WOULD YOU HIRE THIS MAN?

You may or may not have heard that Gary Carter was in the news a lot this week. He sort of started a controversy by offering himself up for Willie Randolph's job - in a very public way - before it was available. His mouth got him in trouble, and that's given people who like to pick on Carter a chance to take shots at their favorite target.

And it's probably set him back in his search for a managing job in Major League Baseball, something I've commented on before....pretty accurately, it seems.

I hate that I have to do this, but I need to explain myself and why I spend so much time writing about Gary Carter. He's my all-time favorite baseball player. During my first little league game, where I was a catcher (because I was....chubby), in between innings I had my chest protector on. The coach folded it down for me, and said, "There. Now you look like Gary Carter." 'Wow,' I thought. 'Whoever that is, I want to be like him.' And it turned out he was pretty good to have as a favorite player.

Now, if I was an adult at the time Gary Carter played, maybe I wouldn't like him. I'm certainly not crazy about some of the things he has been doing recently. But he's still the guy I loved growing up, and he's still the guy who sent me an autographed picture in response to a letter my mom sent for my 16th birthday, and he'll always be given the benefit of the doubt in my eyes.

Still, I don't fire and hire Major League managers. And I suspect none of those folks are giving Carter the benefit of the doubt. He's been unprofessional going about this whole business of becoming a Major League manager. He's a bit full of himself, and it's to the point where I've set aside his book, because it turns out you can't take too much of Gary Carter at once. (I will review the book sometime in the next month, when school is out and I finish it.) And all of his flaws make him an easy target for someone like Jeff Pearlman, who wrote that ESPN article I linked to above.

But I think Gary Carter means well. I don't think he wants Willie Randolph to be fired, I think he just wants to manage the Mets. I know you can't have one without the other, but Gary Carter likes to talk, and when you ask him if he'd take the managing job with the Mets, he's going to tell you what he thinks, whether or not someone already has that job. And I think some of the heat he's catching is a little unfair. Especially from a guy like Keith Hernandez. On the SNY broadcast the weekend this Gary Carter thing came down, Hernandez called Carter "unconscious", meaning he doesn't think much about anything or anyone. That's my interpretation of it anyway - I was in Washington, so I didn't hear it live. But I feel like that's unfair, that Hernandez has this podium, and he's taking shots at someone who can't respond.

Anyway, I agree Carter shouldn't have said what he said. I would love to see him manage in the majors someday, because I would love to root for him to do well. But I don't think, after this, that it's going to happen anytime soon. And I don't think it will happen at all with the Mets, especially under current ownership. I just hope people stop taking shots at him so I don't have to be embarrassed and feel that I have to defend my favorite player.

COMING IN JUNE: You may have noticed May was a tough month for the blog. Hopefully, with the Mets back to .500 and seeming to have turned a corner this week, we'll be back to everyday updates in June. (And school ending will help, too.)

ALMOST A DISASTER

The Wife carefully planned our Memorial Day weekend trip to Washington, D.C. to see Nationals Park. The reason we did Washington this year was because she is pregnant. Originally, we were going to go to Chicago over the summer to see both of those ballparks, but I guess pregnancy makes you uncomfortable or something, so The Wife didn't want to travel that far. So we stuck closer to home, and did our traveling earlier in the pregnancy, and went to Washington.
But the careful planning factored in with the timing of our traveling. We left Massachusetts Friday afternoon, hoping to get a jump on Memorial Day traffic - it worked. We breezed to New York City, meeting my parents, and spent the night at their house. We wanted to leave Saturday morning at 6am, but by the time we got going it was after 7. No problem...we hit little pockets of traffic here and there, but we did pretty well considering Memorial Day weekend is usually a heavy traffic time, and we had lunch at our hotel a little after 1. (An aside - it's a long drive through New Jersey. And, with apologies to Justin in NYC - who's originally from Jersey - I think I figured out on this drive why Jersey is such a dump. In Connecticut, the fine for littering on the highway is $219. In Maryland, it's more than $100. But in New Jersey, it's $50. I almost threw stuff out the window just because it was such a bargain, comparatively. Everyone must do it.)

Thus began the bad decisions I made over the course of the weekend, which could have ruined everything for everyone (or, at the very least, me):

1) We walked from our hotel to the White House. That was fine. But I suggested, since we already came that far, that we go to the National Archives, which was only a little (a lot) farther, and see the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. So I made my parents and pregnant wife (The Baby was asleep in a stroller) walk all that way to see that the line was an hour-plus long, and we didn't go in. We just hopped on the Metro (the subway) and went back to the hotel.

2) On our way to brunch on Sunday morning, I pulled into a parking garage that cost $12. This may not seem like a big deal, but Sunday morning is pretty quiet in Washington, DC. There was a lot of street parking. I felt pretty stupid.

3) There was a big motorcycle rally in DC this weekend. We knew that going in, and we knew there would be some sort of rally by the Capitol Building. Turns out, it was right when we were on our way to the game. We had to cross right where the motorcycles were parading. Every street I turned down was the wrong one. The Wife somehow got us across and into the game.

4) This one affects no one but me. You may or may not be aware that the Nationals' big attraction (besides the baseball, I guess, but only by a little) is the "President Race", where four big mascot-type people race, dressed as Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, and Teddy Roosevelt (Franklin would race, but the wheelchair gives him an advantage) start in center field, run around the warning track, and end their race at a finish line down the right field line. As you can tell from my picture of Tim Redding yesterday, our seats were right at where this finish line would be. I realized this as soon as we sat down. Sadly, my first thought was, "These are going to be great seats for the President Race." Well, I assumed the race would be in the sixth or seventh innings, so come the end of the third, I decided to hit the souvenir stand, and because we weren't as early to the game as I wanted, because of the aforementioned motorcycles, I hadn't toured the park yet. So I walked around the stadium.

I came out of the Team Store behind home plate and around the third base side just in time to see Redding fan the opposing pitcher, Parra, with the bases loaded and two out (it was a long top of the fourth). So I'm walking, and the PA Announcer says, "Ladies and Gentleman, it's the moment you've all been waiting for..." or some such thing like that. I turn, and sure enough, it's the President race, and I was sorely out of position. I managed this picture - click on it, though, for an enlarged version, and you can see how engrossed everyone is. I love the people out in the outfield peering over the wall to see Jefferson go by. Incidentally, Lincoln won.

One last thing about the Nationals - Cristian Guzman was born on March 21. Wily Mo Pena was born January 23. That's a 3/21 and a 1/23, if you're scoring at home. Needless to say, I was thrilled.

WASHINGTON: NATIONALS PARK

Today I'll spend some time giving my opinion of Nationals Park in Washington, DC. It was a nice park, but nothing spectacular. The picture above was the best I could do as an establishing shot - the really nice view of the park I would have had to cross a river to get. But my mom took a picture out of the back of the car of that view...I'll post it if it came out nice. Anyway, the park really wet my whistle thinking about how good Citi Field is going to be. Because as un-spectacular as this park was, it was still pretty great, comparitively speaking. And I know Citi Field will be better. The details:

As much as Jacobs Field reminded me of Petco Park (and I know Jacobs came first, but I went to Petco first, so Jacobs reminded me of Petco), Nationals Park was definitely inspired by Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati. I'm even more sure of this after watching the Nationals and remembering the Cincinnati connection of GM Jim Bowden. He must have had some say in the ballpark design. The outfield concourse especially reminded me of Cincy - there was more in Cincinnati, but the way the concession stands were set up, and the attractions (I think I described them as amusement-park like when I wrote about Cincinnati) were similar. (The Baby and I did not wait on line to use the play structure you see to the right.)

Do you notice in that picture the big blank green areas to the upper left? I think those are supposed to hold advertisements. And I think the outfield walls in Nationals Park are supposed to have more ads than they do. But the ballpark looks plain. It's weird for me to remark on the outfield walls of a Major League park as plain, because that's the way they all used to look, but nowadays everyone has advertisements on the walls, like the minor league parks. I think the Nats are having trouble scratching up some advertisers. Didn't seem like they were strapped for cash when we were there (it was the second-largest crowd of the season, and they did seem unprepared - certain vendors ran out of some elementary things like hot dogs), but maybe the fact that this brand-spanking-new ballpark is called Nationals Park instead of "Geico Park" or something is another indication they're having trouble selling the idea of baseball in the nation's capital.
See that middle picture above? That's another similarity to the Cincinnati design - there's not just a center field seating area - it's a strange part of the design. In Cincy, it's a steamship. In Washington, it's this rotunda thing. It's like they're trying to disguise that you have crappy seats.
Anyway, as I show you Tim Redding getting ready to throw the first pitch of the game, I'll tell you that I was psyched when I found out I'd have rooting interest - Redding is on my fantasy team, and he was starting against the Brewers. Redding has also been the best Nats starter by far, and he cruised for about 5+ innings. Then he fell apart. And the more I realized how bad the Nationals pitching is, the more I realized how sad the Mets' state of affairs is, because they make the Nationals' pitching look ridiculously good whenever they play them.

One weird thing about the ballpark is that in the parts where the concourse was open, there were all sorts of TVs. But behind home plate, in the areas where the concourse was closed, there were no TVs - the spot where you couldn't see the game at all. That puzzled me.

And lastly, it seems Milwaukee fans travel well. I'm always surprised when Brewers fans crawl out of the woodwork. We saw the Brewers in Cincinnati, and there were a good number of Brewers fans at that game. The Wife commented that it wasn't such a long ride for them. But there were a bunch at this game, too. And recently, although I spent part of that weekend traveling, when the Brewers were at Fenway, all sorts of Brewers fans were around town. I was surprised. But maybe I shouldn't be as surprised anymore.

Two more things (I'm squeezing all of my Nationals writing into two days, I guess, not the whole week like I said yesterday) - the ballpark is not in the greatest area, and here's another bad thing - just 5,000 parking spaces. Small little lots a block or so from the ballpark. The radio ads try to convince people to take the Metro...but we were able to park in a lot. And finally, there's no Expos history anywhere that I saw (no Gary Carter retired number - I guess all Expos records are gone), but there are Salutes to Hall of Famers throughout the building, and little bits throughout about the history of baseball in Washington.

Tomorrow I'll tell you about my weekend of bad decisions, and how we still survived.

ANALYSIS THROUGH EIGHT WEEKS

I'm done with the most difficult part of the end-of-school stuff, and although it is still busy, I should be able to write more often. I'm also back from a Memorial Day weekend trip to Washington, D.C., and I have a lot to write about that. So I'll spend most of the rest of the week writing about the Nationals, unless the Mets pull a total 180 and fire Willie Randolph. I'll address that situation within this bi-weekly analysis:

MOST IMPRESSIVE: It's too bad when I have to spend more time thinking about the impressive feats of the past two weeks than the disappointments - because there have been more of the latter than the former. As a result, this space gets a big N/A. Lots of negatives, nothing impressive.

BIGGEST SURPRISE: Still not positive - Thought the Mets were past their difficulties with Atlanta, and in Atlanta. But a 4-game sweep to start the week was a surprise, and took away anything good the Mets took by winning 2-out-of-2 in the Bronx.


LEAST IMPRESSIVE: How about the fundamentals? I've never seen so many people get picked off the basepaths on a team. Carlos Beltran doubled off third to end a game (against Washington, I think) after a line drive by Carlos Delgado to first. Jose Reyes getting picked off the bases three times in a little more than a week. David Wright getting doubled off first last week against Atlanta. It's disgusting. And in Washington on Sunday, in the game I went to, Lastings Milledge was on second base, and tried to go to third on a grounder to short. He was thrown out easily. A guy in front of me started cursing the team's discipline. Sadly, I thought it was typical of a Mets farmhand.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: Willie Randolph. The above story shows that it's not all Randolph - because maybe there are some fundamentals missing at the minor league level. But you're starting to realize as a Mets fan that maybe Randolph is not the guy for this group of guys. I don't know who is (I don't know that I would want to see Gary Carter get thrown into that mess, but I sure would be excited if he was), but whoever it was would probably think twice before they bring up race. Now, I'm not going to pretend to think it's a perfect world and that everyone is treated equally, because I'm sure Randolph has faced situations where he's been treated differently because of the color of his skin. And by differently I mean awfully. But I think when it comes to managing (or coaching) in New York, it doesn't matter what color your skin is - it matters if you win or lose. And for the past year, he's lost more than he has won. So bring up Herman Edwards and Isiah Thomas all you want, just note that the common denominator, past skin color, is that they lost (one much more than the other). And make sure you also bring up Dallas Green, Jeff Torborg, Bobby Valentine (who did a lot of winning that was overshadowed by losing), and Art Howe when you talk about being treated badly. They all were. Because they all lost. The only difference is the Mets didn't own a television station at the time.

MOST IMPRESSIVE: I have a soft spot in my heart for Jon Lester. Part of it is because his story is a good one, and The Wife and I were part of his comeback, when it was announced upon our arrival in Cleveland that he was starting the game we were going to - his first game back from his cancer battle. He also hasn't done anything to turn me off of him, as so many other ballplayers have done. But his no-hitter last Monday outshines his losing effort Sunday as the best thing that happened in baseball the past two weeks. Plus, he's on my fantasy team.

BIGGEST SURPRISE: The Marlins and Rays still get mentioned here, because they're both in first place. But I'm going to stick with the Red Sox once more and say the effectiveness of Bartolo Colon was pretty surprising. It was against the Royals (see below), and tonight is against Seattle, so you can argue that he hasn't been tested yet, but I'm buying into what people are saying, that he's got a bit of a hunger (no pun intended) to prove himself again, and the fact that he's not that far removed from being dominant.

LEAST IMPRESSIVE: The Kansas City Royals are back to being unimpressive. They just completed an 0-7 week, and lost again today, so they're on an 8-game losing streak. From mediocrity to much less than mediocre...all in a little more than a week.


BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: I mentioned Andruw Jones and the horrible season he's having. Now he's having surgery and will be out for a while - 4 weeks, I think. He continues to stink it up.

Check back the rest of the week - you might think you dialed up johnnynats.blogspot.com, but you'll be in the right place. I'll just be telling you about Washington, D.C. and Nationals Park.

TICK....TICK....TICK

I'm still crazy busy, but I had to put my two cents in. This is part of the article from espn.com about Willie Randolph's recent comments:

"Is it racial?" Randolph asked in the column, written by The Record's Ian O'Connor. "Huh? It smells a little bit."

"I don't know how to put my finger on it, but I think there's something there," Randolph said in the column. He cited the example of former New York Jets coach Herman Edwards as a coach who was initially successful, but did not last long when the Jets started losing. He also noted the treatment of former New York Knicks coach and GM Isiah Thomas, saying "Isiah didn't do a great job, but they beat up Isiah pretty good. ... There's something weird about it."

There's nothing weird about it, Willie. Win some friggin' games. Herman Edwards was fine until he started losing. Isiah Thomas never won. Where were the racial comments in 2006 when you were winning the division?

Apparently Randolph has backed off these comments, but the fact that he would play the race card at all is so disappointing. And this coming after Billy Wagner last week....this team is a mess right now.

I also formed a radical idea on my way home from work today. I can't even believe I'm going to say this...but the Mets might as well just sign Barry Bonds. They can't get much more unlikeable as a team than they are right now, and it wouldn't mess up the clubhouse chemistry any. These guys clearly hate each other and aren't responding to their manager. Might as well throw Bonds into the mix. I don't know where he'd play, but they need some kind of spark. Bench Delgado, make Bonds play first. Sign him just before interleague, make him DH, and see what happens. Moises Alou will probably be hurt again soon.

The Mets' 2008 season is not going like I'd hoped.

ROSTER SHAKEUP

The Mets shuffled a lot of people around today, in a bit of an effort to shake things up:

One was out of necessity. Angel Pagan was placed on the DL, Fernando Tatis was called up. (Yes, Fernando Tatis - he of the 1999 Cardinals, with 34 homers and 107 RBI. Can you believe 1999 was almost ten years ago? And that this was the best picture of him I could find?)

Another was a move not made - with options remaining to be sent down, Joe Smith was not - he stayed with the big club.

Jorge Sosa and Nelson Figueroa were sent down, replaced by Matt Wise, who was activated off the DL, and Claudio Vargas, who was called up.

I think they should hold off on engraving the Mets onto the chamionship trophy. I'm not sure these moves qualify as a "shakeup".

And now I have to comment on this, which I just learned after the first pitch by John Maine tonight. He hit Felipe Lopez, which was apparently a message from last night, when the Mets got whupped by the Nationals, 10-4.

Apparently, and this is so utterly ridiculous I can't believe it, Nelson Figueroa got upset at the Nationals because they were rhythmically clapping in the dugout. And it rattled him. And he called them a bunch of "Softball girls", or something like that. And even the Mets announcers just called what the Nationals did "bush league".

You know what, get off your friggin' high horse. There's nothing wrong with what the Nationals did. First of all, baseball needs more cheering, and people who give a crap about what's happening on the field. And second of all, if they only did it to rattle the pitcher, and didn't give a crap whether it was inspiring their teammates, there's one way to show them it doesn't work - don't let it get to you. And Nelson Figueroa let it get to him. And gave up 10 runs to the worst team in baseball. And that's unacceptable. That's bush league. That's a softball score. You deserve to be sent to the minors after that. And not come back.

ANALYSIS THROUGH SIX WEEKS

Hi. I'm sorry it's been a while. Busy time of year. Not sure how often I'll be updating over the next couple of weeks - but please keep checking back. Rest assured, though, that I have been watching plenty of baseball, and I am well qualified to give this summary:

MOST IMPRESSIVE: Lately, it's been Carlos Beltran. How about this past week? .381 Avg., 8 RBI, 5 runs scored in 21 at-bats. He's led an offense which qualifies this session as the.....

BIGGEST SURPRISE: It shouldn't be that the Mets' offense is listed under a "surprise" this year...but such is the case. The way they were playing, I was about to write an obituary last week on the 2008 season. Then the bats came alive in Los Angeles and against the Reds, and it looks like there may be hope yet. Again, the fact that this is even remotely "surprising" is disheartening, but let's accentuate the positive here (12 runs against Brad Penny, then 21 in 3 games versus Cincinnati).

LEAST IMPRESSIVE: David Wright has been slow to have his bat wake up, while the rest of the offense has been impressive. He's at 12 doubles, but I feel like he hasn't gotten a big hit in a long time.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: Oliver Perez. Even when he's good he's making you hold his breath. How about this, though? This occurred to me on Sunday. Is it possible that he needs Brian Schneider as a steadying influence when he's on the mound? I haven't heard anyone mention this, but Perez had a great start to the year when Schneider was behind the plate, then Schneider got hurt, and Perez fell apart. Coincidence? Maybe. But Schneider's healthy...so let's see.

MOST IMPRESSIVE: How about Brandon Webb? I sang his praises during his shutout streak last year, but this has been just as impressive. 8 starts, 8 wins. He's got a 2.41 ERA, and has one complete game. He's solid.

BIGGEST SURPRISE: I was going to go with Florida Baseball, and mention the Marlins, Rays, the Florida State League, some silliness like that. But everyone is touting Florida baseball (and rightly so). So I'll say just the Rays, who are fun to root for. And you know what, I can't not mention the Marlins, even though they're the division rivals. As long as they keep it up, I'll keep mentioning them as a surprise.


LEAST IMPRESSIVE: The Blue Jays' offense ought to be ashamed of itself (themselves?). For the team to have starting pitching that great (Roy Halladay, Dustin McGowan, and Shawn Marcum have been outstanding) and be five games under .500 is ridiculous. They just can't score.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: Have I mentioned Andruw Jones yet? I think it's about time. He's hitting .170 out in LA, with just one homer and 5 RBI. Even when David Ortiz was at his lowest point this year, he was still driving in runs. This is just awful.

E-MAIL

The Southern Bureau wrote on Saturday about Carlos Delgado:

"Will Carlos Delgado please make up his mind. Is he done or not?? A week ago he looked like his career was on the fast track to nowhere. Now he’s had a great week – including a big home run today. Johnnymets….what’s the deal??

-Southern Bureau"

Even though I know you are selfishly motivated here, Southern Bureau, I'll give you an honest answer. (Currently I'm three points back in the fantasy baseball standings...but sharing my knowledge of Delgado won't make any difference.)

You and I aren't the only people who have wondered about Delgado. Only about every other Mets fan is thinking about it.

Right now, he reminds me of Bobby Bonilla (ouch). It seems that whenever he comes up with a "big" hit, it's after the Mets are already down or ahead - nothing's very clutch. One of the things that you hear about Delgado is how proud he is. That he takes it hard when he is moved around in the batting order - he doesn't like to think of himself as an older ballplayer - he still thinks he's a cleanup-type hitter who can and will contribute.

Well, I don't think so. I feel the same way I felt about Delgado in the spring - I just don't know which version of him will show up from day to day. He'll get hot maybe for a month or two, but I think he'll fade by the post-season. The Mets will need better performances from everyone else to cover up that weakness....because Delgado is more liability than asset right now.

And now that I've said all that, expect him to turn it around and fast...because what do I know?

200 METERS FROM THE CITI

Took a quick trip down to Queens for a family function this weekend. One of the ol' Saturday morning arrivals, Sunday morning departures. As a result, I set myself back about a month in the "tired" department. Too much schoolwork+end of the year+traveling = less blogging. Sorry about that.

Anyway, couldn't not post some pictures of the Citi Field progress. You can see how far they've come since my last pictures. The Wife knows this wasn't her finest moment in photography. Of five pictures she took reaching across The Baby from a moving car, this was the best one to show what the stadium looks like. The coolest thing was coming east on the Whitestone Expressway (north/south? I'm just not sure) and seeing the light towers pop up over a hill. That's the hallmark of a cool new stadium - M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore was that way, off I-95, I think. Anyway, Mets are on the west coast, so I won't be seeing much of them these next few days. But I will get to some e-mail I have.

(Shea is not pictured here - it's just out of view on the right.)

WRONG KIND OF FIRED UP

Here are two ways I know it's nearing the end of the school year and I'm more tired at night than ever:

1) I fall asleep before I set my fantasy baseball lineup, and don't have time to get on the computer in the morning at school, and don't have Shawn Marcum in my rotation for a 7-inning shutout performance (I am so pissed about that).
2) The Wife is more up on the Mets news than I am. She e-mailed me this:

"You should blog about this:

Wagner rips Mets teammate
Posted: Thursday May 01, 2008 05:53AM ET
Amid the rubble of a 13-1 loss to the last-place Pirates that started with Oliver Perez's second-inning meltdown, Billy Wagner said what many of his teammates appeared to be thinking about the left-hander. Wagner blasted Perez for lasting just 12/3 innings, matching his career low, against one of the worst teams in baseball. "Perez has honestly got to step up and know that we've just used every guy in our bullpen the night before," a visibly disgusted Wagner said. "He can't come out there and decide that, gee, he hasn't got it today and so be it." Asked if talking to Perez about his notoriously short attention span was like trying to talk to a wall, Wagner pointed his finger and said: "Pretty much.""

Thanks for that...although I'm not sure the source. I'll just credit The Wife.

I guess Billy Wagner's back - he had been awfully quiet this year. And last year, really. Recently I had asked for more players to get into 2006 form - I meant in baseball performance, but the Mets had a cohesive locker room that year, so maybe Wagner opening his mouth will lend itself to a more cohesive team unit (that seems counter-intuitive...).

I can't really make an argument against Wagner here, though. He's right. And for Oliver Perez to be this up and down throughout his career, he has to be the type of guy who probably gives up on himself, says, 'I just don't have it today, so I'll wait until my next start'. I think Wagner has it right on the nose. Problem is, the question about Perez's attention span was really uncalled for, and Wagner answering it is crossing a line. That's the part that's not going to go over well.

Hopefully Perez comes back with a strong start, and hopefully the players don't start sniping at one another. Since this entry centered on Oliver Perez, I now cue the Southern Bureau.....

APRIL GOES OUT LIKE A LAMB

A disappointing month for the Mets. After a 1-0 March, the Mets were barely over .500 in April. The numbers:

13-12
.256 avg. (16th in majors)
16 HR (26th in majors)
3.64 ERA (4th in majors)

I have to admit, I'm pretty shocked the Mets' team ERA ranks them fourth in the Majors. I guess the pitching has been pretty good (the starters, at least)...and I don't know if that counts the 13-1 disaster on Thursday that ended the month. But with the offense the Mets have, the other numbers are too mediocre, and downright unacceptable.

Moises Alou will be back this weekend. Brian Schneider is out of the hospital - when he comes back, they'll have the starting lineup they are supposed to have. They need to break away in May.

Justin from NYC weighed in on the uninspiring play of the Mets (via e-mail...not sure what Justin has against comments on the blog):

"its not just the Mets who are uninspiring. I haven't been interested in a Yankee game yet this season. I don't know what it is. Maybe its the Giants hangover. Maybe its the fact that the Knicks meant nothing for so long that my sports fan muscles atrophied."

NOTES FROM A PHONE CONVERSATION WITH STEVE IN NYC

With the Rangers just having tied their playoff game with the Pittsburgh Penguins at 1, I called Steve in NYC to talk hockey. Soon after, the Rangers were down, 3-1, and the conversation turned decidedly sour. Some lowlights:

WHAT IS WRONG WITH METS FANS?
I didn't really know about this until I saw an article on-line today - apparently, the Mets fans got pretty pumped after Carlos Delgado hit his second home run of the day on Sunday, and cheered louder and louder, but he didn't come out for a curtain call. And I guess, with the rainout on Monday, and nothing else to talk about, Mets fans took Delgado to task for "snubbing" them.

Steve and I are 100% on Delgado's side here. "There are moments, and there are moments," said Delgado. "A solo homer in the 7th inning is not a moment." He's right. It wasn't a game-changing home run. Meanwhile, it was one of three on the year for Delgado. Mets fans need to get a clue. Or I need to get to Shea to show people what to cheer for and how to do it.

One other cheering thing that we talked about - the fact that Mets fans booed Johan Santana during his first start. Don't boo him in his first home game. Idiots. I'm sensing some restlessness tonight, too - Santana just gave up a homer to Jason Bay - following up a leadoff homer by Nate McLouth (having an awesome start to the year, by the way) - and if he gives up anything else, I'm sensing some boos. Get a grip Mets fans - Santana gives up homers. If the offense would get it in gear, two solo homers wouldn't be the end of the world. Boo some of the offensive players until they get it going.

WILLIE RANDOLPH'S JOB SECURITY
This was another topic of conversation - and I've been meaning to bring this up. Steve said Mets fans should save their boos for Randolph, because he's doing a terrible job. I can't disagree. It's occurred to me for a while that if things keep going this way for the Mets, they need to shake things up. Maybe it's the manager's job that goes. I'm going out on this limb - if the Mets are not in first place by the end of May, they should fire Willie Randolph. That might get things going.

LET'S GO *YAWN* METS
Steve is upset about the Mets - even more upset about the way the Mets are playing than maybe the Rangers possibly going down 3 games to none. I said I wish I was that upset about the Mets. The problem for me is that they're uninspiring, and they look uninspired. It's just not getting me excited. Maybe that's Randolph's fault - maybe they need someone to fire them up. But we expected great things this year. Great things haven't started happening yet. I feel like I should be more upset about that than I am. They're not making me stand up and give a care.

ANALYSIS THROUGH FOUR WEEKS

As I hinted at a couple of weeks ago, I'm still re-working this idea - and more changes might be coming - but here are my bi-weekly thoughts - some good and bad from the Mets, and some good and bad from around the Majors. Again, more changes could be on the way...and this week has a decided bullpen theme, as far as the Mets are concerned, based on some of my thoughts last week. (User-friendly instructions - Happy Mr. Met is for the good Mets news, Sad Mr. Met is for the upsetting Mets news, and the happy and sad MLB logos are for the good and bad MLB news, respectively.)

MOST IMPRESSIVE: Believe it or not, the bullpen hasn't been all bad. When the Mets have been able to get him the ball in save situations, Billy Wagner has been lights-out. He's one of the best in the game right now. I fully expect something will go wrong with him at some point - he'll become unreliable, he'll choke when it counts down the stretch, or he'll get hurt - but for now, he's impressive.

BIGGEST SURPRISE: Not a total surprise, since we have seen what he is capable of, but I guess the fact that he's come back from his injury to pitch so well makes it a surprise. Duaner Sanchez looks like he did in 2006 before he got hurt- which is high praise. The Mets could use some more players who look like they did in 2006.
LEAST IMPRESSIVE: There may have been some overreaction by blanketing the whole bullpen as bad last week. Therefore, I can't put the entire bullpen in this spot (Joe Smith, Wagner, Sanchez, Pedro Feliciano, and, believe it or not, Scott Schoeneweis, have all been good-to-better-than-good). But I'll single out Jorge Sosa for now, since he's partners in crime with Aaron Heilman in giving up the big hit at the wrong time.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: We've talked about it already, but Aaron Heilman has been in a severe downward spiral the past season and a half or so. He's nowhere near as dominant as he used to be. Perhaps dominant is the wrong word- let's go with "effective". But because he has set the bar high in the past, he qualifies as a disappointment. Last week, Ron Darling said it looks like some hitters in the National League are just sitting on Heilman's change up, and then rocketing it out of the park. I think he's right.

MOST IMPRESSIVE: I haven't commented on him yet, because it hasn't come up, and I usually don't just throw around praise for the Braves, but Chipper Jones is off to an incredible start. I'm noticing it because he's on my fantasy team, but more than that, he's hitting well north of .400 and is on base almost every other inning. He also has been clutch. And it's not just against the Mets.

BIGGEST SURPRISE: The Florida Marlins are still in first place at this point of the season. Is that a surprise? You bet.


LEAST IMPRESSIVE: I mentioned it last week, but the Texas Rangers have been dreadful. They're challenging the Nationals for the "worst team in baseball" title. The Red Sox series did more harm than good, obviously, but they really weren't doing anything this year anyway.



BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: I'm not sure if the Yankees qualify here as a team yet - they're right around .500, and they've been quiet, but not terribly disappointing. I would guess they'll be like that all year - I didn't have them making the playoffs in Girardi's first year anyway. But moreso than the Yankees as a team is second baseman Robinson Cano, who is hitting below the Mendoza line in this first month. This is an observation, unlike Chipper Jones, that I am attributing directly to my fantasy team. I need him to turn it around - and he'll certainly help New York as well when he does. Cano is a career .244 hitter in April (that includes this year), but he has never had a month this bad.

THIS JUST IN: Speaking of disappointments, I just saw on ESPN as breaking news that the Giants are going to move Barry Zito to the bullpen. Ouch.

COUNTDOWN IS ON

One of the coolest things happening in this final year at Shea Stadium is the "Shea Countdown", where each night at a Mets home game, a number is taken down, counting down to the final game at Shea.

The taking down of the number is done by someone with a connection to the Mets/Shea Stadium. For instance, already this year members of the Shea family and old Mets teams have taken down the number. It's purely a photo op, but I like that sort of thing. The Mets and Shea Stadium don't have the greatest history in sports, but it brings back some nice memories.

Monday night, the Mets will honor the Jets, for the years (19) they shared Shea. During that time, both teams won championships in the calendar year of 1969. On Monday, in a total "Try to get people to come to a Pirates game" publicity stunt, members of the Jets (from way back to the final years at Shea - Don Maynard, Joe Klecko, Wesley Walker) will be around the stadium, and involved in ceremonies and such. Joe Namath isn't being advertised, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's the one trotted out to take down the number.

And that brings us back to the "Countdown". I wonder if it will get really special down towards the last bunch of home games. Like at number 31, will John Franco and Mike Piazza be brought back? Will other famous Mets get their numbers - Keith Hernandez at 17, Ron Darling at 12, Gary Carter at 8? Who will do it the last night? And, hopefully, come post-season time, will there be a new countdown, or will the Mets just put that to rest?

I like this sort of thing. I especially like Monday night, where the Mets and Jets will be together - a friend of my brother's said to me, jokingly, "Billy Joel is also singing the national anthem, and Boston University alumni get in for free." He's exaggerating, but it really does come close to a dream night catered just to me.

OUTRAGEOUS

It's time to let it out - the Mets bullpen is a mess. It's worse than a mess. It's the mess a mess leaves behind. It's so bad you would think Isiah Thomas had a hand in it. And if you're going to point fingers, you can start with Aaron Heilman.

The Mets have a huge problem right now. The Nationals...the worst team in baseball...took the Mets' bullpen behind the woodshed tonight.

This has been the pattern recently. The starting rotation hasn't been excellent, but they've been good. The numbers have been decent - most of the time giving up 3 runs, sometimes 4. But the Mets, especially lately, have been losing games by giving up 7 runs to the other team...or 8, or 10. Hang that on the bullpen.

A solution needs to be reached. A solution better than moving Aaron Heilman (4 homers allowed in 13 innings pitched, including a grand slam to light-hitting Felipe Lopez on Thursday night) up to the 6th inning instead of the 8th. He killed the Mets on Thursday with his sixth inning performance....usually he saves his Mets-killing until the 8th. So moving him around doesn't seem to be helping.

This is why I'm such a believer in trading Angel Pagan for some relief help. Pagan has already gotten into a slump (he's no .400 hitter, but at least people would overpay for him after his hot start), but his value remains high right now. And Moises Alou will be back within a week. Chances are he'll get hurt again this year, but right now the Mets need relief help. I know, who doesn't. And who's out there? I don't know. But the Mets need to do something, before it gets any worse.

E-MAIL: Steve in NYC commented on this very subject, among other things, with a response to a posting earlier this week:

"I am shocked that you think Reyes will not end his career as a Met. I don't see who the Mets would ever trade him for (especially, if not for Santana). I think the Mets need both Reyes and Wright on the team for the next decade and if Reyes plays his style of ball (including the dancing and handshakes), the Mets will give him a big contract before he gets to free agency. Who will give him more money than the Mets anyway? The important thing is if the Mets win, one would think that he would want to stay with the team he came up, grew up and became a champion with.

That being said, the Mets need to get their act together. I am the first to admit that I am a very pessimistic fan, but, after winning 5 straight and heading in the [W]right direction, the lose 3 straight, in the fashion they lost is ridiculous, no matter the time of the season. Sunday's loss to the Phils hurt the most because they showed a lot of fight by coming back, but Feliciano giving up the home run, opposite field just sucked!!

I would love to read some of your comments about Heilman and what to do with him and how long Willie should keep using him in big spots. How many homeruns is he going to give up in the 8th inning. You may have to start a watch for that this season and see if he breaks any records. Anyway, hopefully they will turn it around against the AAA Washington Nationals and continue through the weekend. I will be there routing them on this Saturday. LETS GO METS!!

Also, a few Ranger comments on the block wouldn't hurt, since they are a lot more exciting than anything coming out of Jets camp. Keep it in mind. This could be their year."

I am excited for the Rangers - I should get them on TV here in the first few games as well.

As for the Reyes thing, I just think he'll explore free agency at some point - I think that's where his personality differs from Wright. While Wright would be happy here forever, I think Reyes would bounce around later (much later) on. And I think the Mets would be OK with one leaving if they had the other stick around (it's so rare to have a Bagwell-Biggio situation where two guys spend their entire careers with one team like that - at the pro level, let alone coming up solely through their system).

A PREVIEW OF SORTS

I could have been part of a World Series preview tonight, and I thought it was important that I let you know.

The preview I am talking about did not involve the "Red" team versus the "Gray" team of the Boston Softball League (or the BSCC, I think), of which Dave in Brighton and Mrs. Dave in Brighton are team members. (Although I thank them for thinking of me as a fill-in. I like to think that even though I played pretty poorly I helped the team win because they didn't have to forfeit. The recap - Mrs. Dave in Brighton pitched brilliantly, overcame my two errors, and the 'Gray' team won.)

The preview I was privy to was a Mets-Red Sox preview. And it didn't involve the teams on the field - it involved their battle over the airwaves.

On the way back home from the game, which took me through about 63 Massachusetts towns (I still don't understand Massachusetts geography), I tuned into the Mets, on SportsRadio 660am - WFAN, of course. And fighting the Mets' reception was the Red Sox game, which tonight was on 680am, WRKO. Uh-oh, I thought. No chance of getting the Mets tonight.

Mid at-bat the reception would switch from one game to the next. This was quite different from when the Red Sox were on their flagship - 850am. But I held fast to WFAN, and caught most of an inning of the Mets-Nationals game.

In the end, the Mets pulled through. Clear as a bell from a certain point until I got home. It really was the underdog pulling through when things looked the bleakest.

I don't think the Mets would be outmatched by that much in October, if the baseball gods allowed a 1986 rematch. But it's nice to know that if they were, they would stand a chance.

A DELICATE BALANCE

The Mets need more of the Jose Reyes on the left, and less of the one on the right. And not just because the one on the left has just scored a big run against the Phillies (and perhaps is about to dance...more on that in a minute) and the one on the right has just committed a costly error that directly led to a 5-run inning.

No, it's because the one on the left defines the Mets in good times, while the one on the right defines them in bad times. I'm realizing more and more that as Jose Reyes goes, so go the Mets.

The Mets had three straight national broadcasts over the weekend - Saturday on Fox against the Phillies, Sunday night in Philadelphia on ESPN, and then on Monday in Chicago back on ESPN. I didn't hear much about this on Monday night, but it certainly was talked about plenty on Saturday and Sunday. Apparently, Carlos Beltran had a conversation with Reyes about being his joyful self, dancing in the dugout, instead of trying to be a serious ballplayer (to sum it up). Basically, Reyes needs to loosen up a bit.

And I think I agree. The Mets are fun to watch when Reyes is yukking it up in the dugout. Other teams don't like it? Fine. Just go out and beat them and shut them up.

A few years ago, I never thought I'd be so torn on Jose Reyes. I would have thought I'd always be 100% in his corner. But we're coming off an off-season where I wouldn't have minded seeing him traded (for the right price - Johan Santana, specifically). And now I'm turned around again, thinking Omar Minaya showed great patience and loyalty by holding on to Reyes (and still getting Santana...what a deal that was!). And I have a lot of opinions here.

I don't think Jose Reyes will end his career as a Met. I think David Wright will. Something tells me that down the road, Wright will be given an opportunity to finish out his career in New York, while Reyes will either explore free agency and move somewhere else or be used in a trade down the line. And the Mets will be fine with Wright - you can't ask for a better ballplayer to wear your uniform. That said - David Wright doesn't set up the Mets for success the way Jose Reyes does.

For some reason, the Mets feed off Reyes in a way they don't with Wright. Perhaps it's because for Wright to hit a 2-run homer, for example, he needs Reyes on base ahead of him. Perhaps it's because Reyes can keep the team light in a way that Wright can't. Whatever it is, Jose Reyes' attitude is more important to the team than anyone else's, and September bore that out a little.

And I think that's why Rickey Henderson's influence was so negative. Because Reyes' dancing and celebrating in the dugout (by the way - it's not like he's showing up the other team - he's celebrating with teammates in the dugout with dances and special handshakes - I don't take that as a slight to another team) was not at the expense of his performance in the game. It was part of his game. When he stopped hustling on the field (for whatever reason, this happened when Henderson was coaching), and his performance suffered, he looked less like a joy-filled player and more like a guy who was celebrating individual accomplishments, and less like a team player. In other words, like someone who didn't care about team performance...because, fans like me thought, how could he possibly be happy at a time when the team is doing so poorly (a la last September)?

Which brings us to this year. Reyes took last September pretty personally. And I think he looked himself in the mirror and decided the celebrating had to go. But I think it's a big part of his game, and other parts of his game suffered because he was thinking about that, plus last year too much. Now Reyes needs to find a balance between his celebrating and taking the game seriously - because both are important to him and the team. So thank you, Carlos Beltran, for having that conversation with Reyes. It just might make this season very enjoyable to watch. Have fun out there, Jose Reyes!

WRIGHT WATCH: Monday night was significant because for the first time since Thursday, David Wright didn't double. Time to check in on his chase for the all-time lead:

ALL-TIME LEAD: 792

THIS SEASON: 10

WRIGHT'S CAREER TOTAL: 151

P.S.: Good thing the Mets only played two games in Chicago (and don't face the Cubs again until the end of September). That was an ugly series. And it was not a very flattering two games for the bullpen. Or, to put it more bluntly, the bullpen was downright awful.

WEEKEND IN REVIEW

I should have written more this weekend, but I guess since it was the start of vacation, I took advantage of it. But I can't not comment on the great week the Mets had last week, so I'll start with that:

Sure, it would have been nice had the Mets swept the Phillies and won on Sunday night. But even in losing, they sent the Phillies a message, I think. The way the Mets and Phillies were playing each other at the end of last year, had the Phillies gone up 4-0 like they did Sunday night, the game would have been over. The fact that the Mets came back to tie Sunday night's game at 4, before losing 5-4, was a good sign, I think. And the Mets had created some pad for themselves, so a loss wasn't the worst thing, by winning five games in a row leading up to Sunday night.

Again, a sweep would have been great...but the positive thing to come out of that weekend series in Philadelphia is that the Phillies don't scare me (again - after scaring me for a couple of months last year).

MEANWHILE: When the Texas Rangers look back on the disappointment that will turn out to be the 2008 season, all they need to look back at is this four-game series in Boston as to where everything fell apart. It didn't fall apart for them so much as it came together for the Red Sox - but it certainly was at the Rangers' expense.

Boston bookended the four-game series with two whoopings - an 11-3 win on Friday, and an 8-3 win on Monday. It was the two middle games that did the most damage, though:

In innings 1-7 of both games, the Rangers trailed for only a half-inning. Then in both games, in the 8th, the Red Sox torched the Rangers bullpen and ended up winning.

Yes, the Red Sox are the better team, and should have won the games...but the way they won them will kill the Rangers' season.

One more thing about the Sox - I didn't see the Kyle Farnsworth incident last week, where he threw behind Manny Ramirez's head, but allow me this comment...not even on the pitch, really. But kind of related. Of all the years to throw behind Ramirez, this seems like an odd choice - sure, he's been beating teams with his bat, but he hasn't been showboating. I haven't ever seen Ramirez run as fast as he's run around the bases this year (instead of home run trots, started off by watching every second of the ball's flight). Then there was a pure hustle triple a couple of weeks ago. He's playing hard. And to top it off - when asked about the Farnsworth suspension, he was quite coherent, actually saying something to the effect of, "He's just doing his job." What have the Red Sox done with Ramirez?

YOU'RE NOT EVEN GOING TO BELIEVE THIS

First of all, I can't believe how little publicity this has gotten...or maybe I'm just out of the loop (it is a busy time of the school year). But I had a Barnes & Noble gift card with about $30 left on it, so The Wife and I went to the bookstore tonight. I figured I'd get some kind of sports book that I had meant to get for a while, but hadn't. So I'm walking down the aisle with The Baby (one-and-a-half-year-old, actually), mostly just keeping her from ripping all kinds of books from the shelves, and I come across "Still A Kid At Heart: My Life in Baseball and Beyond", by Hall of Famer Gary Carter and Phil Pepe!

I'm psyched. I've been reading "John Adams", but I'm obviously going to have to put that book aside temporarily while I tear through the Carter book. And this book must be brand-new - it mentions his new managing job, and is copyrighted 2008...and I can't find a clean image of it on the computer to show you.

I hesitated a half-a-second before buying the book, thinking maybe this was just the same book I already have about Carter ("The Gamer", his second book), with an extra chapter...but the blurb talks about the book being about Carter's playing career and beyond.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that Carter has done a lot since leaving his playing career behind. He started off as a broadcaster with the Florida Marlins, then was a coach, and a minor league manager. Of course, there was also the election to the Hall of Fame.

I can't wait to start the book - I'll have a full review when I'm done - with school vacation week next week, I'm sure it won't be long.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

It's rare that football takes the lead on the blog during baseball season, but the release of the season schedule is one of those rare instances. The 2008 NFL schedule is out, and we have dates for the Jets' 2008 season - a season that will be heavy on the mileage (click on the picture to see a bigger version...the graphics department here at johnnymets.blogspot.com would appreciate everyone enjoying the hard work they put into this map):

I've mentioned before that in the 2008 season the Jets will play the NFC West, which usually bodes well for them. That's speculation, though. The fact is, a schedule against the NFC West adds two west coast trips (especially considering the Jets travel to San Francisco and Seattle, as opposed to just St. Louis) to a schedule where they already go to Oakland and San Diego. Here's a breakdown of the season:

SEPTEMBER
The Jets open on September 7th in Miami to play the Dolphins. Their home opener is the following Sunday against the Patriots. That's a game I would go to....unfortunately, the new baby is due the next day. I wonder if I can pull that off. The Jets have a Monday nighter on the 22nd against the Chargers, then are home for the Cardinals on the 28th.

OCTOBER
Week 5, the first weekend in October, is the Jets' bye week. Then they host the Bengals on the 12th, go to Oakland on the 19th, and host Herman Edwards and the Chiefs on the 26th.

NOVEMBER
November opens up, on the 2nd, with a trip to Buffalo to take on the Bills, then home for the Rams on the 9th. The Jets play a Thursday night game on the 13th against the Patriots, in New England - their first Thursday night game (not counting Thanksgiving afternoon last year). November 23rd is at Tennessee, the first back-to-back road games of the schedule, and then on the 30th the Jets host Denver.

DECEMBER
The Jets make their second trip to the Bay Area on December 7th to play the 49ers, then host Buffalo on the 14th, before jetting off to Seattle on the 21st, and then closing out their season at home against Miami on the 21st.

The only back-to-back home games are split up by the bye week - so at least the Jets don't go on the road again between September 23rd and October 18th. But they more than make up for that with the thousands of miles they'll travel over the course of the schedule. Most everyone else in the division has to deal with the same thing, though, so it's not an excuse (the Patriots' schedule, at first glance, looks worse). Hopefully some of those late games will be worth watching, though, because last season caused fans to lose interest by mid-October.

42: Good for all the Mets for wearing number 42 on Jackie Robinson night. It's a great way of raising awareness by Major League Baseball...and there's really no excuse for a player NOT to wear number 42.