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.