The Three Stooges

Wally Matthews (Newsday). Pete Abraham (The Journal News). Steve Phillips (ESPN). These my friends are the Three Stooges. Mets fans at times bemoan the lack of coverage our Mets get from the local media, and ESPN. These three show why that is not always a bad thing.

First, my old friend Wally. Several times last year Wally annoyed me. Whether it was writing a story extolling the virtues of Steve Trachsel while ripping an injured Pedro Martinez, or linking David Wright to PED's, or any number of other slights, Wally is consistent in his hatred of all things Met. Last week, Wally went 2 for 2. First, he wrote a hit piece on Beltran. Now, I know Carlos has been struggling, but Wally went above and beyond a mere story on that. He went on and on about how Carlos has done nothing in NY, and that he is the most overpaid Scott Boras client in NY. Of course, Wally brought up the final pitch in the NLCS. And of course he went on and on about 2005. One thing was missing, basically, the entire 2006 season. You know, the one where Carlos was an MVP candidate up until he caught his knee in the stupid ass fence in Houston. Later in the week, he wrote a piece of garbage about how the Mets don't compare favorably to the Twins. Now, I have a lot of respect for the Twins and what that organization has accomplished. They were as Wally wrote, doomed to be contracted at one point, and since then have done well. However, Wally used the piece as a chance to bash Omar and Petersen. Omar because he would not talk to Wally during the game, and Petersen because Rick doesn't like to tlak about the starting pitcher as part of one of his superstitions. Well, Wally doesn't like being told people don't want to talk to him, and bashed both parties for deciding to ignore him. I wonder if Wally realizes that part of the reason may be that he is always 100% anti-Met in any story he writes? Perhaps if he wasn't such an ass, members of the organization may talk to him.

Our second Stooge is Peter Abraham from the Journal News. He seems to be the guy in charge of the Sunday baseball section. Why else would he be able to bash the Mets in every little blurb he writes. Each week he does a little top ten teams piece (like a Power Ranking) and each week the blurb about the Mets is a negative, even when he ranks them high. Every other team gets props except for the Mets. Yesterday, Pete wrote a piece about why Mets fans hate Beltran. He had asked for feedback on Delcos' blog. Well, I don't think he got too much of a response, because he quoted feedback from one fan, as well as from Matt Cerrone at Metsblog. Now, I like Matt, and think he has a great blog. Many of the posters on his site though are extreme. So of course the piece talks about how Mets fans hate Beltran, one reason being his late attempt to join the Yanks. Now, most rational Mets fans realize this was Boras, not Carlos, but Abraham uses a handful of people to paint us in broad strokes. Personally, I could care less that Boras called the Yanks late. I like Beltran. Is he overpaid, sure, but most players are. The guy plays hurt. He did it in 2005 and took crap for it (the media leading the charge of course). He did so last year to an extent, and had a great year. So far this year, he has played with myriad injuries, and if not for others being hurt, he might have taken time off to get healthier. But he is playing through it. Yet, he gets no credit for this. And it annoys me to no end.

Finally, we get to our old idiot GM Steve Phillips, who now shows the ESPN audience that Wilpon has made mistakes, like hiring Steve. Every chance he gets he bashes the Mets. He picked them to finish third this year, behind the Braves and Phillies. So far, Steve has been wrong. Again. Yesterday on BBTN, Steve said the Mets fanbase is happy about the turmoil in the Braves clubhouse between Larry Jones and John Smoltz, since we don't think our team can beat the Braves. Steve, did you see last year's standings? The MEts won the division. The Braves, not so much as a sniff. So you see, we have beaten the Braves you pompous ass. Do yourself and the ESPN audience a favor and STFU. For someone who made myriad bad deals as Mets GM, and by the grace of God missed on a couple of others (like trading Reyes for Larkin, or Wright for Jose Cruz Jr.), you sure like to talk like you know what you are doing. Well, you don't.

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Ah, so a three game winning streak, as part of a swep of an AL team. I like. I like very much. Friday was nice, a 9-1 win behind Glavine, who finally got # 296. Against a lefty. With Dos Carlos' and Green getting two hits each. A couple of 2-out RBI. Only 2 LOB. Tommy goes 8, and Aaron finishes up. Good all around.

Saturday, a nail biter. El Duque vs. Joe Blanton. El Duque was dominant for the most part, confusing the A's with his arsenal. The highlight was a curveball that hit about 50 mph on the gun, that had the batter looking like he could have swung twice and still had time for a 3rd swing. Sloppy defense tough, and it took a poor play by A's rightfielder Buck to allow the winning run to score in the bottom of the 9th. Castro led off with a double. Beltran was walked, and up strode Wright. David blooped one to right, which should have loaded the bases, but Buck made an awful try at a dive, allowing the ball to go past him, and allowing Castro to rumble home from 2nd. It wasn't pretty, but it worked. Willie noted after the game that it wasn't pretty and he wasn't happy. MLB is probably not happy after PLD went nutso after being ejected for arguing balls and strikes and then proceeding to pull a Pinella a litter the field with equipment. Paulie is probably looking at a few days off as a result. We shall see.

Then we had yesterday. Another win, and a blowout again at that. John Maine won his 8th game of the season, 7 innings, 5 hits, no walks (yeah) and only 2 ER. He lost focus at one point, but The Jacket righted him and he got through it. The bats were alive again. Reyes led off with a double and scored on the play after Buck made a Damon-esque throw from right. Maine drove in his first run in his career in the 2nd, and from there others chipped in , with Stache hitting a 3-run HR, Beltran (is he waking up?) and Easley driving in 2 each. Shawn Green played first as Delgado got a day off (he apparently asked for it). Carlos Gomez has 3 hits, including 2 infield hits. I'm happy to see him doing this, but I fear that once teams start to cheat a bit, he is going to struggle again. Long term, I like him, but once Endy, Milledge or Alou come back, he should go back to the minors. He needs to work on his swing, he looks overmatched frequently.

But today is not a day to worry about the Mets. It is a day to be happy. And to look forward to a 4 game set against the Cardinals. No Looper though, as he is on the DL. Too bad.