Join me today at 5PM ET for THIS CALL TO THE BULLPEN. My guest will be Bill Baer of the Phillies website  Crashburn Alley and Baseball Prospectus and Randy Booth of the Red Sox website  OVER THE MONSTER. If you can’t listen live then enjoy the podcast right here on Kranepool Society (the widget for the show in on the left hand sidebar) or at BLOGTALK RADIO

If what I’m reading in the local fish wraps is correct, it seems the Mets have been mathematically eliminated (Hey Kathy and Joe is it time for a sequel? ) for the 2010 season.

It doesn’t look like any big ticket items will be on Jeffey’s credit card this winter, so the question is why go half assed? Why not just blow the whole team up?

As it stands now, only the Nationals stand in the way of the Mets of the Mets hitting rock bottom in the NL East (for the first Stephen Strasburg-Big Pelf match up, I will be going into solitary confinement) so unless Jeffey (Omar is GM emeritus by the way, as he is earning his million a year as being the Skill Sets “Spider”) decides to empty the more bountiful than they lead us to believe, Mets coffers, the only thing we’ll have to look forward to is Alex Cora  player/interim manager bobble head day.

I leave you with this from Bill Madden’ Daily News column:

Mets? Did somebody say the Mets? They won’t spend the money for Holliday, Bay or Lackey and apparently, they’re only interested in signing low-budget Latin players, having shown little or no interest in Byrd, Figgins, DeRosa, Wolf or even Staten Island’s Jason Marquis, while waiting for their markets to come to them. At the same time, the Phillies and Braves wasted no time in addressing their needs. Sad.

Lot’s of minutia rolling around in my head time to let it out:

You would think that Omar or Jerry would have Jose Reyes’ back and defend him against what Reyes feels, are people questioning  that he is indeed injured. I’ll take Jose’ side here because no matter what you think of him as a player or person he’s been a gamer for the Mets. From 2005 to 2008 Reyes has played in 633 games out of 648 games played by the Mets during that time period so he’s not a slacker by any means. It sucks that Minaya who has a big mouth when it comes to attacking sports writers, doesn’t come to his shortstops defense. A front office full of men and not a pair of balls among them.

I am sick and tired of the Daniel Murphy bashing that has gone here and among some Mets fans. Murphy will go to winter ball and play first base and DH because the kid wants to get better and is an extremely hard and dedicated worker, the one thing all you folks have been screaming for around here. All of you whiners want “hard nosed players” and home grown guys and here you have one in Murphy and all you do is bitch and moan, “he has no power” “his OBP is awful” “he makes mistakes in the field” Please all you make believe scouts SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!!!!!! Last year everyone loved Murphy, this year he gets put in an unfamiliar position and struggles then when he moves to first base he excels. His bat was off this season for sure but the last month, month and a half he has picked it up and not to mention he is hitting in line up spots that are not best for what he does with the bat. So wake up Mets fans and instead of trying to burry Daniel Murphy, why not praise him for working his ass off to be a better player.

The good news today is Howie Rose will be on the FOX broadcast of Mets-Phillies, the bad news, his partner will be Tim McFullofshit. So when Howie speaks I’ll listen when McFullshit spews I’ll hit the mute button.

Pain in the ass cat woke me up at 6:30 this morning because he was hungry. So after feeding his fat ass I couldn’t go back to sleep so went inside to watch TV. I was ready to watch MLB Network Quick Pitch (Who the hell hired Matt Yalloff to do this show? I though once SNY wised up and canned his sorry ass I was done with him but no he’s now is ruining one of my favorite programs) when I came across Lewis Black’ BLACK ON BROADWAY rerun on HBO. I haven’t seen this in awhile and it’s still as good as the first time it ran, and my side still hurts from laughing.  Mittens gets and extra bit of catnip for waking me today.

Brian Schneider has realized that he won’t be back with the Mets next year and I just realized that I won’t be spending the weekend in Maui with Jennifer Aniston. DUHHHHHHH?

If David Wright played for any other organization you’d say his slump is from being a bit rusty from being on the DL having suffering a concussion but Wright plays for the Mets and you have to wonder if he still is feeling effects from the beaning and the medical staff and management are missing something.  As a fan and as someone with no knowledge of how the Mets medical staff works, the perception is that they are clueless and again they’ve been called out as clueless and never fight back, so maybe the title fits.

When you look past the smoke screen that is the injury excuse for this piss poor Mets season who see the real culprit for the reason of suckitude and that’s players like Angel Pagan. Sure Pagan has excelled offensively but his baseball IQ is in the negative numbers. I wouldn’t be this harsh on Pagan if his mental lapse were few and far between but it seems like every game has its Angel moment. But Jerry Manuel feels that sitting Pagan is not the answer and to that point I feel Manuel is dead wrong. On one hand Manuel calls a team meeting to tell his players to keep fighting and go out an show that you are a championship team and on the other he keeps playing a guy who doesn’t know how many outs there are in an inning and continually throws to the wrong base. If I were Corey Sullivan I’d be fit to be tied. Just shows there is no fight in this dog of a team.

No one is more sick and tired of the Jesus like worship of Derek Jeter the last week around here but Roger Angel has a piece in the New Yorker on Jeter so you really need to read it because well… it’s Roger Angel.

I see I struck a nerve with my Billy Joel comments but like I say his is not the kind of music I listen to and it’s pretty weak to plat th elast concert at Shea and be a New Yorker and give in to Phillyfans by wearing thier colors.

Speaking of Philly fans there were a lot of them in the Magic Kingdom all of them in thier new Phillies cap andnew shirts all bandwaggon jumpers.

Tons of Rays fans as you wouls suspect and many Cardinal fans but the biggest group here are the English soccer fans with Everton the team most fancy.

GTG later

In a bid to keep the peace at Citizens Bank Park, the Phillies wanted to cloak or replace the 16-by-16-foot Mets banner at the top of the set decoration at the Billy Joel/Elton John concerts tonight and Saturday.

Alas, they could not find anything suitable.

Joel will wear a Phillies jacket for at least part of the show and will make some sort of joking reference to the Mets and their 10-games-back status

My colleague Bob Ford and I hear that the Phillies had reached out to the “Face 2 Face” concert to express concern about Joel’s New York-theme set.

It’s not that the Phils are worried about any kind of baseball rivalry, we hear; they just don’t want some yahoo having too much to drink and throwing something at it or starting a fight. The Mets banner was visible at recent shows at Nationals Ballpark and Wrigley Field.

Perhaps Joel will sing “Philadelphia State of Mind,” as well.

My wife actually has Billy Joel albums but when I get home tonight they are going in the trash where they should have been in the first place.

Imagine this old broken down douche is going to wear a Phillies jacket? What a piece of shit! If you don’t any song played at $iti Field by this hack then you’re not a Mets fan

The All Star break is over and we head for the second half of the season tonight on Pro Baseball Central we will discuss the Mets disappointing first half and what direction this team needs to take which  is one of the great complex question of our time, plus we will monitor the Mets-Braves game live. We will also talk about the NY Highlanders with our guest Rebecca Glass the author of the Highlander blog This Purist Bleeds Pinstripes. Join us live at 9PM EDST on Blog Talk Radio live or listen to the podcast at your leisure at our site or right here at TEKS.

After The Used Car Salesman ranted and raved about Manny Ramirez going to the bushes to get in shape before ending his 50 game sentence the Phillies after signing Petey to a $1.5 mil deal was placed on the 15 day DL with a “strained (wink-wink, nod-nod) shoulder. This was done because Petey wouldn’t sign a minor league deal so the Phills skirted the issue with the bogus DL placement. Am I a bitter jilted Mets fan? YES. Yes I am. I’m not rational when it comes with Petey going to the Cheesesteakers I’m the jilted lover who will now try to make his life miserable.

After yesterday’s loss to the Rays J-Man sounded like a guy at the end of his rope and to this Mets fan it seems he is sending out an S.O.S. to Omar Minaya to get him some relievers who can actually pitch at the major league level:

 Manager Jerry Manuel tried to shoulder the blame, saying he has overused Parnell, Green and Pedro Feliciano lately.

 What I need to do is really refresh the bullpen,” Manuel said. “I probably, to a fault, use them too much. I have to do all I can to refresh them and that will help.

“What I have to do is trust the other people I have down there.”

If that’s not a cry for help I don’t know what is. The Big Three (Parnell, Green and Feliciano) are the only pitchers not names Santana and Rodriguez that Manuel has faith in. Where Manuel has to take a hit is his lack of going to Brian Stokes. Stokes now becomes a major player in the pen. I really hope they have a Q & A session at this Mike Francesa/Jerry Manuel Breakfast tomorrow so I can ask J-Man why he buried Stokes for so long ? Hopefully I’ll eat my meal before I get tossed out of the proceedings.  

Problem here is there is no one to bring up besides Elmer Dressens who should have been here over Jon Switizer at this point. Lefty/righty who cares? Lets go with the best 7 guys we have.

This would all be a moot point if the Phillies were half way descent. Instead of looking at what’s going on down the Turnpike, Mets fans better watch Florida and Atlanta coming up on the outside.

Forget Adam Dunn, Mark DeRosa or Nick Johnson last time I looked they’re not pitchers and with everyone else looking for pitching the Mets just don’t have the chips to get in the trading game. J-Man better find a better way to manipulate his bullpen because the Calvary ain’t coming.

If you are free this Wednesday you should head over to Gallagher’s Steak House for lunch with Ron Darling and Bobby Ojeda  and a great charity:

  Gallagher’s Steak House and SNY Present: “An Afternoon With Ron Darling: A Benefit for Urban Dove” to Assist New York City’s at Risk Youth on Wednesday, June 24, at noon at Gallagher’s Steak House

 New York — New York Mets 1986 World Champion hurler and SNY Mets television analyst Ron Darling will be the guest of honor at a benefit luncheon for Urban Dove to assist New York City’s At-Risk Youth on Wednesday, June 24, at noon at Gallagher’s Steak House in New York City.

 An Afternoon with Ron Darling: A Benefit for Urban Dove” is priced at $75 per person, and includes a three course Power Lunch featuring Gallagher’s Certified Angus Beef steak as the entree, a copy of Darling’s book “The Complete Game,” and an autograph and Q & A session.  Seating is limited, and for reservations contact Gallagher’s at 212.245.5336. Darling’s teammate, pitcher B obby Ojeda, SNY’s Mets studio analyst, will be a special guest. Gallagher’s is located at 228 West 52nd Street, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue, in Manhattan’s Theater District.

 Also tomorrow night at Foley’s  Eddie Kranepool and George Foster will be on hand to sign autographs and talk baseball.

Going to baseball game dressed like an umpire is beyond being an asshole in fact it’s so fucked up I’m surprised no one in the New York State Senate has done this yet.

Someone forgot to tell Fredi Gonzalez that its INTER-LEAGUE play not a Little League Tournament. Gonzalez had a tough time keeping track of his personnel last night and it could cost him the win against the Highlanders. 

The more I watch the SF Giants the more I feel they are my dark horse team to win the NL Pennant. If you look at their individual stats they’re not pretty, to appreciate this team you have to watch them. I know for some that’s hard to do but sometimes you have to put your slide ruler down and shut off your calculator and actually WATCH a baseball game to get a real feel for the execution and beauty of the game that you can’t find on a stat sheet. 

Mets contemplate the future if  Carlos Beltran gets bad news on his MRI today

First, shut the fuck up about injuries. In public anyway.  I hate to be redundant here but does Omar and the rest of the short bus management team have a plan? If they do can we here about it or see it in action because right now I don’t if the organization is pro active or just sitting with a pat hand? Do they have a handle on the rehab of the injured players and a time table for their return? I doubt it very much. Just reading the reports from St. Lonesome on John Maine makes you shake your head and wonder what the fuck is going on here? 

If they are pro active it’s going to be tough to land what they need, a starting pitcher and a big bat as just about every team other than the Nats, A’s and maybe the Indians could be ready to deal right now.  So if you want Adam Dunn, Nick Johnson, Matt Holiday or Victor Martinez they could be had but ask yourself this, what do the Mets have that they can get back what they need ?

I tell you this if anyone wants Fernando Martinez they can have him. To say I’ve not been impressed is an understatement. F-Mart is like the girl you chased throughout high school to go out with you and when you finally land that date you find her company is underwhelming. The biggest factor in the kids favor is, he is only 20 years old and has time to blossom but after this audition in the big leagues he looks like Alex Ochoa to me.

So would you trade Bobby Parnell? As good as Parnell had been we have to remember he’s a reliever and it’s suspect if he will ever be more than a reliever and that’s not a knock as it take at least three pitchers to finish a game and Parnell has closer potential so I would be ready to deal Parnell. Ryan Church? Who wants him? Daniel Murphy? A little tougher to deal but if I go with my head and not my heart he’s not untouchable. In fact is there really an untouchable in the farm system? Is there a player who the Mets feel could not be used in a deal? Besides Bradley Holt I can’t see any.

So if I’m Omar Minaya I’d be ready to strike now that the Phillies are wounded and playing uninspiring baseball (Mets bloggers favorite Marco Scutaro walked in the 6th inning of yesterday’s Jays-Phillies game and ran to first and kept running as no one was covering 2^nd base and was credited with a stolen base. Larry Anderson on Philies radio flipped out calling out Ol’ Cholly to reams his team after the game ) before Ruben Amaro goes out and fortifies his team.

J-Man is a cool cat but how would I love to see him go all Dennis Green or Jim Mora during one of press conferences. I’m going to the WFAN  Breakfast with Jerry Manuel at the Hard Rock Café on Tuesday I hope to get J-Man’s ear for a minute or two. Should be fun!

First there was the kicking around of Cole Hamels and then Big Pelf getting his back up on Chase Utley demanding that he “get the fuck back in the box” this game had season changer written all over it but of course it turned as it can only turn for the NY Mets.

First Carlos Beltran, of all people, misplayed a fly where he should not have jumped up that cost the Mets a run and got Pelfrey relived of his pitching duties. Sean Green came in and he has quietly turned his season around but gave up a hit and a run. Then Carlos Ruiz hit a ball down to D-Wright who either got caught in between or tried to rush the throw home couldn’t find a handle and Ibanez scored to make it 4-3. Rollins then hit into a fielder choice and the game was now tied at 4. Green gave up one legit hit in the inning. Hang with ‘em Sean.

The Mets had tons of chances after that (and before that as well as the old left the runners hanging reared it’s ugly head again in this game) in the bot of 7^th  Daniel Murphy left the bags loaded, D-Wright left two on in the 8^th, Castillo left a couple on in the 9^th , but the killer was in the 10^th.

Fernando Martinez got a clutch 2 out base hit as a pinch hitter and then D-Wright came thisclose to making up for his error as he drove a ball to the opposite field and Jayson Werth  made a spectacular play that was a sink or swim catch, if Werth misses that ball, F-Mart scores the game winner and the headline today would be the gritty, gutsy Mets coming back after losing a three run lead and not giving up and closing to a game of first place but no instead we talking about RISP, did Big Pelf have another melt down, Wright’s error and the comeback by the Phillies. Talk about a game of inches.    

Guess what? It’s raining again. That’s all it does around here lately but it doesn’t look like it will be an all day rain just thunderstorms this morning and afternoon but foggy and overall shitty tonight as Johan Santana takes his perfect 3-0 mark on the line against the Phucking Phillies at $iti Field.

Santana will go up against J.A. Happ who is helping the Phillies forget Brett Myers by stepping up and going 3-0 in his lat 7 outings and in his 4 no decisions Happ was very effective.

It wil be interesting to see the lineup J-Man puts out there tonight. You would hope he goes with his best 8 guys:

Castillo 2b

Cora SS

Beltran CF

Wright 3B

Sheffield LF

Church RF

Murphy 1B

Santos C

Santana P

What a contest they have over at Oh Murph. As much as the thought of “getting with” Julia Alexandria would be on my bucket list, the price is much too steep.

Today is the MLB Draft and I really should have looked at the landscape of players out there to be taken. I’ll have to take out my Baseball America at lunch time to brush up on what amateurs that are out there. The Mets first pick is a number 72 and unlike other sports, the first round picks in baseball are usually overrated. In fact I feel sorry for the Washington Nationals as they have no choice but to pick Stephen Strasburg because of all the hype and then they have to go through holy hell with Scott Boras to get him signed and hope he lives up to his advanced billing and pray to God he’s not another first round flop.