Baseball and the Derby Too !

You can imagine my embarrassment. My last column was entitled “When the Mets Take First”. At the time they were just a series win from the top spot in the NL East. They were facing the Houston Astros, the perennially weak, some would say pathetic, Astros. But since the game they’re playing is baseball, naturally the Mets got swept in convincing fashion and now they’re a little closer to last place. That’s baseball. I won’t re-hash the proceedings there in Minute Maid Park as almost nothing that happened there was memorable. It seemed that the park itself haunted the visitors. Nothing worked. That’s all I remember. No hitting, no pitching, no nothing. Really the only bigtime recollection is of that Pelfrey replacement, a fellow named Schwinden who seems to be making a case for not pitching. Geez, that was awful baseball. Houston fans are wondering how their terrific baseball team could have lost all those games before the Mets came to town. If most Mets fans are anything like me, they’re wondering if that series won’t prove to be a harbinger of even worse times to come. But the name of the game is baseball after all. In all probability though, things may get worse before they get better. I’d sooner believe Dillon Gee will have another lackluster effort tonight than that the D-Backs new lefty phenom, Wade Miley, will somehow falter against a mostly lifeless Mets roster. Then it’s another lefty named Patrick Corbin for Arizona against our ace, Johan Santana. We have a chance in that one for sure if all those lefties in the Mets lineup don’t totally fold. Then we get a righty but it’s a guy named Trevor Cahill, a good pitcher, versus the so-far middling R.A. Dickey. Given that the D-Backs have a lineup that includes Justin Upton and Miguel Montero and Jason Kubel, I’d have to say the D-Backs will probably get their share of big hits against the likes of Gee and Dickey, and even Santana if he’s not locating as he usually does. Thank the baseball gods, Chris Young, the pretty great centerfielder for the D-Backs, will remain on the DL for this series. But still, the Mets would seem to be out-gunned. Yes, the Mets have David Wright and Lucas Duda and Ike Davis, all capable of putting the ball into the seats but they haven’t done too much of that lately. Watching Ike at the plate has been a fate worse than death for me. And, collectively, the lineup’s chock full of lefties, and lefties that aren’t that accomplished at hitting lefties. In fact, even most of the righties can’t hit lefties. As much as I hate to admit it too, Mike Pelfrey’s injury may have had an unsettling influence on the team. Pelfrey was the horse, Pelfrey was the iron man who never went down. Pelfrey, as bad as he had been earlier this season, seemed to be hitting his stride right before his arm problem and I have to think his loss had an immediate impact on the Mets young team. But the Mets are coming home. And this game is baseball. And this team they’re facing ain’t the ’27 Yankees. It’s just the D-Backs without Chris Young. As a fan, I’d just like to see some fight from these guys, starting with the power hitters like Ike Davis and Lucas Duda. Even if they lose two of three, I’d like to see a team with heart, something the Mets did not show in Houston. Maybe I should just start thinking about the Derby tomorrow. It looks to be a very competitive race tomorrow and one that’s well nigh impossible to handicap. There’s Bob Baffert coming off a heart attack with the favorite, a colt named Bodemeister after his son. D. Wayne Lukas will be there with a longshot and the second-favorite, Union Rags, many think should be the favorite. And there’s a weirdly white horse too that has a good chance, a colt named Hansen, whose owner is a little strange himself, a fellow named Hansen who wanted to dye the colt’s tail blue but was turned down. Can you imagine how cool it would be to have this outrageously-white colt leading the charge around the final turn for the wire? Shades of the Lone Ranger! And there could be really good horses to his left and right, starting off with Union Rags and Bodemeister but also including 6-1 Gemologist and 12-1 Creative Cause, and several other legitimate nags, like 20-1 Daddy Long Legs who has actually won more money this year, 1 mill two, than any other contender. Luckily for the Mets, there are any number of things for New Yorkers to think about right now besides them. The Knicks, um, I mean Carmelos, continue to stink it up at the Garden, which, though not surprising to anyone who follows basketball even remotely, has seemingly surprised some observers who apparently attached some super-hero status to the coach-killing Anthony. The Rangers and Devils both are making tough Stanley Cup runs and now the beloved Mariano Rivera has gone down to an ACL fielding a fly ball as has been his routine for a zillion years. Now there’s a hero for you, Mariano. That’s a mouthful for a Yankee-hater, believe me. But Rivera has always been a humble guy, a happy guy and a real baseball player, a guy who always fielded his position and in fact wanted Girardi to give him a shot in centerfield someday. You’ve got to love a guy like that. The Yankees certainly do. If Pelfrey’s loss had a bad impact on the Mets, you can only imagine the potential impact of Rivera’s loss to the Yankees. Pelfrey was a well-meaning plugger. Mariano was an All-Star, and everybody says he’s the greatest closer of all time. Meanwhile, there’s the Derby and the rest of baseball. I’m watching Bobby Abreu as a Dodger now vs. the Cubs at Wrigley. Ya gotta love it.

When the Mets Take First!

Every once in a while you’re sure a win is in the bag. When you’re a Mets fan, you can’t think that way. Just get a pitcher in there who looks as if he doesn’t want to be on the mound, as Jon Rauch looked yesterday, and all bets are off. Then again, with Wright on 3rd base and just 1 out, and knowing that all the batter has to do is make contact and the run will score, you feel confident again. But not when the batter is not that bright, or not that caring. His name of course is Hairston, a name of great renown in baseball circles, but we have the least of them in Scott. Hairston swung for the fences for strike two and just watched a fastball right down the middle for strike three. That at-bat, combined with his poor attention to baserunning, makes me want him off the roster. With so many eager young kids just itching to play in the bigs, why should the Mets care about a guy like Hairston? What’s he bring to the table? Can he swing a good bat once in a while? Yes. So do a lot of guys. Hairston can’t do anything else. And there are no shortage of relievers who can enter a game and give up three walks in a row as Rauch did. Was the umpire calling a narrow strike zone? Yes, undoubtedly. But most relievers would have figured that out after the first walk. In any event, it was a win that felt like a loss. I would hope to see no more games like that one. Francisco, the closer, was anything but last night, giving up the tying dinger to Carlos Gonzalez in the 10th before David Wright and Ike Davis bailed him out in the 11th. Wright was especially impressive by going first to third on Lucas Duda’s single up the middle before Ike Davis’s seeing-eye single through the left side. And, although Ramon Ramirez picked up the save, the likes of Marco Scutaro drove one to the wall before Hairston finally did something right by squeezing the ball into his glove for the last out. The Mets now take on Houston in Minute-Maid Park, finding themselves much in contention for the NL East lead. The Nationals looked awful out in San Francisco thus dropping into a tie for first with the Braves while the Mets are just a game back of the leaders. The Astros are one of several teams doing dreadfully, including the Marlins from the NL East. Since the Braves will be playing the Pirates and the Nats have to play a much tougher team in Arizona, either the Braves or Mets may find themselves leading the division by the end of the week. The fly in the Mets ointment can be the return of Andres Torres to centerfield. Nieuwenhuis was doing better than fine in center while Torres was hurt while taking a decidedly bad route to the ball and then having to turn on the speed to catch up to a ball that got by him. Meanwhile, Torres will bat seventh rather than first in the lineup, seemingly trashing the reason for his acquisition in the first place. Hopefully, the Torres addition will be a positive one but I wouldn’t bet on it. The more likely happenstance is that the speedy Nieuwenhuis will collide with Torres on at least one line drive in the gap, hurting either or both of them in the process. Meanwhile, the Carmelos will meet the Heat in Game 2 without any semblance of a point guard. The Carmelos will go down in four straight. Maybe Carmelo can find another team next year. I certainly hope so. Then I can become a fan again. Imagine a starting five of Lin, Shumpert, Fields, Chandler and Stoudemire. Imagine getting anything in return for the coach-killer. Try to imagine an offense running through a point guard and shots that go to the open man. Meanwhile, the NBA has become a joke, evidenced by Rondo in Boston pushing a referee and getting thrown out while in Memphis, the ridiculous Grizz gave up a 27-point lead to the visiting Clippers. How do you spell ignorance? I can only wish I had followed hockey all year. The Rangers and Devils are playing hard. Meanwhile, in the NFL Draft, my dreams came true. I had hoped for a running back for my Giants and they seem to have picked up a good one, a scatback too, one that can lend a little pizzazz to an offense that can seem very humdrum almost all the time. I can see the incumbent Bradshaw becoming the back everybody thought Brandon Jacobs would become, i.e. a straight-ahead runner, while David Wilson, the Virginia Tech scatback, gives the Giants a dimension the Giants haven’t had since Tiki. Hopefully, Brandon Jacobs will find a taker for his services. I understand the NJ State Troopers may be fielding a team. The G-Men also picked up a corner and a wideout, two positions a football team in today’s NFL can’t have enough of. The Jets disappointed me somewhat by not doing anything really stupid, at least nothing that hits you in the face. While their first pick was for a defensive end who only supposedly tries once in a great while, that lackadaisical attribute should let him fit in well with the rest of his teammates. Maybe he can get a locker next to Santonio Holmes. But nobody really knows how a draft will turn out. Some things will stand out though, such as Dallas moving up to grab a corner they desperately needed and the Eagles fortifying an already pretty strong defense. I’m pretty sure the G-Men will have their hands full next season. But enough about those secondary sports, let me get back to baseball and wonder when Cano will start hitting again and when Matt Kemp will stop. And when the Mets will take first.

Sports Light Up a Dreary Day

It’s another gray dreary day. I almost wish it was sultry. But so far the Mets are lighting up the Fish in this 1 o’clock game so that’s good anyway. The new kid Nieuwenhuis opened things right up with a triple to right-center and later scored. And later on I can watch the NFL Draft and wonder what the Jets will do to embarrass themselves further. Then the Rangers will try to get past the first round of their playoffs as the Knicks get ready for their first round matchup with Miami. So it’s going to be a hell of a day. Dreary weather do your damnedest!! So far Jonathon Niese is rolling along. If he can stay the course, that’ll make 3 quality starts in a row after the debacle doubleheader of the other day into night. (God I hate that Geico gecko)! First Santana set them down, then Dickey was Dickey and now Niese has gotten thru two innings unmolested and you can’t deny it’s been of great import indeed with the way the Mets have been hitting. But I really like this Nieuwenhuis kid. He swings the bad awfully well and is really athletic, even if he does outrun a fly ball every once in a while. When Torres comes back from his injury, he’ll lead off but he’ll have to show me something to make me think he should ever displace Nieuwenhuis, who catches a break with Jason Bay’s injury as it gives either him or Torres a slot in left field. Oh well, Gaby Sanchez just crushed one to left off Niese to tie the game. But I really like watching this young team, Duda, Davis, Tejada, Thole, geez, I hope I feel the same way in September. And Collins is doing a good job too. He definitely picked up some points with me when he took Ike Davis out of the lineup the other day. And now he’s moved him down in the lineup, another move that was absolutely called for. If Ike wants to bat 4 or 5, let him earn it. And what a Division the NL East will be this year!! The Phillies would currently be in last place if not for the Marlins playing so badly while the upstart Nationals are in first place. The Braves are holding down 2nd for now but I suspect that could change anytime soon. How ironic is it that last year’s division leader and this year’s favorite for division leader are 4th and last respectively in the standings. I still think the Marlins will come back. But their hitters have been cold, their fielding has been very spotty and their pitching has let them down in big spots too. Their manager didn’t help them out by aggravating the Cuban community either. But all those things can be fixed and I suspect we’ll be hearing from them before the season’s all over. I was totally disappointed by the lack of fanfare attending the return of Jose Reyes to CitiField. Why anyone would boo is just beyond me. The man didn’t get an offer! Maybe most Mets fans deserve whatever they get. They’re too stupid for words. Not me of course. Jose has been doing almost nothing for the Marlins and, as good a sport as Hanley Ramirez has been about moving to third base, that good attitude hasn’t done anything to make him a good third baseman. He’s been barely adequate thus far. Come to think of it, he plays third much as Daniel Murphy plays second. Mets catcher Josh Thole just keeps rolling along, hitting the cover off the ball in the seventh spot and today another new guy, Jordan Valdespin, is batting 8th. He just knocked a pitch about 400 feet into deep centerfield. So things are looking up for the guys in blue and white. It’s really nice to have an afternoon game too, especially since that’ll allow more time to watch the NFL draft tonight, uninterrupted by switches off to the baseball game. Not that there’s any angst at all over who the top two picks will be, the two QB’s Luck and Griffin going to the Colts and Redskins of all people. But that just shifts the attention downward to pick # 3 and there is quite a lot of question about what the Vikes will do with that pick, either move down or take the best player, and who that will be. I’m curious about how many defensive linemen will be taken early, as strength at that position has helped the Giants win two Super Bowls in the last few years. Secondarily, I worry about the Giants picks but they’ve been so good at picking since Reese has come on board as GM that I’d rather just sit back and enjoy the ride. Meanwhile, I’ll hold out hope that they can somehow make a deal for Osi Umenyiora, maybe packaging him off to some other team as part of a deal to move up from 32. Although it was Osi’s bad judgment to sign that long-term contract, his impact on those two Super Bowls should be somehow acknowledged. I may switch over to the Rangers game from time to time. There’s not much to beat a Game 7 in the NHL, even if you don’t pay attention during the long season. The Devils are still alive too but even they don’t seem to think they’ll advance. The Jets will do something asinine. They have a knack for it. If they don’t improve that offensive line, I’ll know for sure that Sanchez won’t be the #1 QB for too long. His body just won’t take the pounding while Tebow could flourish under the same set of circumstances. Then there’s the NBA nonsense where I should care about the New York Carmelos but I just can’t get into it. And the Nets are off to Brooklyn, leaving New Jersey and that early Jason Kidd 2000’s team as my only pleasant memory.