After watching Pelfrey yesterday, it seemed more apparent that when Schneider is back, this will be a different team.  So, every thought and disquieting nerve twitch that occurs with these endless walks and elongated innings. Slumping players, journey men (Gabe Kappler?) and role players (Augie Ojeda) putting together monster games, it still comes hard to stomach.  And yet, everything is tempered by the return of a catcher who has the game calling skills of Schneider, along with his everyday familiarity with the National League.         Watching Santana pitch the first inning.  After Ojeda gets to second with one out, he locks in like a pitbull, striking out the next guy and ending with a weak ground out to second.  Striding off the field, hat shading eyes, arms arched like gunslinger, or John Wayne.   Called strike, followed by a ball, followed by a pitch fouled off, that seemed like its purpose was to be fouled off, and you get the sense that this is a master working, like a chess player thinking a few moves ahead.  Above the board feeling completely at ease with his approach, their  responses and his proper responses  When he loses he probably feels no apology, he understands the game better than the rest of us.  What it must have been like watching Don Drysdale stride off the mound.  From Sunday’s Times:    ‘The difference, Pelfrey said does not have to do with the fact that the backup Raul Cassanova has acught his last three starts.  ‘It didn’t matter if you would have been back there.’  It’s early season and the most keen sense now is scepticism  towards any rush to judgement.  Unfortunately, the rush to judgement is the primary role of media outlets.  So, in this paragraph the question of his success with Schneider and the failures without are quickly dismissed.  Once again the suggestion is made to rush to judgement, this time on a downbeat players word.  Meanwhile Mets fans early season unease, a mix of brief moments of heart pauses.  Beginning from the first inning on.  Indicative of those who withstand tragedies and months later find themselves breaking down, even momentarily.  Dark moods and ugly feelings emerge as games slip away. And yet the one thing we learned last year, was  the end is what counts the most.  It’s a long season and the end is what counts the most.  And the most sensible of us ignored the spring training hype, turned off WFAN right after the game ( completely eschewing drive time) hoping that logic and the pain of past experience would allow the proper space between us and the Amazin’s.  But the heart is a disturbing machine.  And here we are again, now for some insane reason, the twinges that come in the first inning seem less a reaction to anything going on in front of us, like an amputee and his phantom limb, it is the ghost of games past, and we are like sleepwalkers with the ghost of Christmas present.   Though some guys have started real slow, and journeymen are calling games, and a few impact players will be coming back, fans  still cannot resist the rush to judgement.  Ironically, all judgements last year at this time would have had the Mets playing Boston in the world series.  It’s a long season indeed.  So when Mike Pelfrey says it could have been Ben Schpigel behind the plate, that could mean several things.  First, Pelfrey is a team player, and he’s not about to blame a 35 year old journeyman catcher for his problems, he also may actually believe that they are only his problems, but that doesn’t mean he’s right..  And if statistics are reliable, there are many that indicate who’s catching a game has a tremendous impact on team e.r.a.  And that’s what they got Schnedier for.  And behind him is Castro, who has caught this team for years who is somewhere in Florida, coming eventually.  But for now there is Raul Cassanova, and a minor leaguer named Molina (no relation).  So, it is still early.  It is still early when it’s still 56 degrees.  And finally, Brandon Webb went to 7-0 yesterday,  The Cy Young winner has pitched to the same catcher for his last 60 games (Chris Snyder).  Testament.    

What is the importance of a catcher?  For the most part, the most successful teams of the last several years have been very strong at catcher.  Ivan Rodriguez, Yadir Molina, Torrealba, even AJ Perzinski got hot in october. So, as the Mets struggle without their starting catcher or his backup, it’s hard to judge where this met team will end up at the end of the year. People are rushing to judgement, because that seems to be the only thing to do.  But it is april, and 35 year old Cassanova is calling games with a vague familiarity with the current staff.  

April 15, 2008Lo, we awaken to a weekend where the home team lost 2 out of 3, and played just well enough to lose.  There is an ugliness and now everyone seems to take notice.  It is the wretch of New York, and it continues.  The Giants won the super bowl, tellingly, they won all their important games, away from new york.  It was a record breaking season, for a visitor.  A continuation of last years Met trend of winning more road games than any team in baseball.  Usually a sign of a great team.  Alas, they were below average at home.  What can you say about a team that feels away at home.  ’My ticket price went up 38 percent since last year.’  (an average) Joe was quoted in the Times. Combine that with the absence of parking, the crush of public transportation and fans moods have been distorted before the first pitch has been thrown.  Meanwhile the  new stadium looms over the walls, blocking out the horizon.   And on the radio they proclaim the final year at shea.  And beneath that, the average fan knows, the new stadium will bring greater competition for fewer seats and new exorbitant prices that will turn our home to something closer to MSG, a corporate bastion where even in the most dreadful season in the teams history, the place is nearly full.   Companies will swallow up more and more seats, prices will rise, and the fans anxiety will need to be displaced.  And in this world of terror and inflation, the fan is just an everyman.  an everyman who has found his every man pursuits priced out by the new rich and the corporate.  So, without any other place or form to unleash his anxiety, he turns to the players.  After all, by the time you’re done laying out several bills for a leisurely pastime, for that much money, it oughta be something else.  And it isn’t.  And teams lose.  During a baseball season the best of the very best lose at least 60 times.  But, there is a fever here.  And it’s enflamed by radio personalities, espn, espn.com (while we’re at work), a seemingly endless array of what was in the past, experienced, then maybe viewed at the 11 o’clock news and forgotten.  Not anymore, and both Yankee and Mets fans must now assiduously avoid all broadcasts after a tough game. It’s book time!  Because the climate is toxic. And the players will suffer the worst of it.  Santana must surely be shocked 1 home game and the venting has begun.   Watching Mota pitch against the Mets, and allow 8 baserunners in a row without the mets managing to score, it appeared like the mets could have demolished the game at any time.  But, they did everything they could not to score.  And when it was all over, when the blood thirsty fans who wanted nothing less than Mota’s head received nothing but a long ultimate tease, it fostered an ugly type of imagining.  In the end, the players were teammates with mota last year.  They know that all that hate Mota caught last year, could just as easily be them.  It would be logical for their sympathies to lie with Guillermo Mota rather than the rabble in the stands.  And deep down when Delgado’s bases loaded lazy fly ended the inning, after the bases loaded no out double play (of first to home), after all of the big tease and 3 ball and no strike counts, perhaps inside the mets smirked.  Take that you hateful mothers.  We get paid anyway, and you people are just miserable from the start.  And they might be right.  But where does that lead us?  The hate that hate created.  Lo unto us, it could be a long season, because there is no joy in mudville.Next weeK:Season 2 Casey’s walk year 

Orange and blue dropped a tough home opener to the Phillies.  Vescey drudged up memories of 2007 for his article in the Times.  But, in all fairness, if you had actually watched the game, it was more a sense of things not falling right.  Which is part of what happened last year against the Phillies.  But, it’s a new season, and sometimes you sting the ball all day, which the mets did, and people are there, which the Phillies were, especially Shane Victorino.  Anyway, this early in the season the less said the better.  Mets fans are apt to think of losing 3 of the first 5 games in ‘86.  And Foster’s double and Hojo’s big homerun off the bench in St.Louis propelling the mets to a 4 games sweep and a consequent runaway with the division.  Last year proved we need to get over that.  April  is the time to struggle, deal with adversity (the Yankees seem to do that every year).  To get caught up now we’ll create a permanent sense of unease and tension at beautiful shea, let’s leave that to the people of Philadelphia.  We are New York.  Big Blue showed us the power.  We must enjoy the last year at Shea before the Empire moves in and Dubai field exiles the lower budget elements of our base.  Buckle your seat belts, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.  

I’m baaaaaacccckkk. just because the Giants’ season is over does not mean that I’ll deprive you loyal readers of my insight and intelligence. It is I, the Giants Genius with more veratrol directed at the most dispised team in football, and no the SB loss didn’t garner any sympathy nor lower the level of abhorrance. I would’ve wrote sooner, but in my uuuhhhh “celebration” of the G-men’s victory (I choose not to divulge how I celebrated), I tore a tendon on one of my fingers in my right hand. But I shall abandon you not my loyal readers, and I’ll deliver the 2nd part of my 10 reasons to hate the pats (that’s right they don’t even deserve uppercase letters).

Reason # 6: They Cheat

First off, let me begin to say that I am not reffering to their coach. But believe me he will be on this list. Without having to elaborate, they’ve already had suspensions because of players taking performance enhancers. How sweet it is that the most memorable play of the Superbowl one of the players was the one defending Tyree. The pats have a very good offensive line, the best reciever/QB combo in the league and a top rated defense, yet they still had to cheat? As if that’s not enough, I’ve heard nearly every opponent accuse them of being cheap shot artists. This is exactly why I didn’t want to see history made on sunday. The pats sure as hell don’t earn all of their victories.

Reasons # 7, 8 & 9:  The coach

Yes, I hate this man so much that I couldn’t squeeze it into just one reason. I seriously complentated having this as it’s own article but for now this will suffice. Think back to the year 1999. Parcells had just stepped down as the Jets head coach and Belichik stepped in. After one day the man resigns with no clearly defined reason (doesn’t that sound familiar) and goes to the patriots. So he quits on one team after just a day then has the audacity to migrate to the team’s archrivals. Basically it’d be akin to Torre quitting the yankees to go to the Red Sox. So then what happens? One of his own coaches decides to persue a headcoaching job with the Jets. Keep in mind he was going from an assistant to a Head coach, so that’s understandable. But Belichik instead acts like a dumped girlfriend and gives him a no-eye-contact, coldfish handshake after the first meeting between their clubs. (John Fox, the former D-coordinator of the Giants was embraced by Fassel when the G-men played the panthers for their first time). That’s the most hypocritical thing I’ve seen in a sport full of hyprocrites. I’m suprised more people haven’t brought this up. To top it all off, the man is a proven cheater despite having an extremely talented roster. His actions both during and after “Spygate” is not those of an innocent man. Instead he reacts like a child with hurt feelings and runs the score up to humiliate opponents that had nothing to do with his cheating or his getting caught. I don’t want to hear the excuse “everyone does it” because if everyone did it alot more people would’ve been caught. In baseball, many players cheated, andquite a few of them have gotten caught. If everyone did indeed cheat wouldn’t alot more coaches be getting disciplined? I arrest my case. In my opinion Belichik deseves all the scrutiny and uncertainty that will come from Spygate and he has no one else to blame but himself. The same way Bonds and Clemens’ Legacies are being questioned so should Belicheat’s. Whew, I told you this could’ve been it’s own column.

Reason # 10: Randy Moss

The reasons are endless. You’ve heard of most of ‘em. But I’ll give you my 3 biggest problems. Randy Moss had the opportunity to be the greatest reciever ever. Period. He’s faster than anyone who can cover him, taller than anyone who can cover him, and has great hands. He has every single tool imaginable to be a great reciever, but doesn’t use them. Jerry Rice, who’s still the best ever, had great hands and an almost unnatural work-ethic, but he wasn’t as fast or as big as Randy. Nothing angers me more than wasted talent. He underperformed so badly in Oakland that they willingly gave him away for a 4th round pick. Put it this way: I like Terrell Owens more. Owens has done questionable things but you can never question his heart. The 2nd reason I despise Moss is he’s never showed up for big games. Remember that 41 - 0 humiliation that the G-men hung on the Vikes back in 2000? Guess how many catches Moss had in that game? Go ‘head and google it, I’ll wait….  Notice the similarity? It’s inexcusable that a player who set the NFL record for TD catches in a season, only had 3 receptions in the entire post season. A player who puts up gaudy numbers in the regular season but fails on the biggest stage. Regularly. The 3rd reason is his mouth. He managed to shut up this year, but that doesn’t excuse him from some unforgettable quotes like “I play when I want to play” or the Marshall plane crash was “was a tragedy, but it really wasn’t nothing big.” So basically we have a wasted talent, that disappears in big games and can’t keep his mouth shut. The perfect trifecta of reasons to hate him.

Well, I hope this post satisfied the Patriot hater in all of us. The fact that they lost in the Superbowl and were denied history in front of the biggest audience in Television history (I checked) makes it so much sweeter. Had the Giants just won the Superbowl, I’d been happy. But they beat/manhandled/embarrassed the patriots. A week later and I’m still on cloud nine. I’ll give you my post game celebration/analysis later this week. I truly hope this tendon heals soon.

Stood by his and side and- miracle of miracles- Walked him through the lions den!Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles-I was afraid that God would frown,But like he did so long ago, at Jericho,God just made a wall fall down!When Moses softened Pharaohs heart, that was a miracle.When God made the waters of the red sea part, that was a miracle too!  But of all God’s miracles large and small,The most miraculous one of all Is that out of a worthless lump of clay, God has made a man today.  Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles-God took the tailor by the hand, Turned him around and- miracle of miracles- Led him to the promised land! When David slew Goliath, that was a miracle.  When God gave us matter in the wilderness, that was a miracle too.  But of all God’s miracles large and small,The most miraculous one of all Is the one I thought could never be:

Too many Giant fans, it’s like a home game.Go Blue. 

Last year, it was a coronation. Those of us who gathered by the cathode tubes had hoped to see something big and violent and hitting out of the National Football Conference Champion Bears. Something that would bring back memories of the days when Buffalos roamed the earth and the NFC played big hard defense and cut the legs out of AFC passing games. But things have changed since John Elway started turning the Bowl into his stage. And the Bears looked foolish and the day turned into a coronation of the son of Mastercard. The pundits, and slobberers and of course the advertisement heathen were all vindicated. The Son of Mann was even greater. And in return their effort was re doubled as the Son of Mann became the sole star in the galaxy of NFL. Meanwhile the rest of us, that laid action on defense, were drunk and sickened by the third quarter.And so, the big stage comes again, and it’s not a stage that New York has usually shined on. So, with the fearful rememberances of San Diego Chargers and ugly ad blitzes of recent times, it may be best to start drinking early. But, fuck it. Giants have really kicked ass and Dallas and Green Bay know what’s up. Justin Tuck is there, Osi Umenyiora is there, Michael Strahan is down with us, they will run, they will block and they will fight. Some people say Dallas was unprepared, and beating a 38 year old man in the snow is no great feat, but that’s ok. Because Blue can run and New England isn’t into stopping that so much. And the Mets got Johan Santana, and now, the mood is a lot better. So bring on Atlanta, bring on Dallas, this one is for…More screwdirvers, because this is a time of great rejoice and new york rises, despite the Isiah Thomas’s of the mind, a new day has come, and it is very blue. Like the sky like the sea like the absinthe drinker. These little town blues…

The 2 weeks of Super Bowl hype are like when you’re lying on the bed waiting for the girl to get out of the bathroom.  Everything’s already been decided, now it’s just waiting for her to get out of the bathroom so you can get it on.  Unfortunately, sometimes it seems like an eternity…waiting, and there’s not much you can really do, can’t start some new project or get any work done, because your mind is focused on one thing so there’s nothing to do except, sit and wait.   During the 2 Super Bowl weeks, this sitting and waiting  descends into empty conjecture.  The players are set, the teams are set, the starters are set, and there really isn’t much for the fan or the media to talk about.  The idea that on any given Sunday one team will just play better and catch a few more breaks than other team, seems offensively nebulous for something that people focus so much money and attention on.  When it comes down to how a bunch of guys play, it sounds a little too much like a flag football weekend, than a megalith billion dollar industry with computers, charts, clipboards and men in booths.  So, in lieu of conversation stopping at, ‘I hope the Giants play good,’ the concept of bulletin board material is released from the reporters cave like the Kraken, as the populace screams and temples crash down as Plaxico says ‘I think we’re gonna win.’  Prophets gather foretelling doom.  Now the Patriots will really try!  Before they were approaching the game absent mindedly like putting cream in their coffee.  Now it is akin to the still bee hive struck by the stick of hubris.  In truth the game centers on the Giants ability to play ball control, and the play of their secondary.  Bulletin boards are for parent teacher conference.

It’s Superbowl week!!! If you were thinking I wouldn’t post during this holiest of weeks for my beloved franchise you thought wrong. There just isn’t enough hype for this game wouldn’t you say?? Well folks I’m here to dish out some more pointless insight over the superbowl, but don’t worry I won’t be discussing what shoes Brady’s wearing. However I will discuss why I hate the patriots so much. Now hold on. there are certain players on the Pats that I like. Brady has alot going for him but face it, the guy is humble. Teddy Bruschi’s an inspiration (if you don’t know his story, you’re not a true fan). But I hate the Patriots as a group. Here’s why:

REASON # 1: New York sports fans hate all Boston teams.

Not sure if you knew this, but the New England Patriots use to be the Boston Patriots. For some reason they adopted the moniker New England even though they still play in boston. It is an unwritten rule that New York fans must hate Boston teams at all costs even if it defies logic. I hate the Red Sox (no explanation needed), I hate the Celtics even though my favorite NBA player (KG) now plays for them, I hate the Bruins even though I barely watch hockey and I hate the Pats. ‘Nuff Said.

REASON # 2: Lady Luck smiles upon this team way too much.

Think about it. They get snow plowed out of their way to kick field goals…. They get rules invented for them on the fly (remember the “Tuck Rule”)…… They get one of the greatest recievers of all time for a 4th round pick…… They’re being credited for having a perfect season but no one acknowledges that the only reason they’re unbeated is because some idiot on the Ravens sideline called a T.O. right before the Pats were stuffed on 4th down for no gain….. The list goes on. Don’t get me wrong, the Pats are good. But can anyone think of one bad break that they’ve gotten this decade?? Even one? Please feel free to enlighten me on this one. I may not be able to sleep until someone does.

REASON # 3: They never get injured

Actually an extention of reason # 2. I’ve actually heard some morons say “The Giants are Healthy heading to the Superbowl.” Uuuhhh let’s see. They’re missing a pro-bowl tight end; They’re missing a very good back-up RB, who can start for a few teams in this league; they’re missing a very key component of their vaunted pass rush (Kiwanuka); and had to play stretches in the postseason without both starting CB’s. How’s that healthy again? Yet the Patriots were blowing teams out, leaving their starters in for longer than necessary for no other reason but to run up the score, and not one player gets put on the IR? This has always bugged me. I don’t know ’bout you, but if I’m a defense and the Pats are winning big in the 4th quarter, and they have the gall to leave their starters in and go for it on 4th down I’m taking someone’s knees out. But this is why God did not pick me to play football.

REASON # 4: They ran up the score

Wait so let me get this straight: You get caught cheating red-handed. You don’t even deny that you got caught cheating but instead deliver alot of non-answers when you get questioned. Then the people who catch you destroy all evidence of the crime. And then you have the audacity to question why people are doubting your legacy? You respond by showing no sportsmanship to teams that have nothing to do with your cheating? Once again, I question why more people on this team didn’t get cut blocked.

Reason # 5: They’re over rated

That’s right you heard me. I think they’re over rated. Are they good yes. Dominant? Questionable. Best of all time? Not even close. Take a gander at some of the dominant teams from the 80’s and 90’s. Hell even look at the 70’s if you wanna go back that far. The 70’s steelers, had no discernable weaknesses. Neither did the Giants, Niners, and Bears of the 80’s. We all remember how the Cowboys ran through the NFL in the 90’s. Those teams dominated in all facets of the game. Run game? Emitt. Defense? LT (the real one). QB? Joe. Oh and how can I forget the ‘85 Defense (I don’t even have to name the team). The players from those teams transcended the sport. The ‘07 Patriots? Most people outside of Boston (and some living in Boston) can’t even name 10 players from that team. They’ll be lucky to get more than 3 Hall of famers. Those dominant teams that I’ve already mentioned had 9 and 10 players enshrined. So no, I don’t think this team is the greatest of all time win or lose on sunday.

 Sorry folks. That’s it for today. Tomorrow I’ll finish my controversial list. GO GIANTS!!!!