At halftime of last night’s Super Bowl, the Mets/Giants fan contingent at the party I was at huddled in a corner worried as all hell that Tom Brady and the Patriots had turned the momentum of this game around and had taken total control. The biggest complaint was that the pass rush of the Giants wasn’t putting enough pressure on the Pats OL and thus giving Brady way too much time in the pocket.

The Highlander/Giants fan section just looked at us and laughed. “Hey, fuck Tom Brady, Wes Welker and that cripple Gronk” but “don’t you guys see this momentum swing”? To that they reply, “Have you seen Eli in the 4^th quarter” then came the kick to the Mets fans nuts “He ain’t David Wright you know” it wasn’t the knock on Wright that hurt but the laughter that came with it.

The Highlander/Giants fans look at Eli now as they do Derek Jeter. Eli is now New York Sports royalty. Two Super Bowl trophies and two Super Bowl MVP’s, have moved him to the front of the line with the likes of DiMaggio, Mantle, Jeter, even I dare say Messier close to Willis Reed right there with fellow Giants immortal Lawrence Taylor. It’s one thing to be a one-time champ in this town but when you get not only multiple titles but the MVP both times, you are in the rarefied air of NYC sports icons.

Again I never saw this coming, and I doubt any Giants fan did either. The story line here is on December 19^th the word on the NY sports street was Coughlin’s got to go, Jerry Reese too, in fact clean house altogether. The defense, the corner stone of the Giants franchise, was one of the worst in the league statistically but as the injured returned and the pass rush led by neophyte All World DT JPP and Justin Tuck taking the heat off the secondary was key for this Giants resurgence.

Now the coach, GM and QB are Teflon, no more criticisms, no more second guessing of this group after two championships in four years, a fan can get used to this.

Maybe this and the NY Rangers resurgence is a good omen for the Mets. Both teams’ foundations are built on home grown players that were drafted or signed and traded for using comprehensive scouting. Mets fans have to hope the front office can find a baseball equivalent of Victor Cruz an undrafted free agent. Or make a deal that brings back a Ryan McDonagh type that has the great confluence of youth, toughness and talent.

I’m livin’ La Vida Loco of my sports fan life right now, one of my teams of rooting interest will be parading downtown tomorrow morning , right by my office and my favorite hockey team is not only leading the leading their conference but they are the toughest bunch of Rangers to skate the MSG ice and my beloved Celtics, who all the experts claim are too old to make a run not just relying on the Big 3 but on a deep bench that makes major contributions of late, especially the maturation of Avery Bradley and the rookie Boilermakers, JaJuan Johnson and E’Twan Moore (ok sorry about the Celtics tangent)

Maybe Terry Collins will use this Giants victory a physiological tool for his team, which the majority of those who follow baseball believe this coming season to be a train wreck. Collins should tell his team that the same Mets nay-sayers buried the Giants too and drive home the no one loves and respects us but ourselves. Then show them the Canyon of Heroes parade and the fact the champions eat and drink free in NYC.  

David Wright held his Vegas Night charity event in Virginia Beach last night and gave some quotes to the media about the upcoming season.  I don’t know if this means much of anything but Wright it seems, has spent a lot of time back home in Virginia that I can remember in an off season. He was at Citi Field for the unveiling of the new uni’s but since then there hasn’t been much site of Wright around town.

Wright seems already agitated about hearing about trade rumors and being quizzed on a daily basis about his next baseball destination. He’s quoted as seeing Jose Reyes getting grilled about relocation last season and he doesn’t want to go through that. I wonder what that says about Wright? Maybe I’m being too critical of Wright but maybe it’s time he grew up and realized he’s not going to be a Met 4 Life.

Doesn’t Wright see the handwriting on the wall? First, he plays for a team whose owner is like a co-worker who lives pay check to pay check and for a GM who has no emotional ties to him. Just like the GM had none to Jose Reyes. He will make $15 mil this season and has a $16mil team option for 2013 with a club buyout of $1mil. You know how many bargain basement pitchers you can buy for $16 mil?

Wright should take a page from Reyes and Carlos Beltran, especially Beltran who knew his Mets days were numbered and used it as motivation to bounce back and get sent to a contender. Wright needs to get in the same mind set, stop worrying about being traded (for Christ sake Babe Ruth, was dealt away) and not worry about the Mets and just worry about himself.

Between the Wilpon’s money woes and Sandy Alderson’s distain for long term contracts, it’s easy to see that these are the final days of David Wright as a member of the NY Mets. Is it sad? Sure it is. We all wanted to see Wright play his full career as a Met with a couple of championships and Hall of Fame credentials on his resume but neither is going to happen. Maybe the fan base needs to grow up a bit as well.

Now that we have the holidays out of the way, we can now look forward to spring training for what should be quite the interesting Mets season.

Eric Simon of Amazin’ Avenue had an interesting post today on how bad will the Mets be in 2012? Of course the number one item on his list of things that will impact the season is the Skill Sets financial situation, something that will most likely overshadow what goes on, on the field but Simon also touches on the health and availability of Johan Santana, the hitting of Jason Bay and David Wright and where the offensive production lost from Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes will come from.

So my question to you my loyal readers, what is your expectation for the Mets this coming season? What is a realistic expectation of this team and what will be their standing in the NL East, a division that could be up for grabs if the reports of Prince Fielder signing with Washington are true. Can you see anything short of a last place finish in the division? Right now, I can’t.

Where do you see Johan Santana this season? For me, I’d be surprised if we see Santana pitch for the Mets before June.

What to do with David Wright? Wright is not a player, right now that could realistically bring back a treasure trove of young talent but what if he is invigorated by good health and more friendly dimensions of Citi Field and puts up a .300/.380/.500 line with 15-17 HR’s and 75-80 + RBI by the All-Star break, do you keep him and hope a new owner comes in with cash to re-sign him or is the lure of young robust baseball players to tempting to turn down in a trade?  I’m still undecided on this one but I am leaning towards a deal if the Mets get back a blue ribbon prospect or a young Major Leaguer under club control.

When I go to opening day at Citi Field, who else will be there? If you are a true blue Mets fan and having been going to Mets games your whole life I can’t see how now you decide to sit this season out. No one has a right to tell you how to spend your time or money but as Boggy said, “a hot dog at a ballgame beats roast beef at the Ritz”. So true, I mean today when I left for work I had on a sweater, coat, scarf and wool hat. You know what? That sucks. I want to wear shorts and t-shirt and have a scorecard in my hand. I have made peace with myself that the Mets will not be very good this season to the point that 100 losses would not shock me. However, there is still a part of me that small sliver of Mets fan naivete` that still has me holding out hope that this season could be full of surprises and I want to be there to enjoy them.  I know all the die-hards will be out at Citi Field on Thursday April 5^th at 1:10PM, will you be there? If not tell me why not?

It’s funny the other teams I root for in other sports are playing at a level where they are contenders for championships in their respective leagues but it’s the Mets that are on my mind the most  and my biggest concern. Crazy shit eh?

I’m sure many of you have read the stories concerning former Philadelphia Inquirer baseball writer Bill Conlin and the sickening accusation that he sexually abused children, some who were his niece and nephew, over 40 years ago. It’s so sad that these people have had to carry this burden around with them for all these years and now due to the statute of limitations, Conlin cannot be arrested and prosecuted for the alleged crime he committed which is a shame.    

I bring up Conlin here because I got an e mail to moderate a comment on this sight from a poster named Edgy DC who found a post I wrote here back in November 2007 about a feud I had with Conlin back then via e mail.  Check out the post from November 23, 2007 where I discussed with Conlin that a Phillies blogger wrote about how he felt David Wright was more deserving of the NL MVP award than Jimmy Rollins. The back and forth I have with Conlin is pretty comical but with the severity of the allegation against Conlin now, I feel bad I didn’t wait for outside Shea Stadium and beat the living shit out of him.    

Big thank you to Edgy DC for finding this post and linking it back

For some reason, I have centerfielders on my mind

All’s quiet in Flushing and according to Adam Rubin, it will stay quiet until the team meets in Port St. Lonsome. Seems the Mets are close to reaching their budget ceiling of $90Mil

The only thing that has me thinking the signing of Yu Darvish is a good move is that Nolan Ryan is running the Rangers  and if he didn’t think Darvish was worth it, the Rangers would never have bid over $50 mil to obtain his rights. Imagine having $50 mil to throw around just for a bid on a player? SIGH!  I miss those big market days    

Happy Birthday to David Wright who is 29 years old today and still a Met.  Rumor is he wanted a strawberry shortcake birthday cake but got a cherry filled cake instead #BlameBeltran

Mets Police has his released his Airing of Grievances today after giving out his awards for 2011 (The Mazzilli’s)

Frank Fransisco is officially a Mets after passing his physical two weeks after agreeing to a deal. The hold up was the club was trying to scrape together the co-pay.

The Arizona Diamondbacks signed Jason Kubel to a 2yr/$15 mil contract yesterday. This relegates Gerardo Parra, the 2011 Gold Glove winner, to fourth outfielder status. If I’m the GM of the Mets ( I just play a GM here on the internet) I am on the phone right now with Kevin Towers trying to find a way get Parra to the Mets to play center field.

Finally Happy Hanukkah to all those who celebrate the holiday

A few quick hits as my workload is piling up and next week is a real shorty for me:

I guess I’m numb to MLB screwing with the game that I’m not upset over the adding of a second wild card, maybe as soon as this coming season. In fact as a Mets fan, I should be ecstatic about it as it gives the team a better chance to reach the organizations goal of “meaningful games in September”.

 I would even go further even further with the destruction of what was once sacred the 162 games season and a true league champion, and abolish the division structure and make two 15 team leagues and have the first 8 teams make the playoffs. I guess it’s the NHL/ (defunct) NBA fan in me that would like to see this. Cut the season to 148 or 150 games and start 1 plays 8, 2 play 7 and so on, 7 game series.  You’d have to have a balanced schedule, which  you should anyway with a wild card spot in play, and with 15 teams per league, there has to be an interleague game every day. Hey can’t have anything but anything that gets the Mets closer to a post season berth gets my vote.  

Check out Ed “Rusty Jr.” at the Real Dirty Mets as he has posted video of the Mets bloggers talking with Howie Rose and David Wright.

I guess you heard that the Skill Sets have seven investors lined up to buy a minority share of the club for $20 mil. I am proud to say I have inquired about buying in and have 20 of these bills ready for delivery to get my piece of the Mets pie.  NYUCK! NYUCK! NYUCK!

As we get closer to Thanksgiving I just want to say how thankful I am that I am not a fan of the NY Jets. Being a Mets fan is agonizing enough but I really feel for the Mets/Jets fan of which they are plentiful. With that said, Dirty Sanchez sucks, Rex needs to shut the fuck up and Brian Schottenheimer makes the awful Kevin Gilbride look like Vince Lombardi in his heyday as NY Giants OC.  By the way, for all the insults hurled at Tim Teabow, he may not be a work of art and statistically unimpressive but the results are there as the Broncos are tied for the AFC West lead with Oakland. Who’da think it Teabow in the playoffs and Dirty Sanchez on the couch.

It was quite the day at Citi Field today as the organization announced plans for the celebration of its 50^th Anniversary.  I was fortunate to have been invited to the festivities of the day and as I left Citi Field I felt invigorated about being a Mets fan.

I’ve all but given up trying to explain to non-Mets fans why it is I love this team so much. It’s like looking at one of those pictures where if you stare at it a 3D figure pops off the page or when you look at a cloud formation and see a horse or George Washington’s face and the person with you says they don’t see a thing, when I see a Mets uniform or a collage of events like the video we saw at today’s press conference it’s makes you want to shout I SEE IT!  I SEE IT! I BELIEVE! I BELIEVE!

Hard to imagine it is 50 years since Joan Payson brought National League baseball back to NYC. What’s even harder for me to believe that I’ve been attending Mets games for the past 47 of those years.  When  I saw David Wright come out in the retro home uni,  ivory colored with blue pinstripes and Mets in blue with orange trim and WRIGHT 5 on his back and Lucas Duda standing tall in the classy road gray with NEW YORK in old English style letters  (Ike Davis wore the snow-white uni with the same blue and orange Mets and NO BLACK SHADOW!!!!!!) all I could think of was Jack Fisher handing me a peach between games of a double header in 1965, weekend series at Shea when the Dodgers and Giants would come to town with Koufax and Mays, listening to my father talk about “this Seaver kid” in 1967, relatives and family friends who were Brooklyn Dodger s fans happy in 1968 that Gil Hodges was coming back to the Mets to be their manager, being 10 years old and shocked to find out that Yogi Berra played for the Yankees???? WOW! Crying when Jimmy Quals broke up Tom Seaver’s perfect game and brought to tears again nine years later when Seaver was shipped out to Cincinnati, the euphoria of 1969 and 1986 and the heartbreak of the 2000 World Series and 2007 NLCS. The Mets are a microcosm of life, great times, tough times, and puzzling times.

As I said Mets bloggers were invited to the presser and I was pleased to sit with Ed Marcus, Greg Prince and Matt Cerrone but there was one blogger at event today who in the words of Yogi “made this day necessary” and that’s Shannon of The Mets Police. Shannon through his site pushed management to bring back Banner Day and to drop the black jerseys and caps (I am thrilled to report that the black cap with the blue bill is gone for good) and for that we Traditionalist Mets fans are forever grateful.

With so much gloom and doom coming from the fan base so far this offseason it was nice to be a part of a positive Mets day.

Now for the hold on to your Mets cap part of the post, I got to meet David Howard today and it was a very pleasant experience (no, I’m not going soft here I’m just being honest) we shook hands and spoke  and had a few laughs and we even talked about our kids, see on the kick off of the Mets Golden Anniversary it’s all good.

                                                                                       Just call it the Winter of Eli. 

Okay, I’ve basked in the glow of the NY Football Giants come from behind win over the New England Brady Belichicks and the four game NY Rangers winning streak (more on that in a moment) so to take me down a notch or two, let me see where we are with our beloved New York Mets (and I don’t mean in Istanbul)

The Skill Sets after trimming away some office staff and guys who wash the uniforms are still selling a load of tripe that the club is on solid financial ground, even though there are reports that Greece’s Minister of Finance has told members of the Greek Parliament who ask about the country’s failing economy “Could be worse, we could be the Mets”.

After trying to pull the ol’ oakie doke on David Einhorn at the last minute, and Einhorn being too smart to fall for their tricks and then with the failure in their “friends and family” share sell, they are now going the Certificate of Deposit route with selling these stakes in the team. You can choose between investing $20-$30 mil and collecting 3% interest on your investment for six years where you can then collect your investment PLUS the interest or you can forgo the interest payments and keep your small percentage of ownership. But wait, there’s more! If you act in the next thirty minutes, Freddy Skill Sets will throw in a Magic Bullet blender, Shake Weight and Genie Bra, absolutely free. Operators are standing by so act fast because those operators may not have a job by today’s close of business.

Here’s where we stand with David Wright :

The Citi Field fences were lowered and brought in for him and Jason Bay to enhance their offensive performance and to raise their self-esteem.

Sandy Alderson has no problem trading Wright or anyone on the roster as long as the deal makes sense for the Mets and makes them a better team.

Some Mets fans think Alderson went to the Minaya-Bernazard School of Stupid Baseball Moves and need to do their homework on how the man runs a baseball team. He’s not going to deal Wright for the sake of dealing Wright. He will trade Wright if the package put before him is overwhelming. If Wright finds his groove and the Mets are out of contention by the trade deadline, Alderson will have a bunch of suitors ringing his phone and Wright will be dealt to the highest bidder.

Jose Reyes is an ex-Met. Read it. Learn it. LIVE WITH IT.

If Sandy Alderson can pull that deal off it’s a steal for the Mets. Again, again, again this is NOT an anti-Wright sentiment it’s just the realization that Jose Reyes isn’t coming back and this organization is in need of a through rebuilding program and Alderson seems the feel that way as well.

Oh and don’t think that the quotes from a “Mets front office person” is a leak, it’s more of a well placed mole getting the front offices’ message out without getting dirty.

This whole changing of the walls at Citi Field has me a bit perplexed to a point of being a bit pissed off. While I agree with lowering the height of the outfield walls to eight feet, which they should have been when the park was first built, it seems the lowering of the walls and bringing them in a bit closer to home plate is because some of the Mets starting eight have been traumatized by the outfield dimensions. According to Pitching Coach Old School Warthen, his pitchers “got a bit lazy” due to the vast pasture of the Citi Field outfield that they had a hard time pitching in a place like Citizen’s Bank or even the Mall of The South Bronx.  What all this tells me is this team collectively is mentally weak and the pitching coach has no idea how to do his job.

I’ve always been a card carrying member of the David Wright Fan Club but his constant crying about the Citi Field dimensions have me wondering if I want to renew my membership. Same with Jason Bay, I was never a fan of his as his signing was just another example of the damage Omar Minaya and Jeffey Skill Sets did to this organization. So now that the fences have been moved in and the walls lowered (I guess it is perfectly clear now that Citi Field was badly planed and put together between the skyscraper outfield walls, the lack of a Mets-eccentric feel and the whole homage to the Brooklyn Dodgers that was met with Mets fans ire) there should be no excuse for Wright and Bay to not have monster seasons in 2012. Right? Wright?

As for Warthen his quote :

“We got into being a little bit mentally lazy and overly secure. … I think that caused a lot of the homers this year. I really do. …[The new dimensions] will help us focus and concentrate and not be so ready to go out there and throw a fastball away and hope they hit it to center field.”

As the pitching coach shouldn’t you have nipped this problem in the bud ? By saying this out loud didn’t you realize that you are just feeding into the frenzy of many Mets fans (this one included) that you have no clue on how to fix this staff and should have been relieved of your duties this off season? It’s quotes like this that make me wonder if it’s Warthen fault that Bobby Parnell, he of the Howitzer arm, had no clue on how to pitch? Same with Mike Pelfrey. Pelf has talent and his a big strong workhorse of a pitcher is that Old School can’t or doesn’t know how to tap into what it takes to make both pitchers the dominate arms we feel they can be?

Jeffey Skill Sets says, not to worry about whom and when these minority shareholders of the Mets come on board. Besides it’s none of your business:

“Some of the people don’t want to be public,” Wilpon said. “Some of the people might never be public. I don’t think anybody knows all the minority shareholders in each of the other teams. Do you know all the minority shareholders in Atlanta or Kansas City or St. Louis, Cincinnati, the Yankees? It’s just not widely known.”

Do I care who holds a minority share in the Braves, Royals, Cardinals or the Bronx Bastards? No, because I don’t root or spend my money on tickets and merchandise on those teams but I do on the Mets. See I want to know as a Mets fan/customer what financial resources the team has to improve the product they are selling to me and my fellow Mets fans. I’m not going to pay Broadway prices for a high school production.  This is just another example of this ownership having not a clue of how to treat or connect with its fan base.

I’ve never been a big fan of Halloween maybe it was because the neighborhood I grew up in was more about ducking flying eggs or avoiding getting jumped by guys with socks full of chalk (usually pulling a knife on the sock hopper curtailed those attacks) than collecting candy but Ed “Rusty Jr.” Marcus went to a Mets Halloween Party last night and saw some interesting costumes. Oh and by the way Ed, the image of you in KISS makeup is disturbing.