Short one

Mets have 23 games left until all star break.  They will win 17 out of 23.  Lock it up, book it and throw away the key.  The Mets will make their run, get me the wins I locked up and win me a free Daveys dinner.

Rangers unlikely to keep Avery

I really don’t know how the New York Rangers can pass on Sean Avery.  It is pretty idiotic to think they’ll just let him go because of a contract dispute in the area of 800,000 dollars.  The Rangers have over payed for much older and worse players.  Avery is 28 and will be 29 when season comes around and sure he can probably be a handful to coach and play with though the thing is the Rangers have won with him in the lineup and have been a horrible team without him.  To say they can just let him go and get someone like Darcy Tucker to replace him is mind boggling.  Tucker is an older guy, with his best years behind him, and while he scores a lot more goals then Avery would, he really doesn’t bring the annoyance that Avery brings to a goaltender. We saw Avery get into the head of the best goaltender in the world, Martina Brodeur.  Brodeur even admitted it and showed it when he refused to shake Averys hand at the end of the first round of the Nhl playoffs.  The Rangers have made steps in the right direction, they have a goalie of the future,  signed two winning players last year and have a bunch of young kids helping out.  Avery fits in, he is the guy that will get on the other teams minds, they can’t ignore him, they can try, but will never work out.  If the Rangers want to continue to go in the right direction, they must sign Avery, or there will be a lot of fire Sather chants at the garden this year.

In Jerry Manuel We Trust? Omar Makes Another Mistake

Jerry Manuel is known has a great guy, very popular in baseball and a player friendly manager.  Those are all the reasons why he is the wrong choice to manage the Mets the rest of the way.  Now don’t get me wrong, I have no beef with Manuel, who has been a manager of the year and managed winning ball clubs.  The thing is that he is exactly like the guy that the Mets organization and fans wanted to out, Willie Randolph.  Now he might have more fire then Randolph, and occasionally argue with the umpires, but that’s not saying alot due to Randolph never going out to argue a call.  Thing is, Randolph was known to be a popular guy, great in the clubhouse, and after his first year, he was a player friendly manager.  Though that all changed when the Mets started losing and the players believed what the media and fans were saying, that it was all Willie’s fault.

But Willie is gone now and Manuel is in and that should be enough for most fans.  Though it is not enough for this fan, Manuel is not the right fit for this team, this teams needs a manager that is going to light a fire under these guys.  A manager that won’t take Jose Reyes being a baby, or the teams lackadaisical play.  They need a manager who will bench Delgado, Schneider or even the poster boy David Wright when they aren’t getting it done.  A manager who is going to get kicked out of games because he can’t watch his team play, and hopefully get messages through to the team and fans.  Also maybe a manager who will encourage this team to fight a little bit, throw at a guy, or do more then stare down when get thrown or hit at.  Encouraging fights is a bad thing for sports, but once in awhile, you might need it as a wake up call, and if you don’t believe me, ask Pinella and his Cubs.  They looked just as bad as the Mets last season, until Pinella starting going nuts and his team fought with everyone, including each other.  But now it looks like the Cubs are the favorites to reach the World Series, and the Mets look destined for an early vacation.

Truth is that the team should of let Manuel and Alomar Sr. go also.  They are both respectable names in baseball, but the fact is that this team didn’t respect any of the coaches anyway.  You leave Howard Johnson and then bring up the minor league guys to replace the other coaches.  Then the Mets could of named Ken Oberkfell the manager, and give him a test run, and let him go next year also to see if this guys legit.  That’s one way they could of handled it.  Another way is paying alot of Bobby Valentine, which would be a great way to open the ballpark and he would defiantly be hard on this team until they played baseball fundamentally correct.  The way I would go would be giving Wally Backman a shot.  You see if this guy has what it takes, if not, you fire him after half a season.  Whats the difference anyway, he would go year to year basis and wants to finally manage in the majors.  He also has won everywhere hes gone, and will come very cheap.  The majority of the fans would love him to, being an ex-met and with the fire he has.  But the Mets chose Manuel, and Omar said he is the manager the rest of the way.  Lets hope this turns out well for the Mets, Manuel and Omar, because if it doesn’t, then Omar, Manuel and us Met fans will all be going to new homes next year, without a championship.

Congrats Jerry Manuel! Now deal with it!

This wont be a huge post, just wanted to congratulate Jerry Manuel for inheriting the Mets managerial job.  And on the first at bat for Manuel’s manager career as a Met, Jose Reyes singled and apparently hurt his leg on the rounding of first.  So Manuel came out and after talking, decided to take Reyes out.  What does Reyes do, he complains and screams and refuses to come out of the game.  Now Manuel did pull him, and Reyes walked off field untucking his jersey and throwing his helmet and then going into the clubhouse. I got to ask how Jose Reyes can go and show up his new manager on the first play of the game.  Thats unreal and stupid. Gary Cohen did say Manuel went into clubhouse and nobody knows what happened, but I am hoping he reamed and screamed at Jose Reyes to make a point to him and the team, that he is the manager and they will respect him, or go sit on the bench, hurt or not.  So congrats Jerry Manuel, for inheriting these lazy losers called the Mets.  They have attitudes, style, egos, and plenty of bling.  Just no championship bling.

Willies fired? What is next?

After beating Texas two out of three in the weekend series at Shea, Willie Randolph and his team got on their plane and went out to Anaheim for a series against the American Leagues West top team.  The Mets won the game 9-6 and Willie got fired.  Wait, what was that?  That’s right, Willie Randolph was fired at 3 a.m. eastern time last night.  He was told to go see Omar Minaya in his hotel room, and there Willie was told of his own fate and his coaches, Peterson and Nieto.  I for one was never a huge Willie fan and didn’t want him back after last seasons collapse.  He was brought back and I lived with it, and there were times this season you could of fired him, and the fans would of been ok.  But only the New York Mets can make something that every fan wanted, look bad.  That’s right, fans have spoken and are upset with the way Minaya pulled this off.  Keep in mind, these are the fans who wanted Willie fired forever just like myself.  Willie has always been a classy guy and a great New Yorker, and didn’t deserve to go down like this.  For Omar, this is his last chance, he fired his guy, and now has Jerry Manuel in there to try and turn around this season, and Omars job.  If the Mets continue to fall, there should be no doubt, that the Wilpons take back the team they actually own and fire Omar and fire his buddy Bernazard.  With a new stadium on the horizon, the Wilpon tandem defiantly didn’t think they would be going into it with most likely a new manager and even a new general manager.  But for now, its up to the players, can the Mets find the heart and get back in the race, or will 2009 be a brand new season, with a brand new park, and maybe a brand new team?