CRAZY MET FAN

When did I become that annoying, stupid Met fan that is doom and gloom every other day and lives and dies on every little event rather than look at the big picture and know that the baseball season is 162 games and not one at bat?

The Mets lose two winnable games to the Nationals and I’m one of those stupid callers to Mike and the Mad Dog, all out of my mind, screaming for the manager’s head and looking to offer trades of Luis Castillo, Marlon Anderson and Angel Pagan for Chase Utley.

I’ve been religiously following this team for 35 years, and we have won 1 time. So that’s 34 seasons of disappointments and failures, but never have I been taking these losses and these games as hard as I did last week. Was it the fact that last year they may have been the most talented team in the NL, and had the largest collapse in history? Is it because we went out and got the best pitcher in baseball this year and we are floundering at .500?

I see a lot of talent on this team, and at any minute they can reel off 6 or 7 wins or a 12 out of 16 couple of weeks and all will be well. They are tied for 1st in the loss column, and we still have 75% of the season left. There really is no need for me to go nuts after losing a listless 1-0 game on a Thursday afternoon. I apologize to my faithful reader(s) for the brief level of insanity.

Never can I remember the core Met fans being so quick to pull the trigger, so unhappy with every move, every decision. I think Omar has done a terrific job building this team, I think he has given Wille everything he needs, and I think this is the best team in the NL. Let’s get through this next 4 game series against Atlanta not losing 3 out of 4, lets keep giving Johan and Maine a couple of runs, and watch Big Pelf continue to blossom, get Pedro back in a few weeks, and see Ollie continue to pitch well against the good teams and there is no reason to expect anything less than a trip to the NLCS.

So in a way I feel a little silly that we win 2 games easily this weekend against a last place team and my whole out look has changed and everything is fixed, but in reality I know it’s not. But I do know they need to continue doing what they were doing, which means Reyes has to hit, Wright has to hit, and the starters have to give us a solid 7 innings each night.

I’m going to try and hold back my overreactions, both negative and positive, and remember there are a ton of baseball left to play. It was a good weekend, lets build on this against Atlanta tomorrow, and please, please…lets knock the crap out of Tommy Glavine.

Hmmm…I wonder if the Phills would take Castillo AND Heilman for Utley???

JOE MORGAN IS A PRETTY BAD ANNOUNCER

Besides getting just a boat load of facts wrong and adding little if no insight into the game, he has nothing of value to tell me.

Last night in the Met win, after the 8th inning Jose Reyes home run, we got this little jewel from Joe:

"You know what I like about that, he ran around the bases."

Not to point out the obvious, but um...what exactly were Jose's options there? Isn't that the rule?


How about this one from little Joe on the David Wright tag up from 3rd on a sack fly:

Alou flies out to right, Wright tags and scores, Joe suggests he might have left the base early, he says it a good 4 or 5 times then finally the replay shows that Wright did not leave early, and Joe gives us:

"His top half left quickly, but his foot stayed on the bag."

Is that possible?

WEDNESDAY’S WEEKLY WILLIE WATCH

I certainly understand that a baseball season is a marathon and not a race. Having been a fan of the Mets now for 35 years (and no I wasn’t a fan of some other team for the 20 years prior to rooting for them), I fully understand there will be ups and downs, and it’s silly to take the team’s pulse after every game.

So as disappointed as we were this weekend when Santana and Perez couldn’t get the job done against the Brewers, it’s equally unrealistic to fell joy and elation this morning after what was probably their best overall performance of the season last night as Big Pelf had his second solid start of the year, Reyes got 4 hits, Wright drove in 5 runs and Sanchez pitched a solid 9th.

I’ve always said as good at Wright is, and as important as the middle of the line-up is, when Reyes plays like he played in 2006 and most of 2007, this team is a totally different team, if he can finally shed whatever it has been that’s been holding him back the last 6 weeks or so, dating back to September 2007, this will all be moot and the Willie Watch will be more about us watching to see when they clinch rather than watching to see when they choke.

I still miss the fire, and this team needs a leader, and at this point I have to point to Willie to be that guy. I know we have no idea what goes on behind the scenes, and I never hear a player moan or complain about Willie publicly, but again, he is the head, he makes all the moves, he needs to get wins, and he will be held accountable.

Wednesday’s on this blog are all about Willie, so what has changed since last week…not to much, although I will say I was happy to see a little switch last night with Castillo batting 8th, and church in the 2 hole, plus coming off a strong game last night, and not having any specific blame on Willie for the last weekend, I’ll give Willie a little boost today, but the watch is still very much in effect.

WILLIE’S CURRENT SCORE = 67

SEND US AN ANGEL

Angel Pagan had a 2 out single to center to drive home Jose Reyes as the Mets take the rubber game of the 3 game series with the Phillies.

John Maine gave the Mets a strong 6 innings, and Scott Schoeneweis gave them 4 huge outs against the Phillies best hitters in the 11th inning.

Reyes had the big 2 out double in the 12th and eventually scored the winning run. Jose also stole his first base of the year. There is no doubt that as Jose goes, this Met offense goes, so hopefully Reyes will start getting on base again, and get this offense clicking.

The Brewers come in this weekend and, weather permitting, will play a 3 game series.

WEDNESDAY’S WEEKLY WILLIE WATCH

I am by no means one of those reactionary, crazy, clean house at the drop of a hat type of guy, and I am not saying the Mets need to fire Willie Randolph if they lose the next two games to the Phillies, but I just feel like I’m watching the same bad movie, night in and night out, and Willie’s lack of change is something that needs to be monitored.

Again, I fully understand that at any point in the season a team can lose 4 out of 6, and if you are 45-30 it doesn’t feel so bad, but what I don’t like is that we are seeing the same things that doomed us in September last year, and nothing is being done (at least from what the fans can see) to change it.

Willie Randolph has preached calm, and I’m all for the one day at a time, don’t panic approach, but I tend to think, after not panicking last year, and seeing the team collapse, that that approach isn’t working.

On the other hand, if Willie switches his message and goes crazy, shows some fire and starts to treat every game like game 7 of the World Series, and they still lose, well then what?

The bullpen has not been very good no matter when or who Willie brings in, but I also wonder if they are not being put in a position to succeed. I feel Willie keeps using the same guys in the same roles with the same (awful) results. I don’t know what the right roles for some of these guys are, but I know that by doing the same thing over and over again, and just expecting Heilman and Schoeneweis to suddenly do well is NOT WORKING. Something needs to be done with these guys other than letting them face the same situations day in and day out that they are failing at.

Where is Jose Reyes? I can’t blame Willie for this guy’s disappearance act, but a lot of the blemishes of the bull pen sure would go away if they came in games with a 7-2 lead rather than a 3-2 lead.

The starting pitching is good, but with that said, Willie can’t have a quick hook (Oliver Perez came out of the game after 5 2/3 ip and 92 pitches while he still hadn’t given up a run). I tend to trust a tired Ollie a lot more than this “well rested” bullpen.

I know Willie is a regular reader of this blog. So it is officially going to be WEDNESDAY’S WEEKLY WILLIE WATCH. Every Wednesday we’ll reassess Willie and the state of this team and discuss whether or not Willie’s time is up. Unless this team just stops winning altogether, I’m all for giving Willie 40 games to see where we are before he season gets to far away from us, and I have no desire to fire Willie yet, but let Willie know, the watch has begun. Currently I am giving Willie a score of 65 out of 100. Once that score falls below 50, it’s time for a change.

WILLIE’S CURRENT SCORE = 65