You can either chat here at www.newyorkmetspodcast.com/chat or over in the clubhouse at clubhouse.newyorkmetspodcast.com/chat. It’s actually one room so you’ll hook up with the same crew no matter which page you visit.

Hope to see you there.

It’s nice to know that the team has gotten this piece of business out of the way. Willie gets a nice raise and I’m sure he feels better knowing that management has shown this confidence in him.

Time to start thinking pitchers and catchers. It’s going to be a wild spring!

Single game tickets are as low as $5 per game. And select five game value packs are going for $37. All seats are upper reserved and all are for games scheduled from Mon – Fri.

Enough gabbing. Here’s the link: http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/nym/ticketing/packs_value.jsp.

The most sought after pitcher in the free agent market, Barry Zito, has been acquired by the San Francisco Giants in a 7 year $126 million deal. Yahoo! Sports reports here.

Disappointing would be an understatement to describe this development for Mets fans. So what will Omar do with the $75 to $100 million left in the coffers? We need to get somebody to help buoy the pitching staff. Expect a podcast on this soon. Get your comments and rants in to the comment line at 206-333-0536.

Discuss in the forum here.

Our team has signed Moises Alou to play left field in 2007 while declining Tom Glavine’s option for next season. There’s still a chance that Glavine will pitch for the Mets next year. So we’re just going to have to sweat this one out a little longer.

I’m not too excited by the Moises Alou pickup. He is 40 years old. And Cliff Floyd may not be a spring chicken but I think he could at least give the Mets what Alou will give them plus be a force in the clubhouse.

As of right now the Mets’ corner outfielders will be Moises Alou (backed up by Endy Chavez) and Shawn Green. This means they’re week at best on the corners. Lastings Milledge is just a question mark blowing in the wind at this point. I say that the Mets will try to deal him prior to spring training.

I understand the need to recoup revenue but come on. Do they really need the $20 million per year?

Then the news comes across the wire that Guillermo Mota’s apparent resurgence is apparently tainted. Word is that he has tested positive for performance enhancing drugs and will undure a 50 game suspension. Mota had already filed for free agency but his performance in the second half made him a candidate to return with the Mets next year. I’m sure Omar will take a pass now.

Let’s Go Mets! 

So for the middle reasons no podcast to follow up the loss yet. You know me though. I’m dying to get it out and also hear your thoughts. I plan to keep the podcast going through the winter and right into spring training, albeit at a slower pace. But we will be rolling in snowshoes if necessary. What will Santa Omar leave us under the Christmas Tree?

I agonized through every refresh of the screen. Floyd – One out. Reyes – Two outs. LoDuca – A walk. At this point I had hope for some of that old Met magic. Bases loaded, two outs, Beltran at the plate in game 7 of the NLCS. There isn’t a kid who’s played baseball, softball, wiffle ball, stickball or stoop ball that hasn’t dreamed of such a moment. A moment with the chance to be a hero and make the stadium rock. Moments like that put players into history books. Moments like the one when Bobby Thomson crushed the Dodgers with a home run that came to be known as “The Shot Heard Round The World.” Moments like Mookie dribbling one up the first base line to score a winning run.

This moment was not our moment. The moment belonged to Cardinal closer Adam Wainwright. Beltran – Struck out looking.

When a team loses a playoff series we tend to look for villains. We single them out. We dwell. Mota and Wagner were the villains in Game 2. Trachsel was the villain in Game 3. Maybe it’s Beltran or even Heilman in Game 7. Who cares? In some way all of those guys contributed big during the regular season.

The Mets had a knack for hitting with Trachsel on the mound. Guillermo Mota surprised everyone by doing a pretty good job replacing Duaner Sanchez in the second half. Billy Wagner was lights out in the second half and the first round of the playoffs. Aaron Heilman was amazing in the second half, stepping into the 8th inning role like a young pitcher determined to prove the doubters wrong. And all Carlos Beltran did was return the fans faith in the big free agent signing.

Wright had a bad series. Floyd was hurt. No El Duque or Pedro Martinez. There were challenges and some say our team was lucky to get this far under the circumstances. I don’t buy it. We had the guns to win it. They just went silent at the hands on St. Louis pitching that surprised the Mets. Beltran had a bad at bat at the wrong time against a guy who has been an effective closer. There are worse sins in the game of baseball.

We discovered a few things along the way though. John Maine and Oliver Perez stepped up. It’s going to be very interesting next year with the likes of Glavine, Maine, Perez, Bannister and Pelfrey hanging around spring training. Maybe El Duque will be around too. There are things to look forward to. Reyes, LoDuca, Beltran, Delgado and Wright are all returning. Who knows what else Omar Minaya has up his sleeve.

So no epitaph here. Just some late night thoughts (as usual). I’m going to take a couple of days, let the comments flow in, and fire up the podcast again after the weekend. I need to clear my head out and let the fans have their say. Please call the comment line, use the Mobatalk Voicemail on the site or email me MP3 Files. It would be nice to include the voices of more of the people who are on the other side of the podcast. Text comments on this post are welcome as well.

Let’s Go Mets!

METS WIN BABY!

Do you believe?

If you’re lucky as a fan you never get to the time of the season when one loss means your team is going home for the winter. Of course those days happen more often than not. Some seasons are magical and teams roll through to a seemingly easy World Series win. Other seasons provide a roller coaster ride, sometimes to victory and sometimes not.

This 2006 season for the Mets has been really a straight shot into the playoffs and even through the first round. Now we’ve had some late loop-de-loops that bring us to being down 3-2 in the NLCS against the Cardinals. We felt the bumps of losing Pedro and Duque but dispatching the Dodgers gave us confidence. Confidence may be a bit hard to come by at the moment.

If you must focus on the negatives then let’s get them out of the way. We’re at the end of the rope on starting pitching. Maine hasn’t been good and we can’t use Glavine again for the rest of the series. Trachsel is pretty much finished with the Mets although we might be forced to start him if there is a game 7. The bats are cold as ice once again. These playoffs are looking like the Titanic for David Wright. He got a double late, but we needed more. Jose Reyes has been disappointing as well. He’s not patient and he keeps looking for extra base hits when he should be looking to work out walks. The team has only really put it together offensively for one game in this series. Plus I know that the umpires, Tim McCarver and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez are against us. Wah, wah. I’m done crying now.

Here are some positives. Shea will be rocking tomorrow night. And there is some magical history at Shea, as many of you know. We only need to win two games in a row. The Mets have done that plenty of times this season. We can get to Chris Carpenter. We did last week at Shea. It can be done again. We can get to their bullpen again as well. This is no invincible squad of arms out there. The bats can wake up too. A late flight home can get players to thinking and sometimes that’s what’s needed. The fans will be waiting and cheering. Oh yeah, and we’ve beaten the Cards at Shea in the NLCS before. I’ll be even more pragmatic and state that this series is about one game. We can win one game tomorrow night and the worry about winning one more game. One game, our field, I believe.

!!!LET’S GO METS!!!

I think this is a good thing for the Mets. All other things being equal I believe that a rested Tom Glavine can outpitch a rested Jeff Weaver. It’s also another day for Cliff Floyd to rest his sore achilles. Then again, the Cards bullpen has been tired out and they will get another day of rest as well.

Guillermo Mota started it off buy allowing Albert Pujols and Jim Edmunds to reach base with two out. At this point I’m not sure why Willie didn’t give him the hook. Then Mota either blew off Paul LoDuca or missed his location in throwing Scott Spezio a fastball on the inside of the plate. This was after Spezio missed badly on two changeups and had just drilled a fastball foul down the right field line. The result was a two run triple and a tie score.

Aaron Heilman did his job and passed it on to Billy Wagner in the ninth. Wagner was awful, starting with the Taghuchi homer. I had a bad feeling during that at bat. Then the Cards just kept eating him up. I’m not going to kill Billy Wagner for this one. He had a great second half and had done well in the playoffs before last night. That stated, he should never let that happen again in the playoffs.

There were other missed opportunities as well. The Mets had first and second in the eighth and Beltran hit into a double play. David Wright still hasn’t found his stoke yet in this series either. Paul LoDuca and Carlos Delgado have been a two man wrecking crew at the plate.

So the reality of the playoffs is that nothing is guaranteed. Certainly not a lead at home in the late innings. Every run counts. Every pitch counts. Maybe the Mets needed to realize that after four playoff wins in a row. The best way to remedy a loss is to win and we have the opportunity to do that again this evening. This Mets team can out hit and out run St. Louis. Our bullpen is better than their bullpen. The starting pitching matchups ain’t so bad either. So let’s get back on the horse tonight and take the series lead back.

Let’s Go Mets!

I was completely off line for most of the day and my wife called me to tell me a small plane had crashed into a building in Manhattan. She told me it was a very small plane and a residential building so I thought that this should definitely be an accident. Then she called me back 10 minutes later to tell me that the plane was registered to Cory Lidle. So i just turned on ESPN and heard that it’s confirmed that he was involved in the crash. It’s simply unbelieveable. My thoughts are with the Lidle family and the families of the other people involved in this tragedy.

They’re also reporting that it looks like the Mets might not be able to get game 1 in due to rain. MLB is not postponing any games due to the crash and I think that’s the right move. But it looks like they may not get the game in anyway.

According to the report, “Floyd was examined via MRI on Monday. General manager Omar Minaya said Floyd’s condition has improved and that the left fielder continues to receive treatment. But his inclusion on the Mets’ roster for the NLCS still seemed unlikely. Minaya also acknowledged the risk the club would take if it retained Floyd on the roster and he became baseball-incapacitated early in the series.”

Bummer. So we’ll soon know if it’s going to be Ricky Ledee or Lastings Milledge. Whoever it is, they will have a chance to be a hero. No matter what you do in the regular season, playoff heroics are the fastest way to build the love with the fans. Since we won’t be playing in Boston, I’m leaning towards a preference for Lastings.

On the mound their ace is Chris Carpenter who went 15-8. Then you’ve got the likes of Jeff Weaver, Jason Marquis and Jeff Suppan. All three of these guys are beatable. I’m going to assume for the moment that they’ll throw Weaver in game 1 on Wednesday night then follow with Suppan in game 2.

I wonder if Willie will start Maine again in Game 1 or go with Glavine. I’m leaning towards the thought that Glavine should start against Suppan, who’s a stronger pitcher than Weaver. Maybe Brett can cook us up some stats on the season series and the pitching matchups.

The NLCS against San Diego or St. Louis kicks off at Shea on Wednesday. That means three days of rest for Cliff Floyd’s aching achilles tendon and time to get the rotation lined up again.

I do believe in magic. Willie is going to make it work somehow. LETS GO METS!

I missed the entire game as expected due to my flight. But I kept a positive attitude as we touched down at Newark around midnight. That vibe was rewarded when I saw the text message from my friend coming back from the game on the 7 train.

I listened to WFAN and Steve Somers in the car ride back from the airport and this morning I caught the condensed game. Looked like Glavine really brought his ‘A’ game, silencing the critics for the moment.  Also looked like the Mets had a couple of missed chances on offense. I shudder to think about what this team could do if they did capitalize.

We’ll need that kind of hitting in game three. Who knows, maybe Steve Trachsel can pull a Bobby Jones in Game 3 and toss a one-hitter or something. I like our chances. It seems like the team is grooving now that showtime has arrived. Let’s just take it one game at a time.

I’m planning to record later this evening so get in your comments on the call in line or on this post.

June 6: @ LAD
Lowe(W) v. Martinez(L) 8-5
Lowe:6.0IP; 5H; 2ER
To Be Noted:
- Martinez was beginning his downward spiral, he was on the DL by the end of the month.
- Floyd was taken out with a sore wrist, leaving Woodward and Chavez in who were a combined 2-8
Lowe’s Postseason Resume: 4-4; 3.05 ERA

September 8 @ NYM
Kuo(W) v. Maine(L) 5-0
Kuo:6.0IP; 3H; 0ER
To Be Noted: Milledge and Woodward were playing in lieu of Floyd and Valentin giving up power and .060 BA points.
Kuo’s Postseason Resume: NA

September 9 @ NYM
Maddux(L) v. Hernandez(W) 3-2
Maddux:5.1IP; 5H; 3ER
To Be Noted: Stinnett in for LoDuca
Maddux’s Postseason Resume: 11-14; 3.22 ERA

{In all 3 games the Mets did not have the opportunity to play their strongest offensive lineup, and in none of the games did they match or exceed their season average in runs per game. Throughout the season versus the Dodgers, the Mets have been held to 4.1 runs per game, only holding Dodgers to 4.6, which is their 2nd worst run differential of any overall series consisting of more than 6 games. (vs. Braves: -.7) A little bit disturbing… let’s hope they can step it up when they need to.}

Yes, the bullpen was shaky and Billy Wagner gave up a run in the ninth. But a win is a win. Let’s take it one game at a time. Your thoughts and comments please.

LETS GO METS!

LETS GO METS!

I assume that he will be back before the playoffs but it might be tough for him to get in the groove if he doesn’t play a few more games in the regular season.

I think that Carlos’ absence is one reason why the team hasn’t been hitting lately. Without him in the middle of the lineup the Mets are that much weaker. In the end I’d rather see him get the rest than rush back to get his swing going. Let’s hope he starts feeling good this week.

Okay, now it’s time to lock up home field and line up the rotation for a whack at our first opponent in the playoffs.

LETS GO METS!

El Duque pitched very well, outdueling Greg Maddux. The bullpen held the fort down with Heilman and Wagner doing their jobs.

I think that the Mets can’t be beat on days when they’ve got their hitting shoes on. On other days it’s great to be able to have good pitching.

Meanwhile Pedro Martinez threw a simulated game today at Shea Stadium. Things are looking up my friends. Not that they they’ve been looking down. It’s always good for things to get better as you head into the playoffs.

The magic number is at six. I’ll be scoreboard watching tonight to see if the Marlins can help take it down to five for us.

No matter, I think the Mets could handle the Fish no problem in the playoffs. The Phillies and Padres better watch out!

One of my favorite Mets is back in the lineup. Mr. Cliff Floyd had a couple of RBIs tonight as the Mets clipped the Astros chances of winning the wild card. The Phils lost the opener of a double header with the Braves, so I believe the magic number is at 12. Now we need to get Pedro back soon so we can gear up for October. I hope Beltran is OK after knocking into the wall in the ninth. I’m sure we’ll find out more about that tomorrow.

The above picture was taken at a game in August. It’s nice to be a fan during a time when fans find it worth it to buy the jersey of several players.

I also see that Dave Williams will not be on the post season roster. Don’t know who will replace him. Maybe Milledge or Kelly Stinnett?

If the story is accurate then this is great news. We absolutely need Tom and Pedro Martinez for the playoffs. Missing those two would be like going without Doc and Sid Fernandez during the ‘86 run.

The same story reports that Oliver Perez and Brian Bannister are both pitching well for the Norfolk Tides. Perez recently threw one hit ball over seven innings. Meanwhile it looks like Ramon Castro had a setback during his rehab and may be out for a bit longer.

And just in case we need more help in the pen, Omar Minaya went out and acquired Guillermo Mota from the Indians for APTBNL. Mota’s numbers look pretty poor this season but Omar Minaya thinks that, “…a change of scenery and change of leagues will help him produce better results.” I hope so. Roberto Hernandez has been shaky since coming over from Pittsburgh and the team has been going to the bullpen for innings 7 thru 9 on a regular basis.

Why Bell? According to the story on Mets.com, “Mike Pelfrey is assigned to the disabled list, Alay Soler still hasn’t resumed pitching since his demotion, Brian Bannister is struggling against Triple-A hitters and Jose Lima is not likely to get a third second chance.

I think this is a team that could go all the way but there are some issues that need to be addressed. As I’ve stated on the podcast I think that Lastings Milledge is a big disappointment. I don’t necessarily think that either Michael Tucker or Ricky Ledee are the answer to that issue. The whole situation is aggravated by the injuries to Cliff Floyd.

While we’re on the subject, how about Carlos Delgado? This guy has been very cold for a while. He did have a nice pick and the game ending out today but we need his bat. David Wright is slumping too but I believe he will break out again in the second half. Delgado needs to step up in order for the Mets to be a force in the playoffs.

There are still issues with pitching. Wagner made it a bit of an adventure after getting the first two outs today. That seems to be his thing. Although I have to say that he’s done his job well since the All Star break. Our starters are schizophrenic. Just when you’re done with Trachsel he throws a good game, albeit against the Nats. I like Maine but does he have the gas in the tank to pitch into October? I’m willing to go with whateve Pedro and Glavine have left in them for the playoffs. I think those guys have earned that respect.

Questions, questions, questions. I’ll talk more on these points in the next podcast.

According to this story, the Mets have claimed Ricky Ledee off of waivers from the (suddenly streaking) LA Dodgers. This is a move to shore up the bench obviously.

According to the story, “Ledee was batting .245 (13-for-53) in 43 games with a homer and eight RBIs for the Dodgers this season. The eight-year veteran missed 64 games because of a pulled groin muscle. Last season, he hit .278 in 102 games with seven homers and 39 RBIs after signing with the Dodgers as a free agent.”

I believe that this makes sense because I’ve been concerned that the bench has gotten a little thin with Valentin playing everyday and Endy Chavez playing more with Cliff Floyd hurt. Plus we’ve been getting very limited production from Chris Woodward and Eli Marrero.

Welcome Back Mike!

Tonight the Shea faithful get to welcome Mike Piazza. I’m glad to see Mike in the middle of a pennant race with San Diego. His numbers are good too, hitting .297 with 16 HR and 49 RBI. Not stellar I know but consider that the past two season he was .251, 19, 62 and .266, 20, 54.

I think that the Mets made the right move in letting Piazza move on. I’ve been a huge fan of his since he came to the Mets so it was tough for me to come to terms with that fact. His production was steadily falling though and the Mets needed to free up that salary for better, younger players. I’ve got some good Mike Piazza stories since a friend of mine grew up with him and I got to meet him a few times during his run with the Mets.

I would’ve thought he’d end up in the AL as a DH so signing with San Diego was a bit of a surprise to me. In any case, I hope he does well at the plate while the Mets sweep the series.

As I remember it Robin Ventura was a fan of classic rock and started blaring L.A. Woman by The Doors after games that the Mets won. The part of that song where Jim Morrisson shouts, “Mr. Mojo Risin” became something of a rallying cry for the team. They even played it at the end of victories at Shea Stadium. Most notably, I remember the strains after Robin hit his famous Grand Slam single to end a 16 inning NLDS barnburner vs. the Braves.

So I’m thinking that there needs to be a song for the team for 2006. Something that you would like to hear after Billy Wagner closes the door on a victory with a strikeout. Or when David Wright wins a game in a walk off by putting one over the centerfielder’s head. You get the picture.

Let me know what you think in the comments. I don’t have one in mind but I’m going to try to think of one. If we get a few ideas I’ll run a poll to see what the fans think. It would even be nice for me to use a snippet of it at the beginning and end of the podcasts.

Shout back folks!

“And Minaya has reportedly found a replacement. According to SI.com, the Mets have traded outfielder Xavier Nady to the Pirates for reliever Roberto Hernandez and left-hander Oliver Perez.”

I would just hate to lose Nady, even for another reliever. So does this mean Endy Chavez starts everyday? Or will Lastings Milledge be called to full time duty?

Expect updates on this post and a podcast later this evening.

Update 1: It appears official that the Mets have made the trade mentioned above as reported on SI.com by Jon Heyman.

I just read today in the NY Post that Cliff Floyd has a bad achilles tendon that kept him out of yesterday’s game. So it is possible that with this trade the Mets starting outfield could consist of Chavez, Beltran and Milledge. At least that would be if Floyd has to miss some more games. The trade of Nady and the move of Chavez to the starting lineup leaves a hole on the Mets bench.

Update 2: SI.com on Hernandez and Perez. ” Hernandez, 41, has a 2.93 ERA in 43 innings this season, with 33 strikeouts and 24 walks, two saves and holds. The Mets have something of a reclamation project in Perez, who won 12 games in 2004 but hasn’t been the same since.”

Update 3: Omar Minaya, speaking to Chris Russo on WFAN, indicated that the Roberto Hernandez deal was done before other teams knew about the injury to Duaner Sanchez. He also said that it’s possible that Sanchez might not need surgery and it’s still possible that he will pitch this season. From what Omar said, Lastings Milledge will play right field with support from Endy Chavez.

Pedro shakes off a poor start to go six innings and get the win. Meanwhile the Mets’ bats came out early against starter Horacio Ramirez. David Wright adds an opposite field homer to provide an insurance run.

Feliciano, Sanchez and a streaking Billy Wagner go the last three innings to seal the deal.

Nice to have Pedro back. Despite the poor first inning, he turned it around and pitched very well over the next five innings. I even thought he might come out for the seventh. Guess they didn’t want to push it in the first outing.

But the two runs over six innings was a step forward for Mike P. He did benefit from some Nady hustle to help end the bottom of the sixth inning on a hit by Scott Hatteberg.

A good performance and an encouraging sign for the rotation. Billy Wagner even pitched a scoreless ninth in a non-save situation.

Now we’ve got Jose ‘can you see the runners scoring’ Lima going Friday night and we’re hoping the Mets bats are hot and Eli Marrero is nowhere near center field. But things are getting interesting in Flushing.

First the Mets call up Henry Owens from AA to replace Heath Bell. Owens has been dominant as Binghamton’s closer with a 1.08 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 25 innings. So lets see if he can beef up the pen for a few games prior to the All Star break.

Then the Mets move Pedro Martinez to the DL retroactive to June 29th due to hip (and probably toe) issues. Disappointing to not have Pedro in the rotation but we know he’s hurting and the team needs him as healthy as he can be for the second half. So with the Mets 12.4 games up I think this is a good move.

Finally, we’ll all have a chance to get a look at the man of the hour Mike Pelfrey as he’ll start one game of the double header this Saturday against The Marlins. We’ve all anticipated Pelfrey’s arrival but I think we hoped it would be as a replacement for Soler and not Pedro Martinez. Nothing we can do about that now though.

Pelfrey has a 6-3 record in the minors this year with a 2.45 ERA. He’s had a couple of shaky outings but he has improved his numbers over the last few starts. My fear right now is that this will be too much too soon for Pelfrey. Starting at Shea on a Saturday afternoon with all the expectations heaped upon him is a great challenge. No matter what happens I feel like the fans need to temper their excitement or disappointment depending on the outcome. After all, this guy is at the beginning of what we hope will be a very long career as a Met.

Please chime in and let me know what you think.

With Delgado and Nady missing time with nagging injuries, plus LoDuca hurting a bit, the Mets lineup isn’t the same. So just as we get Floyd back things need to get mixed up again. The bright side of me says that better we have this tough stretch now than in Sept or Oct. Plus we’ve got two more games to kick the Yankees butts!

The dark side says I hate losing to the Yanks no matter what the circumstances. Either way I’ll try to record the next podcast later today after the game.

One more thing. Nominations for the second yearly Podcast Awards are open. I’d love to get a shot at winning in the Sports category. So if you have a moment head over to http://www.podcastawards.com/index.php?option=nominate and enter me and our Mets in the sports category. Thanks in advance!

I believe that Pedro Martinez and Alay Soler will bounce back from their sub par outings and pitch better during the regular season. But these first two games have been a test in dealing with pressure that the Mets have not passed.

The Mets bats have been weak over the last couple of games, squandering a few big chances on Tuesday and not getting anything going on Wednesday. We know they can and will do better. They’ll have to in order to avoid their first three game losing streak of the season tomorrow. Tom Glavine is on the hill so I have faith.

What I don’t have faith in is Lastings Milledge’s ability to play left field in Fenway park. He’s had two key errors in two nights out there. Where is Cliff Floyd when you need him? And it seems as though Milledge has an excuse for every error he makes. He needs to fess up and admit that The Green Monster got the best of him. Because everyone knows it but him.

And Lastings’ batting average has now dipped to .241. The kid is not hitting and the kid is not fielding well.  I’ve seen all I need to see of him during this stretch of the season. Willie should start both Nady and Chavez at the corners of the outfield tomorrow at Fenway and forget about trading Cliff Floyd in the 2006 season.

The Mets come back and take the lead in the late innings. Wagner gets two outs and then collapses just enough to give up the lead. Terrible performance. I can’t fault Wright for the game ending DP because he already racked up three hits in the game.

As I said in the latest podcast, this Mets team needs to start thinking about the players that will get them through the playoffs. I believe that this team is going to the playoffs with the talent they have but how far into the playoffs will they go? You can’t win a championship without a lights out closer. And right now the Mets don’t have a lights out closer in Billy Wagner. This dude is scary.

I’m not one to be rash but I think there needs to be a plan to solidify the back end of the bullpen. Comments anyone?

I’m hearing lots of talk from people who think that this Mets team is still too weak in starting pitching to go all the way. I don’t know about that. I like the 1-2-3 combo of Martinez, Glavine and Soler. We still have a few weeks to evaluate Hernandez and Soler before deciding on a deal anyway. The Mets have the major upper hand in any trade talks since they are so far out in front of the division and not desperate in any way at this juncture in the season.

The Lastings Milledge talk since last night has been interesting. He got caught dogging it on the basepaths then all of a sudden Eli Marrero gets the start in place of Lastings in left field. Willie said he wanted to get Marrero some at bats. But Randolph had to be sending a message to his young player about hustling at the major league level. The Mets won the game anyway but this amplifies the point that many people are making about Milledge needing some more seasoning at the AAA level. After all, we don’t want another Timo Perez like base running incident to occur in a really big game.

The Mets set a major league record today by winning their 8th straight game on the road while scoring in the first inning. The 1939 Yankees did it seven consecutive games. Always nice to wipe a Yankee record off the map.

So now it’s back to Shea for a homestand against Baltimore and Cincinnati. I think the crowds will be swelling in Flusing this weekend. As well they should be. This team has earned a few sell outs even if they are against a non-rival team like the Orioles.

Lets Go Mets!

Seems like Lastings Milledge might make me eat my words from Sunday as far as him being ready for the big leagues now. With a couple of more hits last night including a home run, plus throwing out Garciaparra on big play late in the game. Lastings just might outlast Nady for the job in RF.

On to Arizona, where I happen to be right now. But I’m about 2 hours south of Phoenix and Chase Field which is formerly known as Bank One Ballpark or The BOB for short. Good riddance to L.A. Hopefully we can get Cliff Floyd and Jose Reyes back in time for the Phils series.

Gonna try to get a podcast in later today. Maybe I’ll wait till after tonight’s game which I should be able to catch on TV down here. Feel free to continue commenting in the interim here on the voice forum or on the comment phone line.

Looks like Carlos Delgado may be thawing out of his slump with a couple of hits including a two run homer. And Lastings Milledge had two more hits. He’s proving my statements from the last podcast wrong. Maybe he is ready to hit major league pitching on an everyday basis.

A surprising move by Willie Randolph not going to Billy Wagner in the ninth inning. As a top flight closer, Billy Wagner must be doing all he can to bite his lip on that one. I believe in checking ego’s at the door when it comes to winning games but I think that most veteran major leaguers would feed differently. Could the new 7-8-9 pitching combo be Feliciano, Bradford and Wagner?

Pedro Martinez throwing tonight against Derek Lowe who has been hot lately for the Dodgers. Come on guys. We need to support Pedro and get him a win!

If you get a chance, try out the new voice forum. This is a new thing that seems to make it really easy for people to leave voice messages and then reply to them. You just need a mic hooked up to your computer for it to work.

Let’s Go Mets!

Another sub-par outing from Orlando Hernandez. I refuse to call him El Duque until he actually starts pitching well enough to be worthy of such a lofty nickame. Glavine does what he’s done all year, making quality starts. He doesn’t get the win but the Mets do. Lastings Milledge has been a real disappointment so far but maybe I’m expecting too much from a guy who’s barely had a cup of coffee yet.

Thanks to all the listeners who have added themselves to the map. With the addition of Gary from Alaska we’re represented all the way from there to Puerto Rico! Now we need someone from Europe.