Osama bin Laden Is Dead

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.

Fingers in the Dike

Finally, the break! Whew! A reprieve.

My favorite baseball team finished out the first half just about as well as they could have, which is saying a lot really. With stars such as Francoeur and Murphy, and some pretty good pitching, all things considered, the Orange and Blue took that last series against the Reds after losing two of three from the Dodgers. And, oh yeah, the Phils took out their brooms before that.

Some of you may be saying, “Yeah, but it’s just the Reds”. To you I say, “Yeah, but it was the friggin’ Phillies and Dodgers too and they ain’t chopped liver”.

If you’re a Mets fan, you have to try to be optimistic. These players are playing their hearts out. They may be losing to the best teams but they’re holding their own, so to speak, with the rest of the league. And the schedule gets easier after the break.

Since the hitting hasn’t really been there, you have to recognize the good pitching, starting with that monster of a closer, K-Rod. I’ve never seen a tougher closer, and that includes Billy Wagner. It includes Mariano Rivera too, by the way, but why pick on Mariano?

Second in line for kudos would have to be Johan Santana. Stopper, leader, smart, tough as nails, that’s Mr. Santana. And he hasn’t really had his best stuff lately.

While the rest of the team has been on a slow trip to hell, Francisco Rodriguez and Johan Santana have lived up to their reputations and have kept a bad team only mediocre. Over the course of a 162 games, that’s not as insignificant as it may sound. If the Mets can be thankful for anything, it’s for those two guys.

On the batting side of things, the heroes become a lot harder to identify. I have to say David Wright has been himself, which is to say, pretty damned good overall but not so hot in July. He has just eight hits this month and just two rbi’s. It’s tough when there’s nobody getting on base and nobody who scares the opposing pitcher hitting behind you. But he is batting .324 overall and he’s starting tomorrow in the All-Star Game. So…..

I think Sheffield deserves some kudos. He’s forty years old, playing for a few hundred thousand dollars only, and doing all the things he was brought on board to do. That’s way more than anybody expected. And he’s the only real power threat. Wright has just five dingers on the year.

Everybody else has to get better. Cora is steady in the infield but usually produces almost nothing at the plate. Much the same could be said for Castillo and Schneider. Pagan will be a little better but hasn’t yet performed up to expectations. At least, I hope that’s the case.

Ryan Church was just beginning to look a little better at the plate before the trade that sent him packing to Atlanta. But he can’t hit a breaking pitch. I think Francoeur has way more upside and obviously, so did GM Omar Minaya. He’s somebody to worry about whereas Church really never was.

The depth chart currently shows a pretty decent lineup. An outfield of Pagan, Francoeur and Sheffield is not one to sneeze at. The infield is still particularly weak with Castillo and Cora manning the inside spots but what might hurt even more is not having more power at the corners. Not only has Wright failed to hit the long ball. Daniel Murphy hasn’t done nearly enough to provide power at a power position, first base.

Even with Murphy’s failure to hit though, he can surprise you in the field as he did last game with a beautiful grab on a foul ball. But let’s be honest, a .314 on-base percentage just doesn’t cut the mustard, especially if batting second.

The last Mets lineup though, the one that scored nine runs against Cincinnati, actually resembled a major league lineup. It featured a speedy Pagan leading off and a number two hitter in Castillo who can actually get on base and move the runner over. Wright’s a legitimate 3 and Sheff a legit number 4. Francoeur at 5 seems a good fit and I think Murphy will feel more comfortable at 6. It’s only fitting of course that Schneider and Cora should bring up the rear, but, compared with other teams’ 7 and 8 hitters, they don’t really lose a lot. And Cora has some speed and savvy on the basepaths, thus not slowing down Pagan or Castillo at the top of the order.

The bench isn’t bad either with Tatis to spell Murphy at first and Argenis Reyes to spell Castillo at second. In the outfield, Jeremy Reed has done pretty well so far and will back up Pagan in centerfield.

The starting rotation now reads Santana, Pelfrey, Livan Hernandez, crazy Ollie Perez and Fernando Nieve. Every one of those hurlers should give them a chance to win, even if Livan will bore us to death and both Perez and Nieve may tire in the fifth inning. That’s what relievers are for, right?

And that could be the rub. In order to stay in the hunt, the relief corps has to produce more than they have thus far. Except for K-Rod, nobody has really dazzled, especially not Sean Green. He has to start earning his money. Parnell has to be more consistent. I’m hoping Redding, Dessens and Misch can perform better than a law firm their combined names suggest. They may be getting a lot of action, especially on every fourth and fifth day. And Feliciano has to keep getting outs from those lefties.

So life is not over for our locals. By splitting with LA and Cincinnati, they stayed in contention at the break. They’ll start the 2nd half in fourth place but still within striking distance of the Phils, only 6 ½ games ahead.

But I’m thinking wildcard. The Phils may be too much.

Whatta Relief!!

For a Mets fan, nothing could be better than this opening to the season. The first game could have been straight from the desk of Omar Minaya. Santana gets his 6 or thereabouts, Green gets it to Putz and Rodriguez. All was right in the world of blue.

After a day for us Mets fans to contemplate our good fortune,we got to witness a game that was probably indicative of many games to come. The starter was good but not great, or not careful, and Pedro Feliciano was his old self; that is to say he gave up two more runs before handing it over to any competent reliever. And then the competent guys, Putz and K-Rod again, were either tired or just unlucky and ran into lots of adventures before the game mercifully ended.

Luckily for the Metsies, they got some tremendous production on the other side of things, especially from the two Carloses. Nine runs is awfully hard for any team to overcome and certainly the Reds were not equal to the task last night. But they put a real scare into K-Rod. In fact, I thought he was giving us his best Aaron Heilmann impression. He looked as if he was afraid to put the ball anywhere near the plate.

Yeah, all you have to be is a little off, and a little unlucky, and you can easily lose. The first base umpire made a bad call, or a homey call I tend to think, ruling that Delgado had left the bag too early, before he had the ball, before pegging a throw over to third to try to nail Cinci’s new star Brandon Phillips. Replays showed the umpire was dead wrong and my letter to the Commissioner is on its way.

So, in lieu (does anybody say instead anymore) of two outs and a man on third with the score 9-7, it became one out and a man on first and third. Big difference! Especially for a K-Rod who was struggling to say the least. He went 2-0 on half the Cinci lineup, seemingly following the John Franco school of avoiding the plate at all costs, hoping the batter either swings or the umpire gives him the ol’ 6-inches off the plate strike.

K-Rod got neither the wild swings from the batters nor the corner calls.. Soon the bases were loaded. But K-Rod showed his toughness and smarts by striking out Gonzalez on a high hard one and then getting a little lucky when Nix blasted a pitch to the deepest part of centerfield.

So the Mets can win even when their starter doesn’t pitch well. And even when their relievers don’t knock anyone’s socks off, and that was definitely the case last night. And even when the horrible umpires in MLB do their best thing, which is to miss obvious calls.

And that will be important because the Mets starters just aren’t that good, despite some things I’ve heard to the contrary. For example, I’ve heard that Pelfrey could be a number 2 starter anywhere. That’s baloney. A number 3 or 4 starter maybe but not a legitimate 2. He may be the best of the rest though.

Just how bad are the rest? Given a choice of pitchers on a particular day, of the three, John Maine, Oliver Perez and Livan Hernandez, I’d pitch Livan. I have very little confidence in Maine, he’s with his head in the clouds all the time and Perez is just crazy, especially after the fourth or fifth inning. I’d gladly select Ollie to pitch a playoff game but not those regular season yawners, yawners to him anyway.

The bats won’t always be as prolific and the pitchers won’t always be good, but given last night’s game as an example, opponents will still have to either score a lot of runs or get by those last two stalwarts, Putz and K-Rod. And that won’t be too easy.

Yankee fans are dying right now, of course, what with CC’s inauspicious opener and Wang’s bashing last night. You can almost bet that A.J. Burnet will have trouble too, if not for the season, at least for Game 3. There’s a lot of pressure pitching for New York and none of these fellows will find it terribly easy to finally get comfortable.

As I’ve said before, Sabathia starts slowly and if the papers (I hate media, don’t you) beat him up in April, there may not be much of CC left for May through September, even as big as he is. And if he should have an extended bad period, which he has had before, it’s all over but the shoutin’.

Texeira’s done nothing yet either, and Colby Rasmus is not the stuff that dreams are made of. And I don’t like their batting order either.

Jeter is not a leadoff hitter. He’s not fast enough. He’s no real threat on the bases. Damon isn’t The Flash reincarnated either but he can lead off. Jeter should bat 2nd. He’s got that good bat control and he’s smart and unselfish. The 3-4-5 of Teixeira, Matsui and Posada is the best the Yankees can send up there right now, but it certainly isn’t an awe-inspiring middle. For example, I’d prefer any combination of Wright, Beltran and Delgado.

Then there’s the 6 spot though the 9 spot. Cano’s at 6 but he should probably move up in the order, Nady’s been at the 7 spot but he’s a bigger threat to me than Posada at 5, in the long run anyway. Then there’s Ransom and Gardner at 8 and 9 and I’d certainly have to agree with that for now.

But, until Arod returns, I’d like to see Gardner, Jeter, Damon, Teixeira, Matsui, Nady, Posada, and either Cano and Ransom or the other way around depending on who has less speed. Arod’s return will not only solidify the center of the lineup but tend to extend the strength through the order.

And how ‘bout some relief?