Wasting Time

I seem to have a problem, lately, of starting posts, but not finishing them until a substantial amount of time later. It's either I'm tired because I'm working too late and getting up too early, or I'm tired because I sat through a 3 hour, 18 minute crapfest that masqueraded for last night's Mets/Yankees game.

If this is how the Mets are going to come out and start what's probably the make-or-break homestand of the season, then they may as well just start canning people right now, because this was pretty pathetic, both from the players and the manager's standpoint.

Predictably, the Mets went out against the much-maligned Javier Vazquez and made him look brilliant. Vazquez has been having his lunch fed to him on a regular basis all year long. So, of course, he no-hits the Mets into the 5th inning.

On the bright side, Hisanori Takahashi came out and pitched a heroic ballgame. You couldn't help but be a little skeptical, given the recent history of Met spot starters, but Takahashi clearly would have none of that. Not only did he pitch well, not only did he get out of jams, but he THREW STRIKES! It was like watching the anti-Oliver Perez out there. By the 4th inning, he'd thrown about 90% strikes, he only walked one guy in his 6 innings and he got every key out. The argument could have been made to keep him in, but you figured 6 innings was about all he was good for. I wasn't raring to see him navigate the Yankees lineup a 4th time, so pulling him wasn't the wrong move.

The wrong move was who Manuel went to to replace Takahashi.

When I saw that Elmer Dessens was warming up, I hoped it was a mistake. I thought he'd been cut, never to return. But there he was, on the team, starting the 7th inning. I've always felt that Elmer Dessens on the roster was like some bad joke or something. And almost like clockwork, he gave up a hit, Cora made his horrendous and egregious error (funny how Mets 2nd basemen always look their best against the Yankees), and Kevin Russo, with all of 1 Major League hit and 0 RBIs, drove home both runs. And right then and there everyone knew the game was over.

By time the 9th rolled around, most of the Mets fans in the crowd had left. With 2 hits to that point, who could blame them? Fortunately, the Citi Field Subway Series crowd seems much more civil and pleasant to be around than they were at Shea. The transplanted section of Bleacher Bums was nowhere to be found. Not that that made us feel any better. With Rivera in to protect the lead, the final seemed academic. At least until Bay reached out for a 2B that nearly got out, and Ike Davis followed with a rope to the wall in right center (proving the point that Ike Davis owns Mariano Rivera. Owns him!). A glimmer of hope! A chance with Wright at the pl...Oh. He grounded out. Never mind.

Pelfrey tonight, but what does it mean if nobody can get a hit?

Spring Cleaning, Revisited

This weekend's Subway Series and the 3 game visit from our friends in Philadelphia is basically Jerry Manuel's last stand. I don't think that's being dramatic at all. If things don't go well, he's going to be fired, and I don't think any Mets fans will complain about it.

There's a sort of sick, sinking feeling that's surrounding the Mets right now, particularly as they continue to go out and make the same stupid mistakes, put forth the same lifeless efforts and come up with the same frustrating losses. It's beginning to become evident that most of the Mets fans who aren't complete idiot lunatics like myself have just become fed up and stopped going to games. I don't think the Mets are even on pace to draw 2,000,000 fans right now, and if you go by people who actually show up to games, 1,000,000 is a dicey proposition.

So, what's the solution? Well, right now, the Manuel death watch has begun to reach Willie Randolph-like proportions. The only difference is that Willie had that quick-talking likability that made everyone overlook the shortcomings until it became painfully obvious that he'd lost the team. But basically, May, 2010 feels an awful lot like May, 2008. While the people's choice to replace him is our beloved Bobby Valentine, it seems like the organizational choice is bland, boring Bob Melvin whose track record in Seattle and Arizona is about as memorable as, say, Mike Cameron's tenure with the Mets: Short, unspectacular and quickly forgotten about.

But it's not just Manuel that's the problem. Dan Warthen needs to go, too. Probably the training and conditioning staff as well. I'm surprised that we don't discuss this more often, but doesn't anyone find it sort of strange that EVERY Mets pitcher has had some strange issue with their velocity dropping? It's not just Maine and Perez, it's EVERYONE! If it's a couple of guys with injury problems, that's one thing. If the entire staff has this issue, the coach needs to do some explaining. Why is Santana now throwing 89-90 instead of 93-94? Why is Niese not throwing his curve? Why can nobody seem to throw Strike 1? And say what you will about Rick Peterson, but who was the pitching coach when Maine and Perez were pitching so well? And who was the pitching coach when it was a tall order to ask the Mets bullpen to get 3 outs without screwing up the game at the end of '08? I can't even give Warthen credit for Mike Pelfrey's resurgence, because I think he just got mentally tougher and learned to trust his stuff as opposed to anything Warthen would have done for him. It's at the point where I cringe when I see him waddling out of the dugout. So you can get rid of him too, I don't think anyone's complaining.

Finally, there's beloved Ho-Jo. Mr. Met, the organizational hero. The only guy who survived the 3:14am massacre in 2008. I thought he should have been fired then, and guess what? He should be fired now, too. Much like it's a little too strange that the entire pitching staff stopped throwing hard and can't throw strikes, it's a little too strange that half the offense seems to have no concept of bat control or situational hitting. Not to mention the fact that Jose Reyes still isn't hitting line drives. I could waste more breath discussing this, but, quite honestly, I don't have the energy. Just get rid of him. I don't care if he was an '86 Met, we can remember him for that forever. HE'S NOT A GOOD HITTING COACH! FIRE THAT ASS!

So, there's the Spring Cleaning for 2010. That might solve a few problems, or at least wake some of the players up. If that doesn't work, then it's time to start getting rid of some of them, too. You hear me, Jeff Francoeur, Luis Castillo, Alex Cora and Gary Matthews, Jr.? You're all next on the hitlist if things don't start to get better. The NL sucks right now and all that needs to be done to keep things interesting is to just hang around on the fringes of the Wildcard race and get hot late in the year. We know this team can get hot in fits and starts. But if they play like this for 3 months, it's not going to make a damn difference come September.

The annoying thing about the way this is playing out is that if the Mets have a good week, everyone stays. Even Omar, who ought to get the axe too if the house is going to be cleared out. Part of me almost wants the Mets to get swept and embarrassed just to expedite the process.

Pulling a Dick-Out

So, it's come to this. Rolling into Washington behind R.A. Dickey. It's almost as promising as when they came in with Brian Lawrence. Yes, Dickey has pitched well in AAA this season, and even threw a perfect game of sorts, but let's face it: Dickey is the consummate 4A guy. Looks great in the Minors, call him up and it's a mixed bag.

I know this may not happen, but I just feel like the situation is rife for Dickey to come in, flutter his knuckleball around and get lit up for 7 runs in 2.2 innings. That's the way things seem to be going for the Mets lately.

Out In The Cold

At the end of the 6th inning of last night's long, frigid affair, El Guapo had had enough.

"I hate to be a dick," he said, "But it's late, and I'm cold, and I have to be up early tomorrow."

And with that, he departed.

I can't say I blame him. In retrospect, I should have gone too. Silly me and my sticking it out to the end, blindly hoping the Mets would do something positive.

Didn't happen. In fact, not much seemed to go positive for the Mets last night in what basically amounted to an eminently forgettable night at Citi Field.

Neither pitcher appeared to be especially sharp. Maine was, well, Maine. He got into and out of all sorts of trouble all night long, but was fortunate to only be scored upon on a pair of HRs in the 3rd inning. His sweaty, 30-pitch 1st inning was matched, however, by Washington's Luis Atilano, one of those pitchers I'd never heard of before the game. Of course, after walking some guys and loading the bases in the 1st, the Mets managed not to score, and you sort of knew right there that the Mets weren't going to win this one. Almost like clockwork, Atilano settled down and started getting the outs he needed to get. The Mets got all sorts of guys on base and managed to screw it up each and every time. This, compounded with the howling wind and ridiculous cold for May 10th left me in a pretty foul mood by time Jason Bay struck out to end the game. Basically, I could sum it up as follows:

Maine Sucked.
The Offense sucked.
The situational hitting sucked.
The bat control sucked.
The weather sucked.
Everything else sucked.

I don't think much more needs to be said on the matter.

Already?

At the rate the Mets are going, the house is going to have to be cleaned by time they come back from this Road Trip.

I don't really see any sign that the Mets are going to accomplish much of anything this season, except for playing listlessly in front of crowds of 10,000 hearty idiots (of which I include myself). It was bad enough that their Manager openly acknowledged a lack of preparedness for Sunday's game (or was it a lack of preparedness for the entire season?), but then they went out on Tuesday night and just flat out embarrassed themselves against a Colorado team that probably was going to beat them anyway, just on general principle.

John Maine seems to be at the centerpiece of this particular clusterfuck, and rightfully so. Right now, I'm not so sure Maine is even a viable Major League pitcher. He had a chance to minimize damage and get out of the 3rd inning, but somehow he tripped over his own feet, made a bad throw, and the end result was that, whether it was out of frustration, or loss of focus, or whatever, another 5 runs ended up crossing the plate before we blinked, and the game was basically in the toilet after that. Not that Maine was putting forth anything spectacular to that point. On the radio after the game (and in my new environs, without cable, the radio is basically all I have), some chucklehead mentioned that there were positive signs out of Maine, like him hitting 90mph.

Someone needs to mention that for Maine to be at all effective, he needs to hit 92-93 with regularity. You know, like he did in 2007.

A period of time that seems so very, very far away.

Niese tonight, who can hopefully right this ship. You know, if you can watch the game without covering your eyes. I'm not so sure anyone wants to take that risk right now.