The Gryphon's Eye On Sports

Gryphon's Thoughts: 2/9/12

2012-02-09T12:41:00.000-05:00

Looks like I skipped a day by accident. Probably because since we are in the void of sports between the Super Bowl and Spring Training. The NHL and NBA are still nowhere near shaking out how their playoffs are going to look, even in this super-truncated basketball season. Got some stuff today, though:

There were some Mets fans who wanted the team to possibly see about signing Rich Harden. It's a good thing they didn't. Harden has always been talented, but he's also extremely injury prone. That run seems to be continuing.
Sadly, Mayor Bloomberg will not be using his post-mayoral career as an owner of the Mets. Think what you will of his job of running the city, he's definitely not going to have to keep running to MLB for money.
12 days until the Mets report to Spring Training. 10 for the Yankees. The days can't go fast enough.
If you're a baseball fan, you should read this. It's the top 100 baseball prospects for this upcoming season. You need to be an Insider with ESPN.com though. But if you're a baseball fan, you're probably already hooked up there.
Someone paid $10,0000 for Jose Reyes' hair. Yup. You read that right. I really can't think of anything to add at this point.
Brandon Jacobs apologized for his comments regarding Tom Brady's wife, Gisele Bundchen. I bet he had his fingers crossed when he said it.
I really, really have to wonder what the Jets front office was thinking when they agreed to bring back Santonio Holmes back for $15 million. This is the guy who quit on the team in the most important game of the season. This could quite well blow up in their faces.
Rick Reilly has to remind Patriots fans, some of who may even still be on top of the Prudential Center, that the Super Bowl is just a game.
Looks like someone needs to remind Rodney Harrison of that too.
How soon before people with "Linsanity" t-shirts start showing up at Madison Square Garden?

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Gryphon'sThoughts: 2/7/12

2012-02-07T15:56:00.000-05:00

The Giants' Super Bowl victory parade is over. Now I can switch to wearing my Mets hat as I switch to baseball mode. What helps is that it feels like a spring day here in New York.
Of course, there HAD to be more NY/NJ debate about the Giants.
Running back Ricky Williams is retiring from the NFL. Now he can pursue... ah... his leisure activities all that he wants. Don't be surprised if he bloats to Nate Newton size in 5 years.
This might be classic misdirection, given that the NFL offseason is just beginning, but the Tennessee Titans are already trying to quash Peyton Manning rumors. As far as this scenario goes, who better for Jake Locker, who has a lot of potential, to learn from? Personally, though, I hope that Peyton stays with the Colts.
Dear Mets: I know that you are paring your payroll, but I think it might be a good idea to at least kick the tires on Roy Oswalt. Do something else - 'cause standing pat with this team is NOT a good idea. The Reds say they aren't pursuing him, but I'm not sure how much I believe that.
The Yankees are looking at adding one of these three players: Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui or Raul Ibanez. I think they should sign all three and just call it a 2009 World Series reunion.
Miami is going to meet with Cuban defector Yoenis Cespedes tomorrow. He's going to meet with other teams too, but the Marlins may make the best sense for him.
If you're into that sort of thing, the Twins are auctioning off a baseball signed by Kris Humphries and Kim Kardashian before the two divorced. Proceeds go to charity. E! network junkies, fire up your bidding finger!
It'll be interesting to see how the Knicks do without Carmelo Anthony the next week or two.
Of course there's more Kobe-Shaq sniping. They'll probably be waving canes at each other in a retirement home decades from now.

Gryphon's Thoughts: 2/6/12

2012-02-06T15:56:00.000-05:00

Of course, the prevailing thought in my mind is about last night's Super Bowl. That'll stay in the forefront until after tomorrow's parade. Then I'll think about baseball - it'll be as easy as taking my Giants hat off and putting my Mets hat on.
If it were ANY other team but the Giants, I would have been rooting for the Patriots to win for Myra.
I'll be adding to the multitudes of people who are piling plaudits upon Eli Manning. He played a spectacular game, and he didn't even need the opposing team's secondary to crash into each other a couple of times to negate what could be an interception. He's Elite.
That said, there was a looooooooooot of luck, much like their Super Bowl win in '08 - the ball bounced their way nearly every time, and the one time it didn't, the Patriots had 12 men on the field.
That guy bouncing on the ropes during the halftime show had some amazing balance, and I also hope he was wearing a steel cup.
Someone needed to explain to M.I.A. that the halftime show was on network TV, NOT cable.
Madonna seemed to reenact the Han Solo Carbonite scene at the end of her show.
I found the commercials to be distinctly "Meh." Sure, there was the "Ferris Bueller" commercial. I can't wait to see what happens next year - do they get Molly Ringwald to reprise her "16 Candles" character? They can't do "St. Elmo's Fire" since John Parr rewrote it to make it about Tim Tebow.
It was nice to see Victor Cruz do his dance in front of a national audience. Think the "Dancing With the Stars" people sent another e-mail to his agent: "PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE!"
The Giants' tight end situation was so dire, I might have have been tapped to go into the game.
I wonder if Ahmad Bradshaw was miked, we would have heard him going, "AHHHHHHHHHH! NOOOOOOOOOOO" as he tumbled into the end zone for the least wanted TD in Super Bowl history.
I feel for Wes Welker - he's been so clutch over the course of his time with New England. That said, I don't think he'll have Gisele on his Christmas card list after she blasted the Patriots wide receivers, who did develop quite a case of the dropsies.
Yes, I was crouched in front of the TV during that last minute that the Patriots had the ball in the fourth.
I think Tom Coughlin now has the ability to write his own exit from football on his own terms. "Uh, Tom. Off to a bit of a rough start this year.." "TWO LOMBARDIS! TWO!" "OK, we'll let you settle down."
Bernard Pollard might want to think about playing for a team next year that doesn't play the Patriots. Just sayin'.
At least Chad Ochocinco can say he played in a Super Bowl now.
Kind of odd that Peyton wasn't shown at all. Think Irsay had anything to do with that?
Sad to hear that Amar'e Stoudemire's brother died in a car accident. My condolences to his family.

That's all I've got for today. More tomorrow.

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Gryphon's Thoughts: 2/3/12

2012-02-03T12:45:00.000-05:00

It's a bright sunny, albeit chilly, day here in NY. I'd be outside, but there's an off chance that Con Edison might swing by to inspect a gas repair and I just KNOW that if I left for five minutes, I'd come back to find a "Sorry We Missed You" sticker on my door. So... I'm here writing. My son generously decided to take a nap, so I'm taking advantage of that to post my thoughts:

Gary Carter made an appearance at a college baseball game in Jupiter, Florida. He'd promised the team, which he coaches, that he would be there. It was tough seeing the picture of him with the puffiness in his face from the steroids that he's been taking to help stop any brain swelling. I know it's from steroids, since my mother had the same thing happen when she was taking them for her cancer treatments. I know the outcome looks grim, but I hope the Kid keeps fighting. Truthfully, though, I am dreading the headline that will likely be appearing in the next few months.
The Mets sent me a survey asking about ticket prices for the 2012 season. It'd be nice if they sent something oh.. maybe a Mr. Met doll or something for my time.
The Giants are very confident that they'll beat the Patriots to win the Super Bowl this Sunday. Now, these are professional athletes. They NEED to be confident that their skills will be more than up to the task of beating New England, but they also need to see the line that crosses over into cocky, and some of them are seriously in danger of teetering over it.
Josh Hamilton, who has had severe drug problems in the past, apparently had some alcohol recently - something that he hasn't done for quite some time. Not a joking matter - Hamilton, who seems to be one of the most stand-up guys out there, is human and can make mistakes, no matter how much money or fame he has. I hope that he gets immediately back on track and his support network helps him.
In the NBA, Mark Cuban was fined $75,000 for his postgame comments on the officials after the Mavericks lost to the Thunder on Wednesday. I'm sure Cuban had the money in his wallet.
Blake Griffin is apparently not entering the dunk contest for the NBA All-Star Weekend. Car companies are weeping and gnashing their teeth.
Slow sports day - I'll update with another entry later if anything happens. If not, I'll be back Monday.

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Gryphon's Thoughts: 2/2/12

2012-02-02T18:01:00.000-05:00

It's another unseasonably warm day here in New York -- the past several days have been more in line with late March/early April that late January/early February. I'm not complaining, mind you. Well, I'll complain if it's 20 degrees outside in late April. Anyways, sorry for the lack of entries of late - I'm back in the saddle now though and looking forward to writing a lot more.

With the Super Bowl hype machine having run for the past two weeks, I also figured that I would be swallowed up by the 1,029,490,493 media outlets and blogs out there covering this event. That number is probably a low one too.
First off: The Colts' situation has officially gotten uncomfortable - Peyton Manning has supposedly been given the OK to play. Soooo... looks like most likely no $28 million payment and either the Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin era begins! Peyton will probably join Joe Namath and Joe Montana, among others, who finished their careers with the team that they should have continued being the faces of.
In the article above, the term firm fixation" is used. I think that would be an awesome band name.
This is how thorough coach Bill Belichick is: the Patriots practiced their halftime break to gauge how the team would handle it. No word if they brought in a Madonna lookalike to gyrate on a stage.
Jay Caspian Kang looks at the first 100 games of the man who shares my last name: Blake Griffin.
Dallas owner Mark Cuban was highly unhappy about the refereeing in the Mavericks' latest loss. Much as I love the energy and passion Cuban brings to the NBA, I worry about what would happen if he became a baseball owner. He'd probably have an aneurysm 10 games into the season over the state of umpiring. "HE CALLED THAT A STRIKE?!?!" *pause* "ARGH! MY EYE!!!!!!" He might not even last Spring Training.
The Mets are holding out hope that they can get a left-handed OF bat for less than $1 million this season. When teams like the Pirates are looking at you and saying, "Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeap!" then things are NOT going well. Also, if the first image on your team's website is about getting tickets for "Banner Day" then... yeah, things are NOT going well.
The Nationals got a pretty decent starting pitcher in Edwin Jackson. They have no true ace, but there's a good chance they'll likely finish ahead of the Mets this season. You have NO idea how much that last sentence hurt to type. It felt like someone was ramming nails into my hands.
I am still not going to comment on the Knicks, Rangers or Islanders since my cable company CONTINUES to have a stareoff with MSG.
Right now, I am in a library writing this and apparently even though the temperatures are mild, the place has an automatic setting for "DEAD OF WINTER" so that it is approximately 4500 degrees in here. I think I am going to go get something to drink before I pass out here at the keyboard. More tomorrow.

Gryphon's Thoughts: 1/11/12

2012-01-11T20:49:00.001-05:00

The spate of warm weather continued yet again today - though tomorrow is supposed to rain. Alas. I enjoyed yet another chance to be able to not have to bundle up at all and hey, one day closer to pitchers and catchers reporting. Speaking of pitchers, here are my thoughts for the day, starting with a..:

Ryan Madson signed a one-year deal, worth $8.5 million, with Cincinnati. This immediately sparked a pissing match between Madson's agent, Scott Boras and Philadelphia's GM, Ruben Amaro, Jr.. Boras said that a deal was practically in place for Madson to sign with the Phillies for 4 years and $44 million. The Phillies then, according to Boras, did an about face and signed Jonathan Papelbon for just a bit more money. Amaro said that no such deal was in place and that Boras was a liar whose nose grows with every word he says. OK, no he didn't say that, but one just needs to read between the lines. Also, no truth to the rumor that actor Michael Madsen called Boras to be his agent too.
Fernando Martinez, a former jewel of the Mets farm system, has been claimed a day after New York cut him from the 40-man roster. Houston is his new team, and if there's a team that really needs to roll the dice for cheap, young talent, it's the Astros. Martinez could be a coup, he's only 23, though he does have arthritic knees, always a worry. It looks like F-Mart, as Mets fans call him, is another overrated Minor League talent though.
In football, I don't envy Ryan Grigson, the Colts' new GM, one bit about whether to bring Peyton Manning back or let him go and just draft Andrew Luck or try to keep both together. Welcome to Indy, Ryan!
ESPN.com held a poll and it turns out Tim Tebow is now the most popular pro athlete in America. If this continues and Tebow leads the Broncos to the Super Bowl, I will be looking for the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse to be showing up at the final whistle.

This is a slow time of year in between NFL playoff games, hockey and basketball not hitting their complete stride yet and baseball more than a month away. This explains the short entry today. More tomorrow.

Gryphon's Thoughts: 1/10/12

2012-01-10T21:39:00.000-05:00

It was another warm day here in New York. Hard to believe that we're almost into the middle of January and still having days where we could sit comfortably in a chair outside. I know that I will soon be looking back on this entry and wishing for it to be late March already.

The Giants bandwagon is getting REALLY full now with all those people who had them left for dead after the second loss to the Redskins.
The Mets decided to cut their losses and let Fernando Martinez go, cutting him from the 40-man-roster. If all the other teams decide to pass on him, he can go back to the Mets' Minor League system. They also left Daniel Herrera off the roster and if the other teams pass on him, he can become a free agent due to his service time.
Another Griffin is joining the NFL. Robert Griffin III is leaving Baylor for the NFL Draft. While I know the Giants have Eli, I'd LOVE for them to draft Griffin just so I can legitimately have a Giants jersey with my last name on it.
Tim Tebow says that he could "learn" from Tom Brady. This opens the gate for so, so many jokes.
My heart goes out to Packers coordinator Joe Philbin, whose son's body was pulled from a Wisconsin River, cause of death unknown. Michael Philbin was 21, far too young.
Bud Selig is NOT going away. Apparently the owners are ready to offer him a two-year extension. I think they may just mummify him in later years and just prop him up at meetings.
The Raiders fired coach Hue Jackson. While I understand that they have a new GM in Reggie McKenzie and he wants to put his own imprint on the team, Jackson did have the team competitive for the first time in a long time. Bad move.

Short one tonight as I had a long day. More tomorrow.

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Gryphon's Thoughts: 1/9/12

2012-01-09T18:59:00.000-05:00

The milder weather made its way back to New York this weekend and today. Tomorrow is supposed to be 51. It seems almost like baseball should still be going on. Here are my thoughts from this past weekend in sports:

You think that the Giants defense teased Eli Manning about that safety at the end of the game? "Woulda been 24-0 if wasn't for you, man!"
The defense came up absolutely huge for New York. It can't get any better than stuffing the opponent on fourth-and-inches not once but TWICE. They made Matt Ryan look like a Pee Wee player trying to do a quarterback sneak against an NFL team .
Brandon Jacobs was an unsung hero for his twisting second effort on fourth-and-inches for the Giants in a series that ultimately led to a touchdown for New York that ultimately blew the game open.
If he stays healthy, Jason Pierre-Paul is gonna be funnnnnnnnnnnnn to watch for the next several years. He's rock-solid and he's got a huge wingspan, something that will give opposing offensive linemen nightmares when it comes to matchups.
As for the Steelers-Broncos. All I can say is "Wow." Tim Tebow made overtime shorter than the actual explanation by the officials of the new playoff OT rules by launching an 80-yard bomb to Demaryius Thomas on the first play to win the game.
Yes, Tebow is open about his religion. Yes, he threw for 316 yards. Eerie coincidence. Now if the new Mile High Stadium had suddenly been parted in two....
The Steelers had a chance in regulation to possibly win in, but Ben Roethlisberger didn't get a chance to throw a Hail Mary pass. I tweeted: If Big Ben had tried a Hail Mary pass, a giant hand would've emerged from the sky and knocked the ball into the next state.
My early thoughts: Giants CAN beat the Packers, the Patriots beat the Broncos, the Saints beat the 49ers and the Ravens beat the Texans. I think I went .500 last week, so if you don't decide to go by me, I don't mind.
In baseball, Barry Larkin was voted into the Hall of Fame today, where he'll be inducted in July with Ron Santo. I thought Jeff Bagwell and Jack Morris were more deserving. I never watched Larkin and said, "That guy is a Hall of Famer!" I think the Hall just diluted itself more and next year is going to be even more interesting when Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds are on the ballots. Hello, Steroid Era revisited! If the voters DO let Bonds and Clemens in next year, they must let Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro in. This selective choosiness is absolutely ridiculous. Let's make it a HUGE party and have Mike Piazza and possibly Curt Schilling make it next year.

Going to go for now, reading the Steve Jobs biography that I picked up at the library - that is, if I can get the cat who jumped on my lap off. More tomorrow.

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Gryphon's Thoughts: 1/6/12

2012-01-06T17:58:00.000-05:00

The temperatures became markedly warmer today here in New York, going from bone-chilling to being able to have one's jacket nearly unzipped. Strange, strange weather. I'd take more of this day's weather than yesterday's as a whole during winter. Something tells me I'll be looking back on this post fondly in about 2 weeks while I decide whether I want to brave the harsh wind outside. Here are my thoughts for the day:

Justin Tuck apparently was riding a stationary bike rather than practicing today with the Giants. I'm not going to panic unless he's not out on the field on Sunday. It's be like the scene in "Airplane II" when there's mayhem going on in the aisles of the shuttle, a sign reads "Don't Panic" and then more mayhem occurs, the sign burns out and reads "OK. Panic." That'll be me if I don't see Tuck in uniform against the Falcons.
Victor Cruz turned down "Dancing With the Stars." Why, Victor, why?
Jeff Fisher, the former Tennessee Titans head coach has seemingly limited his choices to possibly coach as being in Miami or St. Louis. Hmmm... either coach in a warm weather environment or play half your games in a dome. No bad decisions there.
The Pro Bowl IS down with JPP. Jason Pierre-Paul was named a first-team All-Pro.
Future Hall of Fame running back LaDainian Tomlinson said he might retire. If so, it's been a heck of a career. Too bad he'll join Barry Sanders as one of the best running backs to not win a Super Bowl. He could be Favring everyone, though. You like that word? Favring? It's when someone keeps saying they'll retire and then doesn't.
Ben Roethlisberger is one tough man and seemingly plays better injured, but I think Dr. Gregory House would have a better chance out there with his limp. House would also be able to diagnose any concussions of his teammates.
The Mets brought in the consulting firm that helped facilitate the Texas Rangers' bankruptcy sale. The Wilpons seemingly are bent on keeping the team. I don't know about you, but when I think of these consultants, I just picture John C. McGinley's character in "Office Space" interviewing Mr. Met: "So.. um. What exactly do you DO here?"
I hear Willie Harris is likely not to return. Of course, he'll join a National League East team and resume making great catches against the Mets.
Isiah Thomas apparently didn't like that the Knicks got Tyson Chandler. Um. If there's ANYONE who should keep his mouth shut about player acquisitions, it should be Thomas. *cough* Eddie Curry *cough*

Hope everyone has a great weekend. I'll be back on Monday.

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Gryphon's Thoughts: 1/5/12

2012-01-05T14:00:00.001-05:00

It's still cold here in New York - a bit warmer but the wind is making it feel like it is 10 degrees colder than it is. At least my hands are doing much better - I don't have pain from cracked skin while I'm typing, which is good, since gritting my teeth while hunched over a laptop isn't fun. Here's some thoughts of mine on the goingons in the sports world:

The Mets are bringing back Scott Hairston. I'll get my sarcastic "World Series-bound Now!" comment out of the way now. It's not a bad signing, he's a good bench player. Just not the big move the Mets need.
Dear Miami Marlins beat writers: Watching the interactions between volatile pitcher Carlos Zambrano and new skipper Ozzie Guillen is going to be fuuuuuuuuuuuuun.Plus Chris Volstad might need a change of scenery to possibly reach his potential.
Bart Scott was fined $10,000 by the Jets for flipping the bird to reporters. All New York area restaurants then increased the price of chicken on their menus. If patrons complain, they can point at any stories about this and say, "Bart Scott paid a LOT more for his bird..."
Dear Jets: When the back-up to the back-up to the back-up quarterback says that things are bad in the locker room - you might wanna re-evaluate how thing are run.
Boomer Esaison thinks that the Jets are mistaken for trying to build around Sanchez and that he is not a franchise quarterback. I agree - Sanchez came out of school too early and hasn't shown that he can evolve into a quarterback that can lead a team to the next level. The Giants fan in me says, "Hey, you want to try with this guy, feel free to go ahead."
Thinking good thoughts for the recovery of the two New York Rangers fans who were attacked outside a Philly Cheesesteak place. Add the fact that one of the victims was someone who served in Iraq and the situation is even more disgusting than it already is.
I think all the Time Warner Cable people were actually happy that they couldn't watch last night's lackluster effort from the Knicks as they lost to the Charlotte Bobcats. At least they didn't play against Michael Jordan himself.
As predicted, the NHL fined Rangers coach John Tortorella for his comments about NBC and the league about how some calls went in the third period of the Winter Classic. Use the money for a heck of an end of the year party, NHL or make a charity real happy.
As I'm typing this, my cat is sitting in my lap and trying to rub his face against the power cord prong. I'm going to wrap this up before he electrocutes both of us. More tomorrow.

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Gryphon's Thoughts: 1/4/12

2012-01-04T13:16:00.000-05:00

It's another frigid day here in New York - though the temperature's are supposed to yo-yo back up into the 50's by the weekend. It's like some cosmic entity's kid is just flipping a switch up and down: HOT. COLD. HOT. COLD. "STOP IT! DO YOU THINK RUNNING A COASTLINE REGION IS CHEAP?!?" Right now the skin on my hands are almost cracking like the helicopter pilot in "The Day After Tomorrow" after they fly into the eye of the giant hurricane. I did apply moisturizing cream so that I can type this entry of my thoughts:

Joe Torre is resigning as the Executive VP of MLB Operations to try to be part of a group to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers. You think Don Mattingly is rooting hard for this to happen? Torre represents the best chance for him to keep his job.
While being in charge can make people do 180 degree personality changes, I don't think that Torre would ever call any of his managers at 3 in the morning to berate them over game decisions like a certain late Yankees owner would.
Don't be surprised if Fernando Rodney does a good job out of the Rays' bullpen. Tampa Bay is really savvy at reshuffling their constantly revolving bullpen pieces.
My quick predictions for the upcoming playoff games with absolutely NO in-depth analysis, since there's roughly 1,200,403 pages up already on the 'net with that: Cincinnati beats Houston, New Orleans beats Detroit, New York beats Atlanta and Pittsburgh beats Denver.
It was not a good day yesterday for fans of certain teams that wanted their coaches and/or GMs ousted - the San Diego Chargers are bringing back head coach Norv Turner and GM A.J. Smith and the Philadelphia Eagles have seemingly ignored the "FIRE ANDY!" chants and are bringing back head coach Andy Reid.
The "Refusal To Look in the Mirror" Award goes to Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who won't relinquish his GM duties, saying that it would "clog up the process." As a Giants fan, I say - feel free to stay steadfast in your delusions, Jerry. I think the rest of the NFC East share my sentiments.
Boomer Esaison ripped into Mark Sanchez, Rex Ryan and GM Mike Tannenbaum. Sure, Esaison is a radio personality now, but he does have a pedigree in that he did ACTUALLY play in a Super Bowl. He didn't win it, but he made it to the big stage...
Good for Steelers coach Mike Tomlin for putting his player's health ahead of winning. He's not having safety Ryan Clark, who has sickle cell trait, play against the Broncos in Denver's high altitude air.
Rangers coach John Tortorella is likely going to be fined for his comment that he thought the NHL and NBC had conspired to try to send the Winter Classic into overtime to try to milk as much possible drama. Sure, it's not terribly smart to badmouth the employer of your employer, but it does make sense in a way - NHL commissioner Gary Bettman came from the NBA, a league that has quite a few eyebrow raising results in games and even their Draft. The 'fix' likely was not in for that Rangers-Flyers tilt, but even guilt by association can be damning.

That's it for now, more tomorrow.

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Gryphon's Thoughts: 1/3/12

2012-01-03T18:25:00.000-05:00

It's quite a frigid day here in New York, with the temperature and the winds making it feel much, much colder. Since it's been a mild winter so far, having a day like this is REALLY a shock to the system. Even walking a couple of blocks to run errands was cause for gritting one's teeth. Now that I am home for the night and all cozy: Here are some thoughts that went through my head over the past 24 hours or so:

The Giants are already starting a war of words with their playoff foe - the Atlanta Falcons. Justin Tuck referred to their offensive line as "dirtbags." I don't think he was making a Redskins "Hogs" analogy. At least he won't have to face Flozell Adams.
Personally, I think they can beat the Falcons. Just remember - keep an eye on Julio Jones and Tony Gonzalez at all times. Oh yeah, and some RB with the last name Turner. And of course, the other "Cool Unflappable QB" in Matt Ryan.
If the Giants do go on to win the Super Bowl - be on the lookout for Victor Cruz to be on "Dancing with the Stars." He'll probably just do the salsa every week, but that's cool...
In the same vein, be on the lookout for "Victor Cruz's Greatest Salsa TD Dances" that will be coming out on DVD early this spring.
I hope the Giants' defense continues playing this inspired, though they may have to whack Ryan's hand with a hammer to be able to get the same results that they did with Romo.
For reasons unknown to me - but possibly involving compromising photos of certain key front office people and ownership, the Jets are seemingly OK with bringing offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer back into the fold for next season. Dear Jets front office - the whole team's offense seemingly hated this guy's game planning and the opposing teams' defenses were licking their chops: "Oh - you're going to have your error-prone quarterback throw the ball nearly 60 times? Sure! Do that ! " Though if you look at the first letter of every word in GM Mike Tannebaum's statement, it spells out, "PLEASE HIRE HIM, JACKSONVILLE! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PUHLEASE TAKE HIM!!!!" Schottenheimer is interviewing to be a possible head coach for the Jaguars.
No in-depth comments on Santonio Holmes, since I think the entire blogosphere has weighed in.
I'd comment on the Knicks, Islanders, Devils or Rangers, but I can't WATCH any of those teams since I am a Time Warner Cable subscriber. Thank goodness I'm not a huge hockey or basketball fan, otherwise I'd be more than just a little miffed at the MSG Network and Time Warner Cable. Now... mess with my MLB Network, SNY or YES.... THEN I'll get mad.
Right no, unless they get Dwight Howard, I don't think the Nets are worth commenting on.
I'm already thinking of baseball and it's more than a month away. Can't get here soon enough.
When Prince Fielder signs his contract, I'll definitely know that baseball is imminent.
Another baseball thought: Hoping for a safe trek for pitcher R.A. Dickey as he ascends Kilimanjaro to promote a charity that helps victims of sex trafficking.
It's not the greatest endorsement from Rex Ryan that he's going to "take more of a role in the offense." This is the same coach that was befuddled that Mark Sanchez was airing it out as much as he did against Big Blue.

Going to write more tomorrow. Getting back into the swing of things after the holidays. A bit tired now - I think it's due to the 800 lbs I gained eating a lot of food.

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Christmas with the Mets

2011-12-22T11:16:00.002-05:00

Christmas time is fast approaching and while I'd love to find an ironclad agreement that the Mets will win the World Series next year under my family Christmas tree, I don't think even Santa has that kind of clout, given the payroll constraints and bad contracts that the team has found itself constrained with. Add the fact that their most dynamic player has departed to a division rival and this 'gift' is more akin to a lump of coal.

Is there ANYTHING that is worth looking forward to with this Mets team? There is a bit of hope that a healthy Ike Davis will man first base again - and this time, there needs to be a line between home plate and the mound that will designate which side the first baseman and third baseman take on pop flies around that area.

The pitching staff is still in flux - Johan Santana may or may not be healthy and even if he IS healthy, is there any chance he'll be effective? Mike Pelfrey may or may not be back and with his regression last season, his return might not even be the best thing. R.A. Dickey is pretty much the de facto ace, and as steady as he's been, a knuckleballing ace whose pitches are subject to the whims of the weather is not the best thing. Will Jon Niese even be with the team, since he's being dangled as trade bait this winter and will Dillon Gee take another step forward in his progression?

The OTHER part of the pitching staff looks more concrete: They signed both Jon Rauch and Frank Francisco to pretty much lock down the eighth and ninth innings. It remains to see how that works out, since they tried the same thing a few years ago with J.J. Putz and K-Rod. They also rolled the dice with Chuck James, who did look like he was on the road to becoming a good pitcher with the Braves before injuries derailed that. It's a Minor League deal, so it could be low-risk, high-reward.

So... the rest of the players on the field. Right now, it looks like Josh Thole's going to do the bulk of the catching, with who knows going to back him up, since Ronny Paulino chose to be a free agent. There's Davis at first, probably Justin Turner at second though the team desperately wants Daniel Murphy's bat in there, Ruben Tejada sliding into short as a full-time player with Reyes' defection to the Marlins, David Wright at third (though even he might be traded before Spring Training, but he'll probably wind up staying and be trade deadline bait), Jason Bay in left field, Andres Torres - who the Mets traded Angel Pagan for - will be in center and it looks like Lucas Duda will man right field.

I've been a Mets fan since 1980, when I went to my first game at Shea - back when the Wilpon/Doubleday partnership bought the team and festooned the park with banners like "Baseball like it Oughta Be"and the teams there were worthy of fans showing up wearing paper bags on their heads. I'll always support the team, but I've got a bad feeling about this 2012 season. Santa, I've been really good this year - can you help a guy out?

Sigh. I might have to move up the ladder for this one.

The Gryphon's Thoughts: 11/15/11

2011-11-15T10:45:00.001-05:00

Not surprisingly, the Packers just annihilated the Vikings last night. It got to the point where even the Packers' backup QB, Matt Flynn, did a Lambeau Leap after scoring. I was annoyed that Green Bay took Rodgers out of the game when they did.. I just needed him to throw ONE more TD to complete an epic come-from-behind win in one of my leagues. I was down by nearly 40 and lost by less than two. Sigh. Thanks, Mike McCarthy.
Texans QB Matt Schaub's going to miss the rest of the year with a broken foot. He's another one of those "would be a great player if he stayed healthy" types.
Guess who had just picked up Matt Cassell over the weekend to prepare for Drew Brees' bye week? Yup. This guy. Back to the waiver wire.
I'm going to be very, very, very surprised if anyone other than Justin Verlander wins the American League Cy Young Award today. No disrespect to Jered Weaver or CC Sabathia, but Verlander was the most dominant pitcher in baseball this past season.
I'm in the "Verlander For AL MVP" camp too. If he's out of the equation, then the Tigers don't even come close to sniffing the playoffs last season. Also, I think that any writer who leaves him off their MVP voting ballot deserves to lose their voting privileges permanently. Verlander is eligible and the writers shouldn't be able to make up their own arbitrary rules. Yeah, I'm still bitter at LaValle Neal and George King about '99. Can you tell?
Matt Kemp is close to a huge contract extension with the Dodgers. Once he signs, he has to avoid doing what another Kemp - Shawn - did after a contract like that... gain 600 lbs and lose any effectiveness.
Apparently the Cubs are willing to give Carlos Zambrano another chance. "Sure.. you may flip out and be a clubhouse cancer, but goshdarnit, you sure can rake for a pitcher! C'mon back!" He'd have to be traded several times to become the Milton Bradley of pitchers.
I hope MLB wraps up its labor bargaining sessions with a deal so that they can then call David Stern and Billy Hunter and say, "This is how it's done."
NBA? What NBA? There's a ton of college basketball going on now, though, for those who need to get a hoops fix.
Yup. I agree with Mike Wilbon here.
On to other things: I watched three shows last night. How I Met Your Mother, Terra Nova, and House. I thought that it was a rather weak episode of HIMYM, though I did find the security camera footage of Ted and Marshall pretty hilarious. I'm still fascinated by the premise of Terra Nova, but the actual execution of the plots is making me wonder if it will make it to the second season, since the show is dragging out showing some very important clues for longer than it should to sustain viewer interest. House was its usual fare - House is cranky, Wilson is a pushover and it takes three misdiagnosis before the 'epiphany.' Still enjoyable, though.

It's a gloomy day here in NYC and my son just woke up from a nap. More tomorrow.

The Gryphon's Thoughts: 11/14/11

2011-11-14T17:53:00.001-05:00

Another week has gone by - of course the main news story was the events that unfolded at Penn State - from the revelations of the accusations to Joe Paterno's reaction to his first hedging that he would retire at the end of the season to his then ultimately being fired to the spotlight shining where it should have shone in the first place - the victims of these alleged horrible actions by Jeff Sandusky. I say 'alleged' because due process and all...

That said - I cannot fathom what was going through everyone's mind at the university - I went to Boston University - a place that has a sports following, sure, but mostly hockey and it is nowhere NEAR as rabid as a place like Penn State Don't mistake BU for its neighbor down the line on Commonwealth Avenue - Boston College. If it had been a BU coach that allegedly committed these actions, I'm not sure the people would have reacted the same way. There would have been an outcry, I'm sure, but not on the same level as what happened at PSU.

So now, it's Monday, November 14, and they played the first game in the post-Joe Paterno era. I'm sure that more and more information about what happened over the years are going to come out. This is probably just the tip of the iceberg.

So... that's all I'm going to be writing about that for now. It just shows how evil can lurk anywhere.

OK, OK, one more thing - how weird was it that Sandusky wrote an autobiography over ten years ago with the title: 'Touched." Yeah. REALLY creepy now, isn't it?

On to the thoughts:

The Giants broke my heart last night against the 49ers. I thought they were going to pull out the win. One question that I was asking was - "Why didn't Eli call a timeout when they were trying for that third consecutive fourth down conversion?" They had it to spare and it was only the game on the line, after all.
I agree with Mario Manningham - he should have dove for that ball that JUST eluded his grasp. I say this as both a Giants fan and as someone who has him on not one but two fantasy teams.
Jake Ballard has been making me say, "Kevin Who?" so far.
Victor Cruz has also been making me forget that Steve Smith went to Philadelphia.
At least there were no Trey Junkin moments.
I felt like I was being unduly punished by having to watch either the Eagles game on Fox or the Cowboys game on CBS before the Giants game started at 4:15. Having to watch your division rivals play boring games is no fun. Thank goodness CBS got bored of the Cowboys' thrashing of the Bills and switched to the Bengals-Steelers game.
There was one amusing sidenote in that lopsided 'Boys game: David Nelson of the Bills scored Buffalo's lone touchdown. He then ran down the sidelines with the ball and gave it to his girlfriend - who just happens to be a Cowboys cheerleader. Talk about awkward workplace interaction with her co-workers. "He couldn't have given you the ball LATER? You know... like TOMORROW when we're not cheering his opponent?"
Rex Ryan's ego took another shot when the Patriots blew the Jets out and pretty much ruined any chance of a division title.
Even I went "Really? A timeout NOW, Mark Sanchez?" Sanchez made a really bad decision to call a timeout with a little over a minute left in the second quarter. Tom Brady cheerfully took the extra time and drove the Patriots to a score. It reminds me of a scene between the Janitor and J.D. on Scrubs. The Janitor has just cast J.D. out into the middle of the desert late at night. A bewildered J.D. asks the Janitor why he's doing this and the Janitor replies, "Don't you see? After four years, haven't you figured out that this is US?" or something close to it. Tom Brady is the Janitor and Sanchez is J.D., in case you haven't figured it out.
I didn't see the controversial overtime fourth-down decision in the Atlanta/New Orleans game, but hey... if they make it and go on to win, Mike Smith's a genius.
When the only entertainment left in a game is whether a Lions player is going successfully decapitate a Bears player, it's reached a bad point.
I'm sure Jack Del Rio breathed a sigh of relief that the Jaguars didn't lose to the Colts. I'm sure he would have been fired had they lost. Then again, he'd just have to point to having to start Blaine Gabbert.
I need Aaron Rodgers to throw about 5 TD passes to Greg Jennings tonight and maybe two or three to Jermichael Finley. Please?
On to baseball - I hope that the Phillies like watching Papelbon serve up home runs in their little bandbox of a stadium. Of course, this is a Mets/Red Sox fan speaking.
There was a bit of a panic on Twitter last night as one 'source' reported that Jose Reyes had signed with the Miami Marlins. Soon my Mets timeline was FILLED with people ranting and raving. I was skeptical - since it was only one source and no one else was picking up on it. It turned out to be false. I wait until at least TWO confirmed sources have posted before I panic, thank you very much.
This NBA mess just keeps getting worse and worse. Now the union is threatening to disband. Sigh. Have fun falling behind hockey, guys.

More tomorrow.

The Gryphon's Thoughts: 11/7/11

2011-11-07T18:57:00.000-05:00

After taking a break for a couple of weeks, I'm back with some musings:

The World Series is long over and the offseason and thus winter have descended upon us. I know it was a great World Series, particularly Game 7, but the fact that it was the Cardinals who ultimately won it all made it tough to make myself write about it. The memories of 2006 still linger just a bit too harshly in my mind. I'll just offer a tepid congratulations to St. Louis and the since-retired Tony La Russa.
A happier topic - how about those Giants beating the Patriots yet again? Admittedly, this was a much weaker New England team, especially on the defensive side of the field, but it was a tightly-wound battle and I was afraid at first that Eli Manning's end zone interception had sealed a loss for them, but Manning pulled off another last-minute heroic drive.
Do you think that the Patriots are tired of seeing players with the number 85 on the Giants make plays to beat them? In the Super Bowl, it was David Tyree. This time, it was a tight end, Jake Ballard, making a nice play in the end zone. At least Ballard didn't pin the ball against his helmet.
Brandon Jacobs did a pretty decent job as the ever-down back, what with Ahmad Bradshaw sitting out with a fractured foot. I just hope Jacobs didn't hurt himself hoisting coach Tom Coughlin onto his shoulders after the game. That would be a hard injury to live down.
Count me as one of the people really, really disgusted about the entire situation at Penn State.As a parent of a young baby, it terrifies me, since he will grow into a young boy and possibly go to sports camps. I know that these alleged incidents are pretty isolated, but still.. one never knows what goes on in the mind of someone else. While Joe Paterno's culpability in this whole sordid mess is still being discussed, the thing that I find myself thinking is that I am always suspicious of any public figure, no matter how glowingly they are written about, since a lot of it is choreographed by either staff around them, be it a public relations firm, an agent, or an athletic department. I'm always reading a profile of someone and asking myself - 'What is it that they want us to know and what is it that they are hiding?'
Former boxing champion Joe Frazier is in hospice care with liver cancer that is supposedly in its final stages. Pardon the term, but I do hope that he fights through this.
If the NBA players and owners reject a deal this week, does that mean that NBA fans and employees can then start an "Occupy" movement at their arenas? Sure, the players are the ultimate product, but the loss of a season also affects a lot of team employees and also local businesses that depend on fan traffic.
The first MLB trade of the offseason - Jonathan Sanchez of the San Francisco Giants was traded to the Royals in exchange for Melky Cabrera. Cabrera better thank his lucky stars he gets to play with a team that has a pitching staff with the likes of Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain.

More tomorrow...

The Gryphon's Thoughts: 10/20/11

2011-10-20T17:54:00.001-04:00

It was nice seeing the World Series start a bit earlier than usual - a pity that they decided to do it in a year where I have a young baby and get early every morning, so during the last few innings, I was definitely drifting asleep. I don't think my sleepiness had anything to do with the parade of relief pitchers who came in during the late innings.
I do not like FOX's new "innovation" - where the screen goes black and white and people can see "friction." It needs to go the way of the hockey "shot tracker' where a blazing trail lit up the screen like a comet whenever a shot wast taken. It's annoying and detracts from the viewing, in my opinion.
I was surprised to see both teams still have their starting pitchers in the game in the sixth inning. Past indicators seemed to point to them exiting in... oh. the third.
Dear Tony La Russa: If Donald Trump is likely to point and giggle at your hair with your baseball cap off.. you might want to consider a trim.
Bit of controversy - I was awake -barely- to see when Adrian Beltre hit the ball off his foot but the umpires ruled it as a fair ball and Beltre was out - not saying that giving him another swing would have guaranteed that he would have clubbed the ball out of the park or even gotten on base - which gave the Cardinals an out they hadn't earned. I bet Beltre comes to the plate today with about 8 layers of shoe polish on his cleats.
I've read both of Tim McCarver's books and even met the man back in the '90s - very nice fellow. That's why I felt bad when he made that gaffe that 'strike' was a 'five-letter word.' In this Twitter age, where any mistake on TV gets instantly noticed by millions, this one was seemingly going around the world at triple-light speed. My Twitter timeline was instantly filled with remarks about this. I wonder how Ralph Kiner would have survived this Twitter age: "HAHAHA! DID HE SAY DARRYL THRONEBERRY?!?!? WHAT A GOOF!"
It looks like Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer are going to the Cubs - with Epstein being President of Baseball Operations and Hoyer being the GM. The deal is nearly finished, according to ESPN. Good... even though this current season is finishing up, there really is no offseason for any sports front offices. Epstein and Hoyer will have to think about who they want to install in the various slots in terms of managers, coaches, scouts, etc. Current Cubs manager Mike Quade should be pretty nervous.
Apparently the Padres are looking into getting John Lackey from the Red Sox. Lackey should be begging for this to happen, since he could only benefit from Petco Park's spacious outfield.
Why couldn't someone in a Mets hat have been the one to grab Ghaddafi?
The Yankees may be in the bidding for Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish. Anything to get their minds off Kei Igawa, huh?
NFL trades get voided for all kinds of reasons - but it was really sad to hear that the recent Eagles-Lions deal involving Jerome Harrison was voided due to his having a brain tumor. It's actually a blessing in disguise though - because had Harrison not been traded, he wouldn't have had the physical that wound up finding the tumor and thus him getting the treatment that he needed.
Rex Ryan had to do some hasty apologizing after running his mouth off (Really? Ryan speak without thinking? NEVER) about how he would have likely had the earlier Chargers teams of the past few years win some Super Bowls instead of current Bolts coach Norv Turner.
NBA Commissioner David Stern was home sick and missed the mediation session. He could be really ill, or once he heard from some people that he might be part of the problem and not the solution in this NBA labor impasse, he surreptitiously licked his palms and claimed that he "felt really, really, really clammy" and that he should go home.
I started an art blog, so that I can keep my art posts separate from my writing. Interested in following it? It's here. I'll try to update it daily. I'm also on Twitter as @literateartist, feel free to follow me, though if you are a spambot that tries to DM me naughty links, I'll block ya.

The Gryphon's Thoughts: 10/19/11

2011-10-19T10:21:00.000-04:00

Rex Ryan is nuts if he thinks that the Jets should be favored over the Chargers this Sunday. Sure, beating the Dolphins is a bit confidence-inducing, but going from playing Miami to playing San Diego is the equivalent of going from Pee Wee to.. well.. the NFL. Anything can happen and New York could very well wind up winning, but they are the rightful underdogs for this game.
Ryan has to hope that Plaxico Burress can integrate himself back into the Jets' offense, and fast, because San Diego doesn't have a beleaguered defense like Miami did.
This Sunday will be quieter than usual since the Giants have a bye. Hopefully the team will be able to get a bit healthier during that off week. I'm not optimistic about Brandon Jacobs' being ready to go immediately after that - hopefully he'll be well in another couple of games.
The Raiders have to hope that this long layoff hasn't adversely affected Carson Palmer - and also the fact that he's going to have to learn a new playbook very, very rapidly. If he falters, the Raiders overpaid by a large margin.
John Beck and Christian Ponder are starting for the Redskins and Vikings, respectively. Rex Grossman and Donovan McNabb have to be wondering if they'll play another down in the NFL.
The World Series starts tonight - and the 2011 baseball season is reduced to a seven-game span. I'd love it if it went all 7, but I see Texas winning in five or six games. Their lineup is just too powerful for even the Cardinals pitching staff. Of course, I could be eating crow in about a week.
Tonight's matchup is CJ Wilson vs. Chris Carpenter. If Texas is going to take this series in 5, this could very well be the game that they lose, since Carpenter seems to pitch his best when the stakes are highest.
If Lance Berkman backpedaled faster over his comments about the Rangers that he made in January, he could win the Tour De France.
Could someone please nudge me awake when Theo Epstein actually goes to Chicago? He may have to skulk there in a gorilla outfit at the rate these negotiations are going.
What now? The Red Sox were secretly doing keg stands in the dugout when the TV cameras weren't pointed in their direction?
The Mets say that if Jose Reyes bolts, Ruben Tejada gets the job at shortstop. Tejada showed a decent amount of hitting, but it would be a tremendous blow to the offense should Reyes leave. I really hope the team does something positive this offseason.
The NBA owners and union had a 16-hour talk with a mediator and while there was some encouragement and another session today, some say there wasn't that much progress made. What did they do, play Scrabble that whole time? Someone has to get it through both sides' thick skulls: In this struggling economy, people don't want to hear about these players and owners fighting over billions of dollars.
Magic Johnson made some snarky comments about LeBron James' lack of championship rings. Hey... if anyone can sass LeBron about that, it's Magic. Now, if Patrick Ewing said something...

The Gryphon's Thoughts: 10/18/11

2011-10-18T10:29:00.001-04:00

Yes, the Jets won. It was a win for a team that desperately needed a 'W' - but let's not be too quick to proclaim it the huge season-reviving win that some people are desperately labeling it as. It was the Miami Dolphins they were up against - a team that is in the hunt to land the No. 1 draft pick and the rights to quarterback Andrew Luck. New York didn't even look like a team until the second quarter.
Brandon Marshall probably would have done the Dolphins a favor by getting himself ejected in the second quarter, as he boasted that he would. He dropped a pass and then inexplicably ran out of bounds on another catch when he had a clear path to the goal line.
ESPN is reporting that the Bengals are getting set to trade disgruntled Carson Palmer to the Raiders. Oakland needs a QB with Jason Campbell getting injured and I really don't think that trying to get JaMarcus Russell back was a priority for the team. It'll also be pretty easy for Palmer to learn, "Hand the ball off to Darren McFadden."
Handshakegate seems to be over. Neither Jim Harbaugh nor Jim Schwartz got fined. Some sportswriters are up at arms over that - I'm OK with it. While there was a scuffle, it never got into a full-blown fight, and hey... it was entertaining. There are a lot worse things out there to be concerned about.
Moving to baseball - the World Series starts tomorrow. I'm just a little sad that there are only possibly seven more games left in the season. Winter will soon follow, since I already saw some snow shovels at my local Rite Aid. Sigh.
The upcoming winter would pass by a lot faster if I got to read about Ozzie Guillen ripping his former pitching coach on a daily basis, though. Guillen speaks his mind all the time, much to the delight of fans and sportswriters alike. This time, Guillen was saying that Don Cooper, who was his pitching coach when he managed the White Sox, "stabbed his fellow coaches in the back" when he signed a contract extension and then referred to him as being White Sox General Manager Ken Williams' "bitch." I feel like an audience member at the Jerry Springer Show. Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!

Let's try adding a bit of pop culture here - Monday night is always my big TV night. I managed to watch How I Met Your Mother, Terra Nova, House and Castle. So... let's try the numbering within bullet points thing.

How I Met Your Mother - Kal Penn's doing a guest arc as Robin's boyfriend - and hey, wouldn't you know it? "Harold & Kumar 3D" is coming out soon! I found the episode kind of meh.. and I knew that the woman Ted met wasn't going to go anywhere. It was a nice surprise to find the news about Marshall and Lily's baby though.
Terra Nova - The intrigue got ratcheted up a notch when a young girl infiltrates the Terra Nova camp to try to get an object out of a guerrilla leader's former dwelling. Add that same guerrilla leader telling Jim that Terra Nova is not what it is being billed as and the rest of the season makes for some good TV watching.
House - It's reached such a formulaic stage that I'm surprised that a computer isn't writing the scripts. House is amoral and plays with his staff's emotions as well as misdiagnosing his patient's disease several times before having his big epiphany at the end and saves the day. Then why the hell do I still watch it? Because Hugh Laurie is a hell of an actor.
Castle - This show is teetering on "Watch/Don't Watch" because of this whole "Castle/Beckett Romantic Tension" thing that has been played out possibly one season too long. There was some possible competition for Beckett but it seemed to fizzle out too fast. Eh. I'll still watch it.

The Gryphon's Thoughts: 10/17/11

2011-10-17T09:03:00.001-04:00

The Cardinals won the National League Championship Series. It seems like the weaker team won again - Phillies fans are surely still howling at the moon about the Division Series - but the Brewers decided to turn in two horrible defensive games at the worst possible time. There were a couple of plays that even Little Leaguers blanched and shook their heads at.
If one were to look up "Pitcher's Duel" in the dictionary, there would definitely not be a picture of last night's game. For a while, it looked like the Cardinals might need a double-digit lead just to feel safe.
The World Series favorite has to be the Rangers, especially with their powerhouse lineup, but then again, everyone thought that the Tigers would crush the Cardinals in 2006. Never underestimate a Tony La Russa-led team.
I think La Russa even brought in a reliever during the postgame celebration.
Every day, people get in their cars and drive off into danger, be it on a city street, a highway or parkway. These are tons of steel that they are moving around at around 60 miles an hour. Now picture people driving in a cluster at speeds nearly four times that and the danger intensifies every turn. Which is why it's amazing that, tragic as it is, Dan Wheldon's death was a rarity in the IRL. Wheldon's crash, part of a 15-car pileup, was horrific - but so far he was the only casualty, and his death was the first since Ayrton Senna's 17 years ago. I'm not a racing fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I found the five-lap tribute to Wheldon incredibly moving.
Turning to football - I was very pleasantly surprised by the Giants' win over the Bills. Going into the game, I had a bad feeling going into it and my unease grew after two big scoring plays for Buffalo (though my fantasy geek was very happy that it was Fred Jackson who ripped off that long run - the fantasy geek was positively GIDDY that Ahmad Bradshaw had not one, not two but THREE touchdowns on the day), the New York defense settled down quite nicely after that.
The Detroit Lions have been saddled with a loser stereotype for many years, so it's understandable that even with their recent winnings, they have a chip on their shoulder. That said, I was still confused about head coach Jim Schwartz's reaction at the end of the game to 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh's over enthusiastic handpump and back slap when the two met for the postgame handshake. Harbaugh was then running off towards the locker room and Schwartz ran after him like a lunatic, trying to get in his face. Both teams then had to separate the two coaches while continuing to run to the locker area. It made for entertaining television, that's for sure.
Speaking of entertaining television - I LOVED seeing the Patriots come back against the Cowboys. Dallas had New England on the ropes for much of the game, but I think part of that might have been confusion on quarterback Tom Brady's part over whether Rob Ryan, Dallas' defensive coordinator, was really Rex Ryan, the Jets' head coach wearing a bad wig and fake goatee. Rob's hair really did look like someone grabbed a wig from a Halloween shop and slapped it on 10 minutes before the game.
Football's a dangerous sport - even for the head coaches. Sean Payton, the head guy for New Orleans, broke his left leg and tore his MCL in a sideline collision that involved his OWN player - Jimmy Graham. I wonder if Payton told Graham, "Yeah, see how many plays I draw up that involve you now." Payton will likely coach some games from the coaches box now - and it's something I don't understand why more don't do that. Coaching from the box gives a clear view of what is going on out there on the field, and would help with better clock management, since it can be quite chaotic down at field level.
Payton's recent troubles with painkillers and the fact that he will now walk with a limp lends itself to too many House, MD jokes. Payton seems like a good guy though, and I wish him a speedy recovery.
So much for the Redskins avenging their drubbing to the Eagles last season. Rex Grossman likely played himself out of the starting job in Washington.
Coaches need to have this tattooed on their punter's and kicker's hands: "DO NOT KICK THE *(*(ING BALL TO DEVIN HESTER."
I know this is football, and teams can win on any given day, but if Miami beats the Jets tonight, Rex Ryan may want to wear a wig for the rest of the week

Thoughts From The Gryphon's Brain: 10/14/11

2011-10-14T11:57:00.000-04:00

In the ALCS, Detroit staved off elimination behind the efforts of Justin Verlander and Delmon Young. I am completely unsurprised at the fact that they won with Verlander, though I don't see them being able to hold off Texas' firepower for another two game.
Of course, Nelson Cruz went deep again. Mets fans are lamenting that he was traded, but to be fair, he was also traded by Oakland and Milwaukee before landing in Texas.
This NLCS is getting harder and harder to call. Really? the first quality start of the NLCS was thrown by Randy Wolf? Not Zack Greinke or Chris Carpenter? I still think St. Louis is going to win the series, but I see it going 7 games.
While it looks like Theo Epstein is going to wind up in Chicago, there's still a chance the whole thing could fall through. Remember when it looked like Alex Rodriguez was going to Boston and not the Yankees? It's going to be interesting to see how this whole thing plays out.
According to Adam Rubin on ESPN.com, it looks like the Mets will offer the bench coach job to Bob Geren. I still don't think it's a great move, but whatever...
John Harper of the Daily News suggested that if the Yankees do wind up seeing CC Sabathia walk away after opting out of his contract, they should go after Prince Fielder. Oh, sure, that Mark Teixeira contract would be SO easy to move and if they can't do that, the DH position would get awfully crowded with Alex Rodriguez needing to DH too. It wouldn't be a smart move at all.
In football, the Giants 'Ahmad Bradshaw was complaining that he wasn't getting holes to run through. The offensive line should make him buy them dinner for the rest of the season for that. Sure, it may be frustrating, but there are just some things that shouldn't be voiced to the media and by extension, the public.
Speaking of calling out one's offensive line, Santonio Holmes did that too, saying they should go deep more often. Rex Ryan's got to be just shaking his head right about now. The Jets locker room is already tense enough - this is likely just going to add fuel to the fire. Which will make all the NY tabloids just positively giddy with glee, I'm sure.
Michael Strahan stirred up something on Twitter last night when he said the Jets should think about picking up Tiki Barber. Sure, they just jettisoned one locker room malcontent in Derick Mason - picking up another makes perfect sense. Of course, it could just be the former Giant in him trying to stir things up.
I'm worried about this Bills team that the Giants are facing. The team is bound to be down after losing to the Seahawks like they did and this is a Buffalo team that can score
If I'm part of the Miami Dolphins' brain trust, I am NOT thrilled at all to hear about Brandon Marshall's planning to try to get himself ejected by the second quarter of their game against the Jets. First, it means that he's not interested in staying on the field for the entire game and it also means that he's putting himself ahead of the team. It might even make Miami wonder about his mental state. The team itself is a very bad one, especially with quarterback Chad Henne being out for the regular season and this may be a harbinger of things to come.
The Denver Broncos traded Marshall a couple of seasons ago and now apparently they are shopping Brandon Lloyd. The lesson? If you are a wide receiver named Brandon and get drafted by the Broncos, don't set up roots for too long there.
David Stern is now threatening to cancel the Christmas NBA games if there's no deal. It looks like the owners really are serious about preferring to sit out a season rather than accept a deal that won't benefit them. Of course, the public really doesn't want to hear about it from either side and the longer this goes on, especially with the NFL in action, the less they are going to be inclined to care when the whole thing gets resolved. They'll probably get really angry when February rolls around and there's the bleak sports landscape between the end of the Super Bowl and when Spring Training begins. Basketball is walking a thin line and it really needs to get back on track.

Will Winter Be Hot or Cold For Mets?

2011-10-13T19:06:00.000-04:00

I've got to say, I'm very, very underwhelmed right now about who the Mets are talking to - Jim Riggleman, who quit on his team Sarah Palin-like and Bob Geren, who admittedly was hamstrung by a lower payroll out in Oakland but never really made me say, "Hey, this guy could be a GREAT manager." That couple with the fact that Wally Backman was sniffing around at a post outside of the Mets organization just made me wonder what this team's blueprints are, exactly.

First, if the Mets make Geren or Riggleman the bench coach, it won't make me want to look ahead to a couple of years when either of them replace Terry Collins as manager. Neither of them have impressive track records, and Riggleman keeps somehow getting coaching jobs in different organizations.

Also, I'm getting the same sinking feeling as some other Mets Twitter people that this may have been the last time we see Jose Reyes in a Mets uniform. I could deal with him going to Boston, though I'm not sure that a Brinks truck full of money would help him cope with the seemingly high level of dysfunction in the Red Sox clubhouse. If he went to the Phillies, as some people are seeming to see signs of, that would be akin to Brett Favre going to the Vikings in the late '90s, in his prime, as opposed to a couple of years ago. Having to see him run out to short wearing a "Philadelphia" uniform multiple times over the course of a season would not be fun at all.

Dwight Gooden floated a trade idea over Twitter that the Mets should trade Jason Bay to the Yankees for A.J. Burnett. While Burnett would likely pitch a lot better against National League teams, I'm not sure that he has the mental fortitude to pitch in New York, period. Also, the thought of a possible outfield of Daniel Murphy, Angel Pagan and Lucas Duda would likely make every National League team want to stack a lineup of flyball hitters with speed.

While the Wilpons have caught a break in terms of the possible amount they owe with the whole Madoff mess/trustee lawsuit, it's still likely going to be a lean payroll time and this organization has not really set the world on fire with its Minor League system, though maybe Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler could make an impact and it remains to be seen if Jenrry Mejia will turn out to be the real deal.

Will Johan Santana come back to New York healthy in 2012? I certainly hope so, otherwise he will start to look like a left-handed Brandon Webb for the Mets over the duration of his New York contract.

I'm hoping that Sandy Alderson does something big this offseason, but I'm not going to hold my breath. It looks like I'll just be using my portable heater to stay warm this winter.

Gryphon's Thoughts - 10/13/11

2011-10-13T14:34:00.002-04:00

Phew. I'm glad it's only Thursday the 13th. We only get to get terrorized by Jason's little brother Jimmy, whose weapon of choice is a whiffleball bat.
What do you think the odds are that there's a voicemail on Justin Verlander's phone from Jim Leyland today that says, "Hey Justin - wanna go nine innings today?" Verlander's likely going to be stretched out as long as possible due to the fact that Joaquin Benoit and Jose Valverde will not be available. Much to Mike Francesca's chagrin, Al Alburquerque IS available to pitch, though.
The ALCS seems to be moving at warp speed compared to the NLCS. The Rangers can clinch tonight? Wow. Of course, if they do, it sets up a lull for them like Detroit in 2006. Personally, I'm seeing a Rangers/Cardinals World Series.
This mess with the Red Sox is unreal - and I lived in Boston for 10 years. In that time span, I read about the team having their star slugger, Mo Vaughn, trailed by a detective, Roger Clemens constantly bashed in the Globe after leaving (though he did go about it VERY poorly) and other assorted things. The sad thing is that this current Red Sox ownership regime vowed that they did not want to be like previous incarnations of ownership. I don't blame David Ortiz for possibly not wanting to stay in Boston. If Ortiz did go to the Yankees, it'd be like that SportsCenter commercial in real life.
Speaking of the Red Sox, can you imagine how much Twitter would have blown up in the early '90s when Clemens infamously wore his headphones to tune out then-manager Butch Hobson when he was speaking to him?
Apparently current Cubs manager Mike Quade was not privy to the whole Theo Epstein courtship. That's... not a good sign. Might want to get that resume in working order and fast...
Congratulations to Lance Berkman and Jacoby Ellsbury for winning the Comeback Player of the Year awards. There's still time for someone on the Rangers to run into Adrian Beltre to set up their chances for next year's nominations.
In the NFL, I'm a Giants fan. That being said, I sincerely hope Washington beats Philadelphia very resoundingly, especially after the Eagles did that number on them last November.
Sidney Crosby has been cleared for contact at practice. The entire NHL will be holding its breath to see how he holds up. I'm just hoping that he hasn't become a much less vilified version of Eric Lindros.
I'm loving whoever writes the alt-headlines on ESPN.com's front page re:the NBA negotiations. For a Jeff McGregor piece, it was simply: "Idiots." and then today it's "Ridiculous" for a Michael Wilbon story about how the players and owners might be well-advised to listen to the public's reaction over their squabbles.
That's all the thoughts going on in my head right now. Will blog more later today.

Gryphon's Thoughts: 10/7/11

2011-10-07T16:04:00.002-04:00

- Even Joe Isuzu likely rolled his eyes and said "Yeah, right...." when Joe Girardi said that rookie Ivan Nova had been pulled from the game due to "tightness." What made things even more confusing was that there were two reports coming out of Twitter soon there after - Nova had left because of either cramping in his calf or his forearm. Who was passing along these reports - Manny Ramirez?

- The Yankees are lucky though. Nova's forearm is supposed to heal. Usually when I hear about 'tight forearms" and pitchers, the next thing is "Tommy John Ligament Replacement Surgery."

- I think Girardi may have just made another pitching change.

-Dear John Henry - thank you for stating the obvious that Theo Epstein is not going to "be GM forever." NOBODY is going to be GM forever, unless someone is able to do it while their brain is in a jar.

- Who would have thought this of Tim Lincecum? Apparently he is being accused of stealing and breaking things from an apartment he once rented. His former landlord said he stayed beyond when his lease expired and that he didn't pay rent. With the money he makes, he could have probably bought the whole building.

- Curtis Painter gets another start while Peyton Manning frantically tries to get better so that he doesn't have to worry about the Colts being able to draft Andrew Luck next year.

-The 49ers Frank Gore said that the Eagles "didn't want to play" as San Francisco was coming back. There was no report though of his saying any Philadelphia quarterback was throwing up on the field.

- I may try to get something in over the weekend and on Columbus Day, but if not, I will have something for you on Tuesday. Enjoy the long weekend.

What Present Do You Bring to Elimination Day?

2011-10-07T15:48:00.000-04:00

A suitcase, of course. It can be used either way - to pack one's belongings for the offseason or to take their stuff for the next series.

The Yankees were the ones packing their belongings to head home for a long winter of wondering why $200 million didn't get them into at least the American League Championship Series. The reason for this was twofold - their starting pitching isn't what it used to be and their hitters got old really, really, really fast.

Behind CC Sabathia, there wasn't one pitcher that the team could point to and say, "That guy is going to give us a sure chance to win tonight!" Nova was good, but he was also a rookie. AJ Burnett, while he did pitch a great Game 4 for the Bombers, he also benefited greatly from Curtis Granderson's game-altering catch in the first inning. That's a problem, and it will lead to worse issues in the next few years as the team gets older.

It was just kind of shocking seeing how Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez had regressed during this postseason - it was getting to the point that the announcers had to keep praising A-Rod's fielding to deflect away from his poor hitting. Jeter just did not look comfortable at the plate.

And A-Rod... it just seemed fitting that he was the last out of Game 5, walking slowly back to the dugout while the Tigers celebrated behind him. I don't think that the Steinbrenner family saw this happening already at this point in the contract extension. He was not hitting the ball with much authority and his baserunning speed was terrible - at one point in Game 5 he was on second and Jorge Posada lashed a single to center and A-Rod rounded third and then... stopped and retreated to the base. Sure, Austin Jackson had come up charging the ball well but it looked like a sure run-scoring hit. So much so that Posada seemed to make an angry chopping type of motion towards third.

So now the Yankees are facing a situation where they may conceivably have several albatross contracts on their hands - Sabathia may opt out of his contract in the hopes of landing even more money from the Yankees or any other team and while he's been very durable over the course of his career, he is a very large man and who knows how much longer that run may last. Jeter seemed to look like the player with the diminished bat that we all saw at the beginning of the season and Mark Teixeira's bat was not the same.

Add the fact that Joe Girardi seemed to overmanage the game - never mind that all his moves worked out. Is he the right longterm skipper for the Yankees? He's going to have to wind it down a notch to stay fresh in New York.

Add the fact that General Manager Brian Cashman may decide to move on to another team and this organization could find itself at a crossroads very, very very soon.

Other thoughts:

The point behind the headline - today is Elimination Day with two Game 5s being played.

Tonight in Philadelphia , it's Roy Halladay vs. Chris Carpenter for all the marbles in that series. My Magic 8 Ball says, "Are You Kidding Me?" I'm still hoping the Cardinals win.

I think that Milwaukee will finally set down Arizona behind Yovani Gallardo, though Ian Kennedy does make it an enticing matchup.

Gryphon's Thoughts 10/6/11

2011-10-06T21:09:00.000-04:00

A collection of thoughts from around sports and other things that flit through my brain at this given moment:

- I got around to opening up the most recent edition of The Sporting News (henceforth 'TSN') and got quite a surprise seeing that the publication is merging with the Sporting News Yearbook. What this means is that TSN will now be monthly, rather than bi-weekly. The Letter from the Publisher said that each issue would most likely be a preview for a certain sport and that it would still have the 'quality content you have come to enjoy.'

I really, really don't like this for several reasons - the main one being that it makes what was a mainstream sports magazine seem more like a niche. The other thing is that if it does try to write about events, it will become horribly, horribly dated, even more so than some WEEKLY magazines. I wouldn't want to read about the World Series in mid- to late November.

The Letter said that the web site would continually be updated daily, but in an Internet where there are roughly 894049899 sports websites, it's going to be hard to maintain a core audience, since sites like ESPN.com also offer a glut of sportswriting.

I hope that I'm wrong here, but it just seems like this points towards a downward trend for TSN- and it may be partially because they blew their budget on turning the magazine into a super glossy on high quality paper and a daily edition that first was available to subscribers and then became fee-based in 2010, which should have been a warning sign in its own regard. Why would I want to have to pay for both a print magazine and a digital edition, when, on the other hand, I get free Insider Access on ESPN.com because I subscribe to ESPN the Magazine.

What it boils down to is bad decision-making by TSN's management and it really might come back to bite them, which is a shame, since this is a magazine that has been in existence for 125 years - more than Sports Illustrated and ESPN the Mag combined (or close to it - math was never my forte).

It's a weird world out there with this digital economy that is faltering. I'd hate to see something as venerable as TSN go under though. Signs look bleak though.

- Continuing this somewhat downer of a column, I was saddened to see that Steve Jobs had died. What did he have to do with sports? His '1984' themed commercial changed Super Bowl viewing forever. Companies now want to put their edgiest ads on during this viewing spectacle.

- The Chicago White Sox hired Robin Ventura as their manager. I wonder if the team carried him off the podium before he could finish his introductory speech. OK, there's the first joke of the column.

- Bye Bye Hank Williams, Jr.. Sure, "Are You Ready For Some Football" was a long-running part of Monday Night Football, but I really don't think many people actually hustled home just so they could hear the opening song. ESPN was well within its rights to do what it did.

-In more not-so-good news, Giants defensive end Justin Tuck may rest until the bye. This defense just keeps taking hits...

- Peyton Manning said he wants to play for the Colts this season - I don't know how many people were injured in the stampede to the fantasy football waiver wires.

- I don't know how Jay Cutler thinks, but if I read that Ndamukong Suh said that he wanted to hit me a lot during a game, I'd lose some sleep - and then take the field in an Iron Man suit.

- Time to devote my full attention to this Tigers-Yankees tilt. I'll blog about that later on or early tomorrow morning.

Like the column? Hate the column? Tweet me at @literateartist

"Super" Nova or a Black Hole Tonight?

2011-10-06T13:16:00.000-04:00

It's all going to come down on the shoulders of Ivan Nova tonight for the fate of the Yankees' postseason this evening. No pressure or anything, rook. Sure, he's going to have CC Sabathia waiting in the wings should he falter, but an early bad start could dig a deep hole that New York might have a supremely difficult time digging out of.

Some people probably are second-guessing the decision to start Nova in this do-or-die game, but I'm also questioning the decision on Tigers manager Jim Leyland's part to start Doug Fister over Max Scherzer tonight. Sure, Fister may have been consistent for Detroit over the entire month of September, but the Yankees beat him in his last outing, while Scherzer dominated the Bombers in his outing, and with this being Game 5, I don't think a day of rest would make a difference.

Of course, the crusty Leyland would probably tell me to go do something anatomically impossible to myself if I were able to broach this question to him.

So tonight, the Yankees are likely going to be a bit more confident on the heels of how they performed in Game 4 and the fact that they will be playing in what will be a thunderous Yankee Stadium. As a Mets fan, I hope I'm wrong, but for some reason, I see the Yankees pulling this one out and going on to take the Rangers.

Other thoughts:

- This Cardinals-Phillies series is getting really hard to call, especially with this Game 5 matchup of two aces: Roy Halladay and Chris Carpenter. I want the Cardinals to win for reasons twofold: A: I hate the Phillies and B: I don't want the Albert Pujols free agent mania to start up just yet.

- I face the same conundrum with the Brewers-Diamondbacks. I want the Brewers to win so that there can be a rematch between Carpenter and Nyjer Morgan, but Arizona has come back to life in a major way after being down 2-0 in the series. I also want the Prince Fielder free agent frenzy staved off for another week or so.

- While I'm sad that Mookie Wilson won't be back on the field for the Mets in a coaching capacity, it'll be good to see Tim Teufel back in the Majors.

- I wish I could get "medically prescribed rest" like Johan Santana. I know he's been through a lot in his rehab, but hearing of something like that just makes me a wee bit jealous.

-For some reason, when the Mets announced their rollback of ticket prices, I kept imagining Mr. Met's head floating around Citi Field like in those "Price Rollback" Wal-Mart commercials. Mr. Met's head would bonk into a seat and a sign would then show the newly rolled-back price.

I'll roam around the world of sports a bit later on today.

Gryphon's Thoughts: 10/5/11

2011-10-05T17:46:00.001-04:00

Just some random thoughts from the world of sports:

- Dear Mets - you can make whatever coaching changes you want, but that's not going to affect what happens on the field that much. That said... WHY DITCH MOOKIE?

-Michael Vick just said that the moniker 'The Dream Team' was dead for the Eagles. It's not dead, it just turned into Freddy Krueger's type of dream. This is why I find preseason predictions to be rather useless, particularly in football. It's a sport where men who are 200-300+ pounds apiece slam into each other at high rates of speed. Attrition is going to be a normal course for a team.

- I trust the NBA agents' advice about what the players should do re: this lockout about as much as I trust Joe Isuzu to pontificate on the same subject.

- Brett Favre said he doesn't understand why Aaron Rodgers didn't win the Super Bowl earlier than he did. How are those grapes, Brett? Are they really, really, really sour?

- Tomorrow is going to be a huge test for Ivan Nova and what he's really made of. Sure, he pitched well to cement a spot in the rotation, but he might be laying in bed tonight just thinking, "WIN OR GO HOME. WIN OR GO HOME." That's a lot to cross a rookie's mind. Then again, he can probably take solace in the fact that Doug Fister will likely be doing the same thing tonight.

- I think St. Louis pushes the Phillies to Game 5 tonight - Albert Pujols doesn't want to start thinking about what team he is going to go to this offseason JUST yet.

- The Brewers, on the other hand, are probably ready to dunk the Diamondbacks into a giant vat of beer and just finish that series off. Then there will be off days where Prince Fielder is asked where he thinks he will land this offseason.

- Personally, I don't care about this whole NBA lockout - it might even be better that they would start the season in February.

- I had two NHL fantasy drafts this past week. I'm still not entirely sure of how I fared.

- Theo Epstein may get permission to talk to the Cubs. I think this is a really, really bad idea for Boston. Epstein should be getting free clam chowder for life after 2004 and 2007.

A Vision Spoiled

2011-10-05T11:35:00.002-04:00

Let's close our eyes and imagine for a moment, shall we? Let's visualize that this is how the first inning actually went last night: Don Kelly's drive lands just inches away from the glove of the outstretched, diving Curtis Granderson. The bases already loaded, the Tigers' baserunners scamper merrily around towards home plate as both Brett Gardner and Nick Swisher converge on the ball while it rolled toward the fence. The Comerica Park crowd goes wild and A.J. Burnett is left to stand there on the mound, his perpetually confused look already in place.

OK, time to open your eyes. Hello? You can open them again... sigh.... this is the last time I do a visualization exercise on a blog, since people can't read when their eyes are closed.

As we all know, it went the complete opposite of that visualization exercise - the ball landed in Granderson's glove and the Yankees got to jog off the field and Burnett was given a jolt of confidence that he didn't relinquish until he was taken out of the game several innings later with a sizable Yankee lead. He actually pitched like someone who shouldn't be embarrassed to pick up his paychecks on the first and 15th of every month. Actually, scratch that, he's likely got direct deposit.

I'm sure that many fans knew already once that first inning ended that the chances for the Tigers to beat the Yankees that game had eroded quite a bit and inning by inning that feeling intensified, even when Detroit scored to get within a run at one point. It just seemed like it was going to be a fait accompli that there would be a Game 5 despite Jose Valverde's prognostication to the contrary.

The game just got silly towards the end as New York started scoring more runs off the Tigers' bullpen, including one on a balk. Which now leads nicely into my segue - the silliness of bunting.

While I understand how bunting can be an important part of a game strategy, it just seems like managers are reading this Holy Bible of Bunting Situations that they CANNOT deviate from lest they be smited by a lightning bolt thrown by Brett Butler. It's something that started driving me nuts towards the end of the regular season for the Mets, when Terry Collins would have his hitters bunt in situations that would seemingly call for swinging away, particularly late-game ones against a closer. That decision is the one that makes me want to tear my hair out - you're in a game where a pitcher is in to collect three outs... and you give him a free out. At least make him earn the out.

I almost feel like Gregg Easterbrook in his columns about why NFL teams shouldn't punt. I'd rather see a drag bunt attempt for a base hit than a meek sacrifice. Pitchers bunting are a completely different animal to me than seeing Derek Jeter lay one down. Add the fact that the bunting fundamentals are SO bad and it's enough to make fans want to rebel. After the World Series, teams should send ALL their players for a six-week bunting boot camp.

Segue over. The Yankees return home tomorrow for Game 5. Ivan Nova is going to be pitching in the game of his life already- as calm and cool as he seems, I thing Girardi has all hands on deck pitching-wise. Same with the Tigers - Verlander might be in the 'pen. Who knows?

Other thoughts:

- The Rangers fulfilled my prediction of their beating the Rays in their Division Series. Adrian Beltre made Red Sox fans gnash their teeth with his three homers.

- After last night's game, it looks like Philly has now taken complete control of their series against the Cardinals .

-I still think Milwaukee will go ahead and beat Arizona in their series.

"Burn(ett) Notice" Season Finale?

2011-10-04T11:07:00.000-04:00

Imagine Jeffrey Donovan - who plays Michael Westen, the star of the TV show "Burn Notice," which is about a spy who had been 'burned' while out in the field - doing a voiceover now about the Yankees situation:

When you're in a do-or-die game situation, ideally you'd have your ace right there in for you, but if that happens, sometimes you have to improvise with less than ideal things, things that could ultimately blow up in your face. You've got to be confident, or fake it somehow while trotting out this combustible item that can either leave you looking like a hero or having you hold the ashes of everything that you worked so hard previously for right in your hands.

Then Westen would probably build a cyborg or something that could just blow through the Tigers' batting order. Or was that actually MacGyver? Anyways, unfortunately for the Yankees, Westen and MacGyver only exist in the minds of television writers. They have to rely on this powder keg named A.J. Burnett to save their season after CC Sabathia fell short last night.

Now one of two things can happen:

1) Burnett can actually get past his mental blocks and turn in a dominating performance -this is a man who has a no-hitter on his resume, after all. The Tigers' lineup is a strong one, but not like, say, the Texas Rangers.

2) Burnett can do what most Yankees fans think he's going to do, which is do the equivalent of just laying down on the mound in the fetal position. They see yesterday's game as the last good chance for New York to grab control in the series - which is why five-game series can drive both fans and players nuts, since the winds of change can blow through VERY quickly and there are more variables that can lead to a superior team actually losing.

So, Yankee fans... grab those lucky rabbits feet or whatever you've got (this Mets fan is rooting for a Bomber exit) and hope that the team doesn't play like MacGruber.

Other thoughts

- The Daily News jokingly (I think) begged for Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez to reunite with their former squeezes - Minka Kelly and Cameron Diaz - so that they could get their hitting strokes back. Jeter has looked particularly lost at the plate and A-Rod still hasn't garnered a hit in this series against Detroit.

- The Tigers are sending Rick Porcello to the mound. He's lucky he's pitching in Comerica tonight, since the ball would likely be flying out of Yankee Stadium.

- If the Tigers are up in the ninth tonight, think Jose Valverde will be nervous about trying to actually close out the series at home like he predicted?

- There were a ton of "PFC Santiago" and "A Few Good Men" references in my Twitter stream last night. Interested in following me? I'm @literateartist.

- I'm still sticking by my prediction that the Rangers will beat the Rays in their Division Series.

- It'll be interesting to see if the Brewers can sweep their series against the Diamondbacks.Like I said before, don't bet against Kirk Gibson, though.

- The St. Louis- Philadelphia series is at its tipping point too... the Game 3 winner will have a leg up.

- The Arizona Fall League starts up. Now's your chance to watch Bryce Harper and see what he's all about.

- Terry Francona resigned from the Red Sox and Theo Epstein is angling himself towards the door. You'd think those two had at LEAST a decade of a cushion from any scrutiny, wouldn't you?

Giant Win, Jet Engine Failure

2011-10-03T18:11:00.001-04:00

I was going to make the headline something along the lines of "Giant Win, Jets Crash" but since I live in New York... yeah, that wouldn't be the best choice.

First, the Giants -I must say, it was a very, very lucky win for them. I'm wondering if that spot that Victor Cruz did his "All Fall Down" act was the same one where David Tyree corralled that ball against his helmet a few years ago in the Super Bowl. Again, it was a very lucky win and Cruz should be very thankful that he wasn't standing in front of his locker answering questions about the play in a harsher light. For those that didn't see it, Cruz caught a ball in the fourth quarter and then fell down while some Cardinals were in the vicinity. He may or may not have been touched, but rather than waiting for the play to be whistled dead, he just stood up while leaving the ball on the ground. Fortunately, the referee deemed that he had "given himself up by going to the ground" and kept a possibly very fatal fumble from occurring.

Truth be told, I didn't have a very high level of interest during much of the game, as the offense seemed to be sleepwalking for three quarters. Then, lo and behold, they came alive and pulled out a last-minute win. Fortunately, it was not one that left Arizona head coach Ken Whisenhunt screaming at the media that the Giants "were who we thought they were!"

Now they get to take on the Seahawks, another team they should beat. The NFL keeps insisting that they actually play these games though, so there's always a chance that Seattle could win.

What do the Giants need to do? Get into an offensive rhythm that lasts all four quarters. Maybe Eli could run the no-huddle the entire game? The defense needs to keep whatever healthy players it has healthy - it was good to see Osi Umenyiora disrupting things again and Justin Tuck 's neck has to be healthy.

The Jets, on the other hand, looked like a train wreck during the entirety of their game against the Ravens, and the Patriots HAVE to be licking their chops now. Mark Sanchez's play resembled a rookie during his first few NFL games, not one of a QB who is being counted on to actually take them past the AFC Championship round - though right now Rex Ryan has to be thinking about just surviving to get INTO the playoffs now.

It was just awful on both sides of the ball and I'm sure that the player's ears may be very red now after Ryan probably chewed them out. And if the Patriots do what I think they are going to do to them, the Jets head coach may actually want to climb into an MMA ring during their bye week.

I know that part of the problem for Sanchez was the absence of Nick Mangold, who missed his second straight start with a high ankle sprain, but for the Jets' sake, he needs to get back on track, and fast.

My predictions for this upcoming week:

NYG 35 SEA 17
NYJ 10 NEP 45

A Postseason to Ponder - So Far

2011-10-03T11:34:00.001-04:00

I know this is primarily a Mets-centric blog, but the way the whole season ended, with Jose Reyes winning the Mets' first batting title, albeit in a way that didn't leave the best taste in my mouth and probably made the cryogenically-frozen head of Ted Williams melt its container, just made me want to take a short break. Oh yes, and the whole Red Sox collapse thing. Now I'm back and I'll be writing about the ALDS and NLDS.

It's been a whirlwind postseason so far - of course it feels a little empty again without the Mets participating in it, but the whole Tigers-Yankees series has provided more than its money's worth in entertainment.

First.. let's start with the whole decision to even START Game 1 in the first place on Friday night. The weather radar just made it look like a deity was lobbing giant green water balloons at the Bronx and the rain was just non-stop. Imagine if either CC Sabathia or Justin Verlander had been hurt as they tried to pitch on a mound that resembled a mudslide? That was a poor decision on MLB's part.

Then there was the whole "No postseason game gets postponed - it gets suspended" rule that made Game 1 start the next day with the Tigers out on the field first at Yankee Stadium - a surreal scene, indeed. Doug Fister took over for Verlander and Ivan Nova played the role of Sabathia. Nova, who has been possibly New York's best pitcher behind Sabathia, stymied the Tigers and Fister wasn't able to quell the Yankees' bats .

Then there was yesterday - Freddy Garcia, a scrap heap revelation, didn't pitch TOO badly, but Max Scherzer, part of that three-way deal that was made a couple of seasons ago that has been written about 1,403,302 times this postseason alone, was making the Yankees' bats look quite bad for most of the game. Only a ninth-inning rally that featured a Jack Clarkian misplay of a pop foul made the game somewhat interesting.

So now the Yankees are in Detroit, probably slightly bleary-eyed and the game will feature what was supposed to be the Game 1 matchup of Verlander and Sabathia. Tigers closer Jose Valverde has already guaranteed that the series won't return to NY. Psst. Jose. C'mere. I know you're a closer and march to your own rhythm, but... it's not terribly smart to make the Yankees mad and give them bulletin board material. Hope this doesn't come back to bite him or the Tigers in the rear.

My prediction: The Tigers will win this series IF Verlander does what he is capable of doing.

The other ongoing Division Series:

St. Louis came back from being pummeled in Game 1 and an uncharacteristically bad start from Chris Carpenter in Game 2 to even their series with the Phillies. Much as I would like it to happen, for St. Louis to do to Philadelphia what they did to New York in 2006, the Phillies just have too strong of a starting rotation. It MAY go 5 though.

Milwaukee may very well sweep Arizona the way that series is going, but over the years one has learned to never, ever, ever take any series outcome with a team that has Kirk Gibson on it in any capacity. Heck, we may even see Gibson walk out into the on-deck circle tonight.

Texas and Tampa Bay.... that series could go either way. Both teams have pitching and firepower, but if I had to pick.. I'd say that the Rangers will win in 5.

I'll do a blog post a bit later on about the Jets and Giants.

Mets The Gut-Punchers For Once Vs. Cardinals

2011-09-22T22:20:00.000-04:00

While I admit I missed the Mets comeback today - dealing with a sick baby is the top priority, of course - seeing that they had done it against St. Louis made me feel quite good, since it dealt a big blow to their hopes to win the Wild Card. It also took me back to two separate times in my life. The first was 1987:

I was 15 years old and it looked like the Mets were going to pull off a comeback to win the National League East Division after underachieving for much of the season - part of it looking like a post-'86 hangover and the other part being that they lacked their ace, Dwight Gooden, for the first few weeks of the season while he served a drug suspension. It was 24 years ago yesterday when the team was one out away from beating the Cardinals to get within half a game of first place. Remember, this was before realignment - there were two divisions in each league, East and West, and only the teams that won each division got to go to the postseason. There was no Wild Card.

So, it was Sept. 21, 1987 and I was watching the game at a friend's place on his TV that had spotty reception. He still had rabbit ear antennae, I believe. From the sound on the TV, Shea was rocking when Terry Pendleton came to the plate in the ninth. A bad omen had occurred earlier in the inning when a groundball skipped through Keith Hernandez's legs, eerily reminiscent of something that had occurred the prior year. Willie McGee had then hit a run-scoring single and was on base when Pendleton was batting. The thing I remember about Pendleton was that he was a switch-hitter and rather than his wearing a helmet that had a single ear flap that protected his ear from whichever side, he wore a helmet that had flaps on both sides, like the ones I had worn when I played Little League baseball. So, Pendleton was up against Roger McDowell, and honestly, I forget the count, but he hit an offering to center field that I first thought was going to be an easy out in center, but the ball kept carrying and carrying, the outfielders were converging on the fence, and I'm pretty sure I saw, in this crappy television reception, the ball land near the Mets' home run Apple, almost like Pendleton was mocking it. Tie game. The Mets went on to lose the game and never recovered for the rest of the season.

Pendleton had a new nickname from me - Terry Bleepin' Pendleton, a la the moniker that Bostonians had bestowed on Bucky Dent after his homer in the '78 play-in game at Fenway. It didn't help that Pendleton went on to play with the Braves in their days before realignment, when they were in the Western Division for some reason. That was my first real experience with a gut punch and it lingered for a long time.

It didn't help that the Dodgers then upset the Mets in '88 in the playoffs with a whole other set of gut punches, but this isn't an entry about New York and Los Angeles, but about New York and St. Louis. After realignment, the Cardinals ceased to really be the main rivals, being replaced by Bobby Cox and the Atlanta Braves, though there was a bit of a skirmish in 2000 when the two teams met in the NLCS, though the Mets prevailed to go on to the World Series.

Then came 2006.

Oh my. 2006 was supposed to be such a perfect year of symmetry. The Mets basically led the National League East from wire to wire and Carlos Beltran was coming into his own as an MVP candidate after having a tepid first year after signing an enormous contract with New York in the 2004 offseason on the heels of a ridiculous postseason showing. They easily won the National League Division Series and it looked like they were facing an inferior team in the Cardinals, who had won quite a fewer amount of games in winning their division.

Oh yes. It was going to be 20 years after 1986. 1986-2006. The problem is, they actually play the games and when they play the games, that leaves room for people like Scott Spiezio to be heroes. No matter, though... it was Game 7, Shea was rocking, especially after Endy Chavez had leaped up to corral that Scott Rolen drive that was going to go over the left-field fence.

"There's NO way we're losing this game," I told myself after that. The Mets had Big Momentum on their side and were going to feed off that. Unfortunately, Big Momentum looked like it got hit by the 7 train after Yadier Molina lofted a homer off Aaron Heilman, a pitcher who perpetually looked constipated to me.

But Big Momentum was alive in the ninth... the Mets were rallying against rookie closer Adam Wainwright, he of the killer curve. Even though Wainwright had struck Cliff Floyd out with the pitch, I was confident when Beltran came to the plate. While it wasn't going to come close to putting him in the stratosphere that Derek Jeter occupies in the New York posteason, Beltran was going to burnish his image now. Shea must have been deafening.

Then Big Momentum got absolutely splattered as Beltran watched strike three go by to end the game, without even lifting his bat off his shoulders. I fell to my knees, gut punched again, having to watch a St. Louis team celebrate something on the fields of Shea.

So while this game didn't really help the Mets, they did get to play the role of spoilers for once and got to walk off the field while the fans at Busch - not Shea - Stadium got to sit in stunned silence for once.

The Roof is, The Roof is... Caving In

2011-09-21T12:31:00.001-04:00

Ever just have a really, really bad feeling about how a game is going to end? I had that last night even when the Mets were leading, 5-3 and then 6-5. Mike Pelfrey just didn't look like he was capable of keeping the St. Louis bats in check for any extended period of time and then the bullpen came in and just promptly dumped kerosene all over the situation, lit a match and stepped back.

End result: An ugly 11-6 loss and the fact that they couldn't play spoilers. The less said about all that, the better, though it was kind of comforting seeing a whole stream of angry Braves fans yelling about the Mets in my Twitter feed - any time Atlanta or Philly fans get some heartburn over a New York team is a good time.

The positives from last night? Um. Well... they scored six runs, with six starters driving in a run apiece, including Pelfrey driving in one with a ground-rule double. That's pretty much the only positive I can draw out of this game.

The negatives? To go into full detail, I'd have to spend several hours and around 15,000 words. So, to paraphrase Inigo Montoya in "The Princess Bride" - I will sum up briefly thusly: THEY WASTED NINE FREAKING WALKS FROM CARDINALS PITCHING!!! Their own pitching was abysmal too.

That pretty much encapsulates everything. At this point in the season, despite my being a baseball junkie, I'm waiting for the last pitch to be thrown in the 2011 season for the Mets. The only encouragement I got last night was when Sandy Alderson told the broadcast booth, "The 2012 closer is not in the organization." That made me do a fist pump that the team was not going to try to shove more of Bobby Parnell down our throats.

It's time for the Mets to give up on Pelfrey. Sure, he may go to another organization and become a 25-game winner, but it doesn't look like that's ever going to be in the cards for him in New York. He throws way too many pitches per outing and isn't consistent around the strike zone. Were I in the front office this off-season, I'd merely tip my hat while declining to offer him a contract. Good luck to the pitching coach that inherits him.

So, basically what it comes down to is - St. Louis needs to win their games and the Mets are likely not going to be able to spoil their chances. Maybe if someone could hypnotize them into thinking it's '88 and the Cardinals are their division rivals... Nah.

Tonight's game has Chris Schwinden going up against Jaime Garcia. Good luck, rookie, facing a hungry Cardinals team.

Try to keep the roof from caving in this time, please.

Not a Whole Lot to Cheer About

2011-09-19T17:28:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, the rookie hazing ritual for the team was to have them dress up in cheerleader outfits before they boarded the team plane to go to St. Louis. I found the images sufficiently scarring enough that I won't inflict any of them upon you, either with images on here or in any linkage through text. If you feel sufficiently curious enough to risk retinal damage, then by all means, head over to Google.

Now for the team - sure, they beat the Braves two out of three games to win that series, but even beating Atlanta didn't bring the same giddy high that it did in years past. Perhaps it was because I knew there wasn't any real impact on Atlanta's psyche - somehow I don't think Fredi Gonzalez lay awake at night after Friday and Sunday's games and replayed moves in his brain. Maybe he did because he's just wired that way, but I really, really doubt it.

Before they head back home to finish off the last six games of the season against the Phillies and the Reds, they'll take on St. Louis, another city that is in the midst of possibly seeing their own ultra-superstar, Albert Pujols, leave town after this season as a free agent. Maybe he and Jose Reyes can exchange notes. The thing is...I can see the Mets quickly getting up from the table if the bidding gets too crazy for Reyes - he's a great player, but he hasn't been a possible Top 5 player of ALL TIME like Pujols has been for the Cardinals. I do see Pujols back at Busch Stadium next year in a hometown uniform. With Reyes... still hazy.

With no game tonight, that will give Mike Pelfrey another day to think about where his season has gone and what he can do with his potential. Personally, I think he needs to escape New York, like Ed Whitson and other pitchers who just could not handle the constant scrutiny there. I wouldn't mind if he did it in either the American League Central, West or National League Central or West.

The rest of the rotation in St. Louis shakes with the two Chrises - Schwinden and Capuano. Cardinals manager Tony La Russa hasn't deigned to post his rotation yet, so the Mets are unsure of who they will be facing. Maybe Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan may even head out there himself. Just be ready for a LOT of La Russa heading out to the mound to make yet another pitching change.

I just hope the team burned the cheeleader outfits upon landing in St. Louis.

A non-Mets related item: I watched Mariano Rivera get career save No. 602. Much as I loathe the Yankees, I have to give Rivera credit for how classy he has been over the duration of his career. Congratulations, Mo. May you save many more (Just not against the Mets or Boston, OK?).

Not So, Mets

2011-09-14T11:06:00.000-04:00

A long time ago, I read a piece by Roger Angell called "Not So, Boston." It was centered around Game Six of the '86 World Series, where apparently even before Mookie hit that slow roller that went between Buckner's legs, Angell had written those words in a notebook. It was as if he knew that there was no way Boston was going to win that game.

I had that feeling last night while watching the Mets play against the Nationals. I didn't get this feeling late in the game, it was actually while they still had the lead. Josh Thole was on second and after Dillon Gee screwed up on a bunt attempt, Jose Reyes singled to center. Run-scoring hit, right? Nope. Problem is, Thole runs so slow that the turtle in "The Rabbit and the Hare" gives him tips on how to increase his speed. Rick Ankiel scooped up the ball and threw to the plate to get Thole by roughly 10 feet. Never mind that Lucas Duda hit a two-run single later in the inning - I just knew that Thole play was going to come back to bite them.

It did in the next inning when Washington scored twice to tie the game The next "Not So, Mets" moment came when Terry Collins handed the ball over to Bobby Parnell with a runners on first and third in the seventh. The first hitter he faced, Ryan Zimmerman, promptly laced a run-scoring single to snap the 2-2 tie and it was all they needed as the Mets never capitalized on any opportunities after that, even though they did have a two-men-on-and-no-outs situation in the sixth that wound up in missed opportunities (Yup, "Not So, Mets")

It was also "Star Wars Night" at Citi Field, and I'm sure many other people led off their writeups about this event and tied in a bunch of quotes. The only one that I think would really apply is "I've got a baaaaaaaaaaaaaaad feeling about this."

So it was another loss to a bad team and another time of them not taking the opportunity to get closer to . 500. At this point in the season, I would just love to see them hit that mark, and I'm not sure that they can reach it now.

Not so, Mets.

Really Stinker of a Capper there

2011-09-12T15:01:00.001-04:00

When I first saw the Tweets about MLB not allowing the Mets to wear their NYPD/FDNY hats during the game last night, like they had in their first game after 9/11, the first thought that crossed my mind was - "They can't be THAT stupid, can they?"

Yup. They could and were. Sure, the players were allowed to wear the hats during batting practice - but really... how many people actually are at batting practice. Then right after batting practice, according to @RADickey43 - otherwise known as R.A. Dickey's Twitter account, reps from MLB confiscated all those hats and made them wear their "official" caps with a little American flag on the side. David Wright tried to wear his in the dugout in between innings, but like a stern homeroom teacher, an MLB rep made him give over the cap.

Who was behind that decision? Well, Bud Selig, a man who I have never had much respect for due to how he took the office of commissioner in the first place had to pass down the edict, and then Joe Torre, a man who I DID have respect for previously, even though he was the manager of the Yankees, enforced the ban. I respected Torre because of his dignity during his time in New York, but I have seen that respect lessened considerably given that Torre had to KNOW how symbolic a gesture letting them wear the caps would be. Just sheer stupidity on his part. The cynic in me also wonders - suppose it were the Yankees that came asking about continuing to wear the FDNY/NYPD caps during the game? Hmmmmm.

Torre wimped out, saying that he was just doing how the Yankees did it in the World Series in '01, wearing them in batting practice and then wearing the regular caps in-game. Give me a break.

I'm not only mad at Selig and Torre, I'm mad at members of the team. Why exactly is Josh Thole, someone with almost NO service time as a player, the team union representative? Can someone answer me that?

I know in the overall scheme of things, it's relatively minor, but having this happen RIGHT after the team conducted a really moving ceremony before the game was akin to having a clown come out with a spritzer bottle after a church service.

Personally, I'm going to donate the full amount that MLB is charging for the caps to a firefighter charity. That's money better spent, I think. It would leave a better taste in my mouth.

A Two-Fer

2011-09-07T22:14:00.000-04:00

Duda's RBI double in the first was the only scoring of the whole game.

I was going to post about last night's game, I swear. But then I had to get up early that same morning and then the game started nearly an hour late due to the rain delay... and then I was just SO thoroughly disgusted at Bobby Parnell's effort that I just couldn't see myself blogging about the game after it ended, since I might have just lapsed into a Jack Torrance rage and just posted "Bobby Parnell is NOT a closer" about 500 times and called it a night.

Truth be told, I didn't even see the end of the game, as my eyelids got way too heavy around the tenth inning and I toddled off to bed - I checked the score this morning and was happy to see that they did indeed win the game in 12 innings.

So yeah, I was going to then write something this afternoon, but my baby was cranky and since he's 14 months, he doesn't QUITE understand Daddy's writing process just yet. The morning and early afternoon consisted of either A) Watching Sesame Street or B) Putting Sesame Street dolls on the windowsill, with feedings and bottles and diaper changes in the interim, of course. 5 p.m. came and went and I saw that they were playing at that time, so I figured I'd just write about that.

I'm glad I did, since it was a great game, a 1-0 win, with R.A. Dickey outdueling Brad Hand and Lucas Duda providing the only run with an RBI double in the first inning that scored Jose Reyes. Manny Acosta got the ball in the ninth to close it out and despite creating a bit of tension by hitting Mike Stanton to put the winning run at the plate in the form of nemesis Greg Dobbs. Dobbs. Acosta got Dobbs to hit a soft comebacker to him to end the game, causing all of us Mets fans to exhale at once.

So now they come back home to Citi Field to host a doubleheader against Atlanta. I'm sort of excited about this, since if they win both games, they will be a game over .500, which is FAR from what people expected with all the injuries to the team and many people playing out of position.

I have NO idea what to expect with the doubleheader, though, since one of the games will feature pitcher Chris Schwinden, who will be making his Major League debut for the Mets. Fortunately for him, he's not matched up against any of the Braves' big guns - Mike Minor will be going for Atlanta. His nerves and adrenaline are probably pretty high tonight, but he's spared from having to stare at the mirror going, "I'm up against Tim Hudson/Jair Jurrjens/Derek Lowe?!?!?"

Dillon Gee's going to be going in the second game against Julio Teheran. Best I can hope for is Gee to win his 13th game and lower his E.R.A. some more.

Other thoughts:

- Johan Santana had a good bullpen session - it was deemed "gushworthy" on the Mets site. I'm still on the fence about him returning to the team this year. We'll see.

- Apparently Parnell is going to still get the bulk of the save chances. I tweeted last night: "I just asked my Magic 8 Ball about Bobby Parnell as a closer. I don't think 'HAHAHAHA... No.' is very encouraging." I turned to the 8 Ball again about this decision about the save courseload and rather than give me an answer, it just showed a clip of Harrison Ford saying, "I've got a baaaaaaaaaaaaaad feeling about this."

- Manager Terry Collins thinks that Nick Evans can be a strong contributor to the team. He did look more comfortable at first base than Daniel Murphy did, but that's not saying too much. I'll be convinced when he does well against teams in May and June, not these September callups.

Gryphon's Eye On The Mets - 9/6/11

2011-09-06T08:05:00.000-04:00

Johan

From what I am reading, Johan Santana is looking to return to the Major Leagues next week. While I'm sure that the Mets would love to see some return on his contract for this season, I'm not sure that his coming back is entirely worth it - for this season.

I'm sure that he's spent an inordinate amount of time on rehab, but would he be better off easing into a routine for Spring Training rather than be pitching in situations that would require more effort this season and possibly then send him catapulting with a setback? He's already had to stop rehab once this year and white the Mets are out of contention this year, he might face a team that New York is trying to play spoilers to and those competitive juices might start flowing just a bit too quickly...

Santana's saying the right things, that he's been there too often and knows how to regulate himself... but the possibility exists that after all that time off a Major League mound might be just a bit too exciting. I hope that if he does come back this year, it all ends well.

Will this man still be smiling at the end of the season?

Ike

It's good news to hear that Ike Davis won't need ankle surgery for the injury that he sustained in May (MAY!). That whole odyssey is surreal - it was another case for the Mets of "He'll be out a little bit..." "He'll be out a while longer." "Oops. Bye-Bye season." Davis did say that he's likely to have arthritic problems with the ankle as he gets older - and as someone who has recently suffered from a flareup of reactive arthritis - enjoy the pain-free time while you are young, Ike!

Mike

Nice to see Queens' own, Mike Baxter is coming back to Citi Field from the Minors. Hopefully he'll make an impact during the final three weeks of the season.

Jason

Jason Bay went deep again last night, but the game was already out of reach. I'm really hoping that he can put some more good swings on the ball and carry this into the 2012 season. I'm also hoping that the team moves the fences in at Citi in 2012.

Will blog tonight after the game.

Punch-Drunk

2011-09-05T23:42:00.000-04:00

This Mets team reminds me of one of those lesser fighters in boxing, the gritty one that is always overmatched, but doggone it, no matter HOW many punches they take, they will just not fall. It's a pride thing - they can say at the end of the match, "Hey, I made it interesting. The end result may have been a loss, but I wasn't knocked out."

The only people who wind up being proud of that is the fighter and his family. This weekend showed a Mets team that was like that - especially the game on Saturday that saw them come back against the Washington Nationals, only to see them lose on A)bad strategy and B) bad luck. The bad strategy was to walk the bases loaded in the ninth inning to have Ryan Zimmerman come to the plate with a VERY wild Bobby Parnell. The bad luck came on an opposite-field broken bat hit from Zimmerman that sent the tying and winning runs across the plate.

Then there was tonight. After salvaging a win yesterday, they just looked completely lackluster - like the fighter that is determined to stay on his feet through a flurry of punches. This was a BAD game - hardly worth recapping save for the final score - 9-3. The poor beat writers for the newspapers and sports websites actually HAVE to recap this game and also talk to the players after the game. I'd hate to have to talk to DJ Carrasco after another bad outing. Chris Capuano either.

I think this drawing I did of David Wright from a Getty Images photo from tonight's game sums up all my feelings about it:


"I'll smile after we win our next game. Might be a while."

Maybe Miguel Batista will have better luck tomorrow against Chris Volstad. One can only hope. One can only hope.... because this fighter is seriously swaying on the canvas at the moment and the season-ending bell is a long ways off.

Short Rest for R.A.? No Problem!

2011-09-02T22:17:00.000-04:00


Tonight's Stars of the Game: Starter R.A. Dickey and third baseman David Wright. Drawing by Michael Griffin

Maybe the Mets should start R.A. Dickey on three days rest for the rest of the season. He certainly showed no ill effects from doing so, going six-plus innings and giving up three runs - not a shabby outing at all, despite two of those runs being from a Rick Ankiel homer in the fifth. Since Dickey is a knuckleballer, going on several days rest is not as taxing on his body as, say, Justin Verlander trying to do the same thing.

David Wright, who blasted a three-run homer in the top of the first, setting the tone for the game, was the hitting star tonight. He also scored another run later. Too bad this David Wright was not around for all of the season, maybe the team would be up a little higher in the standings. Then again, Wright can't pitch and I can't see Terry Collins letting him pull a Jose Canseco.

The Dude, Lucas Duda, hit another homer, and it looks like he's pretty close to locking up the right field job for the 2012 season. Nick Evans also went deep and Angel Pagan drove in two for the Mets in the 7-3 win over the Nationals.

Two September call-ups made their Mets debuts - Josh "I'm Not Related to Barney" Stinson and Danny Herrera. Herrera had pitched for Milwaukee earlier this year and was one of the pieces of the K-Rod trade, so it wasn't his season debut. It was Stinson's Major League debut, and it was a very strong one for him - giving up no runs over 1 2/3 innings. That'll definitely be a lifelong memory - "Hey, I was GOOD in my Major League debut." It must have been a little easier on the nerves for the rookie pitching in Washington, though, since it's not usually a sellout or even close to it.

Mike Nickeas and Justin Turner were playing tonight since Josh Thole and Ruben Tejada were both nursing minor injuries - nothing really to be alarmed about. Both guys will be back soon.

Tomorrow's game will prove interesting as Dillon Gee is going to be taking on Tom Milone. I say it's interesting because this team over the years has shown a tendency to make pitchers that they are facing for the first time ever look like Cy Young candidates. I hope that tomorrow proves differently.

Not Exactly Poetic Milestone For Batista

2011-09-01T22:47:00.001-04:00

Miguel Batista found out what it was like to be a Mets starting pitcher tonight - having to sweat out the late innings while the bullpen did everything in its power to seemingly give the game back to the Marlins. Batista did get career win No. 100, but I don't think he would want to write any poems about it. Well, here's a couple possible stanzas:

Here I sit watching D.J. Carrasco/
It makes me want to chug Tabasco/
I find myself descending further into hell/
Because here comes Bobby Parnell.

Parnell was able to close the game after having the tying run come to the plate and the Mets won, 7-5. Terry Collins probably was saying in the clubhouse, "We can't have an easy win, can we?"

But a win is a win is a win, which makes me happy. A win on the first day of September is always a good thing, even though this season is pretty much now going to be a preview for 2012.

The win was tempered by the fact that both Ruben Tejada and Josh Thole had to leave the game early. Thole was hit on the wrist when he was crossed up by a pitch and Tejada was hit on the hand/wrist by a pitch. Tweets after the game from Adam Rubin said X-Rays for both were negative.

Batista gave up two early runs, but like Chris Capuano last night, he was able to keep the Mets in the game to give the hitters a chance to figure out Clay Hensley. Figure him out they did, with them scoring their first run on a bases-loaded walk. David Wright had a big night, driving in two runs and scoring twice, which definitely helped my fantasy team.

Not that it really matters, but both Atlanta and Philadelphia won, so the big deal was the Mets not moving further down the standings in the National League East. It's the little things.

Tomorrow's series brings the Nationals - and continues the "Bottom of the NL East" tour of game s for the Mets. It's not even going to be that interesting, since none of the three Nationals pitchers starting in the series is named Stephen Strasburg, which is a huge disappointment.

I don't think even poetry from Batista could make it any more interesting...

David, We Hardly Knew Ye

2011-09-01T15:56:00.000-04:00

I'm sure that many of you already know that the alliance between David Einhorn and the Wilpon family has been rent asunder - there will be no minority ownership stake for the hedgefund wunderkind. As often happens in this kind of situation, both sides are pointing fingers at each other for the deal's falling apart. The Wilpons are implying that Einhorn tried to take advantage of the seeming vulnerability of the family due to their financial dire straits from the whole Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme fallout, while Einhorn says that the Wilpons kept changing the terms of the deal at every turn. He's lucky he didn't make the deal with Darth Vader or he'd be hearing, "Pray I do not alter the deal further..."

That's a loose paraphrase from that iconic scene between Vader and Lando Calrissian in "Empire Strikes Back" for those people who are reading this and have not seen all the Star Wars movies.

So now Einhorn is left from the outside looking in, and truth be told, I never thought this deal was going to be totally consummated. It just kept dragging on for months and months, almost like the Wilpons just didn't really want him there. So hearing this is very unsurprising.

What happens? Apparently now the Wilpons are going to sell smaller stakes of the team to family and friends.

"Merry Christmas! You now have a small stake in the Mets!"
"I wanted a Cintiq, you jerk!"

This whole thing just leaves both sides looking bad at not being able to get anything finished and one wonders if this was Einhorn's lone shot in joining the power players in MLB ownership.

The OTHER game is being played on the field tonight between the Mets and the Marlins will likely prove to be a lot less interesting and feature far fewer twists or turns.

No Cap-Sizing Yet

2011-08-31T23:16:00.000-04:00

It was almost like a Tom Glavine outing for Chris Capuano - shaky in the first inning but then zilch for the rest of his start. The Marlins jumped on him for two runs in the first, with Jose Lopez hitting a two-run single, but then he buckled down and gave up nothing for the next few innings, which gave his team a chance to begin to figure out Chris Volstad.

It wasn't immediate, I'll say that, as they didn't manage to score until the fourth inning with Nick Evans' RBI infield single that scored the big man, Lucas Duda. Duda played a big part in the win, singling in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning.

It was defense that pretty much saved the day for the Mets, though, as David Wright seemed to be channeling Graig Nettles from his heyday in the '70. Wright made a couple of nice diving stops to prevent some possible extra base hits, and Ruben Tejada also made a nice backhand play to rob Mike Stanton of a hit to end the game as the Mets won, 3-2. Wright also scored one of New York's three runs.

It was glovework and Capuano's efforts that kept the Mets from losing a game that would have just been one more nail in the coffin of this season that went from being somewhat entertaining to just pretty much plain ugly. The ship has not sunk juuuuuuust yet.

I'm not going to lie and say that I forsee a September miracle for this team - there are just too many holes and it would take something even more epic that the reverse of '07 to propel this New York team into the playoffs, but I am going to stay interested in the going-ons of the team since it is the team that I root for, both good and bad. It could be worse. So it goes.

Tomorrow's game is going to have the seemingly ageless Miguel Batista on the mound for the Mets. Much as I like the fact that he is also a writer, the fact that Batista is making a start for the team tomorrow is definitely a sign that this season has gone very, very, very awry. I'm hoping that he writes a positive chapter to his baseball career tomorrow.

Possible Outfield of Nightmares

2011-08-31T12:03:00.001-04:00

I was reading the Mets notes in the Daily News and one item there was about Jason Bay possibly playing center field in 2012, since the team wants to get Daniel Murphy and his bat into the lineup and are pretty intent on keeping him out of the infield - so that leaves left field since Lucas Duda will probably be the everyday right fielder. That would lead to either Bay playing center field and Angel Pagan being traded or released - or GM Sandy Alderson finding a taker for Bay and his big contract and keeping Pagan in center field. From a fielding standpoint, I'd rather have Pagan in center, since he would have to cover a lot of ground to make up for Murphy and Duda's lack of mobility - not sure Bay has the speed or range to do that, especially in the spacious outfield of Citi Field. Games at Petco Park wouldn't be fun either.

It'd be a Field of Screams - the screams being of fans yelling while watching either Murphy, Bay or Duda futilely chasing after balls in the gap. If they did have this outfield, the Mets coaches would probably be exhausting themselves moving the outfielders around because it would have to be very match-up specific - like Murphy shading more to the line with a right-handed pull hitter. If they did do this, I think that Terry Collins would just have a face full of wrinkles and a shock of white hair like Doc Brown in the "Back to the Future"movies.

Everyone is talking up Bay's professionalism and role in the clubhouse. Sure, that's great and all, but you know who else had his 'professionalism and good clubhouse chemistry?" Jeff Francoeur - he also did a good job in the field, but his bat wasn't what it should have been - and look where he is now. Yes, he's turned it around a bit in Kansas City, but he's not displaying the 30-homer bat that both the Braves and Mets thought he had in him. Bay, as professional a person as he is, is being paid a lot of money and he may need to go to another team to be able to fully produce. If he IS traded, please trade him to the American League, though, please, so he can torment the Yankees.

I know this "Bay to Center Field" talk is also something that is needed to fill a reporter's notebook. It's almost September and this team has been limping to the finish line since late July, so there's only so much of "Wait Until 2012" that a reporter can write about. I'm hoping that this idea though was merely the fevered nightmare of a Mets front office person and that an extra night's rest will turn it back into what it should be: a dream.

Other thoughts:

- It'll be a bittersweet pregame ceremony on September 11. Bobby Valentine, Mike Piazza and the other Mets helped create a memory that will always last in their win against the Braves in the first game since that horrible day in American History, but it will also serve as a reminder that it has been 10 years since that fateful day and there has been so much internal bickering and squabbling in our own country. We will clap as they are introduced, but it will be tinged with melancholy.

- Hopefully Chris Capuano will get them righted again tonight - I'll blog more after the game.

A Whole Lot of Nothing

2011-08-30T23:24:00.000-04:00

This was definitely not a memorable game for the Mets - I even found myself flipping over to the Yankees-Red Sox game quite often. The only thing worth remembering was the botched wheel play that opened the gates for the Marlins to start scoring some runs. What happened was,with a runner on first and second, Emilio Bonifacio bunted and David Wright charged the ball - his first thought being to throw to third to get Mike Cameron, but it was too late. He then turned to throw to first, and there was no one covering there. All safe.

It was a bad omen.

Florida scored a run soon thereafter and then scored five more, including an absolutely mammoth opposite field homer by Mike Stanton, who is all of 21 years old. Stanton seems to be determined to make us forget that there was a left-handed reliever with the same name who pitched in the '90s and some of the last decade.

The rest of the game is basically a blur of nothingness, though it was a pretty strong start by Mike Pelfrey. Too bad the bullpen couldn't do anything.

The Yankees-Red Sox game was infinitely more interesting - it featured homers over the Green Monster, exuberant clapping and hit batsmen which led to hurt feelings which then led to fist pumps (not fisticuffs, though the hit batsman incident did feature both dugouts emptying.

Confused? Don't be! Here's a synopsis:

Francisco Cervelli, the backup catcher to Russell Martin, hit a John Lackey offering over the Green Monster and when he stepped on home plate, he clapped happily at the fact that he hit a home run over the Green Monster. Lackey took exception to the happy clapping and wound up plunking Cervelli the next time he was at-bat. Cervelli then got mad, pointed at Lackey and walked a couple of steps towards the mound, both dugouts emptied, though no punches were thrown. The only ejection was the Yankees pitching coach who apparently hurled enough insults at either Lackey or the third-base umpire, mark Wegner and wound up getting run. Cervelli then took first base and promptly wound up on second as Lackey's next pitch wound up getting past catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia. The hit batsman wound up biting Lackey, since Cervelli then scored on a double play by Derek Jeter.

Boston threatened several times, including loading the bases in the seventh (David Ortiz, who misread the ball on a Carl Crawford hit and wound up on third when he should have scored), but could not capitalize. In the eighth inning, Jacoby Ellsbury walked to lead off the inning, but Brett Gardner then stole a hit from Marco Scutaro, which may have even gone for extra bases. The ninth was even interesting as Ortiz led off the inning with a double off Mariano Rivera, creating the possibility that the Sox might solve him yet again, but Rivera got two quick outs before one final bit of controversy - he hit Saltalmacchia with a pitch, but Saltalamacchia was actually in the act of swinging when he got hit which would have nullified the hit-by-pitch. Wegner said he DIDN'T swing at the pitch, Yankees manager Joe Girardi vehemently disagreed, got tossed by Wegner and then proceeded to go out and even more vociferously voice his opinion. It was all of one minute later that Rivera got Josh Reddick to fly out to left to end the game, so Girardi probably hadn't even gotten settled in the Yankees clubhouse.

It was just a bad night for this fan - the Mets lost and the Yankees won. On the plus side, though, I did find out something cool on the art side - a product that is coming out from Wacom called "Inkling" - it's something that attaches to a sketchbook and allows you to draw on regular paper, save it on the scanner and then upload it to a computer - that'll save me a LOT of trudging over to the scanner and I'll definitely start posting drawings again soon.

Tomorrow's game is going to be the battle of the Chrises - Chris Volstad vs. Chris Capuano. I'm hoping Capuano brings the same form that he did last Friday when he threw the complete-game shutout against the Braves. THAT would be very interesting.

Two Scoops of Win

2011-08-29T22:36:00.000-04:00

I have to ask myself - is this one of those times when the Mets start playing inspired ball towards the end of the season, making a mini-run and creating some hope only to fall flat on their faces? They have looked good over the past week or so and showed no signs of rust in sweeping a doubleheader against Florida, the first time they have done that in their franchise history.

Game 1's star was R.A. Dickey, who flashed a lot of his 2010 form in keeping the Marlins off balance for seven innings. Bobby Parnell wasn't able to preserve the shutout but did manage to nail down the save. The stars were the JTs - Josh Thole and Justin Turner, both who drove in RBIs in the 2-1 win. I like Ruben Tejada to play second base, but Turner's a a gritty player - maybe he'll be on the bench in 2012?

I was so happy to see Jose Reyes back in the lineup for Game Two and the lineup was too - the offense surged in a 5-1 win, with Reyes scoring one of those runs on a David Wright RBI double. Wright drove in two runs in the win and Parnell got the save, his second of the night. Parnell looked a lot better in the second game than in the first.

Dillon Gee looked like he's figuring out where he went wrong in the middle part of the season and put together another very solid start.

There was a very scary moment in the second game though - Manny Acosta came in to face the Marlins' young slugger, Mike Stanton and wound up having a ball run in on him on a 3-1 count. The ball hit Stanton on the left shoulder, nearly beaning him in the head. Stanton was OK though and stayed in the game.

I'm hoping that the Mets continue their streak of good pitching tomorrow, with Mike Pelfrey facing Javier Vazquez. I hadn't realized that they had fashioned a streak of 25 scoreless innings before Parnell gave up that homer in the ninth in Game 1, but they have been impressive. Too bad that they can't stay consistently impressive though - it's not like this rotation reminds me of those Glavine-Maddux-Smoltz rotations in the '90s for the Braves.

Tomorrow brings another game, and I hope they keep rolling.

It's So Nice Out, Let's Play Two

2011-08-29T15:14:00.000-04:00

The title's from a loosely paraphrased quote from the immortal Ernie Banks, but with the weather being as it is today, it fits perfectly. It's nice outside here in New York with the temperature not being too not nor too humid - almost a mea culpa from Mother Nature for dumping Hurricane Irene on us this past weekend. It's certainly going to be comfortable for the players today and tonight while they play - IV bags won't be necessary like they apparently were in Texas over the weekend, with some players even getting them before the games started!

It'll be good to see Jose Reyes back in the lineup, though apparently he's not playing until the second game of the doubleheader. An interesting twist with Reyes' return, besides his wanting to show that he can stay healthy, is the fact that he has a chance to win a batting title this season, which would be the first time in Mets history. If he were to do so, it would add another element to any contract negotiations this offseason, be they with the Mets or any other clubs.

"Jose, you did go on the D.L. a couple of times this year.."
"I won the batting title, the first time anyone in my franchise's history has done so!"
"True... OK, back up the Brinks Truck!!!"

Actually, even if he doesn't win a batting title, we all know he's going to make much more money than any of our lifetimes, unless you're reading this and your name is Jerry Seinfeld, Kevin James or Chris Rock, to name a few celebrity Mets fans.

Other thoughts about the Mets and around the Majors:

- Good news about Ike Davis. Apparently he won't need surgery this offseason and will return at full strength in Spring Training 2012. Perhaps the Mets should consider having a line from the pitchers mound to the plate for next season. If a pop up is on the third-base side of the line, it's David Wright's ball and if it's on the first-base side, then it's Davis'.

- Veteran pitcher Miguel Batista, who is also published author of poetry and one novel, will get a chance to go for the Mets this week. Apparently he's doing it for his new book, "The Ageless Hurler."

- The Yankees really need to shut up about this makeup game with the Orioles. Really. The recent Hurricane Irene coupled with the death of Mike Flanagan makes for very unusual circumstances, so play the game on the day the Orioles want and stop acting like self-indulgent little brats. Thanks.

- Nice hitting by the Yankees in Game 2 of their doubleheader last night against Baltimore - back-to-back-to-back homers. I wonder if Orioles skipper Buck Showalter was thinking, "Gee, maybe I can get back in the good graces of the Steinbrenners?"

- Geek alert: Hearing that Nelson Cruz left last night's game with leg problems made my fantasy team cry. Cruz is great when healthy, but he's like a big version of Reyes with his leg woes. He's getting an MRI today.

- On the other hand, David Price and his 14 strikeouts made my fantasy team clap its hands with glee.

- Apparently C.J. Wilson made a pitch for the Rangers to pick up Lance Berkman off waivers. What - they don't have enough hitting?

- Zack Greinke has just been lights out pretty much this entire second half of the season, hasn't he, with the exception of his 8/22 start against the Pirates. Yes, he's on my fantasy team too.

- Poor Don Mattingly. He's in such a mess in L.A. now - on top of all the other garbage he's dealt with, now he's got Andre Ethier telling the LA Times that Mattingly is playing him against his wishes despite knee discomfort. It apparently blindsided Mattingly and he had to drag Ethier in with the Dodgers GM, Ned Colletti for a closed-door discussion.

- Hard to believe September is around the corner. Where has this season gone?

Back to the Citi (Field)

2011-08-28T22:17:00.000-04:00

It's over - Hurricane Irene (Well, she was Tropical Storm Irene in her New York visit) came and went and the power stayed on throughout the entire time, which made me a happy camper, since it would not have been fun trying to figure out how to keep milk for our baby preserved until tomorrow came around and I could go out to a grocery store.

It was actually kind of anticlimatic - there were some heavy rains and winds, but it wasn't anywhere near as bad as I had laid awake the night before, anticipating possible flooding and falling trees. The day before, I'd even felt like a civil engineer, walking around a couple of blocks from our place and thinking, "If we parked here, it looks safe... that tree's not TOO big." We wound up keeping the cars in front of our place and it proved to be the correct call - the largest branch that fell off the trees around us could be used to play fetch with a medium- to large-sized dog.

Hopefully Citi Field only had that kind of cleanup so that the field will be ready for tomorrow's double header against the Marlins. Admittedly, it's not going to be a very exciting series, with the only outcome really at stake is the jockeying between New York, Washington and Florida to not end up dead last in the National League East.

Sure, the Mets are riding Chris Capuano's complete-game win over the Braves on Friday night, right before New York pretty much boarded up every window and door in anticipation of Irene. In real-world days, it will have been three days since the last pitch - but in momentum days, it will have been a lifetime.

The good news is that it will be exceedingly pleasant tomorrow, and for most of the week, kind of Mother Nature's saying "Sorry for the mess this weekend." That'll bode well for R.A. Dickey and his knuckleball when he pitches against Anibal Sanchez in the 4:10 game. Dillon Gee will have to build even more on his last start as he takes on Ricky Nolasco in the evening portion of the doubleheader.

So, after a Mets-free Saturday and Sunday, I'll be able to gorge with two games tomorrow. Yes, I know I've been saying the games are not that meaningful, but it's baseball, and it's the Mets. That's good enough for me.

Other thoughts:

- Jose Reyes will be back and both he and his agent will have to PRAY that he holds up for all of September, because otherwise this offseason might not be as lucrative for him as it could be - will teams be willing to look past a season with possibly three trips to the disabled list. He is supremely talented, yes, but his hamstrings look more fragile each time he misses games.

- Jason Bay will be back. I'm not sure what to think of him anymore - he seems a consummate professional on the field, but... he just isn't hitting anywhere near his contract's worth. I'm sure Sandy Alderson asks himself the same question every night, and I'm sure that he'll explore many trade avenues this offseason.

A Good Way To Wait For Irene

2011-08-26T22:09:00.000-04:00

Tonight, I saw the Chris Capuano that the Mets had envisioned when they signed him this past offseason - the one who could completely dominate a game by throwing a complete-game two-hit shutout with 13 strikeouts. Just a commanding performance. There were none of the mental lapses in the middle innings that had plagued him in earlier games this season. He looked locked in against a potent Braves team - one with Dan Uggla, who has ressurected his season, Freddie Freeman, who would be a strong lock for the National League Rookie of the Year Award in any other season but for this one with his teammate, closer Jonny Venters, among others.

Capuano had some offensive support tonight , with Justin Turner and Lucas Duda driving in two runs each, and it was a good sight to see Capuano outdueling a fellow bulldog, Tim Hudson.

Speaking of Venters, it was a bit surprising to see the Mets actually score against him, since it seemed like he hadn't given up any earned runs since April. The rough outing really hurt the rookie, making his E.R.A. rise to a whopping 1.33. That's insanely low considering that we're heading into September. Yup, just give the N.L. Rookie of the Year to Venters right now. Engravers, it's V-E-N-T-E-R-S.

Ruben Tejada is still impressing me with his bat - he went 3-for-5 and scored a run. If Jose Reyes comes back for the next season and beyond, the Mets are going to have to find some way to get Tejada into the lineup on a regular basis. He's also got a good glove, though he does still make the occasional careless play.

Angel Pagan had three hits as well, and his roller coaster ride of "He Belongs, He Doesn't Belong" continues. Tonight, the wheel landed on "He Belongs."

Interesting box score tidbit: Every Mets regular had at least one hit tonight with the exception of David Wright, who went 0-for-4. Wright did score a run, though.

So the Mets walked off the field, winners over the Braves, 6-0, and now like the rest of us, head into the uncertainty of what Hurricane Irene will bring to the New York area over the course of the weekend.They'll sleep a little easier tonight, at least.

Riding Out the Storm

2011-08-25T15:08:00.000-04:00

It's too bad that the Marlins are not the ones coming to town this weekend, since all the Florida hurricane references could be used, but it's the Braves and their dominant pitching staff who are arriving instead. The actual arrangement of what games may be played on what day depends of the whim of a certain hurricane named Irene. It would be interesting to see what would happen if a 100-mph wind gust were to carry a David Wright smash, though - it'd probably land in the next county.

Today's a day that the team is probably as glued to the Weather Channel like the rest of us - the grounds crew is also likely deciding if they need to nail down everything in Citi Field.

If the weather permits tomorrow, they'll be sending Chris Capuano to face Tim Hudson. Not the most appealing of prospects, I know, but they have to play the games. Hudson's been REAL hard to beat over the past couple of months, not giving up more than four runs in a game over his last 10 starts. Yes, that's a daunting task, indeed, but hey - stranger things have happened.

It's not going to get any easier on Saturday with Jair Jurrjens pitching, though maybe they can get Jurrjens in his "hittable" stage rather than his "unhittable" state - he's vacillated between the two over his last 10 starts, sometimes giving up as many as five runs or just completely shutting down his opponent's lineup.

Then the third pitcher they'll face - depending on the weather - is Mike Minor. Of all the games, that one is the most winnable. These are the Mets though, they can make any pitcher look like a Cy Young candidate on any given day.

So, hopefully the team and Citi Field won't find themselves literally underwater after this weekend. We shall see...

The World Is Still Here (or.. Bobby Parnell Gets A Save)

2011-08-24T21:46:00.000-04:00

Since the Mets played this afternoon, I didn't get a chance to really watch the game save for a couple of minutes at the pizza place I frequent, but I was pleased to see that they actually won a game, especially against the Phillies. It saved me from razzing from certain people I know about a sweep and I really didn't like the idea of an extended losing streak.

Let's see what I can glean from the box score:

Nick Evans, pressed into action due to a ton of injuries, had a big day - homering and driving in four runs.

David Wright added two RBIs himself, which is always good. He even homered, making it 11 for the season. Again, I know that he missed a significant portion of the season due to his fractured back, but Wright + 11 homers + the end of August just doesn't seem real. Maybe he can homer every other day for the rest of the season? That'd be nice, wouldn't it?

Lucas Duda drove in a run. I still don't know where he'll wind up playing next season, but he's showing that he can rake.

Mike Pelfrey pitched well, but he threw a TON of pitches in his six innings of work - 125. Nolan Ryan probably laughs at that pitch total, but the pitching philosophy is different these days. Pelfrey scattered nine hits over his outing and gave up three runs, but no homers, which is no small feat in the Phillies' ballpark.

Manny Acosta actually pitched well. and wait... what's this here? Bobby Parnell GOT A SAVE? He even struck out two Phillies while doing so. He struck out both Ryan Howard and Hunter Pence... nice.

Negatives? Well, they did commit three errors, but hey, winning ain't pretty all the time. Jason Bay continues to re-enact Keith Hernadez's chapter "In A Dark Forest" (I think that was the name of it..) in his book, "If At First..." Problem is, Hernandez slumped for a couple of months. Bay has been ALL SEASON. As good as he's been in the outfield, he just might need a change of scenery. For people who point to his time in Boston, there's nobody in the Mets' lineup named David Ortiz, Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia or Adrian Beltre. That takes a LOT of pressure off.

Now they come back to Citi Field and stare down at two of Atlanta's best pitchers - Tim Hudson and Jair Jurrjens for the first two games of their three-game series. Both Chris Capuano and R.A. Dickey have to avoid bad innings to give them a chance to win the game. Dillon Gee will be going in the third game of the series against an unnamed-of-yet Braves pitcher.

It's still looking like a dark time for the end of the season, but today's win did give me a little glimmer of light.

Grindin' It Out...

2011-08-24T12:59:00.000-04:00

Another night, another loss, another injury for the Mets. Seems like a familiar refrain this season, doesn't it? This time the lucky people likely landing on the DL are Jon Niese and Scott Hairston. Apparently, Niese decided to try to gut through a rib cage injury, which is not good, since.. you know, one stretches their rib cage during every pitch. Hairston hurt himself taking a swing, and a DL trip for him is probably not the worst thing in the world in my eyes, since while he did hit a few home runs, his adventures in the outfield probably made manager Terry Collins regret having to occasionally put him in the lineup.

After losing to the Phillies yesterday, 9-4, they go into this afternoon's game with a five-game losing streak and the games not getting any easier with Atlanta coming to town. It's going to be up to Mike Pelfrey to try to stop the bleeding, but if he doesn't win today and something doesn't fall the Mets' way over the weekend, it looks like they could be on a nine-game losing streak before facing the Marlins on Monday.

It's kind of hard to find anything positive to write about this team right now. Apparently Angel Pagan may have colitis, which may have been the culprit for his being in the bathroom the other day when he was supposed to be on deck.

I know that this was supposed to be how this season played out for the team, but after the entertaining start, settling back into this morass of losing is just not a fun thing at all. September should be a time to scoreboard watch and peruse the standings all the time. I can't even pick on the Pirates this time and even the Royals are fewer games behind in their division than the Mets are in theirs. Sigh. I love baseball so much that the thought of even counting down to the end of the season pains me, since I know that winter and its cold days loom ahead.

Looks like I'll just grit my teeth and hope that David Wright starts hitting again and that Dillon Gee finds his old form - looking for anything to just keep this season worthwhile to watch. GM Sandy Alderson may have a much better product for us to watch in 2012 and I'll hope that the hot stove moves for the team keeps me warm over the winter, because right now even though it is summer, I'm feeling quite cold watching them play right now.

Sure, you can deride me for being less than understanding, but the fact of the matter is, this team is going south of .500 at a VERY alarming rate right now.

The rest of the season probably feels like a grind for the players on the Mets and the people who cover them from day to day and it certainly feels like that to me.

Hopefully better days lie ahead and I can look back at the entry and say to myself, "Man, you were an impatient sort, weren't you?"

I'm afraid I'll say, "You were right..."

Looking to Shake Losing Streak

2011-08-23T15:21:00.000-04:00

It's been nearly an hour after the earthquake that was felt all the way from DC to New York, and things are calm here. Basically because it never got hysterical in the first place. I'm typing this in the library near my house and I had been outside walking to the library from my local pizza place when the quake must have hit, so I didn't feel anything. It was only when I checked CNN.com and my Twitter feed that I realized that it had been felt in my area in Queens. My wife confirmed that she heard something fall downstairs, but that was the extent of it.

I hate missing out on near natural disasters - feel left out. Everyone's tweeting about it and I'm still just thinking "Something happened?" I guess I'll just have to be glued to my desk all the time now to see if there are any rumblings.

What the earthquake did do was give me the perfect opening to segue into writing about the Mets game last night, which was also an unmitigated disaster ranging from both the score and the fact that Angel Pagan was in the bathroom when he was supposed to be on deck. Yeah, it was that kind of night for New York.

The game seemed kind of promising to start off, since it was the first time I had ever seen a pitching matchup with starters having last names that rhymed: Dillon Gee and Cliff Lee. Gee didn't last long in that though, getting roughed up very early in the game.

Then there was the whole Pagan answering the call of nature thing when he was supposed to be on deck. OK, he could have whispered to his teammates, "Hey guys, I'm up fourth this inning, but I gotta use the bathroom. Step out of the batter's box a lot and take a ton of pitches for me, thanks!" Probably a pride thing there that he didn't say it.

So, it was a really bad game that I just really have not much interest in recapping or even really talking about. I can't even talk about the Giants' pre-season win over the Bears, since A) the game doesn't count and B) the scenario that pervades every football fans' thoughts: an important player got injured. This time it was Terrell Thomas, only the best defensive player they had. He tore his ACL after getting accidentally legwhipped by his teammate when they were both going after a Chicago Bear in the waning seconds of the second half. Let's not even go into the question of why coach Tom Coughlin still had him out that long in an exhibition game.

Now the Mets have to immediately forget about last night's debacle and focus on beating Vance Worley tonight. Jon Niese has the unenviable task of trying to stop the slide, though I do see Worley as being beatable. He made New York's bats look bad the first time, but I remember them making him look a little more mortal his next time around. So, I think a win IS possible.. but it wouldn't shake my world if they lost - OK.. OK.. last earthquake pun there.

I lied: Be careful to look out for aftershocks if Lucas Duda tries to steal any bases tonight.

Sweeping in the Wrong Direction

2011-08-22T15:32:00.000-04:00

It's easy to rationalize it all - the Brewers being the hottest team in baseball and it just being the equivalent of being run over by a steamroller, but this past weekend just left a very, very bad taste in my mouth, especially since it included another game that saw New York storm back from a big deficit only to see it come to naught as they wound up on the losing end of the stick again. It would have been even sweeter if they had won Saturday's game since the initial comeback was against their former closer, K-Rod.

So, it was a weekend of losses - just a faster trip down the rabbit hole that is the National League East that may find them ultimately looking up at even the Florida Marlins by season's end, residents of the division's cellar.

I knew as the season was going along that the team, feisty as it was and interesting as they were to watch, were like a swimmer in the waters during a hurricane - it's possible to keep one's head above the waters for a while, but eventually the big waves are just going to hammer them under the churning water and eventually, tired and spent, they sink to the bottom.

The sinking has begun.

It would be great if the team proved me wrong and had some kind of miracle run, but with a team that has no clear defined No. 1 ace - Mike Pelfrey definitely isn't it and R.A. Dickey, while pitching strong many games, is never the one where people say - "Dickey's on the mound. We've got a real chance to win this one." Same with Jon Niese and Dillon Gee - they've run way too hot and cold.

They also have no real closer - Jason Isringhausen, while a great story and it was nice to see him get his 300th save as a Met, isn't a long-term answer. Neither, unless he gets some kind of confidence, is Bobby Parnell - it's so bad right now that the New York Daily News even reported there were some internal discussions about making Mike Pelfrey the closer in 2012. Apparently, GM Sandy Alderson is not one of the people who think this is a viable scenario, but it'd be Derek Lowe all over again, I think, right down to the good season-bad season results.

The Mets have no time to really stop and lick their wounds either - tonight, they'll start a three-game series against the Phillies and the first pitcher they'll face is Cliff Lee, who has been extremely hot. It gets a little better as they don't have to face Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels or Roy Oswalt.

Then, after a short one-day break, they face the Braves, and what this week really serves is a chance for them to either gain a few face-saving games in the standings or winding up not just sleeping with the fishes but being below them in the standings. It'll be an interesting test to see how manager Terry Collins gets his troops ready to play.

It's looking like it may be a long end of the season, but I'm not giving up hope that they'll play exciting ball from now until then.

Enigma 1... Meet Enigma 2

2011-08-19T13:45:00.000-04:00

I'm typing this while my cat, Matlock, sits next to me on the armrest of the loveseat. He's editing for me and any mistakes or typos are his fault.

Milwaukee's in town and while the Mets don't have to face the Brewers' ace, Zack Greinke - that would just be cruel what with Philadelphia coming into town with their group of gunslingers, they do have a tough test tonight against Shaun Marcum.

Funny thing was, when I worked at MLB.com as a game producer in '07 and '08 and had a Blue Jays game with Marcum as the starter, he never, ever was effective. It may have been me - every Rays game I worked saw B.J. Upton leave the game with an injury of some sort and I'd always get a note from the Royals beat writer before every K.C. game that I was going to work that Jose Guillen was sitting out due to some injury. The Curse of Mike Griffin strikes again.

With Marcum, that's my ferverent hope, that despite my not being employed by MLB.com, the Curse can keep going and the Mets can tattoo him for oh... seven runs before he's out of the game?

This is also contingent on an enigmatic Mets pitcher doing well - Mike Pelfrey. Pelfrey's been the poster child for the "Most Likely To Drive A Pitching Coach Insane" category. He's tall, but he's been more Jeff D'Amico than Randy Johnson and he may never be that No. 1 ace that the New York front office envisioned when they drafted him in 2005.

Pelfrey has also been in the news lately for actually admitting that it would be an extreme longshot for the Mets to win a championship this year. People are actually up at arms and chastising Pelfrey for saying this. No. It's just a realistic view - the Braves starting pitching would have to suffer a collective collapse that would make the '07 Mets season look like a hiccup. Now, it would be an extremely amazing thing to see, especially with how Atlanta tortured the Mets in the late '90s and early part of the new century, but I just don't see it happening.

So it's two enigmas pitching against each other. May the better one win.

Other thoughts:

- Most likely sometime this weekend, Bobby Parnell will get the ball in a save situation. I will be holding onto my furniture, hoping the Earth does not spin off its axis.

- Jose Reyes may actually be able to come off the disabled list when he's supposed to. I'm hoping that he doesn't push himself too hard and land right back on it. If he goes back on the D.L. a third time, I'm wondering how this offseason will shake out - it might give the Mets the leverage to say, "Um. That deal you didn't like earlier, the 5-years, $100 mil? You miiiiiight want to rethink that stance."

- Anthony DiComo wrote about Angel Pagan's fielding woes - and it's true, I have seen him let a few balls fall between him and another fielder when he should have aggressively caught the ball. It only seems to occur when there's another fielder in the vicinity. To be fair though, if I heard Scott Hairston or Lucas Duda's footsteps nearby, I'd slow down so I didn't wind up splattered like a fly on a windshield.

- Buffalo Bisons manager Tim Teufel got to see his son pitch against him last last night. He helped throw a shutout as Toledo beat Buffalo, 4-0.

Wright On

2011-08-18T11:51:00.001-04:00

Being an extreme baseball fan means that I am absolutely positive that everything that I do or say about the team has an effect. For example, last night, I wrote about my disappointment in David Wright, and I am SURE that out of the 1,989,879 Mets blogs out there, he read mine and said, "Goshdarnit, I have to go out and DO something.

Sure enough, he did, hitting a three-run homer and then showing one of the most heads-up plays on defense I've ever seen. With Cameron Maybin on second, he dove for a smash grounder up the line and with Maybin coming towards third, he faked a throw to first and the Padres outfielder bit, taking a wide turn around third. Wright immediately put the ball in his glove and tagged Maybin, who realized his mistake just a bit too late and was trying to make his way back to the bag. End of inning. End of potential Padres rally.

Dillon Gee SURELY read my blog yesterday too, since the rookie showed some heads-up pitching, keeping the Padres off balance for most of the game and even made his own Top 10 fielding moment, catching a ball going up the middle behind his back and starting a double play. He did lose effectiveness after getting hit by a pitch on his knee, but the bullpen stymied the Padres the rest of the game, with Bobby Parnell even having an effective inning. Yup, you got it.. maybe he read my blog too. Terry Collins probably printed it out and posted it on the clubhouse bulletin board.

Riiiiiiiiiiiight.

So now they head back to Citi Field and will probably settle into a role of spoilers, with them getting a chance to do just that to the Milwaukee Brewers, who are trying to cash in all their chips for a World Series run this October, before Prince Fielder likely heads off to whatever team offers a Brinks truck filled with the most money.

Tomorrow night, it's going to be the enigmatic Mike Pelfrey against Shaun Marcum , who has been a real good pitcher for Milwaukee this season.

Saturday, it's Chris Capuano against Randy Wolf and then Sunday it's R.A. Dickey against Yovani Gallardo. It'll be as tough a trio they face from any team not from Philadelphia.

Well, bring them on.

Are Mets Waving White Flag on Season -and Being Interesting?

2011-08-17T15:51:00.000-04:00

I was watching the Yankees-Royals game last night, which was definitely looking like it was not going into the annals as a pitching duel - it was 8-5 and only the fourth inning and the lead has changed twice in the span that I started watching. Robinson Cano just had clubbed a home run deep to center field, and Royals fans had to be asking themselves. "Is there a way we can just speed up this youth movement? Please?"

The Royals had just given their pitcher the hook so I began thinking about the Mets giving another pitcher a sort of hook - Jason Isringhausen. Sure, apparently the plan was for them to let him pitch until he got 300 saves and then give Bobby Parnell a chance to be the closer. Thing is, Parnell hasn't done anything of late to even warrant a chance to do that. Even in non-pressure eighth inning situations, he hasn't exactly held down the fort.

I didn't see the entire Mets game last night, since my son was also in a VERY unhappy mood and let my wife and I know - loudly. Either he was teething or having a growth spurt or both, but he was vocal and didn't calm down for a good hour, despite the best efforts of us showing him Sesame Street. Unfortunately, the little I did watch included Scott Hairston misplay not one but two balls in right field. I do know from looking at the score in the morning that Parnell didn't get a save chance as New York lost, 6-1.

True, it is looking grim for them in terms of the standings - they are 20 games behind Philadelphia in the National League East and 12.5 games behind Atlanta in the National League Wild Card standings - both of which would require a 1978 Yankees type of resurrection to even have a chance of contending.

But still.. the thing that has made this team interesting to watch is that they play hard and are in nearly every game - which is why the idea to give Parnell the ball as the closer is just puzzling to me. Sure, he throws hard, but even when I've seen his pitches hit 101 miles an hour on the radar gun, hitters have fouled off the ball. I'm not talking Albert Pujols here, either. I'm talking regular guys off the bench. If a pitch is 101 miles-an-hour, generally, the hitter should be standing there watching the pitch go by and the umpire saying, "Sounded like a strike." or in Parnell's case "Sounded like a ball."

That's the other thing - sure, it's great if one can throw 98-101 mph, but if he can't get the ball over the plate, he's basically Steve Dalkowski all over again. For those who don't know who Dalkowski was, he was a pitcher who pitched in the Baltimore Orioles system in the late fifties and legend had it that he could throw well over 100, but he had absolutely no idea where the ball was going to go - a terrifying situation for all involved behind the plate: batter, pitcher and umpire. Parnell is not that bad, by any stretch, but he has shown trouble spotting the ball where he wants, and watching someone throw 100 but consistently wind up with a 3-0 count is extremely aggravating.

Sure, I understand the need to try to see what the future may bring, but right now I'm not convinced that the Mets have the right person lined up. While he was a special case to begin with, Mariano Rivera was at least dominant as a setup man behind John Wetteland before taking the closer mantle. If the Yankees hadn't potentially screwed up Joba Chamberlain by bouncing him from starter to reliever, they might have as deadly an eighth and ninth inning combination for quite a few years. It looks like the team is playing with fire now and could potentially set the team back in the bullpen in the process. Parnell does not conjure up images of Mariano.

I could be proven wrong, of course, and Parnell could start showing instantly that he 'gets it' as a closer, but I'm not going to hold my breath. I'd almost rather see Pedro Beato as the closer, that's how little faith I have in Parnell.

Other thoughts from what I saw of last night and what I can glean from the box score:

- Hairston looked lost in the oufield. On one foul ball, he turned his glove awkwardly as he ran into the bullpen area and just dropped the ball. The other play, he grossly misjudged the angle of a ball being hit off the end of the bat and wound up having to chase it to the outfield fence as the runner merrily made his way to third base.

- I'm a huge fan of David Wright, but I'm starting to regret drafting him over Matt Kemp early on in my fantasy draft. I know... fractured back and all, but... .260 and 9 homers REALLY hurts.

- It's a small sample size, but I am REALLY liking Ruben Tejada's hitting of late. I might not cry that much if he keeps hitting like this and Jose Reyes departs.

-Willie Harris is playing second base tonight. When your backup outfielder is playing second base, you know that the season is not going according to your blueprint.

- Tonight it's Dillon Gee, who has to start pitching up to his potential again - and none of this "I'm going to throw 14 straight fastballs" garbage and then ADMITTING HE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND WHY HE DOES IT AFTER THE GAME. Have a plan...

Here's hoping for good things tonight.

Going from A's to Gee

2011-06-22T12:57:00.000-04:00

OK. It happens. Especially with a rookie - Dillon Gee didn't have his best stuff last night. But.. Six walks? Even a somewhat offensively challenged team like Oakland is going to take advantage of that. And apparently Gee abandoned his offspeed pitches early on. Sure, it's learning on the job for the young pitcher, but the catcher has to also be on the hook a bit here too - he's calling the game.

I joined the game late since I was doing my son's laundry - thank goodness for having one two blocks from my house. I couldn't watch the game at the laundromat, since the worker there is addicted to Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune and had to help get my son ready for bed when I got home, so I found myself quickly turning the TV back off when I turned it to SNY and found the score at 6-1. Yes, I know, sounds like a fair weather fan, but I didn't want to finish off the rest of my work while grumpy.

"Jason Bay homered" appeared in my Twitter feed. Hmmm. OK. Game back on. Maybe they could climb back. It was exciting for a bit, especially with the five-plus minute wait later on while the umpires reviewed if Bay had hit his second homer of the game when the ball clanged off the leaping Coco Crisp's glove and potentially hit the wall above the orange line, which would have been a round-tripper. Alas, it was only a run-scoring triple. My interest was really piqued when Josh Thole came up with the bases loaded, but not only did the grand slam drought continue, the Mets didn't score.

The rest of the game went anticlimactically, and they found themselves having lost another game and the possibility of reaching .500 being yanked away yet again. It's getting so ridiculous that I can't even come up with a good metaphor for their failure to reach the break-even point.

Tonight is going to be a tough game - they are facing Gio Gonzalez. Hopefully R.A. Dickey will be able to match up well against him. He's got to contend with the hot Jemele Weeks.

I just hope that the A's don't wear the same jerseys that they wore last night. Those were visible from space.

My prediction: Mets win, 3-1.

The Wilpons Say Something Right

2011-06-21T12:33:00.000-04:00

When the Wilpons said that they would be buyers , I think it was code for "Oh, PLEASE, JOSE, PLEASE STAY!" The 'Jose' being Jose Reyes, possibly the most exciting player in the game today. Truth be told, every time I see Reyes hit another triple and bounce up clapping and giving an air high-five to the Mets dugout, I get a queasy feeling that he may be doing that in a different uniform either this season or next.

I'm hoping I'm wrong and there is a glimmer of hope with Reyes seeming to be keeping that shark of a agent, Scott Boras, at arm's length. Of course, his own agents, one of whom is godfather to Reyes' two kids, are going to try to get their client as much money as they possibly can - but the most important thing is that their business cards do not have the name 'Scott Boras' on them.

Let's talk about Boras for a second - as you can probably tell, I am not a fan of his at all. Yes, I know that he's doing his job - extracting as much money per contract for his clientele - and he's a meticulous researcher who will present teams with reams of paper about the ballplayers that he represents, but he's just so ruthlessly amoral about it, oftentimes not seeming to really care if his player is in an ideal situation in terms of being able to win championships - Hey Jayson Werth, how are you enjoying Washington?

So forgive me if I'm happy that Reyes has not associated himself with Boras.

Moving right along - tonight, the Mets take on the A's, provided that thunderstorms don't prevent the game from occurring. That's one fun thing about summer and New York, always the possibility of precipitation. Hopefully Dillon Gee will continue rolling right along - and hopefully Reyes will continue doing the same.

Weekend Not Heaven For Mets

2011-06-20T12:17:00.002-04:00

When interleague play first started, I thought it was cool. Get to get new blood coming through and possibly create some new rivalries. After this past weekend, I'm ready to punt it out the window, even the Yankees-Mets series. Now I'm seeing it for what it is - two unfamiliar teams battling it out and the results affecting possible playoff hopes and division standings.

Non-interleague play can seem to create a sense of familiarity with teams, and sure, there are matchups that are not exciting - like do people really get jazzed when the Pirates come to Citi Field? Sure, there are players worth watching on those teams - like Andrew McCutchen. But those teams are in the same league as the Mets. They come in, year in and year out. Having a team like the Angels or the As' come waltzing in every five years... it's just so hard to sustain any kind of emotional like or dislike of a team like that, especially with the turnover that happens with teams now due to free agency or players being released or traded. It's almost like a brand new team comes in after those five years.

So what happened? Sandwiched in between one brilliant Mike Pelfrey start, the Angels took two of three and the Mets are left hoping to gain some wins off an Oakland team that is not the doormat that they used to be despite their being in last place in a four-team division. The A's have good young pitching and I wouldn't be surprised to see them on top of the American League West (or wherever they may be if this realignment notion passes through).

I'm hoping that Collins can get this team to regroup during the off-day today and get them in a good state of mind to face Oakland, because this see-saw of teetering near .500 and then falling a few games short of break-even is NOT a fun way to watch a season unfold.

As always... we shall see.

Tic... Tic... Tic...

2011-06-17T14:48:00.001-04:00

Last night's game set off a whole bunch of involuntary tics, for various reasons. The first tic was caused by Larry "Chipper" Jones who has been the Mets' nemesis for seemingly forever. It seems like he drove in 6000 runs last night. Not even his getting hurt and leaving the game was good for New York, since it brought up Tic Number 2:

Brooks Conrad. Given that he had already launched one pinch-hit homer this season, Francisco Rodriguez shouldn't have thrown a pitch anywhere near his wheelhouse with a runner on base and his trying to close out a game with a two-run lead. Perhaps boldened by the fact that his pitching performance has been nothing short of remarkable this season, K-Rod threw a pitch that WAS in the the vicinity of Conrad's wheelhouse - Conrad swung and the ball was sent sailing into the night before landing in the right-field seats.

K-Rod got out of the inning, the Mets couldn't score off Scott Linebrink, and D.J. Carrasco came in - and anyone who followed the game last night, who logged into ESPN.com or MLB.com last night, who turned on the late-night news... knows why this is Tic No. 3.

Actually, it's a two-part tic. The first tic was when, with Diorys Hernandez on second and two outs, Jordan Schafer hit a ground ball towards second baseman Ruben Tejada. Tejada scoops up the ball and throws to first to end the inning, right? Wrong. First baseman Lucas Duda decided that HE wanted to play second base then, ranging far to his right and backhanded the ball. Problem was that now NO one was covering first. All safe and Hernandez scooted to third. Duda, Where's Your Position? Now.. Part Two.

Carrasco was leaning down, getting the sign. He began to rise to get into the set position, flinched for a second and then continued to stand up. Instantly, the home plate umpire was standing up, waving his arms and sending the runner home. Balk. End of game. The Braves poured out of the dugout to congratulate Hernandez and the stunned Mets could only walk off with a "WTF?" expression on their faces. Well, that was the expression that was on my face, at least.

So now the Mets come home. They should be thrilled that they beat the Braves two out of three games. Thing is, they know that it should have been a sweep. Hopefully they'll have short memories as a tough team, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are coming to Citi Field. Hopefully they will regroup quickly.

We'll see...

Gee, Another Mets Win

2011-06-16T12:35:00.001-04:00

Thoughts while imagining how embarrassing it would be if I was on a Stanley Cup-winning hockey team and I pitched backward onto the ice when handed the Cup to carry around the rink.

No, I didn't get to see the entirety of the Mets game - when I first turned on the TV, the game was in rain delay, and I didn't watch any of the resumed game, as I was watching Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. When I would flip to SNY periodically, there would be another Mets Yearbook being shown, and then when I saw that the game was resuming at 10:50, there was no way I was going to stay up to watch -especially since I had to get up in 6 hours and my young baby was asleep. For once, he slept through the night, and I got to get up at 5:30 and see on MLB.com that they won, 4-0.

So here's what I know: Dillon Gee didn't go five innings to collect his eighth win, D.J. Carrasco was effective for two innings and Bobby Parnell came in and struck out FIVE people in his two innings of work. Of course... I wasn't watching. If I was watching, Parnell would probably have walked five.

The Michael-Didn't-Watch-Effect also extended to Jason Bay - he had two hits. Maybe if I don't watch, he'd hit .400 for the rest of the season. Mets ownership, if you're reading this - make me an offer. Actually, I'd miss the games too much to not watch them.

Tonight's game: R.A. Dickey is going up against Mike Minor. Here's hoping that there's not another rain delay, but it is June and it is Atlanta. Hopefully Justin Turner will be back (there's something I didn't think I'd be saying in June) to help out. I also hope Bay can build on last night's game, but I'm not holding my breath, since there were a couple of games where it looked like he might be on the way back only to have him fall back into his poor-hitting rut.

My prediction? Mets win, 5-2. Fingers crossed.

Still waiting for the other shoe...

2011-06-15T13:00:00.000-04:00

I am typing this entry with a cat in my lap despite my numerous attempts to shoo him away. It's the afternoon. Isn't he supposed to be off sleeping or something?

Sure, the Mets - a team without David Wright, Ike Davis or Johan Santana anywhere on its active roster and Jason Bay currently playing like someone has kidnapped him and an imposter is in his place - beat the Braves last night. It was a fortunate win for them - they happened to catch Jair Jurrjens, one of the Atlanta's better pitchers, on a night where he didn't have his best stuff. They also got some great defensive plays in the late innings and even weathered Dan Uggla actually managing to crank a homer in a 4-3 victory - he only has nine homers so far, usually he has nine homers at the end of April.

It was a nailbiter at the end, with Tim Byrdak having to come in and fan both Brian McCann and Diorys Hernandez to end a threat. K-Rod pitched a relatively uneventful ninth to nail down the save.

Once again, it was a game won without power - no homers for the Mets. Jose Reyes was the sparkplug, going 3-for-5 with an RBI. Carlos Beltran and his protege, Angel Pagan, had RBIs as did recent call-up Lucas Duda.

I'm liking Duda, he looks like he's getting the hang of hitting Major League pitching.

Jon Niese pitched great before faltering in the late innings and having to turn the game over to the bullpen. It was Jason Isringhausen who made things look a little dicey - I'm a huge fan of his comeback and would love to see him finish the season, but he's looked a bit shaky of late. Sandy Alderson and Terry Collins don't seem too sentimental, so... who knows where he will be at the end of the season?

I'm looking forward to tonight's game - hopefully Dillon Gee will continue his impressive run of wins this season. It's going to be a good matchup, though, since Tim Hudson is going for the Braves. I've always liked watching Hudson pitch, going back to when he was a rookie with Oakland. If you looked up "gritty competitor,' Hudson's picture would be right there next to the definition.

Now.. the reason for the headline. I'm enjoying watching this season so far, but I can't shake the feeling that the proverbial roof is going to fall on their heads and by the end of the season, I'll be ready for football. Oh, wait. That's still up in the air. Maybe in a future blog post, I'll be writing about the whole new NFL labor agreement. I just hope that occurs this year.. and not next.

Maybe I'll be wrong and Bay will right himself, the starting pitching will continue to pitch extremely well and Santana will join in ... and Wright and Davis will come back and immediately contribute ... and Reyes will stay a Met the whole season (and longer!). This is one time I'd love to be wrong about a feeling.

We shall see.

False Hope?

2011-06-10T12:34:00.000-04:00

Sure, it was nice to see the Mets take 2 of 3 against the Brewers. Question is: Does it really show what this team is capable of? What nags me is that they were one bullpen meltdown away from sweeping Milwaukee.

SO... again.. is this team one that can match up with the bigger dogs as one of equal size or is it some crazed Chihuahua biting at the ankles of a Rottweiler who will gladly swallow the Chihuahua in one giant bite?

Their next series isn't going to tell that much - it's against the Pirates, who haven't really been good since the early 90s. Sure, they have some promising talent in players like Andrew McCutchen, but I think McCutchen will be patrolling another outfield in several years. Pittsburgh will be like the Sacramento Kings of the early 90s - constantly stockpiling young talent without GOING anywhere. So, if the Mets win the series, then.. well, it was the Pirates. If they lose... well.. it was the Pirates and anything can happen in a series.

Coming up after that is a bit more of a litmus test: the Braves. They'll likely face one of or all three of Atlanta's Big Three: Tommy Hanson, Tim Hudson or Jair Jurrjens. One thing in the Mets favor is that Hudson has been struggling of late, so maybe they can keep him up against the ropes. Jurrjens has been really strong since coming back and also, let's not forget about Derek Lowe.

After the Braves begins another round of Interleague, with the Angels and their manager, the man who killed them back in '88 as a member of the Dodgers - Mike Scioscia. The Angels are below .500 themselves, as of this writing. For all I know, next Friday, they could be on a seven-game win streak.

So we will see... another step on the road continues tonight with Dillon Gee trying to raise his record to 7-0. Lucky 7?

Stay tuned.

MIssing the carnage

2011-06-09T12:33:00.000-04:00

One thing about having a young baby is that it makes a person who used to be a night owl - someone who would gladly stay up to watch their favorite baseball team play a West Coast game - turn into someone who considers staying up past 10 to be a "late night."

So last night, the Sandman was sprinkling his dust in my eyes around that time and I went to sleep - which meant I didn't get to see the Mets come back from their 2-1 deficit to take a 6-2 lead. This also meant I didn't witness the bullpen then hand the game back. I got to wake up at 5 and see on ESPN.com that they lost, 7-6. Bah.

See, part of me knows that this season is not one that I should be investing my hopes on - even before the massive amounts of injuries this was not a team that could challenge either the Phillies or the Braves for a playoff spot. There's still that small part of me that is hoping that some pieces fall into place and they could go off on a long winning streak. What's disheartening though, is that the return of David Wright and Ike Davis seem so long off and Johan Santana is NOT going to be the savior when he returns.

I've been a fan of this team since 1980, though. Way back when Mookie Wilson and Lee Mazzilli were the faces of the team - long before Darryl Strawberry, Keith Hernandez, Dwight Gooden and Gary Carter made their way to Shea. It's been 31 years and I'm hoping to be rooting for them for at least 31 more years, no matter how this whole Wilpon saga plays out, I'll be wearing my Mets hat or shirt. If they do trade Jose Reyes or Wright, though, I will likely just be following them on TV.

Other things:

Grantland.com went live. It's the brainchild of Bill Simmons, who has long been one of my favorite writers. I first came across him when he was writing for AOL's Digital City Boston and have been reading him ever since. I'm happy to see that he's been branching out more, first coming up with those great documentaries for ESPN last year and now this. I'm hoping that this site really takes off.

Early thoughts though - it's really, really, really barebones as far as a site goes - only a few features, and there's a lot of "Coming Soon" promised. There could have been more of a buffer of stories to open up. Of course, Simmons posted 2 columns, which is probably equal to 4 other people, so there was still a good amount of reading even on the first day of the launch. In his introductory column, Simmons promised that the site would be malleable, changing on the go. I hope that's the case - it's going to be interesting to watch.

A WIn is a Win... but Yaaaaaaaawn

2011-06-08T12:15:00.001-04:00

So my prediction of a 7-3 score was juuuuuust a bit off. The Mets won, 2-1, instead, in a game that seemed like a prescription to cure insomnia. Wide awake? Cue up the DVR of this game and you'll be asleep in instants.

It wasn't the announcing or anything like that - the game itself was just not exciting. Save for Prince Fielder's mammoth homer to center field, Carlos Gomez robbing Carlos Beltran of a homer and Chris Capuano of a double, and Jose Reyes flying around the bases with yet another triple, the game was devoid of much action. Oh, there was the part where Reyes tried to re-enact the "Slide, Jeremy, Slide" moment, but that was more groan-inducing than exciting.

Reyes NEEDS to stay with the Mets. He's probably the most exciting player in the game right now and it would be a big mistake for him to be shipped to another team. Wallets need to be opened too so that he can remain in blue & orange for a lot longer. I'm still adamant that Wright should also stay.

So the Mets walked off the field with a win, but I'm sure they had to even prod some of their teammates in the dugout, "Yo dude, game's over. Wake up."

The New York dugout is going to be wide awake tonight - Mike Pelfrey is going on the mound and they'll definitely be wondering if Good Mike or Bad Mike is going to be out there. Pelfrey is going up against Randy Wolf.

I'll have some caffeine nearby just in case, though....

Brewin' Something For The Future...

2011-06-07T16:30:00.001-04:00

Last night the Mets drafted Brandon Nimmo in the first round. Question is - how much is he going to actually help? It's a question that every Major League general manager asks himself - "Is this player going to be worth the amount of money that we put in him now, including his signing bonus?"

For every Derek Jeter who is picked and turns in a Hall of Fame career, there's people like Brien Taylor or Paul Wilson, people who either don't make the Major Leagues or fall far short of their potential.

The other question is - will someone else rise from the Draft and play to a talent level that would surpass their draft position. Someone in the supplementary first round, like Michael Fulmer, or will they draft someone in the later rounds or even get an undrafted free agent like Jose Reyes.

From what I've been reading on Twitter about the two picks the Mets made is that it's a departure from what the previous regime would have done. Apparently Nimmo is a risk pick that would have been eschewed in years past. Who knows, Nimmo may still turn out to be a bad pick, but there's a high enough ceiling to justify making the pick.

Thing is, we're not going to see the result of this draft for a year or two at the earliest for most of these picks. It's not like the NFL or the NBA, where the picks are generally thrown into the fire. Sure one of the Mets picks might be fast-tracked, but for the most part, they'll be in the Minors and only the front office o=and the most die-hard fan will be following them. It also sounds cruel, but many of them won't even set foot in Citi Field - just the nature of the numbers.

And in the present, Chris Capuano is going up against his old team tonight - the Brewers. Let's hope his familiarity with them helps him out. My prediction: Mets get to Shaun Marcum and win 7-3. We'll see.

One last thing - I am SO happy to hear that Carlos Beltran will be in the lineup tonight. It seemed almost a certainty that he would be going to the Mets' M.A.S.H unit tent to join his other walking wounded teammates. Phew.

Doing the Wright Thing

2011-06-06T12:20:00.000-04:00

I'll talk about last night's game in a bit, but in today's New York Daily News, Bill Madden had a column about how the Mets should do David Wright a favor and trade him to another team. Wright, who seems to bleed blue and orange, is very resistant to the idea of being dealt. Is this a case of his being too hard-headed for his own good?

First off, I'll admit to being a huge fan of Wright's. He has played the game right since coming to the Majors - there's absolutely no sense that he's ever given less than 100% on the field. Add the fact that he has embraced the role of being the face of the franchise, going to seemingly every single charity function that the Mets ask him to attend, and I think that trading him would be a huge mistake. In contrast to Fred Wilpon's assessment that Wright is a "nice kid, not a superstar," the Sporting News named him one of the top 50 currently active players. I think that puts him into the superstar category, Mr. Wilpon, and I'd take the word of a longstanding publication like TSN over yours.

Let's add the fact that trading Wright would continue the trend of not having a longterm stabilty to third base. So, Mr. Madden, I'm going to disagree with you on whether the Mets should trade Wright. In fact, I think the current signs that read, "Don't Trade Reyes" should be changed to "Don't Trade Reyes OR Wright."

So... last night. I admit to missing a bulk of the game due to my rocking my son to sleep, but I did get to see the thrilling ninth inning where the bullpen seemed to want to to give the game away yet again. When K-Rod gave up that three-run shot, ESPN showed R.A. Dickey uttering a profanity in the dugout. Fortunately, with Mets killer Chipper Jones lurking in the on-deck circle, our suddenly erratic reliever was able to slam the door shut on the rally and close out the game at 6-4.

Yes, they won last night, but this patchwork bullpen is just NOT able to hold leads as often as they should. This means general manager Sandy Alderson shouldn't be eager to try to bring Carlos Zambrano aboard.

There's an off-day today - which always makes me sad, since I love my Mets baseball. Tomorrow, they head out to Milwaukee - where there's a free-agent situation in the brewing (Hah! get it? Milwaukee Brewers? OK...) with Prince Fielder. Hopefully they can get something going there. Who knows?

It's been THAT long?

2011-05-31T12:33:00.001-04:00

I looked at my blogger dashboard and it said, "Last post: April 11, 2011." Whoa. I knew it had been a while, but my last post was before that whole Rapture thing really began to get a hold in the media consciousness? I've been slacking.

At least the good news is that the Mets are LOT more interesting now to follow, both on and off the field, since those early days when it looked like they might give those 1962 Mets a run for their money in the futility department.

In the on-field department, they have shown a lot more pluck and fire, thanks to manager Terry Collins. Games in which they might have previously just lain down on the train tracks and let themselves be splattered by whatever deficit they fell behind early on has shown a team willing to at least take the train head on before either dodging it and winning or making it a much less gruesome spectacle if they do wind up losing.

Thing is, lately the team has been resembling their Triple-A team, what with people like Willie Harris, Justin Turner (who is RAPIDLY becoming a favorite of mine), Ruben Tejada and Daniel Murphy all getting playing time at positions that are often not natural to them. David Wright is out with his fractured bat, and Jose Reyes is now going to be out of action for as long as a week as he is on bereavement leave.

Let's talk about Reyes, as he's been just absolutely incredible this season. He's turned on the speed burners, seemingly hitting either a double or a triple every game. He's also brought back his enthusiasm for the game, often high-fiving towards the dugout after a hit. Fred Wilpon says he's not going to get Carl Crawford money this offseason. We'll see. Right now I am PRAYING that the team doesn't wind up trading him. I want him still in a Mets uniform after the trade deadline, because a Reyes-less Mets is just boring - sorry David, Jason Bay and Ike Davis (who I hope comes back soon, because Murphy is just starting to get really painful at first despite his renewed raking at the plate).

They beat the Pirates last night without Reyes, but these are the Pirates. They are supposed to beat the Pirates. It's when they play the big guys, like the Phillies and the Braves - I want them to be able to compete.

That's where we move to the off-field stuff. Anyone who hasn't been living under a rock lately knows about the whole New Yorker article where Fred Wilpon did everything but pick Wright, Reyes and Carlos Beltran by the scruff of their necks and throw them into the trash. Add the fact that Wilpon said in another article that the Mets were losing money and it looks like until they get new ownership, there's not going to be a team with a tremendously high payroll out on the field for the next couple of seasons at least (I am really hoping that there's not a Florida Marlins-like fire sale. I REALLY hope not). There was a glimmer of hope when David Einhorn bought in as a minority owner, but there may be some painful times for the foreseeable future.

So... buckle up Mets fans, it is going to be a bumpy ride for this season and possibly beyond.

(Un) Missed chances and a drawing of Jose Reyes

2011-04-11T12:48:00.006-04:00

Quick story to sum up how yesterday went for the Mets: A friend texted me at the last minute yesterday to tell me that he had an extra ticket to the Mets game. My wife was out with a friend of hers for a late breakfast and I was watching our son. There was the chance that my wife would be back soon, but I told the friend that I couldn't make it.

There were several reasons:

1) I would have to rush to Citi Field as soon as she got home, missing several innings in the process. I'm the type that likes to get to the ballpark early and just chill out before it begins. Watching batting practice and the grounds crew set up the field is soothing for me .Always have liked that and always will.

2) It was somewhat raw out, and while it wasn't bad walking around, it would have been decidedly less fun sitting in it. Personally, I like sitting outside when it's at least June.

3) The Mets were playing the Nationals, and there is really no one on Washington that demands that I race out to see them. Sorry, Jayson Werth. Ryan Zimmerman is close, but he was hurt yesterday. Maybe in a couple of years it'll be a different story with Stephen Strasburg, who will hopefully be healthy, and Bryce Harper, who may be living up to the Sports Illustrated "The Next Chosen One" hype at that point.

I didn't go to the game and I was glad. I probably would have left in a complete state of disgust after the bullpen snatched victory out of Chris Young's hands. Even more humiliating was Tyler Clippard's looking like Mariano Rivera in relief. Let's just say it was not a good day.

So... I won't dwell on that, shall we? Instead, I'm going to post a drawing I did of Jose Reyes. I decided to draw Reyes, since, well, who knows what his situation will be with the Mets in a few months, maybe even a few weeks. So I figured I'd draw him while he was still wearing a Mets uniform.

Reyes has been the big enigma for the Mets - he's hugely talented, something that I've seen in person - his inside the park homer in 2006 is still boggling to me, he seemed to have teleported himself around the bases, he was running that fast. But he's also been moody and shown serious lapse in judgement both at the plate and on the field.

That said, I've enjoyed having him on the Mets, and if he does wind up leaving, things will feel very different around Flushing.

Down... Up... and DOWNNNNNNNNNNNNN

2011-04-07T14:53:00.001-04:00

Last night's game was quite a roller coaster ride, to say the least. It started out in a deep valley, with the Phillies leading 7-0, and then it zoomed up rather quickly when the Mets tied the score at 7 and then plummeted again when Philadelphia took the lead again. There would be no trip back up the hill for New York as they lost, 10-7. Bah.

Thing was, I was trying to stay only cautiously optimistic as the Mets plated several runs, inching closer and closer. Problem was, Philadelphia took Joe Blanton out of the game and their relievers pitched pretty capably. Then again, Phillies fans probably wish Mike Pelfrey had stayed in the game. At the way he was pitching, a 20-run game wouldn't have been out of the question.

That optimism was dashed when the Phillies regained the lead and firmly dashed on a play that signified how the game ultimately went. Ryan Howard was at the plate and Blaine Boyer was pitching. The scene: The Mets had seen the tie snapped earlier in the inning when Placido Polanco singled in longtime nemesis Shane Victorino. After fellow nemesis Jimmy Rollins walked, here was Howard digging in against Boyer. Howard hit a hard groundball back up the middle but it looked like it would go to where Jose Reyes was in the infield shift that most teams employ against a pull hitter like Howard. Nope. Boyer deflected the ball and Rolling wound up scoring. You could most likely hear all of Queens screaming, "AAAAARGH!!!!" OK, it was me screaming - I was doing it silently though, since my son was asleep in the next room and I didn't want to explain to my wife that Ryan Howard had woken my son up.

So.. after Angel Pagan lined out to end the game, I immediately switched over to FX's "Justified," which is the best show on television, in my opinion.

Thoughts -

THE GOOD: The team's continued spirit - I have a feeling last year's players would have been thinking about the postgame spread by the fourth inning. Not this one. They battled back and while they lost, it could have been a lot worse. If they keep battling like this, they are going to win a lot more games than they lose.

The top of the order through the middle all scored at least one run. They keep doing that, good things are going to happen.

THE BAD: Pelfrey's second bad start in a row has to be a cause for concern. He has another bad outing and the rumblings will begin for him to maybe shifted around in the rotation. He just looked like he was throwing batting practice to some of these Phillies hitters.

Boyer didn't make himself stand out and there were even some Tweets from some people calling for Jason Isringhausen.

THE UGLY: Pelfrey.

Today, I hope that Jon Niese is able to match up well against Roy Halladay and the hitters give Doc a dose of his own medicine. Let's not have a repeat of the Josh Johnson game, OK?

Still Feelin' Good

2011-04-06T12:31:00.001-04:00

I woke up this morning feeling more optimistic than usual. Why? Well, my prediction that the Mets could beat Cole Hamels last night came through. By the third inning, he was making his way back to the showers with a scowl on his face. I have to feel that this gives the team a shot of confidence going into tonight against Joe Blanton.

David Wright was a stud last night both for the Mets and my fantasy team - and all his hits came after that first inning when he and the rest of the Mets lineup squandered a first-and-third-and-no-outs chance. Fortunately, they rectified that shortly thereafter.

Chris Young looked sharp for the most part and even looked like a right-handed hitting Mike Hampton at the plate. I still didn't understand Terry Collins' decision to send him out in the sixth after struggling to get out of the fifth inning, but it all worked out. This time. It won't always work out every time, Terry.

D.J. Carrasco danced into and out of the fire a couple too many times for my comfort, but he got the job done… this time.

I'm liking Angel Pagan as the full-time center fielder. He's great at covering ground and he's playing a lot smarter than a couple of years ago.

Yes, yes, I chuckled to myself when Chien-lung Hu singled and the announcer said, "Hu's on First."

Going into tonight's game, I'm still quite optimistic that they can beat Joe Blanton. Like I said yesterday, Mike Pelfrey is still the x-factor here. If he pitches like the potential ace that he has the talent to be, then the Mets have a good chance. If he falters, like he did in his last start, then New York could be trying to beat Roy Halladay tomorrow to try to win two of three. The close confines of Citizens Bank Park still worries me.

Apparently, Willie Harris will be in left field tonight, which bodes well for Pelfrey, since Harris pretty much catches everything hit his way. He may even be able to help with his hot bat. We'll see.

Starting next week, I'll begin posting drawings I have done of Mets players.

Feelin' Young Against The Phils

2011-04-05T12:07:00.001-04:00

So… my assistant sends me a link to a website that makes fun of the Mets - it featured a Jon and Lou sketch that rehashed the Mets' offseason, it was quite critical of it, although the choice phrase "Carlos Beltran's Crappy Left Knee" made me laugh. I'm not going to link the site, since I don't want to give anyone who writes about Philadelphia teams any traffic. Oh yes, my assistant's a Phillies fan. We're actually quite civil, though we do like to tweak each other when these two teams clash, though she has been doing most of the laughing of late. She's feeling quite optimistic about this series, since the Phillies have the best starting rotation ever, it seems. They should just halt the games and immediately hold the Cooperstown induction ceremonies - they probably have the plaques ready.

OK, sure, right. Like I said yesterday, I think the Mets can take at least two of three here - they can beat Cole Hamels (ESPN.com showed a stat that he is 2-8 against them) and I'm also sure Joe Blanton can be hittable. Roy Halladay, on the other hand, is going to be a tough one, but with a little luck and a heck of a start from Jon Niese, they could conceivably win.

Why am I in such an optimistic state? The Phillies' lineup doesn't look quite as intimidating without the injured Chase Utley in it. Without Utley, people can be pitched around. It's an entirely winnable series, and it would, even though I said yesterday that it's not smart to read too much into April series, give them a real boost of confidence.

The only thing that might screw up this whole scenario is Mike Pelfrey. He's taking on Blanton, and he's really got to rebound after his terrible start against the Marlins. What doesn't help here is that he's going to be pitching in a tiny, tiny park, where a pop-up can seemingly land in the seats for a round-tripper. He's going to have to bear down and really, really pitch well.

Chris Young makes his first regular season start as a Met tonight against Hamels. He's going to have to have his deceptive delivery really working well (it makes his fastball, normally in the mid-80s, seem like it's in the 90s), but I think he can handle the Phillies' lineup. We'll see after the game. I just hope it doesn't rain there.

Young is also one of the tallest pitchers in the Majors at 6'10. I wonder what it would be like to face a seven footer like Patrick Ewing on the mound. He would likely just be able to reach out and place the ball in the catcher's mitt. The seven-footer would have a real hard time keeping his pitching mechanics consistent, though, with the folding and unfolding of long limbs.

What's in the news about the Mets? MLB.com's Anthony DiComo writes about how the duo of David Wright and Jose Reyes may be broken up. Yes, we know that Reyes may be traded soon. Please let something happen, in either case, so we don't have to hear about it ALL SEASON.

The whole Pedro Feliciano "feud" is ridiculous. Sure, the Mets had him pitch a lot while he was there. Sure. Why not? He had a seemingly rubber arm and said that he wanted to pitch. It was well within the Mets' rights that they didn't want to bring him back after his being used that much. You think Scott Proctor is complaining today about being abused by the Yankees?

The Bergen Record wrote that the Mets still have tickets available to the home opener on Friday. Yes, I'm sad that the opener isn't a complete sellout, but it's the Washington Nationals here. If they had a healthy Stephen Strasburg, I'd say buy the tickets, but Jayson Werth isn't the marquee attraction that would make me miss a day of work.

On a personal note, I was sad to hear about former Mets and Red Sox GM Lou Gorman's passing. I met him quite a few times when I was a student at Boston University and got a chance to attend Red Sox games in the owner's box, thanks to a family friend. He remembered me each time he saw me and was always the perfect gentleman, an assessment that many other people who knew him much better than I did have confirmed. Rest in peace, Mr. Gorman.

Off-Day Thoughts

2011-04-04T18:02:00.001-04:00

Late update - first a weekend recap:

Saturday night was a night of peeking at the score while my wife had a couple of her friends over. Fortunately, they are all baseball fans, so they didn't mind me having the game on while we all sat in the living room. It was a good game, Jonathon Niese pitched well, but it was sad to see Francisco Rodriguez blow the save - fortunately he kept the Marlins from then winning it and allowing the game to go into extra innings.

Thought from Saturday's game: Yes, David Wright was lucky in the tenth inning when Scott Cousins decided to pull up on his fly ball in foul territory rather than try to make a diving catch. That reprieve allowed Wright to then stroke a two-run single, causing fist pumps and celebrations in my house. We did it quietly though, since my son was sleeping in the next room.

It was almost as if my son knew, though, since he woke up an hour or so later, and didn't go back to sleep until my wife and I had rocked him for three hours.

So, I was playing a bit hurt while watching Sunday's game, but the Mets soon eased my pain by reprising the 2004 Red Sox's Game Seven on the ALCS tattooing of Javier Vazquez. After all was said and done, it was a 9-2 win and R.A. DIckey had turned in another great performance.

So - with the Mets sitting at 2-1 during an off-day, what to think about? Their upcoming matchup against the Phillies, duh… they'll match up against one C (Cole Hamels) and one R (Roy Halladay) of the R2C2 (with special guest star Joe Blanton, who New York will see sandwiched between the other two pitchers) Group.

So? My prediction: The Mets will win two of three here. They can beat Hamels and Blanton, but Halladay is going to be very, very tough.

We'll see.

I'd write more, but I have a very pushy cat in my lap right now who doesn't get the hint when I shoo him away. So I'll get more in tomorrow when he's sleeping in the morning.

It's a Bad Opening Day (Night) When...

2011-04-01T23:00:00.002-04:00

You're sitting there watching the game and muttering, "Oh, please.. please JUST GET A HIT!" Winning or losing is secondary at that point - just seeing a ball land in the outfield out of the reach of a fielder would be the sweetest sight.

For six-plus innings, I was feeling that - and Twitter was exploding with Mets fans all tweeting the same thing - WE NEED A HIT. Problem was, Marlins ace Josh Johnson wasn't feeling all that charitable, and he was sitting on a nice cozy 4-0 lead at the time. Ironically, though, it was former Mets nemesis Willie Harris who got the first hit in the seventh - he'd spent many a year robbing them of hits in the past.

They mounted a brief rally - but that flame got extinguished way too soon and they were left with having to try for their first win of the season on Saturday, with Jon Niese on the mound.

I won't go into to much detail about what happened with the game - stand-in "ace" Mike Pelfrey spent too much time throwing too many pitches in far too few innings, and he made one really bad mistake to catcher John Buck, a man who can capably wield a bat, but doesn't exactly make people think of Johnny Bench. It was a mistake that landed in the right-field seats and plated the only four runs the Marlins would need for the night. The New York bats were far too quiet for far too long.

So, I hope they make Saturday a better day and don't leave me and other Mets fans grasping at straws for tiny victories within a loss.

Waiting for Opening Day (For My Team)

2011-03-31T12:01:00.002-04:00

It's Opening Day today… well, for a couple of teams. I'm just waiting for the Mets to start their regular season tomorrow, though with it being in Florida, one never knows with the possible rain. It's better than starting here, though, since apparently we are supposed to get some snow tonight. Winter hasn't been told that it's time to leave, apparently.

Speaking of being buried under something, as I thought, Jason Bay is going to start the season on the DL with a rib cage injury. On one hand, it would have been worse had he try to play through it, but on the other… I just wish that it would stop.

I'm looking at the 25-man roster and I have to say, I cant't really argue with any of the choices. Blaine Boyer pitched well, and I'm glad that Jason Isringhausen is going to stay for extended Spring Training. I haven't had a chance to watch Pedro Beato, but he's been effective by all accounts. Truth be told, I wasn't sorry to see Manny Acosta leave - he had a good E.R.A. last year, but it seemed like every time I saw him pitch, he did badly. We'll see how Lucas Duda does with an extended chance due to Bay being on the DL. Here's hoping that Scott Hairston keeps hitting and that Willie Harris continues playing excellent outfield D.

Short entry today - resting up for tomorrow.

Black Cloud Cover

2011-03-30T12:19:00.002-04:00

It's a beautiful day right now here in Queens, but I feel the ominous presence of dark clouds. Seems like those clouds have been around the Mets forever, with a few rays of sunshine since I started following the team in 1980. Of course, the brightest ray was 1986, with the World Series championship.

Let's recap those other years though:

1987 - Terry Pendleton quashes a Mets attempt at a late resurgence in September by clubbing a ninth-inning home run off Roger McDowell.

1988 - Game 3 of the NLCS, which I happen to be attending, sums up the season - Davey Johnson leaves Dwight Gooden in too long and Mike Scioscia clubs a game-tying ninth inning homer. The Mets go on to lose the game in extra innings, thanks to a Kirk Gibson homer and then they go on to lose the series.

1989-1997 - I've blocked out much of this save for stray snippets - Lenny Dykstra, Roger McDowell and Randy Myers all traded, Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden leave for greener and more cocaine-laced pastures. Frank Viola joins the team. Bernard Gilkey hits in a vacuum (he did have a nice cameo in 'Men in Black'). Then the Mets get Al Leiter.

1998 - Mike Piazza joins the team. Things look brighter.

1999 - More hazy memories: Up and Down. The play-in to make the playoffs. Robin Ventura's Grand Single. KEnny Rogers walks in the winning run. Sigh. Let's move on.

2000- Roger Clemens beans Piazza in the regular season and then uses him as target practice for his attempt to make the next summer Olympics in the "Broken Bat Toss" in the World Series. The Yankees win the World Series, something seems preordained after Armando Benetiz is unable to hold a ninth-inning lead in Game 1.

2001 - Aside from Piazza's post-9/11 uplifting homer, it isn't a good season.

2002-05. Hmm. Well. Nothing, aside from David Wright, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran Pedro Martinez joining the team, either via being called up or free agency.

2006 - Ah yes. This is supposed to be the season. The Mets look dominant and well on their way to going to the World Series. It'll tie in nicely with it being the 20th anniversary of the 1986 Championship. But St. Louis has something else to say in the playoffs and it ends with Beltran, a definite MVP candidate that year, watching Adam Wainwright bend a curveball at his knees for strike three to end New York's season.

2007 - The collapse. I can't go into detail - I think I might just start staring into space from the trauma.

2008 - Same. Let's just agree that they collapsed again. OK?

2009-2010 - Utter mediocrity, with albatross contracts like Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez making fans begin to call for their release as well as the firing of General Manager Omar Minaya. Minaya survives '09 but he is let go at the end of '10.

Which brings us back to now. There's a new manager, Terry Collins. A new GM in Sandy Alderson. They are supposed to help part those dark clouds. But I see them in the horizon on this beautiful day.

That sound you heard was thunder after I heard the news that Jason Bay was suffering from an oblique injury and may have to miss time at the beginning of the season. Backup catcher Ronny Paulino, who is already going to serve suspension time for a drug test, is suffering from a malady that bloodwork revealed from a routine physical. Beltran played well yesterday, though it would not terribly surprise me if I heard that his leg fell off today.

I know that fans of other teams in the league, particularly the Cubs ("Hi, we haven't even been to the World Series in several people's lifetimes") won't be particularly sympathetic to the Mets' plight. I've probably already received several crates of the world's smallest violin.

But dang, let's see some sunshine, huh?

The Gryphon's View: 3/29/11

2011-03-29T09:16:00.003-04:00

No Mets baseball yesterday made me a sad Mets fan - even though it's only Spring Training. I sated my appetite a bit by watching the Twins play the Pirates and the Reds play the White Sox on the MLB Network. I was even prepared to watch the Yankees game, but that got rained out. Hey… it's an addiction, but it's a healthy one! I think. Back when I worked for MLB.com, I'd always feel a wistful pang when the last game of the night wrapped up.

What's going on in the world of baseball? Starting with the Mets, of course. Chris Capuano's going to be taking the hill today against the Nationals, and Carlos Beltran's going to be playing right field. I'm really hoping that Beltran can make it through today without any injury issues. The way this spring has gone, though, it's not anywhere near a given. Beltran hopes to be on the Opening Day roster, but again.. we'll see.

By this point, I just want the team to choose between Jason Isringhausen and Blaine Boyer. Just. Choose. I'm sure those two are saying the same thing.

I'm glad that Willie Harris made the team, as I was sure that he would when I heard that he was in camp. If you can have your greatest defensive nemesis on your team, take him.

Here's hoping that there's no serious health issues with Ronny Paulino.

According to the New York Daily News, manager Terry Collins is going to be using his regulars for seven innings or so today. Good - nothing against the Minor Leaguers, but I'd rather see what the regular season team's going to look like.

Other New York baseball:

The Yankees sent catching phenom Jesus Montero down to the Minors. He couldn't seize the opportunity that Francisco Cervelli's broken foot offered. Apparently New York is complying with the Molina rule, where it states that at least two catchers with the last name Molina must be in the Majors at all given times, since they are likely having Gustavo Molina back up Russell Martin.

Mark Prior and Pedro Feliciano are staying back as the Yankees head north. Feliciano's nursing a left triceps injury. Prior, whose injury history could fill a book, is just staying in Florida to keep warm as New York continue his transition as a reliever.

Glad to see Eric Chavez make the team. I always liked him when he was with Oakland.

Misc.

The Knicks ended a six-game skid with an overtime win over the Magic. Still not sold on the team's chances in the playoffs.

There's some controversy that Jose Canseco may have sent his twin brother Ozzie to fight for him in a celebrity boxing match. He even left a mysterious tweet that boxing promoter Damon Feldman was not to be trusted. My question is… how certain can we be that we've seen Jose, and not Ozzie, in every episode of "Celebrity Apprentice?" Hmmmmm.

Speaking of steroids, I hope that this is the last time during the Barry Bonds perjury trial that we hear of testicles and shrinkage. Thank you.

I like James Patterson, have read many of his books and found him to be truly nice at one of his book signings - he even pointed me in the direction of Dennis Lehane. But now it seems like he's got a new book co-written with someone coming out EVERY DAY! With his writing style, having chapters be 3-5 pages each, it would make it a bit easier for one to write books quickly.

These are NOT Rose-Colored Glasses

2011-03-28T12:14:00.003-04:00

Opening Day's hurtling at us at a pretty high rate of speed, and I have to say that I'm not.. too concerned. I'm actually feeling somewhat optimistic. Last year was an entirely different matter, with Jerry Manuel still at the helm and Ollie Perez and Luis Castillo still taking up space on the roster and Omar Minaya was still trying to make himself into the Isiah Thomas of baseball. Not so this year - all four are gone, purged at some point during either the offseason or in Spring Training.

My reasons for my cautious optimism are-

1) The absence of the above mentioned people in Metsland. I have infinite amounts more confidence in Sandy Alderson to make sound baseball decisions than Minaya. It also helps that Alderson has some pretty smart people surrounding him in the front office, such as J.P. Ricciardi and Paul DePodesta. I've got a good feeling about their ability to mine good talent.

2) I like some of the new people in the Mets camp - Willie Harris (PLEASE catch everything hit your way, you know, like how you did against the Mets), Scott Hairston, Chris Young (if only so that there can be someone taller than Mike Pelfrey on the Mets staff) and Chris Capuano. With Young and Capuano, I feel like the Mets can catch lightning in a bottle with one of those two. I also admit that I'm rooting for Jason Isringhausen to make the team for sentimental reasons, but I wouldn't cry if Blaine Boyer beat him out either - just want either to make the bullpen stronger.

3) Jason Bay HAS to bounce back. I've liked him ever since he came into the league with Pittsburgh. Sure, his back tightening up worried me, but hopefully that'll be a one-time occurrence. People were worried last year that Citi Field hurt his power, and I admit, I do wonder how much Fenway helped him before, but he's still got good power. Looking for a bounceback year all the way. Looking for at least 25-30 HR.

4) I hope Francisco Rodriguez redeems himself - on and off the field. Wouldn't be surprised at a 40-save season, though that would be contingent on a) the Mets contending and b)the team letting him hit an innings-pitched mark that would vest an option for 2012. That'll be interesting to see play out.

5) Sure, the Phillies have the most vaunted starting rotation since those Orioles teams back in in the 70s, but they also kinda have to hit, and the specter of them losing Chase Utley for possibly a good time during the regular season makes their lineup just a BIT more vulnerable.

6)Atlanta is on its way to possibly being the BRAVES again, since they have reloaded with such great talents as Jason Heyward and Tommy Hanson, but I still see the Mets possibly winning close to 90 games if things go right.

7) Yes, I said close to 90 games. It's still Spring Training and the Mets regular season 2011 record is 0-0. Hope springs eternal, and all that...

A New Season - A New Start With This Blog

2011-02-03T08:46:00.000-05:00

This will be the first in a series of posts about the Mets position players and pitchers as Spring Training nears. Today will be first baseman Ike Davis:

Wow.. is it nearly Spring Training again? I know I've been lax with this blog - having a baby will do that. "5 am… time to feed the baby." One hour later: "OK, baby's fed and back asleep! I can write or draw now…" Three minutes later - the baby, mad he has missed out on anything that has happened in the world over the past three minutes, lets out a cry.

But now that the baby is 7 months old, he's starting to get into a rhythm where I know when he will sleep or wake up. I hope that I can find the time to get into a steady habit of writing/drawing around his schedule. I also hope that any of you parents reading this haven't laughed yourselves unconscious over that last sentiment.

So - what am I going to write about? What I always try to write about - the Mets. I think I'm going to write about the position players for this upcoming season. I'm going to start off at first base:

I remember watching Ike Davis last year during Spring Training and thinking, "He should be joining the club when they break camp." I also thought, "The Mets need someone with a cool name like 'Ike.'" This thought was cemented when Daniel Murphy hurt himself. Alas, the Mets braintrust thought that he would be better off at Triple-A for more seasoning and left Fernando Tatis to fend for himself at first base.

That didn't last though - Tatis, who was a great comeback story during the '09 season, wasn't up for a repeat, they called him up in mid-April, with him making his first appearance on April 19, going 2-for-4 against the Cubs. He made an immediate splash a few days later, clubbing his first Major League homer on April 22 in that same Cubs series.

Davis just seemed to radiate cool from the first day that he joined the Mets, with the sideburns and the way that he perfected that "lean over the dugout railing, catch the ball and then tumble over the railing and land perfectly without breaking every bone in his body" move. It was just SO good to see someone who showed that he knew what he was doing with the glove. Sure, Carlos Delgado was a first baseman, but he never really left me totally breathless with his defense. It just seemed right - he was left-handed. played good defense and could hit. Heck, if he grew a mustache, he could look like a more muscular Keith Hernandez - minus the belly and smoking habit...

Soon, Davis was a cult figure for a Mets team that really wasn't going to have a very good season. My wife bought me a t-shirt that showed a 50's style political button with Davis's face on it and the slogan "I Like Ike" on it. He sure looked more suave than Eisenhower ever did.

As the season progressed, he showed some holes in his swing, but then again, hey, he was a rookie then. I'm looking for him to improve more on his average and some power numbers this year as he's learning the pitchers more. His glove's going to continue to be a strong part of his game.

And to cap it off - I'm going to try to make this an art blog too - here's a drawing I did of Davis:

Mets Won't Get Rid of K-Rod - and Other Thoughts

2010-08-16T23:57:00.001-04:00

When I heard that Francisco Rodriguez - K-Rod to most - had torn a ligament in his right hand and would likely be out for the season, I tweeted that the Mets should try to void his contract. After all, he hurt the hand not in the act of pitching, or even in something relatively benign, like oh.... say... a gardening accident like Bobby Ojeda did in 1988. No... he did it by allegedly using it against the father of his girlfriend. That's not normal activity outside of a baseball gam.

Let's forget about the part where the Mets have already invested millions of dollars in this guy and hope to get a lot more saves out of him before the contract expires after next season. This is a guy with a lot of anger issues and it's surprising he didn't hurt his hand in previous run-ins. The Mets should void the contract because he's not able to act in a way that insures that he'll be available to pitch to a team.

That said... I know that the Mets won't void the contract. They probably won't even try to do it - the all-powerful baseball union won't stand for that. They protect their own, no matter how unpopular the player. Remember, they managed to get Steve Howe way more chances than he should have after repeat drug offenses, and there are players who have gone into the stands to fight who are still playing (Frank Francisco, anyone?) So K-Rod will get another chance.

They aren't going to eat the contract. There is NO way they are going to eat either Oliver Perez's or K-Rod's deals. It's extremely unlikely in either case, and if it does happen, I think there is a strong chance that that would be a harbinger of the apocalypse.

Can they trade him? As the folks on SNY were saying during tonight's Mets game, the chances of that are also unlikely until teams see that K-Rod can pitch after recovering from his surgery. Will it affect how he grips the ball? It's going to be a wait-and-see kind of deal there.

And when he likely comes back, how will it affect clubhouse chemistry? Remember, K-Rod did his alleged actions in view of other player's wives and children. If I had a co-worker who beat up someone in front of my son, I'd be staying far, far far away from him. Perhaps that's where the distance of the bullpen during games might be a good thing. If a regular player did that, the dugout would be veeeeeeery uncomfortable. This is all going to have to wait, but the bottom line is that K-Rod will likely be back with the Mets in 2011.

***

- It is getting closer to the Midnight Deadline and it still remains to be seen if Bryce Harper will be going back into the Draft pool. Next year's First-Year Player Draft is supposed to be even deeper than this season and Harper might not be a lock to be No. 1. Scott Boras, the agent that many people love to hate, is gambling here, and he's got a young teenager's future at stake. Let him sign, Boras, It's one thing to play games with a veteran, moving Ivan Rodriguez to the Tigers several years ago, since Pudge was rich enough to do something like that, whereas if Harper goes back in the Draft next year and gets hurt.... what happens there? "Whoops. Sorry, buddy?"

- I'm beginning to REALLY hate the Dodgers... first the Phillies rally against them from seven down over the weekend, and now the Braves come back to score three tonight to beat them. Hey, it wasn't Jonathan Broxton's fault this time. But how about BEATING THE TEAMS IN THE METS' DIVISION, HUH?

-Jose Canseco is playing Minor League ball. No.. not with any teams affiliated with Major League Baseball... you think they would touch him? He's playing with an independent team. He's serving as their bench coach too. Wow.. Jose Canseco - utility man. No steroid jokes here, either.

- Not that it matters, but the Giants beat the Jets tonight in a preseason game. What DOES matter is that quarterback Eli Manning walked off the field holding a towel to his head to staunch bleeding from a cut. I had a feeling something was going to happen when backup Jim Sorgi said in his Daily News column that the only way that he would play in the regular season is if Eli was 'carted off.' Too close for comfort there, man. Too close for comfort. Eli's tough though... he'll play next week.

More thoughts coming up soon.

Sports thoughts for August 11, 2010

2010-08-11T17:42:00.000-04:00

Hi again everyone. Took a short hiatus to help my wife out while she had a baby in late June. I'm happy to report that a nine-pound baby boy came into the world on June 26. His name is Joseph and he's been a really good baby so far. Sure, he's screamed loud enough at times to peel paint off the wall, but those times are very few and far between. He generally only cries when he's hungry or he's peed/pooped his diaper. And at nearly seven weeks of age, he's already begun to sleep longer at night, for the most part.

Speaking of babies, though, it seems like everyone is labeling holdout Darelle Revis with that tag. "Honor your contract!" seems to be the central theme of people commenting on the various sports message boards. Sure, on one hand, Revis DID sign on the dotted line and he has three more years on his current contract. He also received a sum of money up front. On the other hand, he's not guaranteed any more money, and there's nothing out there to say that the Jets could not just terminate other years of the contract by the cutoff date so they don't take a salary cap hit - oh wait... there's no cap? Things are getting interesting. Personally, were I a Jets fan, I would be upset, since Revis is their best defensive player and the team seems to have a very real chance to make the Super Bowl this year - though anything can happen over the course of a season , like an inopportune injury to Mark Sanchez... but Revis has to take care of his situation too. Stay tuned...

In the "Friday the 13th/Halloween" mold, Isiah Thomas just can't stay dead to the Knicks and their fans. He's back as a consultant to the team. I'll be honest... I have not really followed the Knicks closely since their '94 miss in the Finals - I knew that once Michael Jordan returned to the NBA, their window of opportunity really slammed shut, and the odious moves of management over the past decade have made the organization a laughingstock not in just basketball but in all of professional sports. And James Dolan still thinks that this guy can REALLY help the team? Sigh. Those who don't learn from history....

TMZ just showed a copy on its website of a civil lawsuit against Johan Santana that says he impregnated the woman he allegedly raped. Innocence before proven guilt and all, but if it CAN be proven that he did that, he needs to have the book thrown at him. I don't care if he can throw a baseball through the eye of a needle...

That was one heck of a scrum last night during the Cardinals-Reds game. I've got Scott Rolen on my fantasy team, and I have a feeling I may be sitting him for a few games due to that whole incident with Chris Carpenter. It may be proven that he was just giving him a really, really, really, really big bear hug, though.

If I were a player on the Texas Rangers, I wouldn't get TOO cocky about getting to Mariano Rivera last night. It seems like he has one or two games like that a season. He then seemingly goes into the clubhouse and reboots his pitching program, becoming his usual dominant self again.

I hope the Mets can take another game against the Rockies. It was heartening that Mike Pelfrey matched up well against Ubaldo Jimenez last night. Jon Niese needs to get his form back too. I know they can get to Jeff Francis.

Joseph is beginning to act up. I'll get back into the groove of things on here soon. Off to go feed him.

6/24 Tigers-Mets liveblog

2010-06-24T20:51:00.000-04:00

It's 7:22 and I've got a late start here. Just saw Hisanori Takahashi give up a run scoring sac fly to Miguel Cabrera. My first thought was - why is Takahashi wearing long sleeves when it's about 100 degrees outside? I know that players like to wear the same uniform and all due to superstition.. but dude.. it's HOT. Do you want to melt on the mound?

7:25 - Tigers starter Armando Gallaraga is also wearing longsleeves. Pitchers are crazy.

7:27 Reyes walks. There will be no perfect game.

7:36 Reyes makes a nice diving play on a grounder, but first base umpire Tim Timmons says that Brandon Inge is safe despite replay showing that he was out by at least half a step. If this were the last out of a perfect game, there would be an uproar.. oh, wait, that already happened once. Bad call,though.

7:42 - Nothing comes of the bad call, as Takahashi is able to escape the inning unscathed. Still 1-0 Tigers.

7:54 - Magglio Ordonez golfs a ball into the left-field stands for a two-run homer. This comes on the heels of a nine-pitch at-bat by Ryan Raburn that results in a walk. 3-0, Tigers.

7:57 - I'm also Tweeting this game. @Literateartist

7:58 - Funny moment. Inge has the bat fly from his hands and land in the stands - fortunately it landed in empty seats. Guy sitting there reacts like Christmas came early. Free bat, fella.

8:01 - David Wright makes a nice play to end the inning, snaring Gerald Laird's smash grounder, stepping on third and then throwing to first to complete the inning. Sweet. I still think we'll see Bobby Parnell in the game within two innings.

8:05 - Earlier, they teased about the postgame show by mentioning that Armando Benitez is coming back to the NL. Is it 2005 again?

8:13 Rumor has it that Bobby Valentine is coming to the Marlins. Could he co-exist with Marlins management?

8:15 - According to a friend of mine at MLB.com, it was the Marlins who signed 'Mando.

8:21 Jesus Feliciano doubles over Brennan Boesch's head for the first hit of the game for the Mets. The no-hitter watch is over. They are still talking about how Galarraga handled the blown call that stripped his chance of a perfect game.

8:26 - Ike Davis grounds into a double play, while Feliciano scores from third. 3-1, Tigers.

8:34 - And Detroit gets the run back, somehow (Edit: 8:51: The replay at the end of the inning shows that it was a Ryan Raburn solo shot). Takahashi not looking like a Tiger-killer tonight.

8:45 - Takahashi is out , Elmer Dessens is in, and this inning has the potential to be ugly. Dessens has already walked in a run. 5-1 Tigers. Chris Carter, who came in during a double switch makes a nice sliding catch to save a run.

6/24 "Around the Majors" thoughts

2010-06-24T06:00:00.002-04:00

I wasn't able to see all of the Yankee game, since I had to do something called "sleep." which wasn't entirely possible due to the fact that our room was roughly the temperature of the sun, despite our air conditioner's best efforts. I did see enough of the game to see that Dontrelle Willis is pretty much close to being irreparably broken. He couldn't find the strike zone with a map, suffering from Steve Blass disease. I do see this morning that it took the Yankees an extra innings effort to beat Arizona. I'd fallen asleep when the Diamondbacks were ahead, 4-2.

Ubaldo Jimenez was not on his game last night, giving up six earned runs to make his ERA shoot up to an unsightly 1.60. Jason Giambi bailed him out last night, though, hitting a walkoff homer off Jonathan Papelbon as Colorado beat Boston again, 6-5.

Walkoff homer fever continued, as Jimmy Rollins hit his own walkoff shot as Philadelphia (ugh) beat Cleveland, 7-6. I pretty much hate any team in the National League East not named the Mets, but the last few seasons, Philadelphia has leapfrogged Atlanta as the most hated team. With the Braves in first right now, that has changed.

Speaking of Atlanta, I was happy to see that the White Sox beat them, 4-2, behind Mark Buehrle, whose last name I have to constantly check to see that I am spelling correctly.

Florida, who had fired manager Fredi Gonzalez the same day, beat Baltimore, 7-5. I had a feeling that Gonzalez was going to be gone at some point after he had that run-in with Hanley Ramirez, despite protestations from the departed manager that it was not the cause of his dismissal. Sure. Also, Marlins ownership is comprised of idiots, since they had Joe Girardi and fired him.

It was the Holliday Show, as Matt Holliday drove in the Cardinals' lone run they needed to beat Toronto, 1-0. Of course, they made Kevin Gregg the losing pitcher. Cubs fans are nodding their head at this, since he tortured them while he was their reliever. Randy "I Helped Push Johnny Damon Out Of New York" Winn scored the run.

San Diego continued its improbable run this season, beating Tampa Bay AGAIN, this time, by the score of 5-4. The fact they did this in Tampa Bay impresses me.

Again, Texas beat on Pittsburgh like a drum, beating them 13-3. Are there ANY Pirates fans left?

Milwaukee beat Minnesota, 5-3. Please keep softening those Twins up for us, Brewers. The Mets need to keep rolling.

The Angels beat the Dodgers, 2-1. No walkoff hit and no one got hurt in any celebrations.

Cliff Lee continued to show himself off as potential trade bait, securely muzzling the Cubs in a complete game effort as Seattle beat Chicago, 8-1.

I wrote yesterday about the Nationals game, and I believe I touched on the A's-Reds. In case I didn't, one play popped to mind. It's not going to show in the box score, since nothing happened, but it showed how even professionals can have egregious lapses. The scene - Joey Votto lofts a routine flyball to left-centerfield. A's centerfielder Coco Crisp calls off left fielder Rajai Davis and then the entire park winces as the ball clanks off his glove as he tries to casually one-hand the ball. Votto winds up on second. A's starter Vin Mazzaro is able to pitch out of trouble and the play had no bearing on the final 3-0 score, but man... that was practically a PSA for using two hands when catching a fly ball.

OK, will write about the Mets tonight. Hope you all enjoy your day.

Liveblogging Tigers-Mets 6/23

2010-06-23T21:39:00.000-04:00

Sitting here ready to watch the Mets take on the Tigers. Earlier this afternoon, I watched Stephen Strasburg pitch against the Royals. He gave up one run over six innings, but it seemed he wasn't his total dominant self- there were several times when he would have a Kansas City hitter behind in the count at 0-2 and then give up a hit. He did have nine strikeouts, but Brian Bannister did his best ace impression and the Nationals lost, 1-0. I didn't regret starting him in fantasy, of course.

Mets game starting now, wearing my David Wright T-shirt that my lovely wife got me a couple years back, and I'm ready to go.

I just checked ESPN.com and apparently, there has been a tennis match going on for 10 hours. That's not a misprint. It's currently 59-59 in the fifth set.

7:19 - R.A. Dickey pitches himself out of a bases-loaded jam in the first inning. Let's hope the Mets get to Jeremy Bonderman quickly.

7:23 - Jose Reyes gets to it early, hitting a stand-up triple to lead off the bottom of the first.

7:25 - Jerry Seinfeld is apparently going to be joining the gang in the booth around the third inning. I'm bracing myself for a bunch of "What's the deal with..." comments.

7:27 - Bleargh. They can't score Reyes from third with no outs.

7:42 - A whole lot of nothing happens and fittingly, Seinfeld is in the booth now. He's lamenting that Ron Darling is not there, comparing it to working with Groucho, but no Harpo. He tells Gary Cohen to take a break. He also says that he is not a Yankee disliker.

7:45 - Dickey works out of another jam, this time with Johnny Damon on third and one out. Still scoreless.

7:47 Of course, they show a clip from the Keith Hernandez episode on "Seinfeld."

7:48 Matlock, the cat is watching me on the armrest of the sofa. He's already begun his dinner campaign. A little over an hour to go, buddy.

7:52 - Matlock just licked my hand. Weird. Sometimes I think he thinks he's a dog.

7:55 - Wright just doubles in Reyes. I knew my T-shirt would come in handy. 1-0, Mets!

7:59 - I'm also tweeting about this game. Follow me: http://twitter.com/literateartist

8:21 - Reyes livens up a slow game, hitting a solo blast to right to make it 2-0, Mets!

8:26 - Wow... it's the sixth inning ALREADY?

8:47 - Seinfeld bids his farewell to the Mets booth people. He was fairly entertaining. Dickey keeps on chugging along.

9:01 - Jesus Feliciano pinch-hits for Angel Pagan, who apparently injured himself in his last at-bat. He grounds into a fielder's choice that scores Ruben Tejada from third. 3-0. I hope that it's nothing serious, would be so not fair for him to get hurt right when Beltran is coming back.

9:09 - Ike Davis singles in two runs, but Wright gets thrown out at third to end the inning. Dickey was on the basepaths for a long time. I don't think getting fatigued is a huge concern for a knuckleballer.

9:14 - Nope. Dickey isn't bothered by extended time on the basepaths - he has an easy eighth inning.

9:17 - K-Rod is warming up in the bullpen. That looks to be it for Dickey. I really don't understand this... it's not like he needs a pitch count. This better not backfire, Jerry Manuel. It better not.

9:27 - Nervous - K-Rod is facing Miguel Cabrera with the bases empty. Cabrera can't hit a five-run homer, can he?

9:28 - Cabrera singles.

9:36 - K-Rod comes back from being behind in the count to Carlos Guillen to strike him out to end the game. Mets win, 5-0. Manuel is very lucky this did not blow up in his face. I understand that he did not want K-Rod to have a fifth consecutive day of not pitching, but Dickey had a low pitch count (Not that it really matters with a knuckleballer, I think he could have thrown 300 pitches tonight) and had the game well in hand. But, all's well that ends well.

Will have some thoughts tomorrow morning - of course, if the baby is born, then I'll obviously be otherwise occupied. Good, solid victory for the Mets, but I await to hear what happened to Pagan.

6/23 Mets and other MLB thoughts

2010-06-23T06:15:00.002-04:00

It's another beautiful morning sunrise and Matlock the cat is currently on the kitchen windowsill, eying birds that he will never be able to eat while I work here. I was able to stay up and watch the end of game last night, and I was pleased that they kept Detroit from scoring any more runs, since the Tigers are one team that is capable of making Citi Field look like a bandbox.

Around the rest of the league:

The Philllies beat the Indians, 2-1. Philadelphia had Jimmy Rollins back in the lineup, which was good for the, but the game saw all the scoring done in the first two innings. The ageless Jamie Moyer won again. He's like the lefthanded Satchel Paige... minus all the witty sayings.

The White Sox beat the Braves, 9-6. This brought a smile to my face, because the Braves have long been the team I hated the most in the National League East for over the past decade or so. The Phillies have replaced them for the past three seasons, but it's nice to be viscerally rooting against Bobby Cox and the tomahawk chop again.

The Marlins beat on their hapless patsy victims, the Orioles, 10-4. Hanley Ramirez, who went 3-for-4 with three RBIs must want to face Baltimore pitching all season long.

The Nationals even beat the Royals, 4-3. Is there ever going to be a day when the Royals become respectable again? Royal fans must look at their Mark Gubizca baseball cards and weep.

This time, the Yankees turned the tables on the Diamondbacks, beating them, 9-3. Andy Pettitte avenged that 2001 World Series loss... FINALLY.

St. Louis handily defeated Toronto, 9-4. Matt Holliday looks like he's starting to come around completely at the plate, but I just wonder how to say "Albert Pujols is a hitting machine" in French? Ex-Yankee Randy Winn - you know, the one that helped push Johnny Damon to the Tigers? The one who the Yankees basically ate $2 million of his contract like that woman in the Quiznos commercial? He went 2-for-4. And Jose Bautista hit two homers - of course I had benched him in fantasy baseball. Of course.

The Rangers hit the Pirates like a pinata, winning, 6-3. Then again, what team HASN'T been hitting Pittsburgh pitching like a pinata this year?

Mat Latos keeps showing his pitching maturation is not an illusion, helping pitch the Padres to a 2-1 win over the vaunted Tampa Rays hitting attack. And yes, I have Latos in fantasy baseball. I just have to remember not to add an extra 't' to his name.

The sun rises and sets every day. Tim Lincecum handily pitched the Giants past the Astros, 3-1.

Colorado beat Boston, 2-1. Jon Lester was the hard-luck pitcher there, giving up only one run but taking the loss.

Cincinnati beat Oakland, 4-2. Dallas Braden has had NO WINS since his perfect game. I think he wouldn't trade that for a win, though.

The Angels beat the Dodgers, 6-3. I don't think Joe Torre changed facial expressions during the whole game, though.

The Brewers beat the Twins, 7-5 and the Mariners actually scraped up enough offense to win, 2-0, despite a complete game effort from the Cubs Ryan Dempster.

Off to go enjoy the day. I'll post about the Mets tonight.

6/22 Mets-Tigers

2010-06-22T22:52:00.000-04:00

OK, OK, I decided to go ahead and live blog this game, since they are facing Justin Verlander and everything. Of course, if my wife goes into labor, then this thing gets completely interrupted.

I watched the pre-game show. First they were examining the conundrum of who may sit when Carlos Beltran eventually comes back from his rehab - Angel Pagan or Jeff Francoeur. Both of them are playing well enough to not sit, but unfortunately the rules have not been modified to allow for four outfielders. It looks like Pagan would be the odd man out, but I think GM Omar Minaya would be dumb to use him as a trade chip, since Beltran may very well re-injure himself.

Next up was the callup of Bobby Parnell. Jennry Mejia got sent down to the Minors (Double A) for that to happen. Apparently Parnell was doing well in Buffalo. We shall see.

The game started, and Jon Niese already has two outs. I hope he continues his strong pitching.

7:17 - Niese gets Miguel Cabrera swinging to end the first inning. That's a promising start....

7:20 And speaking of promising starts... Jose Reyes beats out an infield single to start off the bottom of the first for the Mets.

7:22 - And as if to silence the people who have been asking him what he's going to do when Beltran comes back, Pagan laces a standup triple to plate Reyes. 1-0, Mets.

7:23 - I just hope this isn't making Verlander mad.

7:24 - David Wright goes the opposite way and hits a sac fly to bring Pagan home. 2-0, Mets.

7:36 - After Jason Bay and Rod Barajas get on, Jeff Francoeur taps back to the mound to end the inning. Still 2-0. This may be all you get here, Jon. Hope he keeps Detroit off balance.

7:37 - Matlock the cat came over and rubbed my foot with his head. It's the first of his many "feed me" attention-getters. He eats at 9pm.

7:39 - He just sat in my lap. Going to be a loooong hour or so.... .

7:40 - They just showed the umpires for the game. There is Tim Tschida and Tim Timmons. Two umpires with the same initials. Yeah, I notice weird things like that.

7:54 - Rain's starting to come down a bit. Fans are pulling out umbrellas. Let's hope that this is a short rain shower.

7:55 - Someone from the Mets wanna explain again why a retractable roof was a bad idea? I'm sure that people back in the 50s wouldn't have minded having one if the technology had been there.

8:04 - Nice! Niese picks off Austin Jackson after hitting him with a pitch. Still 2-0 Mets after 3.

8:08 - Was browsing around the Internet and saw the trailer for the Green Hornet. I'll be honest: I never, ever, ever pictured Seth Rogen appearing in an action movie.

8:09 - Matlock is getting nuttier and nuttier as dinner time nears. He's running around the house now and every now and then, will jump up the side of a doorway.

8:11 - As the rain continues to get heavier, Bay hits a double to score Wright.

8:12 - Rain gets heavier, Tschida just motioned for the tarp to come out. Rain delay. It's not an official game yet. Let's hope the rain stops.

8:55 - SNY is saying that the next pitch of the game is scheduled for 9:10. Hope the rain stays away for the rest of the night. Or until the game becomes official with the Mets in the lead...

9:07 - Verlander is NOT going back out... Tigers manager Jim Leyland is sending in a pitcher named Jay Sborz.

9:10 - Sborz is facing Barajas with men on second and third and no outs. Welcome to the bigs, kid!

9:11 - Sborz hits Barajas for his first hit batter in the Majors. Fortunately, it hit Barajas in the shoulder, not his head.

9:12 He hits Francoeur! That forces in a run. 4-0. Leyland comes out looking grumpy. Rightfully so. Sborz stays in the game.

9:13 The Tigers almost pulled off a nice double play on a grounder by Ruben Tejada. Tejada hit a smash along the third base line that a diving Brandon Inge was able to snare. From his knees, Inge then hit the third base bag with his glove for the force at third and then threw home to try to get Bay out at the plate, but the throw was high. 5-0, Mets.

9:18 - Niese fails for the second time in the game to get a bunt down. Good thing he's got a 5-run lead, huh?

9:19 - Reyes singles in Francoeur. 6-0, Mets. Let's get to the next inning before it starts raining again, huh?

9:20 - Pagan singles in Tejada and Reyes. 8-0. OK. 4th inning now, please?

9:23 - Wright singles, and that's it for Sborz.

9:35 - The Mets score two more runs and now it is 10-0.

9:40 - Niese goes out there and gives up a double to Cabrera and then surrenders an absolutely monster two-run shot to Brennan Boesch. Time to warm up the bullpen, Jerry?

10:14 - Jerry tries to leave Niese in there to go at least 5, but the Tigers are breathing down the Mets' necks too much. Fernando Nieve is now in there to try to end the inning. 4 2/3 for Niese.

10:15 - Nieve gives up a run-scoring single. It's 11-6 and the game is taking on a windy Wrigley Field quality. Can Nieve get the last out and then the skies open up again, please ?

10:16 - Strikeout!

10:18 - Let it rain. Let it rain. Let it rain.... I'm doing the rain dance now.

10:20 - The Tigers bring in a pitcher with the last name of Ni. He apparently is not a knight and he does not ask the Mets for a shrubbery.

10:26 - The Mets don't score. Next inning, Detroit will bring in a pitcher with the last name of Ekki-Ekki-Ekki-Ekki-PTANG Zoom-Boing Z'nourrwringmm.

10:50 - The Mets score more runs and it is now 14-6. That may be enough. Maybe. It's only the seventh inning.

I'm going to cut this blog short tonight - my wife and I have a doctor's appointment in the morning. I'll post some thoughts in the morning about the end of the game. Night, all.

Tuesday 6/22 Mets thoughts and other things

2010-06-22T06:05:00.000-04:00

It's slightly more cloudy this morning as the light slowly begins to fill my living room. I'm on the sofa and Matlock the cat just abandoned his sentry post on the armrest. The day seems MUCH brighter though, since I checked mlb.com's page and saw that the Yankees lost, 10-4. I'd fallen asleep last night with the score 6-1 in Arizona's favor, but New York looked to be clawing back.
I figured they had a shot at winning, since the Diamondbacks are horrible and it was Rodrigo Lopez on the mound. It didn't happen, and I couldn't be happier.

Let me try to explain my hatred of the Yankees - I'm not one of those people who says "Oh, I root for 'New York'" and thus root for two teams. No. No. It's the same with the Jets and Giants for me (Giants fan here). I actually grew up rooting for them, there's a framed print of Leroy Neiman's painting of Thurman Munson hanging in my baby-to-be's room. So why the change? Well, it started when Dad opted to get great season ticket seats at Shea as opposed to mediocre season tickets at Yankee Stadium, way back in 1980. How great were the season tickets at Shea? We were on the first base side, about three rows back. The Mets were so bad back then, I think that if Dad held out, we could have sat in the dugout.

So I started going to Shea - and began adopting players like Mookie Wilson, Joel Youngblood and others as my favorite players. The Mets began to build a core of good young players - I got to see Darryl Strawberry when he was called up in 1983. Keith Hernandez came aboard via trade (see ya, Neil Allen and Rick Ownby!) Dwight Gooden arrived in '84. Gary Carter was acquired in '85. The Mets became EXCITING. The Yankees faded into the rear view mirror - George Steinbrenner made more headlines than the team in that time.

But the thing that I noticed was that apart from my father and my best friends Evan and another friend named Michael, I really didn't like Yankee fans and their attitude of superiority that bordered on and often exceeded boorishness. Rooting for the Yankees seemed like rooting for Microsoft.

And then I met a family friend who happened to be one of the minority owners of the Boston Red Sox. Yeah.. Yankee hate kicked up quite a notch for me. I went to college in Boston and lived there for 6 years afterwards - though my one regret there was coming back to New York before they won the World Series in 2004. That would have been FUN to be there in person for.

So here I am, happy that A.J. Burnett, another high-priced Yankee acquisition, got shelled yesterday. Of course, the fact that they won the World Series last year just made me madder, but hey, what are you going to do there?

Not a whole lot of Mets thoughts today - I did see that former Met Livan Hernandez was able to muzzle the ferocious Kansas City Royals last night (he faced former Met Bruce Chen), and that the Reds hit three homers in the 10th inning to beat Oakland. One of those three homers was from Scott Rolen, who is on my fantasy team, so that makes me happy.

I'm off to go enjoy another day. I'll be back tomorrow to post my thoughts about the Mets game tonight - or I may do another running diary of the game. I'll see how I feel.

Monday 6/21 Mets thoughts and other things

2010-06-21T06:03:00.000-04:00

It's a beautiful morning - not a cloud in the sky as the sun rises. I'm sitting here in my living room, and the cat is perched on the sofa next to me, sitting sphinx-like on the armrest, watching me type. I have to pet him occasionally to make sure he doesn't walk on the keyboard of the laptop I'm using. So, if a post reading afjwajfalfj;al k comes up, you know that I forgot to pet him.

So, like I said, it's a beautiful morning - though I am not enjoying it entirely, because

A) There's no Mets game today

and

B) I'm a mite tired since the A/C was not as strong as I would have liked it to be last night, which made it tougher to sleep.

So here the cat and I sit, and I'm thinking of the upcoming series for the Mets against Detroit. It's going to be a tough one right out of the chute tomorrow: They face the Tigers' flamethrowing ace, Justin Verlander. I'm not as worried, since the Mets are sending Jon Niese to the mound, and Niese has been VERY good thus far. Of course, Niese still has to face a lineup that features Miguel Cabrera. Niese's going to have to use every millimeter of Citi Field to his advantage tomorrow. Let Angel Pagan run all over the place to grab fly balls.

But Verlander... he poses a tough matchup. It's going to be interesting to see if Met bats can catch up to his heater - Verlander fanned 11 Nationals in his last start. Of course, 10 of them were Adam Dunn - I kid, I kid.

And the Tigers lineup may be more potent with the possible return of Austin Jackson. He'd missed six games with back spasms.

My thinking - the Mets need to jump on Verlander early, and then Niese can match up against him well for the rest of the game.

It's going to be a long day waiting for tomorrow.

NON-BASEBALL thoughts:

I finished Dean Koontz's "Lost Souls" and feel mildly cheated. It's obviously Book 1 of another Frankestein trioogy, but on the front cover, it says "Lost Souls: A Novel." To me, "A Novel" connotates ONE COMPLETE BOOK. It has a beginning, a middle and an end. No cliffhanger that leaves me having to wait until SPRING 2011 for the next installment! Not nice, Koontz. Not nice.

On the front page of CNN.com right now: DOCTOR UNVEILS SPIKED FEMALE CONDOM. It's supposed to be a deterrent for rapists. Of course, that's all well and good, but what if a woman puts it in and forgets its there on a legitimate date? "You're not mad that we have to go to a doctor to remove this barbed thing from your member, are you? You'll call me tomorrow, right? Right?"

In the complete polar opposite of the above paragraph - we're still waiting on the baby's arrival. My wife reached 39 weeks yesterday. Very excited. It could be any day now!

More thoughts tomorrow - barring baby boy Griffin's entry into the world, of course....

Mets-Yankees 6/20/10

2010-06-20T16:21:00.000-04:00

I'm back for another live blogging of a Mets game. The baby has decided to not come out yet, so I'll be here to hopefully entertain you. Right now, I'm watching WPIX, and Ron Darling, Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez are back in the booth, discussing yesterday's game - they just showed Mike Pelfrey grimacing after Mark Teixeira's two-run homer. I'm encouraged though after reading today's paper - looks like Big Pelf is learning to leave any bad outings on the field that day - a mindset that is vital for any pitcher. A brooding pitcher is seldom a good pitcher.

They just showed Johan Santana playing long toss in the outfield before his start. He's going up against CC Sabathia. It's a marquee matchup, but it's not quite like a 2007 Indians-Twins matchup. Neither pitcher has shown the complete dominance that they did back then. I'm hoping that it's still going to be a good game - for the Mets. I don't want any pitcher's duels. Pitcher's duels mean that the Yankees lineup is lurking, ready to pounce at any time. I'd settle for a nice 5-0 Mets win.

They just showed the defense for the Yankees. Derek Jeter is back in the lineup after missing yesterday with a bruised heel.

First pitch coming up!

1:10 Jose Reyes doesn't start off with a bang, like yesterday. He pops up to second.

1:11 Roving reporter Kevin Burkhardt is talking about how the Bleacher Creatures do a roll call in the first inning. They chant a Yankee player's name until the player acknowledges them in their own special way. One player flexes his muscles. Teixiera waves.

1:12 David Wright gets the first Mets hit of the day, lacing a single to left. Phew! No no-hitter watch on the Yankees side!

1:15 Wright steals second, despite Francisco Cervelli doing his best Benito Santiago impression - throwing the ball to second from his knees.

1:19 Santana's on the mound now. Let's go Johan! He gets Jeter to ground out for the first out.

1:20. My biggest pet peeve with Blogger is that I have to manually change the post time if I'm doing something like this..otherwise I look like I'm posting a whole game recap from the past.

1:22 Announcers are pointing out one reason Johan has not been as dominant - he's leaving pitches up in the zone this year - he usually throws all his pitches around the batter's knees. But the balls are higher this year - and more hittable. Low balls, Johan! Low balls. Wait.. that sounds vaguely dirty.

1:23 Santana strikes out Teixeira to end the first. Nice beginning.

1:25 I'm starting to get sick of all these World-Cup-themed commercials, guys. July 11 can't come fast enough.

1:33 Sabathia just got a VERY generous inside strike call to punch out Fernando Tatis. They just showed Chris Carter in the dugout holding his head and reacting in a similar way to all the U.S. fans when they realized that Koman Coulibaly had nullified the go-ahead goal last week.

1:34 Yes, I had to google Coulibaly's name.

1:38. Robinson Cano gets all grumpy if the Mets dare pitch inside to him. Nolan Ryan would have used Cano to clean his cleats.

1:38 Cano gets plunked. Somewhere, Ryan is clapping.

1:51 Still scoreless. Both teams have a hit. The offices of MLB.com must be calm now - no no-hitter watch.

1:52 I have David Price going in fantasy today. So far, he's losing 1-0 in the third. Of course, my opponent has Josh Johnson going. Ugh.

2:07 I'm stunned. Nick Swisher laid down a good bunt - then Ruben Tejada collided with Santana, who was covering first. I never thought I would say this - but how soon is Luis Castillo coming back?

2:08 I knew that was going to bite the Mets in the butt - Teixeira just hit a grand slam.

2:11 A friend of mine confirmed what I was thinking - Santana just doesn't have it this year. He's very hittable.

2:54 Ooh. Some signs of life. Tejada starts off the sixth with a leadoff double. Let's go Jose!

2:54 Jose's robbed by a nice diving play by A-Rod, who manages to get up and throw him out at first without losing the sunglasses that are perched atop his hat.

2:57 Bleah - they strand Tejada at second.

3:05 Cervelli hits a ball over Angel Pagan's head for a triple. It was a funny sight, seeing that oversized helmet that he wears to protect his head after a concussion go flying off as he chugged into third. What made it possible was the fact that Pagan, who was playing shallow due to Cervelli having NO power, broke late on the ball and had it hit the wall in front of him. Fortunately, the Yankees do not score.

3:35 Looking bleak for the Mets. Rain is starting to come down - hope it reaches Queens soon, it's a scorcher.

3:38 Annnd.. the skies opened up. Rain delay.

4:17 - During the rain delay, my wife and I ran errands and then when I came back- the game was over. Oh well. The Mets were held to four hits by a very good pitcher. Now they have a two-game losing streak. Even more fun? They are facing much better teams in the Tigers and Twins. It'll be interesting to see if the media goes back into Henny Penny mode. I'm hoping for a good week at Citi Field.

Again, baby-watch continues. I'll try to blog thoughts around 5:30am ET each day when I can, but as soon as our boy comes into the world, the updates miiiight get sporadic. Go Mets.

Mets-Yankees 6/19/10

2010-06-19T15:54:00.001-04:00

Hi, I know I fell off the wagon when I mentioned blogging all this season. Yes, I know. I promised. Then things like life got in the way - but here I am, ready to live blog this game as it goes on. Bill Simmons pretty much pioneered this in the early part of this century ( good grief... he's barely older than me and I make it sound like he did it 50 years ago...), but I'm going to give it my best shot.

1:05 - We're live while watching WPIX, with the Mets crew of Ron Darling, Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez. They've already made it known that Derek Jeter is not playing today with a bruised right heel that he injured last night while trying to beat out a base hit. One of the announcers alertly pointed out that the Yankees are a bit older. Yup. No kidding. These are not the 200o Yankees. I'm just hoping that the Mets keep rolling.

1:08 - Lineups have been posted. Looks like the regular Mets lineup. Yankees defense posted - Russo is playing third. Phil Hughes going for the Yankees.

1:08 - First pitch, Jose Reyes tees off on a Hughes offering and immediately, it's 1-0, Mets. Yay!

1: 11 - David Wright is up. He has been red-hot lately, though he had a seven-game RBI streak end last night. Let's start a new one, David!

1:13 - Wright strikes out. Bummer.

1:15 - Ike Davis is battling Hughes. I need to find my "I Like Ike" T-shirt that my wife got me.

1:16 - Ike flies out. Still time to find the shirt. Big Mike Pelfrey headed out to the mound for the bottom of the first.

1: 18 - Pelfrey is pitching. Gonna make a quick trip to the library to return a couple of books. Back soon!

1:36 - I am back from the library, and find the score at 1-1. Unfortunately, my wife missed how the Yankees scored, so I will have to find how it happened on mlb.com. Edit: (1:43- I checked MLB.com Gameday - Brett Gardner scored from third on a Mark Teixeira double play. )

1:37 - Reason No. 1,304,394 that cats are not good at guarding things. When our cat heard me opening the door, does he stand resolutely next to my pregnant wife? Noooo... the little chicken runs up to the attic. Thanks.

1:39 - I grew up in Manhattan and also lived in Boston. Now my wife and I live in a suburb of Queens. On the way to the library, I saw something that I would never see in Manhattan: Children riding go-karts down the street.

1:45 - My next door neighbor is trying to make me feel at home though - he's having extensive work done on his home and there's a lot of workers milling around and tons of scaffolding. Ahh... it's almost like walking along Second Avenue.

1:50 - Reyes does it again! This one wasn't as deep, but hey, it made it over the wall. 3-1 Mets. Reyes is really starting to get things going now. I also love the energy that he brings to the Mets.

1:52 - Mike Harkey is filling in for Dave Eiland as the Yankees' pitching coach. I remember when Harkey was a highly-touted Cubs prospect. Looking at his stats, he did win 12 games once and 10 games another season.

1:54 - The above post is reason No. 1,230,323 that I love the Internet. If I had been writing this when I was in college, back in the early 90's, I would have had to go find a current copy of the Baseball Reference, flip through it and find Harkey's stats. Now, I just google his name, find a stats web page, and ... boom - instant reference.

1:57 - I'm also Tweeting some about this game. @literateartist

2:00 Ooh. Ike Davis makes a NICE grab of a hot Nick Swisher grounder. I'm SO glad the Mets brought him up. It's nice having a first baseman who knows how to play the position - no offense Fernando Tatis/Daniel Murphy.

2:02 - Greaaaaaaat. The guy I was afraid of busting out, Teixeira - did.. he hit a monster shot. Tie game again.

2:17 - It's been fairly quiet since then. Yankees currently have a runner on first with Curtis Granderson up. Even though I don't like the Yankees, I've always liked Granderson.

2:18: I have GOT to stop doing that. Granderson just went deep. 5-3 Yankees. Starting Pelfrey in fantasy baseball not looking too swift today.

2:19 - Finishing my thought on Granderson - I like him because he seems pretty easy going and accessible with fans.

2:20 - Fernando Nieve is up. This may be the last inning for Pelfrey. Goodbye fantasy ERA...

2:21 - I always get a bit giddy seeing two former '86 teammates working together on TV - Hernandez and Darling. I'm enjoying it while I can - I'm sure that both will go national within 5 years - they are both bright, articulate, and students of the game.

2:29 - They are talking about John Maine's rehab start and how he complained about the umpires there running up his pitch count. Great. Keep complaining, John. And it looks like that Jerry Manuel is not going to take Hisanori Takahashi out of the rotation. So that would mean that Maine would go to the bullpen. Hey Mets, remember the last time you sent a person who wanted to be a starter to the bullpen? His name was Aaron Heilman. Yeah...

2:34 - Reyes goes down swinging, denied the chance for a third homer... for now.

2:35 - Checked on Heilman. He's now on the Arizona Diamondbacks. He's 2-1 with a 3.-something ERA. Arizona though.. is dead last in the National League West with a 26-42 record. Way to go, Aaron!

2:39 - Pelfrey has his first 1-2-3 inning of the game, despite the announcers trying to jinx him by mentioning that he hadn't had an inning like that today - take THAT, guys!

2:45 Angel Pagan gets another base hit. It's going to be VERY interesting to see what happens with Pagan when Carlos Beltran comes back. Pagan has played really well, and has done nothing to lose the centerfield job. But.. Beltran could be 30/30 when he's healthy and he also makes 80 gazillion dollars, so the Mets might like to see him earn that on the field.

3:07 - Time is running out on the Mets. They had better score in the eighth, because Mo Rivera looms in the ninth.

3:39 - I've been quiet, since not much has happened. Pelfrey went 7 innings and gave up 5 runs. It could have been worse. Now the Mets are about to bat against Rivera in the ninth. Good luck, guys.

3:41 - In the interim, I've been reading Dean Koontz's Lost Souls. It's another one of his "Frankenstein" series. I'm nearly 100 pages in, and it's not bad. Good summer reading. Koontz is always a fast read, and he mixes horror with a tinge of humor. Just finished Dave Barry's "I'll Mature When I'm Dead" yesterday. I just LOVE having a library a block away. I've learned to curtail my book checking out though.. at one point, I had a 35-book queue. Now I keep it at like 5 or so.

3:43 - Ike Davis goes down swinging against Rivera. One out. Now Mo is facing someone who has seen him before - Jason Bay.

3:46- Bay grounds out to second. Mets down to last out.

3:47 - Chris Carter grounds out to Teixeira to end the game. Oh well.. the streak ends. I'd still love to see them win 2 of 3.

Final thoughts -

Reyes was the player of the game for the Mets with two homers, but aside from that, they were kept in check pretty well by Hughes. Pelfrey was hurt by the long ball... especially that shot by Teixeira. Once the Yankees were able to insert Joba Chamberlain and Rivera, it looked pretty much over for the Mets. Tomorrow, I think they can get to CC Sabathia, though Johan Santana has not been pitching like the totally dominant Johan of old. I'll try to be back on tomorrow - our baby could come any day now and I think that my wife just MIGHT get mad at me live-blogging a game while she's in labor.

Thoughts on Evening of 3/24

2010-03-24T22:58:00.002-04:00

It was a beautiful day here in NYC. When I first woke up, it was pretty chilly, even necessitating a heavier jacket than the past few days, but then later, it got warmer and I felt REALLY silly wearing a heavy jacket. Ahhh.. spring in NYC.

Another beautiful sight was seeing Johan go as long as he did today: 5 2/3 frames against the Astros. While it doesn't really count, I was still happy to see that he was getting hitters out and showing a lot of progress as he marches on to Opening Day. Sure, he gave up two runs, but had he gone another inning and a third, he would have had had a quality start.

The race for the fifth starter is getting tighter. Jon Niese did a good job of coming in and pitching after Santana was finished for the day (with Elmer Dessens getting one hitter to close the sixth inning for Santana). The rotation still looks kinda iffy with John Maine, Mike Pelfrey and Oliver Perez not showing ANY signs that they will be consistent. And of course, Maine is now going to stare at the teeth of the tiger in facing a Cardinals lineup with Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday and Ryan Ludwick.

I did get to see Daniel Murphy's homer. Was nice to see him go deep, but I think that would have been an out in Citi Field. Ike Davis may be called up REAL soon after the season begins. Murphy seems like a hard worker, but I really wish the Mets had not tinkered with his stance.

Other Mets thoughts:

- Even though he really does not need them, I think K-Rod should wear his goggles every time he pitches. It just makes him look more intimidating. He did have another 1-2-3 outing, striking out the side. If he's in good form and people like Jenrry Mejia and Hisinori Takahashi can be effective in the seventh and eighth inning.. last year's problems could be a thing of the past.

- Jose Reyes seemed really enthusiastic when he talked to the Mets announcers. I hope the team plays it safe with him. They need him for most of a full season, not part of it.

Other MLB thoughts

- Boston fans can breathe a sigh of relief: Dustin Pedroia got a clean bill of health for his injured left wrist. He is a big sparkplug in that lineup and losing him would hurt a lot.

- When I worked at MLB, every time I did a Rays game, it seemed like B.J. Upton got hurt. Now it seems to have extended to his brother Justin, who left today's action with a sprained ankle. The Diamondbacks seem to think it is minor. I hope so. He's an exciting player.

- Speaking of exciting players, I hope that Stephen Strasburg comes back up to the Majors soon. I only got to see his electric stuff briefly on a MLB Network Spring Training game. Hard-throwing pitchers are always a risk, but this guy could be special.

- I hope John Smoltz doesn't pull a Brett Favre and keep coming back from 'retirement.' John you had a great career (that little 'stint' in Boston not withstanding..). Just hang it up. You had a great run and I am glad I got to watch you pitch, even if you did pitch for a rival of the Mets for the near entirety of your career.

Other non-baseball thoughts

- Sad to hear about Robert Culp's death. He was still fairly young too. 79. Rest in peace, Robert.

- About halfway through Robert B. Parker's "Split Image" book. It's a Jesse Stone novel, and it's a shame he passed away when he did. It is a stronger effort than a couple of other Stone novels. I will be sad when there will not be any new Parker novels. Well, at least there is another Virgil Cole novel coming out in a couple of months.

OK. Time for me to head to bed. Until tomorrow, people.

Thoughts on Evening of 3/23

2010-03-23T22:25:00.003-04:00

I got to watch some of today's Mets-Braves game in between work and running errands/cleaning house. Of course, I didn't get to watch any of the actual scoring, but I did get to watch a bit of young Braves pitcher Tommy Hanson, and came away impressed with what I saw. He hit some really tough targets when he had to, and should be really dominant within a year or so as he continues his maturation process. Now watch him prove me wrong and win 20 games this year...

Mets thoughts:

- No big surprise about Ike Davis being sent down to the Minors. He will probably be up later this season, but it may be sooner if Daniel Murphy carries his Spring struggles into the regular season.

- The announcers said that Murphy may be struggling because he is standing more upright in the box this season. I don't know why the Mets decided to have him do that after he had success with more of a crouch before. He's young.. don't mess with him...

- Oliver Perez... I really don't know what kind of year this guy is going to have. I really don't. He could be great, he could be awful, he could be mediocre. It's likely going to be a start by start thing with him all year. He walked four in 4 1/3 frames today. Usual wild Ollie. He had a nice hesitation in his motion at one point last year that seemed to help his control. Why can't he go back to that?

- Jose Reyes.. great that he is coming back, but let's not have him trying to run full tilt early on. Especially when the team breaks camp and goes to some colder spots early on in the season. Were I running the team, I would have him back in like maybe mid-April. That's when the sun starts warming things up more and more... I would really hate to have a repeat of last season.

- Of course, I wasn't looking, so Jason Bay had a good day. I did get to see Gary Matthews, Jr. get a hit though... and the centerfield debate rages on.

- Nice to see that Jeff Francoeur went deep. I would love to see him regain the form that made him such a hot Braves prospect. He's already made himself into a really good clubhouse guy, though, which helps a team that plays in a fishbowl like New York. I'd take .260, 25-30 HR from him, but who knows what he'll do in a full year at Citi Field.

- Sean Green is still not impressing me. This seems to be a trend of Sean/Shawn Greens with the Mets. I still have nightmares of that ball clanking off Green's glove in the '06 playoffs. OK. New topic...

- Ah yes, good ol' Jenrry Mejia. I would rather see him break camp with the Mets now instead of Green. Announcers said he went back to throwing fastballs, which was good. I saw him break one bat. The scary thing is that I am starting to see players come to Spring Training with NO conscious memory of being alive in the '80s. Mejia was born in 1989. I am getting old. OK, NEW TOPIC....

Other thoughts

- Think that Cliff Lee still wishes that the Phillies had kept him? Let's see.. Philadelphia GM Amaro decides that having a 1-2 punch of Halladay/Lee is great for '10: Lee doesn't collide with Chris Snyder, and is not freaking Mariners fans out now with his right abdominal muscle. At least they still have Felix Hernandez for now.

- Speaking of the Mariners, Ichiro just had possibly the greatest catch that didn't count today.If he gets hurt, you can be sure that Seattle fans would have rather he let it drop and stay healthy for the regular season.

- Boston fans are likely holding their breath that Dustin Pedroia's wrist injury is not serious. If there is anything a hitter does not want to injure, it is definitely the wrist. Pedroia is the sparkplug for the Red Sox, and to lose his offensive output would definitely hurt the rest of the lineup.

CAT UPDATE: He is now sprawled on his back on the sofa, sleeping soundly. Poor baby. He only slept 95% of the day today and even had the temerity to yawn at me several times. Jerk.

BOOK THOUGHTS

Over the weekend, I did a lot of reading, reading two books: The Clive Cussler/ Jack Du Brul novel "The Silent Sea" and Cormac McCarthy's "The Road." I know, kind of a weird ying/yang kind of thing there... an adventure novel and a bleak, postapocalyptic one.

- The Cussler/ Du Brul book was a bit of a deviation from their earlier Oregon File books. Sure, it had the irrepressible Juan Cabrillo as the protagonist, but it also had a bit of character development and some events that actually made me sad that something happened to one of the characters in the book. As usual, it was really fast reading and it was a good versus evil story (gee, guess who the good guy was...)

- I had put off "The Road" for a while, but I finally got around to reading it. It's a higher caliber of writing, with some of it nearly approaching poetry. I definitely got the feeling of walking along a world that no longer really exists, with two nameless protagonists: a man and a boy. That's all they are called throughout the book. The only jarring thing is that there are no quotation marks at all in the book. It does make it hard to pick out dialogue sometimes. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when the editor talked to a higher up about it:

"There are no quotation marks in this whole book.... and there are sometimes no apostrophes.... Shouldn't I correct these?"
"I know.. no, it's a literary device on McCarthy's part. I guess it is supposed to show the bleakness of the situation."
"Shouldn't I.."
"No.. it's McCarthy, man..."

I haven't seen the movie adaptation of it yet, but if they did hew to the original story, it will be a powerful movie, indeed. I kept visualizing Viggo Mortensen as the man, though, since I know he played the part in the movie. For some reason, I kept seeing him as Aragorn, though.

I may have ragged a bit on the no quotation mark thing, but it really makes the story work. The other thing though, was that they really really spaced out the paragraphs in the version I read. It was originally a 287 page book. If they brought all the paragraphs to regular spacing, it would be about 250 pages or less.

Those nitpicks aside, I loved the book. McCarthy seemed really inspired as he wrote this. I recommend both books.

Next for me to read: Robert B. Parker's "Split Image." I'm kind of sad with this one. It's one of the last Parker books that I will get to read, since he died earlier this year. I've been a long time Parker fan, and I had kind of hoped he would keep writing for a lot longer. This is a Jesse Stone novel. Even though I tend to read Parker fast... I think I may linger a little longer with this one...

Off to go read some. Night, all!

Thoughts on Evening of 3/22

2010-03-22T23:06:00.002-04:00

Time to pour some thoughts out after a nice weekend followed by a rainy Monday that made me appreciate just how sublime Saturday and Sunday were.

Baseball thoughts, with the Mets first, of course:

- Apparently Mike Pelfrey took a step back, and it was against a team that the Mets are going to be facing a bunch of times this regular season: The Nationals. Not an encouraging sign in that he gave up fourhomers to righty hitters, though they were not slouches by any means: Ryan Zimmerman and Josh Willingham. Yeah, they each tagged him twice in the game. Let's hope that doesn't carry over into the regular season, Mike. The Mets are two weeks out from breaking Spring Camp and you have a 7+ ERA. Let's have a cleaner slate in the regular season.

-While I like Hisonori Takahashi, the Mets other Japanese import, Ryoto Igarashi has been less than stellar so far, sporting a 5+ ERA.

- Ahhh... Josh Fogg. We hardly knew ye. Good luck latching on elsewhere. Seriously.

-I have to keep biting my tongue to keep from getting caught up in the Jenrry Mejia hype, but it's hard. Real hard. I think the Mets should keep him as a reliever, for now at least, though.

Other baseball thoughts:

-Even though I would have loved to see the Mets try to possibly open the vaults next season and bring Joe Mauer to Citi Field, I cannot get upset at his signing a long term deal with the Twins. What I hope though is that it does not hamstring Minnesota from being able to sign other people and retain their stellar scouting and international reach in later years. Otherwise it may be "Joe, Justin and a bunch of Triple-A players" against the Yankees.

- I really hope that Albert Pujols, who had an MRI and anti-inflammatory, gets back into good health soon. Baseball needs to be able to see what sheer firepower a 3-4 combo of Pujols and Matt Holliday could rain on National League pitching over the course of a full season.

- It would be nice if Boston was able to keep Victor Martinez after this seaon. I've always liked him even while he was with the Cleveland Indians.

-OK, it got late early here. I'll write more tomorrow, including my thoughts about both the Clive Cussler/Jack Du Brul novel and the Cormac McCarthy novel I read over the weekend. Yep, I read both. Good thing I have a long commute when I visit Manhattan from Queens.

Baseball Thoughts on Evening of 3/19

2010-03-19T21:41:00.002-04:00

I'm typing this while keeping a wary eye on my cat. He jumped on the stool that I have my laptop perched on in a quest for attention. That wasn't so bad, but the fact that he did it while I was viewing work e-mail in a mail reader and he somehow managed to hit the "delete" button with his paw and erase an e-mail made it a mite worse. Silly cat, wanting attention.

Speaking of weird things, I thought the Kansas City Chiefs had played the Arizona Cardinals and the score somehow accidentally got posted on the MLB.com scoreboard. 24-9... yeek. Well, at least it was Spring Training, and this may the most runs that the Royals score in a week's span during the regular season.

Now for the Mets: Speaking of runs, Johan Santana is still working his way back into game pitching form. He faced his former team, the Minnesota Twins, and he gave up two dingers and five runs. Not worried, since it was his second outing of actual game action and everyone on the team sees him on course for Opening Day. I really hope that Johan stays healthy this season, knock on wood.

Other thoughts from the Mets:

- Of course, Jason Bay, sensing that I was not watching the game, had another strong game with the bat.
- Jenrry Mejia showed he was still 20 years old, not being perfect and giving up a run over one inning.
- Omir Santos is trying to get the Mets' attention, even though he's most likely to be in Buffalo, since Rod Barajas and Henry Blanco are going to be the catching combo. Can't hurt to go deep, though, Omir. Might get Omar's attention if Barajas or Blanco get hurt or falter. I wonder if people play "Omir/Omar" practical jokes in the Mets clubhouse?
- John Maine better be motivated when he faces the Cardinals tomorrow. He claimed he struggled last time because he could not get into a mindset coming into a game later in his last outing.

CAT UPDATE: He is now lying on the ground resting after conducting another running fit. Good. Stay away from my laptop, you crazy cat.

Other baseball thoughts from the headlines:

- Cliff Lee now says he has an abdominal strain and may wind up on the disabled list to start the season. He had collided with Chris Snyder, the guy he threw at, in the first inning of that Monday game that he got tossed from. Poor Mariners. Add the fact that the volatile Milton Bradley has already been tossed from a game, and they have not had a very good week in terms of keeping their players on the field.

- Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen's son resigned from the White Sox organization, apparently due to the fact that he did not agree with the team's policy over Twitter. Social media is REALLY sinking in with all of sports. It always seems like some teams are going to be at odds over it, and others will embrace it.. like the Cleveland Cavaliers, who let Shaq Twitter. It just depends on what is Tweeted or posted on Facebook.. I can understand clubs not wanting to have derogatory
comments made about it or other clubs.

CAT UPDATE: I had to chase him away from the laptop charger cord. He saw a curl in the cord and started batting at it. I may have to start posting pictures of this guy in action. He is staring intently at the cord while I type. I have succored him with my foot for him to rub up against, but I do not now how long that will last.

- Twins fans have to be nervous about the upcoming catch that Joe Nathan will partake in. They REALLY have to hope that he can do something to pitch, since it will be expensive to have to bring someone like Kerry Wood over. Add the fact that Nathan, if can pitch, will likely have to come into games in April in colder weather in Minnesota, since they are playing outdoors at their new facility. Really, the idea of a retractable roof didn't come into play, Minnesota brain trust?

-Washington has a tough decision with Stephen Strasburg, with how well he is pitching. He could be like the next Dwight Gooden or he could be like Mark Prior. I would suggest they give him maybe some Double-A seasoning first.

- Huston Street looks healthy this year. Stupid fantasy decision confession. He started off badly last year... and I dropped him. I finished last in that league. Why am I not surprised?

Non-baseball thoughts: My NCAA men's bracket is still viable, since my final four are still in it. Still, could get ugly over the next day or so if Villanova continues to not play to their level. Thank goodness I played a free bracket tourney. I'd be really mad if I had paid any money.

Music that I listened to while typing this: I listened to my Ulrich Schnauss collection. He's got a really good series of just instrumental music that just lets me write without having to think about lyrics. There are three good albums of his: Far Away Trains Passing By, A Strangely Isolated Place and Goodbye.

Library Book of the Day/Week/Month: I am starting Clive Cussler's "The Silent Sea." He co-wrote it with Jack Du Bruul, which means Du Bruul likely did most of the grunt work, but I'm not complaining. I like Du Bruul's own books and Cussler's Oregon Files books have the most zing and snap now compared to his Dirk Pitt/Kurt Austin/Isaac Bell books, though he seems to be doing more and more like James Patterson and having a ton of co-writers. I will likely finish this book over the weekend.

Going to go read.

FINAL CAT UPDATE OF THE NIGHT: He is now resting again, no doubt marshaling his energies for another running fit.

Baseball Thoughts on Evening of 3/18

2010-03-18T22:24:00.002-04:00

Of course, baseball was not totally on my mind, with March Madness beginning. Even though I don't really follow college basketball (my alma mater, Boston University, has made the tournament several times and then promptly gotten bounced out, so it's not like I went to a basketball powerhouse). I promptly found myself staring at the very real possibility that Villanova, whom I had chosen to go into the Finals, might lose to the #15 seed, Robert Morris. The last time that happened to me was in '91, when I was a freshman at BU and I picked Syracuse to go all the way. They lost in the first round. It's not a fun feeling seeing your bracket already in tatters on the first day of play. That's when it becomes March Mad, and that's no fun. 'Nova prevailed in OT, preserving my bracket.

So.. baseball. Again, the Mets were not televised, something I don't understand, since they HAVE THEIR OWN TELEVISION STATION. It's annoying to turn on the TV and see "Beer Money" on in place of a game. I'm still holding off on MLB.TV until the season begins, since I can't really justify that expense yet with it still being Spring Training. So.. here's what I see by the box score:

Both Jason Bay and Fernando Martinez had good games, with Bay going 2-for-3 and collecting 2 RBIs, both of them with one swing of a bat. F-Mart had a hit in his only at-bat and drove in a run. Jeff "Frenchy" Francoeur also had a dinger and the Mets beat the Marlins 6-2. Ollie Perez gave up both those runs, and more than held his own against a Florida lineup that had Hanley Ramirez, Dan Uggla, Jorge Cantu and Cody Ross - all guys that can go deep - in it. And a pitcher that I REALLY like, Hishiro Takahashi continues to impress, going 2 1/3 innings and not giving up a run to collect a save. If the Mets use him right, he could REALLY help them during the season. Especially now that I see that Pedro Feliciano took a liner off his leg, prompting Takahashi's entry into the game. Hope it's not too serious for Pedro.

I'm going to have to cut this entry short, since the cat has decided that now is the perfect time for him to go absolutely insane and begin running around the house. He gets this expression where his ears go all the way back, he stares at the ceiling for a second as if there is something there, then he grabs the sides of a doorway with his front paws and then he tries to scale the side of the door, then he bolts around the house. This is driving my wife, who is trying to sleep, crazy, so I am going to go try to interrupt the signals from Planet Cat while I can.

Night all!

Baseball Thoughts on the Evening of 3/17

2010-03-17T21:46:00.003-04:00

First things first... the Mets. Didn't get to see the game, since I don't have MLB.TV (something I will rectify once the season begins, though I think they should totally have a MLB Network/MLB.TV tie-in, subscribe to one, get the other). I was impressed what I saw from the box score, though, with Fernando Martinez, aka F-Mart, showing signs of continuing maturation, clubbing a three-run shot against the Red Sox today. I just don't see him being able to hit at a .500 clip over the course of the regular season, were he to make the club, though. Angel Pagan made things tough, though, collecting 2 hits to keep his average at a respectable .292. The Mets did not have their A Squad out there against Boston, though, with David Wright, Jason Bay and Jeff Francoeur all sitting out against John Lackey.

Ah.. the pitching. Mike Pelfrey apparently did a great job mixing up pitches and using his offspeed stuff. Of course, I will be impressed when he does this in the regular season. 20-year-old Jenrry Mejia continued to impress with a really super-fast six pitch outing. I'm on the fence about this one.. yeah, he's got great stuff, but I think he needs just a bit of Minor League seasoning. I love the movement on his pitches, but he has yet to pitch in a big league stadium. I would hope that he would have half the career that Mo Rivera, the guy who he's been compared to, has had though. I hate when people say that someone is the next "_______" We haven't seen another Michael Jordan in basketball, have we?

Ok, other things in baseball:

I was watching the MLB Network's showing of the Braves/Marlins game, and the game got cut into with a Special Report. A Brave was up, I think it was Yunel Escobar, he swung at a pitch, made contact, and suddenly the screen goes blank, a "Special Report" graphic comes up and MLB studio anchor Matt Vasgersian (I had to look that up several times to make sure I spelled it right) is standing there, looking just a bit startled that he is on screen. He paused for a second and I am wondering, "What happened? Someone died? A break in that HGH doctor in Canada? What?" There has to be a BIG reason why a baseball network would cut into a broadcast. Vasgersian then made the announcement that Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington had tested positive for cocaine use last year. The Rangers obviously had decided to keep him. I'm sorry, but that does not warrant breaking into a game, at least in my opinion. Screen crawl, yes. And of course, the "Was he near Josh Hamilton when he did the drugs?" immediately began following on the sports comment boards. Stay classy, Internet. Stay classy. I know that it was big news, an authority figure having taken drugs, but he apologized and I think the MLB Network made a bigger deal of it than they should have.

- Mariners lefty Cliff Lee was suspended for the first five games of the season for allegedly throwing at Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Chris Snyder during the third inning on Monday. The incident occurred after Lee wound up on the ground after trying to back up a play in the first. I think MLB is being too harsh with this, and Lee is going to appeal this, of course. On the other hand... five games is nothing for a pitcher, particularly in the first month game of the season. He misses a start during the colder first weeks of the season. Oooh. Now if MLB wanted to really get tough on pitchers, they would make the pitcher miss five starts, not five games. Of course, those sanctions would happen over MLB players union head Michael Weiner's dead body.

- I'm rooting for Arizona's Brandon Webb to come back. It's been really discouraging seeing one of baseball's best pitchers not be able to pitch over the past year.

- The Nationals released Elijah Dukes. Dukes is one of those really talented players that is in danger of not harnessing his talents. Of course, his personal issues have been in the forefront, but if a team with a REALLY strong veteran presence, particularly in the outfield, they could get a low-risk high-reward pick-up.

- Ok, my cat is starting to circle around me. He's angling to jump in my lap, which will then prevent typing, so I think I am going to wrap this up for the night. But before I go, a recommendation: I've been typing this entry while listening to Neko Case's "Middle Cyclone" album. I really like it... she's got a great voice, and also has a REALLY cool album where she is poised on the hood of a car while wielding a sword in her hand. The album didn't have any weak links, in my opinion. Definitely worth a listen.

Thoughts Amid The Mets ' Lone Offday

2010-03-16T22:33:00.003-04:00

Time to dust off this blog from its winter slumbers:

There was a sad, hollow feeling in me today: There was no Mets baseball to be watched. Today was their only off day in Spring Training (rainouts excluded, of course). What to do? Right now, at nearly 11 pm, I'm contenting myself to watch a replay of the Tigers-Phillies tilt on the MLB Network (which ranks as the best channel I ever added to my cable lineup, ever). Why would I watch a game between two teams that I don't even really care too much about - Well, I do root VERY hard against the Phillies? I can answer that with four words: I'm a baseball addict. No! I mean: Justin Verlander-Cole Hamels. Awesome pitching matchup, though short of Verlander squaring up against Roy Halladay. Who cares that five innings into it, both pitchers were likely on the golf links and I couldn't tell most of the players left without constantly checking mlb.com? In those innings, I got to see some kid name Domonic Brown hit a Verlander pitch into Florida traffic, the first of two homers on the day. And it was a heck of a memory for him, since he got sent down after the game (Yeah, I peeked at the results on MLB.com).

Changing gear and just throwing out some Mets thoughts:

- I'm loving that David Wright is showing power to right field again. That said, how's that going to hold up when he leaves Florida and heads back to Citi Field?

-It's only Spring, but I would love to see Jason Bay really get it going. He's hitting .261, but I've only seen him really have one strong game. I'm sure that by the end of the season, this is going to seem like pointless worries.

- I've got an underactive thyroid and the only thing I need is a synthroid pill. Hope that is what Jose Reyes only needs in the end with his overactive one (I hear treatment can make it underactive). I just keep waiting for this black cloud to lift over the Mets with their injuries. Did that black cat that jinxed the Cubs in '69 have its ghost come back and haunt New York?

-Speaking of the injury bug, I am hoping that Carlos Beltran doesn't wind up missing more of the season than he is already is slated to. Gary Matthews Jr. was great for that catch he made back in '06, but as that Monkees song goes, "That was theee--nnnn, this is nooooooow!" and Matthews is not the same player that he was then. Angel Pagan, who hit a walkoff homer on Monday, may get the nod, but he's demonstrated that he doesn't have a high baseball IQ, often throwing to the wrong base or creating adventures on the basepaths himself. The centerfielder basically quarterbacks the outfield, so it would not be good to have Pagan patrolling centerfield for much of the season.

- I know it's still early, and this may be the equivalent of those preseason football games, where the players, particularly the defensive ones, keep a gear hidden. That said, I really like lefty Hisanori Takahashi so far. He's made some pretty good hitters look REALLY bad. He may even elbow (hah!) his way in to the rotation, though I would prefer that he help Pedro Feliciano not be the sole lefty in the bullpen.

-MLB.com had an interesting story on Jeff Francoeur and his rocket arm in right field today. It should be interesting to see a healthy Frenchy all season long. Bay, Beltran and Francoeur could do some real damage with their bats, and only Bay could be seen as possibly having any defensive shortcomings.

- Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day. That should mean time for the Mets to wear their green uniforms against the Red Sox. Mike Pelfrey, who gets the start, gets to be the Green Giant. His stat line will dictate whether he is jolly or not.

And now I get a happy, giddy feeling. The Mets are playing again. I'm heading off to bed to dream of watching the Mets in action.

And if this blog post is rusty... eh... it's still Spring Training.