UPDATES On Your Favorite Former And Current Metsies!

Blah blah blah the Brewers swept the double header yesterday, blah blah it's over and done with and I'm not recapping that horribleness. We can just pretend it didn't happen. I like to pretend! So now instead I'd like to share a few updates with you folks about some current Metsies and well some former NY Metropolitans! Giddy up!

First let's start with Carlos Beltran. So the reports on Beltran's right knee are not so terrible sounding. There is mild inflammation in that right knee of his but no further damage to it was detected! He is done for the season now (which sucks). So yes folks we'll get to maybe see Chris Carter make some more terrible plays for the remaining 4 games of the season. Ugh I enjoy "The Animal" but really he is one of the worst Metsies outfielders ever.

Next up let's talk about Perpetual Pedro baby. After yesterday's double header he has now made 91 appearances. Granted I'm probably not the only person who could have done without him giving up 2 runs in that 91st appearance. Sheesh.

Thirdly, David Wright now has 28 homers and 100 rib eye steaks. This is the 5th time out of six seasons that Davey has had at least 100 rib eye steaks!

Now to the former Metsies. Jeff Francouer is killing it in Texas. Oh yes I'm the Frenchy fan who checks the Texas Rangers box-scores daily. Yes I do this. So last night he contributed to another Rangers victorino. They beat the Mariners 6-5. Jeff went 2 for 5. His BA as a Ranger is now .354. It was up to .389 at one point, whoa right!? I would love nothing more for the Yankees to face the Rangers in the playoffs and for Frenchy to kick some Bronx Bombers ass on a nightly basis. I'll take a few assists and a game winning homer off of Mariano!

And lastly today's Metsies Page 6 NY Post item is not about Keith but Darryl Strawberry. And no no he wasn't making out with anyone. Here we go!
"Darryl Strawberry whipped out his wallet to save a lady in distress on his way to CBS to tape 'The Tim McCarver Show' the other day. The Mets and Yankees legend and owner of Strawberry's Sports Grill spotted a young woman crying to a taxi driver over her fare. The damsel had left her wallet at home, so Strawberry pulled out his and shelled ot the $15 fare plus another $10 to appease the angry driver. 'Don't sweat it' our spy overheard him telling the passenger.

Ok well those are the updates...for now!

Tonight Dillon Gee is on the mound. I enjoy Mr. Gee or as a friend of mine calls him "Dillon G-Unit!" Let's go Mets! At this point they have to win the 4 remaining games to just be EVEN STEVEN, ugh. Maybe that can happen!?

Oops He, He, He And He Did It Again...

So there are 4 "Oops he did it again" moments by our beloved Metsies and well one Metsies announcer we all know I'm very fond of that I have not reported on. This is just wrong. So now I'll report them because oh they are good. Here we go!

1. David Wright going into yesterday's game had struck out 156 times. No Metsie had ever struck out more times than that. Dave Kingman and Tommy Agee had struck out 156 times as well. Them and now Wright were the current Metsies strike out leaders. But David doesn't like to be tied. He wanted to own the record! Yesterday during his 4th at bat of the night, after hitting a homer in his previous at bat Wright struck out. This bottom of the 8th striking out business has now earned him sole top honors. 157 K's! He now holds the club record for striking out in a season. And I mean he can so make this record even harder to beat for himself and all other future Metsies. I'm gonna make a prediction. Wright will have struck out 162 times by the end of this season. Anyone else care to make a prediction?

2. It was too good to be true. Ugh. After the 5th inning Beltran left the game with what he said was "discomfort" in his right knee. Today he's undergoing an MRI at the Hospital For Special Surgery.

3. Pedro Feliciano made his 89th appearance last night. That's a new record for Perpetual Pedro!

4. Keith Hernandez made today's NY Post's Page Six. This is the section that is all gossipy and quite nauseating. Here's what was said about him,

"Keith Hernandez is playing the field again. The former Mets baseman and current broadcaster filed for divorce from Kai Thompson last spring after five years of marriage. He was at Bottega Del Vino on East 59th the other night with a 'gorgeous Italian girl with long, dark hair,' said a witness. 'They were totally making out. He was all over her.' Hernandez was wed once before. On the day his divorce became final, legend has it he hit two home runs, a triple and a double, and said, 'I should get a divorce every day. I'd be broke, but I'd be in the Hall Of Fame.'"
Oh Keith and his Casanova ways...

Ok those are all the "Oops he did it again" moments...for now.

Today on the mound, Niese will be pitching game 1 and then it's Dickey for game numero dos. Let's get this winning streak to 5 by tonight!

And seriously is anyone else throwing up a little bit in their mouth from looking at either the front and back pages of both the Daily News and the NY Post? Damn those Yankees.

Mets Win 3rd straight Thanks To Ruben Te-HOT-A!

Game 1: Mets 4 Brewers 3
Big Pelf vs Wolf

So this is going to be a very incomplete recap. I apologize for this folks but I'll work with the parts of the game I saw. That show "Glee" is to blame. That's my scapegoat. I missed most of the action due to that show. I know I know blasphemy, what kind of a fan am I right, sheesh. Enough of my excuses let's get to some Keith-isms and the game!

Keith Hernandez was having a fun time tonight mocking Prince Fielder. Two of my favorite comments he made were:
Would you take a chance on him with all that extra poundage?
He is very limited in his lateral movement.

Keith also saw his favorite Sag Harbor-ian bartender in the stands and then he proceeded to gush about him to Ron and Gary. This was a mistake. He knew he had said too much. As a result he remarked, "I don't want everyone to think I'm a lush." Oh what else are we supposed to think, he knew Howie's work schedule to a tee. He even said they watched MNF together at the bar. It was so cute trying to hear Keith get out of the I am a boozer hole he got himself into. Regardless of what Keith does when he's not in the booth I'm still a fan. I will never judge.

And now to game!

In the top of the 6th the Brew Crew was already up 1-0 over the Mets and well that sunglasses at night wearing Corey Hart led off with a solo homer. The Brewers were now up 2-0. Is there ever a game against the Brewers where Hart doesn't kill the Mets!? He's a very hart-less fella, hardy har har.

But no need to fret about a 2-0 Brewers lead folks because oh yeah David Wright was kind of amazing. Ok he was amazing. It was a commercial break from "Glee" and I put on SNY and Dave was up. It was the bottom of the 6th, Duda was on 1st and there were 2 outs. And David homered! A glorious homer! The game was now tied, 2-2. And Mr. Wright now has 27 homers and 98 rib eye steaks!

Fast forward to the bottom of the 9th. Sorry like I said I missed most of this game. The Mets were down 3-2 and there were men on 1st and 3rd with 1 out for Ruben Tejada. Did I expect Tejada to do anything at all? Nope. Was I proven wrong? Hell yeah! Ruben doubled. Both runners scored and the Mets won! That was the Metsies 7th walk off win of the season.

Well tomorrow is a double header header header! Wouldn't it be awesome if Hart didn't hit a homer and if the Mets won both games?! Hey it's possible. Stranger things have happened.

Have a great night folks!

Beltran Declares, "There will be no clinching of the NL East by the Philles today!"

To clinch the division or to not clinch the division/Game 3: Mets 7 Phils 3
Misch vs Hamels

Ok so Beltran totally didn't say that quote but I mean his bat pretty much spoke for itself this afternoon. That bat sure does a lot of great talking lately.

But really I have to be honest. I missed most of this game. I came home just in time for the bottom of the 8th. So I'll recap from there! Here we go!

In the bottom of the 8th the Mets were leading the Phils 5-3 and Elmer Dessens was in for relief. And what did he do to start this inning off just horribly? He walked Werth. Keith pretty much said that walking the lead off batter was just blech-ity blech terrible. He also made some disapproving snorting sound. I did as well! We are so in sync. Then Ibanez was up and he grounded a ball that was tipped off of Dessens. The only play Tejada could make was to 1st and Ibanez was out...just barely though. Then Dessens got Ruiz to pop up, woot woot! But ugh now it was time for a pinch hitter and ugh ugh ugh that pinch hitter was Jimmy Rollins! But no need to say any more ughs because he so grounded out!

In the top of the 9th Ryan Madson was pitching for the Phillies and Gary totally jinxed him. This was awesome! Gary remarked how Madson has not given up an earned run in his last 19 appearances. And well he totally gave up some earned runs today! Nick Evans led off this inning with a bloop single. This was his 3rd hit on the afternoon (3 for 5). Then Beltran totally shut the towel waving Citizens Bank Park crowd up with his second homer of the game! This opposite field blast gave the Metsies a 7-3 lead over the Phils! Carlos "I am a golden god" Beltran hadn't hit 2 homers in one game since May 4, 2009. And I also must mention that Beltran gets total props with that slide yesterday. No other Metsie would dare to avenge what Utley did to Tejada but oh Carlos is not like every man. So yeah if the Mets decide to get rid of Beltran I'm gonna be one unhappy camper. Oh I will. But back to the game. Madson then walked Wright and Charlie Manuel brought in a new pitcher because well Madson was stinking it up on the mound. Baez came in and he just simmered the Metsies bats on down. He struck out Pagan and then Davis and Tejada grounded out to end the inning.

In the top of the 9th Takahashi came in to close this mother out! The first batter he faced was the pinch hitter Sweeney and Sweeney flew out to Pagan! But ugh that Shane Victorino then singled. But really no need to fret folks the Good Taka was on the mound. Taka then got Polanco to fly out to Beltran. And now the piece de resistance! For out numero 3 and a Metsies win Takahashi was facing that buttface Chase Utley. The count was 3-2 and Utley flew out to Carlos and the ball game was over. He may have hit a 3 run homer in the 5th to cut the Metsies lead to 5-3 but that was all the damage he was doing today, yay! So the Metsies won, they took this series from the Phils and they played spoilers. This victorino today prevented the Phils from clinching the division. I mean they clinched a playoff spot but still it was fun to see all those Citizen Bank Park-ers cry into their towels!

Next up the Mets are home to face Milwaukee! Am I being too optimistic to think we could be seeing a Metsies 3 game winning streak in our futures!? Maybe but I believe it's possible.

Have a great night folks!

And The Losing Streak Ends At 6, Wahoo!

Game 2: Mets 5 Phils 2
Gee vs Kendrick

Hey folks our beloved Metsies finally got a win and they even snapped the Phillies 11 game winning streak! I find this splendid. I loved just typing all that! So let's get to some fun recap-worthy moments. We gotta appreciate what we can at this point and I sure do appreciate when the towel waving crowd gets silenced at Citizens Bank Park!

This game all came down to the top of the 7th. The Phillies were winning 2-1 (Howard hit a 2 run blast off of Gee in the bottom of the 1st). Kendrick had just been taken out of the game and Durbin was in for some relief. And the bases were loaded with 1 out for Lucas Duda. Before Duda's at bat, Gary made sure us Metsies fans stayed realistic and didn't get too optimistic that the Mets could and would score. He basically said that the Metsies suck against Durbin. But Gary was so wrong tonight. Ok back to Duda vs Durbin. Duda was pinch hitting for Tejada and well Duda's been quite the hitter lately. Did I personally think Lucas was going to get a hit? Nope. Did I think he was going to get a bases clearing double? Nope. Did he? OH he sure did. Did I think after Duda got a bases clearing double Gary was going to call him "The Big Lebowski?" Nope. But I was so proven wrong and I loved it! With Duda's bases clearing double the Metsies took a 4-2 lead over the Phillies and Gary so called Lucas "The Big Lebowski! The Mets then took a 5-2 lead thanks to Jose Jose Jose's rbi double. This 5 run 7th inning was wonderful. We don't get to see so many of these but when we do it's glorious.

So the Mets still had a 5-2 lead over the Phils in the bottom of the 9th. Takahashi was in to close this mother out! He scared me though. He walked Howard on just 4 pitches. That's always fun walking the lead off batter. But then Taka showed the Phillies who is boss and no it's not Tony Danza. That would have been funny though. Ok so next up was Werth and he lined out to Pagan. Angel made a great play and there was 1 out, woohoo! Then Taka struck out Ibanez. And to make matters even worse for Ibanez, Keith totally said he has a "peculiar swing." And then he said "Different strokes for different folks." Ibanez is usually a Metsies killer so this getting K-d business was amazing! So now the last hope for the Phils was Ruiz. And he's another major threat. Seriously a red alert-er. But Ruiz did nothing. He popped up, the ball game was over and the Metsies won! Their 6 game losing streak ended and the Phillies 11 game winning streak ended. And the crowd at Citizens Bank Park shut up! What a wonderful game.

Let's hope the Metsies can make it 2 in a row tomorrow. At this point I just would like them to end up at least EVEN STEVEN in the win/loss column. And if they could get 3rd place in the division that would be very nice. Damn those Marlins!

Have a great night folks!

Hey Mets Fans Get Ready To Laugh At Our Team's Woes!

So this is a video I heard about this morning on THE FAN. Boomer and Carton were talking about it and eureka I found it on YouTube. It's pretty much making fun of how our team is shit and all but it's also pretty funny. Obviously after you watch it you'll realize the one job I want out of all of the job opportunities listed in this video. Hint hint it's the one involving a certain someone's mustache!

Halle-DUDA! Mets sweep the PIRATES !

Game 4/Happy Birthday "The Animal:"
Mets 6
Pirates 2
Big Pelf vs Charlie Morton

Mejia is out for the rest of the season. Damn right shoulder blade injury!

The Pirates are now 50 games under .500 and us Mets fans thought we had it bad!

The Mets on the other hand are finally a game over .500 in the month of September, 74-73!

The last time the Mets swept a 4 game series at home it was August of 2003. The team they swept, the Rockies. Tonight the Mets finally repeated history! Well the opponent was different this time around but you know what I mean. This was a glorious 4 game sweep. Let's now look at some of the highlights from this game and yep they will include LUCAS DUDA. Oh they will!

Sympathy For K-Rod...

So now I don't know if I'm a horrible person for this but I feel bad for Frankie Rodriguez. I truly today just look at this lost soul and think what the hell happened? Why K-Rod why? I know what he did to Mr. Pena was wrong. I don't condone domestic violence, I am not a fan of beating up old men but it hurts me to read about Francisco in the papers. Let me explain. Maybe I can make sense of this. Today the "NY POST" and the "Daily News" published a few of the 56 text messages that prosecutors say K-Rod sent to his estranged girlfriend, Daian Pena. Rodriguez was not supposed to have any contact with her. Sending these texts completely violated a court order. So now not only was he in court yesterday on assault charges, but he now also faces additional criminal counts for these texts to Daian.

In fact in court yesterday Judge Robert Raciti was beyond generous. He really was kind to K-Rod. Raciti decided to not go right ahead and jail Frankie for violating his restraining order-y thing. He instead warned him that his next TEXT would land him in jail. But Frankie is in no way off the hook. He will have to deal with the consequences of this violation when he returns to court October 7th.

Here are some of the texts that well have made me feel freaking sympathy for Mr. Goggles. The basic theme in all of them is that
1- He misses his kids
2- He misses Daian and wants her to forgive him
3- He knows he effed up

"I know this message could get me in trouble again, but I already lost you my house and my children."

"I do not want to have problems with your family, all I want...is to recover you and my children and continue forward."

"Lets find a solution to this conflict, baby if you really loved me do not deny me the opportunity to fight for you and my children."

"Daian, I understand that perhaps I made a mistake, the biggest mistake of my life for doing what I did but I love you."

So now I just wonder if I'm the one Metsies fan who feels sorry for a man who maybe doesn't deserve her sympathy?

Reyes, Beltran, and the One Month Grace Period

When it comes to baseball, I am a strong believer that there is nothing better for you than playing the game. Getting reps, taking swings, making throws, seeing pitches, doing your regular routine - in my opinion, all of those things help more than any amount of working out or mental preparation could ever could. You just need to be near the game and to play.

With that said, I usually like to give players a week or two when returning from an injury before I really start evaluating them. With baseball being a game of milliseconds and millimeters, even the most imperceptible delay can be the difference between a home run and a harmless fly out.

In the cases of Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran, I was willing to give them longer than that. Not that I didn't hope or expect them to perform well - but I decided before the season that I would not make any conclusions about their future performance based on anything I saw from them in the first MONTH of play. Offensively and on the basepaths, that is. I think that defensively, it's a different kind of evaluation.

I did that for Beltran and Reyes this year the same way I did it for Wright last year. The same way I do that for a player on an opposing team. The same way I do it in fantasy baseball. It's not homerism - it's just an acknowledgement that baseball is a peculiar game and that it's silly to expect someone to come back to playing the game at its highest level on the planet without a delay.

Without any further adieu, I present to you the statistics for Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran, sans first month of play:

Carlos Beltran: .244/.360/.390, 750 OPS, .254 BABIP, 16 bb, 11 K
Jose Reyes: .301/.333/.461, 795 OPS, .313 BABIP, 19 bb, 36 K

Remember, of course, that the above line for Beltran does not include his double and home run from tonight. For both players, these present significant improvements over their season slash lines.

In addition, Beltran might be a victim of some bad luck -- his career BABIP is .301 and he's been hitting the ball at roughly the same rates as before, if with slightly less authority. Another 30 points of average, and that line is more like .274/.390/.430, which is something I'd sign up for.

As we turn our eyes to 2011, it is important that we do a good job - a smart job - taking inventory of what we have. Particularly of players like Reyes and Beltran, who are under Met control for 2011 but not for 2012.

Everyone who reads here will know where I fall on this topic, and I think it would behoove Mets management to take a good hard look at how Beltran and Reyes finish up this season, rather than how they started it, in making their evaluations going forward.

Gee Whiz part deux! Dillon Gee is AMAZIN!

Game 1: Mets 1 Pirates 0 (10 innings)
Dillon Gee vs Old McDonald Had A Farm

So I didn't really see too much of this game. I was watching my Jets lose to the Ravens. But during the commercial breaks I would switch on over to SNY which enabled me to get a gist of what was going on at Citi Field. So here's a quick recap of the game and some shenanigans from the booth! Btw I totally think Green Day and the cast of American Idiot are to blame for the Jets 0-1 start. Is it just a coincidence one of Green Day's hit songs is "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams?" Here we go!

Mr. Met's Head Is HUGE...

So one of my favorite things to do every morning during the baseball season is to well (this probably won't be a shocker), read the recaps of the Metsies games in the "Daily News." I enjoy this. Along with their recaps is a column called "EXTRA INNINGS" that lists the "Stat Of The Day," "Test Your Mets IQ," "Unsung Hero" and "MIA." And this column is usually amazing. But today's writeup in the "Daily News" and the "Stat Of The Day" just proved how meaningless Metsies baseball is these days to New Yorkers and that's a pretty sad thing for me to accept. Not only in today's article on page 70 is there no mention of anything that happened in yesterday's loss to the Phillies but the stat of the day is about the size of Mr. Met's head. It's not a statistic like "The most strikeouts by a Met in a season is 156." Instead it's the following, "Mr. Met's head is 80 inches in circumference at its largest point (his nose)." And as much as this stat is kind of great and hysterical it just makes it clearer how big of a joke everyone thinks the Metsies are. Ugh. Having said that who do you folks think has the bigger head, Mr. Met or that Derek Jeter fella? My money is on Jeter, you know he has the edge!

Gee vs McDonald tonight. Btw Gee's ERA after his first start is 1.29. I really like this kid.

Btw is anyone else ecstatic that the Yankees could be collapsing in September!? Really the fact that they were swept by Texas this past weekend just makes me smile!

Have a great day folks and shock your friends with your new Metsies stat. They won't know what hit them.

Walter Reed and Confirmation Bias

A quick aside, if I may, on the whole Walter Reed Medical Hospital issue.

It is fitting that the three players who missed the event were Carlos Beltran, Oliver Perez, and Luis Castillo, three of the most universally disliked Mets. Public opinion of these guys ranges from indifferent (for Beltran) to reviled (the others). So how wonderful for the headline writers, that it happened to be those three.

Andy Martino over at the Daily News had an interesting blog the other day where he pointed out what a perfect storm this situation has been for those who would try to sell newspapers or try to run those player out of town. As he mentions, it brings up issues of conformity, the military, performance, and ethnicity.

I have said this before and I will say it many more times - baseball provides an incredible window for us as a society, and individuals, in so many ways. Baseball provides an amazing opportunity for us to view experimentation. To instantly observe the impact of our decisions. To be able to evaluate, immediately and with mathematical precision, the inputs and outcomes surrounding every move. If you're interested in that, these is a phenomenal blog called Management By Baseball, which is one of my favorites, which discusses that kind of thing in every post.

In this case, however, baseball allows us an incredible opportunity to view the phenomenon known as confirmation bias. A quick definition, per wikipedia:

Confirmation bias (also called confirmatory bias or myside bias) is a tendency for people to favor information that confirms their preconceptions or hypotheses regardless of whether the information is true.[Note 1][1] As a result, people gather evidence and recall information from memory selectively, and interpret it in a biased way. The biases appear in particular for emotionally significant issues and for established beliefs

When you first heard that Beltran, Castillo, and Perez were the only Mets to miss the trip to Walter Reed, what did you think? What was the FIRST thing you thought? And would it have been the same thing you would have thought if it was David Wright, Mike Pelfrey, and Jeff Francoeur? What if it was a mixed bag of heroes and villians? What if the group was Jon Niese, Francisco Rodriguez, and Josh Thole?

My guess is that your reactions to each of those were drastically different. Even as a guy who openly admits to loving Carlos Beltran, and thinking Oliver Perez is not a super-villian, my first thoughts were not friendly ones. I did not immediately think that maybe they had good reasons for missing it -- but I did, upon hearing it, think "man, there is no way this story is as bad as it sounds, right?"

It turns out, of course, that it is not. But it is the kind of thing that someone - if they were lazy, or uncritical - could use to confirm what they already believe. Others, of course, may simply enjoy an opportunity to take their frustration at those players ineffectiveness on the ballfield and turn it into something personal, something which would allow them to focus their anger.

One more interesting take on this whole debacle before I go. I did not realize that this gentleman was a veteran before now, but a writer named Dave Singer over at NY Sports Dog had a very thoughtful take on things:

The fact of the matter is that this wasn't a visit to the zoo, it wasn't some mandatory fun, it was a visit to Walter Reed to pay tribute to fighting men. Why on Earth should someone be forced to do it? If it was voluntary, then why make a fuss over anyone who didn't attend?
* * *
Here's something you may or may not care about--those guys at Walter Reed get visits all the time. It's not like this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet their hero.

He's absolutely right. As always, it is instructive to get the opinion of someone way, way, way closer to the situation before jumping to conclusions. I appreciate the opinion of a veteran on this, the same way that I would value the opinion of a doctor or construction worker in their particular field, and the same way that I am annoyed by non-lawyers who make gross and stupid assumptions about the practice of law.

But baseball is a great sport, in the multitude of ways in which is parallels life. It happens every day, it requires determination as much as talent, sometimes it is slow, sometimes it is fast, and sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. And only baseball can teach things in this special way.

Next time, let's try not to have a knee-jerk reaction to news like this. Let's be aware of the fact that we may be trying to confirm a bias which already exists. Let's realize that there are dozens upon dozens of explanations and factors and influences operating behind the scenes that we have no idea about. And perhaps, next time, if we do all of this, those same people won't have been made to feel like jerks because they jumped to conclusions.

Who Wants Roy Oswalt Anyways...He's Not Too Tall.

Rubber game/Roy Oswalt's 300th career start: Phillies 3 Mets 0
Roy Oswalt vs Jon Niese
--Mets get shutout for the 11th time this season.
--No Mets runner made it past 1st base today.
--The Mets have committed 73 errors this season. "We'll take that" was Keith Hernandez's reaction to that stat! I concur!

So the best part of this game because oh it sucked was the commentary from the booth. What would I do without my SNY men during these games?! At one point I was pretty certain a new drinking game could be started. I was ready to patent my idea! Ron, Gary and Keith just kept talking about how short Roy Oswalt is. Gary said for "A little guy he plays like a big guy." And then Ron chimed in that he's very tough or some adjective like that "for someone not too tall." This was hysterical. But let me just get to some of the low lights for any person out there besides myself who still enjoys a game recap! And well there are plenty more booth shenanigans too! Here we go!

Frenchy SIGHTING!

So I am pretty sure I have made it clear in many of my Metsies recaps that I am a fan of Jeff Francouer's. And yes I'm sad to see him no longer bleeding orange and blue. I realize while many people shouted "HALLELUJAH" as he was traded to the Rangers about 2 weeks back I was in the minority wishing he could at least stay with the team for the rest of the season. I just feel in general I didn't have time to say goodbye. But I have come to accept this trade, I understand it and all and I have wished since the day he became a Ranger that he would somehow be the hero in a game, in particular a game against the YANKEES. And what do you know my dream did come true! Yesterday with the bases loaded, Mariano Rivera beaned Frenchy and the Rangers won the game 7-6. I mean all of us Metsies fans know that in that situation as a Met, Jeff was just going to swing at everything coming at him, he was probably going to fly out to right, so this is just a hilarious and amazing way for the Yankees to lose. It really doesn't get better than that in my book. So now I just hope to continue to see Frenchy or Cora in the Texas Rangers box scores doing great things. Francouer is currently batting .385 as an AL-er. Wow, right!!?? Since the Mets have no shot of doing anything come playoff time I definitely will support the Rangers.

And I wonder now if this is Frenchy's new at bat song?

FOX Experienced Technical Difficulties But Big Pelf Didn't!

Game 2: Mets 4 Phils 3

Big Pelf vs Kyle Kendrick

I have never seen anything like what happened in today's telecast. FOX Saturday Baseball stunned me. Oh it did. I am still officially in shock. Let me explain. For most of this game, well at least from the 6th inning on FOX was experiencing technical difficulties like no other. There was sound but there was no announcing going on. Somebody finally shut Tim McCarver up! I really have no idea what happened and FOX didn't want to fill viewers in either. But they did make sure to have a big graphic appear that highlighted the fact that "COPS" and "America's Most Wanted" are on tonight. Ergo life can go on! But before all of this technical difficulties mishgabobble happened McCarver did say some things that are key to note. And then after some McCarver deep thoughts I'll get to the game!

The Secret (?) Life of Brent Mayne

Not much to add to this, but apparently Brent Mayne has a pretty cool website. Check it out, over a brentmayne.com.

Brent was a Met, briefly, in 1996, as part of a long career spanning 15 seasons and 7 teams. He backed up the immortal Todd Hundley the year that Hundley swatted 41 home runs to set the Mets single-season record and the all-time record for a catcher[1].

I have no idea why I have such a vivid memory of a guy who only had 99 at-bats as a Met[2] but Mayne seemed like a good guy.

In any event, as I mentioned, the site is pretty cool. There is a blog on the site, and just from the first three posts, there are things ranging from insightful:

I definitely had parks where I saw the ball better, where the mound seemed further back, where I just felt more comfortable. I also had places where the pitcher seemed like he was going to touch me and I didn’t see the ball at all. I know all field dimensions are consistent in the big leagues, it’s obviously just an optical illusion.

to wacky:

Once in a while you’ll see broken bones and whatnot, but those are a rarity. Like I said, most hurts that sideline guys are related to heat, inflammation, and stress. Now here’s where my theory may lose some of you. I think most of these problems are physical manifestations which originate in the mind.

to hilarious:

Look, I’m all for ballplayers making as much money as they can. If you put in the time, be it in the minor leagues or major leagues, get what you can while you can. But something is wrong when a kid like Strasburg spends a third of a season in the show and walks away with significantly more dough than a guy who caught in big leagues for 15 years. I’m not complaining, I’m just saying.

Check it out.

-------------------------
[1] Both at that time, of course, either tied or surpassed since then.

[2] It may have been his appearance as a Met in the greatest baseball game ever made, World Series Baseball II for the Sega Saturn. This is a fact, not opinion. Best game ever.

Holy Thole! Mets Win 1st Rubber Game On The Road In 2010!

The Rubber Game: Mets 3 Nats 2
R.A. Dickey vs Livan Hernandez

No Reyes but the word on the street is he'll be in the lineup Friday!

So at this point in the season I am in the real "the Mets have no chance of making the playoffs" world and I just try to watch every game with no expectations at all. None at all. And well it's working. 2 days in a row of enjoyment. I can get used to this. But enough of this small talk let's just get to the action and the fun that was had by Keith and Gary in the booth!

GEE WHIZ! Dillon Gee Wins Major League Debut!

Game 2/Battle of the major league debuting right handers
Mets 4 Nats 1
Dillon Gee vs Yuneski Maya

Hey folks it's been a while. I was away for most of last week and well I just haven't had a chance to get to recap a game, I've been kind of busy but I'm back and this game was a ton of fun. Dillon Gee was a champ in his major league debut, Ike Davis continued to be a homer hitting fiend and well Keith Hernandez was on fire! Let's get to the highlight reel!

This is (one of the) Worst Lineup(s) Ever

In my opinion, the Mets season has been over since the first loss in Houston on their last road trip, but that doesn't make this any easier to see:

2B Luis Castillo .238
LF Lucas Duda .000
CF Carlos Beltran .214
RF Chris Carter .262
3B David Wright .290
1B Ike Davis .248
SS Joaquin Arias .000
C Henry Blanco .241
LH Johan Santana .167 Source: Mets Paradise

We have two players in the lineup tonight who don't even have a hit in the major leagues this year. Our cleanup batter shouldn't even be in the starting lineup on a respectable team.

Obviously, this is a bad lineup. But that understates the matter. This is a bad lineup EVEN FOR a team with no hope of the playoffs who is simply playing out the string.

This is a bad lineup even compared to other historically bad Mets lineups from other lost seasons. Even as the Mets limped to the finish in 2002, they still had Mike Piazza, Edgardo Alfonzo, and Mo Vaughn. This is at a level of ineptitude rarely seen by teams in any circumstances.

Perhaps the only recent team with a claim to similar ineptitude was our team down the stretch in 2003. On September 6th, to pick a day, the Mets fielded a lineup with Roger Cedeno, Danny Garcia, Timo Perez, Mike Piazza, Jason Phillips, Raul Gonzalez, Ty Wigginton and Jorge Velandia. That's pretty bad.

And who the heck is Raul Gonzalez?

Let's Go Mets.

As They Say On the Internet .... This

Via Amazin Avenue:

Professional baseball players are not my drinking buddies. I don't know them personally. Cui gives a s**t that Frenchy tells a good knock-knock joke if he's batting .230? If a Met does well to help the team win, I will most likely be a fan. If said player stinks, I will probably not rally around him. It sounds cold but it's reality. I'm emotionally invested in the Mets, but not to the point where I think I'm on a first name basis with the players, or whatever. Angel Pagan isn't coming out to the bar to play Buck Hunter and dominate the jukebox with me this weekend. He'll be on teevee at the bar, hopefully hitting homers and making great catches, leading to much rejoicing.