Monday, June 16, 2008

CLOCK STRIKES TEN.

As most of you know, I like Omar. I take umbrage when morons try to interject the type of racist nonsense I term “The International Latino Baseball Conspiracy”.

But last night, listening to him in the post-game press conference, I lost a tremendous amount of respect for him:

“I can’t answer that [whether Willie will be the manager for the rest of the season].  He is my manager today, and I have the right to evaluate him as we go along.  Let me put it this way, he is always being evaluated...It’s a situation that I’m constantly evaluating.”

What a terrible answer - not just for the media, but for Willie, for the fans, and for the players on the team. Terrible.

Every person I run into is asking me if Willie’s going to be fired. And I was going to tell someone this morning to shut up - and then I realized that at this point, I stand just as much a chance of being a reliable source of information. Everyone is reporting something different every five minutes. Everyone has an inside source. Everyone knows for sure.

It sucks enough being a fan right now. This is not making it any better. At least people had respect for Omar before. He’s just looking terrible right now, and not just because of the players he is giving Willie to put on the field every night.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

THE RANGERS HAD A HOMECOMING.

I think the point at which it should have dawned on us that the weather was NOT clearing and the game was not going to be played was this:

Click to continue reading THE RANGERS HAD A HOMECOMING.

Friday, June 13, 2008

THE TOP 10 THINGS I WANT THE METS TO DO *RIGHT NOW* (THAT THEY NEVER WILL).

From the home office in beautiful downtown Greenpoint, Brooklyn, I bring you THE TOP TEN THINGS I WANT THE METS TO DO RIGHT NOW (THAT THEY NEVER WILL).

10. Stop speaking in those useless baseball cliches. Everyone. I don’t want to hear anything about “helping the team” or “it’s disappointing” or “best effort,” whether it’s Willie or a player. Plain speaking will serve. Please look to the Tigers or the Mariners for a way of talking to fans about HOW MUCH THE TEAM SUCKS without candy-coating it. The line needs to be “It’s unacceptable,” and spin control stories about closed-door players-only meetings are insulting our intelligence.

9. Make EVERY PLAYER available after EVERY GAME. Hire translators for the players who are more comfortable expressing themselves in Spanish and have them readily available (and not Sandy Alomar).  THERE ARE NO MORE EXCUSES.

8. Johan Santana gives interviews to anyone who wants one about he feels about the team’s collapse. As others have pointed out, he has been painfully absent. He’s gotta be mighty pissed right about now, and it’s about time he got to express that and we have the right to hear it.

7. GIVE DAVID WRIGHT A GODDAMNED DAY OFF. The kid is exhausted.

6. Hold an after-game press conference with Omar and televise it. Not a formal, stand-behind-the-podium thing in the Diamond Club, with Jay Horowitz hovering in the background. Informal and open. His in-game appearance with Ron and Gary this week was laughable and the best example of the Mets’ deplorable PR and spin control.

Click to continue reading THE TOP 10 THINGS I WANT THE METS TO DO *RIGHT NOW* (THAT THEY NEVER WILL).

Thursday, June 12, 2008

OUR NEW MANIFESTO.

Greg says it best:

I stand by my statement of clarity: the Mets suck. A team does not have this stretch of games without internal suckitude defining its very soul. A team does not get the trademark Johan Santana start for which all had been waiting and then throw it away without some incredible suck.

Billy Wagner...somebody check his middle initial. I’ll bet it’s an S.

At least I’m not a beat writer. At least I don’t have to manufacture something out of nothing.
At least I’m not a MLB writer, having to spin content out of thin fucking air.
At least I wasn’t tempted to go to this game, even though Santana v. Haren hurt to miss on some level.
I would say that I feel bad for Johan, but $137m has a way of making things okay I bet. (Which is mean. But I’m cranky right now.)

Hey, at least there’s no game tonight! Go home and enjoy the weather. Take a walk. Ride a bike. Go out and throw a baseball. That’s what we’re going to do. See you in McCarren Park.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

BY POPULAR REQUEST.

This one goes out to reader Kate, who wrote in an inspired defense of Big Pelf, not that she needed to.  But it did make me sit down and dig out a good photo and do what I had originally planned to do on here, that is until Billy Wagner was kidnapped by aliens and replaced with some guy who just came up from AAA. The fact that the meltdown alien abduction TOTAL F’ING BS game transpired the way it did doesn’t mean that Pelfrey shouldn’t get the tribute due him. So here you go. Better to light a single candle and all that.

(Have you ever been less excited about a walk-off home run? No, seriously, have you?)

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

RIDE THE LIGHTNING. [06-10-08]

I was happy to head out to Shea tonight, believe it or not. No one at my office could believe that after a day in sitting in an unairconditioned office (it is freezing in that place every single day of the year - except today) I was voluntarily going to sit out in the ballpark in sweltering heat. But I know, like you do, that it wasn’t going to be 97 at Shea, and that the breeze would come in and it would be almost pleasant. Really, the question tonight wasn’t the fact that I was going to sit in the heat, it was that I was voluntarily going to sit in the heat and watch These 2008 Mets be their wacky selves again.

At one point during tonight’s game Mrs. W. (mother of Miriam, AWOL tonight) said, “I’m convinced they’re just going to find a way to lose this ballgame.” And, as the game progessed, there wasn’t much the denizens of Section 12 could do but grimly agree with her. John Maine, who is our ace, clearly not understanding that he is the ace and he should just throw strikes. Moises Alou with his first hit off the DL almost driving a hole through the retired numbers. Delgado belying his nickname of “Mr. Contribution.” And David Wright, getting that HR just when he needed it most.

Click to continue reading RIDE THE LIGHTNING. [06-10-08]

JUNIOR.

The first homerun I actively remember seeing was by Ken Griffey, Jr.

It was in the Kingdome in 1995. I had been in Seattle for a little over six months. The startup I was working for had just moved from the marina on Lake Union to a building downtown. Our sysadmin was a guy named Steve, who loved baseball and the Mariners. He had season tickets right behind home plate, in the front row of the upper deck.

When we moved downtown, we went from being 4 people and Steve to being about 14. And somehow the idea of a company outing came up and Steve suggested we go see the Mariners. In August or September of 1995.

So we bought 14 tickets and headed to the Kingdome. Three of us were from New York, and two of us, at least, were offering various opinions on the umpires in a very New York fashion.
That was until a gentleman who was leading cheers in our section - he wore gloves to do so - came over and informed us that he was certain we were from out of town, and so he’d give us the benefit of the doubt, but baseball fans in Seattle did not conduct themselves in that way.
As he turned his back and walked away, one of us commented that he was lucky we hadn’t brought the D batteries that day.

I didn’t know what was going on. How could I? But I thought I did. And I was from New York.

I don’t remember much of what happened before the home run, but I do remember that instant when the bat hit the ball because that was the moment the Kingdome got to its feet. I haven’t been to the Metrodome but TBF tells me of the great home field advantage anyone has there in playoff games because it is so loud, and that is the thing I remember most about the Kingdome, how LOUD it was compared to any outdoor baseball game I have been to. In my minds’ eye I can see the ball sailing into the outfield but I will be gentle and say that it is likely my imagination.

And the fireworks! Indoor fireworks! The smell and the smoke and the - INDOOR fireworks? Wow, Dorothy, you’re definitely back IN Kansas if the fireworks are *inside*, I thought.

I remember it most of all because at that moment I felt a little more like I belonged to my new hometown. That I could cheer with the crowd and mean it. 

Of course, I did not take this. It is by my friend Alan, and the occasion should be obvious to any of you who are reading. You can see the entire set here. And, read 600 Words For Junior, which made me realize I had something of my own to say.

STREETBEATER PT. 2

This is probably our favorite photo of Uncle Cliff and D. Wright. It was the first photo we uploaded to a baseball wiki we started for ourselves early in 2006, and we ended up purchasing it at the end of the season, deeply discounted since Mr. Floyd was going to be moving on. It has pride of place in the living room, and will always remind us of a very special year.

If you are a Cliff Floyd fan, you will enjoy The Cliff Floyd Factor. I have enjoyed reading about Cliff’s successes this year, and he will always be one of my favorite players.

[via]

DARRYL TONIGHT!

Not going to the game? Want a way to beat the heat before you go home? Come see Darryl Strawberry himself live and in person tonight!

WHO: Darryl Strawberry
WHAT: DVD Signing of THE NY METS: ESSENTIAL GAMES OF SHEA STADIUM & SHEA GOODBYE: 45 YEARS OF AMAZIN’
WHERE: Best Buy—559 5th Avenue, NYC
WHEN: Tuesday, June 10th, 6:00pm - 7:00pm

I will be sweltering out at Shea tonight.

Monday, June 09, 2008

PUT RYAN CHURCH ON THE DL *NOW*.

I’ve been sick for most of the weekend, so only saw parts of games, but I saw enough to know that there isn’t much to say (I could quote TBF’s ultimatum that “this isn’t a championship team. We’ll save a lot of money in October.").

What I don’t understand is why Ryan Church isn’t on the DL RIGHT NOW. Or the inconceivable notion that they were somehow unable to find a qualified medical professional in Southern California and need to put him on the plane AGAIN.

Someone on WFAN last night said that teams aren’t afraid of the Mets. That there’s nothing to fear in their lineup. Couldn’t agree with that more.

I am just livid that the team continues to mishandle someone with a head injury. High school teams act with more concern for their athletes. There is no excuse - I don’t want to hear, “Well, Ryan says he’s okay, and we have to go on that.” This is a HEAD INJURY. The SECOND ONE he’s had this season. I don’t think you have to be a qualified medical professional to understand that.

I am more disgusted by this than anything else, really. Or maybe I’m disgusted with everything and this is just giving me focus.