Update

I'm going to hell for laughing at this. But this is too funny.

Trends

If you've watched the Mets all year, and especially in the last 3 games, you will have noticed some trends taking place.

#1. Winning series. This is a good trend. One with value and if one so choosed, one with a high monetary value in a place like Vegas. Look up Mets winning trends, see that their wins are shooting up the charts, place some money, BAM, you make money.

#2. Jose Reyes is a thief. He stole his 29th base tonight. This is also a good trend. Reyes gets on, he pilfers bases, Mets score runs, more runs means more wins. More wins means more revenue. (See above)

#3. Mets Futures Market is trending upward. Underdeveloped stock like Carlos Gomez, Joe Smith, John Maine, Oliver Perez, and Mike Pelfry have all seen plenty of action this year. The Mets future in these players is trending upward which means more wins, more etc., etc., etc.

#4. Mets present stock in outfield is disturbingly unstable. Moises Alou stumbled first with various geriatric ailments, Shawn Green fell next with a damaged foot, and tonight the disturbing trend continued with Carlos Beltran tweaking his knee in a collision at 1st base. 100% of the outfield market is now hurt. NOT A GOOD TREND. If your invested in this group, I advise you to call your analyst and buy stock in Endy Chavez, Carlos Gomez, and Ben Johnson while the price is low.

#5. Continued trend of allowing 2 runs in the 1st inning. Again, not a good trend. This obviously puts the Mets future 9 innings of winning baseball in doubt. Which means Carlos Beltran will try that much harder to bust it down to 1st base on a grounder (you reading this Barry Bonds?). Which means dangerous collisions with crappy Giant stockholders occur leaving future earnings in doubt.

Following these trends and this reliable source, still a good bet to buy stock in these Mets making a World Series run.

4-2 win tonight with the Braves off moves the Mets another .5 ahead. Start a 3 game set with Diamondbacks tomorrow.

This is what happens when you wind up as the Daily Douche Bag twice. Behold the power of the Douche!!

Mets Get Zito Runs

This represents the number of runs the Mets scored in a 3-donut loss to Barry Zito and the Giants. No shame in losing to Zito or the Giants. What's a shame is we hadn't been held to a cops favorite breakfast all year. Zito's hook was working well and the bats just never woke up as 3 pitchers not named Benitez held the Mets to just 6 hits. Mets had some chances getting the first 2 runners on in the 3rd but couldn't get the clutch hit to put them on the board. Braves win today moving back to within 4 games.

Not much to speculate about tonight, but Guillermo Mota was back after spending the last 50 games cycling down. He worked 2 solid innings, allowing 1 hit and striking out 2. Little conflicted on him being back, on one hand, he cheated; blatantly. On the other hand, if he performs well and takes away innings from Schoendick and Hell-man, so be it, The Lone Met Fan will find it in his heart to root for him while he's out there. What I won't do is root for this steroid abuser.

Rubber game tomorrow as the Mets try for their 8th series win out of the last 9.

This is a snapshot of me directly after seeing the Giants starting lineup before tonight's game. With names like Fransden, Feliz, Ortmeier, and Vizquel, and Barry Bonds on the bench with a lefty pitching, where the hell was the Giant offense going to come from? That evil grin quickly turned upside down when I also saw a Molina's name in the lineup. This one being Benji. Turns out, my Molina theory is dead on balls accurate. Randy Winn opens the game with a solo Molina, and then 2 batters later, Molina bombs the token Molina that Molina's always hit when they play the Mets. (Guess that answers where the offense was going to come from. Some tool named Ortmeier bombed a Molina too.) Perez allowed 3 solo shots in 7 innings. Working around a slider that wasn't sliding, throwing mostly fastballs, he still managed to strike out 8, and walk none. Not his best outing but what more can you ask from your pitcher when you just don't have your best stuff. Normally, Perez' off night stuff resulted in 7-8 runs, 7-8 walks, and a couple hit batsmen. Perez at least "Art Howe'd" his way to a 7th inning tie, then watched as Scott Schoenweis tried (once again, The Lone Met Fan is getting tired of repeating himself with this guy) tried to lose the game all by himself. After giving up a hit, and yet another walk, he gives the game to Heilman(!) with runners on 2nd and 3rd. Heilman made it out of the inning(!) and the game stretched to extra innings. Joe Smith gave up the lead in the 12th to make way for everyones favorite ex-Met, Armando Benitez. Turns out, Benitez was Benitez becoming the first person since this guy, to balk twice in an inning, tying the game at 4. As usual, Benitez became discombobulated, and grooved one to Delgado, who won the game in the 12th with his very own 420ft walk-off Molina. (The best type of Molina money can buy if you ask me) Braves lose again as well, so the Mets have a 5 game lead in the East.

Glavine and Almost Met Barry Zito in game 2 tomorrow.

Watched the Rockies spank the Cards today. Saw our old "friend" Kaz Matsui. Got me to thinking all the way back to 2004 when the Mets signed the "next big thing" from Japan. Looking back, let's take at look at the selling points of Mr. Matsui.

Selling Point A: Durability

Kaz played in a string of consecutive games in Japan. (I don't know how many in a row. I am too lazy to do the research.) But he brought comparisons of Cal Ripken's "Iron Man" durability to the states with him.

Return on Investment? NO. Matsui had a string of injuries starting with back spasms in August of 2004. He went on to hit the 15-day Rolen a number of times, including this year with the Rockies, again with back spasms.

Selling Point B: Defense

Matsui was billed as a solid defensive short stop in Japan. He was a 7 time all-star, and won the Japanese version of the "Gold Glove" a number of times.

Return on Investment? NO. In 2004, Matsui's first year, he committed a league leading (for shortstops) 23 errors, and another 1 at 2nd base where he started 3 other games.

In 2005, when not on the DL, again, he committed 9 errors in 64 starts at 2nd base, missing most of the year to nagging injuries.

Selling Point C: Speed

The next great leadoff man from Japan, in the same mold as Ichiro. Can steal bases, bunt for hits, and generate runs with his legs.

Return on Investment? NO. In his rookie year, Matsui stole 14 bases in 114 games. Putting him on pace, for a full 162 game season, of 20. 20? Turns out, 14 would be his career high to date as he stole all of 6 bases in 87 games, for a pace of just under 16 for a full year.

Selling Point D: Offense

A .300+ hitter in Japan, it is widely known that, unless your Ichiro, it rarely translates to hitting .300 against MLB pitching. .280-.290 was expected with about 35-42 doubles and 10+ triples.

Return on Investment? NO. Again, back to 2004, his best year, his offensive numbers weren't horrible. .272 avg. 32 doubles (114 games, not bad) and 2 triples. 7 homers (including his famous first at-bat of his career against John Smoltz of the Braves) and 44 RBI. Taken out over a full season, it's not that bad.

After 2.5 unproductive, injury riddled, error filled, years, and being booed with the gusto usually reserved for the Roger Cedeno's and Bobby Bonilla's of the world, the Mets pulled the plug in '06 and traded him and $4 million to the Rockies for backup to the backup catcher, Eli Morerro, ending an expensive experiment.

Looking back, it's hard to be mad at how things worked out. The Matsui era brought an end to the almost unbearable Art "We Battled Out There" Howe era. Also ending was Jim Duquette's reign as GM and brought forth the Omar Minaya and Willie Randolph era. Pretty decent trade off if you ask the Lone Met Fan.

How Sweep It Is

Got to love sweeps when they happen. Especially when they happen right after a horrible Braves series, who, by the way, got the broom treatment themselves from the Phils. Whore-Hey So-Sosa can now go back to being known as Jorge Sosa after a solid performance getting the W in a 6-4 Mets win.

Disturbing number of men left on base today. Twice today the Mets left the bases loaded with no runs being scored. Gotta have someone coming up clutch soon or this will catch up with them.

Open note to Willie Randolph:

Dear Willie,

Dude, are you trying to make The Lone Met Fan die of intestinal gastroitis and a bleeding ulcer? That's what is going to happen soon if you do not remove Heilman from 8th inning duty. I know your a loyal guy. How else to explain all the Steve "Human Rain Delay" Trachsel starts? But this is no longer a case of "1 bad outing". This is now a pattern. A habit if you will. Joe Smith has shown he's capable of getting major league hitters out, so please, please, if you value your fan base and their lives, remove or even TRADE Heilman. He's scaring the women and children. Listen, watch him in the bullpen sulking, check and see if he's serenading the Duncan Donuts sign with a version of Color Me Badd's "Mi Amore" while whittling voodoo dolls out of cornbread and then make the trade to the first GM that offers anything more than a box of toothpicks. It's time. Time for him to go and get help and new surroundings, and time for the women and children (and the Lone Met Fan) to feel safe again.
Thank you.

Maine Attraction

John Maine locked down Marlin batters for 6 innings Saturday night, a 7-2 Met victory, allowing 4 hits and 2 runs and striking out 8. His control was still a bit off, walking 4, but his pitches looked more lively than they had in his past 3 outings. Still a solid performance as the Mets take yet another series from a team (hell, ANY team) not named the Braves.

Speaking of the Braves, our new best friends, the Phillies knocked them around again putting us ahead by 3.5 games.

Pretty satisfying moment in the 5th when Miguel Cabrera launched one, threw his bat aside, and stood there and watched what amounted to be a 440 ft. blast go foul. To put icing on the cake, baseball's biggest baby struck out on the next pitch.

Superstition prevents me from mentioning anything about this headline.

Whore-Hey Sosa on the mound tomorrow as the Mets go for the sweep.

ER

Green out. 2/3's of starting outfield out for a while. Endy and another Carlos will get more playing time. This may not be a bad thing. Avg. age of injured outfielder's: 58. Avg. age of replacements: 24. Alou is due back Tuesday, but the more I see of the newest Carlos, the more I'd like to see him get some extended playing time.

"El" of a Return

Glad to have El Duque back in business. After a stint on the 15-day Carpenter, The Duke came back strong, slinging 6 innings of 2 hit, 0 run ball. He threw 88 pitches, 57 for strikes. Special thanks to the Phillies who did what we can't seem to do, and that's beat the braves. Well, if we had someone other than these guys calling games, maybe we could win a few.

Mets offense still in a bit of a funk. They scored their first run of the game on a douche bag play by the Daily Douche Bag winner. The bats came alive in the 9th with 5 runs, but Sergio Mitre did a nice job of keeping the lineup off balance all night.

Still waiting for Willie Randolph to promote Joe Smith to 8th inning hold duty. I hate to keep bagging on the guy, but Hell--dammit--Heilman is killing us. I realize he didn't cause Beltran to fall down in center field, but he did walk the batter, and he couldn't pitch down in the zone low enough to induce a ground ball, letting a sac fly tie the game in the 8th. By the way, if YouTube ever gets around to posting that slider that Joe Smith threw in the 7th, I will have it linked here. That was one of the nastiest moving pitches I have ever seen. I could throw like that with RBI Baseball 95 on Nintendo.

Petey was back in the dugout tonight. Looks like an August return for him. Will be good to have him back. Bet it was fun in the dugout with him back for tonights game too.

Looks like Jason Vargas will be back in AAA with El Duque coming back. When can we get Schoenweis on that train out of town??

Ollie-Right!! That's More Like It!!

Oliver Perez OWNS the braves. He moved to 3-0 this year against them, including 2 wins at Turner Field. Overall he's sitting at 6-3, tied for the NL lead in wins. While it wasn't as dominant as some of his earlier performances, his bottom line looked good. 7 innings of shut out ball, 4 hits, 2 walks, and 2 hit batters. A little wild at times, but nothing of the 7 walk-wild from earlier this year. David Wright continues to rake the ball, hitting his 4th homer in 4 games. Was nice to see Joe Smith take the mound for the 8th instead of Hellman, er, Heilman. Country Time pitched the 9th for his 11th save on the year. Mets move back to 2.5 games in front and really need a win tomorrow and get a little breathing room.

Observations/Thoughts:

Is there a call that Booby Cox doesn't argue about? No pitch is ever a strike on his batters, and his pitchers throw no pitches out of the strike zone. I'm all for working the umps, but he's acting like a 16 year old rich girl who got the keys to her new BMW taken away. i guess if I only had 1 World Series ring out of 14 playoff appearances in a row, I'd be cranky too.

In an earlier post, I bitch-slapped Sir Joe Morgan and his Yankee fetish. Being the fair guy I am, I need to bring light to an extremely valid point he did make in Sunday's broadcast. While watching Delgado get pitched inside time after time, he mentioned how his swing looked to him, like Delgado's wrist is still bothering him after off-season surgery. If this is truly what is causing him to slump, should Met brass bite the bullet and put him on the 15-Day Edmonds? (15-Day Rolen would have worked too.) I'm not all that giddy about watching Julio Franco and his arthritic body man 1st base for 15 days, but if it gets us a happier, healthier Delgado, I can make do for 2 weeks of whiffing on 68 MPH changeups. It won't be much different production-wise than what we are getting right now.

Rubber game tomorrow. Glavine and smoltz face off for the 3rd time allready this year.

One last thing. I hate to admit it, but I find this hilarious.

I Have No Words

Timmy thinks the Mets suck. And so do I right now.

Closet Yankee Fans

Ah, Joe Morgan. One of the top baseball players of all time. Just ask him. He will tell you. Also one of the best announcers of all time. Ask him that too, and again, he will graciously tell you the same thing. Now, ask him if he is a Yankee fan. I have $100 that says he will say "No, I'm a baseball fan." or something toolish of that nature. If I were to ask him that question, and get THAT response, my response to him would be, "You F*#&#^$ Liar!!!" Anyone that watched the ESPN broadcast of the Mets and Yanks last night would probably agree with me. With 7 year old Tyler Clippard pitching well enough to win last night, you would have thought that Roger Clemens clone was on the mound. (Good news for Yankee fans, Julian Tavarez now has competition as the ugliest man in baseball. That Clippard chap is brutal.) Yes, Clippard got the win. Yes, Clippard held the Mets offense to 1 run. But it's not like he spun a gem out there. He pitched in and out of trouble all night, and kudos to him for coming through and getting the big out, but (Mark this down) I've got another $100 that says he gets BOMBED in his next outing. He doesn't have impressive stuff. Well, his curveball is a B+, but outside of that, he has no movement on any of his pitches. I know Yankee fans will say this is sour grapes, but the Mets got themselves out more than he got them out. Now, back to Sir Joe. (I doubt he's been officially sired, but can't you just see him on his knees in his kitchen, with a butcher knife, knighting himself..) According to the orgasm Joe had on TV last night, the Yankees are the favorite to win it all this year. Nevermind the fact they are 10 games out of first. Nevermind that the Red Sox are the best team in baseball. Nevermind the fact that with another ass kicking by the Sox this week, they will be looking UP at the Devil Rays. The Yanks are the team to beat. Just to remind Joe, and the Yankee fans, the Mets DID win 2 of 3 from them. That fact got lost in last night's broadcast. As did the fact that the Mets went 7-3 on their homestand. And the fact that the Mets gained another game on the braves in the process. Here is what I ask. From now on, I would like ESPN to have their anchors just wear Yankee hats on TV. Lead every SportsCenter with Yankee highlights. In fact, why even bother with the rest of the league. Just call it ESPNY. The 24 hour Yankee sports channel. All Yanks all the time.

Observations:

Good pitching again from Ollie. Who knew he would be our best pitcher this point in the season?
Good pitching from Glavine. He's not gonna wow anyone anymore, but you know what your gonna get when he pitches. 6+ innings, 3 runs, hope the bullpen doesn't go nuclear with his lead.

What in the hell is Scott Shoenwies still doing on this team? Are the Mets brass waiting for him to reach 8+ with his ERA? Time to cut ties with him and admit letting Darren Oliver go was a mistake.

When is Shawn Green's court date? He needs to man up and address the restraining order the baseballs have on him. Why else would he never be within 100ft of a fly ball?

Would have been nice to bring out the brooms for this, but we win another series. braves up next and we badly need to get 2 of 3 from them and re-establish our dominance in the East.

NO SWEEP FOR YOU!!!

And I Thought It Was Hard Being a Mets Fan

Man. Fun, frustrating, exciting, depressing, scary ass 4 game series with the Cubbies. Game 1 saw Glavine not having his best outing, but keeping the Mets close enough to expose one of the Cubs many weaknesses: Their bullpen. The 'pen tried to make a 4-0 lead hold up and couldn't making for one of the most exciting plays in all of baseball!!!! The walk-off walk. And before you ask, NO, it's not as sexy as a walk-off Molina, but it counts. Delgado had a great at bat to end that game, fouling off tough pitches and finally getting to ball 4 to win the game. Can't really fault Lou Peniella for walking Beltran to get to a season long slumping Delgado, but he wound up looking like a tool for it anyway.

Game 2 was not as much fun. John Maine was not the "Maine Man" that he was to start the season, walking the ballpark again. But, as Glavine did in Game 1, he kept the Mets in it long enough to get to the Cubs 'pen. Well, that would have made a great story had Scott Schoenweiss not walked the bases loaded and then finally threw a strike that Aramis Ramirez launched towards an airplane flying over the stadium for a grand slam and a 10-1 Cub victory.

Game 3 saw Jorge Sosa once again dominate. 7+ innings of 1 hit ball and in typical bounce back fashion, the Mets took the previous game on the chin, and came out and delivered a haymaker of their own, winning 9-1. That's twice in the last 2 series that the Mets got spanked in one game and have come right out the next game and given it right back. 12-3 loss to the Brewers, next day, 10-1 win. 10-1 loss to the Cubs, next game, 9-1 win. Gotta love this teams resolve.

Game 4 today. Saw the lineup and man I was pissed!! I realize that they played a late rain-delayed game last night that ended less than 12 hours before today's game was to start. I don't know what kind of business or job everyone else has, but I have worked plenty of night's till midnight or later, and have gotten up and gone to work at 7a.m. the next morning. My bosses could give a damn about how late I was up the night before. They wanted results dammit!!! There was no bench player to come to work for me when I was a little tired. Anyway, the only everyday players to start were Shawn Green and Carlos Delgado. Jason Vargas was brought up from AAA to start on the hill. (Yes, Jason Vargas of the AAA ERA of 5.85) What really ticked me off about it was this; We are in a very tight race with the braves, where one game at the end of the season may and probably will make a huge difference. It just felt to me like (with the exception of Jose Reyes and his tight hammy, and Paul LoDucca who is a catcher and needs the rest) we were "giving this game away." Well, I'm sorry, but a 2/2 split with the Cubs is not a successful series. This is a bad team we should sweep or very easily take 3/4 from. Anyway, the game went about as expected, Vargas giving up two 2-run bombs and leaving trailing 5-1. The offense was inept most of the game, and for all the world, going into the bottome of the 9th, this game was over. Well, I forgot 1 thing while pouting during the game. THE CUBS BULLPEN IS LOOSER THAN (Brittany Spears' lawyers have edited this comment.) After a single by David Newhan (this dude is lucky to be on a big league team, why he is on a contender's bench right now is beyond me....) Ramon Castro lined out hard to right field. At this point I have no doubt we are winning the game. Ok, that last sentence was a lie, I fully expected Carlos Gomez to ground into a game ending double play. What can I say?? I've seen enough of these games to know what to expect....Well, for the 2nd time in my life I was wrong as Gomez singled to center field to move Newhan to 3rd. Carlos Beltran came off the bench to pinch-hit for the pitchers spot. Gomez "stole" 2nd on fielder's indifference and Beltran worked a walk to load the bases. Lou Piniella came out and and gave new meaning to Big League Chew when he snacked on Dempster's back-end for a good 3 minutes. He was still talking to himself walking off the field, high comedy right there. Anyway, after a colon cleansing from the boss, Dempster WALKED Endy Chavez making it a 5-2 game. Lou left Dempster in long enough to face Ruben Gotay (Was REALLY 2nd guessing Willie not sending up Reyes for this at bat). Once again Willie Randolph showed why he belongs in a dugout and I belong doing this goofy blog on my computer as Gotay singled in a run to make it a 5-3 game. At this point I know there was a pitching change, because Scott Eyre came into to the game, but I never saw Dempster leave. I'm not sure that Lou Piniella didn't shoot him from the dugout with a high-caliber rifle during commercial. Anyway, he brings in a lefty to face Shawn Green. Kind of a dumb move by Lou knowing Willie had David Wright still on the bench. Willie sends Wright out in place of Green and Willie's golden touch continued as Wright singled home another run to make it 5-4. So, bases still loaded, only 1 out and up comes a double play waiting to happen in Delgado. I'd love to tell you that by now, my confidence was soaring, that I KNEW Delgado would come through, but that would be another lie. In fact when Delgado hit the grounder towards second, I very clearly yelled "M (Bloggers Mother has edited this line.)!! because I thought he grounded into a double play. It took a minute to sink in that the BALL GOT THROUGH FOR A HIT!!! 2 RUNS SCORE!!! METS WIN!! METS WIN!!

I knew it would happen all along..

It's Ollie Good

Awsome bounce back win for the Mets today. After getting spanked handily 12-3 in Saturday's game, the boys came out hot against 5-0 Capuano, striking for 3 runs in the first inning. Turns out, the Mets would pour it on later, but the 3 run 1st inning cushion was all that Oliver Perez would need in a game that wound up 9-1. Perez didn't have any of the control issues that plagued him earlier in the year. He wound up going 8 1/3 with 2 hits allowed, 1 walk, 6 k's, and the cheap homerun he gave up to Bill Hall. Speaking of Hall, I don't know that I've ever been as tired of hearing about someone as I was him today. All that talk about him from last year's Mothers Day was enough to make me wish for a Roger Clemens story.

David Wright had 2 more hits today and stole 3 bases. He may now be officially out of his slump. In other good news, Mike Pelfrey was mercifully sent back to New Orleans last night. I think he will eventually be a big contributor to the team, but he just was not ready to handle big league hitters yet. Better to get him some confidence built up in AAA.

With his departure, the Mets brought aboard another Carlos. I have read quite a few stories about Carlos Gomez, and his potential, but had never seen him play. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw today's line-up and his name was in it. It's looking like he will have at least a 15 day stay with Alou hitting the DL for menopause, or arthritis, or whatever old age ailment seems to be troubling him this week. I love Alou and the way he approaches the game, but this guy is hanging on by a few strands of what's left of the ductape they patched him up with 6 years ago in Florida.....

As for Alou's replacement, Gomez could not have asked for a better big league debut. He doubled in his first at bat, singled later in the game, made a diving catch in the outfield, and stole a base. Something tells me that Lastings Milledge is now trade bait for a pitcher come trading deadline day.

Jose Reyes stole his 21st base and hit his 7th(!) triple as well today. About the only bad spot was 48 year old Julio Franco who struck out three times with men on base. (I never heard the announcers say what pitch it was, but I'm fairly certain he whiffed on a CHANGEUP because he couldn't get the bat around fast enough......).

Sosa Far, Sosa Good

Great game tonite. Looked like two heavyweight fighters going at it. The Mets struck first and hard in the 4th inning sending 9 guys to the plate. Wright homered again, Beltran beat out a bang, bang play at first and Delgado hit another one out to the opposite field. Follow that with Alou belting a 410 ft. double, Lo Ducca singles him in and it's 4-0 Mets. Milwaukee struck back with a jab in the top of the 5th with Geoff Jenkins bomb. The next strike also came from the Brewers when Prince Fielder hit a 260 mph line drive over the wall nearly knocking over the score board, making it 4-2 Mets. Sosa ran into trouble in the 6th again so with 2 on and 2 out, Feliciano came in and got a huge out.

The Mets punch back hard in the 7th with "Mr. Clutch" Damion Easley's bomb to make it 5-2. On to the 8th inning and Aaron Heilman. By the way, is it just me, or does Heilman always look like a 300lb bully punched him in his jugular and took his lunch money? Anyway, in comes Heilman, and after a tough to handle comebacker (sarcasm) he gives up a 2 run uppercut bomb to make it a one run game. He escaped the inning with no more damage and handed the game over to Billy Wagner who got the Brewers to go 1-2-3 in the 9th to seal the win.

Observations

The Brewers are for real. Anyone thinking that it's just because they play in the weak Central are just fooling themselves. They have enough young talent in J.J. Hardy, Billy Young and Prince Fielder to score on anyone. Their pitching staff is outstanding as well. As long as Ben Sheets stays healthy, no one will want to play them in a 5 game series come playoff time. Mark it down, the Brewers aren't going anywhere.

This was a good test for the Mets. After going 2-4 against better competition in the braves, they needed this win to establish themselves as contenders and not pretenders getting fat on weaker teams. Will feel alot better if we can pull 2/3 from this team. May take some of the sting away from the losing both early season series' to the braves.

I'm not going to get too excited about Delgado's homerun (it was nice to see him go the other way with the pitch instead of trying to pull it) because every time I think he's coming out of it, he hits another 1-25 skid.

So, round 1 goes to the Mets. Round 2 sets up to be just as much fun.

The More Things Change.....

Nice to see Benitez blowing games for someone other than the Mets. Now, I pick on Benitez, probably unfairly so because his save % for the Mets was 88, but he always seemed to blow the BIG games. Atlanta numerous times and 2 against the Yankees in the World Series come directly to mind. But he was in a big spot again today with the chance of getting 2 out of 3 games for the Giants and couldn't hold the lead. Delgado splashed one down and I hope this will get him out of his brutal funk he's in. Wright with a clutch double in the 9th as well for one of his 2 hits. Jose Reyes was Jose Reyes and John Maine pitched out of trouble all game. (6 walks?!?!?) All in all another series win for the good guys. Fun matchup coming up Friday with the Brewers. Excuse me, the Best Record In Baseball Brewers. (By the way, I googled that exact phrase, and all I got was a WTF?? error message.)

On another fun note, almost the entire Mets team Brittney Spears'd their hair before last nights game. Glavine was not in on it, but you don't mess with a veteran pitcher on his day to pitch. Pretty loose team if you ask me, get spanked in game 1 handily, and the next day, everyone shaves their head. Whatever works. As long as it doesn't mean the entire team will be in and out of rehab and smashing cars with umbrella's, I'm all for it.

**RIP Grammy**

Glad I went to bed

Sho' is glad I decided to go to bed right after Reyes' doubled home a run in the 4th. Damion Easly and Shawn Green decided to play defense like my sister; shut your eyes, and pray the ball doesn't hit you in the face. Oliver Perez was outstanding for the first 4 innings, but completely lost his concentration after the errors. The errors WERE bad, but he has got to toughen up out there a little. Only 3 of the 8 runs were earned, and he only walked 1. If your gonna get smoked, at least have some positives come out of it eh?

I sincerely hope the Lino Urduletta (sp?) experiment is over. Yes, yes, it's WONDERFUL how his ERA is not infinity anymore, but 65.00 doesn't sound too much better to me.

We seriously need a "Molina" cap in Major League Baseball. Bengie, one of 48 Molina brothers playing baseball went deep twice in the same inning last night. After Yadier Molina's HR off of Heilman in last year's NLDS game 7, I had seen enough of the family. C'mon Bud Selig, whadda ya say we make a rule that no more than 2 Molina's can be on a big league roster at any given time? Pretty soon, every team but the Mets will have a Molina playing catcher for them and we've now seen that getting a Molina on your roster means your good for at least one devastating bomb off Met pitching per outing. Hell, we may even rename the homerun after them. The next time Heilman or "Pepto" Burgos gives up a dinger, I can call my dad and say, "Yeah, we were up 3-2 but Heilman came in a gave up a 3 run Molina".

Hopefully the Mets shake last night off and get going against impressive youngster Matt Cain. Glavine still looking for win #4 and #294 overall.

Quickie

I will have my thoughts on tonights Mets/Giants game tomorrow. (0-0 4th inning right now.)
In the mean time, look to the right of the screen, under my profile, for my new Daily Douche Bag winner.

Also, check this out. Looks like I'm not the only one that thinks Clemens is a, well, Douche Bag, for his ridiculous demands.

Final Thoughts

Some final thoughts while wondering why Roger Clemens and Andy Pettite don't just come out of the closet.....

I forgot to mention how ridiculous it is that Livan Hernandez held the Met's to 1 run. I realize that Beltran, Lo Ducca, and Alou all rode the bench in this one but c'mon guys. You can't tell me that Livan's stuff was so electric that even the Met's "B" team couldn't muster more than 1 run.

On a separate note, I removed the nail from my head so all is well and I should have more to post tomorrow.

Owned

Even with the loss today, the Mets take 3 of 4 from the D'backs this weekend. Pelfrey got another start and was just so so. He may get one more chance at sticking around but Rick "The Magician" Peterson has to get Pelfrey's head right. If he struggles in another start, look for Jorge "Don't Call Me Sammy" Sosa to take his place while Pelfrey works his troubles out in New Orleans.

Notes from the D'backs series

GOOD:

John Maine. Another dominant performance. Improved to 5-0 this year and his ERA is smaller than Roger Clemens' steroid reduced nut-sac. (More on him in a moment.)

Shawn Green. I was VERY down on him to start the year even before he hit .088 in spring. But, so far, I have been wrr....wrr.....wrong. (excuse me for a minute as I jab toothpicks in my eyes...). He has come up with clutch hit after clutch hit. His 40+ homer a year power is gone, but he looks like he's on his way to being a John Olerud type hitter. Nothing wrong with .320/18/84 with 38-45 doubles.

Julio Franco's HR off of Randy Johnson. I know Randy isn't the pitcher he was 5 years ago, but he still throws 92-95 mph. Even though Franco started his swing late Thursday night, he still got around on Johnson's pitch to put in the swimming pool in right center on Friday night.

The rally against Valverde was awsome. Let me put this to the Valverde's, C. C. Sabathia's, and Dontrelle Willis' of the world. If you wear your hat crooked because your "special", (and by "special" I mean, someone has to cut your meat for you "special") then my apologies. But if you are wearing your hat crooked because you thinks it looks cool, IT'S NOT!!! OK??? IT LOOKS ABSOLUTELY $*#&$)@ RIDICULOUS AND YOU DESERVE TO GET BOMBED!!! FIX YOUR $*%$(#% HAT YOU IDIOTS!!!! Don't get me started on the jack-asses that won't bend the bill of their hat........(Cordero, I'm talking to you!)

The BAD

After a small warm up, David Wright is back in the .240's with his batting avg. and is now popping everything up. I'm officially concerned.

**Note to Omar Minaya** Please stop having Wright go to every ribbon cutting, baby kissing, hand-shaking, autograph signing, Wal-Mart Super Center opening on the face of the planet. Please. Let the young man get some rest. Get his head right, recharge his batteries, and think about baseball for awhile. The babie's will be kissed by SOMEONE, the ribbons will still be cut (think AROD for this job) and Wal-Mart's will still open thier stupid Super Centers without him. (Trust me on the Wal-Mart one.)

Mike Pelfrey. Ron Darling said it best tonight during today's telecast. "He looks like a deer caught in headlights out there." He completely loses his mind when runner's get on base. How are opposing teams not sending their leadoff man up there without every intention of diving in front of every pitch he throws up there, just to get a man on base? His eyes cross, pee's his pants (not a word about this Marty, you hear??), and starts slobbering before the guy he walked even gets to first base.

Ok. I normally wait for the season to end before handing out any awards. Wait, that's not truthful. I've never once handed out any awards to any player for anything. Until today that is. May I introduce to you, the 1st ever "The Lone Met Fan Presents.." award. Now this award is special. It takes an even more special person to recieve this award, let alone be nominated. Enough of the buildup, let's get on with it.

*************************The "I wouldn't Piss on Him if He Was on Fire Award*************

The winner is..................

ROGER "MOTHER-$&@#&#!" CLEMENS!!!

Seriously, is there a bigger jack-off than this guy? He retires at the end of every year, tells everyone he's done, has GOING AWAY PARTY'S for Pete's sake, and hold's 3 to 4 teams hostage with his decision every fall/spring until he decides he's taken enough steroids, HGH, greenies, andro, and God knows whatever other "herbal tea" to make sure when he throws a pitch, his hamstrings don't snap like a James Hetfield guitar string. I find it hard to believe that anyone outside of NY Skanky fans could give a flying shit what this dude does. And then, there he was today, at the ballpark for the Mariner's/Yankees game, taking over the mic in the 7th(?) inning and announcing that he is once again a "Skankee" to the tune of about 5.5 million per week. Does anyone but Andy Pettite really even like this guy? Boston fans hate him, Houston fans hate him, Met fans DESPISE him, hell, even Skankee fans hated him for awhile. What pisses me off even more, is that I've spent the last 10 minutes typing about him!!! Here's to you Roger. Enjoy your award, put it in the shelf with all your ill-gotten Cy Young's. This dude is a cheater of Barry Bond's proportions. Where are the federal investigators knocking on his door? Where are the books being written about him? (Excuse me again as I bash my head into the nail sticking out of the wall.....)