Will It Ever End?

Couple quick side notes:

1. New Warriors! Someone needs to get Stephen Jackson a reality show.
2. That Mayweather/De La Hoya show on HBO... just about the best thing I have ever seen.

That being said, nothing makes me chuckle like when Yankee nation freaks out.

In case you haven't noticed, people in the Bronx and the Upper East Side are doing just that.

The last place Yankees just lost another series to the 1st place Red Sox and are now 6.5 games back of their top nemesis from Beantown. The Yankees being this bad should be enough to make any bitter Yankee hater happy. But for me, I need substance. And it is everything that is transpiring in the Bronx that really has me smiling.

1. A-Rod

This guy finally comes out and asserts himself as baseball's best player. He does this for baseball's most historic and winning franchise on a team that wins its division every single year.

So what can be better than A-Rod's success coinciding with Yankee failures? It is too easy and funny but it is just perfect.

2. Joe Torre getting the can?

Talks have already come up. I see it on espn.com. They write about it in the Post and the Times. But you guys know how I feel about Joe Torre. I think he is crap. I think he receives way too much credit. So, for obvious reasons I enjoy it when he gets the hammer brought down on him. He's deserved it for the last five years.

3. Kei Igawa

This one couldn't have been more obvious. The Yankees panick when the Sox get Dice K and find themselves splashless in a busy offseason for baseball. They make an impulse purchase of a projected 4-5 starter and pay over $50 million dollars for his services.

The guy couldn't make it out of April without losing his rotation spot.

Yeah, he looked good on Saturday, but who cares. Igawa has four more seasons after this one to earn his pinstripes and watching him on the mound will always remind us of this tremendous Yankee blunder.

What is always nice to remember is that other teams can't afford to make $50 million dollar mistakes. Only the Yankees can.

4. The End of Mariano?

I'll be the first to admit, Mariano Rivera may be the best pitcher we will ever see. For 10 years he was unhittable. When he would come in the game, the game was basically over.

I was so amazed by Rivera. He only had one pitch. Hitters knew it was coming and they just couldn't do anything with it. It was baseball at its best.

Is it now all coming to an end? As I said with the Yankees, I'll believe it when I see it. But he has looked terrible in April. His one pitch isn't going as fast or moving as much.

This one kind of saddens me. I've never had a problem with Rivera. It's been nothing but envy and admiration.

But the Yankees are not the Yankees when this guy isn't the best. And right now, he may be the worst closer in his division.

5. The Rise of the Red Sox

I have always liked the Red Sox. It's a product of hating the Yankees and loving Fenway Park. I have always loved the Yanks/Sox rivalry and would attend a few games every year just because I think it is when baseball is at its best.

Right now, the Sox are the best team in baseball... by a long shot.

They have no holes.

They used to lack speed. They added Julio Lugo.

They used to lack protection for Ortiz and Manny. Now they have J.D. Drew.

They used to have one dominant starting pitcher, Curt Schilling. Josh Beckett is proving that he can be that guy as well. The difference between this year and last with him is night and day. Last year he threw. This year he's pitched. And I'm not going to even mention Dice K yet. But this guy has certainly shown some flashes. And he is 2-0 against the Yankees.

This team is complete and dominant. I can't see this changing any time soon.

The Yankees just look like a different team. They look older and slower. They don't exude the Yankeeness that they have for more than a decade.

My dad asked me if I think they are going to come back. I will still say yes.

But with every day and every loss my skepticism grows. And that makes me very happy.

Vaya con dios,

Sip

(Pics courtesy of msnbc.com, bronxpride.com, siouxcityjournal.com)

Short and Sweet

(Note: Sip will be in with a post later this afternoon.)

The Hound put it like this to me last night. Check the standings. Entering play on the last day of April, there are three teams in baseball with winning percentages below .400.

The Kansas City Royals.

The Washington Nationals.

The New York Yankees.

With a loss tonight against the Giants, the New Rox would join that list. If I'm a Yankee fan I don't know whether to hope that happens or not.

Anyway, hell of a win yesterday. Granted it was only against the aforemented lowly Nationals, and granted that it's disconcerting that we had only three goddamn hits and that we can't hit for shit lately, and granted that I shudder every time Aaron Heilman enters the game, but it's still nice to know that we can win a ballgame 1-0 every once in a while. Remember the Maine!

- A.F.O.M.G.

Pelfrey and Hughes, Which One to Use?

Sip's right, young Phil Hughes looked pretty decent last night. The fastball had quite a bit of zip and rode in onto lefties just how you'd like it to, although the other pitches weren't always as sharp. For a Major League debut, it wasn't that bad.

But of course, the Yankees aren't supposed to be in the business of "not that bad." The Yankees generally aren't much for "4-and-a-third, and showed some stuff." Technically speaking, the Yanks aren't really supposed to have anything to do with pitching prospects; they're for trading or ignoring, usually not in that order. But Hughes was supposed to be different.

And you know what? He will be. Everyone says so, and all I know is what I read in the funny papers. The kid has NO negatives to speak of, no holes in the stuff or command or makeup or body or statistical record. He's as can't-miss as the term gets, and at only 20, his future is brighter than an orangutan's ass.

That said ... the Yankees really aren't supposed to be in the business of lugging six-game losing streaks into last place with a crucial weekend series against the BoSox next on the calendar. But what can you say? Burnett absolutely owned their lineup, which always looks extremely awkward without Captain America there in the No. 2 slot, and Hughes was a rookie in the purest sense. Minky deserves to bat that high in the lineup just about as much as Pete Rose does.

Right now, the Yanks are going to war with the pitching they have, not the pitching you might want or wish to have at a later time. (H/t: the former SecDef.)

Now, the Mets aren't in anything like an analagous situation, but they too have a young arm with a live fastball in the rotation at the moment. Mike Pelfrey, the pride of Wichita State, has started three games in 2007 and looked like 79 inches of crap in all of them, the no-decision against Washington be damned. The WHIP's sitting up there around 2.00.

Recall that Pelfrey looked like a million bucks during much of camp. Recall that the Mets, presumably to maintain his comfort level and keep him fresh during the first weeks of the season, kept him down in St. Lucie while the team had no need of a No. 5 starter.

Well, you've all seen the results. Not good. Here's the man himself -- "“Whatever I’m doing, it’s not working." Yup.

So, how long do you give him to work it out? The guy's only in his second professional season, after all, and the Mets have options behind him. Here's Shpigel:

The most likely situation is that the Mets keep Pelfrey in the rotation through his next start, on Monday against the Florida Marlins, then decide after that whether to keep him in the majors. If they send Pelfrey to New Orleans, their most credible internal options are Jorge Sosa and another first-round pick, Philip Humber. Sosa has recovered from a miserable spring training to go 3-0 with a 1.38 E.R.A. for New Orleans while striking out 24 in 26 innings ... Humber, recently selected as the Pacific Coast League pitcher of the week, is 2-1 with a 3.00 E.R.A.

Does this sound about right to everyone? I'd say so, but only if Willie and Rick have a good handle on this kid's expectations. There's no sense in jerking him around quickly if it's going to murder him in the confidence department, and a single start shouldn't be the difference between anything. If it's me, I want to make sure my coaches have gotten through to Pelfrey, to make sure he realizes there's no question he'll have a chance to win back a starting spot at some point.

This is important, especially because you're either replacing him with Humber, who could wind up in the same position two weeks after the Mets make the change, or Sosa, who had a 5.42 ERA in 13 starts last year. You're not guaranteed of getting that much of an improvement, while you can expect that Pelfrey will probably grow into himself and his role with more work on the hill. Even if Pelfrey's ERA sits around 6.00 for two months, it's not like there's necessarily a pot of gold under the other side of the rainbow. (That doesn't make any sense, but bear with me.)

I'd give him at least two more starts (for a grand total of five) before I made a move in one direction or another. It's what smart managers do.

Their Phenom Goes

(Note: Another rant by Sip below)

Just caught Phillip Hughes' first start. You know, the phenom the Yankees swore they wouldn't bring up until July or August at the earliest?

Funny how things change after a slow three weeks.

While the box score might not look great (4.1 IP, 4ER, 7hits, 5 K's), the kid looked very good. I didn't see his fastball touching the high 90's like all the scouting reports claimed, but still, he featured a fastball that looked a lot tougher than our boy Mike Pelfrey's.

He made a couple of major league hitters look really, really bad. The one batter he had problems with was Vernon Wells (3 for 3), a perennial all-star candidate.

Curious to see what they do with this guy.

Happy to see that the Bombers are already skipping their $50 million dollar man Kei Igawa's start in the rotation this weekend ($55-60 mil if you count luxury tax).

New Yanks!

VCD,
Sip

(Pic courtesy of Lohud.com)

The Yankees: Victims of Their Own Success

For the first time really ever, The Yankees are just looking old. They don't look invincible. In fact nothing really makes sense in Yankee land.

Derek Jeter looks lost at the end of games while A-Rod looks like he is in heaven.

Mariano Rivera can't close out games.

Could this really be it for those pesky Bronx Bombers? The answer, of course, is that it is too early to tell. But what we have seen over the first 3 weeks of the season bodes well for those who hate the pinstripes. Notably, the Yankees appear to be on a downward spiral.

Their rotation is old and banged up. Mussina and Pettitte are in their mid 30's and not getting any younger. Carl Pavano may never pitch again. And even if they do sign Roger Clemens, that will be a short term solution for the 2007 and maybe 2008 season (when his good pal Andy's contract runs out).

I am not writing today to count the Yankees out of 2007. It is way too early and they are way too good.

But I am writing today to tell you that things in Yankee Land are about to change.

Three years ago it used to be that when one player got too old, the Yankees went out and signed a new player to replace him. It seemed like they had access to a vault of players and then when they were done, the rest of baseball had their turn.

It was because of the Yankees that baseball flourished. The Yankees ascension to dynasty levels built back baseball. For years, the game was tarnished by the 1994 strike. There was Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa in the late 90's, but it was really the Yankees that had the staying power.

This country is dominated by Yankee fans and Yankee hats. The rest of baseball was OK with that for a time. As the Yankees' popularity grew so did their game and the bank accounts of the other 29 teams in baseball.

Which is what takes us to today. The difference today is that the Yankees can no longer dominate free agency. Other teams have too much money, money that they are now willing to spend. Combine that with the pressures of New York, the very public struggles of A-Rod and the rise of the Mets, and all of a sudden the Bronx is no longer THE place for a free agent to sign.

Which takes us to 2010. Jeter and ARod will be dinosaurs. Rivera, Pettitte and Mussina will be out of the game. Posada and Matsui will be after thoughts. And Johnny Damon will be remembered as that guy who came from the Red Sox.

And while players like Chien Ming Wang, Robinson Cano and Phillip Hughes could all be stars, the rest of the Yankees will no longer resemble an all star team.

If Kansas City can pay Gil Meche $55 mil and Toronto can pay Vernon Wells $126 mil then the Yankees will be in trouble.

I never thought the Yankees dynasty would end. I convinced myself that the Yankees would make the playoffs every year for as long as I live. (I also convinced myself that I would never drive a car in my life -- my convictions are easily changed).

And while it is not over yet and I still in my heart of hearts am pretty condfident that the Yankees will be playing in October, I don't know if I feel the same way about next year and certainly not 2009.

That's a nice thought.

VCD,
Sip

(Pics courtesy of mlblogs.com, espn.com, cnn.com)

Not Since Thierry Henry...

... has one man made it so abundantly clear that he wanted people to remember his name as Endy Chavez.

OK, that's a reference that exactly two people reading this might understand, but seriously, can you remember one role player in the past 25 years of Mets history who was able to leave such a deep impression on the fanbase?

Matt Franco? Hell of a pinch hitter, but he was kind of one dimensional.

Joe Orsulak? Was he a starter or a reserve? I can't remember.

Desi Relaford? If you listen closely at Shea Stadium, between the cheers of the crowd somewhere you can still hear Lister's "I HOPE YOU DIE, DESI!" from 2001 reverberating off the stands.

Mighy Joe McEwing? I loved the guy; scrappy as hell, had a tattoo reading "Can't Do It" on his chest for motivation, was a Randy Johnson killer. But I think it says something that the defining moment of his career came when he was traded from the Cardinals and Tony LaRussa, possibly intoxicated, demanded that he get a pair of Joe Mac's spikes before he left.

Timo Perez is the only who comes close, but he was only a role player during the 2000 postseason. His run through the postseason was legendary (aside, of course, from watching Todd Zeile's would-be home run)

(The Todd Pratts and Ramon Castros are in a different category for me -- backup catchers are semi-regular players, and they lack the versatility of the utility man.)

Endy though, my god. Two game-winners as a Met, and he was involved in countless others as a runner or some such thing I feel certain.

And then there's The Catch. I have mixed feelings about The Catch. No matter how many times I see it, I can't help but be amazed. It is truly the most remarkable catch I have ever seen, and I know now, at this young age, that it is almost an absolute certainty that I will never see a more unbelievable catch than that one.

But seeing the catch also dredges up a lot of bad memories. Memories of losing, memories of what could have been, memories of what should have been.

But that's all in the past now, and last night, Endy showed that he's ready to script more amazing moments.

Anyway, we're coming up on game-time here. My buddy Denver D's, Mr. New Rox himself, is at the game today, but unfortunately I'm not there to smack him in the face with a broom if the Mets should pull this one off today.

Mike Pelfrey... come on man, pull it together.

- A.F.O.M.G.

(Images courtesy of worldcupjapankorea.com, bbc.co.uk and allposters.com)

New Knicks!

(Cheddar Ben grudgingly gives A-Rod some respect for his A-pril following this piece from Sip.)

It's been too long since the season ended and I haven't quite found the right time. But oh dear, how bout these new Knicks. 4-15 since Jimmy Dolan's brilliant move to extend Isiah's contract with upside through the roof.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about this team, trying to figure out any possible way to rationalize the decisions that they have made and the future in store. Through all my pondering I have come up with one pretty certain thought: The Knicks will be terrible for some time.

The Knicks have been rebuilding for about 5 years now. Where has that gotten them? Nowhere.

You can make a pretty stellar argument that, of all the teams that did not make the playoffs, the Knicks have by the least upside of any of them.

Eddy Curry was a 19 and 7 guy this year? How much further can he go?

David Lee was a 10 and 10? This one is the controversial one. Everyone loves this guy and he is definitely a hard worker. But his lack of talent and athleticism can only take him so far. What more can David Lee become? 12 and 12?

Nate Robinson should be out of the NBA in a year or two.

Jamal Crawford is solid but going nowhere fast.

And Channing Frye proved this year that his best season in his career may very well be his rookie year.

Really the two Knicks with the most upside are Renaldo Balkman and Mardy Collins. Isiah is a draft genius! How sad is that. If Balkman ups his coordination levels to say, Sip, he could be a solid small forward in this league.

Give Mardy Collins a jumper and he might be worth a rotation spot.

This my friends is the problem. The Knicks not only have no present, but they have no real future. Think about all the teams in the lottery.

Memphis: Rudy Gay and a top 4 pick in this draft.
Boston: Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, Rajon Rondo and a top 5 pick in this draft.
Atlanta: Josh Smith, Marvin Williams and a top 6 pick

Charlotte: Emeka Okafor, Ray Felton, Adam Morrison(eek)
Philadelphia: Andre Iguodola
Portland: Brandon Roy, Lamarcus Aldridge
New Orleans: Chris Paul

All of these players are potential all stars with extremely high ceilings. The Knicks really have no one like them.

They are in a category with very few teams in the NBA. A group I like to call "Fucked." There are a few other teams who are close to this category.

Seattle doesn't have much going for it. They have a bunch of 7-footers, Luke Ridnour and Ray Allen who has a bloated contract fit only for the Garden.

Minnnesota has KG, Randy Foye and then not a lot going for it (I would trade any player on the Knicks for Foye).

Sacramento has really nothing going for it (Would trade any player on the Knicks for Kevin Martin).

The Clippers have enough talent to win 50 games next season.

There is one MAJOR difference between those in the "Fucked" column and the Knicks: These teams have a shot at Kevin Durant or Greg Oden.

Whichever team gets one of these guys immediately has a very very bright future. The Knicks will not be this team.

Which means this. There is not a team in the NBA, today, April 24, 2007 in worse shape than your New York Knicks. Not one with less talent today and no one with less potential in the future.

Pretty damn exciting!

VCD,

Sip

(Pics courtesy of thegarden.com, ign.com, cnn.net, aol.com)

An A-Bomb ... for A-Rod ...

So Matt From Vandy and I are in a bar up by school last night, eating fajitas (I had the skirt steak, he had the chicken) and watching the Yanks game on the big screen. That required whiskey, and we so imbibed.

The Mets had already vanquished the New Rocks, and the NBA Playoffs weren't doing anything particularly intriguing. Plus, every so often, you got a good long glimpse at Elijah Dukes' muscles (worth a whole post at one point, I'd say), so we were completely entranced. Mother of God, Elijah spent a lot of time lifting weights down in Durham. Among other things.

Then comes top nine; Devil Rays up four, handing the ball to their closer, Al Reyes. Dude hadn't allowed a run yet this year in something like 10 innings. But. Just for those who didn't see the game or get a close read on the rundown, he strikes out Jeter on a bunch of good pitches and walks Abreu on after seeing a close pitch get called a ball. Then A-Rod comes up. Three-for-four on the evening, already with his 13th dong of the year. He'd also made a great run from first to third on a single with a great slide past a throw from the aforementioned Dukes, who's playing with a cannon out there in center.

Anyway, back to the ninth. The first pitch from Reyes is way high and inside. The second pitch is well out of the zone as well. The third pitch is a 2-0 fastball that Alex Rodriguez deposited about 30 rows into Key West, or at least far enough over the wall and with enough ruthless venom to poison a dozen Cleopatras. Reyes doesn't look particularly perturbed. He looks calm, and resigned to the fact that A-Rod was going to viciously slander whatever pitch he was going to make.

Which brings us to the subject of this post himself, the bete noire of Y2K, the man DJ Clue called most hated, never duplicated, the sexually ambiguous man of the hour.

A-Rod for MVP? [Reaching for knife. Grabbing hand holding knife with other hand. Trying not to stab self in face. Barely succeeding.]

Oh yeah. In one of those grudging admissions that hurts me WAY more than it hurts you, it falls upon me to inform the readership that Alex Rodriguez is the best player in baseball at the moment.

What's that you say? You already knew that? Well, probably. But the point is that WE'RE saying it. It's us, cuz. The guys who loathe A-Rod and everything he stands for, to the point that we will warp the fabric of reality itself if it's possible to deny the man credit for most anything he deserves. (I mentioned fabric, so A-Rod will actually be happy about that.)

The records for home runs and RBI in April will certainly fall, given that he's up against them right now and there's still a week left in the frickin' month. After that, what? The Triple Crown, the home run record? Right now, nobody could doubt the possibility.

I'm not actually as interested in the question of "why" he's doing it, though. Not yet. I'm sure part of it is coming to camp in great shape -- the guy looks like a rock at the moment, and with that type of fitness, his natural skill is bound to come through to some extent. Plus, guys get on hot streaks, and while this is a longer streak than most (any?), it's certainly not more than you might expect from a player such as A-Rod.

But right now, the smart move is to ignore the bullshit predictions and dimestore rationalizing you hear coming out of Baseball Tonight. Specifically ignore the following diagnoses.

A-Rod is finally comfortable in New York

This is tautological and not entirely true, anyway. His swing still has the big hitch in it. He's still swinging and missing plenty. He just happens to be murdering everything he makes contact with.

A-Rod is going nuts knowing that he'll opt out of his contract after this year

Anyone who doesn't think that decision will hinge on how the Yankees do this year is literally out of their mind. Seriously. If you think the decision has already been made, you might as well give up talking right now. More importantly, we still have yet to see how the team's leadership, i.e. Torre and Captain Queeg, will respond once the first slump sets in. Are they going to treat the man like dirt again, as they did a year ago? How long will the deference last? I don't know, but I expect Alex will be interested in such things.

And so, friends, should you. Sox are at the Stadium this weekend. Let's see how A-Rod does with them. He might break all these records in style.

Faltering Yet Again, But Not What You Think

It's funny.

It was the 5th inning and I was sitting on my couch thinking about today's piece (that's right, I think Y2K ALL DAY LONG -- we bloggers care) when I figured out what I was going to write about.

I was going to write about Kelly Johnson. I was going to write about how he is not discussed in the same conversation as Brian McCann and Jeff Francouer even though he should be. His swing looks like Chipper Jones' and he looks like he has the build to turn into a real power guy.

I thought I'd be giving you guys some insight. Something a little different. Then Kelly Johnson went dong breaking our hearts and capturing the series for those hated Braves.

Now it doesn't feel right to talk about Kelly Johnson. A little too obvious.

The Yankees getting swept by the Sox. Derek Jeter getting dominated by Jonathan Papelbon on consecutive nights. That was nice. But again a little too obvious.

We here at Yankees 2000 don't do obvious. We tell you stuff that you don't know but SHOULD know. Something to pass off to your friends as a new piece of information, something that will make you smarter as a baseball fan.

So here we go.

Joe Torre is doing it again.

For the last two years I have discussed Joe Torre as an overrated manager. Yankee fans would argue that I as a bitter Mets fan. But I had two real theories.

1. That he was overrated when it comes to managing egos. His handling of A-Rod, Sheffield and co. was more bad than good, highlighted with his benching of Sheffield and his hitting A-ROD in the 8th spot in last year's postseason.

How could a team with so much talent falter in the postseason every single year? They were so much better. If it wasn't the fault of the superior talent, it had to be the fault of the person managing that talent.

2. This one is related to #1.

Joe is a terrible manager of his bullpen. Every year he burns out his pen in the regular season so they inevitable falter in the postseason. The numbers are there. It happens time and time again.
This year is no different.

I watch a lot of Yankee baseball. I watch a lot of baseball in general, but in particular the Yankees. It's a hate thing.

I couldn't help but notice how often Scott Proctor, Luis Vizcaino and Mike Myers were pitching. It seemed like it was every day.

So I did a little research and my memories were confirmed. Take a look at the numbers entering Sunday

Take a look at the number of appearances for Joe's top middle men:

Proctor: 11
Myers: 10
Vizcaino: 10
Farnsworth: 8

This in 16 games. This puts three of his guys on pace for more than 100 appearances.

Now have a look at the top guys for the Mets and Red Sox.

Red Sox

JC Romero: 8
Joel Piniero:7
Brendan Donnelly: 6
Mike Timlin: 4

Mets

Joe Smith: 10
Aaron Heilman: 7
Pedro Feliciano: 7
Scott Schoenweis: 8

To give you some perspective, the leaders in appearances by middle men usually top out at around 80-85 games, or roughly once every two days. Again, that's the going rate for the leaders.

The Yankees have three pitchers already on pace for 100 or roughly 20-30 more than their rival counterparts.

As you saw on Sunday and you know I believe, bullpens are the key to baseball. My dad drilled this idea in to me at a young age.

Joe Torre is terrible at managing his bullpen.

He plays to win today and doesn't factor in the long term.

This could not be more apparent than in last Thursday's game against the Indians. Tied 1-1 with 1 out in the 5th inning, Torre pulled starter Darryl Rasner after just 81 pitches. It was a great move strategy-wise. He brought in lefty specialist Mike Myers to face Grady Sizemore, Dave Dellucci and Travis Hafner -- all lefties.

The move worked and it was the perfect move for that game. But it was not the perfect move for the Yankees season. No other manager would pull a starter in the 5th inning, especially when he was effective and at a low pitch count.

The move does not make sense over the course of a season. Neither does pitching Andy Pettitte twice in relief in April. You do this in October, not in April.

The Yankees should play baseball to an extent like Shaquille O'Neal plays basketball.

They should rest in the regular season and take it down a gear so that they have that extra boost for the postseason. Their overwhelmingly superior talent as the result of a major discrepancy in salary should carry them to the postseason every year.

Their relief pitchers should have the fewest appearances in the game so that they are ready for October. Not the most in the game so they are dead in October.

This has been happening every year for sometime. It is not discussed but should be.

Joe Torre has two responsibilities.

Keep his egos happy and keep his pitchers fresh. He is bad at both of these things. Just thought I'd point that out.

VCD,

Sip

(Pics courtesy of cnn.com, hornetsreport.com, mlb.com, aftonbladet.com)

Who Cares About The Mets!

(More to come later on Monday)

That little shit!

It's 10:24 PT on Sunday night and I have just felt pure anger. The reason: Eric "E" Murphy.

"Who cares about the Mets!" E responded when talking baseball with the boys. This pained for me so many reasons.

At 5'2 112LBS of red hair, E is the perfect Yankee fan and D-bag. For three years of loyal viewing of Entourage, I have hated "E." I thought he was miscast. I found his feeble attempts to act tough, unconvincing. I found it completely unbelievable that he could land my future wife, Emanuelle Chriqui, the actress who plays Sloan or pretty much any girl for that matter. He is almost legally a midget.

But now he has come to far. Be a giant tool and I can laugh about you. But talk about my Mets like that and some thing has to go down.

I have about three weeks left in LA. If I see "E" or the actor who plays him anywhere on the street, I'm going to show him who cares about the Mets. And then I will introduce him to my good friend "Mr. Right Hook."

SM

(Pic courtesy of Celebopedia.com)

The 'Sweet Caroline' Auditions

(Note: Cheddar Ben dissects the state of the Phillies following this piece from A.F.O.M.G.)

The fact that the Mets play "Sweet Caroline" before the bottom of the 8th sucks, I think fans are unanimous in that thought.

What's important is to understand why it sucks. It doesn't suck because people dislike the song (I mean, really, who can possibly resist Neil Diamond's rich tenor?), though some surely do. Nor does it suck because people dislike singalongs at ballgames. Hell, entire stadiums (stadia?) belt it out for "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" at ballparks across the country. So it's not the singing we object to.

Playing "Sweet Caroline" sucks for one reason: We stole it from the Red Sox. Blatantly. Flagrantly. Shamelessly. We stole it from Fenway Park and moved it down I-84.

Truly pathetic stuff. I mean, doesn't anybody at Shea Stadium have an ounce of creativity? I mean, how hard could it be to find an easy singalong-song for the fans to enjoy?

This was the question I turned over in my head as the Mets were destroying the Marlins once again last night. I like music. Surely I could find a replacement.

But not just any song will do. There are, as I see it, five criteria that any possible replacement song must satisfy. These I list here in no particular order:

1. Keep it clean -- Shea's a family joint, and you know what that means. The song can contain no cussing and nothing sexually suggestive. This criterion eliminates basically eliminates every rap song you've ever heard (except, of course, those by that lovely Will Smith).
   
2. Keep it slow -- The song has to be singalong-able. One reason "Sweet Caroline" works so well is that it's slow enough that beginners can watch the jumbotron for the lyrics and then sing along with ease. This criterion eliminates basically any punk or fast-paced rock song.


3. Keep it anthemic -- The song's gotta have a memorable hook, the kind of part that an audience singing along can really sink its teeth in to (think "Sweeeeeet Car-o-line! Oh! Oh! Oh!" and "So good! So good! So good!"). And another thing: The song has the stage for approximately 1 minutes and 15 seconds -- it's gotta get to the good part fast.


4. Keep it generally well known -- You know that band that you and all your friends love but no one else has never heard of, but that's the best part because that way when you're hanging out on the Lower East Side or in Williamsburg you can look cool too? Yeah, that band's songs aren't gonna work. There's a certain amount of cultural currency that the song's gotta possess, so no matter how many times iTunes tells you you've listened to that song by The Knife, it's just not gonna work at Shea. Sorry.


5. Keep it lyrically applicable -- Possibly the trickiest part. Remember that this is going to be played at a baseball game. "Sweet Caroline" isn't about baseball, but it's about "hands.... touching hands", "good times" and how "they've never seemed so good". The point is that these lyrics can be paired with shots of players high-fiving, fans celebrating, etc.

Not to condone the "Sweet Caroline" theft, but I have to say that finding possible replacements was not easy. I have 2,385 songs in my iTunes library. That's a lot of songs. Of those, I found exactly two that fit my five criteria well, and two others that fit in some possible way. Without further ado:

1. "Centerfield" by John Fogerty.

Pros: Song is actually about baseball; video clips of baseball could be easily interspersed; from the start of the song to the end of the chorus is exactly 1 minute and 15 seconds, it's possible Fogerty wrote this gem for precisely this purpose.

Cons: Machismo members of the fanbase may be uncomfortable singing about the "brown-eyed handsome man" rounding third and heading for home; song is a little on the fast side, would take some learning.

A.F.O.M.G. says: This is the most obvious option out there, and my personal frontrunner.

2. "Glory Days" by Bruce Springsteen.

Pros: The "Glory days!" chorus is about as anthemic as they come; the Boss's Jersey roots = instant credibility; Bruce sings about baseball at the beginning, and tell me you can't already hear the Shea faithful belting out "glory days" at the top of their lungs.

Cons: Song is, when you really listen to it, horribly depressing; lyrics are kind of sexually suggestive at parts

A.F.O.M.G. says: I like "Glory Days" as an option, but I'd like it a lot more if I'd thought of it. Truth is A.F.O.Mrs.G. gets the credit here. Damn her.

3. "Wild Boys" by Duran Duran.

Pros: Appeared on the hallowed '86 Mets Tape, and I'm a lot more comfortable stealing songs from there than I am from Fenway; lyrics are about staying feral and untamed, which works well with an athletic, base-stealing team such as the Mets; we know it can work with a sports montage; "wild boys" chorus makes for great singalong-ness.

Cons: Lyrics about "murder by the roadside" may not play so well; I'm not sure anybody who hasn't seen the '86 tape will recognize this song.

A.F.O.M.G. says: This one's a long shot, but I could see the crowd really getting in to it.

4. "You Belong to the City" by Glenn Frey.

Pros: A song about life in the city being featured at a city team's stadium, works for me; very singalong-able

Cons: Not really about baseball in any way, shape or form.

A.F.O.M.G. says: I still have this pegged as the song the Mets play after a win, and I don't want to blow it on the 8th inning. Besides, I don't think it really works.

* * * * *

So that's my list. It leaves a lot to be desired I have to concede, but I really think "Centerfield" could work well. It's genuinely difficult to find a song that works as well as "Sweet Caroline", but I'm sure there are people with different musical tastes could come up with.

Do you guys have any songs in mind? Are there any criteria I haven't thought of? As always, I'm curious to hear your thoughts.

- A.F.O.M.G.

(Images courtesy of a1.vox.com, pbase.com, 991.com and vinylzart.com)

Don't Go Changing, To Try And Please Me

Scene: Panic! in the City of Brotherly Love. Don't believe me? Phillies uber-blogger Mike Carminati says so in a post cryptically entitled "Remain calm. All is well. Do not panic!—Alright, Maybe We Should Panic." As Homer Jay Simpson might say, it's funny because it's true.

Things for the team to beat in the NL East are not going, how do you say, well. They avoided a sweep at the hands of the worst team in baseball Thursday by eking out a 4-2 win over Washington. The victory pushes the soaring Phils to 4-10, 6.5 games behind the dynamic, Marlins-destroying Mets. And, of course, the standings barely begin to tell the whole story.

Reigning MVP Ryan Howard, hitting all of .213 with one home run, is out hurt with a leg injury for a couple of games. Fellow traveler Chase Utley's bumping up against his portly teammate with a .222 average. Pat Burrell and Jimmy Rollins look just fine as long as they're not playing in Shea, but that'll only get you so far.

Then, there's manager Charlie Manuel, who appears to have sucked on the wrong end of a corn cob pipe for the last time. His much-mocked tirade during a postgame press conference, during which he challenged a local radio host to a fight, was followed by a bizarre media session the next day that culminated in him sending his No. 1 starter, Bashful Brett Myers, to the bullpen to pitch 8th innings. The gathered media was, needless to say, incredulous at this turn of events.

Now, Joe Sheehan at BP says the move makes enough sense to go through with [subscription required ... feel free to ignore]; his position is that if Pudge Lieber can't cut it there, none of the other non-Hamels starters are strikeout types, and Myers is by default the best fit. This is true to a certain extent, and as per Sheehan, it's certainly the fault of GM Pat Gillick that Manuel finds himself in a situation with six more-or-less intransigent starting pitchers and nothing efficient to do with them.

That said, the sheer lunacy of demoting your ace, wife-slagging though he may be, to the 'pen only two-plus weeks of the season is too rich to ignore. For the love of god, this problem was staring them in the face from the moment they acquired Freddy Garcia and Adam Eaton. The lojgam/trade opportunity was discussed on this blog and across the media landscape for literally a couple of months.

And this is how it shakes out. The Phils give Myers a whole Spring Training to work as a starter, run him out there on Opening Day, and before the ice on Queechy Lake melts, they toss him out of the rotation like Tanyon Sturtze.

It would be sad if it wasn't so hilarious.

But we laugh, and with good reason. The Mets' putative rivals look like a complete wreck, and there's little they can do to fix it. They've got nothing to work with in the minor leagues, and a GM who has shown he doesn't know his ass from his elbow when it comes to making trades. (Bobby Abreu says hi from the Bronx.) Let's say he wises up and tries to deal the reeling Lieber for something. What can Gillick reasonably expect to pick up, even with the inflated market value of starting pitching?

A real catcher instead of Rod Barajas and Carlos Ruiz? Well, a guy like Cleveland's Kelly Shoppach might be an upgrade, but that ain't going to happen. If there are a whole lot of other spare catchers out there, I don't see them. (Maybe taking one off the D-Backs, but they don't need starting pitching. The Rockies, maybe, but those guys aren't upgrades.)

A bullpen type? Nobody's trading anybody worth having at this juncture of the season. The time to do this was during the offseason -- swap Lieber for some prospects and sign Roberto Hernandez, or something like that.

Realistically, the only option is to hold tight for a bit and pray that the team doesn't far too far out of contention while the big guns are slumping and the pitching gets its collective head on straight. Oh, there's no question they'll pull themselves into something resembling a .500 team before long; they've got too much talent (without a Ryan Howard injury, of course) to remain sub-Nats.

The best-case scenario, I guess, is a full return to 2006 form for the star players, some decent contributions from the scrubs, steady performances from most of the rotation and a star turn from Hamels, and a fairy godmother to give Wes Helms some defensive acumen. Could happen, especially with Myers consigned to the sculllery.

Even then, do we think they're a contender? Not really, no. They're still not as good as the Mets under practically any scenario. I had them at 87 wins before the season, and I'd only push them down to about 85 at the moment.

And to be honest, I think that's just fine. I don't really want the Phils to finish in last place; I dislike them too much to want that. I prefer them just as they are -- laughably ambitious, good for a belly laugh in a "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight" type of way. I like them limping along at just hot enough to a clip to give them delusions of grandeur that are eventually crushed beneath the weight of their own mediocrity.

In other words, I love them just the way they are. They've never let me down before!

The Yankees and Their Ultimate Wrong: Jackie the Yankee?

(Note: A.F.O.M.G. strongly disagrees with the post below, and may write a counterpost later this afternoon.)

First off, I really consider this a must read. I don't feel too strongly about much, but I really feel this point.

I like to leave the positives to AFOMG. He's better at making good things sound nice. So today, I'll throw in the requisite line about John Maine. He looks good. Here's a second line. I told you he would look good if he developed his secondary pitches. He has and so he goes.

But Since Tuesday something has been killing me. It is obviously Yankee related and I will explain it in a second.

But before I do, let me give you some backstory. I HATE people who think they are entitled to everything. People who walk into a room and aren't gracious or friendly because they don't feel like they have to be. People who think they are better because of their money or their false sense of ego.

The only person like this that I have ever liked is Patrick Bateman. And he was a movie character.

I HATE the Yankees' sense of entitlement.

I hate that they feel the need to play God Bless America at the 7th inning when the rest of baseball (for the most part) has stopped. The Yankees are not America's team and as one of our readers posted recently, once the national anthem is done, all I want is baseball.

We all remember 9/11.

It's the most important day of our generation and one of the most important in our country's history. But we do not need to play a song in the 7th inning, especially one with a shitty tape-recorded version, to remember that day.

The Yankees do it though because they think they are "America's Team." They are holier than thou while the rest of baseball is disrespectful for not playing America's second song.

(Note: I hate it when the Mets play it Shea, mainly because they only do it for nationally televised games, further proving our inferiority complex towards the image of the Yankees -- Salt.)

But on Tuesday, the Yankees took their whole shtick to the next level.

On Tuesday, The Yankees gave Jackie Robinson a monument in their Monument Park.

All of baseball retired Jackie's number. The Yankees one upped us all. This makes sense, too. Jackie Robinson was such a proud Yankee.

No wait. That's not it.

The gesture is nice, but like so many "Yankee" gestures, it is so transparent. Just as they are "America's team" the Yankees are "the team that truly loves African Americans."

Hell, they may one day retire Sip's computer because they are the "team of all bloggers."

I actually think the Yankees putting Jackie Robinson in their monument park is wrong. On April 15th, baseball celebrated Jackie Robinson. He was arguably the game's most important player. We as fans and as a country watched our players wear his number and paid homage to his story. WE did it as the baseball community.

But this wasn't enough for the Yankees. They had to prove that THEY were greater than baseball -- the almighty Yankees, AMERICA's Team.

So Jackie Robinson will live on in Monument Park. But here is the important question: Why wasn't Jackie Robinson a Yankee?

Oh yeah, because they were as racist as anyone else was back then.

This is wrong.

VCD,

Sip

(Pics courtesy of answers.com, msn.com, mlb.com)

Midweek Musings

A Telling Difference Between the Mets and Phils

"It's time to come out and say it.

Ryan Howard and Chase Utley, the heart of the Phillies' lineup, are as responsible for the team's wretched start as anyone else in pinstripes."

And with that, Philadelphia Inquirer scribe Phil Sheridan dropped the motherfucking bomb.

Chase Utley and Ryan Howard are off to slow starts, hitting .245 and .238, respectively. With one home run and only 3 doubles, it's the reigning MVP, Howard, whose off to the slower start.

Maybe it's the weather, maybe it's the "Final Destination: Home Run Derby" Curse catching up to Howard, whatever it is, the two big bats in the Philly lineup are hitting like shit.

Remind you of anyone? Carlos Delgado and David Wright, spring to mind, though Wright, in fairness, still has a .319 average to his belt. Forget that though, guys like him and Delgado earn their bread with extra base hits and runs batted in -- so far, Delgado has 1 extra base hit and 7 RBIs, while Wright has 4 extra base hits and 3 RBIs.

In the meantime, life goes on for the two clubs, but one rides high while the other now owns the worst record in the National League. The Phils' two big bats have been shut down over the first 12 games over the year and the team has gone 3-9, whereas two of the Mets' big bats have been shut down over the first 12 games and our team has gone 8-4.

Both teams can expect to improve once their big boys heat up, but if Sheridan's right and blame needs to be applied to Howard and Utley, well, it's worth noting that there's been no blame to assign to Delgado and Wright.

Twenty-five Guys in Search of an Identity

There was a great piece by Ben Shpigel in Monday's New York Times about how "the Mets have been searching for an identity through the first 11 games."

As Shpigel points out, that this Mets team doesn't yet have an identity is hardly a problem, nor is it unique to them. All teams start the season looking to define who they are.

The thing about this Mets team is that it's comprised of so many members of the 2006 club, and for that reason it's difficult sometimes to realize the differences between the two teams.

What defined the 2006 Mets? Different people will tell you different things; for me, early on it was the last at-bat victories. Wasn't there some crazy statistic like we won the first game of our first 9 series at Shea in our last at-bat, or something along those lines? People called the 2006 club resilient, those early victories set the tone.

So far there's been no real tone set by the 2007 Mets. Part of that, I think, is because of the rain outs. MetsBlog pointed out the other day that with all the wash outs it's been difficult to get in any kind of rhythm, even for us as fans; I think there's some truth to that.

(That said, we've witnessed the primacy of Jose Reyes on the 2007 Mets in the first 12 games. It was fashionable to say that Reyes was the guy who made the Mets offense go; true as it was last year, it was the kind of point made only by those who could look past all the home runs from Beltran, Delgado and Wright. This year the point has been laid bare as Reyes' OBP sits at .431 and he looks, basically, like one of the best ballplayers anybody's ever seen.)

Most likely, all the team needs is time. As victories (hopefully) pile up and gut-check moments come and go, a tone will be set, an identity will come.

For now though I know what Shpigel was talking about. I'm still feeling this team out, still waiting for it to show me what it is.

- A.F.O.M.G.

(Images appear courtesy of jtaylor.mlblogs.com and thefeed.blogs.com)

Patriots Day in Boston: Not So Bad

(Note: Cheddar Ben asks if the Braves are for real immediately following this piece from Sip.)

We don't have many traditions at Shea.

The apple after a home run, "Lazy Mary" after the 7th inning stretch and the newest charm, "Sweet Caroline". But for most of us, the sense of pride in the Mets comes in the team and the friends we share it with.

Monday at Fenway Park was a special day. The 10 a.m. start got pushed back to 12 p.m. because of the weather, meaning me, my brother and my buddy Scott didn't make it to the local bar until 10 a.m. We entered and the place was absolutely packed.

The Patriots Day game coincides with the Boston Marathon. The combination of the two means that the city of Boston basically shuts down. At the center of this Siesta is Red Sox baseball.

It's a pretty simple concept. There's the city and then there is a game in the heart of that city. It was really nice.

And sadly, we don't have this in New York. We New Yorkers are a city divided. 1 part Mets, 2 parts Yankees, 5 parts people that couldn't care less. Our city does not bleed two colors for a team, it bleeds one color, green, the money that drives the city.

I'm a little somber right now. That happens after a 13 hour elation filled binge gone tired. It might just be that I am almost dead.

But it's days like this when being a New Yorker kind of kills me.

You see a team take over a city, where being a member of that city makes you a part of that team and then everyone unites. New York's tremendous diversity, for me, it's biggest strength, also becomes it's biggest weakness when it comes to sports fanatics.

I went to three different bars after the games. They were all Red Sox bars. They weren't cool bars or dive bars. They were Red Sox bars.

An entire city became one.

I was jealous.

VCD,

Sip

(Images courtesy of antonshevchenko.com and projo.com)

New Braves?

Was out of service for the weekend, up in Massachusetts playing rugby without access to baseball or the series of tubes that make up the Internet. Didn't miss a whole lot except El Duque's headhunting routine and a skipped start for the Maine Event, which I was hoping he would get in to more quickly get over the bum routine he pulled the last time out.

I'm actually more interested in what's going on in Atlanta with the Braves, who are off to a fast-ish start, even after last night's 5-1 loss to the woeful Nats. They're 8-4, a half-game ahead of the Mets in the East, and were John Kruk's pick for "Most Surprising Team" on SportsCenter's Chevrolet Diamond Cutters segment. Huzzah, eh?

Of course, Krukie then alleged that we had to be optimistic about emergency Yankee hurler Chase Wright's start tonight against the Indians because, and I shit you not that this was his argument, Albert Pujols never played above the Single-A level. He did not follow up by gnawing off his own cuff links, but the effect was basically the same. I think I would have been ashamed even if I were a Yankee fan.

(And speaking to that, this Wright fella certainly has a chance to pull out a perfectly good start. Anybody does. Back in June of 2004, Admiral Halsey came up from Columbus and looked like a million bucks in his first ML start, a win over the Dodgers. The Mets creamed him a week later at the Stadium, but he went on to beat the Red Sox. Anything can happen, even for soft-tossing baby-faced trade bait.)

As for the Braves, they've survived slow starts from Andruw Jones (.186), leadoff guy Kelly Johnson (nothing) and the first-base platoon of Scott Thorman and Craig Wilson (each hitting .182) to run out to some good wins. There are a couple of reasons for this.

• Frenchy is off to a good start with a team-leading 10 RBI, and he's already drawn five walks on the season. (Cue "What what what?" voice.) His rate stats only look okay (.265/.347/.465), but it's been a promising showing for a guy who needs to lock in some changes before he can ensure any real success.
• Also, Renteria (.304/.385/.478) and McCann (.300/.378/.525) have started strong, although you might have predicted the latter.
• Tim Hudson has allowed two earned runs in 21 innings, striking out 15 and looking for all the world like he's back. According to everyone covering the team, his split-piece is bobbing and weaving again, and his confidence is sky-high. This is obviously a major boost for them.

Of course, playing the Nationals four times already hasn't hurt either, which leads naturally to me saying I'm not halfway ready to revise my preseason prediction for Atlanta. For one thing, they've only got a +4 run differential (54-50) in 12 games, which means they really haven't played anything like a superior brand of baseball. The Mets are at 59-32 in one fewer outing, and looking strong as shit.

And even with Huddy returning to ace form, there are too many pitching questions for them at this point. Say what you will about Mike Hampton, but any innings he soaked up wouldn't go to the likes of Kyle Davies or Mark Redman, the only two pitchers to make a start ahead of the team's front 3. Not being a Chuck James fan, I don't expect him to carry his 2.25 ERA any longer than two or three more starts, and now we're talking serious trouble.

Unless the team wants to pursue a starter via a trade (something Schuerholz has been extremely reluctant to do over the past several seasons), their options aren't very good. They can call prospect Matt Harrison up from AA Mississippi, where he's looked solid in two starts to begin the year, and hope he adapts quickly. (The Phil Hughes-lite plan, and more on that soon.) They can stick with Davies for a while, I suppose, but he's going to be exposed before long. Otherwise, it's close your eyes and pray time.

As long as middle of the order stays tough, Atlanta has a chance to keep its head above water. Renteria, Chipper and Co. are certainly qualified to keep hitting at their current levels for a whole season, as are McCann and Francoeur. But any slippage there or an injury to Larry, and you're going to be looking at a whole lot of Florida or Philly in second place.

More importantly, let's hope we can get this game in tonight. Enough of this Nor'easter already.

The World Tour Continues

The Sip world tour continues in Boston today for my annual trip to Fenway. Only today it's Patriots Day so the game is at 11 a.m. and I'm meeting my buddy at the Cask N' Flagan at 8:15 a.m. (sorry Dad). That is of course, if the weather doesn't wash away the festivities.

It was a heck of a chop back in NYC, opening day was great while Saturday's trip to the ballpark was nice only in that my buddy Nails got a good group together, AFOMG included.

A great thing is happening in New York baseball. The Mets look good, they do. Obviously the Braves (8-3) should scare people and the Marlins, we all know how Sip feels about them. We're in for an interesting season, one that will not be the breeze that 2006 was.

As difficult as the road ahead for the Mets figures to be, how about the road ahead for our geriatric neighbors in the Bronx.

The Bombers are finding out what happens when you have a team filled with old bones. You know, they break.

What's going down in Yankeeland is almost comical. Every day you open the backpage and another Bomber goes down. Wang, Mussina, Pavano, Matsui, Damon. All of a sudden the Yankees are seeing how the rest of baseball lives. Word hit Sunday that Pavano and Mussina were headed for the DL. Fierce!

Their division is too good for them to be so roughed up. Throwing out Darryl Rasner and Jeff Karstens is not how the Yankees have won in the past and it is for this reason that they will not win in the future.

It's almost comedic that the year that A-Rod becomes A-Rod is the year the Yankees start off 5-6. And I really do think it could get worse.

Curt Schilling has thrown two straight gems. Josh Beckett looks great. Dice-K seems like he should be fine. Package that with a dominant closer and maybe baseball's finest lineup and the Red Sox could be terrific.

BJ Ryan going down is no good for the Jays but that team can also score a bunch of runs. But the much more important question will be who will close, Jason Frasor or Shawn Marcum. Could be the difference maker in my fantasy league. I'm happy to say that I really do mean that.

I really think that this may be the year.

If the Yankees can't keep their rotation healthy and they don't sign Roger Clemens (which of course they will when they are 4 games back in June) I think the Yanks' 12-year run of playoff appearances will come to an end.

That's reason enough to celebrate.

Apologies for the brevity today. It's early and I'm kind of in a rush.

If you happen to be watching the game look for me in LF. I'll be wearing the only Red Sox jersey that I would ever feel right wearing. My old pal #2. The tooth pick chewing, dinosaur-denying 5-tool gem.


Our old pal, Carl Everett.

Vaya Con Dios,

Sip

(Pics courtesy of CBC.Ca, mlb.com, boston.com)

Competition Like There Oughta Be

The ninth inning was tense. The closer retired the first batter to face him, but then, with one crack of the bat, the tying run was coming to the plate. The heat was on, and watching from his room at home, A.F.O.M.G. was at the edge of his seat.

"Bear down now," I prayer-thoughted to the pitcher on the hill, "you can't blow this one!"

He made me sweat it out, but after a pair of walks loaded the bases, Nationals closer Chad Cordero got Scott Thorman swinging to ice Washington's 2-0 victory over the Braves. I pumped my fist and switched back to SNY.

This scene -- me, us, Mets fans, desperately begging an opposing team's closer to hang on and beat the Braves -- a scene so familiar in past seasons, was largely non-existent in 2006.

Sure, it was there at the beginning of the year. I remember that early-season series with the Braves at Shea when Atlanta took two of three.

That afternoon when the Braves won the rubber game I wrote a piece telling Happy Will -- the Happy Man for god's sake -- to step back from the ledge. The next day, Sip wrote a piece calling our team "the same old Mets", writing "We as fans can't buy our playoff tickets yet and we certainly can't cast the Braves aside."

What did we know then? The Mets were off to a 10-4 start but there was little reason to expect the domination that followed. As far as we were concerned, a dog fight lay ahead.

With the benefit of hindsight it's easy to see why that didn't happen. The Braves had no bullpen. The Phillies had no soul, I guess. The Mets were simply that good.

Six months from now it's possible we'll look back to these early season series with the Phillies and Braves and wonder what on earth we were so worked up about? Didn't we know it would be as easy as it had been in 2006? Didn't we realize that once more the Mets were simply that good?

It's all possible, but right now it doesn't seem likely. It looks like we're in for a dog fight here, and this year, with the Braves, Phillies and Marlins all improved, it seems all the more certain that the season-long anxiety, agony and ecstasy that is scoreboard watching will return from its one-year reprieve.

Initially I was disappointed by that. Last year was the first time I'd ever seen a Mets team dominate the league. I don't remember 1986 or 1988, and good as those clubs in 1999 and 2000 were, neither was good enough to win the N.L. East, let alone dominate the entire senior circuit.

Watching your team win every night, watching your team provide thrilling comeback victory after thrilling comeback victory like the Mets did last year was the kind of thing a fan could get used to. Remember all those last at-bat wins at the beginning of last year? It doesn't get much better than that.

As awesome as last year was, there was a little something missing from the regular season. After May there was virtually no anxiety involved in watching the Mets. They'd win, they'd stretch their division lead to 15 games, and when it was over you'd be pumped but the desperation wasn't there.

Last night as I followed the lowly Nationals and begged Cordero to record that final out, the desperation was back. The Mets had a win, and that win coupled with a Braves lost would mean the Mets were one game out of first. Last night's Braves-Nationals game, game 9 of the season for both teams, was a big game.

And for the Glass Man it was thrilling. Thrilling National League baseball that didn't involve the Mets. Last year there was none of that going around before the last week of the season, when it looked like the Cardinals might completely collapse and the Astros would eek in ahead of them.

(Remember how desperately we hoped that wouldn't happen? How scary the Clemens-Oswalt-Pettitte rotation looked and how weak the Cardinals appeared? Not saying we were wrong, but it's funny (not ha-ha funny, more like I-want-to-kill-myself funny) how that worked out.)

As much as I expect the Mets to repeat as top dog in the East, I don't expect it will come as easily as it did last year. There's a little part of me that's wistful for 2006, but there's another part of me that knows how much excitement comes when every night you're following not only the Mets, but the Braves, the Phillies, the Marlins, and not just them, but the teams they're facing that night, too. You soak it all in; who's starting for the team X tonight? Who's injured? Who's swinging a hot bat?

And so it is that tonight, yes, I'll be fixated on my man Mike Pelfrey -- I'll watch every pitch if I can. But I'm also counting on Roy Oswalt as he takes on the Phillies, and I'll be pulling for Dontrelle against Atlanta because, at this point in time, I believe the Braves are a bigger threat than the Marlins.

It's competition like there oughta be. Let's have at it.

- A.F.O.M.G.

(Images courtesy of mlb.com and finewhyfine.typepad.com)

Sip's Top 10 for the First Ten Days

The Mets are 5-3. Not bad. I love the Mets as you all know. But I also love baseball and there has been a lot of really cool/important ish going down over the first ten games of the season. Here's what has me shaking in my boots.

1. A-Rod.

It pains me to say it, but this run of his is pretty impressive. The guy is in a zone unlike many we have scene.

But more importantly to the Yankee hating world, my feelings towards A-Rod have changed over the last couple of weeks. That is, when he is playing really well, he seems like more of a Yankee. Seeming like more of a Yankee makes me hate him more.

So now I redefine earning one's pinstripes.

You know how Yankee snobs like to talk about the mystique and what not? I have a different definition of "earning one's pinstripes": the day you become truly hatable is the day you've earned your pinstripes.

When A-Rod is choking we hate him, but also laugh at him. When he plays like A-Rod we hate him and he is making the Yankees win. Double-NO-NO.

2. The "NL Least" no more.

The Braves look pretty good. The lineup is pretty solid 1-6 and if they keep getting good pitching out of Kyle Davies and Chuck James, then watch out.

The Marlins also look great, especially when Jorge Julio is not pitching. This team is young and dangerous.

3. Jose Reyes, national superstar.

I get all sorts of text messages and e-mails about Reyes. Everyone is watching him now. He is changing fantasy teams and getting more press on SportsCenter/Baseball Tonight.

4. The D-Backs are back.

Another young team is a year older and pretty dangerous. With Byrnesy at the helm and Stephen Drew, Conor Jackson, Chad Tracy and co. following his lead this team looks pretty strong.

Their rotation is 4-deep and solid (Webb, Unit, Livan, Doug Davis) and they play in a very weak division.

7-3, not a bad start.

5. The $126 Million Man.

Barry Zito found a lot of money this offseason and apparently forgot how to pitch. 0-2, 8.18 ERA. Not too great.

Zito starts slowly often and people in San Francisco don't care about baseball anyway, so I would imagine everything will even itself out come June.

6. The best young player in the game.

He doesn't play for the Mets or the Twins or the Marlins. It looks like he plays in the Pacific Northwest.

Two starts later and "King" Felix Hernandez (2-0, 0.00 ERA) looks like he might be the best pitcher in baseball today. He dominated the A's on opening day and then outdueled Dice-K on Wednesday night. He's throwing a 98 MPH sinker with control and has command on his breaking pitches.

I watched both of his starts and it is almost a joke. The guy is untouchable.

An amazing stat: Of the 58 batters he's faced, only 7 have hit the ball out of the infield. 28 ground balls, 18 strike outs (courtesy of Buster Olney, Baseball Tonight).

7. Speaking of Dice-K.

Two starts later and the guy looks pretty damn solid. He looks like a 1-2 guy in the rotation(1-1, 2.57 ERA) as was widely forecasted. His fastball, if you believe the radar gun, is touching the mid-high 90's and his variety of breaking stuff is as wide as advertised.

Most importantly, when he pitches, I want to watch and so do a ton of Japaneese people. Translation: the Red Sox are going to make a ton of their money back on this investment.

$103 mill on Dice-K is not the same as $103 mill on another pitcher. The Red Sox are getting a bargain if this guy continues to pitch the way he has.

8. The AL Central: the best division in baseball.

The Tribe are back. I love this team.

With the White Sox, Twins and Tigers, this division is a murderers row. These guys will all beat each other up all season, which may cost them in the postseason.

And the Royals look a little less worse than they used to be.

9. Speaking of the worst-- The Nationals.

This is the worst team in baseball. Find me a baseball fan that can give you their Starting rotation and I'll give you a Tony Tarasco Mets jersey.

They have no pitching. And sadly, they don't have much hitting.

Ryan Zimmerman is good and will be great. Felipe Lopez is fast. Nick Johnson is hurt. Austin Kearns peaked two years ago. Ryan Church might be the most interesting player on this team. Ryan Church I say.

These guys are so bad that they might challenge the '62 Mets. Enough said.

10. Speaking of Bad Part II-- The greatest fantasy league of all time.

There was a ton of buzz when my buddy Zimmy picked up Joakim Soria the other day. Could he be the new Royals closer? Maybe.

Other big names filling up the waiver wire:

John Buck, Henry Owens (NEW METS! RIP), Lee Gardner, Jason Hirsch, Fausto Carmona, Paul Maholm and Robinson Tejeda.

Outside of Owens I can't imagine many of you have heard of many of these guys.

Buck, was in the Beltran-to-Houston deal and Tejeda used to be a Phillie, but to the normal world, these names shouldn't mean much.

But in our sweet little bottom half payroll, they are paying major dividends.

Did I mention how much I love my fantasy league?

There's ten for you. Shoot us a line if you got something else.

VCD,
Sip

(Pics courtesy of Mit.edu, The Sportreport.com, sugoi.com)

One Week in the Show

Not an honest week, mind you, more like 11 days by this point, but so far our boys have played an even 7 games. Five up, two down -- disappointing though the two losses may have been, you take that record every time.

It's too early to have a strong sense of this team, but it's never too early for some first impressions. Seven games in, here's what's on my mind:

1. David Wright.

I had an interesting discussion about David Wright with B.O.A.F.O.M.G. and my soon to be sister-in-law. I was about 5 Dewar's and sodas deep by this point so the details of who said what are a little fuzzy, but basically there's some concern among the three of us about young David.

That's not unusual; my sense is a lot of people are slightly concerned about Wright. They're concerned because of his home run drop-off in the second half of last year. They're concerned because he had a slow spring training, extra-base hits wise. They're concerned because he's not off to a hot start.

Me, I'm pretty confident he's going to have the kind of season we've come to expect from him: 30ish home runs, 100-plus RBIs. He's got two full years in the bigs under his belt, and he had virtually identical seasons, even showing improvement, modest though it may have been, in 2006.

So I'm not concerned about Wright's production, I'm concerned about his psyche. For years Wright was the golden boy, the chosen one, the one who we all assumed would be the best, most popular player on the Mets for the next decade or two.

With the ascendance of Jose Reyes last year, that began to change, and now Reyes, with his infectious blend of speed, style and swagger, has become the most popular Met. I'm happy for him; he's my friend, remember?

But I'm a little concerned about Wright. It can't be easy being the best, most exciting, highest paid young player in New York one day to second-best the next.

And yet everywhere you turn that's what's happening. The Village Voice has written that Reyes could prove the best New York ballplayer since Mickey Mantle. ESPN is telling fantasy owners to trade Albert Pujols for Reyes (and the one or two players you'd get in such a deal besides). And then on Opening Day, it's Reyes who gets the bigger cheer, not Wright.

I'm fully confident that this hasn't affected the friendship between the two players, but somehow I have to think it's in Wright's head a little bit. For so long he was the chosen one, and now, all of a sudden, he's not anymore. At the very least he's got to be aware of it. It can't be easy.

Luckily, if there's one thing that article in New York Magazine taught me about David Wright it's that he's a competitor through and through. Maybe having somebody steal the limelight a little bit will provide that much more motivation.

2. The bullpen.

There's not a lot to go on, but it's looking so far like this year's bullpen won't be as strong as last year's. Heilman/Bradford/Feliciano/Mota-Sanchez/Heilman-Wagner was pretty dominant, so I suppose there was nowhere to go but down.

That said, I'm confident Scott Schoeneweis will show us more than he has so far. But what's the deal with Heilman? Is he injured or isn't he?

3. A-Rod.

You know what sucks about A-Rod? No matter how well he does in the regular