Jon Niese Is The Man

"My mentality is that if I'm walking and I'm breathing, I want to be out on the mound."

We're Frustrated Because They're Terrible

Not only did the Mets just get swept by the Marlins.  They also fell to last place and possibly lost another starting pitcher, this time Jon Niese to injury.

I've decided to share some choice tweets with you.

Just think about that.  Omar is going on the trip to Atlanta now, even though he originally didn't plan to go.  Hopefully, that means changes are coming.

Let's Go Mets!

Quick Catcher Update

It's kinda late but that doesn't matter. It's never really too late to update you on my favorite catchers.

Mike Nickeas went 1-for-2 with 2 walks for the B-Mets tonight, even though the B-Mets lost again.

And Josh Thole was sent back down to the Bisons now that Henry Blanco is back from dealing with personal matters. Josh didn't get any playing time, not even an at-bat, while with the Mets. He should go back to getting most of the playin time in Buffalo.

So, all seems to be okay in the world of catchers even if the rest of the Mets are a mess.

Let's Go Mets!

The Best In The Game

Ah, it's so nice to be able to look at the Mets and be able to smile.  Of course, I'm talking about SNY and their broadcast team.  Specifically, Kevin Burkhardt.  He joined SNY in 2007, after the departure of Chris Cotter.  At first, I wasn't a big fan, but that didn't last long.  He became my second favorite part of the Mets broadcasts closely behind the random antics from Keith Hernandez.  Kevin always reports from different parts of every ballpark.  I don't think I've ever seen multiple reports from the same area.  He always has something interesting to say.  Every time he reports it's new information, new stats, random facts, even stuff going on off the field.  Sometimes, it's just the random banter with Gary, Keith, and Ron.

Kevin's been so good there was a Daily News story about him.  Read it, or you're not really a Mets fan.  It's a great piece and it mentions Kevin was a fan of Gary Cohen before he worked with him.  I'd give anything to be in the same situation in my future with Kevin Burkhardt.  Just read it, you won't regret it.

But really, what other broadcast team can be identified simply by their first names?

Let's Go Mets!

Umm, Or Not Breaking The Mets

So, the Mets have decided to send Oliver Perez to the bullpen.  How exactly this helps the team, I'm not really sure. Perez simply doesn't have the ability to succeed in the MLB.  I just don't understand why they think this is a good idea.  Everybody knows they screwed up by signing Ollie, but now they're just hurting the team by keeping him around.  The signing was embarrassing but it really isn't much more embarrassing to have the contract in AAA.  Just let him go to the Minors and try to get his confidence back.

Ugh.  It's just another move by the Mets that completely baffles me.  At this point it looks like the front office is just trying to make themselves look good and they really don't care about the results on the field.

Let's Go Mets? 

Fixing The Mets

As a fan, anything I say about changing the Mets is imaginary.  The front office isn't reading my blog and they really don't care about what I have to say.  But I really have to say it.  The Mets have a lot of issues and there are ways they can be fixed.

Let's start with the pitching.  They need to get Oliver Perez off the roster.  Send him to AAA, send him to AA, send him to short season A-ball.  Send him to Madagascar.  He just doesn't have the ability to get Major League hitters out.  The Mets have pitchers they can call up, or move to the rotation.  From the minors, they have R.A. Dickey throwing well for the Bisons.  He's a knuckleballer with Major League experience.  Dillon Gee is also doing well for Bisons.  If the Mets don't feel like calling somebody up, they can give Hisanori Takahashi a chance to start.  He was a starter in Japan and has gotten everybody out as a reliever.  There's even Pat Misch, who nobody has mentioned, but he pitched a complete game shutout for the Bisons today.  They have options.

Now for the offense.  Oy vey.  Jason Bay isn't hitting.  David Wright isn't hitting.  Jeff Francoeur isn't hitting.  Jose Reyes isn't hitting.  The Mets are getting as little production as possible.  Perhaps that will change a bit today with the return of Jose Reyes to the leadoff spot, but nobody really knows.  The Mets have to make a change.  All of those players have the ability to hit, and hit well.  For one thing, I think Howard Johnson has to go.  I like him, but he hasn't helped anyone.  He tinkered with David's swing and David has been terrible ever since.  He worked with Frenchy in the offseason and he has been terrible this year.  I don't know if he's done anything to Jose Reyes or Jason Bay, but he needs to leave before he can.  As for the lineup, I think it should look like this:
Reyes
Castillo
Pagan
Davis
Bay
Wright
Barajas
Francoeur
Pitcher
I don't really have much of an explanation for my lineup, but if I could fill out the lineup card, that's what I would write down.

And finally to the man in charge.  Jerry Manuel has to go.  He doesn't know how to run the team.  He'll use five relief pitchers to try to get one out and then a sixth to intentionally walk the next batter.  He doesn't understand when something isn't working.  He lets the same lineup be used for a weeks when it clearly isn't working.  He leaves the same terrible pitchers in the rotation for months and then lets them struggle through games giving up 7 or 8 runs every time.  He shows no emotion after the toughest of defeats and the most exciting and relieving wins.  It's always the same meaningless chuckle.  Jerry simply does not have the ability to be the man in charge of a successful baseball team.

There isn't much else to say about the Mets.  They're sitting at .500 right now and there really is no reason to think they will win a lot of games.

Anyway,
Let's Go Mets!

Because Catchers Are Really Cool

With the big Mets, both Rod Barajas and Henry Blanco hit walk-off home runs this weekend.  Unfortunately they were not in a position to save Oliver Perez today.

As for the minor league catchers, both Mike Nickeas (really!) and Josh Thole are doing well.  Mike Nickeas is 11-for-23 (a .478 average) in May.  He's probably going to get less playing time now that Omir Santos is in Binghamton, but for now he's getting lots of  attention.  You can go here, look for #50 in this video, and there's a quote from Nick here.  It's nice to finally see him hitting well.

Josh Thole, on the other hand, is only hitting .203 for the season.  He went 3-for-4 today and 1-for-3 yesterday, so maybe he's starting to heat up.  He hasn't been getting much attention but I'm sure he will soon.  If only because he's so gosh-darn adorable.

Today's Mets loss was kind of hard to swallow because they battled back and took the lead, but we have to remember they won the series.  They're only 2 games out of first place in a season when nobody expected them to be anywhere, even in the beginning of May.  There's still a lot more to prove, but so far the Mets have looked pretty good.  They start a series with the Nationals tomorrow.  The gNats have looked better than anybody could have imagined and are tied with the Mets in the standings.  If the Mets can take this series it would be big.

Again, I'm sorry about the lack of posting, but I've been very busy with school and softball and such.  Even if I'm not blogging I'll be on Twitter.

Let's Go Mets!