Mets May Only Live Twice

Watching James Bond as this is written in “You Only Live Twice”, a real classic, and it appears my Metsies will have to live twice as their first life seems to be ending rather rapidly, and a little too abruptly in my mind. No pitching, no hitting, and before you could say “Jackie Robinson”, the Mets had lost 2 of 3 to the Reds and have so far lost 2 in a row to a Braves team that looks pretty scary right now.

Earlier today I watched the Phillies play really tough to eke out a sweep of those same Reds that just took my Mets apart. Sooo….the Phils are coming on, the Braves keep keepin’ on and the Mets are just in a bad way, the pitchers and hitters all faltering, and, just to add injury to insult, Jose Reyes had to come off the field after making a very nice throw to first base from deep in the hole.

Deep in the hole, that’s where the Mets will find themselves at the break, and, if they can’t take this last game against the Braves to at least salvage some face and avoid a series sweep to the division leaders. It’ll be Johan facing Derek Lowe, still another pretty good Braves pitcher. Geez, this reminds me of the Braves heyday with Glavine and Schmidt…..see how quickly a Mets fan can start losing it?

They’re five games back now and I’d sure like to see them cut it to 4 to finish off nicely before Tuesday’s All-Star Game. It’s not as if they’re even playing badly, they’ve just been getting beat by some pretty good teams, and some pretty hot teams, come to think of it, but that doesn’t make me feel any better.

At least I don’t have to worry about them shedding some good players for a Cliff Lee rental. Dickey and Niese still look pretty good to me, and we’ll all have to hold our breath or say a little prayer for Mike Pelfrey to come back from mediocrity. And I think Takahashi is starting to fade but I hope it’s just my imagination. I really need Johan to come through tomorrow to restore my dwindling faith.

It’s good that the Mets aren’t the only game in town when it comes to sports entertainment though. (They’re just the most fun). The Knicks are making their bid to get better, and to me it’s a lot more fun to do it without a superstar, not that Amare Stoudemire isn’t one, but he’s not LeBron either, or even Kobe. But Raymond Felton is Raymond Felton, and he should definitely be an upgrade over Chris Duhon.

The Knicks got more athletic too with their big Cliff Lee deal. Now, I know everybody loves Lee in New York but Stoudemire will be replacing him. The Knicks got Ronnie Turiaf, who can play center, and Anthony Randolph, a former first round pick with nice potential and he’s long too at about 6’10 or so. And, if that wasn’t enough, they also got Kelenna Azubuike, who can score bigtime. All these guys can defend a little too, something I was never sure of with Cliff Lee.

The Nets haven’t done much but sure have a lot of cap space so we have something to look forward to.

Then there were the Yankees, losing a heartbreaker to the Mariners, not my heart of course, just theirs. That bloated roach of an organization, that tried its damnedest to extinguish the rest of the league’s hopes by grabbing up Cliff Lee, was thwarted in those efforts by the Rangers, who don’t even really have an owner anymore. I love a good Yankee burn.

The afternoon went by a little quicker too when the Germany-Uruguay World Cup match turned out to be a really good one, something that tournament badly needed, I think, after that horrible Germany-Spain game. And tomorrow will feature that Netherlands-Spain matchup, one I suppose Spain will win but it sure could be a close one.

I wish I could get more excited about the All-Star Game itself, but the ridiculous voting process really turned me off. I like Nick Swisher a little less now. I never cared for politicking and that’s pretty much what he and the Yankees did to secure that All-Star berth. I know I won’t stay mad, how can you stay mad at Swisher, but the game really won’t be the best against the best.

It will be for home field in the World Series though, a fact that all by itself should justify a smarter selection process. If the league is making a sham of the selection process, I’d rather just have the game be a totally meaningless exhibition. When the NL loses again, at least it won’t have any lasting effect. The AL doesn’t need any more advantages.

Especially if the AL rep in the series winds up being the Yankees, it certainly doesn’t need any favors. I know it’s just an aberration that the AL keeps winning that infernal All-Star Game, but it’ll be even worse if the AL keeps winning the World Series. Not that I’m a National Leaguer, heh-heh.

I know I’m taking all this much too seriously. It’s not as if I had money on any of these games. But what the hell, they haven’t won anything, the Mets that is, in such a long time and last year, the year they finally had all the ingredients, they all got hurt. I hate talking about fairness, but I thought this year that surely the good fortune would be rolling our way.

It may just be that the Mets have started to exhaust their luck this year. Maybe it’s time for them to come back to the pack. Maybe all those rookies performing a lot better than anybody expected, maybe that was the aberration. The Mets started bad, got much better, then faded, came back but are fading once again.

And you only live twice.

Relief Needed - for the Mets and Jersey

Aah, another July in New Jersey, smack in the middle of a hot streak that’s gone on for about a week already, what more could we want? Relief, you say? Well, we might get some from the weather but not from the Mets, who seem locked in on this “win one, lose one” pattern for quite a while now.

That pattern was achieved against the Washingtons and Floridas of the world. One would have to think the Cincinnatis and Atlantas, the upcoming set of series, of the world would make things even tougher. And so it seemed last night as the Mets lost the Reds opener, 8-6, mostly because of Mike Pelfrey and Joey Votto.

Joey Votto now has 21 homers and 59 rbi’s and he’s hitting .318. He hit two of those last night and that second one that gave the Reds an insurance run in the 6th after the Mets came within a run of tying the game in the bottom of that ridiculous fifth inning. Pelfrey was pretty bad last night, something that hasn’t happened to him for quite some time. He gets a pass from me for being 10-3 and helping keep the Mets in the race all season.

But Mike looks ridiculously hittable lately to me. That fact, along with his penchant for walks, sours me on his prospects for the rest of the season, and I no longer am entertaining any fantasies about him winning 20 games. I had been thinking for a while that he’d be challenging Johan for dominance. But I don’t think that anymore.

Santana had a pretty miserable June himself, but he really looked pretty good in his last outing on July 1st. Even though he didn’t pick up a win, as, once again, the Mets didn’t hit in his behalf, he showed he hasn’t lost his fastball altogether and showed the command of an ace, giving up just 1 run over 6 complete.

I’m counting on Santana in the second half. I don’t want to put all my marbles on Jonathon Niese, who went 4-0 in June, but is just a second-year (for all intents) guy. And, as much as I’ve loved the performances we’ve gotten from the knuckleballer, R.A. Dickey, I just can’t seem to muster any real faith that his ridiculously good season can continue.

Dickey got smacked around by the Marlins back on June 28th to end his 6-game winning streak. I thought, “Well, that’s the end for him.” But then on July 3rd, he came right back to pitch great against the Nationals, going 7 full innings while allowing no earned runs.

K-Rod lost that one for him, but, once again, K-Rod gets a free pass from me too, as he’s been pretty damned consistent if a little less than lights-out. Ideally, he could stop scaring everyone half to death all the time before he finally extinguishes the fire he’s started. But, realistically, who’d you rather have as your closer?

That leaves Takahashi to discuss. He’s been still another mostly pleasant surprise all season long despite his getting banged around by Detroit and the Marlins before righting his ship against the Nationals. Word is that he’s supposed to go back to the bullpen. But that’s if and when the Mets acquire another starter and I won’t be holding my breath on that happening. Yeah, I know, “ye of little faith.”

But really, if I can look forward to winning a game with any of these Mets starters, I’m not going to be really upset. And God only knows what Omar will give up for another real-live starter. I mean, this is the guy who traded away Brandon Phillips, Grady Sizemore and (gasp) Cliff Lee for Bartolo Colon. (I heard that just the other night from Cohen and I still can’t believe it).

Yeah, a large portion of our success will depend upon these relievers holding up. Perpetual Pedro has been great, more or less, but then there’re some question marks from a consistency standpoint. Parnell’s been better than okay after his return but Igarashi and Nieve have been a little disappointing. And I never expect too much from Dessens, who always looks older than me.

(Uruguay has just tied the Dutch at 1-1 on a beautiful long strike from Forlan. I thought they’d have no chance without Suarez, he of handball fame).

With John Maine and Ollie Perez still on the roster though, albeit on the disabled list right now, it’ll be very difficult to justify picking up another starter. I could better imagine Omar picking up a reliever. After all, that is what the Mets need right now. If they pick up another starter, they’d just move Takahashi to the pen. But there’s no guarantee he’ll be better in the pen than he’s been as a starter.

In any event, the Mets are currently two games behind the division leading Braves and at their current winning percentage, they’ll likely win 90 games. I don’t think that will be sufficient to win the division. It’s definitely wildcard territory, I suppose, but just barely in all likelihood.

(Netherlands just missed a scoring opportunity; maybe they will actually lose this World Cup right here).

(Unbelievable! The Dutch just scored on a dribbler deflection).

It’d sure be nice if Reyes gets back in the lineup really soon. Especially against a high-scoring team like the Reds, we need Reyes in there. The Mets missed his defense bigtime the other day and Ruben Tejada just doesn’t inspire me (or the Mets apparently).

At least Angel Pagan is back, and Jason Bay seems to be playing with more confidence. He seems less tentative and less content to settle for a walk in big situations. But, even with Wright, Pagan and Bay swinging torrid bats, against the Cincinnatis and Atlantas of the world, we still need to get Reyes back in there to win.

We need relief, in the bullpen, in the lineup, and most certainly from this horrible Jersey July.






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On Soccer and the Grand American Game

Germans were everywhere! Especially early, the black shirts were everywhere around the ball and they had also managed to get off the best shot. That had come with just 3 minutes elapsed in the match as a beautiful pass into the box was headed easily into the net. But at the 45-minute mark, the Germans seemed to be getting the best of the action.

Good soccer, that’s the overriding impression I get from watching these last few matches. These teams all know how to play soccer (called football in the rest of the world). These top teams also all seem to have at least one, and usually several players who are stars in their own right, players who demand attention and put continual pressure on the defense, pressure that usually results in an eventual goal.

Smart soccer, that’s quite evident too. The smartest play of all was that handball that Suarez of Uruguay used to put away the Ghanaians, a prime example of a player knowing the rules and using them to his best advantage with the game on the line. Suarez stopped a sure goal at the expense of his team having to stop the ensuing penalty kick, which they managed just barely as Ghana’s free kick hit the crossbar. Somewhat less serious than that, Suarez will also miss the next game. Uruguay will certainly miss him but for Uruguay there will be a next game.

Dumb soccer, we’ve seen some of that too. Melo of Brazil was surely not thinking when he stomped on an orange arm to earn himself a red card and his team the prospect of playing a man down for the rest of the match. Even excusing Melo for the own goal charged to him (he was instrumental in scoring Brazil’s first goal), his ill-advised abuse of a player on the ground sealed the win for the Netherlands.

Team soccer too, we’ve seen a lot of that in these quarterfinals, the importance of playing as a team that much more evident with each successive round. I’m not even a student of the game, but I can detect a team that eschews the long (and usually fruitless) shot for the pass to a teammate making a run into the box.

Unselfish team soccer…Germany once again scored in the 67th minute on a beautiful cross and little chip-in, achieved only because the runner streaking down the field had the perspicacity to wait and cross rather than fire on goal. That goal almost certainly sealed Argentina’s fate, to join Brazil on the sidelines of this 2010 World Cup.

And Germany did it again! Exhibiting what could only be called remarkable composure and teamwork, Germany scored again in the 73rd minute, making the game seem easy and pouring it on against a seemingly overmatched Argentina. Those black shirts came again in a rush in the 77th minute that Argentina this time stopped.

There was an Argentine flopping in the box, another unfortunate characteristic of this game that enthralls the world everywhere but here in the U.S. If there is anything that will surely turn most Americans against the game, it is the continual flopping and the bad officiating that too often rewards the flopping.

Germany scored once again in the 88th minute and Argentina was being thoroughly embarrassed. It now appears that the final four will be Uruguay, Netherlands, Germany and probably Spain, although Paraguay could still surprise.

In any event though, it’ll be European teams and South American teams in the final four. And if that’s an expected result, it doesn’t make it any less satisfying for me. Why shouldn’t it be thus for the two continents for which the game absolutely dominates their everyday lives. And, while it’s true that Nigeria suspended its team for its performance and only God knows what may befall the North Koreans for their failure to advance further, the grand game is primarily theirs, Europe’s and South America’s.

Let’s face it, either by natural preference or some grand conspiratorial design, soccer is just an afterthought in the U.S. The best athletes here play either baseball, basketball or American football, depending on a player’s regard for his own well-being. Following the money, it is very unlikely that the situation will change in the near future.

But should the situation change? Soccer fans here would surely say yes. Others would say we already have diversions enough in a country that hasn’t been distinguishing itself for anything but sports and movies in the last twenty to thirty years.

I’d certainly welcome a popularization of soccer in our country. Of the three dominating American sports, two of them, football and basketball, can be played at the highest levels only by behemoths and giants. Only in baseball, to me the only truly great American game, can a Freddy Patek or Phil Rizzuto distinguish himself as a great one.

For today, a Mets fan might want to add Alex Cora to the list. Cora’s triple was the big hit last night as the Mets continued to play good baseball in our nation’s capital. But Cora wasn’t the only heroic little man to distinguish himself in last night’s win.

Good pitching from Jonathan Niese had kept the Nats off the board for much of the night but the victory was much in doubt in that ninth inning as Mets relievers Elmer Dessens and then the great K-Rod faltered, putting the victory much in doubt.

It was Ruben Tejada, the Mets diminutive backup shortstop, who really wrapped up the Mets win last night. Noticing liberties being taken by the Nats Bernadina off second base, the youngster signaled to K-Rod, who alertly and accurately threw that man out to end the game.

I could foresee soccer overtaking both football and basketball in popularity here in America but not baseball, whose inning breaks even offer a chance to relax. While basketball and football can be dominated by a few gargantuan superstars, baseball, much like soccer, can be played by virtually anyone.