Well, if anything comes as a positive out of breaking the winning streak last night, it’s that we won’t see the black uni tops hopefully for a while. I’d say it’s a safe bet the all grays will be in play tonight.

Strange line on Chris Capuano last night.  Cap had no problem throwing strikes (67/27 K/BB ratio) and he was ahead in the count from the start with 21 first pitches to the 28 batters he faced were strikes. The Nats did knock him around for 10 hits but no walks but only 2 K’s. Weird.

The 4^th inning did Cap in as the Nats started teeing off but it was a bizarre sac/fielder’s choice thingy with fat ass Livan Hernandez getting in Josh Thole’ way as he couldn’t get around El Gordo. But when the smoke cleared is just a one run Nationals lead. The pitch that Cap regretted the most was the one he threw to Ian Desmond in the 5^th , that went  over the right field fence to give DC a two run lead.  That home run hurt more as the Mets came back in the 6^th when Ike Davis (of course!) doubled home Carlos Beltran to make it a one run game again.

Okay, I’ve seen enough of Willie Harris for a while, time to put Harris on the shelf . A little bit of Willie Harris in our lives is good, a lot of Willie Harris? No good.

Either play Jason Pridie every day until Angel Pagan comes back or bring up Captain Kirk for a taste of the big leagues but really enough Willie Harris, he’s not an ever day player.

I’m sure Big Pelf will be on a short leash tonight between battling the flu and not having a great track record against the Phuck Phaces, if he starts getting knocked around in the first or second inning, I’m sure Terry Collins will go right to Dillion Gee as this management cares about wins not hurting players feeling.

I’m so anxious for Ronnie Paulino to be activated and joining the big league team for the simple fact, I’m not convinced Ronnie Paulino actually exists.

It’s nice when there is competition of a roster spot, as it lit a fire under Josh Thole to get that bat going to stay in the bigs. That was one of the biggest problems in the past for the Mets, a sense of entitlement of a job, that is no more.

I want all of you to go over to the Real Dirty Mets site and wish Ed Marcus a/k/a Rusty Jr. a very happy birthday.

So now the Skill Sets are ready to give some juice to whoever buys into a minority share of the club. According to the NY Post (line up for your grain of salt) the Skill Sets will grant veto power to the new investor as it pertains to team payroll and player contracts. If all this is true and comes to fruition (again it’s in the Murdoch fish wrap) this could a huge boost for the Mets organization. What the organization needs is injection of fresh money and fresh ideas and most of all someone who doesn’t have a Skill Sets bloodline sitting in the boardroom. Everyone who is a decision maker except for the Baseball Ops division is related in some way or the other. It reminds me of when I worked for Century 21 department store; every department manager of the store was a member of the Gindi family. It didn’t matter if they were competent as long as they were a Gindi. Now we just have to hope the new partner is a Stu Sternberg clone.

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I don’t think Mike Pelfrey can be optioned to Triple A, but after seeing the swift sword of Sandy Alderson yesterday, I wouldn’t be surprised if Pelf throws another stinker today (I’m talking 3 innings getting batted around and a whole lot of hand licking) Alderson would persuade him to take a trip to Buffalo to work out his problems. I hope it doesn’t come down to that. Hopefully Pelf gives the team the quality start it desperately needs tonight but if he doesn’t maybe a two week stint with Rickey Bones who would be another set of eyes, could see something to fix Big Pelf.

It didn’t take Alderson long to show that he won’t sit back with his hands in his pockets as we saw with his moves after last night’s game.  If Alderson would have released Boyer at the end of spring training there was good chance he’d have been picked up by another team. Now, odds are much slimmer that he’d be picked up, so if he doesn’t the Mets can send him to Buffalo to raise his game.

The worst part of the week were the three bad outings by Pelf, Dickey and Niese that taxed and already shaky pen, so it’s imperative for the starters, starting with Pelfrey tonight to step up their game.

It’s too early to panic, but according to Sandy Alderson it’s not too early to send a message. The thing we have to remember here is Alderson and his staff has no allegiance to any of the players on this roster. He inherited the whole flock and I don’t think he’d have any problem dealing away or demoting anyone on this team.  

Jose Reyes has been hitting the ball and has looked like the Reyes of old especially in the field but he is also up to his free swinging ways and that is something hitting coach Dave Hudgens is looking to fix. But at this stage of his career, it will be hard for Reyes to adjust his attack, attack, attack approach at the plate.

Even with the bad bullpen and inability to get a big hit the best thing I saw this week was Rob Castellano is back with his daily Mets Daily Farm Report on Amazin’ Avenue.

 Do you think you know all there is to know about getting around Citi Field? If you had BallPark E-Guide you would. BallPark E-Guide is a nice tidy download that tells you how to get around the ball parks, where to find cheap parking and discounts on tickets. Right now there are e-guides available for Citi Field, Yankee Stadium, Citizens Bank Ballpark with Camden Yards and Nationals Park coming soon.

If you didn’t see the piece on 60 Minutes on Albert Pujols last night do yourself a favor and check it out. It’s well worth it.

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Good morning you ship jumping rat bastards. I wish you’d make up your minds, are you Mets fans or just a bunch of whinny bitches? I nearly lost my mind following some Mets fans on Twitter during the game last night (I got to stop Tweeting and watching the Mets and just concentrate on the watching the game and taking notes like I did way back  in the dial up pre iPhone internet days) I understand Mike Pelfrey was horrible last night but some of you took your venom to Big Pelf like you were auditioning for a job as beat writer at the NY Daily Lupica. Get a hold of yourself for Christ sake.

Pelf morphed back into his spaceman mode last night and it will be up to him, Old School Warthen, and neophyte receiver Josh Thole to get the Big Pelf locomotive back on track. I would think that the troika I just mentioned went over their pitching game plan for last night before the game. What was most puzzling for me was the fact that young Thole was dictating to Pelfrey what to throw. We all know that Pelf’s bread and butter is the splitter that induces a plethora of ground balls when he’s right. When he adds his two seam fastball and is effective with that pitch then you get vintage Big Pelf. Sure he’s big and strong but he’s not a strikeout pitcher. He doesn’t have an overpowering pitch to get that key K, in fact the guy Pelfrey should be attached to the hip with is Chris Young.

Back to my puzzlement on the short circuited battery. Pelf has taken it on his shoulders to let it be known that even though Thole was calling for him to throw his third and fourth pitches in his arsenal (curve and slider) he could have shaken him off until he saw the finger he liked the best. In a way it’s refreshing that Old School and Terry Collins let Thole call the pitchers instead of having them called for him by Warthen but perhaps with the lack of a veteran catcher (please don’t even mention Nickeas) on the roster, Old School should institute pitch selection from the bench in Big Pelfs next start or let Thole know next time he catches Pelfrey and calls for curves an sliders, there will be a plane ticket to Buffalo waiting for him in at his locker.

Another thing that should not be overlooked in this recent Pelfrey meltdown is the death of Harvey Dorfman, the sports psychologists and the shoulder that Pelfrey has cried on in recent years. With Dorfman gone all Pelfrey has left is the advice Drofman has given him through their late night conversations and a copy of Dorfman’s The Mental ABC’s of Pitching. Hopefully the lessons and the book and whatever magic Old School has in that tool box of his will right Big Pelf.

All this drivel written this morning in the fishwraps about trading Pelfrey is just another example of Mets bashing and lazy ass journalism that has permeated the NYC main stream media. Why write a column that looks into what is causing Pelfrey’s problems and see what is being done to correct them when you can just write that Pelfrey sucks and should be traded just to embrace yourself with the lunatic fringe of Mets fans. You know what you folks in the MSM are right; leave the heavy lifting to bloggers.

By the way here was my tweet when it was 7-0 Phillies and Mets fan tweeters were jumping ship. I then tweeted that the Mets would comeback. I then went after Evan Roberts of WFAN again as he proclaimed we would be ripping Mike Pelfrey on his show.

Now that I’ve cleared the air, will all of you GET THE FUCK OFF MY LAWN!

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Have you come off the ledge? Good. If Mets fans are going to react to every game this season like they have over last night’s season opener, there will be a shortage of nitroglycerin pills in NYC hospitals by June.

Sure it sucks to lose on opening day (night?) and Big Pelf was far from good but some Mets fans are acting like the season just ended instead of just starting. Maybe it’s due to the Mets proficiency of winning on opening day or maybe it was the sheer dominance of Josh Johnson or maybe it’s that we are dying to root for a team that looks, acts and plays like a confident Major League Baseball team, but if you’re bringing a football mentality to this baseball season, you’ll get burned out by Memorial Day weekend. There’s going to be rough patches, and that’s when we’ll see what the team and the manager is made of. If I could give Terry Collins a bit of advice, don’t fall into that bad habit of saying the team how proud you are that the team played hard and never gave up, that’s not to be commended it’s to be expected. Collins did make a move that worked out nicely as Willie Harris 2 for 4 breaking up Josh Johnson no-no.

Big Pelf had a rough night; if that two seam doesn’t sink then he’s sunk.  Give Buck some credit on that at bat, he worked the count to his favor and proceeded to foul of pitch after pitch, not only seeing Pelf’s full arsenal of pitches but also frustrating Pelf to make that perfect out pitch, a sinking two seamer that Buck will either over swing at at strikeout or hit on the ground for tidy double play. Pelfrey came with the two seam but instead of breaking down and in it was up and away enough for Buck, who has power, to extend his arms and place the ball on row over the right field fence. As bad as that pitch was, it was the strength of John Buck that put it out of the park.

Pelfrey then fell into that lack of focus that he needs to get over if he is to be a top shelf pitcher as he let Omar Infante walk into second base with a stolen base in the 5^th . That was followed by a Hanley Ramirez single which ended Pelf’s night.

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So Bobby Valentine is trying to put together a group to buy the Mets or at least a minority share. I doubt that BV has the coin to pull this off but he what he does have is the “it” factor and the ability to front the franchise in a positive way unlike Freddy, Jeffey and Uncle Saul who infuriated the fan base. If he can get some deep pocketed investors to join him and let him be the out front guy, it could be interesting

 With the passing of Duke Snider yesterday, lost in the days news was the untimely passing of former Met Greg Goosen. Last night the Mets 1965 Yearbook played on SNY and there was Goosen shown as one of the up and coming young stars of the Mets along with “Robust” Ron Swoboda, Johnny Lewis and Ed Kranepool. Goosen was also a key figure in Jim Bouton’ classic book,  BALL FOUR. One story, when Goosen was a teammate of Bouton’s on the 1969 Seattle Pilots on a bus ride passing an old building  that had an inscription” Erected in 1883″, to that Goosen replied “that’s some long errection. R.I.P. Greg.”

Sniff, Snifff what kind of smoke is that, that Chipper Jones is blowing up the Mets ass? Hickory? Mesquite?

On my last visit to Citi Field, I wrote about Josh Thole being a good guy and helping me get access onto the media scrum by moving a chair and taking my backpack for me now if that weren’t enough to endear Thole to me it was announced that he will be the Mets union rep this year. So now Thole and I are Union brothers in arms. Sorry all you wanna be union busters!!!!!!!!

How in the world could anyone watch the Academy Awards when the Knicks-Heat game was on at same time? I’m not even a Knicks fan but I was glued to that game. As a basketball fan it’s good to see the Knicks and St Johns back on the right track and have the city talking basketball again.

Oliver Perez still sucks.

Mets and Nats today in St Lonesome. Big Pelf makes spring debut, Dan Murphy plays 3^rd base, F-Mart DH, Castillo gets another start at 2^nd Base

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Looks like you take a day off around here; it takes a while to catch up. Yesterday my wife and I renewed our wedding vows, as the church we were married in Regina Pacis in Bensonhurst, held a day for all couples married at that church to come back and renew their vows with a football wedding reception to follow.  It was a load of fun and we met people we hadn’t seen in a while and my kids were subjected to “Brooklyn is the greatest place on earth” stories for the millionth time. By the way, that’s how I get my kids to do their homework, when they are watching TV I go into the living room and say “You know when I was a kid……………..” and they run to their rooms. Works every time.

After a terrific weekend I turn on my computer and I see this:

What I read was “The Mets today Released Ollie Perez” not “all stories talking about Perez MUST CEASE UNTIL OLLIE IS RELEASED.”

This was my response to Sherman’s tweet.

By the way, Ollie is in camp and by the look on Terry Collins from this post from Adam Rubin it looks like he saying “Shit, I thought I locked all the doors”

Daniel Murphy is in camp and has told Terry Collins he is here to do whatever is asked from him to help this team win. Get ready for a lot of Murphy love from me.

I’m being very cautious on Terry Collins. I’ve spoken to him twice this post season and he’s intense and comes off as a real live and die by baseball, kind of guy.  He has spoken extensively about preparation all winter and running his camp with order and efficiency. When I spoke to young guys like Josh Thole, Bobby Parnell and Dillion Gee they all dealt with Collins as Mets Minor League Coordinator and they all are glad he is their manager at the big league level. R.A. Dickey and Mike Pelfrey both mentioned “energy” when asked about Collins. Pelf told us that even during lunch with Collins, that the manager spent the whole time diagraming defensive positioning on cut off throws from the outfield and on what pitchers are responsible for on defense and where they should be in different situations. Pelfrey marveled at Collins’ energy and passion. All that is great but the fact is he quit two of the three managerial jobs he had and that’s a huge caveat to me.

After reading Andy Martino’s terrific piece in the NY Daily News yesterday, I’m hoping Collins is right that he has learned from all the stops and has changed for the better. Collins mentor is Jim Leyland and he realizes he made some bad mistakes in communication with his players, that times have changed and he needed to change with the times and that this is his last shot at managerial redemption.

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I’m just back from Citi Field where the Mets held Citi Kids Day for some 5^th and 6^th grade public school children of NYC. The attraction besides getting to sit in the Mets Clubhouse, we meeting Mets players Dillon Gee, Josh Thole, Bobby Parnell, R.A. Dickey, Jose Reyes and 2011 Opening Day starter Mike Pelfrey along with manager Terry Collins.

I haven’t had time to transcribe what I have from the interviews with the players (I hope to have some of it up tomorrow as I came home and now I’m off to MSG for Rangers-Maple Leafs) but the main theme I picked up from the players is, they feel this team is no also ran and 2011 is not just a bridge to the future. The word you heard the most today was “preparation” as in lack of it last year and lot’s of emphasis on it this year.

Mike Pelfrey, beaming from the announcement that he will be on the mound April 1 in Florida, told us of Terry Collins sitting with the players at lunch today going over relay throws and defensive alignments. The whole time Big Pelf had a big grin conveying his liking of this new direction.

More tomorrow ……………………..

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As we await the non-tender floodgates to open, the Mets have four players who fit the offer/non-offer list so let’s see who stays and who goes:

John Maine-I think we all agree the days of Maine are done in Queens. Maine did himself no favor by hiding his injuries and less than honest with the coaching staff and front office. With Old School Dan Werthan staying on as the Pitching Czar and the fact that Old School can’t stand the sight of Maine then add in his arbitration price could go to $4mil, it’s safe to say we can add John Maine to that long list of former Mets

R.A. Dickey-Look, we all love Dickey wait that didn’t come out right, We all love R.A. and he was a revelation both on the mound and in the clubhouse as Dickey was the only player when interviewed that I paid attention to as he would always say something of substance. But (and you knew the BUT was coming) let’s not go crazy with talk of multi-year deals for R.A.  I’d go 1yr plus an option $1.5 mil which is about double what he made last year.

Angel Pagan-Now Pagan is a different story. Pagan not only took his offensive game to a higher level but right now he’s the best centerfielder on the Mets roster. Pagan went from being a baseball dunderhead in 2009 to arguably the Mets MVP last season (Yes I know David Wright had a great offensive year but the case can be made that the best all-around season by a Met last year was Pagan) Angel made $1.45 mil last season and it would be hard for the Mets to win an arbitration case but what price is right for Pagan? 2yrs/$4.5-5mil?

Sean Green-We’re tendering him a contract, why?

Mike Pelfrey-Ahhhhhh Big Pelf.  The sticking point he is Pelf’s agent, Scott Boras.  Pelf cannot test the free agent waters until 2014, so the Mets hold the hammer on him as well. Pelfrey has made some coin off his ML contract he signed when drafted in 2005 to the tune of a shade under $5mil so this negotiation should be quite interesting. As the Mets hold all the cards they don’t have to offer a multi year deal but figure with Boras as his agent, I’m sure he will make up one of those elaborate books to present at the arbitration hearing to make Big Pelf look like Cy Young .

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First things first, my condolences to Dan Werthen  and his family for the loss of his brother, and prayers and good thought to Angel Pagan and his family as his daughter undergoes eye surgery.

Unlike this time last year, this playing out the schedule is not as depressing as last season. Mostly due to the young players who have shown promise and the win last night was an example of that. I loved how Keith Hernandez reacted to Gary Cohen’ query to whether the Mets should but on the suicide squeeze with Ruben Tejada at bat. Mex’ voice went up a couple of octaves when he answered “Why? Let him swing the bat” Hernandez then tried as delicately as he could to hint that these games men nothing but the fact that you can see what guys like Tejada and the other young’ens can do in a big spot. Tejada did swing the bat to the tune of a game winning double and for a guy who struggled at the plate it was a great reward for his perseverance.

The TV guys were also a bit critical of Jerry Manuel for lifting Big Pelf in the 8^th with one out and one on and the score 2-1. It’s nice that Manuel is still managing like these games mean something but moves like that seem to me selfish on Manuel part, like he’s trying to prove a point that he can still manage even though he knows that Sunday is his last game as Mets manager. I would have loved to see Big Pelf work out of that situation.

As I opened with last night on my THIS CALL TO THE BULLPEN RADIO SHOW, I watched the first hour of Ken Burns’ sequel to great BASEBALL nine part series, The Tenth Inning and found it disappointing. I would have loved to see more on the Montreal Expos, it would have been nice to get more in depth on the situation that led to the Expos leaving Montreal for DC.  The other gripe I have with the program is the timing of airing it the last week of baseball’s regular season.  The perfect time to schedule this program would be in February or March when we need to get our baseball fix.  I think that’s the reason I couldn’t get into the show last night as I kept wanting to checkout what the Mets, Highlanders, Rays and Reds were doing.

I have a bad feeling about Carlos Beltran’ right knee now that he was removed from last night’s game. Beltran is scheduled to go for an MRI this morning and hopefully he is on the same page with management on this doctor’s trip.

Today’s first game of the Mets-Brewski’s double dip is sponsored by Rosita’s Brazilian Hot Wax, today’s  matchup is Bush vs. Dickey,

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If anyone is going to $iti Field tomorrow night, I’d suggest that when Carlos Beltran comes up for his first at bat, you stand up and give him a hand. Beltran backed up the talk last night as he tried to 7-10 split Chase Utley and Wilson Valdez in the 7^th inning. Beltran’s only regret is that “he didn’t hit anyone”. Too bad this didn’t happen in August as the incident has seemed to give the club a little spark. It’s also a shame that the manager wasn’t fired in August and another voice brought in to challenge the manhood of the players as Utley and the Phuck Phaces have, the second half of the season might have been much different.

I posed the question on Twitter last night, other that Ton’s O Fun Sabathia, what starting pitcher on the Highlanders would you take over any of the Mets starters? The only pitcher who got any mention from the Bronx side was Phil Hughes but would you take Hughes over Big Pelf? Hell to the No! Someone mentioned Ivan Nova which tells you the state of the Highlander rotation when Burnett and Vasquez got nary a Tweet. By the way Mets fans, it may be time for us to get into full Tampa Bay Ray mode as the GP Stu Steinberg, of the Canarsie Steinberg’s,  grew up a full blooded  Mets fan and I believe is still a Mets season ticket holder. It won’t be a total loss for the Bronx Bastards if they go one and done in the post season, it will give the maintenance crew enough time to set the Jerry Kenny Memorial in Fossil Park for an April unveiling.

What makes this September easier to take over last September is the fact that, a new GM and manager will be hired, that Ike Davis and Josh Thole have certainly shown they belong in the big leagues, that the pitching staff has the potential to be good to solid next season as RA Dickey should be back, Big Pelf continues to mature mentally, Jon Niese continues his progression and the emergence of Dillon Gee as a solid 4 or 5 in the rotation. The team will miss Johan Santana for sure and hopefully they can add another vet arm in the winter (money permitting and a savy front office man to boot) so I’m getting a bit more optimistic about the future than I had been say a month ago. It all depends on who get the GM and managers spot if my optimism will bloom into down right excitement.

Steve Popper says it’s time for Mets ownership to go all out and hire Bobby Valentine as the next manager of the Mets. I have to say with all the young talent and the need for a much needed shot of enthusiasm both on the field and in the stands if the Mets don’t go full bore for BV it will be a big mistake. This team as it will be loaded with young players and veterans who need to be challenged and no one does that better than Valentine.  This whole Utley incident has shown a light on Jerry Manuel that proves he’s not fit to manage. Instead of saying in his post game presser that “ well that’s how we played back in the day” and “I would think the players would respond” He should have closed the clubhouse door after the game and told his players that the Phillies have played you guys for chumps for four years now and will keep playing you for chumps until you fight back. No one is saying to clear the benches (although that would be fun) but there comes a time when the manager had to challenge his player’s manhood, their pride to tell them it’s time they stopped squatting to pee and stand up like men. That’s not Jerry Mnauel’ style and that’s why we’re also rans again in 2010.

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