N.Y. Rangers ~ NY Islanders; The Rivalry, Game Two

From the desk of:  RAISE GRESCH WITH THE GREATS

NEW YORK RANGERS  vs.  New York Islanders

The Rivalry - Game II

Somehow, the Islanders have created a goalie controversy for themselves with rumors they will trade Ivgeni Nabokov.  The Isles have maintained three goalies because if you even look at Rick DiPietro the wrong way, he gets hurt.  Apparently however, GM Garth Snow said there is no goalie controversy.  But if I were Coach Capuano, I'd just make Al Montoya the starter anyway and call it a day.  But at least the quasi-controversy has people even talking about the Islanders. 




I mean, C'mon.  The Islanders have scored the least amount of goals in the league.  A goalie controversy?  John Tavares and Michael Grabner have combined to score thirteen goals.  The rest of the team has scored sixteen.  They are now buried in last place of the Atlantic Division so it would seem to me they have more problems than a goalie controversy.  They are 1-9 in their last ten games with a six game losing streak mixed in.  Their lone win during that time came against Washington.  They are coming off a three game road trip where they lost in Boston, lost a back-breaker in OT to Colorado, and dropped their most recent game Sunday night in Vancouver.  Coach Capuano is pissed off about it too and let it be known.




For the Rangers, this is the start of a four game road trip.  And they'll be looking to extend their six game winning streak in Long Island tonight.  They will then go to Montreal, Florida, and Washington before returning home.  They've taken care of business on home-ice so far with a 5-1-1 record.  As they start this road trip against the Isles, they've held their own away from MSG with a 4-2-2 record.




After fifteen games, Marian Gaborik has nine goals.  How do ya like him now?  It almost makes us wonder even harder as to just what happened to him last season?  Such as life....  In addition to his good start, it so happens Gaborik has some healthy numbers in his career versus the Islanders.  We'll need another good game from Marian tonight, because while he might like playing the Islanders, the Rangers as a team might not.  Long Island hasn't been too friendly to the Blueshirts these last two years.  The last time they met this season, the Islanders defeated the Rangers back on Oct. 15th, in Long Island.  And over our last four meetings, the Isles have woefully outscored the Blueshirts.




That brings us to Brandon Dubinsky, who finally broke the seal with his first goal of the season.  Now, he needs to sustain what he started.  Ranger fans have been patient and pleased with his maturation process these last few years.  But now, the signed young Vet has expectations on him.  The truth is, the Rangers, as has been our problem, need more scoring.  And I'm expecting Brandon Dubinsky to provide more than just an average share.  As young as this team is now, he needs to be one of the leaders here, and do that in part by scoring goals. 




While the Rangers have scored fourteen more goals that the Isles this season, so far there are eleven teams in the Eastern Conference with more goals scored than the Rangers.  Defensively however, the Rangers have given up the least amount of goals in the Conference even as Marc Staal remains sidelined.  Coach Torts has to be happy with at least that....no?

TONIGHT

The Rivalry; Game Two

NEW YORK RANGERS

vs.

New York Islanders

From the Nassau Mausoleum in Uniondale,

LONG ISLAND, N.Y.

Mike.BTB

N.Y. Mets ~ State of METropolis Report; Part II

From the desk of:  HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

METropolis; YEAR 9 A.D. (After Doubleday)

NEW YORK METS:  At The Roosevelt Avenue Crossroads.

PART ONE ~ I. Ownership; II. Front Office;  III. Manager;  IV. Coaches.

V.  STARTING PITCHING:

The future seems bright.  But forget the sunglasses.  Should we be looking through binoculars to see it?  The Mets now have three minor league pitching prospects that routinely get mentioned with positive reviews.  If you want to include Henrry Mejia while he rehabs from surgery, then make it four pitchers.   But Zach Wheeler, Matt Harvey and Jeuyrs Famiglia are the three pitching prospects on the tips of Mets Fans' tongues these days.  And if you throw in Chris Schwinden along with some others, the Mets actually have a sudden quantity of quality hopefulls in hand which is a far cry over the previous decade-plus when crickets dominated board meetings whenever Met pitching prospects became topic one. 

 

But how far away are they?  Harvey, Famiglia and Wheeler all got a very limited taste of AA-Binghampton last season.  Chris Schwinden was promoted up to AAA-Buffalo mid-season.  And of course, Jenrry Mejia pitched for the Mets some in 2010 and was having a fine year in Buffalo before needing Tommy John surgery.  Former Brooklyn Cyclone, Dylan Owen, since promoted to Buffalo, is one more pitcher I'm still quite hopeful about but hasn't progressed as quickly as I thought.

 

Dillon Gee was asked to grow up a little early.  Needs of the big club necessitated his early call up from Buffalo.  He responded better than anyone could have expected; even anchoring the staff for a time and achieving double digit wins.  He has a variety of pitches that Dan Warthen is still teaching him how to trust.  That caused a late season communication breakdown between Gee and Warthen. And I sided with Warthen at the time as Gee needs to work on better game management.  He's young and still needs tutelage.  But he's a confidant, poised, and composed pitcher on the mound.  The former Brooklyn Cyclone is definitely a keeper.

Jonathan Niese also has a fan in me.  His problems are the big inning and endurance.  Both of which I think are correctable.  He's not over-powering, but his curveball is good enough to make his fastball very effective.  He and Dillon Gee are very fine and solid pieces to build a starting rotation with.  They are not aces, or number two pitchers yet.  But guys like these give a rotation (...potentially) amazing depth against all the other three, four, and five starters in the league.  As Jon Niese's frame fills out a little more and he gets a little more mass on his bones, he'll be that much better for it.  Like Gee, he's a definite keeper.  I'm just a sucker for a good curve ball.

 

Mike Pelfrey; Man-Child; Hand-Licker; Head Case; Enigma.  -  He has a sound arm.  There's no question about that.  He's proven healthy over the years and gobbles up innings.  It's all the anxiety that comes with those innings that concerns Met Fans.  With nothing apparently wrong with him, his once pounding sinker, rising fastball, change of pace curve ball, and change-up, all shared the same two characteristics last season.  Either they were out of the strike zone, or were getting smashed somewhere in fair territory.  His problem is he has no reliable out-pitch.  Batters routinely foul off pitches in bunches against Pelfrey, and he usually winds up paying a price for that.  He makes good pitches.  But batters seem to always get just enough of them to stay alive till something better comes their way or draw a walk.

The time is rapidly approaching when Mike Pelfrey and the Mets will have to talk money. - Or not.  Sandy Alderson just might very well deem him expendable.  Pelfrey did little to distinguish himself as a top rate pitcher this past season.  Speaking as a fan, I'm in for one more year where hopefully Mike Pelfrey can finally live up to some of his potential.  I do not believe having a 2011 "ace" tag branded on him played any part in his inconsistencies from 2010 to last season.  The truth is, so far in his career he has just simply under-achieved.  He's still a very likable Met however.  It's a strange dynamic because he's no doubt at the point of having to producing now or never - at least for the Mets.

Johan Santana remains the largest X-Factor this side of Simon Cowell's ego.  What pitcher will the Mets be getting if and when he returns to the mound next season?  Will he still flash an old familiar form?  Or will he need to reinvent himself in order to remain a successful pitcher?  What ever the difference is between his fastball and change-up will determine everything.  And his surgically repaired arm is at the heart of it all.  If we're not talking about a seven or eight mile-per-hour difference in those two pitches, a lot of Johan's offerings will become souvenirs.  The Mets have an awful lot of money invested in what is clearly their biggest question mark going into next season; even more troublesome than the Jose Reyes dilemma.

R.A. Dickey - the official 2011 Hard-Luck Pitcher of the Year.  Oh, what the back of his baseball card could have looked like with just a little support these last two seasons?  This past campaign, the line-up was particularly stingy with him.  What I like most about Dickey is his accountability and ability to convey his message clearly and effectively.  He demonstrates how much one can actually say if one exercises tact.  Dickey gets that.  He says quasi-controversial things but with tact.  And that makes all the difference.

 

As good and reliable a pitcher he turned out to be for the Mets, I'd trade him in a New York Minute for a nice respectable return.  Although the club won't say it, the Mets are rebuilding.  So if Dickey is attractive enough to a contending team which has another prospect to spare, I'd welcome that.  Of course it's nothing personal, but R.A. Dickey is not part of our future and I'd like to maximize any kind of return while he still clearly has reasonable value.

Chris Capuano was a nice come-back story for him personally I guess.  He bombed a few times, but pitched well to very well last season when healthy and finished strong.  Overall, he was consistent and stabilized the back end of the rotation.  At the right price, I wouldn't mind keeping him around.  But if some one calls inquiring about a trade involving Capuano..., hell yeah I'm listening.

Adding payroll to significantly bolster the pitching is highly unlikely.  And any talk about picking up recently released Roy Oswalt is not only futile, but unwise.  I think we all understand that by now.  So with no big free-agent import on the horizon, and a trade of any magnitude equally unlikely, it looks like the Mets will keep employing the old method of trying to strike lightning in a bottle as they did with Dickey; - and unlike they did with Kelvim Escobar.

Shortly after the World Series, the Hot Stove will get lit and the GM Meetings will take place.  It's hard to say if, how, or when, Sandy Alderson will be able to make improvements to the starting rotation for next season.  And while nothing can be said with any certainty until Johan Santana starts winning MLB games again, his is one of the contracts Sandy Alderson loathes, and if given an opportunity I'm sure he would love to rid the organization of such.




VI.  BULLPEN:


This is clearly the weakest link in the Mets' chain.  The necessary trading of Francisco Rodriguez left a void at Closer, which an open competition between Bobby Parnell and Pedro Beato failed to settle before 2011 was through.



Pedro Beato has a live arm and is a keeper.  But I am still not convinced Bobby Parnell can not win the Closer's job.  There's been too many instances within this organization alone when being a little too impatient with high-powered arms haunted the organization.  The obvious name is Nolan Ryan.  But Jeff Reardon; Mike Scott; Randy Meyers; and Heath Bell also come to mind.  He, like Pelfrey, needs to perfect an out pitch.  And Parnell needs to learn his craft just a little better also.  He's still too much of a thrower and it shows up in his walks allowed.  Dan Warthen has been working with him for two seasons now.  He, like many players promoted recently, has been pressed into on-the-job-training.  So I still have a lot of hope for Parnell.  Perhaps the experience of last season provided lessons towards perfecting his craft.  He's been nagged by injuries but seemed to shake them off towards season's end.  I just beg patience from the organization with Bobby Parnell.



In the absence of a proven closer, those are the Mets two main options heading into the winter.  Whether we go into the Spring similarly remains to be seen.  The Mets' bullpen, like most bullpens around Baseball, is a yearly construction project.  Who's to say in October what the unit will look like next season?



Along with Parnell and Beato, - D.J. Carrasco; Manny Acosta; Tim Byrdak; Taylor Buchholz; and Izzy blew a lot of games together.  But I won't be hammering them about it.  The bullpen is obviously a department in need of a renovation.    Aside from Izzy who retired, some relievers may or may not be back.  Buchholz ended his season on the long-term DL.  Ryota Igarashi has already been let go.  But Josh Stinson should figure more into the mix next season.  And Chris Schwinden will most likely end up coming out of next year's pen as well.  Then?  Who knows.

NEXT - The Positional Players.






Mike.BTB

N.Y. METS ~ The .500 Dream Sequence Redux

From the desk of:  HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET




NEW YORK METS: Hit The Dream Sequence Thing....


Dillon Gee Seizes The Moment; Helps Pitch Mets Back
To .500 Baseball.

Dillon Gee didn't resume pitching after the second rain delay in Atlanta.  But the bullpen, starting with DJ Carrasco then Bobby Parnell finished where Gee left off after four innings pitched.  Through eight innings, the Mets pitchers limited the Braves to two hits while the offense staked the team to a four run lead.

In the top of the eighth, Angel Pagan, who put the Mets ahead in the fourth inning with a two run home run, inexplicably attempted to steal second base but went in standing up and as a result, was tagged out.  Hmmm.  I'm sure Jerry Manuel was somewhere chuckling.

But otherwise, with six more outs separating the Mets from a .500 record, into the eighth inning they went.  Bobby Parnell remained in the game for a second inning trying to hold on to this 4-0 Mets' lead.  He surrendered Atlanta's second hit of the game.  But he also blew away several Braves batters for five strikeouts in two innings of work.

The Mets would go down quietly in the top of the ninth inning.  Then, only three more outs separated the Mets from .500.  The job of closing out this bench-mark win would go to Francisco Rodriguez.



And then you had that falling sensation in your sleep and abruptly woke up
sweaty and in a panic!



It's OK....wake up now.  That was just me toying with Total Recall.  But do you remember that?  If this thing crashes and burns and they recover the little Black Box, that's the stuff you'll hear the last time things appeared all-systems-go before the Mets flew over the Bermuda .500 Percentage Triangle.  Just when they thought they were headed northward in the standings and of .500 itself, they now find themselves headed south again but not really sure where the heck they are.


R.A. Dickey looked lost the other day, and Capuano just looked a little unsure Friday night against the No Where Near Los Angeles Angels.  But put both those margins of error together, and what we find is the Mets are headed way off course of .500 again.


Remember last year right about this time?  They were eleven games over .500 weren't they?  You remember.  I know you do.


I leave you with this little line from THE WHO:

".....I get on my knees and pray....., We don't get fooled again!"


The trick is to compartmentalize.  Tap into your inner pragmatism.






Mike.BTB

N.Y. METS ~ A Likeable Team During Strange Times

From the desk of:  HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

New York Mets: Anxiety, Thy Name Is Jose Reyes.


Saturday's game was another chance to be a .500 team again.  But like times before during this season, the Mets got close only to let it slide just out of their reach.  And that's the way things have gone for this team; Good; but not good enough.  We're playing like a .500 team.  But we're just a game short (after Sunday's win).  We might achieve that win that gets us to .500 tomorrow.  But then that would make us just that, a .500 team.  And that's exactly what I thought we'd be since Spring Training.  I think you know that if you read me.


Unlike our most recent years past, I'm having more fun watching this edition, than say...the last two years?  I think we (..us Met fans) all feel similarly.  Changes in the Front Office; at manager; and several players on the current roster have all contributed to give this season a wholly different feel than ones we've been subjected to in the recent past.


But; yes, there is always a but; I compartmentalize.  So, while I'm enjoying the team's tenacity and the chances our starting pitchers have been giving this team to win, I am a stickler for adhering to The Plan. 


Yes, The Plan.  We all knew what The Plan was coming into this season and we all knew why we were in the position we found ourselves in.  I'm not going to try and beat you down tonight with opinions I've shared many times before.  But because I can't totally walk away without saying anything, I'll only say this tonight:


I won't be teased again.


Now, having said that, this season, I live in the moment with this team while I keep an eye on said Plan.  ........As such, R.A. Dickey was a hard luck loser again Saturday.   His eight inning effort should have, for all intent and purpose, earned him a win.   But the Mets' offense hasn't been that kind at times.   And against the Pirates, attribute the Mets' 3-2 loss due to going 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position.  I'd feel better if it wasn't the Pirates.   But Baseball is like that.   Otherwise, for yet another game, not just Dickey, but the staff as a whole pumped out another competitive start.


Then Sunday, the Mets had the kind of rebound game that keeps them on our good sides.  And it was Chris Capuano this time, who pitched-in with his fifth-share effort as a member of the New York Mets pitching staff.  And what an effort it was.



Chris Capuano's Line:
7 ~ innings.
95 pitches; 62 strikes.
3 ~ hits.
0 ~ runs.
2 ~ walks.
5 ~ strikeouts.


Capuano, Izzy, and Bobby Parnell combined to shut-out the Pirates.  Only this time, the Mets offense gave the staff seven runs to work with after pounding out twelve hits. 


Watching him hit a home run today, it's disturbing to think about Jose Reyes' future not wearing a Mets' uniform.  And today we stand closer to having his Met future determined one way or another than we did on Opening Day.  Only with great anxiety can we enjoy this great season he's having.   He stepped up to the plate in Pittsburgh this afternoon and just continued to rake; like he has all year long to the tune now of a .346 batting average.


What a bizarre situation we fans find ourselves in with regard to the greatest shortstop this organization has ever known and/or groomed.  How is it that Jose Reyes chose to have The Best of Times, during the organization's Worst of Times?  How did the timing of Jose Reyes' final emergence as a star and the downturn in organizational stability so diabolically work against us?  It's disheartening.  I share that with most of you.  But; yea, there's always that but....


We don't know what will happen with Reyes.  But we are getting closer to finding out.  In the mean time, he helped us get to within a game of .500 again.  And despite growing anxiety as July looms closer, perhaps the Mets can attain that elusive .500 mark on Monday in Pittsburgh, and make being a Met fan fun for another day running, back here in METropolis.


Let's Go Mets!








Mike.BTB

N.Y. METS ~ Capuano & Reyes Brew Up A Win For The Road

From the desk of:  HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET


NEW YORK METS: Capuano Continues Mets' String Of Strong Starts.

Chris Capuano is going to give you six innings as sure as a teenager will deal with pimples.  There's good days and better days; but mostly bad days.  It's kinda the way Chris Capuano's season has gone so far.  But Tuesday's game definitely gets mixed in with the better days.  Other than one big blemish named Prince Fielder who whacked a 6th inning solo home run, Capuano kept the Mets' game complexion pretty clean against the Brewers as the Mets started a road trip tonight in Milwaukee.


The Mets and Brewmeisters traded pretzels for the first five innings.   Then down 1-0 after giving up that home run to the Brewers in the sixth, Jose Reyes put Chris Capuano on the winning side of this game when he ripped a two run triple in the top of the seventh inning giving the Mets a 2-1 lead.   Jason Izz and Francisco Rodriguez ensured the one run lead held up.


Chris Capuano's effort also piggy-backs what has been a string of quality starts by Mets' starting pitchers; save Pelfrey.  Sorry Dude.  There's no arguing the offense has been MIA.  But the starting staff has kept the Mets in just about every game for well over a month now.  It wasn't always so with this staff (reference April and a stinker here and there).  But lately, they've been masterful. 


The team isn't at .500 (yet).  But when you take into consideration the injuries to Wright and Ike, and the possession of Jason Bay, just how far away from .500 would we be without the starts we've been getting from Gee, Niese, Dickey, and a start like Capuano's tonight?  If you were looking in a rear view mirror, we'd be really small by now.  This season, and this staff, have shown just how far, or in the Mets' case, how high above water, quality pitching can take you; not great pitching; just quality pitching.



Chris Capuano's Line:
6 ~ innings.
106 pitches; 66 strikes (?)
6 ~ hits.
1 ~ run.
2 ~ walks
5 ~ strikeouts.
1 ~ home run allowed; Prince Fielder.




Jose Reyes Runs To Daylight, Then Into An Out:

Jose Reyes' game-winning triple is one thing.  But his failure to slide and score on the ensuing ground ball was another.  Had he slid home, he might have easily avoided the tag.  Instead he came in standing up and got tagged out a-la Jeremy Giambi.  It is one of those old inexcusable Reyes quirks we've been privileged NOT to see much of this year.  I hope Coach Collins gave him an earful about it.  That sort of stuff used to raise it's ugly head around here more often prior to this season.  And it used to make this team look stupid.  We might not be that good.  But under terry Collins, for the most part, we haven't looked stupid.  So here's to hoping we don't see much of that again.  The play will go under-spoken because we won.  But a 2-1 lead could have easily gone kablooey.  And we would have then called his decision not to slide, ruinous and just plain stupid.


Good pitching covers up a lot of mistakes.





Mike.BTB

N.Y. METS ~ The 49th Season Of Metropolitan Baseball Starts Now

OPENING DAY

GOOD LUCK THIS SEASON TO ALL!

and now...

From the Desk of:  Head-Butting Mr. Met

Welcome to Mets' Year 9 A.D.

(AFTER DOUBLEDAY)

This is
"The Saul B. Katz Dilemma"

We LIVE in the THE AGE of WILPONIANISM

GAME ONE of the 2011 SEASON

NEW YORK METS

vs.

Florida Marlins

From Some Where in South Florida

Dear Fellow Met Fans,

I just don't know.  The end.  Thank you for your time.

NEW YORK METS:  The S.S. Wilpon has sailed into the perfect storm and threatens to sink our team.  So what am I so happy about?  And what still makes me grumpy?

I was much more angrier heading into last season than I am headed into this one.  Last season we were still desperate for changes.  This year we start under a new regime with some of the changes having been made.  That's a positive right?  We all know there will be more changes to come; with some more drastic than we realize.  See Jose Reyes. 

But there is more for me to be optimistic about this season than last.  Yet the cloud hovering over our team grows darker by the day.

The truth is this season will be our most trying season ever.  Even after our matriarch and original owner; Mrs. Joan Payson passed away, we knew the plan was for the eventual sale of the Mets in it's entirety.  Today we face a radically dis-similar situation with an owner desperately trying to hold on to his team while faced with mounting debt, dwindling assets, plummeting profits and a disconnected fan base.  The present owner's thinking is by bringing in a minority partner, their major financial crisis can be more handily managed through the coming rough times ahead.  The plan seems a little impotent to me.  It makes a Mets' fan almost feel as if we are taking a back seat to Fred Wilpon's grandchildren whom he would love to leave this organization behind to.  Woe is us.

In the mean time, what about us?  Mr. Wilpon..., if you're not considering that question at this very moment, your attendance figures over the first three months will give you an unsolicited indication (I guess) as to how we feel about our favorite team's ever-dimming outlook.  And it won't be because of the players.  They are the ones who just may save your company books from reflecting big fat negative zeroes and a lot of red ink.  No; instead I'm talking about...You.  Your best laid intentions may still go up in smoke if we have little faith in you.  You have a lot of winning-over to do, or, hand this team over to someone who can operate the organization in a New York State Of Mind and not from the New York State Social Services office.

But that's not all.  I don't enjoy kicking a guy when he's down, and seldom do.  But did EVERYTHING Omar Minaya touch turn into coal?  It's as if he is eternally cursed for the Bartolo Colon acquisition when he was GM of the Montreal Expos; you know - the deal that single handed rebuilt the Cleveland Indians with one trade.

Omar's last big acquisition as GM of the Mets was Jason Bay.  Omar's last hurrah will be starting the season on the DL with..whatever.  Me?  As you can see I'm viewing Bay's injury with apathy.

Omar's other lingering legacies; Carlos Beltran? - I'm just done.  I liked him; defended him; - But I'm done with him.  I just want to move on already and hand these jobs over to our younger guys like Lucas Duda and company..  Ditto with the other guy, K-Rod.  Done.  Johan Santana?  Did someone place a curse on Omar?  It's all so bizarre. 

Francisco Rodriguez brings up a fascinating dilemma in itself because of his appearances clause in his contract.  If he makes 55(?) appearances, a $17 million dollar option kicks in?  Well, with the Mets as tight as a tourniquet right now money wise, it's unlikely the Mets will let him achieve that appearance plateau.  Then, that will probably trigger a grievance by the Player's Union.  It should be fun.  Don't miss out on all the minutia.

Back to Lucas Duda, that's when I start to get a lot happier about this team.  I'm happy because we have a collection of "our guys" on the team.  For a change, they are here in bunches.  How refreshing.  And they're a bunch I'm already very attached to.  I don't think it's backlash displacement anger for the other guys.  I genuinely like this crop (and this is where Omar will never get a full serving of credit for drafting many of these kids we're about to rely on).

Josh Thole?  He's my Dude!  I have far more confidence in him than the majority of the Media seems to have in him.  Ike Davis and the Original Brooklyn Cyclone - Angel Pagan return as most favorite players.  I have always been behind Pagan since 2001 when he played for Brooklyn.

Want to know why I'm so with Dillon Gee (AAA), Jonathan Niese and Big Pelf?  Because they weren't hyped to kingdom-come like Generation-K was.  I like what I see out of those three; more-so when Gee and Niese are concerned.  I'm content, and am more than willing to hand those three the ball every fifth day.  And I've been a big Bobby Parnell fan also.  Jenrry Mejia may yet deliver the goods for us one day, as well as Nieve.  But Sandy Alderson made some acquisitions for the pitching staff with high potential reward factors attached.  Yea, they are coming off injuries and they scream of moves Omar made.  But I'm rolling with it.  Chris Capuano and Chris Young will be getting a fair shake from me.

You might call me one of those rare Met fans with patience.  But my head is without a doubt, in the new.  Above all, I'm just happy to see the new faces; finally.  I'm happy to give these guys a full year together.  We know what's in store for us Met fans.  Don't we?  Of course we do.  I'm in total break-away mode folks and I know it's going to take another year to continue purging and reconfiguring this team.

That's why I'm going to have fun watching these new Metsies grow-up.  I've been wanting it.  And now I'm starting to see it.  My complaints have been with what remains of the old.  And I realize the gutting work is still in progress.  Over the years I have screamed loudest for the Wilpons to go off campus and hire a GM unfamiliar to them.  They have done that.

So, I must say, according to my own words and wants, I go into 2011 a happier Met fan than last year, oddly, as the organization's foundation and pillars are crumbling before our eyes.

If it's not one thing, it's always another.

Let's Go Mets!

Mike.BTB