ugh

At what point does a fan completely give up on their favorite team because the organization making all the decisions is totally stupid?  I guess the answer is that a true fan doesn’t abandon a team for this reason, but the Mets organization is completely stretching the limits of what a sane fan should have to endure.

You would think that a baseball lifer such as current Mets GM Sandy Alderson would be able to make a few more quality personnel decisions than he has, but somehow GMs with much smaller budgets do a lot more quality work with their resources than he does.   Now, it is entirely possible that he is hamstrung in decision-making by the Wilpons, but still…this level of mediocrity should not be tolerated.  It has been years since the Mets have been serious contenders for NL East titles or playoffs, and it is time to find someone to blame for this.

Hope is not a strategy – as some speaking in political terms have been known to say.  We need a plan, an exit strategy from the mediocrity if you will.  If the Mets have scouts who are not even close to making accurate player evaluations, we need new ones.  The thing is, I don’t know who is responsible for this mess.  I just want it to be fixed.   Firing Terry Collins is not the answer.  I suspect the blame should be placed on whoever evaluates this underachieving roster.  So whoever that is, fire them and find someone else.  What’s Billy Beane doing these days?  Give him some money to play with and see what happens.

in which my mets are doomed before opening day

George Vescey in the NYT:

It is growing late. Too much cable money is being squandered. Jerry Manuel’s laughter has run out its novelty. He is probably set up to fail, waiting for the next era, whatever that will be. In theory, it’s always nice to have a new baseball season, but at Dante Alighieri Stadium, abandon hope.

Unfortunately, I think Vescey’s nailed it.  Even with all the cable money the Mets have, they aren’t doing anything intelligent with it. Somehow the obvious opportunities are missed by ownership and GM Omar Minaya.  There are players we could have signed, and deals we could have made.  Only one team can be the Yankees, but the Mets have the money to compete for players with all the other teams, and they don’t.  In addition to that,  the Mets coaching staff has just recently started telling their pitchers that they need to throw more strikes!  Why should they have to point this out??  How insane is that?

At what point do we determine that GM Omar Minaya has failed and that the Wilpons must replace him?  Who knows.

Hope everyone else enjoys Opening Day.   Me, I’ll just be praying for miraculous wisdom to suddenly fall on the front office, and for an overachieving pitching staff for my Mets this year.   More wins?  Let’s not get crazy.

isn’t that special

The geniuses employed by the New York Mets have decided to make throwing more strikes a priority of their pitching staff this spring training.  What a brilliant idea.  Too bad we didn’t think of this last year.

I love this line from MLB.com:

In the case of the 2010 Mets, the notion is that each pitcher will benefit from throwing more and higher-quality strikes.

You don’t say.  That probably would have worked for the 2008 and 2009 Mets too.  Yes, I admit that there have been considerable weaknesses in the Mets pitching staff for a few years now, and you can’t turn Oliver Perez into anything more than a 3rd or 4th starter, but there could be improvements made here.  The starting rotation couldn’t possibly get any worse than what we have had in the past, and there’s no way we could have as many pitching injuries as we have had the past 2 seasons.  Of course,  I say this every year,  but really and truly this COULD BE the year where bad things stop happening to my baseball team.  It’s February.   There is still time to hope and believe for better days before the upcoming baseball season begins. 🙂

Hope and change.  That’s what I want — not for my country, but for my beloved Mets.

random thoughts on the day

Daniel Murphy might be a good outfielder some day for the Mets, but my guess is that it won’t be any time soon.

I have zero confidence in the Mets’ starting rotation, with one notable exception.

ESPN baseball commentators try too hard to fill dead air by telling us useless information and heaping effusive praise on the home team — as they are doing tonight. Often this leads to fans of one team (such as my own) accusing the fellas of complete favoritism toward the opponent. This seems entirely justified, especially when your team is losing the game.

Earth Day won’t make a significant impact until we ban all the cars and all the humans.

happy opening day!

About time there was baseball on TV again.  Happy Opening Day to all my fellow baseball fans, and especially to Mets fans.

My beloved Mets kicked off the regular season against the Reds, beating the Reds 2-1, and it was all working for them on Monday.  Johan pitched well, we got a few hits, and the bullpen held the lead.  Good start.  Let’s keep it going.  Is it too early to worry about the Mets offense,  though?  In theory, yes.  Based on past history — it’s never too early to worry about that.

There will be no anti-Yankees posts (at least not this week), but give it time — they will eventually appear in this space.

Also,  the UNC Tar Heels continue to clock the Michigan State Spartans as of right now.   I think it’s safe for me to skip the second half.  Go Heels!

Great sports day all around.  Lots of baseball, and just enough college basketball.

Unrelated politics posts coming up…stay tuned.

go cubs

As a Mets fan, I am ashamed, appalled and embarrassed by the shaky performance of my baseball team down the stretch, and I am tired of watching their bullpen and their lack of timely hits choke away our chances at postseason play.  So I’m done with them for this year.  They may still surprise us all and hold off Milwaukee, but there’s no way this team goes anywhere in the playoffs.  Think first-round exit.  Anybody still watching this team knows that any optimism left is misplaced.

Once the postseason begins, I will be cheering for the Cubs.  The Mets haven’t proved they deserve my support, and it would be great for baseball if the Cubs won the World Series.  That’s all I have to say on that.

More on the bailout when Congress finally gets something in writing.

alive and breathing

Winners:

buckeyes.jpgnym.jpg

Ohio State wins 30-7 over Minnesota. The Mets FINALLY WIN A GAME, beating the Marlins 13-zip with a 14K, 7 2/3 no-hit ball performance from previously underwhelming John Maine. Hopefully Glavine can come up big in Sunday’s game.

Losers:

phillies.jpgmichigan.jpg

The Phillies FINALLY LOST one, falling to the Nats 4-2. Ok…you caught me…Michigan did win today, but they barely beat Northwestern, and they could still lose more games this year. Possibly even that last one. 🙂

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