Beltran The Leader... Who Knew?

Mets fans have been knocking Carlos Beltran's leadership abilities (or lack thereof) ever since he first arrived at Shea 3 years ago. Soft, unemotional, lazy... fairly or unfairly, these are adjectives that are frequently thrown around when discussing Beltran. And who can ever forget Carlos frozen at the plate like a stale TV dinner after a nasty hook from Adam Wainwright sent the underdog Cards to the World Series over the favored Mets? That's not what you want to see from a leader.

What you do want to see, however, is this:

Beltran's biggest assist might have happened before the 6-0 Mets' win in Tuesday's series opener. Beltran noticed a moping, more quiet Reyes. And that, to Beltran, needed to be fixed.

"I had a conversation with Reyes. I said, 'Don't change.' When he's doing that, jumping around, we like it. We're happy," Beltran said at his locker last night. "He's a fun guy."

Maybe it wasn't a coincidence that after Reyes celebrated his homer to start the fifth, Beltran followed with a three-run shot to left off losing pitcher Matt Chico (0-3). Beltran knocked in Ryan Church and David Wright, who hit consecutive singles after the Reyes blast. Beltran finished 1-for-3 with a walk and three RBI. As soon as Beltran's drive cleared the left field fence, Reyes was sprinting across the dugout to be the first to meet Beltran at the railing.

"Carlos Beltran, he's the guy, kind of quiet in the dugout," Reyes said. "He needs that, he needs the thing I do in the dugout. That's why he come to me and talk to me." Asked if he would help Beltran learn how to be more of an extrovert, Reyes smiled.

"He's not going to jump at all. He's not like that," said Reyes.

There are two things that stand out about this exchange. One is that Beltran, a noted intravert, took it upon himself to tell Reyes to loosen up and be true to himself. Beltran recognizes that when Jose "The Most Electrifying Player In Baseball" Reyes is doing his thing, it lifts up the entire club. Jose is the $3.43 per gallon unleaded gasolina for the carro better known as Los Mets. As long as the tank stays closer to full than empty the Mets will be fine. Don't believe me? Since Beltran's pep talk, Reyes has been absolutely insane at the plate.

The second thing that stands out is a noticable change in Carlos Beltran himself. I don't know what happened over the summer, but Bel-Train has come into the season looking to be more vocal and looking to take some responsibility on his $18,622,809 shoulders. The most obvious example of this is his channeling of Jimmy Rollins and proclaiming that the Mets are the team to beat this year. This is simply something the old Carlos would not have said and if you ask me, it's a welcomed sign that Beltran is focused this year and that last year really really bothered the guy... which is good since Beltran's demeanor would sometimes make it seem as if he didn't care.

I know, I know... hitting .241 with only 7 RBI isn't anything to write home about. But right now, I'm not worried about the stats with Beltran. I like his attitude and approach to the season. Now if he could just change his approach at the plate...

Holla back.

Ace High

I'm not a big fan of Jason Stark. Especially after his nonsensical defense of Roger Clemens. What a sellout.

But I must admit, in his latest column he makes a great point in regards to the Mets and Johan Santana. Simply put, Santana takes a team that won 185 games the last 2 years to an EVEN HIGHER level:

As you watched Johan Santana overmatch the Phillies on Friday in his first visit to Philadelphia as a Met, it was hard to resist asking this question:

What if he'd been a Met last year?

Suppose the Mets could have sent Santana out there to save the season on the last Sunday of regular play. Or to prevent one of those seven straight losses to the Phillies down the stretch.

How different could things have been?

Unfortunately, Jason, we were stuck with another lefty named Tom "I still love Atlanta" Glavine. And we see what happened.

He continues by stating:

How much of a difference might Santana make this season in the life of the NL East? Well, it's still about five months too soon to answer that one. But Santana gave quite the spectacular sneak preview Friday in the 6-4 Mets victory. The score -- and his final pitching line -- bore no relationship to how dominating he actually was. For seven innings, Santana carved up the Phillies, dialing up a 10-strikeout, zero-walk two-hitter that was ridiculously efficient.

No Philly hitter went to the plate with a runner in scoring position. The only three-ball count was against the first hitter of the game. And among the 24 hitters who arrived at home plate and the 96 pitches they saw whooshing their way, it was hard to count more than five good swings.

Exactly. Every 5th day the Mets will send someone to the mound who can win the game all by himself. A true stopper.

And that's all this team needs. There will be no epic collapses as long as Santana is in the rotation. He neutralizes the lefty-heavy Phillies lineup. He stops the Braves in there tracks. That's all the team needs. A true ace.

How stupid do those Mets fans that booed him look now. Idiots. Holla back.

Tragic...

From ESPN.com:

A fan died at Shea Stadium on Tuesday night when he plunged from the railing of an escalator, the New York Post reported for Wednesday's editions.

Antonio Narainasami, 36, of Brooklyn was sliding down the railing when he lost his balance and fell two stories to the concrete on the loge level, sources told the Post. His two daughters were with him at the time of the accident.

Narainasami was taken to New York Hospital Queens, where he was pronounced dead.

"We have been advised of a tragic accident that resulted in the death of a fan attending tonight's game," said a statement from the Mets, according to the Post. "The Mets, the City Parks Department and the New York Police Department are investigating the incident. Our deepest and heartfelt condolences go out to the fan's family."

The accident reportedly happened at 10 p.m., after the Mets beat the Nationals.

A cousin, Vinnie Narainasami, told the newspaper that Antonio Narainasami was a huge Mets fan.

"Even his kids were into them -- they all went to see the game," he said, according to the newspaper. "He was really excited. It's his favorite team, basically."

Just sad.

Big Mike

Great game for the Mets. I think we are in for a roller coaster of a year. Today we saw a lot of good. The return of Jose Reyes (in terms of being a spark plug) , the flashes from Wright's ability to carry a team, the return from Sanchez for the first time in 21 months, and the encouraging start from Big Mike Pelfrey.

He had possibly his best game to date. Granted it was against one of the weakest teams in baseball, but lets hope that this will be a sign of things to come. He looked like he was much more relaxed and seemed to trust his stuff. He has the goods to be in the mold of a Roy Halladay, Brandon Webb or even Chien-Ming Wang, which is the type of pitcher that gets outs by generating weak contact from batters. He will never be a big strikeout pitcher. But he can definitely be the kind the pitcher that pounds the strikezone and creates groundball contact. Lets hope he continues his growth this year, especially with the news that Pedro may be out until mid-June. You can navigate the season with one weak 5th starter, but you can't with two. Big Mike may hold the key to a successful season.

Jackie Robinson Day

On this day 61 years ago, Jackie Robinson stepped on the field and forever changed to face of baseball and the face of a nation. It took a lot of courage on the part of Branch Rickey, the Dodgers and Jackie Robinson to defy the collective conscious of the country and bring to a crashing fall the color barrier that divided a sport and a country.

Click here for coverage of Jackie Robinson Day.

Jackie Robinson became a symbol of all that was right and wrong with America at that time in history. He gave black people like my uncle and grandfather a reason to cheer for a team and a renewed hope that things would change. It is no coincidence that most of the elders in my family are/were Dodger fans. It is also no coincidence they they all hate the Red Sox (last team with a black player) and the Yankees (who thought black players could not meet the high "Yankee standard").

I asked my grandmother a while back why she became a Mets fan. And her answer was, "Well there's no way in hell I can be a Yankees with their racism against black players. The Giants and the Dodgers moved. Then the Mets came and I used to go to the games at the Polo Grounds and Ebbets Field and the Mets were so bad. But I liked them anyway. So I kept following them after that."

In some strange way I think my grandmother's hatred for the Yankees was genetically passed down to me. Made me into Mets Brotha. And while I don't HATE the Yankees, I do have issues with this whole idea of "Yankee standards" and the "Yankee way of doing things." The higher the horse, the harder the fall I guess. I can't wait for that fall, it's going to be a doozy lol.

Holla back

They're Not Focused Mannnnnnnn!!!!

Right now the Mets are like a cloudy lense on a 10-year old Canon camera. Out of focus and the picture ain't too pretty.

Case in point. With a 6-2 lead in the fourth inning of Sunday's game against the Brew Crew, my main man (not to be confused with Maine, man lol) Ollie P. heads to the mound and promptly implodes. He's only able to go 4 and 1/3 innings and gives up 6 runs.

Here's my thing... if he had been throwing strikes and the Brewers were just giving him the bidness, I can deal with that. But he wasn't throwing strikes. He was trying to be cute on the field like Madonna in League of Their Own. There's no crying in baseball, Ollie!

The funny thing is the Mets can survive a blowup from Ollie P. every once in a while. I mean it's sorta inevitable with the guy.

What they can't survive, however, is their total lack of cojones in clutch situations. As I noted before, the only player who has shown any ability to hit in the clutch this year is Angel Pagan. And when a guy who wasn't even projected to make the club out of spring training is your best clutch hitter... well... in the immortal words of the Apollo 13 crew - "Houston, we have a problem."

Same game that Ollie blows up, the Mets hit into 5 double plays. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

No. New York, WE have a problem. Jose, Jose Jose Jose is on the mend and wasn't showing too much life anyway. Beltran, as good as he is, still baffles me with some of the pitches he lets whiz past him. Delgado, while looking better than he did last year, is still showing signs of slowing down. D. Wright has been OK but nothing special.

So in comes the Nats. Lo Duca has been spitting off at the mouth. Milledge is motivated to play against his former team. Looks like a couple of babies are just asking for a good old-fashioned spanking. It's time for the Mets to pump it up and get focused.

Tell 'em Joey:



Holla back.

Send Me An Angel

I swear, being a Mets fans is a 24-hour roller coaster ride. One minute you're up, next minute you're down. One minute the Mets have a 2-run lead in the 8th, the next minute Aaron Heilman is giving up a bomb to Ryan Howard. One minute "Beat Me Up" Scotty Schoeneweis is getting booed back to Anaheim, the next minute he's getting a standing ovation after serving up a tailor-made double play. It's enough to make you motion sick.

In fact, maybe that's why people pray sometimes before they get on a roller coaster. You never know when you may need the help of an angel.

So that's what the Mets have done these first few series. They've relied on help from an angel. Angel Pagan

Let's check the stats - .370 BA, a team-high 9 rbi, a .519 slugging pct., numerous big hits, I mean what else can you say about the guy. He's literally been a godsend for a struggling Mets squad.

So here's the deal - last night after Reyes hits a double, Angel Pagan steps up to the plate and coolly lines one back up the middle. Reyes comes racing home and you'd think with Reyes' speed he'd have no trouble at all scoring, right?

Well we all know Reyes likes to make things dramatic... Phillies CF Jason Werth throws a bee-bee to the plate and catcher Chris Coste blocks the plate perfectly, keeping Reyes' foot from ever reaching the bag. He goes to apply the tag at the same time Reyes tries to sneak his hand onto the plate. Bang-bang play. Reyes is called safe. But I'll let you look at the video and decide for yourself lol.

So while Beltran, Reyes, Wright and Delgado all search for their inner "clutch", little-ole Angel Pagan keeps on delivering in their absence.

But we all know what's going to happen. Pagan could be hitting .500 and Willie would still take his bat out of the lineup in favor of Moises "creeky-legs" Alou. You know, Alou is a "proven vet" and in Willie's mind, there's nothing better than a proven vet. It's why Shawn Green got all of the burn over Lastings Milledge (who's playing not-too-shabby himself at the moment). It's why El Duque will get the 5 spot over Pelfrey even if he is ineffective and on his last leg. It's why the team is the second oldest in the league... better to have "vets" than new, young blood.

But I digress. Keep it up Angel. You've already answered my prayers.

Holla back.

Bye Bye Shea....

Today, of course, is the final Opening Day at Shea Stadium. Ahhh the memories. Well, for me, it's ahhhh 1986 and Bill Buckner. I don't think I ever screamed so much in my life.

So bye, bye Shea - we're gonna miss ya...







Here's a nice little farewell to Shea, courtesy of Mets.com.

...and here's what we can look forward to next season:

It's a Marathon, People!

So the Mets lose 2 games to the Braves over the weekend, with Maine getting hammered on Saturday and Texeira hitting a pop-fly homerun to seal the deal for the Braves on Sunday (where's Endy Chavez and his hops when you need them?). By all accounts, it was pretty bad for the Mets.

But guess what Mets fans? THE SKY IS NOT FALLING!!! SO CALM DOWN!!!!

I seriously don't get the logic of some "fans". We're only 5 games into the season and I've heard everything from "Willie needs to get fired" and "Maine is a joke," to "Reyes parties too much," and "Beltran can't take the bat off his shoulder." (OK I agree with that last one).

Don't believe me? Turn on WFAN today and listen to some of the silliness both Mets and Yankees fans spew on air. Must we forget that there are still 157 games left to be played. Seriously, get some perspective people!

So for the last time, IT'S A MARATHON NOT A SPRINT!!! The Mets will be fine people.

I think....

Holla back.

Best Baseball Video Game I've Ever Played

For you baseball fans with Playstation 3s, I strongly suggest walking down to your nearest Best Buy, Gamestop, Walmart or wherever you buy your video games from - and do yourselves a favor and pick up MLB '08 The Show. Simply put, this game is the most realistic baseball game I have ever played. It's sick.

For starters, the graphics are amazing. The stadium recreations are top notch and the player movements are as real as they come. For example, if you play a game at Shea, there are cranes working on a half-done CitiField in the background. Sick.

It actually really FEELS like you are playing a baseball game, which is why I like it so much. Not since Baseball Stars on NES have I enjoyed playing a video baseball game.

Check out the YouTube video below and you'll see what I'm talking about. I apologize in advance as the vid shows Pedro and the Mets losing to the Braves (which we all know will never happen lol). Notice how Pedro's windup and pitching style is recreated EXACTLY in the game. Sick.

For a collection of reviews for the game, check out MetaCritic. Holla back.