N.Y. METS ~ Amazins Mess With Texas

From the desk of:  HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET



NEW YORK METS:  Offense Breaks Out Big Time In Big Texas.  Tie Series At One Game Apiece.  Rubber Game Sunday.

After the game, Jon Niese said of his speedy heart, "..it's nothing."  Apparently he's used to this.  Who knew?


Well, his racing heart gave manager Terry Collins and Mets fans quite a scare.  The more worrisome aspect if this latest physiological yellow flag is that the Mets' doctors will still want to see him back in New York.


Uh oh.  He may wind up in a foot boot too.


As far as the fourteen runs the Mets scored Saturday; let's face it, Alexi Ogando, or any other Texas pitcher didn't have it today.  You and I could have grabbed a bat and gone 2 for 3, with a double and a run scored.  You know how that goes; when you're bad, you're going to be awful.


Jon Niese is the real story though.  Up until the moment Niese's body told him to stop pitching for the day, he had pitched 5.2 innings of six hit ball.  He allowed Texas two earned runs; walked two and struck out seven.  He surrendered two solo home runs in the fourth inning.  But solo homers I can deal with.  He rebounded to pitch a strong fifth inning and finally left the game in the sixth for said medical concerns.


The successes of the Mets have already been proven to hinge on the effectiveness of Jon Niese and Dillon Gee pitching together as a consistent one-two punch.  They started June like wild fire and burned up the competition together.  The Mets need them to get reignited post-haste, after having a few less effective starts towards the end of this month.  Gee and Jon Niese need to start doubling up on wins again pronto.


Dillon Gee's string of consecutive victories was snapped his last time out to the mound.  Coach Collins had an interesting take on Gee's performance.  Coach thought he needed to rely on his secondary pitch more, due to his ineffective fastball.  Coach accused him flatly of not making the adjustment.  And listening to Coach's reasoning, I see his logic and actually buy Terry's criticism.  Tom Seaver always said the mark of a good pitcher is being able to win when you don't have your best stuff.  There's a lesson to be learned there.


By Dillon Gee's standards, he's victimized himself with high walk totals.  And when you're struggling to find the strike zone, pitches tend to be more hittable; or not at all resulting in base on balls.  So, his last time out, he got smacked up.  Hey....it happens.


But tomorrow we need Dillon Gee to regain form and finally get this team back to .500 again.  Time is of the essence and the Mets can't afford to spend weeks at a time tripping over themselves trying to reach the .500 level.  It's been deja-vu after deja-vu; again; and gain; and again.  Finally something needs to give.  And the hope is Dillon Gee can supply it; whatever IT is.  The way things work is, it takes getting to .500 before we can take a Wild Card seriously.


Gee was thwarted by rain and didn't get a decision the last time the Mets tasted .500 against Pittsburgh.  The rain also stopped him short of qualifying for a win.  But tomorrow he'll take his 7-1 record and try to improve it, and the Mets positioning in the standings.


Lastly, if you keep up with me, I told you about a fascinating little coincidence whenever Josh Thole catches Dillon Gee.  Josh Thole miraculously turns into Johnny Bench whenever he catches Dillon and wins games for him with his bat.  In Dillon Gee's last start, Coach Terry separated the duo in favor of starting Ronnie Paulino.  I hope he doesn't make that mistake again.  I beg the Coach, - please leave Josh Thole and Dillon Gee together.


As a matter of fact, I'd ask that he just leave Josh Thole alone and let him play.

SUNDAY

NEW YORK METS

vs.

Texas Rangers

From:

The Ballpark Next To Six Flags Over Texas

Mike.BTB

N.Y. METS ~ Like the Team Now? You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet

From the desk of:  Head-Butting Mr. Met




NEW YORK METS:  The Fog Over Citi Field Still Lingers Over The Mets.  But You'll See, Sandy Alderson Will Light up The Night.

What!?  Me Worry?  What could be wrong?

It's still too early for seeking ledges to jump off, but we have to start somewhere, right?  After all, the early bird gets the worm.

Stop yourselves.  Now.

On the one hand, we knew our team had more problems than a math book.  On the other hand, ...there is no other hand.  Our team has more problems than a math book.  This is as good as it gets people.  There's nothing more to see at Citi Field.  If you are that disgusted, go back to your farms if you really want Mets R Us shut down for good...   If you had expectations, shame on you.  You'll hear this a lot from me; You can't be disappointed with what you do not expect.  So stay home if you want the Wilpons gone.  The brown paper bags routine was an old 1970's gag that is no longer "CooooL Man"!

Please!

But, there is still something to be said for brown paper bags and what they say.  So, in the mean time, Sandy Alderson's team leaves us with an awful lot to talk about.  Let's start out with the easiest target; their record:

4-9   .308 pct.

The New York Mets have won 30% of their games so far.  Or, the New York Mets have lost 70% of their games; - Give or take a fraction.  You choose how you like your numbers.  Let's move on, shall we?

For me, ten games is a nice number to wait before I really start taking stock of the Mets.  So, after Tuesday's rain-out, I thought it time to start putting the 'Mazin thinking cap on.  And so far, for me, the best thing to happen to the Mets this season has been the New York Rangers.  The 'Mazin Mets have remained safely off my docket because I still have Hockey of the brain.

I've been paying attention, but it's time to start a-talkin'.   And I guess for King 'Pon, Son Of 'Pon, and the whole "Saul B. Katz Dilemma" over in Flushing..., that sucks.

When my fellow Met fans come to grips with the fact our season doesn't start until the trade deadline rolls around, they'll stop twitching in their sleep at night after games.  It doesn't matter where in the standings we are come July, this team is getting exterminated.   The best we should hope for are some individual successes so as to bump up their value.  But for sure, we haven't seen anything yet.  Sandy Alderson is going to strip this Bad Boy down to a fig leaf.  The only thing that prevents that from happening now, is the calendar.  The only thing that separates real concrete change on the field and a change in our perceptions and attitudes, is TIME.  In three more years, this team will not have a single semi to high profile free agent on it.  Not One!  We'll neither have one of our own holdovers and it certainly won't be one picked up on the market.  All that is done.


Do you think Alderson hired DePodesta and Ricciardi to scout potential high priced free agents and potential recipients of five and seven year deals?  No, of course not.  They are here to wipe the slate clean.  Make no mistake.  Everyone is gone....Even David Wright!  That sucks to hear.  I know it and I am with you.  I'd rather keep him.  But we have to reconcile ourselves with the fact that it's not about what we want.  This is more of what Sandy Alderson is going to do.  But you can not deny, no matter what David Wright has done here, he's been a constant throughout the last seven dramatic and frustrating years in Flushing; - both him and Reyes.

Carney Lansford was Sandy Alderson's third-baseman back in the Bash-Brothers Days; - Can you dig it? And no one has been holding an open umbrella under the dark clouds at Shea/Citi longer than Jose Reyes and David Wright.  They have been the one constant these last 7 years.  Do you want to improve this club?  Trade your best players!  And that's exactly what Sandy Alderson is going to do.  He has no personal attachment towards, and for what we hold dear, and cherish; - our beloved Met History and favorite players.  What Alderson does have is a plan to totally restructure this team.  And the player (Wright) that can very well own every Met record if he's allowed to stay, I feel will be gone.  It makes sense, he will garner the biggest return.  Who will play third after David is gone? Answer - A Sandy Guy.  Ricciardi is working on that as we speak.

At Shortstop, Reyes is the other pre-Omar Days guy.  But, don't you know the only reason why Jose Reyes is off to such a good start is to fulfill our manifest destiny?  He'll go on to get as many hits as Paul Molitor and steal as many bases as Tim Raines.  Why? - Because he won't be doing it in a Mets' uniform.  We know how that goes..(eh..hem! Nolan Ryan).  I say that in jest, he won't achieve those numbers, but do we really want to start talking money again; whether it's Madoff's money, Wilpon's money, or Reyes money?  Nah.  And there is nothing developing down on the farm ready to step in for Reyes upon his trade at the deadline which seems like a lock at this point.  Wilmer Flores, Ruben Tejada, etc. - They aren't Sandy's guys.  They belong to Omar and they're looking more and more like duds.  Harsh?  Maybe.  Trust me, I'd love to ease off.  But truth is truth.


Alderson still has his hands full with cleaning this roster of Omar's thumbprints.  And it's turning out to be a monumental task.  Counting backwards, Jason Bay and Johan Santana are the latest two lost to lengthy injuries, and are players who's contracts are hampering the team in the meantime.  And before them came the jettisoning of Ollie Perez, Castillo, and John Maine.  You are more than within your rights to ask, did Everything Omar Touch Turn To Mush?  I mean really?  Almost every one of his mid to high profile acquisitions have all wound up on the backs of milk cartons.  Which one hasn't?  Please..., remind me.

The bullpen has been a complete and utter mess.  They are/were? still anchored by two Minaya guys in Bobby Parnell and closer Francisco Rodriguez.  Iggy got cut and now he's back.  Izzy is back too.  They won't last!  All the other guys were Alderson imports, but there was nothing he realistically had to work with money wise, nor was there anything available talent wise.  If anything the Mets were smart to let Pedro Feliciano walk away.  Now the Yankees are stuck with that medical bill.

Second base hasn't been correct since Edgardo Alfonzo played the position for us.  And while Emaus is an Alderson guy, it looks like the job will go to the jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none, and Omar leftover, Daniel Murphy.  It's looking like 2B will turn out to be a strict platoon very shortly.  But I'm sorry, even though I like Murph, he's not a solution at 2B.  And other Omar farm-hands like Reese Havens and Jonathan Malo have been beset by injuries.  And I get the feeling Alderson isn't as enamored with Reese and Malo as I am, for ever materializing good reasons.

Left field has been a complete joke for how many years now? 

Most fans know by now, teams never get their money's worth from a player on the back end of long term deals; - See Carlos Beltran.  If at all possible, this old Omar acquisition will be a trade-deadline goner.  Omar farm-hand Fernando Martinez just got injured yet again.  Every season he proves himself more and more fragile.  Another Omar farm-hand Lucas Duda, even though I like him (from Brooklyn Cyclones days), is headed back to Buffalo because he was over-matched to start the season and looked frighteningly unprepared.

And speaking of being unprepared, all that needed to be done was to watch just a few games this season to come to a conclusion, it is no longer a matter of being prepared or unprepared with this team.  The on-field folly still looks the same.  Terry Collins is proving that right now.  How is it that Willie Randolph, Jerry Manuel AND Terry Collins now, all have had that "I just got pumped by the neighbor's cat look on their face", after yet another futile looking loss.  How is it?  The Media for one, corners these managers into said looks on their faces.  But the results on the field won't change, and the questions won't change, and therefore the answers won't change, until the reasons for this cycle of insanity are all eliminated.

That's why I tell you now, it's not the manager anymore.  Kiss Everyone Goodbye!  And stop all your nonsense people.  If you want to do something constructive, get a highlighter and mark every day on the calendar till the trade deadline hits.  Then get a black Sharpie and cross out every player with Omar's name on it - every one!  It's time to look forward to new players and farm hands that will make their managers look good for a change.  Because that's where we are headed.  Sandy Alderson has no plan for making this team better right now or ever; not with these players he's not.  This team is still headed for the glue factory horse by horse.  This season is still about purge.  And I couldn't be more on board.  So I guess that makes me, ironically, a happy Mets fan.  Hmmm?

Be happy with this.  Two relievers were having a ghastly time on the mound and Sandy Alderson sent them packing, post haste.  It took a meeting between Jerry Manuel, Omar Minaya, John Ricco, Jeff Wilpon, Saul Katz, Fred Wilpon, five hot dog vendors, and the valet parking guy to make a decision last season, when they made changes.  Sandy Alderson didn't have to make multiple trips to Atlanta to scold his team - remember the "I'm not here to fire anyone guys." - Jeff Wilpon?  Sandy Alderson did it from his desk with a phone call and a pen to sign the paperwork.  That's where we are now, with a GM making decisive decisions in a timely manner.

Now! - for some positives regarding Omar's leftovers.  We like Ike.  I don't know about you, but I am a staunch Bobby Parnell supporter.  I like Niese and I am holding out hope for Big Pelf.  Down at AAA, I really like Dillon Gee.  And then there is my guy, Josh Thole.

At catcher, can some one tell me why most local Media do not believe in Josh Thole?  And I'm not so sure Sandy Alderson has warmed up to him either.  Am I looking at Thole through Love Blind Eyes?  Regardless,  I am an unabashed supporter of Thole and I don't care to have the position upgraded.  I'm very content giving him the job.  I think he's solid defensively and calls a good game.  He makes contact at bat and I believe he will hit for a higher average than many project for him.  I also believe he will work himself into being quite an effective 2-spot hitter in the line-up.  I don't get why so many are still down or not enamored with the kid.  Someone fill me in as to what I do not see.

And with our season being what it is, I'm also quite content giving Angel Pagan the full season in center field without any complaints from me.  I moved beyond Beltran two years ago.

If manager Terry Collins is going to blow a gasket this early, fine.  If he wants them to take extra infield practice, fine.  What ever he does is fine.  It doesn't matter.  They will all be gone....(eventually) the manager included.

Are you kidding me?  In July, Sandy Alderson is going to light up the Flushing night with a fireworks extravaganza unseen around here since the Mets blew it up on Black Friday back in 1977, and when Frank Cashen lit the second fuse to set off better nights in Flushing.

Forget strike one; strike two; and strike three for now.

Wait for the Boom!  Burst!  And the WOW!  ...when Sandy really starts to blow this up.



I conclude by saying, Let's Go Rangers!!!  Because Mets Opening Day doesn't come until later in the summer.  That should give me plenty of time to let the Rangers play out their run for a Stanley Cup.  Yea, I know..., good luck with that too.


Let's Go Mets!

Let's Go Rangers!!




Mike.BTB

SAFE !! And Finally HOME

New York Mets

Chief Operating Officer

or as I prefer

Baby Jeff over at Mets~R~Us:

JEFF WILPON

Through his puppet, Omar Minaya, pseudo GM of the Mets,

 handed down his directive concerning the coaching staff and status of the manager.

The Mets have announced there are no plans to fire the manager or Manuel's coaching staff.

Howard Johnson, who has come under intense scrutiny this season, and Dan Warthen, whom many will say isn't nearly as effective as the last pitching coach the Mets fired ~ Rick Peterson are still on the payroll.

(Jerry shows press what he might have contemplated

had the Mets fired him after the Left Coast trip)

ALL THREE ARE SAFE.

For now.

My opinion?

I'll surprise you and say I agree with the decision.  It's too late to make that decision now (actually not really ~ any time is a good time).  Even Jeff Wilpon admitted earlier in the year last off-season would have been the ideal time to make changes.  But the Mets decided to maintain the status-quo.  And trust me, I am in no rush to see Bob Melvin in the dugout as a Mets manager. 

NO WAY!

But I agree with not doing anything now either.  Omar Minaya should not be allowed to make another managerial hire.  That would be his third.  Omar and Jerry should be and I think are joined at the hip.  When Jerry goes, Omar will have a bus ticket out of town also. 

But that's just me talking.

Ultimately, Omar's hands have been tied behind his back by the Wilpon's Super Secret plan to hide their alleged financially unstable situation.  It's the Wilpons themselves who have not been truthful with the fan base this year.  A little more forth-rightness on their part might go a long way towards garnering some empathy from us and quieting the derisive chatter coming out of all parts of Metropolis this season.

But as hard as it may seem to believe, even to myself, I am defending the Mets' decision to retain the manager and coaching staff.  They really blew it last time they faced this situation with Randolph.  I think they are just trying to be a little more prudent right now.

(Without going into a digression...but doesn't that still sound like making decisions for the wrong reasons?  Just a thought.)

We fired Willie Randoph.  We fired Rick Peterson.  We can have a separate debate as to whether or not they deserved it.  But it was clear then, the Mets totally mishandled Randolph's release, to the point of embarrassment.  Rick Peterson was made unemployed for the wrong reasons.  Like Milt Thompson, the Phila Phils batting coach,  getting fired in Philadelphia was a shot across the bow by Rubin Amaro Jr and a totally symbolic gesture, so too was firing Rick Peterson from his post.  And today we can not say his replacement, Dan Warthen is doing a better job, much less as good a job as Peterson did; especially as it pertained to Oliver Perez (but there will be no digression about Ollie here!).

A concern of mine is the potential of Jerry Manuel to over work and effectively burn out Bobby Parnell out of the bullpen....AGAIN!  It's my claim Jerry burnt out Fernando Nieve with overuse earlier in the season and now he's been designated for assignment.  Last year Bobby Parnell set the Mets Rookie record for most appearances.  Parnell was over used and was still not fully recovered this past spring training.  Today he is popping the gun at 99 mph and I'd keep an eye on Manuel's usage of my guy; our kid...Bobby Parnell.

So....Yea; Jerry Manuel, Howard Johnson and Dan Warthen are all still employed today by the Metropolitans.  After that disastrous West Coast trip that was a 2 win - 9 loss nightmare, most people expected the worse for them this afternoon, especially after hearing there was a Mets meeting of the minds...i.e.; Omar and Jeff, yesterday on the Mets' off day.

It's time to hold the players accountable in this one.  The coaching can only do so much.  They don't throw from 60 feet 6 inches away and they don't stand in the batter's box.

Yea, Jerry isn't the greatest tactician around Baseball. 

But I would hire Famous Amos to manage the Mets

before I want Bob Melvin at the helm.

In the Mets' first game upon returning from that dreadful road trip, against the Cardinals tonight

Frankie Rodriguez just closed out an 8-2 victory.  The Mets took the pesky approach against St. Louis pitcher, Adam Wainwright, who surrendered a 3 run Home Run to Jeff Francoeur.  The Mets banged out 9 hits and Jose Reyes also homered tonight.

Maybe there is something to this Citi Field phenomenon and the Mets.

They can win at Citi in bunches but are completely inept on the road.  I do believe they are still in the single digits in road wins with 9.  Don't quote me on that.

So they're home again. 

Dan Warthen is safe and John Niese gets a well deserved win tonight.

Howard Johnson is safe and Francoeur and Reyes homer; Mets pound out 9 hits and 8 runs.

Jerry Manuel is safe and is home again where the Mets can potentially have a good home stand and distance themselves from the .500 mark again and hopefully gain a little ground on Atlanta.

This is it folks.  I don't believe the Mets will be serious players at the trade dead line.  So it looks like this is what we're going with.  I can't say I am happy because you know about my want for a complete rebuild.  I am not totally down on them or the season because....there's always hope...and that's why we root.  We always root.  So why hide it in spite of my issues with this team.

See?!  I can be somewhat positive. 

And it's not just because they won tonight.  You know me...that has nothing to do with it.  I just think Jeff Wilpon has a very precarious situation on his hands and for a day, I agree with him taking a more patient approach with the coaching staff and manager.  I think even Jeff realizes they are not the entire or glaring problem here.

And before I forget, Jerry Manuel served his one game suspension tonight;
the one he earned out in L.A.  All I can say is good for him!  I like the spunk.

Now beat it!

Mike.BTB

http://thebrooklyntrolleyblogger.blogspot.com/