Appalling fan behavior

And it's not even at Shea. Even more shocking, it's not even in Philadelphia. Nope, it's in good ol' Atlanta. Guy gets beat up because he roots for the opposing team. Apparently, even Pittsburgh Pirates fans aren't safe in Hotlanta.

I'm a fan writing this. Most of the people who will read this are fans as well. How many of us would dream of decking another fan for wearing the other teams gear? I'm all for some friendly heckling, but this is over the line. To quote Joey Tribbiani, this guy is so far over the line, he can't even see where the line is. The line is a dot to this guy.

Fan behavior seems to be at an all-time low early in this season. Phillies fans are cheering injuries and throwing Mets fans over the railings. Braves fans are knocking opposing fans' teeth out. In a completely unrelated sport, I was at the Bills-Bengals game when Chad Johnson got carted off the field on a stretcher, and some fans were cheering. We're booing our own players frequently at Shea.

The sad part is, some "fans" can't go to the game without getting completely hammered. I just want to know why. If you want a beer or two, fine by me. But why do people have to have to get completely hammered and ruin the game for others? If you can't enjoy a baseball game without getting drunk, why are you at the game in the first place?

I have two words for these people. Stay home. If you can't have a good time at the game without getting smashed, don't go to the game. Just stay home and drink all you want. That way you can enjoy what you like, and the fans of the game can enjoy what they like. So just stay home.

Stop giving the rest of us a bad name.

Mental Toughness

We don't have it. It's unfortunate really. I wish we had it. But we don't.

How do I know we don't. ESPN has told me. Sports Illustrated told me. Eric Karabell told me on the Baseball Today podcast. An anonymous GM told me.

Its too bad really. I don't like knowing that if Aaron Heilman gives up a home run he can't come back the next day and strike out two batters with the bases loaded. It disappoints me that Jose Reyes can't bounce back from a 8 for 39 (.205 BA) to go 8 for his next 19 (.421 BA).

I'm concerned because Mike Pelfrey doesn't have "it". I don't think Nelson Figueroa will be able to recover from his world travels, his confidence is probably shot. It's a crying shame that Carlos Beltran has no leadership ability whatsoever.

We still can never beat the Phillies. Their in our heads. Our rotation has too many question marks. The Braves rotation is much more reliable. We won't finish any better than third.

Might as well give up on this season. The experts told me to.

Turning Point

I think I'm officially ready to put 2007 behind me. You know, put it in writing, get over it. And I have a reason. This guy is gone:

And this guy is back:

Ever since the Carlos-Jose heart-to-heart (dashes galore!!!) this team has looked better. That lack of heart seems to be gone, replaced by the guy who makes this team run.

Jose said he didn't want to be the reason the team lost. And in my opinion, straight-faced Jose may not have been the reason we lost, but he wasn't helping us win. Reverting to his old form is the best way Jose can prevent losing. Don't think for one second the Phillies and Braves want to beat us more because of Jose's exuberance. It's ridiculous. They want to beat us because they want to win. Like every other team, regardless of their opposition.

But it's going to be a little tougher now because...

Heeeeeee's Baaaaaaaaccckkk...

The Stopper

What we have been hearing since the Johan trade is that he's a stopper. He can prevent a prolonged losing streak by picking up key victories. Apparently, we had a guy like that all along.

For the second time this season, Big Pelf has stepped up to stop a losing streak, right when it seemed like the fans were about to go over the edge. His last start was the first of a three-game winning streak, after dropping three straight to the Braves and Phillies. Now, with words like lackluster and disappointing being the predominant adjectives to describe the start of the Mets season, Pelf steps up again and gets a win.

Now, we had all heard what "they" were saying about him. Never going to be a #1 starter. Doesn't have the mental toughness. Might have what it takes to be a solid middle reliever. Doesn't have the killer instinct.

Well guess what. Maybe "they" were wrong. Maybe Big Pelf does have what it takes. He's proven it in this young season, holding the Phillies to two runs and throwing seven shutout innings against Washington, ending losing streaks both times. We'll see how his season pans out, but he makes me want to believe.

But we might want to keep that Johan around, just in case.

P.S. Welcome back Dirty.

Hits of an Angel

A parody of Lips of an Angel/tribute to Angel Pagan. Enjoy.

Why did this game run so late?
Shea is really rockin' right now
Charile quit your whining
You'll lose anyway
Can't hear a whisper through the roar of the crowd

Well
Your hit bounced
Through the infield
Boy did you ever come through
And drive in Jose with the winning run

It's really good to have you back
On our team
Your swing's so sweet
We're livin' on the hits of an Angel
Winnin' the walkoff game of the week
And why
Doesn't Charlie say good bye
To the umpire who made a good call
On the hit of an Angel

It's funny he's called safe tonight
And yes, it's the right call too
But it's not gonna stop old Charlie
From trying to start a fight
No I don't think he has a clue

Well
Your hit bounced
Through the infield
Boy did you ever come through
And drive in Jose with the winning run


It's really good to have you back
On our team
Your swing's so sweet
We're livin' on the hits of an Angel
Winnin' the walkoff game of the week
And why
Doesn't Charlie say good bye
To the umpire who made the right call
On the hit of an Angel

Enough's enough, I've suffered and I've seen the light

You're my Angel, come and save me tonight. You're my Angel, come and make it all right.

Walk-off hit for the Mets' best hitter in the clutch this year. What else did you expect? Pagan leads the team in RBI right now, and has a nifty .370 batting average. It's early, but still this is encouraging. He may not have Moises' pop, but he (along with Ryan Church) are driving in the runs right now. And he's racking up the hits, when pitchers are usually ahead of hitters.

But let's not forget to give this guy some credit too...


That pic's for you, lady readers (Hi Mom!!!). Big time two out double. Gameday made it look like it was smoked, as much as Gameday can. Two hits for Jose, and his first steal of the year. And scoring from second when Werth was playing shallow in center. I'm not sure how he was safe, but I think he was.

It looks like he got his hand in right before Coste applied the tag. Gameday only gives the one replay (which, by the way, is awesome to get replays right after they happen), so I didn't get a better angle of the play.

The angle isn't the best, but the Angel is pretty darn good.

Opening Day

First of all I would like to apologize for the long layoff. Expect regular posts throughout the season. Okay, down to the nitty-gritty.

1-0

All we can really ask for at this point. Haters can say what they want about posting a dominating victory over the Marlins, but this is what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to take care of business against the Marlins, Nationals, and Pirates.

Oh, wait. Those other two teams all won yesterday. Oh, wait, they beat teams that are supposed to compete with us for a division title. Atlanta and Phillie both went down to teams that haven't been over .500 on the same day since March 31, 2003. Atlanta needed a gift from Jason Bay and Nate McClouth to even take the Pirates to extra innings.

Meanwhile, Johan did his thing in Miami, and David Wright continues his trend of extending hitting streaks between seasons with a double that blew this one open. Bullpen was shaky, but did the job on a day when bullpen issues were the big story, especially in Atlanta and Philadelphia.

The other big story: Former Mets helping us out. Xavier Nady (The Untier according to Baseball Tonight) hit two home runs against Atlanta, including the go-ahead 3 run blast in the 12th. Lastings belted a 2-run homer in Philly and scored the go-ahead run in the 9th. Lo Duca added an RBI double to extend Washington's lead.

If these guys do more damage against our division opponents for other teams that they did for the Mets then trading them works out well no matter what we got for them. As for our other trade this offseason, after one game it looks pretty good.

This is why we're the good guys

If you want the reason we're the good guys in this whole Mets-Phillies rivalry (it's there, don't try to fight it) I have a thousand words for you:

John Maine is our good guy. Looking for a picture I found this article from Miracle Mets. I'm assuming the outrage has subsided. He has been an outstanding pitcher this year, and from all we're hearing about him this spring he's a great guy.

At Church of the Fonz we hear of his lengthy autograph session, sense of humor, and appetite for batting practice jerseys.

A story from a couple weeks ago details what a bright guy he is over at mets.com. And even though he is very intellegent, he's just a little behind the times technologically speaking.

But here are the best stories about John Maine. While Cole Hamels whines about his half a mil "low blow" John Maine accepts it for what it is. "I'm thankful for everything I make in this league" he told the New York Post. "I'm lucky to be doing this for a living."

Isn't this the kind of guy you want on your team. He's smart and humble, and he won 15 games last year.

I'll take him over Cole Hamel$ and Brett "that'll teach 'er" Myers any day.

Michigan and the Phillies

Alright, actual baseball on Sportscenter this morning. Caught Jose's double and David's home run. For those of you who haven't seen this and would like to, here it is (not the Sportscenter clip, but it works). Also, the story about Billy wanting to bean the Michigan kid who tried to bunt on him. I'm so proud of Daddy Wags.

The Phillies become more and more laughable by the day. First, Little Jimmy Rollins tries to tell everyone he originated the term "team to beat." Then there's this post from yesterday on why the Mets are not the team to beat (and I hope an attorney at law would recognize he's plagiarizing Little Jimmy). Check out the comments as well, as they prove once and for all how much smarter Mets fans are than Phillies fans.

And here's today's Phillie Phoolishness. That's right, Philly.com did a writeup on how the Cubs have not won a World Series for 100 years. Isn't that just screaming "Yeah, we suck, but at least we haven't sucked as much as the Cubs!!!" Winning one World Series in your 125 year history apparently gives you the right to laugh at other teams failure to do so.

Don't worry Phillie fans. In 72 years when you have gone 100 years without a title, at least you can write about how the Cubs haven't won a Series in 172 years.