Archive for the ‘Blog Entries’ Category

First of all, I’d like to apologize to everyone and Laurie especially for not being able to produce a show lately.  I’ve been away for work and busy doing things.  And frankly, there wasn’t much to talk about…until today.  At least the team manages to keep things entertaining off the field.

I also must say something else.  The first ever published article I wrote on the web was titled “In Omar We Trust”  It was in 2007 for a website that no longer exists.  But we’ve come a long way in two years because now it’s time for Omar to go.

I’ve almost been an Omar apologist the past few years.  As my baseball buddies constantly blasted Omar the past few years, I stood by him and his decisions.  I pointed to the fact that he took a last place team to the brink of a World Series just two years later and the team was at least very competitive the last two seasons.  I know not every move has been a great one: signing Luis Castillo to a 4 year, 24 million dollar deal, trading away Heath Bell and Matt Lindstrom and the disaster that was this offseason.  But he also made a number of pretty savvy moves along the way.  He traded for Johan Santana without giving up much, he signed K-Rod to a reasonable deal and he picked up valuable pieces like Pedro Feliciano, Endy Chavez and Ramon Castro for nothing.

But this year the team has been a mess and obviously has frustrated everyone that follows the Mets.  Omar did not spend on offense or backups and the farm system is in complete disarray.  I also was able to get more of an inside look as to how things were being run behind the scenes and it wasn’t pretty.  I mean the fact that Omar hadn’t even called to ask about Matt Holliday yet is incredible.

So lately, I’ve been on the fence with Omar.  I felt he should be fired at season’s end just because the Mets need a complete overhaul, but I didn’t think he would.  Now, I’m completely convinced that not only should Omar be gone but he will be.

You cannot call out a reporter during a press conference!!  I mean come on!!  How much of a baby can you be!?  Adam Rubin was kind enough to be a guest on my baseball show back when I was a student at Syracuse.  He always responded to my e-mails quickly.  I even asked him how he got into the business of reporting and if he had any tips for me or other young journalists.  I feel for Adam now because he essentially can’t do his job anymore thanks to Omar.  I’m not saying Omar is lying, but even if he’s 100% telling the truth, (and I highly doubt he is) then you air that out behind the scenes.  Omar just made another negative story out of nothing.  And if he’s proven to be a liar, he’ll never get a job in baseball again.  This might even be worse than what Tony B did.

I only have one more thing to say. Goodbye Omar.  It was kind fun while it lasted.

I think the Mets officially threw out the white flag this week, scoring one run in the final two games of a series with the Nationals.  Like I wrote a couple of weeks ago, if the Mets hadn’t given up by that point, it’s only a matter of time.  Here’s my new bold prediction: this team will lose 90 games this season.  And here’s why…

First of all, the only guys that might come back this season are Carlos Delgado, Billy Wagner and maybe J.J. Putz.  That’s because all three could be free agents at year’s end so they’ll push themselves to make it back.  Forget about seeing Carlos Beltran or Jose Reyes in 2009.  That just isn’t happening.  I also like the reports that still say these guys will be back either by the end of the month or early August.  The end of the month is a week from today and there’s no sign of anyone.  The earliest I could see any of these guys returning is a month from now, not a week from now.

Secondly, once you throw the white flag in on a season, it’s tough to start trying again.  So even if everyone came back, I don’t think all of a sudden the rest of the players will pick it up again as well.  They’re so far out of the race that it wouldn’t matter if all nine guys on the DL returned today.

And finally, over the past few years the team couldn’t win games when it mattered most and they were giving it their all.  Just imagine how much worse they’re going to be when nothing is on the line and losing actually gets you a better draft pick.  Forget about it.

Going by my count, the Mets have 22 series left.  Expect them to win 4-5 of them.  If people think this is the low point, then you’re only going to be disappointed.  The tailspin is just beginning.  Time to find something else to entertain you for the final two months of summer.

Finally a nice looking win for the Mets.  And what do you know…they’ve won two of their last three.  Amazing!  Maybe they can actually win a series.  But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Livan Hernandez was very good last night.  He can pitch against lousy teams.  The Mets do have a terrible schedule the rest of the way so maybe Livan has a decent second half.  He does go out there every fifth day.  So you have to give him credit for that.

Jeff Francoeur was awesome last night.  He hit his first homer as a Met and now has seven RBI in seven games.  He also made a really strong throw to the plate that almost nailed a runner.  If Brian Schneider had any idea how to block home, it would have been an out.  But that would involve someone on the Mets knowing basic fundamentals.  And I guess that’s a little unfair to ask for.

My man Daniel Murphy also had a really nice game.  He drove in two runs with two hits and also made a brilliant play at first in the 8th for a clutch double play.  I think Murphy is pretty much the only positive thing that can come from this season.  Hopefully Jerry keeps playing him everyday like I’ve begged for and we’ll get to see what he’s truly capable of.

And how about the Phillies.  They might be the streakiest team in the history of baseball.  They’ve been this way for the past three or four years, but this season it’s just absurd.  On June 11 after that big series win against the Mets in Citi Field, they were 35-23.  Then when the Mets came to town on July 3, they were 39-37.  That’s a 4-14 clip.  From then on, they’ve gone 13-1.  I’ve never seen a team go from that cold to that hot back to back.  But that’s kind of what I said back when the Mets were only two games behind the Phils.  I said eventually they’d get hot and just pull away.  I was thinking more like 15-5 hot, but this works better for the Phillies.  I guess they’re just putting Mets fans out of their misery early this year.

Well if the Mets are good at two things this year, they showed both last night.  Those two specialities are injuries and making really dumb plays that costs the team runs.

I have to be honest and admit I didn’t even spend a second watching this game.  I think that’s going to mostly be the case from here on out.  The team is nine games back and that number is only going to get higher.  It’s funny to think of all the articles when everyone got hurt saying oh they can keep it to 3-4 games and be fine.  It’s going to be triple that amount at least before anyone gets back.

Besides the lack of postseason chances, it’s frustrating to see another positive cog go down.  Just a few nights after their most surprising position player (Gary Sheffield) goes down, their best pitching discovery (Fernando Nieve) takes a spot on the DL.  Either the Mets are incredibly unlucky or their trainers and doctors are the worst in all of sports.  I actually think it’s a combination of both.

And the final reason to stop watching is to send a message to the front office.  What’s happened this season is unacceptable.  And it’s likely going to be three years in a row now where fans will have a disgusting taste in their mouths once the season wraps up.  You could almost say four considering how disappointing the 2006 NLCS was, but at least that year was a success.  Omar Minaya needs to absolutely clean house this offseason.  And there’s a better chance that happens if people don’t go to games and no one watches them on TV.

But really, there’s only one person to blame for this awful season.  He cost the Mets Manny Ramirez in the offseason, he’s cursed the team with bad luck and he sent the ownership group into a tailspin.  And that guy is Bernie Madoff.  Let’s just blame him and forget about the rest of this 2009 season.

The only question left to be answered is when the low point of the season will happen.  Tonight certainly looks like a good candidate as the Mets were absolutely spanked and lost their second best hitter.  I’m not sure how it could get any worse but I’ve asked that question many times over the past few years only to be proved wrong by the Amazins.

Tonight was probably the worst game of the season.  To call the offense lifeless would be an insult to the deceased.  This team looks brutal.  Someone needs to tell them the All-Star break is over.

In all seriousness, maybe the Mets can sell off some parts and get a nice draft pick for next year.  It will be curious to hear the litany of excuses after the season.  If Omar Minaya gives us some BS lines about how everyone was hurt and how that won’t happen next year and then does nothing in the offseason, this will be my final year as host of NYMetscast.com.  I will hang up the keyboard and headset.

Drew and I were e-mailing back and forth today.  The Mets need to blow this thing up in the offseason.  I know Ted and I just wanted some minor tweaks this past year, but I’m convinced the ship has sailed.  If they want to keep Reyes, Beltran and Wright, then they need to completely gut out the rest of the team and luckily they almost have to.  Carlos Delgado, Brian Schneider and Gary Sheffield will all be FA’s.  I hope Luis Castillo will not be back.  So if you want to keep the three core guys along with Murphy and Francoeur, then OK.  But you better get three All-Star caliber players at the other spots and a deep enough bench so you’re prepared for the worst.

The nice finish to the first half and the three days off made some people delusional.  Thoughts of a crazy second half where the Mets immediately turn things around, come from behind and take over the division danced in many Mets’ fans minds.  But reality set in tonight.  The Mets are terrible.

They’re now 7.5 games behind the Phillies.  When I said they’d be 8-9 games out by the end of July, some people thought I was crazy.  You might be right, but not in the way you hoped.  They’d be lucky to keep the gap at single digits.  They just aren’t good.

I like how during the post game, they’re talking about how it’s a positive because Ollie only gave up three runs in six innings.  Yay!  We gave the guy 36 million dollars, and he finally threw a quality start.  Congrats Ollie!

The offense is just so awful.  They had one inning of action and were lucky to get three runs.  The rest of the game was a lesson in futility.

I don’t know if anyone read Joel Sherman’s article today in the NY Post, but it’s a must read.  Omar Minaya hadn’t even called the A’s to see what they’d want for Matt Holliday.  Huh?  So the offense is the worst in baseball, and there’s a young All-Star outfielder available and you don’t even make a call to see what the other team would want in return?  What is Omar doing all day?  I’m on the phone making 100’s of calls everyday and many of them go nowhere.  But Omar can’t take the 5 minutes to call Billy Beane and say, “Hey buddy.  What do you want for Holliday?”

That’s his job!! What is he doing if he’s not even calling the A’s?  The article goes on to say that the front office is bad at returning calls and following up.  What!?  What are these guys doing all day?  Do they sit around and talk about fantasy baseball?  I mean come on.  They have a huge staff in the front office.  And no one has thought oh, maybe we should ask the A’s about that Holliday guy.  And this is a very disturbing trend in the Mets front office.  When I asked one member of their “team” who are the options to catch in 2010, I was told they’d worry about it in the next offseason.  Really, not a single person has been assigned to figure that out now.  It’s not like Omar is working by himself.  He has a huge contingency.  It’s absurd and unacceptable.  I want to sit in their offices for a week because I’m really curious as to what these guys do all day.

Man if the Mets somehow blew this one, it would not have been pretty.  But luckily they held on for a big win to end the first half on a semi positive note.

Gary Sheffield asked his way into today’s lineup and his three RBI turned out to be the difference.  In what’s been a terrible season for the Mets so far, Sheffield has really been the one guy who has far exceeded expectations.  I look for him to pick up where he left off in the second half.

Jeff Francoeur had another productive day for the Mets.  He delivered two hits and it seems like just having a fresh face in the lineup may have sparked some offense the past couple of days.  I know I was a little more excited to watch these past two games because of him.  You’d like to believe the players were a little more excited to play as well.

Good to see the home run draught come to an end with two bombs in three batters.  The apple not going up after Fernando Tatis’ home run was classic…just a fitting way to conclude this dreadful first half.

Mike Pelfrey was very good today.  He had one rough inning, which seems to happen during every one of his starts, but he managed to pull through and give the team two more innings.

The bullpen, however, was not very good today.  They got hammered pretty badly.  Sean Green was charged with three runs, but only Bobby Parnell was effective.  Parnell hasn’t given up a run in his last six appearances now.

And finally, how about Daniel Murphy!  If only Jerry Manuel had listened to me earlier and played the guy everyday.  Even Ronny mentioned today how much better the Mets are when Murphy is playing consecutive days rather than every other.

All in all a nice end to the first half as I wrote before.  It was also good to hear that Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado are finally making some progress in returning this year.  I still think the season is more or less over, but a couple of things have to happen for this team make any sort of comeback.  First of all, you need to get at least two of your three core guys back by August 1st.  Then you could have at least a semblance of an offense.  But until that time, the Mets have a relatively easy schedule.  They need to play .500 baseball for the rest of this month or at least hold ground against the Phils.  I know two months is plenty of time to make up games, but the Phillies are too good to blow an eight to nine game lead.  So really, as unlucky as the Mets have been so far in 2009, they’ll need the reverse in the second half if they have any shot whatsoever.

That looked like a game typical of an early-season win.  Johan Santana was brilliant.  The offense got some hits in a row, and the baserunning and defense were on.

Not much to say about tonight’s game.  Good to see Johan finally have a great start.  It’s been a while for him so maybe the start of the second part of the season was a lift.  He’s always been a second-half starter.

Nice to see Jeff Francoeur get off on the right foot.  I liked his line about what Tom Glavine gave him on how to succeed in New York.  If he hustles and plays the right way, the fans will love him.  I think overall he’ll do well with the Mets.  Just has to learn how to take pitches.  It’s easier to teach patience than power.

The bullpen finished up the job.  A nice win for the Mets.  Tomorrow is pretty huge.  Obviously the first half has been immensely disappointing.  At least if you could hit the All-Star break on a two-game win streak, (if you can call that a streak) it’s something to hold your hat on.

Good thing I threw in the white towel a few days ago.  Now the Mets are 6.5 games out and the playoffs seem like a miracle at this point.  Not only is the offense terrible, but the defense cost them a run again tonight.

Four hits against Bronson Arroyo is pathetic.  The guy is terrible.  And I was watching him all night.  He was throwing pitches right down the middle and guys were just swinging and missing.  Sometimes you get beat and other times you beat yourselves.  The Mets are beating themselves.

Fernando Nieve was pretty solid tonight.  He gave up two bombs, but that was about it.  The Reds have a very good offense and Nieve kept them in check.  Gotta give him some credit.

Watching Jerry in the postgame and he’s just laughing hysterically at nothing.  He reminds me of myself when I watch a game that’s just going so wrong, all you can do is laugh.  Like a hysterical madness…poor Jerry.  He’s been a bad manager this year, but no one would do well with this group of natural born losers.  One thing I have to tell Jerry because it seems like no one has said it to him yet….PLAY DANIEL MURPHY EVERYDAY!  And I’m done.

Church for Francoeur: Well goodbye Ryan Church and hello Jeff Francoeur.  I don’t think this trade really hurts or helps the Mets, but let’s dissect it.  Francoeur, who I will refer to as Frenchy (his nickname) from now on because his name is tough to spell, has a cannon for an arm in right field.  That is very helpful.  Church was probably better at going to get the ball, but I’ll take Frenchy in a slight upgrade defensively.  Frenchy is also a right-handed batter, which in the long run should help the offense once everyone is healthy.  An outfield of F-Mart, Beltran and Frenchy gives you a great defensive foundation and some balance offensively.

Frenchy is also 25 years old and has a few more years of arbitration before he becomes a FA.  And he pretty much plays everyday.  The final positive was he had a great season in 2006 at 22 years old when he hit 29 homers and drove in 103 RBI.  As Gary Cohen said, he was supposed to be a superstar just a few years ago.  Church’s potential was limited, he’s always hurt and he made a number of boneheaded plays.  I don’t think the Mets will miss Church…that’s for sure.

Now the bad…or the bizarre.  Frenchy does not walk…ever.  His OBP has been below .300 the past two years.  That’s terrible.  I mean he needs to pick that up.  He’s also been pretty awful in all other offensive categories the last two seasons and his defense has dropped off.  So who knows what they’re getting here.

But sometimes you just make a change to make a change.  And I like that he’s five years younger and plays everyday.  Maybe he just needed a change of scenery and to get away from his hometown team.  So all in all, I’ll take it, but honestly I don’t see it making much of a difference this year.  Just another bizarre day for the Mets.

So that’s what a win looks like…not that it was easy.  Oiy.  But they all count the same and the Mets need every single one of those.

Ollie Perez was erratic in his first start in two months, but he got the win.  He walked seven guys in five innings.  SEVEN!  Yet he only gave up two runs against a potent offense.  And he was throwing 93 pretty consistently.  So he might not have been very good, but it was a positive step for Ollie.

Daniel Murphy’s play at first was awesome.  I’ve never seen anything like that in my life.  Murphy was also awesome at the plate tonight too.  I said it before and I’ll say it again.  Play him everyday!!  I don’t care if he hits .200.  The Mets are not good and their season is almost definitely over.  Let’s see what Murphy’s got and if he can be an everyday player.  We know what Fernando Tatis is, we don’t know what Murph is yet.

Finally the offense put some hits together for a few runs.  Instead of double plays, they actually got hits.  Nice work!  It was about time.

Good work by Bobby Parnell in the bullpen.  He’s at least looked better lately.  Maybe he can turn it around.

And man K-Rod makes it exciting before getting the job done.  Gary Cohen willed Andre Ethier into that double play by mentioning several times how Ethier hits into a lot of DPs.  Good job Gary!!

We’ll take it.  The Mets can’t seem to ever carry any sort of momentum over from game to game.  This had to be a huge win for this team because they can tell the season is slipping away.  Maybe they can win a few games before the break and not fall eight or nine games out first place.  It’s going to take a nice 3-1 finish to the first half to convince me of anything though.