The Inside Man

So I just caught the new Denzel Washington flick, The Inside Man, and I left the theater entertained. I found out that the 5th star of the movie was an old buddy of mine from college, Carlos Gomez, of 3rd floor butcher fame, and a neighbor of loyal Y2K friends Kenny from Camp and Goat.

I do recommend the movie, it is very entertaining. But movies become special when they provoke thought. I left that movie with something on my mind, something that I just couldn't kick from my head.

The Inside Man.

As always, the Mets are on my mind right now. We are 5 days from the season, the year after 2005, where we can buy one Carlos and get the second one free (an embarassing slogan may I add).

So, as always, young Sip remains quite the pessimist. After all, these Mets can't win, can they?

Today, I embrace the 5 inside men, members of the Mets lineup and front office that may not be who we think they are. They may be playing for us, but working for someone else.

5. Tommy Glavine

The easy target. This guy signed a 4-year/$45 million deal with the Mets back in the 2002-03 offseason and has been making double that for the 134-time NL East Champion Atlanta Braves. Since Tommy got here he has said all the right things while the Braves have kept winning. He even engaged in a public spat with Braves GM John Schuerholtz this spring when the contents of Schuerholtz's upcoming book, including a passage revealing that Glavine wept before signing with the Mets, became known.

So Glavine's talked the talk but he hasn't exactly walked the walk in his 3 years in Flushing, during which time Glavine has gone into the only kind of funk Willie Randolph doesn't like. In 3 whole seasons, Glavine has had exactly two good stretches, has never finished a season over .500, and is 33-41 overall in his Mets career.

Meanwhile, the Braves keep winning. Coincedence? Maybe. But let's see Tommy win a big game against the Braves in September before we can truly trust him.

4. Willie Randolph

You can see the chemistry in his eyes. He looks into the face of his enemy, and all he can talk about is whether or not the roll on his sandwich is fresh toasted.

Willie was a Yankee for a long time. Sure he threw AFOMG a ball back when he had a cup of coffee with the Mets back in the early 90's, but this guy is a Yankee.

I like Willie as a manager, but I notice him shying away in games against the Yankees. Could he still be playing ball for the Evil Empire? If sending in Braden Looper to wrap up the save in a pressure situation is any indication, I'd say the chances are strong to very strong.

3. Carlos Delgado

This guy had no interest in coming to the Mets a year ago. Delgado publicly served Mets special assistant Tony Bernazard, calling him the highest paid translator in the game, and basically reduced Omar Minaya's sales pitch to something along the lines of, "Look, I'm Latin, you're Latin... what more do you need to know?" On top of all that, his agent, David Sloane, publicly shat on the Mets for weeks after the negotiations ended with Delgado signing with the Marlins.

Yes, he was traded and has since said all the right things, but this guy clearly doesn't want to be here. Could it be that he asked the Marlins to trade him to NY, the media capital of the world, so he could throw the season and recieve the most possible coverage in protest of the War in Iraq? You gotta wonder.

2. Omar Minaya

I still am selling Wheel and Deal. He's a man with a fat pocketbook who knows how to use it. In spite of all the praise he gets for turning the Mets in to contenders, he has not made a single steal on any deal so far.

This guy came from the Expos/Nationals after he was denied the Mets GM job after Steve Phillips. Could Wheel and Deal be bitter that he didn't get the opportunity earlier? Could that be why he has mortgaged the depth of our rotation in return for basically nothing? I don't know.

1. The Real Momo

My oldest friend in the world may very well be "The Inside Man" that we are all looking for. After years of peer pressure, we convinced Mr. Momo, to that point a die-hard Yankee fan, that he had to become a Mets fan. Basically, if he wanted to be our friend, he had to like the Mets. Momo agreed, the year was 1996.

The Yankees went on to build their dynasty the second Momo left, while the Mets, were, well, the Mets. Sure, we made it to the World Series in 2000 but of course, kick in the junk central arose, when the Yankees went on to dominate us.

Momo was at the heart of it all. He was there to ruin the Mets' unforseen run in the fall of 2001, when his elated phone call about how the Mets were going to make the playoffs just as soon as Armando Benitez wrapped up this save officially jinxed the rest of the season. And he's been on board ever since.

For the last two years Momo has worked a job for the Atlanta Braves, working in stadium opps and with the press. This is a very solid job for a young man out of college.

Could it be that Mr. Momo, my brother by both friendship and stolen pen name, is the inside man for the Braves? That the Mets will not win until he is no longer?

So with this, I ask our readers to ponder something. Must I take my friend out? Is friendship more important than Mets baseball? Do I need to do this for the team?

Let me know. I'm here for you guys.

5 Days till opening Day

E-mail Sippymomo@gmail.com for Opening Day at Shea plans.

VCD,

SM