Luis Castillo

RA Dickey

Carlos Beltran

Angel Pagan

Edwin Rodriguez

Will Ohman

For More Info contact Bob at TrainorComm@gmail.com.

Johan Santana

Angel Pagan

Carlos Beltran

Jim Tracy

For More Info contact Bob at TrainorComm@gmail.com.

This team is only acts as  a cohesive bunch when they win, once adversity hits and that by the way is how you measure this worn out word chemistry, the NY Mets turn into the French Army. After wining games, especially at home, shirts are flying out of pants, hats are tilted to the side, players are jumping up and “high fiving” it’s quite the spectacle. But when they lose, and they do this with regularity on the road, their heads are down, shirts stay neatly in their pants, blank stares into space replace high jumping hand slaps. No team in sports acts in such a bi-polar way than the NY Mets.

Now the fans are starting to get like that. Beltran is a “clubhouse cancer” they say, huh, if anything Beltran is a low flame kind of guy, but he produces both with the bat and the glove. He has looked very rusty with both so far since his return from knee surgery but it’s such a small sampling but who knows, maybe he will never regain his old form. The same fans that hate Beltran, have fallen in love with Jeff Francoeur and seem to think he was a big reason the Mets went on a nice run in June, I guess an OPS of .845 is impressive to some. If Beltran had a month like that he’d be an underachiever.

I really don’t get it. The Mets right now are playing their three best outfielders in Bay, Beltran and Pagan. Unfortunately, Bay and Beltran are struggling but what both have over Francoeur is they have a body of work that is All Star caliber, whereas Frenchy has a strong right arm and a great smile. I’d rather take the proven All Stars myself.

Again it comes down to what has been a problem in Flushing for the past couple or three years, this team is made up of some very fragile folks who turn to over cooked spaghetti when times get tough. See,  a guy like Jason Bay has surprised me as he’s the kind of guy who doesn’t make a lot of noise with his mouth and has proven to be capable of stepping up and performing when the spotlight is blinding as we saw when he went to Boston to replace Manny Ramirez. But then again when you have guys like Big Papi, Mike Lowell, Youk and Dustin Pedrioa it helps. The Mets don’t have anyone close to those guys on their team. Sure you have a  fake tough guy like Leader of Men, Alex Cora but there is no one (sadly David Wright isn’t one either) who says” jump on my back boys and I’ll carry you” the closet guy like that amongst the everyday players right now is Angel Pagan. It’s not the loudest guy or the rah-rah guy who fits the leader mold, it’s the guy who knows when to take pitches to get on base, who gets the big base hit with two out man in scoring position but Mets fans seem to think the louder you shout the more productive you are, that’s a fallacy. The People’s Cherce, Jeff Francoeur with all his personality had never carried a team but the guy Mets fans love to hate, Carlos Beltran has.

I can’t figure you people out sometimes.

As I’ve said computer time is at a premium here so I had to send up up a plate of Ziti w/meatballs to office manager in order to get som time to crusie the internet. I’m telling this camp is combonation prison/military life.  I’m exhausted from shmoozing the counselors for ice and toliet paper too big ticket items around here.

The head of the camp is from South Philly and I’m enjoying breaking his balls most days. The councilers ears are hurting from the back and forth of one guy with a heavy South Philly accent and myself and my Brooklynese. We make this act on the road.

I can’t believe there is even a discussion about Angel Pagan playing everyday over Frenchy. Just shows what a nice smile can do for some guys.

Gotta go my cheesesatke eating buddy is back, time to annoy him

Johan Santana gave another solid performance going seven and giving up no runs as the Mets closed out the first half on a positive note.

We have full audio coverage below.

Angel Pagan

Jeff Francoeur

David Wright

Jose Reyes

Derek Lowe

Bobby Cox

For More Info contact Bob at TrainorComm@gmail.com.

With Carlos Beltran coming back Thursday and Frency moving to the bench as Angel Pagan (who by the way is just as charming as Francouer but he can hit too) the stagnant offense should get a good jolt of energy.

The internet connection up here blows. Plus the computers are relics so posting will sporatic most of the week.

There is a guy in the next camp over from us who thought is was a good idea to being a vuvuleza to the woods and blow into it during the night.  A few of the leaders from our camp paid him a vist this morning to let him know if he keeps up his vuvuzela playing he’ll have to pass gas to make it work and the horn will be shoved up his ass.

The first couple of innings were rough to watch as Big Pelf was throwing and throwing and the Twins were fouling off and fouling off pitch after pitch. Pelf said after the game that it was a tough game from him as he threw 77 of his 117 pitches for strikes but the twins must have fouled off 50 of them as he has done all season, the Season of Big Pelf.

Uhh anyone still want to deal off Daivd Wright and Jose Reyes?  Anyone? Com’on you haters show your faces.

Let’s also end the hate for Carlos Beltran. If he is ready and can play center field then that’s where he’ll play. It is much easier for Angel Pagan to shift over to right field and he and Frenchy can form a nice little twosome there, plus Beltran, when he does make it back, will need maybe two days off a week to help with that knee so don’t worry all you Pagan fans, Angel will get playing time. Don’t over think this folks just enjoy the fresh bat in the lineup.

I can’t figure out Jerry Manuel. When the Mets lose his post game presser is like a night at the Laugh Factory, when they win it’s like he’s planning a wake. Strange.

Angel Pagan had four hits, while Ike Davis chipped in with three as the Mets exploded after a 58 minute rain delay for an 8-run inning in route to a laugher.

We have full audio coverage below.

Ike Davis

Jon Niese

Jim Leyland

Justin Verlander

For More Info contact Bob at TrainorComm@gmail.com.

But Jose Reyes of the Mets connected on the second pitch of the game, a home run to right field off Hughes, The Yankees would even things up in their half of the first on a ground ball double play hit by Mark Teixeira.  In the end though, Hughes was better and Pelfrey struggled.  The Yankees would take game two of the Subway Series in the Bronx 5-3.

Reyes would connect again in the third after Henry Blanco the ninth man in the order walked. It was the sixth multihomer game for Reyes, his fifth homer of the season that was almost hit in the same spot as the first one. The ball was flying out of the ballpark at Yankee Stadium on a sunny and warm afternoon, but Pelfrey could not keep the Yankees quiet, a team that struggled to score runs the past few games.

“I didn’t have a fastball today,” admitted Pelfrey (9-2) who let the leadoff hitter reach base in five of his seven innings pitched. He allowed five runs the most since allowing six to the Phillies on May 1^. “I ended up getting behind guys,” he said. “They gave me a lead, I just couldn’t hold it. We’re playing well. I just feel bad.”

Mets manager Jerry Manuel has seen the development of Pelfrey, who has become one of the premier pitchers in the National League. And he realizes that sometimes he is still young and prone to mistakes.

“I think that he’s been elevating a few of his pitches,” said Manuel. “He is still a young pitcher who over the course of a season and in his career will hit small bumps. He just has to look back on them and get better.”

A reason the Mets have been playing well is because of Reyes and number two hitter Angel Pagan. Also the Mets starting pitching coming into the game was 18-3 with a 2.49 ERA over their last 29 games dating back to May 17. Pagan went 2-for-3 with a walk, single and double extending his hitting streak to eight games, batting .352

Reyes, 2-for-4 extended his hitting streak to 11 games and is batting .438 in that stretch, and with his day has now hit safely in 10 straight road games at the Yankees. “Some stadiums you feel comfortable hitting, I feel comfortable here,” said Reyes about his streak at the old and new stadiums in the Bronx.

“I feel at home,” said Reyes with a smile about once again being comfortable in the leadoff spot.  Mets batters though, after the Reyes one-out home run in the third, had just three hits and two walks

The Mets had a few opportunities against Hughes but failed to capitalize. As hot as they have been, there was still that confidence they could get to Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera who pitched the eighth and ninth innings to close the door

Rivera got his 16^th save of the season when he got Ike Davis swinging, Jason Bay on a ground out to second and Chris Carter on a ground out in the ninth “He throws hard and can challenge you,” said the rookie Davis about Rivera.

As for the missed opportunities, the Mets leaving runners on second base in the sixth with Hughes on the mound, and in the eighth Manuel said, “Their guy (Hughes) made some good pitches at the right time or was able to get a double-play or pop up when he needed to,”

e-mail Rich Mancuso: Ring786@aol.com