LONNNNNNNG YEAR....Time to Hibernate

Where do we start?  Where do we end (well, that is summed up - below .500).

Going into 2011, there were low expectations.  Not only from this dyed-in-the-wool supporter of the orange and blue, but many others.

There were streaks.  Some capped with a W.  Many capped with an L.

A LOT of uncertainly.  Let's use these 4 words; 2 names and 2 verbs.  Wright. Reyes. Stay. Go.  Use every permutation. And, as of the last day + one of the season ending, they are still influx.


I have to say I give Terry Collins a vote of confidence.  He had a lot of junk to work with.  This gives me a good segue - glad we got rid of Oliver Perez and KRod.  Remember Ollie said he would NOT go to the minors?  I was laughing the day I saw he was picked up by the NATIONALS and then sent to their farm team in Harrisburg, PA.  Ever been to Harrisburg?  I lived there for a year.  Pure Hell.  Just desserts ya got, Ollie.

Oh, and Reyes ending the season with a bunt single and taking himself out of the game to win the batting title.  A bit strategic, yes.  But if you get paid a ton of $ and have talent, the view here is to play that last game out.  The true better player will prevail.

Where do we go from here?  Well, in 5 minutes I am going to bed.  Much like 24 (then 40) men did on the Mets roster.

Will I be back rooting next year? Hell yea.  A Mets leopard doesn't change his spots.

Wikked - We Beat the Sawx (Hearken Back to '86)

Like Gaul, this blog post will be divided in 3 parts...As far as drawing sequiturs between them, that's up to you -- I ain't the brains of this outfit - you are! (That's why you read UltiMETFan1969 with wreckless abandon).

So, first of all, I am not a fan of the Red Sox. Only players I really admired were Ted Williams and Carl Yaz (who was a relative of a late friend of mine, BJMZ). Tonight's victory was a symbol of a long rivalry and a triumph for all mankind. Going back to (I think) '06, the Sox swept the Mets in three. I still have not forgiven that!

Interesting stats...coming into this game, the Mets had ZERO Home runs on the road trip. That's hard to believe. HR's don't WIN games, but they are a catalyst...How are we going to fill the missing folks..Reyes out, Church looks like he may be out a day or two...and, Ramon Martinez? Puh-leeese...

Now the third part...as you know a good friend of mine, ML was a Mets fan in the Casey Stengel era. He and I have an instant message conversation maybe a few times a week relating to our fave team. Today, he sent me an interesting email, which he has allowed me to post...check it out....


If I could live through 40-120 I can certainly live through being a measly game and a half out of first place in May, after sleep-walking on the west coast.

Here is exactly what happens:

Murphy gets a glove from Wilson and learns to enjoy taking infield practice again. Amazingly, he snaps out of his slump.

Luis Castillo continues at a .280 clip and is solid as the two hitter. Jose Reyes returns in June, takes a minute, then gets hot as a firecracker in July, bouncing triples off the crazy angles at Gil Hodges/ Choo Choo Coleman Field

David Wright is David Wright. He and Shef become the clubhouse leaders. Remember the hug after home run 400? That was significant.

Carlos Delgado rests.Carlos Beltran never runs into another error where the ball drops in his area.

Ryan Church never misses another base and Angel Pagan is a better hitter than people give him credit.

Oliver Perez and Brian Schneider are traded to the Texas Rangers for an insurance infielder.

Sean Greene will be Fed Ex'ed to AAA Buffalo in early July and Dillon Gee gets his minutes.

Putz and KRod do their thing. By September 3rd, Billy Wagner is pleasantly effective as a middle relief man, augmenting Pedro Feliciano from the left hand side.

The Phillies lead the division by 9.5 games in early September. The Mets, channeling 1969, catch fire and catch them at the wire... in truly amazing fashion, in a pennant drive for the ages, forty years after catching and passing the Chicago Cubs.

Jerry Manuel is suddenly a genius.

You heard it here first.

So, wisdom of many! Let's go Mets!

Mets' Youth is Answer to Their Woes

All --
I'm taking a day off from writing today (can't stomach it after seeing the Mets pen give up 6 runs today to the lowly Pirates). I dispatched a long time business colleague and fellow Mets fan to utter some logic in this time of bullpen confusion.

by Mark Tordik

Okay, so the Mets didn't sweep the Marlins on Sunday. [Editors Note: Nor did they play up to the level of the Sisters of Charity "B" team against the Pirates on Monday in a make-up game].
We have to give Josh Johnson a lot of credit. He is a big time pitcher although he's still relatively inexperienced. It's a waste of time to analyze Pelfrey's performance since the Mets' bats did nothing to keep pace with the offensively-charged Marlins.

Going back to Game 2 of this series, Murphy and Evans were nothing short of awesome. It is always exciting to see our young talent get called up in August and September every season. Two years ago, Mike Jacobs hit 10 HRs in something like his first 100 ABs. He's a jerk anyway, especially with what he did to Brian Stokes who got his first major league hit in as many ABs -- Jacobs tossed the ball over the Mets dugout and into the stands. Delgado and Mets officials needed to act fast to get the ball back. This was no accident -- the Marlins team was angered by a stong start by the Mets in which they scored four runs in the first inning.

Anyway, back to the young Mets talent. Another minor leaguer who has been getting some blog buzz is Valentino Pascucci who has hit 25 HRs this season for the New Orleans Zephyrs (AAA).

Val Pascucci should be starting in LF for the Mets. Evans should split time with Tatis in RF and Daniel Murphy should be starting every game for the Mets at second base (he played 3B in the minors and should be able to make the switch) while Castillo continues his rehab. I don't want to ever see Damion Easley start a game for the Mets. He should always be used for PH.

Here is what the Mets lineup needs to look like if they are to challenge the Phillies and take the NL East:

• 1B - Carlos Delgado/Nick Evans
• 2B - Daniel Murphy/Luis Castillo
• SS - Jose Reyes
• 3B - David Wright
• C - Ramon Castro (when healthy, of course)
• LF - Valentino Pascucci
• CF - Carlos Beltran
• RF - Fernando Tatis/Nick Evans (if Church comes back healthy, then I'd give him the nod to start against righties only)

Note: I left Argenis Reyes off the list since he hasn't shown enough power and hitting ability. Murphy should be getting the time there. After all, Murphy has a .500 batting average. As for Nick Evans, he started slow batting .179 on July 12, but has been on a hot streak and is now hitting at a healthy .263.

In terms of pitching, the Mets need to bring up southpaw pitcher Jonathan Niese NOW. His ERA at New Orleans is 2.37. (FYI -- Brian Stokes' ERA at AAA is 4.41). He needs to come up ASAP along with teammate Tony Armas who is sporting a 2.54 ERA.

The Mets' future is bright but only if they can embrace the future and give these young kids a shot.

Editors Note: Mark, I thank you and even though I should be neutral as a moderator, I'll compromise and be succinct... "Ya darn right!"

Casey Stengel + Yogi Berra's Logic = More Cohesive than Today's Game

"Living on the lighted stage approaches the unreal"
--Rush

The short sentence above says it all for today's game.

I happened to take it in live, and it was the first time ever in my life where I wished I was back at my desk than being at a ballpark.

Sloppy. Unreal. Bonehead mistakes on some bona fide routine plays. What was Castillo thinking when he made the error at second base? Who taught Angel Pagan how to bobble balls in left? (He's very good at that). Where was Jose Reyes in that faux rundown? David Wright had a few bad plays, and dare I say the hurling of Ollie Perez made me want to, uh, hurl. (Footnote: for those who know me, I never like to use the same word in a sentence twice, but "hurl" is appropriate and must be re-iterated).

I just had the chance to see the recap of the game on SNY and Adam Rubin's column in the New York Daily News http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/mets/2008/04/wagner-calls-out-perez-after-b.html cites that he said the word "desire" and he is right. There was no desire -- in anyone on the field today. Going through the motions is not what you call "playing baseball" in my view.

My tickets cost only $5 and we were able to migrate to the orange seats after awhile, but you know what, I still feel as a fan, I was ripped off.

A friend of mine, also a die hard Mets fan called me up and tried to console the loss by justifying that only 4 of the runs were "earned" so it was really a 4-1 game. A colleague who I went with asked, "are you a stay till the end fan?" and I replied "sure, I believe a 13 run 9th inning 2-out rally is not out of the question.

Let me conclude by coming back to the opening quote of this blog...It's like going to a Broadway play waiting to see a cast full of stars, and all that show up on the stage are just a bunch of unheralded understudies.

Not to Pick on Mike Hampton, but COME ON NOW....

All right. I'll admit it. (You probably never would have guessed that I am......A big fan of Fantasy Baseball. Good feeling being perched in an ivory tower and moving your players like chess pieces (and chattel)...sometimes you look like an absolute genius (still waiting on this end) and other times -- implosion is the result.

So, in one of my leagues, I am looking for a pitcher and who is on the list of free agents? Mike Hampton. Surprisingly, he is owned by 1.2% of owners in the ESPN Fantasy League Baseball (NOTE TO SELF - Invite these 1.2% to my next garage sale and jack up the prices).

Anyway, the word about Hampton:


Hampton (pectoral) threw another pain-free bullpen session prior to Saturday's game against the Dodgers, the Associated Press reports.

Spin: "Facing competition, I'm going to think about it," Hampton said. "It's not an overnight thing. I've just got to get to where I just worry about getting hitters out. Mentally, I'm just a little timid maybe. I'm still trying to feel my way through it." Hampton threw 50 pitches, including breaking balls, during Saturday's session. There's still no set timetable for his return to the Atlanta rotation, but Hampton appears to be at least another two weeks away.
RotoWire Sat, April 19

Puh-leese. And you are getting all this money? Glad you aren't a Met anymore!

In other news, Mets held their own against the Philies today. Ollie pitched a nice game, but Schoenweis, the second coming of John Franco (that's NOT a good thing) gave up a gopher ball to Chase Utley, thereby killing the shutout.

Wright is on fire and putting up some great numbers with a hot bat.

I have noticed that Omar Minaya and Willie Randolph are really letting guys like Wright, Reyes and other "home grown" players a chance to get reaalllll good. Under previous GMs, the patience level was poor and many a great player was traded away and then performed well on other teams...

Well, Sunday night, we have an ESPN game...should be nice.

See you at the Ball Park

In Tribute of Jackie Robinson, Mets Blank Nationals -- and, WHO Was Dan Bankhead? Someone that MUST be remembered

Today was a milestone day...

As we all know, Jackie Robinson first broke into the Majors on TAX Day, 1947, some 61 years ago. Hard to believe that next year, had he lived, would have been 90!

Before I go further, there is one black ball player who came in the same year, just a few months later in August as a pitcher, beleive it or not, ALSO the Brooklyn Dodgers, yet as much as Jackie is rightly praised, this player is wrongly ignored.

His name was Dan Bankhead (see photo) and he made his debut on August 26 at the age of 27. He only appeared in 4 games, pitched 10 innings and came back a few years later after toiling in the farm system of the Dodgers.

Here's a little bit more about him from http://www.mlb.com/ ----> http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070824&content_id=2167234&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

And his stats and a brief snapshot from Baseball Almanac.com http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=bankhda01

So while we remember Jackie, think of many of the black ballplayers who played in obscurity in the first few years of the majors. And, especially those who were good, but never got out of the Negro Leagues.

Now, for today's game...Good to see Wright wielding a powerful RBI stick...Pelfrey had his act together and Duaner Sanchez was throwing a nice grooved changeup that baffled the batters. This game, even though against a weak team, proved to be important. And LoDuca, once hailed, now pariah, had a lame excuse with his hand.