Miscues hurting Mets early in season

While people can say that it is still early, with April not even entirely in the books, I am still worried about this Mets team. Mentally and sometimes even physically (Daniel Murphy, I am looking at YOU out there in left field. I am going to be purple by the end of the season from holding my breath every time a ball is lofted out to left).

This most recent game against the Cardinals was a prime example of bad ball. First, Carlos Beltran inexplicably did his best Jeremy Giambi imitation in the eighth inning, deciding not to slide at the plate while trying to score on an errant throw to third. It's not like he forgot how to do it in 90 feet, since he popped up out of a slide at third to try to score. If Beltran slid, the Mets would have gone ahead, 5-4 and kept the inning alive. Instead, catcher Yadier Molina was able to block the plate with his foot and tag Beltran on the thigh. The umpire, standing off to the side of the plate, had an almost bored look on his face when calling Beltran out, and the Cardinals got to jog off the field while Beltran had an almost stunned look on his face.

Then the bottom of the eighth, with Murphy misjudging another ball hit to him that allowed the Cardinals to go ahead, I had to keep from bloodying my forehead by banging it on the wall. Then Ryan Franklin pitched an easy ninth to get a save (the only good thing there is that I picked him up the other day in one of my fantasy leagues to replace Huston Street, who has been horrible thus far).

Yeah, yeah, I know, it's April. Tell that to the rest of the National League East, where the Marlins are doing their damndest to recreate the Detroit Tigers' 1984 35-5 run to begin the season. Chances are high that the Marlins will fall to Earth, but do the Mets reall want to run that risk? Manager Jerry Manuel has to make some decisions and fast:

-does he allow Murphy to keep trying to learn on the job? There is the risk that he might damage the kid's psyche, but they also need to win. Maybe stick Tatis out in left and let Sheffield and Church keep platooning in right?

-Oliver Perez was NOT in good form again tonight, only going 4 2/3 innings and giving the Cardinals five free passes. Evil Ollie keeps showing his face, and this is not what the Mets are paying good money for. I know Perez was inactive a lot during the WBC, but that excuse is thin, and the Mets' coaching staff may have to piece him together like the Yankees are going to have to do with Chien-Ming Wang.

-Sorry Omar, as huge and impressive physically Wily Mo Pena is, he is NOT the answer for the Mets in the outfield. Maybe he will surprise. I doubt it, though.

-Maybe the Mets could trade Casey Fossum... he did help the Red Sox land Curt Schilling five years ago... Riight.

I just hope they bring a better game tomorrow against St. Louis. This kind of play can't keep going on.

Thoughts on the beginning of the season

The lights came on for real at Citi Field, but unfortunately, the Mets could not answer the bell (Yes, that was a Heath Bell pun already in the first paragraph). I got excited when David Wright fittingly launched the first Met regular season home run at their new park, but it was short-lived and I got to watch the game end in defeat for the home team, like they closed down their old park, which is now a memory in both eye (Shea is already torn down and in the process of being repaved over) and in mind (The subway stop is now "Mets-Willets Point").

Of course, it's too early to panic, but some things already are nagging at me:

Are we going to regret bringing Ollie Perez back at the expense of Pedro Martinez? The bad Ollie has been mostly front and center throughout the spring, and I would hate for that trend to continue.

Johan Santana already expressed displeasure at a Daniel Murphy gaffe that he told the media "cost them the game." Ryan Church and Carlos Beltran know what they are doing in right and center field respectively, but I do NOT want to have to hold my breath every time a ball is lofted to left field. We shall see.

I was hoping Pedro Feliciano was going to be in that reliever exodus in the offseason, following Mssrs. Heilman, Schoeneweis and Sanchez, and Feliciano's 9.00 E.R.A. thus far is not making me change my mind. Balking in a run isn't good either.

When the Mets got Jeremy Reed in the J.J. Putz deal, I was happy. I hope he keeps hitting.

Heading to bed now. Hope that the good Ollie Perez shows up tomorrow night against the Padres.

Feb 24 Thoughts

Opened up the Daily News today to find that Mets manager Jerry Manuel had already practically handed the left field starting job to Daniel Murphy. Not only that, Manuel also gave a vote of near non-confidence to right fielder Ryan Church, saying that he didn't think Church's late season struggles last year could all be attributed to the concussion that Church suffered when his head met Yunel Escobar's knee at the end of a game in May. Manuel thought that Church may have been pressing too much in the throes of a pennant race and said that this yearm Fernando Tatis may spell Church against left-handers.

Yeah... I know that baseball is a business and that Manuel might be just trying to push Church's buttons, but that seemed awfully cold to say before the first Spring Training pitch has been thrown. And Manuel is known for being a player's manager. What would someone like.. oh say... Dick Williams have done in that situation, just locked Church in the clubhouse?

MLB.com later said that Church met with Manuel to discuss the situation. I don't think Williams would have done that. Then again, Williams didn't manage in the Internet age where every newspaper and blog can post their opinions in .5 of a second.

Of course, this whole fifth starter race is going to be fascinating... I would love for the Mets to be able to throw a huge guy like Freddy Garcia out of the five slot... a healthy and good Freddy Garcia, of course. I learned from watching Jeff D'Amico that being big or tall doesn't necessarily translate into being good for an entire season.

I was going to write more tonight, but my cat Matlock has begun Olympic marathon training by running incessantly throughout the apartment, so I think I am going to try to calm him down so that I can go to sleep and not worry about him using me as a hurdle or even a springboard in his overnight training. There is nothing like being half-asleep and either feeling a SPROING nearby as he jumps over me or feeling 15 pounds jump off my hip, as I have learned to sleep on my side to avoid having him jump off my stomach, or worse...

Now I will go to sleep with the "Chariots of Fire" music playing in my head.

New Year, New Posts

Yeah, so it took a while for me to get over the Giants' loss to the Eagles in the playoffs, to erase the images of them falling short, of both Eli Manning and Brandon Jabcobs being stuffed on fourth dow... ok, great, back to work on that.

It will be interesting though to see what happens to the Giants this offseason. They have already lost defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo to the Rams, where he will be the head coach. With Spagnuolo, I wonder if he will be the second coming of John Fox, who was able to step in and quickly make the Carolina Panthers contenders (their last showing against the Cardinals in the playoffs notwithstanding, since Fox doesn't throw the ball, quarterback Jake Delhomme does). The Giants stayed in-house though, hiring Bill Sheridan, their linebackers coach, a move that I like, since it allows them to maintain the same defensive scheme, one that should hopefully be bolstered even more by the return of Osi Umenyiora, whose visibility this past season was relegated to energy drink commercials and sideline presence.

They have decisions to make at running back, since Derrick Ward and Brandon Jacobs are both free agents, and the decision is not entirely theirs, as there will be teams out there with money to offer for the both of them. I would love to see Earth, Wind and Fire back for another season, but it is unlikely.

Another story to follow: Will Plaxico Burress be allowed back on the team or will they decide that he is poison and try for a trade, like they did with Jeremy Shockey last year? From what I have read, even the players are not sure if they want him back if he shows no sign of remorse or of any signs of maturity.

As for the Super Bowl, my pick is the Steelers. I just think that they are too good, and Troy Polamalu will be on Larry Fitzgerald even more than Fitzgerald's own shadow. If Willie Parker is on his game, then that will be enough for Ben Roethlisberger to be able to make some plays of his own. While it would be a nice story to see Arizona win its first Super Bowl, I think Pittsburgh gets a ring for the other hand.

Off to bed now, where I will try to begin dreaming of baseball, which is just around the corner once the final seconds run out on the Super Bowl.

Tuesday Thoughts

Couldn't end 2008 without at least one more post, especially given how fast the NFL coaching carousel has been spinning. If this were a real carousel, people would be hanging on for dear life while shrieking, "SOMEONE TURN THIS OFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!"

The following coaches have already received their pink slips: Eric Mangini (the Jets's collapse, along with a seeming lack of fire on the sidelines sealed his fate), Romeo Crennel, Rod Marinelli (though who couldn't see that one, with the Lions being 0-16 and all) but the most shocking one was today: Mike Shanahan is no longer the head coach of the Denver Broncos. When I saw that Breaking News headline on ESPN.com, my jaw dropped. Sure, Denver had collapsed at the end of the season... but he's Mike Shanahan...you know.. Super Bowl-winning Mike Shanahan. It must be feeling very odd around the Denver area now.

So now Bill Cowher has ANOTHER possible destination as a head coach, should he decide to look there. Seeing who gets plugged into these vacancies should be veeeeeeery interesting. I'll stay tuned, of course.

Next, I breathed a sigh of relief when the Mets shot down a rumor about a trade that would have netted them Andruw Jones. Sure, Jones was mashing homers as recently as a year and a half ago, but seems to have declined in a startingly short amount of time. And there were reports that he was never 'comfortable' in Los Angeles. That raises a question for me: If you can't be 'comfortable' playing in Los Angeles, which is one of the most laid-back places, along with one of the most laid-back managers in Joe Torre, what would make ANYONE think that Jones would suddenly get 'comfortable' in New York, where the media and fans seem to have contests to see who can be more relentless on their players. Add the fact that his swing seems to have disappeared, and chances would be good that he would not regain it in the harsh spotlight here. I'll hope that Luis Castillo gets himself back in shape and regains the form that made him one of the better second basemen in baseball. That may be a tall order too. Sigh.

I'm a Knicks fan and am hoping that the new Donnie Walsh/ Mike D'Antoni regime helps the Knicks, but this Bill Simmons column has me worried about the future, as well. Here is hoping that Coach Mike proves him wrong.

Hmmm... the Mets have offered Derek Lowe a deal. With Scott Boras involved, though, I know this is likely far from over. Still, it would be nice to see D-Lowe in a Mets uniform.

That's all for now... I'll probably post one more entry before the ball drops tomorrow, but if not, Happy New Year, everyone!

Thursday thoughts: 11/06/08

Things that are rattling around in my brain while waiting for the sun to come out in New York City:

• More Knicks dysfunction: I would like to hope that this team isn't the only one that would allow someone to collect over a million dollars in such a short span of time for not being ALLOWED to try to do his job. I'm not a Stephon Marbury fan by any stretch of the imagination, but this power struggle between he and the Knicks is getting utterly ridiculous. By the time this is over, it could be as bad as some of those fat salaries given to the CEO of the failed Wall Street firms. Hey, they at least won last night.
  
• Speaking of the Knicks: Do you think that when Charlotte Bobcats coach Larry Brown, who recently helmed the New York squad, leaned over to talk to Mike D'Antoni, he whispered, "Do NOT listen to anything that the people around here tell you."
• Mets Gold Gloves: Congratulations to David Wright and Carlos Beltran for bringing some hardware back to the Mets. There were times that both players may have struggled at the plate and pressed too hard, but I never felt nervous when a ball was hit in their direction. Of course, the two biggest Phillie pests, Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino had to win, too.
• Cy thoughts: If I were a member of the Baseball Writers who could vote, Johan Santana would have my nod for the National League Cy Young Award. I don't know how many writers were swayed by CC Sabathia's taking the National League by storm, but Santana should have had more than 20 wins, what with the putrid bullpen coughing up so many of his leads.
  
• Mets bullpen: My gut may be wrong here, it was wrong this past season when it said that the Phillies' acquisition of Brad Lidge was likely going to blow up in their face, but it does NOT like the Mets making some noise about bringing Chad Cordero aboard. He may be Lidge redux, but Lidge is also in shape while Cordero, who is no poster boy for fitness, is coming off surgery. With the Mets not having Billy Wagner's services in '09, I really hope that Minaya thinks long and hard about whether he should roll the dice on the portly right-hander.
• Grand Ol' Greg: If this is indeed it for Greg Maddux, whose agent has indicated that the surefire Hall of Famer is leaning towards hanging up his spikes, then I must tip my cap to him for such a fine career. Unlike the fireballing Roger Clemens, who had one fewer career win, Maddux was always about ball placement, being able to put the ball precisely where he wanted it. He was also an intense student of the game, able to detect what a batter's intentions were and if they shifted during the same at-bat. He was called "The Professor" for a reason. Add the fact that he was able to field his position at a Gold Glove-caliber level, with him winning his 18th and it is evident that baseball is losing a pitcher for the ages.
• Well, that was fast ... wait, this is the Raiders: Oakland let cornerback DeAngelo Hall go after eight games into the first year of his seven-year contract. I hope invested his $7 million signing bonus well. I'm thinking that owner Al Davis is certifiably insane now.
• Get well, Martin: It's sad that Martin Brodeur, one of the most stalwart goalies out there, will miss significant time with surgery on his left elbow. Kevin Weekes, while not a slouch in goal, has big shoes to fill.
  

Well, looks like the rain has stopped for a bit. I'm going to take advantage of that lull and hit the gym. Maybe more thoughts will make their way into my head on the elliptical machine.

Wednesday Musings 11/5/08

This is the first Musings in the Obama era. Well, technically it won't officially be his era until he is inaugurated, but work with me here...

Here are the thoughts that enter my brain as I try to figure out a way for the Knicks and Stephon Marbury to save face over the whole situation. It may take a while to hit upon the solution, though ... approximately eternity, so find a chair, order the beverage of your choice and relax.

Election thoughts:

• CNN' usage of "holograms"? I kept waiting for one of them to say, "Help me, Obi Wan, you're our only hope." and then blip out. It seemed gimmicky and didn't really serve any purpose.
• Yes, I was getting a bit nervous when Obama's electoral total seemed stuck at 207 while McCain's was slowly rising, but then the West Coast's totals started coming in, McCain was conceding and Obama was getting ready to give his victory speech.
• I wish the McCain who gave the concession speech had been present during the whole campaign. It might have made me think more about voting for him than Obama.
• I thought those Philadelphia fans who booed Santa Claus in the past had more class than those people who were supposed to be supporting McCain were booing during his concession speech. Not cool.
• Yes, I got chills during Obama's speech. I'm happy, but let's see if he lives up to his promises. He's going to inheirit such a mess, and McCain would also be in the same spot.

Other thoughts:

• People are already talking about how Obama's policies will hit sports and agents are starting to already take things into consideration. I'll have more things to say on this as these things do or do not go into effect.
  

• The jury is already beginning form an opinion of Greg Oden, and it's not a good one. Have the Blazers drafted Sam Bowie Part II? Only time will tell, but it has not been a good opening for the young giant, which is a shame, because by all accounts he seems like a quality guy.

• The Brady Quinn era is getting ready to begin. The most nervous people besides Browns fans, the Cleveland coaching staff and Quinn himself is Myoplex, the sports nutrition company, who has been running Quinn commercials for what seems like decades with him taking like five pro snaps in the regular season. Will this be the new Peyton Manning or Mark Quinn?
  

• I was sad to see that David Tyree, the hero of last year's Super Bowl, went on the Injured Reserve. The man shouldn't have pay for a meal in New York for the rest of his life, though.
  

• Can Jake Peavy handle New York? The former Cy Young Award winner has indicated that the Yankees could be among the few teams that can possibly trade for him. The question is, could he handle going from a weaker National League to the American League, where even the last-place teams have more difficult lineups? Would he also get eaten alive by the New York media? Stay tuned.
  

• Memo to the Mets: Do NOT go after Brad Penny, who just had his option declined by the Dodgers. Sure, he has plenty of talent, but you'll be paying for a guy who has an injury history. I'd rather they got his teammate, Derek Lowe.
  

• Last, but not least: Rest in peace, Michael Crichton. You left behind an impressive list of ways for us to keep ourselves occupied: your numerous books and the TV show ER. It still doesn't make me any less sad that you will not be producing more works.