Memories....

Josh Billings once said there are lots of people who mistake their imagination for their memory. An instance of this occurred just recently with A-Rod and his horrible performance in Boston

Before approaching Torre, Giambi said he talked to Rodriguez while the Yankees were playing in Boston.

"[Mike] Mussina doesn't get hammered at all. He's making a boatload of money. Giambi's making [$20.4 million], which is fine and dandy, but it seems those guys get a pass. When people write [bad things] about me, I don't know if it's [because] I'm good-looking, I'm biracial, I make the most money, I play on the most popular team ..."

"We're all rooting for you and we're behind you 100 percent, but you've got to get the big hit," was his message to A-Rod, Giambi told SI.

"What do you mean?" was Rodriguez's response, Giambi told SI. "I've had five hits in Boston."

"You [expletive] call those hits?" Giambi said, according to SI. "You had two [expletive] dinkers to right field and a ball that bounced over the third baseman! Look at how many pitches you missed!

Torre even jumped in...

Torre acknowledged meeting with Rodriguez in Seattle in August and telling him to change his demeanor.

"The tone I took to Alex is basically being honest with himself. And what I meant by that was, he had a tough series in Boston ... and I like to watch body language, he was making it appear like it was OK," Torre said.

A-Rod is the guy pointing at everyone else saying, "I'm not crazy. You all are the ones who are crazy." Anyway, back to the real matter at hand and the reason for this post....what was not imagination was the game Pedro Martinez put up against the Yankees on September 10th, 1999. Pedro put up one of the best pitching performances in the history of the game. Why bring it up now? Consider it looking at some of the better times of the Future Hall Famer as the biggest reason he was brought here (leading the Mets through the playoffs) has been foiled by a torn tendon in his left calf muscle.

On September 10th, Pedro beat down the Yankees and gloriously. In 1999, Pedro was in the midst of one of the best seasons any pitcher has ever had in the history of the game. He finished the season up with a 23-4 record, 2.07 ERA, 8.46 k/bb, 13.2 k/9, 6.75 h/9, 0.92 WHIP, .205 BAA, .248 OBPA, and a .288 SLGA. During that ridiculous season, September 10th could have been his most dominating game of the year. Pedro recorded a game score of 98 for a game in which he allowed one hit and one run on a Chili Davis homerun and struck out seventeen Yankees, which as far as I can find, is still the most Yankees ever struck out in one game. After Pedro gave up that second inning homer, he cruised and did not allow a fair ball after the 4th inning. An amazing performance at Yankee Stadium between the biggest rivals in sports and was one for the ages.

Those were the days....if the Mets had half of that Pedro, things would be just peachy in the Mets rotation right now with much less to worry about. Enter reality....

* * *

Hands off owners are nice, but I love it when an owner throws in his two cents like Carl Pohlad did the other day.

Pohlad said he has no preference as to which team — the New York Yankees or Oakland A's — his Twins face in the first round of the playoffs next week. Then he paused.

"I'd rather play the Yankees," he said, "because I know we can beat them."

Nice.

Mike Vaccaro puts it all in perspective.

But they didn't lose PEDRO MARTINEZ.

Because the truth is, the Mets haven't had the italicized, capitalized version of that player in an awfully long time. The Mets don't lose the 1969 edition of Tom Seaver, or the 1986 version of Dwight Gooden, or even the 2000 versions of Al Leiter and Mike Hampton.

Ron is drinking the Kool-Aid.

Q: Will the Mets be in the World Series?

A: I absolutely believe that the Mets will be in the World Series. There is no reason they can't beat the likes of St. Louis, San Diego, L.A., Philadelphia. There is no reason they shouldn't get through their own league. Now, getting through the American League, that's going to be a tougher journey.

Beltran gets in the Mets record book three times.

The Mets' record book opened three times last night, as Carlos Beltran blasted a solo homer to lead off the sixth inning.

Beltran's homer was his 41st this year, tying Todd Hundley for the Mets' single-season record. Beltran also now has 80 extra-base hits this year (38 doubles, one triple, 41 homers), which matches Howard Johnson's single-season team mark. And Beltran is now even with Edgardo Alfonzo's club record for runs in a year with 123.

Can someone teach Jose Reyes how to slide into home? It's really not that hard.

Some people are not drinking the Mets Kool-Aid...

Even before the team announced Thursday that Martinez would not pitch in the postseason, one National League executive predicted that the team was a first-round knockout waiting to happen. If the executive was overstating the case, his forecast seems rather prescient in hindsight.

At this point, it will be an upset if the Mets win the NL title. Even with Martinez, their starting rotation featured too many soft tossers. Without him, it simply isn't good enough.

An interesting tidbit...

Next year, TBS will have all the divisional-round playoff games, and it is the favorite to pick up the rights to a League Championship Series beginning next season.

In 2008, it will drop its 70 Braves games in favor of a national Sunday Game of the Week package. By then, Ripken could be the face of TBS' coverage.

"Playoffs?! Don't talk about playoffs! You kidding me?! Playoffs?! I just hope we can win another game!"

You won't read a word about the Mets play of late here.

Whether or not you think Jose Reyes is in fact more valuable than Derek Jeter is not the point. The point is that there can at least be a discussion in which someone backing Reyes would not be considered totally delusional.

        R   H  2b  3b  hr rbi  bb  so sb  avg  obp  slg
Reyes 120 192  30  17  19  80  50  80 63 .301 .353 .491
Jeter 114 207  38   3  14  96  67  99 32 .341 .414 .483

Who doesn't want to punch him in the spleen?

It is not exactly apples to oranges being that they do not bat in the same slot in the order and I would expect Reyes to knock in a few more guy further down the in order, but we are looking at two pretty fucking swell ball players. What is extremely crazy is just how clutch both have been.

Reyes

Runners On               .313/.376/.558
Scoring Position         .333/.404/.622
Scoring Position, 2 out  .406/.494/.841
Men On, 2 Out            .380/.462/.750

Derek Jeter

Runners On               .368/.458/.529
Scoring Position         .387/.489/.593
Scoring Position, 2 out  .381/.519/.587
Men On, 2 Out            .360/.477/.539

When you throw in age, salary, athleticism, Reyes' electricity and potential to improve, most GMs would probably take Jose Reyes given the choice. Reyes' tremendous strides forward this season, while not totally unforeseen, were not easily predicted. He always oozed talent, but continued to frustrate fans even earlier this season. It is easy to forget he is just 23 years old being he debuted when he is nineteen, but one thing is clear. This speedy Dominican has arrived and it is scary how good he can become. At such a young age, he has made a run at unseating the beloved Derek Jeter as the best shortstop in New York. Just let that sink in.

* * *

The Giants won't be able to turn away from the allure of having Barry Bonds on their team when/if he breaks Hank Aaron's homerun record, but the sooner they end the Bonds-era the better.

However, the larger issue with the article above about Bonds is the possibility of the Giants having to fly to St. Louis for a tie-breaker game.

If the Giants have to go to St. Louis for a makeup game Monday that would determine an NL playoff spot, Bonds wasn't sure whether he would have to make the trip.

"That's something to ask them," he said. "That's a question for the manager."

Yes, he has not been playing, but could he help the team win as a pinch hitter? Absolutely. If there is a shred of integrity left in this game, a team that is out of it still owes it to the sport to show up at 100% and try and win the ball game. Imagine some team getting knocked out of the playoffs because another team didn't feel like showing up? Unreal.

The casual fan has been edged out of the playoffs.

With more demand from season-ticket holders and sponsors, and with stadiums getting smaller, there are fewer postseason tickets left for the general public this year. The St. Louis Cardinals, who are leading in the National League Central division race, made only about 3,000 seats per game available for each of their potential home playoff games; last year, they made 14,000 tickets available for their first-round games. This week, the Los Angeles Dodgers -- who were tied for first in the National League Wild Card race heading into Tuesday night's games -- held a public sale of about 10,000 seats per game for the first round of the playoffs, a significant drop from the 15,000 tickets for the opening round in 2004, the last time the Dodgers reached the postseason.

It's a rough life, but this is the new climate of baseball. You want playoff tickets? You have to pay for them and get season tickets or a smaller pack of games to even sniff them.

Mike Carp is getting a chance to play some Hawaii Winter Baseball.

You have to respect Kerry Wood. At this point it is only talk and his actions could be in stark contrast to what he is saying now, but it sounds respectful so far.

"I know I haven't given this organization or the fans or this team what they paid for two, three years ago,'' Wood said in an interview with WGN-AM (720). "As a player, you feel -- you don't want to say 'guilty' -- but you [don't] feel like you've done your job and earned your money and gone out and done what you're supposed to do. There's an obligation there, absolutely.

"This organization has given me everything I've got and gave me a chance to play baseball, and they drafted me. There's definitely loyalty here. I love Chicago, I love the fans, I love the stadium, I love Wrigley Field. I love everything about the situation I'm in, but I understand the reality of the game. Hopefully, it'll be only one conversation [with general manager Jim Hendry]. We'll talk and decide what's best for the organization and best for me, and hopefully that's staying here."

The Mets Low-A Ball shuffle continues and the Hagerstown Suns are out and the Savannah Sand Gnats are in. The Mets youngins will play right in the Braves backyard. Good stuff.

The Sand Gnats, most recently an affiliate of the Washington Nationals, will continue to play their games at historic William L. Grayson Stadium, which will undergo a $5 million renovation beginning in the weeks ahead.

Likely playoff rotation according to some sources....

Game #1: The Duque
Game #2: Tom Terrific
Game #3: The Human Rain Delay
Game #4: John Maine
Game #5: The Duque

From the Daily News:

Turning serious for the postseason, the Mets sent home four players, ending their seasons: Heath Bell, Brian Bannister, Mike Pelfrey and Philip Humber. Bannister, who pitched last night, will pitch in Mexico this winter. Pelfrey and Humber (who tossed a 1-2-3 inning last night) will head to the Arizona Fall League next month. Bell's days with the Mets likely are over.

*sniff* *sniff*....No more Heath Bell? Good luck and I'm sure you'll be a solid reliever for somewhere in this crazy world.

I give my bitch these packs of wet Pedigree food with her dry food for dinner. They actually look quite tasty for dog food. Bits of meat and gravy with some even having bone shaped pasta. I've thought about partaking in the tastiness many o' time. Last night I was at the store picking up some as she was running out. They sell single packs and eight packs but also just came out with the twelve packs of tastiness. I went to buy buy the twelve pack when I noticed that they are charging more per pound on the twelve pack than the eight pack. Am I missing something here? Why are those bastards trying to rip me off? I know bulk does not always represent cheaper as anyone who has shopped at Costco would know, but it fucking should.

Crawford On The Block?

WOULD the Mets dare return to the scene of the crime? Would they consider trading another high-end young starter such as Phil Humber or Mike Pelfrey to the Devil Rays and risk a sequel to the Scott Kazmir blunder?

At the very least, they will get the chance to think about it since Tampa intends to dangle Carl Crawford in attempts to land a pitcher with top-of-the-rotation abilities.

Omar has cojones the size of Ramon Castro's head and he's not the one who dealt Kazmir for a damaged pitcher who never was anything. He would not hesitate to make a deal with the Devil Rays if he wanted to. However, it would cost more than just a Phil Humber or a Mike Pelfrey. For a team that is already rather offensively proficient, one has to wonder how much is too much? There will be plenty of teams that might be deeper in pitching willing to give up some players that are maybe more proven like the Angels were willing to give up Ervin Santana as pointed out by Sherman in his article. It would be naive to think that one arm and some mid level prospects would get it done.

Think Lastings Milledge and Mike Pelfrey or Phil Humber to start to even get the Mets into the running for Crawford should he be dealt. While Crawford is affordable for the next four years and is one of the best players in the league right now, the Mets would be giving up young and affordable pitching. They would have Reyes, Wright, and Crawford all coming up for big paydays in relative proximity to each other. While the Mets have spending power, it can certainly be debated where the Mets need to have their available resources targeted for.

With Carlos Beltran and Lastings Milledge in the bigs right now and slated to be around for a while with Fernando Martinez and Carlos Gomez on the near horizon, it would seem that the Mets should be looking to develop their young stud arms. The emergence of John Maine, the presence of Oliver Perez, the impressive start to his pro career by Kevin Mulvey, and Deolis Guerra certainly allows the Mets to entertain trading Humber or Pelfrey, but deep pitching is never a bad thing and the likelihood of all them panning out is slim. Safety in numbers, right?

With the Mets potentially having a nice, speedy compliment to Jose Reyes in Lastings Milledge able to hit in the two hole and play left while balancing the lineup out a bit better, Crawford may be a luxury the Mets do not need. Should Omar at least look into it? Of course, but Mets have a chance of their own to develop the type of rotation the Devil Rays are looking to put together and with solid the offensive product they should be putting out, a top notch rotation could be the key to a dynasty. I would approach dealing Phil Humber or Mike Pelfrey for anything other than a young stud arm in return with extreme caution.

* * *

In case you missed it....

A drunken Chinese migrant worker jumped into a panda enclosure at the Beijing Zoo, was bitten by the bear and retaliated by chomping down on the animal’s back, state media said Wednesday.

Zhang Xinyan, from the central province of Henan, drank four jugs of beer at a restaurant near the zoo before visiting Gu Gu the panda on Tuesday, the Beijing Morning Post said.

“He felt a sudden urge to touch the panda with his hand,” and jumped into the enclosure, the newspaper said.

This guy should be hung upside down by his toe-nails.

“I bit the fellow in the back,” Zhang was quoted as saying in the newspaper. “Its skin was quite thick.”

Depending upon Pedro's health, he might get get pushed back leaving game one to Tom Glavine most likely.

Randolph added that "depending on how [Martinez] comes out of his start, he might need to be pushed back."

After the game, Martinez said, "I don't know what's going to happen [Wednesday against Atlanta], so I can't say anything."

When asked if he could be pushed back from Game 1, Martinez responded, "There's always a chance."

Of course none of this matters as long as Pedro is healthy, but that seems to be up in the air though Rick Peterson is confident Pedro will be ready to go and cut loose in the post season. Hey, at least he is not shut down until the playoffs start.

Ramon Castro is getting the nod for the postseason as the backup catcher.

Randolph said Ramon Castro will be the Mets' backup catcher for the postseason. Castro could join the Mets during their three-game series in Atlanta, which begins tonight. ... The Mets' final home attendance was 3,379,535, setting a club record.

Carlos Beltran felt good in his return last night.

Neil Best takes in interesting look at the Mets and Yanks and who appeared more on the back pages.

It's close, probably closer than Mets fans who have complained to Newsday editors about perceived favoritism would expect. Still, those complaints got us wondering, so we counted:

From Opening Day through today, the Yankees have a 75-69 edge, all but locking up the regular-season title.

Of course he does go onto mention that the Yankees early struggles and everyone laughing at A-Rod provided a more compelling story for the writers early on, but the Mets did pretty good in getting their fair press this year.

Cha-fucking-ching....

The New York Mets tonight announced a final sale of 3,510,157 tickets for the 2006 regular season at Shea Stadium, which includes tickets sold for four rainouts (April 8 vs. Florida; June 2 vs. San Francisco; August 27 vs. Philadelphia; September 5 vs. Atlanta).

With tonight's crowd of 34,027, the Mets conclude their 2006 home schedule, attracting 3,379,535, including eight sellouts and 11 crowds in excess of 50,000 at Shea. This year's attendance is up 549,604 from last year's attendance of 2,829,931, a 19% increase.

Can the Mets hit 4,000,000 in 2007?

Emmanuel Garcia ranked #11 as the best prospect in the Appy League by Baseball America.

11. Emmanuel Garcia, ss, Kingsport (Mets)
B-T: L-R Ht: 6-2 Wt: 180 Age: 20 Drafted: Mets FA '04
Born in Montreal, Garcia went undrafted in 2004 because of baseball shortage of work visas. The Mets signed him as a free agent that winter and he made his pro debut by leading the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League in hits, runs and on-base percentage last year. He continued to impress in 2006, showing a complete package at shortstop.

Garcia's above-average speed might be his best tool, as he finished third in the league with 19 stolen bases, with his bat is a close second. Managers were uniformly impressed with his actions, range and body control at shortstop, but his arm is slightly below-average for the position.

Good stuff.

Overall as an organization, the Mets didn't have one person on the Baseball America All-Star teams for each level. Not a very good showing.

What, me worry?

The answer is yes, I worry.

"For the most part, we're just getting ready for the big dance," manager Willie Randolph said.

Winning would be nice to help get ready. I wasn't too concerned with the Mets huge lead and how it would affect them previously because they were still just showing up and killing teams. Now? Not so much. Yes, they have had their B team in most of the time with their starters getting a lot of rest, but their starting pitching has not been overly sharp lately and they have just looked flat. In the last twelve games, they have only scored over four runs once and scored four or more only twice.

Today

Mets      93   62   .600
Phillies  82   73   .529
Padres    83   72   .535
Dodgers   82   74   .526
St. Louis 80   74   .519

Since Sept. 15th

Mets      3     6   .333
Phillies  7     1   .875
Padres    7     2   .778
Dodgers   4     5   .444
St. Louis 2     6   .250

Since Sept. 1st

Mets      10   12   .455
Phillies  15    7   .682
Padres    15    6   .714
Dodgers   10   12   .455
St. Louis  8   13   .381

If the season ended today, the Cardinals would be the Mets opponent in the first round. That is a good thing. They are the only team in the playoff picture that has been colder than the Mets. The Dodgers have been struggling, but I think they will ultimately miss out on the playoffs. However, if the Cardinals put a streak together at the end and finish above the Padres, the Mets could be facing one of the hottest teams in the league in round one.

After that, the Mets could quite possibly have to play the hottest team of late in the Phillies. The benefits of finishing so far ahead are numerous. However, I'm not sold that they outweigh the benefit of staying sharp and having something to play for. The teams that were in a sprint to the finish and are firing on all cylinders might have a clear advantage over a team that might show up rather complacent. The first round is a best of five series and a team that is far and away the best team in the league could get their doors blown off by a hot team with hot pitching.

"We're a little bit in that honeymoon phase," Wright explained. "We're giving some guys a rest now to get them 100 percent healthy, but we're going to need to step this thing up and get rolling. To me, this is the first step of the playoffs, you need to get clicking to give you that momentum you need to have in the playoffs."

There are seven games left. The Mets need to be fully staffed and have their starters in for just about all of those games so they can get back into a groove. As of now the Mets are flat and boring. A hot streak at the end to send the team off to the playoffs is vital in my opinion. I would not want the Mets to roll in the playoffs playing they way they are now. They need to end the season on a high note and they need to get going.

* * *

Phil Humber's 1st inning in the bigs was a success.

"I could barely feel the ball in my hand (I was so nervous)," Humber said. "It was a surprise. I'm just thankful. They didn't have to give me a shot. Just being up here was cool, but being able to get my feet wet was pretty special."

Tracshel's vision seems to be a bit clouded.

"Tryouts were in spring training," Trachsel said. "I've got 15 wins. If 15 wins is not enough then I don't know what else to tell you."

Well, 15 wins might be enough and it might not. Trachsel doesn't want to hear the question and Willie Randolph, who ultimately holds the answer, isn't saying either.

Problem #1 with Steve's argument: John Maine, his main competition, has only fourteen starts to his thirty. Give them both thirty starts and I think things are not as cut and dry as he thinks in terms of the all important win.

Problem #2 with Steve's argument: His fifteen wins might have something to do with a his 6.61 runs of offensive support in his starts. Call me crazy, but I think that plays a large part.

Problem #3 with Steve's argument: Wins are nice, but his 1.01 K/BB, 4.32 K/9, 1.60 WHIP, and .288 BAA are puke worthy and should not sniff a post season start.

I have zero faith in his incapable arm and I don't even want to mention his OPS against because it is early in the day and everyone might throw up.

Carlos Beltran should be in the lineup tonight and needs only one homerun to tie the Mets club record and ten RBIs to tie the Mets club record. If he plays the rest of the season I see no reason why he will not beat the homerun record, but the RBI record is looking pretty safe.

Mr. Billy Wagner is good.

Mike Carp earns some hardware.

The New York Mets announced today that first baseman Mike Carp was named the Sterling Minor League Organizational Player-of-the-Year, while righthanded pitcher Mike Devaney earned Sterling Pitcher-of-the-Year honors.

The Tigers have clinched a trip to the playoffs for the first time in nineteen years.