The final three games of the cross-town New York interleague Subway Series with the Mets and Yankees centered on the shortstops. The Yankees Derek Jeter was rehabbing in Trenton for his return Monday in Cleveland. His backup, Eduardo Nunez had to sit down Sunday with a tight right hamstring after going 7-for-8 in two games with a homer and three doubles.

And then there was the Mets’ Jose Reyes who earlier was elected to start at short for the National League in the All-Star game July 12^th. Diagnosed with tightness and a Grade-1 strain of his left hamstring, Reyes watched as Yankees shortstop Ramiro Pena, filling in for Nunez, made an error in the ninth that would enable the Mets to eventually score and tie their game with the Yankees.

And it was Pena, with his second error of the game with two outs that set up Jason Bay to get his fourth career walk-off hit in the 10^th, as the Mets managed to avoid being swept by the Yankees with a 3-2 win with many of the 41,513 fans still in attendance at Citi Field.

It was that type of series for the Yankees and Mets with shortstop issues, and the Yankees winning the season series 4-2. Both concluded their interleague play portion of the schedule, the Yankees going 13-5, the Mets 9-9. The Yankees head to Cleveland for a brief three-game series and the Mets to the west coast for a road trip to Los Angeles and San Francisco before the All-Star break.

And they hope their starting shortstops will be available to conclude the first half of the season. “Just a little bit of a strain, I mean nothing big,” commented Reyes who sat on the bench and watched as Bay got the winning hit off Yankees losing pitcher Luis Ayala (1-2). “I know we’re going to take it one day at a time and see what happens. But it’s real good news. Today when I got up I felt even better than yesterday so that’s very good news.”

However, Mets manager Terry Collins is being cautious. Reyes, who leads baseball in hitting, hits, multi-hit games and triples, will want to play and not miss the All-Star game, his 12^th. He, in essence is a leading candidate for the National League MVP and no doubt a catalyst and most valuable player for the Mets. ”The doctors did not want him to play today and we will take this one day at a time,” said Collins. The manager also said Reyes was making the five-hour trip to Los Angeles and it all depends on how his shortstop feels before making a determination for Monday.

The Yankees were 46-1 this season when leading after eight, primarily because of their bullpen and The Mets, 1-35 after eight. But that seemed to mean nothing when Mariano Rivera tried to close the door in a tight game. Prior to the ninth, Yankees starter Freddy Garcia handled the Mets for seven innings. On a full count with two outs Bay walked and went to third on a Lucas Duda single. He came home with the tying run when Ronnie Paulino got hold of a 1-2 Rivera pitch and hit the ball through the right side.

It may have been the best game for Bay as a Met. He has not been productive and missed most of last season after sustaining a concussion going after a ball and hitting an outfield wall at Dodgers Stadium. “I’ve been through a lot of ups and downs,” commented Bay about the walk and game winning hit. “It was nice, A, to be in that spot, and B, to come through. It was great.”

Coillins, in particular could have not been happier for Bay and his team. “I just said, ‘nice going’”, he said when greeting Bay after the game. “It’s nice to see this guy smile. Nobody cares more to help this team than Jason Bay does. And about his team showing resiliency, “They play, they take blows and just come back.”

The Mets broke a three game slide. The Yankees had their seven-game winning streak stopped. But there was concern for Mets starter R.A. Dickey who left after five innings due to tightness in his left buttock area. General Manager Sandy Alderson expects Dickey to make his next start, but as always with the Mets, especially after a win against the Yankees, there had to be something to calm the optimism.

“It’s a big relief,” said outfielder Carlos Beltran, regarding the news about Reyes possibly not being out for the long run. Beltran also was elected to play for the National League All-Stars and said it all about Reyes. “We depend so much on him.”

Notes: Angel Pagan went 0-for-10 in the series and let a ball get hit by Robinson Cano get by him in the 10^th that went for a triple. Francisco Rodriguez was able to strand two that got the Mets to their half of the inning….It was Rivera’s fourth blown save of the season and he was also selected for his 12^th All-Star team…

The Yankees trailed and tied the game in the fifth with a Robinson Cano double, the first hit off Dickey and Nick Swisher got the RBI single…The start of the game was delayed for 89 minutes as rain was in the forecast, though not one drop fell until the seventh inning. Yankees manager Joe Girardi said, “It was a frustrating loss for us.”

Girardi complained that the delay did not give enough time for Garcia to warm up and he said it was miscommunication about the start time caused by the delay….The Yankees optioned right handed starter Ivan Nova to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre setting up the return of righty Phil Hughes who was on the disabled list with shoulder inflammation. The justification, Nova would get more pitching time at Scranton because the Yankees would have no need for a six-man rotation…

The combined three-day crowd set a Citi Field attendance record of 125,575…Dickey was 5-0 in interleague starts since joining the Mets last season…Yankees got the 2-1 lead in the eighth with a Brett Gardner triple off Jason Isringhausen and sac fly RBI from Curtis Granderson.

e-mail Rich Mancuso: Ring786@aol.com

Posted under Better Than Yesterday, Cross Town, Day At A Time, Derek Jeter, Game Series, Interleague Play, Jason Bay, Jose Reyes, Luis Ayala, Mets, New York Mets, News Today, One Day At A Time, Ramiro Pena, Shortstops, Subway Series, Three Games, Top Story, Two Games

After being down 7-0 to the Pittsburgh pirates, the Mets yesterday rallied for nine unanswered runs to win a remarkable game 9-7. This comes on the heels of manager Terry Collins’s postgame explosion on Wednesday.

Ruben Tejada

Mike Pelfrey

Terry Collins

Posted under Audio Mp3, Bob Trainor, Explosion, Heels, Mets, Mike Pelfrey, Mp3 Audio, New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates, Remarkable Game, Ruben, Top Story, Www Mp3

The Mets lost in 10 inning 7-6 on Aubrey Huff’s homer off Taylor Buchholz to the San Francisco Giants. Below is sound from Bob Trainor.

Aubrey Huff

Ryan Vogelsong

Taylor Buchholz

RA Dickey

Jose Reyes

Josh Thole

Posted under Bob Trainor, Game Mp3, Gants, Heartbreaker, Homer, Jose Reyes, Josh Thole, Lost, Mets, Mp3 Audio, New York Mets, Ra Dickey, Top Story, Trainor

The Mets finally bounced out of the funk and best the Astros 9-1. Terry Collins got tossed the second batter of the game. Chris Capuano pitched seven strong innings and David Wright broke out of his slump. Jason Bay finally returned after missing most of the first month of the season with a rib cage strain.

Here are Bob Trainor’s postgame sounds:

David Wright

Chris Capuano

Jason Bay

Posted under Bob Trainor, David Wright, Game Chris, Jason Bay, Losing Streak, Mets, Mp3 Audio, Nbsp, New York Mets, Sounds, Top Story, Trainor

It is not even  10 percent into the 2011 season and it is already time to clean house.

It really never was a matter of if, but always a matter of when. You can change a number of things, but unless you change almost all of them you can’t change a losing atmosphere. It becomes like that movie the Blob. It engulfs everything, seeps into the air vents and fills every orifice. It can only be exorcised by freezing   or burning or blowing up  the whole damn thing.

They say even a losing playoff appearance often serves to give a young team experience and make  them stronger for the next year. In most cases that is true, and looked to be true for the  post 2006 Mets until epic collapses in 2007 and 2008 erased that and injected an already “loser” tagged franchise with the dreaded “choker” tag. In the same way playoff experience is supposed to help, an epic collapse can destroy a franchise  – for  years. Back to back collapses seals it in cement. Together, the core of this team can never get past it. Not in this lifetime. Not with basically 50 years of  losing  hanging over their  heads. Could anyone have ever expected the Cubs to overcome Bartman?? Was never going to happen and  everyone knew it.

Do we have to endure another  3 or 4  months of “we  were in every game”, “we battled”, or some  other form of incessant babbling like nobody realizes  losing by one run is actually  the same as losing by 10 runs in the standings,  If standings  are what  we really care  about. If what we actually care about is blowing smoke, then keep the atta boys coming.

If blowing the whole thing up and going in a different direction is the chosen path, then do it sooner rather  than later. It is what it is. Let’s stop sugar coating it and try to cash in. Let’s stop bringing back Chris Carters in trades.  Let’s start trying to maximize trades. Thank Depodesta for his efforts and then have him Fedex Eamus  back to Toronto,  with a  prepaid postage shipping label. Fire Warthen.

Bury Hairston and Harris on the bench where they belong. Then start dealing before it is too late.

Turn the tables on all the ½ year rental whiners. This gives potential trade partners a full, solid year of the player, on top of the  chance to resign them. This increases the value of a KROD, Reyes and Beltran even more so than trading them last year, as all were injured unknown quantities last year.

One of  the resident geniuses, Stark or Rubin was writing how valuable a few months of Fielder  would be to an AL team.  BECAUSE  he didn’t have to  be resigned. When it is a Met he has no value because his contract is up. When it is  a Met he has no value because he  is locked up for the next few years. Or has an option. When it is another player  in the league he HAS tremendous value BECAUSE  he is locked up for the next few years OR because he  has an option. Is anybody  else tired of  hearing  the same nonsense from the  same people  over  and  over and over.

Put the offers on the table and they will come.

KROD and PARNELL to Chisox for Sale and Beckham

BELTRAN and PAGAN to Boston for Bard and Ellsbury

WRIGHT to Philly for Hamels and Dominic Brown

REYES to SFN for Cain and …

That leaves nobody left from collapsing teams except Santana and he won’t have anyone to commiserate with if and when he  ever comes back. Still leaves the  likes of Bay, Niese and a cast of thousands of junk ball relief pitchers and/or not so  blue chip  prospects  we could try and package or use as filler. Try it. We might like it.

These trades are real doable trades and could possibly  net much more getting a few teams into bidding wars. It just has  to be done  right now, not in drips and drabs in June or September when you get nothing back.

Finally, was  a bit taken back trying to read a story from this JOE JANISCH – A BLOG GUY. He proceeded to rip  off  the entire first paragraph of our The MORE THINGS CHANGE  WITH NO  MENTION OF THE PREVIOUS ARTICLE FROM 2 WEEKS  EARLIER??

Thing s indeed  are rapidly falling apart.  Make the moves I am suggesting and make them all and make them now and the season will be saved. People will come to see Hamels, Cain, Bard and Sale pitch.They will pay to see Mejia develop iin the MLB rotation. They will salivate seeing Harvey and Holt continue to develop with Flores , Valdespin and all the OF prospects.

The Mets did show  that even if they could  turn this around with the players they got they may get to 75 wins and I am stretching. No need to go through the agony of the past few weeks 3 or 5 more times just to get there.

Posted under 4 Months, Air Vents, Atta, Blowing Smoke, Carters, Cement, Collapse, Collapses, Damn Thing, Fedex, Mets, Movie The Blob, New York Mets, Orifice, Playoff Appearance, Playoff Experience, Seeps, Spring Cleaning, Sugar Coating, Team Experience, Top Story

Bob Trainor of Trainor Communications was in the Met Clubhouse for the club’s 6-2 defeat to the Washington Nationals. R.A. Dickey wasn’t himself after suffering from a broken nail and the club couldn’t get the tying run home despite having numerous chances to do so. In the eighth, Washington opened up the game by scoring three runs.

The Reactions Are Below.

David Wright

Carlos Beltran

Jose Reyes

Josh Thole

Washington’s Tyler Clippard

R.A. Dickey

For More Info contact Bob at TrainorComm@gmail.com.

Posted under Beltron, Bob Trainor, Broken Nail, Carlos Beltran, Citi, Clubhouse, Contact Bob, David Wright, Game, Jose Reyes, Josh Thole, Met, Mets, Mp3 Audio, New York Mets, Top Story, Trainor, Washington Nationals, Washington Post

You know we have endless material to write daily articles on the dysfunction and demise of the Mets. I fully planned to take advantage of this not only because of the abundance of low hanging fruit but also the way it fits in so nicely with my years of frustration with this team.

However, while I will continue to call a spade a spade, call out unspeakable wrongs, do a fair amount of second guessing  when obviously called for and the like – I have decided to attempt to buy  into some of the things the triumvirate are trying to accomplish.

I stick to my guns regarding not attending the games, not supporting SNY network, basically hitting the Wilpons in the pocketbook until they sell  to somebody  that will go all in to commit to a winner year after year . We deserve no less than that and would not be wrong in demanding it after 50 years.

I am not naïve enough to not know that a fan is a fan. Any real fan, especially a Met fan knows you can’t stop watching. You can’t stop rooting and hoping. It’s part of who you are. It is a lifetime commitment and can’t be turned on and off like a faucet. I have MLB Extra Innings. I declined SNY.  I watch them on ESPN and FOX when they are on. I think I do my part fulfilling my need to watch while limiting any benefits to the Wilpons.

In any case, back to  current events. A .500 road trip against division opponents who were expected to beat us like drums is not all that bad of a start. The vaunted Phillies were lucky to even win the second game of the series, and thus the series. Each team dominated one game. It is somewhat obvious that the best we have at least in theory is a joker to put up against their 4 aces. That is if you insist on labeling Big Pelf an ace, and therefore forcing us to reclassify him as a joker. Niese went against their Ace of Spades and if Wright  came through early, and Niese being as young as he  is, could  have worked with a lead and got on a bit of a confidence, momentum building roll the 11-0 game might have been a very different story. Sometimes the score really does not reflect the game. Our 7-1 victory over Hamels was just as dominating.

One thing they have to stop doing is labeling everything. What is the purpose of calling Pelfrey your ace until Santana gets back? Just let him pitch, let him learn to change speeds, get an out pitch and see what happens. Otherwise start looking into what we can get for him. But no need to put him front and center with almost no upside and a strong chance for failure and embarrassment to both the player and the organization. Pagan should be a good centerfielder. Talking him up as the natural with a rifle arm AND a guy that is going to hit 300 with 25HRS and 100 RBI will bury him in expectations and undue pressure. I have seen him surrounding balls in center, very weak throws to third and home and as could have been expected his hitting is still a bit off so far this season.

David Wright being anointed our fearless leader and savior. Why? He is a very good third baseman. He failed numerous times with 2 and 3  men on base during the Phillies series. He came through once. As we all know if he came through 2 out of 6 times he is an all star. 1 out of  6 is a failure. What is a very thin line comes across as miles apart between a winner and a loser – because of expectations and because of necessity due to the lack of more viable options. Don’t label him and let’s see 1 or 2 other guys pick him up in those situations and before we know it he may come though consistently 3 out of 8 times. Hall of  Fame numbers.

Harris and Hairston are exactly what they are. They will never sustain hitting at a high level  if they play too much. Once a week fill ins and pinch hitting.  You want to develop people ,work in Duda, Evans, Murphy.

We have Flores, van Dekker, Havens, Vaughn, Familia, Mejia, Harvey,Holt , Valdespin, Tejada,  Niewenhaus, and of course Fernando. We have prospects.  Develop them. Develop some  of them to free  up existing players  as trade bait. Package some of them to get  studs back to play with  some of the  existing star players if that works better.  Lose the tunnelvision. Cast a wide net. As much as I love Ike Davis there is no way the  Wilpons even think about  Pujols if he ever was available – based on the fact that we are already set at first.  I think the Yankees had 3 first baseman set when Texiara  became available.

Not sure about the triumvirate’s current philosophy but I know they were never scared to sell high or trade stars for studs. Moneyball or just no money being the driving force or whatever, they all made some nice moves over the years.

Posted under 4 Aces, Ace Of Spades, Demise, Division Opponents, Faucet, Four Aces, Joker, Lifetime Commitment, Low Hanging Fruit, Mets, Mlb Extra Innings, New York Mets, Niese, Phillies, Pocketbook, Road Trip, Second Game, Second Guessing, Spade, Top Story, Triumvirate

Opening day has come and gone.  On the plus side the Mets have one  of the  best  all time winning percentages  in opening day games – and we all know how  that has worked out over 50 years.

On the down side, it looks an awful  lot like they could  use today’s game as  the oft referenced “microcosm” game for what looks like the inevitable 48^th year of futility.

Pelfrey being hyped as ready to assume the mantle of staff “ace”?  In reality, he would not legitimately be looked at as the ace of any number of college teams and most,  if not all,  minor league teams. He may end up having a serviceable Bobby Jones like career, and may turn out to be a serviceable 5^th starter on a major league team, but he has never found a bat that he could not hit. He may get 27 people to hit the ball directly at fielders over a 3 hour period, but he can never be really good unless and until  he can get HIMSELF out of trouble on occasion. This will not happen unless and UNTIL  he learns to change speeds.  Every pitch looks exactly the same. OK  sometimes he has good movement. Sometimes he throws a heavy ball all game – but he never changes speeds. Hell, even if he couldn’t get people out with it he should learn to do it just to put something in a hitters mind.

Which brings me to the next problem. Who does Dan Warthen have pictures of  in the Met’s organization. My guess is Jeff Wilpon. Can’t be any of the triumvirate. What are his qualifications as a pitching coach? At least Peterson had the whole kinetic research combined with psycho babble thing going – and some  sort of strategy regarding the art of pitching. Hell Leo Mazzone is out  there begging for a job. I know, I know, he doesn’t fit the mold as a speak when spoken to guy – but  he sure knows how  to be a pitching coach, with years and years of proven  results. Is Warthen’s plan to have the pitchers pound the strike zone = which they still don/t do enough. Round  up and  develop 95 MPH pitchers and teach them secondary pitches? Seems it is more like the Mets 50 year plan – just throw as much crap against the wall as you  can and hope something  sticks.

It would be considered noble, heroic, insightful, moneyballish, whatever – watching  a front office assemble a rag tag team of  no names, cast offs, rule 5’s (come on 2 out of your 9  players on the field on opening day are rule 5 players), but  this is New York. Even being the second city team in New York should make you a Billion Dollar Franchise. Not Northeast Kansas City.

Which brings us to the biggest problem. Ownership. There is no sympathy. They pocketed millions from Met fans – not  counting  Madoff’s  money  and what they knew or didn’t know. They always did just enough to act like they cared but never went all in like Steinbrenner. They never had the whatever it takes mentality like Steinbrenner and now the Red Sox and Phillies. Why? General principles?  Good business skills – which we already know they do not possess? Why? Because you can only sell so many tickets and once  you  sell them all, or all you think you  are going to sell in the best case scenario, you can stop trying to impress anybody, you can stop trying to win, you can stop spending or investing as there is no  ROI  left for you to squeeze out. The actual pennants, world series, winning and all that comes with that culture  and reputation is not important to them-and never has been for the entire  Mets history.

From the time they were born they were a joke, an attraction. They hired a guy Casey Stengel who by  that time was a washed up carnival hawker and he toured the land with his Metsies, Metsies schtick and his fabulous one liners about why they drafted a catcher first in the expansion draft – your gonna need somebody to go get the balls. They were known point blank as lovable losers. And they marketed the hell out of it  for all it  was worth. And it lasted for  50 years.

1969 was a MIRACLE. No other way to describe it. No other explanation for it. But it  happened and so did 1986. And that should  have been enough to open somebody’s eyes to what could be. What should  be. But it didn’t. Again, lovable losers that they are, ROI focused  as ever, just getting into the Subway Series was enough. Winning it didn’t matter. Getting maybe one curveball away from the world series in 2006 insured the max ROI for the next 3 years minimum, and take out the unscripted colossal collapses in 2007 and 2008 and they would still be living off 2006. Just like  SNY  still  lives off  1986 replays – and Yankee info and commercials. (could  you ever  imagine Steinbrenner allowing a David Wright  commercial  airing during  a YES broadcast?) The Met’s  don’t care  about that kind of stuff. They care about the  bottom line. Hell if the  Yankees  don’t pay them to run their commercials who else will?

Now having said all this, I always hated people who criticized for the sake of bitching and moaning alone.  I always felt if you weren’t part of the solution, you were part of the problem. Or at least if you didn’t have any ideas on what the solutions should be – then shut the hell up.

In this case however, the answers are obvious and can no longer be ignored or  tip-toed around.

Selig needs to have the Wilpons  sell the team – immediately if not already in the process. Otherwise he needs to move up his date and leave tomorrow and let the next guy make them divest themselves of what should be the  Pinta  or  Santa  Maria  of  MLB,  if  not the Nina itself.

The front office needs to bring in all their own people. And not shopping in Filenes Basement. It  is killing the Phillies  they can’t  go right  after  Michael Young  to fill in at 2^nd base. Of  course,  they paid  more than the GNP of ¾ of  the  world for their  starting  rotation, and Howard and Utley. But don’t be shocked if  they get  desperate  enough they don’t  go  ahead  and get  him anyway.  It’s called doing whatever  it takes.

Start selling high on players  like Pagan, Pelfrey (based on last year), Reyes if he starts looking like  his old self, Beltran to an AL team if he  proves he can DH, and David Wright before he completely  flops.

Trade these guys  for aces, or  potential  aces,  or  potential  all stars. Restock the farm with top talent.  Get established  talent.   Reyes  or  Wright could have  brought a Lincecum a few years ago. They can still bring monster packages from the Red Sox,  Giants,  Dodgers, etc. Move them. Move on. Rebuild in your own image and see what happens.

We have already seen what happens  with  50 years of the wrong vision, or  no vision whatsoever. And it ain’t pretty. Somebody has to lead the poor Met  fans out of the desert. 50 years of  futility is enough.

And if we can’t go to the mountain – then we should bring the mountain  to them,  in the  form of balled up  season ticket  applications.  Stop supporting the same people who make fools out of us year after year after year after year. Stop buying 6 game packages. Stop going to the games altogether. Stop watching them on SNY. Stop watching SNY. It is the only thing these people respond to and unless and until we show them we understand how they operate the vicious cycle will continue in perpetuity. And the best we could hope for is some sort of purgitory if not outright baseball fan hell.

Posted under Bobby Jones, Dan Warthen, Fielders, Futility, Hyped, Jeff Wilpon, Leo Mazzone, Major League, Mantle, Mets, Microcosm, Minor League Teams, Mold, New York Mets, Percentages, Pitchers, Pitching Coach, Psycho Babble, Strike Zone, Top Story, Triumvirate

Bob Trainor of Trainor Communications was at Citi Field yesterday as the Mets lost the last game of the season. They finished 79-83.

Jerry Manuel

David Wright

For More Info contact Bob at TrainorComm@gmail.com.

Posted under Contact Bob, David Wright, Jerry Manuel, Last Game, Lost, Mets, Mp3 Audio, New York Mets, Top Story, Trainor

Bob Trainor of Trainor Communications was at Citi Field yesterday as the Mets pounded the Nationals.

Jerry Manuel

David Wright

RA Dickey

Jim Riggleman

For More Info contact Bob at TrainorComm@gmail.com.

Posted under Contact Bob, David Wright, Game, Jim Riggleman, Mets, Mp3 Audio, Nationals, New York Mets, Ra Dickey, Trainor