Thank you Orioles

The Orioles seemed hell bent to NOT win today. Willie Randolph kept sending home runners and it seemed like every single out was made at either home or at third base.

But they won.
A pair of extra inning wins against the Yankees in back to back games.
And the Yankees have to fly west to face Weaver, Haren and Santana in Anaheim.

Hopefully that could be an Angels series win.
Either way, the Red Sox are hovering around the Division Lead. A modest win streak matched with a modest Yankee losing streak...

I'm not giving up on the Division yet!!!

Hey Mets! Nice sense of urgency

Last Tuesday I wrote a post that basically said the Mets aren't winning it in 2009 so don't bother making a trade.

I often get a lot of traffic from Mets fans so I was expecting a lot of hits.

I got a lot of hits.

I was expecting some comments and some private e mails.

I got them.

I was expecting them to be insulting and cursing me out and informing me that the Mets were only 2 games out with half the season to play.

I was wrong.

EVERY SINGLE comment and e mail I got was agreeing with me, that the Mets were dead in the water. Some actually insisted that I was too light on the Mets.

You can't accuse Mets fans of being overly optimistic I guess!

And you also can't accuse the Mets of panicking. You CAN accuse them of phoning it in!

Seriously, when you are stumbling to stay at .500 and are going to play your chief rival... the one that you blew the division to the past 2 seasons... the one you NEED to play well against in head to head match ups... you should do better than 3 runs.

They scored 3 runs against the Phillies. Not per game, that would be sad enough. TOTAL!

They are now 4-6 against the Phillies. Gee Whiz, I wonder if THAT will come back to haunt them.

Oh yeah, they start tomorrow against the Dodgers who now have Manny back. Tomorrow will be the official halfway point of the season for the Mets and they have clinched a losing record for their first 82 games.

Somewhere Willie Randolph is laughing his butt off!

A meeting with Fred Wilpon and Omar Minaya

So I guess Fred Wilpon must have called Omar Minaya into his office.

OMAR: You wanted to see me boss?

FRED: Yes, Omar. Thanks for coming in. Close the door.

(Omar gets up to close the door, then pauses. Sensing something ominous, he looks back.)

OMAR: I’d rather not.

FRED: It’s best for both of us if you do.

(Omar stands still… not moving.)

FRED: ZEILE!

(Former Mets thirdbaseman Todd Zeile walks in. He glares at Omar and then shuts the door.)

OMAR: Was that Todd Zeile? What the f---?

FRED: I keep him around. He needs a job and sometimes, I need some muscle.

(Omar sits down.)

FRED: Let’s review some stuff, OK?

OMAR: Fine.

FRED: This is your 4th season as GM.

OMAR: That’s right.

FRED: And you’ve done some good things… like trade Kris Benson for John Maine.

OMAR: And bringing in Pedro and Beltran! Don’t forget that!

FRED: Um… they came here because I opened up my wallet. And any yahoo calling Mike and the Mad Dog knew that bringing in Pedro and Beltran was a smart move.

OMAR: I traded for Johan Santana! Don’t forget that.

FRED: OK, so besides the Benson trade, your great accomplishment was seeing that Pedro Martinez, Carlos Beltran and Johan Santana might kind of sort of help the squad.

OMAR: I’m a visionary.

FRED: Right. Have you noticed that our team is doing a swan dive for the second September in a row?

OMAR: We’re right in it!

FRED: And last year we all blamed Willie. Well Willie is gone, he’s sliding into second base to great cheers at Yankee Stadium. And we’re saying “Johan Santana and then pray for Hurricane Ike!”

OMAR: I got Johan! He’s MY pick up.

FRED: Meanwhile you traded away Heath Bell and Matt Lindstrom, who we could use in our bullpen. Brian Bannister who we could use in our rotation.

OMAR: Hey, young kids are always a risk.

FRED: Omar, do you see the team is breaking down again?

OMAR: Fluke injuries.

FRED: Isn’t part of your job making sure that the bench is stocked with players who could fill in in case of injuries?

OMAR: I’ve been doing it.

FRED: Robinson Cancel? Andy Phillips? Ramon Martinez? Raul Casanova? Trot Nixon?

OMAR: We need their veteran leadership!

FRED: Have you noticed you have a tendency to sign old players. I mean really old players!

OMAR: Not THAT old!

FRED: You signed Moises Alou to a multi year deal! You had us sign Julio Franco to a 2 year deal when he was in mid 40s! Damion Easley is 106!

OMAR: That’s an exaggeration.

FRED: You put together a team filled with 30 and 40 somethings and are stunned that they crash and burn down the stretch?

OMAR: They are healing in the trainers room.

FRED: Unless there is a f---ing Cocoon at the bottom of the whirlpool, I don’t see this team healing.

OMAR: So what are you saying?

FRED: You’ve had four years. That’s a recruiting class in college. And when people look at our roster, I have to say the sentence “I convinced him to come out of retirement one last time” more often than a Clint Eastwood film festival. It’s over.

OMAR: Over?

FRED: It wasn’t Willie’s fault. We need a new direction.

OMAR: So you are going to fire me?

FRED: Yes.

(Omar cracks his knuckles.)

OMAR: And I assume Mr Zeile will enforce that.

FRED: That’s the case.

OMAR: It would be a shame if the New York press got a hold of certain pictures.

(Fred’s eyes widened.)

FRED: Willie told me he destroyed those.

OMAR: Oh, pictures can be copied. And mailed quickly.

(Omar holds up his iPhone.)

OMAR: And with a click of a button they will be in Mike Lupica’s Outlook Express.

FRED: God DAMN you.

OMAR: No need for that. This can be between you and the petting zoo.

FRED: (Seething) What do you want?

OMAR: An extension.

FRED: AN EXTENSION????

(Omar holds up the iPhone.)

FRED: Fine… you have an extension.

OMAR: Another four years.

(Fred meekly nods.)

OMAR: Thank you. It was a pleasure doing business with you.

(Omar gets up to leave. He opens the door and Zeile is still standing there.)

OMAR: Get used to me Zeile… I’m sticking around for a while.

(Omar walks down the hall and makes a call on his iPhone.)

OMAR: Isaiah! It’s Omar! I used your job saving technique! Man it works like a charm.

Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Be A Mets Fan...

Remember in Jaws 2 how disbelieving everyone was of another shark attacking Amity Island to the point where they ignored then fired Chief Brody and allowed the shark to attack more people?

OK, probably not.

But that’s kind of what has been happening with the Mets.

Nobody thought another collapse would come about.
Not after Jerry Manuel had the clubhouse loose after Willie Randolph’s less than classy firing.

Not after they came from behind… down 7 ½ games in early June… down 5 ½ games in July to taking a 3 ½ game lead with 17 to play.

Surely they learned from last year when they were up by 7 with 17 to play and blew it.
Surely they knew to stay focused and not let leads slip away and to not get beaten by teams like the Nationals, who beat the Mets 5 out of 6 times last September.

Da duh… da duh… da duh…

There’s a fin in the water.

Da duh da duh da duh….

Losing 2 out of 3 to Philadelphia was bad enough…
Blowing that lead to Atlanta on Sunday was worse…
Last night being blown out by Washington makes it clear:

The Mets are going to need a bigger boat.

Oh it’s a combination of starting pitching (I love you Pedro, but you aren’t the same pitcher) and bullpen (anyone think saves are easy to get NOW?)

But I wonder how much of it is also the constant reminder of how they wet the bed last fall.

I always felt that the Curse of the Bambino was real. Not that I thought it was a hex or some spell cast by Gandalph. Rather I felt like the pressure of an entire region saying into your face “You are going to fail… you are going to fail…” would help cause someone to eventually fail.

Maybe the never ending reminder of the collapse of 2007 is getting to them.
Or maybe this is gut check time and they win this division and the pennant as well.

I throw the question out to the Mets fans of the world…

Faith and Fear in Flushing, are you in full panic mode at this point or do you see the ship straightening itself out.

How about you, Dana Brand? Are you going to be like my cousin Dave and concede the division to Philadelphia before they even pass you?


Let me ask you The Good The Bad The Ugly and the Mets. Does the spiral of the Brewers and the possibility of a Wild Card cushion soften the blow of this flop?

I bet you have some Yankee hatred in you, Eric at Amazin' Avenue. Does the fact that the Yankees are out of it make this tumble slightly more bearable?

Hey hilarious comedian Michael Reisman, is a big disappointment an appropriate send off to Shea Stadium?

Hey Liam McEneaney, brilliant comic and my friend. Is this just part of the burden of being a Mets fan?

How about you, Andres DuBouchet, possibly the funniest sketch performer I have ever met. Are you seeing the glass as half full and the Mets have a chance to say “Let’s prove to the world that we are winners” or are you seeing the glass as shattered on the ground?

Hey Poppi Kramer… GET OFF OF THE LEDGE!

Either way, if this keeps up all I can tell you is THIS WAS NOT A BOAT ACCIDENT.