I ‘m getting ready to head for the hills A/K/A my annual week long camping trip with my sons Boy Scout Troop. Our camp may resemble the prison scene in Godfella’s as we’ve decided to cook all our meals this year. So we’ve packed up cans of crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic, onions, peppers, chop meat and sauseeeege (Italian sausage to you out of towners.) so as the boys go off to earn their merit badges, the dads will be over a hot burner “makin’ the gravy”

The leaders office has computers and internet access so I should be able to put up a post or two during the week when I get a little time off from cooking, cutting wood and yelling at kids plus it’s the All-Star break so I won’t be missing much as I don’t revere the All Star game like I did when I was a kid so it might be a good time to go into the woods.

I haven’t read any game stories last from last night as I have a lot of last minute things to do before we leave so I’m still a little foggy on why Jose Reyes hit second last night and is schedule to hit in that spot again today. I’ve heard a theory that he is seeing a lot of sliders in the lead off spot so by flip floping Pagan and Reyes he may see more fastballs as Jose is still plagued by the sore oblique.  After watching Reyes slide back into second last night and coming up sore, I would think management would order him to forgo the All Star game and take the three days to rest his injury.

Hard to kill R A Dickey for last night as he continues to pitch great. If anything, the Mets half of the 6^th inning is what did the team in. With Ike Davis on second and Jason Bay on first, no one out, up steps Josh Thole. Ike is not exactly fleet of foot in fact, and I say this will all due respect, Ike has Ed Kranepool speed, and Thole, a contact hitter up, how about a hit and run? Nope, Jerry Manuel decides to go with the bunt, and Bobby Cox, being the Hall of Fame manager that he is, smelled it from a mile away so he put on the wheel play (a Bobby Valentine favorite play as well) where 3^rd baseman Omar Infante and 1^st baseman Troy Glauss charge in and mentally challenged short stop Yunel Escobar covers 3^rd and 2^nd baseman mar-TEEEN Prado covering first. The play worked for the Braves beautifully. If Thole was a little bit more experienced he would have pull back the bunt and swung away. As Keith Hernandez said, “Thole might have been afraid of his manager yelling at him” if he did that. If Manuel chastised Thole for a heads up play like that, then he’d be a more clueless strategist  than I make him out to be.

I said 6-4 would be th emark to hit and with the melt down in LA and players dropping left and right winning 2 of the 3 series is encouraging.

Looks like F- Mart will join th eteam as early as tonight. How about we Mets fans let the kid breathe before we put Willie Mays aspirations on him?

At what point does Omar DL Jose Reyes? Reyes is not getting any better and now Ramon Martinez is hurting and from reading Fernando Tatis words in the paper this morning he is not looking forward to playing short.  Either bring up Ruben Tejada or Jose Cornado go try to get Omar Vizquel from the Rangers   

Picked up a nice 30 in Louisville Slugger at the flea market yesterday and a huge poster of the NY Football Giants winning the Super Bowl XLII for my office wall for 5 bucks oh and a nice sun burn as well

 

Sure it’s a big series but I think it’s to the Mets benefit that they are playing in Philly since they are so concerned about fan reaction. Remember the words of Bobby Knight, “when you start listening to the people in the stands, you end up joining them”. It seems that it’s not a lack of focus with the Mets but misplaced focus that is doing them in.

 

On that subject a must listen is Mike Silva’s interview with Kevin Kernan of the NY Post  that connects the paranoia of the owner and front office rubbing off on the uniform personnel. Silva’s comment says it all:

 

   The Mets have a reputation for trying to control the news around their club. It never works and often makes things even worse in the long run. How can you expect your players to toughen up when management has an equally, if not worse, thin skin? What’s next? You’re going to throw the fans out and play in an empty stadium so you don’t hear any boos? Keep playing like this and you might not need to worry about that.

 

HOME RUN  Mike!!!!

 

David Lennon calls out the lack of intestinal fortitude of the Mets:

 

Often, it’s hard to pin down the intangibles with numbers, but not in this case. With Wednesday’s loss to the Marlins, the Mets (9-12) stumbled to 1-10 when trailing after six innings. After seven, they are 0-11.

 

The newest member of the Douche Bag Hall of Fame is Philadelphia Inquirer columnist John Gonzalez. Its guys like Gonzalez that makes the demise of newspapers easier to take. If a blogger ever wrote a poorly put together piece like this Buzz Bissinger would go to his mother’s basement and kick his ass. I’d call Gonzalez a rank amateur but the fact that he lives and worked in Philadelphia is punishment enough. For a fan base that for vast majority of its existence has been apathetic towards it’s baseball team, they really need a good strong glass of shut the fuck up. Phillies fans are starting to make Highlander fans tolerable.

 

Shrek and Johnny Bench Santos are safe for a while longer and Brian Schneider is still feeling the effects of a sore calf. Take your time Bri.

 

Enjoy your weekend and while your snug in your bed think of me sleeping in the woods and don’t smirk.

 

LET’S  GO METS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!