Continuing The Debate

I gotta say that this Jenrry Mejia debate is fascinating. As opposed to a lot of spring training chatter, which can be about nothing and drive you insane sometimes, the back-and-forth between the people that want Mejia in the Mets bullpen this season and the people who want Mejia in Buffalo or Binghamton to hone his skills as a starter has enough twists, turns, nooks and crannies to make an English muffin look like Sara Lee Soft & Smooth bread.

Here's how nuts it's gotten, and keep in mind right off the bat that I consider myself in the camp of caution, of sending him to the minors and letting him work on secondary pitches to come up as a starter rather than keeping him up this season to be a situational/short/set-up reliever: There's a Facebook page organizing a protest to keep Mejia in the minors, which will set itself up outside the SNY studios hoping to be seen on Loudmouths or whatever show's path it happens to cross. Think about that for a second: Imagine there was a protest on live television to keep you from getting a promotion at work. How would you feel? Even if it was organized with your best interests at heart ... what kind of blow to the ego would that be?

Good thing nobody cares about your job that much, eh?

Here's the way I see it: You can compare Mejia to anybody you want who has gone from starter to reliever: John Smoltz did it, and did it well. What I would have liked about the transition if Smoltz wasn't a Brave was how he understood the art of throwing breaking stuff with more ferocity. Smoltz was throwing a 92 mph splitter. That isn't fair.

But it takes a veteran like Smoltz circa 2001-2004 to understand that. Jenrry Mejia, I'm guessing, knows nothing of what's between zero and sixty. Thus, he has more to learn.

Then there's one Mr. Chamberlain and his silly rules. Similar debates rage on about Chamberlain and where his role is best suited. The fear with Mejia is that he'll be treated with the same kid gloves that lightly tapped Chamberlain and his role is going to go back and forth depending on which managerial or front office job he needs to save that day. So his path needs to be straight and not circular (like the change up he may need to learn).

(You know what's weird, usually the manager plays veterans to save his job, not bring up rookies. As usual with the Mets, the circumstances are all cockeyed.)

Obviously, Chamberlain has been more dominant as a reliever than a starter. One could argue that a mediocre starter proves more valuable than a lights out set-up guy (see: Oliver Perez's contract), but Mejia at least deserves the chance to show that he could actually be more than just a mediocre starter before we have this debate. Sure, the bullpen has holes (cough ... Sean Green ... cough), but the rotation is a doughnut. And yes, John Maine's fastball had some movement and it actually struck out Albert Pujols on Thursday (though the pitch was a ball), but I stand by the statement. Fill a bullpen hole for a season which is going to be an uphill climb anyway with a raw rookie, or fill a rotation hole for ten years with a seasoned prospect? You decide.

Then there's Bobby Parnell, who to me is a poster child for rushing your prospects as the Mets have done too often under this regime. He too, had an eye opening spring. He then went from the sixth to the seventh to the eighth inning. Then he fell apart. Not to say Mejia isn't going to fall apart at some point in his major league career, but wouldn't you want him to be fully prepared when that meltdown comes? Somebody who has pitched 44 (and a third) innings above A-ball in his life can't possibly be prepared. Hell, who knows if he's prepared for Friday night's fan boycott???

If you're still confused by all this, Glenn Beck explains it all on this blackboard:

It's not confusing at all.

And if you're still confused by this, here's Keith Hernandez in the leisure suit that he recently admitted on an SNY broadcast he wore when he got called up to the Cardinals.

The yellow one was in the cleaners.

Here's Where I Jump Off

You wanted hell? You got holy hell instead.

Big Apple women may soon be able to take a ride on Derek Jeter -- the bridge, that is.

Bronx leaders have proposed naming the soon-to-be-built East 153rd Street bridge for the Yankee shortstop.

"There have been conversations at the community board, and I know the idea is being examined," said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., a Bombers fan who confesses to a "man crush" on the Captain.

"It's something I am ready to support. We're moving on it."

Just in time to clinch the World Series from hell. They're not going to stop until every mode of transportation in this damn city is named after a Yankee, are they? You've already got something named after DiMaggio, now a Jeter Bridge? What's next, the DMV wants you to make sure you follow your Joba Traffic Rules?

Meanwhile, as the city seeks to name a real city bridge after Derek Jeter, there's a fake bridge in Citi Field that the Mets haven't bothered to name yet ... even though they had all these wonderful things planned in 2009 to honor the Mets. Instead, all they did was send Mariano Rivera their pitching rubber along with putting up a few pictures to placate Mets fans and hope they forget about all of this "memorabilia nonsense".

Maybe they're planning to take the bridge and give it to Jeter to honor the greatness that is he, so he can drive his Ford Edge on it over and over again (the one in blazing copper, of course).

Isn't there a small pond in Forest Park we can name after Mike Vail?

The Florida Marlins: Behind The Blow

Well, another red letter season has come do an end (and that red letter is F ... I'll let you figure out what that stands for.) And believe it or not, I still have s**t to say. The following is one in a series of random stuff I'm throwing against the wall about person or persons of my choosing. These are your New York Mets: Behind the Blow.

Somebody asked me if I was going to put the Marlins organization on the ballot for the annual Hall of Hate vote in 2009, after knocking out the Mets in 2007 and 2008. I can't do it ... because in '09, they end the season in Philadelphia instead of New York. So we might need them.

Now when they inevitably lie down and die against Philly to give them their third straight division title, then I'll think about it.

By the way, the Marlins have re-signed Wes Helms. I just thought I would mention that.

For close to four full seasons, I've tried like hell to point out the crimes of baseball: Suit-wearing casual fans invading ballparks. Shane Victorino being the Theo Fleury of baseball. Brett Myers hating the Mets and being an otherwise pillar of society. Cody Ross waiting to yell at Mike Pelfrey until he was a safe distance away from him. Hanley Ramirez and his intense jealousy about New York that festers into hate. Wallace Matthews' writing about the Mets as if he's that kid who's three feet shorter than you that keeps daring you to hit him.

Baseball criminals all.

But the worst part about the Mets spitting the bit two years in the row is that I can't keep the criminals out anymore. They've stormed the castle and they're drinking our alcohol. And I have nary the energy to argue with them anymore. Shane Victorino? You're not obnoxious at all ... you're gritty and gutty. Myers? You are a pillar of society. Cody Ross? Yeah, you're absolutely right ... how dare Mike Pelfrey's fastball run inside. Hanley Ramirez? Yeah, those days where you have hundreds and not thousands of fans at your football stadium? New York's fault ... totally. Wallace Matthews? You're completely writing what's in your heart, and not trying to break records for negative comments ... totally. Jimmy Rollins? You're right. Baseball needs more robots. How dare we show emotion? Bandwagon fans who get their tickets for free and know nothing about what they're watching? Sure, pose for pictures during play and block my view. What do I care? I'm just a paying customer ... which is latin for "sucker".

Though I will say that the new shirt that the Marlins are selling on their website has gone a little too far.

Also available in black or teal.

(Updated Editor's note: And with this, the venom is back. Because we need Joba Chamberlain's f***ing hat in the hall of fame to encourage the bloated legacy of a guy who hasn't pitched 150 innings in his career ... but he's a Yankee so let's all bow!!! But before you get upset about the lack of items from Shea Stadium's last game in comparison to all the Yankee items, don't be so sure that the Mets hadn't sold everything to the highest bidder already.)

It Just Makes Sense

The Washington Nationals came into Monday's game against the Mets third from the bottom in the N.L. in batting average, second from the bottom in batting average, and at the very bottom in hits.

So of course they come in to Shea Stadium and drop ten hits and ten runs. Sure. Makes perfect sense.

Also makes sense that the hit that broke the game open belonged to the ghost of Lastings Milledge, a two run double off the top of the left field wall which turned a 6-3 lead into an 8-3 blowout (After which he high-fived the coaches, the fans, the ushers, the security guards, Gary Cohen, the parking attendants, the hard hats at Citi Field, the drivers stuck in traffic on the Grand Central, and the bellhops at the LaGuardia Airport Marriott. And then Bob Raissman wrote a 3,500 word essay on how Lastings Milledge hates babies and makes small animals cower in fear.)

You know what else makes sense? Odalis Perez. Lost his last eight starts? Hasn't had an RBI since 2004? No problem. Come to Shea and not only get the win (while giving up 11 hits in six and a third innings ... eleven hits), but get three knocks and two RBI's. Outstanding.

Odalis Boggs.

And you know what else makes sense: a Met complaining about another team's ... celebrating! Oh the sweet, delicious irony.

"They were cheerleading in the dugout like a bunch of softball girls," Figueroa said, ignoring gender equity to get his point across. "I take offense to that. ... That's why they are who they are."

But it didn't come back to haunt the Washington Nationals tonight ... did it, Goose? Is that what true Nationals do?

Of course, you know that Nelson Figueroa's comments will fire up the Nationals to win the next three games of this series. And then the bastions of our society ... known as talk radio hosts ... will all say that Figueroa shouldn't have said anything to fire the Nationals up, just like his team's dancing fires teams up, his team's celebrations fire teams up, and basically all forms of eating, walking, and breathing fires teams up. It's all your fault, you evil Mets! Why can't you be more like Joba Chamberlain?!?

Makes perfect sense to me.

Your Carlos Has Come

Nice of Carlos Beltran to join us this season.

Is it a coincidence that Beltran's latest hot streak, which has helped the Mets to a series victory over the Reds with an 8-3 victory on Sunday, and brought his RBI total from 13 to 21 over the last two days (with the help of his pink bat), has coincided with Keith Hernandez coming back from his sixteen week vacation to join the booth for a few games*?

Yes, it is a coincidence.

And that brings me to my latest rant:

Goose Gossage decided to weigh in on the Joba Chamberlain fist pump controversy. For those who don't know or care, Chamberlain acted like a lunatic after striking out David Dellucci, one night after giving up a game winning home run to Dellucci, who did not act like a lunatic. Gossage, when asked, volunteered the fine art of being a "True Yankee", and took a shot at the Mets in the process:

"That's just not the Yankee way, what Joba did. Let everyone else do that stuff, but not a Yankee," Gossage said by telephone on Saturday. "What I don't understand is, the kid's got the greatest mentor in the world in Mariano [Rivera]. He's one of the leaders of the team, so you'd think it wouldn't happen on that team.

"But there's no one to pass the torch anymore, no one to teach the young kids how to act. The Mets did a lot of that [celebrating] last year, and look how it came back to haunt them."

This, an quote gone unchallenged by the story's author (Bob Klapisch), is why our society is in a downhill spiral. Sure, let's not blame the facts that Jose Reyes was in a three month slump, the bullpen stunk, and Tom Glavine had the worst outing ever by a New York Met. No, none of that mattered ... because it was the dancing that did it. Dancing and celebrating came back to haunt us. Funny that the total arrogance of Reggie Jackson never came back to haunt the Yankees, huh? No, because Reggie was a "true Yankee". So how exactly did the dancing (dancing which has been done since the N.L. East Championship of 2006, mind you) come back to haunt the Mets?

You know Goose, if you wanted to take a shot at the Mets, and things that came back to haunt them last season, I'm surprised you didn't bring up that big fight in the shower after that weekday afternoon game last season.

Oh wait, that was you!

But I guess that can be chalked up to the Yankee way. (By the way, Cliff Johnson is in a urinal at the Dolly Madison rest stop waiting for his rematch.)

The above Heil-o-meter is for the whole weekend ... and he gets on the right side because his bad outing came in the blowout, and his good outing came in the game that was close. And in that game that was close, it was actually Filthy Sanchez that got booed for his bad outing during the second game of the DH. And it occurs to me that the completely uncalled for booing of Filthy wasn't really because Sanchez gave up all those runs in the eighth inning ... they were booing as if to say "Why couldn't you have been Aaron Heilman, so we could boo without feeling guilty about it?"

And I could swear I read something on the www (that of course I can't find now to save my life so please don't question my journalistic integrity on this one ... like I have any to begin with) that it was indeed Aaron Heilman who alerted Willie Randolph that David Ross was batting out of turn during the ninth inning. So good for Aaron Heilman. And before you blame Randolph for not waiting until Corey Patterson came up to bat to report the flaw and potentially take Patterson off base: Heck, I didn't know what rule 6.01 was either. Honestly, I thought that if you were caught batting out of turn, that the entire inning was over. So what the heck do I know?

*Oh, and nice of Keith Hernandez to join us this season.