Mets Lose Fourth Straight

Okay, now I'm pissed. Juicin Giambi's dinger off El Duque was all the Junkees needed as the Mets forgot to bring their bats to the Bronx. Even I remember to take my bats to the Bronx, and I don't even play ball. The Mets managed just one hit off Mussina et al and all it means is that it's about due time for injecting some kind of spark plug into this team. Where's the fire? Suddenly the All Star Break can't get here fast enough. Dammit!

Bring On The Junkees!

I couldn't be happier that the Mets lost last night. Of course I would have preferred to have won the series than to have lost it, but after losing the first two, a sweep is even better than losing two of three. Why? Because it messes with the Yankees chances of making the playoffs. And with the Mets maintaining a healthy lead on the wife beaters, the only thing sweeter than the Mets making it to the World Series would be having the Yankees fail to meet them there because they couldn't even sniff October.

Do you want to know why Mets fans can't stand Yankees fans? No, it's not because of their "arrogance". Every team has arrogant fans, and there are many arrogant fans who wear orange and blue. Maybe I'm an arrogant Mets fan. Who cares?

No, the real reason Mets fans don't like Yankees fans is because we don't respect them. When you see a person wearing a Yankees hat or shirt, they are most likely:

A) A fourteen year old girl who never watches games but thinks Derek Jeter is cute

B) An out of towner who never watches games but wants to glam on to New York in some way

C) A bandwagon jumper who couldn't tell you the starting rotation or who played 1st base before Tino Martinez (or Jason Giambi for that matter).

Are there real Yankees fans out there? I mean real fans, who can actually recite the 25 man roster and wax poetic about the Jesse Barfield days? Yes, of course. But even most of those fans are in complete denial about their scarcity. Yankees fans think everyone should be Yankees fans. They look around and see a sea of pinstripes and think everyone else must be crazy. They'll welcome any clown and accept him or her as a true Yankees fan, just like George Steinbrenner will accept any enemy (Roger Clemens, Johnny Damon, Wade Friggin' Boggs) into pinstripes and annoint him a true Yankee. (Except for A-Rod. You gotta love that.)

Mets fans are different. We feel very confident that when we see a dude with an orange and blue cap that he's a real fan. That he can cry with us about The Worst Team Money Can Buy, about Juan Samuel or Gregg Jeffries or Generation K. That he'll agree that Keith Hernandez should be in The Hall and that Mex was the best first baseman in New York. When it comes to real baseball fans, the Mets own New York. We don't crave quantity. Yes, the Yankees have won more World Series and sell more hats, but the Mets lead the world in Grand Slam Singles, losing last place, and balls that Get By Buckner!

When an impartial observer is around, a typical Yankees fan will tell him or her "You gotta be a Yankees fan. You gotta be. Look at all the rings and look at all of us!" Meanwhile, a typical Mets fan will say to the fan on the fence "I don't care what team you pick. In fact, if you don't care, you might as well pick the Yankees. After all, it's a good time to jump on their bandwagon because it's moving real slow right now. You should really only be a Mets fan if You Gotta Believe"

Note: Of course this applies to anyone besides the Mets fan's girlfriend or wife because we don't need no stinkin Yankees games playing in our house. So if your girl is on the fence it just makes life easier if she develops a crush on David Wright.

So there you go. The Mets did their job of screwing over the Yankees by laying down for the Red Sox. If we have to, we'll beat the Sox in the Series. Surely fans remember how that went last time? Now, it's time to turn it on. It's the back end of our rotation (El Duque, Trachsel, Soler) head to head with the back, I mean front, I mean is this seriously the Yankees rotation?

Lets Go Mets!

Screw 'Em

Bah. Why the hell should we help out the Yankees anyway? Pedro stunk, Milledge stunk, the Mets lost, the Yankees won. Whatever. I'll tell you what - The Red Sox are going to win that division, and after the Mets sweep the Junkees this weekend, the Yanks playoff chances will be diminished. The Mets still lead the Phils by 12 games. Screw 'em all.

Beans

we've got a bunch of tough guys on the Mets, it seems. Lasting Milledge is throwing himself into pitches, Duaner Sanchez is out there throwing BB's with a pinched nerve in his neck, and Jose Reyes pulls a Hulk Hogan, shriveled on the ground in pain after getting kneed by Varitek, only to rise moments later as if nothing ever happened. Whatchoo gonna do, Boston Red Sox, when the New York Mets go wild on you? Beat them 9-4? Oh.

Back From San Diego - The Long Way

What a weekend! I missed Friday night's game because ridiculous thunderstorms knocked off the DirecTV right at game time. Then I took a super early flight out Saturday morning to San Diego. I worked Saturday, and then checked out the Padres playing the Mariners. It was Transplanted Mets Fan Night at Petco Park. The ballpark is really nice, though I think as new ballparks go Camden Yards and Citizens Bank are a little nicer. The cool thing is that it's right in the heart oif the city, which is unusual for a newer park. We were able to walk to it from the hotel.

I'll be posting pictures soon, but the first thing I saw when I walked through the gates was a Mike Piazza banner. It was a great night even before the game started. I had a tasty ballpark sausage and a beer, and PETCO had a promotion where you spun a wheel and I won a $5 gift card for the store. Transplanted Mets Fan Night at PETCO continued as the game started, when after the forst half of the 1st, they ran a Mike Piazza video as a Padres Hero. Then Piazza crushed the first pitch he saw into the third deck of the Metal Supply Building. It was the first of 8 homeruns hit in the game. Later on, right after a video presentation of the highlights of the previous night's game, in which Mike Cameron was the star, Cameron hit a homer of his own. The Padres lost the game, as did the Mets in Toronto, but I'm real glad I got to see PETCO park and our own transplanted Ex-Mets. Unfortunately Carl Everett failed in his lone opportunity to get in on the action, grounding into a double play to end the top of the eighth for the Mariners. When all was said and done, the Seattle Mariners beat the San Diego Transplanted Ex-Mets 9-5.

I was supposed to be back yesterday morning, but my connecting flight from Atlanta was cancelled at 5:30 yesterday morning, forcing me to rent a car and drive the seven hours back to Greensboro on three hours sleep. But I'm refreshed and ready to go now. Hopefully teh Mets are too, as they take on the Red Sox tonight! Lets Go Mets!!!

Lightning and Earthquakes

Thank goodness Tom Glavine didn't throw a no-hitter tonight, as Metstradamus predicted, because thunderstorms knocked my DirecTV service out of commission, and I wouldn't have had the historic event for posterity saved on my TiVo. The Mets did win, though, beating the Blue Jays 6-1, and Tommy G became the major league's first 11 game winner. Mets fans will be holding their breath before celebrating David Wright's 3-run homer and Lastings Milledge's solo shot, though, because Dirty Sanchez left the game in the eighth inning with an injury. Jeez Louise.

Hot Foot: David Wright Vs. Alex Rodriguez stats

Remember when it seemed we Mets fans would never get over the Mets failure to sign Alex Rodriguez. And then that failure was rubbed in our faces when he was "traded" to the friggin Junkees of all teams? For the past few years now we have laughed at how he's shriveled in the big moments, and when he actually tried to slap a ball out glove in the ALCS, and waffled back and forth about deciding whether or not to play in the WBC. Still, it's been a nervous laugh, as we marvel at Yankees fans who continue to boo the reigning American League MVP as he racks up astounding stats.

Well Mets fans, Paul Hlavaty of Hot Foot implies that we finally can stop having Hot Corner envy. Paul compares the stats so far this season of our very own golden boy David Wright, with those of the man we admittedly once called Shea-Rod. Unreal, really.

Wright
AVG .338 | HR 17 | RBI 60 | OBP .405 | SLG .601

Rodriguez
AVG .281 | HR 15 | RBI 51 | OBP .395 | SLG .504

By the way, David Wright is earning $374,000 this season, compared to $25,680,727 (and no tents) for Alex.

Transplanted Mets Blogger Of The Month - Mets Fan In Oklahoma

I want everyone who visits my blog this month to also make a stop over at the Oklahoma City Weatherman's blog - Mets Fan In Oklahoma - at http://okcweatherman.metsblog.com

The OKC weatherman does a great jop of previewing and recapping every Mets game. In honor of deeming him Transplanted Mets Blogger Of The Month, I made up a little Photoshop creation. Hope you like it. I know you'll like his blog!

When Will Mike Pelfrey Pitch?

Had a half day at work today, allowing me to come home and watch the Mets Fast Forward of yesterday's Mets/Reds game on SNY. All the shots of the prep-work construction for the new ballpark gets me very excited about being a Mets fan. The Mets having a great season, and they have a great future on the horizon. In fact, if you're sitting in the stands at Shea, the future is quite literally, on the horizon. See what I'm getting at?

The real reason I'm posting a bonus post is that Matty Cerrone has a post today that says the word on the scene is that Trachsel's back is acting up. Hmmmmm... If Trachsel, who is due to face the Blue Jays on Sunday, has to miss a start, that can only mean one thing. I won't mention any initials, but his name is Mike Pelfrey. Pelfrey is 3-1 in 10 starts with a 2.48 ERA for AA Binghampton this season. More telling is his 61 K's in 54 innings against 21 walks. Pelfrey last pitched for Binghamton on Tuesday, allowing just four hits, striking out six, leading the B-Mets to a 7-1 win over the Ohio Whogivesacraps. The point is that five days after Tuesday is Sunday.

You heard it here first. (Or second, depending on what I mean by what you heard).

California Bound

As the Mets get set to take on our neighbors to the North, I'm transplanting myself due West to San Diego, where I'll pay a visit to some transplanted ex-Mets, Michaels Piazza and Cameron. Thank goodness PETA has laid back on its boycott of all things PETCO, so I'm free to root for the home team tomorrow night. I may not be able to post this weekend, but I'll do what I can and I will post some pictures when I return.

Yesterday was a bittersweet day for me. I was so glad the Mets won, salvaging the split, but the afternoon start time and the presence of bigwigs in the office meant I could only periodically check the goings on via ESPN's Gameday updates. Alas, I missed Petey and his high socks and D-Wright's dingers. What a homestand though, huh? As Metstradamus said, it's quite amazing that the Mets...

have a 3-4 homestand against the bad Orioles and the we're not sure about them yet Reds, and not get hammered for it because a 3-4 homestand actually gains ground in this division.

Well said.

Oh, Canada!

Cancelled: The All Jose Valentin Post

In pennance for all the goofing on- and ranting about- Jose Valentin that I did early on in the season, I intended on dedicating this post to the one-and-only, Mr. Porn Star Mustache, Jose Valentin. One night after getting nailed at the plate trying to stretch a triple into a homer, Jose stayed aggressive, but gotg thrown out again, this time trying to stretch a single into a double. No idea what he was thinking because it wasn't even close, but you gotta tip your cap to a guy who's trying to get as much out of this hot streak as possible. I wanted to acknowledge his leaping defensive grab, and ask the question: Back in April, would you ever have believed me if I told you that Jose Valentin would be intentionally walked for Xavier Nady? I especially wanted to acknowledge the switch hitter's decision to bat lefty against a lefty, and launch teh first pitch he saw over the centerfield wall.

Alas, I do not have the luxury of acknowledging Valentin. I can't even tip my cap to Jose Reyes for hitting the cycle.

Instead I must soak in the defeat, and leave the stand out performance by Heath Bell unacknowledged. The 9th-inning collapse by Billy Wagner against The Cincinnati Reds becomes the focal point of last night's game.

I can, although, applaud the Mets for this: their impeccable timing. Every team in every season must go through a rough stretch at some point. This is unquestionably a slump for the 2006 Mets. They lost two of three from the Baltimore Orioles, and must win this afternoon just to salvage a split with the Reds. After going 9-1 on the road trip, the Mets are just 1 and 4 so far on the homestand. But their hold on first place has not weakened. Apparently the Mets stuck a real dagger into the hearts of the Phillies by sweeping them at home last week. The Phillies lost their second straight game to the Junkees yesterday and so the Mets can rest assured that they have timed their slump perfectly. Now they can get out of it already and resume padding their 9.5 game lead!

After the game, the Mets will head to Towards their most formidable stretch of the season - nine games on the road against the Blue Jays, Red Sox and Junkees. The Mets have been road warriors, but when they return home on July 3rd to face the Pirates, they have a half-season's worth of games against patsys from there on out.


Transplanted Ex-Mets Update: Kaz Matsui Injured

According to the Colorado Rockies website, Kaz Matsui, who has played at AAA since joining the Rockies in a trade with the Mets on June 9, suffered a back strain while fielding before Monday's game. Matsui has not played since, and the organization has not pinpointed a return date.

Mike Piazza, who trails Paul LoDuca by a wide margin in all star voting, hit the go-ahead homerun yesterday in a 3-2 win over Texas for San Diego. The first-place Padres have won four out of their last five, and

The X-Man Cometh

The Mets gave the hometown crowd a real nice show last night. Besides Xavier Nady crushing two dingers, and making a leaping catch at the wall, there was a bunch of memorable moments wrapped up in the 9-2 win over the Reds as well. For instance...

Jose Valentin provided some laughs as he tried to stretch a triple into an inside the park homerun but was nailed at the plate, being tagged out by his brother. "Windmill Willie" couldn't be too mad at Manny Acta with as many runners he sent to their doom as 3rd base coach for the Junkees.

Pedro Martinez was caught on camera entertaining himself with a wiffle bat and a gum wrapper or something, and then mocking Carlos Delgado's batting stance. Delgado had a homer earlier in the game, so maybe Petey was just trying to pick up some pointers?

Lastings Milledge, whose days in the majors might be numbered as Cliff Floyd makes his way back from the DL, did his best to show off his talents by throwing out Freel attempting to strecth a single into a double.

Stevie Trachsel smacked a homer of his own, making him the first Mets pitcher to hit a homerun since Shawn Estes did it in the game when he was unable to bean Roger Clemens.


Speaking of Trachsel, the back end of the rotation is making it awfully hard for the front office to find a slot for Miek Pelfrey. Seriously, where would you put him? Trachsel has now won three straight decisions, and El Duque and Soler have both thrown complete games recently. I'm certain that we will need a spot starter at some point due to a rainout or something, but the only way he's coming up for good is if there's an injury. So let's hope we don't see Pelfrey in the rotation till next Spring.

Do the Mets lead the league in scoring exactly 9 runs in a game or what?

The Plight Of Transplanted Baseball Fans

Jeff Passan has a column on Yahoo! Sports about how transplanted baseball fans around the country are screwed over by MLB's blackout restrictions. He brings up all the ridiculous rules that prevent baseball fans from seeing their favorite team's games on television. Even though MLB.com promises that for $79.95 you'll never miss another game, the reality is that fans get blacked out all the time based on outdated rules on how local markets are drawn up. It's a must-read for all transplanted baseball fans. Check out the territorial map too!

Missing The Mets

Despite living 556 miles from Shea Stadium, I've managed to make it to three Mets games this season (Two at home, one at RFK). My "record" is 3-0, and it hurts really, really bad right now to not be able to go see them. They've lost 3 out of 4 at and I wish I could go try and Show Up with my positive mojo To Shea. My brother-in-law went last night and saw them go down, and my buddy Tubby is attending tonight's contest. This stinks!!!

Tick Tock Tick Tock

Hear that? It's the sound of the Phillies season running out. The Mets drop two in a row and the Phillies still fail to make up any ground. The Mets won today, showing off the offensive prowess they'd flexed so much on the road trip, and negating the Phillies win today. The margin between first and second remains at 9.5 games. Wright hits a grand salami, Glavine becomes the major's first ten-game winner and Pedro Martinez must be getting jealous. Not to worry, Petey. You'll get your wins in October. Tick Tock Tick Tock.

Jon Stewart did a very funny interview during the game. Chris Cotter was way overmatched here. I can't rip on him too badly though. I have actually had the opportunity to interview Jon Stewart myself and he is just too funny on his feet. When I was in college my buddy and I had a TV show on the school's closed-circuit station. I interviewed Jon and accused him of stealing the idea for his MTV show, "The Jon Stewart Show" from our show. He was just too damned funny. Jon is a HUGE Mets fan. A few years after my interview with him, I got to spend about ten hours with him over the course of two days when he was promoting his hilarious book Naked Pictures Of Famous People. He was interviewed over the phone by radio stations around the country from the studio I worked at. I engineered the calls, and in between stations (and smoking breaks) we talked a lot of Mets baseball. If you want to see Chis Cotter's interview, it's available online at UPDATE 6/21: You tube.

Some commercials that annoy me:

On the radio, the commercial that really burns me up is the one for UPS. They have a 60 second spot about how boring baseball is. This is the commercial they run during baseball games, with an audience of baseball fans. I guess this is why I always use FedEx and the good old U.S. Postal Service for me shipping needs.


This really shouldn't get under my skin, but the television spots for Verizon are really stupid. It's a bunch of guys supposedly filming a documentary about Verizon customers. They stop people on the street, or invade their home, and ask them how they like Verizon. This would actually be a funny idea, if it wasn't completely, and utterly obviously, fake. Why does this annoy me so much??? It's not even an original concept. I remember radio ads for some other company that did man-on-the-street interviews. I remember they were much more realistic, but since I can't remember what the commercials were supposed to be advertising, it goes to show how innefective the ads are. Lame.

Can you believe they are still running ads for Craftmatic adjustable beds after all these years? The ads I remember best are when they gave away a free camera just for trying a Craftmatic. remember the old people saying, "I got my free camera!"