August Brings A Similiar Lament At Citifield/Shea

AP Photo

You may have seen this already on my Twitter feed
(@MadStorkSports), as a matter of fact if you
didn't it's almost identical to what I was trying
to convey the other night. August rolls around
and I along with many NY Mets fans find ourselves
saying "Man they suck!" These words may sound
harsh, but for a Mets fan, so are the losses, and
painful too. Losing the first two out of four
games to a team who not only has a 6 man rotation,
because their starters stink, and whos manager
pulls his starter in the fourth inning, even though
he's not in trouble, but would rather rely on his
bullpen is bad enough. Add to that the fact that
this team is the second worst team record wise as
they visit you at home and they are TWENTY SEVEN
games under .500 at the time, kinda wanna makes you
wanna become a fan of curling, rather than watch
another pitch.

The last few seasons the Mets have had very
promising Months in April, May and June, then
July hits and you can seen the swoon that gives
Sandy Alderson and Fred Wilpon great reason and
excuse to not acquire any help before the trade
deadline. Why should they? By that time the team
has already bungled themselves out of any shot at
contention, division or anything else otherwise,
and even with the extra wild card spot this year
the team is still 10 games behind the struggling
Pirates for that second spot.

As a sports writer/talk show host I should be more
detached and logical about this, but as a fan,
it's painful. I find myself saying frustrated and
saying over and over, I just don't get it!
All that being said, it should be clear, this owner
and ownership group no longer has any intentions on
spending any real money on players, and they brought
the "compete, but not win a damn thing" moneyball
group in to run things (not unless the team begins
to juice, anyway). Enjoy the exciting Springs Mets
fans, because winning any kind of fall ball is going
to be strictly restricted to your players doing well
while rehabbing in the Dominican and Puerto Rican
Fall leagues.

Tweet Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis

NY Mets Get Ready For Another Season Of Folly

(Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

Mets Terry Collins is without question one of the
brighter beacons of hope the Mets have right now.
He talks a good game, has some nice young players
on the roster, and they do indeed love playing for
him, but as much as I am a firm believer that a
positive attitude is a must, I'm just not buying
the fact that the Mets are gonna make some noise
this season. They made noise last season for
about 65% of the season, and it was great, but I
can't see them doing any better than that, so
anything less is just a little disappointing.

I won't go over a laundry list of things that they
need to do, change, or you can expect, but I will
tell you that there are a couple of things that
aren't very favorable.

The most obvious of all is ownership. I am not
going to sit here at tell you that I hope they
sell, lose, or are forced to sell the franchise,
I just can't do that, it's not one of my things,
but the Wilpons and their financial problems are
going to be a crutch on this team all year long,
and until they get their affairs in order going
forward.

The second thing that bugs me is that their best
player is being dangled at us, as if a carrot stick
in front of a carriage horse. This time last year
we heard that there was a possibility that Johan
Santana "could" be back in July, then August, then
maybe a start or two in September, perhaps just a
rehab start, but nothing, A few weeks ago the word
was that he "should" be back in time for the start
of the season. What do you mean should?! What the
heck was all this garbage you've been feeding us all
this time then? Setbacks? OK, now he will be back
in time for opening day, but you hope you can get 25
to 28 starts from him. Good Luck with that is what
I have to say.

Then theirs payroll, and though this may sound like
the first gripe, but it isn't necessarily the same.
The thing here is that owners can choose to spend
what they want, money problems or not, and the Mets
have chosen to cut payroll by about $20-30Mil this
season, and there is just no way that by doing this,
that they have improved the team. No Beltran, No
Reyes, No added free agents to help pick up the
slack, and four teams in your division that all
improved. The Wilpons will actually save more since
they will no longer have to pay an extra $18Mil to
Oliver Perez, and Luis Castillo this year.

The last one might be the biggest head scratcher of
all, Jeremy Lin. Yes you read right, Jeremy Lin!
Terry Collins wants us to understand that they may
have a Jeremy Lin of their own, and though he doesn't
know who that is yet, it is just as likely to happen
to the Mets as it is to the Knicks. OK, since no one
can honestly say that they saw how big Victor Cruz was
gonna be for the Giants, and Jeremy Lin was gonna be
for the Knicks, maybe Ruben Tejada, Andres Torres or
some yet to be mentioned player will be the that guy
for Terry Collins and the Mets, but I won't hang my
hat on that either.

I like Terry Collins, and I believe that they will be
very fun to watch at times as well as very frustrating.
I also believe that we all need to step back and learn
from the departure of one of the great New York Mets in
their history, Gary Carter. Carter played hard, had fun,
and always smiled, and now that he's no longer with us
we can appreciate that it's just a game, no matter how
wrapped we get in it, it's just a game.

Tweet Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis

NY Mets Embrace Mediocrity And Induct John Franco

AP Photo

This certainly is not meant to demean anyone or even
offend John Franco, but he is the latest former Met
to be inducted into the NY Mets Hall Of Fame. Wait,
What? Really? Is this the example the Mets want to
set? Inducting a guy who was 54-56 in his time with
you, had 276 saves over 14 years or 19.8 per season,
and managed to blow 64 save opportunities or 4.8 per
season(4 to 1 ratio), and say he is worthy of being
a member of your "Hall Of Fame"? What did I miss?

I have been a Mets fan my entire life, and a loyal
one at that. I like John Franco, and wish he was
better than he was, but please don't ask me to admit
that he is worthy of being a member of a group that
is fairly noteworthy. I looked at that list, and
though it isn't in numerical order of importance, I
can say this: If it were numbered first to last, you
would have to put Tom Seaver at #1, and John Franco
dead last, and there is NO question about those two
spots what so ever. And by the way, if you're going
to write in and tell me that he is the all time saves
leader among lefties, I don't want to hear it, it a
fluff stat that means little to nothing in the grand
scheme of things.

The NY Mets organization has now not only failed their
fans on the field, and in the office, but they have now
made us the laughing stock of intelligent baseball fans
everywhere. Yes even more than we already were.
I wish I had more words or facts for this piece, but it's
blatantly obvious that this is a bad move, I won't bother.


Tweet Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis

Mets Sign Pelfrey For $5.6Mil & The Fans Pay

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Though I had made the point many times before that the
reason many sports owners have no problem overpaying
over rated athletes before, is because it's your money
there spending and not theirs, that's not what I mean
in this particular instance. Though it is true that
in the end you, the Mets fans are going to foot the
bill, the other tab you happen to pay for time and
time again, is the emotional one.

I would love to say that this is a problem with just
the Mets, but unfortunately, as painful as it is Mets
fans, it's not just your team that rakes your feelings
through the mud like this, it's a feeling sports fans
around the globe are all too used to. Like our friend
Jerry Seinfeld once said: "we root for the laundry".
It doesn't matter who's name is on the back of that
team jersey, as long as he's playing for your team,
you still root for that team.

Today the Mets, and the baseball union helped you find
another reason to be disgusted with them. I bring the
union into this because in a way of sorts the Mets had
little choice, but they did have some. They could have
chosen not to sign Pelfrey, but because they did, it
wasn't very likely that he was going to get much less
than the $5.6Mil they gave him. Personally as a Mets
fan I would have been happy to give him $10 per year
if he was actually worth it, or even make the contract
TRIPLE that with a base of about $750,000, which is
just about all he's worth, and a boatload of incentives.
Instead the Mets chose to give a guy who has been
nothing short of a supreme disappointment a contract
that in reality should only be given to someone who has
actually accomplished something. Pelfrey was 7-13 in
2011 on a team that actually showed some spunk for the
majority of the year. A team that more than likely got
him those seven wins, as opposed him giving it those 13
extra loses in the loss column. His ERA was a woeful
4.74 in the NATIONAL LEAGUE, where the pitcher gets to
bat 2-3 times per game. His career numbers don't support
this type of a contract either, so it's not like it was
an off year or something bizarre like that.

His numbers clearly show that the League and Union reward
mediocrity. His career numbers are 50-54 with a 4.40 ERA,
a losing record, with losing numbers to go along with it,
and a $5.6Mil payday to go along with it, and that's just
for this year. Next year the Mets may move on, but someone
else will pay him, maybe not as much, maybe more. There
are examples of this all over the league, and today Mets
fans got theirs, and then some.


Tweet Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis