I'm Sick

I'm sick of Jose Lima worrying about not getting calls.

I'm sick of Jose Lima making a scene and trying to make it look like he is not at fault for horrible performances.

I'm sick of getting IMs from my 'friends' that are Yankee fans that say 'Lima! Lima! Lima!'. It's sad that Met fans even need to watch him much less take abuse about him.

I'm sick of seeing Jose Lima. Now that Bannister is not coming back to replace either Lima Time! or Jeremi Gonzalez, we get to watch the Mets have no shot in at least one more game from Lima Time! because I doubt the Mets make a move. But don't worry, our bullpen is fantastic. You cannot even touch Darren Oliver, who could not possibly be worse than Lima Time!, and use him in a spot start or two until something, anything better than Lima Time! comes along.

In the immortal words of Jay Mohr, "what are we going to do about this?" Or for my Spanish speaking friends, que hacir con esto? Mr. Mohr may have used it in a different context, but the point is that there is a situation that needs to be..um...rectified. When Bannister went down, Keith Hernandez said he would not be back in four weeks. Unfortunately, he was right. Bannister is in trouble still and is now probably a few more weeks away even if he was going to take the mound next week and has John Maine even picked up a baseball? Not that those guys are the plugs for the holes in a leaky rotation, but they are something.

Alay Soler has been dominant in his eight starts this season. He has a 3-0 record with a 1.51 ERA, 5.29 h/9, 10.20 k/9, 0.82 WHIP, and 4.91 K/BB. I'm not going to get into obvious reasons that everyone has already gone over as to why the 26 year old is a better choice than Jose Lima. With no possibility of a trade between now and Lima's next start, there seems to be only one clear cut choice that does not have anything to do with breaking up the precious bullpen and it seems like a logical choice that really needs to be looked at.

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I found a worse decision than trading Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano. Paul McCartney being worth $1.56 billion and not having Heather Mills sign a pre-nup because it was 'unromantic' (neither is anal sex, but people do it).

Lawyer Mark Stephens of Finers, Stephens and Innocent told Reuters: "Heather and the child need to be looked after financially. I think you are looking at 150 million to 200 million pounds ($283-377 million)."

"She is the child of a Beatle and they have to live in a cosseted and protected environment," he said, recalling the killing of John Lennon by a crazed fan and the attempt on the life of George Harrison.

Four year of marriage! FOUR YEARS! That is some expensive ass. Yes, she got accustomed to a certain lifestyle in those four years, but the woman is not four years old. She seemed to get by well enough for the first 34 years of her life.

It's the Subway Series...WHOO!

Bob Klapisch lines out his reasons why this weekend series will be interesting here.

John Delco lists out his top ten moments in the Subway Series here.

George King and Mark Hale go over the Mets and Yankees to see who has the edge at which position.

I personally do not look forward to this time of the year. Why do I dread it? I just do. I hate having to interact with Yankee fans on any level, much less on a baseball level. Those smug bastards like the smell of their own farts and feel the need to remind everyone how many championships the Yankees have won and continually make comments like they did not know New York had another team. Going to games between the both teams has a nice playoff atmosphere, but having to endure Yankee fans for an entire game gets old quickly.

Last week, I was talking to a Yankee fan and one thing that struck me as bizarre while having the conversation. Apparently, some Yankee fans think that Met fans get mad because the Yankee fans do not care about the Mets. According to them, it angers us that the Yankees and the their fans could care less about what the Mets do while the Met fans care a lot about what the Yankees do.

1) This thought never crossed my mind and I hate the Yankees and their fans as much as anyone.
2) The Yankee fans love to serve up a healthy dose of superiority when it comes to Met fans and keep up to date on the Mets so they can do it.

Here is an IM conversation between one of them and myself.

my 'friend' the Yankee fan: heilman looked sharp (this was after the 1st game against the Phillies that he made the error that allowed the winning run to cross)

me: easy big guy. everyone makes an error. your parents had you, didn't they?

Not only was that unsolicited, but I detected quite a bit of sarcasm. Yankee fans indeed care about the Mets if only for fodder to try and make us feel bad. Of course 75% of the Yankee fans are casual fans and could not care less about their own team much less the Mets. While I do not particularly care for this time of year, I do try and make the best of it and pray the Mets win and the only thing that is keeping me going at this point is the fact that Pedro and Glavine are slated to start. If it is going to happen, you might as well have your best on the mound.

Here is an email from The Metropolitans Mailbag:

Metsfan1: Mike, How long does it take for a suave male Met fan to get to fifth base with a female Yankee fan?

Me: One date, and you don't even have to buy dinner.

Alan Schwartz does an interview with Mark Texeira for Baseball America.

AS: I know that part of your thinking was to minimize your time in the minor leagues.

MT: Definitely. The minor leagues is no fun--it is absolutely no fun. Three years in the minors would have been torture for me. When I decided not to sign out of high school, there was almost a plan set out--go to college, have the three best years of your life, which I did, be a high first-round pick, get a huge bonus, which I did, play one year in the minors, get yourself honed with a wood bat and professional baseball, which I did, and go to the big leagues and everything

AS: But you're the shining example of how well it can turn out. What if it doesn't?

MT: Well, that's the thing--if it doesn't work out, wouldn't you rather have a college education than have nothing? That money, I don't care how much you sign for, it's going to be gone eventually. I'd rather be happy with a college education and not have a bonus than be unhappy without a college education and saying, "What did I do with the last eight or nine years of my life?"

I talk to kids at Georgia Tech. I talk to kids in my high school, kids all over the place, parents. Because when it comes to the draft, I've been through the worst of it and I've been through the best of it.