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???

WEDNESDAY’S WEEKLY WILLIE WATCH

Willie, Willie, Willie.

Let’s look back at the week Willie had.

Last Wednesday evening Willie threw John Maine out there against the Nats and sat back and get a strong pitched game to go along with a 4 run 5th inning and this one was never in doubt. Ryan Church batted second and had 2 hits and a HR and the week was off to a good start.

On Thursday we went 14, and I give Willie credit with this one, everything he did worked out well, as the bullpen was solid, he got a few clutch hits and the Mets were 8-6 for the year and 2-0 for Willie’s week.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday we went into Philly and any manager is going to look smart when Santana and Perez were as dominating as they were and Ryan Howard is swinging and missing all weekend and Jimmy Rollins gets 2 ABs (don’t get all excited Corby, those are AT BATS, not abs). For the second time this year though, Willie pulled Ollie after 5 2/3 scoreless innings having not given up a run, but the bullpen was strong again as 6 relievers got the final 19 outs and Willie and the Mets were 4-0 for the week.

Sunday was a game that, although we were down 4-0 and never had the lead, still feels like it got away from us. Castillo failed at getting down a bunt (I know it’s not Willie’s fault that this flawed player is our second baseman for the next four years, and Wednesdays are not the time and place to address this, but his short comings need to be looked into soon) and Chase Utely may the second best player in the NL (behind David Wright) but taking 2 out of 3 is a sussussful series in my books. Doing it against Philly on the road is even that much more of a bonus.

Now we go to Monday and Wrigley field. In a tight game Willie goes to Aaron Heilman in the 8th, and after a Reyes error and a hit batter it’s suddenly 7-1 and we now have lost 2 games in a row. I can’t have this. Maine pitched well, and so did Zambrano, and I know the Cubbies are hot, but I can’t have this. Raul Casanova can’t hit, he’s done as far as I’m concerned and I’d rather see Joey Appio manning 2B and batting second than Jose Castillo these days. I understand Willie has to get Heilman on track, but HE MUST keep him out of close games until Heilman can get 3 outs in an inning without giving up some runs.

The Mets are 8-1 this year when Church and Pagan bat 2nd and 2-8 when Castillo bats 2nd. Every time I look at the line-up I continue to Carlos Delgado in the 5th slot. Willie needs to STOP treating all the veterans like they can do no wrong; he needs to make everyone accountable regardless of how long they have been in the league. Whatever success these players had with Toronto or Minnesota or with the Middletown Elks are meaningless to me.

I’m generally very easy going with managers and coaches (the exceptions being Rich Kotite and Jeff Torborg), but Willie’s rope is getting short. I don’t see him doing anything to fire this team up, I don’t see him motivating these players, and while I know Willie can’t control someone getting a clutch hit, or making a key play, he can hold them accountable for failure, and this is something he does not do. I can't have this, I just can't have this. It's unacceptable.

The week started off 4-0, and ended 0-3.

4-3 for the week and 10-9 for the season.

4 out of every 7 gives us 93 wins for the year, which isn’t bad, and quite possibly would get them at least a wild card, but unlike last year, Willie can’t keep doing the same things over and over again, and just hope things just get better. The rope is getting short, and Willie is not getting the job done.

WILLIE’S CURRENT SCORE = 59

ALWAYS GREAT TO HEAR FROM HANK

Thanks to Neil for these great Hank quotes about the state of the Yankee pitching staff...

"I want him as a starter and so does everyone else, including him, and that is what we are working toward and we need him there now," Steinbrenner told the New York Times. "There is no question about it, you don't have a guy with a 100-mile-per-hour fastball and keep him as a setup guy. You just don't do that. You have to be an idiot to do that."

"The mistake was already made last year switching him to the bullpen out of panic or whatever," Steinbrenner told the newspaper. "I had no say in it last year and I wouldn't have allowed it. That was done last year, so now we have to catch up. It has to be done on a schedule so we don't rush him."

"I think once Hughes and Kennedy get plenty of starts and get Joba back, and with [Chien-Ming] Wang and [Andy] Pettitte, we will be fine," Steinbrenner told The Times.

"[Mussina] just needs to learn how to pitch like [45-year-old Phillies pitcher] Jamie Moyer,"

In the offseason, if you remember, Hank was all for acquiring two-time Cy Young award winner Johan Santana, but we all know how that turned out.

"The starting rotation is not what I would have chosen at the beginning of the year, but that is not a big news flash to anyone,"

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

TOP 10 FAVORITE METS

Having been a Mets fan since 1973, I starting thinking about my favorite players and I have put together this little list.

10. Johan Santana – Yes he’s been a Met for exactly one day, but are you kidding me…after the embarrassment of 2007 I don’t think there was any move this team could make to excite a Met fan again except to acquire this guy. We won’t forget the last 3 weeks of 2007, but after watching this guy pitch, and getting him in his prime, there is little doubt he will move up on this list pretty fast.

9. Rick Reed – I don’t have great memories about Jerry Koosman, and although as a kid I used to get a kick out of watching Dave Kingman hit, he was a jerk. Go back and look at Rick Reed’s stats as a Met, the guy was very solid. He didn’t walk anyone, and just went out there and got people out and was always a good guy. Cone and Leiter were better, but I always like Rick Reed best.

8. Pedro Martinez – I loved Pedro as a Bosox, and I love Pedro even more as a Met. He is one of the most charismatic players we have ever had, not to mention one of the most talented. To watch a healthy Pedro is to watch one of the greatest players of our generation, so here’s to hoping Pedro has a solid 2008, signs a new deal with the Mets and finishes his career in NY.

7. Lee Mazzilli – After Seaver was traded the Mets this Brooklyn born Italian basket catching CF was the best player we had. I still remember the 1979 All Star game (that he should have won the MVP award of) when he walked with the bases loaded against Ron Guidy and then later hit a HR off Jim Kern it was probably the first time I could remember one of my favorites doing something to actually win a game, when everyone else was watching.

6. Jose Reyes – although he is blamed for being a huge part of the collapse of the 2007 Mets, he is probably the most exciting and electrifying player in their history. When Reyes is getting on base and running the bases he makes the entire offense roll. Defensively I think he is a bit over rated, but none the less, he is a solid fielder and great to watch everyday.

5. Edgardo Alfonso – Although his “big” years were short lived, he was at one time the best player in NY, and we thought he would put up one big year after another. A clutch hitter, and top notch defensive player at both 2nd and 3rd base. After he injured his back he was never the same hitter, but 1997-2000 at the ages of 23-26 we thought we had a guy who would be a super star for the next 15 years.

4. Mike Piazza – This future Hall of famer was an offensive force to watch in his years as a Met. He always carried himself with dignity, and had a great presence in the lineup. No one ever hit the ball harder, and you never wanted to miss his at-bats. After the awful 1990 seasons, Piazza came aboard and immediately this organization has a renewed sense of respect. His home run at Shea in the first game back after 9/11 will never be forgotten.

3. David Wright – he’s only been here a few years but he has the chance to go down as one of the all time great Mets. So far he has exhibited a great “awareness” of who he is, and what he is. And what he is, is a class act with a ton of talent.

2. Keith Hernandez – The captain. After all those awful losing seasons once Seaver was gone, Hernandez came to the Mets in 1983 and was the first piece of the puzzle that brought an entirely different attitude to this team and a championship (my only in all 3 major sports as a fan in 35 seasons) in 1986. His professionalism and tenacity were by far the makings of an amazing leader.

1. Tom Seaver – the franchise and the reason I grew up rooting for the good guys and not the Yankees. I remember trying to emulate his pitching motion right down to the grass stains on my right knee, and I went to bed crying when he was traded in 1977. I was at the first game when he returned to Shea as a Red, I was at the first game when he returned as a Met, and I went to Cooperstown for the weekend to see his induction.

WINE FOR CHARITY

Jose Reyes, Johan Santana and Brian Schneider have teamed up with Charity Wines to raise money for a variety of worthy causes, according to a press release from Clos LaChance Winery & Estate Vineyard located in San Martin, CA.

Reyes, Santana and Schneider join Curt Schilling, Manny Ramirez, Jorge Posada and Bobby Abreu, among other players, by lending their name and image to the bottle, creating CaberReyes (which will benefit the Major League Baseball Players Trust), Santana’s Select (benefiting The Johan Santana Foundation), and Schneider Schardonnay (benefiting The Catching for Kids Foundation).

Wines will be available in retail shops all across the Tri-State area starting mid-May and are expected to sell for $13.

METS ACQUIRE SANTANA

Finally!

After weeks and months, and what feels like years the Twins have moved Santana and Omar and the Mets are the big winner.

The package didn't even include the Mets' top prospect Fernando Martinez or young stud Mike Pelfrey.

They now have a window of 48-72 hours to agree to a contract and as much as I don't want to say you have to agree to a contract with him under any circumstances, THE METS MUST AGREE TO A CONTRACT WITH HIM UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.

I think the Omar Minaya did a wonderful job and played his cards very skillfully (or you can say he got very lucky and the Twins did a terrible job). No one knows how these prospects will turn out, but a Yankee offer of Phillip Hughes sure seems to be a better option than the Mets' package of Carlos Gomez, Deolis Guerra, Kevin Mulvey and Philip Humber.

Although I love young pitchers, and the Mets did give up 3 of them, this was a no brainer, and after the absolute embarrassment of September 2007 this had to be done.

16 days to pitchers and catchers!!!!

Son of Steinbrenner article - better written than mine...

The following article is copied from New York Magazine and the writer does a much better job than I did a few day and points out that there's little reason to pay attention to what Hank Steinbrenner says when it comes to the Yankees trading for Johan Santana



Hank Steinbrenner Talks Himself, Twins Into a Tizzy

Anyone following the Yankees in the news for the past few months must be tired of hearing from Hank Steinbrenner about the possibility of a trade with the Minnesota Twins for young pitcher Johan Santana. It's been literally weeks and weeks of the same mantra: "I'm in charge!" "We're still open!" "Our offer was the best offer!" Even though way back on December 2, Steinbrenner set a one-week deadline for the Twins to accept his offer, it's been dragging on and on. Since today, just over a month later, papers are reporting Steinbrenner as saying actually "there were no offers on the table," we thought we'd take a little walk down memory lane of all of his bluster:

December 3, 2007: "I'm not going to be played against the Red Sox. That's not something I'll do. That's not something the Yankees should ever do, and that's I think what they're trying to do now," Yankees senior vice president Hank Steinbrenner said Sunday. "So if they want the best offer that has been offered to them, then they need to make up their minds." [Boston Globe]

December 8, 2007: "As far as the door being open, who knows? At this point, [Yankees pitchers who might be traded for Santana] Chamberlain, Hughes, Kennedy, Cabrera and Cano, they're as close to untouchable as you get… The only reason I made a point of a deadline on Santana was that I didn't want to get caught up in the circus of the winter meetings. The purpose of that deadline was trying to get something done before the winter meetings." [NYDN]

December 15, 2007: "For the near future, we're in a no-lose situation, to tell you the truth… It's up to Minnesota what they want to do and I assume they're still thinking about trading him… As far as what I'm going to do, I don't know. There's been a couple of brief calls. The door's not closed." [NYDN]

January 3, 2008: "I think the Twins realize our offer is the best one… I feel confident they're not going to trade him before checking with us one last time and I think they think we've already made the best offer." [NYDN]

January 5, 2008: "Nothing is really decided at this point… I'm still leaning towards doing it. There's others leaning not to do it. There are some others that are leaning to do it also. Disagreements within the organization. Nothing major, but just different opinions. I've changed my opinion a couple times… I always told [general manager Brian Cashman], 'I'm going to make the final decisions because when you're the owner, you should.'" [Newsday]

January 9, 2008: "There's definitely still a possibility… The bottom line is, it's my decision, but there's disagreement within the organization. I've got to keep everybody happy in the organization, including Brian… That includes my partner, which is my brother." [Newsday]

January 15, 2008: “It’s most likely that we’re going to stay with what we’ve got… That always can change — of course, that’s up to Minnesota — but there were no offers on the table." NYT]

So, let's get this straight. Reading through the above quotes, we see "offer, offer, no offer" and "I'm in charge, I'm in charge, I have to listen to everybody else." No wonder Hal Steinbrenner always keeps his mouth shut.

Son of Steinbrenner Update

Thanks to the Daily Intelligencer they give some specific examples of the flip flopping I mentioned from Son of Steinbrenner:

On December 3, Steinbrenner set a deadline for the Twins to accept their best offer.

On December 8 and 15, Steinbrenner said the door is still open.

On January 3, he stated that the Yankees had the best offer, and the Twins know it, but two weeks later he said it was likely his team would “go with what they’ve got.”

On January 14 reports indicated that the Yankees were done talking to the Twins, unless Steinbrenner had a change of heart. So, naturally, the next day, Steinbrenner told the Associated Press that the Yankees are still discussing Santana, adding, “There’s still a little talk back and forth.

Son of Steinbrenner

Yesterday, there were a number of reports that the Yankees had pulled their trade offer for Johan Santana off the table. What seemed like less time than it takes Eddie P to drink 7 shots of pineapple vodka, Hank (or Hal, I'm not sure if I know the difference or if it matters) told the AP that the Yankees are still discussing Santana, and according to the daily news, “There’s still a little talk back and forth.

This guy really is priceless, and I'm sure Cashman loves to wake up every morning and read another statement from Son of Steinbrenner revealing his hand.

I mean obviously either you are involved in getting him or you are not. What is the insatiable desire to comment on it? It's great that he comes out every day and says we are still thinking about him, then changes his mind and says we're going to go with the kids, then flips back to say we can get him if we want him..etc....I mean unless I'm new to this, isn't it possible that the Dodgers could call the Twins up, offer their 5 best prospects and acquire Santana tomorrow? Would it not count since 3 weeks ago they said they weren't interested and didn't publicly come out and say "we are still interested?"

Seriously though, we all know the Yankees have the means to acquire Santana at any time, I tend to think if this was 20 years ago and George was aware of what was going on, they would have had him by now, and Phil Hughes would be getting ready to be a .500 pitcher with the Twinkies, but in this new era of Son of Steinbrenner all we get so far is talk, it's time to see some action.

What does this have to do with poker you ask? Well my original plan for this blog entry was that I was going to compare Son of Steinbrenner to a poker player who is always revealing his hand, and thus, never wins. But I couldn't get my thoughts together around that concept so I figured I'd just rant about Hal (or Hank) and chuckle at the insanity of it all. Speaking of insanity, I'm not exactly sure what Omar's plan in all of this is either, more than anyone he needs to make the move so as not to have Jose Lima as the Mets #3 starter next year.