CHALK THIS ONE UP TO THE JOHNNYMETS MERCHANDISE JINX

The Norfolk Tides have ended their affiliation with the New York Mets, and the Mets will now have the New Orleans Zephyrs as their Triple-A affiliate. There's only one reasonable conclusion as to why this happened:

From johnnyjets.blogspot.com, September 16, 2005
I'm going to let you in on one of my dirty little secrets: I owned an Anthony Becht jersey. I know, I know, it was a stupid purchase. But I really thought he was going to be the next Mickey Schuler (I know, I know, that's not even a whole heck of a lot, but for a Jets fan, that's the comparison). But really, I thought he was going to be great. I still do think it was the wrong system at the wrong time - and if he was still around, it might have been him having a 100-yard receiving day last Sunday. Instead, he caught one pass for 7 yards in his Tampa Bay debut. But I digress. The point is, I had an Anthony Becht jersey (still do, as a matter of fact). It's my fault he didn't succeed as a Jet.

This is a curse. It's a curse I must live with. It dates back to about 1994. I read a great article in Sports Illustrated about Boomer Esiason and his son Gunnar, and I said, "I want a Boomer Esiason jersey. He will be my favorite Jet." (I was at a crossroads at this point about who my favorite Jet would be - among the candidates was Aaron Glenn.) Well, I buy the Boomer jersey - I remember it like it was yesterday - I went to Modell's on Steinway Street in Astoria, bought the jersey, wore the heck out of it, and was wearing it the night of Dan Marino's fake spike at the Meadowlands, when the Jets blew their big halftime lead, and their chance at first place, and lost every game the rest of the way to finish 6-10 and oh by the way who got burned on that fake spike - oh yes the other candidate for my jersey purchasing Aaron Glenn.

I didn't buy another jersey after Boomer for a little while. But then 1998 came. The Jets had a steal in the draft, I was convinced, when they took Boston College's Glenn Foley in the sixth round. He earned the starting job, and went 0-2, losing to San Francisco in Week One on Garrison Hearst's 96-yard touchdown run in overtime (remember that?). Anyway, after he lost in Week Two, he also hurt his ribs. Of course, we all know Vinny Testaverde took over, played for about 4 more years, and Glenn Foley took about 8 snaps with Seattle before retiring to a bar somewhere...being seen only on the free agent lists in John Madden football games (where I would sometimes sign him as a backup for old time's sake.)

So along comes the 2000 draft, and I say no to Shaun Ellis, no to John Abraham, no to Chad Pennington, I want the tight end's jersey. So I custom ordered from NFL.com an Anthony Becht #88 jersey. He's going to be a star! I convince myself. Well, it looks good for a while. When the Jets make their playoff run in 2001 he's a key part - catching touchdown passes and two-point conversions late in games versus Cincinnati and Indianapolis. Testaverde found him a reliable target. But he never matched those numbers (not even very impressive numbers, anyway) again. He even developed a big case of the dropsies. I think the one that sealed it was an October Monday Night Football game where he dropped a pass that would have given the Jets big yardage, and incurred the wrath of the home fans. Well, sorry, Anthony - little did you know it was probably my fault.

Anyway, after Becht was gone, I said I'm never going to get another Jets jersey. Why put anyone through what I put poor Glenn Foley and Anthony Becht through? Then, I had a better idea. Why not get a sure thing? What's more of a sure thing than Chad Pennington? And I had a string of bad luck with green jerseys - how about a white Chad Pennington jersey!? Foolproof. So for my birthday, good old mom got me a Pennington jersey. Well, we're 0-1. Sorry Chad.

Chad Pennington, of course, went on to win the next game, then in the third game of the season went down with a career-threatening injury and nearly lost his job as starting quarterback of the New York Jets.

As you may or may not know, for my birthday this past summer, The Wife bought me a Norfolk Tides hat. So the aforementioned jersey jinx has apparently now extended to all sports merchandise.

ON THE SUBJECT OF SPORTS MERCHANDISE: My mom, bless her, sent me a package in the mail today. I opened it up, and inside was my New York Mets Division Champions shirt. What a lady.

But the shirt isn't a t-shirt - it's got three-quarters sleeves. I know it's been a long time since the Mets won a division...but how long have they been going with these? They're not the most comfortable shirts in the world. I hope the World Series shirts are more wearable. And I hope the fact that I now own one of these shirts doesn't put an end to the possibility of me owning a World Series champions shirt. I keep tempting fate.

There IS a game tonight - the Mets are trailing Washington 3-1 in the seventh. But the loss by St. Louis on Thursday night clinched home-field advantage for the Mets through the playoffs, so there's not much left to play for but 100 wins.

Still no baby, by the way.

STREAKING PHILLIES BEAT METS

Phillies 5, Mets 3 (NYM: 64-44, PHI: 53-55)

I never considered the possibility that Chase Utley's hitting streak would end, and the Mets would lose. I only considered two options:

1) Utley's hitting streak would continue, and the Mets would win.

2) Utley's hitting streak would end, and the Mets would win.

Maybe 3), Utley wouldn't play, and the Mets would win.

This kind of blows my mind - Chase's Chase is over at 35 (time to shift attention to Manny Ramirez and his 20-game hitting streak), and the Phillies kept the magic number from decreasing any more with a win at Shea.

I realize the Phillies are playing much better baseball since the trading deadline. I realize they're on a bit of a streak. I realize they've cut into the Mets' lead in the division. But they still don't scare me. They're a better team than they were - but they're still not a good team. I'm not worried about them challenging for the division, and I'm not worried about them winning the wild card. I'm not worried about the Mets facing anyone in the National League playoffs, to be honest. (The Cardinals are a joke right now - they've had more 5+ -game losing streaks this year than any other first-place team in history, says me. It's got to be a record. They're awful.) So I'm not upset that the Mets lost this game to the Phillies.

It was a pretty good game. Orlando Hernandez pitched very well, so that's encouraging. He battled all night, and had thrown 115 pitches by the time he was done in after 6 innings. Along the way he gave up 3 runs, 7 hits, 3 walks, had 7 strikeouts, 2 balks, and a triple. That's right, a triple. Again, the Mets left some runners in scoring position, missing out on a few timely hits.

But it was a 3-3 game into the 7th, when Darren Oliver surrendered a homer to David Dellucci. Oliver's been very reliable all year - chalk this loss up to bad timing on the part of the Mets' hitters, and Oliver throwing a bad pitch at a bad time. I'm really not concerned.

The Mets play the Phillies 9 more times this month (10 total in August). The worst they will do is 5-5 through those 10 games. And by going 5-5, the Mets will trim 10 games off the magic number. Good enough for me. I bet they do even better than 5 wins. Starting Saturday at Shea. And hopefully Tom Glavine gets back in the "W" column as the Mets rock Jon Lieber.

(I will not see Saturday's game due to childbirthing class - Saturday and Sunday, all day. I will be able to watch Sunday's game, I'm not sure I'll be able to write afterwards. The Mets are the Sunday night national telecast, but with a workshop I need to attend next week, I'm not sure I'll be up late. I'll post daily starting Monday, but I'm not sure if it will be after games.)

MAGIC NUMBER: Stalled on 44.

ALL PEDRO*, ALL THE TIME: Red Sox fans will be happy to know that Pedro Martinez* is still up to his old off-day antics in the dugout. He has a "magic bat", a plastic, wiffle ball-type bat, in Mets colors, the kind with a bigger barrel than a normal wiffle ball bat. Anyway, during home games, he waves the bat around, jokes around with players in the Mets dugout, and in the visitor's dugout. He got a lot of air time during the Mets telecast Friday night, and I figured I'd mention it tonight, because I had forgotten for a while. It's fun to watch, as Red Sox fans are well aware.

CONTEST: I think I need your help. I need to name my fantasy football team, and I can't think of anything too clever. I need it to be clean - good, family fun. But I think it needs to have something to do with the fact that I'm going to become a father. I've got a couple of ideas, but I'm open to suggestions. E-mail me (I'd prefer e-mails to posted comments) suggestions at johnnymetsmail@yahoo.com and I'll post the good ones, and if I don't come up with anything myself, I'll use the best one as my team name. And maybe the winner will get a cool t-shirt.

THE KID'S KIDS: The St. Lucie Mets lost to Clearwater, 6-2 Friday, and fell to one full game behind Daytona, which beat Lakeland. Interestingly, the Alfonzo nephew took the loss for the Mets.

ALFONZO'S COMEBACK: Apparently Edgardo Alfonzo reads the blog. One night after I bemoaned the fact that Alfonzo was only hitting singles, as he attempted to get back to the Majors with the Mets, he goes 2-for-3, mixing in a double. This continues his modest hitting streak, and lifts his average to .250. He also had a walk and a run scored.

BEAT THE STREAK: At two right now - Vladimir Guerrero had a hit in his first game against Texas. Friday night, he's 0-for-his-first-at-bat, striking out on some very high heat. Guerrero is on a tear against Texas. Let's examine what he's doing - it has to be the best string against one opponent ever:

• He's hit in all 43 career games he's played against Texas.
• In those 43 games, Guerrero is hitting .441, with 15 homers and 35 RBI.
• He's a .348 career hitter against Texas' starter Friday night, Vicente Padilla (I needed a 3rd bullet)...he'll end up with a hit on Friday.

The Mets were off Monday, as the gigantic graphic to the left seems to indicate. I'm stil trying to work out the bugs here - I'm trying to get these pictures going, but it might be a while before I get them right. I still don't know how I went as long as I did without a computer - so computer with no pictures is better than no computer at all. A few thoughts on this off day, with not much news coming out of the Mets' camp today.

SATURDAY'S GAME: I forgot to mention one more thing from Saturday's game against the Cubs, which was a disaster. Ever since Harry Caray died, the Cubs have had someone different sing 'Take Me Out To The Ballgame' during the seventh-inning stretch to the crowd - something Caray used to do. Saturday's guest - one Bill Buckner. It was awful - embarrassing, really...but I suppose with all the former athletes they have doing this, they must get a lot of clunkers. I wasn't prepared for this clunker, though, I'll tell you that. It was bad. Anyway, not only do the Cubs trot out Buckner (a batting champion with the Cubs during his tenure there) against the Mets, the team who he has his worst memory against (a la the Red Sox celebrating the 1986 American League championship against the Mets), but WGN shows his name in a graphic that says "Bill Bucknor". That's just unacceptable. Now, CB Bucknor happened to be the home plate umpire, so they could probably blame spell check or something - but get a clue. That's awful.

One more thing about Buckner - I believe he wasn't off scouting colleges with his teenage son during the 1986 celebration at Fenway last month, as the reporters said he was. I think he just didn't want to come. During the interview with Buckner, he stressed how much he loved playing in Chicago, how the fans were so knowledgable, like no others he played in front of (he also played with the Dodgers, Angels and Royals), and the fans in Chicago appreciated the players. He really stressed the appreciation part. Sounded like a shot at Boston fans to me...but then again, he never cost the Cubs a World Series championship (or, as I like to say, the chance to continue playing Game 6 of the World Series - because, if he caught that grounder, the game was going to the 11th inning). So I don't know - I just think Buckner has a grudge against Red Sox fans, as well he should. People talk about how the 2004 World Series absolves people like Buckner for their roles in Red Sox collapses...but that doesn't make up for all the harrassment he has received since then. If I was Buckner, I wouldn't have come back, either.

SI COVER HIJINKS: It was brought to my attention last weekend that the Mets were on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week. I would have known that myself if the mailman had delivered my copy on time - usually I get it on Thursday - I didn't receive mine until Monday. I can draw just one conclusion - the mailman is a Mets fan, and wanted to read the article over the weekend. Which I'd be fine with. Something tells me, though, that's not the case.

I read the article - it's about what great team chemistry the Mets have. The headline sure is an attention-grabber, though: "Welcome to Rip City: The Adventures of Captain Red Ass And the Intrepid Mets". They mention the term "red ass" once in the article - it's apparently Paul LoDuca. And the fact that it's mentioned once in the article means Tom Verducci probably didn't even want to mention it once, but his editor heard the nickname, and said, "That's AWESOME! We have to run that." And Verducci probably protested a little, but lost...and thus, the magazine-selling-headline. Anyway, great team chemistry, highlighted by the fact that the Mets have silly nicknames for everyone, and they make fun of each other relentlessly. Good article.

BLAST FROM THE PAST: Going slightly under the radar this weekend - the Mets signed former Met Edgardo Alfonzo to a minor league contract on Saturday. Alfonzo is now 32, and he was fun to watch hit coming up through the organization....but has really hit the skids recently. Last season he was with the Giants, and hit .277. This year he started with the Angels, hitting .100 through April and May. He was released and signed by the Blue Jays, spending part of June in Toronto, hitting .162. He was released again, and now the Mets signed him. Monday was his first day in Norfolk, and we'll keep tabs on him to see if he could be a contributor late in the season. I think Last-Place Lastings (Norfolk is still a half-game out of last, by the way) has had its day - since he came to the Majors and we saw what he has to offer it's not much fun following his minor league days anymore, so maybe now we'll follow Alfonzo in the minors. I expect if the Mets have any designs on promoting Alfonzo, it would be as a second baseman...perhaps making a guy like Chris Woodward or even the hot Jose Valentin expendable....if Alfonzo proves to be a legit alternative. If he can't hit anymore, though, he'll be released again, I'm sure.

THE KID'S KIDS: A Mets win, over Jupiter, 6-3. The Mets take on a couple of teams from the western division next, then a big series with Daytona, who they're chasing in the second half.

ALFONZO'S COMEBACK: Edgardo Alfonzo was supposed to be with the Norfolk Tides Monday, but didn't play. We'll keep you posted.

BEAT THE STREAK: Chipper Jones didn't get an extra base hit, so at least he didn't set a record, which makes me happy. He did have a few singles, though, to keep my hitting streak going. I'm at 3 now. Tuesday night I'm taking Mike Piazza - did you know he's got his average back up to .290 entering play Monday night? I'm happy for him about that - hopefully he hits .300 this year.

COMING UP:

• The Southern Bureau has been working hard, and has blown me away with a fantastic article comparing the 2004 Red Sox and 1986 Mets. It's so good I almost scrapped this whole article to run it. The Mets don't have another off day for a week and a half, but they play really early on Thursday, so I think I'll run the Southern Bureau's article then.
• I'm also expecting an article from Justin in NYC, entitled, "My Dinner With Don Mattingly". Of course, Mattingly's not affiliated with the Mets, but Justin's article should be entertaining enough to merit printing on this Mets site.

AND FINALLY.....

A year ago at this time, I probably could have gotten away with a frivolous purchase like the one you see at the right. But now I'm having a child, and apparently having children affects the way one can spend money. So for now, I'm not allowed to order johnnymets.blogspot.com t-shirts in bulk. But nothing's stopping you from e-mailing me with your interest level, and your shirt size. And nothing's stopping me from checking out the cost of customized baseball caps.