Pitchers

Well, I have to say I am pleasantly surprised at the season Pelfrey has put together so far. 8-1 with a 2.39 ERA, he has been dominant so far. Who knows how the rest of the season plays out, but if he keeps it up he will be well on his way to validating his top-10 draft pick status.

Now, to revisit an earlier discussion, let's compare Folly Perez to D. Lowe. Perez: 0-3 with 6.28 ERA and now mercifully on DL. Lowe: 8-4 with 4.44 ERA and 1.39 WHIP. Now, I will grant that Lowe is not quite as good as I would have hoped, and at $15 M/yr is overpriced. But, he's not necessarily that overpriced, and the Mets would certainly benefit from having him in the rotation instead of Ollie at $12 M/yr.

J-E-T-$?

Woody Johnson is getting perilously close to sinking his team and replacing Wilpon/Minaya as the most inept manager. The Jets' unwillingness to spend money in a cap-free year could result in dramatic steps backward, just as they were starting to move forward.

Not to mention, the reason you can't sell your PSLs is the same reason the Yankees and Mets couldn't sell out their season ticket packages at first: your costs are too high.

I would be ALL over this...

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/06/millwood-wigginton-open-to-playing-for-mets.html

Give It Up

I'm happy to give credit where it's due, and blanking the Philthies in 3 straight games is a ridiculous feat. Talk about a huge F U.

The Maine Event

Well, I called this a few months ago, but I deserve about as much credit for that as I would for calling that the sun will rise tomorrow. Maine has rotator cuff tendinitis and will miss time. Shocker.

Rex Isn't Just Fat--He's Stupid, Too...

Slick move, Ryan--all you do is harp on how awesome Revis is (not arguing this point--dude is top-tier) and that he's the greatest defensive player in the game and that he's the key to everything you do on defense and without him your defense would be nothing.

You didn't think his agent might possibly be listening to this?

So now, Revis wants a monster renegotiation of his deal that will cost the Jets an arm and a leg to keep him happy and playing.

Nice one--guess they'll have to cut back your Krispy Kreme budget to get the extra $$$'s...although if he could cut them out the Jets could build their own stadium with the savings and not have to live in the shoadow of the G-men.

Boom Goes the Sucka-Mets

And there it is. With their 5th loss in a row, they have managed to drop back into last place, confirming what we all (except for Wilpon + Minaya + Manuel) knew to be true. For every Mets winning streak, they will have an equally ugly losing streak and ultimately go nowhere.

Wait, I know. If only we get Beltran back, then I'm sure that's the only missing piece that will suddenly make this team a WS contender. I can't wait.

Causation or Correlation?

The WSJ has an interesting article up today highlighting some of the statistical differences between Mets Fans and Yankee Fans (males only). While they found no statistically significant differences in terms of income, they did make a couple of startling discoveries:

Mets fans were more than twice as likely to be gun owners.

Mets fans were much more likely than Yankess fans to drink beer, and twice as many Yankee fans abstain from alcohol altogther.

And that was before they screened out the statistical outliers (Caribou Express).

They are who we thought they were, part 2

Indeed, just like last year and the year before that and the year before that, the Mets will rip off a bunch of wins in a row, and then puke it all right back.

Mets-phils

Big inning for santana here, bottom of the 4th. We just tacked on another 2 runs in top 4th, and santana now faces the heart of philthies order. Hopefully he's treating this like a playoff game and we'll see what he can do. I was certainly disappointed with his effort in the bottom of the 1st after we jumped out to a quick lead.

Not a good start, utley tagged a double into the corner... Let's see if he can set down the big man... indeed, got him to fly out to deep left. Very close to a 2-run jobbie though.

Interlude

A little jetties action. Looks like McKnight has a bit of legwork to match Leon Washington's skills, to say the least:

While fellow highly-touted draft pick Joe McKnight has stumbled mightily out of the gate, vomiting during practice for the second day in a row while dropping four more passes...

Two Questions for D.C.:

1) Where are you?

2) Is there still room on the wagon?

Early returns from the farm

So with Ollie Perez destined for the minors, I started scanning the AAA roster to see who might be available to take over the 5 slot.

Early answer: Dillon Gee.

After rehabbing a torn labrum last season, he's returned to prior form this year. A WHIP under 1.0, a 3-0 record and sub 3.00 ERA at AAA.

That's About Right

Well, in the famous words of Vince Vaughn, I guess I'm the asshole. I should've agreed with Pelf almost 3 months ago that questions by the fans about the rotation were ridiculous. Of course, the Mets have had leads in April before as well, we'll see where we are in September.

BTW, Fredo, doesn't that Vaughn clip from Swingers seem familiar? I can't quite place it, although I'm thinking some steak and some eggs would be delicious.

Hey Beetz

Got any ponies you like at the track?

The season is turnin around. He's in the line up today. Yes its true. VANILLA IKE is here. Ike Ike Baby. All our troubles are over.

Good call there. Metties are 8 of 9 with Ike on board. Can you say "Buffalo Bisons" Murphy?

Joel Sherman takes on SHK

Well, SHK, the gauntlet has been laid down:

Obviously, the Mets’ signing of Oliver Perez has not worked out. But it should be kept in mind that the other pitcher the Mets were weighing at the time was Derek Lowe. The Mets refused to give more than a three-year offer for Lowe, who instead signed with Atlanta for four years at $60 million. The Mets heard familiar refrains about being cheap and ending up with at three years at $36 million because of that.

But since becoming a Brave, Lowe has shown signs of decline with his 37th birthday approaching in June. He has a good record with Atlanta at 18-11. But his ERA in his 38 Braves starts is 4.73, and opponents have hit .298 with a .356 on-base percentage and a .444 slugging percentage.

Well played Mauer

These "MLB The Show" commercials are always classic, and this is no exception.

Mets and Jets

Mets seem to have figured some things out for now. Nice to see, hopefully they end up being less streaky than last year and don't give it all back.

Not sure about all these Jets moves in the offseason. I like several of them, but I am a little concerned about team chemistry. It's tough to bring that many new starters onto a team at once, especially when a lot of locker room favorites (TJ, Leon, Faneca) are gone. Add in the spotlight of HBO's Hard Knocks on them all summer, and they are really going to need all of Rex's chemistry to keep them intact and performing well. So long as Rex and his coaches maintain discipline and focus I think it could work out incredibly well, but they will need to actively stay on top of things.

IDK if you guys ever post on team boards,

but it can get nasty between rivals. However, there is the occasional poster who is such a j-hole it demands to be called out. Why not do it full force? Here's some dude absolutely pwning a tarhole who was posting on Inside Carolina:

Does that guy do crack? I read my first IC thread tonight (and last) about Singler, he was on it, and...I mean...is that one of their "insiders"? I wouldn't want that guy mowing my lawn. Lock the ****ing door. Dude is probably so loaded he's doing the Exorcist spider-walk down his stairs right now between eating glue and stealing pennies from his passed-out mom to throw at the Count Chockula ghost he keeps seeing behind his trailer.

Where the **** do these guys come from over there? Are they all on the internet in a northern Montana commune, wearing tinfoil hats, taking breaks between "whiffer" hits and goat-mounting so that they can get on the internet? Good God.

THEY ARE WHO WE THOUGHT THEY WERE.

That is all.

Rewind

Some classic quotables in anticipation of the 2010 season:

[Fredo] This season is shaping up to be a dung pile of the highest magnitude.

[Beetz] M.....E.....T.....S..... Are Jokes Jokes Jokes.

[DC, in response to SHK's list of 8 things he likes about the Mets] I like a lot more about this team than SHK does but much of that is blind devotion and the remainder is hearty optimism.

[Fredo, in response to DC's optimism] That said, if the Metties exceed expectations, you [DC] can feel good about being a true fan. In the meantime, SHK and I can feel good about insulating out emotions from the likely suckitude. And if they manage to work their way into pennant race, I'm sure I'll be able to rationalize my way back on the bandwagon.

[SHK, in further response] I would be very happy if the usual suckfest that is the Mets season doesn't appear this year, and they actually played up to expectations. Seeing them return to the playoffs would be exciting.

But I simply have to play the odds here, and the odds say that this starting rotation and lineup aren't going to be good enough or healthy enough to get it done.

So far

Sadly, things with Mejia are working out as I figured.

Nice Guys Do Finish First

Congrats to Phil Mickelson for winning the Masters.

This Dude Rules!

Gotta give him props for honesty...

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Uh huh

4 of the last 20 N.C.s to Duke.
5 of the last 10 to the ACC.

Order. Has. Been. Restored.

Play Ball!

Mets season is officially underway. Up 6-1 in the 7th now, should be good for their first W.

In other great news, the Jankees choked it big time last night. I hate the BloSox, but I'll take a choke from the Spankees anytime.

Spring Waning

From ESPN:

Pelfrey is 0-3 with a 7.97 ERA in five spring starts. He has allowed eight home runs in 20 1/3 Grapefruit League innings.

Perez is 0-1 with an 8.66 ERA in 17 2/3 innings spanning five starts. His velocity registered only 86 mph to 88 mph Tuesday against the Cardinals.

That's gonna leave a mark.

Projected rotation is now Santana, Maine, Niese, Pelf, then Perez.

St. John's hires Lavin

I have to hand it to the AD--this was a good hire. Not a grand slam home run, but a solid double. And especially given how the hiring search was going, it looked like they were going to be lucky just to make contact.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of good coaches out there. Probably some guys coaching in the America East Conference or Patriot League with even better in-game management, as X's and O's guys.

But Lavin brings some cache.

U. C. L. A. That is as big as it gets in college hoops, and a guy who had some success over there is now coaching the Johnnies. 5 sweet sixteens and 6 NCAA tourneys in 7 years is nothing to sneeze at. The lofty expectations in Westwood may have cost Lavin his job b/c he did a very good, but not exceptional job, in his 7 years there. But that was a decade ago. Lavin was 32 when he began at UCLA. At 45, he's had the benefit of much more life experience, and plenty of time picking the brains of the many basketball coaches he's worked with and analyzed during his time at ESPN.

Lavin is a great age to take over a program at 45. He has 15-25 of coaching in him if his heart is in it. He has the name recognition to bring in big time recruits (twice while at UCLA he brought in the top class in the nation). He'll just be hitting his stride at St. John's as Boeheim and Calhoun are calling it quits. There will be more room at the top of the Big East for the program with the acumen to grab it.

St. John's still faces a lot of challenges: recruiting top shelf talent to come to a commuter school that is on an unimpressive campus in a semi-urban envirornment, facilities that are not top shelf, convincing pampered elite recruits that they should play second fiddle in New York instead of being worshipped (and serviced by coeds) in places like Chapel Hill, Lawrence, Storrs, and Lexington.

I don't know if those challenges can be overcome. But there was no one on the table, including those who turned the job down (Hewitt and Greenberg), who I think are better suited to the task at hand.

Not too long ago, not too far away.

The Bob Huggins I remember.

Big East squeezes one into the FF

WVU turned an upset against UK, helped by Kentucky missing its first 20 straight three point attempts. And that was with WVU choosing to play a 1-3-1 and leaving UK plenty of open looks, challenging them to hit a few shots. UK wasn't up to the challenge.

Should Duke manage to get by Baylor (a pick 'em game at best, with their two big guys and massive backcourt speed), WVU projects much more favorable for Duke than UK would have (line will probably be Duke -1, I would guess; UK would've been UK -4). I put Duke/WVA as a 50/50 game, Duke/UK would've been 35/65.

The door is open for Duke, but as we've already seen with three 1-seeds failing to get out of their regions, there is a lot of parity in the NCAA this year. Two 5 seeds (or a 6, if it's TN) will make the FF. That pretty much speaks for itself.

As far as the Big East goes, Huggins saved a little face for the conference tonight, and invalidated my B.E.- baiting "zero teams in the FF" talk. Unfortunately, it doesn't change the fact that conference was revealed as no better than the other power conferences. In a year when the tournament committee blessed them with 3 teams as a #1 or #2 (e.g.-projected as Elite Eight teams), only one made it that far. They had 5 teams seeded 1-4 (sweet sixteen projections), and only 2 justified the seeding. And the nature of the early round losses--both the level of the opposition and the magnitude of defeats-were ridonk (here's looking at u G'Town). It was a total flameout for the B.E., and the seeding committee has a little egg on their face. WVU holds the only hope for getting people to forget all of the terrible losses by teams that had been clearly overseeded--and that is for the boys from Morgantown to win it all. Anything else won't do.