I’m happy for Willie Randolph that he was named to Ken Macha’s coaching staff in Milwaukee. After watching Willie’s time with the Mets I feel this is the best spot for him as a coach as he has proven to be a terrific teacher but he isn’t much of a communicator that seems to be the major part of being a manager or head coach in pro sports today. All the best, Willie

It’s good to see D-Wright is mad, I mean really, really mad:

{”I don’t like those guys,” Wright said. “I know they don’t like us. There are guys that I respect on that team. I respect them, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m going to be friends with them. My whole career, I’ve tried to stay away from that. I’ll shake somebody’s hand and say hello, but I’m not going to be buddy-buddy with anyone before the game.

“I’m not a big fan of the teams in our division just because we play them so much. I would hope as a competitor that you would have that edge, that you would have a genuine interest to go out there and beat them by as much as you can}

Okay, it’s a start. I don’t figure Wright to take on my Braveheart mentality when it comes to our division rivals although I’d love it if he did but what I found interesting was the “I’ll shake somebody’s hand and say hello but I’m not going to be buddy-buddy with anyone before the game” quote. If you watch the Mets during warm ups it seems the players love to hug and kibitz with some players on the opposing team, and with the risk of being called a racist, it’s mostly the Latin players who do this. I don’t ever see D-Wright calling them out for doing that. In fact it was one of the pet peeves that Willie Randolph had when Omar and Tony B would be on the field before a game against the Nats and showing Manny Acta much love.

Saw this on Metsblog, seems Omar and Co. are not too crazy about the Brian Schneider/Ramon Castro catching tandem and an upgrade behind the plate is on the off season to do list.

New York Magazine is celebrating its 40^th Anniversary and the editors asked some sportswriters who they thought were the Top 10 NY Athletes of the last 40 years. Each writer gave some excellent choices (check out Selena Roberts who went off on a whole different tangent) I made my own list and it was very tough to limit it to 10 but here are my Top 10 NYC Athletes from 1968-2008:

1.      Tom Seaver-He is the reason why we care about the Mets

2.      Joe Namath- Even though I’m not a Jets fan I was and still am a huge Joe Willie fan. 

3.      Lawrence Taylor-The greatest defensive football player ever and second only to Jim Brown as the greatest football player ever.

4.      Willis Reed-Game 7 1970 NBA Finals I still get goose bumps when I see videos of Reed limping on to the court

5.      Walt Clyde Frazier-Always the coolest guy in the room and what gets lost in the Reed scenario is Clyde lighting up the Lakers for 36 pts and 19 dimes.

6.      Mark Messier-The Captain Always The Captain

7.      Reggie Jackson-If there was a guy born to play in NYC it was Reggie

8.      Mariano Rivera-Yes it kills me but what’s fair is fair he is the greatest reliever in history

9.      Dwight Gooden-Every home start was an event must see baseball

10.  Pele-If you weren’t around during the days of the New York Cosmos this choice may not make sense to you but think of Pele like you would of Babe Ruth.

Sure it sucked seeing Scott Kazmir on the mound for the Famous Rays last night but to be honest,  as much as I’m a Kazmir fanboy I thought he stunk last night. How the hell do you walk Pedro Feliz and Carlos Ruiz for God sake you have to let those two swing the bat CHALLENGE THEM DAMIT! Kaz was lucky that Upton made a strong throw to nail the little prick Victorino at the plate for an inning ending DP as that at least let the Rays stay in the game.

I though the 3^rd inning was the turning point in the game as the Rays had a chance to make Cole Hamels life difficult with the bases juiced and 1 out with hot hitting BJ Upton at bat. Upton this past season hit a robust .353 in a bases loaded situation, so the odds looked good that even a fly ball would at least get the Rays on the board but Upton hit into an inning ending DP something he did only 13 times all season. 

Add that to Kazmir having runners on base every inning he pitched four of them via the base on balls and this game wasn’t as close as the score board showed. It’s up to James Shields to get the Pizza Guys even in the series. In my mind Game 2 is a must win for the Rays.

Who knew Wee Willie Randolph was such a catch? The Rockies and Nats want him to be a   bench coach and the Brewski’s are looking at him as a skipper. I still think Randolph best position is as an infield coach/instructor as a bench coach you’re involved in strategy which we know too well is not Willie’s strong suit.

With the economic climate in this country and newspapers facing extinction why in the world did the NY Daily News waste money by sending Bill Madden to the World Series to write about how all the team in the NL East hate the Mets. Not exactly ground breaking there Billy Pinstripes. You almost nailed a good column as you wrote about Pat Gillick turning around the Phillies and the Mariners but you missed the boat on the big story as Gillick was the Skill Sets choice to take over the Mets after the Steve Phillips disaster era but turned them down due to Jeffey Skill Sets meddling ways.

Very late with my post today as I’m in some serious need of motivation.  It’s a Carlos Delgado playing for Willie Randolph kind of day for a few reasons.

The A/C in the building has been shut so with the warm weather it is hot as hell in this office today so it’s hot and stuffy kind of like all of Highlander Nation .

Knowing that the Phelatios are a game away from the World Series on the power of one of my favorite players, Professional Hitter Mat Stairs makes it even worse. Then you have the Little Hawaiian Punch Victorino in his Little League batting helmet and grass skirt making big play after big play and acting like he doesn’t need that winter job of his anymore. (EDIT: I got rethink my opinion of Stairs as he “likes to have his ass pounded WOHA NELLY, I guess he’s seen Victorino do the hula in the shower)

A little vindication for Pack A Day Hank as St Joseph of Torre the patron saint of tea drinkers decided that Derek Lowe was done after 73 pitches and turned the game over to relievers as green as plantains.

Looks like Papi ain’t so Big without Manny around? Tell me that a lineup with Beltran in the 2 spot, Manny in the 3, Delgado 4 Wright 5 Church 6 with Reyes on top wouldn’t make the NL shit itself silly?

The more a look at it the more it seems if K-Rod wants to be a Met it will be under the Mets terms and not his. I think Omar would rather go with lower level free agents like Juan Cruz, Jeremy Affeldt as bridge guys  and a closer/8^th inning guy like Brain Fuentes but I would like for Omar to explore a deal with the White Sox for Bobby Jenks and of course, AJ Pierzynski.

I’ve got to agree with Mike Silva, it sounds like Joe Bad Bing Benigno and Mike All Mighty Francesa sound like a match made in radio heaven. If WFAN would pair Francesa and Benigino in the afternoon then they should put the team of Curly Carlin and Kim Jones on at 10 to 1 and make Evan Roberts a utility host.

An other reason for lackadaisical day is my sadness over the death of NY Rangers prospect Alexei Cherpanov. For the non-hockey fan, Cherpanov is the Ranges equivalent of Fernando Martinez and from although the reports out of Russia are very very spotty it leaves one to wonder if an ambulance and or a difibulator were at the rink this tragedy could have been avoided.

I think someone else like guys pounding on his ass as well 

Since Jerry Manuel took over, the Mets haven’t just been good, but wicked good. As a result, Mets playoff tickets are out there as the team looks to play into October.

After last year’s collapse, the Mets rebounded from the Willie Randolph era with Manuel taking over and revitalizing the players. Carlos Delgado had a MVP-like year and this one of Carlos Beltran’s better years, which is surprising after having his knees scoped this past offseason.

It’s one reason why New York Mets tickets have been as hot as Broadway tickets and New York Giants tickets.

Now all the Mets have to do is hold serve over the next 14 games and make an October run.

When Willie Randolph was let go a lot of venom was spewed in the direction of Tony Bernazard, Omar Minaya’ First Lieutenant and the Mets Director of Player Development .Bernazard was portrayed as a meddler and was no fan of Randolph and was one of the voices in Omar’s head to can Willie. I bring this up today because as I was reading John Harpers pieces in the Daily News today , he mentions how it was Bernazard who pushed for the promotion of Daniel Murphy, Nick Evans and Argenis Reyes all three have made big contributions to the resurgence of the Mets season. Bernazard also looks to have made the big decision to give Jon Niese a start last night which from listening to J-Man was not his first choice to start last night. I’d love to know how hard J-Man pushed to have either Brain Stokes or Nelly Figs get the start last night. From the parting words of Willie Randolph it is hinted that Bernazard and Manuel have a very good relationship and difference of opinion is good as who wants “yes” men around them al the time. So I’m sure J-Man made his case but in the end Tony B had a stronger case. Taken on face value, J-Man was most likely right about going with either Figs or Stokes or even returning Olympian Brandon Knight, not because of the green gills of Neise but with Santana and OP sandwiched around Neise that’s three lefties in a row which you want to avoid at any cost but especially with a team like the Brewski’s who pound left handed pitching. Remember back a few months ago the Mets moved John Maine up in the rotation to go between Santana and OP as J-Man wanted to avoid the three lefties rotation. But back to TB, I never thought of him as a villain that the media made him out to be now I don’t know the guy but I have to give him props for running a better minor league system than we all thought the Mets had.. All the so called expert publications told us Mets fans that the organization was lacking in Major League ready and lucky for the team they were wrong. 

So now Petey is working out to get his arm loose as that was the reason for him not feeling “comfortable” in his last start in Miami.  You all know I’m a Petey fan boy but he is becoming like an old car that burns oil and keeps breaking down. As much affection as I have for the Great Petey no matter how the season turns out it’s time to let Petey ride off into the sunset, as there is no reason to bring him back next season. Too much maintenance.

Now that’s the way to spend a day off as the Mets gain an other half a game on the Phlacid Phillies as the Aramis Ramirez launched a Grand Slam off Chad Durbin (“CLANK” go the cups of Old Style) to defeat Albino Manuel’s squad 6-4 and now the statically good Phillies bullpen is showing some cracks and Good Ol’ Cholly’s managerial moves are being question by the those famous front runners in the Philly and the press.

Seems like Gary Cohen wasn‘t the only one wondering why JC Romano was not in the game to face Carlos Del-GOD-o, JC is stilling wondering as well.  

David Lennon has a piece on the new “Steady As She Goes” attitude in the Mets clubhouse. Lennon shows that as we Mets fans clutched our chest in horror over Tuesday’s awful defeat, the Mets players took it in stride and that Warlord Jerry has loosen the reins of the clubhouse and is treating his men like men. No one will come out and say that the fact that Willie Randolph choked the life out of the team last season during the “collapse” and J-Man is more perceptive of what makes his team click.

First the NYPD roughed up a guy at Highlander Stadium for having the audacity to want to take a leak during the phony patriotism part of the 7^th inning the other night, now we have to female Red Sox fans who it is reported were tossed from the Steinbrenner Slum for rooting too much for the Sawx. As we see in this clip, the first female was escorted down the upper deck stairs without incident, but her accompilis makes a very big mistake, fucking with an NYPD officer, not just any NYPD officer but a very large and very angry female cop.  The female cop is also African-American and one thing I love about African American women is when they get mad and do that finger thing, where they pull back their arm and point that finger to say “don’t you fuck with me” it’s something a white woman could never pull off. Same as a white guy trying to wear a red suit, we just can’t pull that fashion statement off. Meanwhile it took three cops to subdue the Amazon Blonde and all three officers had ample waist lines as well, that’s a lot of heft by the authorities so advantage Angry White Chick.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So far the phone calls suck. First guy said that Dan Murphy reminds him of Tony Gywnn? HUH? First it’s way to early to compare Danny Boy to a guy like TG who is one of the greatest hitters of all time. It’s great the DM is hitting the cover off the ball but we will find out what kind of player he is after he has some adversity in the bigs and how he adjusts.

Next guy Carl from Staten Island started off with the obligatory ass kissing of Gary and Mex then went on a rant about Omar not getting relief help, when Gary asked you he thought Omar should have gone after Carl punked out and hung up.

Caller asked about J-Man getting the gig as manager for long term and Gary said he was “100 % in favor of giving Manuel job permanently” From the tone of Gary’s response I don’t think he shed a tear when Willie Randolph got gassed.

Mex is also on board in lifting the “interim” tag away for J-Man

Next guy wanted to know why Reyes-Wright and Delgado are still in the game? Good question

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh vacation time, it’s wonderful. Before I leave for Cape Cod and a trip to Boston and Fenway Park I will be in attendance at Shea for tonight’s game as the turnaround season rolls on. No post tomorrow as it’s a long travel day but I hope to post Monday my “Fitty’ Birthday” by the way , so before I get some last minute stuff done and head to Shea a few thoughts:

Two of the biggest players of this turnaround have been Carlos Delgado and Mike Pelfrey and not surprisingly both players have been helped by the change in manager and pitching coach. Delgado seemed to hate being at the ball park when Willie Randolph was in charge as it seems Randolph’s reign in the clubhouse was a tension convention but for some reason the main streamers give us just bits and pieces of  life in Mets clubhouse under Willie. I guess theiy will let us know when their books come out. Rick Peterson told Mike Pelfrey to never throw a curveball again. Dean of School Dan Werthen worked with Pelfery on his breaking ball to go with his 90+ heater to make him a complete pitcher. No bracelets, no gem stones just good common sense.

I can’t figure out Dirty Duaner. He gets ahead of batters and can’t finish them off. Is it bad luck or poor performance?

Brandon Knight, the definition of a journeyman, makes his Mets debut tonight as a stand in for Petey. Knight has had a great year in NOLA and was ready to join Davey Johnson and Team USA in Beijing but on the insistence of Dan Werthen he was summoned for this spot start.

Looks like the Highlanders stole Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte from the Bucs but I’m not worried about that as with all the rumors and names out there the guy I hope we land is Casey Blake. Blake has descent power and can player OF, 3B, and 1st  his one draw back is striking out a lot but we can live with that as Blake is the righty bat the Mets need.

Manny isn’t happy in Boston. The Red Sox front office, owners, players and fans are not happy with Manny.  I think you know where I’m going here, If I’m Omar I have to make a call in fact if Omar wants to give me Theo Epstein’s number and I’ll meet him for lunch when I get  into town.