This is Dan, Signing Off

Our baby boy is all growsed up…

Lonestar Met is Moving. Yes, Lonestar Mets is moving to its very own site. I am now writing with New York Sports Day. Same content, same Mets coverage, same smart assed remarks. Please take the time to change your bookmarks and if you have linked me to your site please make those changes as well.

It’s been fun here at Blogspot. I hope those of you who regularly read drop in and look around, maybe stay awhile- not too long, I hate overstaying houseguests.


And now, it's off to Lonestar Mets

Something for Nothing

In a spare transaction today the Mets and Brewers swapped righties.
Jeremi Gonzalez, after yesterday’s no decision against the Phillies, was DFA after the game and sent to the land of beer and bratwurst.

Jeremi, we hardly knew ye...

Mike Adams, the Mets new acquisition, is a Native Texan that hails from Corpus Christi.

The 27 year old righty has pitched in 68 2/3 innings in the bigs and was once a highly touted prospect some in the club thought would be the future closer.

With Gonzalez out of options, it seems curious that he Brewers would be willing to give up anything for a guy just DFA’d and out of minor league options. I can't imagine many teams were lining up to pick Gonzalez off the waiver wire.

Not a sexy blockbuster trade; but it is a great trade as if Professor Rick and the Mets farm can turn this guy around he may turn out to be a useful diamond in the rough. A small risk for a guy the Mets were done with as a starter.

Remind me never to buy a used car from Omar Minaya…

Mets 3 Phillies 5

Due to my need for gainful employment, I did not listen to today’s loss to Philadelphia. I did hear the 6th through 9th in my truck via XM radio.

First off, I live in Texas and while I know who Mike and the Mad Dog are, I don’t listen on a daily basis. I would like to ask a question of readers who do;

“Do these guys even like the Mets?”

I only listen to FAN when the games are on via XM. Why, even for charity are these guys even allowed on the Mets flagship. I could hear in their tones and voices that they were hoping for a loss.

In the DFW area we have 1310 The Ticket. The self proclaimed “keepers of the great game” The Hardline (3:00-7:00 Monday – Friday) are the most baseball intense hosts in a football market. They cover 50% sports and 50% everything else entertaining. The point I am laboring to make while simultaneously boring my audience is if you let those two, Greggo and Rhines, broadcast a Ranger game, you would admittedly get 9 innings of shameless cheerleading.

My second question to any NY-NJ-CT area resident is; “What gives? Why on FAN?”

Oh, and how can a professional radio broadcaster be addressed as “Dog?”

Metstradamus also weighs in on Mike and the Mad Dog broadcast and has an interesting LoDuca theory.

On to the game, Jose Reyes is hot. He missed the cycle by only a triple. I had really been impressed with his new found patience at the plate. I hope he does not alter his approach due to his new found “power stroke.” The homerun Tuesday night was shoe high at best; not that I am complaining. He still is one of the most exciting athletes to watch in sports.

As, I walked back from my lunch break, I found myself thinking, “What, no extra innings?”

I hate weekday day games.

Well off to Miami, to play a depleted Marlins team in dead last place. This should be a much less dramatic series with:

Pedro Friday
Glavine Saturday
And El Duque Sunday

I can make a prediction before we head to Miami:

Mike Jacobs will hurt us.

There, mark me down on record saying that.

Lets go Fishing

See you tomorrow.

Enter El Duque

Julio for El Duque

For those of you who don’t speak Spanish, that means… The Duque.

Actually it means The Duke, stealing it from Paul LoDuca whom I affectionately call The Duke.

Julio for El Duque, seems like a trade of two mediocre pitchers who were once respected hurlers. I give Omar credit for getting that much. Of course this will tax the pen only slightly as the Mets have been seemingly using Julio to get his numbers respectable. It’s no secret that Lonestar Met never really want him here and never trusted him near the mound.

Can Professor Rick turn this guy into a solid number 3 starter? I can’t even speculate and I hope Rick (for his sake) didn’t make some sort of time sensitive proclamation as to how soon he could repair any mechanical flaws.

So the Legacy of Mr. Ex-Anna Benson is one further player removed. Traded for a marginally talented prospect and a washed up reliever who was dealt for a-has been ex Yankee Cuban defector. Sounds about right.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not against the move. The more starting arms the better and any port in a storm and another unimaginative cliché.

Here is his split Left .376 Right .200

Hmmm

No Post Today

No Posts today, sorry folks, access to the computer is limited today as, “there are more important things than the Mets!” – Whatever the hell that means.

Tie up the computer for 5 hours and 22 minutes and some people get all upset-geez!

Anyway, I promise some extra content in the days to come and will be able to at least watch the games.

Soler vs. a short rested Lieber tonight. I am very interested to see what he’s got in his bag.

Hey, I'll tell you what. You can take a good look at a butcher's ass by sticking your head up there. But, wouldn't you rather to take his word for it?

No, I mean, you can get a good look at a T-bone by sticking your head up a butcher's ass, but then..no. It's gotta be your bull.

No wait it would have to be your cow...

Whatever, here’s a puff piece.

Mets 9 Phils 8 (16 innings)

Wow, great (if not long) game. Reyes ties it up, saves it with a grab in the hole and Beltran wins it in a little over 5 and a half hours. I have to hand it to Oliver though, I didn't think he would hold them scoreless that long.

I'm too tired to write a real post, check back tomorrow

Lonestar Met: You caught a good game for 14 innings.
Sal Fasano: I have other interests. I'm a magician.

Nancy says good night, Mets fans!

The Road not Travelled

Great series this weekend. I would have loved the sweep, but 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

I caught myself wondering about the road not traveled this off-season. As I don’t usually care what happens in the American League, much less Canada, I don’t know the events surrounding the 21.1 innings that these numbers occurred in. However by road not traveled, I speak of course of B.J. Ryan.

To be upfront, when looking at available closers I had the same mindset of Omar Minaya: Sign Wagner, whatever it takes, no exceptions, no substitutions. Some may have considered Ryan, but I was a Wagner guy. In fact, my favorite gift this year was my Wagner pinstripe home jersey.

None the less:

Billy Wagner:
20 games, 21.1 innings pitched, 12 save opportunities, 9 saves, 17 hits, 8 earned runs, 3 HR’s, 11 walks and 30 K’s- 3.38 ERA
4 years $43 Million and an option for $8 in year 5

B.J. Ryan
19 games, 21.0 innings pitched, 10 save opportunities, 10 saves, 9 hits, 8 earned runs, 0 HR’s, 5 walks and 22 K’s- 0.43 ERA
5 years $47 Million

I don’t usually play the coulda, woulda, shoulda game but it makes you think, eh?
Sorry, last bad Canadian reference.

Is Ryan’s early success a fluke? Maybe, we will see. I don’t think Omar made a mistake and I would still go with Wagner over Ryan. Maybe that will change in 07, 08, or 09 but for now I think Wagner is in his own league as a premier closer.

And no I don’t think the malnourished cross town closer is as good or better.

I don’t know if you can say Wagner has pitched poorly but as far as expectations thus far he has fallen short of them.

All that said, is there some kind of curse surrounding Mets closers? If Sanchez was promoted to closer, would he get lit up? What about if it were Ryan instead of Wagner? Did Franco’s alleged mob ties give him some sort of old world curse that was passed to Shea stadium?

I offer no proof or explanation to back up my answers to any of those questions, but all four answers are yes.

Maybe I am knee-jerking but the Phillies and Braves are getting pretty big in the rearview mirror and not going away anytime soon.

What’s my solution? I would like to start a collection to pay the tuition for the class: Managing your bullpen 101.

If this pen, for all the accolades thrown to it, becomes vulnerable, (or gulp, injury ridden) the Mets have the wrong man to try and counterbalance any relief shortcomings. Ever since he came to town, or cross town I should say, Willie has been making strange and illogical decisions with his lineup, particularly the man on the mound. I know it’s not the American League and requires a little more strategy to get the most out of the 9 slot in the order, but come on- this is the Majors. It seems that he does not know his players strengths and weaknesses. From everything I have read on Filthy, he is a rubber arm that is at his best with regular innings. Wagner and the Mets may lead us to believe the injury fairy came and cured Wagner’s finger.

Make model airplanes says the fairy, well I’m not buyin it. Pretty soon there’s money missing and your daughters knocked up. I’ve seen it a hundred times…


The use of Wagner in the ninth was a judgment call and not indefensible but the latest in a long line of suspect decisions. I know Wagner should be able to get 3 outs every night but have to pitch him in every 9th inning lead situation.

I wonder how much it would take before we se this man in the dugout at Shea.



Take solace in one thing Mets fans; the nowhere on the bullpen roster does it read Mike Stanton or Ricky Bottalico. That alone makes this pen better than recent Mets teams.

Speaking of Omar’s decisions, Soler is scheduled to make his MLB debut Wednesday. Again, I think Pelfrey should get all the time he needs in the minors. Soler had velocity troubles in spring training and I don’t know how ready he is for minor league pitching or if he will be anything but a back of the rotation guy but he is older, he has played for the Cuban team and his name isn’t Jose Lima. As always expect the worst and hope for the best.

The very last reason is probably warrants a start the most.

On a final note, I utilized my day off from Mets baseball to spend time wisely. I was watching an old re-run of Married with Children. It was an episode from the 94 season and contained cameos from players as themselves working in everyday jobs as they had no baseball to play. The Cameo’s included Bret Saberhagen, Dave Winfield, Frank Thomas, and Mike Piazza. Piazza played a camera operator that was supposed to be filming an interview with Al Bundy as he had just taken led NO’MAAM group in jumping the fence at Wrigley to play baseball. Mike instead chose to divert the camera's attention to Kelly while Al was speaking. Kinda funny.

I love that show, I should right a blog about it.

But I probably won’t.

Anywho, tonight Steve Trachsel leads the Mets at Shea as they attempt to put some distance between themselves and the Phillies.

My lovely wife has agreed to give up her time with the Laptop so that Nancy the Mets Dog Blogger and I can enjoy the game on MLB TV.

Let’s go Mets!

A Quick Note

Greetings all Mets fans, I wasn’t planning to post this afternoon, but this caught my attention on ESPN.com.

Warning- clicking the following link may lead to uncontrollable fits of anger, spouts of profanity and anal leakage. Read at your own risk.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you…

Nonsensical elitist condescending drivel

To Mr. Heylar:
You know nothing, you get nothing, you lose, good day sir!

Mets 4 Yankees 5 (11 innings)

That was certainly depressing. What a waste of a brilliant start. The opposite feeling from last night.

For the life of me I can’t figure bringing in your closer to protect a 4 run lead when he pitched 18 hours prior, especially with his finger in questionable shape. Wagner gets paid to get the last 3 outs and should be able to close out the game in that situation, no doubt but with Filthy Sanchez cruising through the 8th, his spot not up in the bottom half, why pull him? Not to mention both pitchers were used today giving neither a day off if needed for Sunday's game.

Sanchez is a pitcher that thrives on work; Wagner is a different story. These are the things that make me worry if Willie can handle the pen during a crucial late season run when the arms are tired.

On a personal note, I accept a portion of the blame for the blown lead. Although Wagner’s insertion into the game puzzled me, I dutifully put on my Wagner jersey to hope he closed out the game. Every time I’ve done that Wagner has either blown a save or a lead- the first series against Washington started this ugly trend. Sorry Mets fans, my bad. I immediately took my Wagner jersey to the dry cleaners and hopefully the stain of this game will be washed out of said jersey.

Sign of a real fan: When you wash your dress close in the laundry machine but you take your Mets stuff to the dry cleaners.

Before i get started on my rant, Way to go Cliffy, hope you hit many more.

I was happy to be able to view the Mets-Yankee game on the Fox station in Texas, but a few things got under my skin:

On a fly out to Floyd, they made sure to mention that Floyd had made an error in a prior inning and then that by catching the ball he took the ball from a Yankee fan.

The nerve of a left fielder making a play and not deferring to the Yankee fan. Floyd should be suspended.

But, make sure to point out the guy with the paper in the stands, nice snarky comment too- Thanks fellas!

Oh, I guess every one has been saying the 47 year olds name for the past 3 decades. Sorry about that, Julio Fronco.

While the Mets were winning, every chance to mention that the Yankees were missing Matsui, Posada and Sheffield was utilized.

“its one thing to be injured and banged up…”

Yeah, we got it; the Yankees have a few guys on the DL. They are the only ones I guess; I can’t wait to see Bannister, Zambrano, and Maine’s next starts. Maybe Padilla will get to set up the closer.

Boy, I just couldn’t choose if I liked Johnny Damon better with long hair or short, he’s so dreamy. I voted twice.

What was that nonsense one of the Fox guys was carrying on about “the best team money can buy?” He droned on for half an inning at the mystery of the Mets not being labeled as a team that purchases free agents. His partner finally mentioned that they Yankees have a payroll that is near double of what the Mets spend. What kind of Jackass can criticize Minaya for the way the club is put together?

Fox came back from commercial and made a point to show Wagner run in from right to “Enter Sandman.” {I believe it was} Judas McCarver said, “Isn’t that baseball’s form of plagiarism?” as Wagner ran in to warm up for the 9th. I don’t care about the whole Wagner-Riveria warm up song “controversy” but did they show that replay just so they could throw the extra slam at the Mets. Until that point the Mets seemed primed to win that game handily and the Fox guys just seemed like sore losers.

Finally, when Wagner was removed a batter too late, the comment was made that, “Even if the Mets win, the damage has been done. It may take Wagner 2 weeks to recover.” Did Riveria need 2 weeks after the first game? It was a bad outing where Wagner didn’t have his control. If anything I chalk it up to a day appearance following a night appearance.

Not a game that I will always remember, and a hell of a way to waste Pedro’s great performance but its only one game. To disrespectfully disagree with the Fox broadcast booth, (I say disrespectfully as that’s what Fox gave the Mets fans today; nothing but disrespect) win tomorrow and it will be smooth sailing. I would love another sweep of the Yanks but it is a long season and you can’t win them all.

If anything, the Yankee "fans" are nervous.

Tommy is up tomorrow for what should be a national game. Make sure to tune in Mets fans. You don’t want to miss ESPN's Jeter worship in Hi-Def. Maybe Tommy can finish what Pedro started.

Shut em out, shut em up.

Lets Go Mets!