According to this published report from the Newark Star Ledger, the Mets have expressed interest not only in Mark Buehrle, but in Jose Contreras as well. The report also states that the Mets are more willing to give up a top prospect for Contreras than they are for Buehrle since Buehrle will only be a 1/2 year rental.
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OK, here's what I think about this. No, no, no, no, no!
Let me start off by saying I agree COMPLETELY with Omar and management's idea on not giving up a top prospect for a half-year rental in Mark Buehrle. To me, the price isn't worth it. Giving up Milledge, Gomez, Pelfrey or Humber for Buehrle, only to lose him after the season, would be desperate and pretty stupid. Remember what happened the last time Mets management got desperate? They traded away the top pitching prospect in baseball for Victor "I couldn't throw a strike if my life depended on it" Zambrano. So Buehrle for a top prospect is a no go.
Now onto Jose Contreras. The same Jose Contreras that has already proved that he couldn't pitch under the bright lights of the Big Apple. The same Contreras who is 5-8 with a 4.63 ERA, a 1.44 whip and a suspect birth certificate. He's probably older than El Duque. Sure he had a great season in 2005. But the guy is close to 40 years old. Why give up a young top prospect for an aging pitcher who has really only had 1 good year? If Omar did this he would lose some credibility with me I tell ya that.
The good thing is that it doesn't look like the Mets are going to stand pat while everyone around them gets better. Which is good. Just make sure that the deal makes sense Omar. That's all we Mets fans ask. Holla back.
You hear the term 'ace' all the time in baseball. Every teams needs one to be successful. Players know that when the ace pitches, they have a great chance is at winning. No matter how bad the team is, they believe they can win when their ace is pitching. It becomes even bigger in the playoffs. Look at how the Diamondbacks beat the Yankees in 2001 World Series. Schilling and Johnson both pitched 3 times in that series.
So one role for the ace is to give the team confidence when he is pitching. But a more important role for an ace is when he serves as a stopper. A stopper is someone who comes in and stops the bleeding. They breakup losing streaks or bad stretches of baseball and get the team back on track. They are those rare kind of pitchers that not only stop bad momentum, but they generate good momentum.
And that is what Tom Glavine did on Friday night. Coming off a game in which Oliver Perez failed to help deliver a series victory, Glavine pitched 8 innings, while only allowing 1 run. He was able to set a tone for the weekend. When I was watching the Saturday night game, I had confidence the Mets would find a way to win the game. Glavine helped start some positive momentum. You combine this with the good games by El Duque and Maine, Wrights walk off hit and Reyes play where he scored on his own bloop single (who else can turn a bloop single into an inside the park homerun). It was nice to see all the pitchers go deep into games and preserve the pen. Hopefully the bad baseball is behind us and we can enjoy a summer of great baseball.
The value of Jose "J-Hova" Reyes to the Mets CANNOT be understimated.
Let me paint the scene for you...
Top of the first. Jose Reyes at the plate. Mets need to sweep the A's in the worst way to regain the positive vibes and optimism that have them on top of the National League East.
So the pitch comes in. And boom, Hovito smacks a soft fly down the right field line.
Motoring all the whole way, you could see Jose's eyes light up like Times Square when Jack Cust began lumbering after the ball. The ball drops in. Jose was headed for second and nothing was going to stop him.
Hova rounds first, legs moving like a locomotive. Cust retrieves the ball and hurls it like a missile towards second. But there was no throwing out Reyes. As he slid, the ball sailed into left field. Once again, Reyes could smell blood.
He pounced from his slide like a tiger in pursuit of his prey. Jose's prey was home plate. And there would be no denying him of his feast.
He kept running, and running, and running, rounding third.
Would he make it? Could he possibly score on a soft fly into right field?
Of course he can. He's Jose Reyes. THE Most Electrifying Player in Major League Baseball. Can you smellllllllllllll... what Jose.... is... cooking....
And the sweep was on. Welcome back Mets, we missed ya these last few weeks.
For those of you who missed Paul Lo Duca's tirade during last night's game, this is how it went down:
Umpire Marvin Hudson: "Strike" Lo Duca: "That was a strike are you kidding me?" Hudson: "Shut up Paul and just swing the bat will ya" LD: "Wha Wha What!!! Oh hell to the naw! Ok ok I'll let that slide, but that was outside Blue and you know it"
(next pitch comes in...)
Hudson: "Strrrrrrike!"
(Lo Duca jumps out of the batter's box, does a spin, a moonwalk and a split, then pops up and heads toward the home plate umpire)
LD: "WTF!!! Are you f*cking blind or something? You must have eyes of a bat! How'd you call that strike, with your sonar? WTF!" Hudson: "Calm down Do Luca, before I toss you outta here!" LD: "Do Luca?, DO LUCA!? Who the hell are you Chris 'Mad Dog' Russo?" Nobody calls me Do Luca, nobody. You betta start calling the strike zone right before you be left sleeping with the fishes paisan!" Hudson: "Is that a threat? Huh little man, is that a threat? Say one more word and you're outta here" LD: "One more word" Hudson: "That's it, Do Luca, YOU'RE OUTTA HERE" LD: "What? well *&%$#$ you and *&%$#@ with a donkey and &^%$*#* a gerbil!! Don't be surprised when Tony Soprano pulls up in a car besides you and leaves you 6 feet under home plate you f*cking paisan! And STOP CALLING ME DO LUCA!!"
(In comes Willie Randolph to try and break it up)
Willie: "OK guys break it up, we have children in the first row they might hear you. Willie loves the kids." Hudson: "Get him out of here Willie or I'm sending you home with him" LD: "Yo Mama!" Willie: "Whoa Paul, calm down. Don't take it there. Marv, he never meant to say Yo Mama. He didn't mean it he's just a little sensitive. It's the whole Napolean complex thing.
(Willie looks at Lo Duca, then looks at Hudson and makes a face like something stinks)
Willie: Damn, both of y'all breath smell like similac. You want a Tic Tac? (In Rick James' voice) That was Colddddddd Bloodedddddd!!!"
(In comes crew chief Ed Montague)
Montague: "Hey Paul calm down will ya, you know if you argue balls and strikes you're gonna get tossed" LD: "No the only thing gettin' tossed around here is Hudson's ass when you go to his hotel room. Keep talking and I'll have you tossed in the East River Monty! Both of those pitches were balls and he knows it! Montague: "Now you listen to me Paulie, I don't take threats lightly. And furthermore, you're the one with the nickname 'Captain Red Ass' so tell me whose butt is the one getting tossed around here? Huh, tell me?" LD: "F#ck you Monty"
(Paul heads to the dugout)
LD: (whispering in David Wright's ear) "Yo did you like that? Was that a good performance. Oscar-worthy right?" Wright: "Nah dude you need more, that was a Triple A tirade, I know you can do better than that. This is the Bigs." LD: "Oh for real? Ok, what is Montague, is that Irish? What's the worst thing ever produced by an Irishman?" Wright: Ummm well if you ask me, it has to be that song "Jump Around" by the group House of Pain. That was god awful." LD: "True. Ok watch this."
(Lo Duca tosses his bat, helmet and catcher's equipment onto the field. He heads onto the field one last time and turns towards the crowd. He then proceeds to lead the crowd in his rendition of "Jump Around" by the group House of Pain)
LD: "Pack it up, pack it in... Let me begin... I came to win battle me that's a sin...
(David Wright and Jose Reyes are seen in the dugout jumping around. Jose, thinking it's the song "Jump" by Kris Kross, is wearinig his uniform backwards.)
LD:...I came to get down, I came to get down, So get out your seats and jump around! Jump around!"
(Lo Duca heads to the showers. Applause from the Shea crowd. One guy holds up a sign with the number "10" on it and another guy has made an Oscar award out of the aluminum hot dog wrappers. Omar Minaya is spotted in the A's dugout trying to make a mid-game trade for Joe Blanton involving Lastings Milledge and Paul Lo Duca. Mike Piazza will be a throw in.)
The End
Oh yeah, and the Mets win 1-0 on a soft line drive in the 9th by David Wright. All is good for the Metropolitans. Holla back.
Now that's more like it. Mets win last night 9-1, and for the most part, they have Glavine to thank. Not only did he pitch a gem, but he went 2 for 3 from the plate, including a 2-run single in the 6th that put the game well out of reach.
So kudos to Glavine and the rest of the squad. Homers by Beltran and Shawn Green. Ahhh back to normal. We hope. Here's the game recap. Holla back.
Reyes Lo Duca Beltran Wright Delgado Easley Green Gomez Glavine
I like it. Nice to see Lo Duca where he belongs, in the 2 hole. Good balance all the way through. Glavine needs to step up tonight, a win will do wonders for his psyche. DiNardo (A's starting pitcher) hasn't lasted more than 6 innings in a game since being moved into a starter's role so the Mets have no excuse not to get to him. Hopefully the turnaround begins tonight.
So anyway I was sitting home yesterday watching one of my favorite shows, Martin, starring Martin Lawrence. It just so happens that I have every show on DVD and occasionally break it out whenever I need a good laugh.
Anyway, in one of my favorite episodes, Martin can't find his new CD player so he goes on a witchhunt trying to figure out who stole it. He interrogates all of his friends and prances around the room with this fake dog of his. Then, come to find out, Bro'man from the 5th (4th, 3rd?) floor had it all along.
So what does this have to do with the Mets? Absolutely nothing. Although one could argue that a.) the Mets are just as comedic right now and b.) watching the Mets lose over and over again is like watching repeats of a '90s sitcom. After a while it gets old. As a matter of fact, the fake dog in that Martin clip showed more signs of life than this listless group. When will the madness stop?
So anyway the Mets lose 6-2 after taking a 2-1 lead early on in the game and then giving it right back. Torii Hunter is obviously looking to get paid big time, hitting the go ahead homerun off of Ollie P., continuing what has to be a career year for the impending free agent (can you say new Yankees center fielder?). The Twins never looked back after that.
This is the 6th straight series loss for the Mets and yet they still hold the lead in the N.L. East. So to say that they have been ridiculously lucky during this stretch is an understatement. To put this in context, NO TEAM has ever lost 6 consecutive series during the season and went on to win the World Series. So it's not looking good right now for the Mets to say the least.
Enough with the past, let's move on to the future. Up next, the Oakland A's. Let's go Mets. Game recap here. Holla back.
There is difference between getting a base hit and a timely base hit. Just like there is a difference between batting .275 and a batting a soft .275. Hitting a home run when you are up 10 to 1 means nothing. But hitting a home run when the game is tied in the bottom of the seventh inning changes a game. That has been A-Rod's big knock against him. He produces when it doesn't matter. But that home run he hit against Papelbon in the final game of the last Red Sox - Yankee series was huge for the team (I was actually at this game and had the best seats I have ever had). They have since gone on a tear. This is a perfect example of timely hitting.
Timely hitting is not an area the Mets have excelled in recently, which has contributed to their bad run. Not scoring a guy from third base with less than two outs is an example of untimely hitting. Last night was a little different. Ledee's RBI single in the 4th was with two outs. And LoDuca's RBI single that brought in two runs to give Maine some breathing room came with 2 outs and on an 0-2 count. Hopefully the Mets can turn the corner and get hits in big spots.
Yo Mets fans, remember back in 2000 when the Mets faced the Redbirds in the NLCS, and a young pitcher by the name of Rick Ankiel, who had been dominate all year basically, walked to the mound in Game 2 and promptly uncorked 5 incredibly wild pitches out of 20 and was yanked out of the game. Dude had a major case of Steve Blass disease, even worse than Knoblauch or Steve Sax. Remember that guy?
If not, here's a refresher:
Well it looks like that guy, Rick Ankiel, has somehow magically channelled the spirit of Babe Ruth and has turned into a pretty darned good hitter. Dude was converted into a center fielder and at Triple A right now for the Cardinals, he is hitting .286 with 19 homeruns, which leads the Pacific Coast League. That's crazy.
I say good luck to Ankiel, it was hard watching him struggle like that against the Mets back in 2000, I genuinely felt sorry for the guy.
(OK so what's the over/under that the first time he has a play at the plate, he throws the ball into the left field bleachers instead?).
