The problem with my Babe Ruth season being over is I now have to do all the things I need to do around the house that I put off during the baseball season. I’ll be very honest here, I hate doing any kind of home repair or building stuff because I really suck at it.

When my brothers and sister were growing up my dad was a part time Super in the building we lived in and he was very good at plumbing, doing electrical work, painting and any general repairs that were needed. Even when I was growing up he still did a lot of that stuff around our apartment building shelves or plastering walls and ceilings and any time I would ask him if he needed help he’d always say “Nah, go ahead and play outside” So I did and I became very proficient in playing outside.

Unfortuanltely with our season over, “I can’t go play outside” plus I’m not 12 years old either (well not age wise but in my head I am) and with a list of things to do I figured I’d take a break from the keyboard but listening to Jerry Mauel has taken m away from some important bath tub grouting.

Yesterday before the Mets-Pirates game, Manuel stated the he did not believe Jason Bay would return to the lineup this season. Now Bay has said during his convalescence that his goal was to return before the season was over. So where did Manuel get this info and was he basing it on medical reports or talking to Bay or did Omar Minaya him fill in? Com’on Jerry, inquiring minds want to know.  Well, it seems Manuel was talking out of turn, he really had no information and as I said on Twitter, he pulled this out of his ass, just like his lineups. Then I got to thinking, what word sums up Jerry Manuel Mets Managerial run? The word that popped into my head was “Sloppy”

Back in spring training Manuel told the press that he was looking to use Jose Reyes in the 3 spot of the lineup. Not only did he not confer with the player, he also didn’t think about the impact it would have on Reyes moving from his more comfortable lead off spot and the avalanche of questions Reyes would be saddled with. Even after Reyes came back from illness and missing valuable time, Manuel stayed with his plan and of course it was a disaster.

Manuel then fought to have the prized farm hand Jenry Mejia make the 25 man roster out of spring and anointed him the Bridgeman to K-Rod. I guess the front office acquiesced   to the mangers demands figuring he wanted young Mejia this badly we may as well let him have him, even if it meant retarding his long term development as a pitcher. So Manuel got his wish and proceeded to under utilize Mejia and in turn made a bad situation worse.

The manager also had a tough time communicating with John Maine and then blamed Maine for hiding injury. His bullpen management is as difficult to understand as plans for a bookcase from Ikea. His in game strategy is from the Wheel of Fortune School of Baseball. His inability to play guys like Chris Carter (you think Carter gets to play again today? Don’t bet on it) while a Jeff Francoeur gets to swing at every pitch like he’s he loading a bunch of quarters at the local batting cage.

There is a segment of Mets fan who feel this team is so offensively challenged that Earl Weaver or John McGraw couldn’t get this team to hit. Well we’ll never know that because Manuel has never been challenged by management.  Oh sure big bad Jeffey Skill Sets went to Atlanta to give Manuel a stern lecture and what did the manager do? He came out of his office and looked at the press, all assembled to see if he was still Mets manager and when he was asked if was still the field general of the Mets, his reply was “I’m still wearing my uniform ain’t I” and with that he let out his signature Jerry Manuel Laugh.

Yep, he was right it was a joke. A joke on us Mets fans and the organization but Manuel can laugh all he wants he will still be slob of a manger to me.

Got to go I have a wood floor that needs sanding

Nice to see Mike Piazza wants to go into the Hall of Fame as a Met and quite frankly he should. Even though I’m not a big Piazza fan (I’ll still take Jerry Grote over him forget the offense Grote was a real leader and was second only to Johnny Bench who I consider the greatest catcher ever, in his era) but it would be nice to see a Mets cap on his HOF plaque.

Just to let you know the Mets are the talk of the town once again. Yesterday before our Babe Ruth game there was more talk of the Barajas walk off than their was about who we were playing. !4 boys some Mets fans some Highlander fans all agreed on one thing, just once in their lives they’d love to hit a walk off homer, not a Little League homer but a real over the fence win the game homer. Same thing last night when I went to a father-daughter dinner-dance at my daughter’s school, the dads some Mets most Highlander were talking about the Mets back to back, catcher to catcher walk off home run wins.

Wayne Coffey has a great story on Highlander trainer Gene Monahan and his fight with throat cancer. Put your fan allegiance aside and pray for Geno.

Hank White takes a pie from Alex Cora after his walk off blast. Who will be the hero today (I Like Ike)

LMillz got caught again with his head down the other night thinking he had a home run when it hit off the wall. Milledge thought it was a grand slam his first in the bigs,  the Pirate and Cubs announcers thought is was gone, the guys who sets off the fireworks and play the music at PNC  Park thought it was gone, but as Milledge styled around second base Alfonso Soriano threw the ball in from left field to shortstop Ryan Thierot which stunned Milledge, as he ran back to 2^nd base Thierot threw to Jeff Baker who tagged Millz out.

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.

No blogging yesterday as it was a full day of practice for my Babe Ruth league team. The league had told me during the winter that our season would not start until mid-May, as many of the kids play High School baseball but last week they switched it up and said we are starting right away. Our first game is Monday so it’s been a scramble of sorts to get my pitching in order and all the administrative stuff like uniforms and contacting parents with schedules and location sot pick up uniforms.

Then with that I have two podcasts to do this week. The first will be on Tuesday night at 11PM ET as me and Adam Bernacchio of The Ghost of Moonlight Graham will host the Baseball Bloggers Alliance show BBA Baseball Talk.

Then on Wednesday night at 10PM ET I will be hosting my THIS CALL TO THE BULLPEN show on Blogtalk Radio and one of my guest will be the founder of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance and Cardinal blogger at C70 At The Bat, Daniel Shoptaw, we will discuss the weekend series between the Mets and Cardinals in St. Louis.

Now today as much as I would love to write some Mets stuff, I’m heading to a birthday party for my 1year old Great niece in 10 minutes, if I’m not totally exhausted by this evening I mat have a Mets write up tonight, if not tomorrow for sure.

I then came home to see my neighbor-two doors down-tree uprooted and about twenty of my roof shingles strewn in my yard and driveway.   So I spent the majority of the night watching the tree in my backyard sway back and forth while our trampoline was swooped up from the front of the yard and transported to the back of the yard. While that was occurring the basketball hoop that is connected to a metal pole that has a base of sand and bricks to hold it down, topple over. Oh yeah then the gutter on my garage came off and landed in the yard of the house in back of me. I tried to settle down for the night but the constant sirens from fire engines and ambulances touring the neighborhood kept me awake. When I finally did get to sleep, I woke up at 9AM but then remembered it was really 10AM Eastern Daylight Savings Time.  So while I was relieved that my house was still on the same lot it was built on about 100 years ago and that my basement was not an aquarium I thought I’d just relax for the morning. But wait, what’s today? March 14^th OH SHIT!!! I have to go scout 14-15 year old baseball players at New Dorp High School for my Babe Ruth team. I get dressed and out the door but every other block was closed off with trees deposited in the middle of the streets. A five minute ride took twenty five minutes. If I get to draft this one kid I saw-14 years old about 6’2” hard thrower and soft hands-the trek will have been worth it.

Other than that a pretty quiet weekend, how about you?

It becomes somewhat astonishing how many times do the GM and Manager of the Mets open their mouths, they cause Mets fans angst. The latest is from J-Man, about stud pitching prospect Jenrry Mejia being in contention for the 8^th inning set up job. It’s not so much that Manuel said this  (I would hope that this years Manuel Night at The Improv a/k/a post game presser on SNY will be sponsored by Account Temps) it’s that Omar Minaya didn’t call bullshit on this ridiculous way of thinking.  From all accounts Mejia is a sold pitcher who projects to a top of the rotation arm; all he needs is to mature both as a pitcher and as a young adult being that he is just 20 years old.  One never knows if J-Man is serious or he just likes fucking with us Mets fans.

“But doctor you were supposed to remove my appendix but you took out a kidney instead” and the doctor said “Hey, nobody’s perfect”

I stop into a bodega in Alphabet City last night to get a little Cintron and rum, seems like the Mets like a little Cintron too.

Freddy Skill Sets: Hello Sand-a-la !

Sandy Koufax: Hello Fred, what’s up?

FSK: It’s that time a year again! So when am I going to see my favorite high school buddy this spring?

SK: Fred, last time we were in high school the guy the school was named after was still alive (Lafayette) what do you want from me?

FSK:   you know what I need from you, come down for the day Judy will make a nice brisket, you, me, Saul, and David will play a little Mah Jong , Jeffey will make us those nice drinks we like with the paper umbrellas in them and we can make jokes about Jay Horowitz’ big noggin’

SK: HA-HA-HA you know making fun of Horowitz never gets old HA-HA-HA-HA

FSK: See, what a time eh? Oh and one other thing ……….. 

SK: Yeah, yeah I know talk to your pitchers……..every year Fred, every year you want me to talk to these guys especially that Perez character. You know who he reminds me of Freddy? Remember that kid in the 5^th grade Herbie Lipschitz who ate the Elmer’s Glue and had Tourettes?

FSK: OOOOoooooooooohhhhh my God yes HA-HA-HA hooooooooo Sandy you know my bladder ain’t what it used to be, don’t make me pee my pants….HA-HA-HA-HA  I know Ollie is a bit meshugana  but he’s got a live arm so what do you say? You coming down or what?

SK: hey for you Freddy, sure why not.

FSK: you’re a mench Sand-a-la, a real mench !

SK: by the way how is that statue of me coming along? I think right outside the Rotunda will be a nice spot for it.

FSK: We’ll talk Sand-a-la, We’ll talk………..

We may not have won the league title but everyone from the umpires to the coaches and players to the parents hold my kids in high regard and that’s more than enough for me.

I don’t even want to dwell on the rest of the Tony B news or the way the Mets handled the Sheffield DL fiasco I’m in too good a mood for Mets negativity. The sun is shining and it’s warm out so I’m going to play Wiffle play in my yard with my kids. Baseball like it ought to be!!!!

 

 

40 years ago today I was sitting in my living room with my parents waiting for the event of a lifetime, man walking on the moon. I was 11 years old and from what I can remember, the lunar module landed in the late afternoon but Neil Armstrong didn’t step on the moon surface until night time (10 PM ) I do remember my father waking me up to see this as I fell asleep on the couch as he didn’t want me to miss this unbelievable piece of history. No one could believe what they were seeing and the thing a lot of people feared was the astronauts getting stranded on the moon. In fact President Nixon had a speech already to address this if it happened.

I’m really sad to hear of the passing of Frank McCourt whose life story laid out in Angela’s Ashes is just one of greatest books ever written. I had the pleasure of meeting Frank and Malachy McCourt as they did their show ”A Couple of Blaguards” and it was a thrill and privilege to meet him and I’m honored to be known as a “blaguard” myslef .

 

 

Trying hard to put up a post today as I replay a tough loss over and over in my mind, no not the All Star Game, I gave up on that at 10PM when RESCUE ME came on, no I’m talking about my Babe Ruth team losing 8-0 to the top seed last night.

Don’t let the score fool you it was a closer game than that. We had one bad inning (the 3^rd) letting in 4 runs on a couple of errors and a some solid base hits. But the biggest obstacle was the pitcher we were facing a 13 year old with a big time yellow hammer that buckled my guys knees. We could only muster two hits on the night and three base runners total (my son accounting for two of the base runners with a walk, reaching first on a strike out/passed ball and two stolen bases) and now we face an elimination game on Sunday. Not much to say to the kids but “Hang with ‘em.

After the game we went home to watch the All Star Game and the first thing my son told me was “Dad, let’s get all the when I was a kid stuff out early so we can just watch the game” I guess like how the All Star Game was played during the day and how the two leagues played the game like it was a World Series game and how the NL had all the stars and always won and because of that the AL couldn’t draw fans so they sullied the sport with the DH, and how I miss Curt Gowdy calling the big games and that’s when I get the hand and “that’s enough old timer” and I quiet down.

I was listening to Joe (Bada Bing Bada Boom) Beningno and Evan Roberts yesterday and I agree with Joe that there is so much baseball available for us to watch that the All Star Game is no big deal, as it used to be a chance for fans to see players they never get to see much but with the Extra Innings package and ESPN and MLB Network and Mets and Highlander games on every night there isn’t a team or a player I haven’t seen add in that there is no more rivalry between the NL and AL with so much player movement and the fact that both leagues are not run as separate entities (remember when there were League Presidents ?) That has made the All Star Game hum drum.

Admit it you were hoping that President Obama would have brought Artie Lang with him to the game to hang with Doofus Joe Buck. Now that would have been riveting TV.

 

What’s the big deal about Johan Santana pitching in the All Star Game? I know he threw 114 pitches on Saturday but com’on if he gets in the game he’ll only toss one inning anyway which is maybe 17-20 pitches tops. Nolan Ryan shakes his head in disgust.

 

I’m piss at Petey for the fact that he is signing with the Phillies. If he signed any place else even the South Bronx I would be as pissed. I defend Petey here as I’ve been a fan since his Expo days and looked at his signing as a big jump in creditability. Petey for the most part never lived up to his contract with the Mets but was always received like a King by the fans. But the Phillies?  Petey you disgust me!!!!!

 

So the question is, have we seen the best of A-Rod? Welcome to the post PED Baseball Era. This is why sure I’d love Roy Halliday on my team but I’m not giving him a new contract and Halliday is last player the Mets need. Your seeing the shift already with younger, faster players taking center stage in baseball hopefully Omar takes notice.

 

“Who lives in a pineapple under the sea”……….. Maybe Spongebob Square Pants could buy the Mets?

 

The Mets Police has a clip from NEWSDAY on the Mets making adjustment to $iti Field like a video board in RF, more Mets-centric memorabilia throughout the park and getting the thumbs up from MLB to show the game live on the video scream to help those with obstructed views. Now if they can find a way to mange the line at the Shake Shack where you don’t have to get into a fist fight when some asshole tries to cut the line I’ll be happy.

 

I watched the Home Run Derby last night and here are some thoughts that ran through my head:

• It’s too bad Michael Jackson is dead as he could have put the Home Run Derby on a continuous loop to help him with his sleeping problems. In fact next year I’m going to take drugs before watching the HRD again

 

• Can someone get Erin Andrews a meal? Christ, she is so gaunt she could star in her own After School Special. I don’t get the fascination with Andrews, I can walk out right now on West Broadway and find 20 women way hotter than her, guys who need to put on pants and get out of Moms basement.
• I had this awful nightmare, Steve Phillips, Joe Morgan, and Chris Berman were announcing the Home Run Derby, then Doofus Joe Buck showed up and all the did was talk about Doofus Joe’s dead father. Then Berman kept using these tired old nicknames and calls and he was sitting in this huge container that was collecting the cascade of sweat that was pouring off him that was used like generated the electricity back to Bristol. Then Joe Morgan started speaking in tongues and all kinds of snakes and serpents were flying out of his ears, and Steve Phillips was having sex with a midget who was toweling off Albert Pujols. WHOA that was scary…….what that wasn’t a dream? It was real? AGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!