David Wright

Frankie Rodriguez

Roy Halladay

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

It’s not the loss that has me pissed, it the way it happened that makes me wonder if under the stewardship on Mr. Jerry Manuel, this team can make the post season as the manager has absolutely no feel for in game managing.

First there was the lineup. With both Jose Reyes and Angel Pagan ailing, was it wise to give Jason Bay the day off? I’ve advocated giving Chris Carter some playing time but again the manager has to have a feel for knowing when to play guys and when to let them sit, you can’t keep Bay out the line up when your two offensive catalysts are sitting. Wouldn’t giving Bay a game off in Puerto Rico be more beneficial since he wouldn’t have to run on an artificial turf laded outfield?

Then we have this whole “I wanted to get Johan out on a positive note” line of bullshit? Santana pitched his best game in over a month and not just that he is still the Ace of the staff. Maybe it’s just a figurehead title but can you imagine Roy Halladay, Tim Lincecum, CC Sabathia or Cliff Lee coming out of a game like last night? I know Johan said he wanted to stay in the game but acquiesced to the managers move, maybe he should have demanded to stay in I bet those pitchers I mentioned would get into a fist fight with their skipper to finish a game like that.

The 9^th inning was just a pure disaster as Manuel let Ryota Igarashi, a guy who walks as many batters as he strikes out, pitch in bases loaded spot one out and Ryan Zimmerman up. I can buy the notion of saving Frankie Rodriguez for the save spot as the Mets are the road team, but if you’re not going to use Bobby Parnell in that spot, then why is Parnell here?    

You could hear the disgust in Ron Darling’ voice as Igarashi fell behind 2-0 to Zimmerman by throwing tow breaking balls, when the situation called for challenging the hitter with fastballs. That’s why this situation cried out for Parnell to be brought in. If Zim hits a 98 mph fastball for a game winning hit, tip your hat and move on. I just wonder if Igarashi would have walked in the winning run, would that be grounds for the manager’s dismissal?

 

I hate to tell you this but the Mets are not very attractive, in fact they’re not even Susan Boyle homely, but they are close to approaching Rocky Dennis hideousness.

 

Stop kidding yourselves Mets fans, before you can contend for a title, a team must first become competitive. As I wrote yesterday afternoon on my Twitter account while all hell was breaking lose in baseball, “The Phillies are not the Mets rival, the Nationals are”.

 

You can talk about Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran playing at 100 % health and David Wright bouncing back from whatever bit him in his ass latest season and the fact the Johan Santana pitches every fifth day, the Mets are no closer to the Phillies today than the Earth is to the sun.

 

The easy thing to do is scream that Omar Minaya sucks, and he just might suck as a GM but lets face facts, if you are a player like Roy Halladay, John Lackey or even Jason Bay or Matt Holliday why would you want to play for the Mets? Those players want to play for winning teams and to tell you the truth I commend them for giving the Mets their ass to kiss, as they know how desperate the Mets are and would have to pay more money to them than the Phillies in Halladay’s case and the Red Sox in Lackey’s case but both players went to teams that are not just winners and contenders but have management in place that is both intelligent and creative, two qualities the Mets will never be associated with.

 

Everyone throughout baseball knows that Jeffey Skill Sets is the reason that this organization has a big “Kick Me” sign on it’s back. It is crystal clear that the biggest mistake the Skill Sets have made this off season was not firing Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel because let’s face it, both of these guys are as good as gone. The Skill Sets could have hired a progressive baseball man like Jed Hoyer or gone after Gerry Hunsicker from Tampa or solid baseball men like Tom Kelley and Terry Ryan in Minnesota or even bring back Bobby Valentine who, love him or hate him, Valentine would not have let the Mets wallow in self pity as Jerry Manuel did last year or let them get away with playing “I couldn’t give a fuck baseball”

 

At the expense of sounding like a broken record nothing with the organization gets accomplished until Jeffey Skill Sets and David (The Syster) Howard take a back seat from the baseball operation. Both of these clueless dolts are the 1 and 1a entry on what’s wrong with the Mets as they are out of touch with what it takes to be a winning organization and what it takes to keep your customers happy. Winning and customers two things you won’t be seeing at $iti Field next season.

To tell you the truth, I pretty much sick and tired about reading about Matt Holiday, Roy Halladay , John Lackey and most of all Orlando Hudson. Let me say this if you think O-Hudson is the answer as an up grade at second base on as a so called leader in the words of Mike Francesa “Yer Lawst”

The more reports I read the more pessimistic I get about the 2010 season and it all comes back to the ownership/management of this team.  As Mets fans I feel we must get it through our heads that the Mets will not contend for a post season berth in 2010. You hear people in sports say that teams take on the persona of its manager or head coach, well the Mets have taken on the persona of its ownership, weak, clueless and a lack of guts.

You all know my distain for Jeffey Wilpon and after reading “The Road to Hockeytown” by Jimmy Devellano, my disgust about the ownership of the Mets has increased.

For those of you are not hockey fans, Jimmy D is one of the best scouts/ front office men in NHL history. He started out as an unpaid scout for the then expansion St Louis Blues and worked his way to head scout of the NY Islanders and worked with Bill Torrey to build the Islander dynasty and then went on to become the GM of the Detroit Red Wings and lead them back into NHL Stanley Cup Champions. In his career Jimmy D was responsible for the personnel of 7 Stanley Cup Winners.

The one place where Devellano felt was a lost opportunity to win was in St. Louis. The Blues at the time were managed by Lynn Partick  and Scotty Bowman, two hockey legends  but the reason why in Jimmy D’s view the Blues didn’t win the Cup was due to Sid Solomon III, the son of the Blues owner Sid Solomon. Here is Devellano’ view of life with a son who knows nothing about a sports team he inherited:

{When I first got to St. Louis in 1967 there were two pretty good hockey people already there, by the names of Lynn Patrick and Scotty Bowman.

That St. Louis Blues team might have one day become a great organization and the Blues might have eventually won Stanley Cups after starting with two fine hockey people like that. Who knows, they could have had a dynasty there after the great start they had in their first three seasons.

But unfortunately, the owners son, Sid Solomon III, while a very nice guy, was awfully involved with the hockey club and was an awful meddler. We couldn’t keep mangers and coaches like Scotty Bowman because of his constant meddling. Sid was a good but he wasn’t a hockey person. He just didn’t know hockey. How could he have? He made his money in the insurance business, not the hockey business. He didn’t have a feel for the game.

His interference caused a lot of turmoil in St. Louis. They couldn’t retain good people they had in place, like Bowman an (Al) Arbour and it cost them dearly. The Solomons eventually lost their team through bankruptcy and that didn’t need to happen}

Is that not the Mets? Is Jeffey not Sid the IV? It’s not just Jeffey, I am totally sick and tired of David Howard, who really needs a heaping plate full of Shut the Fuck Up.

The Skill Sets have been very successful in the real estate world that’s what they are good at but when it comes to running a baseball team they are an out and out disaster. They have no clue on how to build a team and they have absolutely no people skills (I should call them the Non-Skill Sets) in other words they are not the Mets but the Mess.

This Mets team has a ton of holes. Starting pitching is the biggest followed by a strong defensive catcher, a big corner bat and a solid second baseman. The injuries of last season are a smoke screen to what this team needs to get back to being a contender. Even with a healthy Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Johan Santana and a rejuvenated David Wright, this team still has no grasp of the fundamentals of baseball and a lack of physical and metal toughness. If you were a major league free agent why would you want to play for the Mets?

Maybe the best move the Mets could make this winter is to put up a for sale sign.

To tell you the truth, I pretty much sick and tired about reading about Matt Holiday, Roy Halladay , John Lackey and most of all Orlando Hudson. Let me say this if you think O-Hudson is the answer as an up grade at second base on as a so called leader in the words of Mike Francesa “Yer Lawst”

The more reports I read the more pessimistic I get about the 2010 season and it all comes back to the ownership/management of this team.  As Mets fans I feel we must get it through our heads that the Mets will not contend for a post season berth in 2010. You hear people in sports say that teams take on the persona of its manager or head coach, well the Mets have taken on the persona of its ownership, weak, clueless and a lack of guts.

You all know my distain for Jeffey Wilpon and after reading “The Road to Hockeytown” by Jimmy Devellano, my disgust about the ownership of the Mets has increased.

For those of you are not hockey fans, Jimmy D is one of the best scouts/ front office men in NHL history. He started out as an unpaid scout for the then expansion St Louis Blues and worked his way to head scout of the NY Islanders and worked with Bill Torrey to build the Islander dynasty and then went on to become the GM of the Detroit Red Wings and lead them back into NHL Stanley Cup Champions. In his career Jimmy D was responsible for the personnel of 7 Stanley Cup Winners.

The one place where Devellano felt was a lost opportunity to win was in St. Louis. The Blues at the time were managed by Lynn Partick  and Scotty Bowman, two hockey legends  but the reason why in Jimmy D’s view the Blues didn’t win the Cup was due to Sid Solomon III, the son of the Blues owner Sid Solomon. Here is Devellano’ view of life with a son who knows nothing about a sports team he inherited:

{When I first got to St. Louis in 1967 there were two pretty good hockey people already there, by the names of Lynn Patrick and Scotty Bowman.

That St. Louis Blues team might have one day become a great organization and the Blues might have eventually won Stanley Cups after starting with two fine hockey people like that. Who knows, they could have had a dynasty there after the great start they had in their first three seasons.

But unfortunately, the owners son, Sid Solomon III, while a very nice guy, was awfully involved with the hockey club and was an awful meddler. We couldn’t keep mangers and coaches like Scotty Bowman because of his constant meddling. Sid was a good but he wasn’t a hockey person. He just didn’t know hockey. How could he have? He made his money in the insurance business, not the hockey business. He didn’t have a feel for the game.

His interference caused a lot of turmoil in St. Louis. They couldn’t retain good people they had in place, like Bowman an (Al) Arbour and it cost them dearly. The Solomons eventually lost their team through bankruptcy and that didn’t need to happen}

Is that not the Mets? Is Jeffey not Sid the IV? It’s not just Jeffey, I am totally sick and tired of David Howard, who really needs a heaping plate full of Shut the Fuck Up.

The Skill Sets have been very successful in the real estate world that’s what they are good at but when it comes to running a baseball team they are an out and out disaster. They have no clue on how to build a team and they have absolutely no people skills (I should call them the Non-Skill Sets) in other words they are not the Mets but the Mess.

This Mets team has a ton of holes. Starting pitching is the biggest followed by a strong defensive catcher, a big corner bat and a solid second baseman. The injuries of last season are a smoke screen to what this team needs to get back to being a contender. Even with a healthy Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Johan Santana and a rejuvenated David Wright, this team still has no grasp of the fundamentals of baseball and a lack of physical and metal toughness. If you were a major league free agent why would you want to play for the Mets?

Maybe the best move the Mets could make this winter is to put up a for sale sign.

 

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.

 

Toronto’s request of the Mets for star pitcher Roy Halladay was for top outfield prospect Fernando Martinez, young pitchers Bobby Parnell and Jon Niese and shortstop prospect Ruben Tejada, sources tell SI.com.

 

The Mets responded with a resounding no.

 

 I don’t know what is more stunning that J.P. Ricciardi would take a player plagued by so many injuries he has a handicap plate on his two wheeler, a dime a dozen reliever, a LHP who could be a back end starter maybe, and a teenager for one of the premier starting pitchers in all of baseball or that the Omar Minaya TURNED THIS DEAL DOWN!!!! Well Omar turning down the deal is not stunning in fact (that’s scary) but Ricciardi even offering that to the Mets? Does he hate being with the Blue Jays that much? Is there a secret pact with Minaya to hire Ricciardi as Tony B’s seat filler at $iti Field next year?

 

Ricciardi didn’t even ask for the best prospects the Mets own in Brad Holt, Wilmer Flores, or Jenrry Mejja. 

 

Then after the reports of Minaya turning down this offer Omar holds a news conference during last night’s game that he and J-Man are safe and sound in their jobs.

 

I will now douse myself in gasoline and light my sorry ass on fire.