If you are a Highlander’s fan I am sorry to give you the bad news that the Era of the Bronx Robber Baron is over. It ended after Friday night’s game when that skanky Lady GaGa paraded herself into the Highlander locker room in her underwear after a loss to the Amazin’s. I can guarantee you that not only would Pee Wee Cashman been fired on the spot but Hank and Hal would have been put up for adoption if the Boss was still in charge. For an organization that takes such pride in its uniform to have a no talent trollop like GaGa wearing the Highlander jersey must have Marilyn Monroe rolling in her grave.

John Maine has become a problem. I had Tweeted that no way Maine goes back to the rotation if or when he comes back to the big league team and should be used as a reliever. But as General Manager Candidate Howard Megdal pointed out to me, Maine is still not throwing hard and he has not shown he’s suitable for bullpen duty as he does not show the ability to get up and get warm to come into a game. As always Howard is right on the mark and that’s why he needs to be named the nest GM of the NY Mets.

Mike Silva tackles the Maine question as to DFA or trade John Maine for a reliever from a team looking to start selling off talent. I think it comes down to John Maine’ Mets career is just about done.  In fact if the Mets can’t trade Maine and they do DFA him it will show they are serious about winning, if you don’t produce then you’re gone. Its PRO baseball no one gets hot dogs after the game.

Very nice feature in todays Daily News on Big Pelf and how between embracing fatherhood and working with Harvey Dorfman on the mental side of the game. Big Pelf also talks about his estranged dad  and how that has motivated him to be a better father to his son.

Happy Fathers day to all the Dads out there I don’t know about you but everyday for me is Fathers Day

The sun is a risin/most definitely  

Maybe all those who jumped off the Mets bandwagon will end up like a European tourist stuck at JFK, while those of us who stick by our team, through good times and bad, in pulled hamstrings and very rare good health till death or utter disgust do us part, can feel a little better about our favorite baseball team. It was more than the debut of Ike Davis that has put a spring in my Mets fan step this morning, maybe it was the opponent, the Cubbies, Sweet Lou Pinella, whose every day personality was similar to an Icelandic volcano has turned docile. This is Pinella’ last season on his managerial contract and he’s acting like a guy who is ready to go back to Florida and hit the Golden Corral for the 4PM early bird special. It’s kind of sad to see the man who once as a player for the Highlanders challenged Earl Weaver and the whole Baltimore Oriole dugout to a fist fight turn into a guy hoping Walgreen’s is open late so he can pick up his Flomax prescription.

Sure the marquee story today is Ike Davis and how nice is it to see a Met on the back page of the newspaper this morning and word to the Highlander fan, your team did not invent the shaving cream pie to the face, that ritual is as old as Yogi Berra’s tired stupid sayings, and besides A.J. Burnett started his pro baseball career with the Mets so he could have learned that skill way back then. I know most of you Highlander fans didn’t know Burnett was once a Mets farmhand. Most self-centered blowhards never look beyond what’s in front of them. (as I type this I’m listening to Beningno and Roberts first call they take is a Highlander fan who went to the Mets game last night and claimed he wore his Highlander cap to the game and was impressed by Ike. It just proves my theory that Highlander fans will drop their allegiance to their team in a Manhattan minute when things go sour and jump on the Mets bandwagon.  You Highlander fans who troll this site know I’m right. The Highlanders biggest fear is not the Red Sox, it’s the Mets. That’s why that fan base loves to ridicule us and act the fools that they are because of fear, they fear that someday the light switch in Flushing will go on and the Mets will become a contending team and take over the town. It will happen. There are far more Highlander fans that go to Mets game than vice versa and you don’t need to interrogate  them a la Jack Bauer for them to tell you our ball park is where the cool kids hang out unlike their shrine to pomposity)

Jon Niese showed what the “spit tobacco juice in a cup” baseball guys like to say, a lot of bulldog. When a pitcher has all his pitches working and is in command for most of the games, fans go overboard with praise but for me when a youngster like Niese pitches a game where he gets into jams, doesn’t panic and gets out of those situation more on the plus side and not, that is the true test of a big league pitcher. Niese threw a lot of pitches in a limited amount of innings but he threw strikes, got more ground balls than fly balls and only three line drives.

Angel Pagan has done the only thing that could stop J-Man from using GMJ, he has produced at a high level. Hopefully it continues as Carlos Beltran is off to Colorado to get his knee checked and even if he comes back with a positive report I doubt we’ll see him back until after the All-Star break.

Welcome back Jason Bay

Sure I’m overly giddy today after last night’s game, I don’t apologize for it and your right it most likely is a premature ejaculation of optimism but I just hope our baseball season started last night. Mets fans just want to have fun!!!!!

Join us tonight at 9PM ET for PRO BASEBALL CENTRAL. Our guest will be Pulitzer Prize winner, Michael D’Antonio author of the book FOREVER BLUE: The True Story of Walter O’Malley, Baseball’s Most Controversial Owner, and the Dodgers of Brooklyn and Los Angeles (published by Riverhead Books/Penguin)

From 9PM to 9:30PM we will take your phone calls so if you want to discuss the Mets, Yankees or anything else in MLB give us a call at (646) 595-4462

If you can’t join us live, you can here the show on the podcast either at Kranepool Society, Blogtalk Radio or at our PRO BASEBALL CENTRAL site.

Last night on Pro Baseball Central, we had Brian Costa, Mets beat writer for the Newark Star-Ledger on as a guest and when I asked him how things were down in St. Lonesome, he felt bad about letting us know the weather is very Un-Florida like, temps in the upper 30’s and 40’s, as he knew as we were speaking,  we here in the NY Metro area were in the midst of a snowstorm.

I know it’s the “in” thing around these parts to bitch and moan about this awful winter weather and believe me I’ve had enough of this shit as much as the next irate New Yorker , but what gets me is the shock of some people that the month of February sucks, weather wise that is. It’s always sucked. It’s winter, we live in the Northeast get over it.

Speaking of last night’s PBC, in addition to Brian Costa, we also had John Delcos join us as well as Mike Henderson of Nationals Pride, who gave us some great insight into the Nationals and what to expect from the DC team this season. So while you’re vegetating during this “Snow-Acain” click on the to the podcast here at Kranepool  Society or at our page on Blog Talk Radio and sit back, relax and be entertained .

One more piece of news about myself and Blog Talk Radio. I’m putting together my own radio progam on the network called, THIS CALL TO THE BULLPEN, and the first episode will air tonight at 11PM ET. This will be like a test run and will run until 11:30PM but this Wednesday March 3rd,  I will do a full hour show  that will air live from 5PM to 6PM ET (when you first start a show on Blog Talk Radio your options are a bit narrow)

Whereas PRO BASEBALL CENTRAL is a Mets intensive show, THIS CALL TO THE BULLPEN will encompass all news and views from MLB and a smattering of other sports topics that are newsworthy. I also want to bring on bloggers and baseball writers from other teams to get a more broad view of the happenings  around MLB.  But a big part of what I want to do with THIS CALL TO THE BULLPEN, is to interview authors of baseball and other sports books along with folks at SABR who write outstanding essays in the various publications that SABR publishes.

I’ve received a lot of books and publications and after I read them, I find myself asking questions on how the subjects were researched and many more who, what, where and how’s.

I am in touch with many of these writers and bloggers and I’m putting together a guest list, so you can keep checking here at Kranepool Society for those announcements and if you’d like to be a guest on the show just drop me an e-mail at sinymets@aol.com

So if you’re up late tonight tune in and call in the call in number for THIS CALL TO THE BULLPEN is (646) 727-2465

You can join in the conversation as well by using our call in line at (646) 595-4462

If you can’t join us live, you can listen to the podcast right here at Kranepool Society or on Blogtalk Radio or at our PBC site as well.

Join us tonight at 9PM ET for PRO BASEBALL CENTRAL on BLOG TALK RADIO. Our guests will be Brian Costa, Mets beat writer for the Newark Star-Ledger calling us from Port St. Lucie and Mike Henderson of the Washington Nationals blog, NATIONALS PRIDE.

You can join in the conversation as well by using our call in line at (646) 595-4462

If you can’t join us live, you can listen to the podcast right here at Kranepool Society or on Blogtalk Radio or at our PBC site as well.

 

Tonight at 9PM ET we  will have another edition of PRO BASEBALL CENTRAL on BLOGTALK RADIO.  Our guest tonight will be Ben Kabak of the Yankee blog River Ave Blues.

You can join in the conversation as well by calling into the show at (646) 595-4462

See you on the radio tonight at 9PM ET on PRO BASEBALL CENTRAL

 7 days until pitcher and catchers

The Mets off season reminds me of the old TV show Green Acres. Remember, Mr. Haney the guy who sold a lot junk to the residents of Hootersville? Well that seems to be who Omar Minaya has morphed into a purveyor of useless pieces.

The latest move that makes no sense is the signing of Mike Jacobs. Jacobs was cut loose by the KC Royals because for over $3 mil a year the Royals got a player who can’t hit lefties, has an aversion to getting on base, and plays defense like Edward Scissorhands. Brilliant let’s sign him up. Think about this, in 7 days you’ll have so many players lining up at first base it will look like an Italian bakery on Christmas Eve, get there early and take a number.

Great story on Johan Santana by John Harper who donned the tools of ignorance to catch Santana down in Florida. This is what, the third or fourth story on Santana this winter and each one Johan is sending a message to Mets fans that the season won’t be the disaster most of us think it will be. From your mouth to Tug McGraw’s ears, Johan.

As per Jon Heyman, the Mets are taking a Pasadena on Rod Barajas but have signed John Harper to a one year deal.

No PRO BASEBALL CENTRAL tonight but we should have a show next week to welcome in Spring Training.

Last night’s hour long PRO BASEBALL CENTRAL show, went by in a flash thanks our own Yankee-Doodle, Michael calling in and Matt Silverman coming on to talk about the ’69 Mets. Some of the topics I wanted to get to in the opening of the show got pushed back as I went on a bit of a Fernando Martinez rant, so I guess I’ll touch on those here.

By the way I got to see F-Mart’s AB last night with the bases loaded and two out in the Dominican Republic v. Venezuela Caribbean World Series game. Martinez did not get a hit in the AB but it was an impressive turn at the plate that lasted 10 pitches until he hit a foul pop that was caught by the Venezuelan right fielder.

I’m not anti-Fernando in any way; I just want the kid to stop acing like he’s a 27 year old journeyman who has never gotten a chance and be the 20 year old who plays so well this spring that he beats out Angel Pagan to be Carlos Beltran’s understudy.

Looks like me and Orlando Hudson have something in common; we both will never play second base for the Mets. So after all the debate about second base for the Mets what’s done is done, Luis Castillo is the Mets second baseman for better or worse till death due us part (or until Reese Havens can prove he can play at the big league level) for 2010.

What is the under/over on how many times Gary Cohen or Howie Rose say “Just out of the reach of Castillo, for a base hit” this season? Let’s set the number at 75.

The last place in the world I thought I’d ever see the name Municipal Credit Union would be on a ball park marquee.  I wonder if those of us with accounts at MCU will get a discount on Cyclones tickets.

I’m very happy for Nelly Figs and his great performance the other day for DR in the Caribbean Series but it wasn’t like he was pitching against the Phillies or Highlanders, it was against Mexico and 45 year old  270 lb Vinny Castila, The Big Fajita!

Maybe things are not as bleak for the Mets as we think. FOX has the Amazin’s scheduled for broadcast 8 times this coming season and one of the games is a prime timer versus the Bronx Bastards.

Maple Street Press is coming out with it’s Mets Annual in a few weeks and there will be a section on the Mets Blogosphere, that will include yours truly.

Matt Silverman is putting out a revised paperback version of his book “100 Things Mets Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die” 

Join us tonight for another episode of PRO BASEBALL CENTRAL at 9PM ET on BlogTalk Radio. Our guest will be Matthew Silverman, co-editor of the book THE MIRACLE HAS LANDED: The Amazin’ Story of How the 1969 Mets Shocked the World (Maple Street Press in association with SABR) a very detailed chronicle of the 1969 World Champion New York Mets.  

If you can’t join us live you can here the podcast here at the Kranepool Society or on BlogTalk Radio and our PRO BASEBALL CENTRAL site.