giants or even the Highlanders would be buyers in a Beltran market ? Hell yeah! So go ahead and call me all the assholes you want to to think about trading Beltran and Delgado but someone has to go and both guys make the most sense to deal or hope the Mets sit pat and finish out of the money once again. It’s time for Omar to react and shake this team up and get this fan base talking about what’s on the field on at $iti Field instead what to eat at the food court.    

 

 

So after shiting the bed on Saturday in Philly, Ollie P said he was embarrassed by his performance and would go to the bushes if the Mets felt that was the best way to get his mojo back, Well I guess Scott Bora$ got wind of the comment and told OP you will do no such thing. So OP, with the silicon chip inside his head, says now he won’t go to Buffalo, Bingo or any other low level league to get himself right. So my feelings went from “Way to go, Olllie get your mechanics straight atta boy” to “You over paid douche bag, give back the money you thief” Great job doing what’s best for your client Scott.

 

Part of the Bora$ missive to OP was to make Perez wrap his knee in an ice pack and tell everyone that his knee has been bothering all year. That makes OP nothing but a fucking coward.

 

Mike Silva at NYBD calls out Omar and the Mets management as well in a great post at his site.

 

Dave Singer tells us to avert our eyes for a moment from the Ollie Perez / Sean Green pile up on the side of the road to look at the freak show that is Jose Reyes season so far.

 

 

 

 

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The 6^th and 7^th innings last night summed up the Mets early and I mean realllllllllll early problem of not busting a game wide open. When the opportunity comes up to administer an ass kicking, championship teams kick ass, pretenders come up short.

Top of the 6^th the Mets catch a break as they couldn’t get a sniff of a rally off Anibal Sanchez but Freddi Gonzalez went to his pen and brought in Dan Meyer who promptly gave up a lead off homer to Carlos Beltran to get the Mets on the board. Ryan Church comes up next and singles and this is where you say “here comes the big inning”. Schneider sac bunts Church to 2^nd, a good play because odds are Schneider hits in to a DP in that spot, Gimp Castillo comes up with a man in scoring position and files out. With Castillo getting lifted for a pinch hitter (Jeremy Reed) in 9^th tells you the leash on Gimp is getting shorter and shorter. With 2 outs man on 2^nd Gary Sheffield bats for John Maine who was great last night but Dan Meyer wants no part of Sheffield and throws three pitches out of the strike zone and then Gonzalez orders Meyer to walk him. Respect thy names is an intentional walk. Up steps Jose Reyes and an awful at bat.

Meyer was shook up by the sight of Sheffield and couldn’t throw a strike. The first pitch to Reyes was ball 1. On the next pitch Meyers tries to hit the corner low and away put the pitch was out of the strike zone but of course that doesn’t stop Jose from reaching over and popping it up to RF for an easy fly ball out. Ever hear of take a strike Jose?

On to the Mets 7^th where Daniel Murphy leads off with a base hit (of course!) In comes non-roster invitee Kiko Calero (this looks to be the Marlins downfall, the bullpen that and not being able to play the Mets for 162 games) who walks D-Wright and hits Carlos Delgado with a pitch and the bags are drunk with Carlos Beltran up. Smells like a big inning right ?(“here we are now, entertain us”) uhhh NO!. Beltran drives in a run (a cheap Rib Eye Steak though) hitting into an FC but then Church walks and the bags are juiced once again as Fernando Taits bats for Schieder (J-Man ain’t fooling around, if you can’t hit you will sit) and misses a Grannie bythismuch and that would have broken this one up big. Wright scores and it’s 3-3 and if you want to take a positive out of the inning it’s that the Mets scored some runs late.

Gimp Castillo came up with 2 out worked the count 3-2 and let strike 3 sail over the plate. The clock is ticking fast on Gimp.

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Thoughts on last nights painful 9-7 win:

 

You know how I know I love the Mets? I sat through every excruciating pitch of last night’s game. Thank God for Gary, Keith and Ron as they kept us informed and entertained in a four hour root canal of a game, especially Gary coming up with the story of the Rodney Dangerfield day after opening promotion. That’s back in the day when the Mets marketing staff was imaginative.

 

Big Pelf looked real uncomfortable on the mound, I mean he had that underwear up the crack of your butt look, as he worked soooooooo slow and kept licking his hand. All that stretchimg of his arm and licking of the fingers couldn’t help him gain command of his sinking fastball in the strike zone. But you have to be encouraged that Pelf had nothing in the first inning but either with adjustments by Old School Dan Werthen and Brian Schneider (wow love for Schneider, you know it’s a new year around here) or just that that his hands warmed up to get a better grip on the ball, Pelfrey went on to give the Mets 4 solid innings and saved J-Man going to the pen early.

 

You know you’re in for a rough night when Angel Hernandez is the home plate ump. Sucking would be an improvement for Hernandez who has no clue of how to call balls and strikes. The man is an embarrassment.

 

Is it too early to talk contract extension for Carlos Delgado? Forget the monster HR in the top of 1 the hit of the night was his base hit to LF (going the other way is a beautiful thing) in the 7^th

 

The bottom of the 5th had to give J-Man a few more gray hairs as Pelf was going along strong and steady until Jay Bruce singled and moved Joey Votto to 3^rd with 2 outs and Pelf hitting that magic 100 pitch mark. Manuel made his decision to let Plefrey go after Edwin Encarnarcion. It showed the confidence that Manuel has in Pelfrey and a reward for overcoming a bad first inning and try to get him on the plus side of decision. Plef got out of the inning with the last play in the world you’d think would ever work the fake to third and throw to first that Castillo grabbed and threw home to nail Votto.

 

Why didn’t the Reds bring in a lefty (Danny Herrera or 87 year old Arthur Lee Rhodes) to pitch to Schneider with the bases loaded and one out? Oh yeah I forgot, Dusty Baker is the Reds manager <doh!>

 

Bill Welke blew that call in the 9^th as Delgado looked to be on the bag making a difficult outing for Frankie Rodriguez even tougher. As bad as Welke is he doesn’t suck as bad as Angel Hernandez.

 

Ollie P today at high noon, let’s hope we all don’t lose our lunch.          

 

 

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The whole steroid stigma won’t be lifted until there is some kind of amnesty for the “Roid Ragers. Kind of like the cities do for illegal guns have the players hand in all their syringes and unused PED’s with no questions asked.  Then the rank and file of the Players Association must take back there union. I know most of the members of the MLBPA have never worked a day in their lives so as someone who is a union member let explain to you fellows that even the cleanest of the clean are all painted with broad brush of taint. A large segment of the baseball fans feel you are all a bunch of dirty cheaters and I know if I were cleaner than the Board of Health I would be on my union reps ass to uphold my reputation. Remember the union works for you not the other way around.

 

Enough with Chemical Alex lets talk Mets.

 

Baseball Prospectus one of the best sites for baseball info has using their PECOTA system tabbed the Mets to win the NL East at a record of 93-69. PECOTA also has the Mets giving up 713 runs, the lowest in the NL and their offense scoring 833 runs (only the Cubs @ 865 and the Phillies @ 837 scoring more).  PECOTA projects big years for the BIG 3 but also a solid season for Carlos Delgado (.277/.355/.486 26 HR 96 RBI)

 

I’m happy to see Johan Santana turn down an invite to the WBC, a tournament baseball needs like more drug test leaks  

 

The usual suspects are in Mets camp already. I swear D-Wright has a key to the place and it looks like Dan Murphy is following in his foot steps. I’m falling in line with a vast majority of Mets fans as I feel if the Mets are not getting Manny then let Murphy have the everyday LF job. Say no to Bobby Abreu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

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17 days until pitchers and catchers but it’s just one more day until Pro Baseball Central so join Joe McDonald and me tomorrow night on Blog Talk Radio at 9PM to join in on the baseball chatter call in to the show at (646) 595-4462. More Pro Baseball Central news later.

 

J-Man is one cool dude, as he has taken up our fight for Manny by letting all parties involved know he’d love to pencil 24 RAMIREZ into his lineup card:

 “But that’s [general manager] Omar [Minaya], that’s the Wilpons, their thing,” Manuel said to a group of reporters yesterday at the Holy Apostle Soup Kitchen in Manhattan, where he was helping unload supplies for City Harvest, a group that provides supplies for the needy around the city. “I’m like the fans: If we get him, cool. If not, we’ll deal with it. We have a pretty good team.”

 

It pays to have job security, I wonder if J-Man would put the Manny burden on managements shoulders like that if he were in the last year of a contract instead of starting a new deal? Never the less it’s good to have J-Man on our side.

I also like how J-Man dealt with the most overrated question about Manny, how to deal with him in the clubhouse:

“If you’ve got a guy who performs on the field, you can handle the rest of that stuff. I don’t think it’s an issue. I don’t have a problem with the clubhouse. I’ve got an office that’s about so big,” Manuel said, holding his hands close together. “The clubhouse, I let them do what they do.”

 

Look I have never played in professional sports but I have played on teams throughout my life with guys I despised so much I wouldn’t pee on them if they were on fire but as long as we were teammates I had their back and they had mine, maybe it’s the long season and the time together that atmosphere in the pro clubhouse means a lot but I’m sure if Manny is hitting home runs and protecting D-Wright in the batting order and giving Carlos Delgado beaucoup RBI opps in his walk year,  Manny would be the Man of the Year in the Mets Cave.

 

More Manny, this comment from Matt Cerrone (hope you’re feeling better Matt) on Manny and the Mets:

also, i have a feeling the team may have miscalculated just how vocal their fans would be about manny… i

listened to WFAN last night from 3 am to 4 am, thanks to my asthma and a cold, and every single Mets call was about manny… over and over and over again… manny, manny, manny… i’m not saying this is a reason for the Mets to change course, not at all, they should do what they see fit, but they may want to consider how they are spinning this to the public, especially if there is any chance ramirez ends up signing a one-year deal with the Dodgers,because, if that happens, i suspect most fans are going to lose it…

 

If I have one major pet peeve with the Mets organization it is they are clueless about their fan base and I get the feeling they couldn’t give damn about us. If the Skill Sets showed one once the passion of its fan base the name “Mets” would be acknowledge with more respect instead of laughter.

 

According to reports the Mets have sold 25,000 per game so far as just about everyone who committed to buying season tickets has poinied up the dough. But guess which seats are not selling so fast? Yes those high priced club seats that hold the ample ass’ of those captains of industry that have thrown us into this recession. Don’t worry Skill Sets the working folks of NY won’t let you down.

 

      

 

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