The NY Sports Fan

Yes, the Best Defense in the League!

2012-01-17T16:27:00.001-08:00

Since Saturday night, all I’ve been hearing is that Aaron Rodgers had an uncharacteristically bad day. Otherwise, they seem to say, the Giants could’ve lost their battle with the #1 seed and 15-1 Green Bay Packers. They outline each and every time Rodgers missed a pass or one of his receivers dropped a ball.

I say “bullshit.”

Rodgers missed the passes because he was out-of-synch all game long. The best passer in the world was only normal when he had pass-rushers up his butt all afternoon. His receivers got a little jumpy when they had defensive backs and linebackers growing out of their backs. Packer running backs found a lot of tough going and every Packer had to make sure they held onto that football.

Pressure. That’s what stopped the Packers. Relentless all-day-long hits and eleven guys paying attention, an offense the Packers kind of knew they couldn’t stop, a quarterback named Manning making all the throws and making all the right calls. The combination of all that was just too much for the green and gold, even at home.

There would be very few leaps into the stands that day.

I had called it exactly right. I had said that it would take the best defense in the league to stop Aaron Rodgers and all those nifty receivers, Finley and Jennings and Jordy Nelson and Donald Driver. And it did take some really great defense to do it. I think the Giants have the best defense in the league. Who’s better….the Ravens?

I don’t think so.

Not the guys from Baltimore, not the 49ers and certainly not the New England Patriots. The Giants are the best defense in the league. The 49ers will have something to say about that this weekend but it wasn’t the Niners defense that won their game against Drew Brees and the Saints, although for almost 3 quarters, they showed they were awfully tough.

In the final quarter, the Niners were getting picked apart. It was an almost miraculous performance by the Niners offense that saved the Niners day. Alex Smith and Vernon Davis saved the Niners. The Saints defense couldn’t stop a perfectly-thrown goal line pass to Vernon Davis. They couldn’t stop Alex Smith running with the ball. The Saints dared Alex Smith to beat them and so he did.

The Niners may beat the Giants but it won’t be their defense stifling Manning and those wide-outs. They may stop the run pretty well but the Giants should get their points. Hell, they may even be able to run the ball, though the wise would be wise to not count on such a happening.

Even Eli and all his weapons will have trouble penetrating that sure to be pumped-up Niners defense in San Francisco. But I think they eventually will. It’ll probably come late in the game, after having pressured that Niners secondary all day long.

The G-Men will eventually take the lead and hold it. Alex Smith and Vernon Davis won’t beat these Giants. The home field of that City by the Bay won’t beat them. After all, they’ve already come through that gigantic structure in Dallas and that frozen tundra in Green Bay. Those la-la Niners fans won’t shake them. It’s not likely anyway.

What might be likely is a bit of a Giants letdown. They’ve been through a lot of pressure themselves. This will be their umpty-ump must-win game in a row. And it’ll be the first time in these playoffs that they won’t be facing an acknowledged defense-killer at quarterback, no Romo, no Rodgers, just a guy named Smith.

And they’ve faced these Niners before. To a man, they think they should have won that game. That previous experience can do two things. It can build up confidence or it can lead to a little bit of complacency on the field. After all, it won’t be Rodgers guiding those Niners….just Alex Smith.

Our heroes will also be facing arguably the best head coach in the league. Jim Harbaugh doesn’t make mistakes. He’s no Mike Smith, the Falcons head coach, the 4th and 1 wonder. He’s no Jason Garrett either. He’s probably on a par with that Green Bay head coach who won 15 games this season.

Harbaugh will keep that team motivated. He’ll probably figure a way of getting to Eli. Harbaugh will likely find some chink in that Giants armor. It’ll probably be centered around the Niners running game and that horse Frank Gore.

But the Falcons had a horse of a runner in Michael Turner. He didn’t do much. And the Falcons had a great receiving corps…Julio Jones and Roddy White and that venerable Tony Gonzalez at tight end. That contingent scored zero versus the Giants. Sure, Mike Smith was a handicap but even the best head coach would’ve had trouble with the Giants that day.

The Niners though have some Smiths of their own, some formidable Smiths, not just Alex but also Aldon and Justin in that steely Niners front seven. Justin is especially scary. Anybody who witnessed him charging through that Saints offensive line won’t take anything for granted this weekend. The Harbaugh Niners are really tough and play really hard.

Unlikely as it seems to me, the Giants are currently the underdog in this matchup by 2 ½ points, no doubt due primarily to hosting the game in San Fran. The over-under is currently 42. That means the rest of the world thinks the Niners will come out on top by a score of 22 ¼ to 19 ¾.

I don’t think so. Yeah, I know all about the brilliant Niners coaching and their terrific kicking game and their stingy defense but the Giants ain’t chopped liver either. Harbaugh acknowledged as much the other day. He seemed to be of the same mind as Green Bay when they decided to on-sides kick in a tie game, that they would need an extra possession to win.

If the better team prevails, it’ll be the Giants game.

The Best Defense in the League?

2012-01-10T10:33:00.000-08:00

What an NFL Wildcard Weekend!!

I had thought this past weekend might be one of those yawners that seem to happen now and then. The matchups certainly didn’t lend themselves to one’s thinking that it’d be great entertainment, especially not the Broncos-Steelers game. I’d been looking forward to the Giants-Falcons, of course, but the other games didn’t send me, except for maybe the Bengals against the Texans. I thought the Bengals had a great chance.

Wrong, wrong, wrong!!

The Texans were off and running early. JJ Watt, a lineman for Pete’s sake, made a reaching stab of a Dalton pass to the flat and that play pretty much was a harbinger of things to come. There’d be no Dalton dramatics, there’d be no stopping the Texans running game….it was a pretty routine win for the contingent from Texas. For one more year, it’d be a shame to be a Bengals fan.

That Saturday night, the Saints-Lions was on the schedule. Nobody in their right mind thought the Lions would be able to stop Drew Brees but they actually did pretty well through the first half before utterly crumbling in the second half. It was like a snowball rolling down the hill. But, if you like watching a good quarterback work, Drew Brees is one of the three quarterbacks in the league that can absolutely destroy a defense.

One of the other two, of course, Aaron Rodgers, is unfortunately facing our Giants this weekend. His Packers have lost just once this year and Rodgers has been a huge part of the reason. The man is as accurate as anybody who’s ever played. He rolls around in the pocket and will take off running when the opportunity presents itself. The man just rolls.

Yeah. That’s true. But what about the Giants defense? Won’t that pass rush get to Rodgers? I certainly hope so but that Pack OL ain’t chopped liver and I’m not so sure the Falcons OL had one of its better days against the G-Men. But, statistically, as I can recall, the Falcons OL was pretty high in the rankings.

What I’m trying to say is that, if the Giants defensive line is the best in the league, if they can get to any quarterback in the league, then Rodgers might find himself running around a bit more than he is used to. I’ve already heard the Giants have a puncher’s chance and that’s as good an analogy as any, I suppose.

The trouble is that even a Rodgers under pressure is going to be pretty damned good. He’ll roll around and get rid of the ball when he must but most of the time, he’ll just find those receivers in perfect stride. Or, if they’re covered, he’ll just do that back-shoulder routine that’s so impossible to stop. Rodgers throws to everybody and he throws on the run probably better than anybody. So, even if he’s running, that doesn’t help the opposition as much as you’d think.

When the Giants beat the Pats in early 2008, Brady was the QB and, at the time anyway, Brady was considered the best quarterback ever. As things turned out, the Giants did indeed get to Brady and the pressure affected him bigtime. But Brady is a statue compared to Rodgers.

The aforementioned Brady is still in these playoffs, of course, and his Pats should have another reasonably good time against the Broncos. All I can say about that one is Tebow, Tebow, Tebow, Tebow. Watching Tebow running that Denver offense, when it’s all working, is a thing of beauty. What’s he going to do? Well, he could run himself, he could simply hand off or he could run to the edge and pitch it, or he could just wing it down the field, that last being the least likely of all.

That is, until Sunday afternoon. After Sunday’s game, the defense will have to figure against the Broncs passing game as well. Tebow’s 316 yards passing and two touchdowns, and another one rushing, pretty much killed any thoughts that the Broncs were only 3-dimensional. Any more dimensions, of course, would be out of this world, by definition, and that’s exactly what most Broncos fans are thinking about their quarterback these days.

After the Giants crushing of the witless Falcons, I would’ve been happy with the day as it was. I didn’t really need a great Broncos game, even if the Broncs opponent was the hated Steelers, the hated Ben Roethlisberger, that stupid Kiesel beard, that bully Harrison, and Mike Tomlin just out-thinking and out-motivating everybody else on the sidelines.

The way Denver went about their business was special. That first half was especially good, watching the Broncos not only take the lead with a beautifully-thrown Tebow pass that went the distance, but then adding insult to injury by just piling up some more points. And when hated Big Ben took the Steelers all the way back to inevitably tie the game in regulation, one had to think the worst. But Tebow’s on-target dart to Demaryus Thomas on the first play of overtime was just great. There would be no Steelers victory that day. Tebow to Thomas took care of that.

Saving the best for last, the Giants game proceeded pretty much as I had expected. The game started slowly, both teams did nothing and then things heated up quickly. But I’d thought both teams would have some success through the air. I’d thought Falcons head-man Mike Smith would ultimately blow the game. As things turned out though, Smith took his team out early with badly-run quarterback sneaks while the ponderous Michael Turner watched from the bench.

And the Giants defense stopped everything the Falcons could muster.

But Rodgers will be doing the mustering this week and their head coach isn’t Mike Smith. The G-Men need to bring their best game. If they truly have become the best defense in the league, as it certainly appeared on Sunday, they could even win this thing.

Is It Finally Romo's Time?

2011-12-30T11:27:00.000-08:00

Usually I hate to be wrong. But being wrong about the outcome of the Jets-Giants showdown last week was great. That collection of misfits in green lost to the less-talented Giants.

And they did it in totally embarrassing fashion, from beginning to end. From sending out Plaxico as the sole captain for the coin toss to having their head coach get in a shouting match with Brandon Jacobs at the end of the game, the Jets showed their, um, character.

First of all, the Giants can’t be blamed for letting Burress get away. And the man did carry an illegal firearm and shoot himself in the leg. Picking him up in free agency was fine with me but is he really the man you want as the figurehead for your franchise? Was his sole presence at midfield supposed to scare the Giants? If anything, it gave every Giant the affirmation that they toiled for good sane people while their opponents, at least the ownership and management, were idiots.

I’m one of those people who try to root for both New York teams, at least in football. But it’s been difficult to root for these Jets. Surely they have many players worthy of my respect but those aren’t the players I hear about. I hear about the low-lifes, from Santonio Holmes to that disgusting Scott on defense.

And it was great to see them lose. It was great to see them practically eliminated from contention.

I say “practically” only because we’ve seen these Jets be “practically” eliminated before. As unworthy as the Jets are of having any good luck whatsoever, their cup overflows with good fortune, seemingly every year. Three games this weekend have to go the Jets way, along with a Jets win over Miami, in order for the Jets to get into the wildcard. And, with the Jets luck, those eventualities will very likely occur.

And the Giants finally simplified their pass defense, a move that paid off bigtime. All game long, Giants defenders were only a step away from the receivers. Getting any separation at all from their defenders was too much to ask of guys like Burress, who always thinks he’s open, and Holmes, who’s only interested in the red zone.

The things I feared the most, that the Giants wouldn’t be able to stop the pass or the run, didn’t happen. The media is blaming Schottenheimer, the offensive coordinator, for calling so many pass plays and not taking advantage of their strong running game. But the Jets seemed all game to be running out of time.

And how many times did Sanchez drop back only to hold onto the ball? That situation only arises from receivers not getting open, from low-life guys not trying too hard. After all, aren’t their skills quite sufficient to justify being thrown the ball whether they appear to be open or not?

The Jets offensive line took some heat too but it’s been mostly unjustified. No offensive line can function long enough to prevent pressure when the QB can’t really bring himself to release the ball. The Jets just don’t have it, not the talent, not the character, not the inspiration. No, the team that showed all those things were those guys decked out in blue.

The personification of all those qualities was, undoubtedly, Jason Pierre-Paul, who provided one more clinic on how to play defensive end. He was too fast, too strong, too ridiculously athletic for the Jets offensive line, even going against Pro-Bowlers like Ferguson. Pierre-Paul played as huge as his stature, and Tuck and the rest of that Giants front seven played well enough to prevent a lot of double and triple teaming on Pierre-Paul.

So the Jets are almost dead. The Giants are alive.

I wish I could think the G-Men will prevail at home this weekend versus the Cowboys. Their QB is no Sanchez. Their receivers are not named Burress and Holmes. They can put points on the board with the best of them, Romo to Austin and Bryant and Witten. But their defense can be awful, and, waddaya know?, there’s another Ryan, Rex’s brother Rob, running that defense into the ground, blitz after ill-conceived blitz leaving receivers open all over the place down the field.

Theirs is a defense that truly mirrors their defensive coach…..bold…..and stupid, characteristics of all the Ryans, it would seem. This was very clearly evident in the first Giants-Cowboys encounter, a game that Dallas led by two scores with just about 5 minutes left, a game situation that called for a careful defensive approach against a team with Eli and Nicks and Cruz and Manningham.

Instead, the Giants saw blitz after blitz and took full advantage, coming back to take a 3-point lead, and then held it by icing the kicker and then blocking the second kick, a guy named Pierre-Paul once again doing the honors.

Most prognosticators are predicting another shootout for this final but I’m not so sure of that. Will Rob Ryan be that stupid again? Can even a disciplined Giants pass defense deal with all those fine Dallas receivers? I have my doubts. But there certainly have been encouraging signs.

Can Pierre-Paul be a monster again? Will the addition of Osi Umenyiora give the Giants DL even a better pass rush? Is Felix Jones, the Dallas running back, really hurt? All indications so far point to another Giants win.

Maybe that’s what makes me nervous. Might it finally be Romo’s time to do something in the playoffs? Bad hand, bad record, bad defense, can’t Romo finally pull one out? Against all odds? If anybody’s ever been due for some good luck, it would have to be Tony Romo.

The Giants are favored by 3 points. The over-under is 46½. I figure that’s just about right. If so, it won’t be a high-scoring affair and not really a defensive battle either, rather somewhere in between, 25-22 or so, a game decided by turnovers and mistakes.

Who’ll make them?

The Bad Guys Will Win It

2011-12-19T15:22:00.000-08:00

I should be happier really. My fantasy team romped behind Drew Brees again and even CJ Spiller went a little crazy. But the Giants failed miserably, starting with the usually reliable Hakeem Nicks, and the Jets were even worse, starting with Santonio Holmes and ending with a defense that just started badly and looked even more horrible as the game went on. Where can I dump all my sweatshirts and tees?

The Giants lack talent, especially on the defensive end, and could probably use a good defensive coach, something that has eluded them since the departure of Spagnola. The Jets have plenty of talent but have absolutely no character, starting with Santonio Holmes. Anybody who can do a stupid endzone routine when his team is down by a few touchdowns deserves to sit for a long, long time.

Not that it matters. Neither of these teams is going anywhere. Neither team deserves to go anywhere.

The Jets defensive performance defies description. They couldn’t stop LeSean McCoy. They couldn’t hold on to the football. They couldn’t rush the passer. They couldn’t contain Vick. They did nothing. It’s impossible to root for a team that not only quits but quits with a smile, as did Santonio.

The Giants are at least a bunch of high-character people. They just don’t have a lot of experienced people on the defense. Oh, and sometimes the offensive people decide to take a week off. Other than that, not being able to play offense or defense, they’re great. At least they have character. They looked genuinely disappointed to have lost a second time to one of the worst teams in the league.

So where does that leave New York sports fans? Well, basketball starts pretty soon. The Knicks will be better, much better in fact, on paper anyway. They’ll have the best front line in basketball with Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire and now Tyson Chandler. I like some of their support people too. Landry Fields and Mike Bibby are unselfish contributors and, while Baron Davis is totally full of himself nearly all the time, at least he has some talent, when he cares to play.

But, until then, the start of the NBA season, it’ll be tough for us fans. Since both local contingents play each other next week and both can’t possibly lose, we’ll have to wait a little longer to finally turn out the lights on pro football. For two more weeks, we’ll have to listen to the drivel surrounding the playoff hopes of at least one of these sorry teams.

I guess it’ll be interesting to see which one of these local teams will prevail. While I’d like to see the Giants beat the Jets next week and take their sorry inconsistent brand of football to Dallas in the final week, I just don’t think that sorry defense could possibly put together two good weeks in a row.

But at least I can root for them. Except for Brandon Jacobs and that miserable fellow playing safety, the Giants are a bunch of nice guys. The Jets’ only high-character individual is now hurt and Leonhard’s absence from the field no doubt contributed in large measure to that totally uninspiring performance they mailed in on Sunday.

The Jets though have been the luckiest team in the NFL for two years running, having made it to the AFC Championship Game both years, once because an undefeated team sat every player that was any good in the last week of the year and once because nobody else seemed to want it.

I believe in luck. Some people have it. Some teams have it. And the Jets certainly have been one of those teams. When they choose to do so, even without Leonhard, they can play pretty good defense. The Giants can’t play defense under any circumstances. At least not so far.

The Giants ground game won’t beat the Jets. The Jets will stop power backs better than speedy guys. The Jets can score against that ridiculous Giants secondary. The Giants will score too but not every possession. And that won’t be enough the way the Giants defense has been playing.

So, to me anyway, the bad guys will win (that’d be the Jets for those of you not paying attention). That’s if all things are equal, heh-heh. But then the Jets are the lucky team too. I see lots of wide receivers in green doing their airplane thing. Darrelle Revis could make an appearance or two.

The rest of the NFL action, outside of New York, was fantastic. Green Bay finally loses and Indianapolis finally wins. Drew Brees throws for a zillion yards. Detroit nips the Raiders. Ndamokung Suh blocks a field goal attempt, a la Jason Pierre-Paul… the Broncos cough it up to the Pats…..what more could you ask?

The Chiefs beat the Packers under Romeo Crennel and they sure looked happy on the sidelines. The Pack lost two offensive tackles, and the Chiefs hit those Pack receivers off the line. The Packers may be quite beatable now. The Chiefs showed everybody how it could be done.

You’ll hear that Brady beat Tebow. But the result really had nothing to do with either of them except to show that both qb’s can really play the game in their own way. The turnovers were just too hard to overcome for Denver.

And it was great to see NJ’s own Donald Brown change direction and race through the Titans defense for about 80 yards and a touchdown. It was even nice to see Peyton Manning smile again. That Lions-Raiders game was great to watch and who knows that Janikowski wouldn’t have made that 65-yard field goal if that giant arm of Ndamokung Suh hadn’t got in the way.

I’ll enjoy the rest of these shootouts for sure, even the Christmas Eve games, and probably this big Giants-Jets matchup most of all, even if it won’t be a battle of titans. Before you know it, it’ll be time for Santa.

On Heroes and Goats

2011-12-12T12:57:00.000-08:00

NFL fans and owners are a tough audience. The Cowboys lose, it’s Tony Romo’s fault; the Bears lose, it’s Marion Barber’s fault (twice); the Chiefs lose, it’s the head coach’s (Todd Haley) fault.

At the same time, Denver’s success is all due to Tebow (Tebow, Tebow, Tebow), the Giants success to Eli Manning and Jason Pierre-Paul. Our predisposition to have heroes, I guess, is the reason there are still monarchies in the world today.

Not that I even mind the hero worship that much, especially in the cases of Eli and Pierre-Paul. Eli was great last night, making all the throws and all the right decisions. Pierre-Paul was all over the field all game long and finally blocked the kick that would have tied the game for the Cowboys. But Mr. Tebow (Tebow, Tebow, Tebow) had a lot of help in that Bears game, even if he very well might be the reason every Bronco player thinks he can be great too.

But poor Marion Barber; his first error was allegedly running out of bounds to stop the clock, thereby giving the Broncos time to tie the game. But he didn’t really run out of bounds. He took a tremendous blow from the side that knocked him out of bounds. His late fumble was actually a strip, something that shouldn’t happen but does sometimes for a guy who gained over a hundred yards for the Bears yesterday and scored their only touchdown on a very nifty run and side-step that left his defender on the ground.

Poor Todd Haley; his team lost Jamaal Charles, one of the league’s top running backs, Matt Cassell, their quarterback, Tony Moeaki, their tight end, Eric Berry, a Pro-Bowl safety and a pretty good linebacker too named Brandon Siler. The real story is that the GM in KC hates the head coach, always has hated him, and was only too happy to finally pull the trigger.

Romo threw for 400 yards and zero interceptions. His “overthrown” pass to Miles Austin is what detractors say lost the game. But as Mom used to say, “it takes two to Tango”, and there’s no better example of that than the curious chemistry between a QB and his receiver. Austin had been out with a bad hammy for weeks and who knows whether he was running full speed or not.

Now everybody’s saying the Giants will be the NFC East Champions. And, while I’d love to agree, it’d certainly help me lean in that direction if I thought for one minute that their defense could stop anybody. They certainly didn’t stop the Cowboys.

But the Giants defense is practically the worst defense in the league. They’ve given up 349 points in 13 games, by far the worst statistic among playoff-caliber teams and exceeded in futility by only Minnesota, Carolina, Tampa Bay, Indianapolis and Oakland.

I keep hearing how bad the Patriots defense is but they’ve surrendered only 274 points, 75 less than the Giants. That equates to a TD per game at least. The Pats have scored a whopping 396 compared to the Giants 324. The Packers, last year’s Super Bowl winner, have given up 278 and scored a league-leading 466. Face it, Giants fans, the pass defense is a sieve. If they manage to cover everybody, it’s an accident.

The Giants still have a long road ahead too. They should dispatch the Redskins at home next week but then they’ll be facing the Jets and, in their last regular season game, they’ll face the Cowboys once again, a team that will have had the taste of revenge on their tongues for three full weeks. Just as a benchmark, the Cowboys defense has given up just 281 points.

What saves the G-Men are their defensive line, even without Osi Umenyiora, Eli Manning and those terrific receivers, Nicks and Cruz and Manningham, and now, the tight end too, a fellow named Jake Ballard who already has 589 yards and 4 touchdowns, pretty incredible for a rookie tight end. Hakeem has gained over a thousand yards already, with 6 touchdowns, but he’s an All-Pro.

Yeah, yeah, I know, matchups are everything. The Giants proved that against those very same Packers last week, forcing them into overtime to finally eke out their 13th victory without a loss. But the very best teams have secondaries who can cover people more often than not. Defensive lines are great but the best QB’s will find somebody, even given just a little bit of time.

Eli has been matching up with the best of those quarterbacks too. Eli can make all the throws and out-think opponents most of the time too. In fact, Eli is one of those guys, like Aaron Rodgers, like Tom Brady and like even Tim Tebow, who make everybody play better. It’s a special gift and doesn’t happen for just anybody.

So what are the Giants missing? Until last night, I would have said it was the offensive line. Until last night, I would have said it was the running backs. But last night I changed my mind. Brandon Jacobs, that big goof usually, was everything I could have ever wanted in a running back last night. The offensive line surrendered no sacks.

But even after last night, I still have to question that secondary. George Allen hated having rookies anywhere on his team. He couldn’t deal with the mistakes. He’d have put a gun to his head last night (perfectly okay in Dallas and much of the country). Those corners and safeties were just clueless last night. They’re only fooled when the opponent decides to pass. And, oh yeah, those linebackers are a little suspect as well.

Of course, nobody stops quarterbacks these days. It’s against the rules. If anybody was watching as Skins linebacker London Fletcher dealt Tom Brady a perfectly legal hit and got called for unnecessary roughness, they’d have been as sick as I was.

The only sure thing though is that, whatever losses are found down the road, it’ll be somebody’s fault.

On Dual Phenomena

2011-12-05T12:17:00.000-08:00

The NFL is so strange. The Giants lose and everybody’s deliriously happy because they only lost by 3 points. Tebow wins again and everybody shakes their head. And a fellow named TJ Yates comes in for the Texans and makes the Falcons defense look like the rookies. Oakland does nothing against a Dolphins team that couldn’t do anything right for the first half of the season. And now they’ve won 4 out of the last 5.

Oh, and there’s more. How about Urlacher’s Bears losing to the Chiefs on a decently-blocked Hail Mary? How about Cam Newton having himself a career day in Tampa? And then there was the Bills C.J. Spiller fumbling at full speed at about the 15-yard line and then just barely recovering the ball in the endzone.

You can’t makes this……oh just yada yada….

But sometimes you get an inkling that something weird’s about to unfold. Take the Giants game. A lot of observers seemed to think the Giants could indeed beat the undefeated (and Super Bowl Champions) Packers. And I myself had a similar vision of Cam Newton having a monster day in Tampa. Sometimes there’s just something in the air.

There’s a different energy in the air too inside a football stadium. Some players latch on to it and use it to make plays. And nobody captures that something in the air as does Tim Tebow. The interesting thing to me is that Tebow hasn’t really had to do anything impossible while winning all these games for his Broncos. He’s just made the plays that he’s had to, um, every time.

Now some may say that there aren’t many quarterbacks who could have avoided that stupid Jets blitz of a couple games ago. But that’s not really true. Any QB with reasonable speed could have done that. Everyone comments on his size and his speed that he’s used on seemingly endless quarterback draws and sweeps and, well, just about anything else a quarterback could do with a football. And that is true.

But, all that stuff (the running skills) only works in an offense that maximizes the potential of a guy such as Tebow. No other team in the NFL uses that run-option stuff. It’s ironic that the guy who’s directing all the unusual stuff (head coach John Fox) has his background as a defensive coordinator. But it’s not so ironic at all really when you consider how difficult it is to stop that offense.

You have to guard against the run at all times, not so much the running of McGahee, which can be prodigious in itself, but the running of Tebow, and not just his runs down the field (which can also be prodigious by themselves) but his knack for buying time to get that ball to a receiver. It’s that infuriating elusivensess in the pocket and out of it too. Fran Tarkenton had it. Joe Kapp had it. Ben Roethlisberger sorta has it too as does Drew Brees. And each of those fellows has certainly had his impact on the game. But none of them presented the running down the field danger of Tebow.

Tebow can take it all the way. He’s a fullback-type runner with enough speed to get to the outside. He can score anytime he has the room. Defenses have to guard against the pass too, and, thus far, it seems as if the opposition has decided to take their chances against Tebow passing the ball. But they’re finding that, alas, Tebow can pass the ball a little too.

There’s something else too that Tebow brings to the table though. And that is fear, that visualization of your upcoming loss. Other quarterbacks have that too, of course. But their names are ones like Brady, Brees and Rodgers. All those names give a defense that expectation of imminent loss. Heady stuff.

While Tebow brings unusual talents to the table, it’s not as if other QB’s haven’t had the same skills to both run and pass the ball. Michael Vick comes most readily to mind. But Michael Vick has always been the round peg in a square hole. Every coach he’s had has tried to standardize Vick to the NFL, to make him run an offense for which the coach is most comfortable.

And Vick gets hurt a lot. Vick always seems to take some of the most formidable hits you’ve ever seen. Tebow, as much as he runs the ball, never seems to really get clobbered. Even as big as he is, he’d get hurt more often if he didn’t have a knack for absorbing the hits.

But the thing that’s really unique about this Tebow phenomenon is the offense itself. It’s not Tebow per se; rather it’s Tebow in an offense designed specifically to mazimize his skills. I give almost as much credit to Elway and John Fox as to Tebow.

It took a lot of moxie to take the steps they’ve taken. And, game by game, nobody’s handled Tebow as well as has his coach, whose direction has been most decidedly conservative, only asking his QB to do those things that Tebow most decidedly can do, and only when those things have needed to be done.

Okay, that’s enough about Tebow and the Broncos. His game is so much fun though, if only because the naysayers say it’s impossible, or now, that it can’t last, that NFL defenses will catch up. And I do think that defenses will indeed catch up but they’ll be defenses like Pittsburgh and Baltimore, with names like Polamalu and Suggs.

Another phenomenon though is leaving our fair town. His name of course is Jose Reyes. Our terrific Mets shortstop will be taking his fun game to Florida. And, while I can cry in my beer about it, I can be happy the Mets didn’t spend 17 mill per year for the next 6 years, which is what Jose got from the Marlins.

You had some bad luck, Jose, but you were aces.

On NFL Week 12 and a Monday Night Shootout

2011-11-28T11:57:00.000-08:00

Week 12 was a dud for me. Yeah, the Jets won, Plax was a hero and Sanchez had some time to throw. Even Shonn Green garnered some yards. But my fantasy team, one that has been slumping for quite a while now while still managing to win, could put together only one decent effort, that coming from our own Dustin Keller at tight end.

I had expected tough going this week as my premier running back, Fred Jackson was injured, only to be replaced by CJ Spiller in Buffalo. Other players I counted on earlier in the season, such as Miles Austin and Julio Jones, have been likewise hurt, but not badly enough to hit the injured reserve list; just badly enough to take up room on my roster.

My two remaining big guns play tonight, Drew Brees and Hakeem Nicks. But they’ll need a heap of production, even for them. No, it’s not a good day for Crabs. One thing I’ve had all season long though is luck. The one-point wins, the 3-point wins, the remarkable performances put up by the most unlikely players (or team defenses) in the least likely situations.

If tonight’s battle between the Giants and Saints unfolds the way I think it might, which is to say, a shootout between Eli and Mr. Brees, my chances become pretty good. In that kind of battle, Drew could put up 300 yards easily and 3 or 4 TD’s while Hakeem Nicks could see a 100-yard day and a touchdown. Maybe the Saints D will double on Victor Cruz. That would be a welcome change.

While I wait for all that to unfold, I can only try not to tear my hair out thinking about the ridiculously conservative approaches that teams take with their best players. Julio Jones for example has been out for weeks with a hammy but his status was changed to probable for Week 12. Julio must’ve been down by the school yard because he didn’t see even one friggin’ minute on the field. He and I got to watch as his replacement, one Harry Douglas, got his catches and a touchdown. Meanwhile, Sidney Rice, ordinarily Seattle’s first receiving option, hurt his “widdle” head quite early and that was the end of his day on the field.

Football can be an infuriating game. Just ask the Chicago Bears who saw an injury to their QB, Jay Cutler, seriously hurt their chances at a playoff spot. Ask the Houston Texans. They lost Matt Schaub the starter and Matt Leinart the backup in successive weeks. They managed to win though. The Bears were not so lucky.

In last night’s game we had to watch the Chiefs and their backup QB, one Tyler Palko, try to compete with the Steelers and Ben Roethlisberger. They did acquire Kyle Orton, a serviceable or better QB who had the misfortune of preceding Tim Tebow in the early-season depth chart. Tebow won again yesterday in what has come to be the Broncos trademark fashion, lots of defense and lots of Tebow.

Compare and contrast Tebow to Ndamokung Suh or Stevie Johnson, the thug and the dipstick. It’s amazing to me how pleased with themselves some of these players are. Then they’re sorry afterwards. Suh especially deserves everything he might get in terms of penalties or suspensions. What irked me totally was his denial at first that he had done anything wrong (after stomping on an exposed leg). The next thing you know he’s apologizing. Stevie Johnson demonstrated his lack of brains and any class whatsoever by doing his Plaxico Burress impersonation in the end zone. He was later sorry too.

Even though I really don’t anyone who wears his religion on his sleeve (and tries to rub a little on your sleeve too), coming from Tebow, he seems so sincere that his continual religious references don’t really have any negative effect on me. He’s a big, strong, fast gentleman, maybe the only one in the NFL. I’ll take his behavior over some of these other meatballs anytime.

Meanwhile, the NBA lockout is over (or soon will be). Thank God this Holiday season that we won’t have to hear about the legal wranglings that would have been part and parcel of a continuation of the lockout.

I’m looking forward too to a reduced season as I had always thought that 82 games were too many. When the NFL season starts winding down and the playoff participants become all too clear, a little Knicks and Nets action will be just what the doctor ordered.

Rutgers failed to win the game they needed to advance to a BCS Bowl. Color me sad.

In my favorite sport, baseball (by an increasingly large margin) hot stove action has been really slow. We don’t know where Reyes is going if anywhere and the same goes for Pujols. The biggest signing though was sadly the Phillies signing of Papelbon, Boston’s terrific closer. Now the Phils seem to really have everything. And I wouldn’t be surprised if they go after Reyes too. Their shortstop is getting (and playing) a little long in the tooth.

The Philadelphia Eagles, erstwhile dream team, looked pretty dreadful against the Patriots Sunday. But it wasn’t Vince Young’s fault. He threw for 400 yards with just the one pick and yet the Birds weren’t really in the game after the first quarter. They didn’t play defense that you’d notice. Apparently the Pats are better than the Giants, who only managed to score ten points against them in their latest outing.

In any event Eagles head coach Andy Reid might be in a little trouble. All those weapons they acquired in free agency aren’t having much of an effect. Michael Vick, Vince Young, and all those offensive weapons couldn’t do much against the Pats, at least from a scoring standpoint, and the whole team seems to be playing lifeless ball.

Let’s hope the Giants fare better tonight against the Saints. Let’s have a good old-fashioned shootout.

On Jets-Broncos and Mets Not-Stove

2011-11-17T11:33:00.000-08:00

Everybody’s giving the Broncos no chance tonight against the Jets in Denver but I’m not so sure of that. A look at the Broncos’ last two wins indicates they can play any kind of game you want. Against Oakland, a 38-24 win, the Broncs fell behind so they had to pass the football. They did so very successfully. Against KC, they had the lead and nurtured it. They never had to pass the ball but one of Tebow’s passes did go for a touchdown. In both games, their special teams and defense played pretty well too, especially when they had to.

The Jets could have their hands full. Another thing that was obvious in reviewing the actual play-by-plays of those two games was the seemingly total inadequacy of Matt Cassell and his passing game against the Broncos defense. Carson Palmer for Oakland had some success, especially early, but then failed in the clutch to deliver anything of value.

All that data indicates to me is that Mark Sanchez and his receiving corps will have to perform better than those of either the Raiders or Chiefs. Their running game will have to click too if the passing game is to succeed at all. While I’m confident the Jets can stop the deep throws from Elway to Decker and Royal, I question whether they’ll be able to stop the run. Their defensive ranking against the run is decidedly middling.

The other thing you hear about the Jets is their lack of a pass rush. That won’t help their cause tonight. The pundits say the Jets will put 8 in the box and have a shadow for Tebow. A lot will depend on how successful that shadow is. And I wonder who it’ll be. David Harris? Eric Smith? Those two are the leading Jets tacklers. But can they stop Tebow all night?

Another advantage might be in coaching. John Fox, the Broncos head coach certainly rivals Jets head man Rex Ryan in defensive acumen. He may have better tools too, especially in the pass rushing department. The Broncos have 24 sacks to the Jets 18 but I suspect the QB hurries differential might be higher than that. Sanchez could find himself scrambling a lot. On the offensive end, the Broncos have been decidedly conservative while the Jets and Schottenheimer, their offensive guru, will throw in a lot more passes whether they have the lead or not. Overall, I’d give the Broncos the edge in the coaching department.

Then there’s the fact that the game will be played in Denver. The only road game the Jets have won this year came against Buffalo. They just ran over the Bills. I don’t think they’ll manage that tonight against the Broncos. I wonder what kind of protection Sanchez will get if they can’t just run over an opponent. How will Sanchez handle the pressure? Will he be better than either Carson Palmer or Matt Cassell?

If the Jets have an advantage, it’s that they really need to win this game. They’re coming off an awful loss while the Broncos are coming off a high point. They have experience the Broncos do not. Both those points aren’t necessarily enough to hold off a young and talented team in their building.

The Jets are favored by 5. My guess is that they’ll eke out the win somehow. But I doubt that they’ll cover the spread. A lot will depend on how this game plays out in the first quarter. If the Broncos can stay close, they’ll be very dangerous.

The only other game in town right now is hockey, a sport I just never cared for. I don’t know how many ice skaters there are from Bayonne but my guess is not many. I mean, there are probably as many skaters as ponies, but Bayonne was definitely “non-pony country.”

The NBA we can apparently just forget about. No Knicks, no Nets….how will we manage to survive?

I’m with the owners, if only because I’m firmly against ticket prices going through the roof. And I’d like to see a more competitive NBA too. The players would say that their percentage of the profits has nothing to do with either point but I think they’re mistaken. In any case, it’ll be a Lawyers win over the NBA fans, by a score of about 123-11.

Then there’s hot-stove baseball, I guess. It’d be a lot more fun to follow the free-agents if my Mets had any money. They don’t. Everybody says Jose Reyes will have to play elsewhere. While it will be a shame, it may wind up being a good thing. The Mets actually do have a nice candidate to fill the shortstop position in Ruben Tejada.

The noise about trading David Wright is kind of interesting too. It wouldn’t be a bad thing. One reason I think he’ll stay is that his market value right now isn’t really what it was a few years ago. Besides, although Justin Turner can play his position, he’d be better off at second base, which will be vacant if Tejada plays shortstop full-time. If Turner had to play third base, second base will, I suppose, revert to Daniel Murphy, a scary prospect at best.

I’ll be following the pitching situation closely too, with an eye towards what will happen with Mike Pelfrey. I’d love to see him go but he’ll probably wind up staying. Once again, he’ll be the ace who just never seems to come up aces. I suppose he is an inning-eater extraordinaire but really, it’d be a nicer feather in his cap if he did better in a lot of those innings.

If the Mets could get some value out of a trade for Wright and Pelfrey, I’d feel pretty confident going into 2012. A couple of starters or relievers would be nice, commodities more needed right now than a third baseman who can’t really hit and a pitcher who can’t really win.

Then there’re the Yanks. They re-signed Sabathia.

On NFL Week 9 qnd Smokin' Joe

2011-11-08T01:49:00.000-08:00

Wow! What a football week! Having just finished watching “da Bears” take the shine off those golden boys from Philadelphia (in Philadelphia), I can honestly say this Week 9 NFL action was pretty darned good, better than I can remember in a long, long time.

The Giants (and Eli) were great. The Jets were pretty darned good. The Ravens war with the Steelers and the Bengals-Titans matchup were superlative. The Broncos won under Tebow. The Dolphins won their first game (in a big way). The Chargers were competitive against the Pack but still managed to look bad in doing so.

And some of the big guns in the NFL rolled in dazzling fashion, the Falcons, the Saints, Houston, the Niners and Dallas all outclassing their opponents as was expected. I love watching form prevail. But it’s nice to see the lower-echelon teams coming on too, the Seattles and Rams of the world still losing but looking a little better in the process.

How great was it to watch Eli bring the Giants back to outdo Tom Brady and the Pats (in Boston)? What made it better was that Brady had just finished doing his own reprisal of “Tommy Breaks Your Heart Again”. But it was the Pats hearts that were shattered. And who the heck is Jake Ballard? How can he be making all those nice catches?

I don’t root for the Jets anymore but they sure did a number on Fred Jackson and the rest of the Bills. And not just because Freddy is my feature fantasy back. (Julio Jones more than made up for Freddy). How can anybody root against those lovable Bills who couldn’t quite circle the wagons soon enough on Sunday? The Jets just systematically took them apart, nothing really flashy, just hard hits and a smart offense and defense too. The Green Team was dominant.

Back to the Giants though, just for a few seconds, it was great to watch Coughlin with the team in the locker room! The feeling between Coach and his guys was palpable. He quite apparently does not run a concentration camp, and maybe….just maybe….even modern athletes can appreciate somebody who makes them more disciplined.

Equally as great about the Giants win was that I gave them just about zero chance of pulling it off. Their best receiver (if that can even be said anymore), Hakeem Nicks, was out. So was their best running back, Ahmad Bradshaw. The center was out too, just to add a further degree of difficulty. The Pats hadn’t lost at home in five years or so. The whole thing was pretty damned shocking to a person who feels he’s got everything figured out.

Of course, I didn’t have to sit through all the commercials. I watched the Zone. In fact, tonight’s Eagles-Bears game was so oversold with ads as to be totally unwatchable, especially in the final minutes of the second quarter. Shouldn’t ESPN be embarrassed? Does nothing embarrass them?

A moment of silence (and tribute) to Smokin’ Joe Frazier who died today. He feels like family in a way, so closely were his fights with Ali examined, so genuine and so richly deserved his dislike for Ali, the hype for the fights, the actual fights, every single thing you could say about that rivalry would have to be good.

Joe played his part almost too well, first taking Ali’s title (for real this first time) with a terrific left hook to Ali’s jaw, then losing to Foreman, then Ali beating Foreman, then the “Thrilla in Manila” and the sequel that almost matched the original for drama. Joe was the plugger, Joe was the determined one, Joe was the guy who’d make Ali eat his cruel words. Joe was a guy every man, especially Ali, had to respect, even if he never seemed to get any love.

Joe kept coming, straight at you. I think Saint Peter will just stand aside.

The Bears’ Matt Forte and Lance Briggs did their own tough-guy routine tonight as they put a battering on those Eagles, even if Forte made more mistakes in one night than he usually makes in a month or two. Linebacker Briggs was just all over the place. When he delivered the hits, the “hittee” was all over the place. And that Bears offensive line kept Jay Cutler clean as a whistle.

It looks as if it’ll be the Year of the Harbaugh. Younger brother Jim Harbaugh has brought the Niners back to relevance while big brother John has his Ravens positioned nicely to finally win an AFC Championship. And they’ll meet each other on the field Thanksgiving night in Baltimore. That one promises to be the Game of the Year.

But, meanwhile, the damned Packers just keep winning. It seems that nobody can stop Aaron Rodgers and company, certainly not the San Diego Chargers. But I’ll say right now that I don’t expect them to win it all. Not this year, not with that running game….or lack thereof. Excuses can be made for the defense, I suppose, having to deal with Rodgers putting so many points on the board, but their running game is putrid.

Some might say the Pack had no running game last year. That’s really not the case though. Their offensive linemen had blocked last year. They show no inclination towards doing that this year. When the threat of the run becomes so small as to make no real difference, the play-action passes won’t work. And their defense can’t stop anybody.

Of course, there is half a season left to play. And maybe, just maybe, the game of the year will be the Giants against the Jets. That’s the game in store for us on Christmas Eve…….if we’re very good, and if the Giants and Jets are too. If even one team falters, the game might not be very meaningful.

But if both locals can keep playing good football, it could be a precursor to the Super Bowl. Now that’d be something!

No Blues in St. Loo

2011-10-31T12:27:00.000-07:00

Let’s see if I can wrap my hands around what’s been happening in St Louis these past few days. The baseball contingent of that fair city with the arch once again refused to lose to a Texas Rangers team that kept putting runs on the board all the way through the 10th inning.

When the Rangers finally came up short in their half of the 11th, the Cards finally put them out of their misery in the bottom half, hometown boy David Freese laying down the hammer with a walk-off homer to center, this after he had tied the game at nines in the bottom of the ninth with a 2-out 2-strike triple to right over a flailing Nelson Cruz.

If the St. Louis fans weren’t crazy enough after tying the Series in miraculous fashion in Game 6, they got to enjoy watching Chris Carpenter, their ace throughout the post-season, really and truly squelch any hope the Rangers may have still had . As a bonus, David Freese once again was the hero at the plate, immediately taking Carpenter off the hook with his 2-run tying double in the bottom of the first. The hometown boy became the MVP of course and that arch looked as shiny as it ever had as St. Louis celebrated late into the evening.

If it had been just a few heroes who came through for the Cards, acknowledged stars like Pujols, Berkman and Holliday, it would have been a good thing surely. But this Cards team was so much more than that. There was Freese of course. But there were also guys, young and old alike, named Allen Craig and Rafael Furcal, John Jay and Nick Punto. Skip Schumaker and Yadier Molina, Daniel Descalso and Ryan Theriot, all turning in whatever they could whenever they could.

And they had done it since late August, coming back from 10 ½ back to capture the wildcard, then whipping the Phillies and all their aces in the NLDS, the Brewers and all their sluggers in the NLCS before finally extinguishing those Texas Rangers’ hopes.

Then, as if basking in the light of that Cards magnificent championship, the lowly Rams, that town’s NFL entry, a team that hadn’t managed to win a game all year, slugged out a convincing victory over the team that had been Super Bowl champions as recently as two years ago. They did it with their reserve quarterback and one Steven Jackson, one of the finest running backs in the league when healthy.

Those Rams made the Saints look like, well, themselves at their worst. Drew Brees was terrible. The Saints couldn’t run the ball, the Saints couldn’t pass the ball, and, just when it looked as if the Saints could mount one of their patented comebacks, the Rams said “I don’t think so” and intercepted Brees to extend their unlikely lead even further to 31-14. The Rams would not return home on empty that day. They looked a lot like their baseball brethren, refusing to lose, especially after that fine start.

So, if you’re into baseball, you’ve got to like the Cardinals. If you live in St. Louis and are into baseball, you’ve got to love them. Yeah, Pujols may not return, manager LaRussa is retiring and who knows what else the fates may hold in store for them, but those St. Louis fans will remember this 2011 group for a long, long time.

But now you can be a Rams fan too. Perhaps all they needed was an inspiration, the kind of inspiration only a team such as that Cards team could provide. A lot of teams have talent. All they lack is the will to win. Those Cards had that in their back pockets with their chew.

Maybe that Cards glow will fade in time, but the Rams were on fire on Sunday. They were as determined as they’d been all year. Run the ball, no problem, Steven Jackson alone garnered 159 yards all by himself. Stop the run, no problem….they gave up fewer than 60 yards. Defend the pass, they’d do that too with an interception that was run back for that final TD that put the Saints to bed.

Society being what we are today, not many analysts gave the Rams any credit for the victory, it was too much fun to batter Brees and the Saints. It wasn’t Jackson who excelled, it was the Saints failure to tackle. It wasn’t newly-acquired Brandon Lloyd getting wide open in the end zone, it was lousy coverage by the Saints. It wasn’t a tough D that stopped Brees cold…..well, you get the idea.

Even the greatest Rams fan of all, my brother, had given up on his favorite team by Week 8. He’d been disappointed for too long. He’d seen enough from what had become a totally uninspired group of football players on both sides of the ball. The Rams averaged fewer than 10 points scored while usually surrendering 30 or more.

Ironically, he had picked the lowly Jaguars to cover against the Texans (a push, as things turned out), but he wasn’t quite ready to spend any more love on a Rams team that had shown nothing since the final exhibition game. The same man who had garnered hope from every conceivable Rams indication of talent for seven weeks had finally given up.

What he hadn’t figured on was lightning in a bottle, a city brimming with admiration for its baseball team, hometown heroes making good, and unlikely candidates thrusting themselves into the heart of the fray. He hadn’t figured on the Rams wanting some of that too. He hadn’t figured on that Cards winning glow rubbing off, affecting even those lowly Rams, a team that had seemed impervious to even any suggestion of hope before Sunday.

I’ll bet there had been no room for blues in that St. Louis locker room on Sunday. That Rams football team came to play. Forty-five guys were saying ”Give me some of that”.

The End of Baseball

2011-10-26T14:26:00.000-07:00

What could be better, a nice fall day (but not nice enough to have to work too much), a personal computer, a word processing program from 2007, a fantasy football show on the tube and the prospects of watching a World Series Game 7, if Tony LaRussa can just shut up and manage like a regular human being.

And Terrell Owens is making news again. You have to admire his tenacity. And he says he likes fantasy football too and he’s got Drew Brees and Ryan Fitzpatrick as his quarterbacks. All right, T.O.!

I love these NFL replays too, best thing next to the Redzone and the mute button. The NFL Network has been showing the Jets-Chargers and now it’s the Vikings-Packers on the air. The Jets, as much as they drive me crazy with their acerbic personalities, were actually good. They ran the ball, they passed the ball, they got turnovers, they were pretty impressive.

And C, the Vikes rookie QB, was really impressive against the Super Bowl Champions. Especially his first-drive bomb to Michael Jenkins that went for a TD before the refs took it away and awarded them the ball on the 1. Do officials ever do anything that isn’t friggin’ annoying?

The Series Game 6 scheduled for tonight may not be played. That’ll be good too, providing a perfect opportunity to watch “Inside the NFL”. Besides, maybe it’ll give Carpenter a chance to pitch again. That’d be interesting. That man is tough. There’d be nobody I’d rather have going for me in a Game 7.

But will the Rangers allow it? I don’t know. Right now, in this Series, they look like the team that does it all, especially in the power department. Since they decided not to pitch to Pujols, things have been looking decidedly better for the guys in red. And you had to love Derek Holland’s impersonation of manager Ron Washington taking him off the mound after his masterly performance in Game 4. These Rangers are a team that deserves to win.

But that doesn’t mean that the Cards don’t deserve to win it. You just get the feeling that the MO, momentum, has definitely gone to Nolan Ryan’s side of the ledger. (I wish he wouldn’t hang with Dubya though). Holliday has to start making the Rangers pay for avoiding Pujols. It looks as if he’s trying too hard. But he’s come through in the past in the post-season and Lance Berkman ain’t exactly chopped liver either.

But things are setting up for the Rangers. What must the Cards be thinking? How confident do they feel after the fluky sound problems that beset them yesterday? Even if you don’t blame anybody particularly for putting in the wrong relief pitchers, it’s a pretty big gaffe for a major league team in a World Series.

Other things weigh in the Rangers favor too. Their relievers are rested, their hitters seem confident and they’ve got the hot manager now. Ron Washington has been rock-steady at the same time as he jumps up and down like a little kid. The man’s got personality. And he makes the baseball moves that regular human beings make.

But, truth to tell, more of my attention is on the football action around the NFL , if only because my fantasy team hangs on in first for one more week, this despite getting almost nothing from about six different players in the lineup. Bye weeks can be a terrible thing but Drew Brees, even for three quarters, can make up for a lot of deficiencies in other areas.

You have to be lucky though. I’ve said this before but all that stuff about making your own luck is vastly over-rated. I’ve won one weekly contest by one point and another by about 3 along with the most curious set of circumstances one could possibly imagine.

I just learned that it’s snowing in the Denver area and all that weather is heading for St Louis, and not only that, but it’ll probably be headed our way too over the weekend. I’m not quite ready for any skiing in October. Let’s at least have Halloween first.

The Football Giants should be entertaining this weekend too. They get to play the worst team in the league this week, the Miami Dolphins. They’re coming off a nice performance against Buffalo but that game followed a horrible team performance against Seattle. That’s what bugs me about football. You can get totally inexplicable game results, as was Sunday’s Ravens debacle against the Jaguars.

I was away for the Giants woes against Seattle but everything I read indicates that both Seattle QB’s had pretty good stats and Eli Manning threw 3 interceptions on the day, the last one ensuring the Seahawks the victory. The Buffalo victory, while impressive, came against a Bills defense that was all banged up.

Now they play Miami, a desperate team for a win, and, judging by their Seahawks performance, I’d say anything’s possible. But the G-Men will probably emerge victorious. It’s a really good thing too, because their succeeding six games are really tough ones….at New England and San Francisco, then home against an out-for-revenge Eagles team, then at the Saints, home vs. the Packers and at Dallas.

If they win 2 out of those 6, they’ll be lucky. I see the G-Men being at 6-6 after their game against the Packers. They’ll then have to finish strong against their division opponents, Dallas (twice) and Washington, around a home rivalry game with the Jets.

If the Giants win a playoff berth, they will have earned it. The Jets seem to have an easier road, facing the rest of the NFC East and their own division rivals. I think that if the Jets can dominate the Bills, they’re pretty much assured of at least a playoff spot. The Pats are still the favorite to win the division.

It’s the best time of the year, even if it will be the end of baseball.

Small-Ball Prevails in Series

2011-10-21T14:15:00.000-07:00

It’s interesting to look back sometimes on these posts of mine to see where my mind was a week ago and where it is now. In my last column that was almost two weeks ago, I reflected on the Cards being the team to beat, that it was the Cards who had all those no-name guys who would hurt you.

Since then, the Cards did manage to make the Brewers look awful and then took Game 1 of the Series behind a lot of pitching and one of those no-name guys, one Allen Craig, who hit a little flare to right against Alexi Ogando, a Texas guy much too fond of his fastball, to drive in the winning run in the Cards 3-2 victory against the Rangers in St. Louis.

But, last night, the Rangers showed that they could play some small-ball too. Rangers second-sacker Ian Kinsler got a hell of a jump on Cards closer Jason Motte in the 9th and just got his hand in to touch the corner of the bag ahead of Rafael Furcal’s swipe tag. Cards catcher Yadier Molina made the perfect throw but it wasn’t enough to nail Kinsler.

Then, a guy named Elvis Andrus kept the line moving along with another single, sending Kinsler to third and taking second on the somewhat-muffed relay. All of a sudden, it was second and third and nobody out. Both runners would wind up scoring on sac-flies from Hamilton and Young and that was it for the day as far as scoring would go. Rangers closer Neftali Feliz made sure of that.

So the American League entry can play small-ball too. They’ve also got some guys who can hit in the clutch, some guys who can steal bases and play defense too. Their shortstop Elvis Andrus made one play that looked impossible and another that just was as fine a play as you’ll ever see.

Until that ninth inning, it looked as if the Cards would once again employ the same method of destroying an opponent’s will as they had been doing all the way down the stretch of the regular season, take the lead and trot out one fine reliever after another to shut down that opposing offense.

If Kinsler didn’t steal second, if Andrus didn’t take second on the throw, the Rangers would have been down 2-0 in games on their way back to Texas. But they put the pressure on, they hung tough, much as the Cards had been doing with regularity. The Rangers got the big hits and made the big plays. Momentum now has to favor the Rangers. They beat the LaRussa formula.

That Neftali Feliz looked so unhittable in the ninth didn’t hurt either, as far as inspiring confidence in the Rangers’ chances. Feliz was the man, not Motte. The Rangers won’t fear Jason Motte anymore.

I had been thinking the Cards still had an advantage in starting pitching, if only because they had three lefties going against all those right-handed hitters of the Cardinals, especially Pujols and Holliday. But, a quick look at the split-stats for Matt Harrison, the Rangers lefty who’ll be starting Game 3, shows that he’s better against righties than lefties, in terms of opposing batting and slugging percentages. The Rangers could easily take Game 3.

Derek Holland, Game 4’s probable Rangers lefty starter, may have a lot more trouble against that Cards right-handed lineup. I’d imagine the Cards would tie the Series up in Game 4 at two apiece. He’ll be facing Edwin Jackson for St. Louis, someone who has been effective all year but with limited experience in the playoffs. If the Cards did lose this one, they’d be down 3-1 in the Series, an event that these Cards won’t let happen.

Game 5 should also go to the Cards as Chris Carpenter is a much better pitcher than he has shown thus far in the first game. Facing C.J. Wilson again, who I thought pitched over is head in Game 1, Carpenter should send the Series back to St. Louis with the Cards holding a 3-2 lead.

Then it’ll be Garcia-Lewis again in Game 6 in St. Louis. The Rangers obviously won Game 2 with the same SP matchup so it’s not inconceivable that, with the Rangers’ backs firmly against the wall, as they were to a lesser extent last night, the Texas contingent can tie the Series at 3 apiece, setting up still another Harrison-Lohse matchup in Game 7.

Your guess is as good as mine as to which of these two tough teams will take that one. Whatever happens though, it’ll be a team that can play small-ball, good defense, steals, taking the extra base and getting tough at-bats in tough situations.

The weather has negated the power of both these teams so far, both games in St. Louis having been played in weather in the 40’s with a stiff wind. Pujols’s drive especially last night would have soared out of the park on any normal baseball night.

The Rangers definitely broke through in a big way with last night’s come-from-behind win. They beat LaRussa’s formula, they beat their feared closer, they fielded the ball better and they were better on the basepaths. They have the closer to watch out for now. They have more experience in the playoffs and they’ve had their taste of failure in last year’s World Series vs. the Giants.

That’s a lot of advantages, a lot of stuff that’s hard to evaluate. I now think that the only way the Cards win this Series is if they take 2 out of 3 in Texas, a tough test against this Rangers team that loves to play at home, a fact that I heard Josh Hamilton re-affirm today, and in just about those same words.

Of course, there’s also NFL football still rolling along. The Jets, borderline sociopaths all, will lose to the Chargers if there’s any justice in this world. The Giants should have their way with Fish.

On Playing To Win

2011-10-08T13:49:00.000-07:00

Ok, so let’s see, where are we?

The Yanks lost. Arod is the goat, of course. New York’s favorite goat, that’s Arod. No sense in whining about it, Yankee fans, you’ve got him for six more years. Sure, it seems like a lot of money, but look at the bright side.

Ummm, Arod can play his position somewhat, he probably still has the potential to hit 30-40 home runs, he still can command attention in that Number 4 spot, at least when he’s healthy. He’s taken care of most of his physical problems and he really wasn’t in a groove yet by the time the playoffs rolled around.

I hate feeling sorry for Arod. But really, he wasn’t the only Yankee not doing much at the plate. Teixeira and Swisher weren’t exactly awe-inspiring. Jeter still can hit that ball, almost well enough to put the Yanks in front down the stretch in that final game.

What the heck, Texas probably would have beaten them anyway.

I just watched a re-run of the final Brewers-D-Backs game. Maybe if the Yankees had somebody like Nyjer Morgan, they’d be a lot scarier. I felt the Yanks would lose when they didn’t send Arod home when they had the chance, then they had the bases loaded again and didn’t do anything with the opportunity.

The Yanks have no speed, none at all. Yeah, I know they have Brett Gardner and Jeter and Granderson but Jeter isn’t really a burner. He’s just a smart runner. Grandy can still turn on the burners too but he’s not as scary as, well, Jose Reyes for example. Besides, hitting in the ninth spot in the order, Gardner’s often not right in the heart of things, y’know? There’re guys who can set the table, and Gardner is one of those, but it’s just a little harder from the nine spot.

I know Jeter is after all Jeter but, really, does he have to bat leadoff more often than not? Jeter can still steal a base but the pitcher and catcher don’t get all hot and bothered when Jeter’s on first base. But a lack of speed is not why they lost. I keep asking myself how that game turns out if the 3rd-base coach sends Arod home. And I’m not even a Yankee fan.

I’d feel more comfortable with another speedy outfielder. Swisher’s a good outfielder, well, maybe a fair outfielder, and he gets some big hits during the season but not so many during the post-season. He’s not a threat on the bases at all. Since the Yanks are locked in with no speed in their infield for quite some time, I’d think that situation would demand that all the outfielders have some speed.

I love Swisher, and who’s to say he won’t become a good post-season hitter, but Nick would probably fit better on some other team, a team that already has some speed. That middle of the Yanks lineup is ponderous when you think about it, Teixeira, Arod, Cano, Swisher……there are no extra bases in the Yanks future.

But I still wish they had sent Arod. He sure was ready to go.

There are those moments in every game when it’s either won or lost. You can play like you mean it, go for the win with everything you’ve got, or you can sit back, play it safe, and hope that still one more batter will come through for you. That second option really doesn’t work as often as you might think, not in a big game when the opponent’s pitching ain’t too shabby.

Oh well, the Yanks are dead. Arod probably would have been out anyway. Right?

The Brewers won their series with the D-Backs with speed and it was a lot of fun. The Brew Crew had a speed-burner on first base and another one at the plate, one Nyjer Morgan. The burner on first stole second as the catcher, Henry Blanco of Mets fame, came up throwing before he actually had the ball in his glove. He only muffed the play because the guy on first was fast. See what I mean?

With that burner now in scoring position, all Nyjer Morgan had to do was hit a ground ball through the middle to bring home the winning run and give the Brewers their first playoff-series win since, well, a long long time ago.

The best storyline for me is that Cardinals team, if only because I’ve been watching them since spring training. Just before Game 1, I told my cousin Joey, a Phillies fan, to watch out for the Cards. They had too many players who could come up in big spots and deliver. Deliver they did and now the Cards get to face those Brewers.

While I’d been somewhat prophetic , the Cards won because of Chris Carpenter. What a great pitchers duel it was, the Cards ace against the Phillies ace for all the marbles. And it wasn’t just a match of aces. It was a matchup of good friends. You knew you were going to see a great pitchers duel and that’s what you got. You not only got the results but the anticipation as well.

I think the Cards will be too much for the Brewers. The Brewers have Braun and Fielder (and Morgan) but the Cards have Pujols and Berkman and Holliday. They also have these no-name guys who just kill you in big spots, Friese and Theriot, Schumacher and Furcal.

The Brewers have better pitching overall but so did the Phillies. It didn’t seem to matter in the end. Those guys who just battle the whole game through, who pick each other up, those guys are mostly on the Cardinals.

So it’ll be Cards-Brewers in the NLCS and Rangers-Tigers in the ALCS. I’ve seen them all play and there’s great managers all around too, La Russa (I still hate him) and Leyland and Washington, but when push comes to shove, those Cardinals are playing to win.

Predictable?? NOT!

2011-10-04T22:49:00.000-07:00

Is anybody else having trouble keeping track of all these games? Baseball playoffs are going hot and heavy. If you’ve been a baseball fan all season, you have a team you favor in each playoff series. Me, I’ve been rooting hardest for the Cards. Beating the pitching-heavy Phillies would be just outstanding. But the NFL Week 4 games have been going head-to-head with baseball on at least a few occasions, If you like all the football action too, you’ve really worn down that “last” button on your remote.

As this is written, the Phillies are still having trouble putting away these pesky Cards. In the bottom of the sixth, there is still no score. Cards pitcher Jaime Garcia is pitching a gem but so is Cole Hamels of the Phils. What a great series this one is turning out to be. This game followed another nail-biter, that between the Rays and Rangers which the Rangers won, thus eliminating the miracle Rays.

The best 3 of 5 format of the ALDS/NLDS games is outrageous. Anything really can happen. And it usually happens in the blink of an eye. It’s not just the home runs either. Sometimes it’s a play at the plate or grabbing a Texas Leaguer. Of course, if one guy hits 3 homers in the same game as Adrian Beltre did earlier today, that’s pretty friggin’ noteworthy. (No, not quite sponge-worthy).

Indicative of the frantic nature of these festivities is that I haven’t even mentioned the Yankees yet. They surely were looking good as Ivan Nova finished off those Tigers in Game 1 behind Sabathia and the rain. But then they played Game 2. It sure seemed like Game 3 as Game 1 had seemed like two different games. Be that as it may, the very unlikely hero Max Scherzer outdueled Freddy Garcia (and didn’t Yank pitching seem a little thin)?

Then the Tigers ace Verlander outdid CC and a bunch of relievers. One of those relievers, Soriano, took the loss. Before you could say “Robinson Cano”, the Yanks were one loss away from elimination. And, in a wonderful twist of fate, all Yank hopes now reside in the one pitcher Yanks fans have hated all year, AJ Burnett.

And if all that isn’t ironic enough, if the Yanks do manage to emerge from the Motor City, it’ll be Ivan Nova taking the mound for the Yanks in Game 5, probably facing Doug Fister again. If that winds up being the case, it’ll probably be a Rangers-Yankees ALCS. The winner there, probably the Rangers as things shape up right now, will face the Phillies in the World Series. The only way the Milwaukee Brewers can get by Philadelphia is if all the games could be played in Milwaukee.

While all this baseball stuff was going on, the Giants seemed to get better and the Jets got incredibly worse. Both turnarounds could be attributed to the respective offensive lines. The Jets OL was terrible. They made everybody else terrible and, if not for the Jets defense playing pretty well, there’s no telling what the score might have been.

Joe Namath says they picked all the wrong guys. He’s probably right. Oh, and he did mention Vern Gholston, the muscle-bound totally inept defensive lineman from yesteryear. I tend to agree. Rex Ryan even conceded the Super Bowl, saying they’re not even a playoff team. Mark Sanchez was shell-shocked. Any QB would have been. Can you say Vlad Ducasse five times fast?

I don’t think we’ll be seeing either local football team in the playoffs this year. It looks as if those Bills from Buffalo will take the Jets place while the Giants spot can be handled by the Detroit Lions. The entire NFC East is terrible though so I suppose it’s theoretically possible for the G-Men to win the division.

Whatever else happens in the NFC, the North looks like the strongest division to me. Green Bay, Detroit and even Chicago all seem pretty formidable compared to the low-lifes in the East and NFC West. The Packers look like a good bet to be the NFC rep in the Super Bowl once again, probably facing the Baltimore Ravens.

The real NFL excitement this year has been in Buffalo. What could be better than watching a perennial doormat win their first three games, one of which was their division nemesis New England? While the Bills obviously didn’t circle the wagons tightly enough to prevent their loss to Cincinnati last week, I think those Bengals will prove to be one of the better defenses in the league this year. Look for the Bills to get back on-track really soon.

But not just in Buffalo have there been success stories. I love that the 49ers seem to be making a comeback under new head coach Jim Harbaugh. The Titans and Mike Munchak are hitting like crazy and are 3-1. Oakland looks as if they could run the ball through a brick wall. And finally, Houston has a defense that can match their offensive capability.

Other teams have been fascinating for their failures. Philadelphia, Dallas, Atlanta, even New England to a degree have been colossally disappointing, much as have the Steelers.

Michael Vick has been far and away the biggest story on all the networks, especially ESPN and the NFL Network. I’d say his name is mentioned about once every ten minutes. Blah-blah-blah. The same can be said for Tony Romo. The NFL seems to have designated those two especially as NFL reality shows. And neither Michael nor Tony have done anything to step out of the spotlight.

Vick doesn’t want to get hit. He feels he doesn’t get the calls the other signal-callers get. Romo gives a game away by fumbling on the one, then snatches victory the very next week, then remarkably jumps right back into a deep hole by feeding the hungry Lions two INT’s for touchdowns.

It all seems kind of predictable, doesn’t it? Yeah, you’d think so.

But it’s not.

On Sports and Luck

2011-09-27T16:51:00.000-07:00

Yes,the Giants victory over the Eagles was fun and unexpected, especially the performance of a Jersey boy named Victor Cruz, and the Jets loss was eye-opening, even if the handwriting should have been on the wall, but the nicest surprise for me occurred on Monday night when another Ryan brother coached the defense that shut down Santana Moss and the Redskins.

My fantasy opponent needed just 10 points from the Redskins Moss in order to send my team down to defeat. Moss is no stranger to the Boyz, of course, and, over the course of many years battling each other, Moss almost always had the upper hand, averaging about 15 fantasy points per contest. As the rest of my team had fared very well in Week 3, I looked with trepidation on my prospects for holding the pesky Skins wideout to zero touchdowns and less than 100 yards gained.

But Rob Ryan’s defense would concentrate on Moss that night. He would take away Moss for most of the game and, even when game conditions dictated that Shanahan’s Skins should concentrate on getting the ball downfield, they managed to do so only once or twice.

There’s no feeling better than winning the game you fully expect to lose. I had determined relatively early that my only chance in the contest relied on my opponent’s quarterback Aaron Rodgers either having a terrible day, which he never does, or throwing all his TD passes to my fantasy tight end, Jermichael Finley. As luck would have it, Rodgers threw all his 3 touchdowns to Finley. Go figure.

It didn’t hurt either that Buffalo had the day it had against the feared Patriots. My running back Fred Jackson continued his hard-pounding and elusive running while David Nelson, one of the Bills’ relatively unknown wide receivers, would gain 89 yards through the air. And Matt Ryan (you won’t see me calling him Matty Ice anytime soon) finally threw some passes to Julio Jones.

Drew Brees, my fantasy QB, ignored the fact that he was missing Marques Colston or that he was facing a newly rugged Texans defense. Mr. Brees just kept on keepin’ on. At any rate, big outputs from 3 or 4 players offset the total failure of my running back #2, one Javon Ringer from Tennesee and the paltry stats racked up by Hakeem Nicks, the Giants wunderkind whom the Eagles shut down only to watch Victor Cruz beat them.

Life is good sometimes. Just ask the Bills or Cowboys or, switching sports, ask the Tampa Bay Rays or St. Louis Cards. The unexpected can happen once in a while. The Bills came back from three TD’s down to Tom Brady’s Pats, picking him off four times in the process. The Cowboys and Tony Romo held steady against the rugged Skins and blitzed Rex Grossman into the big mistake of the game.

In baseball, Tampa Bay finally caught the Red Sox, the dream team of baseball going into the season, whose pitching went almost totally into the tank the entire month of September. The Cards still have a shot at what had been a sure wildcard for the Braves going into September.

The San Francisco Giants added Carlos Beltran but would have needed at least two more of him to prevent their unhappy demise. The Angels had a shot too for a while and still aren’t mathematically eliminated. So major league baseball is right at the forefront of sports fans’ imaginations going right into October. So much for changing the wildcard rules.

This just in. The judge trying the Mets bankruptcy case just ruled that that Pirate Picard, the snake lawyer representing the Madoff downtrodden, has to prove that Wilpon and Katz knew there was a fraud being perpetrated. That’s a huge win for the Wilpons.

I’m listening now to Mets fans calling Mike Francesa to complain that the Mets would be better off if the Wilpons were forced to sell, that it’s a setback for Mets fans that the Wilpons will prevail in this gigantic legal fight. It makes me sick. The Wilpons have been pretty good owners. They just haven’t been the brightest lights in the sky…..or the luckiest.

Think about the Mets collapses, the failures down the stretch of Glavine and Pedro Martinez, that brutal curve ball for a called strike 3 on Carlos Beltran. Omar Minaya could have been more prudent to be sure in his day but the Mets owners’ decision to hire him wasn’t that bad.

But Minaya had always worked for organizations with almost no money to spend. Minaya was like a kid in the candy store. Glavine and Pedro were too old. Beltran was just paralyzed. He should have been way more attentive.

Their latest decision on a GM was a great one. Sandy Alderson is like the anti-Minaya. He doesn’t act without careful study. He’s surrounded himself with good people, not drones. He understands that Reyes is a Mets frontispiece. He brought in Collins. Together, Alderson and Collins have brought in young talent, have shuffled the right pieces and have positioned this Mets team for the future.

What a way to end the baseball season. Not only are we provided with wildcard races down to the wire but now Mets fans can visualize their appearance in a playoff series somewhere along the road. They can also think about shorter fences and lower walls. The “half-full” crowd can even dream about a successful return of Johan Santana.

The sky’s the limit for the Mets (but that sky has been defined as from 100 to 120 million dollars). Still….

This fellow will never minimize the significance of luck. Luck shot down the baseball Giants, luck shut down Santana Moss for me, luck crippled the Red Sox and Braves in September; luck may have just saved the Wilpons in bankruptcy court even as it had abandoned them for much of the 21st Century.

They say people make their own luck. “They” can sell that bit of nonsense elsewhere.

Musings of the Fall

2011-09-20T21:20:00.000-07:00

Okay, the Week 2 NFL action is over and now we have additional perspective, but, if we had absolutely no perspective after Week 1, does one more game played qualify as an event worthy of contributing true perspective? I would say NOT!

Take the Giants, for example, please. They looked awful in their Week 1 loss vs. the Skins, a team I had termed “low so many years”. Then the Rams came to town after having had a fairly successful (for them) opener against the Eagles. (Well, it had been close for most of three quarters anyway). It wouldn’t have been surprising under those circumstances if the Rams had managed to beat the Giants.

Of course they didn’t. The Rams fielded what was perhaps the worst set of receivers I had ever seen on any field anywhere. In fact, I could expand my meaning somewhat to say that kids in the street playing “association” football have better hands. They played some of the worst football I’ve ever seen.

So, in the face of such great incompetence, you could have expected the G-Men to have looked pretty good. But they really didn’t. They just managed to survive against an incredibly inept team, one riddled with injuries and woefully short on talent seemingly everywhere.

So what does that tell us? Well, it tells me that the Giants still can stink out the joint, against anybody. They did manage to run the ball a bit. That was somewhat heartening, I guess. In truth though, the only truly good thing was their pass rush. Their secondary still seems clueless and their passing game was only just good enough to enable them to run the ball.

The Jints probably won’t face Michael Vick next week, a very good thing, but it hardly matters. The Eagles can beat the Giants with Vince Young or Mike Kafka at QB. The Eagles are chomping at the bit. The Giants spit the bit in Week 1 and haven’t grabbed hold of it since. That’s what happens to a team that doesn’t sign its best players.

As good as GM Reese had been in his first season, that’s as bad as he did this year. Losing Kevin Boss and Steve Smith to free agency was just unconscionable. Losing Eli’s center (and friend) was almost as bad. Their replacements just haven’t got it. Those guys couldn’t really be replaced. Talk about penny-wise and pound foolish.

But why belabor a point. The Giants stink. Coughlin stinks. Reese really stinks and even good ol’ Eli stinks. Who woulda thunk it?

Now the Jets are a much happier story. They signed everybody they needed. When the Giants abandoned Plaxico, the Jets came up with a contract for him. The Jets worst receiver is better than the Giants best, at least this past Sunday. The Jets have already won a game they should have lost. The Giants can only relax when that clock strikes zero.

But no team I’ve seen so far can say they have all their bases covered. The Eagles, for example, managed to lose to the Falcons Sunday despite their 10-point lead when Vick went to the sidelines. They’re supposed to be a dream team. If that’s true, it’s a bad dream indeed.

Ok, so I forgot about the Pats. Actually, I’d love to forget about the Pats. They may have some weak spots too but, if so, they’re not so immediately obvious. Unless you can call a two tight end offense a weakness, the Pats seem awesome.

But all of the above is based on two weeks performance. The only things I’m really sure of are that the Jets will be happy as clams and the Giants will look like the smiley face upside down.

Baseball fans can be happy that the wildcard races in both leagues have become true races. As this is written, our Mets are trying to put a damper on the Cardinals post-season hopes. And not only that but Cohen and Darling are interviewing GM Sandy Alderson as to the future of the franchise. Most notable from that talk was that October will be dedicated towards keeping Jose Reyes.

But the Cards and Giants are catching the Braves and the Rays are doing likewise with the Red Sox. With just about 8 or 9 games to go, these wildcard races will be going to the wire. The Rays, however, have much the worst of the schedule (and are now losing to the Yankees 5-0), but the Red Sox’s decline seems to just keep going of its own momentum despite the opponent.

If pitching truly does determine pennant winners, the Rays have a real shot but the Braves can pitch with the best of them, albeit not lately. The Cards may be the toughest of the National League bunch with Pujols and Berkman in the lineup and the best fans anywhere. The Cards just pulled ahead of the Mets in tonight’s game in their bid to remain just 3 games back of Atlanta who won tonight.

It always makes me a little sad when the baseball season winds down. It may be because it’s a harbinger of worse things to come, colder weather, the end of summer, barbecues and the Jersey shore. But it also marks the end of daily games in a sport that is played out day after day for 162 games. The NFL plays 16 games in 17 weeks and that’s all she wrote. We look forward to hype only for 6 days out of every 7.

All that inactivity would be broken up in normal years by NBA basketball. This year of course will be anything but normal as the owners and players dig in their heels. So it’ll be college basketball only and, if you’re a Seton Hall or Rutgers fan, there just won’t be much to think about. That’s assuming the Big East remains unchanged, a highly unlikely prospect right now.

Oh well, at least Curtis Granderson may still get MVP.

We Need Some Perspective

2011-09-14T13:53:00.000-07:00

Perspective, it’s a hard thing to find and even harder to keep. That’s what I’ve been thinking in the wake of Sunday’s NFL openers. I know the NFL is perennially hard to figure but this year could be more ridiculous than most seasons. Maybe it’s the shortened pre-season….but I don’t really think so.

The most strikingly surprising game to me, I suppose, was Sunday night’s Jets-Cowboys game. I had expected the Jets to cover whatever deep routes the Boyz would run and do a pretty fair job of stopping their running game too. I had expected a low-scoring game, one that the Jets would squeeze out in the end using their running game behind that terrific offensive line.

Wrong, wrong, wrong, on just about every count, except that the Jets did manage to win. But, winning the way they won is almost inconceivable. Could the Jets repeat that late-game performance on any other Sunday?

No way. Gimme a break, a blocked punt for a touchdown followed almost immediately by a “gimme” interception ? And then a long, long field goal, given the circumstances, to win the game in regulation. In what other game will that Jets safety Leonhard stop Jason Witten on the 2-yard line only to have the opposing quarterback then fumble the ball away on the one?

Everything I thought was so was not. The Jet offensive line was, all in all, non-existent in the first half. It was the old “weakest link in the chain” ploy used by the Cowboys to put a big rush on Mark Sanchez. But the Jets couldn’t “ground and pound”. It was LaDainian Tomlinson and pray for rain for the better part of the second half. Thank God for “LT”. (We all know he’s not LT but WTF)?

I must throw a bone here for Mark Sanchez. Except for that unfortunate fumble that put seven on the board for the Boyz, Sanchez was great. Who can throw on the run as accurately as he does? Who can avoid the rush as he did and find all those different receivers downfield, both throwing from the pocket and, once again, on the run.

While I’m giving out bones, how about Plaxico? He didn’t do anything spectacular, I guess, but just Plax being Plax was plenty good enough. The same could be said for Santonio Holmes being himself. That’s some receiving corps the Jets possess, especially when you add Derek Mason into the mix. But will that kind of game put Rex into the grave before his time?

Primary running back Shonn Green was not Shonn Green, or maybe he was just Shonn Green with no blocking. Look out, Shonn! Here comes another big hit. If the run game doesn’t improve in a hurry, this season could really get strange.

Think “Cardiac Cards”, if anybody but me can remember that far back. When you think about it, the Jets do have the personnel to be that kind of a team. And that kind of game can be really entertaining. But “ground and pound” it’s not.

One game is a poor indicator of future performance in the NFL though, especially in a season with an abbreviated pre-season. Did any running backs have a big day? Not really. Four backs exceeded 20 fantasy points for the week (which is, after all, pretty analogous to real live performance). They were the Chargers’ Mike Tolbert, the Eagles’ LeSean McCoy, the Bengals’ Cedric Benson and the Bears’ Matt Forte. All those teams won.

There were several other 100-yard rushers though, most notably Darren McFadden’s 150-yard tally for the Raiders. So, all in all, the teams that truly wanted to run the ball were pretty successful at it. Those teams showing less commitment in that regard were correspondingly less successful. Our New York Giants could very well be put in that category.

And the Giants could be put in another category as well. If there were an award for “most uninspired”, the Giants could have been right at the top of the list. I couldn’t even watch them. I didn’t expect them to stop the Redskins and they didn’t disappoint me. That they would do so little on offense was a surprise. That their offensive line would be dominated was shocking.

The Giants show every sign of being an unhappy team, a team that’s not having a good time, so much so that they really don’t care much whether they win or lose. And you can put this year’s version of Eli Manning on the top of the list of the truly uninspired. Ahmad Bradshaw carried 13 times for 44 yards. Manning was 18-32 for 268 yards and just one INT but it was a huge one to put it mildly.

But are the Redskins much better than we thought? Were the Bills much better too? How about the Carolina Panthers?

The Bills were really bad at stopping the run last year. The Chiefs, their opponents, had a bigtime rushing game featuring Jamaal Charles, another fantasy wunderkind. Of course it was the Bills and Fred Jackson who piled up the rushing yards. The Chiefs did almost nothing in any phase of the game. Ryan Fitzpatrick, the Bills quarterback, was phenomenal . Are the Chiefs as bad as they looked? They were a playoffs team last year. Are the Bills that good?

Another vastly disappointing team was the Atlanta Falcons. Their QB, Matt Ryan, ballyhooed last year as “Matty Ice” and armed this year with the addition of a supposedly Superman wide receiver, Julio Jones, did nothing through the air, relatively speaking. He certainly didn’t target his rookie much.

But worse than that, the Falcons coaching staff didn’t seem to understand their predicament. They played a very conservative game when the situation demanded some verve. They showed nothing. Matty Ice was the most timid player on the field.

I know one thing. Drew Brees was himself. Was Cam Newton himself? Can we expect that terrific performance to continue?

We need some perspective.

September Is Looking Good

2011-09-07T18:22:00.000-07:00

Oh good, it’s not raining.

And the Yanks are fielding their irregulars for the day after late-night game with the Orioles. It’s Nunez leading off, then Martin, Swisher, Arod, Andruw Jones, the rook Montero, then Laird, Golson and Pena. So far, Arod looks good and Montero got caught lunging at a low and away slider. But there’s more fun in store with that 7 thru 9 lineup….Laird, Golson and Pena, whew!

It should be interesting to see what A.J. Burnett gives up today. So far it doesn’t look good. First baseman Laird just muffed an easy grounder to give the Birds another run. It could be a long day.

The Mets took one in unusual fashion last night from the Marlins. Parnell failed as a closer yet again, giving up two runs to allow Florida to tie the game at four. It took 3 more innings of work to finally win it 7-4. Pagan, Bay, Evans and Reyes combined to score three big runs in the top of the 12th to win it.

Not that any of these heroics mean anything, but, what the hell, it is still baseball. Nominally.

The big stir for me today is the NFL opener tomorrow night between the Saints and the Packers, the super Bowl champs against the champs of two years ago. There’ll be Saints rookie running back Mark Ingram to check out in his first real game and, of course, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers. Sounds good.

The Football Giants can’t get a break, unless you count bones. Now their linebacker Goff is gone too. He’ll join the rookie corner who went down after about one play in pre-season and the other 2nd-year LB Clint Sintim on the DL. And let’s not forget Terrell Thomas.

Yes, folks, that same defense that gave up all those second half points to the Eagles last year, that same horrible excuse for a defense, will be right back this year. Oh well, at least they tried to fix things. It’s just that anybody who could have helped is hurt. I won’t even mention the offensive losses of Steve Smith and Kevin Boss. As things turned out, they’re both injured anyway. But you would be forgiven for forgetting the names of the guys playing middle linebacker and one of the corners.

But the Giants do have the advantage of playing against the Redskins, lo these many years low these many years. The current Redskins under Mike Shanahan feature Rex Grossman as its quarterback. Donovan McNabb is off in the wilds of the north and I hope Shanahan will be happy now. As he already divested himself of Haynesworth the Ugly, this is a Redskins team that might be very close to a Shanahan ideal, good running game, zone blocking, yada yada ya. But what about the Skins defense?

(Montero, the Yankee rookie who looked so bad in his first AB, just hit a long single to right to score two and tie the game up for AJ and the Bombers).

The Jets have had a lot more luck with just about everything. They return an offense that ‘ll be remarkably identical to last year’s, the exception being Plaxico Burress taking over for Braylon Edwards at wide receiver. On defense, they’ll probably wind up being less consistent than last year’s group, as veterans have been let go but big things are expected from two big bodies in Kenrick Ellis and Muhammad Wilkerson.

The Jets will be facing the Cowboys. Who knows where this score could end up? If you told me it’d be high-scoring, I’d believe you. If you said it’d be a scoreless tie, I could entertain that idea too. The Cowboys are just all over the place. Romo is back and he’ll be trying to find Jersey boy Miles Austin and the sometimes sensational Dez Bryant. They’ll score points for sure but their running game will probably be harder for this Jets defense to stop. Expect to see a lot of Felix Jones and Tashard Choice. Look for those two rookies. They may be on the ground a lot.

Meanwhile, back to baseball, the MVP race in the American League seems to be tightening. Curtis Granderson, Adrian Gonzalez and Robinson Cano, to my mind, could all stake a legitimate claim to the title but there’re still quite a few games to go. Cano especially seems to be coming on, and have you seen him play the field? It seems he’s a human highlight reel.

Who’ll be the playoff teams in each league? While the wildcard teams will come from the East in both the NL and AL, the only real question marks will be who’ll win the West . In the AL West Texas is still only 3 games up on the Angels while in the NL West, the upstart Arizona Diamondbacks are a full 6 games up on the World Series Champs SF Giants.

The D’Backs have the pitching to lock out the Giants, both on the starting and relieving end. Ian Kennedy, Daniel Hudson, Joe Saunders and Josh Collmenter are all well below the 4.0 ERA marker and they seem to finally have the lineup to back up that pitching.

Justin Upton is the closest thing to Curtis Granderson in the National League, batting .297 with 27 homers and 93 runs scored. Miguel Montero is perhaps the best hitting catcher in the NL while other role players such as Chris Young, Ryan Roberts and Willie Bloomquist keep on keeping on.

The Angels are looking old though, and despite some pretty awesome pitching, just don’t have the firepower to knock out the resilient Texas Rangers. The Rangers have just enough pitching to see themselves to the Promised Land, especially with their beefing up of the relief corps with Mike Adams.

September is looking good if you discount all the rain. The baseball playoffs should be riveting, especially those involving the Red Sox and Yankees. Let’s hope the Giants and Jets can keep the month interesting.

A Good Draft, a Bad Irene

2011-09-01T14:39:00.000-07:00

Imagine if you never had to see Mike Pelfrey pitch again……in your entire lifetime….Pelfrey-free….aahh.

But this won’t be about the Mets. After all, what can anybody really say? Just, please God, don’t make me watch any more Mets wheel-plays. And the latest highlight of the Mets fortunes was Jason Bay’s arm-less lunge for home plate with his arms pinned to the ground under his body.

The Mets won that one so Jason gets a pass, but it was the most ridiculous slide I’ve ever seen.

Enough said about the Mets. Even if David Wright had a really nice night and Tejada made the tough play he had to make to close the game out. It was like old times. Reyes was back smiling and Wright was playin’ energized and Duda came through with a nicely- measured swing to win it. I could really get used to watching baseball like that.

I just watched a replay of the Jets-Giants exhibition game from Monday night. I thought it was bad the first time around. It was worse in Round 2. The Giants, who lost 17-3 to their Green rivals, looked ordinary at best. The Jets were just a little more impressive.

If it seemed to you that Eli Manning had no clue as to where his receivers might be going, join the club. If it seemed to you as if nobody ever came open for him, you’re not alone.

The Jets actually looked better defensively to me than they were last year. The offense needs a little work right now but that could be said of a number of teams. They can still run the ball, especially if Shonn Green stays healthy. Once again, their only fly in the ointment might be New England. The Pats will be a huge fly to swallow.

But most people here are just getting over the wrath of Irene, the raging waters, the dump from the sky. Trees down, power lines down, rivers swelling, politicians swaggering, and Weather-Channel scaring the life out of you every step of the way, but especially before the event . Irene was a big fat girl wagging her fatt butt all the way up the Jersey coast.

But I stood ready for her, pump ready for the onslaught. Around 2 PM on Saturday, the pumping began. But its little 1/6 HP heart couldn’t keep the waters below the 18” retaining wall between the garage and house proper, could it? Well, it pumped its little brains out for about 27 hours straight and saved our butts from a watery ending.

The power held up for me. There’ll be a generator in my future. The worst wind I got was as Irene was dragging her disgusting ass out of here. She was worn out by then, all that torrential rain for all that time having dragged the venom out of her. Her home invasion was finally over by mid-afternoon Sunday.

I’m thinking about giving my pump a name.

But right before the deluge, that would be Saturday morning, we had our fantasy draft. That was fun. Once again, I tested my QB-first strategy with a guy everybody seems to have forgotten about, Drew Brees. He had no running game last year at all and still managed to have himself a nice year.

But it’s all about risk. The first pick should offer the highest risk-reward. If running backs get hurt waaay more often than QB’s, how can you pick a RB first? There were four who loomed over the rest of the ball-carriers, Arian Foster, Adrian Peterson, Chris Johnson and, arguably, Rrrray Rrrrrice. In our new world of two-back systems, you could throw a blanket around many of the rest.

I should point out too that passing TD’s count as much as running TD’s in our league and QB’s fantasy scores vs. RB scores are always a lot higher overall.

Then there is the matter of variability, week to week adherence to a standard. Drew Brees is like a machine. The opponent doesn’t matter that much, he’ll score against Green Bay and Buffalo too. He won’t be a target like Vick or slide around a lot like Rodgers or have a Manning neck or a Brady benching in Week 13.

He’ll just be cruisin’ this year, handin’ the rock to Mark Ingram, making the play-action go. And there’ll be the same guys on the other end, Colston and Meachem and Henderson and Mohr. His line is good, his coach is smart and they like to score points….every week.

I could have had RB Jamaal Charles, as things turned out. He was one of the four leading the pack and perhaps my favorite among those. But will all of those four guys finish the season? Would Jamaal Charles have been the odd man out?

Anyway, my second pick was 21 overall and I still didn’t particularly like any of the running backs there so why not grab a top wideout? And if you could get yourself a Giant at the same time, why wouldn’t Hakeem Nicks be the logical choice? Then at 28 overall, there was Jersey-boy Miles Austin edging out DeSean Jackson and the possibly resurgent JET Shonn Greene. I see lots of catches in my future.

A lot of nice players disappeared from the board before my next pick. Fearing a run on tight ends, I jumped on Jermichael Finley, Rodgers’s favorite target most Green Bay days. I could finally select a running back so I jumped on Knowshon Moreno of the Broncos, who does a little bit of everything pretty much all by himself in Denver.

I may have actually taken a risk with Julio Jones, Atlanta’s multi-pick alleged wonder, but I still wasn’t sold on any particular RB. I did get a nice reliable guy in Fred Jackson of Buffalo, who got them his thousand yards last year and seems to be the star in lowly Buffalo. And, um, circle the wagons.

And Detroit will be my defense. Good Luck.

Fantastic Reflections and EARTHQUAKE!

2011-08-23T11:57:00.000-07:00

A beautiful day is this Tuesday August 23rd, a great day for running in the park or getting some outside chores done. But while I should be getting my butt moving on to other things right now, I just can’t. My mind is chock full right now of reflections, on the baseball season just past for sure but also on the upcoming NFL season.

But I haven’t been thinking at all about the actual seasons. After all, the Mets have been decimated once again and the playoff teams are virtually set in stone with one or two exceptions. The only questions left are whether the Yanks or Red Sox will get past the Rangers and, if they do, will either of them get past the Phillies in the World Series?

Looking ahead to the NFL actual seasons, it’ll be business as usual, it seems, as the Pats and Jets and Colts and Packers and Steelers, you know, the usual suspects, look to be the strongest teams for 2011-2012. I’ve not included the Giants as they seem to have too many weaknesses right now, not the least of which may be the two yahoos running things. (yeah, I know, they won the big one 3 or 4 years ago but you’ll notice that some of their key clutch players from that almost magical season are gone now).

So, if not the actual seasons, what can I be reflecting upon? Why, the fantasy seasons of course!

In fantasy baseball, my Crabs contingent is sumthin’ like 16½ games ahead of its closest competition with just two week left to the regular fantasy season. And, while it’s possible I could really get blown out in these last two weeks, it’s highly unlikely. Even with losing Brian Wilson and Jimmy Rollins to the DL in this last week, I’m thinking their replacements will still get me to the finish line in fair shape.

I like to think my brilliant baseball draft strategy back in late March is the reason I’m so far ahead but, more realistically, my success can be attributed to just two guys, they being Robinson Cano, my number 1 draft choice, but most especially Curtis Granderson. my number 13 choice. As David Wright was my number two choice and is having by far his worst season ever, I must eat humble pie on my draft strategy and admit I’ve been lucky.

But I’m left to reflect upon the true greatness of this Granderson fellow. This guy just hasn’t quit being humility personified this entire season. Despite his prodigious numbers, currently at 114 runs scored and 98 ribbies, Curtis, when asked, will focus on his measly .281 batting average and his 131 strikeouts.

Curtis won’t mention that he has stolen 24 bases. He won’t dwell on the fact that he plays a stellar centerfield. He attributes his huge lead in the runs scored department to Cano and Teixeira, who drove him in more often than not. But to me, his most endearing attribute is his unfailing propensity for picking up foul balls around the plate and handing the ball to the catcher!

I mean, who does that? Only one guy. Curtis Granderson.

And only one guy gets an inside the park home run on his drive to the top of the right-center field fence the other day. Only one guy runs full-speed out of the box until he sees it go over the fence, only one guy turns it up a notch when he sees the coach’s go sign, and only one guy makes a beautiful slide into the plate, fatigue be damned. His name is Curtis Granderson.

I know Jose Bautista’s been great and Adrian Gonzalez too, but they haven’t been, and can’t be, Curtis Granderson. Curtis Granderson is, as Nick Swisher said the other day, blowing the doors off. I’m rooting like crazy for him to somehow, some way, keep up his almost feverish intensity throughout the rest of the season. There are 39 games left. I don’t want to jinx him…..but whoa!!

Meanwhile, Cano has been, well, Cano. After a pretty ho-hum start for him, he seems to have turned it up after the break. His August numbers have been unbelievable, to date standing at a cool .351 BA and he’s driven in 19 in as many games. He’s slugging .649 for a ridiculous August OPS of 1.035.

I’ve been a real Yankee-hater but it’d be impossible to hate these guys, not just Granderson and Cano but also Teixeira and Jeter and you can throw Swisher in there too. I’m hoping Arod’s return won’t screw things up, but Grandy’s batted second, third, fourth, eighth….and it hasn’t affected him one bit. Lefty on the mound? No problem…..unaffected, that’s the essence of Granderson.

Speaking of “unaffected”, I was anything but unaffected by a friggin’ EARTHQUAKE that just shook my entire house. I thought my body was spasming at first, then started walking to the door and thought I was having some kind of heart attack as I felt dizzy and shaky. Holy crap!!

Back on point though, I’ve already been worrying about my number 4 position in my fantasy football draft coming up this Saturday. What I’m expecting is that Arian Foster and Adrian Peterson will be gone, as will QB Aaron Rodgers, based on my previous experience with the same group. That would leave me only Chris Johnson and Ray Rice of the “elite” backs and I just can’t get excited over either of them.

Of course, there will be elite QB’s still on the board, all but Rodgers in fact. But Peyton Manning is hurt, Tom Brady winds up almost every year taking a seat during the fantasy playoffs and Michael friggin’ Vick is the closest human thing to a target for every fast huge hard-hitting defenseman looking to make a name for himself.

That would leave me Drew Brees, a guy who helped me to a 2nd place finish last year. I guess I can live with that.

A Half Empty Outlook

2011-08-18T11:08:00.000-07:00

Wow, it’s August 18th already and the baseball season is winding down. Professional football action is right on the horizon. And professional basketball will never again be played in our lifetimes. The U.S. Open for pro tennis is one of my personal favorites (not that I’m a tennis player but I like to play) and do I really have soccer in my sights? Well, no.

Yeah, yeah, I know, I forgot hockey again. Oh yeah, and there’s the Triathlon swimming controversy and drugs in biking and a whole bunch of other stuff but really, how many things can you concentrate on at once?

Anyway, I don’t really have a point but if I did want to make one, it’d be along the lines of what the hell are you doing swimming the friggin’ Hudson River if you’re concerned about injuries? There’s all sorts of stuff floating around in the water. That just two died of heart attacks is pretty good, I’d say, under the circumstances.

What other points need to be made? Let’s see, the friggin’ Port Authority is right up there on my list. Let’s make it impossible to travel. Let’s charge people road licenses, after all, the NFL manages to charge for seat licenses. Let’s build more tunnels and make bridges higher so we can get humongous ships into Port Newark.

Oh yeah, and another concern of mine, still waaay before pro sports of any kind, is that friggin’Christie is a hair from the Republican presidential nomination. I mean, he’d get things done but would they be the right things? Would he have thought things through? I don’t know.

And Obama is stinkin’ out the joint.

Okay, okay, I know I should be worrying about more socially irrelevant things like the friggin’ Mets, for one good example. Yesterday, they torched the San Diego Padres in San Diego for a really impressive win in a hostile environment (yeah, I know, it was only Kansas City), and how nice was It to see David Wright finally play like a superstar?

David’s 3-run homer was impressive enough against a tough Matt Latos but then his fielding gem was even better. I mean, he was in the moment, recognizing that he’d never make the play at first while watching Cameron hustling around third base, that his best choice and doable too was to step up and nail Cameron before he could get back to the bag.

Angel Pagan is doing everything after months of doing not so much. There’s the big kid Duda too and Justin Turner and hard-workin’ Thole and Pridie and those young pitchers….and the continuing saga of Jason Bay. I guess I’ve already given up on Jose, either coming back immediately or long-term too. The bankruptcy proceedings overhang everything….

Meanwhile, the Yankees took back first place from the fear-ed Red Sox. Y’know, it’s easy for even me to root for them this year, as an underdog, not just to the Red Sox, but to the Phillies also, if the Bombers should be fortunate enough to ever get past the Red Sox in the ALDS and ALCS. And a lot of these Yankees are damned good baseball players.

Take a look around the diamond. Start at first base….watch Teixeira play the position…..holy shit!! On to second base, there’s Robinson Cano who sometimes seems to have a magic wand over there in the hole. Shortstop? Derek Jeter is playing like a young guy. Uh-oh, third base is a little shaky right now, I suppose, but a guy named Arod can at least still swing the bat.

Outfielders? There’s Curtis Granderson contending for MVP honors and that smilin’ plugger Swisher and the crazed left fielder with the blazing speed and pesky at-bats. Yeah, and Posada can still play in spots. Will he make the playoff roster?

And the crazy pitching staff is kinda’ interesting too, right now a struggling CC and a bunch of question marks in Burnett, Colon, Garcia, Hughes et al. Of course, sometimes those guys will come through, and if they do, the relief corps is dynamite…..not just Rivera, who can be forgiven his recent lapse, but Robertson too, and now the long-awaited Soriano. ( Does anybody else wonder that they’d sign another Soriano after the first one)?

So I’m obviously rooting for both New York teams, solid underdogs both, for the Yanks because of the pitching questions and for the Mets because they have this friggin’ cloud hangin’ over their head. Tomorrow there will be another ruling that will be appealed either way. Oh yeah, and then there’s the friggin’ mediation still plodding along…..

All this baseball drama is perfectly complemented by the anxiety about the football season, the Giants seemingly having done nothing while the Jets and especially the Eagles dominate the headlines with signing after signing, and what about the friggin’ Patriots?

Balanced against all these willy-nilly signings is the stability of the Giants organization, and their almost Steeler-like affinity for Football 101, running the football and playing solid defense and a guy who can throw too, with protection (and hopefully those line-changes will work).

Listening to GM Gerry Reese, he’s not worried. Yeah, they have no proven slot receiver and no tight end that you could really call a complete tight end, and oh yeah, the #1 draft choice got hurt on the first day of camp, but still, there’s that pass rush and Jason Pierre-Paul and a Tuck and a Umenyiora, who’d play hard if we give him more money.

I don’t know. I’m a half-empty kind of guy, I guess. But that 2007 team that won the whole shebang wasn’t expected to do great things. And the guys that helped a lot that year were brought in by Gerry Reese. But geez, their defense really did stink last year.

And I’m happy for Plaxico. I think it’s great that he’ll be a Jet and already I’ve heard one of those SNY crazy people predict 55 catches for him this year.

We shall see.

Baseball Season Over

2011-08-09T20:49:00.000-07:00

Yeah, Jose is hurt again and Murphy’s down too. And it’s true that Santana and Ike Davis won’t be returning soon. But look at the bright side. We’ll get to see even more guys moving up from Buffalo which, thus far, hasn’t really been detrimental.

And there really hasn’t been in a big dip in the standings. This Mets team keeps hanging around the .500 mark, not that they’re going anywhere. The Phillies have been playing light out and the Mets are 17 games behind. And they’re really not close to the Braves either for the wildcard.

The Mets have played gallantly under the circumstances and last night’s game may have been their finest effort of the year. With the entire infield seemingly playing musical chairs all game (which may have led to Murphy’s injury while playing second base), they hung close all game and won the game in the bottom of the ninth against one of the better closers in the National League.

In my last column, I just killed a couple of players, notably Pelfrey, Pagan and Duda. But after last night, Duda gets a reprieve. Pagan gets a nod for playing well last night but whether he’ll keep it going is anybody’s guess. And it would take a few perfect games in a row to change my mind about Pelfrey. He comes up the shortest when he’s needed the most, time after time after time.

It’s all about the future for our Metsies, the present having been rendered totally irrelevant. Sandy Alderson will have to make some sense out of this, um, mess? I hesitate to characterize this current team as a mess though. There are several pretty serviceable players on board. And the pitching hasn’t really been bad either.

I’d like to rid the roster of symbols of losing. To me, that means Pagan has to go. He may go to another team and shine for a while but I’m just tired of looking at him. The same goes for Pelfrey. Other than those two though, Sandy can keep the rest. There really is a whole lot to like about the way they play, especially when they just hit and hit and hit some more.

Next year can’t come soon enough. Ike should be healthy (finally), Turner at second, Tejada at short and Wright at third should be a fine infield. Josh Thole’s been a pretty good catcher.

Jason Bay is starting to relax at the plate, an important factor. Duda will be adequate in right field and Jason Pridie does enough in center to not be embarrassing. I’d rather have him there than Pagan if only because he’d appreciate it more.

Pagan seems to be pouting all the time. “Ewww, I;m batting second, ewww I’m batting 5th, ewww I’m batting first”..get rid of him. He’s one of the only fast men in baseball who can’t run the bases. And he messes up in centerfield about two games out of seven. The man’s a menace. (Maybe it’s the beard).

We’d still have good ol’ Daniel Murphy to spell just about anybody anywhere. But the spots he can fill adequately are first and second. In any event the man can hit and can be a roving utility guy and pinch-hitter.

Free agency? Who knows? After the pirates in bankruptcy court get finished pillaging the Wilpons, who can say what will be left. It’s a long shot that we’ll keep Reyes. I’m beginning to think it’d be acceptable to let him go, especially in the face of dwindled resources. We need other pieces more, such as in the pen and in the outfield.

If there’s a point to all this, it’s just that Mets fans should have already forgotten about 2011. Think 2012 and beyond. The lawyers (and judges) may have finished stealing by then.

What can we do in the meantime? Well, there’re the Yankees of course. And there’s the NFL Jets and Giants. And oh yeah, there’s Rutgers football. Heh-heh.

I like the Yankees a lot more now that I’m playing Cano and Granderson 5 or 6 times a week on my fantasy team. Cano has been unspectacular but really steady. Granderson has been great. While I expected him to have a good year, he has exceeded all expectations. While I could wax poetic about him, the best thing I could write would simply be his stat line, currently .273, 28 homers, 86 rbi’s, a nice even 100 runs scored and 22 stolen bases.

But Granderson is more than just his stats. He plays a nice centerfield, he’ll hit anywhere in the lineup, and he picks up the balls that get away from the opposing catcher. A nicer guy you’ll never find.

Cano is the anti-Granderson. He’s a study in lack of intensity. But it’s only a façade. It’s just that he’s such a good baseball player that he seems to not be trying….anywhere. In the field, he just floats around; at the plate he seems asleep until the last moment when he absolutely rips at the ball. His line is .295, 18 homers, 75 rbi’s, 71 runs scored and 8 stolen bases, not too shabby for a guy who’s sleepwalking.

The Yanks are in trouble though. If even CC can’t beat the Red Sox, nobody can, at least none of the Yanks. AJ Burnett and Phil Hughes aren’t really what the Yanks expected while the others are better than expected but worse than will probably be required. Colon, Garcia, Nova? I don’t think so.

It’s looking more and more like a Phillies-Red Sox World Series although I suppose the Rangers or Giants could insinuate themselves into the picture. I’ve been mourning the Pirates lately and wondering what effect their demise will have on two of my fantasy guys, McCutchen and Neil Walker, two very nice players, especially McCutchen, and did I mention the Mets could use a centerfielder?

The baseball season seems over. Look to the Jets. The Giants are just marking time.

And, um, Rutgers?

Aybar Si, Verlander NO !

2011-08-01T17:17:00.000-07:00

It’s been almost too hard to digest, all these player moves, both for baseball and football, all of them seemingly concentrated in one short week. And, speaking of “hard to digest”, there are the actions of Justin Verlander.

As for Plaxico Burress, I think he’ll be the perfect second passing option for the Jets, the first being Santonio Holmes, who was the first player the Jets went after. Burress has been working hard at staying in shape and, because he had two years rest, he’s a younger 34 than he would otherwise have been.

As for the Jets failing to sign the best available cornerback, that may also wind up in their favor, but only if they manage to re-sign Antonio Cromartie, who may have been insulted by the Jets courting of Asomuga. But what about stopping the run? Who’s worried about that? Their #3 draft choice, defensive tackle Kenrick Ellis, has some kind of deportation threat hanging over him.

The Giants have been predictably boring, like their coach and just about everything else about them. Unless you think dropping veteran offensive linemen and lying to your best pass rusher is sexy, the Giants off-season moves have been almost non-existent. And that’ll teach us to balk at ticket prices.

It’s much too early still to worry about. The Jets will be competitive at least. The Giants seem to be rebuilding. Maybe they figure the Eagles, who did get Asomugha, will be unbeatable. The Jets don’t seem too worried about the Pats acquisitions of Ochocinco and Haynesworth but I’m thinking maybe they should be.

Meanwhile, in MLB action (or lack thereof for the Mets and Yankees), some of my favorite teams made some moves that could pay off bigtime down the stretch. The Rangers got the relief pitching they desperately needed while the Pirates picked up some real live major league hitters in centerfielder Ryan Ludwick and first baseman Derrek Lee.

Meanwhile, teams I don’t particularly care for, the Phils and Cards and Braves, were also active, the Cards getting Rafael Furcal to man their shortstop position and a few relievers to help them out in the pen. The Braves picked up speedster Michael Bourne to spark their sometimes moribund offense. The Phils didn’t need much but should get more big lifts from Hunter Pence than he’s already provided.

I won’t recap all the changes though. Maybe the biggest highlights from a New York perspective were the absence of any moves by the Yankees. While everybody but the genius Cashman could have sworn the Yanks needed some starters, the Yanks are standing by their Colon, Garcia, Hughes, Burnett semi-achievers.

The Mets of course picked up nothing but cash and a pitching prospect in ridding themselves of K-Rod and Beltran, not that that kept them from playing some very decent baseball over the last five games or so. And, after I really jobbed Pagan and Pelfrey and Duda and Hairston in my last column, those guys all started to produce a little, thus proving that every dog does indeed have his day.

The most interesting baseball happening of the weekend, though, had nothing whatever to do with moves. Game action became its own soap opera in the Angels-Tigers game Sunday afternoon. It had everything you’d ever want in a baseball game and even some hockey games. And it gave me even one more player to hate, a not insignificant event.

That player, if you want to call him that, is Justin Verlander. Verlander was incensed that Angel Erick Aybar should have had the unmitigated gall to threaten his no-hitter by attempting a bunt. Yeah, he admitted later, it was just 3-nothing and it was still a game, but still…..he thinks it’s “bush”.

Well, I think Verlander is a self-important lout and moves right up there with Roger Clemens in arrogance and self-aggrandizement. I don’t care about his no-hitter. No-hitters have become a dime a dozen. People watch baseball, you giant fool of a Verlander, for the artistry and action of a baseball game.

How often has a successful bunt thrown an opposing pitcher off his game? The bunt attempt makes the pitcher move his fat butt. It throws him off his rhythm. A pitcher has to not only throw 100 miles an hour but also has to field his position. A walk’s as good as a hit and a bunt’s better than a walk when it works. That Aybar’s bunt was successful (Verlander threw the ball away) and did eventually bring the Angels within 3-2 only proves the point that Aybar was right.

I’m not much on the etymology of names, but I’m pretty sure that when northern Europeans needed a euphemism for a jackass, it was “Verlander”.

Verlander later indicated from the dugout that he’d next time plant a baseball in Aybar’s kidney. If he does carry his threat through, the gloves should come off from the commissioner’s office.

What made all this even more compelling was that Verlander’s pitching opponent was none other than Jered Weaver, who earlier had proved that Verlander would only be the second fool of the day, albeit a more disgusting one. At least Weaver had a better reason for throwing at somebody. In his mind, the Tigers were showing him up, God forbid.

Although Carlos Guillen did indeed put on a show after his home run, it was only in retaliation for Weaver’s earlier stare-down with Magglio Ordonez, who hadn’t immediately started running after his dinger. He had in fact only been watching to see if his batted ball would be fair or foul.

But Weaver gave him the long hard look that wasn’t at all appreciated by Ordonez or his teammates so, later on, when Guillen also connected, it was pretty much written in stone that he would try to rattle Weaver even further. Of course, he did, Weaver came totally undone and immediately threw one at Avila’s head.

Weaver was ejected, setting the stage for the later histrionics. But Weaver’s anger, though misplaced, was at least understandable. Verlander’s anger was just a product of enormous vanity.

Too Many Mets Scarecrows

2011-07-25T13:08:00.000-07:00

I just got my call from JCP&L asking me to conserve electricity so, being a good citizen (or a not so bad one), I turned off everything but the fridge and Francesa (necessities are after all necessities) and have my PC running on the battery.

There’s a lot happening in the sports world on which to comment, even if not much of it can be positive. The Mets, fuggedaboudit, they’re getting worse, but at least the NFL lockout looks to be ending and we won’t have to contemplate the angry visage of DeMaurice Smith anymore.

I had thought they’d miss the first four games of the regular season. My thinking had been based upon the knowledge that the owners were insured for the first four weeks. But, what I didn’t realize (and neither did the owners apparently) was that the players were insured too, to about 200 thousand bucks per player.

That latter fact certainly accelerated the pace of negotiations. And this marks the first time in my life ‘ve ever been thankful for the insurance industry.

Now we can all get back to perusing our fantasy football magazines while sprawled on the beach listening to some baseball game. And that’s not all. The delay and shortening of the signing period means that our next few weeks will be chock full of surprises, who’s being signed, let go or just asked to take one for the team…..heh-heh.

Meanwhile, as the July 31st trading deadline approaches, Mets fans can wonder how bad things can really get without K-Rod and now probably Beltran. From the looks of things thus far, they can get pretty bad in a hurry, just from the thought of losing Carlos.

I know I’ve become inured already to the poor play and lack of talent on my favorite team. Looking at the bright side, maybe the Mets will finally do something about these pieces of dead wood that litter the roster.

It’s not even so much the really raw players that exasperate me. It’s the players that have been with the team for a long while now, the Pagans of the world and the Bay’s and the Pelfrey’s that just seem to keep stinking it up.

I had thought that Jason Bay might be coming out of his funk finally after almost two years of playing worse than anyone could ever have imagined. Alas, it was not to be. His big day a couple of weeks ago was just a cruel aberration, just another reminder of how much we’re truly missing while he flounders. I mean, it’s not just the poor performance per se, but the opportunity loss of what the man could be.

The entire Mets season kinda reminds me of the Wizard of Oz. The Wizard would have to be the GM Alderson or Manager Terry Collins. The lion looking for courage could be Jason Bay. The scarecrow looking for a brain would definitely be Angel Pagan. The tin man seeking a heart could be Carlos Beltran, that is, seeking another team to love him.

But the Mets have too many scarecrows. Angel Pagan heads the list of stupid players but there is also Mike Pelfrey and especially Lucas Duda. And that sometime closer Bobby Parnell isn’t the brightest light in the heavens either. Willie Harris and Scott Hairston have all the brains they need to play but just lack any discernible talent.

That being said, any professional baseball team needs at least a bit of production from all 25 players. On the Mets, it’s easier to identify the keepers for next year. It’s a much shorter list. In the outfield there are no keepers unless you count Beltran. I suppose he could return after a brief sojourn with the Phils or Giants or Brewers but I wouldn’t count on it.

The infield could be good though. Ike Davis at first base, Justin Turner at second, Tejada at shortstop (if Jose should go elsewhere) and David Wright at third would certainly be representative of a real live major league team. The starters except for Pelfrey are all pretty good too. The catcher, Josh Thole, has a lot of potential and is good enough to be a regular.

As dealing Jason Bay would be next to impossible without a deep discount of some kind, I look for him to continue playing, at the very least, a very steady left field. Maybe he could be viewed as one of those defensive specialists, who are usually found at shortstop or second base. If Reyes could be retained, a weak-hitting left fielder could be tolerated.

So the Mets need to get rid of the dead men walking. That means Duda and Pelfrey and Pagan have to go. They are symbols of losing baseball. At least Bay is a smart player, good outfielder and good on the basepaths and, presumably, in the clubhouse.

So we need two outfielders. Surely there are two outfielders that can be had on the cheap if necessary, players who would make us forget Angel Pagan, Lucas Duda and the horror of Daniel Murphy out there. Murphy has value though, for sure, as a utility infielder who can spell Wright at third, Davis at first and Turner at second.

A couple of relief pitchers are also needed. Izzy and Beato and even Parnell could be keepers but that’s about all. Of the rest of them, only Tim Byrdak has performed pretty creditably. Surely something could be had in return for Beltran and K-Rod, and maybe even a big guy with some power.

Those are just the obvious moves. If one gets imaginative, it’s conceivable that David Wright could be traded as both Turner and Murphy are capable of playing there, if not providing as much power. But at this point anyway, I’d rather see a couple of good outfielders. Wright is the only player on the roster that could provide any appreciable value in return.

Get rid of all the scarecrows. A wizard could certainly do it.

Some of This...Some of That

2011-07-17T05:50:00.000-07:00

This week is almost over. WooHoo! There was no baseball at all except for the worst telecast of an All-Star Game ever Tuesday night. Jack Buck and Tim McCarver as hosts wasn’t bad enough. There were also totally obnoxious people Fox threw into the dugouts as well. One used-car salesman lookalike kept saying “talk to me, man”. It was disgusting. Fox now joins ESPN on my “don’t watch” list.

The game itself wasn’t all that bad. The announcers were. One boring guy would be bad enough but Fox felt they needed two. Jack Buck just reeks of smugness. McCarver’s full of insights ad infinitum in that drawl that puts me asleep. Where’s Kevin Millar or Harold Johnson when you really need them?

Then, wonder of wonders, after three years of spending our hard-earned taxpayer money in an effort to nail the arrogant Roger Clemens for lying to Congress about steroids, the prosecution totally blows the trial by defying the judge’s direct order. The judge was awfully quick to call a mistrial too. The whole thing is really suspicious-looking. And in the beginning of September, there’ll be another hearing to determine whether the case should be re-tried.

What a waste of money! It’s just what the American people need right now. I don’t know about anybody else. I’m tired of the way this country is running, or not running. I’m blaming Obama. The same guy who’s dragging out the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan by printing money so that our existing money becomes worthless, the same guy who wants deficits up the ying-yang, the same guy who’s really done nothing but bankrupt the country, he thinks Roger Clemens needs to go down, no matter what the cost.

The government is now 0 and 2 in its perjury efforts against Bonds and Clemens. Yeah, I know, the Bonds jury found Bonds guilty of one count but that verdict didn’t even make any sense. They convicted him of obstruction of justice without one single guilty for perjury. So that will still drag on making all the lawyers very happy.

As this is written, CC Sabathia shut down the Jays earlier in the day and the Mets are beating Cole Hamels and the Phillies 3-0. Beltrans’s not playing today and supposedly has a fever. I’m fine with Carlos sitting out if it’ll help ensure his good health prior to a deal being done. It’ll be good to get some prospects in here.

The Mets traded K-Rod of course already and that move made sense too. It made even more sense that K-Rod was the first to go, this despite his overall good performance this year. That troublesome 17 mill option was negotiated away apparently so that K-Rod wouldn’t have to deal with any awkwardness as to games in which he’ll appear. But it’s unclear what prospects the Mets actually picked up in that trade. It was done mostly to improve their overall salary situation.

If it will help the club to sign Reyes to another contract, or at the least to be able to make him an offer, it makes sense to trade Beltran as well. The Giants had been courting him, supposedly, and there is interest coming from Philly and Boston and maybe some other clubs as well.

I don’t think there can be any question that the Mets will fare worse this year without their closer and leading hitter. But with Wright soon returning and Reyes too, the Mets should at least be positioned to score some more runs.

Not that you could complain today about runs scored as the Mets are now leading the Phils and Hamels 5-0 and even Jason bay just contributed a hit. Ike Davis and Santana are likely out for this entire season though, an eventuality that nobody expected earlier. I’m hoping Wright comes back strong off his fractured back and can perform at least as well as the plug-ins have been playing. He surely wasn’t impressing anybody before he went down.

Hamels is out of this game and now the Mets lead is 7-zip. It looks to be still another hit barrage although Murphy did slug a rather long dinger off Hamels. They’ll need all the hits they can get too. Without K-Rod, the Mets are left with candidates who’ve either never closed or, in Isringhausen’s case, haven’t closed in a long time.

All in all, I’d expect them to still be able to play .500 ball throughout this season and maybe it’ll be next year that will smile on our heroes. Gee, that sounds vaguely familiar. Maybe that pirate of a lawyer for the other losers in that Ponzi scheme can finally be made to seek and sink some other unfortunate ships.

Oh well, at least the NFL lockout may be winding down. Both sides seem fairly confident at this juncture. I hadn’t been optimistic at all re a settlement. I did think it rather amazing that the owners didn’t find out until Thursday that the Players Association had secured an insurance policy against a lockout, the proceeds of which would assure up to 200, 000 dollars per player. That surely did speed things right along.

It’ll be great to finally be able to watch the NFL Network again. And, with Mets prospects this year looking rather bleak at the moment, there’ll be some measure of happiness thinking about the ridiculous Giants and Jets fortunes for the upcoming year. And fantasy football drafts can proceed without further ado.

It’s times like these that focus one’s priorities in life. Continuations of ridiculous wars while we’re broke, stupid failed prosecutions for minor offenses, and the only winners are the lawyers and the judges. If any country needs an outlet rather than reality, it’s our good ol’ USA.

And, speaking of the USA, tomorrow our women’s soccer team can win the FIFA Gold Cup if they can get by Japan, this after putting on the show of their lives against France in the semifinal. I know I’ll be watching.

A Moment Made For Jeter and by Jeter

2011-07-12T02:34:00.000-07:00

A Mets fan has it rough these days, all of which seem to be Yankee days. First, there was the 3000th hit by the most famous Yankee of them all, oh what is his name? Then tonight I got to watch as Robinson Cano won the Home Run Derby in Arizona with some really prodigious shots.

Oh well, at least I did get to see Jose Reyes interviewing Carlos Beltran before the festivities began on the MLB Network, one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a while.

But, truth to tell, I was really happy for Jeter on Saturday. If he had just dribbled a seeing-eye grounder for that long-awaited milestone, it wouldn’t have meant anything. But Jeter always had a flair for the dramatic and Saturday was certainly no exception.

It kills me to say so but the whole day validated all the ballyhoo and the high esteem he’s held in by every fan of Major League Baseball. I mean, really!

He needed two hits and he started his day off by getting the first one he needed right off the bat, so to speak. Then, with the whole world watching, and a great pitcher, David Price, on the mound, he had one of the best at-bats I’ve ever seen, fouling off pitch after pitch, taking the close balls, and then just driving that ball, no doubt about it, into the left-center field seats.

It was one of those moments you remember. I was in my garage workin’ out, one eye on the screen and the other on the mat. But I was watching every pitch. If he had struck out, it would have been a great at-bat. I jumped in the air as I heard the crack of the bat and watched that drive and heard that call.

It was a moment made for Jeter and by Jeter. Of course, there have been other Jeter moments, but everybody remembers two especially, his flip to the plate to nail the incredibly stupid Jeremy Giambi at the plate in a playoff game against Oakland and that flying leap into the seats in short left-center field to complete a catch that couldn’t have been made any other way.

But those other moments had been surprises, moments made by Jeter but not especially for him, as was his quest for that elusive 3000th hit. There had been the injury, then the rainout and the interminable questions about his feelings about the whole thing. When he stepped into that batter’s box for that second at-bat, he had to know the whole baseball world was watching.

And that’s why Jeter is a great player. When the pressure is on, he turns up his game. He feels he can make the play, no, not just can but will make the play. Other players don’t make that flying leap, other players don’t have the presence of mind to stay with that play in Oakland, one he admits to this day had only been made because the runner didn’t slide, and, even then, it had been a close thing.

I love watching Jose Reyes play but he wouldn’t have made either of those Jeter plays. He doesn’t have that presence of mind and he doesn’t have the kind of drive that would mean possibly sacrificing his body. Now don’t get me wrong. Jose will make a lot of plays that Jeter couldn’t ever make but Jeter will make every play he can possibly make. Jeter is in the game.

There’s a little hot dog in all the greats and Jeter is no exception to that either. But, to me, only hot dogs make those impossible plays.

Not that that 3000th hit was an impossible play. If anything, it was inevitable. But hitting the homer was something else again, and it was a moment that really cried out for something special. Jeter heard the call and made the most of it. He knew he could hit one in that spot so he did.

With every player on both sides hanging over the dugout, with many thousands watching live and millions taking it in on television, Jeter made the moment one worth everybody’s time. He knocked one over the wall. It was great, even the probably scripted Posada dash to the front of the congratulatory line and Mariano there too at the forefront, three old soldiers of baseball just really happy in the moment. The captain had done it again.

And, of course, he didn’t stop there. Jeter was on fire. He was 3 for 3 and 4 for 4 and 5 for 5 and the game-winner. What else? It was a glorious Jeter day, a great day to be a Yankee fan.

A total of 27 other players have reached 3000 hits, most of them notable names too, and all but two made it to the Hall of Fame. And one of those two, Pete Rose, should be in there too. The other is Rafael Palmeiro, not a Hall of Fame player to me, even discounting the juice.

The 3000 hit plateau is one that speaks of greatness and longevity. You have to be a pretty damned good player to be in the game that long, but other marks of longevity such as most consecutive games played

If Jeter hadn’t been assured of always having a place in New York’s hearts before Saturday, he has it now, no matter what follows, much as was and is the case for Eli Manning and Broadway Joe and Walt Frazier.

He may not finish his career as the leadoff man for the Yankees but will hardly matter now. Those other icons won titles but Jeter already had more titles than any of them. What he may not have had before Saturday was that one big day.

Well, he sure had one Saturday. Five for five, the 3000th hit a homer, and the game-winning hit to top it all off.

The 3000th after all had to come on a winning day.

(Christian Lopez made the day even more special by returning the ball he caught, passing up many thousands of dollars in the bargain).

A Nice Place To Be

2011-07-06T00:30:00.000-07:00

Why is this Mets team so hard to root for? Maybe it’s that Atlanta is already about 7 or so ahead of them for the wildcard. Maybe it’s just that Pelfrey’s pitching. Maybe I can’t believe that Daniel friggin’ Murphy had been batting cleanup. And Duda’s playing first base. I know I like some of those other guys, Turner and Tejada and Thole and all those new pitchers who’ve been doing so well.

But when is Reyes coming back?

I’m watching the Mets-Dodgers game, of course, the one that starts at 9 PM Eastern, and it could be worse as they are 3000 miles away. But I do get to watch the Yankees and the Mets this way. So life is good, unless you begin to think that maybe you’re just a little tired of this whole Mets situation…all the uncertainty.

It’s not as if you can even be happy when they win. They’re a .500 team basically. And that’s with Reyes and Beltran and K-Rod. What happens when they hit the dusty trail? What happens if just one of them leaves? I guess that’s what I’m witnessing now, the Mets playing Tejada at short, in a lineup that doesn’t terrify anybody even with Reyes.

And thank God they’re playing the Dodgers tonight, a team that’s not likely to overwhelm anyone, and a team that has its own ownership problems. Ethier’s been pretty quiet but they do have Loney and Kemp, especially Kemp. Their pitching is a little suspect, and overall as a team they’re not scaring anybody, or exciting anybody either, just like the Mets.

When you watch the Yankees, it’s a whole different deal. Usually that consistent winning just aggravates me when it’s the big-spending Bombers from the Bronx. But they just keep winning all the time. If they need somebody to pitch or somebody to hit, they go and get them. Some of them are even easy to root for, players like Granderson and, um, Swisher.

Tonight the Mets heroes have been Beltran and Bay. I guess you could credit Pelfrey too as the Dodgers are still scoreless. But he did pout when Collins took him out of the game. He remimds me more and more of John Maine and what’s he doing now?

This game is finally heating up a little as Beltran and Paulino just managed a couple of singles, there are no outs and I love watching Bay lately when runners are on base. And, whoa!! Bay hits the three-run homer, his second of the day! And he’s not going anywhere. WooHoo!!

Now it’s the rather healthy looking Isringhausen trying to keep this thing rolling along. Izzy hasn’t been super lately but he has had his moments. And Tejada just made a diving stab of a Uribe hard grounder to his left and calmly got the force at second. But Izzy won’t make it easy as he walks some Dodger nobody. But he gets another weak-hitting Dodger, Ellis to fly out to center. And, wadda ya know? Here’s still another weak hitter at the plate. Izzy might get through this day.

And he does. Izzy gets a weak ground ball to end the 8th. The 6-zip lead would seem to be insurmountable. And the Dodgers have no closer either. It seems as if Donnie Baseball has his work cut out for him in La-La land.

Duda just muffed a hard grounder from the Dodgers’ venerable shortstop, Rafael Furcal. But, lo and behold, he then grabs a short-hopper to get the force. All is not lost. Maybe he really can play first. Mets reliever Carrasco now has two outs in the ninth….and now three. The Mets win the game, 6-0. Not too shabby.

So that ends the sports day at 1 o’clock in the morning. Of course, there will be the Mets post-game show but they’ll kill it with commercials. The YES network will be showing a re-play of the Yankees-Indians but, even with Granderson and Cano on my fantasy team, I can’t really see myself doing that.

But the commercials finally end and the show features Jason Bay. Deservedly so. And he’s all humble pie and graciousness. Maybe he’s over his troubles. Maybe he just had a severe case of the first-year with a new club syndrome. Maybe he’ll make this club a little more fun to watch, maybe even a lot more fun.

Maybe I’m just getting carried away. The World Series Champion Giants are next on the schedule as we approach the All-Star break. The Mets will see some better pitching for sure, names like Vogelsong and Lincecum and Cain. Those fellows could definitely screw up your chances for getting wins.

The Mets are 44-42 now and have 2 more with the Dodgers before they even get to the city by the bay. They’ll have to face the Dodgers Kuroda and Kershaw too so, all in all, things don’t look too rosy for our heroes before the break. If they can split the remaining two with the Dodgers and take just one of three from those tough Giants starters, they’ll be 46-45, creditable but not very much in real contention for anything.

What will the Mets do? Re-sign Reyes? Keep Beltran and K-Rod for the rest of the year? I’d love to see it. If the big guys all stay, maybe these upstarts can even make a run for a wildcard. After all, Atlanta isn’t so formidable either, especially if Bay can really keep producing.

Niese, Gee, Dickey, Capuano, Pelfrey. Can these guys keep going out there and giving the Mets a chance to win? I think they can. The relievers haven’t been too shabby either. Maybe they won’t be too hard to watch after all!

Keep the big guns, Sandy. To hell with the prospects. You’ll give Mets fans something to shout about, maybe even a wildcard spot. You have to believe, right? As long as we have Jose and Carlos playing for new contracts, that’s a nice place to be.

On Wimbledon and Tennis

2011-06-28T13:04:00.000-07:00

There’s not too much better in life than this, can’t go out as the air-quality index is high ( I find any reason), the women’s Wimbledon semifinals is on the tube and the action has been really good. That spider on the wall still hasn’t moved, the gutter guy hasn’t called (not that that means he’s not coming) and I can look forward to a nice workout followed by some baseball action tonight.

But what’s this? “Days of Our Lives” just interrupted the NBC coverage. How stupid is this? Okay, I switch to ESPN and now, instead of watching a continuation of a great match between Kvitova and Pironkova, I’m seeing an interview with Sabine Lisicki (of the powerfully serving Lisicki’s), which is fine, I guess, but where’s the live action?

So I try the Tennis Channel. Nope, it’s not there, they’re showing “Tennisography” whatever the heck that is. Ok, back to ESPN and, finally, here’s the semifinals again but it’s well into the third set now and Pironkova is down 2-love, all of which means we missed the key games in the match.

I’m of course pulling for the decided underdog, Pironkova, but even more so as the broadcasters and court officials have been doing nothing but disparaging her and making bad calls. If it weren’t for the Bulgarian’s prudent challenging, she’d have lost already.

“Sneaky, clever, off-putting”, they’re now saying of Pironkova, which reminds me of a description of Japanese at Pearl Harbor. Geez, ya think ESPN’s pulling for the blonde? Do they just hate Bulgaria?

Now I’m really pulling for the Bulgarian. She calls for another challenge but this time is wrong, but not by much. The Russian now holds again for the 3-1 lead. I’m thinking we missed the action in the first two games, the action upon which the match was decided. Now they tell me all the action is available online or on my cell phone.

Okay, so the coverage leaves a lot to be desired but it’s still better than “Days of Our Lives”.

The Bulgarian holds again for 3-2 but then Kvitova looks to hold too at 4-2. She really does have an impressive game, especially when she’s serving. That favoring of the big servers that characterizes the action here is what makes it unique, that and the fact that anybody who’s anybody shows up there.

And that’s why we’re seeing the Bulgarian at all. One of NBC’s disparaging remarks was that the Bulgarian only shows up at Wimbledon. I think that’s great. Whoa! A great get by the Bulgarian, then a great forehand by the lefty Czech, then an incredible rally and they’re both playing great tennis. So ESPN goes to commercial. Geez.

Now, as the Bulgarian goes down still another break, the broadcast team decries the loss of Venus Williams and the Dane blonde from the tournament. Yeah, I feel bad too. Imagine the pain of seeing some new faces.

Okay, now Pironkova’s finished. The big Czech (and all of these players are anything but vertically challenged) had too much power.

Okay, now I can break from tennis for a while to contemplate baseball.

It’ll be Cliff Lee and the Phillies against Josh Beckett and the Red Sox, the two best teams in MLB and two of the best pitchers. Surely this could be a preview of Game 2 of the World Series. (The Phils have Halladay, the Sox (no, not those White Sox) have Jon Lester ). Me, I’ll be pulling for my two fantasy pitchers going tonight, Michael Pineda and Ryan Vogelsong, against the Braves and Cubs, two teams that can’t boast of many hitters, although Aramis Ramirez and Brian McCann might disagree.

Now the fourth semifinal has been suspended by rain. This is ridiculous. Where’s the roof when you need it? Who the heck is on Center Court? Great, a Legends match. It takes 15 minutes to close the roof and move the matches around to courts they should have been scheduled on in the first place.

Okay, back to baseball, the Cubs game starts at 2:20PM and, Eureka! It’ll be on WGN! Cool. Now I can switch between tennis and baseball, if ESPN and Wimbledon ever come to their senses. It’ll be a continuation of Azarenka-Paszek, which Paszek, another Eastern European, is leading 1-0. It’ll be interesting to see how long it takes them to make a decision on the switch.

The Giants just took the lead in the Cubs game, on bloopers mostly, much like watching a Mets game. But Kung Fu Panda helps out the Cubs by grounding into a double play. But the pitcher refuses to get out of trouble and it’s now 3-zip. It’s looking good for Ryan Vogelsong.

Meanwhile, ESPN is babbling about Rafael Nadal and Mardy Fish. Where’s the women’s semifinal?

A peek back at ESPN and they’re covering the men’s prospects; there’s been no mention of the women’s semifinal everybody’s been waiting for. Vogelsong, meanwhile, is starting well but now is facing Starlin Castro, a tough hitter who can be pesky on the bases. Getting this out will be big.

But a sidetrip to the kitchen for three perfect eggs and a coffee leaves that result unanswered. Upon my return though, the Giants are up again and it’s still 3-nothing. Back to ESPN to finally find out that they will indeed do the smart thing and play the women’s semifinal on Center Court. It’s pointed out that Azarenka’s obnoxious screaming will even be more annoying under the roof. You can’t make this stuff up.

Vogelsong is now getting banged around a bit as Carlos Pena just went deep with a man on and Soriano flied out very deep to center. Maybe he’ll be more careful now. So far I’m not that impressed with the Giants Number 4 starter with the nice ERA.

A Coy Hill has now tied up the game. It’s high time for a new fantasy pitcher.

And it’s high time too for the women’s semifinals, ESPN.

Mets Doctors Strike Again

2011-06-23T15:10:00.001-07:00

Has there ever been anything more boring than a Mets series against the Oakland A’s? I can’t think of anything offhand. I mean, really, the Yanks got the Cubs and then the Reds, interesting (in the case of the Cubs) or exciting (the Reds) opponents while we got the friggin’ Angels and A’s.

I wouldn’t mind so much if the Mets were having a little more success. But they’re not and the future doesn’t look too good either. The Mets doctors have struck again. Now we hear they totally blew the diagnosis and treatment of Ike Davis’s bruised ankle. The walking boot they recommended did nothing but inhibit blood flow to the affected area. No healing occurred as a result, and, oh yeah, there’s cartilage damage too.

I’ve had it with the Mets medical staff. Ike was the last straw for me. How many players do the Mets need to see get worse after visiting the Mets witch doctors before they make a change. Who recommended their staff in the first place, Madoff?

Ike Davis was the Mets most promising player. A bruise will now have Ike out until the middle of August. That’s unforgivable in light of their past failures with Beltran and others too numerous to mention. If Alderson wants to really cement his standing with Mets fans, he’ll do something about this deplorable Mets medical staff.

For his part, Davis will be finally getting a second opinion, demonstrating at the very least that he’s much smarter than the Mets management. Just to recap the situation, Ike Davis was the Mets leader in rbi’s and batting average when Wright came across to destroy his leg. It only happened at all because the gork pitcher Pelfrey made no attempt to help his fielders out with a fly ball to the mound.

Meanwhile, the Mets plod on at two games below .500. The rookies who had been hitting stopped. Several of their veterans stopped hitting too. Jose Reyes keeps truckin’ though and Justin Turner continues to be the luckiest ballplayer in the world. Last night, he won the game by getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the 13th inning.

Of course, that only happened because Dickey was lights out and K-Rod blew the save in the 9th. As this is written, the last game of this colossally dreadful interleague setup is taking place and, predictably, it’s been pretty boring. I’m even getting tired of Gary Cohen, something I didn’t think was possible.

Thank God for Wimbledon tennis action and other real baseball action. Nothing I’ve watched in the last month was better than the Tsonga-Dmitrov battle I just witnessed and the Nats walk-off win against the Mariners was very cool too, with Nats reliever Tyler Clippard shutting the Mariners down for his offense in the bottom of the ninth.

Reyes just made a strong throw from shortstop to keep the speedy A’s second baseman Weeks off the basepaths. Set your DVD’s to “record”, Mets fans, because every at-bat , every nice play, every triple and every smile you see from Reyes this year might be his last in a Mets uniform.

Reyes wouldn’t agree to having contract talks during the season. I was nevertheless happy to see the Mets make the offer to talk. I’ve decided too that I’d rather see Reyes finish the season here than pick up a couple of prospects for him in some rent-a-player scheme devised by one of the real contenders for a World Series berth.

Even if the Mets wind up losing Reyes with no compensation received in return, we’ll at least get to see him finish his outstanding year in which he’s making his bid for MVP. And, by the bye, Reyes just scored again for the Mets, this time by reaching base on an error, moving right along on the basepaths and scoring on a, wait for it, Daniel Murphy 2-out rbi.

Pagan just made another bone-headed play in centerfield, bobbling a ball because he once again tried to do something he’s incapable of pulling off. Now there’s a guy I’d like to see traded. He’s a player who’ll never get better. He lacks focus, the Mike Pelfrey of the offensive side of the ball.

One exciting thing about this time of year is that I can imagine fantasy trades I’d like to see. For example, Mike Pelfrey to the Yankees for their doctors, Pagan to the Angels for a legitimate established relief pitcher, K-Rod to anywhere for a couple of hitting prospects with power.

While the Mets continue to plod along, it’ll be nice to see the NBA draft tonight, a draft most experts agree is short on talent but still, there must be some big guy out there that the Knicks could use to grab some rebounds and play defense while the most selfish player in the league, Carmelo Anthony, calls for the ball with three players draped all over him.

One of the keys I look for when a player is traded is the opposing coach’s reaction to the trade. George Karl, for example, the Nuggets coach, looked like a kid on Christmas Day when Anthony left for the Knicks, this despite his battling cancer. There’s been no more ecstatic reaction since that Bulls coach long ago couldn’t believe his good fortune when the stupidest GM in the league, Isiah, took the world’s stupidest center (Eddy Curry) off his hands.

So, now that the Knicks have Anthony and nothing else but Amare, they have needs all over the place. Anybody they draft tonight will have to fit a need. The Nets meanwhile will try to pretend they know what they’re doing. It’s just a matter of time before their ballyhooed acquisition of point guard Deron Williams goes kerplunk when he declines to sign whatever paper they put in front of him.

But even THAT might be amusing at least, more entertaining than this god-awful interleague play or another oops by the Mets (for lack of a better word)” doctors”.

One Mothful of an If

2011-06-17T12:00:00.001-07:00

Lately I’ve been asking myself, “can a team be really serious about winning a pennant, or these days, just making the playoffs, if it has only one lefty relief pitcher? That, of course, is secondary to the other big question, namely “Why should I care”?

I mean, really, the Mets are now just the Buffalo minor league team with a few ringers named Beltran and Reyes and Bay. But they’re one hell of a minor league team! They proved that again last night when first baseman (using the term loosely) Duda muffed the grounder that gave the hated(by me anyway) Braves the win.

So, once again, the Mets fell below .500. And it’s not the end of the world. As Collins said after the game, they beat two of their best pitchers and finished the road trip 6-4. But, to me, it would have been great if all of Chipper’s heroics went for naught and if K-Rod could have come through with another save in that spot.

But he couldn’t. He parked a pitch around belt high and over the plate and some Braves nobody belted a 2-run homer for the tie in the ninth, setting the stage for Duda’s frolics at first base, or more accurately, about 10 yards out from that bag. Geez, Tejada could’ve had it too.

And that sequence of events is a lot like a lot of other events of the same nature that have happened to these ridiculous Mets. But it’s ok. They’ve also had those days when the pitching was great and the hits just kept coming. And I’ll take triples over home runs just any old day.

One wonders how long these guys can keep it up. The most prominent of “ these guys” would have to be Justin Turner. I mean, really, you can stick him in at second or third, and he just hits with men on base nearly all the time. He surely has more ribbies per at-bat than anyone else on the planet.

To me, the second “guy” is Reuben Tejada. I liked him even last year when he couldn’t hit to save his life. But, this year, he’s killing the ball, especially for him based on last year’s performance. He’s a natural at second base and plays shortstop in a pinch, that pinch one that may be experienced quite quickly, either this year or next.

Then there’s crazy Daniel Murphy who, it seems, will either win one for you or lose one for you in either the most unlikely or embarrassing way. You really don’t know what you’re going to get from Murphy, and, while that may not be a good thing, it surely is interesting to watch.

The catcher, Josh Thole, would probably be right up there with Murphy. Besides holding down the most difficult position on the field, he also seems to hit in the clutch. And he’s lucky, because most of the big hits I recall are just little Texas-leaguers down the line. You can’t over-estimate the value of luck.

And then there’s Duda. He’s not one of the “guys”yet. But he could become one really easy. He’s big and could be dangerous at the plate, if a home run is what you need. The problem with Duda Is that he never seems to really come through. A check on his BA reveals a paltry .139 average. But for him at least, it’s still early. He’s had 36 at-bats.

To me, Pagan isn’t really far removed from the rest of the bunch. He can be pretty exasperating for a veteran player. He surely won’t be on any of my favorites lists until he stops making mistakes on the bases. That drives me crazy. He’s supposed to be an asset on the bases.

Of course, there are the pitching “guys” too. They’re all coming through. Niese, Dickey, Gee, even Parnell, they’ve all been pleasant surprises. And thank the baseball gods for that! Without the excellent pitching in the last couple of weeks, that right around .500 clip could have been a lot worse.

The upcoming schedule is really ridiculous. Interleague play will be bringing us the Angels and the Oakland A’s. I don’t even know what to say about that! The only good thing about it is that we’ll play without a designated hitter, as always in National League baseball, while those teams will have to figure out a way of fielding nine and still maintaining a viable lineup.

But then it’ll be at Texas and at Detroit. That seems like bad luck to me. They’re both pretty much at the top of the heap in the American League. But, at the very least, we should enjoy seeing how Daniel Murphy will react to being a designated hitter. The man without a position will finally have his spot.

The only sure thing is that this team will probably be broken up. Beltran, K-Rod, and maybe Reyes will be gone. That’s the only move that makes sense, especially for a franchise having its financial troubles. But, as each player move will just be a rental for the receiving team, the Mets can’t even expect much in return that will help the team this year.

As that’s the case, life after the All-Star break for Mets fans could be pretty bleak. Tejada can move to shortstop and probably lead off as well. That’ll free up second base for Turner. And all that’ll be lost will be all those hits, all those triples, and all that excitement.

I’d hate to think Duda is the only answer to spell Beltran in right field. Jason Pridie, still another one of the lesser “guys”, is hitting just .234 as this is written, and, while he can provide some pop, he’s no Carlos Beltran. (Not that many others are).

If Jason Bay starts providing some pop, the absence of Beltran might not be so conspicuous, especially after Wright and Ike Davis return to the lineup. But that’s one mouthful of an if.

LeBron Has Struck Out !

2011-06-14T12:21:00.000-07:00

It’s really hard to discuss the Mets these days at a time when all the press and prose is given to LeBron James and Dirk Nowitzki, the hated Miami Heat and the hard-working darlings of Dallas. What a reality show these NBA Finals have been! (It was the right time for an exclamation point).

It’s really laughable. James is just getting smeared all over the place for not being some kind of Superman in this Series. He was only mortal, some would say way too mortal. He didn’t take over games in the fourth quarter. He didn’t win the Championship for which he left Cleveland . His bravado, his cavalier attitude, his all too public reveling in his own persona turned out to be unjustified.

No team ever deserved to lose more than the evil Miami team, the brain-trust that concocted their grand scheme for a title and the stars who pranced about on national TV to announce James’s final decision to forsake the utterly forsake-able city of his home town Cleveland.

The Heat lost. James lost. Wade lost. Bosh lost. Life is good, very good.

What’s maybe most compelling to me in following this maniacal coverage centers around the word schadenfreude, a word I had really never seen before but appeared in at least two different columns. It means the taking of joy from someone else’s failures.

And it’s true. Not since the Yanks lost four straight to the Red Sox have I or this nation derived so much giddiness from the failure of others. Never has there been such universal glee over a team’s demise and the failure of its self-proclaimed superstar.

And no person ever deserved it more. No team ever deserved it more. So it’s okay to pile on. These people deserve it, slick Pat Riley, smug Dwayne Wade and the arrogant LeBron James.

The best part of this whole thing is that America didn’t see this coming, I didn’t see this coming and, best of all, the Heat themselves didn’t see it coming. They were too good. They were too smart, too strong and just too tough. No team could take them in the clutch. When push came to shove, in their minds it would be the Miami Heat who would prevail. And they weren’t bashful about it, no no, not at all, precious.

On the other side of things is the perfect counterfoil, if that’s the word….a really good basketball team, a group of individuals with a lot of talent, a lot of experience and a lot of character, a team that knew how good they were, a coach who knew how to use all his talent and even a practically crazed owner who just shut up his incredibly big mouth for practically the entire season. He didn’t want to jinx them. How great is that?

In short, no team ever deserved to win more than this Mavericks team. Yeah, they had their superstar too but he had never won anything before, he was too soft, he was a European, he was just a shooter who wasn’t even that when the clock was ticking down in a big game.

But that European gave away some of his own money so that owner Cuban could acquire two perfect role-players that would make them even tougher, one Brian Cardinal and an even less notable Ian Mahinmi, a big body, from France no less. But even raw 6’11 guys get noticed and tough 6’8 guys with experience can be a real pain in the behind.

And then there was Jason Kidd, the good old guy with all the smarts on the court, in his prime a real triple-double guy who played good defense too, a real winner who never really won anything unless you count nonsense like the Olympics.

Yeah, Nowitzki and Kidd were the names everybody knew but an old fantasy player like myself knew and took note of some of these other Mavs players even before the season started, starting with Jason Terry, who was just great all year but who still hadn’t been touted much outside of Dallas, but also including Shawn Marion, who had always been one of the better all-around forwards in the league.

I had both these players on my winning fantasy squad and they were two real values. Another player I would have liked was center Tyson Chandler, always under-rated as he’s one of those guys who always played much better than his stat-line would indicate.

So I took notice of this Dallas team early on in the season but still was surprised that they beat the Lakers. I thought the Mavs were too small to take the Lakers. And I wouldn’t have put money down that they’d ever beat the Heat.

Hadn’t the NBA always rewarded the star system? Hadn’t the existence of 2 superstars on the same team always practically guaranteed success? Think Jordan and Pippen, think Magic and Kareem , think Kobe and Shaq (who beat Kidd in 2003). Wasn’t it pretty much a lock that the stars would be rewarded again? Hadn’t the Heat just beaten the 3-starred Celtics of Pierce, Garnett and Allen?

After Game 3, when the Heat recaptured their home court advantage, I thought the Mavs might be done. I expected the Heat to win each successive contest. The Mavs win in Game 4 was a relief but their backs were against the wall. Their always fateful Game 5 win was a joy but even then, I thought they had to go back to Miami and could easily lose two there.

I told myself the Mavs had to win Game 6, a Game 7 in Miami would be just impossible. But they did indeed take Game 6. Once again, it was the Jason Terry show while LeBron seemed to disappear. Wade was great throughout.

LeBron was not. He couldn’t drive to the basket. He couldn’t shoot. He found out there are missing elements to his game. And brand.

And that’s best of all.

Hope for the Future

2011-06-09T13:10:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I tried something new, using a pen and paper instead of a PC. What I wound up with was 1000 words or so on paper. Then I went to sleep. Now it’s two days later and, even if I wanted to transcribe it, if I could read it, it’s old news now, or, even worse, commentary on old news.

So let’s try again. The Mets still win a couple, lose a couple. LeBron James is still damned if he does and if he doesn’t, the Yanks are still second best, well, maybe third best now, and some nag will undoubtedly win the Belmont Stakes this Saturday.

That Mets game last night was really fun to watch. It had everything, some good pitching, some good hitting and lots and lots of highs and lows.

Mike Pelfrey is cursed. Either he’ll lose the game all by himself or he’ll get help. Last night he got help. The usual suspects provided the help, Reyes and Beltran, Pagan and Paulino to name a few. But, after taking a nice lead, their relievers lost it for them anyway.

I don’t like the way Collins handles pitchers. He either inserts a new pitcher before the one on the mound gets in trouble or he stays with a pitcher clearly in trouble much too long. He thinks it’s character building. I think it’s just stupid.

Last night Pelfrey pitched a gem for six innings. That’s all the opportunity he got. Collins decided it was time for some of the worst relievers in the game to finish it for him. And oh, they finished it all right. The first reliever called upon, the lefty “specialist” Byrdak promptly walked the first batter, Prince Fielder, and got yanked.

Then Parnell managed to pitch his way through the seventh without too much incident, setting the stage for the Mets big inning in the eighth. But, rather than let Parnell continue, Collins brought in Pedro Beato, who had pitched the day before. And it showed. He had nothing, no fastball, no slider, no fight. He just quit. He figuratively said, “You don’t pitch me two days in a row”.

Beato promptly walked the forty-year old Counsell. Right at that point I would have pulled his butt. But not Collins, he wanted to see Beato build character. Beato did manage to get a ground ball out of Rickie Weeks though, a ball that could have been a double-play with a better infield. That minor gaffe was enough to rattle Beato, who then gave up a single to Morgan and a double to Braun, scoring two. Only then did Collins go to Isringhausen, who wasted no time at all in letting Prince Fielder tie the game with a humongous home run to straight-away center.

I chalk last night’s loss up to Collins. Instead of going with the hot hand, he goes with the cold one. And it’s not the first time. Instead of pulling closer to that magic .500 mark, the Mets lost one that should have been in the bag.

Everybody thinks the Mets relative success this year is solely due to Collins. What a joke! Whatever success they’ve had is due to some good players, players who were unproven but good nevertheless. Turner, Pridie, Thole, Tejada, these young players are tough. And the starting pitching has been good too.

While it could be that Collins is one of the reasons they’re playing so well, that’s not really a lock. And I’m willing to give Collins the benefit of the doubt in that regard but he’s bad with pitchers. He needs to get better.

The Mets need some power and some help in the relief corps, starting with a lefty who knows how to pitch. Every time I see Byrdak, I think “here we go”. As the Mets won’t be spending any money in the near future, the Mets have to use their existing assets to get better in the long run.

But they can get a power hitter and a reliever or two without getting rid of Reyes. Reyes is a large piece of the Mets very identity. Although his value is undoubtedly the highest it will ever be right now, the Mets should not make a deal until it’s proven they can’t re-sign him and that the return for him is significant, meaning multiple high-quality prospects.

Wilpon’s unfortunate comments certainly point to the Mets not re-signing him. But just as the Yankees overpaid by nearly double Jeter’s actual worth to re-sign him, so the Mets should regard Jose Reyes. He’s the straw that stirs the drink, not Wright or Santana or Beltran. The team should be willing to pay some premium to keep him in a Mets uniform.

Only if re-signing him is virtually impossible should the Mets deal him. If they must deal him, they must get value. Beltran and K-Rod should also draw some suitors this year from any number of contending teams. They can fully expect to get some power and relief pitching in return.

All of which means there is hope for a better Mets team in the future, one probably featuring pitching and defense rather than power, although some power would be nice. It certainly appears at this juncture that power will not be forthcoming from either Jason Bay or David Wright.

Jason Bay is holding the bat too tightly. He’s got to loosen up that grip and just whip that bat around. His stance is actually better than it was last year when he led with his elbows. He’s just got to relax. He has to swing at the first hittable pitch too rather than taking a strike. Until he shakes this slump, he should forget about having “good” at-bats. He’s got to break out, and not necessarily with home runs.

Meanwhile, NBA fans will see the real LeBron tonight. Baskets? …..he’ll make them. Rebounds?....he’ll get them. Assists?....maybe not so many but some timely ones to his partners named Wade and Chris Bosh.

Roll With the Punches

2011-05-31T13:12:00.000-07:00

Here it is a holiday weekend, a fun 3-day weekend, Memorial Day weekend. If there’s a better 3-day weekend, I don’t know about it. The opening of the NJ Shore season, better weather ahead, memories of fun times, games and barbecues…what could be better than that?

And there’s baseball of course, even if you’re a Mets fan. I’m now watching the Mets-Phillies Sunday game and the Mets are helping me feel even better about the weekend. They have jumped off to a 4-run lead in this one, Niese seems to be cruising along, and, at least right now, it seems the Mets are all making pretty good contact with the ball.

Beltran just crushed a 380 foot double to left center and, despite all the troubles with the rest of the lineup, Beltran has been like a rock all season, him and Reyes, and it’s sadly ironic that those are two guys who won’t be Mets next year.

Now Bay and Murphy have followed with hits and it looks as if the Phillies Worley will be finished soon. Wow! Amazing! Now Pagan has stroked a liner to right, scoring Beltran and Bay and it looks as if a rout is on. It’s 6-0 and even these Mets will have trouble giving this game back.

Now it’s 8-zip, even Josh Thole having contributed to another 4-run inning, and the Mets cup runneth over. It’s about time. Since their opening win against the Yanks, it’s been lose 3, win 1, and lately even the relief staff has faltered. Since Wright and Davis have both been on the DL, it’s been the bizarro world in Metsland.

As the prospects for Wright’s and Davis’s return soon aren’t that good, it looks as if we’ll be seeing a lot more of these rookies, and so far, at the very least, it’s certainly been instructive, if nothing else. Justin Turner has been an eye-opener. If it hadn’t been for Turner, the Mets could have lost all their games. He was an RBI machine there for a while.

Turner had become the second baseman after the failure of Brad Emaus but, when Davis and Wright went down, he had to spell Wright at third base. That opened up the second base spot for Reuben Tejada, who’s a real magician with the glove. Murphy has been spelling Davis at first base and, while he’ll never be confused with Keith Hernandez, he’s been almost passable, although Jose Reyes may disagree after having been charged with at least two errors on throws that most first basemen would have made.

At this point though, any expectations I might have had for this season have been pretty much dashed. A team can’t possibly absorb all these injuries without a negative effect. So any win will be a welcome win, and somewhat of a surprise. But this team, despite everything, continues to be entertaining, although I’m probably more easily amused than are most people.

Jonathan Niese has now gone 5 full innings and he’s just rolling along. With Dickey down with a fascia tear, and Chris Young down with a shoulder for the season, and Pelfrey being up and down, maybe it’ll be Niese we’ll soon be calling the ace of this staff. Now that’s a scary proposition.

But newbie Dillon Gee has been pretty impressive in a starting role, sporting a 3.83 ERA at present and most teams would take that kind of performance in a heartbeat, especially for a number 5 starter. As long as Capuano can keep his end up, the staff really isn’t that bad.

The relievers should bounce back after their recent letdown. And that might be the most important ingredient of all. When that part of their game was holding up, the Mets were tough down the stretch, making all the plays they needed. But, of course, the reverse was true as well.

There should be some very entertaining baseball coming starting today with Pittsburgh coming to town for four games. But the Pirates aren’t the patsies they used to be. They may indeed have more proven major-league players than our Mets.

What is the true nature of this Mets team? Are they a AAA level team with a few ringers or are they a playoff-contender level major league team with more AAA fill-ins than would be optimal? Are they the team that lost 3 for every one victory or was that the result of great pitching opponents in Philadelphia and Chicago?

A family barbecue had interrupted these inane musings and now it’s Tuesday. The Mets won their finale against the Phillies and they beat the Pirates in their opening game. They did it without Jose Reyes and without Jason Bay. They banged out a zillion singles and just one double while Dillon Gee, Isringhausen and K-Rod limited the Pirates to 3 runs.

What does that mean though? The opposing pitcher was one Charlie Morton. The Pirates have been the perennial National League doormat. Their current 24-28 record is better than they’ve been in a dog’s age.

Willie Harris batted leadoff and played third base. Daniel Murphy batted cleanup. Pridie played left field and Tejada was at shortstop for Reyes. The amazing Justin Turner moved back to second base. It would be easier to laugh outloud at that lineup if they hadn’t promptly gone out and won with it.

It’s all been pretty mystifying. I don’t know what to root for anymore. Reyes will be out for a week now because of a death in his family in the Dominican Republic. Things can’t get much worse.

Even after the win last night though, I asked myself if I really enjoyed watching it. The word that best describes their success is “ephemeral”. Fans shouted for the Mets to keep Reyes the other night. Will they be able to do it?

It’s all very temporary. What you see today may not be here next week, never mind next year. Mets fans would be well-advised to roll with the punches.

Trying Their Brains Out

2011-05-23T00:53:00.000-07:00

The kindest thing to say is that it just wasn’t meant to be. The Mets only had a puncher’s chance anyway. To take 2 of 3 from the Yankees would have been highly unlikely under the best of circumstances. And as just about every circumstance went against the Mets in Game 3, the result somehow became more palatable.

Taking the first game of the Series from the Yanks took all the pressure off the Mets, immediately ensuring that they wouldn’t be swept. So when Game 2 was lost, it wasn’t really very painful. It wasn’t that hard to figure that Chris Capuano, always vulnerable to the long ball, would be victimized somewhat while AJ Burnett would roll.

I’d say Game 3 was a typical Mike Pelfrey loss if it weren’t for the fact that he did so well for so long, pitching lights out for 6 innings. Usually he falls apart much sooner than the 7th inning. All he really did wrong in that 7th was give up a single and a walk. And, oh yeah, he hit Cervelli with a pitch to load the bases. By then, every Mets fan knew it was curtains for Mikey. The more cogent ones though knew he was done after he walked Dickerson.

Unfortunately, manager Terry Collins isn’t as smart as most Mets fans. He let Pelfrey pitch to Jeter, who promptly singled in two runs. Only then did Collins call for a reliever, after Jeter’s single tied the score at 3-3. Collins likes to give his players an opportunity to show their character. Pelfrey showed his when he nailed Cervelli. He’s really not that good with adversity.

It was interesting for a very short while thereafter. When Girardi sent the Yanks leader in home runs up to bunt the runners over to second and third, I figured the Yanks wasted an out and, if the Mets could walk Teixeira and get a ground ball from Arod, all would be right with the world. Reliever Beato had always been tough with runners in scoring position.

The ironic thing was that Beato did get his ground ball from Arod. But it was too soft, unplayably soft, and the winning run came trotting home. Even then, things might have been salvageable if Beato could have eked out a ground ball from Cano. But he couldn’t. Cano rifled a single to center and two more runs came scurrying home. Only then was it time to switch to the French Open.

What happened after all the above isn’t really important. Things got worse. Willie Harris booted a chance at third base but by then everybody had lost interest. Mets fans were left to wonder what could have been if Collins hadn’t been such an optimist with respect to Pelfrey.

But sometimes things just catch up to you. How long could the Mets keep going as if losing David Wright and Ike Davis didn’t really mean that much? How long could Justin Turner, the Mets RBI machine for the past week, keep practicing his magic? How long could the relief staff keep throwing up zeroes?

Our local heroes have a day off before traveling out to Chicago for three against the Cubbies before hosting the Phillies and then Pittsburgh. One hopes they just forget all about yesterday’s foibles. Instead, they could think about all the good things they have, because they can still win a lot of games with Justin Turner and Pridie and yes, even Willie Harris.

They just have to keep pitching well. There does seem to be enough talent there. By some miracle, R.A. Dickey’s knuckler has returned and the other starters, Gee and Niese and Capuano have been good enough so far to keep them in games. And the hitting isn’t really as bad as all the local media would have you believe, even without Davis and Wright.

You shouldn’t judge the Mets hitting off a series with the Yankees. Those relievers in the Bronx were and are pretty darned good. While the Cubbies have a couple of good ones in Marmol and Marshall, if the Mets can take and hold a lead against their starters, they may not have to face the really tough ones.

If this all sounds a little too optimistic, it shouldn’t. While these upstarts from Buffalo don’t have any reputations, they do seem to play defense and do all the other things needed to win. They’re not the Yankees but then even the Yankees aren’t really knockin’ ‘em dead.

The Yankees lineup just doesn’t seem that intimidating anymore. Arod seems to be coming on and Granderson hits the more than occasional dinger but otherwise they’ve been pretty mundane. Besides, the lineup is crazy. Having Granderson in the two spot is ridiculous. Although he did lay down a nice bunt yesterday and he does have speed, he’s really not making enough contact to be a two.

Teixeira’ not a three, Jeter’s not a one, and just about no Yankees seem to really fit in the lineup spot they find themselves in. Gardner should be the leadoff hitter with his speed and ability to take pitches. If anybody’s a three, it’s Arod and well, it’s not really my business but they are looking old to me, especially Posada but Jeter’s looking a little too creaky to me at shortstop. His error in taking a beautiful throw from Cervelli yesterday looked suspiciously to me like an old guy trying to do things only a younger guy could pull off.

And Cano looks as if his mind’s on something else more often than not. He’s not so far the wunderkind he was last year, especially in the field. Even at the plate more often than not, it looks as if he’s just not that into it.

The Mets never look complacent. The Mets are all trying their brains out. And as Beltran and Reyes are in their contract years, they’re playing for their very livelihoods. It’s a peculiar mix that just might work.

The Happy Mets Fan

2011-05-16T13:03:00.000-07:00

Before I get distracted by one more thing, let me get started here. It’s a rainy day, second day in a row actually, and I’ve had “alls I can stands” from indoor projects that I don’t even know how to do. And I’d really like to talk about, you guessed it, the Mets.

Okay, first an overview. The Mets are about a quarter way through the season (along with everyone else) and, beginning now, nobody can still say, “it’s early” and get away with it. I mean, before you know it, it’ll be June. That’s not early. The Mets are 19-21. The Yanks are 20-18, so they’re two games back of the Yankees. That’s not too shabby.

All the hitting I expected from this team in pre-season has arrived. Reyes and Beltran are tearing up the league. Wright and Bay are doing their plodding along but still pack some punch in a lineup. Ike Davis is hurt now but had been doing his best Carlos Delgado impersonation, without the smile and the notepad.

Who am I missing? Well, let’s see, the number 2 hitter is now Justin Turner and, since he knocked in 5 runs yesterday against the Astros, I really can’t pick on him too much. Josh Thole will spell him in the number two spot against righties and that’s all good too. Both these guys make contact, a la Luis Castillo, but with more power and much better timing as to just when they poke something.

The omnipresent Daniel Murphy is all over the place on the right side of the infield, spelling Davis now but also had looked pretty darned good at second, at least, better than everybody had once thought. And he’s at least nominally productive, scoring or driving in a run about 26% of the time. This stat, one of my favorites, just totals runs and ribbies divided by at-bats. Wright’s percentage is just 28% while Reyes’s average is only 22 ½ %, surprisingly enough. Since Reyes is batting at .310 with a .831 OPS and 14 steals though, his low production percentage can only be attributed to some pretty poor production both behind and in front of him.

Overall though, the Mets are 10th in runs scored which puts them in the top third of the entire league. Their pitching has held up admirably, especially in the relief category. Statistics for the season don’t really reflect that though as their poor start has mired them at just 24th in the league in ERA. It also reflects the poor starting pitching in general balanced only by really fine relief pitching.

It surprised me to find that the team leader in strikeouts and ERA is Chris Capuano at 34 and 4.78 respectively. Pelfrey is the leader in wins but with just three to his credit. Without getting too far into it, all the starters have been relatively bad, except for Chris Young, who’ll be out for the rest of the year.

But that doesn’t deter me from being optimistic. Except for Dickey, the starters are all beginning to come around. Ask yourself which starter makes you feel that the team has no chance that day. Pelfrey, Niese, Dillon Gee, Capuano and Dickey, I’ll take that rotation any day of the week. They’re all capable of at least keeping the team in the game.

With K-Rod closing, Isringhausen setting him up and Taylor Bucholz finishing up games, the Mets hitters have been paying attention for the entire game. I don’t have the stats on it but these Mets hitters seem to get better as the game wears on. I’m beginning to think the most important component of a team may very well be the quality of the relief pitching.

There’s nothing more demoralizing than losing games late because your relievers stink. That Houston team is the perfect example. They just wilt down the stretch. The Mets never seem to think they’re out of it, all of which makes it very easy to watch the entire game.

I won’t let myself get too excited about Santana’s return to the rotation though. I won’t let myself think too seriously about their chances for a wildcard either. As all one ever hears is that the Mets will be trading Beltran, Reyes and Wright away by the break, why should I let myself in for a letdown?

The Mets minor leagues are depleted of any real talent though. If Alderson and company think it’ll be necessary to trade any or all of them, Beltran, Reyes or Wright, I could very well live with the decision. What I don’t want to see is trading Wright and keeping Reyes or vice-versa. They should either both stay or both go.

Wright and Reyes have been the heart and soul of the Mets. It’d be too painful to split them up. In the back of my mind too, I can’t help thinking that they are both as responsible as anyone for the team’s frustrations these many years. Both have been spotty players overall, Reyes mostly because of injuries and Wright because of his failures to drive in runs in big spots. Wright gives every indication of being a head case. Who’s more erratic than David Wright?

As I’ve been a Mets fan as long as they’ve been in existence, I do think about the future too. It’d surely be nice to beef up the entire organization with young talent, especially in the pitching area. Each one of their trade candidates is marketable enough to garner some real talent in return. I’ll sacrifice 2011 for a team with a bright young future.

I’m pretty sure now that Sandy Alderson’s entire management team has been really professional. They’ve made prudent decisions on player acquisitions and don’t fill the news with scandal. The same can’t be said for their counterparts in the AL East.

And, speaking of the Yanks, it must be hard for Posada not to link himself with Jeter and Mariano, transferring their talents to himself.

On Hitting and Just Looking

2011-05-09T12:36:00.000-07:00

Hitters hit. It’s an axiom as old as baseball itself. It’s as true today as it ever was too, albeit somewhat diluted by steroid usage, the differences in home ballparks and the odd manager who keeps moving a batter around in the lineup.

I read the other day that only about 10 percent of players are being tested for steroids. That means that we’ll continue to see some big surprises, maybe even bigger than the shock to us all when Manny Ramirez tested positive. But the really smart cheaters won’t get caught. And, as long as the situation prevails, we’ll continue to see wildly aberrant performances. Some presumed hitters won’t hit.

Then there’re the ridiculous differences in the dimensions of ballparks. San Diego and New York Mets hitters won’t hit quite as well, or for as much power as those lucky enough to call Colorado or Philadelphia or Texas their home ballparks. In the course of a 162-game season, there isn’t a level playing field.

Then there are the odd brainiac managers who think they will re-invent the wheel. They’ll bat leadoff hitters third and vice-versa, not to mention moving lefties down against lefty pitchers and so on. It’s a manager’s prerogative of course to set the lineup and many of them totally abuse the responsibility.

There can be other variables involved in a batter’s performance too, not the least of which is a batter changing teams, moving from a small media outlet to a much larger one. I’m thinking of course of Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez moving from Tampa Bay and San Diego respectively to the craziness of Boston. Or, closer to home, there were the first-year failures of Carlos Beltran and, more recently, Jason Bay.

Some short-term poor performances defy any explanation. Take David Wright. Here’s a great hitter who just won’t swing the bat, a guy who seems to have lost all confidence at the plate and a guy who has so far steadfastly refused to change his approach, either to stand closer to the plate or, from time to time, to stop swinging up at the ball.

Of course, there is something to be said for ignoring suggestions too. Take Derek Jeter. Try as he might to change his stride in order to get that bat around quicker, which just about everyone thought his 37-year-old wrists, arms and reaction-time just couldn’t do anymore, he just couldn’t do it. The very minute he stopped thinking, he started to hit again, in a very big way.

Then there is the curious case of Curtis Granderson. He was taught to change his approach so that he’d hit lefties better. He so far has been able to do just that. And, so far at least, he’s proven adaptable in just about every way. He’s been moved around in the batting order to no effect. He just keeps hitting and many of the balls he hits go a long way.

So it must be ego. A guy with just a touch of ego can take a good suggestion and run with it. He’ll recognize a shortcoming in his game and try to do something about it. The David Wrights of the world will not change. The little voices in their heads say no. You’ve been successful before. You’ll be successful again.

Do I have a point here? Actually, to be perfectly honest….no. It’s just that the entire subject of hitting is fascinating, in large part because it’s totally perplexing.

I have forgotten one other big variable and that is the manager’s approach to hitting, specifically that of wearing the opposing pitcher down by taking as many pitches per at-bat as possible. Terry Collins is obviously a very strong proponent of taking pitches. The David Wright’s of the world take the pitches in the middle of the plate and swing at balls in the dirt after taking two strikes.

The approach should be a little more specific than just taking as many pitches as possible. A batter has to have the opportunity to swing at a ball down the middle, no matter that it’s the first pitch, especially when facing pitchers with great control, the Cliff Lee’s and Tim Lincecum’s of the world.

Making matters worse for the Mets, many of the great pitchers in the game reside in their division, in Philadelphia and Atlanta and Florida. Take pitches against these teams and lose. Why even play the game? Just roll over and play dead. That’s exactly where you’ll be anyway. There are no rewards given out at season’s end for number of pitches taken.

Terry Collins strikes me as one of these guys who will treat everybody the same. He’ll treat David Wright the same as he’ll treat a Jason Pridie or a Justin Turner. Well, that’s just great. But it doesn’t work. David Wright is a hitter. Carlos Beltran is a hitter. Too many of the others are just not. All the players can’t be treated the same way.

There are enough obstacles to hitting. The pitchers are getting better. They’re all developing new pitches. The strike zone is made artificially big by umpires who just want to go home early. Added to that stupidity, there are the vindictive umpires who’ll continue to punish any player who has the temerity to question them. Ask Ike Davis about that phenomenon.

Given the Metsies incredibly bad start, a Mets fan really can’t be too unhappy with their current position. The players playing for contracts have been great. Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran are proving themselves worthy of big money. They’ve been hitters, are hitters right now and will probably be hitters in the future.

But Reyes swings at strikes. So does Beltran, no matter whether it’s the first pitch or not. Pitchers are afraid to walk Reyes. It’s the worst case scenario for them. Beltran is too smart for pitchers to have their way with.

A walk is not as good as a hit, David. Not feeling confident? Sit yourself down.

Osama bin Laden Is Dead

2011-05-02T13:00:00.000-07:00

Here it is another cloudy Monday, a chill and pervading dampness fills the air, the things I had to do are largely done, there’re no afternoon baseball games on the schedule and it would seem to be a perfect time for reflection.

Osama bin-Laden is dead.

The Mets were huge in a very little way last night. After losing the lead in the eighth, their relief staff held on to hold the Phillies scoreless the rest of the way while the offense finally broke through in the 14th friggin’ inning to win it. But, as impressive as the Mets pitching was, the result paled in the grand scheme of all things.

Because Osama bin-Laden is dead.

I’m listening now to Tom Coughlin discussing the recent Giants draft now and, as in baseball’s spring training, he’s optimistic for the upcoming season. Jerry Reese, the Giants GM will be coming on later and it should be interesting listening to his views on the same thing. And I think they did as well as anybody, unless you count New England and crazy Bellichick, who once again possessed twice as many picks as any other team.

The Jets did pretty well too as far as I can see. They opted for defense with the first two picks while devoting the rest to offense. But there’s no harder draft to judge than that of this Jets team that has more free agents than just about anyone. It’s kind of hard to tell who’s going to stay and who’s going to go so, from a need point of view, the draft can’t really be evaluated.

But at least Osama bin-Laden is dead.

There’s been so much sports action. It’s almost ridiculous. The NBA playoffs are right in the middle of things, the dogs having finally been eliminated, and some big dogs too, especially longtime top dog San Antonio. But they didn’t go quietly and my favorite game so far may have been their valiant effort to snatch victory in overtime in Game 5 from a surprisingly tough Memphis squad.

Then there’re Boston in the East and LA in the West who are still alive.

But not Osama bin-Laden. He’s dead.

Of course, my NFL coverage wouldn’t be at all satisfactory without at least mentioning the NFL lockout and the interminable legal wrangling surrounding that battle, which it seems has become the real Super Bowl.

I’m reminded of Paul Newman’s final argument in “The Verdict” as he discusses justice as opposed to the trappings of the court. His jury got it right. You have to wonder whether two judges will ever rule the same way on this thing, providing some reason to get the parties back to the negotiating table.

Most observers favor the players in this battle as it seems the NFL is more profitable than ever and why should they now take money back from the players? Well, how about the cost of all those new stadiums the owners built in the midst of a depression? Shouldn’t players help share the angst of filling all those monuments to greed?

The owners brought their current situation upon themselves. Much as the banks were bailed out for their stupefying mortgage decisions, so are the owners looking for a bailout of their own, but they’re looking for that bailout to come from the players. They’ve already soaked their fan bases to saturation. No further increases in ticket prices or seat licenses could conceivably be borne by what has to be a shrinking fan base.

These player-owner negotiations have become paralyzed by the lawyers, much as our entire society has. All the issues that beset us are eventually solved but only after thousands of billable hours. Meanwhile, the judges seem to make sure the billing continues. Do any of these vipers have justice in their hearts? We’ll find out if the season starts on time.

But it’s baseball season, or would be if the other sports would just let go and stop trying to fix our attention on them the whole year round. And Major League Baseball is fighting back now, looking to expand the baseball playoffs so maybe we can have a World Series on Thanksgiving?

The season’s already too long. These April games are played in long sleeves and hoodies more often than not and, unless you’re remarkably gullible, you can’t believe any of these players can bring themselves to care passionately whether they win or lose. They’re just trying to get through the day, or more often than not, the night.

But it’s finally May. If I had no calendar, my cherry tree would tell me. If there’s any consistency in life for me, it’s got to be that cherry. In full bloom on May 1st without fail, its blazing pinkness dominates the entire springtime tableau, if only for a fortnight or so.

But consistency is over-rated too, in baseball as much as anywhere else. Most players aren’t very steady at all, and especially pitchers, and even more especially, pitchers in April. But maybe it just seems that way to an observer focused too much on his fantasy staff.

The Mets pitchers reflect that inconsistency quite well. Mike Pelfrey has gone out of his way to show us he’s really not an ace. But, on the other side of things, Chris Young, one of the Metsies low-risk shots in the dark, continues to amaze us with good performance after good performance. And two other long reaches, relief pitchers Beato and Isringhausen, and maybe even a Taylor Bucholz, are doing way more than anybody could have reasonably expected.

But make no mistake. Last night’s win was a big one for the Mets. After losing two to the hated Phillies, salvaging that last game to avoid the sweep, and doing so with pitching, was entirely satisfying. Even the Phillies staff can be had, and even a Cliff Lee appearance won’t necessarily end in a victory.

Cautious optimism is the order of the day.

Osama bin- Laden is dead.

What A Difference A Bay Makes

2011-04-23T14:40:00.000-07:00

Do you believe in coincidences? Do you think the Mets having won two in a row has nothing whatever to do with the return of Jason Bay to the Mets lineup? Well, I believe in coincidences myself but this 2-game streak is not one of them.

Are two games won a streak? For the Mets it is. The Mets are what, 7-13? Some things looked a lot better in spring training, especially the Mets bats. But once the regular season started, all the bats went cold right about the time the pitchers started using every pitch in their repertoire. Some guys just hit fastballs.

But they haven’t gotten one break. Or so it has seemed. But since they were making stupid plays each and every game, it was kind of hard to figure what was bad luck and what was bad baseball.

Watching Scott Hairston play left field was torture, worse almost than when Daniel Murphy was out there. Of course, watching his plate appearances was almost as bad. Willie Harris looked better at the plate and the field but Willie is one of those guys who have the ability to bunt but just won’t. He’d rather foul off a couple of tries and then swing away, only to strike out.

There are a lot of Willie Harris’s. Scott Hairston’s grow on trees. There are only several Jason Bay’s . With the weaknesses already built in at second base and sometimes at catcher, having still another spot filled by a minor leaguer was just too much to overcome.

But there were problems with the established players too. Angel Pagan had been awful in general, at the plate and in the field. Beltran was only mediocre in his new right field position. The second basemen, every one of them, were awful at the plate. Such are the fortunes of players with their heads down.

This column has been very critical of Jason Bay, especially since his latest stint on the DL. But Bay’s return fueled a reason for optimism. Bay has been an established hitter. And he looks like the Jason Bay of old thus far. The elbows are out of the way. He’s holding his hands higher, naturally pulling those elbows out of the way.

David Wright had been shooting for the right field porch every time up, regardless of the game situation. That stopped upon Bay’s return and it was so nice to see Wright pull a couple of pitches into the hole between left and center, especially the homer to the seats in left-center.

It didn’t help that the pitchers that looked so good last year came out flat too. The best performances came from the pickups, from Chris Young and Capuano. Mike Pelfrey was especially dreadful, but that stopped last night too.

So things are looking up….way up. Even Jason Pridie from the minors, filling in for Angel Pagan, looked as if he could perform at least as well as Pagan. As this is written, he just got his first hit, and it wasn’t a fastball that he smacked to right.

It’s even beginning to look as if Daniel Murphy, who can hit a little bit in the majors, can play second base. He looks much better there than he ever did in the outfield. And his comfort in the field is maybe making him relax more at the plate. He’s a contact hitter too, and the second spot in the lineup seems perfect for him, at least until Pagan remembers how to hit again.

Dillon Gee provided a nice lift too and is pitching well today. Last night Pelfrey pitched with confidence for the first time this year. It seemed as if there were first times for a lot of things once Bay returned. Hitters hit. Pitchers pitched. Fielders…well, you know.

It can’t be totally a coincidence. Bay solidifies the outfield. Bay protects Beltran or Wright in the lineup. Bay provides still one more scary guy appearance in the lineup, which eventually wears on an opposing pitcher. As pitchers bat in the National League, there is already one built-in hole in the lineup. The Mets had holes all over the place.

And Jason Bay just homered to right center. He only hit 6 all of last year. He single-handedly gave the Mets a 3-1 lead in this Arizona game and, lo and behold, Ike Davis just killed a hanging slider way out to right field for a 4-1 lead. Now Thole creams another pitch to right. No, it can’t be a coincidence.

Of course no player’s return can account for all ills. Murphy just pulled an ole on a grounder he should have had and Ike Davis just dropped a tough over-the-shoulder popup he ordinarily makes and it’s now 4-2 in the 4th inning. It remains to be seen how Gee will handle these bad breaks.

Uh-oh, after getting the second out, Gee just allowed another hit and it’s now 4-3. Growing pains are in the offing. Soon we’ll be learning more about the relief corps. What we’ve learned so far about the bullpen hasn’t been encouraging. In fact, as of a couple days ago, the Mets had the worst ERA in the National League.

Well, Gee got out of the inning with the lead but only after Pridie in center had to run back to about the 400 foot mark to make the catch. One wonders what Collins will decide for the fifth inning. It looks as if Gee could use a breather.

Whatever happens in this game, the future certainly looks rosier than the past has been. The team is healthy again, at least the players who had been playing well. Pagan is the only player still hurt and, as I mentioned, he had been dreadful.

Some things never change, I guess. Wright just hit into a double play with two men on base. At least he didn’t look as if he was swinging for that rightfield porch.

Even Jason Bay can’t change everything.

C'mon Alderson Do Something!

2011-04-18T16:07:00.000-07:00

Well, the Mets and Terry Collins pulled out all the stops to finally win a game after about 7 excruciating losses in a row. They did it not by eliminating relief appearances per se but by inserting starters in relief roles. Gee, do you think Terry is sending a message?

I get it, Terry. Hopefully, some of your relievers are tuned in. The one true reliever Collins did use was K-Rod, and, after providing a little angst of his own, Rodriguez finally closed the game and the losing streak out. Thank the pitching gods he didn’t choose to throw a strike to Chipper, the Mets-killer. I’ll take a little angst, and Chipper on first, rather than a game-tying dinger just about anytime.

Meanwhile, Dillon Gee finally got his chance and absolutely made the most of it. Assuming that yesterday’s performance wasn’t a total aberration, that makes three starters Mets fans can count on half the time. Those would be Dickey, Niese and Gee. The supposed ace of the staff is still doing his best John Maine impersonation and Chris Young will hopefully return soon.

The lineup I so looked forward to seeing in the spring has yet to take the field, thanks of course to the fragile one, poor baby Jason Bay. God forbid his intercostals should give a little twinge. Meanwhile, even without Bay’s seeming abdication of his responsibility to the Mets, two players I thought I could count on, Angel Pagan and David Wright, have totally stunk out the joint.

Wright plays only for himself. No matter what the situation, he’ll be swinging for that right field fence every time up. This isn’t lost on opposing pitchers, of course, so they’ll keep taking advantage of Wright’s stupidity and arrogance. So Wright will just keep striking out or flying out to right until he’s hopefully traded.

Angel Pagan has been horrible. He looks totally uncomfortable at the plate, all scrunched up in his ridiculous crouch, taking the good pitches while waiting for a suddenly timid Reyes, except for yesterday, finally attempt a steal. Reyes finally seems to have gotten over his hesitation and hopefully a resurgence of Pagan’s bat will follow.

Of course, all things haven’t been bad but you can’t win if only 3 or 4 players are pulling their weight. The only Mets anyone could possibly be happy with have been Ike Davis, Carlos Beltran, Josh Thole and Jose. None of the second basemen are working out, neither the vapid David Murphy nor the light-hitting Brad Emaus. I make myself sick rooting for Willie Harris to get another big hit. That’s totally absurd. I can’t sustain any interest this way. I’d rather watch some more pleasant comedy series.

I just heard that Bay will give things a try this Thursday against Houston. What a guy! I just wish Madoff had taken Bay’s millions. He certainly hasn’t done anything to deserve such good fortune. To quote Ralph Kramden, “the applicant is a BUM”.

Things are seldom as bad as they seem though. After all, the opponents have been mostly tough ones, the Rockies, the Braves and even the Marlins have very good pitching. In fact, the only putrid series result was the loss to Washington, a team that, while better this year than in previous seasons, is still not the equal, all things considered, of the Mets.

Another disturbing thing has been the Mets propensity for making the big mistake. Daniel Murphy has the baseball instincts of a cockroach, not that that makes any sense at all, but I did pick the right bug. There’s no rally killer like the guy with his head up his butt on the bases.

But Pagan has looked terrible in center and Beltran has looked awful in right. Is Willie Harris really our best outfielder? Omigosh!

Notwithstanding all the Mets foibles, they have to look better against the upcoming Astros, D-Backs and Nationals than they have versus the Rockies and Braves. Maybe all the Mets will get their confidence back when matched against opponents they think they can beat, starting with Mike Pelfrey, who never seems confident about anything.

Not that he should. That he won 15 games last year is a mystery to me, except that I do recall his ball sinking a lot and yet still maintaining control. That guy is gone. On a team that needs some leadership, the veterans are badly letting their teammates down. Of the core players, only Jose Reyes has shown himself to be the same guy he was in some (well, a couple anyway)of his wonder years.

And I wonder how much Collins has to do with this lackluster play. Is he one of those managers that veterans find impossible to play for? That was supposedly his history. And I could well believe it. You won’t find a more boring speaker, one who says the same thing over and over and over again. I find myself wishing he’d use a synonym once in a while.

In any event, this Mets team is clearly not having a good time, not enjoying the game, and not playing aggressively. They’re playing like a bunch of guys just going through the motions. It’s really hard to watch a team like that. Compare that lassitude to the Rangers or the Rockies or even the Phillies. There’s just no comparison.

And let’s stop the nonsense about Daniel Murphy. Yeah, yeah, he’s a nice guy, I’m sure, and nobody tries harder, yada yada, but the man can’t play the game. How many years of stupid clumsy baseball do we have to see from this guy before we get him out? I’ve had it with Murphy; his time is up.

Bring back that smooth-fielding little guy who played second base last year. Luis started to hit toward the end of the year and he was a terrific defender to watch, a guy who could turn the momentum of a game with a magic glove and good arm.

Come on, Alderson. Do something.

The Masters and the Morrow

2011-04-10T17:03:00.000-07:00

Yup, the Mets lost another tough one today and it was lost by Carrasco and the relievers, most of whom didn’t do much. The ones who did perform were in for just a batter. The right fielder Duda let one go right over his head. The Mets wasted 7 innings of terrific starting pitching from the resurgent Chris Young. The Nats Tyler Clifford made the Mets lineup look like monkeys.

But all that was nothing, just 1 more of 153 left to go. The real excitement is happening in Augusta at the Masters. It seems as if there’re ten guys who could win it and Tiger is one of the guys. The 21-year old phenom from Northern Ireland has faltered, finally. Woods may not win this thing but he sure made a lot of folks uncomfortable.

First, I have to say that Masters course looks great on an HD TV. Mine is just 42 inches but everything looks just beautiful. It can’t be much nicer in person. But the really amazing thing going on there is this phenomenal race to the finish line amongst 6 or 7 really different horses.

There’s the swaggering Woods, of course. Compare him to the sturdy and reliable K.J. Choi or either of them to the lumbering Angel Cabrera, all of these real pro’s pros. They’re pitted against the young lions of the game, Jason Day and Luke Donald and Charl Schwartzel , older fellas Geoff Ogilvy and Bo Van Pelt.

It’s each of them against the course, of course, but it sure doesn’t seem that way.

As this is written, Tiger’s round is nearly done. He gets a big hand from the crowd around the clubhouse. But he misses his 20-footer for birdie. So he’ll finish at 10-under, the most popular score, it seems, for the last nine holes. Now he’s done and the crowd gives him another hand. So I guess he’s forgiven, or everybody’s just overwhelmed by the moment, or maybe they’re just being nice Southern people.

It’s really a mind-bender to watch. The variety of shots that present themselves, the impossible lies and the rolls this way and that, the skinny fairways and gigantic traps, the water and the trees. Adam Scott is actually the leader right now. But somehow I can’t see him leading this thing at the end. I figure it’ll be Choi or Ogilvy, the more experienced players.

But, whatever happens, you know there is only one of these Masters crowns handed out each year. The tension is palpable. The only one not feeling anything is Choi. An explosion might not even do it. Now Ogilvy finishes his 10-under. Now we see Schwartzel on the fairway, he’s 10-under too but his seemingly nice approach shot rolls over the impossibly narrow and sloping green.

The baseball game, the Mets game of course, was interesting though, if just for the decisions that went awry for Mets manager Terry Collins. He took the starter who was rolling out after 7 innings and replaced him with a guy who just wouldn’t throw a strike. Pitch count anxiety claims still another victim. The theory is that he’ll live to pitch another day. Sure. What about today?

This golf tournament is all about today. The guy I haven’t been expecting much from, Adam Scott, is now 12-under. Go figure. He seems to be enjoying the attention. Here’s Jason Day again. I wonder what could’ve happened if he could have been in the final pairing again with the youngster Rory McIlroy. They played so well together. I knew pairing him with Cabrera would be a problem.

Now Schwartzel, the young South African, makes an incredible downhill putt from at least 10 feet to make his 12-under and share the lead. He extends the lead to 13-under later and stands just about 15 feet and two putts from keeping it that way. And he doesn’t look that worried, even for a downhill runner speeding toward a tiny pocket in the green. Maybe that’s why it goes in in one. The new Masters Champion is now this unflappable South African fellow.

There was no tomorrow in any one of these guys fighting for the green jacket. There’s nothing but tomorrows for our Mets. Collins just trots his pitchers out there. If they do the job, fine, but he doesn’t worry that much about it. Maybe he should start acting with a little urgency for a win. When a team gets the opportunity, it should close the door.

My worst fears about this Mets team look to be coming true. The starters who surprised us last year with some very good performances all year have thus far stunk it up in 2011, starting with Mr. Pelfrey but Niese hasn’t blown anyone away either this year. Dickey looked ridiculous on the mound Friday. The best pitchers have been the new guys, Chris Young and Chris Capuano, but one wonders how long that can last. And the relievers have been just awful.

The lineup has potential but doesn’t fulfill its potential very often. Wright’s been good but strikes out a lot. Beltran had a big day with 2 homers and Collins immediately gave him an off day. Reyes gets in position to steal a lot but never attempts a steal. I’m forced to say that Collins’s situational awareness kind of sucks.

As a manager so far, I’d give him a D+. He’s a nice guy though. Geez.

There’s not a lot of pop in the lineup. And if Jason Bay ever stops feeling “discomfort in his ribs”, we’ll find out how long it takes him to get hurt again. His willingness to play through discomfort is non-existent. The concussion in July was discomfiting enough for him to miss the entire rest of the 2010 season. This is a man who wants to be traded. This is a man who’s afraid to show himself at CitiField.

This team might show some feistiness and contend or it might just wait for tomorrow.

A Good Start and a Big Mouth

2011-04-05T13:44:00.000-07:00

Well, it’s a rainy Tuesday, too damp to even try continue spackling, so what a terrific opportunity to let go with all this built-up invective inside. Right at the top of my list is Dan Warthen, the Mets pitching coach with the big mouth.

How can a pitching coach trash his former player for pitching his heart out for you? I know he was responding to another idiot’s (Cashman’s) claim that Pedro Feliciano had been trashed and abused by the Mets, and no doubt Warthen was just expressing what would come naturally to just about anyone when he asked why the Yankees signed him in the first place, but to then go further by saying that the number of innings Pedro threw was the reason the Mets didn’t re-sign him, that’s just stupid.

What is Feliciano supposed to think now? What are the other Mets pitchers thinking? What is any Mets player to think whenever the choice to play a little dinged up presents itself? Especially a team that has been beset by injuries to key players, especially a team that has seen one outfielder (Jason Bay) stay home for two months with a concussion and then another two weeks with some mysterious oblique injury, especially a team that has seen its star player (Carlos Beltran) sit out for the better part of two years with knee troubles, that team should express nothing but heartfelt gratitude when a guy like Feliciano puts his arm on the line.

Maybe Warthen was trying to be funny but he went much too far. Surely Cashman said a stupid thing and he deserved to get jumped on. For a GM to basically trash the player he just signed is almost too ridiculous to fathom.

The only possible answer is that Cashman was expressing frustration at having been overruled on still another player he didn’t want in the first place, the other being Rafael Soriano, the expensive new setup man from Atlanta. In doing so though, he’s distancing himself from decisions on players that show every indication of being very successful as Yankees.

Cashman had already been on record as feeling that Jeter, the esteemed Yankees captain, was asking for way too much money. If Cashman’s trolling for his next job, this is not the way to go about it. Airing dirty laundry is the no-no of all time in most personnel circles.

If Warthen’s attitude is representative of Mets management, I can understand their players not putting themselves out. Why should they wear themselves out for a team that doesn’t even appreciate their efforts?

The other stupid thing about Warthen’s comments is that they aren’t even true. The Mets never pushed Feliciano into action against his will. Feliciano wanted to pitch at every opportunity. It became his Mets persona. He became a respected if not beloved ”Perpetual Pedro.”

Warthen should take a walk. It wouldn’t bother me. There are plenty of pitching coaches out there. And yes, the Mets pitching staff has been very good under his tutelage but whether their success can be attributed to him is very doubtful. It would set a terrific example to fire his sorry butt.

Warthen should at least be forced to apologize. I can’t think of a more insipid thing for a Mets manager to say. “Yes, we abused his arm and since we realized we abused his arm, we didn’t re-sign him”. What an idiot.

Except for Warthen though, Mets fans have a lot to be thankful for this morning. Having taken two out of three from Florida on the road, having received two exceptional pitching performances and contributions at the plate from virtually every spot in the lineup, all this bodes well for the future.

For me, the fact that they lost the opener was a good omen. After all, the end results were awful when they won the opener. Why shouldn’t the reverse be true?

But, as bad as the Mets looked in the opener, they were almost as bad for about 8 innings of Game 2. Except for Wright, Davis and Beltran, things were pretty quiet.

But the Mets were tough in the ninth and tenth innings. Ike Davis and Josh Thole produced a run in the top of the ninth to give the Mets the lead. But K-Rod gave it back in the bottom half. The Mets came right back though with singles by Reyes and Pagan followed by ribbie hits from Wright and the surprising Willie Harris.

The Mets were up by a seemingly insurmountable three runs, but, given K-Rod’s failure in the 9th and only an unproven bullpen standing between them and defeat, no lead seemed safe. But Blaine Boyer held the Marlins to just one run to preserve the victory.

The story of Game 3 was pretty much R.A. Dickey. His knuckler was working just fine as he gave up just one earned run over the first 6 innings, proving his mind wasn’t totally focused on Mount Kilamanjaro, which he has vowed to climb after the season.

The relievers gave up just one more run over the last three. Meanwhile, the Mets jumped all over former Yankee Javier Vasquez for 7 runs and the final wound up being 9-2. All in all for the series, the Marlins looked like the Marlins have always looked, Josh Johnson and pray for rain.

Reality may rear its ugly head tonight though as the Phillies come to town. Newcomer Chris Young will have to face Cole Hamels in the opener, and, although the Mets have, believe it or not, roughed up Hamels in the past, this game could wind up getting ugly.

Even without their All-Star second baseman Chase Utley, the Phils still look pretty formidable offensively, with a seemingly rejuvenated Jimmy Rollins and the same cast of characters that have terrorized NL pitching for the last couple of years, the only notable exception being Jayson Werth, whose absence has so far gone unnoticed.

The Mets will need some luck. And a closed mouth from Warthen.

Concede 2011 to the Yanks? Not Yet!

2011-03-24T15:00:00.000-07:00

Everybody hits. That’s been the theme for this Thursday afternoon Mets game versus the Cards in Port St Lucie. Just to give you an idea, it’s 16-3 Mets in the eighth.

The new second baseman has gone 4 for 4 as has David Wright. Angel Pagan has been having a monster game. But I’ve been really impressed by this centerfielder Dendecker who so far has made an over-the-shoulder catch on the track and, oh yeah, he also smacked a home run.

Jesus!

I’m out of synch again. Everybody else is worried about the 2 basketball games tonight. After all, it is the greatest basketball tournament in the world. Just ask TNT or TBS or TRU. But not me. I’m watching the Mets, listening to Keith throw the baloney with Gary, and just now enjoying watching Bobby Parnell strike out a Cards batter.

It’s really too bad some more of these rookies can’t make the team. Twenty-five man rosters are really difficult to determine. Right now, it looks as if there’ll be 6 outfielders and seven infielders, two catchers and ten pitchers. I know it sounds like a lot (25) but it isn’t. Too many promising rooks go back down.

I’d love to see this Dandecker guy do his thing in the outfield, especially if Carlos Beltran has to be rested about half the time. But I shouldn’t complain, there will be at least a few adds to the roster, from the minors and free agency too. And I like them all. What a surprise, right?

The Mets current depth chart shows Chin Lung Hu backing up Reyes at short, Daniel Murphy backing up Davis at first and Luis Hernandez, the glove guy, backing up a brand new face (and maybe bat) named Brad Emaus (rhymes with Remus they tell me). David Wright appears un-backed up at the corner but Murphy could probably spell him too. One gets the feeling that they’ll all get a lot of playing time.

New in the outfield will be Nick Evans backing up Beltran in right, baseball legacy Scott Hairston spelling Angel Pagan in center and strongman Lucas Duda backing for Jason Bay in left. It’s really a pretty solid outfield.

I wonder about the catching depth behind relative newcomer Josh Thole. Pete Nickeas hasn’t shown a whole lot yet and Ronnie Paulino just got here after some paper issue. If there is an obvious weakness, it’s behind the plate.

Chris Capuano didn’t do anything to hurt his chances today. He pitches like a really experienced fellow, which he is. And all his stuff was down, um, when it did stay down. Along with the other free agent, Chris Young, they’ve been looking more like the two and three guys in the rotation rather than number 5 starters.

My only fear about the pitching is that the current number 1, Mike Pelfrey, isn’t really a number one ace. R.A. Dickey, the knuckleballer, isn’t a number one either despite his great showing so far. Jonathan Niese hasn’t had a great spring either. Most of my hopes will be for the two free agents and Dickey. Niese and Pelfrey will have to show me something. In terms of mental toughness, Pelfrey and Niese don’t really cut it, as talented as they may prove to be.

The relievers look pretty good to me too. Missing is Perpetual Pedro but D.J. Carrasco could be the setup guy the Mets have needed for years. He has experienced good success with the White Sox and Pittsburgh. Bobby Parnell and Manny Acosta looked pretty good last year and one Taylor Bucholz, another experienced pitcher, is now listed as the number 5 reliever. K-Rod of course will continue to be the closer….not too shabby at all.

Everybody says the lineup depends solely on Beltran but I don’t think so. The problem will be yanking him in and out of the lineup. I’m actually wishing the Mets would trade him before his perceived value goes totally in the hole. Any other power hitter would do in his place, especially one with good knees. As much as I sympathize with Beltran’s problems, and he’s always played pretty hard, he’s more of a chronic problem now than he is an asset.

My brother tells me the Mets have no chance, also that the fantasy value of even Mets stars such as Wright and Reyes will be way down because of the weak lineup around them. He’s a Yankee fan though, which is to say the only good players are ones that have done it for years, that players such as Pagan and Jason Bay and Ike Davis have little worth. I disagree. And it’s even easier to disagree on a day like today when the Mets score 16 runs.

We’ll see how his Yankee old guys do this year, especially Arod and Jeter and Posada. On the pitching side, we’ll see if Mariano still has it at 42. (I don’t think so). I anxiously await the demise of the Yankees, who have hung too long with all these players. And this will be the year the Red Sox show them just how old they really are.

The Yanks may still make the playoffs but whether they’ll prevail past the first round is very questionable. The pitching isn’t there and the lineup is old. An old lineup usually looks older in the dog days of August. We’ll see, but the picture isn’t a promising one for the Yankees. One through five as a whole, I’d be happier with the Mets starters.

And so far nobody’s counting on anything from Johan Santana, who’ll return after the All-Star break or thereabouts. How’d that be for a shot in the arm?

Yeah, the Mets are undervalued and the Yanks quite the opposite. What’s new under the sun? Surely that’s been the case lo these many baseball seasons. I may be forced to concede eventually that the best team in New York resides in the Bronx.

But not yet, not yet.

On the Joys of Spring Training

2011-03-20T11:52:00.000-07:00

I love spring training. The games themselves aren’t much to write home about but the experience as a whole certainly qualifies for at least some exposition.

There’s the weather in Florida, of course. There’s enjoying the company of baseball fans. There’s having nothing particular to do all day except for the game, if you want, or the beach, if you feel adventurous. There’s even the pool if you just want to sit around and read the papers.

But, if you do get bored, there’s always the game. The game isn’t just hits and runs and pitching either. It’s more about the whole aura. The game is just the centerpiece for everything else on the table.

There’re the fans, the silly Grandma’s and Grandpa’s, the kids running around (early) or just taking it easy (later on). You get to watch them politely ask for autographs and players actually accommodating them with a smile, especially the rookies, who just can’t believe their good fortune.

There are the wise guys too, of course, but in a nice way, who’ll chide you about your team affiliation, especially if the answer is the Mets.

Everybody is relaxed, the players, the coaches, the umpires and even the fellas helping you find your seat. As one fellow put it when asked as to his team interest, he thought a moment, gave a little shrug, and simply said,” I’m a baseball fan.”

There’re all the accoutrements of the game too, of course, the hawkers, the pretzels, the beer, the ice cream and the hot dogs. But there is also the green sprawl of the outfield grass, the finely manicured infield, even the signs on the outfield wall. And it’s all whispering about baseball.

There’re the pretty girls, of course, all gussied up in their hardball finery, shorts and tees mostly that you won’t see on any website, stuff you can see your sister wearing, just the kind of outfits you don’t see at the mall. They actually have to be pretty so you’d notice.

Best of all, It doesn’t matter who wins the game. October is too far off to worry about. Everybody’s still in the hunt. There’s Opening Day coming up. They’ll all be 0-0. And anything can happen in baseball. The Mets proved that in ’69 and ’86 too (and I even got Roger McDowell’s autograph). The Giants won it all last year.

You can go to Jupiter and see the Marlins or Cards, and whoever they’re playing, or you can run up to Port St Lucie, about a 45-minute drive from West Palm. But you won’t escape the Red Sox fans. They’re everywhere.

West Palm is the best place to stay, even if you’re south of both parks. It gets you closer to the beach and the airport and all other points south. If you’re not a beach person, there’s the track or casino down towards Miami.

Digital Domain Park is a beautiful place to watch a ball game. You can get in for 5 or 6 bucks and relax on the berm, which is too simple a name for such a beautiful place. At the Mets park, it occupies the entire outfield, providing a soft sloping green background to all the festivities inside the fences.

You can sit in a box behind home plate for around 20 bucks. You can park for five dollars. This is the way baseball was meant to be.

As to specifics, I got the biggest kick out of seeing Jim Leyland in the flesh, one of my favorite managers of all time. But I also got to see Magglio Ordonez, a fantasy favorite, and Matt Holliday too. There was Miguel Cabrera the brute and Albert Pujols the gentleman. And Chipper Jones showed some star-power moves from yesteryear.

For the Mets, I saw no Jose Reyes, no Carlos Beltran. K-Rod looked awfully good though. Jason Bay was trying out some new things at the plate and I was happy not to see him leading with his elbows anymore. Whether or not that’ll be worth 16 million a season remains to be seen, as does just about everything else in spring training.

A guy in the seat next to me pointed out that the Mets of last year were just two games out at the All-Star break. And they were the Mets without Beltran. But they did have Johan Santana, and they got remarkable performances out of some pitchers, especially one with a weird knuckleball, and a first baseman named Ike.

What happened after that was predictable, I suppose, as GM Minaya was on his way out the door and the Wilpons gave him no more money to foolishly spend at the break. Their sitting on their hands seemed to kill whatever spark the team had shown throughout the first half. And Carlos Beltran did nothing to slow their long inexorable plunge in the standings.

But it’s a new year and a new management. The stars are back, David Wright and Jose Reyes, and Francisco Rodriguez too, hopefully a kinder, gentler K-Rod, except on the mound. A lot depends on Carlos Beltran’s knee holding up, but he has no alternative but to play hard in his contract year. And Jason Bay can’t possibly be worse than he was last year.

It’s spring and renewal time, a fresh start for all living things, and even the Mets qualify there.

Everybody talks about the second base problem. If the worst it can be is Luis Hernandez, that won’t be significant. Otherwise, the lineup is sound and the defense should be just as good as it ever was. The pitching situation is a question mark but it’s not the question mark it was last year.

The risks taken with Young and Capuano were sound ones no matter the result but hope springs eternal and a real fan dreams of something more. I think there’s a reasonable chance that wishes will come true.

After all, it’s the spring. We’ll be right there. Watch our smoke.

Mets Win !! A March Tale

2011-03-03T16:46:00.000-08:00

I have to admit I’m psyched. The greatest American game is a month away. And this could be a magic year for the Mets. I’m starting to feel it.

Imagine…Imagine a team with broke owners and no bigtime pitchers going on to win 90 games to eke out a playoff spot. Imagine a team that’s close at the All-Star break being lifted by the return of its star pitcher from injury.

Imagine a team whose second-year guys play like seasoned veterans. Imagine a team whose bargain- basement pitching acquisitions go on to win 30 games. Imagine a team whose hard-luck pitchers of the year before suddenly start to win the games they lost the previous year.

Imagine a healthy Jose Reyes in his contract year stealing 60 bases and scoring 130 runs. Imagine a Carlos Beltran limping along to get big hit after big hit in key spots down the stretch. Imagine a Jason Bay totally turning around his miserable performance of his first year in New York.

Yeah, I know. That’s a lot of imagining. But why not us? Maybe the bad luck has gone the way of Omar and Jerry. Maybe the Mets will be as lucky as their owners are not. Maybe this season will be the lucky one, the rabbit’s foot year.

Ya gotta believe. Tug McGraw had it right.

I was in the stands for Games 2 and 5 of the 1969 World Series. The Mets beat the Orioles in five games. But that team wasn’t expected to win. Their lineup was pretty suspect. Their pitchers were young, even if they had names like Seaver and Koosman and Gentry et al.

That ’86 team was expected to win but even they had to get lucky to even make it to the Series, getting by a Houston team in startling fashion. They won it all only after an easy ground ball got by a first baseman who had manned his position very adequately until that very moment. His name is legend, of course, and Bill Buckner will always be remembered in baseball lore because of it.

Yeah, I know….what about the Phillies? Well, what about them? Pitching, pitching and more pitching is what they have. But I tell you to ask any fantasy player about the reliability of pitching, especially those coming off a big year, a year in which those arms gobbled up a lot of innings.

Let’s take a closer look. Halladay will be 34 in May. In his last five years, he’s thrown way over 200 innings each year, and last year he threw an incredible 250 innings. It’s a similar story for Cliff Lee whose innings pitched for the last three years have been at around 220. He’ll be 33 in August. Roy Oswalt will be 34 in August. He’s been a horse too over the years but ask any horseman about the dependability of horses.

Cole Hamels is their number 4 pitcher and he’s younger than the big three at 27 but also logged over 200 innings last year. But, for anyone with any memory of 2009, fragility thy name is Hamels. Surely he could be good this year, but then again so could Mike Pelfrey.

Their number 5 Blanton isn’t in the same class as the others but is still a pretty fair arm, but his ERA last year was 4.82. Kyle Kendrick is listed in the Phils depth chart as a number 6 starter who sported a 4.73 ERA in 2010, not too shabby but not too far removed from average either.

An injury to any one of the big three (and to put Oswalt in the same class as Lee and Halladay is sort of specious to begin with) puts the Phillies well within striking distance. And, even discounting the possibility of injury, what about a good guy just having a bad year? It happens all the time. Ask Jason Bay.

And what about just having bad luck on the mound? Ask Johan Santana about that. Santana had more no-decisions and losses last year than just about any hurler in the league, never mind one who sported an ERA under 3.00.

An injury, some bad luck, a loss of form (ask A.J. Burnett about that), or some bad luck brings the Phils right back to the pack. And it’s a pretty good pack of pitchers in New York. Pelfrey’s ERA was 3.66 and he went 15-9 despite one truly bad month. Niese was at 4.20, Dickey was at 2.84 and had almost as bad luck as Santana when it came down to runs scored for him.

The probable number 4 pitcher will be Chris Young, still a relative youngster in terms of innings pitched but a solid veteran nevertheless with a career ERA of 3.66. Dillon Gee is an unknown quantity at Number 5 but did manage to sport a 2.18 ERA in limited action last year. Pat Misch is a possible number 6 and managed a 3.82 ERA in limited action as a starter and reliever.

The numbers aren’t all that bad. If the pitching holds up, as it did all last year, the Mets could be formidable this year. They’ll almost undoubtedly score a lot more runs. With Beltran returning and Reyes playing more games, with Wright just being himself and Bay returning to form, the Mets have at least four very dangerous guys in the lineup.

And that’s not even counting centerfielder Pagan, Ike Davis and Josh Thole, the first baseman and catcher respectively, who figure to improve off some pretty fair results last year.

Jose Reyes could have a monster year. He lights up at the mere mention of his upcoming free agency. Wright could too after bouncing back last year from his disastrous 2009. With Beltran back, opponents will have to pitch to David.

The team with no money and no pitching but with a solid lineup, good team speed and a sound defense could just go a long way. Ask Tug McGraw.

Nice To Own A Cable Company

2011-02-25T13:11:00.000-08:00

It wouldn’t be right to ignore the basketball season altogether, right? Even if basketball was never my game. As the would-be art aficionados like to say, “I know what I like”. And what I like is usually a nice combination of talent, effort and brains.

Amare Stoudemire is ok, he’s got everything but brains. And Carmelo Anthony’s got talent and brains but so far hasn’t shown that complete effort I’d ordinarily like to see. That he did show some effort against the Bucks in that first game with the Knicks was absolutely heartening.

I hated the Anthony deal. I liked Gallinari and Felton especially, and Chandler seemed to be getting better and better. Mozgov was an unknown, but only because the NBA refs don’t give rookies any break at all before the All-Star Break.

All I hear is that the Knicks were only 28-26 and none of those traded guys made any difference. I disagree. A 28-26 record with a very young team is a hell of a lot better than the same record with an older team. And all those young kids were fun to watch…..so much energy, even if some of it may have been misdirected.

Did I like Gallinari just because he’s Italian? Yes. Now he’s in Denver and he won’t get many touches there. My guess is he’ll be off to Italy as soon as he can get there.

The other main theme of the Knicks trade was that the Knicks now own two elite players and are in a position to get a third, a combination guaranteed to bring a title to New York, as soon as 2012. And, while that’s true, they won’t be getting Deron Williams any time soon.

And, besides, they don’t really need a point guard. Chris Paul may be a slight upgrade over Chauncey Billups but he won’t be noticed as much as a big center.. I thought I’d heard that Dwight Howard might be available next year. Now that would be a nice addition.

I loved the Nets trade for Deron Williams. Not only is Williams a great point guard, ranked with Chris Paul as 1 and 2 or even 1 and 1A, but that the deal came as a complete surprise to the entire league was especially satisfying. It showed the enterprising spirit of that down-on-their-luck team, and especially Billy King and owner Prokhorov.

So now the Nets can hope to see some more free agents give serious consideration to Nets offers in the future. For the Nets, it doesn’t even matter what they had to give up. They badly needed credibility, something that’s been missing in Jersey since Jason Kidd was traded.

I should mention here that I had been a Nets fan through all the Kidd years and was a half season ticket holder for them back in those wonder years when the Nets shocked the whole NBA before losing to Shaq and the Lakers in the finals, Shaq of the offensive foul never called, Shaq of the elbow to the face never seen. Not that I’m bitter.

Ever since the Kidd days though, I’ve been a Knicks fan. Even in the Isiah years, they were obviously striving to get better, no matter that most of Isiah’s moves were totally inexplicable and just made the team worse.

My Knicks loyalty got stronger in a hurry when Dolan finally brought in some real basketball minds, in the personages of Donnie Walsh and Mike D’Antoni. Do I like D’Antoni just because he’s Italian? Absolutely.

But while owners Dolan and Prokhorov seem to be getting most of the credit for these incredible player acquisitions, it was really the positioning that each team enjoyed, brought about by their respective GM’s, Billy King and Donnie Walsh, and, in the Nets case, Kiki Vandeweghe and Rod Thorn before that.

I still think the Knicks gave up too much for Anthony. It seemed as if their only competition for him were the Chicago Bulls and the Nets. Anthony would never have signed with the Nets and Chicago’s offer wasn’t really that close. As for him re-signing with Denver, I suppose that was possible but unlikely. And I would have loved to have seen the great Melo caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place.

But the Knicks had all the credibility in the world, even without Anthony, what with the Garden and the heritage and a good talented nucleus. Now the nucleus is gone except for Landry Fields, who I fear has moved a little closer to oblivion now that the big Three will be monopolizing the ball.

And that fast-paced exciting brand of play will be slowed down considerably with Billups running things, at least in the long run. It’ll be post-up, post-up one-on-one stuff now. I suppose D’Antoni can continue to hope for it but he won’t likely be seeing the defense he’d seen coming up to the trade.

For now though, I’m going to make the best of it. So the Knicks won’t be that exciting anymore. They won’t exude a whole bunch of energy. But they will be pretty good. Look for a lot of high-scoring games, something that had always been a D’Antoni trademark but that will be even more pronounced in the future, if D’Antoni is still the coach in the future.

That there should be any doubt about this management team’s future Is perhaps the saddest thing of all. It demonstrates that Dolan is still a bad owner who runs things his way, even if it’s the stupid way, the thoughtless way, the arrogant way. That it was necessary to deny the allegations that Isiah was coming back just demonstrated once again how out of touch the man is with the media (and reality).

In fact, I like to think of him as the Herman Edwards of basketball owners. It must be nice to own a cable company. It requires little intelligence though, at least less so than is needed to own a pro basketball team.

The Good Guys Won

2011-02-07T12:40:00.001-08:00

Aside from the blow to my ego, having picked the Steelers to beat the Packers, everything else about the game was great, assuming, of course, you didn’t watch the halftime show. But the good guys got a commanding lead, the bad guys came back and the good guys held on.

Why are the Packers good guys? Listen to Aaron Rodgers talk, or Clay Matthews, or Greg Jennings or Charles Woodson. They’re all gentlemen. They don’t brag, they don’t say stupid things, they don’t play dirty and heck, they even covered the spread 31-25.

The Steelers aren’t really bad guys either. But their persona is at least somewhat bad, with Roethlisberger’s indiscretions (to say the least), Harrison’s illegal hits to the head and his stolid defense of them, and Hines Ward’s chippy blocks. But those things don’t really make them bad. It just makes them what they are, a really tough football team.

But they weren’t so tough yesterday. And that’s why they lost.

They didn’t play like the Steelers at all. I’d characterize their performance as uncharacteristic except for the fact that good teams can make you look bad. That’s what good teams do and that’s what the Packers were yesterday, a really good team.

Yeah, yeah, I know, the turnovers lost it for the black and gold. But it’s not as if they weren’t forced. You could also say the breaks and even the early officiating, went against the Steelers, but, in a way, the Packers forced those things too.

From the very start of the game, the Pack won the toss and elected to receive, thus throwing down the gauntlet right away, much as the Jets did against the Steelers, albeit with a very different result. The Jets proceeded to get run over by the Steelers running game and Rashard Mendenhall after they issued their challenge.

I recall thinking that the election to kick was brilliant but only if the Pack could shut the Steelers down on that first drive. This time the Steelers went 3 and out. The Packers were saying, “We’re not the Jets”. And the Steelers had to accept it after their offense sputtered.

The two teams slugged it out in the early stages, like two heavyweight fighters feeling each other out. But the Packers landed a couple of lefts and a couple of rights, some Starks runs and a few Rodgers completions, and the Pack hit the board first, taking full advantage of the weakness in the Steelers secondary and making Jordy Nelson look like Randy Moss in his heyday.

At this point, a really good team comes back immediately. Roethlisberger certainly tried, maybe a little too hard. On first and ten, deep in his own territory, he threw a floater and Green Bay’s Nick Collins not only picked it off but then made a nifty runback for the touchdown. To use a boxing analogy again, that was like scoring a knockdown…7-0 became 14-0.

Only then did the Steelers start to turn things the other way, driving the ball for 6 minutes or so, mixing the run and the pass, and getting on the board with a field goal to make it 14-3. They had a good round but were still trailing. Then they had another good round by forcing a 3 and out of their own.

The Steelers were on the move again, or should have been. But after about a 4-minute promising drive, Big Ben got picked again when free safety Jarrod Bush out-wrestled a Steeler for the ball and killed another drive. The Pack had scored a big counterpunch.

Right around then, all the hard play going on got reflected in injuries. The Steelers lost WR Sanders. The Pack lost Donald Driver, an even more fearsome receiver. Then Pack All-World corner (and more) Charles Woodson broke his collarbone stretching out for the INT but hitting the ground hard instead.

But the Pack wasn’t comfortable yet at just 14-3. Rodgers hit Greg Jennings over the middle for the third Packers touchdown of the day. It was a nice catch between defenders and Jennings held on tight after he got hit. Now it was 21-3 and at this point a lesser team than the Steelers would have been feeling a little groggy.

But the Steelers aren’t chopped liver either. In less than a minute, Roethlisberger found Antawn Randle El for a nice long one and Hines Ward a few times, the last one for a TD making it 21-10 just before the second half. The Black and Gold were serving notice they’d be showing up for the second half.

And show up they did. They dominated the third quarter. After forcing a Packers punt, they ran and passed their way back into the game, punctuated by a tough, hard (redundant) Rashard Mendenhall run, making it 21-17. After forcing still another Pack 3 and out, they drove down the field again but the Packers held on.

At this point, a coaching decision once again had a big impact. After the Steelers drive stalled, they elected to try the 52-yard field goal. But the move made no sense, risking the kicking of Shawn Suisham rather than the Steelers defense pinning the Pack down deep in their own end.

Coach Mike Tomlin gave the Pack a reprieve. The Steelers’ momentum stalled.

The Pack had managed to keep their head in front throughout, like Affirmed holding off Alydar down the stretch. Then, when things started to look their bleakest, the Pack’s Clay Matthews forced the Mendenhall fumble.

The fumble ignited the Pack. Rodgers hit a few passes and it was soon 28-17. The Steelers came back once again to make it 28-25 (after a 2-point conversion was good) but the Pack held on once more, driving for a field goal, forcing the Steelers to have to drive the length of the field for the TD to win.

After having gallantly held on, the good guys could have still lost this thing. But they didn’t. They held on.

It'll Be Steelers Again

2011-02-03T16:04:00.000-08:00

Okay, after studying this thing to death for 2 or 3 days, I can confidently say the Steelers should win this 45th Super Duper Bowl. Although they are still 2 ½ point underdogs in this contest, and most observers have picked the Packers to win, football games are dictated by matchups, and this particular matchup favors the team from Pittsburgh.

Most prognosticators are infatuated with Aaron Rodgers and his remarkable performances and numbers, much as they were quite taken by Tom Brady earlier in the season. Both those QB’s, and both those teams, can just eat an opponent up, and do more often than not.

When they cannot eat up their opponents though, when the opponent has a sound defensive plan against the pass, as the Bears did in their three contests against the Packers and as the Jets did in their playoffs victory, those QB’s and those teams have looked very vulnerable.

The Steelers will be able to run the ball, conspicuously to the left side, or the Packers right side, away from both AJ Hawk and Clay Matthews. The Steelers offensive line will be good enough in the running game to allow Ben Roethlisberger to pass just enough to keep the Pack defense honest. The Steelers will run left, run left, and run left some more.

Aaron Rodgers will get his passing yards to all those great receivers. The Pack will matriculate the ball down the field and, more often than not, fail to score the touchdown. Their running game will not go. Nobody runs on this Steelers defensive unit, especially not the Packers.

The Steelers offense can be compared closely with the offense of the Atlanta Falcons in that they have a big running back, a smart quarterback and a couple of good receivers. The Falcons played the Packers twice. In the first contest, a very meaningful one for both teams, Michael Turner ran successfully all day long, very conspicuously, to the Packers right side. The Falcons prevailed 20-17 in that one on a very late field goal.

In the second contest, the even more important playoff game, the Packers romped. In that contest, the Falcons, after taking a lead early, couldn’t stop Aaron Rodgers and the Pack passing game at all. To make matters much worse, Falcons QB Matt Ryan was intercepted for another TD, and the rout was on. The Falcons abandoned their running game. They had to.

The Steelers won’t have to abandon the running game. The Steelers pass defense is much better than that of the Falcons. They may be stopped early in the game but they’ll keep running. They may fall behind (in fact, it’s likely that they will fall behind), but they won’t fall behind by enough to force them to abandon their game plan. Very likely, they’ll give up two or three field goals, and one, possibly even two touchdowns, but the total Pack scoring will be relatively low, from 20 to 23 points.

The MVP of this game will very likely be Rashard Mendenhall. If the Steelers have success early in the game, as they did against the Jets, the game could conceivably get totally out of hand. If the Packers fall behind and get a little antsy, even an Aaron Rodgers could get picked a couple of times. And if they don’t get antsy, they still won’t have much success.

It’s likely though that the Pack will have at least some success early. The Steelers will likely be playing catch-up, something they’re well equipped to do. They’ll grind it out and keep their composure. The mistakes will be few and far between. They’ll own the second half and especially the fourth quarter. They can play conservatively and win this game. The Packers cannot.

The Packers pass the ball. That’s what they do. But how did they fare against the Bears, a team that plays defense much as do the Steelers? Not too shabby really, they lost the first one, and then won the last two. But they only scored ten points in their first win and 21 in the playoff victory, in which Cutler, the Bears QB, had to leave the game.

The Steelers are not the Bears. Their styles of defense can be compared but the players really can’t be. The Steelers play that defense better. The Steelers are better offensively than the Bears too. They can beat you with the run and they can beat you with the pass. And if you do manage to score, it’ll be an aberration.

The Packers are a very good team. There can be no question about that. They actually tied the Steelers in scoring defense this year. But they have no running game. The Steelers do. That will make the difference, as it does so often in playoff games, and especially in Steelers playoff games.

If the Packers have any advantage, it is that they have proven tough enough to win three playoff games on the road, at Philadelphia, at Atlanta and at Chicago. The road means nothing to them, and they could consider Super Bowl site Dallas as just another playoffs road game. The Steelers have been a good road team as well though, having lost only one road game all year. But their most recent wins were at home.

There are always a million intangibles of course. Turnovers should be even. Statistically, the two teams are very close. The Packers are probably healthier, especially with the question surrounding the Steelers first-string center Pouncey, but his replacement, Doug Legursky, has been tough, especially in the running game. Coaching should be a wash. Both teams have brilliant head coaches and coordinators, especially on the defensive side.

Another important intangible though is the effect that experience will have on this game. The Steelers have a huge edge in experience, and successful experience at that. The Packers have a big-time heritage for sure but their recent legacy has been pretty slim.

It’ll be 24-20 or so in favor of the Steelers.

What Else Can Happen?

2011-01-31T11:20:00.000-08:00

I kept saying, “Well, what else can happen?”

So I found out. The Giants would miss the playoffs entirely. The Jets would lose the AFC Championship and look a little stupid in doing so. The Knicks would hit a losing streak. And the Mets, prized Mets possessions of the Wilpons lo these many years, could be sold, even if just partially.

If I understand this correctly, the Wilpons invested around 520 mill, got back about 570 mill, and somehow, almost magically so, found themselves liable for a billion dollars. Only in America. Only to Mets Fans.

You didn’t see the Steinbrenners making friends with crooks. (I find myself wondering what Billy Martin would have said to that). Sure, the Yanks have their own problems, like a GM starting to feel his oats in the last year of his contract, a new relief pitcher only the GM didn’t want, and an old shortstop that only the GM wants to make even older.

But only Mets fans could find themselves in this kind of situation. The injuries weren’t enough. The bad luck wasn’t enough. The ticket prices weren’t enough. CitiField couldn’t play longer, Ollie couldn’t be sent down, Beltran couldn’t be more pissed off.

So, just when the Wilpons seemed to be getting their affairs together, for example, hiring a GM who wasn’t an idiot and a manager with some good experience, they find themselves looking disaster straight in the eyeballs.

Just when they started to fill out their starting pitching with smart savvy guys like Chris Young and Capuano, just when they re-signed Pelfrey and Dickey, and just when it looked as they had decided to keep guys like Beltran and Bay (rather than sell them now at a sure loss), we have to find out about the vagaries of the legal system….the hard way.

Not that I mind a little ownership sharing, but can the Wilpons really be the shills in this Ponzi scheme? Can you just see Jeff Wilpon rubbing his hands together, sneering “HaHaHaHa” in a smoke-filled room, and happily encouraging all their friends to give all their hard-won assets to Madoff?

I mean, maybe they did encourage people unknowingly, but that’s not what the lawyers for the prosecution are saying. They seem to think an organization with that much money has to have enough intelligence and financial savvy to know when they’re involved in something a little fishy.

Come on, guys, these are the friggin’ Mets! It was easy. This could only happen to them.

I believe the Wilpons. Sure, they’re not the brightest lights in the sky but they’ve never shown any signs of being evil. I think they invested a lot of their money with a trusted friend, somebody who’d always been reliable. I think they saw financial statements and prospectuses and spreadsheets and graphs showing everything going up, and not even dramatically up. How many of us would think there was something wrong?

I guess it’s inevitable that they’ll wind up losing a lot of their original 520 million. That would only be fair, to distribute the total losses among all the clientele more evenly, and I’m thinking all the lawyers will even agree on some huge amount, like maybe half to ¾ of the original investment. But that will be all.

I think we’ve already seen the effects on the team’s acquisitional policy, which is to say, they’re not spending a lot of money. And I have no problem with that. If they had spent big bucks on another Ollie or picked up Carl Pavano, for example, that would have gotten me upset.

But the whole thing, this whole sick Madoff-Wilpon thing, is really kind of unsettling. It brings the real world too close to my psyche. If I wanted that, I wouldn’t be a fan at all. I’d spend a lot of time reading about Egypt, and Afghanistan and Pakistan. I’d be fretting about reducing corporate taxes and making bad electric cars. I’d be ecstatic about firing the whole damned Passaic Valley Sewer Authority.

I can’t control those things. I can only vote. And look what that’s got me.

We can’t control ownership issues either. We can just hope for the best. All the question marks of last year have to resolve in our favor. Jason Bay has to hit, Carlos Beltran has to excel, Angel Pagan has to keep it going, and Reyes has to have a nice year. Ike Davis and Josh Thole have to keep developing. Pelfrey and Niese and Dickey have to keep on truckin’.

It’s maybe a blessing in disguise that this non-acquisitional period just happens to coincide with the ascension of the Phillies and the Braves. Let’s watch their expensive pitching blow up. Let’s see what bad luck they can have with expensive arms.

And yeah, we’ll concede the pennant this year, and maybe even the year after that, but that second year could yield a wildcard. And this year this team could be a real pain in the butt to just about anybody.

I mean, think about it. Reyes, Pagan, Beltran, Wright, Bay, Davis and Thole. That’s 7 of 8 spots that can hit. We can deal with a bad bat at second base, not that Luis Castillo will be a bum or that rookie won’t possibly improve a lot. There’s a lot of speed and power in that lineup. And, with even just middling luck, that lineup should produce a lot of runs.

As for pitching, forget Santana for now. And Pelfrey’s not really an ace. Who needs an ace anyway? They only really make a difference in the playoffs, an atmosphere that always seems to bring the worst out of even better than average arms. If you can boast of length in a pitching staff, that’s something in and of itself. The Mets will be in every game.

So I think we’ve already borne the brunt of the Madoff-Wilpon saga. “What else can happen” may wind up being a lot of good things.

Same Old Steelers

2011-01-24T11:53:00.000-08:00

It was the same old Steelers. Run the ball, run it some more, stop the run, make a big play on defense, and don’t make the big mistake. Terrible towels, the whole deal. Same crap every year. Big quarterback too, like Bradshaw used to be a little bit. But quarterback seems always to be just another position on the Steelers.

It never seems to matter who makes up the opposition. Yesterday it was the Jets who couldn’t stop the run early, who could never get on the field, who had the ball come out at the worst possible time, and who couldn’t score from the two in four tries.

I had said earlier that it would be motivation and focus that decided this game; that a game plan wouldn’t win or lose it. But I was wrong. I would have thought surely that containing Roethlisberger would be a focus. It wasn’t. I would have thought that stopping the run would have been a paramount matter too. But it wasn’t.

And I would have thought that a tough team, a ground and pound team, would have run that ball into the end zone from the two. They didn’t.

I was really angry with Schottenheimer after the Jets tried those two passes. Then, of course, there was the safety and regaining possession and eventually scoring but it just wasn’t the same from then on. And, even then, the Jets could have turned the game around if they could have just stopped the Steelers on that fateful last possession. But they couldn’t.

That was the real story of the game, I suppose. When the Jets needed to do something, they couldn’t do it.

The Jets made a bold statement early by electing to kick off rather than receive the ball. The gauntlet was thrown down, so to speak. The Steelers said ok, challenge received, now take that and that and that and that ad friggin’ infinitum all the way down the field for the score. I couldn’t think of a worse way to start a game. In my mind’s eye, I could see the albatross circling.

Then the Jets did nothing much but maybe more than could have been expected after sitting on the sidelines for as long as they had. They gained 30 yards and punted. Bryan Thomas later intercepted Roethlisberger to stop another Steelers drive.

Oh, what’s the use? The Jets couldn’t stop Mendenhall and they couldn’t run. Later on, Sanchez got stripped and all of a sudden it was 24-0. I was saying it was “game over”.

That the Jets made a game of it at all was heartening, very much so. That they couldn’t score from the two yard line changed the game though. Even though the Jets got the safety and then scored again, there was another five minutes or so burned up when time was of the essence.

From there on, it became just a matter of getting the ball back. They couldn’t do it. They let Big Ben get out of the pocket once again and he made that critical completion to hold the ball and finally sink Gang Green. It was at that point that Rex finally lost it and threw down his clipboard in disgust.

The Jets couldn’t tackle, especially early in the game. It’s that kind of inexplicable thing that decides games. To me as I watched, I remember thinking that the Jets looked as if they were playing on ice, that they were trying to tackle without leaving their feet, that the cold and the surface were really making them look like a bunch of old guys. And some of them are old guys. The Jets will have to deal with that.

So the Jets won’t be going to Dallas. I can deal with that. What I’m going to have trouble dealing with is the future. I just wish everybody’d stop thinking about the next AFC Championship and the next Super Bowl. Guess what? It’s a long hard road to get into the game at all.

There are Patriots looming, and Colts and maybe even the Raiders in the future. And none of them will be easy to beat, at least not as easy as they had been this year. The Pats were kind of young, the Colts were kind of hurt and the Raiders, well, who knows with the Raiders?

A lot depends upon what moves the Jets will be making, of course. So far, even though their General Manager Tannenbaum is probably one of my least favorite people in the world, their moves have been great. Nobody could argue with that. But will they be able to keep Braylon and Santonio, LaDainian and other established stars with less colorful names, like Jason Taylor and Calvin Pace and Shaun Ellis?

Darrell, D’Brickashaw…..they do have some great names, don’t they?

As I write this, Mike Francesa is lambasting Rex Ryan again. Rex obviously doesn’t kiss Mike’s flabby butt. Much to Rex’s credit, he hasn’t changed his behavior at Francesa’s behest. If anything, he’s totally disregarding him, which is probably the biggest slight of all to someone with Francesa’s huge ego.

Giants coach Coughlin hasn’t made that mistake. Coughlin kisses Francesa’s butt at every opportunity, much to his advantage. You won’t hear Francesa going after Coughlin, who perfectly fits Francesa’s image of the perfect football world, one in which only coaches speak, players don’t celebrate and players say nothing but “yes sir”.

Guaging the Jets organization’s success only on AFC Championships and Super Bowls plays right into Francesa’s hands though, and to all those who think like Francesa. Jets fans can expect only tough defensive football teams who win more often than not. You need luck as much as anything, with injuries and ball bounces, to advance any farther than that.

The Steelers are the standard though…same old Steelers. They’ll continue to be too. They’ll run the ball, stop the run, and have tough guys who can make plays.

On Purpose and T-Shirts

2011-01-22T14:37:00.000-08:00

What more can be said about Sunday? Everything’s pretty much been said. The cagey guys wind up picking the favorites, either Green Bay or the Steelers, and maybe half of the remainder (the non-cagey ones) find some reason to bet on the other two, the Bears and Jets.

Current Vegas Lines for both are 3 ½ points, interesting if only because the Bears are home dogs. That means Vegas thinks the Pack is actually a TD better than the Bears. But they’ll play harder and smarter because they’re home. So they won’t lose by the full touchdown but they’ll still manage to just lose.

Vegas figures the Jets and Steelers are dead even, but since the Steelers get turned on by terrible towels and what-not, they figure the Steelers will be able to eke one out with a field goal (and more) to spare.

Talk about oversimplifying! All I know is that there’re about 90 players sitting home and an equal number recovering from a plane ride to either Chicago or Pittsburgh. (Anybody who’s driven to Pittsburgh knows it’s a 7-hour ride). And they’re all thinking individually about what they’re going to do in this game.

The better players will be thinking about the game. Guys like Polamalu, for one example, will be thinking about the talent on the other side, what they’re likely to run, and what he can do to stop it.

Polamalu’s probably visualizing doing it, whatever it might be. For him, a fumble recovery, an interception, a big run stuff on a crucial third and one….it’s all in a day’s work. He’ll want to look fearsome in his uniform and maybe even wonder how his hair will fall over his shoulder pads.

As for the run-of-the-mill players, some of them will be thinking of the same kinds of things Polamalu thinks about. They’ll be the difference-makers in a game such as the AFC Championship Game. The others, the players thinking about their next back flip, for example, they’ll be the ones making the big mistake. At best they’ll be invisible.

Oh, there are always one or two who are so super-talented that it really doesn’t matter what they think about. They’ll somehow manage on athletic ability alone, that plus a huge concern for their future value as players.

And that might be the biggest motivator of them all. The Jets have several players in the same boat too, and they’ve all been pretty great….Holmes, Edwards and Taylor to just name a few.

I really don’t imagine that any players worry about the team’s legacy. If they did though, they’d know the Jets are tied with the Browns for the worst record in AFC Championship Games at 0-3. They’d know that the Jets are tied with the Chiefs for longest period of futility in this game, currently 41 years. They’d know the Steelers have the most appearances in this game and the most wins.

That and a couple of bucks will get them on the subway.

I don’t think any of that history would motivate me, whether I were on the good Steeler end or the horrible Jets end. Each team’s roster changes a million times over the years and each player, if he’s smart, will just worry about his particular team on this particular day, and the fellow lining up across from him.

It hasn’t mattered so far that even some of the Jets core players really don’t have contracts extending beyond this year. For example, Nick Mangold, David Harris and D’Brickashaw Ferguson could conceivably be gone next year.

But it hasn’t affected those players in a bad way. That much is for sure. Mangold has been eating people up, Harris made that key interception of Brady and D’Brickashaw just keeps on D’Stroying some pretty big and pretty fast people.

No matter what happens this Sunday, Jets fans shouldn’t count on any repeat performances. This Jets team becomes pretty moribund without LaDainian, D’Brickashaw, Mangold, Santonio, Braylon, Jason Taylor and David Harris.

Just don’t buy the tee-shirt(s). Except for Sanchez, Shonn Greene maybe, Cotchery (and I only mention him for that magnificent run and hop for about 65 total yards after it looked as if the Patriots were coming back) and perhaps a guy like Shaun Ellis, who also seemed to be growing out of Brady’s hip this past Sunday, there won’t be many tees that hold their present value.

Does any of this stuff matter? I don’t know but it might even be “advantage Jets”. If there has ever been a team assembled to win one particular game, it is this group.

I’d think that situation lends itself toward narrowing everyone’s focus, all these great players on loan, LaDainian Tomlinson, Jason Taylor, Santonio Holmes, Antonio Cromartie, Braylon Edwards…..it’d sure be a shame to squander their hopes for making it to a Super Bowl.

The Jets couldn’t cover last year, they picked up Cromartie; their receivers didn’t get open, they got Edwards and Holmes; they didn’t make enough big plays, enter Jason Taylor; and they had trouble scoring touchdowns, enter LaDainian, a regular scoring machine. Just ask any fantasy player.

Some of these Jets may have had enough money and just wanted a shot at a ring. Some of them screwed up in other venues and needed a chance to re-establish their value. They don’t necessarily see any future dollars coming in, not unless they can win just one more game.

Just one more game will get them into view on an even larger stage, the Super Bowl in Big D. Can you imagine? I’m quite sure these Jets do.

This game, unlike the Colts and Patriots victories, won’t be decided by any particularly brainy game plan. Both these coaches are too smart and too experienced to blow the game on strategy alone. If the plan isn’t working, they’re experienced enough to just change it. And quickly.

No, this game will hinge on motivation and purpose. And these Jets’ have had theirs clearly defined….for quite some time.

Who Wants It More.?

2011-01-18T16:10:00.000-08:00

I’m still trying to come down off my high after that Jets win over the Patriots. I’m not even letting Francesa get me down. I did finally turn him off though. That show desperately needs Chris Russo back. At the very least, they should stop screening the callers who disagree with him. It’s really a one-sided program.

But what a feeling of elation for New Yorkers and Jets fans! To beat Manning and then Brady in successive weeks is an incredible high, but for Mark Sanchez to throw 3 touchdown passes against Bill Belichick and his vaunted Pats defense takes it up one more notch.

My chief concern, though, now is that the Jets will experience a natural letdown after not just one but two great upsets over the best quarterbacks in the game. I myself am even feeling a letdown. Why shouldn’t the Jets?

And it’s not only that. Playing the Steelers is like playing themselves. The coaches are alike, the philosophies are alike and the players are even somewhat alike in their personalities. Where’s the hate?

I was able to conceive how the Jets could beat each of those two teams, the Colts and the Patriots. I think their different styles of play made it an easy matter to distinguish the Jets strengths versus their opponents’ and formulate a plan based on playing to the Jets strengths, even if some of those strong points weren’t even so evident at the time, such as the Jets potential dominance in the passing game.

The Steelers are a totally different animal from both the Colts and Pats. Manning and Brady threw from the pocket, Roethlisberger throws well on the run. The Colts and Pats featured offenses based on precision and timing in the passing game. Messing up that timing was a key ingredient in the Jets wins.

The Steelers offense is based on running the ball. The passing game clicks mostly off Roethlisberger scrambles while his receivers just try to find a hole to sit in. Manning and Brady go down when hit. Roethlisberger does not.

My initial take on this game is for the Jets to think of Big Ben as a kind of monstrous Michael Vick. He’s not as shifty as Vick, almost no one is, but he’s almost as dangerous when he’s running around, not because he’ll run with the ball but because he’ll kill you with his arm, sometimes while being dragged down to the ground.

The key to winning this AFC Championship will then be to contain Roethlisberger, much as the Giants contained Vick for 52 minutes before they totally lost their composure. The Jets were terrific at making Manning and Brady move out of the pocket. I wonder if they’ll be quite as adept at containment.

The Steelers like to run the ball. And they always stop the run. Those are two things they are noted for. That differs hugely from what the Colts and Pats brought to the table. Once again the Jets may have to take advantage of their potentially strong passing game in order to move the ball down the field.

Although the Jets did beat the Steelers in Week 15, 22-17, those Steelers were playing without two starters on their defense, defensive end Aaron Smith and the best safety in either league, Troy Polamalu. Another key ingredient missing from that game was Heath Miller, their tight end and one of Roethlisberger’s favorite targets. That’s a big difference.

Another huge factor in that Week 15 game was Brad Smith’s opening kickoff return for a touchdown. The Jets were ahead 7-0 after 12 seconds. That’s a huge boost, one that the Jets can’t really expect to duplicate in this upcoming game. And let’s not forget a huge tackle in the end zone by Jason Taylor that not only put two more on the scoreboard for the Jets but gave them the ball as well.

Not that I’m being pessimistic but this game could definitely be the toughest playoff game yet. This Steelers team is made for the playoffs, made for cold weather, made to win games in December and January. They had some bad luck in that Week 15 game.

The current line on this game says the Jets are 3 ½ point underdogs, a spread that simply reflects the home field edge. These teams are pretty much dead even. The Jets have a superior offensive line and receivers. The Steelers have the edge defensively.

The Steelers running back, Rashard Mendenhall, rushed for 100 yards in just 17 carries in that Week 15 game. Both Jets running backs, LaDainian Tomlinson and Shonn Greene, did pretty well for themselves too, gaining about 89 yards combined, but that was on 23 attempts. Based on those stats, I’d expect to see a bit more of Mendenhall in this game. Whether the Jets stick with the running game remains to be seen.

Stats are great, I love them, but they’re probably more meaningful over a full season than in one isolated game, especially a playoff game that will determine who goes to Dallas for the Super Bowl. This game will probably be decided by individuals making plays in big situations, not by which running back or quarterback garners more yards.

The playmakers in that Week 15 game were obviously Brad Smith early and then Jason Taylor late. They were the big reasons the Jets carried the day. One could also point to the coverage by Revis and the rest of the Jets secondary on those two final shots Roethlisberger had at the end zone.

There’s no better playmaker than Polamalu, of course, and he’ll be back for this one. The Steelers have no lack of playmakers, including James Harrison, their deadly outside linebacker, and their very speedy wide receiver, Mike Wallace, who was pretty much shut entirely down in that Week 15 game, catching just one pass for 8 yards.

The Jets have Santonio Holmes, Darrelle Revis, Jason Taylor…..

It’ll come down to who wants it more.

Jets Beat Pats? It's Not Inconceivable!

2011-01-13T15:06:00.001-08:00

Okay, I’ve had a few days to cogitate on this big Jets-Pats matchup in Foxborough and I keep coming up with the same answer…the Jets are and should be a prohibitive underdog. Why? Well, the easy answer is it’s the Jets-Pats in Foxborough.

The Jets did everything right last week in Indianapolis (following my prescription for winning exactly…ahem) except for that ridiculous third down pass, and thus emerged victorious. I’ve been enjoying the game even more immensely this week via the courtesy of the NFL Network and Inside the NFL.

But alas, the Pats are not the Colts. Belichick is not Caldwell and the Pats receivers are not the Colts receivers. They run the ball a little better too. I don’t give Brady much of an advantage over Peyton Manning but, when you consider the difference in their respective receivers, the Pats have a pretty fair-sized plus on their side of the ledger.

The Jets stopped the Colts wideouts virtually cold, allowing just the one long TD to Pierre Garcon. There were no other Colts receivers that could really be considered a threat, Tamme, the tight end or Blair White or well, anybody. The Pats biggest threats are at tight end and in the slot. When they play the two tight ends together, they’re really scary.

This game won’t be 45-3 but the spread is 8 ½ and it’ll be difficult for the Jets to keep it even that close. They can, of course, if they do everything right two weeks in a row. They can probably stop the Pats running game, or, at the very least, keep Green-Ellis and Woodhead in check.

But they’ll still have trouble covering everybody. After Revis and Cromartie, it’s just Brodney Pool and Eric Smith who can avert disaster. And, yes, the Jets can field as many d-backs as they want, but then they’ll leave themselves open to a Pats running game that’s scarier than that of the Colts.

The Pats defense, in terms of yards allowed, looks statistically to be pretty pedestrian. But their scoring defense is statistically much better. Their last two games were easy wins, against Buffalo and Miami, when they allowed just 7 points and then 3 points, but before that they laid one on the Packers 31-27. So the Pats defense can be had.

But the same cannot be said about their offense. The Packers have the best defense in the NFL and they gave up 31 to Brady and company. There are just too many weapons. But the Pats had extraordinarily good luck in that contest. Not only was Aaron Rodgers out, but they got a 71-yard kickoff return from a 303 pound offensive lineman too, after which Brady hit Aaron Hernandez for 6.

While it’s easy to say the Jets should just use the same formula Sunday as they used last week against the Colts, that is, run the ball, play keep away, jam the receivers, mess up Brady’s timing and keep the pressure on him at all times, I think that Sanchez will have to have a much better game and a much bigger impact on the game than he had in Indianapolis.

You’d have to figure the Pats scoring at least 30 points. Unless Sanchez can hit a few to several big plays in the passing game, I can’t imagine the Jets putting up 31. And, if Sanchez can’t throw the ball any better than he did against the Colts, this one could be over very early.

But the Packers reserve quarterback, one Matt Flynn, was the guy throwing three TD’s against the Pats 3 weeks ago, to Jones and Jennings and Kuhn. I could just as easily see Sanchez throwing 3 of his own, to Edwards and Holmes and Tomlinson, for example. Throw in a rushing TD along the way and you’re just a field goal away from 31. It’s not inconceivable.

So it’s conceivable that the Jets could win. It’s just not the most likely outcome. The preceding example, three TD’s passing and one rushing, would assume the Jets were doing everything right offensively, both running the ball and throwing a few over the top every once in a while. The Pats would probably have to make some mistakes…..not inconceivable.

I’d think the Jets would have to get off to a good start as well. That first play of the game sets the tone. A good play, then a good series, then a nice quarter, well, you get the idea, the Jets need to stay close from the opening kickoff, playing aggressively but under control, just like a good team.

At least two other factors might swing this game in a decidedly Green direction. One is hate. The other is Ryan’s unpredictability.

These teams’ hate for each other has been well-documented. In fact you could make a case for nothing ever having been as documented as has been the Jets hate for the Patriots and vice-versa. Brady hates the Jets, Cromartie hates Brady, it’s personal for Ryan, and on and on. One has to wonder what falls under the category of business as usual for Rex Ryan.

Hate can be a tricky thing though. In my own experience, some players just want to pummel their opponent, not particularly caring whether or not they make the play. Others channel that hate towards beating the opponent on the scoreboard, the place where it hurts the most. If the Jets can focus that unhealthy dislike on imagining the Patriots humiliation at having lost this playoff game, then only good things can come of it.

As for unpredictability, Belichick could be expected to have a clear advantage over just about any coach who acts as a reasonable person would act in similar circumstances. Rex Ryan doesn’t fit that mold. He might run because his butt hurts or pass because his pants are falling down. He proved that in the Colts game.

A passing game, hate and ridiculous coaching decisions might just make the difference. It’s not inconceivable.

Winning the Hard Way

2011-01-09T00:37:00.001-08:00

Well, that was satisfying.

The Jets played some of their best football of the year to beat those damned Indianapolis Colts and their infuriating quarterback, Peyton Manning, 17-16, last night. That was the best part.

I would’ve been even happier if they had won 14-13 and I didn’t have to spend a few minutes cursing Brian Schottenheimer for calling the ridiculous long pass to Braylon Edwards on third and five with a little over two minutes left and the Colts with just 1 timeout left.

But they did jeopardize the game, they did have to give the ball back to Peyton Manning with all that time left, and Manning did come through for the Colts, leading them down the field for another Adam Vinatieri work of art that sailed directly through the uprights with 57 seconds left, giving the Colts what should have been a 16-14 victory.

I figured that was the end. It would take a miracle for these Jets to work their way all the way down the field to regain the lead. Sanchez hadn’t been exactly lights out the whole game and he had just finished badly overthrowing Edwards on that ridiculous third down pass. I figured the Jets had wasted 58 minutes of really good football. They’d be done in by their failure to make that third and five.

But I hadn’t figured on Antonio Cromartie running the ensuing kickoff back 47 yards. I hadn’t figured the Colts laying back on receivers and letting Sanchez make a couple of easy completions to shorten the field even more. And I really couldn’t have figured the Colts calling a timeout to give the Jets even more time to collect themselves and strategize how best to work their way even farther down the field.

But the Colts really did allow Cromartie to make that run, they did play soft and they did call a timeout. Right after that timeout, the Jets called the same play that had gotten them in this situation in the first place.

But this time it worked! Sanchez threw it up, Edwards went up and grabbed the football and it was all over but the shoutin’. Surely even Nick Folk couldn’t blow one from that close. (I did have a minute or so to contemplate that no distance was short enough for Nick Folk). But Folk put it through to save everybody’s ass and make me a happy New Jerseyan once again.

Later on, Rex Ryan was asked about that third down call. He responded that it was a good call based on the coverage and the matchup or words to that effect so I guess he has more confidence in Sanchez and Edwards than I do. But my point is, why throw a thirty yard pass when you need just five yards? What about a nice five yard pass?

That the Jets won is besides the point. They shouldn’t have had to win that way. They really need to re-think their short yardage options when the defense stacks the line with 9 bodies. They’ll never beat the Patriots that way.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m really happy the Jets pulled it out. And maybe you lose the forest for the trees a little bit when you see Sanchez make that same pass to Edwards time after time in practice. I don’t know. I just know it’s a really poor percentage decision. If you need five, go for five.

But Jim Caldwell helped lose that game by calling that timeout. It was obvious that Peyton Manning thought so. I have a feeling we might not see the same Colts coaching staff next year. I know I wouldn’t rehire them.

And how many times will you get a long kickoff return from Antonio Cromartie? And how many times will you run into a bad coaching staff? I know it won’t be next week, that’s for sure.

If I were a different sort of person, I’d just be happy that they won, I guess. There certainly was a lot of great football being played by those Jets last night. I was especially impressed by that 10-minute drive ending in the touchdown that gave them the lead.

But all throughout the game, the Jets had played it just the way I thought they should, by running the ball and stopping the run, by playing conservative and jamming those receivers. They did blow the coverage on the Manning touchdown pass to Garcon but you had to figure they’d get beat for at least one Manning touchdown.

Their offensive line was pushin’ em back all night long. Shonn Greene and LaDainian Tomlinson were running hard and running smart. And they had only lost the football one time on a Sanchez interception just 45 seconds before the half that was devastating in that it had wasted a nice long time-eating drive.

But, except for that one mistake, the Jets played brilliantly. They were the better team and they proved it on the field. Offense, defense, special teams, the Jets were all in line. It was beautiful. Rex Ryan had his team ready to go.

Much to Ryan’s credit too, he ripped Cromartie a new butt for giving up the Garcon touchdown and let his guys know at halfime how upset he was. There’s probably nobody in football better than Rex Ryan at motivating a team, both before the game and during the game. The Jets will certainly need all that and more when they once again have to face the Patriots next week.

The Pats are not the Colts. They’re a better team with a much better coaching staff. And I don’t even want to think about how tough they’ll be yet. But, on a day when the Seattle Seahawks upset the Super Bowl Champion Saints, anything seems possible.

Besides, one of the two Pats losses this season was to these Jets. Yeah, the Jets lost 45-3 in the other one but the Jets defense is back, Tom Brady.

A Prescription For Violence

2011-01-05T13:30:00.000-08:00

I know this is supposed to be about sports but does anything feel better than finally not being sick anymore? Everything matters again, at least a little bit anyway. I just wish things were going my way a little bit more.

I mean…the Giants are going nowhere but home and the Jets will be facing the Colts. Except for the great Ohio State victory over Arkansas last night, all the Northern and Eastern teams got beat in the Bowl Games. Teams I rooted for, like the Rams to beat the lowly Seahawks, went down in a flurry of dropped passes.

And there’s no baseball news to get excited about, not if you’re a Mets fan. If you’re a Mets fan, the only question about who’ll win the NL East is whether it’ll be the Phillies or the Braves. The latest Mets acquisitions have been strictly lower-level at best.

But maybe the most depressing thing of all for a defensively-minded football fan is that I can’t fathom the Jets giving the Colts a run for their money. They’ve got the really accurate Manning, the one who figures everything out at the line of scrimmage and just picks a defense apart, especially the ones being tricky.

I remember feeling the same way about the Niners offense back in Joe Montana’s heyday. The Niners threw all those short passes that required no time at all to throw, using precision and timing to frustrate the best defenses of the day.

But our very own Giants team did beat that Montana-led offense. Guys like Leonard Marshall and Lawrence Taylor wouldn’t let Montana finish the game and just creamed those Niners receivers all day long.

You just can’t assume anything in football. The favorites tend to win most of the time but any of those locks can go down in a wave of violence and momentum. Arkansas showed that last night before finally succumbing to a brilliantly-executed zone blitz.

I don’t expect the Jets to beat the Colts. That is, not unless they just do the following:

1. Knock the crap out of anything they see in blue.

2. Hit those wideouts and tight end right off the line. Mess up that timing. If you give up something along the way (and it’s almost inevitable but just once would be acceptable), so be it.

3. Go for the 3 and outs. Get that defense off the field.

4. Don’t try to outsmart Peyton Manning.

5. Swipe at that ball when it makes sense. Otherwise just make the hard tackle.

6. Run the ball. Use Joe McKnight if necessary.

7. Protect Sanchez, use max protect if necessary, he only sees one or two receivers anyway.

8. Continue with step 6.

Braylon Edwards and Santonio Holmes seeking redemption won’t beat the Colts, Mark Sanchez’s suddenly good shoulder won’t make the difference, Rex Ryan’s making it a personal battle won’t carry the day. What’ll beat the Colts is a 60-minute football ass-kicking.

The Jets need to feel insulted going in there. They have to be pissed off. They should remember that Peyton didn’t recognize any personal battle with Rex. He wasn’t aware of it. Rex was below his radar on awareness. The Jets have to hit this guy. Clearly.

That ballyhooed offensive line has to perform, Ferguson and Mangold and Woody have to show up. If they think in terms of long drives and clock-killing and 3 and outs, they can outperform those guys in blue. They can hold the ball forever. LaDainian Tomlinson isn’t chopped liver. This is the game for which he was picked up in the first place.

The game plan is so important. It should be conservative.

For Reggie Wayne there is Darrelle Revis and for Garcon there is Cromartie. There will be no Austin Collie or Clark to worry about. There is every reason to believe the Colts passing game can be held in check.

It goes without saying (and I’ve tried up to now not to say it), the Jets have to stop any sniveling Colts attempts to run the football. I mean, it’s Addai and Rhodes, not Arian Foster or, dare I say it, LaDainian Tomlinson. And hell, isn’t that what Rex Ryan really knows how to do?

Peyton Manning can get flustered. The Saints proved that last year. If you keep the pressure on Manning (or really just about anyone not wearing a big S on his chest), he can go bust. Of course, the Saints were a lot smarter than this Jets defense has yet shown itself to be. But they definitely gave Manning less time to think as the game wore on, and yet they still covered everybody.

The Jets can’t be the Saints but they can be a smarter Jets. Rex Ryan can’t try to be Sean Payton but he doesn’t have to be Herman Edwards either. He has to rely on his “best team in the AFC”, play conservatively and not make the big mistake. He has to concentrate on making the first down in three attempts, and, if not, punt.

Peyton Manning has to feel the pressure on every pass attempt. Let him know there will be no downs off when he can stand back there and survey the field. There must always be someone coming for him. But, in addition to the pressure of every down, Manning has to be made to feel the pressure of the game situation.

If the Jets play the physical game they’re noted for and keep the pressure on Manning and that precision-passing game, they can be assured of either staying close or maintaining a lead very late into the game.

If they make no obvious mistakes, if they can get Brad Smith free just one time, or maybe even get another safety out of a Jason Taylor, if they can just “out-football” that Indianapolis team for 60 minutes, that Colts team can be beaten.

I’d love to see it, to make Peyton Manning “aware” of Rex Ryan and the Jets.

I'd Dump Them Both........except...

2010-12-28T21:43:00.000-08:00

The feelings around town are definitely mixed. Fire Coughlin or not, get rid of Eli or not, dump Ryan, bench Sanchez. The only things to which all agree is that the Giants and Jets may not stink, but they are surely not smelling that sweet these days either.

I’ll buy that last sentiment for sure. But guess what? It’s the players. Even though I do pin the Eagles loss squarely on Coughlin, for the most part it’s the players who are to blame for the losses. Not all the players, of course, but for the Giants it’s the linebackers and corners and for the Jets, it’s the defensive line.

Even though the Jets already clinched a playoff spot, it’s not as if they’re likely to get out of the first round, not with that defense. The Giants threw away their playoff spot in that horrible meltdown against the Eagles but, even if that hadn’t happened, the same goes for them. They’re just not that good. They would have folded in the wildcard round.

But just because neither coach is the worst in the league, that doesn’t mean they should be retained.

Ryan has become a clown and an embarrassment. How can he hold the respect of his team after committing dumb thing after dumb thing? Coughlin should be held accountable for throwing away that Eagles game. Never has a defense played so recklessly, never has a return team been so oblivious and never has a punter been so scared.

Imagine waking up some Monday morning to read that Coughlin is retiring! Oh baby! What a breath of fresh air! No canned responses at press conferences, no confused countenance on the sideline, no listening to him blame every other thing, usually turnovers, for losses rather than just actually admitting to anything.

His public chastising of that rookie punter, Matt Dodge, after the Eagles game was pure Coughlin. His only object was to make it clear to the television audience that he instructed that punter correctly. With Coughlin it’s never his fault (although he does his false humility thing taking responsibility for every damned thing under the sun when things aren’t his fault). In short, Coughlin is the biggest phony in the New York area, which is saying a lot.

As for Ryan, reading of his ousting would be a sad thing. He’s a terrific personality and great with the defensive x’s and o’s but how many times can you have your lead guy embarrass the entire organization? How can the players respect that?

I’d say dump them both…..except….

The only sobering aspect of firing each coach is that the replacement could definitely be worse. These are both “football guys”. Although it’s very unlikely that anyone could be more embarrassing than Ryan, or that anybody could be more annoying than Coughlin, it’s hard to imagine anyone being more qualified than either as a head football coach.

Of course, I’d rather have Gruden, I’d rather have Cowher, I’d rather see Tomlin jump over here from Pittsburgh, and I wouldn’t mind having Spagnola back at all. Other than that select group though, there really isn’t anyone to get excited about. (Don’t even try talking me into Billick).

So any coaching move would be fraught with peril. A lot of guys could be worse. Maybe we should forgive Coughlin for the Eagles debacle, for the boring press conferences, for the Mom and apple pie feeling he gives to everything. And maybe we could give Ryan a little time to straighten out his act and his life too.

As for the quarterbacks, all we hear about are Eli’s turnovers, never mind that half of them have bounced off some receiver’s hands or head or shoulder pads. Never mind that he almost never has any time in the pocket, he does have some great receivers, right? Oh, and never mind that he seems to have everyone’s respect in the locker room.

Is Eli fast? Well, no. Is he elusive? Um, that would be a big no too (except for one notable Super Bowl exception). Is he really accurate? Well, he’s getting better. But Unitas wasn’t any of those things (except for accurate), Starr wasn’t either (except for accurate), or Jurgensen or a lot of other signal-callers of great renown(except for accurate).

I’d hang on to Eli. I’d concentrate on getting him some time in the pocket though, on the order of the time his brother seems to get in Indianapolis.

As for Sanchez, he surely looks like a keeper to me. His football instincts aren’t always in evidence but that could be a disconnect between that wacky offensive coordinator and himself. He just needs a little more experience, not to mention some receivers who catch the ball each and every game, not only when they really try to focus.

Yeah, I’d hang on to Sanchez. I might look into getting him a new offensive coordinator though.

So I hope cooler heads prevail in both cases. The lion’s share of the problems for either team have nothing to do with coaching, at least not at the head, except for one notable game, or two if you count the Jets total meltdown in Foxboro.

Get a couple of corners for the G-Men and maybe some help for that offensive line that only got worse when O’Hara returned. Get a couple of defensive linemen for the boys in green. Get rid of some of that high-priced help that in many cases hasn’t delivered.

Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to mimic the Belichick drafting strategy a bit, successively trading down for more lower picks, pretty much guaranteeing a whole lot of talent on the field at all times, if a little more distributed.

And, for both teams, try to decide what your team does best and then go out and do that. It seems the Ground and Pound isn’t working. And it’s hard to tell sometimes just what the Giants are trying to do.

Maybe both teams could acquire a resident shrink.

What A Difference A Week Makes

2010-12-20T13:35:00.000-08:00

Never in the pro football annals of New York has there ever been such a clear reversal of fortunes as there was yesterday. One week ago, the Jets were awful and the Giants were great. Prospects for the Jets to beat Pittsburgh were horrible while the Giants were picked by several NFL analysts to do away with those Eagles, no matter that they had Michael Vick and all those speedsters.

And, of course, as head coaches share their team’s failure or success, Rex Ryan looked like a complete dummy while Tom Coughlin was lauded right here in this column for his stability, especially in comparison to the nut down the road.

What a difference a week makes!

The Jets played 60 grueling minutes of what seemed to be Steeler football. The Giants played 52 minutes of great Giants football and then quit. The coaches quit, the players quit and even the fates seemed to quit. For the final 8 minutes of the game, the Giants were a who’s who of stupidity and maybe fatigue. Whatever they were, they really stunk.

As bad as the Jets have ever played, the Giants were five times as bad as the Jets ever were for those final 8 minutes. Rex Ryan had his guys ready to play for the whole game; Coughlin had his guys ready for 52 minutes. What a shame.

Just to recap, the Giants were up 21 with 8 minutes left. They then let Brent Celek, the Eagles tight end, catch a pass for about 70 yards. Immediately after that, they didn’t cover an onsides kick and watched Michael Vick work his wonders for another easy score. Then they did absolutely nothing on offense. Then they watched Vick destroy them again for the tying touchdown. Then they punted the ball on a line to the best damned punt returner in the game for the loss.

Everybody’s likening yesterday’s game to the Miracle of the Meadowlands in which the Eagles Herman Edwards grabbed a Joe Pisarcik fumble and ran for the winning TD on a play that should have been a kneel-down, a play that lives in infamy as the Giants coaching staff was summarily fired in almost that very instant.

But yesterday’s collapse, or I should say “Cough-lapse” was much worse than that game. It wasn’t just one play that killed them. It was a series of events that was caused by coaches who had stopped coaching and players who had stopped playing. And who can we blame for that?

Complacency can be a terrible thing. Or maybe it could be called “Cough-mplacency”. The Giants acted in every way as if the game was in hand. The 67-yard Celek TD because of a missed tackle wasn’t enough to rattle them. The failure of their return team to be aware of the possibility of an onsides kick is inexcusable. To this reviewer, it was the absolutely worst failure of the entire series of failures.

That their “hands” return team was not on the field was bad but not the most critical mistake. What was much worse was the up-front players’ total obliviousness to the ball. Even the “return” team’s up-front players should have been coached to first look for the ball. The Giants on that field were not prepared at all for that eventuality.

Two egregious failures in a row was, in retrospect, too much for the Giants defense to handle. From then on, they seemed to just watch as Eagles ran over, around and through them to tie the score. And of course the Giants offense did nothing but take time off the clock. As things turned out, it wasn’t enough.

Then there was the final Giants punt. The rookie punter did in fact try to kick the ball out-of-bounds but failed to do so. The replay showed that the rookie was aiming for the sidelines but the ball seemed to drop on the inside of his foot and the punt became a liner to the most dangerous man on the field. Those things happen, especially to rookies in tight spots. (Why a serious contender for the Super Bowl has a rookie in that spot has been a puzzler for me all season).

I won’t chastise Coughlin too much for berating his punter on the field after his ridiculously poor effort put the final nail into the Giants coffin, or “Cough-in”, but I thought it showed a lack of composure. For Coughlin, it was exercising restraint, or his own idea of “Cough-mposure”.

Gee, I hope I’m being fair to Coughlin. He did after all coach one hell of a game for 52 minutes. And it’s a damned shame that the game goes for 60. And I should say that it’s not typical of a Coughlin-coached team to quit in the final minutes. Maybe he’s just getting a little old for this game.

The bright side of yesterday’s action was that the Giants are still in the hunt, the Jets were terrific and my fantasy team won again, this despite Knowshon Moreno hurting his side, Austin Collie suffering another concussion and Vernon Davis having the misfortune to be coached by Mike Singletary, who has become the new Herman Edwards. (Not in the sense of the Meadowlands Miracle but in the sense of the player who went on to coach 10-6 teams into 6-10 teams).

Okay, enough Giants-bashing. The Jets were terrific from the opening kickoff to the final gun, much to the credit of Rex and the entire Jets team. Brad Smith’s taking of the opening kickoff for a touchdown set the tone for the game while the secondary’s sticky coverage of every Steeler receiver down-field in the closing seconds sealed the victory and staved off what could easily have been a dual New York disaster yesterday.

And, between those remarkable opening and closing plays, the play-calling was brilliant, Sanchez executed those plays to perfection and still another Edwards, one Braylon, made brilliant catches all day.

What a difference a week makes.

On Football and Stability

2010-12-14T18:10:00.000-08:00

There’s so much to say since last week that I can’t quite focus on any one thing. There’s the ascendancy of the Giants, the bumbling of the Jets in just about every way, the end of Brett Favre’s starting streak and, for many of us, there are the fantasy football playoffs.

I should first say that I’m not a Jets fan anymore. Everybody seems to think I am. It bugs me. Brett Favre and Eric Mangini pretty much killed any feeling I may have had for them. When they rid themselves of those two clowns, they still had Tannenbaum running things and Woody Johnson at the helm so the Jets are just a team that I can’t root for.

I do like Rex Ryan, of course, and how could I not like Mark Sanchez and LaDainian Tomlinson and even Santonio Holmes? The rest of that bunch you can have, from Braylon Edwards and Jason Taylor to Shonn Greene and Jericho Cotchery.

Contrast them with the Giants. They’re a lot easier on my psyche. I mean, what’s not to like about the Maras? They’ve owned the team forever, they treat everybody with respect and they didn’t even make the taxpayers fund their new stadium.

Of course, sometimes I take issue with how slow they are to react to obvious bad things. That horrible defensive coordinator of last year, for example, should have been dumped around the middle of the season along with some of the horrible non-coverage people in their secondary.

But giving people an entire year to prove or disprove their competence is all wrapped up with showing consideration and respect. You have to take the good with the bad. It’s part and parcel of stability.

I hate to say it but stability is exactly what the Jets seem to be missing right now. It was understandable that they would lose to the Patriots, especially playing without their defensive stalwart Leonhard, but one could have expected them to bounce back against the Dolphins, even a Dolphins team playing for their playoffs lives.

They did not come remotely close to bouncing back, not unless you take only the narrowest possible definition of bouncing back. Their defense wasn’t bad at all. It was just everything else about their game that was lacking. Their running game was non-existent, that ballyhooed offensive line seemed lacking, their receivers stunk out the joint and the game plan in general seemed discordant. I defy anyone to tell me what their plan was.

Then there are the other disturbing signs, the behavioral issues of not just their players but the management as well. More and more it seems that, as a head coach, Rex makes one hell of a defensive coordinator. He still seems to accept overall responsibility for the whole team only grudgingly.

Don’t expect the Jets to beat the Steelers this Sunday. I certainly don’t. I’ll bet the Steelers don’t either, which, come to think of it, might be the only thing working in the Jets favor. The Steelers aren’t impervious to problems either. They have their own offensive problems. The Jets chances will hinge on their ability to run the ball and Santonio Holmes, the discarded Steeler who may just love to stick it to his old team.

As for the G-Men, they really have their work cut out for them with Mike Vick and the high-flying Eagles on tap. It wasn’t a good sign that the Cowboys couldn’t run against what had been a suspect run defense before their game. If the Giants can’t get impressive numbers from the Bradshaw-Jacobs duo, it could be all over but the shouting. But if they can run, they’ll keep Vick off the field, not to mention DeSean Jackson and LeSean McCoy.

It always comes down to those two things, running and stopping the run, especially in December. Not even the great ones at quarterback can overcome those deficiencies consistently. And the fact that the G-Men just shut down Adrian Peterson bodes well for their chances on Sunday. But the Eagles have an offensive line that the Vikings did not.

But, and this is significant, one can expect the Giants to overcome their problems, whatever they may be. They have already dealt with the secondary, the pass rush, defending the run, and changed their offensive tactics to incorporate more running and the heavy use of the tight end.

But their resiliency has never included coaches tripping up opponents on the sidelines. You get the feeling they are rock solid in every way.

Of course, there’s more than one way to skin a cat. And Ryan may be able to salvage his situation, much as he did last year when he used red and green colors to easily direct his rookie QB in avoiding turnovers. I’m rooting for him to do it too.

But there may be only so many rabbits in his hat. And his other problem players may not be as responsive as was Mark Sanchez. You get the feeling they’ll break if you press them.

I might be firmly in the Giants corner but my heart lies with my fantasy team this weekend. My Crabs have an up-hill battle too as Drew Brees will be facing the tough Ravens, Ahmad Bradshaw has a hurt wrist, Knowshon Moreno has a new coach and Miles Austin can’t seem to get on Jon Kitna’s good side. Vernon Davis, my tight end, should continue getting good numbers. Those are my definite starters. It gets tougher after that.

Sidney Rice and Percy Harvin are really talented receivers but, with Tarvaris Jackson on the other end, things are really iffy. But Austin Collie may not play, Jahvid Best seems to never get the ball, and Tashard Choice may still be starry-eyed over Michael Vick. The usually reliable Brandon Lloyd has been decidedly less so as defenses have adapted to the Broncos long passing game.

Things will clear up by Sunday morning though. They always do. As a team, these Crabs are solid.

Getting What You Deserve

2010-12-07T15:18:00.000-08:00

How often have you said to yourself, “he (or she) needs to have his ass kicked” when confronted with an arrogant, stupid person on the street, or in a car, or just about anywhere. You know, one of those unruly pampered brats who says and does whatever he wants with no thought given to how it might affect somebody else, good or bad but especially bad.

That’s pretty much the way I felt about the Jets drubbing by the Pats Monday night. They’re a hard bunch to feel sorry for. No team in any sport I can think of has ever deserved a sorry beating more than these 2010-2011 Jets.

So they got what they deserved. And Tom Brady seemed to think so too. In fact, that whole Boston team seemed to buy in. Whether it was their offensive line, or their little Jets-rejected running back, Danny Woodhead, either of their two tight ends, the fast one and the really fast one, or heck, just about everybody on that team.

They turned the tables on the Jets. They did what they wanted whenever they wanted. They kicked the Jets ass….in every way you could ever think of.

It was totally predictable too. Even though the Pats were only 3 ½ point favorites going into the game, any informed observer would or should have taken note of the fact that the Jets had just lost their defensive captain and leader, safety Jim Leonhard, and remember what happened to our Giants when Antonio Pierce went down?

Sometimes, it’s always the least likely guys who really make all the difference. Only a couple of analysts even took note of Leonhard’s absence. After all, he’s not that talented, right?

The Jets were flustered clearly, starting with QB Mark Sanchez. On at least one pass, he didn’t even bother to check the coverage. Braylon Edwards dropped his first two passes, not that he needs to be flustered to do that. Then it just seemed that all the guys in the red and blue had super powers.

Brady, Welker, Woodhead, Aaron Hernandez, Gronkowski, oh hell, just everybody from Boston was kickin’ Jet butt. It must’ve been so much fun.

It’s just one game though, no matter how bad the Jets stunk it up. It’s an emotional game and the Jets were beaten soundly last night even before the opening coin flip.

How many teams from week to week have been proclaimed the best team in the NFL? I know the Giants were. So were the Jets. But that also goes for Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, Baltimore and…well, you get the idea. The Chargers looked great there for a while too before absolutely smelling up the airwaves versus the Raiders.

So the Jets will live to see another day. But their defense especially must improve. They need desperately to figure out their coverage, without Jim Leonhard being on the field. Sanchez needs to settle down and his receivers need to catch the ball. Their kicking game needs to improve dramatically. And they must run the ball.

If they can’t recover immediately against Miami, their wildcard spot will be in jeopardy as, after the Fish, it’ll be Pittsburgh at their place and the Bears in Chicago. If their record is only 9-6 going into Buffalo for the final regular-season game, it could be all over but the shouting. They need to finish 10-6 to my mind to secure the final wildcard. Either Pittsburgh or Baltimore, Jacksonville or Indianapolis will be right up there with them at 10-6.

A 180 degree different team than the brash Jets are the Giants. They have exceeded my expectations in the last couple of weeks particularly, defeating Jacksonville and then Washington handily, despite the loss of their top two receivers and all kinds of people on the offensive line. They too have gotten what they deserved but in a totally different way than the Jets.

And they absolutely needed those victories too. The Giants must face the Vikings, the Eagles and the Packers before once again facing Washington in the final game. Any of those first three teams is capable of beating the Giants, especially the Eagles and Vick and Green Bay and Aaron Rodgers.

There are at least eight teams vying for the 6-team playoff spots in the NFC and all of them might in truth be better than the Giants, especially in their injury-riddled configuration. For now, this tight-end and running back oriented offense seems to be working, especially since their defense has dominated when it has had to.

But all you can ask as a sports fan is that your team will be competitive deep into the season. Both our local football teams have certainly been that, and, barring a total collapse, an unlikely event even for the Jets coming off the worst beating of their lives, they should keep us interested until well into the New Year.

For Mets fans, who have had their post-season hopes dashed right around the middle of July the last few years, the “hot stove” portion of our baseball year has been a vacuum, which is almost a blessing for fans who have been mostly disappointed by the free-agent acquisitions of our past.

Sometimes doing nothing looks pretty good, although I wouldn’t at all mind trading some high-end butts right outta here, beginning with Jason Bay and Carlos Beltran. But if the 2011 season started with the same butts in the dugout as in 2010, it wouldn’t be too terrible. An outfield of Bay, a healthy Beltran and Pagan, and an infield of Wright, Reyes, and the two rookies on the right hand side could be very interesting.

Of course the Yankees are a different story. Their fans’ expectations never end. The Yanks relative inactivity thus far, except for the re-signings of Jeter and Mariano, has got to be disappointing. Cliff Lee is the foremost target and the Yanks are just biding their time, awaiting Lee’s other offers to come in before putting their money on the table, a really clever thing, although I hate to give them the credit.

For the most part, all these sports teams get what they deserve in the end, except in cases of a ridiculous number of injuries, something the Giants seem to have overcome for now.

Let’s hope the Jets can learn to deserve something other than an ass-kicking.

And rest in peace, Dandy Don........

Tuesday in New York

2010-11-30T15:44:00.001-08:00

It’s another Tuesday, it’s raining, there’s nothing particularly that needs doing so I’ll just vedge(sp) and take the hour or so it will take me to whine.

First of all, the Monday Night Football game was horrid…totally unwatchable. Why can’t anybody figure out in advance that Arizona is just barely a professional team at all? To match them up with any team is risky. What team wouldn’t have beaten the Cardinals last night? Detroit plays harder. Buffalo definitely plays harder, and smarter too. The Rams, now that they have a real live quarterback, would dance rings around that sorry bunch from Arizona.

Of course, the Giants won. That makes me happy since I thought it would take their best effort to knock off even the likes of Jacksonville. It’s really a tribute to them from the coaches to all the remaining healthy players that they were able to come from behind to take the lead and then hold it against a Jaguar team that was still trying to show some fight. The Jets won too on Thanksgiving but they were once again nothing to write home about.

The Knicks have been doing better than expected and the Nets started really slow but are showing signs of life. All of the above is promising better times for New York fans this winter, and maybe even into the March Madness of college basketball. And by that time, spring training will have started. Life is good if you’re into sports and not so much into shopping and Cyber Monday crapola, the teetering economy or global warming.

Another melodrama that will keep the NY area humming until the wee hours of February is the Derek Jeter negotiation. I’m enjoying it immensely so far. The one question, it seems to me, that no one is asking is how the Players Union and the MLB Commissioner’s office feel about rewarding a player for his marketing value. There is the power of precedent to be considered. Why shouldn’t every player want to add value to their contracts? Wouldn’t the Commissioner want the Yanks to take a hard line on this icon talk?

All this is great stuff for a Mets fan. There couldn’t be a wider division between the parties. And, while it’s hard to envision Jeter playing for any other team, the Yankees have essentially told Jeter to get other offers. But other teams will be skittish about being a pawn in that game. So any offers will come late, only after they are convinced Jeter may really consider a uniform without stripes. How great would it be for some team that would be willing to pay Jeter a premium for his market value? A Detroit or a Boston (just to drive the Yanks crazy) might enjoy getting some attention and more fannies in their seats for just a few million dollars premium per year. Then the question will really be how much the Yankees want Jeter and how much Jeter wants the Yankees.

The team is clearly in the driver’s seat. The Yankees can function quite nicely without Jeter. While they’d take a lot of heat in the first Jeter-less year, especially when he’d get his 3000th hit for say, Kansas City. Heh-heh,. They’d look better and better as Jeter would get older and older. It’d be virtually impossible for Jeter to score his hundred runs per year for any other team but the Yankees, who have continually surrounded him with hitters in their own right.

Juan Uribe, about five years younger than Jeter and the San Francisco Giants postseason wunderkind, just signed a 3-year contract with the Dodgers for 21 million. Based on that figure, I’d say Jeter’s worth about 10 to 11 million per year. The Yankees offered him 15 mill for 3 years, a figure already that included market value. I’d understand totally if the Yankees felt that Jeter was holding them up. They would be entitled to be thinking Jeter should accept a pay cut from his last contract, his 10-year 189 million deal. The Yankees should stick to their guns, and if they do, things should get really interesting. And what if they withdraw their 15 million offer? Then what?

Meanwhile, the Mets have done almost nothing. Today I heard that their pretty fine left-handed specialist in the bullpen, Pedro Feliciano, turned down arbitration, which would seem to indicate that the market is good. It would also seem the Mets want to keep their better players, definitely a good sign for us Mets fans. The Mets need pitching though and I’m not crazy about the free agent starters. I wouldn’t mind seeing them shop Jason Bay and/or Carlos Beltran for a couple of pitchers. And I’d rather see them get young guns with limitless potential than see them go for broke with a veteran commanding a high salary.

A second baseman wouldn’t hurt either. But there are plenty of second basemen. It’s just not that critical a position. I was happy to see Florida’s slugging Dan Uggla go elsewhere. His fielding has always been atrocious and the Mets fans wouldn’t be tolerant of that. Uggla will be fine in Atlanta though, and Atlanta may be ready next year to challenge the Phillies seriously for the Division Championship. Whatever the Mets do next year, it’s difficult to think they’ll overtake either of the top two contenders.

The Knicks play the Nets tonight and it should be a barn-burner. Although the Knicks are the better team, they’ll be without their starting center Ronnie Turiaf, a factor that should hurt them a lot being that the Nets Lopez will be firing from all directions. But the Knicks have found an unlikely answer to their 2 guard spot in Landry Fields, who doesn’t really score so often as he does all the other things. He shoots well though when he does shoot, he rebounds and assists, goes for loose balls and, well, you get the idea.

The Nets need two more players to compete. Newark anyone?

Gotta Have Skin in the Game

2010-11-27T17:27:00.000-08:00

How can you be interested in a sport if you have no team in the hunt?

In the case of college football, I don’t know why I watch college football at all. If it were just for Rutgers, there would be no way I could watch it. It’s hard to get interested in a game for which your local representative plays so poorly. Speaking as a Rutgers alumnus, thank you very much but I’d rather have no football program at all than have to be embarrassed every week by Rutgers and the complacent Greg Schiano. Just to put perspective around how bad Rutgers really is, Schiano’s defense against the likes of Cincinnati was torched for 60 or so points while Connecticut just held them to 17 points. I could grab a couple of kids off the street who’d play better pass defense than Schiano’s sorry group in the secondary.

Nevertheless, I’m sitting here watching Michigan State start to pound Penn State (it’s now 21-10) . And why exactly? Well, Penn State after all has Joe Paterno as the head coach and it’s a clean program too, as far as anyone can tell. What’s not to like about Penn State? They always play defense and very seldom embarrass themselves. They are the anti-Rutgers.

Ohio State too in the Big Ten gets some of my attention if only because my son went to school in Ohio and I can recall a great time watching an OSU game in a shopping mall in Columbus. I also had a friend and co-worker whose daily fervor for the Buckeyes was easily enough to get me excited. But if it weren’t for those two teams, I wouldn’t be watching at all. You have to have a team in the hunt…some skin in the game. That rooting interest can spring from locale of course but only as modified by a team’s ownership and management and players from year to year. Oh yeah, and whether they win or not.

If loyalties depended entirely on wins and losses though, everybody’d be a Yankee fan. Happily for human nature and pocket books everywhere, that is not the case.

My chief interest this time of year goes to professional football, mostly, to be honest, because that’s where my skin in the game resides. We live in the New York area, of course, so why would I like any other team besides the Giants or Jets?

The answer lies in fantasy football, of course, a place to field my very own team. So my rooting interest this Thanksgiving was firmly with the Saints and Drew Brees, who had the skill and moxy to throw long down the field on a third down to hit Bobby Meachem in stride for about 60 yards before delivering a perfect strike to, who else, Lance Moore for a touchdown. And I managed to get a glimpse in the 4 o’clock game of Miles Austin, wide receiver for Dallas and Dem Crabs, racing around the end for about 60 yards and a TD against the Lions.

But overall it was a bad day. The Saints scored mostly on the ground and Jahvid Best didn’t play at all, making my decision to bench Ahmad Bradshaw look ridiculous, despite Coughlin’s foolish decision to punish him. My opponent didn’t fare too well either though, starting with Mark Sanchez, who didn’t exactly shine in the Jets victory over the Bungles. And his star player, Jacksonville’s Maurice Jones-Drew, has to face the Giants on Sunday, a matchup that should favor the Giants, who aren’t as yet totally decimated on the defensive side of the ball.

If I can be said to have a team at all in the NFL, it is the Giants, who are in trouble now after losing several key players to injuries. The Giants are owned by one of the most venerable football families in the universe, the Maras. They’ve won multiple Super Bowls and have brought us great players and great management too. They have a long-time philosophy that stresses the running game and defense. Their GM’s and coaches have generally excelled over the years. Although they might not quite match the Rooneys in Pittsburgh, they are a team well worthy of commanding my attention.

On the other hand are the Jets. Although I like the head coach, the owner’s a little too theatrical for me. He’ll always take the hit in my mind for Brett Favre becoming a Jet, thus single-handedly taking them out of the playoffs. Their GM is totally heartless, a reflection of ownership too, I guess, as he has shown year after year, most recently in the dumping of Leon Washington. The players themselves are a mixed bunch. They have a bunch of guys that are hard to warm up to, Bart Scott, Braylon Edwards, and yes, even Santonio Holmes and his remarkable elusiveness in the end zone. But their success is hard to ignore despite their frailties in the character department.

My point is, it’s easy to be an NFL fan, less so for NCAA football and, heretofore at least, it’s been almost impossible to follow any brand of basketball, be it NBA, NCAA or otherwise. Once again, those feelings can be directly traced to the sorry state of the Knicks, Nets, Rutgers and Seton Hall. If our local team in either MLB league were the likes of the Chicago Cubs, it’d surely affect your love for the game and the league bringing it to you.

Happily for basketball fans, the Knicks mismanagement has considerably improved and the Nets have changed dramatically for the better. The Knicks finally have some players D’Antoni actually likes and the Nets under Avery Johnson have begun to show some predilection for playing on the defensive side of the ball. I’m enjoying basketball again.

I now find myself watching the local games, the NBA Network and yes, I even crave the witticisms of Charles Barkley. I even joined a public fantasy basketball league. Who’s next? Hubie Brown?

On Injuries and Luck

2010-11-23T12:24:00.001-08:00

So here we are again on another Tuesday. Everything in the NFL is all too clear. This is title time. December will determine the playoff spots and eventual Super Bowl participants. Those spots will go to the lucky, those teams with fewer injuries and an easier schedule. Every fantasy player knows that. For example, if you were unlucky enough to be including Jahvid Best or Vernon Davis on your week 11 roster, you probably lost.
For the local teams, the Jets so far seem to be far luckier than the Giants. The Giants are fast becoming a shambles. Much of their star receiving corps is decimated. No Steve Smith and no Hakeem Nicks means serious hurt for the G-Men. The offensive line keeps getting made over, seemingly every week. Their defense has been healthier but has had to experience the added pressure of having an offense that can’t stay on the field long enough for them to rest.
Here’s the injury list, courtesy of Yahoo: Check out the players who are out. Diehl is the left tackle, big hurt not to have him; Madison Hedgecock is the fullback. He ordinarily makes holes or makes them wider for the running backs. Shaun O’Hara is their center and he was a pretty damned good one. Steve Smith is their bigtime receiver and the key player when third down rolls around. Shawn Andrews played well under difficult circumstances. The return guy, Hixon, is out. The reserve receivers, Barden and Cruz, are out. Mathias Kiwanuka, another guy who could pressure opposing passers, is out. Quite simply, these remaining Giants are not the Giants.
Player Date Status Injury
Domenik Hixon
Aug 23, 2010 injured-rese Torn right ACL
Adrian Tracy
Aug 31, 2010 injured-rese Elbow
Jim Sorgi
Aug 31, 2010 injured-rese Right shoulder
Courtney Brown
Sep 5, 2010 injured-rese Ankle
Michael Johnson
Sep 28, 2010 injured-rese Back
Victor Cruz
Oct 16, 2010 injured-rese Hamstring
Mathias Kiwanuka
Oct 28, 2010 injured-rese Neck
Bruce Johnson
Nov 2, 2010 injured-rese Knee
Adam Koets
Nov 9, 2010 injured-rese Torn left ACL
Ramses Barden
Nov 16, 2010 injured-rese Left leg, left foot
David Diehl
Nov 19, 2010 Out Hip, hamstring
Madison Hedgecock
Nov 19, 2010 Out Hamstring
Shaun O'Hara
Nov 19, 2010 Out Foot
Steve Smith
Nov 19, 2010 Out Pectoral
Shawn Andrews
Nov 19, 2010 Questionable Back
Kevin Boss
Nov 19, 2010 Probable Back
Darius Reynaud
Nov 19, 2010 Probable Hamstring
Osi Umenyiora
Nov 19, 2010 Probable Knee
Corey Webster
Nov 19, 2010 Probable Toe
Gerris Wilkinson
Nov 19, 2010 Probable Hand

All that bad luck was certainly in evidence against the Eagles. At first glance, Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs were terrible but when you consider who was blocking for them, maybe they had given a valiant effort against overwhelming odds. The only holes that opened up were in the passing game as Eagles blitzers found the paths to Eli surprisingly wide. Eli was pretty good too when you consider the constant pressure, not to mention the fact he was throwing to receivers who either didn’t get open or weren’t in the right place. It was a pretty sad story on Sunday and it doesn’t figure to get better in a hurry.
The Jets have everybody they need, especially Mark Sanchez and Santonio Holmes. For comparison, the following is their injury list:
Ropati Pitoitua Aug 26, 2010 injured-rese Left Achilles
Kris Jenkins Sep 15, 2010 injured-rese Torn left ACL
Darrelle Revis Nov 19, 2010 Probable Hamstring
Mark Sanchez Nov 19, 2010 Probable Calf
Matt Slauson Nov 19, 2010 Probable Knee
Brad Smith Nov 19, 2010 Probable Low back
Eric Smith Nov 19, 2010 Probable Ankle
Damien Woody Nov 19, 2010 Probable Knee
Calvin Pace Nov 19, 2010 Probable Foot
Dwight Lowery Nov 19, 2010 Out Concussion
Marquice Cole Nov 19, 2010 Out Hamstring
Jerricho Cotchery Nov 19, 2010 Out Groin
David Harris Nov 19, 2010 Probable Calf
Nick Mangold Nov 19, 2010 Probable Shoulder
Josh Mauga Nov 19, 2010 Probable Hamstring

Except possibly for Jerricho Cotchery at wideout, the Jets have everybody they need. The Giants situation is ridiculous.
As for the schedule, the Giants upcoming opponents have a record of 33-27 and that includes Minnesota, a team that will probably play a lot better under a new coach. They’ll see Philadelphia again and Washington twice. They’ll see the Packers and the Jaguars and Vikings, and maybe even Brett Favre. I’d be pleasantly surprised if they finish 3-3 over the next six. That would probably get them a playoff spot, but 9-7 is never a lock. As things stand right now, the Packers, Bears, Saints, Falcons and Bucs all have better records and fewer injuries.
The Jets have opponents with a 31-29 record including the Pats again and Pittsburgh and Chicago. If those all result in losses, the Jets could be in trouble too but that’s unlikely. I expect the Jets to be there at the end, if not as AFC East Champions then as a wildcard, and maybe even the second one.
They say people make their own luck. I never believed that. You can be sure the Giants don’t either. It’s amazing they’ve been able to play as well as they have, given that horrific injury list. It speaks well to the quality of their reserves and general management. But reserves are reserves. Even a gifted reserve player hasn’t had the reps required to function as a regular.
I can’t speak of injuries these days without conjuring up images of the sorrowful Mets injuries these last few years. Carlos Beltran, Johan Santana, Jason Bay, Reyes on and off, relief pitchers, the list goes on and on. Three of those four will be back to kick off 2011 but that’s not a sure thing either given the new management situation. Speaking as a longtime Mets fan, a few trades involving a few or even several of these players, wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.
But the Mets situation is a column in itself. This was supposed to be about football.

Uncertainty the Only Certainty

2010-11-16T13:45:00.000-08:00

Now I know I’m a baseball fan. It’s all I can do to muster any enthusiasm for football anymore. It’s totally unpredictable.

This week it was Dallas and Buffalo who came back from the dead. Teams I expected to come back from the dead didn’t. There was the dreadful Minnesota totally striking out against the Bears, a real juggernaut. There was Brett Favre running around, getting hit, dropping the ball, then running around, throwing on the run, getting intercepted. And then there was Washington on Monday night, Washington, I thought, with that defense that gives up yards but not points. Surely they’ll stop Michael Vick. You know what happened there.

And then there were the “good” teams, such as the Steelers, getting lambasted by Tom Brady, and our Giants, ballyhooed all week for being the best team in the NFC, decidedly NOT covering the best wide receivers in the game, Dez Bryant and Miles Austin, Roy Williams and Jason Witten. Oh, and they didn’t get to the quarterback either. After all, it was only Jon Kitna. You know how that one turned out.

Of course I belong to one of those Yahoo football groups, making picks for each week’s games, just the winners, no point spreads to make things more difficult. This year, the spreads aren’t necessary. Anything can happen and usually will, but only when you’re absolutely SURE of a very different outcome.

Being that I’m one of those analytical types, I need to put this uncertainty into some kind of box. Surely there are underlying reasons for it. I’ve got it narrowed down to two basic factors. Coaches and players. Not bad, huh?

The Cowboys changed coaches after losing became a way of life. Boom! They won, convincingly. You wondered how they could have looked so abysmal all those other weeks. You wonder if they’ll go undefeated for the rest of the season. You wondered how they ever won with a lily-livered coach. You wondered why it took Jerry Jones so long to act. You wonder much the same thing about that Bengals coach, Marvin Lewis. What’s the owner thinking? Oops, there’s another factor, owners.

A subset of owners might be stadiums, new stadiums, and seat licenses, especially unsold seat licenses, to be exact. The Jets sure stocked up on players this year, LaDainian and Santonio and the rest. The Giants actually went out and bought a secondary, not that it looked that way last Sunday. Of course, Kitna had all day to throw. Jerry Jones too had that gigantic edifice in Big D built to accommodate all those rabid Cowboys fans. He figured they had as much talent as they needed, so he didn’t need to go crazy, especially on defense. He figured, as Wade did, that any sorry bunch of bodies could comprise a well thought out system of defense. Heh-heh.

Another factor seems to be the betting line itself. Maybe it’s the Internet betting that’s made the spread more important. Those heavy favorites just never seem to pan out, except when they do, once again totally inexplicably.

Let’s recap. There’re coaches and players and owners and stadiums and the betting line itself. Oh, and maybe the fact that there’s a whole TV network dedicated to football, 24/7, and endless analysis, if you could call it that, of everything you ever wanted to know about, well, mostly about Brett Favre, or Chad Ochochinco or T.O. Oh yeah, there’re those reality shows too, starring the aforementioned, of course, but there are others too, like for Shawn Merriman, I understand.

Of course there’s ESPN too, not that I watch those guys anymore. I wonder, does anybody? I mean…why? There’s a baseball channel and a football channel and teams with their own channels. There’re even channels for tennis and golf, for Pete’s sake. (Pete’s a bigtime golfer and tennis enthusiast, take my word for it). If it’s a sport, chances are it’s got its own channel. Horseracing and soccer, of course, and even fishing and fitness and wildlife and, omigosh, as I write this, there’s a woman getting into dressage. Honestly.

Maybe I should just stop trying to pick game winners and just concentrate on my fantasy team. There’s quite enough uncertainty there alone. Replacing Drew Brees on his bye week with Brett Favre was my brain-fart of the season. And to compound that mistake, I had dumped Jon Kitna for him. After all, he’d be facing those ferocious G-Men. And surely Jahvid Best would finally start producing against the lowly Bills, right? Surely he’d be a better start than Miles Austin, who never did establish any kind of rapport with Kitna. Romo used to love him but not Kitna. He loved Dez Bryant. And besides, they were facing the feared G-Men.

Luckily for me, my other players played great, Percy Harvin and Ahmad Bradshaw, Brandon Lloyd and Knowshow Moreno. But the really fortunate thing was my opponent’s decision to take his chances that his running back, Clinton Portis, listed as questionable all week, would actually play on Monday night, even if Skins coach Mike Shanahan had been saying for days that he wouldn’t play. After all, isn’t it true that Shanahan’s the biggest phony in the NFL, except for Belichick maybe? Shanahan saying he wouldn’t play only kind of guaranteed that he would. Of course we know how that one turned out.

Oh yeah, one more factor, a big one, injuries, even after you figure out the enigmatic code that basically says “doubtful” players are the only ones who won’t play. “Questionable” guys figure significantly in their team’s fortunes week after week, hence my opponent’s hesitation to go with anyone else in that spot. (Yeah, he would have had to drop a player with a bye to replace him but still…).

There are just so few things you can count on. That uncertainty might be the biggest winning factor of them all, the only thing on which you can rely.

I’ll take baseball anytime, and especially those Mets.