In the latest missive from the WWL, Peter Gammons is trying to sell the fact that the Skill Sets are not swimming in cash as it appears:

{The Mets don’t have the kind of money everyone thinks, especially having to pay Billy Wagner $10M next season. They will spend to get a starter, a reliever and a bat to supplement Ryan Church in right and the Daniel Murphy/Fernando Tatis platoon in left.

No one knows what impact the economy will have on baseball, especially in New York, but someone is going to pay a price for the national debt increasing by $450B in October. The Mets are not going to jump over the luxury tax threshold, so they will continue to build around David Wright, Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran, figure Mike Pelfrey will continue his quantum leap forward, and do their best to fill in around them.}

So a team that owns a television station, has a brand new ball park in the most populous city in the country and has sold all his suites and will draw a minimum of 3.5 mil fans has no money to improve the team? And tell me what the National debt has to do with the Mets finances? Sorry Gammo I’m not buying it. I’m not ready to go out and buy a pennant because I don’t think building through free agency is the answer but don’t you dare insult the Mets fan base and cry poverty. By the way to read the whole article you have to pay to read it.

If anything came up as a positive last night that the Phelatios won the NL Pennant it’s that the flame that was close to Omar Minaya ass to make his team better just turned into a blow torch. I ‘ve read a lot about who should go, who should come back and who the Mets should go after but as much as we Mets fans want to see some movement immediately nothing will happen until after the World  Series and after the free agency grace period. As far as the bullpen I would say you won’t see any action on that until December to see what players are offered arbitration and who doesn’t as the non-tendered list should bring something of substance to the beleaguered pen. This process will be take a while to play out and I’d say to all Mets fans to be patient but I know better than to go that route.

I am staring to fee bad for Mike Francesa. Here was a guy who was on top of the sports talk food chain and now has become as relevant as a rotary telephone. It’s hard to get mad at his Anti-David Wright rant yesterday as I feel more embarrassed for him than pissed. To say that David Wright is not a five tool player and that “every team in baseball has a David Wright “ is so over the top stupid it was like listening to a drunk at a dinner party slur his words and spit his food. WFAN has tried to do everything to save Mike’d Up as they see that Francesa by himself can not carry a show (just like Derek Jeter can’t carry a team by himself) and Program Director Mark Chernoff has trotted in just about all of the talent the station has to find a match. So far Joe Beningno has been the best of the lot with surprisingly Evan Roberts putting up a good showing as well. Kim Jones was good to but Mike was treating her like it was his sister and not a colleague and the biggest disappointment was Chris Carlin who was dreadful but I digress, it seems most of the callers and posters on MikeFrancesa.com feel that this attack on Wright is personal. A caller brought this up to Francesa and he acted in his typical rude way. For Francesa to diss Wright as he has in belittling his ability not only in the field but at bat (at one point in the day, Francesca said that Wright’s 33 HR’s and 124 RBI meant nothing and that Wright was an awful 3^rd baseman which if a blogger wrote that they would be laughed at and their site never heard from again) .

It sad because as much as I would bitch about how out of touch Francesa is I listen every day at work and I’ve always found his analysis spot on for the most part, but now I see a guy who looks ready for a nervous breakdown and who misses his partner more than he will ever let on. 

Mike Silva has a post on this Francesa Fiasco at his always informitive NY Baseball Digest site 

R.I.P. Tom Tresh. I remember getting one of his bats at bat day at Highlander Stadium as a little kid and having my friends beg me for it looking to trade me a Ron Woods bat for a Tresh bat and when I wouldn’t budge on the deal being called a “stupid fucking Mets fan” which is funny because those same friends still call me that to this day.  

Joel Sherman in his Hardball Blog writes on how Larry Bowa enjoyed working with Manny Ramirez and how Bowa is rumored to be headed back to the Highlanders. If Bowa is looking to leave LA why doesn’t Omar grab him to coach 3^rd base? A Bowa type is sorely needed and Bowa did play for the Mets. Okay that one was a stretch but I would love to see Bowa waving home runners at third for the Mets.

Here’s what I took from last night’s Presidential debate. If you were going to jump off a building, Barrack Obama would talk you out of leaping to your death. John Mc Cain on the other hand seems like he would yell “Will you fucking jump already!!!

As I was pursuing the various stories across the web I ran across this on the great site MLB TRADE RUMORS.. It seems that the Padres are sending out feelers on interest in Jake Peavey and the Brewers J J Hardy feels his is as good as gone from the Schlitz City. So if you are the GM of the Mets (a job we all want and feel we’d be outstanding at) would you call SD GM Kevin Towers and offer Jose Reyes in a deal for Peavey? Or would you deal David Wright in a package for Peavey and RHP Mike Adams? I’d do it with Reyes as the centerpiece but for Wright I’d have to think that over because it would be much tougher for me to deal Wright than Reyes. If you could get Jake Peavey for Reyes I’d have to do it and then call Doug Melvin and work out a deal for JJ Hardy.

J-Man better be careful with this hard line stance he’s taking with his new contract. It seems J-Man’s thinking is no matter who the Mets go after to be manager they would have to go 3yr/$3mil minimum and he’s right but when the team you are associated with just collapsed for the second year in a row and the fans and media are questioning if your team has the heart and balls to win a championship you really are not negotiating from strength here. As I said yesterday Gary Carter would be here on the red eye tomorrow morning to take the Mets managers job. Don’t over play your hand here Warlord.

When Warlord Jerry addressed his shell shocked warriors yesterday I hope he let them know that every team in the division hopes they fail again. I hope he let them no that every team in the NL East just doesn’t find then unpleasing I hope he told how much they hate them. I  hope he told them that the Nationals, Marlins and Braves want the Phillies to represent the NL East in the post season. I hope he told them that the also rans sit in their clubhouses and say “yeah we’re out of it but at least we didn’t choke like the Mets” and then laugh their ass’ off.  Seriously, nothing the opposition does or says angers the Mets.. Sure David Wright has been slamming hats and bats the last couple of days but don’t they see how the Braves, Nats, Marlins and of course the Phillies all turn into  Shaq serenading Kobe with “tell me how my ass taste” every time they play against them? With every loss and every blown opportunity to put the Phillies in the rear view mirror the Mets grab the bats a little tighter and overthrow their fastballs a little more out of the strike zone and fail to come through in clutch situations. It easy to throw all the blame on the bullpen but you have to question the entire character of the organization if they fail to make the post season for the second straight season. If that happens the Skill Sets will have some major decision to make here and not just how many olives to put in the martinis at the $iti field luxury suites.

The Braves came into Shea for their last series there and after beating the Mets two of three they are led by Larry Jones with cameras in hand to take pictures of the Shea Stadium scoreboard and no one on the Mets seemed to mind. Same with the Nats. First Elijah Dukes heckles Nelson Figurora and all he can do is call the Nats a girls softball team. Then Dukes goes nuts over a Mike Pelfrey ball inside. To Big Pelf’s credit he walked right toward Dukes and if not for Manny Acta coming out of the dugout there might have been an altercation. Willie Harris has been beating the Mets ass for a couple of years now maybe someone on the pitching staff will make him eat dirt.

Not only do I feel bad for Fernando Tatis for his injury and the fact that he was writing one of the great stories of the season but with him and Damien Easley out the Mets lose two of their best clutch hitters, Tatis was hitting .392 with RISP and .286 with 2 out/RISP and Easley was hitting a robust .314 with 2 out/RISP. Two guys who are killing the Mets in that department are Ryan Church (.179 2 out/RISP) and Carlos Beltran (.183 2 out/RISP) As I said it’s very easy to kill the Aaron Heilman’s and Scott Schoenweies of the world but when you lack the killer instinct to step on your opponents necks and snuff them out this is what you get, doubt, second guessing and Mets fans holding a puke bucket while watching their team fade down the stretch for the second year in a row.

It’s been called a Yacker, Yellow Hammer, Uncle Charley and it some very rare cases (see Koufax, Sandy Blyleven, Bert, Viola, Sweet Music and Gooden, Dwight) Lord Charles.  It’s the curveball. As historians tell us  was developed by a pitcher with a porn star name, Candy Cummings back in the 1870 and since been perfected by the four pitchers I mentioned and when it’s thrown correctly it’s a devastating pitch.

Last night the Mets put a year of bad luck into the hands of a soon to be 22 year old Jonathon Neise who had the unenviable task of making sure the Mets did not get swept by the pathetic Atlanta Braves, a team that looks as broken down as it’s 104 year old manager. Niese was brilliant last night as his curveball with it’s big 12 to 6 break was unhitable and gave the fans a lesson in basic baseball, throw strikes, get ahead, win game.

It also helped that the offense showed up in game 2 as it’s very easy to point the finger at the bullpen for game one loss and it would have been a huge boost  if Brain Stokes got out of the 8th inning jam but you wonder if the offense had come through in big spots with the bases loaded to break open just a drag along boring game, that J-Man manages it differently by taking a hard working Johan Santana out after 7 innings and letting Figgie, Knight or even Bobby Parnell come in to mop up. But it didn’t work out that way but this is not your 2007 Mets team as they came back rejuventized by a 21 year old leftie at his coming out party.

Jon Niese Dan Murphy, Nick Evans, Joe Smith, Bobby Parnell, Fernando Martinez, Jose Reyes, David Wright, are not a bad bunch of home grown players that the Mets farm system has produced. Add in what’s coming up next in Brad Holt, Wilmer Flores, Jefry Marte, Josh Satin and Ike Davis the State of the Mets looks very strong. Not bad for an organization that the “experts” claimed had a barren farm.

I guess for most of Metsfandom the turning point of last nights game was Carlos Delgado lost in the lights game winning single that scored a head first diving David Wright to give the Mets a come from behind win. But for me the turning point was the top of the 7th inning and the show of cajones by Petey. After giving up a first pitch home run to Yunel Escobar, the next five innings Petey was in control making pitch after pitch in the strike zone with marksman persicion. But then in the 6th, he got in trouble and let three runs score for the Braves to take a 4-3 lead. But Petey came out for the 7^th and this is where his cajones came into play. You can work on mechanics and arm slots and pitch selection but either you‘ve got balls or you don’t and what we know about Petey is he’s got platinum nuts. He got the Braves three up three down and the Mets in the bottom of the inning tied the score on Nick Evans double and Carlos Delgado infield single and some help from a suddenly inept Atlanta defense. At 100 pitches Petey should have been done as he did his job but he came out for the 8^th inning and after a lead off single was done for the night as Pedro Feliciano and Luis Ayala providing solid relief work. But as I say that top of 7 stands out to me as Petey being Petey and that should make all fans smile today.

Great move by SNY to put a camera in the tunnel leading to the Mets clubhouse. Just watching Fernando Tatis jump up and down like a kid greeting his teammates as they were coming off the field lends you to believe that there something special happening here. That and the site of Mets players led by Johan Santana wearing inside out rally caps shows that the fun is back in Flushing.

I love Tom Seaver like he was a member of my family but I really don’t need to hear him in the booth with Gary, Keith and Ron during a game while we are in a pennant run. If SNY wants to do an hour long interview with The Franchise I’d watched until my eye balls bled but while there is a game going on I don’t need to any convoluted bullshit in the booth .I also can do without Seaver belittling the Mets pitchers for not kissing his ring when he was talking to them about pitching, maybe if you came around more often Tom, they’d listen more closely. SNY mane up for though when they sent Mex and Darling to seats behind home plate for up close and personal analysis.

I kind of feel sad for Gimp Castillo as the Mets are hoping they can stash him away for  more 12 more days when the rosters can be expanded as J-Man really wants no part of him on the team. Even when he does come back it looks like just cameo appearances for Gimp.

Ryan Church on the other hand will be welcome back tonight with open arms and will most likely platoon (though not a strict platoon) with Fernando Tatis and the Gold Dust Twins keep their gig in LF.

I just knew that MLB and ESPN would do this to us. They have switched the September 7 Mets-Phillies game to 8:05PM Great. The next day is the first full day of school for my kids and its Johan Santana Bobble head Day (Night?) and it was supposed to be a Dyna-Mets Dash day. So thank you Skill Sets, Used Car Salesman, and the assholes in Bristol CT for fucking up a nice Sunday afternoon for me and other Mets fans.  

Funny how you don’t hear about Tony Bernazzard that evil bad man that was undermining the former manager and was the cause of all the clubhouse chaos and is it just a coincidence that two players who were not favorites of Willie Randolph’s, Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado are not just hitting and playing on an MVP level but Reyes for one is back to the Jose-Jose-Jose we all love and Delgado has stepped up his leadership role as he looks and plays like an anvil was lifted off his shoulder. When Jeff Torborg and Art Howe were run out of town the media in this town loved putting a big foot in their asses as they headed out the door but when it comes to Randolph no one has heard a discouraging word, even though the skies at Shea are no longer cloudy all day. This not meant to bash Willie as I think he worked hard as a bench boss but he just couldn’t get out of his tight ass Highlander ways. One of the things that stands out with J-Man over Randolph is you hear the term “communication”  from the Mets players when they are asked what the big differences between pre J-Man and now and it shows on the field. The Mets are having fun and yes this stretch of prosperity and good cheer is coming from the bottom feeders of the league, but back in May this team would have lost to those teams.

One big difference now from then is J-Man uses his whole team. Everybody contributes and everyone gets to play. Guys are not asked to take a day off which puts them in an awkward position as if they are weak and maybe the manger is playing a head games with them, no they are told they are getting the day off and there is no argument. Yesterday David Wright took a breather and today Jose Reyes gets a personal day, which hopefully will keep them fresh and smelling good come September.

If it were up to J-Man, Gimp Castillo would sit out until September 1 or off into the sunset) as his tag team second base duo of Easley Reyes has done more than an admirable job at the position but why does that tandem need to be broken up? How does Robinson Cancel fly under the NOLA radar as to me as a third catcher is more luxury than necessity so I would think Cancel would be the one cancel-ed out.

Speaking of the walking wounded, Ryan Church is off to NOLA as Hurricane Fay could be washing out games in the Sunshine State along with Trot (Mojo Risen’) Nixon and Ambiorix  Burgos  (anyone want Brain Banister back?) goes to Kingsport where he will continue his comeback from elbow surgery.  Jeffy better order some folding chairs for the Mets dugout come September as it going to be one crowded hangout.

A story in today’s Daily News details astronaut Mike Massimino transporting Shea Stadium home plate from the 2007 season into orbit . Word is J-Man was hoping that Gimp Castillo would be joining the plate in outer space.

I hope you all appreciate Gary Cohen as Gary is defiantly one of us. Saturday night during the SNY telecast Cohen relayed the word that Titan Tom Glavine had blown out his elbow after making his first start since being out most of the season with elbow trouble. Cohen made it known that it would mean that Titan Tom would not be back at Shea this week and the Mets fans would not be able to give him the ovation he deserved after he disgraced the Mets uniform in his last start for the club. . Now Mex had a problem with this and said that Mets fans should calm down and forgive and forget and as soon as I got the “Fuck you Mex” out of my profane mouth toward my TV set,  Gary told him in a nice way the same thing.   

I wonder what time the ticker tape parade is for Brett Farve and the Jets after their pre season win the other night.?