The Good and Bad of New York

The pitching just isn’t there. Although I’d like to keep kidding myself, the Mets can’t contend for anything with their pitching. Pelfrey isn’t consistent at all and he’s the number 2 on the staff. Perez is mostly bad. So there’s Santana and pray for rain.
When the minor leaguers they bring up do better than the regulars, you can really just mail it in.

Not that there aren’t some good things to say. I really like watching these guys, Francoeur, Reed, Pagan, Sullivan, Murphy, Niese, the future looks pretty bright but it’s the present that’s kind of shaky.

As far as the regulars coming back, it sounds like a bunch of doubletalk to me. Beltran probably just wants to get his at-bats up so his resume won’t have a big hole in it. As for Reyes and Delgado, at this point I’d rather watch Cora and Murphy. I just don’t believe these players are hurt as bad as they seem to think they are.

I couldn’t help but notice that, since Minaya’s unfortunate running at the mouth, some of the absentees have appeared in the dugout. Putz, Delgado, Reyes….it’s nice to see. Anyone would think that they give a damn.

When they do get a decent pitching performance, this team is fun to watch. Good fielding, good baserunning, good at-bats generally, but as I read somewhere today, they just can’t hit a sinkerball pitcher. Oh well.

Let me talk about some other things. The Mets are just too depressing. Thank God for Jerry Manuel. He makes things bearable.

There are some bright spots in New York sports. Take the Yankees…please. As much as I dislike them generally, Cashman at the very top of my list, you have to like the lion’s share of the players themselves.

Swisher climbing the walls, Teixeira lunging and coming up with ball, Jeter being Jeter, and Melky playing out of his mind. Hitting for the cycle the way he did yesterday was just amazing. To need a triple and then get it? Waddaya kiddin’ me? . Damon, Matsui, Gardner….in fact, I kinda like everybody whose name doesn’t end in a “rod”.

On the pitching side, CC’s always good for a smile or two and Burnett is a real pro, a tough guy you like to see out there. And Joba, how can you not like Joba? The fact that Pettite and Mitre haven’t really done anything just adds a bit to their humanity, if anything can.

And Hughes has been pretty awesome when not used too awfully much, which I think has been his problem lately. Mariano Rivera has been quite impressive, of course, and provides that close of things, even if he does have to provide four outs as he did yesterday. The rest of their relief staff you can have.

Football’s starting to come to the forefront of everyone’s mind and the Jets especially look to be a very exciting team, if not the best team in New York overall. Their new head coach, the very ample Ryan, to put it nicely, has them all chomping at the bit. Compared to Mangini’s death camp, it’s a very nice change of pace.

They’ll have defense up the ying-yang. Too bad the offense looks as if it will probably leave a bit to be desired. Whichever quarterback finally wins the starting nod, he’ll be relatively new at the job and it’s really hard to like a new NFL quarterback too much. But thank God Favre’s doing his press conferences somewhere else.

Why they continue to give their best players such a hard time at the contract table is beyond me though. Give Leon Washington his due, Tannenbaum, and while you’re at it, give him some money too. I can’t believe they punish their best “team” players the way they do, using their team feeling as leverage at the contract table, a pretty despicable negotiating strategy if you ask me. And stupid in the long run.

The Giants are the real pros in town. This should be a great year if injuries don’t cripple them. Of course, they have to get over the loss of Plax and Toomer, something that won’t be too easily done. But drafting Hakeem Nicks, and then signing him relatively quickly, was a step in the right direction.

On defense, the significance of getting Umenyiora back can’t be overplayed really. The pass rush and the defense against the run should be alive and well. They’ll have Eli back and Jacobs, of course, and a great offensive line. They’ll also have good backups at just about every position.

The indictment of Plaxico today won’t help matters but it was nice to see the grand jury go easy on Antonio Pierce. It’ll be life as usual for the G-Men from here on in. Despite Antonio’s age and lack of speed, he’s been a great leader for the Giants defense and a great spokesman too.

While I’m saddened by Burress’s situation, I guess he couldn’t expect much better treatment and it appears he’ll be out of football for quite some time. But a quick look back at his Super Bowl performance against the undefeated Patriots less than two years ago should make any Giants fan feel a bit in the dumps.

What a waste! You can blame Plax, I’ll hate that sorry excuse for a mayor, Bloomberg, using his power as Mayor to undermine the legal system. New York should rid themselves of him.

He’d be a better candidate for New Jersey politics as he’s no better than the 22 or so politicians hopefully jail-bound this year. And no less heavy-handed than Hoboken’s sorry excuse for a mayor, the guy who promised to grind up anybody not in his constituency.

Gee, I guess I really am a Giants fan.