I want to thank Jerry Manuel and David Wright for throwing me under the bus last night. Yesterday I posted on NYB Blogs telling Mets fans to relax and not give up on this team and especially on Wright who I defended big time. So how do they repay me?

Well J-Man had a managerial night that makes you wonder just how long he has as the leader of the Mets. It’s one thing to be hard headed and not see the experiment to bat Jose Reyes third in the lineup is an out and out failure, but then to have him bunt in the 9^th inning with Luis Castillo the go ahead run on 2^nd base was just stupid baseball. If you put Reyes in that spot in the order, you’re saying you have total faith in him as a hitter as the 3 hitter is usually the teams’ best hitter. So why would you make Reyes bunt in an obvious RBI situation. Reyes barely can bunt for a base hit never mind a sac bunt but also what message are you sending him? I’m batting you 3 but I don’t have faith in you to get a big hit, just move Castillo to third and let someone else get the job done.

Wright didn’t help me either with his two K’s, the biggest one in the 9th inning. Maybe I’m just not seeing or maybe I don’t want to see the decline in David Wright but when I look at his digits they are right there with all the league leaders but it just seems like the big spot is a tough spot for DW. I’m not jumping ship though, I’m still loyal to D-Wright      

Manuel said in his post game presser that he’s thinking of making some lineup changes, gee ya think Jerry? It seems the only one who favors Reyes in the 3 spot is Manuel. As Ralph Kiner said the other day, Reyes belongs as a leadoff man. When Gary Cohen asked who should bat third, Kiner replied “The Mets don’t have a 3 hitter” He’s 100 % right. The Mets 3 hitter is jogging in St Lonesome. They have a leadoff hitter but he bats third. If Manuel doesn’t bat Reyes leadoff tonight and bench Frenchy for The Animal then he’s just telling Mets fans and management he wants to be fired.   

I didn’t watch all of this game as I spent most of my evening watching the Boston Celtics send LeBron James and the Cavs packing (more on that in a minute) but couldn’t Manuel have given Johan Santana another inning of work? I know he batted second in the top of the 8th but he seemed to be pitching his best game of the season and was far from tired (just 98 pitches) and even though Fernando Nieve got a DP to get out the 8^th how many days can Manuel go to him or Feliciano or Takahashi? Those three have become everyday players.

I still stand by my the Mets are still in this stance but I’m starting to feel a shake up in the mangers office needs to be made. The Royals, who are going no where, fired Trey Hillman so you would think a team that is in a playoff hunt should be looking around as well. Something is missing here. When the team is 0-6 in rubber games of series and the same stale lineup gets trotted out there every day and the bullpen is getting run into the ground, maybe the Mets have reached that fork in the road and as Yogi said “when you get to the fork in the road, take it” It may be time to stick the fork in Jerry Manuel.

A big tip of my Celtics cap to Bill Simmons who started a Celtics Chant account on Twitter which got that “NEW YORK KNICKS” chant going at the TD Garden was the best fan participation since the days of the C’s fans telling the 76 ers in 1982 Conference Final to “Beat LA”. Get ready Knicks fans the LeBron era is coming.

To all the Celtic haters on Twitter who right after the C’s beat the Cavs were crowing that the Celtics will be buried by the Magic. First you all can kiss my green, white and 17 NBA Champiosnship banner ass. The Celtics have done what we all say can’t be done in sports, they turn the on switch on when the playoffs started and now are in full UBUNTU mode.

Metsradamus has what is now the Post of The Year dealing with that fell off the turnip truck turd, Cholly Manuel who has dragged the Mets into this sign stealing brouhaha with the Colorado Rockies, Metstradamus also reflects on the Skill Sets looking to by the Fishsticks and moved them to the brand new Chop Shop Arena. Not only does Metstradamus invoke the New York Amerks but when was the last time you heard about Newsy Lalonde?

So all of a sudden the Skill Sets are flush with cash that they can talk about buying the Fishsticks and build a new arena in Queens but the can’t release Oliver Perez and eat his deal.

 

Now that we amateur GM’s are ready to get down to business fortifying the Mets roster for 2010, the one item that is marked ESSENTIAL is The Bill James Handbook for 2010 (published by ACTA Sports). The Handbook is loaded with stats and leader boards that you would hope the front office is studying like it was the college boards.

 

As bad as the Mets season has been there were a few (surprise) Amazin’s who were ranked in the top 10 in some important categories for the 2009 season like Angel Pagan:

 

 

Angel Pagan-4^th in the NL for most Triples (11)

                      9^th in NL Leadoff Hitters OBP (.358)

                      4^th in NL OPS by CF’er

 

If Pagan had some semblance of baseball instinct and the ability to stay healthy the search for the everyday LF’er would be a moot point.

 

Digits like this and much more are in the Handbook. You can get your copy by going to Acta Sports or at the book store or online vendor of your choice. When you’re curled up by the hot stove this winter, your 2010 Bill James Handbook will leave you with that toasty feeling.