Over at Metsblog, Matthew Cerone asks the question Should the Mets add a character race like the Brewers Sausage race or the National President Race?  Now to me, all these racing games at the ball park reek of the bush leagues but if the Mets were to have one at $iti Field why not use rats ?

First, this city is known for it’s rat population (4 legged and two legged) so finding rats to work cheap wouldn’t be a problem. There are also plenty of cats on 126th St who frequent the shop shops and sometimes meander over to the ball park so you could have a cat chasing the rats just to speed up the festivities.

Have one rat per boro.

The Manhattan Rat could have on a Brooks Brothers suit to represent Wall St

The Brooklyn Rat could be a hipster type who has just discovered Williamsburg and Greenpernt (also known as GreenPOINT)

The Queens Rat could be Hiram Monserate

The Bronx Rat could be decked out in a Highlander uni

And last but not lease the Staten Island Rat would have tons of hair gel and a humongous crucifix around his neck .

I’m sure Shelly Silver could find a way to have para-mutual betting on these contests.

5 days until pitchers and catchers

First probelm, half of Staten Island is here. I’ve been stopped in the lobby about 5 times since geting here by people saying “Don’t I know you from so place” ? I didn’t gome 160 miles to hang out with my felow Staten Islanders, that’s what the SI Ferry is for.

The problem is most of them are Highlander fans and they folks here who are not Highlander fans are Phuck Phace fans. Of course I’m decked out in my Mets best threads, Sweatshirt, jacket, and my classic blue New Era cap.

After tossing out insults to me both sets of fans say to me “”I don’t know if you heard, but the Mets signed Jason Bay” No really? Then I go into  Moe Green mode “Do you know you I am”? at that point my family runs away from me.

I want to wish all of tou who comes to sight each day a happy and healthy New Year and just to let you know how appreciative I am that you folks come here each day not just read my posts but leave such great comments. Agian thany you guys so much.

Hopfully   I survive this weekend and I’ll be back here Saturday

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.

{Sidebar: one of the biggest differences between living on Staten Island from living in Brooklyn is Brooklynites are much more neighborly. As a kid growing up in Boro Park, I knew everyone who lived on my block. In the summer, the people of my block all sat outside on folding chairs in front of their house and socialized. When I first moved to SI my wife and I started siting on our front steps in the evening. We always wondered why our next door neighbor gave us dirty looks. It wasn’t until a fellow Brooklyn refugee informed us that on SI you sit in your backyard not your front porch, I guess that’s why I know about four people on my block and Staten Islanders want to know why they get no respect}

headed to the parade you don’t venture into Manhatan to often as the terminal was packed with cluelesss Highlander fans having trouble figuring out the Metro Card system.

Every morning I go to the Dunkin’ Donuts on Chambers St and the young ladies at the counter see me and get my X-tra large just milk ready for me. Well today the DD was packed with parade goers who gave me dirty looks because of my Mets cap. No one made a peep though as seeing me chatting with a couple of cops and traffic agents in the store, they figured I was a cop as well, but when I walked to the front of the 10 deep line, handed the girl at the counter my Mets DD debit card to swipe for my purchase and turned to leave, I flashed my card and pointed to my cap and said “Stay thirsty my friends”

The first thing I want to know about the child is was he overweight. I’m not picking on the kid if he was fat I’m asking because in 10 years of Little League coaching I’ve had 10,11 and 12 year olds that were so over weight we didn’t have baseball pants to fit them or shirts. I had a 12 year old who wore a 40 waist pants and XXL shirt (his parents thought it was so cute that Big Mike was playing ball even if he couldn’t run, catch or swing a bat without weezing) so maybe this young man was a bit to heavy and that led to his injury.

My next question would be is the child a special education student? Many parents never tell coaches that their child suffers from ADD or ADHD. I am not an educator or a psychiatrist so when I yell at a kid for not paying attention or not looking at me when I’m speaking, it’s because I think the kid is a goof off, if I know in advance that the kid has issues I’d approach him a different way but Little League is forbidden to ask if a child has behavioral problems. That is a huge issue. I’ve had many kids like that, in fact one kid was just a real nasty sort and one day at practice when he was tired of hearing me tell him to catch the ball with two hands he told me to go fuck myself. My son heard this and was ready to beat the kid to a pulp. Finally when the mother told me he didn’t take his “meds” that day I realized the kid was sick.

I volunteer for lot’s of things because I believe in giving back. No one grew up in a better environment than me and I tried to give that to my own kids. I always feel for children who come from homes where it’s not ideal and I’ve always felt that sports is a way of showing kids that teamwork and pulling for one and other is a life lesson and for the most part kids are great it’s the parents that suck.

One thing Little League needs to do is run coaching seminars in the winter to help ladies and gentlemen who would like to volunteer and either don’t know the rules or they are intimidated by other coaches. I’ve had teams where I needed two other people to help me and it was hard between the apathetic parents (the majority unfortunately ) and the ones who feel they are limited in what they know or can do about the sport. If the parents had some guidance the program works a lot smoothly.

I hope this woman will be happy with the money she gets (I know the ambulance chaser who took the case will put his take to good use <sarcastic>) and maybe her conscience won’t bother her when she passes the New Springville Little League field when it’s gates are locked and the grounds are full of weeds and the kids who’s could have made great friends and learned that there are people who not only are there to teach you to play baseball but to listen to your problems and try to help you are all gone but then again when you sue a local Little League you have no conscience.

I wanted to hurl when I read this. Although having served on jury duty on Staten Island I’m not surprised. To be quite honest, when I was on a panel for a civil case involved the MTA and a woman who fell on a bus the answers by the folks on the panel to the attorneys questions were embarrassing. Some woman claimed she couldn’t serve on the jury because she had to be home every day at 4PM to make dinner fro her husband. Another man said he lived in Totenville and coming downtown was a “pain in the ass” for him. So this moronic verdict is not shocking. 

A non-Mets but a baseball story here. I just read where a woman from Staten Island sued the New Springville Little League and Little League International because her son, aged 12 at the time torn up his knee sliding into second base. Her claim was the coaches were negligent in teaching her son how to slide properly.

I wanted to hurl when I read this. Although having served on jury duty on Staten Island I’m not surprised. To be quite honest, when I was on a panel for a civil case involved the MTA and a woman who fell on a bus the answers by the folks on the panel to the attorneys questions were embarrassing. Some woman claimed she couldn’t serve on the jury because she had to be home every day at 4PM to make dinner fro her husband. Another man said he lived in Totenville and coming downtown was a “pain in the ass” for him. So this moronic verdict is not shocking.

The first thing I want to know about the child is was he overweight. I’m not picking on the kid if he was fat I’m asking because in 10 years of Little League coaching I’ve had 10,11 and 12 year olds that were so over weight we didn’t have baseball pants to fit them or shirts. I had a 12 year old who wore a 40 waist pants and XXL shirt (his parents thought it was so cute that Big Mike was playing ball even if he couldn’t run, catch or swing a bat without weezing) so maybe this young man was a bit to heavy and that led to his injury.

My next question would be is the child a special education student? Many parents never tell coaches that their child suffers from ADD or ADHD. I am not an educator or a psychiatrist so when I yell at a kid for not paying attention or not looking at me when I’m speaking, it’s because I think the kid is a goof off, if I know in advance that the kid has issues I’d approach him a different way but Little League is forbidden to ask if a child has behavioral problems. That is a huge issue. I’ve had many kids like that, in fact one kid was just a real nasty sort and one day at practice when he was tired of hearing me tell him to catch the ball with two hands he told me to go fuck myself. My son heard this and was ready to beat the kid to a pulp. Finally when the mother told me he didn’t take his “meds” that day I realized the kid was sick.

I volunteer for lot’s of things because I believe in giving back. No one grew up in a better environment than me and I tried to give that to my own kids. I always feel for children who come from homes where it’s not ideal and I’ve always felt that sports is a way of showing kids that teamwork and pulling for one and other is a life lesson and for the most part kids are great it’s the parents that suck.

One thing Little League needs to do is run coaching seminars in the winter to help ladies and gentlemen who would like to volunteer and either don’t know the rules or they are intimidated by other coaches. I’ve had teams where I needed two other people to help me and it was hard between the apathetic parents (the majority unfortunately ) and the ones who feel they are limited in what they know or can do about the sport. If the parents had some guidance the program works a lot smoothly.

I hope this woman will be happy with the money she gets (I know the ambulance chaser who took the case will put his take to good use <sarcastic>) and maybe her conscience won’t bother her when she passes the New Springville Little League field when it’s gates are locked and the grounds are full of weeds and the kids who’s could have made great friends and learned that there are people who not only are there to teach you to play baseball but to listen to your problems and try to help you are all gone but then again when you sue a local Little League you have no conscience.

I did not see last nights Mets-Brewski game as I was attending the Staten Island Highlanders-Aberdeen Iron Birds game that was delayed 1 hour due to daily rain event here in NYC, but before the game I was a guest on Mike Silva’ NY Baseball Digest radio program, where Mike and I discussed the state of the Mets and what direction we felt this team should take. We both agreed that Mets fans have to relax a bit with their yelping for Omar Minaya to make a knee jerk trade as it’s not about trading, in fact this would be the worst time to make a deal of top prospects for a D-list of players that some fans think will lift this team. But one of the things we discussed was a Tweet I read from ESPN1050 that the had info that Jerry Manuel was told by the front office to knock off the rhetoric about injuries and calling out the front office to make a deal that has added gasoline to the fans/media bon fire this by the way I brought up yesterday and I agree with management telling Manuel to zip it.

Well it seems J-Man has gotten the message loud and clear as he closed the doors to his clubhouse after the game (another suggestion I brought up) and from the sound of it, reversed his sermon and told his team to stop looking for outside help and look at each other. Manuel tried to stem the tide of individualism that seems to have crept into his clubhouse and from this vantage point it looks like Manuel’ job is on the line. Not for this season but for next.

I don’t think it’s the fact that the team is losing but the way they lose that has them being mocked and laughed at throughout baseball and has caused embarassment to all who root for the Mets. The Mets players are lucky I’m not the team owner because I would have closed the club house door with a handful of player release forms in my hand and tell the players that the forms are loaded and “I’m not afraid to use them”

The last time the Mets had a month like this June was back in September 2003 when the Walking Cadaver Art Howe was in charge and “battling” all the way to a 7-19 record. That was the Met team with such notables as Jason “Goggles” Phillips, Vane Wilson, Tsuyoshi Shinjo, Danny Garcia and The Brothers Glavine. Another fact that gave me a “WOW” moment was that Pedro Feliciano is the only player to play for both losing Mets squads. Felicano has been a Met for 6 years AMAZING!!

I said 6-4 would be th emark to hit and with the melt down in LA and players dropping left and right winning 2 of the 3 series is encouraging.

Looks like F- Mart will join th eteam as early as tonight. How about we Mets fans let the kid breathe before we put Willie Mays aspirations on him?

At what point does Omar DL Jose Reyes? Reyes is not getting any better and now Ramon Martinez is hurting and from reading Fernando Tatis words in the paper this morning he is not looking forward to playing short.  Either bring up Ruben Tejada or Jose Cornado go try to get Omar Vizquel from the Rangers   

Picked up a nice 30 in Louisville Slugger at the flea market yesterday and a huge poster of the NY Football Giants winning the Super Bowl XLII for my office wall for 5 bucks oh and a nice sun burn as well

In talking with Mets ticket representatives, it appears that they will be unlikely to accommodate most group ticket requests because there are so many. The only tickets that are definitely available are about $100 (bottom bowl, along foul line) and renting a bus to NYC is more expensive than to DC; therefore if we run a trip, it will be close $140 per person.

Since that is more expensive than our previous trips, I wanted to see if fans are interested in shelling out that kind of money to see the Phillies humiliate the Mets. There are only enough tickets for one bus, so only about 50 people could attend. If you or your friends are interested in going, please fill out the form below and when the details are finalized, you will be among the first contacted to reserve spots.

$140 bucks is expensive? Bunch of fucking brokesters. I spend more than that on bottled water. Keep your busted ass’ home besides if you all go out a rob a couple of convenience stores  to make money and you do make the trip don’t come through Staten Island as I’ll have the Kranepool Society posse on high alert as every port of entry will be covered you Tasty Kake eating blow hards

And how can you mend a broken heart?
How can you stop the rain from falling down?
How can you stop the sun from shining?
What makes the world go round?
How can you mend a this broken man?
How can a loser ever win?
Please help me mend my broken heart and let me live again.

The more I keep trying to convince myself that it’s ok that Manny is not a Met the more I torture myself. I know I said I was on board with the decision the Mets made not to sign him but them why is when I watch his presser, I hate rate jumps and I get jumpy like I just drank 5 Manhattan Specials? All I keep think is if Manny was n the Mets lineup I could be the 5^th starter and the team would still win.

So now Alex Rodriguez needs surgery on his hip that will keep him out 10 weeks so wouldn’t it be nice if Captain Craptastic invited Rodriguez to stay with him while he recuperates? Kind of like a Oscar Madison Felix Unger scenario

Here is your 5^th starter kids.