Leave it To Ollie -- OR, How the Last Game of the Year is Always a DUD - Right AFTER a Brilliant Game the Day Before

It would be trite to quote Charles Dickens to open up a blog post about the Mets.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.  Trite? Yeah.  Accurate - partly.

This was no ordinary season.  Far from it.  The Oliver Tolerance/Intolerance capped off what was one of the most see-sawed of emotions for a Mets fan.  The big burst of wins in April/June - with the ebb of many heartbreaking losses.

It seems to be that the day before the final season, there is a big hope. '07 - Maine almost pitched a no-no, then Glavine tanked it with that Godforsaken first inning.  In '08, Santana pitched a gem and then they lost in their final game at Shea.  Yesterday, a nice W.  Today....Typical Ollie - Walks in the winning run in the 14th.

Stan Laurel used to say, "I'm Sorry Ollie." Stan, so are we....so are we.

Rumor has it we are going to be replacing Jerry and Omar.  I want someone who will be a rainmaker and get the most from their players, much like Buck Showalter has done with the lackluster Orioles.  Minaya, well, he was a genius when he came on board and got Pedro Martinez and a few other good veterans to come to town, but he got lackadaisical -- and so did many of the players. 

There are a few bright spots for the future.  Ike Davis has shown he can play.  Lucas Duda looks like he may swing a good bat and propel the cowhide with the maple ash.  The heroes on the team, it goes without saying - Angel Pagan, R.A. Dickey and Hisanori Takahashi.  Unexpected icing.  Bring them back.  Thole looks like he will develop into a good catcher.

It remains to be seen what the lineup will look like but if the above players can mesh and get it together, they can turn a once bad nucleus into a nuclear bomb that produces Ws and gives other teams Agita.

Who should go?  Ollie.  Castillo. Beltran (yeah, I said it), Maine and a few more ignobles.  Who should come?  Well, a lot of players, but we need to jerryrig the management (and send Jerry Manuel to pasture) and get the Wilpons to open their pocketbook.  There are a lot of good players that are under the radar that would be perfect.  (Think of the Jeff Keppingers - a former Met - of the world.

It's just 107 days before catchers and pitchers report....Oh, Ollie, that doesn't include you.

Logic Defied - Logic Defined? As Archie Bunker Would Say...."WHATEVER"

When you have a hard time beating the worst team (Nationals) and then come back and whoop the best (or one of them - Marlins) with a 1-hitter from your starter who was having a boat load of trouble, then you have the consider that this is the conundrum of baseball.

(The Nationals and last year's World Series Champs staged a 13-11 battle tonight as well).

Bright spot was in Omir Santos' granny. That helped propel confidence.

A good friend of mine had an idea...to do a shake-up...not sure I fully agree, but, here goes...Cliff Lee (P, Indians) for Daniel Murphy, Ramon Castro and two others. I like Lee....love Murphy.

The pitching definitely is still a question mark despite Maine's performance. It isn't as strong as the Milwaukee Braves duo in the 40s/50s...Spahn and Sain (then pray for rain)...we can't (yet) say Santana and Maine (then pray for rain).

On another note - an actual reader of this blog had a bit of a mini gripe (all in fun) that I slammed #47 (Glavine and Fossum - no, don't go back to the Spahn / Sain thing...these two are far from it)...He gently brought up that he wore #47 in Pop Warner football and kept it through college during intramurals. Lord, forgive me for sullying a number. (Glavine and Fossum STILL suck no matter what letter, number or symbol are on their back. My friend in Pop Warner, well, he admits he was no star either).

Mets Need a Savoir

Hi All --

I'm a bit jammed today, but a fellow Mets Maniac who stepped up to the plate a few times in the past to write, MT, is back...here is the blogpost for today...

Okay, so here we are seven games into the 2009 season, and our beloved Mets are just plain pathetic.

Am I the only one who thinks John Maine should be our number two starter? Why are they giving Pelfrey so much credit?Defense aside, the Mets really need an offensive spark - a savior, if you will.

Per the following ESPN article - http://myespn.go.com/blogs/sweetspot/0-1-44/Mets--Sheffield-to-get-outfield-start.html - my prayers have been answered.

I am confident that if Gary Sheffield is afforded enough ABs, he can re-emerge as a deadly power hitter and help the Mets win some ball games.I am not liking what I've seen from the Mets so far, but maybe it's still a little too early to criticize them.

Thoughts?