A Half Empty Outlook

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

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 !

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.