Mike Piazza: The Man That Did It Right.
Many players have played the game right and many players have played the game well. But not as many players played the game both right and well.
When you think about the players that played about ten years ago the first guys that come to mind are Bonds, McGwire, Clemens and Sosa.
Not many look back at those days and think about the great catcher Mike Piazza.
Mike Piazza is one of the guys that played the game right when it was not popular to do so.
I am not saying he was alone, the name Ken Griffy Jr. comes to mind when you think about playing the game right.
But Mike Piazza is the more underrated guy of the group that played the game right.
Think about it, how bad it would be if we find out Piazza is on the list.
How much the Dodgers and Mets fans would be devastated if he was one of the 104 men that did not play the game right.
And we will never really know if he was on it or not, at least until baseball releases the list to us the fans.
But sources (LJ Burgess) tell me that Mike Piazza is not on the list.
And I think we can trust my sources.
And Mike being off the list gives all he did so much more meaning.
It means a man and not a half monster hit the post 9/11 game Home Run to take the lead away from the Braves and give it to the hurt state of New York.
It means a man took the Mets to the World Series in 2000.
And it means a man was the captain of the Mets and one of the best catchers in the history of the game.
Thank you Mike Piazza for letting us be part of your great baseball career, and thank you Mike Piazza for helping make baseball the great game it is.
Should The Mets Send Wright, Santana and K-Rod Away?
As most of the world knows by now, the Mets stink and are having a very bad year.
And we all know the biggest reason the Mets suck this year is that most of their star players are on the DL.
As the Mets keep on losing and falling back in the division, you've got to wonder if it is worth it to keep the rest of the core of the team on the Mets for the rest of the season.
I am not saying trade them or anything like that, just give them time off so they don't join the rest of the top players on the DL.
The thing is that I do not just think it's bad luck that Reyes, Beltran, Delgado, Maine, F-Mart and Putz are on the DL.
You can say we may have seen it coming with Delgado, Maine, F-Mart and Putz. But Beltran and Reyes and lots of good back up's also going down I think we have more to blame here.
And that is why I hope Omar cleans house in the medical staff department so the Mets don't end up killing themselves.
But as we all know even if that does happen (and I don't think it will) it will only happen in the offseason.
Until then it may be a good idea for the Mets to keep Wright, Santana and K-Rod off the diamond and away from the danger.
I know I am not a season ticket holder, but I think this is the best move the Mets can make.
Maybe the Mets can do something like the Pirates did with their tickets sales.
I feel sorry for the fans, but I think it is for the better of the team.
I bet Omar and Jerry told these three guys that they are a big part of the future and to avoid injure any way possible.
Even if that means not diving hard for a ball or not sliding hard in to a base. And maybe we will not see Santana throw over 100 pitches often.
That is good, but I think the Mets should take it to the next level and keep their players safe.
I know Omar and the Wilpons will never do this, I don't know if any team's front office would ever do it.
But I just think it for the good of the team.
Are These the ‘69 Mets?
Are these the '69 Mets again?
I know guys like Richard Marsh have written articles like this, but I think all Mets fans deserve to give up on their team with a goodbye article.
With the season in its last two months, and players like Beltran, Delgado, Reyes, Maine and Putz coming back soon. Can we believe that these may be the '69 Mets all over again?
Well, I do not think so.
And these are a few reasons why.
1.
We do not know when players like Beltran, Delgado, Reyes, Maine and Putz are coming back. Day to Day has been known to be month to month for these Mets.
2.
The Phillis are running away with the NL East. The Mets are 10 games out, and the Phillies are looking like they do not need to stop winning now that Raul Ibnez is back from the DL.
3.
Even if the Phillies go down and lose all their star players like the Mets did. Both the Braves and the Marlins will jump on the NL East lead like it is water in a desert. And they are both better teams then the Mets right now.
4.
The NL Wild Card has seven teams ahead of the Mets in it. So even if the Giants and Rookies start losing the Brewers and the Braves will still win the Wild Card over the Mets.
5.
The Mets are looking like a AAA team, who would have thought we were going to see Alex Cora and Angle Pagan be starters for the Mets.
6.
If the Mets can't win at least two out of three from the Nats then how do we want them to best teams like the Phillies and Rookies?
7.
Omar and the Wilpons are not helping the Mets win, and it is to late now. They should have made deals that would bring in star players like Hallady back in June. And with not taking Hallady in the trade that was offered to them. They have shown that they are sealers (as I think they should be).
8.
We have a manager from a bad movie. He is a great guy, and he is very funny. But many of the things he does makes you want to jump off the roof.
9.
You can't teach defense. Professional baseball players should know how to catch a ball on a regular bases.
10.
David Wright, he may be the best player on the Mets this year, but the man that finished forth in MVP voting for the last two season has not hit with any power this year. He only has 5 Home Runs this year.
So in the end, the Mets are not showing us any sing of coming back.
And there are not many things to blame.
Yes, Omar the Wilpons and Jerry Manual have done a bad job. But we cant blame them for Beltran, Reyes and Delgado going on the DL.
And that is the main reason the Mets are not looking good this year.
The only ones we can blame are the medical staff.
How can a player like Jose Reyes who is a day to injure go down for two months?
I do not get it.
Well, better look next year.
This season may be over for the Mets, but it is never to late to build for the future.
Don’t worry Mets fans, the Wild Card is still in reach.
I know.
I am such a New Yorker for even thinking about it.
A team (that's not us) goes on a three game losing streak and I jump on the moment.
But I feel like I need to, I really want to see them fall to give the Mets a chance at the Wild Card.
So lets really look at this, and lets see if the Giants are for real.
Losing three in a row is never nice, but losing four in a row with a Pirates sweep is just bad.
And with Tim Lincecum getting beat up in the All-Star game, things are not looking great for the Giants right now.
But the pitching is fine, they are good on that.
The offense is bad, the only good hitter on the team is Pablo Sandoval. And who knows if he is the real deal or just another man that was hot for the first half of the season.
I hate to do this to Giants fans, but I do not think your team is that good.
Yes, they are one of the top 15 teams in baseball this first half.
But I don't think they will be the same team in the last two months of the season.
I think Pablo Sandoval will slow down, and there is not much Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain can do if the Giants do not score runs.
And that is what we have seen this series.
With losses like 2-1 and 2-0 the Giants offense has gone back to sleep, and things are not looking up for them.
And the rest of the NL wants that Wild Card. Teams like Colorado, Milwaukee, Houston, Florida, Atlanta, New York and Cincinnati are going to give the Giants a fight for that spot.
And teams like the Mets and Reds are going to get star players back soon.
How many games can Tim Lincecum win 1-0? And how many more No-Hitter's will the Giants get?
They need offense and if they don't get Matt Holiday or someone like that before the deadline, I do not think this team will win the Wild Card.
Can Don Mattingly be the Mets Manager Next Year?
As it is looking like the Mets are falling out of it, there is one guy that we always love to blame.
And that man is the manager.
I am not saying the Mets are out of it, I have not given up (just yet). But the Mets' manager has made lots of bad calls that have some Met fans wanting his head.
In the Mets' case it's Jerry Manuel, who most Mets fans agree has done a bad job with the Mets this year.
Most Mets fans agree that the Mets falling on their face is not all his fault. Losing Beltran, Reyes, Delgado and J.J Putz cannot all be blamed on Jerry.
But some of his PH choices have been really making Mets fans want to kill him.
Like in the 6th inning in Philadelphia on July 15th.
With one out and men on first and third, the Phillies called Chan Ho Park from the bullpen.
So what does Jerry do?
He PH's Fernando Tatis.
Fernando Tatis has grounded in to 11 double play's this year, why would you put him in?
And what did Fernando Tatis do in that AB?
He ended the Mets only chance to score by grounding in to a double play as the Mets lost 2-0 and got sweeped by the Phillies.
So now that we want Jerry Manuel gone, who should take his place?
I think the answer is Don Mattingly.
He has been around Joe Torre for years as a bench coach of the Yankees and now of the Dodgers.
He was in the race to be the Yankees manager in 2008, but the Yankees ended up giving the job to Joe Girardi.
He is the hitting coach of the Dodgers, but he really wants to be a manager.
Joe Torre has let Don Mattingly do more then just help the guys hit.
And I think that moving to the NL with Joe Torre makes the Yankee great ready to manage an NL team.
He is now in his second year with the Dodgers, so he should know a lot about the NL game.
I know a lot of Met fans are thinking, no more Yankees!
Just look a year back and Willie Randolph was the Mets manager, and Mets fans were not to happy with his work in 2008.
But I do not think we can learn anything from that. I think each man is his own man and is not like the rest. So it does not matter if he was a Yankee.
Maybe it can even be good, maybe it will show the Yankees what a bad move it was to let him go to LA.
I would love to know what you think, so please leave a comment and your opinion.
Wright to bat 6th in All-Star Game
Phillies manager Charlie Manuel put David Wright in the 6th spot of the NL batting order set for the All-Star Game tomorrow.
The Batting order is:
Hanley Ramirez, ss
Chase Utley, 2b
Albert Pujols, 1b
Ryan Braun, rf
Raul Ibanez, lf
David Wright, 3b
Shane Victorino, cf
Yadier Molina, c
Tim Lincecum, p
Another Angel In Citi Field
After breaking the Major League record for most Fernandos in a starting lineup (3), the Mets became the first club ever (I assume) to activate 2 Angels in one weekend. That's got to help, right?
The Mets just picked up infielder Angel Berroa off waivers.
The 31 year old will be added to the bench players that are the Mets.
But if he is going to stay on the Mets' bench, it just says how good he is. Or not.
Mets Would Be Idiots to Buy at the Deadline
The Mets have made some of the worst trades in history. And the 2009 Mets have made enough bad plays to make the early 60s look like their glory days. So But trading prospects for somebody to help them win this year would make those other blunders look small.
Do the Mets have a shot this year? Sure, the Miracle Mets almost invented the phrase Ya Never Know. But you only compromise the future when you're just one guy away from an almost guaranteed deep postseason run. That's not this year's Mets. The saddest thing about the Kazmir trade was how stupid it was to trade a prospect when the Mets were such long shots.
In fact, the Mets would be sellers if they had anybody to sell. But that would require established healthy talent towards the end of their contracts. The Mets have nothing of the kind.
If it's only money, the Mets should buy. They have room before hitting the luxury cap threshold. They're a big market team that can spend a little more. If they can get say Adam Dunn for some mid-level prospects not much better than the guys they'd get as compensation if they lose Dunn to free agency, I'm in.
People like saying New York fans have no patience. First of all, that's not true. Just look at how the fans came out for the Knicks this year. What New York fans can't tolerate is a team with no present and no future that doesn't even make the routine plays. Second, it doesn't matter whether or not New York fans have patience. As the Knicks proved so brilliantly (hey, at least they were brilliant about something) blaming your fans' lack of patience doesn't make mortgaging the future any less stupid and damaging.
The Mets have been devastated by injuries, and their healthy veterans joined in the blunderfest that has been 2009. If they don't recover this year, so be it. If they sacrifice the future to try to salvage this year, they'll have made an even bigger blunder.
Image courtesy of cliff1066
Oh Murph!
As a Murph Obsessed and sarcastic Met fan I can't believe I never saw ohmurph.com until today. The site dubs itself "The Onion of the Mets."
Today he capitalizes on Murph's classic behind the back play at first with a story of Murph filing for a patent:
Patent #016401-28, titled “The Murphy Reach Around,” prohibits other first basemen - from the Major Leagues down through Little League - from preforming a similar move.
Keith Hernandez is quoted as saying:
“Much like the Iron Lotus or the Triple Lindy, I always assumed the Reach Around was nothing more than a folk tale, made up by Jimmie Foxx during an all night bender in the 40’s. Now, the name Daniel Murphy will become synonymous with the Reach Around.”
Go Murph!
The previous post on Oh Murph, Mark DeRosa, True Met is just as funny. I hadn't realized DeRosa went hitless and then got hurt right after being acquired by the Cards. Wonder how we escaped our destiny on that one.
Nicely done, guys, keep it up.
Delgado cleared for baseball activities
"Carlos Delgado was cleared for baseball activities."
So now he can watch pop-ups fall to the ground, not step on third base ...
Oh, those are Mets activities, they said baseball activities. Never mind.
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