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.
Showing posts with label Bloomberg. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bloomberg. Show all posts
Monday, August 3, 2009
Friday, December 5, 2008
Cuffed Hands, Hired Hands, All Hands on Deck!
If there’s anything I care less about than Rutgers football, it would have to be a Thursday night NFL matchup between the Oakland Raiders and anyone. If the powers that be were doing their best to try to turn football fans away, they couldn’t possibly pick worse games to televise.
I mean, gimme a break. Even before the season, somebody should have figured out that the Raiders couldn’t match up with any NFL team, never mind one that, by rights, should have been contending for the AFC Championship.
Oh well, at least it wasn’t an all-night discussion about Plaxico. Or who may have driven him home, or to the hospital, or concealed information from the police. At least I didn’t have to see any more of the biggest Fascist of them all, the too honorable Mayor Bloomberg, chip in with his two cents.
What’s scary to me is that incredibly rich and powerful people can say anything they want and get away with it. That the Mayor of New York can pretty much call the shots, and let any judge within the confines of his city know that the Mayor won’t settle for anything less than a conviction, that he won’t stand for anything less than the maximum sentence.
To me, that’s a much worse offense than shooting yourself in the leg accidentally. Plax’s offense is something that only happens to stupid people. It’s pretty much confined to those brazen enough, or insecure enough, to carry loaded guns around. What the mayor’s doing could be perpetrated on anyone.
He’s tried the case in his mind and he knows what the outcome had better be. He dictated the ending. Hell, not just the ending but pretty much the process too. I’m sure Plax’s life will be hell for a long, long, time and only the lawyers will be the happier for it.
At this point, I’d rather they throw the Mayor’s butt in jail. The charge could be obstruction of justice, or bribing an official of the city government. To me, New York deserves a classier mayor than this small-time Hitler. This is the same guy who had no problem with the sweet stadium deals both the Mets and Yankees perpetrated on the City.
Not that I care that much about Plaxico personally. He could have shot somebody, especially carrying heat in a crowded environment. But I don’t know the facts, really, nor does anyone, not really. That’s what trials are for.
Okay, enough about Benito Bloomberg. I’m glad I don’t live in his city. We have our own problems here in New Jersey, and not the least is Governor Corzine and his band of crooked legislators, corporate lenders, tax leviers and toll increasers.
I really did mean to write about sports today….. honest. I’ll be getting to it soon, I’m sure, but my little diatribe certainly has made me feel a little better, almost as good as that nice warm feeling I got from the news that O.J. Simpson would finally be spending some time in the slammer.
The Giants will be playing the Eagles again. It seems as if they play them every other week. With just 16 total games on the regular season schedule, it seems a little ridiculous to me that we have to play division opponents twice each. This division just isn’t that exciting…. the Redskins, the Eagles and, thank God, the Cowboys.
Even though it’s totally absurd that a Dallas team could finagle its way into the NFC East, and it’s a tribute to the corruption in the NFL, I thank my lucky stars that they’re a good team, and an interesting one too. The Eagles and Redskins just aren’t. Sure…they’ll win their share of games but it will be boring. Clinton Portis and a cloud of dust for the Skins; for the Eagles, Number 5 and DeSean Jackson and…..well, really nobody else.
At any rate, I expect the Giants will rise above all the stupidity this week and put a beating on the Eagles. If they’re still able to get their practices in, they should win the game. These are high-character guys, guys who bring their game each week, or try anyway.
The same, alas, cannot be said for the Jets. The Jets hired hands travel to San Francisco to play the suddenly Singletary-enlivened 49ers. The Jets don’t travel well, at least not to the West Coast. They managed to lose to the same team, Oakland, that got pummeled by the Chargers last night.
The hired hands have agreed, it seems, to play hard this time out, after their pitiful performance against the Broncos last week. Kris Jenkins, at least, has acknowledged maybe a lack of intensity in that loss that probably contributed a great deal to their failure to stop the Broncos running game.
Favre seemed to acknowledge the same thing, albeit in many more words. Hopefully, he’ll save some of those words for the Jets huddle this week. The 49ers are certainly beatable. But the Jets will have to stop the run, something they’re pretty good at doing ordinarily. They’re not so good against the pass, but the Niners don’t bring that much to that phase of their game.
My attention will be focused on the Cowboys-Steelers game. That one should be a real struggle, not really a Dallas “must” win, but close enough, given the rest of their schedule. It’ll be the tough Cowboys offensive line against the relentless Steelers defense, and conversely, a more determined Cowboys defense against a Steelers offense that hasn’t really knocked anyone’s socks off all year, discounting their man-handling of the Pats last week in New England.
The Steelers have lost three times, and once each to the NFC East G-Men and the Eagles. It’d be nice to make it an NFC East clean sweep. Whatever happens in this one, it’ll be a war. Demarcus Ware and Marion Barber are hurt, but it’ll be all hands on deck!
I mean, gimme a break. Even before the season, somebody should have figured out that the Raiders couldn’t match up with any NFL team, never mind one that, by rights, should have been contending for the AFC Championship.
Oh well, at least it wasn’t an all-night discussion about Plaxico. Or who may have driven him home, or to the hospital, or concealed information from the police. At least I didn’t have to see any more of the biggest Fascist of them all, the too honorable Mayor Bloomberg, chip in with his two cents.
What’s scary to me is that incredibly rich and powerful people can say anything they want and get away with it. That the Mayor of New York can pretty much call the shots, and let any judge within the confines of his city know that the Mayor won’t settle for anything less than a conviction, that he won’t stand for anything less than the maximum sentence.
To me, that’s a much worse offense than shooting yourself in the leg accidentally. Plax’s offense is something that only happens to stupid people. It’s pretty much confined to those brazen enough, or insecure enough, to carry loaded guns around. What the mayor’s doing could be perpetrated on anyone.
He’s tried the case in his mind and he knows what the outcome had better be. He dictated the ending. Hell, not just the ending but pretty much the process too. I’m sure Plax’s life will be hell for a long, long, time and only the lawyers will be the happier for it.
At this point, I’d rather they throw the Mayor’s butt in jail. The charge could be obstruction of justice, or bribing an official of the city government. To me, New York deserves a classier mayor than this small-time Hitler. This is the same guy who had no problem with the sweet stadium deals both the Mets and Yankees perpetrated on the City.
Not that I care that much about Plaxico personally. He could have shot somebody, especially carrying heat in a crowded environment. But I don’t know the facts, really, nor does anyone, not really. That’s what trials are for.
Okay, enough about Benito Bloomberg. I’m glad I don’t live in his city. We have our own problems here in New Jersey, and not the least is Governor Corzine and his band of crooked legislators, corporate lenders, tax leviers and toll increasers.
I really did mean to write about sports today….. honest. I’ll be getting to it soon, I’m sure, but my little diatribe certainly has made me feel a little better, almost as good as that nice warm feeling I got from the news that O.J. Simpson would finally be spending some time in the slammer.
The Giants will be playing the Eagles again. It seems as if they play them every other week. With just 16 total games on the regular season schedule, it seems a little ridiculous to me that we have to play division opponents twice each. This division just isn’t that exciting…. the Redskins, the Eagles and, thank God, the Cowboys.
Even though it’s totally absurd that a Dallas team could finagle its way into the NFC East, and it’s a tribute to the corruption in the NFL, I thank my lucky stars that they’re a good team, and an interesting one too. The Eagles and Redskins just aren’t. Sure…they’ll win their share of games but it will be boring. Clinton Portis and a cloud of dust for the Skins; for the Eagles, Number 5 and DeSean Jackson and…..well, really nobody else.
At any rate, I expect the Giants will rise above all the stupidity this week and put a beating on the Eagles. If they’re still able to get their practices in, they should win the game. These are high-character guys, guys who bring their game each week, or try anyway.
The same, alas, cannot be said for the Jets. The Jets hired hands travel to San Francisco to play the suddenly Singletary-enlivened 49ers. The Jets don’t travel well, at least not to the West Coast. They managed to lose to the same team, Oakland, that got pummeled by the Chargers last night.
The hired hands have agreed, it seems, to play hard this time out, after their pitiful performance against the Broncos last week. Kris Jenkins, at least, has acknowledged maybe a lack of intensity in that loss that probably contributed a great deal to their failure to stop the Broncos running game.
Favre seemed to acknowledge the same thing, albeit in many more words. Hopefully, he’ll save some of those words for the Jets huddle this week. The 49ers are certainly beatable. But the Jets will have to stop the run, something they’re pretty good at doing ordinarily. They’re not so good against the pass, but the Niners don’t bring that much to that phase of their game.
My attention will be focused on the Cowboys-Steelers game. That one should be a real struggle, not really a Dallas “must” win, but close enough, given the rest of their schedule. It’ll be the tough Cowboys offensive line against the relentless Steelers defense, and conversely, a more determined Cowboys defense against a Steelers offense that hasn’t really knocked anyone’s socks off all year, discounting their man-handling of the Pats last week in New England.
The Steelers have lost three times, and once each to the NFC East G-Men and the Eagles. It’d be nice to make it an NFC East clean sweep. Whatever happens in this one, it’ll be a war. Demarcus Ware and Marion Barber are hurt, but it’ll be all hands on deck!
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