And who is more of an empty barrel than Mike Francesa?

His comments stating Ryan Church hates New York were irresponsible and baseless. When you’ve got nothing in a job like his, you have to throw something against the wall and hope it sticks.

Instead of talking to Jon Heyman for his take, why not get Church on the phone? Francesa has the juice to make that happen, but he won’t do that.

When I covered the Yankees, he would come down to Tampa to do his show from the pressbox, but in all those years, not once did I see him in the clubhouse. So, for me, it’s hard to believe it when he passes something off as fact.

There have been so many things, like saying the Mets had no shot at Santana, that were passed off as fact. We should start a list.

Posted under New York Mets

The Mets were 55-38 under Jerry Manuel, a record good enough to bring him back. GM Omar Minaya is meeting with ownership today about Manuel’s contract. An announcement could be made this week, perhaps as soon as tomorrow.

Minaya on Manuel: “Jerry did a very good job in a tough situation, overcoming injuries to [John] Maine and Billy [Wagner]. … I was very pleased with the job he did.”

I’ve been saying Manuel should return. Agree? Disagree?

Posted under New York Mets

Instead of packing to head to Wrigley Field, the Mets will be in today to clean out their lockers. They will drift in throughout the afternoon. The Mets are telling us 11:30 until 3:30. Why 11:30?

Let’s figure it out …

I’m guessing a lot of guys will be in before that and leave before answering questions about another late season fade.

“We failed,” David Wright said yesterday. “We failed as a team.”

That they did. Yesterday, was a microcosm of all that went wrong.

Starting pitching: Oliver Perez showed he’s not an ace. Or even close to it. Perez finished the season at 10-8 with 17 no-decisions. Out of 34 starts, he came away with a no-decision half the time. Terrible. He can’t close the deal. In his biggest game of the season he gave the Mets 5 1/3 innings. Thanks for showing up.

Bullpen: No blown save yesterday, but does it matter? Back-to-back jacks were the difference. For the record, 29 blown saves overall. That is the stat of the season.

Offense: The Mets have an offense? Not yesterday. Two runs on four hits won’t get it done.

The Mets will pack to go home. Many of them never to return to this clubhouse. Who should go and who should stay? More on that today.

Please stay tuned throughout the day.

Posted under New York Mets

FLUSHING, NY – We’ve seen this story before. Haven’t we? A great pitching performance on the penultimate game of the year, gives the Mets a shot for the playoffs on the season’s final day. Maybe it will be different this time. Maybe Oliver Perez won’t stink up the joint on his way out the door, like Tom Glavine did just a year ago. Maybe the Mets are destined to keep Shea alive for one more day. Yet, this year the stakes are much, much higher. Last season, all the Mets had to deal with was a collapse. Once the game was over, they went into the clubhouse not be to seen again until February.

«FULL STORY»

Posted under New York Mets

Johan Santana came to New York with as much pressure on him as any other coming to this city. Santana more than did his job this afternoon, coming back on three days rest to throw 117 pitches in a 2-0 victory over the Florida Marlins to keep alive the Mets’ season for at least another day.

“I made up my mind I was going to do it,” Santana said of the complete-game shutout. He said the chanting of his name by the crowd motivated him and he was as proud of this effort as any in his career.

As to why he wanted the ball, he said, “there was no tomorrow.”

Well, thanks to Santana, there is for the Mets. If you were at Shea today, tell us what you saw. If you watched on TV, tell us what you thought.

Posted under New York Mets

I like David Wright, I really do. And, it has nothing to do with him being a good ballplayer. He’s one of the stand-up Mets, a player the writers can always go to when things aren’t going good to get a pulse on things.

Other players hide. Others give nothing answers.

Wright always gives the writers something to work with. Last night, however, I think he whiffed in his comments.

He said: “This is what makes it fun…This is what you work hard for. This is what you prepare for…This is a bump in the road. It doesn’t matter what Philadelphia does. It only matters what the guys in this clubhouse do and we plan on getting the job done. Like I said, we’re gonna see what we’re made of. This is a little bump in the road, and I’m excited moving forward because I think we’ve got a room full of guys who will not allow us to fail.”

A couple of things. First, it does matter what Philadelphia does, and second, that’s more than just a bump in the road. They were knocked out of first place last night and there’s no guarantee they’ll get back there.

He was right about one thing: We will find out what they are made of.

Posted under New York Mets