Archie Bunker's Army

Now that I have returned from my secret mission I can advise that I am finally back from a brief sejour a Paris, the first thing to be unveiled was how the Mets did in my absence. Question One : Are the Mets In First Place? Indeed they are! Sure, it's only a half game over the bloody Braves, who also lost to the Rockies , but it's still a tender, precious lead, bound to grow in the weeks to come. Question Two : Any surprises? The Mets were to have faced the Rockies at Shea three times and then travel to DC to beat the pulp from the Nats over the course of three games. It not even mildly suprising that they did not sweep both series' but four out of six was sufficient pace to keep the Mets ahead of the Braves. Moises Alou leading the Major Leagues with a .397 batting average whilst leading the NL with a .434 average at night and tied for first in the NL with 11 multi-hit games? But in my book, the best surprise was Willie Randolph losing his cool on Saturday and the Mets...

If they aren't careful the Mets are going to set a precedent. First they lose two of three in Atlanta, fair enough, on the road. Now they lose two of three at Shea. Not only that but in both third games, the one on Hillbilly Hill in Atlanta and the one at Shea, the Mets bullpen uncharacteristically blew a lead. That boils down to losing four out of six against your top rivals for the NL East and no matter how you'd like to sugar coat it to make the swallow a little easier, (like the fact that it's still early in the season, blabla...) the issue remains uncomfortably familiar. A losing series against the Braves. Oh, they had us fooloed in the sixth inning alright. Mebbe even had the Braves fooled for a few minutes. Looks like I'm not the only one feeling frustrated... Down 3-1 in the bottom 6th and looking all the world like they wouldn't see light at the end of the John Smoltz the Mets bats suddenly awoke from their collective slumber which culminated with a base...

The intriguing case of Dr Perez and Mr Zambrano continued in delightful fashion on Saturday as the strike-throwing Oliver Perez showed up to yet again dispose of the Evil Braves , this time by throwing 6 2/3 innings of nine-strikeout, no-walk pitching that moved the Mets past Atlanta, 7-2, at Shea Stadium and back into first place. Against the Braves over the last two seasons has started four games against the Braves and is now 3-1 with a 2.89 ERA. Braves Killah . And then against the Rest of the League over the last two seasons he is 2-14 7.04. Not only were we shocked and amazed by this Braves Killah taking the mound but guess who showed up to play at Shea last night? That's right Carlos Beltran ! As previously documented herein Carlos has been well, withholding performances from Shea and battering opposing pitching on the road much to the bafflement and dismay of Mets fans. On Saturday however, he tied a career high with his four hits, which included a double and a triple. It...

"well today is grey skies tomorrow is tears you'll have to wait til yesterday is here" --Tom Waits, Yesterday Is Here I'm not going to go on some wild tangent, pissing on the season and its dreams simply because the Mets have lost three out of their first four games against the Braves this season. I could do that, mind you. I could piss and moan about Larry hitting a two-run homer in the first bloody inning before the indigestion of the hotdogs had even settled in, barking up the bile before the Mighty Mets batting order had even had their swings. I could whinge on and on about where the bloody 'ell were all those hits gone now that those bats were facing Braves pitching? And of course, I could harken back all the dark memories of years past when the Braves would toy with the Mets like Tomokawa teasing Sukemasa , the policeman mocking the retarded boy, and the Mets couldn't buy a victory that was meaningful when the Braves were in town. But I won't. No...

Shall we mark this day down in the calendar as the day the NL East race ended? Premature, it is argued by the trepid souls. Atlanta could in theory anyway, bash us in Shea right back down into second. After all, we'll be playing without Carlos Beltran . Right, the Road Beltran will morph into the Shea Beltran . The Road Beltran hit a homer in last night's winning effort against the Marlins. Fitted into the coveted number two slot in the batting order what with Paul Lo Duca giving his grapefruit finger a rest, the Road Beltran had four hits, including two doubles to add to his homer, two runs and two RBIs. For some men, that's a week's work. Home Cookin' Not So Good? The Road Beltran hits .385, smacks 4 homers and knocks in 14 runs in a mere 9 games. The Shea Beltran limps along with a .278 mark, powerless without a single homerun and 3 measely RBIs to its credit. Certainly this phenomenon cannot be explained by a disappointed and booing crowd at Shea, additio...

Who do you think was more shocked by last night's 9-2 battery of the Florida Marlins, John Maine , the almost throw-away afterthought in the Kris Benson-Jorge Julio trade or Dontrelle Willis, who was probably just a wee bit distracted by his wife's imminent child birth. "She said, `This baby is kicking my butt,'" D-Train said of his conversation with his pregnant wife prior to last night's game. "You will have a lot more starts that I can see. She is a tough lady. She understands. She told me to just go have fun." Fun as in what? Giving up four runs before you even retire a batter? As in losing your first game of the year and watching your ERA shoot up to Charlie Manuel blood-pressure levels; seven earned runs and 10 hits in 5 meagre innings? As in your 11-3 career record and 2.20 ERA in 17 starts against the Mets taking a bruising? As in watching the pitcher facing you no-hit your teammates for six innings? That's right - John Maine, poster ...

The long anticipated debut of the much heralded Fatty Garcia , the saviour of the Team To Beat pitching staff and pitching piñata to Mets hitters last night ended to the sour tune of 8 hits and 3 runs over a meagre 4 2/3 innings. Team to Beat or Beaten Team , one must wonder given the Phillies 3-9 start, worst since 1997 when they finished with a mere 68 victories - Last night at home they managed as many hits (8) as the Mets did runs. But good news, sportsfans. Not all the starting pitching was bad last night. Tom Glavine managed a nearly impermeable 6 innings of 6 hit, one run pitching albeit to the choppy tune of 5 walks surrendered on the way to gaining his 293rd career victory. Plucky. If Glavine pitches like this (4 starts, 3 victories, 2.73 ERA) when it's 46 degrees or colder and with a relentless 25 mph gusting wind in his gob, just imagine what he's going to pitch like in the humid summer months when he can firmly grip the ball without his fingers freezing to it...

And I don't understand why I sleep all day And I start to complain that there's no rain And all I can do is read a book to stay awake And it rips my life away, but it's a great escape -Blind Melon - No Rain Another day, another city, another rain out. Hell, they didn't even wait for the game to be delayed before postponing this one in Philly. Just one of those days you pull back the curtain, look out the window and mutter, fuck that, I'm not leaving the house today , and then curl back into bed. Just last week there was an outcry about baseball and weather when snow postponed a few bloody games over in Cleveland. So what are the jackals going to say about all these postponements due to rain? Is it ok, part of the bloody plan, everything right as rain if games are postponed due to massive rainstorms but god help us all if it bloody well snows at the start of the season? ***** Do you realise that if the rest of the season is rained out in their current position the...

Six games were postponed on Sunday due to rain but not in Atlanta. Not all Rain is Bad Rain... Whilst the Mets' rubber match against the Nats was rained out the Braves were busy beating the Marlins and extending their lead in the NL East to a full game. It also prevented The Team To Beat from losing another game and falling further out of the NL East race before it really starts. Of course with the Braves playing the Nats and the Phillies hosting the Mets, this could all change very quickly. John Maine opens this series taking the hill against the winter acquisition, Freddy Garcia . This is Garcia's long-awaited Phillies debut having begged out of his first scheduled start because of soreness in his right biceps. Maine, as we know, had the frigid cold to blame for his Home Opener performance that left bystanders less than overwhelmed by walking 6 batters. However, he has a 3-0 career record and 2.35 career ERA against the Phillies. ***** Meanwhile in the City of Brotherly ...

Improbable as it seems the Washington Nationals have now beaten the Atlanta Braves AND the Mets over the course of the last three days. Although hell might have felt as though it had frozen over in Shea on Friday night, this illusion of NL East reality does not mark a change in the NL East hierarchy nor does it provide the opening A of the Apocalypse. Call it beginner's luck, if you like. Or, El Duque pitching his age. Duque was not only beaten, not only did he surrender three homers to the woeful Nats lineup BUT he was ejected from the game entirely after he hit Nats winning pitcher Chris Hill . The decision by umpire Mike Winters was of course, absolute rubbish - did he really believe El Duque would intentionally plunk a fellow pitcher over a trio of homers? "It wasn't like it was going to graze him," Winters said, squirming through another session of Idiot's Logic . "If it doesn't hit his hand, it hits him right in the chest. And to me, because o...

With less verve and ease than they dispatched The Team To Beat the Mets fended off the bottom-dwelling (well at this point, watch out Phillies!) Nats by 3-2 in a game started by minor league recall and temporary 5th starter Mike Pelfrey whose arrival marked the departure of the highly anticipated Lastings Milledge . With the Phillies flushed down the terlet the Mets set their sights on first place and the Nats who were coming off a surprise (indeed, rare) victory over the Atlanta Braves. Wags' save makes him 10th All-Time Julio Franco's two-out grounder which ran virtually between the legs of Nats pitcher Ryan (I'm Not Billy) Wagner in the 7th, scored David Wright from second and made Aaron Heilman the game winner all in one swing. Jose Reyes , who had a hit and a stolen base but scored twice, has now batted 48 times and scored 13 times. The worrisome number five starter Pelfrey was effective against this Triple AAA lineup throwing 5 2/3 innings but walking 4, allowing ...

If the Phillies are the Team To Beat , what happens now that the Mets have taken the opening series two games out of three? Well for one they are still not in first place in the National League East even though mysteriously the Atlanta Braves with John Smoltz on the mound, lost to the Triple AAA Washington Nationals to allow the Mets to inch a game closer to the lead. But it also probably means that Phillies manager Charlie Manuel is one loss closer to an early sacking. This does not give me pleasure because sacking Charlie Manuel and replacing him with a good manager might make the Phillies a decent team again despite their bullpen. You've gotta want the Team To Beat to be beatable but not horrible. 2-7, well that's a sackable offence, I believe. "We need to win some series," manager Charlie Manuel said beginning his infamous Art Howe impression. "We need to take two out of three. We need to play better." Need to play better. I like that one. Mean...

"I'm withholding judgement on his Cy Young candidacy just yet. The potential to suddenly morph into Victor Zambrano is always looming on the horizan, the suddenly wild and uncontrollable Oliver Perez...remember him?" --Archie Bunker's Army, 11 April 07 Victor Zambrano returned to the Mets last night. Technically his name is Oliver Perez and he wears the Number 46 Mets uniform rather than the Number 31 Blue Jays rags but we all know deep down that a pitching display like last night's from Oliver Perez can only mean that the erratic pitching soul of Victor Zambrano has entered the body of Oliver Perez and seized the controls. Like in the second inning. Our heretofore impressive Oliver Perez is cruising along with one down in the second having struck out Mr Team To Beat to start off the game and retired the next 3 batters in order. Then suddenly the ghost of Victor Zambrano enters his body. He then walks Pat Burrell on four pitches. He walks Wes Helms on fiv...

Whilst the debate continues as to whether Whipping Boy Rollins should be castigated and mocked for his ridiculous "team to beat" observation of his Phillies and the Mets had the day off, I spent time glancing through the minor leagues to catch up on what's going on with the affiliates. I had to do a minor double take when reviewing the box score of the Mets' Triple AAA New Orleans Zephyrs game the other day. It's easily lost in the focus on the Majors but have you seen the New Orleans batting order lately? Batting 6th and playing left field, Ricky Ledee , former Yankee, Indian, Ranger, Philly, Giant, Dodger and last season, Met. 838 career games in the Major Leagues. .244 liftime hitter at age 33. Two time member of the World Champions. Ok, no Mel Ott to be sure but certainly a Lou Clinton , at least... Batting 7th and playing third base, Fernando Tatis , former Ranger, Cardinal, Expo and Oriole. 691 career games in the Major Leagues. .260 lifetime hitter....

Dear Mr Team To Beat! Thanks for that crucial flub of Jose Reyes' certain inning-ending double play ball in the 8th inning before the largest home-opening crowd in Mets history (56,227), yeah, you remember. The one that opened the floodgates not only to a big phat phillies loss but a massive win for the Mets on Opening Day at Shea. Manager Willie gives thanks for Jimmy Rollins You've now replaced the infamous Pat Burrell on the Boo-O-Meter at Shea and your January words oozing with over-confidence, inappropriate foot-in-mouth-moment considering the Phillies' typically malfunctioning 1-6 start, nearly-out-of-the-NL East-race-before-mid-April, is certainly coming back to haunt you, Mr Rollins, Mr Team To Beat. (ha! Team to beat indeed. A team to beat again and again and again!) Nice one, Mr Team To Beat! And oh, what a sweet 8th inning rally it was! Not every moment was a bundle of laughs for David Wright... Following consecutive singles by Alou and Shawn Green and a J...

The Braves have knocked the Mets from first place in the NL East for the first time since 5th April 2006. And the bullpens, it would appear, have made all the difference. wonder what bird David Wright is scoping out over the first base line? Whilst Aaron Heilman was busy blowing the 13 consecutive scoreless inning perfect record of the pen this season by giving up two runs in the 8th to ruin El Duque's second straight masterful performance, the Braves bullpen , the scourge of the NL last season having blown a league-worst 29 saves in 68 chances, is now a league-leading 5-for-5 in save opportunities. On the other hand, rather than handing out accolades to the Braves bullpen we could ask of the batting order why they went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position on Sunday after leaving 14 baserunners on the Saturday? Or hey, what's up with the 9 strikeouts? Carlos Delgado , are you listening? 3 K's and 3 men left on base all by yourself! Yeah, you with the .165 batting ...

A perfectly good start to a perfectly good season was inexcusably ruined by a sacrifice fly dropped by Shawn Green in the 6th that directly led to two important Brave runs in a 5-3 loss, the first Mets loss this season. Oh, we could go ahead and blame the run scored as a result of the Mets' first recorded error this season, a first inning Carlos Delgado mishandling of an otherwise routine throw to first. We could blame the lack of timely hitting, the 13 men left stranded on base without scoring or even David Wright , who chose an inopportune game to strike out three times. Oddly enough, the authors of both fielding gaffes were the only two Mets to have a multiple hit game. Delgado had a pair of singles and Green had three hits, one of which was a double. Green almost made up for his gaffe, sending a Bob Wickman offering with runners on second and third screaming towards first base, seemingly headed into right field and an image-rectifying two run rally to tie the game when fa...

Starting pitching, that which was to be the downfall of the Mets this season, has proven the 4th game in a row to be a decided strength. Coming on the heels of auld men Glavine and El Duque , followed by the youthful exploits of Omar Minaya steal John Maine , the incalculable Oliver Perez allowed one run and five hits in seven innings to soil the Atlanta Braves' home opener with a humiliating 11-1 victory. It was Perez's first game with six or more innings pitched without a walk since Sept. 29, 2002. No control issues for one night anyway. Since June 1, he's 2-0 with an 0.56 ERA in two starts against the Braves, and 0-8 with an 8.82 ERA in 11 starts against everyone else. Those long dark years of Brave dominance are over. The queasy feeling in the stomach of Mets fans every time the Mets travelled to Atlanta has resolved itself into an anticipatory zeal; another chance to bury those scandalous memories and pile another shovelful of dirt atop them. "If you're ...

Either the Mets are flawless and incredible or... the Defending World Chimps have started playing baseball as though they were drunk and fell asleep at a stoplight with the keys in the ignition . In either scenario the Mets came away with their first opening series sweep in 13 years and with their 10-0 emphatic plucking of the Cardinals, have perhaps reestablished themselves as the early team to beat this season. Following the reassuring performances of Glavine and El Duque , John Maine, in the midst of setting down the first 12 batters he faced, held the Cardinals to a lone hit through seven shutout innings which means the oft-ridiculed starting rotation has surrendered just 12 hits and 2 runs over their first 20 innings pitched. And the bullpen hasn't fared much worse combining to pitch 7 innings of relief by giving up NO runs on six hits. The prevailing wisdom is that neither the rotation nor the bullpen is as good as they have appeared against the Cardinals yet it must also p...

For the first few days of the infant season anyway, GM Omar Minaya is looking like a genius first of all for standing pat with the rotation and secondly for not fawning over Barry Zito like a drunken yob with a fistful of dollar bills at a lap dance academy. Either that or these defending World Champion St Louis Cardinals are slooooooow starters. For the second night in a row a Mets starter, (the starting rotation of course, bemoaned by all humanity as the Achilles Heel of the Mets team this season) had a superb outing on the road against the Champs. This time, El Duque stuck it to them tossing seven innings of one-run, five-hit pitching and holding them down until the rescue squad of Scott Schoeneweis , Aaron Heilman and Billy Wagner could come in to nail it down. Not only that but Wagner managed to end the game on an easy peasy 1-2-3 note. How often does that happen? And of course, for good measure El Duque, as if pitching brilliantly when it is most hoped for but least expe...

E njoy the 24 hours of perfection while it lasts. 1-0 is hardly the cause for careless optimism. Not when you've played what, .006 percent of the season? But having waited these last six months or so people are already frothing at the mouth, particularly in ungrateful St Louis where after a mere loss, the fickle supporters of the defending World Champions are already moaning.: "But let's be candid here: In the recent history of baseball, has any defending champion ever started an outfield as bad as the one sent into the first game by the Cardinals on Sunday? I wrote last month that my biggest concern for the team was the outfield. An alignment of Taguchi in left, a recuperating Jim Edmonds in center and Preston Wilson in right is downright feeble. Taguchi hit .266 with 31 RBIs last season, Wilson struck out 121 times in 2006, and Edmonds still is playing himself into baseball shape after surgeries in the offseason to his shoulder and toe." This isn't to say that...

Let's see...all the ingredients for an abysmal failure were in place: 1. Rotten Spring Training which saw the Mets lose more games than any other Spring Training in their history and left us all with a vague sort of stomach queasiness that usually comes just prior to public speaking engagements or first dates. 2. Open Season Against Defending World Champions : granted, this was one of those two-sided coins or half-empty, half-full glass conundrums. The defending World Champions, yes but also a chance for revenge. Yes, it's no true measure of revenge, to win an Opening Day/Night game compared to winning that Game 7 of the NLCS but as we've all been told, that was six months ago, another season and no longer matters...that same team kicking you out of your chance for the World Series and thereby your chance at being the Defending World Champions...well Carlos Beltran , just don't stand there with the bat on your shoulders! 3. Open Season Against Defending World Ch...