20-50

Is that Cliff Floyd's vision? No, it's the Mets all-time record at Turner Cemetery. When Cliff Floyd steps to the plate with 1st and 3rd with one out, what other way to get out of that scenario besides striking out and not scoring? The pitchers best friend of course, and that's what Cornelius grounded into in the 3rd inning. Absolutely no clutch offense. Remember when the Mets smacked the D'Backs around? Well, here's an interesting fact that Marty Noble, the Mets beat writer, dug up. The Mets had 22 hits in 52 at-bats with runners on base in their 14-1 and 18-4 routs of the Diamondbacks on Aug. 23 and 24, for a .423 average. Beginning the next night and through their loss here in Atlanta yesterday (11 games), they had 23 hits with runners on base. But those hits came in 143 at-bats -- 91 more. That average is .161. That is absolutely terrible... Gruesome.

Why the Mets can't score runs? Ask Subway Willie... the answer must be somewhere in those sandwiches. Ask Cornelius why he is not clutch, especially against the Braves. He'll make up some bullshit that his knee hurt. Ask Pedro Martinez why he didn't look Marcus Giles back when the 137-year old 1st baseman of the 18th century Julio Franco hit a dribbler that Giles scored on from second base... and the dinosaur was out at first. How does this happen? Your answer... Only the Mets can manage to do it.

I love the Mets. Even when after they lost, I would proudly wear my blue cap with orange logo, but enough is enough. I don't even do that anymore. It's gotten to the point when watching them just puts me sick to my stomach... THEY'RE JUST SICKENING! The Mets will make one more run to make you think they're gonna contend, but despite that, they're finished for this year. I am already starting to look forward to next year, and I see a much, much better team ahead of us. We have to be a young team, and Cliff Floyd is not the answer. Neither is Manny Ramirez or Alfonso Soriano. The Mets have always had good homegrown talent, looking back to Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry, and looking forward to David Wright and Jose Reyes. This is a youth movement ladies and gentlemen. Lets get going on the road to it.

LETS GO METS!

It's Now Or Never

Tonight could make or break our season, but isn't that every game that could do it? It's Pedro Martinez, the Mets ace, versus John Smoltz, the Braves ace. The Mets need Pedro to be vintage Pedro as I like to call it, and the bats need to get smoking... and I mean smoking. Our starting pitching is fabulous, but our offense is downright dismal. I know Smoltz is a great pitcher, and can still get it into the low- to mid-90's, but Pedro's velocity hasn't been there in a real long time. At one time during his career, Pedro could throw mid- to high-90's, but his velocity has been down to 85-87 mph for his fastball, which is Tom Glavine territory. The first game Pedro Martinez faced John Smoltz this year was when the Mets carried a horrible 0-5 record through the first five games of the season. Smoltz sat down 15 Mets on strikes, but still lost the game. After that game, Carlos Beltran had 2 home runs on the season and their record was 1-5. Carlos Beltran now has 14 home runs, only 12 more since that 6th game of the year. The Mets record is now 70-67, 137 games into the season, 25 games left to make the playoffs. 3 games out of the Wild Card are the Mets, but with 7 losses in the last 9 games, it's very tough to make the playoffs. The offense can't produce, and you can't get far in the playoffs if your offense can't score and drive in runs.

When the Mets lose, I get extremely pissed. When they win, I think they're going to make the playoffs the next day. If the Mets don't make the playoffs, it's still a good year, because I expect them to finish over .500. They should definitely finish better than last year because their final record last year was 71-91, and they only have to win two more games to eclipse that mark. The Mets need a huge offensive bat right in the middle of that lineup, but who is it?

Put Your Money Where Your Bat Is

Carlos Beltran... King of The Un-clutch. Can't hit a fastball above his belt. I know he drove in a run today, but still, this guy is supposed to be the best player the Mets have ever signed, and he has done nothing to show it. When Beltran drives in a run, or hits a home run (very rare occasion on both), I get a little giddy. Like yesterday, he drove in two runs, and I thought he might be turning it around. The next day, he just blanks that previous memory, and you hope this guy will bounce out of it, but never does.

Mike Piazza during his long tenure with the Mets, was extremely clutch, hitting meaningful home runs during the 1999-2000 regular and post-seasons. He is still one of my favorite players, but Carlos Beltran is nowhere near Mike Piazza in any terms of production. I know Beltran wears a shirt that says "Mets" or "New York" across the front, but doesn't this guy practice so hard? He does in fact, but it never pays off for some reason. When Beltran was signed this winter, I thought we had a very good chance to make the post-season. But then as usual, the Mets jerk your chain... and when you just think they're out of it, they turn it on again. If they don't get out of this offensive funk, slump, dump... whatever you want to call it... this season is gonna be done. We have been getting terrific starting pitching, but the game is lost to a bullpen snafu, offensive slump, or a Willie gut feeling...

Steve Trachsel pitched an excellent game once again today, only to be lost to the Jones Brothers. Larry drove in one in the first, following Marcus Giles' double with a double of his own. It was already 1-1 after the first, but I didn't expect much from the Mets. Thomson was done after 5, throwing over 100 pitches, and left holding the Mets to one run, and on for the win. Andruw smacked a Steve Trachsel offering a long ways away in the fourth inning. In the seventh, the Mets had bases loaded with one out, and Mr. Un-Clutch flied out to Francoeur in right, who threw an absolute strike on the fly right to Johnny Estrada, who tagged Victor Diaz out easily, after he slid right into his leg, which was blocking the plate. The Mets tied it in the top of the 8th when Ramon Castro flew out to Andruw, who made an off-line throw to Estrada at home, which hit David Wright as he was diving home, allowing Doug Mientkiewicz to advance to second. In the bottom of the inning, Furcal led off with a single, and Giles popped up a bunt attempt. Jones smacked a fastball inside as Furcal took off for second, and hit it over the left-center field wall, almost towards dead center.

Oh Jae Can You See

Today the Mets beat out the Marlins 7-1 with some pretty good offense for once. The Mole had 2 RBI, Wright had 2, and Cliff Floyd smoked a 2-home run to absolute dead center over Juan Pierre's head. Jae Seo had a great game with seven strong innings of five-hit one-run ball. He struck out 6 and walked 2 for a great performance. Jae Seo and Co. shut down Delgado and Cabrera today, and Shingo Takatsu wasn't involved. Braden Looper threw a perfect ninth for a no-save situation.

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Mike Piazza still believes he can play this year.

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Tomorrow... the Mets take on the always hated Braves at 1:05 pm on Labor Day. The matchup is Steve Trachsel (1-0, 0.00) vs John Thompson (3-4, 4.80) the one-time Met of 9 games started... holder of a record of 2-6 during that brief tenure of the 2002 season.

Tuesday- Pedro Martinez (13-6, 2.90) vs John Smoltz (13-6, 3.02) 7:35 pm
Wednesday- Tom Glavine (10-12, 4.00) vs Tim Hudson (12-7, 3.38) 7:05 pm

Carlos "Mole" Stinktran and Bullpen meltdowns

Mole boy just keeps sucking it up more and more. If this guy is getting paid $119 million dollars, he should be able to perform better than a 22-year old third-baseman making the league minimum, correct? Well, in the face of the Mets, this doesn't happen. David Wright is probably worth more of that $119 million than Carlos Beltran will ever be. Hey Carlos, you haven't even been on the team a year yet. What is that like the 37th game you lost for us this season?!?

Diaz... what the hell are you doing in right field? You and Victor Zambrano should be playing second base! Zambrano... why did you ever move from the infield? Duquette... why did you try to get the Mets in the playoffs when they were no where near it, trading one of the top prospects for a shitty pitcher like Zambrano who can't pitch a game for his life?!?
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Kevin Kernan has an article in today's Post on when the bullpen enters, the game's over.

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Will Jae Weong Seo be his old self of last year when he went 1-2 with 3.86 ERA against them? Or will we see the new and improve Jae (not the one we saw on Tuesday)?

I'm sick of L-o-s-i-n-g

Why can't Willie Randolph manage? Boy I wish we still had Bobby V. This is my first blog and I hope to create more.