Ok, I give in.  As bloggers and journalists everywhere give their perspective on the Mets season and their struggles of late, I have tried to refrain.  Repeating the same rhetoric of "It is time to panic", and "Maybe the Mets aren't as good as we thought they were" while always cynical readers post replies such as "See we were right", and "About time you guys grew a set and admitted the Mets aren't a good team and their management sucks", oh yeah, and "The sky is falling".  But as I head out for a week's hiatus from the blogging world (and more importantly my job), I can't sit back and listen complacently any longer.

Yankees, 10.5 game behind first place/ Mets 1.5 games ahead of second place, yet Yankee fans remain confident and Mets fans are freaking out. No, I am not blind to the fact that they have been blessed with extraordinarily good luck with the Braves struggles. Yes, I know that the Mets haven't won a series in June,  and yes I know that they are definitely in a downward spiral. But NO, I will not panic...yet.  I am a Mets fan and the team has trained me well in the past to not get too excited nor get too disappointed with any short term ups or downs. Just call me Yoda, I guess. I am not the manager of the team, so I don't need to get fired up and start throwing things to snap the team out of it. Last night on DVR, I watched Carlos Delgado's walk off home run in the twelfth inning and Endy's walk off bunt in the ninth just to remember who this team is. Maybe they need to do the same, who knows...I'm about ready to summon a witch doctor for these guys.

We knew that  June would be rough.  Granted we didn't expect it to be this rough but what can you do. Right now I don't see the team that they can be, but no I won't panic...92 games to go...the Cardinals were unanimously regarded as the worst team in last year's playoffs...this is my mantra...I won't panic.  Every season is like a snowflake so let's stop comparing the 2007 Mets to the 2006 Mets please. We knew their year-long dominance was an anomaly when it was happening, so why not now?

True, I am very concerned with how they have been playing. Any buffoon should know there are holes to fill. I would have to pin most of the losses on their pitching, but the strange thing is, although they're consistently losing, with some exceptions they're not playing like a horrible team.  They're hitting the ball hard but not scoring runs. Their bullpen has actually sucked lately so no defense there,  but the starting pitching has been good enough for at least one series win this month.  Driving RISP in is another matter all together. Ok, so they do play horribly sometimes, I'll give you that.  I'm just waiting for them to snap out if it, but until then I wait patiently for the sleeping giant to wake. I just hope it does soon because if not, I'll hop right on your bandwagon of distress, you can tell me how you were right, how I had no courage to challenge team management, and that the sky is falling, then we can pessimistically ride off into the off-season together...would that make you happy?

Colorado Rockies 2B Kazuo Matsui who you may remember is tearing it up and not looking back.

So far this year, Kaz is hitting .316 (Hideki .290) and has 12 stolen bases (Hideki 1) in 133 at bats (Hideki 210). He also helped beat the Yankees yesterday with a triple, 2 RBI and a run scored. I am not saying Kaz is better than Hideki, but where was he when the Mets needed him?! That NY pressure isn't for everyone apparently.

Kaz also has no errors in 107 attempts. What the hell! I guess he also learned how to backhand the ball. Tyler Kepner writes about Kaz's resurgence today in the New York Times.

Matsui, as quoted by Kepner.

Thanks to the guys at The Big Lead, we found the stream of Devil Rays' outfielder Elijah Dukes going crazy on a talk radio show. Listen to the interview here.

Here are some of the highlights:


Wow...what can I say. You would think his teammate Delmon Young would be able to teach him a thing or two about controlling his emotions since he himself settled down after his bat throwing incident.

I have often been asked the question of whether or not partial ticket plan holders (Sunday/Saturday plan) will receive any priority for seating at Citi Field when it opens in 2009. I did some digging and discovered that partial plan holders such as myself will not receive seating priority over anybody else in '09. I called the Mets' ticket line a few times and asked this very question. The unanimous response was that full season plan holders get first priority and until they have an idea of how many plans that will be, partial plan owners do not yet get any priority for seats.

This bothers me only because I spend over $800/year for tickets, not counting the playoffs.  I guess they feel that this isn't even good enough for an honorable mention.  This is even more of an issue because there will only be roughly 45,000 seats in Citi Field, down from the 55,601 current seats at Shea. Maybe this policy will change, but once again the corporate giveaway seats which are vacant half the time anyways will receive priority over the real fans.

According to the Daily News, the Baltimore Orioles interviewed former Marlins manager Joe Girardi today.

The interview took place in Chicago, a baseball official familiar with the talks said, speaking on condition of anonymity because no public statements were authorized.

The guys at Deadspin recently interviewed former ESPN and current MLB.com analyst Harold Reynolds. Here is an excerpt:

DS: To this day, of all the people you worked for at ESPN, the people who fired you, you still haven't talked to any of them about why you were fired?

HR: Nobody in upper management. I've talked very briefly with a few different people I used to work with. I've searched for information just like anybody else. I didn't know what was in the complaint. We sent the labor board to go get [my personnel file and complaint], and they were denied. The state attorney general subpoenaed ESPN, and they just didn't turn it over. Finally, we got in front of the judge, and the judge turned over the personnel file. And that was just May 18. May 18 was the first time I had ever seen my personnel file and what any of the complaints were against me. Through a court order.

Given the Mets' most recent Sports Illustrated cover appearance, I put together a slideshow of every cover I could find with Mets on it here. Just click on View Slideshow.

Carlos Beltran's quads are hurting but he refuses to sit.  According to John Delcos at the Journal News, Beltran said the following:

Meanwhile, Adam Rubin at the Daily News notes that Beltran won't sit for the All-Star game in order to get back to being 100%.

Beltran as quoted by Rubin:

I know many people want Beltran to sit and I can't disagree with that. However, the Mets don't have anyone to replace him defensively. Ricky Ledee? Call up Chip Ambres? Who can be as good as an 85% Beltran?  Maybe when Lastings Milledge is healthy they can throw him out there and have Carlos Gomez play either center or left. Not sure if I know, but I am sure that if Beltran doesn't regain his health, an integral part of this Mets lineup that we already need desperately will be missing come the postseason.

Right now, out of the three Carloses, Carloz Gomez has been shining the most brightly. In an article for Newsday, David Lennon points out the recent batting woes of Carlos Delgado, and Carlos Beltran.

On Friday night, Gomez made a brilliant defensive play in left field and doubled up Hideki Matsui at second.  Then yesterday, Gomez kept the ninth inning alive for the Mets with a hard hit infield single off of the leg of Mariano Rivera. He has been playing like a man with a vendetta!

Delgado actually seems to be battling through his struggles more effectively than Beltran who is hitting only .143 since June 5th.

The bottom line is, the Mets have to be firing on all cylinders to be the team they need to be this year, and without Beltran and Delgado this just won't happen.  I am glad that Gomez has stepped up lately, but I don't want to have to call him "the better Carlos" again this year.

In an article for the Chicago Tribune, Paul Sullivan writes how Cliff Floyd did his best Moises Alou impersonation in the sixth inning of Friday's 4-1 victory over the Padres, screaming at a Cubs fan for reaching out over the right-field basket and interfering with what Floyd believed was a catchable ball.

Floyd as quoted by the Tribune:

Classic Cliff

In today's Cubs game, Derek Lee and the Padres' Chris Young were both ejected as Lee charged the mound and a fight ensued.

Those Cubs are really fiery lately...atleast they're fighting other teams now instead of their own.

Here's a video of the brawl until MLB takes it down.

According to the Journal News, Yankees pitcher Tyler Clippard who threw today in the Mets loss has been demoted to the minor leagues.

Clippard was 3-1 with a 5.32 ERA on the year.

After their win last night, I'm allowing myself to blog again.  Leave it to Oliver to "twist " the Mets back to how they were playing before their latest slump. Last night's win was well worth the beer that was thrown at me for supporting my team amidst a sea of navy blue.  Watching that same sea celebrate a home run that Carlos Gomez denied them and then to double up Hideki Matsui was well worth the derogatory chants thrown at me for three hours. I wonder if they know what we go through for them as they try to their best to tune out the Yankee crowd. That crowd once again did a great job of driving home why I despise Yankee fans. Thank you Mets for sticking it to them for me. Welcome back guys, finally you played the way you are capable of playing, now don't forget how!

Ya Gotta Believe right?! Well losing nine of their last ten is just sad, especially the way they're losing.  This team is too good to not be hitting and to be pitching as poorly as they are right now.  I know they will break out of it but come on already! I really hope it happens Friday when I'm at the game because I won't be able to stand going all the way to the Bronx to see them lose against Roger Clemens. I might just jump from the upper deck if that happens. Until they win I am going on a blogging fast, no more posts until they win. Perhaps it's the superstitious side of me but we all need to chip in right now. Bust out the rabbit feet, eat your Lucky Charms and let's hope they can start over at the stadium tomorrow. Let's Go Mets!

Here on the east coast I don't read a lot about Seattle Mariners' OF Ichiro Suzuki but he may be funnier than our own Keith Hernandez!

His latest quote is from the other day:

Here are some more quotes from Ichiro, and here are some more.