The Mets get hammered in this town for a multitude of offenses and in most instances, the bludgeoning is warranted but when it comes to the decision by J-Man to work Jose Reyes into the 3 spot of the lineup, the criticism is not only unwarranted but it’s also senseless.

In today’s NY Post, avid Mets hater Joel Sherman (there are lot’s of Mets haters in MSM, Jon Heyman, Bill Madden, Tom Verducci and of course their Emperor Mike Francesa) has a full page column today take the Met to task for batting Reyes third, even though he admits it’s out of necessity and just something Manuel pulled out of his ass:

 The shift is a reaction to Carlos Beltran’s knee surgery, which will cost him at least a month of the season. Without Beltran to hit third, Manuel fears the lineup lacks length if he simply has David Wright bat third and Jason Bay fourth. The order would dip precipitously at No. 5, likely with Daniel Murphy. In addition, Manuel wants to preserve Reyes’ legs and feels batting him third will translate to fewer steal attempts to limit the risk of having runners thrown out in front of your best RBI men, Wright and Bay.

Sherman goes on in the article to give his hypothesis on why this is bad idea, but gives no solution, which of course there isn’t any. If Carlos Beltran were of sound mind and knee, this would not even be an issue but as we know the best laid plans of mice and Mets never go as planed and so they have this situation to make the best of the lineup until Beltran gets back.

Sherman lays out the answer to the why part of Reyes hitting third when he mentions Daniel Murphy hitting fifth. Murphy is not a #5 hitter. He’s a perfect #2 but the problem is Luis Castillo is also a perfect #2. And there is the problem; the Mets have two #2 and two #1 in Reyes and Angel Pagan.

From the rumbling’s from St. Lonesome, Beltran is progressing nicely and should just miss just the first month of the season (I know, I know you’ll believe it when you see it) so when he comes back Reyes moves back to the #1 spot and Beltran back to #3 and the team will live happily ever after. I hope.

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Blue Sky, sunshine, what a day to take a walk in the park.
Ice cream, daydream till the sky becomes a blanket of stars.
What a day for pick-in’ daisies and lots of red balloons.
And what a day for hold in’ hands and being with you.

Lot’s of stories coming out of Camp Kumbaya where everybody is in “great shape” and ready to fulfill everyone’s expectation of championship baseball. Ah yes, Port St. Lonesome in March, where Johan Santana wins 20 games and the Cy Young Award. Where Big Pelf steps up to throw 200 innings and win 17 games. Where Oliver Perez and John Maine form the best 3-4 spots in any rotation in baseball. Where David Wright, with hard work and a new physique will return to 30 HR’s 100+ RBI. Where Jason Bay and Jeff Francouer prosper on the field and off it as both BAY 44 and FRANCOUER 12 jersey’s can not be produced fast enough by little girls in some third world country to meet the demand of the Mets fans filling $iti Field to capacity every night. Where Daniel Murphy leads the NL in batting with a .350 average and 40 doubles and 20 HR’s. Where Kelvin Escobar and Francisco Rodriguez form the most intimidating late inning relievers in baseball. Where……..what?…….what do you mean both guys haven’t pitched yet this spring?………..Escobar isn’t healthy and Rodriguez has pink eye?…….How do you know Rodriguez has pink eye? He was diagnosised  by who? ED COLEMAN?????? But Escobar is fine isn’t he????????? He’s not?

NO NO PLEASE DON”T SAY IT…….. PLEASE DON”T SAY SAME OLD METS!!!!! WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

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I like the fact that David Wright is stepping up his leadership role with the Mets. In fact one of the best addition by subtraction moves the club made this winter was saying buh-bye to Carlos Delgado, who I felt was a very intimidating presences in the Mets Clubhouse and too many times Wright had to take a backseat to the senior vet. Now with Delgado gone it’s time for Wright to takeover that clubhouse. 

You need an everyday player to be the go to guy and Wright fits that mold better than anyone not named Johan Santana with the Mets. As great a player as Carlos Beltran is, he’s a very low key guy and Jose Reyes who is the on field igniter could be Wright’s tag-team buddy in that clubhouse, in fact in a perfect baseball world the two faces’ of the franchise should be able to say or do what they please with the service time they have with the club, but both are deferential to the older vets on the team sometime to a fault.

If Johan Santana can play the Cliff Floyd role with Wright and give him backup, it would be a major asset to this team. It won’t cure all the ills, but it would help put on notice players, who don’t give 100 % effort physically and mentally, especially the mental part which was as much a reason for the Mets demise as the injuries were last year.

Forget all the bravado of the team to beat bullshit, besides health, the biggest improvement with this Mets team and the whole organization for that matter is accountability. The team motto for this spring and season should be “NO MORE EXCUSES!!!!!”

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shout out to The Ropolitans for this pic

Sorry for no posts this morning but it’s been a busy day. So busy that I forget all about the David Wright sit down with the Sports Bloviator. I caught the tail end of the sit down as I traveled back from Brooklyn and I guess you could say it was typical David Wright. All positives and nothing controversial.

It looks like it’s a foregone conclusion that Bengi Molina will be the Mets #1 catcher this coming season. Again this looks to be another move where Omar was told to sit in the corner as the way the Mets have made Molina sit and stew is very un-Mets like. Same with Carlos Delgado who I think the Mets brain trust only went to Puerto Rico to see just to get away from freezing cold weather in NYC. Think about it, if the Mets were strictly an Omar Minaya Production, Molina, Delgado and Joel Piniero would be celebrating their multi year deals by now. Looks like those days are over.

I was saddened to hear of the passing of Art Rust Jr. who was sportstalk radio in this town back in the 1980’s. Rust hosted a three hour call in show on WABC and unlike WFAN he actually talked ALL sports. In fact I had called in to his show because a young Mark Messier came on to talk hockey and agreed to take calls from fans. Rust was a great baseball historian and a huge Highlander fan but his real passion was for The Sweet Science and he had all the big time boxers on his show.  R.I.P. Arthur George.

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….oh yeah, where was Jerry Manuel yesterday? Not at the Bay Day ceremonies that’s for sure. How about David Wright? Carlos Beltran? Johan Santana? Alex Cora? (you know  the heart and soul of the Mets), Charlie Samuels? (good thing Samuels wasn’t there he’d have had Bay decked out in a black jersey and the shitty black cap with blue brim. Bad enough Bay wore the snow white jersey and not the pinstripe that we heard was all the rage this winter but he did have the blue hat) but seriously, the manager couldn’t fly in from Cali to greet his new LF’er? Doesn’t D-Wright keep a flop flat down in Gramercy Park? I’m sure the Skill Sets could have splurged for a room and air fare for Beltran and Santana and the wifies for a week end in NYC and appearance at the Bay presser.

If it’s a point where one or two of these guys had prior engagements, then couldn’t you have found a day when either J-Man or D-Wright could be on hand? For Christ sake, Rod Gilbert was there (I guess it was an open bar)

Pat Reily has always said the thing that keeps teams from winning is The Disease of Me and after seeing no one but Omar, Jeffey, Dave the Shyster and the ubiquitous  Jay Horowitz yesterday ad $iti Field, I’d say the Mets org has terminal Disease of Me.

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I hate to tell you this but the Mets are not very attractive, in fact they’re not even Susan Boyle homely, but they are close to approaching Rocky Dennis hideousness.

Stop kidding yourselves Mets fans, before you can contend for a title, a team must first become competitive. As I wrote yesterday afternoon on my Twitter account while all hell was breaking lose in baseball, “The Phillies are not the Mets rival, the Nationals are”.

You can talk about Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran playing at 100 % health and David Wright bouncing back from whatever bit him in his ass latest season and the fact the Johan Santana pitches every fifth day, the Mets are no closer to the Phillies today than the Earth is to the sun.

The easy thing to do is scream that Omar Minaya sucks, and he just might suck as a GM but lets face facts, if you are a player like Roy Halladay, John Lackey or even Jason Bay or Matt Holliday why would you want to play for the Mets? Those players want to play for winning teams and to tell you the truth I commend them for giving the Mets their ass to kiss, as they know how desperate the Mets are and would have to pay more money to them than the Phillies in Halladay’s case and the Red Sox in Lackey’s case but both players went to teams that are not just winners and contenders but have management in place that is both intelligent and creative, two qualities the Mets will never be associated with.

Everyone throughout baseball knows that Jeffey Skill Sets is the reason that this organization has a big “Kick Me” sign on it’s back. It is crystal clear that the biggest mistake the Skill Sets have made this off season was not firing Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel because let’s face it, both of these guys are as good as gone. The Skill Sets could have hired a progressive baseball man like Jed Hoyer or gone after Gerry Hunsicker from Tampa or solid baseball men like Tom Kelley and Terry Ryan in Minnesota or even bring back Bobby Valentine who, love him or hate him, Valentine would not have let the Mets wallow in self pity as Jerry Manuel did last year or let them get away with playing “I couldn’t give a fuck baseball”

At the expense of sounding like a broken record nothing with the organization gets accomplished until Jeffey Skill Sets and David (The Syster) Howard take a back seat from the baseball operation. Both of these clueless dolts are the 1 and 1a entry on what’s wrong with the Mets as they are out of touch with what it takes to be a winning organization and what it takes to keep your customers happy. Winning and customers two things you won’t be seeing at $iti Field next season.

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The off season is not even 24 hours old and I want to rip someone throat out in the Mets front  office. The shit heads in charge have made their big announcement on the changes in the coaching staff.  Sandy Alomar Sr and Luis Alicea get the ax and Hojo, Razor Shines and Old School Dan Warthen  get to stay.

Sandy Sr. will be reassigned to another job in the organization most likely tending bar in the Aclea Club, Alicea will be reassigned to body and fender work across the street at Minaya’s Auto Repairs.

Hojo stays because David Wright says he stays, and Wright is the highest ranking Caucasian in the clubhouse so he gets to make a minority hire . You wouldn’t have to be an online betting specialist to know that was going to happen.

Razor Shines stays because he and Jerry are tight which makes Shines, Jerry’s Art Fowler with the cirosess of the liver of course. Thankfully Razor will be assigned to bench coach job so no more innocent base runners get injured. Look for Obie One Oberkfell named as third base traffic cop.

Old School Dan Warthen stays because he has threatened to go public with stories of Jeffey Skill Sets, Mr. Met and Charlie Samuels hooking up at the Holiday Inn on Roosevelt Ave for an erotic adventure. My sources tell me there is a picture of all three involved in a ménage au trois while wearing black Mets uniform tops and black Mets caps with blue bills. Mr Met now answers to the name “Lucky Pierre.” NFL Odds weren’t even taken on this one.

Sandy Alomar Jr and Randy Niemann are staying as well because there is no definitive proof that Sandy Alomar Jr or Randy Niemann actually exists.

So far the off season is off to a less than rousing start.

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Here is how fucked up the Mets front office is, they are being praised for putting David Wright on the 15 day DL. That’s like praising someone for not driving through a red light or yelling FIRE!!! in a movie theatre. How is this hard choice? Sure Omar claims that Wright wanted to go day to day then see if he could come back but like my kids wanting Pop Tarts with a side of M & M’s and gummy bears for dinner, someone has to be the adult and say NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe Minaya has finally put his “man” pants on? Maybe it’s too late?

 

Jerry Manuel is a man who never uses profanity but he still is a nasty fuck sometimes as we see with his quotes about Ryan Church and how finally the truth is coming to light on why he was not a fan of Church:

 

Whether the Mets learned to be cautious with concussions as a result of Church’s case remains to be seen. Jerry Manuel appeared to question Church’s toughness yesterday, at least relative to Wright’s grit.

“David is a different animal, so to speak,” Manuel said. “And how he is made up is a little different than, say, Ryan Church, in my opinion. And that’s not to say one is better than the other. But they’re different.”

 

So Manuel feels Church was a big pussy, now we see it. That’s why I always liked Billy Martin, he was man enough to call his players a pussy to their face (sure after a few scotches) I will say I am kind of surprised that Manuel would question a player like Church’ intestinal fortitude, especially when everyone from doctors, fans and people around baseball all agree that the Mets botched up Church’s head injuries big time.

 

Jeff Francouer did a Q & A with the Atlanta Journal Constitution on how he is loving life in NY and $tit Field.

Great stuff from Mets Geek on the unsigned Mets draft picks.

After seeing those throwback uni’s in person Saturday you what, they weren’t that bad. I like the color and I LOVED the MR. Met on the sleeve along with no names on the back, if the NY were smaller it would have been a hit. Mets Police was listening to yesterday’s game on radio like I did (I was on my way to Coney Island to see the Brooklyn Cyclones and eat pizza at Spumoni Gardens. Also it was a day to torture my kids by telling them I’m selling our house and moving back to Brooklyn.  My wife and kids used to laugh when I’d do this but now they’re scared to death that the might see a for sale sign on the front lawn. Truth be told if I could up root my house and place it in Bay Ridge, I’d be back in Brooklyn in a heartbeat) and heard Howie Rose talk about the throwbacks and how the Mets are slowly learning that the fan base wants to see more Mets tradition and to be more like the Highlander, Cardinals, Dodgers, Cubs and Red Sox and just tweek the uniform and not go crazy. As we all know Howie is with us in the Black Uni’s Suck Club. If the Mets were to modify the throwbacks from this weekend to use an orange NY with blue and orange stripes on the sleeves, numbers on the front and back and no names on the back  with blue piping down the pant legs with Mr. Met on one sleeve and the round Mets logo on the other and top that off with blue stirrups and the classic blue caps that would be a world class uniform.

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My main concern right now is the fact that David Wright has NOT been placed on the DL by the Mets. And not the 15 day one either, put him on the 60 day then have a nurse sent to his Manhattan apartment to monitor him and when he feels and checks out better by a doctor fuel up the Skill Sets yacht (take the for sale sign off and cancel the ad in the Buy Lines Freddy) and sail him to the Caribbean for some much needed R & R and tell him see you in March!

I don’t know what was scarier yesterday, the sight of Wright getting hit in the head and lying motionless on the ground or the fear that his health and safety is in the hands of the most incompetent bunch of fuckers in sports, The Skill Sets!

Can’t you just picture Jeffey Skill Sets visiting Wright in the hospital. “Dave how are ya”? “You know what take Sunday off in fact here’s free pass to Great Adventure go ride the Kingda Ka on me”

A must read this morning is from Metsradamus who correctly points out the softness of the Mets is what has fueled this pitching inside and may have led to Wright getting beaned. I have stated this here before, the word around the league is the Mets are as soft as two-ply Charmin. Pitch inside, dust them off the plate, hell drill ‘em in the ribs, the Mets will turn the other cheeck never a fear of retaliation isn’t near. Turk Wendell Mets fans turn their lonely eyes to you .

But finally FINALLY someone stepped up as Johan Santana there behind Kung Fu Panda (on purpose) and drilled Bengi Mollina (The one Mollina who needs to get drilled is Yadier but that’s another post for another time) Sure the Panda hit it out of the park after hitting the dirt but sometimes you lose a battle to win the war.

Check out Mike Silva’s NYBD and his post on the NY Times story on left handed catchers. He mentions Benny DiSteffano the pride of Bensohurst has the last lefty receiver in the bigs. When I started with the City 25 years ago I worked with DiSteffano’s sister. When he was with the Pirates their Mom, would make a pot of pasta, meatballs and gravy for the Bucos. Chuck Tanner was the manager back then and it was the highlight of his season when the club made the trip to Shea and Mama DiStefano’s home cooked meal. By the way, being a lefty myself I own a left handed catcher mitt.

Oh by the way, my sympathy for Matt Cain ended when he tipped his cap to the crowd as he was booed when he was removed from last night’s game. That was a real asshole move by Cain.

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Pitching a one hitter against the Mets right now is like going bass fishing and catching a minnow. Sure you caught a fish but how much skill did it take to reel in that little fellow? Same with pitching to the Mets just don’t pitch to David Wright and throw fastballs down the middle to the est of the lineup and you should be fine. End of scouting report.

No problem here with Mark DeRosa going to the Cardinals for pitcher Chris Perez and a PTBNL. Then Mets equivalent to Perez is Bobby Parnell and I wouldn’t trade Parnell for a 34 year old rental player. The Mets problems are beyond adding DeRosa.

With all due respect to some of my Highlander buddies (Ben Kabak, Alex Bleth, Rebecca Glass) just observing Highlander fans most of the young ones are clueless when it comes to not only the rules of baseball or the strategy of the game but have no idea at all about their teams history. The older ones have a Pavlovian way about them as soon as you mention the name of the team they all bark out “26 Championships” I guess what I’m saying they’re a sad bunch. Our team may not win much but we’re a better class of fan.

A little bit of Tim Redding is good a lot of Tim Redding…..ahh…not so good. If there is one pitcher on the Mets that is the picture of a mop up guy in the pen, it’s Tim Redding.

Ol’ Cholly Manuel laced into his team after a another loss on Friday night and his club responded with a 10-0 win over the Blue Jays. After losing two straight to the Highlanders, Jerry Manuel took his team to the Lemon Ice King of Corona and told them it’s not their fault we have a lot of injuries and “You’re all winners YEAH!!!!!” Maybe that’s why Ol’Cholly has a ring and J-Man doesn’t. I’d love to see J-Man lace into his team and remind them this is the big leagues and they need to compte like big leaguers even if he doesn’t believe half of his roster belongs here.

I hate to bring up this Michael Jackson is dead thing again but there are a few things bothering about this whole Jacko worship that’s on going. As I stated the other day I was not a big fan of Jackson the man or the music. Pop music is not what I listen to I’m a Garage/Punk kinda of guy plus all the folks who think that Jackson was the greatest showman alive obviously had never seen a Stones concert, a Queen concert or a Plasmatics concert but that is neither here nor there

My biggest trouble with Jackson is the fact he slept with little boys, and that is fucking sick. My feeling for this does not just lie with Jackson but with the Catholic church as well and it’s the reason why I have no respect for the clergy any more.

Now if you bring up this part of Jackson’s life to a fan of his you get called al kind of names from a racist (which is funny as the guy went above and beyond to be white) or a heartless fuck. And that is because the truth hurts. But his fans and the media have given him a pass on his past crimes and have treated him like an American hero in his passing.

Michael Vick didn’t sleep with little boys (as far as we know) but he did maim, torture and kill animals which is still despicable and I would love to see Vick tortured the same way he did to those dogs. I’m not some crazy PETA zealot but I do own pets and I’ve been around dogs and just the thought that this scumbag gained the trust of the dogs then made them fight and the ones who weren’t fighters he killed makes my blood boil. Again if you are anti Vick you’re a racist, and a heartless reactionary and the man severed his time and deserves another chance. Not to me as Michael Vick is nothing but a fucking coward and also he wasn’t a very good QB either but he will get a chance some place and his past history of cruelty and murder of dogs will be replaced with cheering fans and enablers

What I’m getting to in my long winded way is Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clemens, Manny Ramirez, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds are just some of the biggest stars in baseball who have been found to use performance drugs to enhance their play on the field and to recover from injury to stay on the field. Of course their actions were wrong as taking PED’s they way they did were unlawful but for the most part not against the laws of baseball well not until the jig was up and the Used Car Salesman acted with shock and horror that players were using PED’s, a performance worthy of an Oscar.

In no way do I condone the actions of the players involved in what is now the Steroid Scandal Era (especially since I’m reading American Icon which will become the essential reading when people look back on this time in baseball) but what I don’t get is how these players are treated worse than a guy who slept with little boys and a guy who killed dogs?

I just wish there was the outcry for the actions of Michael Jackson and Roger Vick like there is for Manny Ramirez who of the three committed the lesser crime.

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