Back In Business

I'm back, but I have not had time to chime in about the Mets. And really though, why would I? I leave for a bit and have to come back to this putrid display of baseball? To recap, the Yankees have three more wins than the Mets will in all likelihood clinch before the Mets do. The Nationals, who are not horrible, but certainly should be a team the Mets are capable of beating are absolutely owning the Mets. I did mention previously that this Nationals team is nothing to sneeze at and have not played all that much worse than the Mets since June 1st, but this is silly.

The Mets were at about 99.4% certain to make the playoffs when I left. Now, they are down to 97.9% which is still good, but not the right direction. Sure the Cardinals stumbled last year only to win it all and the Yankees had stumbled relatively recently at the end of the season only to win it all as well, but the Mets have big issues. The Duque's foot problem is persisting, Pedro needs extra rest, Maine's ERA is now comfortably north of 4.00, and Glavine still scares me.

No team is afraid of facing the New York Mets at this point. They still might have the most talent, but they are not the best team.

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The Mets need for pitching help was plain to see way before I left.

It's madness, really, asking someone with no experience to reverse one of the worst finishes in recent team history. What's worse, selecting Humber tonight exposes the flaw of using Brian Lawrence last Monday in D.C.

Why wasn't Humber chosen then? The answer is as obvious as it is damning: the Mets are operating without a late-September blueprint. No one saw this collapse coming, and no one has a way to end it. Randolph's closed-door speeches haven't worked. Players-only meetings have accomplished nothing. Coming off the road hasn't made a difference in the Mets' play, either.

Now it's down to guesswork, Humber and tightly crossed fingers. Not even the eternally optimistic Minaya could muster a strong defense of the rookie's enlistment.

"He's the best option available," is how the GM put it. "In a perfect world, you'd rather have a proven guy out there."

The Mets handling of their talent down the stretch is reprehensible. While it was clear they had a need, they failed to try some guys out and now it is probably too late. Nothing short of back to back no hitters would get Humber a serious look at contributing to this team but he should have been playing a large factor in the bullpen weeks ago. Now, he has three big league innings and has not pitched since the 11th and today is obviously the 26th. The last time he started a game was on August 27th. To me, that is not setting your guys up for success.

The Duque is inching his way back.

After throwing "50, 60" pitches in a bullpen session Tuesday to test how the bunion on his right foot has healed, Orlando Hernandez said if no problems arise today, he expects to throw a simulated game Thursday.

What can reasonably be expect from him health wise? His first start back might be in the playoffs and that certainly does not give me the warm and fuzzies.

There was some talk on the radio on with Joe Beningo on the Mike and the Mad Dog show about Willie feeling underappreciated. I'm sorry, but did I miss where he proved himself to be a manager who deftly navigates his way through the game and makes great decisions all the time? He is appreciated too much in this town in my opinion and a detriment to this team.

They also spoke about Willie not being allowed to pick one of his coaches. Sure, Omar might be giving him praise now, but nothing speaks more volumes than that. They fired the only guy he was allowed to hire and replaced the open spot on the staff with Ricky Henderson. If this Mets front office truly though Willie was cats meow, he would have some semblance of control and he is far from having control.

Moises continues to do what he always does. Just hit the shit out of the ball.

Some Africa pics to wet your whistles. I have not had the chance to go through them all and can post more later, but here are a few.

We were lucky enough to see two lionesses with seven cubs. Our guide said he has never seen more than three at a time so we were definitely fortunate. The best part was after the mothers did this woofing typing thing in a territorial manner, the little cubs would proceed to do what sounded a notch above a house cat's loudest meow in an attempt to be tough.


Nothing to add about the warthog except they look tasty. Bush bacon anyone?


It never gets old seeing one of these goofy bastards running around looking ridiculous.


Sweet.


Definitely not a common occurrence to see a cheetah this close. We saw one a few times under a tree in the distance, but seeing one sitting on the side of the road was rather fortunate. None of the big cats gave a shit about anything. If they were chilling out, you could get really close since they have nothing to worry about.


Baby elephant? Awesome.


The Serengeti had flat out the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. I have way more pictures than any man should own. I'll go put my mini skirt on now.


They vote for the creepiest animal had to be the hyena. They oozed creepiness with little effort. For two nights, we actually camped on the Serengeti and it was just my friend an I with some beers and a bottle of Jamison. We were continually checking for eyes staring back at us with head lamps. One time, while checking our back, I saw two eyes staring back.

I called my friend over to confirm what I was seeing and once he did, I ran to the tent. unable to get the zipper open more than five inches, I tried shove myself through. I couldn't fit and got shoved in with some help from behind. Feeling like girls, we went back out to check the scene and another pair was there. At that point, we called it a night. The camp people said it was most likely hyenas, but that was not exactly a gamble I was willing to take.


This was one of the lionesses with the seven cubs. Check her neck out as she has some gnarly looking wound on it.

All in all, it was an amazing, albeit very dusty and dirty, trip. We saw every animal but the Rhino and ate plenty of unidentifiable meats. I'll try and get some more complete pictures up in the next week or so for those of you who are interested in seeing more pics.