Yesterday I hopped over to Mid-Town Manhattan (where miraculously  there was no snow on the ground when I left about four inches of the white stuff on my walkway in Staten Island) to attend a meeting of the Casey Stengel Chapter of the Society of American Baseball Research (SABR). It was there that I met up with Dana Brand who was one of the guest speakers at the event.

As I greeted Dana I asked him “So are you ready for pitchers and catchers” ? He gave me that look you give the dentist when he says “would you like Novocain or gas”?  Dana was not the only Mets fan in attendance that had that same queasy feeling bout the 2010 Mets season.

I never thought it could happen but the Wilpon’s have now displaced the Dolan’s of MSG as the worst owners of a NYC franchise.  I thought I despised Jeffey Skill Sets more than most but after talking to the Mets fans yesterday, I see I have competition.

By this time in the winter, as a baseball fan ,Super Bowl Sunday signals the home stretch of winter and knowing that spring training is around the corner. Usually for Mets fans we start to think of April and opening day, and opening day is usually cold. But we never cared about the cold. We wore Mets sweatshirts under our Mets jackets and figured our Mets gloves and the knit Mets hat we got last season on Fan Apprecitaion Day would shied us from the elements. We were just happy to have a ticket and a seat to root for our favorite baseball team. But from what I’ve read and heard from Mets fans this winter,  I have a feeling opening day at $iti Field will not be a hot ticket, in fact I figure the longer you hold out the better your chance to get a prime seat for below cost.

Where and when did this all go wrong? I’m starting to think the demolition of Shea Stadium will become our Curse of the Bambino, or Billy Goat.

When a team opens a new ballpark, the fan base is usually fired up about the new home and the great amenities so you’d think as Mets fans we’d be happy about all there is at $iti Field. But the more I talk to Mets fans and the more I think about it, maybe we should have stayed at Shea. Shea was a pitchers park and no one screamed to pull in it’s fences. But after one season at $tit, the cry is, “the outfield fence is too high” “the ball doesn’t carry” “the fences need to come in” what we’re really saying is “this place sucks, we want our Shea Stadium back”. Face it Mets fans we hate change and we hate $iti Field.

Now I ‘d say it’s mostly us old timey Mets fans that hate change and I know I’m of that crowd, it surprises me that I’m like that with the Mets as I embrace progress with everything else in my world. I guess I need one small part of the old world to stay with me. I still want pinstripe unis with no name on the back and blue caps with and orange NY. I want organ music instead of ear splitting pop shit, and this from a guy who still listens to Black Sabbath albums with the volume on 10 but at a baseball game I want to here the Mexican Hat dance played on a Thomas organ. I don’t want to be told to “Clap my hands” I’m not a idiot I know when to clap and when to cheer and when to say “AH SHIT!!”. I want my teams National League heritage to be displayed and educate fans of where we came from how our lineage evolved from the days of John McGraw and Mel Ott and Carl Hubble to Bobby Thomson and Willie Mays along with Zack Wheat and Joe Medwick and Dolph Camli and Jackie Ribinson and Duke Synder. NYC was always an NL town until now that the Wilpon’s let that distinction slip away and for that they should be ashamed of themselves.

Jeff Wilpon has not only surpassed Jim Dolan as the most spoil son of a rich man in NY sports but he is close to reaching M. Donald Grant status as a franchise killer. But we shouldn’t put the blame all on young Jeffey, I put  90% of the fiasco that is now the NY Mets on Fred Wilpon. Freddy has the power to tell sonny boy, “I’m sorry but you are in way over your head here my boy, it’s time for me to find a real baseball man to run this franchise and bring it back to respectability and to being a championship baseball team”. If Fred Wilpon does not step up and do what is right for the NY Mets franchise, he will become as hated here as much as Walter O’Malley. The only difference is Mets fans might be wishing he move himself and team someplace else.

For as bad as the NY Football Giants season has been, yesterday took some of the sting out of the painful failure, as team owner John Mara, stepped up big time by calling out his coaches and players for a lack of mental and physical toughness and lack of effort. WOW, how strong are those words? Sure the cynic in me says, “John Mara needs to sell his Private Seat Licenses, so this is all a business move” but the Mara family have owned this team since it’s inception in 1925 and Giants have been one of the top teams in the NFL this decade and watching and listening to him he looked legitimately pissed off. 

The way John Mara handled the day after the season is the way an owner of a team that not only disappoints but embarrasses themselves by quitting, and make no mistake the NY Football Giants quit, should. He stood up like a man and articulated that, yes his team suffered injuries but they were not an excuse for not showing up the last half of the season. He acted swiftly by axing way over his head offensive coordinator Bill Sheridan and put every player and coach on notice that if you don’t or  you can’t give him what he wants, then he will go out and find personnel that will. As a Giants fan, I appreciate Mara’s words and action very much.

Contrast John Mara’s words and actions to the stumbling, fumbling, mumble-oid of an owner like Jeffey Skill Sets who acted mealy mouthed and clueless in his season post-mortem of the season to forget. There is a reason why the Mets brand is laughed at through out baseball and it starts at the top.

Speaking of our favorite baseball team, I brought out my pinstripe uni top for toady’s Bay Day celebration. In fact my co-workers have wished me happy Bay Day when I reported for duty. I’ve become a charity case, as even the Highlander fans have stop teasing me and feel sorry for me. I hate being a charity case or a baby face, I’d rather be a heel.

There are rumors that the Mets could trade Rogers Castillo for Mike Lowell. What would the Bosox want with Rogers Castillo when they have Dustin Pedroia and Marco Scutaro? Lowell would be a nice fit for the Mets, as he’s a respected vet with 2 World Series rings ( as you know I’m a major proponent of bringing in winners to this team)  I just wonder if he can play some 1^st base and spell David Wright sat 3^rd base.

From reading some of the stories, if Carlos Delgado can stand up straight, the Mets would love to bring him back for a 1 year incentive laden deal. That’s why it seems the Mike Lowell talk is interesting as a platoon of Lowell/ Delgado could be what the Mets are looking at for 1^st base in 2010.

The details of the Jason Bay contract are as follows:

$8.5 mil bonus and $6.5 mil salary for 2010

$16mil for the next 3 years + 4^th yr option

Full No Trade Clause.

Not a killer contract, now the question is this. I have a MILLEDGE 44 pro uni top. Do I go and have the MILLEDGE taken off and add BAY? Your thoughts please?

Waiting on the Bay presser. I’ll be commenting on Twitter during the presser.

J.Geils Band

I should be a happy Mets fan this morning, with the news that Jason Bay will sign up to man left field for my favorite baseball team. What’s not to like about Bay ? Big time power hitter from the right side of the plate, he stepped in to a situation in Boston, as crazy a baseball town as NYC and he took the place of one of the greatest right handed hitters to ever pick up a bat in Manny Ramirez and excelled. I was  at Fenway Park for Bay’s first game as a Red Sox and his hitting and attitude won over the hearts of Royal Rooters that weekend.  So why am I not on the phone pleading with the Mets ticket office to please, PLEASE, sell me a season ticket, I don’t care if a handrail or giant piece of Plexiglas impairs my vision of the field, I JUST WANT TO BE AT $ITI FIELD IN 2010!!!!!!!!!!   Well, because Jason Bay can’t pitch.

It’s not just that Bay is not a pitcher and the Mets need about three starting pitchers to even think of contending for an NL Pennant , I still look at the Mets as Bay’s last resort.  You have to feel, the Red Sox were his first choice to re-enlist with and his agent made a 4yr/$60mil offer to which Theo Epstein said “Do I know you”? That’s Cold Hearted Theo, “Come back when you settle for as 2yr plus and option and maybe I’ll dance with you”. The Highlanders would seem to be choice two, put it seems that the heirs to the Highlander fortune, Hal and Hank A/K/A The Fortunate Son’s, feel as though we won the World Series so now it’s time for us to set up our bank accounts because there will be a mucho disposable dinero flowing in the Bronx this summer and the Fortunate Sons want to bring back Bags O Cash to their Tampa lair. Then there is the Seattle Mariners ,which for Bay would have worked out the best for the Boy from BC.  Mrs. Bay is from the Pacific Northwest so the thought of playing house close to where he grew up with many millions in his pocket had to be very pleasing to the Bay’s. Problem is new Mariners GM Jack Z felt, sure we’d love to have you here but not for some ridiculous sum of $16 mil a year. Instead Jack Z went for bat shit crazy Milton Bradley who came to the Emerald City with his pockets full of cash, letting the M’s save money for something important like pitching. Did you know that Jack Z was once part of the Mets front office?

So the way I look at it, Jason Bay had no other choice but to play for the Mets. But I still feel the Mets were that last fat kid picked when you would choose up sides in the school yard. I just hope that at the Bay presser he doesn’t start waxing poetic about being back in the Mets organization ,in fact I’d have a better appreciation for Bay if he didn’t have a presser but I’m sure Jeffey and Jay Horowitz are at King Kullen right now ordering the cold cuts.

Look you have to give Omar his props as he obtained a power hitting corner outfielder at his terms. For all the venom tossed at Omar’s way this winter once in a while you can give him a pat on the back. Beisdes, Jeffey Skill Sets and Dave The Shyster would just the money on a house in the Hamptons.

Now is not the time for the Mets front office to take any bows, there work is far from done. Now try to make a deal with the Reds and Royals for Aaron Harang, Bronson Arroyo or Gil Meche . Get two of those three and I’ll bring a marble rye to the presser.  

So the whole world of Metsdom is in an uproar due to the proclamation from the Drive Time Bloviator on WFAN that he has some major update about our favorite baseball team. So what could this major update be?

Well, I speculated on Twitter last night, that the team is in talks with Bombo Rivera to make a comeback and man left field. Rivera has Expo blood in him so that’s enticing to Omar.

Or it might be that Frank McCourt, the owner of the Los Angles Dodgers of Brooklyn, who is in a nasty divorce with Madame Jamie, needing cash will sell the name DODGERS to the Skill Sets who will finally get their wish to own the Dodgers.

Then again it could be that the Skill Sets have decided to have the team take a year off and cancel all plans to field a team in 2010. $iti Field will then be turned into a combination Chuck-E-Cheese/Catering hall to be rented out for birthdays, weddings and bar mitzvahs.

Who knows? Only the Pontiff Mike knows.

In the Mets world of ugly, Frenchy Francouer is starting to look beautiful to some Mets fans but be warned, it’s the lighting that makes him handsome when you get him home you will regret it. Don’t be swayed by Frenchy, it’s just lust in your heart, he is not the answer.

Hummmm let’s see mow the lawn during the hottest part of the day or watch the Mets and Oliver Perez pitch ? I think I’ll mow the lawn and take my mother in law shopping !

I watched the Red Sox-Tigers game last night and yes I was very happy to see Youk charge the mound and even go extreme and throw his helmet at Jersey Rick Porcello ( I was waiting for the cage and ladder the come down on Fenway for an old time ECW throwdown) as it was not just the fact that Victor Martinez was hit by a pitch (in retaliation for Miguel Cabreara getting plunked on the hand) but this was the second game in a row Youk was HBP and add in the fact that the Sawx have been struggling lately it gave his team a lift. Yeah, that’s right bench clearers have a way of lifting the team same as a good beat down in hockey does. I know a lot you folks love to watch sports while knitting a sweater and like it when the fella’s play nice-nice but the truth is a big part of competition is intimidation. That’s why our favorite baseball team is so disrespected because they are intimidated and need to grow some balls not just physically but mentally as well. This team, since that Adam Wainwright curveball to Carlos Beltran in Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS has been neutered. From the owner to the front office to the players this is one passive bunch that has a disconnected with it’s fan base and this city because we don’t tolerate passiveness and excuse makers which is what the New York Mets are now.

Word to Jerry Manuel: Neither you or Gary Sheffield are coming back to the Mets next year. In fact if Sheff is re-signed I won’t be coming back to $iti Field next year same goes if Carlos Delgado is re-signed as well.

Word is that Billy Wags will be activated to the big league roster this Sunday and now the speculation begins, is it better to trade Wags before the 31^st ? Or keep him and let him file for free agency and get a supplemental draft pick for him? I’d take the draft pick. Sorry Billy but it’s a business decision.

Keep a good thought for Scott Schoenwiese as he tries to deal with his life’s tragedy.

I’d say by the next two weeks most of the newspapers in this town will stop covering the Mets with more than one writer and in fact don’t be surprised by the next road trip all you get is the AP game story. With the financial crunch and the fact that the NFL pre-season is starting the big stories in this town will be The Highlanders, The Giants, The Jets and The Highlanders. Unless something Bernazard like happens the Mets will be a fart in the wind to the fish wraps..

 Most stories in sports don’t shock me anymore but I have to admit this story shocked the shit out me. I admired this guy but now he is just a no good scumbag

There should be a venue like Two Boots in $iti Field that is if the ownership of our favorite team even gave two shits about us. There were no corporate types at our gathering just fans with Mets shirts and in Lukas’ case a fan with blue Mets stirrups. This wasn’t a wine and cheese crowd that arrived by limousine, just a bunch of folks who work real jobs by day and took the subway to enjoy some great pizza and beer and discuss their favorite baseball team.  In fact this was a hardcore fan fest last night.  Imagine if the Skill Sets had the foresight to open up the Ebbits Club and name it “Le Shea” and serve beer, pizza, burgers and allow fans to bring in a piece of Mets memorabilia to decorate the place. By the way Phil Hartman gave me a great idea. He is trying to cover the walls of the restaurant with baseball cards. My wife wants me to re-wall paper our downstairs bathroom, so today I will go through about 10,000 baseball cards and find the cards worthy to be used as a wall covering.

You knew this wasn’t for the fly-by night Mets fan when Lukas began to hand out answer sheets for his Mets Uni Quiz (what is the stiching used on the Mets uniforms called? What player’s name couldn’t fit on his uni shirt when the Mets wore Mercury Mets uniforms? ) and boy did he mean business. I drifted in and out of the quiz along with Mike Stefanos as Mike and I were fixated on the big HD screen watching Ollie P try to gain control of his run away fastball and fall behind on just about every batter. We also marveled at the mind boggling approach the Nationals batters were taking like swinging on 2-0. Our commentary during the game was Keith Hernandez-esque:

Me: “look at Dan Werthen on that top step ready to bounce to the mound”

Mike: Yeah, he looks like he’s ready to kill Perez

Me: True, he’s thinking “should I shoot him, strangle him, or just beat his brains in with a blunt object”

The next scheduled AMAZIN’ TUESDAY is set for August 25^th, if you  doubt  your passion for the Mets ,if you’re fed up with inept ownership, you have to know you are not alone. There are a lot of people with the same feelings you do. So if you are losing your Mets religion you need to come to Amazin Tuesday just to save your Mets fan soul and to embrace the fact that you are a Mets fan.

 So come out this Tuesday Night July 21^st  at 7PM for the first installment of AMAZIN’ TUESDAY believe you need to get out and you’ll feel better for it.

Johan Santana had a very difficult time in the first three innings finding the strike zone as he had neither command of his fastball or change up in the first three innings whether this was due to his mechanics or the ineptitude of home plate ump Ron Kulpa  I’m not sure but after giving up a walk to Chris Carpenter in the 4^th Santana all of a sudden got locked in and took control of the game. The mark of a great pitcher is when he can’t get his best pitches over for strikes he still finds a way to stay on top of his game and work his way through until he figures out how to get those pitches working or has a plan B and gets that to work. No panic, no fear that’s Johan Santana.

Ryan Church is lucky J-Man didn’t take out his blade and cut his ass after yesterday’s game. Manuel has put the challenge to Church by putting him the clean up spot while Sheffield recoups from his cortisone shot to his knee. So far the challenge not met by Church. With Daniel Murphy on second and Luis Castillo on first, D-Wright had an outstanding at bat. After looking at two called strikes, Wright bared down and then let two balls go out of the strike zone to even the count 2-2, the next pitch Wright just missed (a fastball I believe from Kyle McClellan) and then took the two more pitches for a base on balls. Outstanding at bat. Of course after that Tony LaRussa made yet another trip to the bullpen (and had me make a mess out of my score card) lefty Trever Miller to face Church.

Now here was Church’s time for redemption in the game as he misplayed a ball hit by Rick Ankiel in 6^th as he broke in the tried to get back and the ball sailed over his head for a double and Ankiel eventually scored the Cards second run so with the bags drunk it was Ryan Church in the spotlight (“Church bells may ring, ding –dong-ding, church bells may ring, ding-dong-ding”)  time to show the manager, the fans and his teammates the he is ready to step up.

Miller seems to have a bit of the yips as he can’t find the strike zone and falls behind 3-0 to Church. Ok now Ryan take a strike here, atta boy. Ok now it’s on a platter for you 3-1 and the pitch………..A CALLED STRIKE!!!!!!!!! Ryan, you are batting in the coveted clean up spot, the bases are loaded, it’s the bot of the 8^th and a 1 run game WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU TAKING ON 3 AND 1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Now realizing he’s not up there to leave it up to Tatis, Church swings at the next pitch and fouls it off. Now Church is digging that back foot in the batters box determined to get a hit here but Miller just rears back and blows one by Church who took a huge swing and missed but at that point it didn’t matter this at bat was done at 3 balls 1 strike. Want to bet that Church sits tonight against Sabathia ? If he got a hit there lefty or no lefty he would have earned the start but after that at bat and the play in the 6th inning Church will sit tonight and it’s deserved.

The more I go to $iti Field the more I love the place (don’t worry we old timers will always have Shea in our hearts) how can you not. I know it has its faults (see Mets Police for those as he is the Elliot Ness of Mets fandom) and management (are you ready for this) seems to be listening to it’s fan base (S-H-O-C-K-I-N-G I know!) First thing I saw walking in I looked at the scoreboard in right/center and guess what? The lineups were posted ! YA-HOO!. Then in the 8^th inning no Sweet Caroline (HURAYY!!) but Meet The Mets (HURRAH!) now I do have a little bone to pick, how about playing the whole Meet The Mets song? Why do the butcher and the baker and the people on the street always get the short end of the stick all the time?

I was no fan of Michael Jackson’ when he was alive so I’m not mourning his death today but I was shocked that he died just for the fact that he is the same age as me. I know it’s not polite to speak ill of the dead but the guy was a walking freak show which was not the worst of his sins, those he will pay for it he hasn’t already. I do feel sorry for him in that he didn’t really have much of a life which again proves my mother theory that even if you have a lot of money that doesn’t mean you’re rich and if that’s the case Jackson died broke in more ways than one.

Now someone I was a fan of was Farrah Fawsett as were many young men back in the 70’s. Show of hands how many of you fella’s had this poster in your room (my hand is up) and how many of us looked to date girls with that blonde hair in a flip (hand still up)

From switching back and forth during between periods and commercials of the Rangers-Caps game it just seems that every game that is not a Johan Santana start are all the same. Starting pitching stinks, no one can get a big hit, and a miscue or two in the field. So I guess I really didn’t miss much last night.

What more is there to say? J-Man will alter his lineup today with Dan Murphy getting a day off (WOW how the fan base has turned on this kid. Folks it’s not his fault ) in favor of Sheffield, Omir Santos gets the start behind the plate (take your time getting back Brian Schneider) and Beltran will go to the 3 hole with Rob Deer, I mean David Wright going down to 5. But really who cares? Unless Livan Hernadez goes 7 innings today odds are the Mets will lose again today.

The worst part here is I’m not even mad anymore. It’s three weeks into the season and I’m borderline apathetic about this team. You know how they say a team takes on the personality of its manager ? Well I’m close to becoming a fan taking on the personality of my favorite baseball team by not giving a shit if they win or lose.

Let’s face it sure it’s April but what have we seen so far that says this season won’t end like the last two? The last two editions of the NY Mets talked the talked but could never walk the walk and this one looks headed in the same direction.

The good thing about a complete failure of this team is all of the Anti-Omar contingent (and the numbers of loyalist to this group grows with every uninspiring loss) will get their pound of flesh as anything less than a Wild Card berth would have to trigger a total house cleaning.

I can’t believe I just wrote that. It’s April and I’m contemplating cleaning house in Flushing but how else can you think as this Mets team is so uninspiring.

You must check out Dave Singer’s NY Sportsdog for his Keith Hernandez “Slumpbuster” I want one to wear this weekend at $iti Field.

Check out Brooklyn Mets Fan as he has video of his interview with former Mets star and graffiti artist Dwight Gooden and also check out the pilot of a show he’s pitching to SNY called “Stars and Fans of the NY Mets”

Don’t forget tonight Pro Baseball Central at 9PM EDST on Blog Talk Radio.

It’s hard to kill Dan Murphy over his outfield play as he isn’t an outfielder in fact I don’t think anyone in the organization knows what position the kid can play but we all know he can hit and he can hustle and he work his ass off but between getting picked off first base and not sliding into home his play last night was just ridiculous but I’ll chalk it up to growing pains.

Carlos Beltran for all his great talent does things on the field that are baseball retarded. Sometimes it’s bunting to move runners over even though he is a Rib Eye Steak Man, sometimes it’s a reluctance to steal a base when it’s sorely needed and sometimes it’s like last night not knowing when to slide. I’ve been running around all morning and haven’t read many stories on the game so I don’t know if Beltran and Murphy were asked why they didn’t slide but it’s things like that that separate teams that are contenders and teams that are also rans and it just shows the Mets are also rans the last two years for a reason.

I am ready to trade F-Mart, Jon Neise and any other prospect the Cardinals want for Yadier Molina as he has more balls in one testicle than this whole Mets team.

Now on to Ollie Perez. What you’re shocked? Well maybe just a little bit as we now get Good Ollie, Bad Ollie from inning to inning instead of game to game. Pretty soon it will be pitch to pitch. The worrisome part of OP game last night was he was great going through the lineup the first time but in the 5^th inning on his second go round, the Cards were teeing off at will. There was no working the count for the Redbirds in the 5^th as they were hacking at OP like they knew what was coming.

Way to make a first impression Casey Fossum

Tomorrow night on Pro Baseball Central we will have Mike Henderson of Nationals Pride as our guest as we preview the weekend series with the Mets and Nats and talk about the early madness in DC Join us at 9PM EDST or listen in to the podcast afterward.

It took just three weeks into the season for this team to aggravate the shit out of me. I keep trying to tell myself it’s early it’s early and I’m trying to give Omar the benefit of the doubt and hold back the detractors by looking at the positives but after last night I’m wondering for the first time this year if this club is poorly put together and what can be done to fix it. The starting pitching other than the day Johan Santana pitches is a crap shoot. The bullpen is solid but at the rate they are being used they’ll be burned out by the All-Star game. Ryan Church does everything you can ask of a player but is still treated like shit while it seems J-Man is more worried about getting Fernando Tatis and Gary Sheffield playing time. The two best catchers on the team are Shrek and Omir Santos. As soon as Brian Schneider is healthy I’d deal him.

I know I’m reacting out of frustration but it’s one thing to loose but last night was an embarrassment and the stink of 2007 and 2008 still lingers.