The window to win with a certain core of players only lasts for an finite amount of time. The best of dynasties come to an end, just ask the Yankees of the 90’s and the Mets of the late 80’s. For the Mets of the middle to late 2000’s, the window to win with this group of talent is closing and it is closing fast. In the wake of Carlos Beltran’s possible microfracture surgery, which could potentially end his career like it did for NBA players Jamal Mashburn and Terrell Brandon, it may be time for GM Omar Minaya to rebuild this team.

I’m not saying he needs to do a dramatic overhaul like the Florida Marlins seem to do every ten or so years, where they trade off every single player on their team. Obviously David Wright and Jose Reyes are going to stay on this team for at least ten years to come, but I don’t know if it is safe to depend on a guy like Beltran or Carlos Delgado to return to form anymore. Thankfully, the Mets have a prospect in Fernando Martinez, who right now can’t seem to hit, but seems adept at playing a strong center field for years to come. If the slide continues, I think the Mets need to run him out there every day and see what they have in him. The Mets also have two B-prospects in Daniel Murphy and Nick Evans who also should be playing every day. Why not see what we have in them, this way we can either move past them, or phase them into our lineup for this year and years to come. I’m sick of seeing Jerry Manuel run out Fernando Tatis on a daily basis when he hasn’t gotten the job done in the least. Tatis is a bench player and nothing more.

Also, with the word out that the Blue Jays are fed up with the lack of production from Vernon Wells and Alex Rios, why not try to explore a trade for Rios. He is relatively cheap at 12 million dollars per year, has plenty of upside (which I’m pretty sure you cannot say about Vernon), and would be a terrific fit for Citi Field. He has great gap power and is tremendous on defense, not to mention the fact that he has a cannon for an arm. He can also play centerfield, which is a help for this year if Beltran is out.

This type of thinking always seems to elude the Mets. They rely too much on aging veterans and not enough on youthful, agile players. I know you can’t turn over the roster in one fell swoop, but I honestly think the time has come for these changes. It’s not like the Double-A roster that we are churning out there right now is getting the job done now anyway. Do some on the fly evaluation until we get some players back Omar. The window is barely open for this group of Mets right now, so start thinking about the future while also thinking about the present.

Merriam-Webster define the word moxie as the following:

1 : energy, pep 2 : courage, determination 3 : know-how

Our very own Tim Sharobem has been known to overuse this word as badly as Barney from How I Met Your Mother overuses the phrase “legendary”. Tonight however, the New York Mets showed a heck of a lot of moxie by overcoming the adversity of a devastating injury to CF Carlos Beltran to defeat the first place St. Louis Cardinals. So Timmy Ballgame, go ahead and revel in your favorite word.

If you would have told me at the beginning of the season that we would have been without Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes, Beltran, Oliver Perez, JJ Putz, and John Maine for extended periods of time, and yet would still be within striking distance of first place, I wouldn’t have been pleased, but I would have signed on the dotted line. Think of the boost these players are going to give us when they come back, ala the equivalent of a couple of trading deadline halls without having to give up any players.

Something about this team is completely different from last season. In a way, they almost remind me of the 2006 team that took whatever was thrown at them (injuries to Pedro Martinez and El Duque), kept up their swagger and heart, and went with it regardless. They also slighly remind me of the 2000 World Series squad, who featured only one superstar in Mike Piazza, and some quality pitchers in Mike Hampton and Al Leiter. Every player on that team knew what their role was, and played it to perfection. Looking back at the starting line up for that team makes me chuckle, because you almost wonder if this line up would even beat the Washington Nationals. Take a look for yourself:

C- Piazza

1B- Todd Zeile

2B- Edgardo Alfonzo

SS- Mike Bordick

3B- Robin Ventura

LF- Benny Agbayani

CF- Jay Payton

RF- Derek Bell

The 2009 Mets, until their core players come back, can take a few lessons from these guys. I know they fell short in the World Series, but with the team they are putting out their now, I would take that in a second. I really believe guys like Alex Cora and David Wright are going to step it up. I also believe that our pitching staff is going to bring it as well. My reasons? None are logical, but for the first time, I feel like the team has finally put the past behind them and are ready to make a run for the playoffs, at any cost.

REASON # 1,567,873 NOT TO BE A METS FAN

There are a lot of Yankees fans (and some Mets fans) who need to take a chill pill.

Despite getting swept from Boston, the Yankees are 2 games out of first. Despite being 0-8 against Boston, the Bombers are 35-17 in their other games.

And if that doesn’t make you feel better, Yankees fans, how about that you won’t face the Sox again until August.

102 games of baseball left to play.

As for the Mets, a few good things here:

A) You didn’t get swept

B) The two losses were in extra innings

C) If the Mets were at full strength, the Phillies would have probably pulled out 2 wins anyway. That’s just how this rivalry works.

Of course now that I’ve said this, the Yankees and Mets play each other this  weekend- probably the worst possible scenario after the way these series turned out.

So if either team sweeps, all hell’s gonna break loose. Wonderful.

Last night, against Mets pitcher Johan Santana, Phillies OF Raul Ibanez hit his 20th homerun of the season. Ibanez, a Manhattan native, has been a tremendous off season addition for the Phillies, batting .327  20 homers 55 RBI in 56 games.

20/55 through 56 games is an incredible pace for any big league player- let alone for a  37 year old outfielder whose previous season best was .289/33/123 in 2006 for the Seattle Mariners.

Some people will consider this a non-issue. But in the day and age we live in, one has to at least ponder the possibility something is a little off. To be honest, as a Mets fan, I have recently questioned whether Ibanez is playing “clean.” I mean maybe I’m just having sour grapes that the Mets didn’t sign Ibanez, right? 33 homers playing in Seattle is probably equivalent to hitting 45 in Citizens Bank Park, right?

Well, a popular sports blog Midwest Sports Fans, recently had a post suggesting that Ibanez may be cheating.

You can read that post by clicking here.

The most “damaging” remark made was the following:

From JROD, www.midwestsportsfans.com

Thirdly, it’s time for me to begrudgingly acknowledge the elephant in the room: any aging hitter who puts up numbers this much better than his career averages is going to immediately generate suspicion that the numbers are not natural, that perhaps he is under the influence of some sort of performance enhancer. And since I was not able to draw any absolute parallels between his prodigously improved HR rate and his new ballpark’s hitter-friendliness, it would be foolish to dismiss the possibility that “other” performance enhancers could be part of the equation.

That post found its way to the Philadelphia Inquirer the other day as columnist John Gonzalez wrote that the post was a cheap shot.

Sure enough, the matter was eventually brought up to Raul Ibanez before last night’s Mets Phillies game at Citifield which led to the following quotes from the Philadelphia left fielder:

From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

“I’ll come after people who defame or slander me, It’s pathetic and disgusting. There should be some accountability for people who put that out there.”

“Unfortunately, I understand the environment we’re in and the events that have led us to this era of speculation. At the same time, you can’t just walk down the street and accuse somebody of being a thief because they didn’t have a nice car yesterday and they do today. You can’t say that guy is a thief.”

“You can have my urine, my hair, my blood, my stool – anything you can test. I’ll give you back every dime I’ve ever made” (if the test is positive).

“I’ll put that up against the jobs of anyone who writes this stuff. Make them accountable. There should be more credibility than some 42-year-old blogger typing in his mother’s basement. It demeans everything you’ve done with one stroke of the pen.”

“Nobody is above the testing policy. We’ve seen that.”

“It’s unfair because this story should be about how hard work, determination, and desire trumps chemicals and shortcuts. That should be the message: desire, character, work ethic. But some guy who doesn’t know me – one idiot – says something like this. They should be held accountable. It’s cowardly.”

An emphatic response to say the least-one fueled by anger and frustration.  For his sake, I hope he’s telling the truth. While I root against the Phillies, I have nothing bad to say about Ibanez. He’s been long recognized as a gentleman in the game and is well respected by many baseball players including the Mets’ Carlos Beltran.

This story also brings up an interesting question: Are we as sports fans allowed to question the authenticity of  athletic performance-if there is reasonable doubt?

I have no problem with Ibanez’s response. He’s suppose to be angry- and chances are he didn’t read the blog post. But what about John Gonzalez’s statement that the post was a cheap shot?

As a blogger, who is free to write anything he wants, is it “cheap” to shine light on reasonable doubts?

You can’t get better baseball in New York than we have this week

Mets v. Phillies  Yankees v. Red Sox   on Tuesday-Thursday

Mets v. Yankees  on Friday-Sunday

First thoughts: Gotta feel bad for the Yankees here. They have a lot of pressure to deliver big. Consider that this is the biggest test the Yankees will have since gaining first place in the AL East-with a modest 1.0 game lead over Boston. They are 0-5 against the Sox this season and will have to fix that by playing at Fenway. The circus will in town as this will be A-Rod’s first game in Boston since admitting to steroid use from 2001-2003 with Texas.

Then, after they survive that chaos, they get to host a depleted Mets team. In Yankee country the expectation is ALWAYS that the Yankees will destroy the Mets. Anything less than 4-2 in the season series is considered a disappointment and a PR nightmare. Now, with all of the injuries the Mets are facing the Yankees may face grief if the don’t sweep.

It’s lose-lose for the Bronx Bombers. If you’re a Yankees fan, enjoy the games and close your ears to the sports talk for the next few days.

As for the Mets, the key is survival. Don’t get swept by the Phillies and fall 6 games out of the divisional race. Starting Johan Santana in one of these games is a HUGE plus. Cole Hamels starting at Citifield should also be interesting…following his “choke artists”comments made last offseason.

I would think the Mets will play loose in the Subway Series as they really have no pressure to deliver against the Yanks-even more so this year. But these are the Mets, who seem to play tight even when they face the Washington Nationals. So who knows.

I don’t believe in curses, jinxes, or “luck.”  I’m too pragmatic to buy into that stuff.

But as a Mets fan, it’s really hard to accept the fact that so much destruction has befallen this franchise in such a short time: two late season collapses- unprecedented in baseball, weakened ownership at the hand of the biggest Ponzi scheme in US history,  and a season with a myriad of injuries.

It’s one thing to lose a first basemen to a hip injury. And another to lose your  starting (All-star) shortstop to a torn hamstring. And yet another to lose two outfielders, and utility man, AND a starting pitcher, AND a set up man to other ailments all in the same season, all within the timespan of THREE WEEKS.

Oh, and have a SWINE FLU SCARE for yet another starting pitcher and a franchise center fielder.

Are you kidding me?

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?

Roughly 22 years ago, the Mets won their last world championship…arguably in the most improbable fashion in baseball history. In Game 6, the Mets were trailing the World Series 3 games to 2 and were down to their final strike THREE times before tying the game off the Red Sox bullpen and eventually winning the game upon the infamous error by  Boston first basemen Bill Buckner. The Mets would then go on to win Game 7-rallying from behind once again, although not as dramatically.

It’s almost as if all the karma required to allow the Mets to win the 1986 has been left the franchise unlucky since.  Real unlucky. The listing of which would require an encyclopedia.

That is of course, if you believe in curse, jinxes, or “luck”. Which I don’t.

At least I thought I didn’t.

Jose Reyes‘ much ballyhooed arrival to the New York Mets in late 2003 had him labeled by fans and scouts as a future star. Even though he fought through injuries in 2003 and 2004, it seemed as if he was on an upward trend towards reaching these lofty goals. 2005 was another stepping stone in Jose’s career, and finally in 2006, it seemed as if Jose had finally arrived. He continued his success into 2007, slumped at the end of the season (much like the entire team), and bounced back from that horrendous slump and put up extremely good numbers in 2008.

Jose Reyes is a superstar now. The New York Mets need him to succeed. Right?

My first reaction is “absolutely”. Reyes brings speed to our lineup, defense to the middle of the infield, great hitting, and more. My second reaction? Well, we are winning now…without Reyes.

Yes, yes, before you jump up and down and say we have only beaten up on some bad teams without Reyes, I say to you, what have we won with Reyes on the Mets? We got beaten in 2006 by an 82-win Cardinals team. We collapsed in 2007 and 2008, two years where we occupied first place with only a few games left in the season. The point is, nothing has changed with Reyes in the lineup, and now with him out of the lineup, we are still winning games. Is Reyes really the difference maker that we all think that he is, or is he just an overhyped, above average shortstop?

I’m not trying to sound like Mario from Queens calling WFAN demanding Reyes to be traded. But since his exit from the lineup, I have found myself wondering what the Mets could get for Reyes if they decided to put him on the market. Think what the Red Sox did with Nomar Garciaparra in ‘04 before they won the World Series. We are talking about a 25 year old lead-off hitter, who is just entering his prime, is affordable, and plays a premium position. Could the Mets get a major package from a team like the Red Sox, where shortstop has been a black hole since they signed Julio Lugo? What if the Sox offered up something like Clay Buchholz, Lars Anderson, and Jed Lowrie? What if the Rays offered Jason Bartlett and David Price? I know these packages might even seem a bit high, but the point is, if you can round out the depths of the roster, perhaps with future stars, are we better off than being top heavy like we are now with Reyes on the team.

I love Jose Reyes. I don’t think he is going anywhere for a second, and as long as the Yankees keep their noses away from him when he becomes a free agent in 2011, I think he is a Met for life. I just wonder if he is part of the core that is going to take us to the next level. If not, it can’t hurt to sniff around and see what we can get for him.

I just came across a great link from the Daily News‘ website, which was put up about three months ago. It’s a slideshow of the greatest plays in Big Apple Sports History, encompassing all the tri-state area teams in the four major sports. Keep in mind it’s the greatest “plays” not the  ” greatest moments”. So, if you were looking for “Yankees win 26th world title” or “Rangers break 54 year championship drought” you won’t find it. But you will find “Jim Leyritz Game 4 1996 World Series HR ” and “Richter stops Bure on Penalty Shot Game 4 1994 Cup Finals.”

Interestingly, the Daily News does not attempt to rank the events, but lists them in reverse chronological order. This brings up an interesting question: Can we rank the greatest plays in BAS history?

It’s a hard task, especially considering team biases, and considering I am too young to have experienced many of those moments. And I think that’s a big factor. You have to have experienced watching that play or in being in attendance of that play to be able to judge it.

So, the best I can do is rank the top plays within the last 15 years (so no earlier than 1994)

Here’s my Top 5:

5.  Jason Arnott’s double OT goal to win 2000 Stanley Cup Finals (vs. Dallas Stars)

Look at me giving the Devils some DAP!  But seriously, an overtime goal to win a championship?!? It was a dramatic play and a terrific way to end a hockey season.

4.  Aaron Boone’s Walk off Homer sends Yanks to 2003 World Series (Yankees vs. Red Sox)

Yankees. Red Sox. World Series Implications. Boston Chokes.  Can it get better than that?

3.  Stephane Matteau’s OT Goal Game 7 1994 Eastern Conference Finals ( Rangers vs. Devils)

Howie Rose on WFAN:  “Matteau swoops in to intercept. Matteau behind the net, swings it in front. HE SCORES! MATTEAU!! MATTEAU!! MATTEAU!! STÉPHANE MATTEAU!!”

2.  Scott Brosius Homer Game 5 2001 WS (Yankees vs. Arizona Diamondbacks)

One of the most improbable of sports feats occuring for the second time in consecutive nights.  Everyone in NY knows where they were when Scott Brosius homered of Byung-Hyun Kim.

1. David Tyre’s Catch in Super Bowl XLII (Giants vs. New England Patriots)

The defining moment in what is arguably the greatest Super Bowl Game ever. “The catch”  had everything: suspense, surprise, and a tremendous athletic play.

How have the Yankees and Mets fared the first quarter of the season? Let’s take a look:

YANKEES

Record: 26-20 (.565 winning %)

Place: 2nd AL East (1 GB of Boston)

Biggest Win: May 17 against Minnesota; Yanks get 3rd straight walk off win against a formidable opponent

Biggest Loss: May 5 against Boston; Yanks now 0-5 against the Red Sox this season

Largest Winning Streak: 9 (May 13-May 21)

Largest Losing Streak: 5 (May 2-May 7)

Biggest Surprise(s): Melky Cabrera (.323-5-20)

Biggest Disappointment(s): Chien Ming Wang (0-3, 43.00 ERA)

Who to watch for: Phil Hughes (Last 3 starts, 2-0 3.00 ERA)

Interesting Stat: 4-the number of homers hit per game at the New Yankee Stadium

After a miserable start to the season, the Yankees pitching staff has really come on strong-especially the bullpen with the emergence of Aceves, Coke, and Veras.  CC Sabathia is starting to bring it like he did in Millwaukee and Cleveland. And now, with a healthy A-Rod protecting Mark Texiera, and a rejuvenated Robby Cano, the Yankees offense is ready to put up some gaudy numbers throughout the summer.Good pitching + great offense + stable bullpen = many wins.

Now if they only can beat the Boston Red Sox…

Grade So Far: B+/B

METS

Record: 25-20 (.556 winning %)

Place: 2nd NL East (0.5 GB of Philadelphia)

Biggest Win: May 23 against Boston; Take first two at Fenway, beat Papelbon in 9th inning

Biggest Loss: May 18 against Los Angeles Dodgers: Mets Committ 5 Errors, lose run via 3rd base appeal

Largest Winning Streak: 7 (May 4-May 10)

Largest Losing Streak: 4 (April 19-23, May 17-20)

Biggest Surprise(s): Omir Santos (26 GP, .737 OPS)

Biggest Disappointment(s): Oliver Perez (1-2, 9.97 ERA, 2.26 WHIP)

Who to watch for: John Maine (2-1, 3.00 ERA last 4 starts)

Interesting Stat: Mets have committed 35 errors in 42 games

The Mets have battled through injuries and a comedy of errors to somehow have a winning record. Unsurprisngly the team is rescued by Johan Santana, who has proven he is the best pitcher in baseball. Carlos Beltran has carried the team the first two months of the season with his inspired play as well.

If the back of the Mets rotation can show some consistency, and if the bullpen remains solid, look for the Mets to stay in the hunt all summer.

Grade so far: B/B-

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend. MDW is one of my favorite times of  the year: BBQ’s, patriotism, baseball and my birthday. It really doesn’t get much better than that.

With that said, what an incredible weekend it was for baseball fans in NY! I can’t think of any weekend where Mets fans and Yankees fans had a common cause and were rooting FOR each other-as the Mets played the Red Sox and the Yankees faced the Phillies.

The highlight was by far Saturday when both NY teams had dramatic come from behind wins. In the Bronx, an A-Bomb from A-Rod added to the recent miseries of Phillies closer Brad Lidge. And then, Melky Cabrera continued his solid season with his third walkoff rbi. A few hours later in Boston, Sox closer and first class pinhead Jonathan Papelbon surrendered a two out, 2 run homer to Mets secret weapon Omir Santos!

The weekend closed out an eventful homestand/roadtrip for both teams. The Yankees finished the home stand 8-2 with four dramatic walk off wins, including a ridiculous three in a row against the Twins last weekend. ABSURD. Seriously. The Yankees have truly made that ballpark a home field advantage. While it isn’t the real Yankee Stadium, somehow I’d like to think the fanbase will warm up to it just because the Yankees will NEVER be out of a ballgame.

Not with how the ball flies. Not with the Yankees murderous lineup. NEVER.

The Mets meanwhile finished 5-5 on a very arduous road trip that took them to San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Boston all while missing the following for at least one game on the road trip:

Carlos Delgado; Jose Reyes; Alex Cora; JJ Putz; Francisco Rodriguez; Gary Sheffield; Ryan Church.

I’m pretty sure Tom Seaver, Mike Piazza, and Darryl Strawberry had MRI’s done too.

It’s pretty ridiculous how injured the Mets are and that they were able to manage anything in the wins column. That said, the Mets should have finished BETTER than 5-5 on this road trip-especially since they gave away one game in LA when Ryan Church forgot to touch third base while trying to score.

Fail to touch third base while trying to score? You’d better be injured Ryan…in the head.

Anyway, since they won 2 out of three in Fenway, I’m still happy…especially since last time the Mets were in Fenway (2006) they were swept and I got to see it firsthand. Ugh.

With the conclusion of MDW, were are also now finished with roughly a quarter of the baseball season. And thankfully, it seems like we’ll have  a very exciting summer for both teams.

Of course, whether the Mets will have an exciting September is a whole other story…

Again, apologies to all of you (80) loyal BAS readers. We have all been uber busy with finals, work, etc. Now that the busy season has passed, let’s get back to talkin’ sports!

So Mets coach Jerry Manuel spends all of Spring Training preaching sound fundamental baseball, complete with excellent defense and solid base running. Apparently the Mets were giving Jerry the Willie Randolph treatment in Spring Training however, because they have done nothing of the sort thus far. I’m not pointing fingers at Daniel Murphy either, because everyone had to realize that Murph was going to be below average in LF. I’m talking about David Wright and his inability to throw the ball directly to the first baseman with any regularity. I’m talking about Angel Pagan calling off Carlos Beltran on a fly ball that Beltran clearly had. I’m talking about Jose Reyes and probably the worst baserunning that I had seen since I played tee-ball.

Defense and good pitching win games, and the Mets have rarely showed either throughout the season thus far outside of Johan Santana. They need to tighten their game up immensely, and it needs to happen now rather than later. I think moving Murph to first base last night was a great first step in starting the trend. He looked much more comfortable and at ease at first, and even made a few nice plays. I know it is only game, and Murphy didn’t have to make any difficult plays, like throwing to second base as a righty first baseman, but it is a good start.

Good teams overcome tough losses. The Mets need to overcome the loss of Carlos Delgado, and might even need to overcome the loss of Jose Reyes as well. Mark DeRosa would be a great fit on this team, but he hasn’t played much shortstop. Joel Sherman suggested trading JJ Putz for him today in his Hardball blog. I think trading Putz for DeRosa is a little steep, but I like the idea. What about trading for Jack Wilson if Reyes is out for a long time? The guy has been on the perpetual trading block for what seems like years now, and even though he isn’t much of a hitter, he still plays excellent defense. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see Omar Minaya look into acquiring Orlando Cabrera from the A’s.

These ideas all might be for naught. Murph could be solid at first, and Reyes could be out about a week. But the team needs to be sured up some how, before it is too late. I think getting stronger defensively is a great start, and Omar should be looking ahead to doing that, along with maybe acquiring another starter.

Hi Everyone, remember us?

Sorry for not posting for a while. The BigAppleSports guys have been pretty busy this week. I’m sure the ten of you that actually read this blog were really devastated.

Anyway, it’s time for a late inning rally. So let me sound off on what I missed writing this week:

Yankees

Obviously we start with the Yankees. Tons of stuff to talk about with them.

First of all, Alex Rodriguez has returned with A-vengence. The third baseman who recently came off the disabled list has had quite the flare for the dramatic.  First, he homered on the first pitch he saw in Camden Yards and then today, A-Rod hits a walk off homer in the eleventh inning in what was only his second game at the new Yankee Stadium. For all the messes Alex has caused in spring training and in the recent days surrounding the release of Selena Roberts’ book, he has been able to perform in a short sample-which is a very good sign. Let’s be honest, A-Rod might be a pinhead, but Yankees fans would be foolish to not want his presence in this lineup.

Speaking of the lineup, nice to see Brett Gardner playing well. The speedy outfielder hit his first major league homer a couple of days ago in Toronto, and then had an inside-the-park  version last night against the Twins to spur a late game comeback. It’s also no surprise that the Yankees are making major rallies when Mark Texiera is getting hot with the bat.  I can’t wait to see how dangerous this lineup will be if Texiera, A-Rod, and Robinson Cano are all hot at the same time.

Oh..and good job by the Yankees FINALLY allowing fans to come down to the field level near homeplate to watch batting practice. Slowly but surely the Yankees are realizing how badly they screwed over the everyday fan with this new stadium.

Mets

What can I say about the Mets? Well maybe I shouldn’t say anything because they are actually playing well. Yea, that’s a good idea…No comment.

However, I will say this: I am concerned about Carlos Delgado. Delgado was placed on the disabled list today and will see a hip specialist next week to examine him and determine whether his injury (an impingment?) requires surgery.

Now, a doctor I am not. But, if you have heard any clips of Mets manager Jerry Manuel talk about Delgado’s injury, you have the feeling Delgado’s injury is pretty serious. Hard to believe that though when I was watching Delgado hit a 3 run homer off a lefty at Citifield last friday. We’ll see….

Nets

The Nets, really? In May?  Yup…because  THE NETS ARE ACTUALLY GOING TO BROOKLN!

No seriously, just check this out from the AP:

Developer Bruce Ratner says he is ready to break ground on a Brooklyn arena for the New Jersey Nets this year after an appeals court struck down a challenge to his Atlantic Yards project.

Ratner says he plans to begin building the $800 million arena this year after issuing bonds to finance the project this fall.

The state Supreme Court’s appellate division on Friday struck down an opponents’ lawsuit that sought to stop the state from using eminent domain to seize property where the 22-acre Atlantic Yards project is slated to be built.

I guess this means the Nets will be the hot new attraction in the NBA and a new player in the LeBron James sweepstakes.

The opponents say they will appeal.

Nevermind…

Knicks

The Knicks may or may not have a verbal agreement to draft Davidson’s Steph Curry if they do not get a top 3 pick in this year’s June amateur draft.

I don’t how to feel about this. I love Curry’s game, but I don’t know basketball well enough to know how his game will translate to the NBA and especially Mike D’Antoni’s system. I do know this: Curry can shoot and D’Antoni’s offense is predicated on good shooting. Unless you can get a potential franchise center like Blake Griffin from Oklahoma or UCONN’s Hashem Thabeet,  who will surely go 1-3 in the draft, you might as well add more depth to your guard play.

From the Associated Press/ ESPN.com:

NEW YORK — Manny Ramirez was suspended for 50 games by Major League Baseball on Thursday, becoming the latest high-profile player ensnared in the sport’s drug scandals. The Los Angeles Dodgers star said he did not take steroids and was prescribed medication by a doctor that contained a banned substance.

The commissioner’s office didn’t announce the specific violation by the 36-year-old outfielder, who apologized to the Dodgers and fans for “this whole situation.”

However, two sources told ESPN’s T.J. Quinn and Mark Fainaru-Wada that the drug used by Ramirez is hCG — human chorionic gonadotropin.

HCG is a women’s fertility drug typically used by steroid users to restart their body’s natural testosterone production as they come off a steroid cycle. It is similar to Clomid, the drug Bonds, Giambi and others used as clients of BALCO.

Wow. Where should I start?

Well, first reaction was shock.

Manny by all accounts  is aloof. He  seems like a guy who wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between steroids and Tylenol. Then again, that might be part of the problem…or a convenient excuse.

Second reaction: Man oh man I’m glad the Mets didn’t sign him.

Imagine if the Mets signed Manny for $25-30 Million instead of, let’s say, acquiring JJ Putz and/or K Rod, and he gets SUSPENDED?!?! (Note: Not that far fetched on my part,  Omar had made comments infering the organization would have gone one of two routes last offseason: invest in a super offense or in a super bullpen).

Imagine if this went down and the Mets were 13-13 like they are now??? Omar Minaya would have been fired an hour after the suspension was announced, and the Mets 2009 season would have been officially OVER.

Third reaction: Dissapointment

Other than Albert Pujols, he’s the best right handed hitter I’ve ever seen. And he’s done it a lot longer at a prolific pace than Pujols. He also put up monster numbers for one of baseball’s biggest franchises and was a DOMINATING  presence in the biggest rivalry in all of sports, Yankees v. Red Sox.

I want to believe I am watching the best baseball players of all time, and not just of their era. PED’s will never allow me to know.  Oh well, still love baseball anyway.

Fourth Reaction:HCG is a women’s fertility drug?

Really Manny? Really? That time of the month?

Final Reaction: Yankee Fans?

I believe Tarik (the token black guy thrown into jail)  in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle said it best:

“In the end, the universe tends to unfold as it should.”

I know you wanna celebrate this news. And frankly, you should. Sure, there’s no link to Manny using PED’s as a member of the Red Sox (yet?), but at least now people will be looking BIG TIME. Like Selena Roberts-Alex Rodriguez big time. And if there is any link to PED’s and the Red Sox, well….Maybe you shouldn’t celebrate just yet. But that could be a ridiculous day in Big Apple Sports.

From Buster Olney on his blog today:

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and the Mets are desperate, with their $36 million investment in Oliver Perez in jeopardy of being a total loss. So here is a potential solution: The Mets should bring back Rick Peterson, the former pitching coach they fired last year, to work with Perez as a personal coach, whether in the minor leagues or in New York.

The Mets already are paying Peterson for 2009, and they know he is capable of fixing the left-hander. Perez had a 6.63 ERA for the Pirates in 2006 before he went to the Mets in a trade, and after working with Peterson, he went 15-10 with a 3.56 ERA the next season. Perez might or might not have liked Peterson, but the work he did with him helped. Peterson might or might not want to help the Mets, but perhaps they can make it worth his while. If pride is an obstacle for the Mets’ front office, the parties involved should get over it and make this happen and give themselves every chance to salvage Perez. The notion that the Mets’ position players lack toughness is a red herring, distracting from the team’s much more significant problem of poor performances from a lot of parts of the rotation. So far this season — the team’s first in a park that clearly favors pitchers — the Mets rank 25th among 30 teams in starters’ ERA. On the other hand, they are ninth in OPS.

For those of you who aren’t famililiar with Tim, he used to annually name his fantasy baseball teams “Rick Peterson’s Jacket.”  Although I like Olney, I find this idea completely outlandish.  To bring back the previous controversial (he had big time supporters as well as detractors) pitching coach as a consultant for one struggling pitcher would be a complete slap in the face to the current pitching coach.  Of course, that would be a classic Mets move.  If Peterson’s name would be thrown into the mix in the first place, it would have to be to bring him back as the full-time pitching coach.  Now I’m not saying they should necessarily do that, because the Mets didn’t exactly resemble the 1995 Braves during Peterson’s tenure.  But the idea of bringing him back as a consultant is completely Pinhead-ed, which means it’s a move the Mets may consider.  And I’m sure Tim loves it.

This Mets team will NOT make the playoffs this season. You heard it here first. Go ahead and call me crazy. Go ahead and say that we are only twenty-one games into the season. I don’t care. This team will not make the playoffs as comprised.

The starting pitching aside from Johan Santana is absolutely horrendous. I don’t care that John Maine and Mike Pelfrey had good starts their last time out. Even bad pitchers pitch well from time to time. I mean even Anthony Young won a game once in a blue moon. I don’t doubt that Pelfrey is going to be a good pitcher some day down the road, but to ask him to be your second starter this early in his career is just irresponsible. Terrible job by Omar Minaya. John Maine is coming back from an injury and you are asking him to pick up the slack that is Oliver Perez. Not gonna happen. Maine is a solid number 4, but right now he is being asked to be #2a, and that just won’t fly. Failure by Omar again. Oliver Perez? Well, I don’t think I even need to discuss him.

It all boils down to a deficiency in the front office that the Mets have. They have no foresight into what might be on the downslope during the off-season. Two years ago, we needed an ace and we left the bullpen alone. Last year, we needed a bullpen. Omar went out and got it. Honestly though, I think I could have installed my sister as GM of the Mets, given her a two minute briefing on what was going on with the state of the Mets, and she could have fixed those problems with league leader statistics. The great GM’s are the ones who make moves to reshape the team, not just fix the problems. Great GM’s also make great lateral moves, even if they seem like they won’t make a difference to the team in the short term. The only great lateral move that Omar has made in his tenure here was the trade of Kris Benson for John Maine and Jorge Julio (who later on turned into Orlando Hernandez). It is just unacceptable.

If I am Fred Wilpon, I am thinking long and hard about the future of Omar.

David Wright will be fine. He is a terrible April player and always will be. He basically follows in the steps of Mark Teixiera in terms of April starts. The thing that concerns me about him is the strikeouts. I think these are a product of David being mentally drained from the past two seasons, as well as the World Baseball Classic. Jerry Manuel needs to sit him down for a game, and let him gather his thoughts and get back on track. The booing? I understand it, but I can’t imagine it is helping. For once, let’s try to be supportive of a player in a huge slump. Do Yankee fans ever boo Derek Jeter? I don’t even think that many booed him when he went into the terrible slump a few years back. Heck, Bill Slattery cried when he snapped out of it. Cheer David on folks, he has done so much for this franchise already, so cut him some slack.

Speaking of Jerry, he has officially severed ties with another player on the Mets. This time it is Ramon Castro, who was called back with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the 9th. Who batted for him? Omir Santos. Talk about a slap in the face. Ramon is done here, no questions asked. I think they are just frustrated with his inability to stay healthy for long streches. I don’t blame them.

There needs to be moves made with this team. I know there aren’t alot of players out there. A shakeup with the players always works though. Maybe calling up Fernando Martinez? Something has to be done. Fix it guys.

That’s now two straight games the Mets bullpen has blown to NL East rival Florida.  I was starting to get worried that the National League’s favorite bullpen had finally turned it around, but over the last two days they’ve started showing signs of life.

Not that I should be bragging, seeing as how the Yankees bullpen thus far has been an even worse version of the 2008 Mets pen.  Peter Abraham has nicknamed it the “Firestarter Five” and I certainly can’t argue.  But few things in life give me greater pleasure than needling Met fans.

I am quite aware the Mets are 6-9. I don’t like it and yes, I can’t help but be annoyed.

But rather than damn a season that has 147 games left (91%  remaining ), I think I would just like everyone to take a deep breath.

You don’t need to  get a guillotine ready to chop Dan Warthen’s head, or Oliver Perez, or whoever is the next media, fan base whipping boy.

In fact, I believe it’s this whole overly intense nonsense that’s part of the problem. Everyone’s screwed up in the head, living on a viscous cycle of feast or famine.

Don’t fire anyone, or overpay a injury prone Pedro Martinez, or breakup the core.

At this point, anything other than being frustrated is overreacting. And in this city, it pays to play it cool.

Now that each of the two new Big Apple ballparks, let’s take a look at the early reviews.  I have yet to go to Federal Bailout Field, but I was at the new place where the Yankees play for the Saturday exhibition game against the Cubs.

Yankees

• I don’t like the new place, and let me tell you why.  If the real, the one, the only Yankee Stadium were the working-class blue collar Bronx, then this new joint is uppity snobbish Manhattan.  Let’s start with the most egregious new feature of the new place, the Mohegan Sun Sports Bar.  I was watching the game last Thursday when they had Bob Lorenz give a report from the bar, and reading off some of the menu.  Truffle Fries.  Grilled Cheese Brioche.  Ahi Tuna Nicoise Grilled Pita.  Blue Crab Mini Tacos.  Shaved Roasted Lamb Loin, Tzatziki, Crisp Greens, Tomato.  What the hell are those things?  Is this place a ballpark food joint or a cafe on the Upper West Side?  I remember shredding the Diamondbacks in 2001 because they served spinach quiche at Bank One Ballpark.  The stuff on the menu at our place makes spinach quiche look like hot dogs with chili, cheese and onions.
• Tommy Bahamas.  Are you kidding me?  The patrons of this abomination are probably all A-Rod fans (because as we know, A-Rod drinks wine coolers).  Next time I go to a game, I think I am going to stand outside Tommy Bahamas and mock all of the people in there.  And I swear on the holy name of Wade Boggs (who once drank 64 beers on a cross-country flight) that if I see umbrellas inside of the drinks, I will cross over to the south side of 161st Street, break into the real Yankee Stadium and pretend I’m watching a game there.
• Let me go on another rant about going to a ballpark to watch a game in one of the bars.  Why bother?  Essentially what you are doing is paying an insanely expensive cover charge.  Why would you pay $50+ for  one ticket to the game, to then go to one of the bars to watch?  It makes no sense.  If you’re going to watch the game from a bar, you might as well walk down the street and go to your local watering hole, where you won’t have to pay to get in.  If you buy a ticket to a ballgame, watch the damn game from your seat.  It’s completely baffling why people would go to a ballpark and then watch the most of the game from one of the bars.  With Pinheads spending their money so Pinhead-edly, it’s no wonder we are in a recession.
• The Peter Max Art Gallery.  You cannot be serious.  An art gallery in a ballpark that houses the Yankees, the greatest franchise in sports history?  I almost walked out of the ballpark when I saw this place.  How could any real fan justify having an art gallery inside of a ballpark.  That would have NEVER flown in the real Yankee Stadium.  But in this new wine and cheese ballpark, it’s embraced.  Not to mention, the pictures suck.  If you go, check it out and you’ll probably agree.
• Now that I’m done ripping the new place and it’s “amenities” let me talk about what really matters, the game.  It’s too early to definitively make a call, but this place is playing out like a joke so far.  If you’ve watched any of the games, you know what I’m talking about, particularly the barrage of home runs to right field.  It’s all the rage on the Yankee blogosphere right now, and rightfully so.  Batted balls that should be routine fly balls to the right fielder are home runs and standard home runs to right are Ruthian blasts.  Check out Big Tex’s home run last Friday, it was a monster.  The place is already being called Coors Lite, a reference to Coors Field in Colorado, one of the greatest hitters parks you’ll find.  I think the reason the ball is carrying so well is that the concourses are now open, creating a wind tunnel to the playing field.  At the real Yankee Stadium, the field was separated from the concourses, but now everything is open, which has to create more wind.  All I can say is this: imagine the show Josh Hamilton would have put on if last year’s Home Run Derby were held at this place instead of the real Yankee Stadium?

Mets

• Federal Bailout Field has opened to rave reviews thus far (but let’s be honest, a rat-infested boiler room is luxurious in comparison to Shea Stadium), but one of the biggest complaints from Met fans about Federal Bailout Field is that it fails to showcase the Mets history.  How is that a bad thing??? When the greatest moment in the history of your franchise is an error made by a player from another team, a play considered by most to be the greatest gaffe in baseball history, do you really want your history showcased?  If I were to put together a showcase of the Mets history, I would have to pay tribute to legends such as Bobby Bonilla, Mel Rojas, Kenny Rogers, Mo Vaughn, Roberto Alomar, Armando Benitez, Mark Corey and the legendary Pepe Mangual (shout out to Tony Marra if you actually read this blog).  Let’s not forget anti-heroes like John Rocker, Chipper Jones, Yadier Molina and countless others.
• Unlike the new place where the Yankees play, Federal Bailout Field is playing out to be a hitters graveyard.  Just ask Brew Crew slugger Ryan Braun, who had this to say, “I wouldn’t be overly excited about playing 81 games here as a hitter.  There aren’t going to be many home runs to the middle of the field.  You’ve got to get it pretty good.”  Now that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  It’s not ideal to be a hitters graveyard, but if you ask me it’s better than playing in a bandbox like the new place where the Yankees play seems to be.  The obvious beneficiary of the new ballpark will be Johan Santana, who is the front-runner for the Cy Young award no matter what his home ballpark is like.  Pitching in the spacious Federal Bailout Field should make him a lock.

I always prided myself on having a better stadium than the Mets.  I used to laugh when Met fans would somehow try to make the case that Shea Stadium was better than Yankee Stadium.  It was like listening to my good friend Rod Blagojevich rationalize selling the Illinois Senate seat.  Unfortunately, with the two new ballparks, that gap has narrowed considerably.  The new place where the Yankees play does not live up to my standards for a ballpark.  It belongs on the corner of 72nd Street and Park Avenue, not on the corner of 161st Street and River Avenue.  I miss Yankee Stadium.

Just another day and another milestone in New York sports.

We’re awfully spoiled, folks.  Think about what we’ve had the last four weeks: we’ve seen Martin Brodeur become the winningest goalie in NHL history,  the opening of two brand new baseball stadiums, and a now a 500th homerun.

Last night, new Met Gary Sheffield hit a pinch hit homerun in the 7th inning to tie the game against the Millwaukee Brewers 4-4.  The Mets would eventually win the game 5-4.

It was a pretty great at bat, actually. Sheff battled Brewers reliever Mitch Stetter for nine pitches, and then on an inside fastball (that didn’t get inside enough), Gary in typical Sheffield fashion turned on the pitch and launched a 400 foot bomb down the left field line.

It was also great to see the other Mets’ reaction. I mean, it was kinda expcted, but it’s always great to see that emotion and players embracing one of their own who has done something special. Remember Sheffield’s only been with the team for about two weeks. Very nice.

I am not gonna get all crazy and say Sheff will be a great acquisition and a great teammate who will help the Mets make the playoffs. I don’t know.  But this was an awesome moment. As many of you know, Sheffield is the nephew of Mets great Dwight Gooden. Sheffield grew up in Tampa, FL watching his uncle pitch at Shea, and always had an fondness for the Mets franchise. He was rumored to become a Met dozens of times over the past 12 years. Considering all that, it was great to see Sheff become the 25th player to hit 500 career homers in a Mets uniform.

Congratulations, Gary. Hopefully it’s the start of many exciting moments with the team.

I sure as hell hope the answer is yes.  Obviously I never want to see any Yankees get hurt, but I would rather see them get hurt than pitching this badly.  Wang, the 2006 AL Cy Young runner-up  who missed the last 3 1/2 months of the 2008 season with a foot injury, has been nothing short of abysmal thus far.  For those of you counting at home, Wang is sporting a shiny 28.93 ERA after his first two starts.  That could be a key here, “first two starts.”  I have never, ever been one to set off the panic alarm just one week into the season.  But even I must admit, I am worried about how awful Wang has been so far.  Even I can not say it is still early.  Because he is not getting unlucky or catching a few bad breaks, he is getting pounded.

I have watched both of his starts and can easily pinpoint why Wang has struggled so mightily: his sinker is not sinking.  When that happens, hitters will kill the ball.  If I were Tim Sharobem, I would come up with a corny joke like, “His sinker is more like a STINKER!!!”  Now, any casual observer can tell you that Wang is getting crushed because his sinker has been ineffective.  The real question is, why?  Is he still hurt?  Are his  mechanics off?  Is there something else?  Those questions I cannot answer.  Those issues will be resolved by the Yankees medical staff and coaching staff.  Hopefully that end result will be Wang returning to 2006 form.  But at this point, that’s not a safe bet.

Meanwhile, the Bronx isn’t the only borough on pins and needles tonight.  Federal Bailout Field was opened in classic Mets fashion.  It started off quite auspiciously when Padres outfielder Jody Gerut, the first batter in the history of the new ballpark, kicked things off with a home run off Mike Pelfrey.  Vintage Mets.  Then it got even better.  After the Mets heroically erased a four-run deficit to tie the game at 5, they handed a run right back to the Padres after Padres shortstop Luis Rodriguez (who???) reached third on a three-base error by outfielder Ryan Church.  Mets reliever Pedro Feliciano (it always comes back to the bullpen) then showed his moxie by not allowing a hit which would score Rodriguez on a base hit.  Nope, instead Feliciano balked, yes that’s right BALKED, to score Rodriguez.  That put the Padres ahead 6-5.  The San Diego bullpen took it from there, shutting down the Mets the rest of the way.  To top it all off, it was not just one, but TWO former Met relievers that closed out the Mets in the eight and ninth innings.  Duaner Sanchez and Heath Bell both threw perfect innings to close out the first game in Federal Bailout Field history.

Look at the history of the Mets, from their first game on April 11, 1962 to the last game at Shea Stadium on September 28, 2008 (the penultimate game of the Collapse Part II for those of you not familiar).  If you were to take into account all of this history and then draw up a storybook way for them to open their brand new beautiful stadium, it would go like this:

• The first batter in the history of the ballpark, the other team’s lead-off hitter, will hit a home run.
• The Mets will give their fans false hope by staging a comeback in the middle of the game.
• The Mets bullpen will rip their fans hearts out by allowing the other team to get ahead… with a three base error and a BALK.
• The other team’s bullpen, led by two Met cast-offs, will in the words of Tim Sharobem “LOCK IT UP” to nail down the win for the other team.

Wow, I could not have drawn it up better myself.  I’m sure all of you Met fans out there will be irate upon reading this, but tell me I am wrong.  Go ahead, give your franchise an honest look and tell me that I am wrong.  Nice new digs.  Same old Mets.

Even as a Yankee fan, I’ll admit that the YES Network is often a propaganda machine on behalf of the Yankees.  But who said that’s a bad thing?  For those of you who watched yesterday afternoon’s game, surely you must have seen the out of town highlight with Bob Lorenz.  Rather than showing highlights of the game between the Red Sox and Devil Rays, our main AL East rivals, YES instead showed a clip from the Rangers Indians game.  What would possess them to show highlights from a game that will have little bearing on the Yankees?

Because our old buddy Carl Pavano, the American Idle, got aboslutely rocked in his first start since leaving the Yankees.  The final line: 1+ IP, 6 hits, 9 earned runs, 3 walks, 1 K, 2 home runs allowed.  The Cleveland pitching was so bad today that even Andruw Jones went 3 for 5.

You could hear the glee in Lorenz’s voice as he rattled off Pavano’s debacle of a start.  And I sat there absolutely loving it.  Thank God for YES and the Yankee propaganda.

I know you have all been anxiously awaiting my fearless predictions. Here they are, and hopefully I do a little better than last year after I predicted a Mets/Red Sox World Series.

AL East

1. Yankees

2. Red Sox

3. Rays

4. Orioles

5. Blue Jays

AL Central

1. Indians

2. Twins

3. White Sox

4. Tigers

5. Royals

AL West

1. Angels

2. Rangers

3. Athletics

4. Mariners

AL Wild Card

Red Sox

ALDS

Yankees over Indians

Red Sox over Angels

ALCS

Yankees over Red Sox

NL East

1. Mets

2. Phillies

3. Braves

4. Marlins

5. Nationals

NL Central

1. Cubs

2. Cardinals

3. Reds

4. Brewers

5. Astros

6. Pirates

NL West

1. Giants

2. Dodgers

3. Diamondbacks

4. Rockies

5. Padres

Wild Card

Phillies

NLDS

Mets over Giants

Phillies over Cubs

NLCS

Phillies over Mets

World Series

Yankees over Phillies

NL Cy Young

Johan Santana

AL Cy Young

Jon Lester

NL MVP

David Wright

AL MVP

Mark Teixera

NL Rookie of the Year

Jordan Zimmerman

AL Rookie of the Year

Matt Weiters

On the same day the Giants released mega-Pinhead Plaxico Burress, the New York Mets signed quasi-Pinhead Gary Sheffield.  Sheff, while he does have many Pinheaded tendencies, does bring some positive intangibles.  He’s a fiery competitor who was once a fearsome slugger.  The flipside of his grit is that he’s an abrasive moron with a chip on his shoulder the size of Texas.  As a Yankee fan, I loved Sheff when he first came to the Bronx.  I loved the swagger he brought, not to mention the MVP caliber numbers he posted in 2004.  But over time he wore out his welcome big time with his constant complaining about not getting enough respect and incessant contract demands.  By the fall of 2006, I was very happy to see him get shipped off to Detroit.  The Mets may reap the benefit of a honeymoon with Sheffield, who will definitely be a man on a mission after getting outright cut by the Tigers earlier this week. 

The question is, can he still play?  All signs from the last 3 years point to no and by most accounts he was atrocious this spring.  But who knows.  Like I said, Sheffield is an angry, angry man.  I’m sure getting embarassed by the Tigers will fuel the flames of his rage even more.  It’s a worthy gamble for the Mets, who invested the veterans minimum in a guy who was once a fearsome slugger.  Good move for the Mets, even if it may not pan out.

Probably my most painful baseball memory. In a never ending practical joke war with Bill that we have been waged in since our days in high school, I came home yesterday to find this game DVR’ed in response to me filling our entire DVR with Red Sox highlights. I give him DAP for having the foresight to peruse the TV Guide to find this.

What I didn’t expect was to find out today that members of the Mets who were on the 2006 team were watching the same game that Bill had DVR’ed as a joke. I can only imagine the pain that they feel. Great job by Jim Baumbach of Newsday.

The MLB Network was on all of the Mets clubhouse televisions this afternoon, and if you were watching the channel at home you know what the Mets were watching.

Game 7 of the 2006 National League Championship Series.

Yes, that game.

If that wasn’t bizarre enough that that game was being aired in the Mets clubhouse, get this: players actually stopped what they were doing to watch it. As if all these years later they still can’t get believe things turned out that way.

Not everybody stuck around for the end. Carlos Beltran left his stool around the eighth inning, so he didn’t see the ninth-inning at-bat when he looked at the Adam Wainwright’s looping curveball for strike three that ended the Mets season.

But Jose Reyes sat silent at his locker, watching intently, pitch by pitch. David Wright was there for the eighth inning and left, bat in hand, but he returned in time for the final out. John Maine sat at his locker throughout the final innings, as did Oliver Perez. J.J. Putz watched, as well.

Not much was said. Really, what is there to say?

I love that Jose Reyes, David Wright, and Carlos Beltran (swing the bat Carlos…) are all using this as motivation, both to remember how they got there, and also how they want to get to the next level. Hopefully this motivation will translate to SI’s prediction about them winning the World Series.