So the Skill Sets have sent out invoices to their loyal season ticket holders and some of these customers it seemed got bigger decreases in the invoice than others. If you’re a fat cat who buys tickets in the Metropolitan section you get a bigger break than the guy who buys tickets in the Promenade. It seems the less you know or care about the Mets, the better the Mets organization takes care of you.  Oh yeah, the Skill Sets need a partial payment by December 4^th so they can pay Bobby Bonillia’ his yearly stipend from his buyout.

I’m a fan of Carlos Beltran as he is a great player and is a very charitable man, but as a GM he leaves a lot to be desired. Beltran stated yesterday he’d love for the Mets to bring back Carlos Delgado for next season. I’m glad Beltran is so fond of Delgado, but the next time I see Delgado at a Mets game it should be for Old Timers Day.

Who wouldn’t want a stud pitcher like Roy Halladay? But does it make sense for the Mets to get involved in a trade for the Blue Jay ace? Word is the Highlanders and BOSOX are ready to talk turkey with the Jay-Birds but who knows how much of this is fact or bullshit and if the Mets were to get involved do the Mets have the pieces to make it happen? It seems the Jay want quality over quantity so if you’re the Mets do you have anything that the Jays would want? If you take Vernon Wells of their hands you could get Halladay for nothing but do who wants to saddle themselves with $98.5 mil in contract? As you can see I have a lot of questions but no answers.

I saw this last night on via Twitter on the Tirico Suave site and like I said there, this is Gold PURE GOLD. Mike Francesa never looked so hip!

I saw a bunch of guys stand around Port Richmond Ave on Staten Island this morning looking for day labor work and I swear one of them was Lou Dobbs.

Seems that Chuckie Gruden could be the next head football coach at Norte Dame. I think it’s a foregone conclusion that Charlie Weis is the lamest of ducks at ND and the list of names will be filled with names like Chuckie, Urban Myer, and Skip Holtz to name three but the bottom line is Weis has not only been a coaching disaster but a prick as well. The funny thing about Weis and Eric Manasshole in Cleveland is they want to be like Billy B up in Foxboro but they forget if you want to be a first class asshole you better be a successful first class asshole.

There used to be a homeless guy who hung out in front of Shea Stadium who had a sign that read “No need to lie, I need a beer”. I loved the honesty of that guy so much that I always threw a buck in his cardboard box. I bring this up because like my man who can’t lie about wanting a brewski, I feel the same way about the Mets.

I could have my own sign “No need to lie, I love the Mets and will buy tickets next year”. The Mets have announced they will cut the price of ticket to season ticket holders by 10-20 % it’s a nice gesture but they could do more. Of course they could out and bring back Roy Halladay and Adrian Gonzalez in a trade and make us all forget the stink of this season. Now I know that’s a tall order and if either one came back in a trade  I’d be more than happy, but the one thing that management can do that doesn’t cost a dime and would go a long way towards making being a Mets fan more enjoyable would be to be honest with it’s fan base.

Sure cutting ticket prices is a start but I’ve gone over a litany of requests I’ve made to make going to a Mets game (more polite stadium workers, more accessibility to players, bringing back former Mets for autograph sessions not just the stars, letting the Triple A and Double A team play a weekend at $iti while the Mets are on the road to name a few) a more pleasurable experience but being honest with the fan base cold go a long way to cull the anger that Mets fans have toward the team and the organization.

In John Harper’s column in this morning Daily News, he rehashes all the blunders from this season. At the end of the column he called on the Skill Sets to go into the clubhouse and rip his paid employees a new asshole. From your mouth to Freddy Skill Sets ears John.

Last night on PRO BASEBALL CENTRAL, Joe McDonald and I had the pleasure of talking to former Met, Art Shamsky. We spoke about Shamsky coming over to the Mets via trade from the Reds and about the 69 Champions and we discussed Shamsky’s book “The Magnificent Seasons” which is about NY sports in 1969 when the Mets, Jets and Knicks all were champs. Also on the podcast is my rant about not trusting the Skill Sets and a spirted discussion between Joe and I over Daniel Murphy (what you’ve had enough Daniel Murphy talk?) so check out the podcast here on the upper right of this page or go to PRO BASEBALL CENTRAL and download the show on iTunes.

I’m going to $iti tomorrow for my last game of the season. It’s not just the game before the last game of the year for the Mets but it’s also Gary, Keith and Ron Event Day as well. This should be the best day in the history of $iti Field.

If you’re a FOO (Friend Of Omar’s) it would be a good idea to hide in one of the many  nooks and crannies of $iti Field. The Skill Sets have taken out the chopping block and let’s hope the ax keeps swinging.

The Mets have fired Ramon Pena the guy in charge of Latin American Talent and Luis Aguayo the Minor League on field coordinator and have let Sandy Johnson the VP of Scouting file retirement papers. Finally something productive is coming out of the Skill Sets Ivory Tower with these moves. But the cleansing of the front office and on field staff has to continue before a turnaround can get under way in Flushing for next season.

I get the feeling more of these moves are coming. Next should be an overhaul of the coaching staff it’s time for some fresh faces and a different way of teaching and it would not be a shock that Omar gets reassigned to a new position and John Ricco takes over as the GM/Point man/Face of the Mets.

It’s going to be a very interesting winter around here.

Seriously, can we all just leave Daniel Murphy alone? The kid will be a solid ML’er and decent first baseman. Take all your ‘We need a first baseman” energy and move it toward the starting pitching where the team is really hurting. Remember if you ain’t got pitching, you ain’t got shit”

Just when I thought I was done watching Baseball Tonight on ESPN (MLB Network blows that amateur production out of the water) they go and drag me back in by signing Bobby Valentine to work the panel. Damn you ESPN!!!!

Jon Niese says don’t blame the Mets for his hammy ripping apart that it was his own fault. He made this statement while blindfolded and Jerry Manuel holding a rifle at his head.

I must head to downtown Brooklyn and make friends with Mikhail Prokhorov and see if he’d liked to go to a Mets game. Maybe my dream of becoming the Mets GM could come true More borscht? More Vodka? Comrade!

I must admit, I didn’t watch much of the Mets-Giants game last night and from the looks of things I didn’t miss much. One thing I did notice and I kind of noticed this on Saturday, $iti Field is not exactly packed and jammed.

Remember back when the plans for $iti came out and it was announced that the seating capacity would be about 15,000 less than Shea and the outcry that fans would be shut out of games? Now there are tickets a plenty even in the beginning of the season the secondary markets were awash in Mets tickets. I’ve been to 10 games so far this season and I plan on going to at least 5 more. Sure it bothers me that the team is awful but what bothers me even more is winter. As bad as the Mets are right now, just think what it’s like in the middle of January with the snow, wind and cold and you have to wear three layers of clothes and a coat, hat and gloves. I can’t get enough days at the ball park to suit me. Besides the way the team is constructed right now, it has a nostalgic feel to going to a Mets game, very 1975-ish.

Is there a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel? First, the team started to listen to the fan base and has made improvements to $iti Field. The video screen in the RF corner came in handy on Saturday and the montage of Gooden, Straw and Hernandez looked great along with the banners on the outfield wall and even the cow in the promenade was cute. The place had a Mets feel to it, finally.

Then there were the Throwback uni’s paying tribute to the our NL heritage that the Skill Sets are finally embracing and maybe, just maybe the organization is realizing that blue and orange are our colors and the uniform we all grew up with is what we want. I’ll go out on a limb here and say that after this season the dreaded black uniforms will be no more.

But last night was the topper in this starting to feel better about my team. The Skill Sets actually went over slot money to sign their top draft pick RHP Steven Matz, by close to 400K. Now we’re talking here, let me give Jeffey and Freddy an ‘Atta Boy for that. See it’s not hard fellas.

Let me send out my hopes for a speedy recovery to Alex Cora who is having both thumbs operated on and is down for the season. The Mets should have let Cora take one more at bat so the fans could give him the ovation he deserves. Cora should have had his thumb surgery back in June but put it off due to the dearth of infielders to step up and play. Alex Cora is a gamer.

To fill Cora’s spot on the roster the Mets have resigned Teddy Martinez

At this point in the season, it isn’t really worth getting worked up over, but enough of Livan Hernandez already.

The Mets fan version of the Weather Underground will meet again a week from tonight at Two Boots Tavern 384 Grand St on the glorious Lower East Side. Come one come all we all need the therapy.

Highlander fans are starting to bloom in all their glorious doucheness over their teams recent run of good fortune. As I stated to my colleague who sits next to me at work, you can break balls all you want right now Highlander fans, but keep this in the back of your small minds, if you want to belittle the Mets and Mets fans and stick out your chests and walk around like it’s a foregone conclusion that World Series title 27 will come this late October you better hope it does, because if your Bronx Bastards fall short this post season. I WILL MAKE YOUR LIVES A LIVING HELL!!!!! Believe me it is very tough for me to hold my tongue when I wear my Mets shirts, shorts, cap, watch, and sling bag and get a bunch of shit from Highlander fans so you know I’m just waiting to attack and when I do it won’t be pretty. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Memo to Adam “The Bull”

You can kill the Mets all you want but remember your place at WFAN, you’re a benchwarmer . Come September you’ll be back in your proper place taking phone calls from Jerome in Manhattan at 2 AM.

The crack of the bat will be supplanted at Citi Field July 10th by a louder, tastier sound as all fans attending that evening’s Mets-Reds game are invited to participate in the Big City Crunch, an attempt to set the Guinness World Record™  for most potato chips ever crunched at once.

            Every fan entering the Mets’ new ballpark for the 7:10 p.m. game will receive a .75-oz. bag of Wise Potato Chips, courtesy of Wise Snacks and the New York Mets.  At the designated time, fans will be instructed to open their individual package and, when given the go-ahead, take a big bite of a chip and CRUNCH.

Representatives of Guinness World Records™ will be on hand to record the occasion and, if all necessary criteria are met, shortly thereafter certify that a world record has been set.

Was last night THE GAME? Most seasons there is THE GAME, THE GAME you look back on when the season turned around, (or GULP went down the drain) THE GAME they do documentaries about, THE GAME that books are written about, Yeah THAT GAME.

For all the problems with empty seats, obstructive views and figuring out whether to eat at the Shake Shack, Mama’s or the Taqueria, last night was the first REAL Mets game of the $iti Field era. Yesterday on his bloviating radio show, Mike Francesa railed against the New Highlander Stadium that there was “no juice in the building” and the overpriced seats in the front row are unoccupado, well, Mets fans hold your heads high as the same can not be said about you at $iti Field last night.

Now I wasn’t there but on SNY it came through my TV like the crowd was totally into the game and why not, in the fine tradition of Seaver, and Gooden we now have the newest must see, can’t miss a start, starting pitcher in Johan Santana. If the Skill Sets are thinking of erecting a statue of the The Franchise outside $iti, they better save some bronze for The Franchise II, Santana.  

Why did J-Man take Santana out after 7 innings? I know his spot came up in the order with Sheffield on 1^st and 2 outs but the Putz was not available and Santana had only threw 101 pitches, in the 7^th he threw just 9 pitches (6 K’s) and the Mets took the lead and he was on extra rest, the adrenaline rush from the crowd would have put him over the top. God forbid he would be allowed to pitch a complete game and shut out our most hated rival. I don’t know about you but when I saw Feliciano come in to pitch the 8^th  I started think about the puke bucket.

I think the reason Jason Werth Mackey Sasser-ed the ball in right that arrived there due to Pedro Feliz error in the 7^th was he couldn’t tell if Delgado was running or standing still.

Enjoy your trip to purgatory Ollie.

Mike Vaccaro is my hero. It’s all about the FUNDIES. The most frustrating aspect of coaching is showing a player something and the player not able to execute it. I have kids with great arms that pitch for me but trying to explain the mechanic of pitching they just can’t grasp it. I’ve simplified it by just asking that they land on the ball of their front foot and bend they knee. When the do that they throw a low strike and look back at me in amazement. But on the next pitch, they go right back to the bad habit of landing on their heel and the ball flys right out of the strike zone. UGGH!

Nice to see Jon Niese get the start over Ken Takahashi. Niese’ record is nothing to get excited over (0-2  6.55 ERA in 5 starts) but it could be a factor of pitching for a very bad Buffalo Bisons team. One encouraging number for Niese is his 25/8 K/BB so maybe moving up with the big club will help him.

Not only does Denis POTVIN SUCK but he’s out of work as well. Hey Fishstick fans your boy is more associated with the Florida Panthers than he is if the soon to be KC Scouts LOL. 

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.

John Maine could use a bit of that determination himself after imploding in the 3^rd inning last night. You knew as soon as Maine threw for straight balls to Henry Blanco and then you get ahead of the 8^th batter in the lineup (Everth Cabrera) and you don’t finish him off? Basic god damn baseball, there is a reason those guys bat 7^th and 8^th go after them no bullshit get them out. UGHHHHHHHHHH!

If I’m J-Man I start Shrek at catcher for the next three games. He might pass out from the work load but right now he is a better choice both as a receiver and a hitter than Brian Schneider. I not saying Schneider is not banged up but I think it’s more J-Man is starting to loose faith in him.

The Skill Sets can not be happy with the amount of empty seats in the Stuffed Shirt Circle Jerk behind home plate. But it’s not just at $iti Field either. Every non-Mets game I watch on MLB Extra Innings is the same story, the upper reaches of the ball parks are full and the Aristocrats are MIA.

But when the SNY cameras show the outfield stands, it looks like LaGuardia on the day before Thanksgiving.

With all the hand wringing about the economy and being priced out of sporting events the WWE had an outstanding weekend with its 25 Anniversary of Wrestle Mania (I’m proud to say I went to the Inaugural event at MSG I know it’s not a “real sport” but the sound of The Garden that day, it was Palm Sunday 1984, was Game 7 Stanley Cup Finals loud) Check out this story in today’s Daily News with the facts and figures showing Vince McMahon is a marketing genius.

The lack of Mets history at $iti Field has the war drums pounding as is what seems to be a majority of Mets fans wanting the team to go with Pinstripes at home and Grays on the road with the solid blue hat at all times. I’m totally on board with this and if the Skill Sets had any kind of clue they would be too.  

In honor of Willie Randolph’s return to Flushing tonight we have this little musical interlude.