Jeff Francoeur, “Frenchy” to his fans and teammates has always portrayed  himself as a man of the people, a guy the MSM loves as he fills a notebook with great quotes, and a teammate to die for. But in reality, Francoeur is just another selfish guy whose true colors come out when times are tough.

Francoeur has made it known that if he is not going to play everyday as a Met then it would be best to have his fan mail forwarded to a new address. What a guy. Just as the team is reeling in a horrendous hitting slump and watching the season slip away, “Frenchy” acts like a rat and wants to jump the sinking ship.

What makes this more of a story is the fact that some fans of the Amazin’s have killed Carlos Beltran for having the unmitigated gall to work his way back from a catastrophic knee injury and don a knee brace that reminds one of Joe Namath circa 1970 to make a contribution to the team with his bat an hopefully with his Gold Glove defense. The bat is still there but the range in center field is rusty, no doubt but there are still some fans and a guy who gets paid to be on the radio who think that Beltran is the reason the Mets are losing because the precious team chemistry has been altered. The only one altering the chemistry here is their beloved Francoeur who is living up to his nickname by retreating when times are tough.

I wonder if the other General Patton on the team, Alex Cora yelled at Jerry Manuel after his stand up act yesterday before the Mets-Dodgers game when Omar Minaya made his way into the Mets dugout to speak to the press:

Jerry Manuel sat on the bench in the visitors’ dugout at Dodger Stadium for five hot minutes Thursday afternoon, when Omar Minaya entered from the stands. With cameras, tape recorders and sun in his face, the manager once again faced questions about job security.

Manuel flashed a broad grin and employed his favorite coping strategy, humor.

“O, what’s going on?” he yelled to the GM. “Did you say two-year extension?”

I’m pretty sure Fernando Nieve and Manny Acosta are the same person

My baseball season ended last night as my Babe Ruth team was eliminated from the play offs a win shy of reaching this weekends Championship Game. Last year we made to the Championship Game and came up short so this season not making it back to the final game is a disappointment. I have one more season with this team so hopefully next year we can take the title. So now it’s time to ice my old tired left arm that has thrown a lot of bating practice and put my fungo bat on the shelf for a few months. Now this frees me up for more trips to $iti Field and to clean out my garage. I don’t know which is worse.

“You tell him, he will never hit another one again,” laughed closer Frankie Rodriguez. “He grabbed a bat and was walking around the dugout saying he was going to hit one out.”

Of course with Santana leading the staff in home runs, other pitchers have to get their shot.

“As soon as he hit it, [Mike Pelfrey] ran in to the cage and started taking some extra batting practice,” deadpanned R.A. Dickey with the righthander in earshot and added, “So I have to hit one now, that’s how it works.”

The bottom line is that Santana finally found the formula to get himself back in the win column. As Jerry Koosman once said, “Shut them out and hit one out. Then you got yourself a win.”

And it seems like Santana needed the third home run to win this one, as the Mets still struggled to score runs. Only a fortunate sixth inning gave the ace some cushion in route to his sixth win of the year.

But it’s been like that for Santana all season. With very few runs behind him, he had no room for error. Unfortunately it meant he went through his rough patch in June, while the Mets were piling up the wins. But as the page turned to July it seemed to be Santana time.

He is 61-19 with a 2.73 ERA during the second half of the season. In 2008, he went 9-0 down the stretch and now it looks like he’s doing it again. Santana made a change in his arm angle, which is allowing his fastball a more explosive look, going back to the low-90s. Couple that with a change in his motion, which stopped tipping his pitches and you can see why he’s the Johan Santana of old.

“I am throwing my fastball much better,” Santana said. “And that makes my other pitches better.”

Especially his changeup, which is deadly.

“You saw hitters taking that changeup before,” said manager Jerry Manuel, “where tonight you saw it’s like he pulls the bat through the strike zone with that changeup.”

That’s why Manuel quickly retreated to the dugout with one out in the ninth and runners on first and second after Jason Bay’s error. The look on his ace’s face told the story.

“I’ll finish it,” he said.

And two pitches later he did ending an almost perfect night by the Mets ace.

Rodriguez may be right in that Santana may never hit another home run, but who cares? The most important thing is that the real Johan Santana is back.

Santana, (6-5) who has been struggling got the Reds to swing and miss, also getting them to hit the ball to center.  In the end it was a complete game shutout thrown by Santana, a 3-0 win, and in the process the Mets discovered that he also can contribute to the lineup.

The Mets pitching ace hit his first career home run in the third inning off Reds rookie pitcher Matt Maloney That got cheers from the crowd and also a coronation of sorts from his teammates in the dugout. “I hit it and started running,” Santana said about the home run. “I’m on the board. At least I hit one.”

It was a 12- pitch at bat for Santana. The home run ball banged off the foul pole and Santana gave his team a 1-0 lead they would never relinquish. Santana had the fastball, as well as the changeup and breaking ball working to perfection.

“I felt better throwing my fastball and it makes my other pitches better,” said Santana who won one game in his last seven starts. After the Phillips hit in the first, he would not allow another until Orlando Cabrera singled in the sixth.

The key was the fastball. It has always been a vintage pitch that has lost some velocity. But this night, Santana was throwing hard and had the command. He would allow three hits, walked three, and struck out five in throwing the Mets’ second complete- game shutout of the season.

And it wasn’t until the ninth inning before Mets manager Jerry Manuel contemplated taking Santana out of the game. But he let him finish off the Reds after a brief visit to the mound. Scott Rolen singled with one out, and then left fielder Jason Bay dropped a Jay Bruce fly ball for an error.

Bay snapped a personnel string of 263 games of errorless ball and also drove in two of the Mets runs as he continues his resurgence at the plate. As to what was said at the mound, Santana said to Manuel, “I’ll finish it, simple.”

And finish it he did. Jonny Gomes lined out and Drew Stubbs ended the game on a ground out force. “I wanted him to hear him tell me that he wanted to finish it,” explained Manuel about his visit that got some boos from the remaining 27,473 fans that braved the game time temperature of 96 degrees.

“I hate to remove a guy because of a defensive mistake,” added Manuel who said he expects big things from Santana in the second half of the season. “You see a little more in the fastball. You saw it challenging Brandon Phillips,” he said about Santana retiring the Reds .307 leadoff hitter to fly out three times to center and right.

Ready in the pen was Frankie Rodriguez the Mets stopper with 20 saves, but, as of late, having trouble closing the door. In the end, he wasn’t needed. “Of course I know what type of competitor he is and it paid off,” said Rodriguez about Santana completing the game.

Santana got his home run ball for keeps and is undefeated in four career starts against the Reds. A win for the Mets also that kept them two games in back of first place Atlanta. For Santana, even without great stuff he proves to be a competitor.

Now that the stuff is back, he also has the bat to go with it.

NOTES FROM CITI FIELD:  It was the 45^th home run by a Mets pitcher in their history and first since John Maine did it against Pittsburgh on July 24, 2007 at Shea Stadium…  The three hits tied the fewest Santana has allowed in a complete game, his seventh career complete-game shutout, and the second Mets pitcher to throw a complete-game shutout and hit a home run in the same game. The last to do that, Pete Falcone on September 29, 1981 over the Phillies 7-0 also at Shea…

Jose Reyes returned to the lineup after missing six games with a sore right oblique, finishing 2-for-4 with a run scored. The Mets improved to 30-9 when Reyes scores a run… It was the Mets 12^th shutout of the season which tied San Diego for most in baseball…

Oliver Perez threw 5.2 innings, allowing two runs, two hits and three walks and striking out seven in his second rehabilitation start for St. Lucie (A) of the Florida State League… Final game of the series is this evening with Bronson Arroyo (8-4) on the mound for the Reds opposing lefthander Jonathan Niese (6-2) for New York.

e-mail Rich Mancuso: Ring786@aol.com

It was a two-hit complete game 7-0 shut out over the potent Yankees lineup, 115 pitches and everything in his arsenal. As he said, “the slider, curveball, just tried to throw as many strikes as I could.” The Yankees could do nothing and seemed frustrated as they returned to the dugout.

Hernandez would not compare his performance to Lee. What mattered was the Mariners once again got two consecutive complete games from Lee and Hernandez.  And it was the second time this season that Lee and Hernandez won back-to[back games.

It was the third straight complete game for Hernandez, two of them going as a win. Lee got the win Tuesday evening in the Bronx, his third consecutive complete game. “It happens, it happens,” said Hernandez about what he and Lee accomplished over the Yankees the past two nights.

Was there an incentive to top what Lee did? “We’re different pitchers,” said Hernandez who has a career 15-3 record in the month of June. The 24-year old native of Valencia Venezuela also had 11 strikeouts and as play concluded moved to second in that department in the American League.

More importantly, as the Yankees have discovered, if the Mariners continue to get this type of pitching from Lee and Hernandez, well they can make some noise in the second half of the season.

“You talk about the impact that Lee has on this pitching staff, I think it pushes Felix,” commented Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu. “I thought it was the best pure stuff that Felix has shown in a game.  He really dominated and kept their hitters off balance. It was a tremendous performance.”

Yankees manager Joe Girardi said about Hernandez “He’s as good as we have seen all year. His slider, changeup and curveball, he had it all working tonight. He’s got electric stuff.”

Hernandez finished the month of June with a 4-1 record and a 2.36 ERA and over his last four starts is 3-0 with a 1.26 ERA. “We knew his ability was there,” added Wakamatsu. “The key thing was getting the complete games.  Every time you have an outing like this it’s something to look back on and learn from it.”

The last time the Yankees had back-to-back complete games thrown against them was back in April of 2000 when Toronto’s Chris Carpenter and Kelvin Escobar did it up in Toronto. And it has not happened in consecutive home games since 1991.

Said Girardi, “Good pitching will always beat good hitting; that’s the bottom line.”  For the Mariners the bottom line is getting the rest of their pitching staff to follow in the footsteps of Lee and Hernandez.

e-mail Rich Mancuso: Ring786@aol.com

“Got it done,” he proudly would say afterward.

Davis wasn’t doing anything Met related here, actually he was doing a more important assignment, leaving tickets for his dad Ron who was in for Father’s Day.

“He probably would have gone back to Arizona,” Ike would laugh.

Well, there was no Joe DiMaggio-like incident that day and like everything else Davis has been doing this year, he has doing it well. The freshman first baseman has been a godsend for his club, as he has fit very nicely into the middle of the Met lineup.

In the year of the rookie, where young players like Stephen Strasburg, Jason Heywood, Austin Jackson, and Brennan Boesch have taken all the headlines, Davis has quietly become one of the leading rookies in baseball.

“I don’t think I am under the radar,” Davis said. “I am just here trying to help my club win.”

After starting out sixth in the lineup, manager Jerry Manuel moved Davis to the cleanup position. Although he has tailed off from hot start, the 23 year-old is second in among rookies in home runs with eight while his .268 batting average is fourth in the freshman rankings.

And Davis is doing it in the field as well with tremendous defense at first base, including three over the railing catches into the dugout at Citi Field.

More importantly, Davis was there when the Mets needed him last night, going 3-6 with three RBI and one run scored in the Mets 14-6 win over Jackson, Boesch and the Detroit Tigers.

“We played hard today and found some holes,” Davis said. “We were patient at the plate and we were keying on pitches.”

Davis seems to be having a lot of fun with these Mets. His attitude is contagious, smiling out there, while the club looked for an identity, especially at home.

He has become a fan favorite with chants of “We like Ike” coming down from the Citi Field rafters even when he wasn’t at the plate.

“It’s great to play here,” he said. “It’s good to be able to sleep in our own beds and we are real comfortable playing on this field and seeing this hitting background.”

It’s a comfort his dad had with the Yankees back from 1978 to 1982. But now Ron is a full Met fan as his No. 1 player is staring with the club.

And yes, Dad was able to see the Mets lose to his Yankees this weekend, but more importantly, Davis was able to go fishing off City Island with his father on Monday’s off-day.

“I caught three stripers,” he said.

It’s a good thing he left the tickets.

Next weekend in preparation for the Subway Series games at Highlander Park, Delta Airline will have a Fan Fest at Madison Square Park in Manhattan called The Delta Dugout. The event will run from June 18^th to June 20^th. Here are some of the details:

The Delta Dugout will host current and former Mets and Yankees players — including a special musical performance from Yankees’ legend Bernie Williams — Wii Batting and fast pitch stations, a photo booth, giveaways, and an array of games for kids.  Fans will enjoy stadium-style concessions and specialty food and beverages, including “The Delta Dugout Dog,” a limited edition hot dog to be featured at Madison Square Park’s Shake Shack throughout the weekend.  Fans will also view New York baseball highlight reels, NY baseball fun facts and live game coverage of the interleague series on a Jumbotron at the center of the park.

Throughout the three-day event, The Delta Dugout will offer major league giveaways, including ticket packages to Mets and Yankees games, special ballgame events and round-trip domestic and international tickets on Delta.  Additionally, Delta will host the Sky360 Lounge, where it will display elements of its premium BusinessElite in-flight experience, including lie-flat seats and information on its award-winning culinary offerings

Sounds like a fun time for both sets of fans,

Madison Square Park is located in the Flatiron District, between Fifth and Madison Avenues and 23rd and 26th Streets, just 8 blocks south of the Empire State Building. To get there by subway, take the R, W or 6 train to 23rd Street. On weekends only you can also take the N train to 23rd street.

As per Kevin Burkhardt here is the Mets line up for this after noon in SOFL:

Reyes

Cora

Bay

Animal

Wright

Davis

Pagan

Blanco

Niese

Finally J-Man decides to sit Frenchy and replace him with The Animal who not only goes from a Bison, to a pinch hitter but is now the cleanup hitter.

Reyes can not stop showing off his excitement of not having to hit 3^rd anymore. Way to know your personnel Jerry

12 pitches, 12 balls last time I saw something like that the players were eating orange slices in the dugout and talking about the latest Sponge Bob Square Pants episode.

Why is it the Tampa Rays who are an MLB welfare recipient can release Pat “He Got No Bat” Burrell and eat his $9mil but the Skill Sets still keep GMJ around ?

Forget Ollie P they will never release him out right. No they idea is put OP in the bullpen so if he just pitches an inning or two he can gut loose with pitches and regain arm strength and hit 90 MPH on the gun. Right, and I can rub Scotts Turf Builder on my head and look like this.

Jenry Mejia tossed 19 pitches yesterday for the Mets. They’ve almost ruined this young man, not quite there yet but give Jerry another week and the job will be complete.

For the second time in his short stint with the Mets, Davis grabbed a foul pop and then used the dugout railing as a parallel bar which at 6’4” is an astonishing act of athleticism and kudos to Alex Cora for breaking his fall.

Listening to Barajas in the post game interview with Kevin Burkhardt its clear the Mets have taken on a “no one believes in us but us” approach. Barajas deflected all the talk of what he did to talking about what the team did and he also sent a message to Mets fans who have sworn off attending games at $iti Field, get your tickets now or you’ll be shit outta luck latter.

The biggest improvement with the Mets is all the news on focused on the field. No one is talking about ownership or the front office. Sure Jerry Manuel gets slapped around every other game but that’s part of the managers job to take the hits as the out front guy. Talk to Mets fans and you here real live baseball talk, sure after the Cincinnati defeats we wanted to cut a lot of guys but still it’s on field baseball talk.

If the Mets keep playing as hard nosed as they have the past couple of weeks, I’ll put up with clueless “Hospitality agents” , snail like speed of concession workers, and even the dreaded black jerseys, just keep giving us games like last night and Mets will put up with anything management tosses at them.

Not only was Rod Barajas the hero last night but he hit that home run while Bengi Molina was behind the plate. Molina did not start the game and during an interview with Kevin Burkhardt, Molina whined about how he wanted t be a Met sooooo badddddddddly and was upset a deal could not be reached. What a cry baby, I wonder how Bruce Bochy and Brain Sabean feel hearing this whine session. The Giants did Moilina a favor by bringing him back as they’ve wanted top prospect Buster Posey to take over the job. When Posey was brought up late last season, Molina was pissed and never helped the young catcher that’s why the Giants didn’t want Molina back. But once they figured to give Posey a little more time in Triple A, they threw Molina a bone, and after hearing him last night with KB, one of the best moves Omar made this past off season was not bringing this ingrate on board.

Even me, the Mets fan Prince of Darkness, has to take a step back sometimes to remember when the Mets ruled the baseball roost in these parts and one way to put a smile on a Mets fan’ face is to say “1969”

Ahhhhhhh yes, The Amazin’ Mets of 1969. Last summer the lone bright spot at $iti Field was the celebration of the World Champion Mets of that year and just to see all those players back together again was thrilling and exhilarating, but as I looked around at the faces of some of the fans in attendance that night, I saw a lot Mets fans who really have no connection to this team because (gasp!!!) they were to young to witness this great accomplishment.

There were 30 year old Mets fans with their children there who like their kids,  had no real attachment to this team. They never saw the black cat run by the Cubs dugout and look right at Leo Durcocher as if to say, “it’s all over Leo, surrender is near”, or cried themselves to sleep after watching Tom Seaver lose his Perfect game to a Jimmy Qualis single in the 9^th inning. No cable TV, no 24-HR sports talk radio just the Daily News, NY Post (the essential newspaper for the West Cost scores as the Post was an afternoon paper in those days) and of course WOR  to find all our Mets information.

When I’m asked about that ’69 season I remember those events I’ve mentioned plus things like Opening Day, a game that featured the Mets against the brand spanking new Montreal Expos team staring Mack Jones, Adolfo Philips and a young Le Grande Orange and the Mets losing 11-10, a  9^th inning rally falling short.

Now I know there are some of you who also remember that year as vividly as I do and would love to relive that season and then there are a good number of you who wish you could find out more of what it was like that season. That’s why the book The Miracle Has Landed is an essential book to add to your Mets and baseball book collection.

Matthew Silverman and Ken Samelson have done a fabulous job of getting a collection of writers together to compile essay’s on the players of the ’69 Mets, the front office, the broadcasters, the owner (bow your heads)  Mrs. Joan Payson and Manager Gil Hodges and his coaching staff (Where have you gone Rube Walker ? Mets pitchers turn their lonely pitching arms to you) and my favorite chapter on Mets scout Red Murff, who should be in the Mets Hall of Fame (if they ever build one)  Murff was the scout who signed Jerry Koosman, Jerry Grote, Ken Boswell and a kid out of Alvin Texas named Nolan Ryan (to name a few)

Do yourself a favor, don’t wait for someone to get you this book for Hanukah, Christmas, Festivus or whatever holiday you celebrate buy this for yourself as a Mets fan you will cherish this book and read it from cover to cover and in these dire uninspiring times as a Mets fans, The Miracle Has Landed will make you proud to be a Mets fan again.

The Miracle Has Landed is published by Maple Street Press in conjunction with The Society of American Baseball Research