I'm Getting tired of being right all the time...

Once again, as has happened several times in bizarre circumstances on this site, I called it. I said Pedro going to the Phils could only end one way: him being healthy and dominant for them, and helping them to ultimately eliminate the Mets once again from the playoffs. What happened tonight? Well, Pedro, who is undefeated since joining the Phillies, absolutely dominated the Mets for 8 shutout innings in the game that officially eliminated the Mets from playoff contention. Now, obviously, the Mets haven't had a realistic hope for the playoffs in months, but really, how else could this season end but being officially eliminated by Pedro? Still think Pedro's not a capable pitcher anymore, Jerry Manuel? Great job. It's alright, though. You and Omar have job security. What an organization!

....by the way, as some of you may know, I'm also a Detroit Lions fan, so as the Mets officially had the nail driven in their coffin for 2009, the Lions kicked off another massochistic season today by being annihilated by the New Orleans Saints. Something tells me that football season won't be cheering me up much....

A Winning Streak? What is this?

So, the Mets have now won 3 in a row against legitimate baseball teams (the Astros and Rockies). And tonight they played very good fundamental baseball, including a successful sacrifice bunt by Daniel Murphy (Unbelievable!). It was all capped off by a pinch-hit grandslam by Fernando Tatis in the 8th. I'll admit, I was furious when Jerry sent Tatis out there in place of Corey Sullivan (who already had an RBI sac fly earlier in the game). To be fair, Tatis has given no reason for fans to be confident in him in that spot -- grounding into a double play in one out of every 10 at bats this year. But he came through. And the Mets are on a winning streak. And Tony Bernazard was finally fired today. All positive stuff.

If only Omar didn't blow the day by creating more bad press for the Mets... At least the consensus seems to be that the end is coming for Minaya, as well. After all, his two big hires since gaining full autonomy (Bernazard and Willie Randolph) are both gone now. No more scapegoats left, unless he buys a bit more time for himself by firing Manuel (who probably should be terminated anyway).

Officially giving up

The Mets desperately have needed to make a trade for the past several weeks. Today, they made one. They sent Ryan Church to the Braves for Jeff "Strike Three" Francoeur. Yes, the Mets made a trade with the BRAVES! WTF!!!! Another right-handed hitter who strikes out constantly and hasn't put up good numbers in a couple years. And we give up our best fielder and one of our few legitimate hitters. And we do it in a trade that will help a rival that's only half a game ahead of us in the standings. Here's the rest of my expert commentary:

#$)&#)$#&)$#@)#@&#@&() V&*@ Minaya &*()RE#*()$#&)$#@#^)#^*@*^&#) Jerry Manuel &*()#$&)$#&)#( Shake Shack )(*&#$&#(&$(&(*&*(&*( strikeouts. If Jeff Francoeur doesn't hit 25 homers the rest of the year, I want Minaya and Jerry Manuel not only fired, but also tarred and feathered. Let's hear Jerry Manuel try to claim he didn't have a personal hatred of Ryan Church all along now. What was the reason for it? The quickest explanation may not hold much weight (Church is white) since Francouer is too. But I'm certainly not abandoning that theory; after all, why did Daniel Murphy not play last night after a big night on Wednesday? Manuel said he wants to get Tatis in a rhythm. How f*cking long are we gonna wait for that? What happened to "if you produce, you'll stay in the lineup"? Murphy was producing, and he was benched in favor of the Hispanic player who's leading the world in GIDP's per at-bat. Church was productive on the last road-trip, and now he's gone. When Francouer strikes out in each of his first 15 at-bats, he'll be benched in favor of whoever the next Emil Brown is to come to town. Can't wait to see who..... And sticking with the theory: who did we remove from the rotation to make room for the returning Ollie Perez? Not journeyman Fernando Nieve, but rather veteran expensive starter Tim Redding. Please explain.

I'd love to believe the Mets can still win the division, but don't believe it. I can't root against Ryan Church even in Atlanta; I'm a fan of players. But I officially give up on Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya. I just want them gone.

What is Going On?

Today, the Mets placed Carlos Beltran on the DL -- joining Maine, Perez, Putz, Pagan, Reyes, Delgado and others. They also demoted Ken Takahashi and Wilson Valdez. Filling those 3 spots, the Mets called up Fernando Martinez, Elmer Dessens (yes, Elmer Dessens... the latest in the "Where Are They Now?" series of Mets), and LHP Pat Misch. (By the way, 3 other candidates for "Where Are They Now?" Mets were recently released from Buffalo: Javier Valentin, Bobby Kielty, and Wily Mo Pena........ none of which make sense to me) (Also, did you happen to hear that Jose Reyes -- already disabled -- was in a car accident today on the Triboro Bridge along with trainer Ray Ramirez [just what we need: even our medical staff isn't safe from injury -- though the terrible team doctors being replaced probably would help this team...] A fire truck rear-ended their car)

It was also announced that Bobby Parnell and Pedro Feliciano were unavailable for tonight's opener against the Cardinals. Tim Redding, still looking for his first win as a Met, was slotted to start, and counted on to go deep into the game.

All of that news combined seemed to spell doom for the Mets. And yet, they won -- leaving all of us in a state of giving up forever on trying to understand this team. Along the way, highlights included:

• Tim Redding pitched into the 8th inning, allowing 4 runs (one of the runs was a homer leading off the 8th, which was his last batter).
• Jon Switzer struck out the first hitter he faced in relief of Redding. His next hitter got on, and Switzer was replaced by Brian Stokes.
• Brian Stokes came into a game!!! And in a pressure spot, which Jerry Manuel has said all along he doesn't trust Stokes in. Why he doesn't trust him, Mets fans don't know. It's the same irrational dislike he has for Ryan Church. And yet, due to all the insanity of the Mets roster for tonight's game, here was Brian Stokes coming into the game in the 8th inning leading by one, with the tying run on first. And who was coming to bat as the potential go-ahead run? None other than the best hitter in the league, Albert Pujols. Jerry Manuel must have been peeing his pants. Stokes fell behind Pujols on a series of sliders, then battled back and finally induced a weak grounder right back to himself, and turned the 1-6-3 double play to end the inning. Jerry Manuel must have immediately entered into a state of shock that may or may not have required Sandy Alomar to manage the rest of the game; we don't know. But who knows, could this actually make Jerry Manuel realize that Mets fans and analysts are right and begin trusting Stokes again like last year when he became the go-to guy at the end of the year until he was burned out? Probably not; nothing Church has done has convinced Manuel about him. But maybe.... After all, desperate times call for desperate measures -- even trusting people you wouldn't at any other time. And could things be more desperate for the Mets right now?...
• Daniel Murphy homered, giving the full Mets lineup for tonight's game a total of 17 home runs on the season. Fourteen players around the league have at least that many as individuals.

Why is Ryan Church not playing?

Marty Noble of mlb.com was asked in his most recent Mets Inbox why Ryan Church has seen his playing time continually decrease while players such as Gary Sheffield have seen plenty of playing time with worse numbers. He wrote:

"You hardly are alone in your wonder. My sense of it, and that of others, including men in uniform, is that Church has been shortchanged -- in words, plans and, since the season began, playing time. It began early in Spring Training. The comments manager Jerry Manuel made about him then seemed unnecessarily uncomplimentary. Then Church made most of the trips and played as much as anyone other than Daniel Murphy in exhibition games. He was exhausted by mid-March. Since Opening Day, he has become the player most affected by the batting-order imbalance -- too many left-handed hitters.

"Church is a fine outfielder, the best defensive right fielder the Mets franchise has had, and he ought to be in right as often as possible in Citi Field. He plays hard; no one can quarrel with that. And he was hitting early on. I suspect Manuel didn't want to sit Murphy when he was having so much trouble in left field and have Murphy begin to doubt himself."

Now here's my take on it: Omar Minaya has had the reputation since his days with Montreal that he favors mediocre minority (specifically hispanic) players to even good white players. His seeming preference all through the offseason to stick with Ollie Perez instead of Wolf or Lowe looked like further evidence of that. Could he be pulling the strings against Ryan Church? Or could Jerry Manuel have the same preference? Sheff has hit nothing at all (other than his 500th homerun), Tatis can get at-bats at other positions (and has done so, with Delgado's health issues). And look how long it took for Jeremy Reed (who is also white) to finally get a start. He only just got his first one this past week, over 20 games into the season. And while Daniel Murphy was favored by Jerry Manuel in his statements during Spring Training, Murphy has also seen his starts decrease in favor of Tatis and Sheffield. So while one white outfielder was favored over another, they both take backseats to the minorities. I'm curious what will happen when Brian Schneider comes back from his injury (whenever that may wind up being). Is Minaya going to try long and hard to deal him away in order to keep Ramon Castro and Omir Santos?

Now suppose an organization was intentionally playing very mediocre white players over much better and more productive black or hispanic players simply due to race. That organization would be subject to lawsuits and be branded as racist by fans. Should the Mets not be viewed the same way? Racism against whites is still racism.

First Fossum File of the Spring

Okay, so the Mets lost their Grapefruit League game today against the Cardinals, 9-8. However, a couple things on the bright side:

1) Ryan Church had an RBI double in the second inning off Cardinals starter Todd Wellemeyer. It's no secret on this blog that I'm a Church fan (certainly more-so than Jerry Manuel, apparently), and I'm happy to see him still able to rake at the plate. I've had 6 concussions myself (4 in baseball), so it might be partly for that reason that I'm really rooting for Church. Good start to the spring; let's hope (for Church and for the sake of the Mets' lineup) that he keeps it up.

2) Bobby Kielty had a homerun off former Met great (in the same way Roberto Alomar and Kaz Matsui are former Met greats..) Royce Ring. Kielty is -- just like Church -- trying to make a comeback from post-concussion syndrome. Kielty, however, has been out of the game since 2006. It's impossible to imagine Kielty making the opening day roster, but he could be this year's Fernando Tatis. And taking a chance on Tatis after his break from the league certainly turned out well for the Mets last season. I hope to see him in Queens (or somewhere else, granted it isn't Philadelphia, Atlanta, or Miami) getting a shot at some point this year. A real feel good story if he can. (By the way, check out some old photos of Kielty. As some other blogs such as Metstradamus have pointed out, he bears a striking resemblance to Sideshow Bob from the Simpsons. And as most kids of the '90s like me know, Sideshow Bob certainly kept on coming back -- even if in Italy........ by the way, Johan Santana was supposed to make a start against the Italian WBC team for the Mets, but he's been scratched as the Mets play it safe with his health).

3) Most important to the heart of this blog (which any of you who are regular readers will know) was the fact that Casey Fossum, our beloved "Blade", pitched two scoreless innings in relief for the Mets -- allowing two hits. Obviously Fossum is a long-shot for a spot on the 25-man roster out of Spring Training, but we're not giving up hope. We'll be following his incredible mediocrity whether it be in Queens, Buffalo, or just on the field the voices are telling me to build for him.

....by the way, I'm accepting donations to fund my construction of that field.

Unfair League Justice

Major League Baseball Umpire Brian Runge was suspended 1 game by the league for his conduct in the Mets-Mariners game on Tuesday night. After attempting to bait Carlos Beltran into arguing a call, Runge engaged in an argument with Mets manager Jerry Manuel. During this debate, Runge clearly bumped Manuel, at which point Jerry went berserk and was ejected (Beltran followed suit as Manuel reached the dugout on his way to the clubhouse).

Here is my problem with this: Runge should have been suspended for more than 1 game. If Jerry Manuel had bumped him during the argument, Manuel would be suspended for at least 4 games. Why should Runge be let off so easily? I've been umpiring little league games for 4 years, and last year even I was suspended for a week because the general opinion was that I was seeking out confrontations with coaches and players. So recreation little league umpirers in small-town north Jersey are held to a higher standard of conduct than Major League umpirers? Outrageous. I was surprised to see that Major League Baseball gave Runge any punishment, but seeing that they did, they were too lenient. I also wonder whether they would have done anything at all if the incident had happened in Seattle rather than in New York...

We've all seen suspensions doled out after brawls that don't seem proportional. But this suspension of Runge for only one game clearly shows that the league is more interested in protecting its direct employees than in promoting equal justice for wrongdoing.