I want to thank Jerry Manuel and David Wright for throwing me under the bus last night. Yesterday I posted on NYB Blogs telling Mets fans to relax and not give up on this team and especially on Wright who I defended big time. So how do they repay me?

Well J-Man had a managerial night that makes you wonder just how long he has as the leader of the Mets. It’s one thing to be hard headed and not see the experiment to bat Jose Reyes third in the lineup is an out and out failure, but then to have him bunt in the 9^th inning with Luis Castillo the go ahead run on 2^nd base was just stupid baseball. If you put Reyes in that spot in the order, you’re saying you have total faith in him as a hitter as the 3 hitter is usually the teams’ best hitter. So why would you make Reyes bunt in an obvious RBI situation. Reyes barely can bunt for a base hit never mind a sac bunt but also what message are you sending him? I’m batting you 3 but I don’t have faith in you to get a big hit, just move Castillo to third and let someone else get the job done.

Wright didn’t help me either with his two K’s, the biggest one in the 9th inning. Maybe I’m just not seeing or maybe I don’t want to see the decline in David Wright but when I look at his digits they are right there with all the league leaders but it just seems like the big spot is a tough spot for DW. I’m not jumping ship though, I’m still loyal to D-Wright      

Manuel said in his post game presser that he’s thinking of making some lineup changes, gee ya think Jerry? It seems the only one who favors Reyes in the 3 spot is Manuel. As Ralph Kiner said the other day, Reyes belongs as a leadoff man. When Gary Cohen asked who should bat third, Kiner replied “The Mets don’t have a 3 hitter” He’s 100 % right. The Mets 3 hitter is jogging in St Lonesome. They have a leadoff hitter but he bats third. If Manuel doesn’t bat Reyes leadoff tonight and bench Frenchy for The Animal then he’s just telling Mets fans and management he wants to be fired.   

I didn’t watch all of this game as I spent most of my evening watching the Boston Celtics send LeBron James and the Cavs packing (more on that in a minute) but couldn’t Manuel have given Johan Santana another inning of work? I know he batted second in the top of the 8th but he seemed to be pitching his best game of the season and was far from tired (just 98 pitches) and even though Fernando Nieve got a DP to get out the 8^th how many days can Manuel go to him or Feliciano or Takahashi? Those three have become everyday players.

I still stand by my the Mets are still in this stance but I’m starting to feel a shake up in the mangers office needs to be made. The Royals, who are going no where, fired Trey Hillman so you would think a team that is in a playoff hunt should be looking around as well. Something is missing here. When the team is 0-6 in rubber games of series and the same stale lineup gets trotted out there every day and the bullpen is getting run into the ground, maybe the Mets have reached that fork in the road and as Yogi said “when you get to the fork in the road, take it” It may be time to stick the fork in Jerry Manuel.

A big tip of my Celtics cap to Bill Simmons who started a Celtics Chant account on Twitter which got that “NEW YORK KNICKS” chant going at the TD Garden was the best fan participation since the days of the C’s fans telling the 76 ers in 1982 Conference Final to “Beat LA”. Get ready Knicks fans the LeBron era is coming.

To all the Celtic haters on Twitter who right after the C’s beat the Cavs were crowing that the Celtics will be buried by the Magic. First you all can kiss my green, white and 17 NBA Champiosnship banner ass. The Celtics have done what we all say can’t be done in sports, they turn the on switch on when the playoffs started and now are in full UBUNTU mode.

Metsradamus has what is now the Post of The Year dealing with that fell off the turnip truck turd, Cholly Manuel who has dragged the Mets into this sign stealing brouhaha with the Colorado Rockies, Metstradamus also reflects on the Skill Sets looking to by the Fishsticks and moved them to the brand new Chop Shop Arena. Not only does Metstradamus invoke the New York Amerks but when was the last time you heard about Newsy Lalonde?

So all of a sudden the Skill Sets are flush with cash that they can talk about buying the Fishsticks and build a new arena in Queens but the can’t release Oliver Perez and eat his deal.

Posted under Uncategorized

I know it’s all the rage to kill David Wright for his lack of clutchness lately but after checking out Baseball Reference, it looks like that anger is misplaced. Wright has a line of .290/.385/.581 with RISP. The other three big hitters for the Mets haven’t come close to the numbers Wright has put up.

Jason Bay with his .250/.370/.389 w/RISP has not been the run producer the club felt he would be. The real busts in the clutch have been Jeff Francouer and Jose Reyes-.200/.237/.286 w/RISP- but in Reyes’ defense he has been misplaced as a #3 hitter. It was an experiment by Jerry Manuel and I think we can say it’s a failed one and it’s time to put Reyes back in the 1hole. Frenchy has been a total disaster when it comes to getting a hit in the clutch as his .200/.295/.257 line shows. That bubbly personality of Frenchy’s will get him by for so long.

Wright it seems is a victim again of non-support in the lineup for the second season in a row, with Wright down in the 5 spot, most times Reyes and Bay, hitting in front of Wright, they have not been getting the job done putting all the pressure on Wright. It’s time to abandon the Reyes in the 3 hole and move Wright back to that spot.

Jerry Manuel’ patients has turned to stubbornness and needs to shake the lineup up. Oh by the way, Carlos Beltran will lace up a pair of running shoes today but its anyone’s guess if he will actually run in them though.   

Now that Chris Carter has been recalled from Buffalo, as Frank Catalanotto gets his release (how in good conscious does Manuel put GMJ up to bat, it’s like J-Man is shoving the shityness of Mathews in Omar’s face, “You won’t cut him so I’ll keep playin’ him.”) This guy is very happy The Animal is up.

Posted under Uncategorized

A couple of notes from last night:

On last night’s THIS CALL TO THE BULLPEN I had a great time talking to Dave Payne and Aviv Blasbalg of the website Sox vs. Stripes as we talked about the Red Sox, Yankees and the AL East.  When I gave their site a plug of the broadcast, I gave out the wrong web address and for that I apologize to Dave and Aviv for that. Check out Sox vs Stripes for your Yankees and Red Sox information.

All of baseball is sadden by the death of Ernie Harwell. A must read today is Joe Posnanski’s reminisces of Harwell, and this video of Vin Scully talking about Harwell during the Dodgers-Brewers game last night. Scully tells a great story about Ernie and does not miss a beat of the play by play.

I’m sure Fernando Nieve can file an unfair labor grievance against Jerry Manuel, give the guy a day off J-Man.

At what point do Phillies fans stop embarrassing themselves?  For me, I hope never. I can’t believe there are people who feel that Philly cop was WRONG to Tased that little jerk off who ran on the field the other night. That video was priceless. Just to watch that little shit head, prancing around the field with his  “LOOK AT ME,  “LOOK AT ME” attitude and when he wouldn’t stop, the cop zapped him and he goes down like the sack of shit he is was outstanding. By the way the reason the guy last night wasn’t Tased is that whales are protected spices and by the way you fat fuck, Uncle Floyd called and he wants his pants back.

Game time see ya later!

Posted under Uncategorized

We have not had much to be happy about around here in awhile and believe me I want to dance a jig in a blue and orange kilt but I have to step back a bit and look over this week of prosperity and critique it just a bit.

The play of the game last night was in the top of the 4^th inning, when Ollie Perez was imploding on the mound, and Jerry Manuel bolted out of the dugout and raised his left arm like he was hailing a cab to take OP to LaGuardia to get on a Delta Shuttle flight to Buffalo. The only thing missing was Manuel having a packed suitcase and plane ticket in his right hand. After the game, Manuel talked how Perez will make his next start but with Perez and today’s starter John Maine being ineffective, I’m sure Manuel is singing a different tune to Omar.

I know if I were the manager, I’d let the GM know, “if you don’t find me another starting pitcher, then get used to seeing me with a Grand Marshall sash across my uniform as I lead a parade of relievers to the mound” in fact if John Maine starts sucking in the 3^rd inning of today’s game, I hope J-Man comes out again with his arm held high.  Omar has a choice, let the manager run the bullpen into the ground or find a starter (Dillon Gee) in the bushes or make a trade for an at least league average starting pitcher.

I’ve never been a big fan of St. Joseph of Torre but watching him in the Dodger dugout last night, I felt sorry for him. With the towel around his neck and that slow gait of his, he looks like a guy at the end of the line and between the McCourt divorce and the poor play of his team, by July Torre could be ready to hand over the reigns of the team to Don Mattingly.

I’m not going to link to the story but if Ken Rosenthal has nothing else to write about  when it comes to the Mets but bat shit crazy Tony Bernazard,  then maybe it’s time Rosenthal thought about another line of work.

Toby Hyde has a great write up on the Mets minor league teams from last night. Two things stand out, Dillon Gee got roughed up for the first time this year and Fernando Martinez did not play as he has a strained back. One injury F-Mart will never get is a groin strain as the kid has no balls.

I don’t want to piss in the punch but I think a little bit of Angel Pagan is good, a lot of Angel Pagan ? Not so good. Problem is the alternative, GMJ, shouldn’t even be in the big leagues. Free Chris Carter.

Almost game time, better man up today John Maine!!!!!!

Posted under Uncategorized

I wonder who Mother Nature was more sick of, home plate umpire Mike Esterbrook or the inane droning of Joe Morgan but whoever it was, Mets fans thank her for the heavy rain that ended last nights Mets game and Big Plef’ heavy lifting pitching performance with a rain shortened win over the struggling Braves. For the Mets it’s about time they got a positive break and lost in this awful game was the fact the Mets swept the Braves, which should be big time news around these parts.

Pelfrey was not as bad as his line indicates; he was mostly the victim of Esterbrook’s tight as a fly’s asshole strike zone. If the game was on SNY instead of the steady in decline WWL (ESPN’s 2010 NFL Draft wasn’t even public access quality) we would have gotten the overhead view of home plate to see just where Pelf was missing. On the ESPN telecast it looked to me he was hitting the corners consistently.  

Of his 106 pitches, Pelf threw 61 of them in the first two innings, from the third to fifth it took him only 45 pitches to get through those frames. The ability to locate his fastball low in the strike zone and mix in the slider as well has been key for Pelf in getting ground ball out after ground ball out.

I haven’t verified this yet, but the rumor is when the game was called last night, Jerry Manuel sent Fernando Nieve to the bullpen to throw a simulated game. J-Man said he wanted to keep Nieve “sharp”.

A tip of the solid blue Mets cap to Caryn Rose (a/k/a Metsgrrl) for not only going to the game last night but for letting us know though her Tweets on Twitter, that the game was well attended even though on TV it looked like there was a major evacuation in Flushing. Seems now that we have a new fancy pants ball park, there are plenty of places to get high and stay dry. Whereas Shea, during a game in the rain your choice was get wet sitting in your seat or get wet standing in the concourse. I give anyone who went to the game last night a ton of credit as it was so cold and misserable last night in NYC, that I broke down and put the heat back on last night.  

The Hollywood Bums come to town starting tonight and the very hittable Hiroki Kuroda will start the first game of the series tonight against Ollie Perez. This game has the potential for both teams to hit double digits.  The Dodgers are statistically the best team in the NL but fall to the bottom in just about every pitching category in the league. The Mets have smacked around Kuroda every time they’ve faced him (0-2 one no-decision 10.1IP 23H 10.45 ERA) Ollie Perez has been OK Ollie so far this season but lets hope the outstanding pitching the starters have shown this past week or so rubs off on OP.

I hope you can join me tomorrow night at 10PM ET for THIS CALL TO THE BULLPEN on BLOG TALK RADIO. My guest will be Steve Slowinski of the DRAYSBAY site as we talk about the Tampa Bay Rays and their surge to the top on the AL East. I’ll have a recap of the Mets-Dodgers game as well and a look ahead to what is now a big weekend series with the Phillies. If you can’t join me live you can hear a replay of the show right here at Kranepool Society or at my show page on BLOG TALK RADIO.   

Posted under Uncategorized

Sure we are all giddy about the Mets 2-1 win but if you sit down and think about it for a moment, yesterday/last night’s game should have your Blue and Orange blood near a boil and not just because we had to endure nearly seven hours of Tim Mc Fullofshit.

While everyone is killing the Stinkin’ Genius for using position players on the mound over men who make their living at the art or for sending those artist to hit in key spots, what those actions screamed out to me was, LaRussa has absolutely no respect for the New York Mets. We all joke on how TLR tries be Belichick like in his approach to baseball but can you tell me if he was playing the Cubs or Phillies he’d have managed the same way? Hell no.

TLR showed you what he thought of the Mets offense by using Felipe Lopez and Jeff Mather to pitch and pitcher Kyle Lohse to play LF. LaRussa was getting killed on Twitter last night and speaking of Twitter I believe I set a Twitter record for most un-follows in a single day as I just about told every Highlander fan who follows me and was rooting for the Cards to tie the score in the bottom of the 19^th inning to go fuck themselves.  That’s why Highlander fans are the Ass Hats of Baseball Fans.

Oh yeah where was I, yes TLR getting his ass handed to him on Twitter because he lifted Matt Holiday in the 10^th but it seemed that Holiday was weak from the flu and just could not continue. This is crazy, me defending TLR so let me get back to reality and skew his ass for letting Yadier Molina catch 20 innings and not using backup Brain Anderson earlier. However I hope Molina has temporary paralysis today and can’t get out of bed. My sympathy for Yadier Molina has a shelf life of five minutes.

Now to our resident genius J-Man. Nice job having Frankie Rodz warm up for eight innings and have him leave his best stuff in the bullpen. As for the Seth Everett report about Mets players not happy with J-Man, don’t kill the messenger. Every player that Everett mentioned did have a beef with the Warlord. Johan Santana, who was not only outstanding on the mound yesterday but gets bows and salutations for remaining on the bench for the whole game and he even wore a rally cap. Big Pelf had his on to but I think he wears is hat like that all the time. Jerry Manuel skipped over Santana for an extra day to let Ollie Perez pitch, rightfully so, Johan was not happy. You do not skip over your Ace unless said Ace request the extra day. Knowing Santana, he’d like to start every other day. Jose Reyes was named in the report as well. Reyes just back from missing just about all of last season and the later part of spring training and is not 100 % at the plate. It would have been best to let him play a few more extended spring games but these are desperate times in Metsville so Reyes did not get much hitting rehab done. So while he tries to get his stroke back, Manuel floats the idea to hit him third. Reyes won’t come out publicly and say what he feels but with trying to get back into baseball shape that last thing he wants or needs is to be moved to the most important spot in the lineup at this time. The thing that makes you wonder about Manuel’ thinking is when Luis Castillo said he was not comfortable batting 8^th J-Man stopped hitting him 8^th. I would think Jose Reyes carries more clout than the Tree Stump. John Maine, disgusted with himself over his piss poor pitching performances hears from the scribes that his pitching life is on the line as per the Warlord. Finally showing some piss and vinegar, Maine marched into Manuel’s office for some answers. Good to see a pulse their John Boy. As for Frenchy? He just a yenta he can’t help himself. Frenchy reminds me of the old ladies on my block as a kid who would open their windows all the way and put a pillow over the sill and watch everyone’s comings and goings and report the news of the street to the other house frows . That’s Frenchy. All that’s missing are humongous boobs and a house dress.

Now this not to say that Seth Everett broke a story here like the Yenta said, he was never in the locker room or at the ball park so most likely Everett is reading all the Mets blogs for his info and of course he’ll never give us credit.

How about the heart of the Mets batting order, Wright-Bay-Yenta going a combined 1 for 20. I’m pretty sure if Jason Bay struck out for the fifth time in the game, his contract would have automatically voided. After Alex Cora’s great catch at in foul territory, John Rico and Sandy Johnson had to tie up Omar Minaya as Omar was ready to extend Cora’s deal for five years.

Judging by Ruben Valdes running the bases yesterday I guess the idea of sliding pits never reached Cuba.

Angel Pagan went 3 for 6 yesterday, the best hitting line on the team, look for GMJ to play the next three games.

Lost in all the hubbub of yesterday was that this was the third straight game the Mets got a top starting performance from a starting pitcher. How about Big Pelf and win and a save in the last three days. I’m rooting hard for John Maine tonight, because with all the bullshit aside it comes down to this team getting pitching. The bullpen has been great but overworked if the starters get deeper into games the next week or so to give the pen a little time to rejuvenate this season can get turned around. See this what happens when you watch a 2-1, 20 inning, 6 hr. 53 min baseball game with Tim McFullofshit talking out his ass, you suffer from McFullofshit Fatigue Syndrome.

That’s why it was damn shame yesterday/last night’s game was not on SNY just to hear Keith Hernandez bitch and moan and of course it would have been the best opportunity for him to scream out a profanity.

Posted under Uncategorized

What’s most disappointing about last night’s Mets loss was not just the wasted effort of Ollie Perez or the fact that the early in the season reliable bullpen gave up big runs as Vitamin Pedro had the runs, it was the reaction of the dead manager walking after the loss, (this J-Man quote,  courtesy of Subway Squawkers):

You have to applaud the fight. We have, at least in these first 10 games, given ourselves a shot and haven’t been able to come away with anything significant. I think if we continue to do that, it will eventually turn for us. If we continue to keep this attitude and fight, and bring it every day, some things are going to start going our way.”

Now if the Mets were a 14 year old Babe Ruth team, that would be a good philosophy (As I’ve gotten a bit older and in my 11^th season of managing youth baseball my demeanor has gone from a Billy Martin/Larry Bowa type personality to a Chuck Tanner type telling all my players how much I love having them on the team even when run like their carrying an Kenmore Fridge on their back and have no baseball sense whatsoever) but for a professional baseball team that told us all spring how this was a season of redemption and run commercials of believing in comebacks  (I would love to see a Mets commercial with manager Wally Backman, 3^rd base coach Lenny Dykstra and pitching coach Bobby Ojeda all saying WE BELIEVE IN TOTAL ASS KICKING) as Subway Squawker Jon Levin points out is very Art Howe-ish. We lived through that dead manager era once already; I’m not up to second version of it now.

Posted under Uncategorized

It’s been a very busy morning so this will be a short post. I hate weather like today as we have a 5:30 game and it’s either going to rain this afternoon or this evening and I have to plan to go home early or stay at work so I’m very indecisive on what to do kind of like the Mets on the base paths.

Big Pelf was the pitcher we all thought we’d grow up to be yesterday. He got ahead with his sinker and used an effective spilt as well. It also helps it have a craftsman behind the plate like Henry Blanco. What we need now is consistency from Big Mike.

This whole Reyes in the third spot is just Jerry Manuel standing on a trap door waiting for it to open. I love how J-Man tells the press he advised Reyes to stay with his game when the move is made and not try to be a power hitter. What the hell is your 3 hitter anyway? He’s your best bat and one of your best power bats which is why D-Wright is the best option at the 3 spot. The problem with the lineup is both Mike Jacobs and Fernando Tatis suck and Ike Davis is playing for Buffalo. I know there are some who think Davis needs more time at Triple A but when you take into account his fine spring plus he went to one of the finest baseball schools-Arizona St.-in the country and his dad was a major leaguer so he knows the life better than most, that baseball pedigree tells me the risk of bringing up and under cooked Davis is better than a burnt Mike Jacobs or Fernando Tatis.

The Wee-Fellow at the Daily News has for the most part become an irrelevant writer in this town but he is still the house organ for the Skill Sets which leads me to believe the Skill Sets some how collaborated with him on this Bobby Valentine homecoming story to reclaim the Mets managers office.

Posted under Uncategorized

Not much to talk about today with the off day and most of the “woe is us” post were done yesterday, so lets take a ride around the blogsphere and see what the more fertile minds are saying:

Dillion Gee was a pitcher that Jerry Manuel was fond of last spring in fact Gee was one of those players Manuel picked out of camp to proclaim he could break camp a la Jenry Mejia this year. Gee though suffered from a partially torn labrum that sidelined him for most of last season but now Gee is back and after his first start with the Bisons he’ shown some nice numbers and could just vault himself up North soon. Check out Fonzie Forever’ post on Dillion Gee.

As from chicken wing country, Ike Davis continues to hit at Triple A and for reasons I can’t comprehend, Jerry Manuel is not storming Omar’s office and demanding that Davis be brought up. If my ass were on the line like J-Man’s I’d take no prisoners.

Matthew Cerrone has a post on MetsBlog on the debut of Aroldis Chapman in Double A yesterday and what effect this would have on the Reds trading Aaron Harang ? The thing with Chapman, you wonder what kind of scouting and how hard did the Mets look at Chapman ? As fans we have no knowledge of what this young man from Cuba translates into as a bonifide Major Leaguer but Omar Minaya and his scouts get paid to find the Chapman’s of the baseball world. The question is, did Omar and the scouts do the leg work scouting Chapman and then get shot down on by ownership when the price went high? If the Mets lost out on Chapman, solely for monetary reasons then the Wilpon’s need to get out of the baseball business. If the Omar and his scouts said he wasn’t worth it? Then they need to be fired. In any case as Mats fan we should be given the reason why the Mets did not get involved with Aroldis Chapman. Also forget about Roy Oswalt and Chris Young coming to the Mets, both are damaged goods.

Nick Evans life story will be made into a Lifetime movie some day.

Tonight at 11PM ET join me and Adam Bernacchio of The Ghost of Moonlight Graham as we host the Baseball Bloggers Alliance BBA TALK on BLOGTALK RADIO. 

Posted under Uncategorized

I’m going to try very hard not to be a complete over reactionary schmuck after this first week of the Mets 2010 season but I’ll tell you right up front, it won’t be easy.

Let’s play the “it’s so, so early in the season” card right now and get it out of the way. Yes, it is unbelievably early but after coming off an unmitigated disaster of a season last year and the happy talk bullshit we were fed the whole month of March, needless to say I’m not impressed.

Well I shouldn’t say totally unimpressed. The pitching has been surprisingly good especially the bullpen, which at the rate Jerry Manuel is using his relievers, should be burnt out by mid May. The hitting has been for a lack of a better phrase “hit or miss” either lots of runs or barely getting any.

But the biggest problem I have so far this first week is the attitude of the team and that falls on the slumping shoulders of Jerry Manuel. The odds of Manuel finishing the season as manager are as slim as Sarah Palin being named the keynote speaker at the Mensa Convention (good morning my conservative friends and teabaggers) and J-Man looks like he hopes the end comes sooner than later. For a manager to come out and say that on April 11, his team was unprepared to play is a big indictment that he is unfit to run the team. Then add some of the quotes out of the Mets clubhouse on how they felt that with the match-up between Santana and Livan Hernandez would a Mets walk over and when Santana gave up four runs in the top of the first, it took the wind out of their sails. Are you kidding ? Down 4 runs in the first to the Nats and Livan and you feel like you’re finished for the day? That’s hard to stomach.

Added to this week of yuck, was Frenchie saying the team is looking forward to getting out of town. HOLY SHIT!!! After one homestand, you can’t wait to run for the hills? I-I-I-‘m speechless.

And let’s drop the happy horse shit that the team is pressing, pressing for what ? This Mets team has the lowest expectation of any Mets team in years. They are not a contender which I think we all agree all we’re looking at is be competitive and stop with the woe is me bullshit. The manager sets the tone in that clubhouse and the team takes on the personality of its skipper. The attitude sucked last year and so far this week it still sucks.

To make my afternoon even worse, the NY Rangers lost out on the last playoff spot in the NHL Eastern conference by losing the skills competition yesterday against the Flyers. King Henrik was subjected to a shooting gallery of Flyers shots 47 total with the King stopping 46 of them. Brandon Prust and Jody Shelly can hold their heads high as well for laying it on the line in this do or die game. I don’t think I was ever as wrong about a guy like I was with John Tortorella as coach of the Rangers. I was not a Tom Renny fan and felt that Torts was just what the team needed but I was wrong. Torts is so overmatched in this town between juggling lines like a circus performer and his attitude during interviews. Simple questions get a glare and a brush off even towards Sam Rosen who will never be compared to Mike Wallace. His profanity laden tirades toward Larry Brooks of the Post make Torts look like a big horses’ ass and Brooks vs. Torts isn’t even a fair fight, Brooks beats Torts every time. Then there is the man known as Slats, Glen Sather. He should have been dumped five years ago but Jim Dopelan loves Slats but you would hope that Sather has a shred of decency and retires immediately to allow a living breathing hockey exec come in to run the Rangers. Let the Dopelan’s use some of the money they steal from Cablevision subscribers and offer Lou Lamoriello $50 million dollars to come across the Hudson and revamp the Rangers.

Posted under Uncategorized