I’m re-christening this page since I’m revamping it as a baseball blog, following the New York Mets and other action around the league.

MAY 13: ‘NATS 6 - METS 4: NATS TAKE SERIES AND SECOND PLACE FROM AMAZIN’S: Well, I took a couple of weeks off for JazzFest and then waited a little longer, just to see if the team would settle on a direction. Is holding steady, for the most part, a direction? Does treading water qualify? I know, I know, it’s early - somebody out there is pointing out that the Pirates had a winning record not long ago, it’s that time of year. Still, it’s never too early (mostly because I do this for free and no one reads it) to look at what’s trending well for the team…and what isn’t. Let’s start with the bad news:

Such as the fact that the middle of the order is where rallies go to die. While Pagan and Castillo have proven adept at setting the table, no one seems willing to clear it. The three hole has been a sink hole for Jose Reyes, Jason Bay wavers between cold and lukewarm, and David Wright either walks or strikes out. I’d like to see a stat on how many times Francouer has come up this year with runners on and two outs. Walks, sac flies, and ground ball singles are not enough from the 3 through 6 hitters. How many runners do we get to third with less than two outs, only to leave them there like hitchhikers outside a prison. That’s one reason I can’t get bent about K-Rod coughing up the long ball in the ninth against the ‘Nats (whose doormat days are over) yesterday. Sure it’s the opposite of what he’s paid to do, but it wasn’t K-Rod that grounded into a double play when he couldn’t drop a bunt in a tie game (see: Reyes, Jose). . . Also, we don’t have a Number 5 starter. I’ll pitch every fifth day for ten percent of Ollie’s salary, plane fare and a bottle of that lemonade Vitamin Water. I can walk the ball park with the best of them, which seems to be where Ollie always ends up. . . Leading the league in walks like the Mets pitching staff does is no way to have a winning season. I’d love to see, or maybe not, the percentage of walks Mets pitchers have surrendered with two outs, that seems to be Maine’s specialty, the two out walk, followed quickly by a double by the eight hole hitter…which in a roundabout way leads us to the GOOD NEWS. It does look like this team can pitch, starters and relievers. I pick on Maine but he seems to be on the rise. I think we can say, at least for now that Big Pelf is a legit number two, Neise seems to be the real deal and what revelations Takahasi and Nieve have been. I’m gonna say right now that while I anticipate Santana’s season will be average (for him) until the All-Star break, his second half is gonna be sick…And how about Ike Davis? I’m sold. I’ll say it. This kid is the second coming of Keith Hernandez minus the pimp ’stache and the bad habits (what? I’m talking about cigarettes). The glove, the sweet swing from the left side, the intelligence at the plate, the overall cool demeanor, this kid is Keith II. He’s the consumate lefty. He can pull the inside fastball and he can go the other way on junk off the plate and make the necessary adjustments during the same at-bat. There’s only bad news about Ike Davis if you are Daniel Murphy. Davis keeps it up and he’s hitting in the three-hole by the All-Star break, if not the middle of June.

APRIL 16: Mets 5 - Rockies 0: Just a few quick thoughts before the start of the St. Louis Series:

Last night’s sweep-averting win is one of those games you can take two ways. On one hand, there’s no ignoring the fine performance by Mike Pelfrey, the first Mets starter to go more than six innings and current owner of half of the team’s wins. This is twice in a row now and maybe we can start thinking that faith in Pelf, who is only 26, might be rewarded. And you’ve got to get guys on to score five runs, especially without the benefit of the long ball. On the other hand, this was a game that the Rockies, with mediocre pitching and shoddy defense, largely gift-wrapped for the Mets…the sequence of Wright (whose power stroke may be back)/Bay (whose average is climbing)/Francouer (who has a hit in every game and throws out more guys out than a hungover bouncer) seems to be working out well, except for the part where it seems that with two out, two on and one run in, it’s always Fernando Tatis, Mike Jacobs or Henry Blanco striding to the plate. Middle of the order walks and singles really need to be doubles and triples with our six through nine hitters looking like they do right now. Sorry, I’m not sold on Barajas yet. Too many fly balls. Line drives win games…I think this series with the Cardinals will say a lot about what kind of team we really have to start the season.

APRIL 13: Nationals Series/Maine Meltdown: Hitting this up as I have the SF-Pittsburgh game rolling. Giants are my West Coast team. Great pitching, quality players, great fans and a pretty park. I like being able to unwind with a late game…As for the Mets, what’s most on my mind after the 11-3 debacle at Coors Field is not even so much that it happened, or how it happened, but my complete lack of surprise at how things unfolded. John Maine walks the lead-off hitter then gives up a single, first and second w/no outs. He then proceeds to strike out the next two hitters - so he’s got two outs now and no harm done. At that point I would have bet my left kidney that Colorado scores in that inning, in fact I said aloud: “Here comes the double up the left field line.” What’d we get? A run-scoring single followed by about as bad a meltdown as a pitcher can have including but not limited to committing a two-run throwing error, surrendering an RBI double to the opposing pitcher, and a two-run homer to the lead-off hitter. It’s only been seven games but what concerns me is that this team looks EXACTLY like the team that limped across the finish line last year. This is a team with no “OOMph,” no killer instinct. That big hit, that third out, that 1-2-3 inning? They can’t get it. They can’t finish off innings, pitching or on offense. I don’t know how that gets fixed, but somebody needs to find a way to light a fire under this team…Does anybody know what Fernando Tatis has on Jerry Manuel that he keeps getting all this playing time? Is it photos? Video? I mean, do we really think Tatis is the answer at first?

APRIL 8: MARLINS 3 - METS 1:What’s to say about this one? As the Mysterious Stranger said: “Sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eats you.” Solid outing by Niese, especially for a kid making his first big league start since nearly tearing his leg in half. Some of you may recall just as Niese was getting into the groove last season, he tore a hammy in a gruesome injury. He threw better than expected for a guy slotted as the number five starter…Nelson Figureoa finally got to contribute to the Mets, even if it was in a Phillies uni…and yes I know Billy Wagner is hitting 97 mph in a Braves uni, let’s not forget it’s only April…Dirty little secret about the Marlins series? If the Fish weren’t throwing the ball everywhere but to each other (game one) or walking the ballpark (game two), the Mets didn’t really score any runs. You can’t depend on the other team’s shoddy D and shaky pen for runs. One well-timed double breaks open game two and the Mets take the series. That’s both the good news and the bad news. I only mention it this early in the season because the Big Hit was very elusive for the Mets last year…So after hitting a game winning homer against the beleaguered Cubbies, Chipper Jones is “day-to-day” for the weekend series against the SF Giants. Funny, it’s not like the Giants have the best pitching staff in the National League or anything. BTW, I hope this Heyward kid is the real deal, I’m gonna read someone to hate when Chipper finally hangs it up, or jumps over to the AL to DH for mad money for a year or two. ‘Cause that’s what I would do.

APRIL 7: Some early, early season thoughts on the Mets, after all of two games:

Santana looked good. A sigh of relief there. He got up in the strike zone after the third, but pitched well enough to win and I get the feeling that he’ll only get stronger as the season goes on. Because of the off day after game one, he’ll get an extra day’s rest before his next turn in the rotation.

Johnny Maine, not so much. Picking up where he left off he threw too many pitches and pitched too often from behind, the former being a direct result of the latter. At least for this one start, he looks like a mediocre pitcher short on tools. To that end, he did show some of the off-speed stuff he’s worked on during the winter and I get it in theory. Maine’s money pitch is the high fastball just off the top of the strike zone. That fastball is “faster” to the eye when mixed in with a good change and a slider, but a change that sits in the zone is a ball on a tee, as is a slider that breaks from the corner into the heart of the plate. If Maine can get his off-speed pitches down in the zone and over to the corners, he may have something. He’s shown a tendency toward wearing down late in the season. Making him less dependent on the fastball can only help with that…Of course, if the bullpen holds on Wednesday night the Mets manage to steal Maine’s first start away from the Marlins…And I’m cutting Fernando Tatis a break for trying to get home on the bases-loaded, two out, passed ball. The Fish had shown nothing but Keystone Cop defense for a game and two-thirds, why not put pressure on them. Fernando’s bad luck that their catcher picks right then to make a perfect throw.

Other thoughts:

Middle of the order looks good: Wright’s swing has snap again, Bay looks like he’s making the transition well, he’s already falling in love with that huge gap in right center and Frenchy has learned to take a pitch or two…Barajas hits it hard but I’d like to see a little less air under the balls he hits fair…Jacobs needs to loose that big looping swing. It’s no way to hit doubles into the gap…Bullpen looks terribly average….