Before we delve into sports minutia lets not forget that today is Veterans Day and it would be worth all our while to thank the men and women of the US Armed Forces who have sacrificed for our country THANK YOU ALL.

I went to the Rangers-Oilers game last night and if you didn’t know better you would have thought the Rangers were on the 15 day 7 game road trip and not Edmonton.  The Rangers have now gone 1-3-1 in their last 5 games and the first period blues have continued. Maybe it’s just one of those bumps in the road but the way the team has looked lackluster in the beginning of games is a but disturbing. So is the defensive play of Michal Rozsival who is looking to replace Marek Malik as the ire of the Blue Seats anger.

With the trade of Matt Holiday to the A’s and Huston Street going to the Rocks added to the Padres going cheap and say bye-bye to Hells Bells Hoffman if your Francisco Rodriguez and Brain Fuentes it has to make you a bit nervous that having more supply added to the demand may cost you leverage and money when teams come a courtin’. It also puts a ton more pressure on Omar Minaya with more options out there to bolster the bullpen big time.

J-Man is chillin’ on the golf course these days while Omar, Tony B and John Rico burn the midnight oil revamping his team. Check out the wardrobe the Warlord was wearing on the links yesterday. I bet he looks damn fine in a fedora.

JC Bradburry as a great site named Sabernomics and on this site he has a post on MLB investigating the uses of HGH and what a waste of time and money it is to do this as there is no proof that HGH enhances performance on the baseball diamond.  I always felt bad for Jonathan Mayo who wrote a great inside baseball book on Roger Clemens that came out at the same time of Clemens lying and cheating scandal. As much as  I am not a fan of Clemens but I’ve always felt it was more Clemens mastering the spilt finger fastball that led to his late career success than the pharmaceuticals.

Kid Carter will manage the LI Ducks watch your back J-Man.

Dom D has a post on the Mets interest in Dan Uggla and Kevin Gregg as the Marlins prepare another of their famous tag sales. I love Uggla’s grit and bat but his glove is a liability. Gregg would look nice at the back end of the Mets pen though.

It’s time to give the post season baseball awards voting to bloggers as the BBWA are to lazy or too stupid to figure out who is a rookie and who isn’t. Edsion Volquez is not a rookie but he still received votes from three different writers in a second place slot.

You can add any vile and nasty words you want to that slogan as well. If Warlord Jerry and Omar Minaya have any motivational brains they will use the hatred that seems to be universal around baseball to help bond the ‘09 team.

I totally confess to be the world’s biggest sore loser. As much as I hate the NY Islanders I always admired Isles goalie Billy Smith who never joined the hand shake line during the Stanley Cup playoffs as he said “why shake hands with a guy who is trying to take bread off my table”? Well said. 

This “We Hate You” mantra that has been vented toward the Mets needs to be embraced by the owner, the GM, the Manager, the fans, and most importantly the players. What all this “hate” tells me is the NL has no respect for the Mets because the see them as a “me” and not a “we” team. J-Man touched on that when he was given the total reigns of the clubhouse and it’s up to him to drive this Bring the Hate message to his players. It’s is up to Omar to bring in players who take offense to being hated. This team of 2008 took the hate in stride. Remember the Elijah Dukes incident with Mike Pelfrey? It was good that Brian Schiender stepped between Dukes and Big Pelf but being that there is a history of disrespect between the Nats and Mets, Schiender should have Varetek-ed Dukes. By Vartek-ed I mean how Jason Vartek smacked the shit out of A-Rod as he was tired of his bullshit. That’s what a team does. Is this neanderthal macho dumb ass thinking?  Of course it is.  But this turn the other cheek bullshit ain’t working in Flushing.

So line up you fucking haters and takes us on. BRING THE HATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last night Toronto Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson did something that is so totally bizarre that I have no way of matching it up with a baseball term. After 60 minutes of regulation play and 5 mins of overtime the Leafs-Ducks were tied at 2-2 and headed for the skills competition a/k/a the shootout. Now Leafs first string goalie Vesa Toskala was pulled from the game in favor of 65 year old Curtis Joseph to man the goal in the shootout. I guess this would be like pulling Johan Santana with 2 out in the 9th inning and bringing in Scott Schoenwies to get the last out. Wilson claims that Toskala is bad in the shoot out and the numbers prove it but the real reason is the Maple Leafs have sucked for so long and the coach feels his team has a heir about them that their shit doesn’t stink and this pisses Coach Wilson off to no end:

 < This was about the larger picture, the nature of a Maple Leafs team that Wilson quite clearly believes has an unearned attitude of entitlement. Moreover, he can’t understand or stomach the celebrity status accorded Leaf players who have accomplished little.

Like a military boot camp, then, Wilson has clearly decided to break this team down and, eventually, build it back up again.

You don’t do that by messing with the fringe players. You go at the core and you use a sledge hammer.>

There is something about that type of thinking that intrigues me. Instead of stroking players that have come up short two years in a row and maybe J-Man and Omar need to take a page out of Wilson’ book to send a message. I know trading any of “the core” is not popular but as I said at the end of the season, Omar should dangle the names of Reyes, Wright and Beltran to send the message that no one is safe here when the results are what they have been the last two seasons.

I just feel some of the Mets are a little too comfortable thinking that the are Mets for Life and maybe seeing your name in trade rumors is the slap in the face this team needs.

With the World Series a day away from starting MLB invokes its gag order on the other 28 teams so as the spotlight can be shown on baseball’s showcase event. If your FOX this match up is a nightmare as neither team has a national following and most of the local yokels who claim to be long suffering fans of both teams are really bandwagoners but if you are a die hard baseball fan and put aside your allegiance to your favorite team and check your hatred for the NL champs at the door (Even if your a fan of the Highlanders and the Old Town Team, you can’t hate the Famous Rays as they helped pad your win totals for years so let them enjoy some national face time, besides most of the Famous Rays are future Mets, Highlanders or Red Sox anyway) this series has the makings of a great one.

Both teams are on a roll, both have excellent bullpens, both have engaging managers and both teams love to hit the long ball. The only draw back to this series besides not having our beloved Metropolitans in it is, FOX is televising it and that means Tim Mc Fullofshit and Doofus Joe Buck both of which are having a horrible post season. To make things worse FOX’ game telecast will give you motion sickness because their production team either hates sports or hates sports fans because after every pitch they cut to the stands, then the mangers, then the pitcher, then the batter, then back to the fans in the stands, then to the pitcher making the pitch an if the ball is not in play the repeat the sequence again. By the 5^th inning you’re searching for your Mr. Met Puke Bucket that you thought you were finished with after the last J-Man pitching change of the season.

With all that I like the Famous Rays in 6. The Famous Rays have met each and every challenge this season whether it was going into to Fenway to take two of three during the season to hold on to first place or overcoming the Game 5 collapse and Game 6 loss to win the AL Pennant this team is now officially battle tested. As for the Phillies, Fuck them. 

Instead of tipping $100 bucks as the titie bar where Joba Chamberlain got his groove on the other night, he should have paid one of his buddies to be the designated driver plus get him a lap dance although you have to wonder the talent caliber in a Nebraska titie bar.

Here we have Mr. Sodom and Mr. Gomorrah meeting to work out a partnership to poison their fans with Mad Cow burgers, beak & toe Chicken Fingers and Snout Sausage.

Again the Mets are missing out on a great opportunity to add an edge to the organization if they don’t reach out Larry Bowa for their third base coaching job.

Sean Avery added spice to a very bad hockey game last night as the dull as dish water Rangers lost 2-1 to a Stars team that has given up goals by the ton so far this season but of course the Rangers or as they are known “The Wide of the Net Rangers” couldn’t hit the ocean with a puck off a pier again last night.  Avery talked shit to back up goalie Steve Valiquette during warm-ups and to King Henrik during the game. Brandon Dubinsky skated over to Avery to get him to move on and later in the game Avery was leveled by Dan Giradi and Paul Mara. The Garden Faithful let Avery know he is no longer a favorite of theirs as well. I read this today that Avery and MSG Networks John Gianone got into a very nasty altercation outside the Ranger locker room but Avery was his charming self when he was interviewed by the Maven after the game. I will say this about the on air staff of MSG especially Al Trautwig who has been talking non stop bullshit about Avery since Saturday night but when Avery was a Ranger and doing his ball breaking routine no one on the network had a discouraging word about the Avery Antics but now that he’s not a Ranger anymore he’s a prick with ears.

Let us raise a Chug-A-Mug of Rehinglod today to the Tampa Famous Rays for winning the AL Pennant last night and giving Jackie Autry a reason to go to the beauty parlor and don some swanky polyester as she dutifully halndled her job as honorary AL President flawlwssly. How great is it to be the widow of the Singing Cowboy, especially this time a year. You get to a trip to the ALCS and hand out a trophy and soon everytime Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is played another royalty check goes in the mail. Sweet,  but of course I digress. Today we salute one of our own,  Stuart Sternberg,  he of the Carnarsie Sternberg’s and holder of Mets season tickets and unabashed Mets fan who used a little of his fortune to purchase the Tampa baseball franchise from  crazy old Vince Namoli and thorugh shrewed drafting and good trades now has not only a championship trophy but a snazy new t-shrt and  cap.

Now all the Famous Rays have to do is beat those in-bred slouths from Philly so at least one of “us” will call this season fulfiling.

All I did when David Price came on in the 8th inning last night was think about why didn’t the Mets just give the closers job to Eddie Kunz when Billy Wags went down? Looking back I agree this is an all time second guess but Kunz was a set up man and closer on two NCAA Champions and was closing at Bingo and with the jackpot of Dan Murphy and to a lesser degree Nick Evans and Jon Niese the talent from that team was quite rewarding but really instead of Dollar Store relevers like Luis Ayala and Brain Stokes you wonder what would have been if Kunz and Bobby Parnell were given the roles of set up and closer with the full backing of J-Man and Omar?    I know one thing, it couldn’t have been worse.

I hope J-Man shows a video in spring training of last nights NLCS game. It would help to show it to his ladies (they’ve kind of lost the honor to be called Gangsta’s) the tape is good way to show how a team is supposed to act and stick up for one and other something that is lacking in Flushing. What made it even better was that young Chad Billingsley was called out as a pussy by teammates for not retailing for the second time that Manny Ramirez had a Rawlings aimed at his coconut. Also it seems the young catcher Russell Martin has been told to take charge of this pitching staff and get his pitchers to throw inside.

Sometime you hear that phrase said so much on baseball telecast that it becomes a worn cliche but it really is the top baseball commandment to throw inside. Throwing  inside and throwing at a batter are two different things. As a pitcher you have to make that batter sooooooo uncomfortable in that batter box because not only is it one more thing for the batter to think about but also if you get that pitch inside over for a strike it just makes your pitching life so much easier as now the hitter has to work on protecting himself inside and he can’t extend his arms to drive the ball. This is what makes the Phucks pitching staff so good, they have the balls to throw inside and keep batters off balance. I hate Brett Myers but he is as intimidating a pitcehrs as there is and that leads to his success. 

I know I’m beating a dead horse here but for the love of God can McFullofshit and Doofus Joe stop already telling the same Manny bashing story for the 1,000th time? We get it, you guys hate Manny almost as much as the viewers hate you two hacks. Seriously do you get the same impression I get that Doofus Joe hates doing baseball games? There have been rumors that he yearns to be a late night talk show host and it shows. Doofus Joe is so bad that I’m looking forward to listening to Chip Carey on the ALCS today.

Leave it to the Skill Sets to piss me off after a great weekend. With J-Man back as Warlord and his willingness to toss some of his weight around with Omar,  J-Man agrees with Mets fans that the team needs to leave it’s pussyifed ways behind them, along with thoughts of Manny, Pierzyniski, Peavey and Sugar from Survivor running through my head (not only does Sugar ooooozzzzzeee sexiness she’s from Brooklyn too)  a couple of articles this weekend have my blood boiling which doesn’t take much when it comes to the Mets and the Sill Sets.

First, there is a story of the woman who had sprinkled her late father’s ashes on the pitching mound at Shea Stadium a few years back. Now that the ball park is being dismantled, Lisa Hanson and her son Ben went to Shea with the wish of scooping up some dirt from the mound as a remembrance of her dad. But of course the management of the Mets, which we know is totally clueless when it comes to customer relations, told Ms. Hanson that she could not go on the field because of the work being in done on the take down of Shea. Okay, she did show up unannounced and maybe a bad time but you would think some dolt in management would have come out and made an arrangement with Ms. Hanson to get her remembrance but that would take intelligence and compassion which is in very short supply under the Skill Set regime as we see here with this quote from Skill Set Court Jester Jay Bird Horowitz:

  Mets spokesman Jay Horwitz said the organization could not let Hasson on the field for “safety reasons,” as workers were tearing out the bleachers and using large machinery.

“”I’m not trying to be hard about it,” Horwitz said.”But the stadium is closed.”

I think Horowitz was juggling and wearing a five pointed jester hat when he made this stupid remark (I can’t substantiate this rumor but I heard when he looked out of the new $iti Field press box, he said “Oh look I see Russia”.) I guess it would be too much to have some GOOD publicity out of Flushing as the Skill Sets could not figure out how to give this woman a date to come back and go on the field to scoop the dirt,  maybe if she bought a couple of  $869.00 seats they’d  do her the solid.

Thankfully a couple of Mets fans/construction workers came to Ms. Hanson’s rescue. I want to see Jeffey say something to the hard hats for doing this good deed so they can attach the hook from one of the cranes to his arse and lift him off the ground until he cries.  

We all know that Shea was inundated with felines and their job was to keep the rat droppings off the sausage grills (I know you’re all going EEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWW, but you know what I doing you folks a favor stop eating that shit it’s no good for you.) but the cats have been a Shea staple and now a team of animal rescuers want the cats to be moved over to $iti Field. I don’t know what these folks are even bringing it up, the cats are smart enough to know to go next door as the rats from Flushing Bay and the Iron Triangle will be on the $iti Field doorstep. Along a new closer and a slugging outfielder, a good tabby is escentail to success at $iti Field. Just remember that when you hit the Shake Shack concession.

More anger from bloggers about the rip off by the Skill Sets when $iti Field opens. This one comes from Andrew Beaton of Hot Foot with his post Outrage At $iti Field. I wish there were a way t ofind out who is buying up these luxuary boxes and paying all the dough for the seats behind the $iti Field backstop and if any of this bailout cash is going to Mets tickets?  

I can’t figure out who I want to advance to the World Series but I know the Phucking Phillies are not on that list. I look at the Brooklyn Dodgers of Los Angles and I see Manny and the case he keeps making for Omar and Tony B to turn on that Latin charm and Skill Sets coin to bring him to Flushing. I look at the Rays and I see Scott Kazmir and Joe Maddon (I got to get me a pair of Joe Maddon frames) and the fact that Stu Sternberg is not only a Mets season ticket holder but he’s from Brooklyn (maybe me and Stu can go over to Sugar’s house)  then I look at the two pair of Sox and I’m rooting for Tito , Papi and Pap to do his jig but then I love Ozzie “Fuck the Cubs” Gullien as he is the most honest and up front manager in baseball. The Halos play the game they way Little League coaches should teach kids to play from the age of 5. So what to do? The Kazmir, Joe Maddon specs and the Brooklyn/Mets fan component is too strong for me to fight so it’s GO RAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tim March man is alive and well and writing for the Wall Street Journal. A tip of the Mets cap to Craig Calcaterra of Shysterball for the link.

I done here; time to watch Sugar prancing on exile island.on TiVO

GANGSTA’S IN DA HOUSE BOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!! I guess Bobby V can cancel that flight as J-Man will be at the helm of the SS Skil Set  for at least 2 more seasons.

Good stuff from Can’t Stop The Bleeding as they give the lowdown on the J-Man stalemate with word that Andrew Marchand of 1050 AM in NYC reporting that Bobby V would come back to the USA if the Mets job is open. What J Man has to realize as of right now the Mets have NO manager, so the longer J Man thinks of himselfas irreplaceable he may get a rude awakening.

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.