Sunday, November 22, 2009

Just to keep us current

Most recent Mets rumors at MLB Trade Rumors.com:

1) Mets view Marquis as backup plan at best.

2) Per the LA Times, Mets have inquired about LF/3B/1B option Mark DeRosa with all of his "34 year old replacement player" credentials.

3) Mets were in preliminary talks about a 3 way deal to get Kevin Millwood, but everything's on hold at least till the winter meetings in two weeks, or if the Rangers start taking stupid pills.

4) Mets want Bengie Molina to catch.

5) In the big picture, this article from a week ago hits most of the key points. Mets are going after Lackey. Mets are looking for speed and defense rather than power in left, with Chone Figgins the target of choice rather than Bay or Holliday. With so little power in the lineup, the Mets better be seriously investing in pitching, which apparently, they are planning to.

6) And finally, with the bang-my-head-against-the-wall quote of the day comes this one: SI's Jon Heyman apparently tweeted that "Mets GM Omar Minaya likes Luis Castillo more than any of the 29 other teams do."

Can't. Even. Comment.

I'm not going to find the link

but in reading yesterday's Newsday, I saw that Omar will be talking to Delgado this week down in PR.

TIFWIW.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Quote of the Day

Comes to us courtesy of Mike Westhoff, the brilliant Jets special teams coach:

The Jets’ special teams unit, solid all year, allowed Ted Ginn Jr. to return two kickoffs for touchdowns — one for 100 yards and another for 101. Special teams coordinator Mike Westhoff said it was “the absolute worst” performance by any of his units in his 27 NFL seasons.

“It’s just a bitter taste,” Westhoff said. “It’ll go away ... when they’re lowering me in the grave.”

Sunday, November 01, 2009

Congrats to the Fish

They picked up the gift "W" and managed to carry it back to their barrio in their baby blue unis, despite getting outplayed most of the game. It's pretty hard NOT to win a game when the opponent gives you 3 touchdowns in a five minute span on two kick returns and a gift wrapped fumble return for 6.

Jetties offense was obviously much more productive than the Fins O in the second half (even in the first), and ditto with the Jets D. Total yards for the game: Jets 378, Fish 104. So much for the wildcat.

Refs were obviously paying attention to D.C.'s plea and returned the favor for the game in Miami, with several huge calls--most especially the phantom illegal motion call that negated the Jets 2 point conversion. Obviously, if it was a 3 point game, the Jets would have kicked a 35 yard FG to tie it and send it to OT instead of going on 4th and 10 in the final drive. Also, the mysterious down by contact on the fumble by the Fins receiver didn't help much either; especially since the Fish went on to score their only offensive TD on the same drive that they actually turned it over.

Of course, then you have the Jets complicity in the game, which is what made it a total gift to the Fins. You can start and end with the vanishing act pulled by the special teams unit, when they pulled a matador D move, leading to 100 yd+ kick return TD's for Ginn on two consecutive kick offs in the 3rd quarter. That that has only been done once in NFL history tells you how absurdly poor the kick coverage was, and how lucky the Fins were to come away with victory.

There were also myriad mental errors for Jets players. Getting called for a false start the first time they wanted to run a two-point conversion, forcing them to settle for a kick. Keller pulling up on an out pattern when he would have had an easy catch if he had run his route, and that catch would have extended a crucial second half drive. Edwards running the wrong route on a 3rd and goal in the first half, forcing the Jets to settle for a FG. Shonn Greene handing the ball to Jason Taylor for 6 the other way.

And of course, some blame has to go to the coaches. After sticking to the game plan and running successfully most of the day, they lose their nerve down the stretch, when the Jets were in 4 down territory and could have sealed the game with 4 3 yard runs. It was 1st and 10 from the Fins 16 or thereabouts, the Jets have 2 timeouts, the Fins have note, and the the Jets have 1:50 or so to work with. It seems obvious that you could run 8 straight running plays at that point and still control the clock, leaving the Fins no time to comeback should the Jets take the lead. The Jets had run the ball effectively most of the day. Why they choose that moment in the game to run 4 straight passing plays is a mystery to me. Unless it was meant to be some psyche rescue for Sanchez, letting him lead the comeback win. If that was the plan, it obviously backfired horribly.