Archie Bunker's Army

Ok, it's not earth-shattering news, neither sweeping the lowly Nats nor dropping the Phillies to second place but it's progress. Slow, arduous progress. A homer, a free bevvie and sarnie advert or just an oasis from the Charley Chaplin impression at first base? Another excruciating video replay whose reversal gave The Magical Murph a 2 run homer off the Pissup Porch* in the 6th instead of a double and Sheff getting thrown out at the plate. That's quite a reversal in fact and the Mets are now five for five in replay decisions. That's better than Murph's fielding chances at first last night. (* No, I won't make you scroll all the way down the bloody page to see what I'm on about - just because the marketing muppets want to advertise a shitty carbonated sugary water bevvie doesn't mean I'm going to - every time someone hits a homer off the overhang I've got to give them a free advert? I don't think so. So on this blog anyway, there will ...

What a day. It was as though the Mets front office suddenly woke up from a slumber and realised the season has begun. Good moves, putting Reyes and Church on the DL. Although Ramon Martinez just might begin to show more convincing form(RBI double, nice play in the field, batting average all the way up to .100) eventually, just in case, they acquired Wilson Valdez from the Indians for cash. You know when you can buy a player for cash he's not that good and Valdez can't hit his way through a wet paper bag but he's got a decent glove and it's a brilliant way to add to Omar's sky-high pile of mediocre player signings. But perhaps the biggest of the roster news of the day was Fernando Martinez getting called up and immediately inserted into right field and 6 slot in the batting order. Nothing not to like about this, getting sight of the brightest and certainly most publicised prospect in the farm system. Not as poetic as a grand slam of course, but grounding int...

First of all, I have to get this off of my chest: I don't care whatever hair-brained scheme The Baseball Czar has thought up to justify it - making the Mets wear red caps instead of their normal ones is daft. Isn't there a more dignified way of honouring the war dead than a hideous Nats-red baseball cap? Hey kid, get on the DL where you belong... The whole thing gave the game a sort of charity game feel to it, like the result wouldn't count in the standings or something, not to be taken seriously which, given that their opponents were the Nats was probably what it felt like anyway. Pink bats and pink arm bands is one thing but red caps, woa. I draw the line there. And the Mets win the game on another instant replay wherein the umps took like half the night to make a simple decision. Yeah, it's all good that in the end, like the two days previous, the decision was in the Mets favour. But red caps and instant replays and suddenly I feel like the game's been hijack...

Yeah, it's disappointing the Mets didn't sweep the Red Sox but after the debacle of LA, if you'd have been told the Mets could take two out of three in Fenway you'd have been more than happy enough to take it. Was it his amazing speed on the basepaths that made Jerry choose The Magical Murph as his lead off hitter? And Angel Pagan hitting behind him? A distinct B-Mets look to their lineup. And yet they set the table for Beltran in the first, who thanked them by grounding into a double play. That kind of day for the Mets. Hail delay and a loss. Why does it take longer for these chimp umpires to even DECIDE whether or not they're going to look at the instant replay? Inviting Shawn Green into the game is like inviting a carload of destructive punk hooligans into your home and inviting them to vandalise and destroy as much as they'd like. Come to think of it, the rest of the bullpen didn't do any better either. I reckon if Big Papi weren't suffering t...

Omir Santos pounded a shocking two-run blast with two out in the 9th inning and the Mets down by a run over the red line near the top of the Green Monster after the usually-perfect Papelbon had blown away Wright and Reed with heat. Simply Stunning A two-run, Fenway-silencing homerun off a 97 mph fastball that took the idiot ump a good five minutes to confirm was in fact a homer, plenty of time to wonder how what in the hell J J Putz was doing warming up in the bullpen instead of Frankie Boy to save what was in essence a mouth-dropping shocking game ? Well sadly, Frankie Boy had back spasms so severe he had to be stretchered to the hospital and was unable to pitch but still - Putz? Why not Parnell , who has been nothing short of fantastic? Why a guy who's coming off a stick neck, a series of shite outings? And although Wright made a nice play in the bottom of the 9th off what looked like might be a game-tying double, he nearly threw the ball away into the outfield instead of...

Ah, but for a team of 8 more Johan Santanas the Mets would be the best team in baseball. Missing only Superman's cape... Arguably the best pitcher in baseball, Santana's starts with the Mets this season have always clouded by the mediocrity of his teammates. Few, if any runs scored in support, terrible, Little League-style fielding and the stigma of pitching for a team that simply never seems to match the calibre and quality of Johan Santana. One cheap hit and an error starts off your game in Fenway? No problem, just strike out David Ortiz and Kevin Youkilis (which apparently in Greek means Big Douchebag ) sending them back to the dugout shaking their heads. Handicapped by the erratic fielding of Ramon "Fielding Chimp" Martinez inning after inning alone? No problem. He did cost Johan a pair of runs but the second error might have cost the Mets the game had a mere mortal been on the mound. Youkilis staring you down in the 5th after getting hit in the elbow? No...

Whilst it's been easy for the last several days to be made physically ill by watching the Mets (whose broadcasts perhaps should come with their own Surgeon General's Warning label) and whilst the loss seemed almost inevitable, the loss tonight wasn't quite as sickening as the first two. So if you're one of those people who want to look for sprouts of hope in an otherwise horrifically miserable three game series in LA, here it is: The Magical Murph's debut was a success. He had several fielding gems and never once had that deer-in-the-headlights look so familiar in his eyes when playing in left field. Of course his confidence at the plate has now gone spiralling downwards as a result of his nightly humiliations but he's a good hitter and if he can settle in at first base, his hitting will come around. Not power hitting, mind. No replacement for Delgado at the plate but matching Delgado's often lethargic fielding at first should certainly be no stretch. ...

The Mets let us know straight away last night they had no intention of employing intelligent base running or competent fielding as a means of winning baseball games. Actually, it was The Magical Murph who let us know that right away in the first inning, sparing us any suspense. What? Pay attention on the bases? Nah, it's too much to concentrate on at once, I'm too busy imagining what creative new way I can drop another fly ball in left field... He managed not only to get picked off first base with David Wright at the plate, (and go'wan it's not "caught stealing" so much as caught napping, playing typical Mets baseball,) but supplemented one buffoonery for another, dropping another fly ball, this time in the bottom of the first to help the Dodgers to an early lead. I have to admit, yesterday I felt kind of bad for the way Jerry's been jerking him around lately and busting his confidence down further but really, it's pretty much impossible to excuse ...

G'won then. Bring me a bucket, I've got to puke. Even by the Mets' low standards, this game was absolute S-H-I-T-E. For most of you lucky folks, you can go to bed now, have your nightmares and wake up to a new day. For me, it's nearly 7 in the morning and this is how my day starts; the inexcusably stupid failure by Ryan Church to touch third on his way to scoring the go ahead run in the 11th which not only removed that go ahead run but ended the inning in mid-rally snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. And it only got worse - Angel Pagan in the Bermuda Triangle (which is my new name for the Mets left field position: batting sixth and playing the Bermuda Triangle, Mr Another Incompetent Fielder ...), ignored Carlos Beltran's calls for the ball, failed to move out of the way and caused the ball to glance off Beltran's glove for what was frighteningly close to the game-losing play. But no, that wasn't the game losing play at all, the Mets had more fun ...

An emotional Giants team, pumped up to try and avoid a first-ever four game sweep at home to the Mets held the Mets to their first shut out of the season just to make sure. On the bright side, the Mets won three of four on the first leg of their West Coast trip and showed signs of being an offensive juggernaut. Pelf balked his way to defeat On the not-so-bright side, the winning streak came to a halt, Big Pelf made a fool of himself with a bizarre psychological National television audience meltdown, balking three times, once nearly tripping over and falling down and being removed for a pinch hitter finally, mercifully, after only 78 pitches in the 7th inning. You could say that Matt Cain , one of the better pitchers on the Giants staff and now 4-1 with a 2.65 ERA, was simply a superior pitcher waiting to cool the Mets off. The haunted look in David Wright's eyes returned... But that wouldn't fully explain why the Mets hit into double plays twice with the bases loaded, first ti...

Interesting observation from one of the Fox announcers during the Mets' 9-6 reduction of the Giants. The biggest competition in the NL East is going to be themselves. Carlos shows he's now happy to get his trousers dirty, even when he doesn't need to slide, like in the 9th inning yesterday. And when you watch them play like they've played so far in San Francisco you realise that when they ARE playing to their potential offensively, when the top of the order is getting on base as you would expect, creating terror and excitement on the base paths, and the middle of the order is hitting with those men on base as they should, this is in essence, an offensive juggernaut. Beltran, Sheffield and Wright combined for 9 hits, 6 runs and 6 RBIs all by themselves. When you see Santana bunting runners forward in the 5th, even with a 3-run lead, you see what is different about these new Mets - they keep applying the pressure over and over and over again. And that is the primary reas...

It's been quite a fascinating pair of evenings in San Francisco watching the Mets grow as a team, applying relentless pressure on the base paths with hits and aggressive base running to the point that each night the Giants pitchers have wilted under that pressure resulting in two come-from-behind victories which demonstrate a kind of character the team has been missing in the past. "That team is playing to win a World Series," Giants catcher Benji Molina said after having been incessantly harassed by aggression on the bases by these Mets. "They are not just playing to be in the playoffs." Playoffs? World Series? Why just a few weeks ago, these Mets were Mutts. Now look at them. 10 wins in their last 12 games. Rallying from four run deficits to victory. the tongue of desire. For the second night in a row David Wright proved his mettle with a clutch hit that helped the Mets to victory. David Wright? Clutch hit? Are these two suddenly synonymous? Well, it...

The Road Trip Of The Season that began when the Mets left from an extra inning loss in New York last night to fly to San Francisco for tonight's game, will see them off to LaLa in four days and then all the way over to Boston thereafter commenced with a 7-4 victory characterised by early sloppy pitching, a long lull in the middle innings, a bullpen failing to hold a lead and a comeback in the 9th. John Maine's perfect bunt in the 4th more than made up for his sloppy start to the game and added to an insurance run to give the Mets a 4-2 they carried into the 8th. To that point, Giants announcers had shown more replays of a dropped foul ball by a fan with a glove and the subsequent mocking from the fans surrounding him than they had any play of the actual game. It was rather surprising to see Maine go back out for the 7th inning having thrown over 100 pitches. He managed to get the first two batters of the 7th but when he walked the Benji Molina on 4 pitches, time was up. ...

Mets/Braves Live Blog

The victory was everything that the loss the night before, wasn't. The game culminated on a someone else walking home the winning run for a change. Beltran is finally making a claim for NL MVP. Early, yes, but he is carrying the team on his back. Down 3-0 in the 8th the Mets staged a brilliant comeback to complete a 4-3 10 inning victory, their first victory when trailing after 8 innings ALL SEASON. That was 13 straight games without a victory when trailing after 8. A big milestone crossed. Of course, it helped that the ump blew the call with Carlos Beltran boldly stealing 3rd in the 9th inning still trailing by a run. Had the ump gotten the call right no doubt the Mets would have gone down meekly. Instead, they took advantage of a call going their way, played aggressively (not only Beltran's steal, but Reyes' steal of 2nd in the 10th inning which ultimately proved to be the winning run). Larry wasn't happy his tag out of Beltran was missed. “Let’s just say the...

All I can say is that it's a damned good thing this loss came on the heels of a seven game winning streak. No, didn't QUITE get the ball thrown properly to first yet Mr Wrong... Otherwise there'd be all sorts of recriminations, finger-pointing and bile spilling from every corner about our ace, Johan Santana , losing to the ace in Derek Lowe the Mets COULD have signed but decided to decide the shit-canned Ollie Perez instead. Yes, a rotation of Santana, Lowe, Pelf , Maine and Livan would have been one of the best in baseball and instead of signing Lowe to that exhausting contract and making that rotation come to life, the Mets signed Perez and the instead of greatness they continue to struggle to find the strong and consistent Number Two starter in their rotation. But it wasn't the starting rotation that ailed the Mets last night. Both pitchers did their jobs and the game was knotted at 1 each after 6 innings. Sort of the way you might have expected it. Ace and aga...

It's no big mystery, is it? Sliding home is just a game Starting pitching, solid defence, timely hitting, the baseball triad for success. So often and for so long this has eluded the Mets but during this neat little seven game package that have seen seven wins catapult the Mets into sole possession of first place in the NL East, this is precisely what is propelling the Mets forward. Yesterday, Mother's Day, Pink Bat Day, it doesn't matter what day right now or the opponent. The Mets are going through their schedule like a knife through hot butter. Starting pitching: Livan Hernandez tossed 6 solid innings after a sluggish start and other than Sean Green surrendering a two-run homer in the top of the 9th, the bullpen suffocated the Pirates in the later innings. Ever since Ollie shat the bed and was demoted to the "dodgy knee" status and made to disappear, Met starters have had quality starts; 7 in a row to end with 6-0 record and a 2.44 ERA. Solid defence: other...

You see, it must have been manager Jerry Manuel holding them back all along. They won't do this for me, why not, oh why not? You know the games a laughter when Brian Stokes is closing it out. With Jerry suspended for a game for allowing the tip of his cap to make contact with an ump during a spittle-flying tirade, with Jerry in civvies, laughing it up with Omar's in Jeff Wilopon's suite, the Mets pounded 17 hits and 10 runs, (both season highs) against the laughable Pirates in a rare game where it all comes together, a 10-1 victory, the Mets 6th in a row and a win which, coupled with the Phillies loss to the Braves, moves the Mets back into a tie for first place in the NL East with the Marlins. That's quite a distance to fly without your manager. I suppose they will now be calling for a longer suspension by tomorrow at this rate. Ask Jerry to punch the ump in the face next time. You could logically point to a free-falling Pirate team as the source for this sudden Met...

Suddenly the Mets aren't looking quite like laughingstocks any more. Although only five games worth of a winning streak, the Mets have not only swept their two chief rivals in the NL East but have now added an uncharacteristic late-inning rally to their growing list of achievements. Sure, the first week in May is a little late to be getting your first late inning rally but finally you have to like what looks to be the Mets beginning warm up to the 2009 season. Old Man River Keeps Rolling Carlos Delgado , a one-man wrecking crew with 5 RBIs (just passing Mickey Mantle on the All-Time RBI list)has proven the cortisone shot to the hip was enough to keep him blasting away a little longer as he continues to edge towards the 500 homer mark. His three-run shot last in the 8th last night was the catalyst to the Mets win. Castillo shows Beltran how to slide at home. The Magical Murphy , continuing to establish himself as perhaps one of the game's better young hitters, showed off his im...

The Mets beat up Jamie Moyer with a pair of two-run homers, one from Beltran and one from David Wright in the first inning to turn an early 1-0 deficit into a 4-1 lead. (Yes, the same Beltran who hadn't had a homer against Moyer in 50 some odd at-bats and the same Wright whose infrequent dalliances into clutch hitting with men on base has been wanting to say the least...) BaddaBing BaddaBang But are these the new Mets or the same auld Mets with a brief little giddy-up in the stride at the moment? A three-run lead after the first inning is the first hint. All season to date the Mets have jumped to early leads only to see those leads wither. Last night, with Big Pelf on the mound steadying the ship and keeping the Phillies quiet, the Mets meticulously added to their lead to make sure there was enough space in there to keep the Phillies' inevitable rally falling short. Reyes pounded a solo shot in the 2nd to increase the Mets lead to 4; the first three-homer outing from the M...

Well anyone else still think we should have signed Manny now that he's been suspended for 50 games?