Mets Merized Online

It took what seemed like an eternity, but Pedro Martinez is finally back!

He is slated to start on Monday unless he feels sluggish tomorrow after todays bullpen session.

Pedro said "If my arm doesn’t fall off, I will pitch on Monday." he also said "I miss my teammates, I can’t stand to be one more day without my team."

He had a very impressive bullpen session that featured an assortment of curve-balls, change-ups, and a fastball that was clocked in the low 90’s on the radar gun.

Wilie Randolph, Rick Peterson and Omar Minaya were all very pleased with the results, and after a short meeting, the decision was made to start Pedro on Monday.

There was one more thing that Pedro said during his interview. He said that if his change-up was as good as it was today, he can get anybody in the game out!

I don’t know about you guys, but this Mets fan is absolutely stoked!!

When Willie Randolph has Rick Peterson make a call to the bullpen, it has become a vicious game of "Choose Your Poison."

It’s like playing "Russian Roulette" with six bullets in your six shooter.

"Omar Minaya and Willie Randolph have to assume the blame." That is what Ed Coleman from WFAN had to say.

It was a poorly constructed bullpen that began when Omar Minaya decided to give Guillermo Mota the contract that should have gone to Chad Bradford.

It continued when the Mets dispatched the third best pitching prospect in their system, Brian Bannister, to the Kansas City Royals for the erratic Ambiorix Burgos. While Bannister is now among the top ten starters in the American League, Burgos and his unorthodox delivery is now out until 2009 after Tommy John surgery.

The bullpen was dealt a devastating blow when the Mets top two relief prospects, Royce Ring and Heath Bell, were traded to the San Diego Padres for flops, Jon Adkins and Ben Johnson. 

Even highly touted Matt Lindstrom was traded to the Marlins for the disappointing Jason Vargas.

Heath Bell is now one of the premier setup men in the league, while Brian Bannister has become the unequivocal ace of his team

Because of the way the bullpen was ravaged by Minaya, he was forced to pitch 21 year old Joe Smith for over 50 innings this season, leading to a sore arm and placement on the Disabled List this week.

The Yankees had Joba Rules for their prized prospect, but we had "blow the kid’s arm out" rules for Joe Smith.

Willie Randolph has refused to define any roles all year for the bullpen and thought it would be cool to just pick and choose relievers in random situations all year long until they became so disoriented that not one of them understands their role on the team.

His constant obsession with pitch counts on the starters, severely ravaged a bullpen that has become overworked and ineffective.

Now Omar and Willie are left with the prospect of a post season dangling by a thread, and a bullpen that has not one pitcher who can be relied upon.

The Mets traded their top pitching prospects at the time, and got absolutely no benefit for them in 2007, and yet they refused to part with any prospects for a chance to obtain any relief for the disaster that has become the Mets bullpen.

The Mets need this bullpen to not only save ballgames, but now they must save the team’s post season aspirations as well.

I thought I would share some of our recent comments and emails with you. None of it may mean much, but it does show the level of anxiety shared by most Mets fans this morning. 

Not a good week so far for our Mets. I am not happy with Willie Randolph for sending Wagner out for a second inning. He had already given up a homerun in the 8th. Instead I would have went to Heilman in the 9th. I can’t just blame Willie. Wagner is to blame as well for not being able to save the game! - Rob

Hey Mr. Met.. Do me a favor… Tomahawk chop a whole bunch of wood, light a fire, and stick it under this team’s a$$ and make them sweep the Braves. I know you can do it. – Yip

That’s great, not only does Willies decision to use Wagner for two innings cost us the game, but now he probably can’t be used Friday and Saturday during the Atlanta series. That means lots of Mota! Nice going Willie! – Steve

I’m just so sick and tired of people thinking that a bad stretch = doomsday. Yes its frustrating watching your team self destruct, but the nonsense that these people say such as the season is over, or Mets will be in 3rd by September 5th. These people show no sense of reality and no knowledge of the game or its history. Christian

I’ve never been one of those "get down on your team" type of guy, when the team loses, but right now I can’t stand the Mets… Willie Randolph is just a terrible manager. He can’t motivate his players to get off their highly over payed butts and produce… he’s just like his mentor Torre. – Joey

Wow, what a disaster. Billy Wagner might be suffering from a dead arm, but Willie Randolph is suffering from a dead brain. Wagner’s era has gone up over a point in his last 3 or 4 outings. And while complaining of a dead arm, he’s put into the game to pitch 2 innings. Nicely done, Willie! – Drew

Willie has made many mistakes this year, but none more critical than today. His handling of the bullpen is awful and his lack of fire or emotion is dragging the team down. We are in serious trouble with no help on the way. Omar should have bit the bullet and traded for Jon Rauch and Chad Cordero. Now we will limp through September hoping to get a wild card berth. – Angst24

Like I’ve said before… Bitch and complain all you want… but you don’t dare lose faith. After this sweep, I’m nervous about the upcoming series against the Braves… but my faith in our boys will not waiver. And yours shouldn’t either! – Rissa

Just a sampling of over a hundred comments and messages we received in the last 18 hours.

I would urge Mets fans to remember that our team has overcome many an adversity over their history. It’s how they coined the nicknames Miracle Mets and Amazin Mets. It’s OK to feel a little disappointment over the Phillies series, but like one of the commenter’s above said, don’t you dare lose faith!

Lets Go Mets

After the Mets (and our) recent nightmare yesterday, many thoughts raced through my mind as to what my blog should be about today. I would really like to stay cheery and positive, but it would just feel like I’m being phony. So I have decided to go the route of a “fake it till you make it” attitude and just do something completely random and nonsensical…which happens to be a specialty of mine. That being said, here it is…my cast of Mets and their most hated rivals if they were cast for Star Wars, complete with movie quotes.

The Rebel Alliance(Mets)

Jose Reyes as Luke Skywalker – Confident, young and gifted, I can almost hear him say, “I used to bulls eye womp rats in my T-16 back home. They’re not much bigger than two meters.”, when faced with an impossible task.

David Wright as Han Solo- The handsome, swashbuckling, get the girl type(or girls in Wrights’ case!) and leader of the good guys. Always one of the first to give his mates a pat on the back. “Great shot, kid, that was one in a million!”

Paul LoDuca as Chewbacca- Okay, what he lacks in height in this role, Paulie makes up for it with a ferocity and passion that are unmatched on the team. It’s probably a good thing he isn’t 7 feet tall and hairy, or there wouldn’t be any teams left to play! As Han told C3PO as R2D2 was beating Chewbacca in a board game,” That’s ’cause droids don’t pull people’s arms out of their
sockets when they lose.”

The Empire(Everyone else)

George Steinbrenner as Emperor Palpatine- Old, wrinkly, scary and armed with a seemingly endless supply of money, he is the symbol of all things evil. He uses his money to hire the best rogues, whiners and over the hill superstars it can buy. All in the name of another division title or to finish ahead of Boston. I believe Obi- Wan put it best about the Bronx when he said,” Mos Eisley spaceport: You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.”

Roger Clemens as Darth Vader- A shadow of his former self, there actually used to be some good in Clemens before the influence of Emperor Steinbrenner caused him to turn to the dark side and throw not once, but twice at our beloved Mike Piazza. If we were to ask what made him sign with the Skankees I bet he would say,” You don’t know the power of the dark side. I MUST obey my master!”(Meaning the lure of money and Georgie.)

Hope this made you smile if nothing else…May the force be with you! (And the Mets too!)

Come check me out on MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/uncleaddy

The "Force" was clearly not with the Mets last night as they lost their third straight game in this series and their fourth straight overall.

The umpires have been a big factor in each game, and clearly, the majority of the calls have gone against the Mets.

Last night’s call by second base umpire, CB Bucknor, kept the Mets from scoring the tying run and snuffed out a would-be comeback from the Mets. The call clearly showed that Marlon Anderson had slid into the bag and touched the base with his foot, but the ump had nothing to say and invoked a rarely used rule to back up his case.

Willie Randolph rushed to the scene of the crime, but alas, the umpire just smirked and had nothing to say about it.

"He didn’t exactly say why he was out," Randolph said of his conversation with Bucknor. "Obviously, he thought there was some type of obstruction or something, I guess. I said it to him very plainly, ‘Marlon has his feet on the base.’

"It was a good hard slide. It’s baseball. I think it’s because we’re not used to seeing good aggressive baseball anymore."

Umpires used to be referred to as the gentlemen of the game. Today they are more commonly known by less affectionate monikers such as arrogant asses, instigating idiots, blind fools, and some more that I dare not mention in this blog.

Umpires believe they are bigger than the game and they do not hide the fact that they relish the moments where they decide who wins and loses, rather than letting the teams play decide.

Their strike zone can be as small or as vast as they choose, and you have to play three innings to try and find out what the strike zone will be on any particular day. But sometimes that formula don’t work, as was the case on Monday when the same CB Bucknor was calling the balls and strikes. It seemed that high and inside strike had been called a ball throughout the game, that is until the last two innings of the game where it all of a sudden became a strike again.

The Mets should have won last nights game without having to let such an egregious call by CB Bucknor cost them the game.

In that regard, the Mets have only themselves to blame.

Stay tuned for Episode IV… the final chapter in this 4-game series.

Here are the results of last weeks poll question which asked the question:

Do You Want Guillermo Mota On The Post Season Roster?

I’m sure it would surprise nobody that an overwhelming 58% of you said NO WAY. I wonder if any of you voted again after last nights debacle?

Only 9% of you said that you DEFINITELY wanted Mota to pitch in the post season. A number that I still feel was WAY to high.

IT’S OFFICIAL: GUILLERMO MOTA HAS THE HIGHEST ERA OF ANY ACTIVE PITCHER IN THE NATIONAL LEAGUE!

And yet, there are actually Mets fans who defend him and say he’s a good pitcher?

It’s so ironic that it’s the Yankees who have moved swiftly to replace ineffective pitchers like Scott Proctor, Kei Igawa, Tyler Clippard and most recently Mike Mussina. Meanwhile, the Mets continue to parade Guillermo Mota out there day in, and day out, despite the fact that he is an opposing hitters dream come true… 

Anyhow, let’s move on to this weeks Poll Question which asks,

Which of these Braves or Phillies is the biggest Mets killer?

1. Jimmy Rollins

2. Chipper Jones

3. Pat Burrell

4. John Smoltz

You can vote once a day on our poll host to the right.

Much has been made this year, (especially by me) of the lack of passion and excitement that has been missing from the Mets this year. With the exception of a Paulie LoDuca blow- up it has been pretty monotonous. It’s hard for me to say that when we have the most exciting player in baseball on the team in Jose Reyes…

Thankfully, we are soon to get the boost we have been waiting for in the return of Pedro Martinez. In 2004, when the Mets first signed Pedro, many of us claimed instant credibility for the Mets. He brought with him 3 Cy Young Awards, recent World Championship, and winning personality, so no one could really disagree. While he didn’t win 20 games or have an ERA under 1.00, Pedro provided a spark and joy that had been missing during the Art Howe regime. His signing ultimately and arguably paved the way for the signing of Carlos Beltran who most also agree would not be in Queens if not for Pedro. Carlos Delgado almost joined the party but was seduced by the Marlins money and recent success, another who never would have had Queens on their team wish list if not for Pedro. All of this kept bringing me back to a quote made by David Ortiz when told of Pedro’s visit to the Mets. “Pedro ain’t going to no Mets.”

Big Papi thankfully isn’t known for his clairvoyance.

Now, three years later and coming off right rotator cuff surgery(which has an 80- 90% success rate)predictably will thrust himself into the spotlight again. Granted, he may not throw in the mid 90s anymore, but he won’t have to. Thoughts of what he has the ability to do are going to be racing through the batters minds, and Pedro will capitalize on that. A fresh Pedro Martinez is going to do for the Mets what any trade deadline move would have done. If he brings back to Shea what he is expected to bring, no one will be surprised if the Mets leave Atlanta and Philly where they belong… in the dust.

Come check me out on MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/uncleaddy

It’s been a long and bumpy ride all season long for the Mets’ long list of would-be number five starters.

It started out with so much hope and promise after Mike Pelfrey won the job coming out of Spring Training, but after quickly falling to 0-6, a poorly executed game of musical chairs began.

The Mets have lacked a true ace all season long. A true stopper, if you will. It’s prevented the Mets from having a winning streak of more than four games, all season long. Give credit to this team for enduring this situation and yet still finding themselves atop the NL East.

They say that patience is a virtue. Well, the Mets’ patience is about to be rewarded in grand fashion.

The long awaited return of Pedro Martinez is now as close as one of his high and inside pitches, buzzing past your ear. The Mets have done what they had to do, to make it this far. They’ve held down the fort with guys like Chan Ho Park, Jason Vargas, Mike Pelfrey, Jorge Sosa and Brian Lawrence.

Now it’s time for the ace of this team to resume his rightful place at the head of a Mets rotation that has lacked consistency and showmanship.

Pedro Martinez has worked hard to get to this point, and he did it with hardly any setbacks. He showed up to his first rehab game ready to play, and since then he has continued to improve and most importantly, refine his extensive assortment of devastating pitches. He is what we call a perfectionist. Rather than mowing down minor league hitters at an alarming rate, he chose to hone his pitches and throw them with pinpoint accuracy instead.

During his last rehab start, Pedro had his best performance yet. He threw 88 pitches in a six inning outing that had him proclaiming,"I’m ready to help the Mets."

During the sixth inning of that game, with runners on second and third, and only one out, his manager walked to the mound ready to pull him out of the game, but Pedro wouldn’t have any of that. He was then asked to walk the cleanup hitter and set up the double play. Pedro shook off that suggestion and said, ‘this is my test" and convinced his manager to let him handle things the "Pedro way."

The inning ended just like so many other innings have, when Pedro was in danger in the past. He struck out the next batter on three pitches and ended the inning and his outing with a weak popup for the final out. Simply put, it was vintage Pedro.

He has not allowed an earned run in his last two rehab starts, and even though he feels he belongs, Willie Randolph and Omar Minaya want him to do it one more time before joining the big league team.

He is expected to throw up to 100 pitches in his final and biggest challenge yet.

Expect him to continue blowing away each and every obstacle, just as he has throughout his long and extraordinary career.

That’s the Pedro Way.

For the first time in who knows how long, the Mets finally have all their regulars in the lineup at the same time.  With the return of Paul LoDuca and Luis Castillo to the lineup tonight, we get to enjoy the team that Omar Minaya so intelligently put together to win us a World Championship.

But don’t get too used to seeing these guys all together out there.  In fact, by the time Pedro Martinez makes his comeback in about 10 days, the September call-ups will have already joined the team.  And as soon as the Mets clinch (which I know is some time away), the first string guys will yield way to the up-and-coming stars and backup players. 

But what kind of effect does the expanded roster have on a ball club?  The obvious is that the regulars get time off, so that they are well rested, both physically and mentally for the postseason.  And the flip side of that is that the backups get more playing time, so that they too are prepared for the postseason.  However, Ron Darling eluded to the fact that you have all these young guys who come up after their minor league season has ended, and they don’t realize what the big leaguers have done all season to get to where they are, and they don’t take things seriously.  It makes me think – could that kill the morale?  Could it frustrate the regular 25 guys?  Would Willie ever let that get in the way of winning?  It didn’t happen last year.  Considering we lost two of our starting pitchers just before the postseason began, we faired pretty well.  But it does make you wonder if that’s why teams who are so successful all season long, suddenly struggle in the playoffs. 

As I sit here and write this, the Mets are losing to the Phillies 5-2.  The NL East is far from being wrapped up.  These are the games the Mets MUST win (against Philly and Atlanta) because it kills two birds with one stone.  Not only do we win, but we don’t have to worry if they lose, because we already took care of that. 

In closing, I would just like to share my excitement in Endy Chavez’s return to the team tomorrow.  He is truly one of my favorite Mets and I just wish his return was at home, because I know he is a fan favorite at Shea as well.  In any event, the Mets still have work to do.  And as their new stadium’s corporate sponsor (Citi) states, “Let’s Get it Done.” … I think I’ll just stick with “Let’s Go Mets!”

PS…I worked for Citi for 5 years, so I felt a bit obligated to use their line!