The Mets Are Falling! The Mets Are Falling!

I didn't actually see any of Monday night's game against the Giants. A work engagement had me preoccupied as things do from time to time. But, you know, after an entire day of being subjected to some of the most venomous, gloom and doom stories about Matt Harvey and the demise of the supposedly-but-never-actually-mighty Mets, I suppose most Mets fans couldn't be blamed at all if they'd decided to start showing up to Citi Field with paper bags on their heads or simply lock themselves in a closet with the lights off for the next five years. That's basically what everyone would have you believe. On a team with no leadership, no direction and an atmosphere where the inmates are running the asylum. 25 guys, 25 cabs. And yet another instance of Mets fans being sold a bill of goods and being left holding their cocks while talent and opportunity passes them by and the other team steals their thunder.

So, I mean, why even pay attention, right? If they're just going to annoy me and break my heart again...Oh. Wait. You mean they came from behind twice on Monday night, Jacob deGrom struck out 11 batters and the Mets won the game on a Neil Walker hit in the bottom of the 9th?

Someone, somewhere dropped a "That's why they play the games" last week on the Mets to prove that they were overrated. I think another "That's why they play the games" could be used now to prove that you can't count the Mets out, no matter how terrible things may seem.

Hang Down Your Head

Other engagements caused me to miss Tuesday night's affair in Washington. I arrived home probably just as the game was about to end. I hadn't much looked at my phone to see what was going on, but clearly, it was just as well.

What's going on with Matt Harvey this season has gone from troubling, to concerning, but now I think it's safe to say it sits at sickening for most Mets fans right now. The fact that nobody's got an answer for these struggles is probably what makes it most frustrating. I know the general inclination is to just let him try to work through it and figure out what the problem is, but this is now two outings in a row where the team that the Mets are going to be hitting the shit with all season just lit him on fire. And I mean lit on fire in a way that we're not used to seeing.

I'm not going to try to go in Harvey's head here. I mean, what's to be said? I know he's a competitor, I know this probably kills him and he's probably frustrated as fuck and sick of being asked dopey questions about what the problem is. That's probably why he pulled an Amish Act after the game, although that never works because now, instead of getting subjected to another 5 days of hearing about why he sucks, and how it's because he's too fat, or he's too thin, or his ego is too big, or he's too insecure, or because he pitched to 2 batters in the 9th inning of Game 5 of the World Series, instead we have to hear about how he's an inaccountable schmuck, and really, none of it is anything more than mental masturbation. Talk is cheap. And talking about how Harvey's a jerk is even cheaper. When he was going good, all of this was endearing.

One of the larger problems of this is the societal aspect of Baseball these days. Fans think they're bigger than the game itself and as such deserve to have some inside access. This might be a bit hypocritical of me to say as a Blogger, but as a Blogger I'm just here to call it the way I see it and give some half-baked opinion on what goes on just in case I'm seeing things a different way than the next guy. I don't, however, feel that the players owe me something. I've said it before: I really don't care what Matt Harvey does or doesn't do, or says or doesn't say after a game. It's easy to look at the way Harvey carries himself and pick on some piece of his lifestyle and say, "SEE? SEE? THAT'S WHAT'S FUCKING HIM UP!" as though changing something he does off the field would affect what happens when he's on the mound. Again, unless he's snorting coke or shooting smack, that's probably not where the answer lies.

Like any slumping hitter, you work your way through these things and get yourself back together. It's magnified as a Pitcher because you only get your chance to right the wrongs once every 5 days, and of course it's even more magnified because Harvey carries himself like an ace. It's not as though he wants to perform badly, but somewhere, he hit a wall and now he's got to do the work to get through it. I'm not going to throw my hands and give up because he got torched a few times. If he'd pitched like this his whole career, well, first of all he'd be Jeremy Hefner and wouldn't be here right now, but if he'd pitched like this in 2013 and started in with the whole "Dark Knight" business, we'd have all laughed at him. Right now, picking on him and laughing at him isn't going to do anybody any good. We just have to let him figure this out for himself.

Try To Go To Rehab

I'm sort of baffled as to why there's any news whatsoever in regard to Matt Harvey beyond him rehabbing his elbow and things going good or bad as such. But since this is the Mets, an organization where the team's General Manager once called out a reporter for intentionally attempting to get his batshit crazy assistant fired so he could angle for the job, I suppose nothing's shocking anymore.

That's why I suppose it makes sense that the news out of the Mets today involved Harvey getting into an argument with management about his speaking with a Daily News reporter. I'm not sure why the Mets want to put this media blackout on Harvey. It seems to me that when you have a star player who enjoys the public attention, he ought to be allowed to embrace that, even if he's injured and doesn't have much to discuss beyond his own rehabilitation. Ultimately, Harvey met with Sandy Alderson and cleared things up, but once a story like this catches on, it's easy for it to blow up. In the NFL, players are fined if they don't make themselves available to the Media, but here, the Mets are trying to squelch one of the few players that inspires genuine fan excitement. This baffles me, but whatever. I'm a bit beyond trying to figure out what goes through the heads of upper management.

This ties in neatly to the reason Harvey was airing his general gripes to Andy Martino in the first place. Harvey was initially miffed that his locker was moved away from the rest of the players on the team. I suppose that's neither here nor there, but as he's out for the season, this apparently is standard procedure. Harvey was also under the impression that the Mets didn't want him to do 1-on-1 interviews with the media. Alderson contends that this wasn't quite the case; the Mets wanted him to hold group interviews for ease of PR, which, you know, really is the first consideration of a 24-year old superstar in the process of recovering from major surgery.

The larger issue here is the age-old disconnect between what Mets Management thinks is best and what the player thinks is best, and in this instance it's where Matt Harvey should be allowed to rehab. Ultimately, Harvey has final say, and if his preference is to rehab in New York with the team, then he should be allowed to. Why not? This is his comfort zone, he'll be in his element with his teammates and his coaches, and not out in the wilderness that is Port St. Lucie. The Mets want him in Florida where he's away from distractions and able to focus solely on getting himself ready to pitch come the opening bell of 2015.

Alderson's stance on the matter makes sense from a logic standpoint. Harvey happens to disagree. In a vacuum, this issue is probably very easily solved; just sit down in a room for half an hour and work out a schedule that makes everyone happy. I'm sure that this is exactly what's going on with the similarly rehabbing Jeremy Hefner. This snafu gets all the ink because this is Matt Harvey we're talking about, and Matt Harvey is a headline-grabber, even when he's hurt.

Ultimately, though it may not be the best idea, it's probably the wisest idea to just let Harvey rehab where he wants to. By foisting a particular option on him, you run the risk of alienating him, and this could prove problematic, particularly considering the fact that Harvey is well aware of the rights afforded to him by the Player's Union. Going further, this could be problematic come contract negotiations if Harvey feels that the Mets don't respect his wishes. So, fine. In the long run, an issue like this is really much ado about stuffing. If it's a bad choice, it's a bad choice, and just like any 24-year old that makes a bad choice, he's got to have that experience in order to realize it's a bad choice and not make the same mistake the next time around (hopefully there is not a next time around in this particular instance).

Tabloid Junk(ie)

Friday, I wrote a bit about all the press that has recently come out killing the Mets for the way this season has played out. Much of it was truthful. Almost all of it was justified. The Mets organization shouldn't necessarily be killed for their poor injury luck, but they can be killed for not having a proper contingency plan, and they certainly can be killed for continuing to feed into the "Win Now and Sacrifice the Future" philosophy of their General Manager.

Then, I heard the stories creeping out about how Citi Field was falling apart. Apparently, all this noise has been coming from my favorite paper of them all, the New York Post. It's no secret that I feel the Post thinks way too highly of themselves, and also seems all too happy to take a dig at the Mets whenever possible (Perhaps because the Post's #1 rival, the Daily News, is in bed with the Mets). But it seems like the Post is almost going out of their way now to turn that knife and needle the Mets, and their fans, some more. It's taken what had been a series of valid arguments about the team and basically making it complete overkill.

It started with this article on Sunday about how Citi Field has leaks and mold. As with any new building, these things happen. Someone mentioned it on WFAN and the host basically poo-poohed it, saying, "All right, can't we just leave the Mets alone?" He's right. The Mets and their fans have suffered enough indignities this year. Never mind the fact that the article is mildly misinformed, since public funds weren't put directly towards the Stadium, they were put towards infrastructure. Basically, the public funds went towards renovating the Subway and LIRR stations. It's a bit more cut and dry than, say, the deal the Yankees got for their stadium, something that has been swept under the rug and forgotten.

But the Post can't keep their mouths shut. That same day, a piece from Mike Vaccaro appeared, echoing the first story. It's a complete puff piece, no doubt, attempting to squash every issue plaguing the Mets into 4 paragraphs. Here's the link. I assure you it's not worth reading.

Yesterday, there was even more Met-bashing. This time, they've taken to the streets and tried to get some fan reaction. I wonder how hard they had to search to get these quotes. You know, assuming these quotes came from real people.

But with the story losing juice, mainly because most people just don't seem to care about it all that much, or because as with any new facility, there will be some problems at first, and it's not as though these issues aren't easily fixable with a call to a good plumber, the Post had to find another issue to pick on. So, today, it's back to the problematic medical staff.

But it's not all bad. At least Carlos Beltran is coming back. Even though he should be sitting out to preserve the final two seasons on that posh $117 million contract...

Descent From Grace

The Mets won their third game in a row last night, a feat which seems sort of secondary when you consider the absolute quagmire that the team has found itself in after the events of yesterday afternoon.

I found myself in my office yesterday afternoon actually listening to Omar Minaya's press conference. This shouldn't have even necessitated a Press Conference, let alone a stupid "Flushing Flash" mass e-mail to everyone. What the hell do any of us care about Tony Bernazard? You investigated, and you fired him. Nothing more needed to be said. Which is why once Omar said anything in that Press Conference beyond "We fired Tony Bernazard," I knew that he was in a lot of trouble. I would say that, basically, all Omar accomplished was digging a hole at the podium he was sitting at, jumping in it, and burying himself.

I've certainly been critical of the way the media in New York handles certain things, and you're certainly entitled to think that any newspaper columnist has some sort of agenda. Hell, even I've got an agenda, and I'm just writing a dopey blog. But there are times and places to talk about people's specific agendas, and in front of an audience with flash bulbs popping, microphones in your face and the guy who you're slinging accusations at in the crowd, that's not the best place to start slinging mud.

I find myself often asking who, exactly, is driving this Mets bus. Because the more this team makes misguided decisions and stupid mistakes, the more I think there's nobody at the wheel, and there's nobody who wants to take control. It's amazing that it took this particular incident, an out-and-out horrendous, flaming embarrassment for Jeff Wilpon to get up and say something, or at least appear conscious. I know he won't hold his own press conference because the idiot media will just ask him "How much did Madoff take you for?" but at some point, you have to take control of things. It was bad enough slogging through last season and the way things ended. This year, there's stadium that everyone seems to hate (which I guarantee wouldn't be the case if the team were winning), the Medical Staff appearing to be comprised of a group of Semi-educated mongoloids, the Assistant GM running amok, and now the GM opening his mouth and picking a direct fight with the fourth estate. When did this organization turn itself from a team on the rise into a complete and utter joke again? Things weren't supposed to turn out this way.

We go from being one inning from the World Series, to blowing a 7 game lead in the last 2 weeks of the season, to getting eliminated from the playoffs in the last game ever at our beloved old Stadium, to this? God, how the mighty have fallen.

It shouldn't be this particular incident that gets Omar Minaya canned for good. It's no stretch to say that the Media will turn on him completely. It should be the progression of that last paragraph. . 3 years ago, you would have thought we'd be running around with a couple of World Series trophies by now. Nope. Instead, that trophy is in the hands of our most bitter rival. Us? We're eating hamburgers and watching our team slog through while our GM seems hell bent on blaming everyone else for the problems that he's managed to create by not taking any kind of control. Well then. If he won't do it, it's time for one of the Wilpon boys to wake up. Take a look around Citi Field in September when there's 20,000 or less in the stands per game.

This is what you fucking get when you let the inmates run the asylum, Jeffy.

Sit and Spin

"It's rare that you get that type of talent. I mean, boom! Right in the middle of the lineup type of guy, and right-handed for us, that would be a big bonus."

-Jerry Manuel

It's funny how the same interview can be spun so many different ways.

The outcry for Manny Ramirez that began last week, and which I've wholeheartedly thrown myself behind continued on Tuesday, as Jerry Manuel chimed in on the matter. There are two such places in particular that reported on this, one on the Mets website, and the other on ESPN.com. If you read one of them without reading the other, you probably think that Manuel has one particular stance. But if you read both of them, you come away thinking that Manuel gave two separate interviews at two different times.

On Mets.com, the Manuel article portrays the Mets Manager as being more interested in helping out at a local Food Bank, helping out the community before he heads down to Florida, ready to do battle with, what he feels, is a team completely in place. Sure, he was asked about Manny, but his response seems to be respectfully passive towards adding a surefire offensive force to a team that mangled far too many opportunities to score some runs. If this is what you read, you'd think that Manuel is happy and confident with what he's got, and he's ready to move forward for the 2009 season. The article appears to focus more on Manuel's dislike for his players participating in the upcoming World Baseball Classic, and that he feels Jose Reyes is ready to emerge as a clubhouse leader.

On ESPN, many of the same points are covered. However, Manuel's comments are spun to read that Manuel would love to have Ramirez on the team, and that he'd be fully in favor of bringing him in.

The ESPN.com article is, I gather, closer to the truth. There's no need to put any particular angle on Manuel's comments if you have no vested interest in the team. The Mets, however, would like to have all of us believe that whoever this Manny Ramirez fellow may be, the Mets won't be getting him and we should pretend he doesn't exist. I've already stated my feelings. If I needed any further backing up on the matter, Bill Simmons' latest article for ESPN The Magazine praises Ramirez as an underrated commodity who's showing no signs of age or slowing down. And this is from a Red Sox fan who should have nothing but scorn and ill will towards Manny.

The handwriting is clearly on the wall, and the outcry from the fans really ought to be getting through, somehow, to the Clown Car that is the Mets upper management. The Mets are SCREAMING for this guy. He's the perfect fit. It's the right situation. Not making this move would be catstrophically dumb. It's the difference between being a nice little contending team that could just as easily finish 3rd as 1st, and being a serious contender to take it all the way to the World Series. So, once again, I wonder: Who's driving this bus, and how serious are they about making their disillusioned fan base believe that they want to build a winner?

Mets' Kitchen open for Business [Mets.com]
Mets Manager Jerry Manuel would welcome Ramirez [ESPN.com]
Bill Simmons: Overrated Overload [ESPN.com]

Moving on from the Madness

They do still play these games, from time to time. I don't know if anyone's actually noticed from in between the fallout from last week.

But the Mets have actually been playing games, and actually went 4-2 on this, their last West Coast swing of the season, and now come home to play a team that actually has played worse than their expectations than the Mets have. That's right, my pick to win the 2008 AL West, the Seattle Mariners are in town for the first time since 2003.

The Mets appear to be playing a bit more fast and loose as a whole, which is good to see. No, they're not looking like a great team, and even if they continue to play somewhat better baseball over the next couple of weeks, and pick up some games in the standings, the true test will come July 4th through July 7th, when the Mets go down to Philadelphia for a weekend series.

If the Mets win that series, maybe we can finally take them seriously. If they get their clocks cleaned, well, revert to what I've been saying all season.

But they do seem like they're having a bit more fun, particularly with the pall of the Willie Randolph situation gone from their heads.

Not that you'd notice it if you're reading the New York papers. These guys seem to have no desire to stop trashing the Mets, turning Willie Randolph into a martyr, slamming Jerry Manuel for his "gangster" joke, and trying to drag out a situation that I believe most fans are tired of hearing about. And for the fans who continue to call in WFAN and the like and slam the move, it's time to move on. Get over yourselves. The Mets fucked up the Randolph firing, no doubt. But let's not forget that Willie was doing a lousy job, and Willie deserved to be fired. We don't need a puffy by-line from Willie about it, we don't need stories about how only now, other players are defending him, and we don't need the Post to blow Jerry Manuel's hilarious "I'll cut him" remark out of proportion as if he were serious. Jerry Manuel obviously has a strong rapport with his players. That's not a bad thing.

Besides, this article in Sunday's Newsday brings up a much more pressing matter: The potential end of WFAN's Radio Dynasty, the Mike & the Mad Dog show. If this show goes off the air, what will happen to us all? I think the radios of the world will all melt, and the rest of the Media will cease to exist. Heaven Forbid! How will we live without Dog's screaming and Mike's stammering? How will we go on without a healthy dose of smarmy, anti-Met rhetoric to carry us through our afternoons? To whom can we turn? It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out.

Hope Dies Last

In the midst of processing the 3AM Massacre Tuesday morning, my hastily thrown-up post might have seemed a bit too sympathetic towards Willie Randolph. That's not to say that Willie isn't deserving of sympathy. Lord knows I've been raking him over the coals for the past however long it was. But, as has been the feeling echoing through Metsdom over the past 20 or so hours, only the Mets could manage to fuck up a move that needed to be made.

I don't know what exactly transpired in that postgame meeting with Willie and Omar, although suffice it to say that it doesn't matter at this point. The situation was too far out of hand to play out any different than it did. There was, in reality, no logical reason to maintain Willie as Manager. But why, then, at this particular moment? Why, after flying cross country and winning? Why, if Peterson, clearly an organizational guy and not one of Willie's guys was fired, was Ho-Jo maintained, particularly when the offense has been an equal, if not a far greater, problem with this team than the pitching. There are many questions on this night that is vastly different from all other nights. Most of them probably won't be answered. That, perhaps, is what is most maddening about this whole saga.

I'm not going to do an about face and defend Willie at all. There's nothing to defend. When a change needs to be made, you look to the top, but, much the same way that Art Howe got a raw deal, Willie got a raw deal. I've mentioned that before as well. It's not necessarily his fault that he was given a team built to win now two years ago. And it's not his fault that when the flaws of the team began to show themselves in repeated fashion, very little was done to fix it. But with that said, Willie's moves often left a lot to be questioned. From Kaz Ishii's 16 starts, to Cliff Floyd, to Schoeneweis and Feliciano, to Philip Humber, to Mike Pelfrey and Wagner. But such is the peril of being a Big League manager operating in a Media vacuum that seems hell bent on imposing their will on whomever will listen.

It doesn't help, then, that the Mets, at the top, seem all too willing to read and absorb what is said about their team. It also doesn't help that someone within the Mets organization, with a cool ear to the inner machinations, is also the owner of lips far too loose for his or her own good. It's one thing to have this go on in silence. Once it becomes public knowledge, once the Media gets a hold of it, there's no stopping the firestorm as it gains power and blazes out of control.

So, then, we are led to Tuesday, June 17, 2008. One of those days that could live up there with June 15, 1977, October 20, 1999 and October 19, 2006 as days that will live in Met Infamy. In his press conference, which I didn't see and only read about much later in the day, Omar was all too willing to point his finger at the press. He's right to do so, but then again, the onus is now clearly on him for the remainder of the season. If Fabulous Freddie and Ruprecht the Idiot Manchild are conscious at this point, and not polishing off their second bottle of Black Label, they'd say something and make this clear. But we don't hear anything out of them.

It's funny, because it seems like it's always been this way with Fred. On the Bonus Disc of the 1986 World Series box set, there's an interview with Wilpon on the podium. It was Wilpon who cajoled Nelson Doubleday into providing him the muscle with which to purchase the team in the first place. Yet, here he is, at the pinnacle of his reign as owner, referring to the team, his team, as "Frank Cashen and his Mets team." Not "our team." Their team. As though he's somehow detached from all this, save for signing the checks. Perhaps he prefers to shrink from the spotlight. That's one thing. But to provide us with an air of seeming disinterested, or uninvolved, particularly when things are spiraling out of control, and leaving his Houseboy in charge to his personal interests, which appear to be an A-Ball team and a new Stadium, is right on the border of complete and total insanity. I guess my point is that the owner of a team should care about what's going on with his team, right? I'm not seeing that out of Right Said Fred.

I'd like to see Omar get his head spun a little bit here. He seems awfully comfortable right now. Again, he's made the necessary move in a rather ass-backwards fashion. He's built a team that consists of two young stars, two outstanding veterans who are signed to insanely large contracts, and a horrendous cadre of Has-beens and never-will-bes. Last year, he dismissed the hitting coach, and replaced him with a hitting coach who has managed to fix absolutely none of the existing offensive problems, and has even served to create new problems where none existed in the first place! And yet, when Omar has decided to cut off the head and hack the limbs, HE LET THIS GUY KEEP HIS JOB!

I refused to listen to Mike & The Mad Dog Tuesday. I wasn't particularly in the mood to listen to those jokers cackling away about what an absolute joke the Mets allowed this situation to become. I avoided it most of the day, aside from a few comments here and there, and a call from my co-worker, out of the office for the day. I missed the early part of the game, but it seems that Jerry Manuel only needed about 5 or so minutes to attain his first controversy, with Jose Reyes at first, stomping off and throwing his helmet after being removed from the game. Manuel, apparently, then spent the better part of the inning lecturing Reyes on growing up. Reyes sounded mostly contrite after the game, which I suppose is a plus. On the field, blah, blah, blah. The games are still scenery, and everyone seemed to be in a fog after this truly bizarre day in what has been a complete train wreck of a season. I know the right move was made. I know it wasn't made well. I also don't know if it's going to make anything better.

I guess there's still hope, right? Hope dies last.

The Plot Sickens

By splitting the Single-Admission Doubleheader on Sunday, the Mets managed to take 2 out of 3 from the Texas Rangers.

My, how benign such a sentence sounds. I suppose to tell that to someone who had no idea about Baseball, or didn't live within the Media Vacuum that is New York City, it wouldn't mean much.

If the Mets managerial and coaching situations were unstable before the Rangers came into town, now, it appears to be even more of a mess.

It's not enough to say that Willie kinda sorta might be fired, now, it appears that he won't be fired today, but two of his coaches, Tom Nieto and Rick Peterson, just well might.

Even so, as the Mets depart for what appears to be their 3rd trip to the West Coast in the last 2 weeks, calm is not the name of the game as far as the Mets are concerned. When the Mets return, after their games in Anaheim and Colorado, who knows what the team will look like. And if changes are made, who knows if they'll do any good.

I've done my share of Willie-Bashing over the past several months. That's no secret. Willie has taken the brunt of the criticism for the team's shortcomings. But while the blame that has been put on him is hardly unjust, it's now to the point where Willie has become the new Art Howe. We know he's a goner, he knows he's a goner, and yet this whole mess has been dragged out in such a sub-moronic fashion by Omar, Freddie and his Fan-Boy, that Willie is now the sympathetic figure in this mess. People are beginning to feel bad for him twisting in the wind. He's getting a raw deal, just like Howe got a raw deal. He's basically been given a team, the past two seasons, that was barely cohesive and just about past it. I know I've said it before (or it may have just been in an e-mail circle, I forget), but Omar apparently built a team to win now, only now was two years ago. Now is now, and now, the Mets are no damn good.

Yet, the changes are only happening at the top, as the bullpen is a shambles and the offense is a horrible mishmash of pressing young stars trying to carry the load left behind by aging veterans who can't hack it anymore. Omar has, according to "Rumors" and "Sources" close to the team (one such source is that bastion of drunken, asshole journalism, that dope, that Gin-Blossom Drunk Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, who should be having peanuts thrown at him, not reporting on Baseball), been given the green light to fire Willie whenever he sees fit. He's snuck onto the flight and is headed West with the rest of the team. The only quotes are given in cryptic, half-hearted endorsements, basically saying that Willie is the Manager on a day-by-day basis.

How the hell does he get off running a Ballclub like this?

The games right now appear to be a mere distraction from what has dissolved into a Circus Sideshow. And it's not a good sideshow. People continue to write about the games, but what's the point at this point? It appears to be the same story over and over again. The Mets played the Texas Rangers this weekend, and by Wednesday, who'll remember that? They may as well have played the Podunk Jerkoffs. You come, you show up, Ball 1, Strike 1, Home Run, Hit, don't hit, Pitch, don't pitch, Starter does well, Reliever X screws it up, Yay, Boo, go home. The Mets and Rangers played two games today, the stadium seemed relatively full at the outset, and when I turned on Game 2 in the 2nd inning, there looked to be about 10,000 people in the ballpark, at a game when Pedro was pitching. The Mets appeared to mostly stagger through the afternoon, winning the second game pretty much on dumb luck. Willie, figuring he's got nothing more to lose at this point—and he doesnt—just threw Robinson Cancel up with 2 outs and the bases loaded in the 6th, and somehow, Cancel pulled a Chip Ambres and knocked in the winning runs. Then, the game ended, and the focus went back to the coaches and the Manager and the rumors flying around.

Who starts these rumors anyway? I have a feeling that either the Idiot Boy-King might just have his lips too loose, or he's trying to bag a page from the Daily News, or something stupid like that. Knowing him, the situation just reeks of it. Why are there "leaks?"There's a time to talk, and a time to keep your mouth shut. Is this just a way to let the fans know that the people in charge are actually doing something, or that they just like to act like morons? There's a history of unprofessionalism within this organization, especially when it comes to leaking things that really should remain internal. I wonder if it has something to do with this team's inferiority complex dealing with the Yankees, or the insecurity of the Wilpons, or something else. It goes back to Mike Piazza finding out he was moving to First Base by reading the Post one morning. Art Howe got treated the same way. Now, there's this mess.

I forgot to mention something else El Guapo and I encountered last Wednesday at Shea. I didn't leave it out on purpose, I just forgot, since it was late when I was writing that, and I wanted to go back and put it in, but I forgot to do that too. Sometime in the 10th or 11th inning, there were two guys walking around the Mezzanine with paper bags on their heads. They were, for the most part, getting a positive response. They were each holding signs. One held a sign that said, "OMAR MUST GO." The other said "FRED, PLEASE HELP US!" El Guapo and I had, in a rather jocular fashion, discussed doing this ourselves earlier in the afternoon. When we saw them, we couldn't help but laugh. It wasn't because it was particularly funny.

I wonder if Fred is even conscious at this point.

The Perfect Storm

Yesterday's Giants/ Cowboys game could very possibly have been the perfect storm for the Media.

Either way, they would get to kill a Quarterback after the game. If the Cowboys won, the Media could go after Eli Manning for his continued struggles. If the Giants won, the media could go after Tony Romo for his much-ballyhooed vacation with Jessica Simpson.

The game itself played out exactly as I had expected it would. This was the perfect example of the "weird game" I talked about on Friday. The Giants raced out early, but their offense was, for the most part, fairly stagnant except when they absolutely needed to move the ball. Otherwise, the story of the game was the Giants defense, who was kept on the field for the majority of the game thanks to three exceptionally long Cowboy drives. For most of the first half, they couldn't stop the run, and they let Romo complete tons upon tons of short passes, and chew up the clock on the way to a pair of touchdowns. Then, they did the same to start the 3rd quarter, driving down for a Field Goal. The Giants kept themselves in the game with a pair of lightning strikes from Eli Manning to Amani Toomer (who has been playing out of his mind lately), one on a long TD pass on their first drive, and their most pivotal 47-second Touchdown drive to tie the game right before halftime.

After that, the Giants defense finally began to wear down the Dallas offense, specifically the offensive line. Between Andre Gurode's inability to hear a snap call, and Romo getting frustrated, the Cowboys inevitably self-destructed, slowly but surely, as the 2nd half drew on. The Giants managed to parlay a great punt return by R.W. McQuarters (ex-49er) into the leading touchdown, and the final 12 minutes of the game played out in the fashion of USA 4, USSR 3. Dallas would get opportunities, and be unable to cash them in. Romo began to whine, and his teammates committed some damaging penalties. One particular sequence saw Dallas run 9 straight plays from between both 40 yard lines, not being able to advance any further because of penalties on both sides, and dropped passes, finally being forced to punt the ball away. And on the final drive, Romo overshot his receivers badly on two plays before finally throwing that last interception to McQuarters for the death knell.

Frustrating, bizarre and weird. The definition of the 4:30pm Sunday game, and the right team won this game. And the media got to rip apart Tony Romo for losing his concentration on his vacation with the Simpson Family in Mexico, because that's clearly the reason he played poorly. Even Terrell Owens, never one to keep his mouth shut, brought it up without even being asked about it, going so far as to burst into tears over the attention being brought to his Quarterback and his dopey vacation that nobody really should care about at all. But it's funny to watch Owens go to pieces over it.

Meanwhile, the early game on Sunday held quite a bit of intrigue in its own right. The San Diego Chargers, who I figured would get blown out, held the line exceptionally well against the Colts, managed to slow the game down despite losing LaDainian Tomlinson (That's LaDainian Tomlinson, not L.T.) early in the game and Philip Rivers in the 3rd Quarter. The Chargers defense kept the pressure on Manning, who only seemed to be able to hit on the longer passes, and then scored three massive turnovers, one which kept them in the game at 7-0, one which kept the game close at 10-7 before halftime, and the final one at the end of the Colts last desperation drive, all the while cobbling together the winning TD drive with James Spader at QB. That was really the "Holy Shit" game of the weekend, because I don't know anybody who was giving San Diego a chance. Yes, with this upset, it takes all the steam out of the Colts/Patriots AFC Championship game that everyone wanted to see (sort of like the Cowboys/49ers games in the 90s), but don't discount the Chargers next weekend either. I'll still go on record saying the Patriots will win, but assuming that Rivers and Tomlinson can play (and I assume they will), and Gates is a bit healthier, they can make a game out of it. Rivers matured by leaps and bounds over the last 2 weeks, and his brash, unflappable attitude appears to be something the team is able to rally behind.

The Saturday games pretty much held to form. Ryan Grant gets all the credit in the world for bouncing back after having perhaps the worst first 4 minutes of a game ever, and Brett Favre pretty much plowed Seattle into the snow in one of the trademark dominant performances that he made his name for.

Saturday evening in New England was perhaps a closer game than I thought. Jacksonville kept themselves in the game for most of the first half, but they could not slow down New England's offense, and Tom Brady basically took the game over in the 2nd half and New England was able to surge away at the end.

So, this leaves us with a pair of most intriguing matchups next weekend. I think I've already stated who I'm leaning towards, but I'll have a full slate of picks on Friday, for Championship Sunday, the final true weekend of the Football season. Meanwhile, everybody in New York can prepare for the Giants Tsunami that is sure to happen all week long.

I Hope You're Happy, Joel Sherman

Gee, here I was about to write that Jose Reyes needed to step it up after his vote of confidence from Omar, who refuses to deal him for Johan Santana, when I heard today's big news.

I'm just pleased as punch that the Mets were able to foist the bubonic plague known as Lastings Milledge on the Washington Nationals today for a Right-wing Christian and a .230 hitter. That was, for sure, a move that desperately needed to be made.

It baffles me, quite honestly. I know this all comes back to the Media in New York, which made this poor kid a pariah because he sang a rap song and high-fived some fans because he was excited over hitting a Home Run, and he showboated a little bit, and was a young, exciting ballplayer. God Forbid the Mets should have someone like that on their team. My feelings on the Mets' stance on Milledge have already been well documented, and their stance on other such "boat-rockers" as LoDuca has already reared its head this off-season, and now it's culminated with Lastings finally being driven out of town.

In his stead, the Mets have brought in a catcher, who is good defensively but cannot hit the broad side of a barn, to go along with the other two catchers they already have. I guess this is the opposite of Art Howe's logic, when he claimed that you can't have too much pitching; now you can't have too much catching. So the Mets can now lose games 2-1 instead of 3-1 because Schneider will keep that extra run off the board, but he's still going to go 0 for 4.

Moreover, the Mets have brought in a guy who, despite putting up some decent offensive numbers, really boils down to a younger Shawn Green, except that he hits closer to the 35-year old Green than the 29-year old Green. But then again, Green is a heathen, headed for eternal damnation.

But at least he's not rapping about it.

I sincerely hope that this happened simply because there was no market for Milledge, and that this was Omar's precursor for dealing one or two or some combination of several of these spare parts for something decent. Otherwise, the Mets have just screwed themselves even further by dealing away the guy who was best suited to take over the Right Field job full time in '08. I don't know. Maybe if Milledge's star has fallen that much, this really was the best Omar could get for him. Maybe he's not going to develop and Church's numbers will end up equaling his. But right now, I can't figure this one out. I'm baffled right now.

Congratulations Red Sox, now what do you think about the Yankees?

Allegedly, the Boston Red Sox won the World Series last night, in a convincing 4-game sweep over the Colorado Rockies.

I'd like to think that this actually happened, except that Joe Buck, Tim McCarver and the rest of the FOX talking heads (especially that gin-blossom drunk Ken Rosenthal) spent most of the time ignoring this and instead talking about the real news story of the day, A-Rod opting out of his contract.

Earth shattering news. Who cares about a World Championship? Thanks for letting us know where you really stand, FOX.

There's not too much to say about the World Series, in all truth. I, among others, were simply hoping for a competitive series, unlike the past few years. But after 2 games, this was over. Hell, this was over after the first inning of Game 1. The Rockies were a good team that definitely deserved to be there, but they were totally overmatched. And, in reality, I don't see them doing this again. They have a good, young, competitive team, but just like they came out of nowhere this year, someone else will do this next season. The Rockies won't sneak up on anyone in '08. And they'll end up being held in the same regard as teams like the '98 Padres or the '05 Astros. You think back and say to yourself, "Wait a second, that team went to the World Series?! They did, didn't they!"

Believe it or not, there was a little Mets news over the weekend, and it didn't even involve a Bunion! This nugget placed smarmily in the infamous Anti-Met rag, the NY Post, is just another slap in the face to the Mets, who apparently have ceased to exist since September 30th. I've got no problem with laying low, especially since with the World Series over, we can now fully turn our thoughts to Hot Stove talk, but the 3-ring Circus in the Bronx have made the Mets vanish completely. Now, we have this article in Sunday's Post, talking about how Citi Field has bad Feng Shui, as explained to us by renowned Feng Shui expert Donna Chang, who just sounds like a real expert on the topic. It's almost as if the Post feels the need to kick the Mets while they're buried. Not only do the Mets suck, but their new stadium is bound to be just as bad. Well, thanks for pointing that out. It's almost as if with all the chaos and turmoil around the Yankees, they felt this need to just take one more shot at the Mets.

As if we haven't suffered enough.

Mets "Feel Bad" Field [Tabloid Rag]

Teflon Willie

We’re a pretty strong team mentally. You don’t start doubting yourself, and we’re not.

This was the quote from Willie Randolph plastered all over the New York Papers Monday morning, following the shameful display the Mets put up over the weekend. In response, the Mets went out and put forth yet another lifeless effort against the worthless Nationals, behind the stellar pitching of Brian Lawrence, as the Phillies walked into St. Louis and just hammered the Cardinals.

Maybe I'm speaking purely out of frustration, and maybe I'll end up looking silly if the Mets should manage to pull themselves out of it in the end, make the Postseason and succeed, but, in all seriousness, have they given us any reason to believe that's feasible right now? I spent a large sum of money to buy my Playoff tickets last week, and right now, I have the feeling that that money is going to be refunded sooner rather than later if things don't turn around soon.

How on earth Willie Randolph told us that the team is solid and didn't need any motivational speeches, while his Marquee player is tearing his hair out, his leadoff hitter can't seem to hit or field, and his bullpen continues to implode is beyond me. And somehow, the Press just eats this crap up.

Willie is beginning to remind me more and more of another such man who coached a major Sports franchise in New York City, and was widely loved by the local media for his entertaining banter and witticisms, despite the fact that he was largely clueless in the way he ran his team, and his weaknesses were often exposed to the point of embarrassment. But he was a great talker! He was exciting! He told us all so much without really saying anything at all.

Remember this guy...?
Willie has basically become the new Herman Edwards! Say a whole hell of a lot while really saying nothing at all to cover up the fact that there's no real plan in mind other than just stand idly by as everything falls apart.

It won't be a very popular opinion, I'm sure, especially in the eyes of the almighty New York Media (and even the visiting team's media seems to be brown-nosing him...just as the Mets storm into town and get pasted by a 5th place team), but if the Mets collapse, and that scenario is becoming more and more frighteningly real with each passing day, Willie needs to go. I know, you're only as good as the players you have, but the right manager can win with just about anyone. If this one can't, FIRE THAT ASS!

You think this garbage would have gone on under Bobby Valentine's watch? Hell Fucking No. Bobby would have called someone out weeks ago, got in somebody's face, been abrasive, been cocky and smarmy like he always was, and made the players so mad they turned the ship around to spite him. And if that didn't work, he would have called himself out. That's why Bobby's teams won. Bobby always spoke his mind, and didn't give a rat's ass about pleasing anybody. Say what you will about him, but there's something to be said about a guy who went to the World Series with an outfield of Timo Perez, Jay Payton and Benny Agbayani.

Of course, the bridge has been burned, and Bobby can't save us now. Currently, he appears to be hocking Hamburgers in Japan while managing many of his ex-Mets in the Japanese league and being a major folk hero.

Bobby was pretty much vilified by the press for being too standoffish. Willie's been a total media darling, so the uneven and often pitiful play of his team over the course of the season really hasn't been put on his shoulders. But how often can you blame Guillermo Mota for sucking when we all know this to be fact. At some point, the blame has to fall on THE MANAGER WHO CONTINUES TO USE HIM DESPITE THE FACT THAT HE SUCKS!

Furthermore, with Monday night's game being as important as it was, how dare Willie even think that starting Brian Lawrence and his noodle arm was a good idea? The fact that he allowed that joke of a pitcher with his flutterball to take the mound last night was basically an insult to every Mets fan who watched a second of that game. When he has two pitchers rotting away in his bullpen whose jocks Brian Lawrence is lucky to be able to sniff, this is the guy taking the mound in the middle of a Pennant race? I don't think anybody is surprised that the Mets and Lawrence got blown away last night. And for what purpose exactly? Shame on you, Willie Randolph. Shame on You.

Again, I sincerely hope that this all blows over, the Mets rebound tomorrow behind Maine and go on to win the Division, and go far into October and we'll just look back at what I've written here and laugh. Oh, silly Mets2Moon and his overreactions.

I sincerely hope I can laugh at this in October. If we can get that far.

Four Month Media Blackout

I hate to jump in and push myself down here, but I love how the New York Media loves to instigate things. The article about LoDuca in today's Daily News smacks of pure Out-of contextness and his reaction on today's Pre-Game show on WFAN just proves that. Everyone in the New York Media, especially the Daily News, and that hideous Anti-Met Rag, the New York Post seem to have this heightened sense of entitlement, as if they somehow honestly believe that the Athletes would cease to exist without them. They've torn apart A-Rod, whether he's deserved it or not, and since the Mets are a relatively controversy-free bunch, they need to have someone to attack on the Mets, and LoDuca is the easiest target.

I'm reminded of a scene from the recent Broadway play, "Take Me Out," which is about a Gay Baseball player. In the scene, a character, a sure John Rocker caricature, is asked a controversial question and gives an answer which is intolerant. And then, when he is asked why he did it, the character replies, "Hey, you knew that that was the answer I was going to give you, why did you ask me the question?"

And that seems to be why the media likes to pick on LoDuca. They know all the rumors, and the stories about the young girls, and the Playboy ex-wife, and the Racehorses, and the fiery temper and the loquaciousness, and they just lick their chops. Sometimes people are in a bad mood. Yesterday happened to be one of those days for LoDuca. And when the Media picked on him, he fired back. Maybe his words weren't well-set, but if you take it out of context, you totally miss the point he was making, and that's the kind of thing the Media seems to love to leap on. Let's create a controversy where none exists. You know what to expect out of LoDuca.

LoDuca Outburst has Latin Accent [Daily News]
Catcher's Words Tools of Ignorance [Daily News]
LoDuca Tired of doing the Talking [NY Post (tabloid rag BS)]