Brokeback Clubhouse

I noticed Johan's tongue ring(pictured left) in his September 23rd start against the Cubbies. Johan often chews gum on the mound, but after watching him in this outing I was fairly certain that this is not gum in his mouth.

Just another reason why a Mets-Thing correspondent inside the Major Leagues recently reminded me, "All latin guys are Bi. You don't want to get in the showers when the latin guys are in there. You either have to go in with a brother or another white guy for protection".

Ron Gardenhire(Santana's manager in Minnesota), has a famous quote, well famous in the blogger world, about why he wouldn't shower when Johan Santana was around.... "If I'm going to get chased around the shower, it's going to be by my wife".

Don't shoot the messenger.

Baseball Celebration Snobbery

Listen, the most important part of winning a championship is celebrating it.

And Ryan Howard knew what he was doing. He had obviously put some thought into it and had a plan for what he would do after the last strike. Most importantly, he knew that the only way to properly celebrate on a baseball field is with a pileup. So, he made sure that he was the first player to the mound and he made sure that the pitcher and catcher went down. He was skillfully able to take both Brad Lidge and Carlos Ruiz down in one tackle. This started the pileup and everyone was able to easily jump on top. Howard also pulled off the rare celebration double-play by successfully protecting Lidge and Ruiz from too much pressure. He was able to get his arms out and brace them from the flying bodies. Big Ups to you, Ryan Howard.

However, Brad Lidge nearly blew the celebration. He showed awful technique and obviously didn't have any kind of strategy. Come on dude, just a little forethought is all. Immediately after the last strike, Lidge simply went down onto his knees in one of those bogus "praise God" poses and wouldn't get out of it. This left his teammates in a difficult position.... It's hard a tackle a guy that is already on his knees. It's also impossible to leap into the arms of a kneeling pitcher. Lidge was lost out there and really put Ruiz in a tough spot. Ruiz did his best to do an awkward hug just before Howard saved the day.

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The Phillies celebration ranks as one of the best I've seen recently. I don't exactly have a list written out, but I probably should. What I remember though, is that the '04 Red Sox, a team that hadn't won the World Series since the Jefferson administration or whatever it was, they had one of the worst celebrations I've ever seen. Their "celebration" consisted of the team jumping up and down in a circle. They followed that with hugs and a couple dumbasses talking about "Cowboying" eachother or some stupid shit.

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The #1 celebration of all-time is owned by the '86 Mets. I've never seen a celebration as powerful and the pitcher and catcher have never gone down as hard.

Sox/Rays Game 7

Prediction for tonight's Red Sox @ Rays game....

--Garza gets hammered. Rays lose 8-1.

What I want to happen in tonight's game....

--Lester gets hammered, Garza deals, Rays win 8-1.

Released?!?!

So, when are these guys getting their walking papers?

And the rest of their bullpen mates. When are they leaving?

Daniel Murphy

This guy is a good hitter.

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I might even write a post someday soon, or update the Met Killers, or the ejection list. Soon though, don't pressure me.

Mets-Thing in Tom Cruise control

I guess I knew what I was talking about all year. As soon as Perez and Delgado started playing well, the Mets started winning. It wasn't that hard to figure out who was killing the team.

While I've basically been on a Mets hiatus lately, blog wise, I've realized that it's hard to come up with material when the team is going well. This blog is obviously here for my ranting when I want things to change.

It's not as if the team is perfect now by any stretch, but I don't need to beat the bullpen down anymore than it already is.


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Pedro though, doesn't look good. He looks nervous out there. Scared even. I think he knows that he's finished. He's just out there fighting with the little he has left, just hoping every pitch doesn't get hit out of the yard.

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Tonight the Mets won a game with only two pitchers: Oliver Perez and Aaron Heilman. Aaron got a 2-inning save. And, they didn't allow a run.

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Like this guy: Brad Ziegler of the A's. Tonight, like Heilman, he also got a 2-inning save. However, unlike Heilman, he hasn't allowed a run yet in his major league career, and only allowed one earned run in AAA this season before he got called up. So Ziegler's pitched 61.1 innings this year and has allowed 1ER. And, that one earned run was allowed on May 11 against New Orleans, the Mets' AAA team, just about three months ago.

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I also watched parts of War of the Worlds tonight. It was on ABC. It was bad, but me and Pops kept flipping back, hoping for more gore. Then, as it turned out, it was a Speilberg movie, so no wonder it sucked.

Finally in 1st!

Big win today for the Metropolitans. My two least favorite Mets, the two guys that I wanted gone two months ago won the game. First Ollie Perez struck out 12 in 7.2 innings, allowing only one run. Then, Carlos Delgado got the game-winning opposite field double in the 8th inning.

In case you didn't know, both of these guys have been playing very well lately, not just today. Since the July game against the Yankees in which Delgado drove in nine runs and hit two homers, his line going into today was: .368 / .467 / .736 with 8HRs and 24RBI. Basically, he's been a monster, hitting bombs and seemingly getting hits in 'clutch' situations. Meanwhile, Oliver seems to have benefitted by Dan Warthen's presence in the dugout. Including today, he hasn't allowed more than 2ER in each of his last five starts. He has also cranked up his K totals again, and seems much more confident out on the hill.

While it's now obvious that simply releasing these two players wasn't necessarily the answer, continuing to play them in May and June wasn't the answer either. Now they are winning games for the Mets, but to me they're just making up for all the games they lost earlier in the season. I mean, you can't just forget the fact that Perez' ERA on 6/24 was 5.29, leading to nine Met losses in his first 16 starts. You also can't forget that Delgado had bottomed out at .229 / .306 / .396 with 11HR and 35RBI halfway through the season. You can't forget all those runners he left on base, and all those rallies he killed.

I'm glad these two are performing. I don't want Delgado to suck. But I'm just a little skeptical about whether these two can continue playing well now. Especially Perez. We've seen Perez pitch well for a few starts, and then he has one of those games where he can't get out of the 2nd inning.

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Also, can all those braindead New York writers and stupid fans that hate on Billy Wagner give it up now? The guy is fucking good, one of the best closers in league history. The Mets play one game without him and the bullpen allows 16 runs in one 9th inning. All closers blow games (unless you were juiced out of your mind like Gagne).

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Gary Cohen, I know you're a dedicated reader of Mets-Thing. So, please drop the "past the diving (insert player here)...." line. That is Michael Kay's stupid line, made famous because of Derek Jeter's lack of range. The quality of the Mets announcers blows away the Yankees in every department, radio and television. So let's keep it that way Gary. You're so much better than Kay will ever be. I'm sure you're not doing it on purpose, but it's time to pay attention and not use that line again. Thanks. Your pal, Sven.

The Mets won 10 straight?

I left town and the Mets couldn't lose. For a minute I even had one of those ridiculous supersticious moments where I thought I should take a day trip or something to keep the streak going. It was only a moment though. Then the Mets won again after my return to make it 10 in a row.

The Mets seem to have been winning all kinds of games. High scoring games. Low scoring games. Shutouts. On the road. At home. One run games. Of course, that's what happens when you win. But they shutdown the Gigantes and the Rox, two teams that they SHOULD beat. And that's great because that's what they weren't doing earlier in the season, beating the lowsy teams.

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Ironically, just weeks after writing about Billy Beane's brilliance, I'm starting to wonder if he has slightly lost his course. He is trying to get as much as he can for his players before they become too expensive for his franchise. Fine, great. But, it almost seems like he has become obsessed with making trades and not necessarily improving. It bothers me because I feel like he gave up on this season when they are an over .500 ballclub that could contend in their division. And I picked them to win the division, I didn't pick them to play for next year.

However, he has gotten some young arms in his recent (2007-08) trades, again, who are piling up Ks in the minors. See Gio Gonzalez, Sean Gallagher, and Fauti de los Santos.

Mets-Thing goes on vacation

Mid-Season Review

Since today is exactly the halfway point of the season, I figured I'd give some kind of mid-season review of the Metsies. So here it is.... their record is 40-41, about .500. They've played like a .500 ballclub. They get hot and win a few, and then get swept by the Padres. They can beat the Yankees, but can't touch Seattle. From the caliber of play we've seen so far, it's about what you'd expect.



OFFENSE....

The Bad - There's been too much patchwork crap going on in LF and RF. Tatis, Nixon, Easley, Anderson, and Chavez are decent to good bench players, but not starters. Omar's reliance on Alou this year has really cost this team. Delgado has 14 homeruns now, but his OB% is still .308 and his slugging percentage is less than Ramon Castro's. He also ranks 214th in VORP (Value Over Replacement Player), just above Kelly Shoppach and just below the Meathook.

The Good - Jose Reyes, David Wright, and Carlos Beltran. Big surprize there. Ryan Church was excellent early. Beltran still frustrates me, but he's putting up the numbers. Luis Castillo takes a terrible amount of heat from New Yorkers, but he's a good player. He takes a lot of pitches, draws walks, doesn't strikeout, steals bases, and he's solid in the field.

PITCHING....

The Bad - Heilman blew a few games early on and was just awful. Replacing Pedro wasn't really accomplished very well, and he looks like crap now anyway. Maine, Perez, and Pelfrey haven't progressed quite like everyone hoped. Oliver has had nine bad starts out of 17. Maine still hasn't found a strikeout pitch. Pelfrey allows half the batters to reach base.

The Good - Santana. Wagner. Everyone else is just average to bad. Pelfrey has pitched fairly well since 5/31, going 3-0 with a 3.35 ERA. Heilman has only allowed one run since 5/31. Duaner Sanchez has done well setting up for Wagner. New pitching coach, Dan Warthen, altered Oliver Perez' windup yesterday, and it worked. We'll see if that continues though, I won't hold my breath.

COACHING

The Bad - Willie was braindead. Rick Peterson was creeping everyone out.

The Good - Jerry Manuel is a gangsta and wears Joe Maddon glasses. Dan Warthen is old.







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There is a baseball road trip happening now. It's called Thirty27. All 30 stadiums to watch a game in only 27 days or less. All by car. Click HERE to read about it son.

Billy Beane is a smart man

Billy Beane (left) is a legend that changed the game.

This post is for Keith, Ron, Gary, and for every other stodgy baseball guy that is "insulted" by the book Moneyball....

Listen, first, the book Moneyball was written by a reporter, not Billy Beane. Also, Moneyball was not about the perfect way to evaluate players, although it's close. Moneyball was about finding a baseball asset that was undervalued, and capitalizing on it. Billy Beane figured out, by using statistics, that OnBase% is one of the most valuable individual offensive statistics in baseball. He also figured out that players with high OB% weren't necessarily coveted by other ballclubs. So he began collecting cheap players who put up high OB% and built very successful teams.

Beane also figured out that college players were much more developed than high school kids, and therefore much closer to becoming major league players. Having college playing experience also gave Beane more sample size, which made them easier to evaluate, and therefore less of a gamble than high schools kids.

With Oakland's small budget, Beane needed cheap players, and he couldn't afford to make mistakes. So instead of relying on what his scouts "saw", he used anything he could to help himself, including statistics, data, and evidence. He thought the best way to field a good team was by capitalizing on the value provided in an offense built around OB%, and a pitching staff built around young, cheap, college arms.

His stategy obviously worked. First, his teams won. And now OB% is properly regarded as a valuable trait, and the college game has elevated dramatically. When everyone starts copying you, you know you're doing something right.

So to Keith and Ron and fucking Joe Morgan, all Beane did was break away from the same old, crusty, narrow-minded baseball strategy of years past, those same dated ideas that you hang onto about "how the game should be played". He found a new way that worked, because he was forced to by his budget, that is why it was called Moneyball, and not Statball.

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I never thought that Howard Johnson would get a coaching job, especially a Hitting Coach job. He was one of the most undisciplined players I can remember. He pulled everything, struck out a lot, had terrible defensive form, and played like a lunatic. Then on Wednesday he's doing a dugout interview during the game on SNY talking about how Delgado needs to hit to the opposite field and other shit. He was right, but I just thought, since when did you ever hit a ball the other way? Then I remembered what my college coach used to say, and what I assume HoJo must say to his players, "do as I say, don't do as I do".

Please, No More

Oliver Perez (left), from Mexico, is the real reason New Yorkers support building the border fence.

Please, Omar,.... Jerry,.... I don't want to see Oliver Perez anymore. Today I edited his games started to 16. I don't want to add another one. His ERA is 5.29, with a WHIP of 1.56. He can't hold runners. He can't throw strikes. He leads the league in hit batters and he's second in walks....

Wow, I just found an awful Mets stat while looking at Perez' numbers....

Oliver Perez(17.95), John Maine(17.88), and Mike Pelfrey(17.72) are all in the bottom seven in pitches per inning, for all of MLB. They are all worse than Tom Gorzelanny and barely better than Bronson Arroyo. This is telling me the obvious: they throw a lot of balls, and don't have a strikeout pitch.

So please, Dan Warthen,.... tell Pelfrey and Maine to start throwing a curveball. Guys, a curveball is a pitch that is much slower than your slider, a pitch that you throw by creating downward spin. Just try it, for the hell of it. Maybe you'll actually miss a bat with it, and even if you don't, maybe it will make your fastball look better. Just try it.

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I was very excited to be able to add to the Mets Ejections list today. I was also pumped up to write this blog about the incident, but I guess everyone else was too, since it's all I've heard about today. I thought Runge pulled multiple bushleague umpire stunts, first asking Beltran if he needed the plate dusted off, then bumping the manager. He ranks right up there with Tim McClelland about now.

Jerry needs to make his arguments a little longer though. They're pretty good overall, with excellent head bobbing and screaming. His glasses fly off and his hat moves, but he just needs to add some length. You know, get in there until the other umpires come over. Or until the umpire starts to back away. Let the fans enjoy it and the stadium get really loud. Remember Jerry, those arguments are more for the fans than anything else.

Jerry Manuel is from the streets, Bitch!

"I told him next time he does that I'm going to get my blade out and cut him. I'm a gangster. You go gangster on me, I'm going to have to get you. You do that again, I'm going to cut you right on the field." - Jerry Manuel talking about Jose Reyes' sissy fit.

No doubt, Jerry Manuel learned a few things while managing on the south side of the City of Chicago.

"Willie Watch" Continues

Not being able fill up the back pages with polished journalism like this (left) was the real reason for yesterday's media blow-up surrounding Omar's questionable timing.

It's amazing how easily public opinion is swayed by the media. Yeah, I initially thought it was bogus that the Mets fired Willie in the middle of the night (although, on the west coast, where the firing took place, it wasn't the middle of the night). I still agree that it wasn't quite handled correctly, but do you think Willie cares? Do you think it makes one bit of difference to him whether he was fired in the morning, afternoon, middle of a game, taking a shit, or in the hotel? I don't think so. Would it really make a difference to you, dear blog reader, what time of day you got fired? What matters is that he got fired, and he wouldn't be happy about it no matter when it happened. However, New York ate it all up. Everything about how classless a move it was, every last bit of it.

The only reason this is an issue at all is because the NY media and press didn't get to break the story live. By the time they splashed the backs of their papers with the news today, it was already old.

So, I'd like to know. Did Willie feel dissed by this? Or was it just the media?

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The other group of people blasting this move are Yankees fans disguised as impartial viewers. This group of pathetic people talk about how much 'class' Willie has, and how 'classless' the entire Mets organization is. However, as far as Willie goes, 'class' isn't defined as blaming your percieved lack of enthusiasm on some racist cameramen. And one douchebag writer even used this to try and make Hank Steinbrenner look better. Now that is classless.

TOM NIETO IS FIRED

Tom Nieto, Rick Peterson, and manager Willie Randolph were all fired in the middle of the night, while New York slept.

So, what exactly did Omar and the Mets think was going to happen here? I mean, the timing of this firing was odd to say the least. What could the Mets' ownership and GM possibly be thinking? Well, you've come to the right blog, because I know exactly what they were thinking. An undercover Mets-Thing correspondent, who shall remain nameless, secretly recorded Omar saying this over the weekend....

"Hey guys, I was thinkin', if we fire Willie in the middle of the night when we're in Anaheim, noone will notice, we'll be able to avoid the media, and New York won't even realize we made a change. I mean, we're three thousand miles away, there's no way anyone could get word of this for at least a week. We'll do it at the hotel after the game too. Half the players will be asleep and they won't even realize we made a change until September."

I don't understand why they're trying to hide this. I don't understand why they waited until Willie flew all the way to California. Actually, I don't understand why Willie wasn't fired immediately after LAST season.

This firing makes me feel a little sick to my stomach. And I think I'm feeling that way because this firing most likely won't do any good for the team. If you've noticed in this blog, I've pointed out how Willie seems clueless at times, but I haven't completely blamed him for how bad the Mets are. The problem still lies in the old, overrated players he has been given by Omar. Whoever the manager will be the rest of this season (maybe Jerry Manuel), will still have to rely on players like Carlos Delgado, Oliver Perez, Scott Schoeneweis, Endy Chavez, Damion Easley, Marlon Anderson, and Fernando Tatis, all playing key roles. Then, he has to deal with the oft-injured Moises Alou and Pedro Martinez, two players that Omar likes to think are big parts of this team. And unfortunately, Omar is right, because without them, the Mets are mediocre at best. Thinking you can rely on them is the problem.

Basically, although I didn't like Willie that much, he's not really the issue here. It's the players. However, you can't get rid of the players, so you get rid of the manager I guess.

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Can we bring back Bobby V. now please?!?!

All-Star ballot stuffing time

Since I am obviously a well respected internet baseball bloggister, I feel that it is my duty to post the all-star ballots that I submitted last night. To me, the all-star game is a scrimmage game, a game where the fans vote on who they want to see. So, I vote for my favorite players, not necessarily the best ones, as you might be able to tell. I used my 25 allotted entries on these guys....

American League
*1B Jason Giambi (the Giambino, with mustache)
*2B Aaron Hill (sick defensive secondbaseman, underrated bat)
*SS Edgar Renteria (had to vote for someone from Colombia, and Edgar is still sweet at SS)
*3B Miguel Cabrera (with Edgar, this makes an all South American leftside of the infield, and I still think Cabrera is one of the top-5 hitters in baseball)
*C Joe Mauer (sweetest swing in the game)
*OF Carlos Quentin (fucking monster, will be dropping bombs for a long time)
*OF Josh Hamilton (the 'Natural', 26 tatoos, 3 suicide attempts, snorted Colombian white gold for over 3 years)
*OF Manny Ramirez (best hitter ever, best baseball character ever)
*DH Travis Hafner (yeah, bad season, injured too, but his nickname is "Pronk")


National League
*1B Prince Fielder (he's a big man)
*2B Orlando Hudson (styling secondbaseman)
*SS Stephen Drew (making up for his brothers, Tulowitzki would have had this vote except for the fact that he's been dead all year)
*3B David Wright (had to pick a Met, Wright has been very consistent, played great defense, and hasn't missed a single inning)
*C Brian Schneider (wow, there are some hurting catchers in the NL, I like Russ Martin and Kendall, but Schneider has really shown me how bad LoDuca was)
*OF Eric Byrnes (my favorite player, known as 'Captain America' in the Dominican)
*OF Juan Pierre (freestyle rapper, never Ks, old school)
*OF Ryan Church (rounds out the same NL outfield group that I voted for last year)


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Aaron Heilman has pitched poorly to say the least. However, he has seemed to be a little unlucky. Every groundball seems to find a hole, and every blooper seems to fall in. So I looked up his BABIP (batting average on balls in play). BABIP is usually around .290 and independent upon how a pitcher is throwing. Basically, if a pitcher is showing a very high average here, it's bad luck. And if he has a very low average here, he's getting some good luck. Right now, Heilman is allowing a .344 BABIP, way above the average. I'm thinking he's bound to get some of those groundballs to start going at infielders and start moving his BABIP back towards the mean. However, his BB/9 is way up, as he is already closing in on last year's walk total. He may not be able to determine where batters hit the ball, but he can control the walks.


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Yesterday, Pedro had a little spat with Marlon Byrd after Byrd stepped out of the batter's box during Pedro's windup in the 6th inning. For some reason the umpire granted timeout. It was the second time during the game that Byrd did this. Pedro was pissed, and he played the waiting game with Byrd before he flew out to CF. It reminded me of one of the great Pedro moments. A few years ago, when he was on the Red Sox still, pitching against the Yankees, Gary Sheffield tried the same shit with Pedro, stepping out twice in the same at-bat. Pedro just stared him down, waited, then put a fastball right between his shoulder blades.

Don't worry about Billy

Billy Wagner (left) fist-pumps the Goodyear blimp during yesterday's game.

Career statistics:

371 saves / 798IP / 1046K / 1.015WHIP

Billy Wagner was born as a natural righthander. At a young age he was forced to throw with his left arm after breaking his right one twice (rumor has it, he threw over 156mph with his right arm, and the bones just couldn't withstand the force). Then the guy pitches at D-III Ferrum College, where he shatters every D-III strikeout record there ever was and put them so far out of reach that they will most likely never be broken. Wagner's domination didn't stop when he reached pro ball either. He was a first round draft choice, and has continued to post ridiculous strikeout numbers his entire career, from minor league starting pitcher, to major league closer.

In 2008 he has broken out his old starter's windup, changed the tilt on his slider to get more drop, and he has looked as dominant as ever. He's also one of the few players on the Mets who seems like he cares whether they win or lose (I can't be sure how they all feel, but many of them sure don't look like they give a shit).

So, with all of the broken pieces, or pieces that simply never existed on the Mets, trying to pin all the blame on one of the most dominant pitchers you'll ever see, well, that makes you look like an idiot. Don't worry about Billy.

Don't Jump

How a championship should be celebrated (left).

I've been away, sleeping under the cover of a Big Agnes tent in the Smoky Mountains, watching elk (yes, there are elk on the east coast), building campfires, hiking the Boogerman Trail, and drinking cans of sweet tasting Modelo. Not all at once.

It seems I picked a good time to go too, since the Mets put together an Amazin' string of losses that must have been just gut-wrenching. Three straight 2-1 games, multiple walkoff losses, all told it was five straight going into last night. Even last night's game feels like a loss. Wagner blows Pelfrey's shutout and the Shea Stadium fans were finished. Beltran eventually won the game with a homerun, and the Mets celebrated around homeplate as if they won the pennant. Unfortunately all he did was break a five game losing streak. What the team should have done was give a short round of high fives and get back in the clubhouse. You don't deserve to celebrate like that after first blowing the game to set up that homerun.

And what's the deal with that 'team jumping together around home plate' thing anyway? I hate that thing, whatever it is. In '04, when the Red Sox won the World Series, first time in 357 years or whatever it was, the on-field celebration consisted of a 'team jumping together around Doug Mirabelli' thing. Then some hugs and champagne. Horrible. When you win a championship, there needs to be a '86 Mets style pileup on the mound. If the pitcher doesn't get tackled, you've basically blown the celebration. And when you haven't won a championship since the 14th century, the celebration needs to consist of more than the standard 'team jumping together like a bunch of schoolgirls' thing.

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I will go down as a second-guesser here, but only because I failed to post my opinion on Church's injury, not because I didn't have the opinion. Basically, the Mets did just about everything they could do exacerbate Church's concussion symptoms, and nothing to help. He needed to go on the DL immediately. It was quite obvious, and I don't know why anyone would fuck around with a severe blow to the head like he took. It's not a very difficult decision really, the Blue Jays know what to do with a concussion injury. This was reported on MLB.com about Aaron Hill....

Second baseman Aaron Hill, who has been sidelined with a concussion since May 29, could potentially begin a Minor League rehab assignment sometime next week. J.P.Ricciardi (Blue Jays GM) said Hill has experienced no symptoms for the past two days. Ricciardi noted that Toronto's medical staff wants Hill -- eligible to be activated from the DL on Saturday -- to have gone at least a week sans symptoms before shipping him out to play some rehab games.

What do you know, "at least a week sans symptoms" before playing baseball again. I just hope the Mets didn't ruin Church's entire season, or worse, his career.

Giuseppe Franco buys Mets

I was going to write today's blog about my favorite commercial starring Giusseppe Franco, but someone already beat me to it. My favorite part is when he looks seriously into the camera and says, "I don't own the company, I don't know anything about it!". Then he trots out the ugliest guys he could find in LA, I just don't get it. He's not putting his name on the line for something that doesn't work though. If you've watched just one full inning of Mets baseball this year, you know what we're talking about.

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I'm also high on that Heineken commercial. There's that one blonde that brings the beer to the bearded Scandinavian dude in the snow. Yeah, that chick is hot. Something about her, I can't wait for that commercial to come on. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a picture of her.

Carlos Smells

I think I smell, yes, I smell a swing and miss.

Carlos Beltran of the Metropolitans has had more than a disappointing season so far, so I wrote down a couple things I noticed about him....

1) He takes a lot of called third strikes
2) He has had some bad luck at lining out to infielders

Neither of these things is necessarily a very important measure of how he was doing, but just for fun I wanted to see how he ranked against the rest of the league. So I asked my friends at STATS to do the work for me.

Somewhat to my surprize, Beltran's strikeout looking percentage isn't anything special, it's about normal. But Marco Scutaro, as of 5/29, 15 of his 20Ks were looking. Luis Castillo (7 of 14) and Jacoby Ellsbury (12 of 17) had similar high caught looking percentage. On the other end of the spectrum, Carlos Gomez has K'd 51 times and only been caught looking 11 times. Based on what I already know about these hitters, Scutaro, Castillo, and Ellsbury all have an idea of where the strikezone is and probably were hurt by umpire's wide strikezones, while Gomez will take a hack at anything.

Then the lineouts to infielders.... I expected to see Beltran on top of this list, since it seemed like he was lining out every game this week. However, 53 other players have lined out to infielders as many times, or more, than Beltran has in '08. Juan Pierre has been 'robbed' of basehits in this manner a league leading 8 times, Beltran only 5.

*The Mets have now won three in a row and are even starting to catch some breaks,.... like yesterday's catcher's interference that started the two-out rally against Penny.

*Gomez Update (6/2): After watching Carlos Gomez playing against the Stanks this weekend, I miss him being on the Metsies. I have to keep telling myself, "but they got Santana", "it's ok, they got Santana". There was one play where he smelled his bat, then laid down a bunt to Betemit at firstbase and beat it out before the ball was touched. I mean, he got down that line so fast it made that old Mantle legend of his 3.1 time to first look like a fucking disgrace.

Changes are happening

Jeff Wilpon(left) and Omar Minaya(center) consult Uncle Pete(right) about Willie's job status.

Since the infamous "summit meeting" between Willie and Omar and Fred and Jeff, there has been some serious platooning going on at Shea. Righthanded hitters playing against lefthanded pitchers, lefthanded hitters playing against righthanded pitchers, righthanded hitters pinch-hitting against lefthanded relievers.... confused yet? It doesn't matter. Willie is at least starting to "manage" the mediocre team he has. Whether or not he's been forced into it, I don't care. All I know is that running the same old lousy lineup out there everyday had to stop somehow. Maybe Willie is too timid, too scared, too much of a pushover to tell players (Delgado) they need to sit. Maybe Omar had to force him. Maybe Fred had to force him. Doesn't matter, things are changing, slowly.

*As soon as I saw Scott Hatteberg was released by the Reds, I thought it was a no-brainer for the Mets to go get him(I see today that it's a legitimate rumor). Here's our chance to get rid of Delgado. Yeah, Hatteberg is 38, no, he's not going to drop bombs all night for you, but he'll get on base, he won't swing at shit in the dirt, and he can't be any worse than Delgado. Delgado hurts the Mets, Hatteberg wouldn't do that. And if you platoon the guy properly with Tatis at firstbase, they could both produce. I imagine this happening like a simple fantasy baseball transaction, 'Add: Scott Hatteberg, Drop: Carlos Delgado'.

Carter vs. Hernandez

Nick Evans looked like a savior on Saturday, raking three doubles in a Mets win. He continues to hit the ball well. However, Evans' callup tells us how bad the Mets' minor league system is. Evans is a AA firstbaseman. An infielder. The Mets needed an outfielder. So, you're telling me there is no better option to fill-in in leftfield than the AA firstbaseman? I'm very happy to see a new player out there instead of the bench of retreads that the Mets usually use, like Ordell Anderson or Damian Easley, however, it would be nice to have a legitimate prospect somewhere in the system.

Speaking of Damian Easley.... after skipping a game to attend his son's graduation last week, I was surprized to see him in the dugout yesterday, since I heard his grandpa was having a backyard BBQ he wanted to attend.

I'm officially announcing my candidacy for the New York Mets managerial job. I'd like to thank Gary Carter for giving me the courage to put my name into the discussion. Omar, you know where I am, I'm only a phone call away. My contract with Mets-Thing allows me to leave if I get a Major League job. You know what though, I think I'm going to go ahead and just call Mr. Wilpon, why waste any time with Omar, he doesn't know what he's doing. In fact, I think I should have his job too.

Keith Hernandez really let Carter have it during the broadcast on Sunday, saying that Carter walks around basically "unconscious" to anything or anyone but himself. While Keith himself is also all about his own mustache (Keith's been sporting that short new haircut all year too), he is probably right about Carter. I'm sure it's not bad luck that has Carter managing in an independent league, and not with a major league organization. He must be doing something that people don't like.

*The Rays have the best winning percentage in baseball. Thanks in large part to this guy. He kinda looks familiar.

Rock Bottom

Keith Hernandez (left) and Ron Darling (right) called the game Friday night.

Well, there isn't much more to be said about this Mets team that I haven't already said on this blog. They just aren't playing well, and it's getting to the point where you can't keep saying that they're a better team than they're showing. They have seemingly hit rock bottom. Maybe they just aren't that good of a ballclub. We can't keep looking for bullshit excuses for them either. It's all about "Willie doesn't have enough energy", or "when Pedro comes back", or "when Perez puts it together", or "they're showing flashes", or "this team doesn't care", or "they're better than this". It's just a bunch of lousy excuses that the media, fans, and players have been making for the players who aren't performing. It's pretty simple. Guys need to hit and pitch and field better.

*Albert Pujols is the kind of guy that will hit two bombs off you one day, then come back blasting lines drives off your face and breaking ankles.

*While considering what Braves players to add to the Met Killer list after that sweet four game sweep, I realized that the entire Braves franchise could be added to the list. Then as I pondered further, I realized that they're aren't any opposing players that are killing the Mets, it's the Mets themselves.

*FYI, Mark Kotsay was a national champion BMX racer at the age of six. Kevin Burkhart told me so. Kotsay also should have won multiple Gold Glove awards while with Oakland.

*Willie obviously doesn't read Mets-Thing. Otherwise he would have known to not play Alou every fucking day! Alou is awesome, but you can't play an injury-prone 57 year-old everyday and expect him to stay healthy.

*Do you think Minaya would ever trade David Wright? The thought hit me during one of those recent Wright interviews where he was basically talking shit about his teammates. I thought that Minaya might actually think that it's David Wright that is bringing the team down, and the rest of the team would be better without him trying to get in people's heads. It is a nightmare scenerio, seems completely ridiculous, and I have no basis for thinking this. I just wouldn't be completely surprized if it was something Minaya would consider.

Don't Worry About Church

Ryan Church (left) is the bomb-dropping, cannon-armed, christian-gangsta-rapper, that Milledge will never be.

But, Church, what are you doing? It's the fucking last out of the game, it's over, the Mets offense is abysmal. You're about to get swept, it's not your fault. You're carrying this freakin' team. Don't put yourself in harms way to try and get fucking Damian Easley off the hook. Just peel off.

If you didn't see it, Church took a knee to the head while trying to break up a double-play on the last play of the doubleheader that just ended.

FYI, the Mets got swept. I couldn't watch the second game. Tom Glavine dealt on them in game 1. Awful. The whole team should be ashamed of themselves. Then they let Jorge Campillo, a career Mexican Leaguer, drop curveballs on them all night. Seriously, the guy spent eight years, his entire twenties, pitching in the Mexican League.

Well, it just might be time to resign to the fact that the Mets are a .500 ballclub. They'll continue to give us some really great games, but also continue to give us some absolute disgraces against poor teams and poor pitchers.

Mets kill Yankees

Today, being a Mets fan feels good. Wagner gave his teammates a much needed public bashing on Thursday, and Willie called a 'closed door' meeting Friday night in Yankee Stadium. Then, the Mets proceded to beat the shit out of the helpless Yankees in two games and Jerry Manuel stepped up like Willie would never do, and got himself tossed.

Did anyone notice how fired up David Wright was Sunday? He was fist-pumping on the Yankee logo after he scored a run and smacked his assistant coach on the ass after getting ejected. Yeah, it was awesome. Even Reyes and Delgado got hits in both games.

Here's the deal though. I don't know what is going to happen next with the Mets. If the Mets are actually a good baseball team, this is when they should go on a tear. They should use whatever momentum they now have, beat Tom Glavine into retirement tomorrow and take three of four in Atlanta. Then the Metsies cruise to the division title by slamming the crap out of everyone's mediocre pitching staff in the East. Then, finally, after they clinch in early September, we can all talk about how Wagner 'lit the fire' and the 'closed door meeting turned the season around', and use all those other meaningless baseball cliches to describe the season. It would be perfect.

However, if this is still the same overrated Mets team they've had since last season, tomorrow they'll let Glavine shut them out, maybe split the doubleheader, and win one of four in Atlanta. Beltran and Reyes will go back to sleep and everything will be right back where it started on Thursday afternoon.

*Moises Alou's ejection last Wednesday was the Mets' first ejection of the season. Manuel's was the second. Willie where are you? Oh, he's in the dugout, preferring to make that 'sad little kid' face that he does so well.

*Oriole Magic. If you don't think this is funny, you don't like baseball.

New Met-Killer?

You may have thought that Willie Harris is the newest Met-Killer after his unreal diving catch to rob Church of a double yesterday. Well, you were wrong, he is already known for his Met-Killing abilities. Here is a photo Willie Harris robbing Delgado of a homerun last summer at Shea where it would have tied the game 7-7 in the bottom of the ninth. Not only that, but he made a similar play on Alou in the first inning of that game to rob him of an extra base hit.

And what was Beltran doing half-way down the line on a line drive in the infield? There was one out. And he didn't even attempt to get back to third. 'I guess he was trying to beat the traffic'. (Classic quote from Eli Manning on the Letterman show referring to Belichick leaving the Super Bowl early).

My guy Pelfrey was going for that first ever Mets No-hitter. It was 0-0 and looking like maybe he could get one of those difficult to achieve no-hitters with a loss. I was rooting for it. That would have been in typical Mets fashion.

I also can't believe Ryan Church is doing this well. I thought he was one of those career minor league types. And I was pissed about losing Milledge for a minor leaguer and a washed up catcher. I was wrong; so far. Church is .310, 8 HR, 30 RBI, 29 R and has secured a spot at #2 in the order. Milledge is .238, 1HR, 13 RBI, 16 Runs, 1 for his last 19 AB and looks like he should just stick to rap.

Softball players?

"Let's go Milly, let's go. (clap, clap) Let's go Milly, let's go. (clap clap)."

As everyone knows now, the Nats were chanting this in their dugout while Lastings Milledge was batting against the Metsies on Monday. Is this bushleague? I don't think so. With stone-cold killer, Elijah Dukes leading the chants, the Nats were laughing it up, having fun with eachother, and didn't say a word about a Mets player. Is it unprofessional? Slightly. If they had been using the old Dover Baseball chant of "Up the river, down the lake, pitcher's got a bellyache!", or the softball-esque SUNY Oneonta baseball chant of "He hangs it, you bang it!", then yes, that is bushleague because they're talking about their competition. But the Nats were just trying to enjoy the game by cheering for their own players. Is that the way I play the game? No, team chants are fucking cheesy. My college coach would have had us running poles for three weeks if we did anything like that. But still, I don't think what the Nats did was the disgrace it has been made out to be.

*"Team Mets-Thing" 'took the train to the game' last night(Tuesday). We picked a good night to go.

---Maine pitched great, my man Church hit dots all over the field, and Wagner closed it.

---We were able to find Sam Adams, Brooklyn Brewery, and Corona Extra, so we could avoid drinking yesterday's toilet water that is dispenced into the Budweiser and Miller bottles.

---Team Mets-Thing is a fan of the Mezzanine seats, which give you a good overhead view of the game without being two miles away from the action.

---It was strange to think that this is it for Shea Stadium too. Yeah, the place isn't much, but it's the stadium of my team. My home stadium. There are lots of memories here. And surprizingly for a team like the Mets, which hasn't had a ton of winning baseball throughout their history, there have been many historic baseball moments here too, including one of the top 5 World Series moments of all time.

*Then I saw the Mets' transactions for the day. Sosa.... gone! Yes! Hopefully he doesn't choose to go to AAA and he just leaves the organization. Frankly, I'm shocked that Minaya is showing some balls here. It's about time he started telling his players that they need to perform. Figueroa is gone too, but he might remain in AAA.

*I watched the tape of the game this morning, because that's what I do, I'm that guy. And John Maine has once again changed his approach. Last night, he was using his fastball away to all batters. Then to RHs, he was throwing his changeup inside. It's a 'backwards' strategy according to the standard MLB pitching coach, but it's a strategy I love. And, it seemed to work for Maine. All those pulled foul balls I saw last night, all turned out to be on inside changeups. The Nats could do nothing with the pitch, but pull the sinking change foul. Then he went back to his outside fastball for the out. Maine only threw one slider, which used to be his strikeout pitch, the entire game.