Omar and Cashman

As silly as it sounds giving Omar 4 more years, it’s insane to give even 1 more year to Cashman. Just look at all the major pitching decisions that he’s screwed up on. Kevin Brown, Jared Wright, Kie Egowa, Carl Pavano, Randy Johnson, Rodger Clemens last year, Latroy Hawkins, Kyle Fansworth, Hidei Arabu, Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy, ECT, ECT, ECT. The list is long and full of mistakes. The Yankees haven’t been to the series in 5 years, and haven’t won it since 2000. Does that partial list of pitching bust sound like it deserves a 3 year contract? What a joke. I guess Hank doesn't have the stones of his father. If his father was still in control, I doubt Cashman would even have been offered a contract as a buss boy in the new Yankee stadium.

Santana shows his Toughness to all

With the information about Santana’s knee surgery, that makes his month of September all the more impressive. It has been reported by Johan’s agent that Santana hurt the knee early in the month and refused to let the team know about the severity of the pain. With all that going on, he was voted the pitcher of the month in case you didn’t know. He was 4-0 with a 1.83 ERA in September.

Johan also had the best ERA in MLB [2.53] , pitched the most innings in the NL with a career high 234 1/3 , tied for most starts [34], and was third with 3 complete games, and pitched 2 shutouts. With a little more support earlier in the season, Johan’s 16-7 record could have easily been 22-7. Not too bad for a pitcher that Cashman didn’t want. How many wins did Hughes and Kennedy have? If the Yankees had traded for Johan, they’d be playing October baseball. I personally am glad that Cashman is so inept at judging pitching talent. Just think were the Mets would be without Johan in the rotation.

Post-Season Tidbits

John Maine had his shoulder surgery yesterday and should be set for Spring training. The doctors removed a lesion from his shoulder socket that was causing the pain. For him to pitch 140 innings last year with that bad shoulder says a lot about his toughness and willpower. That’s something more players on the Mets could use.

There is talk about the Mets maybe signing Derek Lowe if Oliver Perez isn’t brought back. What do you think of that possibility? He’d definitely be an up grade from Pedro. John Niese figures to be the 5th starter next season. Maybe Parnell can go to the pen and be a force there.

There is more and more talk in NY about not bringing Delgado back. I’d rather have Teixera than Carlos. He’s younger, hits for a much better average, and still hits HRs and drives in runs. But, somehow I doubt Omar has the will to let Carlos go.

There is also talk of bringing in Jason Varitek to provide some fire and leadership on the team. His best years are behind him, but I think he could be good in NY. Orlando Hudson and Pat Burrell are also being talked about. Pat “the Bat’ could play left field and weaken the Phillies in one fell swoop. Hudson would provide offense from the 2nd base position not seen since Edgardo Alfonzo was there. All these moves sound good, they just need to be done. Does Omar have the vision to do these things, or will he allow another disappointing season to happen in ’09? Time will tell.

I'm Not Alone in My Opinions

I watched the afternoon SNY shows and it’s amazing to hear that I’m not alone in my thoughts about the Mets roster. More than one said that Delgado should not be resigned. Everyone agreed that Joe Smith and Brian Stokes were the only relief pitchers that were deserving of return. And everyone questioned the 4 year extension for Omar.

The reason given for not bringing back Delgado was his age, the likelihood that his production will slide, and the fact that he is NOT THE LEADER needed in the clubhouse. Until he leaves, the ability of David Wright and Jose’ Reyes to become the leaders of this team will never happen. Delgado was ruler of the clubhouse during the last 2 rancid seasons and shouldn’t be allowed a third chance. His production wouldn’t be that hard to replace, and his influence is not the type needed on the team. Remember, Delgado is the same player at one time wouldn’t stand during the Pledge of Allegiance and turned his back of the singing of God Bless America.

I'd get Matt Holiday for left field, put Nick Evans on 1st base, or get Mark Tiexara to play there. Send Murphy to winter ball to learn 2nd base, and then the Mets might have a chance to change their September luck. I'd also look at gettting C.C. and K-Rod. Money shouldn't be an issue, and it's time to stop acting like 2nd class sitizens of NYC.

Painful Season Finally Ends

This weekend turned out about how I figured it would. When the Mets lost the 10 inning game to the Cubs I knew the season was over, it was just a matter of when and how.

Friday, Mike Pelfrey did his best against a team that has owned him this season, but once again the Mets offense went to sleep. As much as the bull-pen is to blame for all the losses they caused this year, the offense was delinquent in their duties too. How many times have we all seen runners stranded in scoring position? How many times have the Mets not scored a run after the 5th inning? How many times have the Mets hitters made lousy pitchers look like Cy Young winners? When will the hitters learn to hit breaking pitches? All too often this season the Mets never seemed to have the killer instinct to finish teams off. They never made it a habit to bury teams early and often. They would get out to an early lead, and then coast. The other teams would chip away, and before you knew it, it was a 1 run game and the bull-pen suffered for it.

Saturday, Johan showed once again why he's the best pitcher in baseball bar none. To come back on 3 days rest and throw a 3 hit shut-out when the team needed the win is the stuff Aces are made for. While watching the game, I thought back to the last Saturday of 2007 and it was Deja Vue all over. John Maine, with his team in the same situation, struck out 14 and took a no-hitter into the 9th inning. Unlike Johan, John had 10 runs to work with. If not for Santana's super human effort, the Mets would have ended their season on Saturday not Sunday. The Mets once again failed to score any runs to allow you to relax while watching. The bull-pen gets plenty of blame for the season's failures, but if the Mets had just scored a few more runs in a few more games, October baseball would have been guaranteed weeks ago.

Sunday, Oliver Perez at least pitched well enough to give the Mets a chance. On short rest he went 5+ innings and only gave up 2 runs. Smith shut down the Fish in the 6th, Stokes pitched the 7th and was rescued by another patented Chavez catch in left-field. You could almost see the eerie similarities to game 7 in the 2006 NLCS. The team was charged up, and Chavez was leading off the bottom of the inning. Then just like in '06, the air left the stadium in an instant. Instead of Heilman sucking the life out of Shea, it was a left hander. In the top of the 8th, Scott Schoeneweis did what he does almost as well as Heilman. He served up the winning HR and got booed as he dragged his butt of the field. Ayala then comes in and serves up HR #2 in the inning. By that time it didn't matter. The Mets were dead men walking and they went out with a whimper in the 9th. The game lost in the 10th inning to the Cubs earlier in the week killed them. That loss took out their heart and threw it to the ground. Just like an deer that's been shot thru the heart, it just took a little while to realize they were dead.

I said back in August when Billy Wagner got hurt that the Mets were going to have a hard time making it to October without him. Stokes, Smith, Ayala, and Figueroa did their best, but in the end it wasn't enough. Too often Heilman, Schoeneweis, Feliciano and Sanchez shot the team in the chest and in the end The Mets could overcome all the obstacles. Let's hope that Omar doesn't burden the fans with another version of the "07 or "08 team. Drastic changes need to be made and had better be made before spring training begins.

The 2009 Mets

In between cat naps on the couch I did manage to see most of the Mets game. A few things have become clear during this tortuous month of September. If the Mets don’t make the playoffs, the locker room needs a big makeover. Ever cense Cliff Floyd’s departure there hasn’t been a vocal veteran in the club house to shake up the players when needed. That means certain people need to go somewhere else.

As good as Delgado has been, he needs to go. He’s part of the leadership problem in the Clubhouse. Pedro, Heilman, Feliciano, Schoeneweis, Sanchez, Castro, Anderson, and Castillo all need to go too. Murphy should be the starting left fielder. Evans or Mark Texiera should be playing first. Robinson Cancel should be the back-up catcher, Argenis Reyes or someone else should be at second base. Santana, Pelfrey, Niese, Maine, and Parnell should be the starting 5 unless the Mets go after C.C. Sabathia. K-Rod should be closing, and Kunz should be setting up in the 8th inning. Smith, Stokes, Ayala, Muniz, Figgy should be in the pen. If the Mets can pick up a good left handed pitcher for the pen, then that would be helpfull. But this 2008 bull-pen crew can not be allowed in Citi-Field next year.

It may sound drastic, but I see no other way to take the rancid taste of 2007's defeat and the disappointments of 2008 from following the Mets into Citi-Field next year.

Mets afraid of Success

Watching the Mets these last few weeks is like watching a loved one slowly pass away. There is no other way to describe what is going on. They seem like they don’t want to play in October, and they seem afraid of success. All year long they have failed to do what is needed to win games, and now when wins are needed more than ever, they continue to spit the bit. The Mets have been terrible all year on there are runners in scoring position, and now when all that was needed was one hit, they fail once again to do the simplest things. Why can Daniel Murphy get a critical hit in the 9th inning, and then no one else can even hit the ball? All the Mets needed was a fly ball, and they win the game. But, that was impossible. David strikes out, Beltran and Delgado walk, Church hits a weak ground ball, and then Castro strikes out on three pitches. Thanks for the effort Ramon. The game was over there. What happened in the 10th inning didn’t matter.

When the Mets needed Ollie the most, he couldn’t throw strikes. He walked 5 batters and couldn’t get out of the 5th inning. Those walks ended up scoring, and the Perez blew an early 5-1 lead. On a night when Phillie was getting shelled, Ollie came up small. On a night when the Brewers were winning, Sanchez once again allowed anyone on base to score, and the season took another step towards the abyss. Such is the life a Mets fan.