N.Y. METS ~ Memorial Day Mets Grillin' and Chillin'

From the desk of:  HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

NEW YORK METS:  David Einhorn Working on a Sweet Deal.

Say hello to our new 1/3 owner of the Metropolitan Baseball Club.  As far as being 60% owner?  That would be and Inside-The-Park Home Run.

Right?


David Einhorn said he can't reveal many, if any, of the details regarding the pending deal between him and the Wilpons, yet.  We may have to wait till later in June for that.  And the Wilpons are denying everything regarding details and how the proposed deal is going down; while not denying they are in exclusive negotiations with Einhorn.  That much is established.

You may not be able to snag a cotton ball on this guy's baby face, but he wasn't born yesterday.  Of course we don't know the true specifics of the as yet un-agreed upon deal, but the scuttlebutt sure makes it sound as if Einhorn is in a win/Win/WIN situation.  I think we all were scratching our heads as to why someone would just cut the Wilpons a check without any tangible purchase power to speak of.  That part always sounded like a fairy tale to me.

After a couple of days to digest the latest developments in METropolis, I think I understand the deal so far as such:
Right now David Einhorn's $200 million buys him a third.  He has a window to buy upwards of 60% of the team within three years (to five years).  Or, the Mets can pay him back his original principle and Einhorn still keeps 1/6 ownership of the team, which I think keeps him in the 16% to 17% realm of ownership.  But do yourself a favor and get a better grasp on the deal with this Daily News article from yesterday.

So, if that be the case, I'd shut up and be a very silent partner too.  If there's one thing Mr. Wilpon has done extremely well since taking over this organization, it's been ruining it.  Nelson Doubleday's prophesy of Fred running the organization into the ground has materialized, and stops just short of self-destruction, before our very eyes.  So with a little patience, a little more folly on the Wilpon's behalf, and some creativity on Madoff Trustee Irvin Picard's part, the Mets and this fan base might finally be free of the dark clouds that hover over Flushing as if the Addams Family lived next door to Citi Field and be done with The Age of Wilponianism once and for all.

Today that prospect remains a pipe-dream wrapped around a fat chance.  Much still has to go wrong for Wilpon The Elder to relinquish majority control of the team.  But like Tug McGraw once championed, "You Gotta Believe!"


Mets Salvage Final Game of Series Against Rival Phillies:

Forget what happened Friday and Saturday.  It's for the best.  David Einhorn did.  Remember what he said during his press conference-call; -  He understands there's winning, losing, ups and downs when involved with an MLB team and he's prepared for the whole gambit.  Then, to Fred Wilpon's dismay, the Mets gave Einhorn and us, a pleasant surprise with a rather convincing victory over Philadelphia on Sunday.

The Mets jumped on Philadelphia starter (the mysterious) Vance Worley early and often.  The Mets scored eight runs in the first two innings.  Only five of those were earned, but they turned out to be enough as the game finished with a 9-5 final.  The Mets also pounded out seventeen hits against Philly pitching as well; twelve of them surrendered by Worley in his three innings of work.

There was a time late in this game when it seemed the Mets' bullpen had different ideas as to how Jon Niese's win-loss record would reflect by the end of the day.  But the combination of Taylor Buchholtz and Pedro Beato did juuuust enough to protect a very good effort by Jonathan Niese that was most worthy of a win.

The Niese Line:
6.1 ~ innings pitched
122 pitches thrown; 78 strikes
5 ~ hits
1 ~ run/ none earned
4 ~ walks
6 ~ strikeouts

122 pitches in 6.1 innings with four walks allowed means quite and simple..., he labored through the game and kept finding ways through the Philly line-up; in particular the third inning; - Thank you Jose Reyes.  Jon Niese still has to get a grip on his walks allowed, but to me there's little doubt Jon Niese is a keeper.  Any lefty with a good curve ball is.


OFFENSIVELY SPEAKING:

Jose Reyes continues his brilliant Farewell Season.  He was 4 for 5 Sunday raising his season batting average to .335 and hitting his eighth and ninth triple of the season.  Justin Turner, batting .330, drove in his Amazin' twentieth RBI since being called up from Buffalo.  And My Guy, our embattled catcher; Josh Thole went 3 for 4 Sunday and knocked in three RBI of his own.



Memorial Day Series Opener Versus Pittsburgh Pirates:
Dillon Gee gets the start today against Pittsburgh; a young team on the uptick and playing at a comparable winning percentage as the Mets.  Since Dillon Gee's first call up last season, he's done nothing but provide quality starts for the New York Mets.  He's 4-0 (3.83 era) since his call-up this season and 6-2 overall.

But what's important to me is that we begin to see, Jon Niese, Gee, and Mike Pelfrey start to double, and triple-up on victories.  If they are to be mainstays in a young Mets' rotation of the future (Sandy Alderson transactions aside) they need to start operating as a staff and not surrendering to their own little Private Idaho's.  Yea; that was a little cheap shot at Pelfrey.

But it's Dillon Gee who's stepped in several times and stopped losing streaks.  Jon Niese has pitched some hard luck games.  But Dillon Gee has pitched consistently.  I joked and tabbed him a Stopper once before.  Let's leave it at that.  The Mets won yesterday so he's not stopping anything today.  But what I do want this evening is a well pitched game by Dillon Gee to double up on Jon Niese's Sunday outing.

Consistent outings by these three pitchers will determine whether the official start of Summer ushers in Hot Times In The Citi, or, a fan base falling victim to heat and team exhaustion.


If they double-up and triple-up on good, quality starts, everything will be cool.




Media Biting at the Ankles of David Wright Trying to Get Him to Feed Their Agenda.

A weekend series against the Phillies and the introduction of David Einhorn into our lives has come and gone since the day Fred Wilpon's comments regarding certain members of his team were made public.

Naturally, the Media went seeking player reactions from Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, and David Wright.  The players all low-keyed the perceived slights leveled against them.  And if left alone, that dog would have wagged it's tail happily in the yard chewing on a bone.  But not satisfied with that, the Media embarked on a Campaign of Insistence that David Wright offer more of a reaction than he did, and seemed to be begging for him to take a less tactful stance regarding his employer because after all, it was the Media who bestowed the title of  "Face Of The Franchise" upon him in the first place.  Am I Right?  The fans didn't call him that; the Wilpon's didn't call him that; the Media did as they do when sitting around talking to each other and telling each other how great they are.  And this time around, they rushed to dig a hole they were sure they'd being burying something or somebody in.


It's the Media who won't stop barking, and continue their attempts at trying to transform David Wright into a rabid, malcontent dog in light of Fred Wilpon's comments about him.  So far, David Wright has been too smart to bite back and I congratulate him for it.  Because when the Media takes on that Pack Mentality and want something from a given situation, they are hard to tame.





Mike.BTB