Seeing that Johan Santana spots an 8.03 ERA in the first inning of his starts, maybe on his days to pitch, the strategy should be reversed, have the closer pitch the first inning then let Santana work innings 2-8.

R.I.P. Calvin Coolidge Julius Caesar Tuskahoma McLish

Congratulations to Wally Backman (future manager of the NY Mets) and his Brooklyn Cyclones on clinching the McNamara Division of the NY-PENN League.

Why do I have a feeling my football season is going to suck as bad as my baseball season.

Go get em Rapid Robert, at 91 Bob Feller is still tough as nails get well soon

That’s about it, Mets blogging ain’t as much fun as it used to be

For your listening pleasure, The Soft Parade

If there is anyone in the Mets front office who feels Luis Castillo should remain a Met, their opinion had to have changed after last night. I don’t care if you are a relative of Castillo’, his actions after driving in Ike Davis for a come from behind walk off win proves he hates being here as much as Mets fans hate that he’s here. Talk about irreconcilable differences, there is no reason to put Castillo or Mets fans through this loveless marriage anymore. Let’s do it for the kids. By the way check out Greg Prince’ post on last night’s game at FFIF and tell me you don’t feel like crying. Misery in Winning, that’s Mets Baseball.

Is Wayne Hagin kidding with his gushing praise of Jeff Francoeur ? After Francoeur knocked in David Wright with a Sac Fly in the 2^nd inning, Hagin went Radio Ga-Ga over Frenchy. I’d have given Howie Rose $100 bucks if he slapped Hagin in the head after his ridiculous remarks.

A must read for all Mets fans is Adam Rubin’ 3 part expose of the failings of the Mets under the Skill Sets/Minaya regime.  From reading this series I take it that Jerry Manuel will be fired as soon as the team is mathematically eliminated from contention (even though we all know the season is over NOW)  Minaya will either be caned or reassigned and I’m leaning towards reassignment. John Ricco will be the GM and Wally Backman the manager. The organization will find a way to either deal off Oliver Perez and Luis Casitllo or just release them and that money ($18 mil) will the equivalent of a free agent signing. The organization will make Backman the focal point of the team in order to sell tickets. Will it work? We won’t know until this time next year.

In  Rubin’ report he mentions how little money the Mets have spent on draft picks and in the International market for free agents. I had the pleasure of speaking with Wilbur Miller, a Pittsburgh Pirates fan and a fan poster on Bucs Dugout about the recent leaks of the financial statements of the Pittsburgh Pirates on my THIS CALL TO THE BULLPEN Radio Show last night and one of the items we talked about was the Pirates under the ownership of Bob Nutting and Frank Coonley have spent $23 mil in 2008 and $21.2 mil in 2007 on player development.  The Mets in turn have spent a mere $14 mil the last three seasons on player development. That’s $4mil less than the money they will pay Perez and Castillo combined next season.  After listening to my interview with Miller you tell me who is more optimistic Miller the Bucs fan or me the Mets fan?

Well, well, well it seems like someone other than a  paying customer, has finally had enough of the slackers that makeup the 2010 Mets:

The day after Jerry Manuel called the Mets’ offense “pathetic,” hitting coach Howard Johnson  convened a meeting before Friday’s game and harshly criticized his hitters for their recent performances and pregame card-playing, team sources told the Daily News.

“It was really in your face, and some guys didn’t like that, but it needed to be said,” one player said.

Wait, when did Rickey Henderson get back to town? CARD PLAYING!!!!! So I guess this team is looking toward making the World Series of Poker instead of baseball’s Fall Classic.

The first thought that popped in my head was, someone (Jeffey) whispered in HoJo’s ear that he will be back next year as part of Wally Backman’ staff so we need you to fire the first salvo of the soon to be Under New Manager Mets. Then I saw that HoJo was not too happy that Manuel called the offense “pathetic” and in turn threw HoJo under the bus, so The HoJo strikes back by calling out the players and in turn showing up Manuel by doing the mangers works by shaking up his players.

Look if the clubhouse is going to blow like a powder keg it might as well happen in Pittsburgh where the Mets are on the verge of an almost impossible three game road series sweep today.

After the Hojo Blow-Blow, I think it’s a foregone conclusion that Jerry Manuel Mets Era is in the home stretch and that thought will be cemented when Backman and his Brooklyn Cyclones show up at Citi Field for Celebrate the 2010 NY-Penn League Championship Day next month and Backman joining the Skill Sets, Uncle Saul and Dave the Shyster in the Skill Sets Suite.

Unfortunately last night, Doug Glanville had a family emergency to tend to and had to cancel his appearance with me on This Call To The Bullpen but we are both working on finding another day for Doug to come on the program to talk about his book The Game From Where I Stand (Henry Holt/Times Books) and we hope to have that hashed out in a few days. So I had to decide, cancel the show or just go on and rant for an hour and the hour rant won out. So if you want to hear me talk about Jerry Manuel, playing games that count in Puerto Rico, Bobby Valentine and Wally Backman, then check out last nights This Call To The Bullpen.

don’t forget to check out the THIS CALL TO THE BULLPEN shop at Cafe Press

It’s game like last night that stirs the demons of my Mets soul. I want nothing more than to stand on Broadway decked out in every piece of Met clothing I own and celebrate the ticker tape parade that no other city in the world gives to his championship sports teams. What has me conflicted is, if that happens, then Jerry Manuel will be the Mets manager for a minimum of three more years. Last nights game showed just about ever deficiency in Manuel’ game. Stephen Hanks of Mets Merized Online lays each and every flaw (save maybe for number one and the author agrees that my be picking at nits as well) from not running for Rod Barajas and even the pinch hitting for Ruben Tejeda but the big one for me was using Frankie Rodriguez in the 8th inning last which goes with Manuel’ “throw a reliever against the wall and see what sticks” bullpen management.

We are starting to get inundated with Cliff Lee rumors, not just every day but just about every hour. I don’t think there is a Mets fan out there who doesn’t want Lee on the team, as his presence alone will make the Phuck Phaces and Squaws go “GULP”. But at what price would you pay for this rental Ace? At this point there is no way you can trade Angel Pagan. Saying that, when Carlos Beltran does come back, Beltran is THE CENTERFIELDER and he is the centerfielder until he shows he physically can’t play the position any longer. However, Beltran will not be out there day after day so Pagan gets say two days a week in CF, then another couple in the corners with more time in RF. Beltran is not a corner outfield and there is a huge difference between playing CF from playing a corner outfield spot as we saw with the horrific collision between Mike Cameron and Carlos Beltran back in San Diego a few years ago. Pagan has played corner outfield so the transition is easier for him.

The price on Roy Oswalt may not be too high but Drayton McClain is an Al Davis clone. He wants to shed payroll but he hates to part with his good ol’ boys like Oswalt and Lance Berkman, even when both player say it’s best for the organization to trade both of them.

The most intriguing move would be to get Carlos Zambrano as the Cubs would move the high strung Z and take players non grata, Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo. The problem is when all the contracts change hands it could cost the Mets $18 mil for Z . Ted Lilly is attractive as well after pitching a great game last night so there are some options for the Mets (Jeffey Skill Sets and John Ricco that is I still say Ricco is running the baseball ops with Jeffey and Omar has been relegated to high paid scout)

I spent the night at Coney Island watching the Brooklyn Cyclones tear apart the Hudson Valley Renegades 16-5, check out Amazin’ Avenues recap of the game.

I’m loaded with work today so the post will be brief but this was the third game Cyclones game this season and Wally Ball is something else. The best part of watching the Cyclones is that Wally Backman coaches 3^rd base and he has this team running the bases with aggression.

Backman got his first ejection from a game as a Cyclone in the top of the 9th inning as he questioned a called HR but that looked foul but the umps called it a fair. Now you say, the Cyclones were up 12 runs what the hell was Wally doing arguing? Well earlier in the game the base umpire (there are only 2 umps in NY-PENN games) called a Brooklyn runner out at first where he looked safe, by a lot that ended a Cyclone rally. I guess the umpire knowing Backman’s rep didn’t want to hear him, so he jogged out to the outfield grass after the call as Backman jogged across the field to the home dugout staring down the official. Wally wanted to go after him but the ump just kept jogging further out to the outfield. It was quite funny to watch.

But Wally filed that play away in his head until the 9^th when he used the botched home run call as an excuse to let the young umpire know he can run but he can’t hide from him and it’s best to take your ass kicking from the manager like a man.

It was “Let’s Go Get A Beer Doc” moment for Wally.

Those old enough to remember New York’s championship in 1986 celebrated his return.  They appreciated his nine years with the Mets, which included a .283 career batting average and 106 stolen bases, both Top 10 numbers on the franchise’s all-time list.

In the interim, Backman had bounced around as a minor league manager, most notably winning a Southern League title with the 2002 Birmingham Barons (the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox) and the Sporting News’ 2004 Minor League Manager of the Year, upon leading the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Lancaster Jethawks squad (A) to an 86-54 record.

But, within 96 hours after he was tabbed as the Diamondbacks’ manager later that year, all hell broke loose.  Reports surfaced that Backman’s recent history included several legal and financial issues.  Management -obviously embarrassed for conducting a less-than-stellar background check- retracted its offer and promptly axed him before the week was over.

Still, he continued to persevere.  In 2007, Backman led the South Georgia Peanuts, an independent team, to the South Coast League’s inaugural title.  The following year, he was with the Joliet JackHammers of the Northern League.

In November 2009, Backman was chosen to take the Brooklyn Cyclones into their 10^th season.

That began on Friday, with a come-from-behind 5-3 victory in Staten Island.  A 1-0 record was, at the least, a good start.  At the most, it pushed his highly anticipated managerial debut at MCU Park that much closer.

“I am thrilled and grateful to be coming back to the Mets’ organization,” Backman said when he was introduced as manager.  “The greatest days of my professional career were spent here in New York, and I have always felt a special connection to the city.  Brooklyn is a major minor-league team, and I know the borough’s fans are – like me – intensely passionate about baseball and about winning.”

Backman knows how baseball in this town is supposed to be played.  After all, he epitomized the player who maximized his ability, and never -ever- cheated his audience.  His return to the metropolis was, at first, a curious one because Jerry Manuel’s tenure as Mets’ skipper was in jeopardy;  now it is lauded for what it actually is -a chance for young men to learn the right way to play the game.

By chance, this is where he had received his start after New York drafted him 16^th overall in the 1977 Draft.  Fresh out of Aloha High School in Orgeon, the 18 year-old newbie hit .325 over 69 games for Little Falls, then a New York-Penn League affiliate.

Thus, it was inevitable that when the 50 year-old former second baseman emerged one-half hour before Saturday’s opening pitch, fans alongside the Cyclones’ dugout cheered wildly.  Instantly, Backman was besieged by autograph seekers.

“The fans haven’t changed,” he said, after Brooklyn won its second straight over the rival Yankees, 9-6, which drew a franchise record crowd of 9,888.  “It was a good reception; even better that we got the win for them.”

Do not be fooled by the nine runs.  Staten Island committed five errors, which produced a wild line score of 6-7-5.  Only five of the Cyclones’ runs were earned, lending even more credence that WallyBall will be very much in play over the summer.

“I was told, from Day One, that -when the wind blows in- a ball hit to rightfield is not going anywhere,” Backman noted.  “We will have to manufacture runs here.  We don’t have a lot of power guys, so we’ll have to hit-and-run, and move guys over.  And, try to force the defense to make some mistakes.”

After all the miles in between, he is finally back home -to a place where everyone knows his name, as that famous lyric goes- and doing what he likes to do.  And, at this moment, it doesn’t get much better.

John Buro covers the New York Mets for Examiner.com.

Time for some random samplings when complete thoughts just won’t do:

I’m surprised President Obama hasn’t announced that Jim Joyce will be given the Medal of Honor for showing such bravery for fucking up Aramando Galaraga’ perfect game. Sure it’s great that Joyce admitted to this major screw up and it’s admirable that Galaraga gave Joyce some love at home plate, I wonder if the organist at Comerica Park played “Why Can’t We Be Friends” as they had their tender moment. Lost in all this is the fact that a major overhaul of the umpiring system in MLB is needed and needed fast. But we all know the Used Car Salesman will call his Blue Ribbon Committee together (pick out you best bow tie there George Will) they’ll look over the situation and do nothing. It’s the Bud Selig way.

There is enough technology now that using replay in baseball for plays other than home runs should be discussed. However, if MLB did more to train its umpires better and weeded out the suck ass ones (I’m looking at you Joe West, Angel Hernandez and Lance Barksdale) you wouldn’t have the fans clamoring for replays as you do now. Most of it is just knee jerk reaction that has become the American way.

It absolutely sucks that Daniel Murphy injured his knee again in Buffalo as he was taken out on a slide and is done for the year. In a post on Mets Today, Joe Janish puts the blame for Murphy’s injury on the way the Mets Baseball Ops do business:

The Mets’ lack of foresight and reactionary, force-feeding decision-making process are not new — they’ve marked the Omar Minaya era. Is there any logical reason why, when Murphy was in Port St. Lucie, he was officially banned from taking ground balls at any position other than first base? Wouldn’t it have made sense to have him work with someone like Sandy Alomar, Sr., Wally Backman, or Kevin Morgan, on footwork and other techniques around the bag, in a non-competitive situation, while he was down there? If they were serious about making him a “utilityman” and teaching him second base in particular, wouldn’t it have made more sense to keep him in Florida, working intensely and regularly with one of the aforementioned coaches — or an external, short-term hire like Roberto Alomar, Jose Valentin, or a similarly adept and experienced former MLB second baseman? Such an expense is a smart investment for a club with a $140M+ payroll, that is also desperate to develop “trade bait”.

 

That has been the story of Daniel Murphy and the failure of the organization that they have switched him from 3^rd base to 2^nd base to 1^st base to left field and back to 2^nd base all without the proper instruction that he needed. I’ve watched Razor Shines hit fly balls to him time and again at Citi Field but has anyone worked with him on technique like proper use of the drop step and picking up fly balls ? Same with 1^st base, the team finally asked Keith Hernandez to help him out and Murphy was more that conscientious student. Murphy has done everything the organization has asked of him but what has the organization done for Murphy? NOTHING!!!!

Stephen Strasburg beat the Buffalo Bison yesterday, just a prelude to what we are in store for the next 10 years when he joins the Nationals next week.

If Oliver Perez refuses to go to the bushes again today therefore blocking the activation of Jon Niese, I have a way of getting him to go

Last night Kevin Garnett looked old and broken down. Rajon Rondo, maybe his fear of not making free throws, refused to drive to rack-passing up going strong to the basket and passing off to Big Baby for jump shot is beyond wrong it’s almost criminal-Ray Allen was taken out the game by the only officials worse than MLB Umpires, NBA Thieves Refs. But, one thing I’ve learned about these Celtics, just when you think they are a bunch of old broken down hoopsters and your ready to throw dirt on them, they bounce back. I expect a full recovery on Sunday.

Prayers and good thoughts to The Coach

What’s most disappointing about last night’s Mets loss was not just the wasted effort of Ollie Perez or the fact that the early in the season reliable bullpen gave up big runs as Vitamin Pedro had the runs, it was the reaction of the dead manager walking after the loss, (this J-Man quote,  courtesy of Subway Squawkers):

You have to applaud the fight. We have, at least in these first 10 games, given ourselves a shot and haven’t been able to come away with anything significant. I think if we continue to do that, it will eventually turn for us. If we continue to keep this attitude and fight, and bring it every day, some things are going to start going our way.”

Now if the Mets were a 14 year old Babe Ruth team, that would be a good philosophy (As I’ve gotten a bit older and in my 11^th season of managing youth baseball my demeanor has gone from a Billy Martin/Larry Bowa type personality to a Chuck Tanner type telling all my players how much I love having them on the team even when run like their carrying an Kenmore Fridge on their back and have no baseball sense whatsoever) but for a professional baseball team that told us all spring how this was a season of redemption and run commercials of believing in comebacks  (I would love to see a Mets commercial with manager Wally Backman, 3^rd base coach Lenny Dykstra and pitching coach Bobby Ojeda all saying WE BELIEVE IN TOTAL ASS KICKING) as Subway Squawker Jon Levin points out is very Art Howe-ish. We lived through that dead manager era once already; I’m not up to second version of it now.

Wayne Coffey in today’s Daily News has a great two page story on Dwight Gooden and his road back into baseball and leading a life free of drugs and alcohol. Coffey zones in on Doc’ 1985 season which is one of the greatest pitching season in baseball history. I love that Coffey mentions that the Gooden phenomenon back then has not been matched in this city.  No player in any sport in this city can match what Gooden and the Mets did back then. I remember that any start Gooden made was a must see event and as hard as this is to believe where I lived in Brooklyn we did not have cable. So when any Gooden starts were not on Ch 9 the choice was either get to Shea or get to a bar that has one of those huge satellite dishes to watch his starts.

I’m glad that Doc is back in baseball as he is working for the Newark Bears but with this new found thinking of management bringing back players who actually have a winning pedigree with the Mets in coaching positions, you would think there would be a spot for Doc.

I know I’m late with this but kudos to Mike Silva and Joe DeMayo over at NYBD for breaking the story on the hiring of Wally Backman by the Mets to manage the Brooklyn Cyclones. Not only is great to have Wally back in the family but to manage Brooklyn makes it even sweeter.

By the way all of the folks who are attacking Mike and Frank Russo over his report that Carl Crawford has asked out of Tampa need to grow up. What, you think Crawford is going to retire a Ray?

To me the biggest question of the off season is still how much power does Omar Minaya have, Joel Sherman shines some light on the subject:

Rival executives and agents described a man not fully in charge of baseball operations regardless of what Mets ownership says. One NL official said that lag time between discussing business with Minaya and the time it took him to respond suggested he had to run the information through a committee.

An agent said, “You might not like what Omar had done in the past, but he was always aggressive and decisive. He looked old, beaten and without a plan this time.”

Executives and agents said they thought Minaya has yet to be told a true budget by ownership, and that is leading to the belief that the Mets do not want to spend big. A second agent said, “The Mets are not a destination spot right now, especially if you are a hitter. You would be going to a questionable team playing in a huge park. So if you’re Jason Bay, why would you leave the Red Sox for the Mets unless you were blown away (financially), or if you were Matt Holliday, why would you leave St. Louis for the Mets unless you were blown away?”

If this info is right then the Skill Sets fucked up again by not firing Omar and not giving the job to either John Rico or going out and hiring a younger more aggressive GM. This is what bugs the living shit out of me with Jeffey Skill Sets, all along he states that Minaya has “full autonomy “ over the baseball ops but according to Sherman’s sources he has to run his moves though a committee so in effect you’ve cut Omar’s balls off. Great move Jeffey, you little shit.

 

I did not get to hear Omar, Jeffey and Dave The Lawyer on with the Sports Bloviator last night and I can’t listen to the replay at work because of the filters on our computers, so I am relying on Mathew Cerrone’s recap which is court stenographer accurate.

 

The first thought in my mind when I heard the Gang of Three were going on ‘FAN with Francesa was how could I get some C5 explosive into that studio. The only nit wits missing from that group were Glen Beck, Momar Kadafi, and Vince the ShamWow guy for it to be a true Carnival of Douchebags.  

 

So let’s look at some of the highlights of this day of damage control Skill Sets style:

 

Only two coaches got whacked, Alomar Sr. and Luis Alicea and they were the only two who didn’t have anything to do with the season of suck. Razor Shines, the most inept third base coach since Wendel Kim, not only stays but he becomes Manuel’s confidant. But according to J-Man, Shines was responsible for the awful base running and for not making Daniel Murphy into an acceptable outfielder, but he’s a good baseball man so he gets to stay. Alomar Sr. gets the boot because it’s his fault that Luis Castillo is a broken down pedestrian second baseman. Christ, my head hurts already! As for Alicea , I wouldn’t know Alicea if he were sitting here next to me. So much for flying under the radar.

 

Jeffey apologized up and down for the awful season and said time and again that injuries were not to blame and that the lack of fundamentals were front and center a huge problem. He also said that the problem stems from the minor league system and the organization has to do a much better job of preparing the players on the farm so they can step in when the big league team calls them up. Well, knock me over with a Wilson Valdez’ bat. It’s good to see that Jeffey is reading the blogs and finally getting reliable information, especially the soon to be hiring of Wally Backman, to manage Binghamton.

 

The money issue came up and Jeffey claims the Mets will have plenty of bucks this off season to tantalize free agents. That’s great, but just because you have money doesn’t means you know what to do with it.  I give you Mets fan exhibit A, the Oliver Perez contract. Jeffey also was proud to say the Mets went over slot with first round pick Steve Matz by giving him a bonus of $895K. That’s great, but now with the 7^th pick in this years draft I want to see if the Skill Sets go over slot as they are sure to get a top talent to drop in their lap due to signabilty. It will be put up or shut up time next summer.

 

I’ll give Jeffey and his stooges this much, they learned the lesson from 2007 when they left Willie Randolph hanging in the wind for a couple of days before the came out and said he’d be back and addressed the collapse. This year they were out in force and addressed everything that needed to be addressed. The key is money talks and bullshit walks and with all the bullshit that comes from the Mets corporate office, the stuffed shirts in charge must go thru a lot of shoes.

 

The plan sounds good but it will take a big time move to prove to me they Skill Sets are sincere and intelligent enough to pull this off. Bring me Roy Halliday and I’ll be conveniced.

 

Watching Jeffey on SNY during his presser and with Chris Carlin, I’m pretty certain he never took a public speaking course in college. The guy is soooooo uncomfortable in front of the camera and reading his prepared statement was as painful to watch as it was for him to give it.. He has the personality of stale Wonder Bread. Crack a fucking smile will ya ! and stop the Elmer Fudd impersonation. Besides the on field work that needs to be done, the organization needs to hire a front man with some personality, some pizzaz. Not only would hiring Bobby Valentine bring that but he also brings a brilliant baseball mind as well. Sure the Skill Sets love Jay Horowitz like a son but it’s time to get someone in here who will push the Mets agenda a little more forceful. If you have seen Giants mouth piece Pat Hanlon on Giants All Access, that’s the kind of PR flack the Mets need.