The Morning After - The All Stars (NL lose again, 4-3)

I was not surprised by last night's All Star game outcome of the AL triumphing over the the NL once again. I do recall that when I was growing up, it was the other way around. During those years, it seemed like the NL had the AL's number. The NL was so dominant, it was almost like the NL had the AL's signs. Now it feels like the AL stars shine consistently brighter each year. Perhaps they do.

The discussion with the President along with the FOX announcers hit upon a possible explanation for the dominance by the AL. President Obama agreed that it probably had much to do with the DH in the AL and how better offensively prepared the AL is even though they don't use the DH in the All Star game. Huh? Come again? That's illogical. And the way the AL has won doesn't support this odd theory. It sounded interesting. The take away was that the President nodded and agreed so profusely to this inane theory. That's the part that concerns me. When a trusted advisor in the White House or on his national security team says something, does the President simply agree without thinking it through? Let's hope not.

Now back to baseball.

Santana didn't get into the game last night. It was reported that he and the Mets asked Charlie Manuel to leave him out. Good call. Wonder why though?

David Wright did get a broken bat, two out bloop hit and scored the first run for the NL in the 2nd inning. Unfortunately, David also threw a ball in the dirt that prevented a double play in the first inning and allowed the AL to score. This was typical David Wright once again. He giveth. He taketh away. Disappointing.

Frankie Rodriguez pitched the last inning for the NL. Threw 6 pitches and did a great job. It would be good if he was occasionally as efficient when he closed for the Mets. That's not a complaint though. He's been pretty terrific for the Mets. I wonder why Charlie Manuel didn't bring in Lidge and elected to go with Rodriguez? Lidge is a Phillie, his guy. Maybe he wanted to rest Lidge and that was the reciprocity for the Santana handshake with the Mets. Or perhaps Manuel was saving Lidge for a save opportunity which never arrived for the NL. In any case, only 6 pitches for KROD and with a day off today, it probably was good for the Mets closer.

Another day off today and then let's hope that Jeff F can pump some adrenaline and lead the Mets through Atlanta to kickoff the 2nd half.

Jerry's Injuries

Let's spend a minute counting the Mets injuries that Jerry is managing through. First and foremost there's Delgado, Reyes, Beltran and Church. If you count emotional injuries, there's Ollie Perez. There's Schneider, who really isn't missed. There's Alex Cora and Ramon Martinez. Who did forget? Oh yes, Billy Wagner.

Now let's look at other teams. For example, Tampa Bay Rays, which is a team expected to compete. There injury has been Scott Kazmir, Shawn Riggans, Jason Bartlett, Chad Bradford, Pat Burrell, Akinori Iwamuram, Troy Percival, who might retire rather than return and Fernando Perez.

The point is that the Mets injury situation isn't unique. The problem is that the Mets do not have much depth in the minors from which to pull replacements. Omar and his crew haven't done a very good job to stock the minors. On top of that add the fact that Jerry just isn't a creative manager. It's like driving a car at 65 miles an hour - notice we are within speed limit - pointed directly at a cement wall. And the driver, Jerry, continues to go straight for that wall, another loss. Happens all the time with the Mets. Willie Randolph used to do that. Willie's former bench coach, Manuel, does it too.

On the bright side, we hear that FMart may be on his way to Citifield.

From Flushing to San Fran to LA to Boston

Here's another baseball adage. Just when you are sure things are going to get even worse, they turn around. Well, that may not always be true. In fact, in baseball it often isn't. For the Mets, the past 9 days have gone from disappointing in Flushing to exciting to San Fran. From then it went to miserable in San Francisco and onto the remarkable in Boston. With Santana displaying his own form of gutty magic again and with Santos and 9th inning defense in the 2nd game, the Mets seem back from the dead.

Or were they ever really dead or even dying? We can now all attest that the Mets aren't dead or even dying. They are hurting. Now add our closer tothe mix of walking wounded. Correction. In this case, non-walking wounded.

Sounds like disk problems, but I only say that because I have 2 herniated ones. When they act up, it feels like what KRod described, including sciatica paid shooting down my left leg. When it's really bad, there is a tingle all the way down to the toes accompanied by lower back spasms. In those cases, I can stand for maybe to the count of 5 before needing to lie down. I hope this is not the case for KRod. I hope it's something more easily treatable.

So now can we sweep and hope for a Yankee win against the Phillies too? A move back into 1st just before arriving home to face the Nats would be nice. Maybe Reyes, KRod, and Church will be ready then. More remarkable things have happened in the past 2 days. Just ask the Bosox.

The Morning After - No Power, No Defense - Dodgers 5, Mets 3

Last night's game seemed to start almost as badly as the loss from the night before. It turned out that the real story may not be that LA won and the Mets lost. It may be that what Casey Blake did by hitting a 3 run homer to power his team past the Mets is something the NY team just never does. The Mets are a powerless team right now. Without Delgado, there isn't a threat to hit one out. Why is that? Where did all the power go? Beltran? Wright?

More about Delgado and the loss of his bat.... Omar might want to learn to twitter as well as to text to stay in continuous touch with GM's who might want to make a trade. It would take some sort of ransom right now though. The best idea I heard was to try to get Pujols from the Cardinals. Well maybe not the best idea, but certainly the most creative and pretty funny. Who would we trade? Wright, Beltran, and Santana and $50 million?

Anyone remember that we could have had Orlando Hudson for next to nothing during the off season? He wanted to play for the Mets. There just never seemed to be any interest from Omar, Wilpons. I wouldn't mind having him at 2nd! Regrets are hard to overcome.

The Mets have committed 32 errors. How did we become the team with the third-highest total of errors in the majors behind only Washington (41) and Seattle (34)? Where is the defense?

It was nice to see Reyes back.

Well one more vs the Dodgers. Not very comforting. Then off to the land of the Sox. Maybe we can win one of the next four. Santana is pitching in Boston so we have a shot. Other than that, it appears that both the Phillies and the Braves are getting hot as the Amazins have cooled off. It isn't fun right now.

I just read on CNN's Web site that one can submit a question to the astronauts in space today. I have one for Astronaut Mike Massimino, a Long Island native and terrific Mets fan. "Do the Mets look as bad from out there as they do down here?" Pretty lame, I know.

Morning After Thoughts - Dodgers 3 Mets 2 in 11

It didn't take long for the Amazins to fall out of 1st even if by just a few percentage points.... "Early in the season" is a cliche. It's not too early. Ask the 2007 and 2008 Mets teams. Ask Willie Randolph..... After winning the first 3 of this challenging 10 game road trip, it would not be acceptable to go anything less than 6 and 4. How many fans think that the Mets are now going to go 3 and 2 in the remaining games against the Dodgers and the Sox?....

When did hip impingement become all the rage? Now Carlos D is going for the surgery following on a growing list of players, such as Arod. It may be that Tommy John surgery is going to get a run for its money with Arod surgery? We need to name it after someone else though, don't you think?

Speaking of Delgado, maybe now Minaya understands why he should have been seeking some depth at first base. Someone who could actually hit a home run. Did you notice that Omar tends to put together a decent team but one with insufficient depth. Nick Johnson is starting to look good. Not sure we have anyone we would be willing to trade or that the Nats would want.

Last night's loss reminds us about Pagan. He can hit some. He is not a great outfielder. And our replacement first baseman shouldn't be at first base. Until we find someone else, put Tatis there and keep him there.

Let's also stick with a plan about the outfield. For now, the starting outfield should be Sheffield in left, Beltran in center and Church in right. And stop juggling Church. He needs to play full time. In the past few weeks, Manuel has managed to take Church from being a very good player to a poor one. (Maybe mismanaged is a better term for what Jerry has done.) There is, of course, no excuse for missing third in the 11th inning. Church's comments following the game lead one to believe that he knew he missed the bag.

And 5 errors! That reminds us old timers of the pre 1969 Mets all over again. Hopefully for this one night only. We did get good pitching. Redding did a decent job. The team came back. The offense although not timely continued to have hits in it. So, let's move on. Perhaps Jose will be back tonight and we can take this one. A ounce back would be nice.