The Mets just don’t get it. Period.

Steve Sommers came on WFAN this morning after Ed Randall’s Talking Baseball and he said something that summed up the Mets perfectly.

“They have two outfielders and three catchers.”

With Church, Alou, Nixon and Anderson out, they only have two outfielders on their roster. Fernando Tatis is a converted infielder, and showed it last night when he fell after making a catch and cost the Mets the game. A professional outfielder makes that catch 100 times out of 100 and doesn’t allow the runner to score from third. Never mind that Tatis’s subsequent throw landed somewhere in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metro area.

But, take this a step further to today’s game. Ty Wigginton got the Astros on the board with a solo shot off Perez early in the game. This is the kind of player the Mets cannot appreciate. Wigginton is a five-position player, the type of player that does, in fact, allow you to carry three catchers. But Wigs was under-appreciated, and, idiotically trade for Kris Benson, which was a whole other debacle in itself.

The Mets did nothing at this year’s trade deadline. Nothing. Why? The bullpen is absolutely awful. The Mets can’t even trust their closer to get the job done.

Now John Maine is out with a “mild rotator cuff strain” and they say he’ll miss a start.

Miss a start? This is a rotator cuff! There is no rotator cuff injury, no matter how small, that requires just one week of rest.

This is the most frustrating part for any Mets fan. Its an organization that is a mess in terms of its power structure. This team doesn’t win because there is no authority, there is no one in charge. They are trying to run a college-style organization where everyone is free to input their ideas. This doesn’t work in baseball. Baseball is a business.

Its a team that just doesn’t get it. And they likely won’t until their is a change in ownership. Good luck.

It has become exceedingly difficult to live with the daily muck tossed about in New York’s papers, and on the radio of WFAN and ESPN1050.

It began with the firing of Willie Randolph. He deserved to lose his job, he certainly was not an effective manager anymore. However, he was treated in a manner completely unfit of a man of his stature in the world of New York baseball. He was so unceremoniously tossed aside by the organization that it didn’t even feel like reality.

Then you had owner Fred Wilpon claiming the decision and timing was solely at the discretion of General Manager Omar Minaya. Anyone who has spent five seconds around baseball knows that the owner and CEO is never blind to this sort of situation. I almost felt like my intelligence was insulted by Wilpon as he spouted an obvious fabrication towards Mets fans everywhere.

With all of this and other quagmires such as Alex Rodriguez’s alleged affair with Madonna and subsequent divorce proceedings, it made me begin to think.

New York is arguably the biggest sports market in the world. A market that can afford the best of the best in every medium. And yet, we have some of the worst.

You have the Dolans who own Madison Square Garden and continually keep the Knicks and Rangers from any kind of championship contention. Charles Wang in Long Island seems dead set on keeping the Islanders in the basement year after year. The Wilpons…well, we know they don’t know what they’re doing at all.

How about radio? On WFAN their top show is Mike and The Mad Dog. Quite possibly two of the most obsequious buffoons ever to speak through a microphone. 1050 ESPN is slightly better. Mike and Mike in the Morning is a wonderful show. Max Kellerman is a relatively bright guy, but makes absolutely moronic statements such as Mariano Rivera being the best pitcher in baseball. Michael Kay is an idiot, but he knows he’s a flawed human being and there’s no delusions there. He, at least, knows exactly who he is. I do feel bad for Don La Greca who has to put up with him on a daily basis.

None of the writers in this area are particularly fantastic. I do enjoy Mike Lupica who is still one of the best. Tom Guilliti of the Bergen Record who covers the New Jersey Devils generally does a great job.

Quite simply, this summer has been too much. It doesn’t seem like there is any concern on the games any longer. The New York Sports world has become one big high school and all anyone cares about his gossip. Writers chase whatever headline will get them more money and work. Maybe that isn’t their fault, because the editors are usually the one demanding it. I may not have a choice in the future, myself.

I would like nothing more than to return the emphasis to the game. Because the game is beautiful enough for anyone to enjoy.

To be honest, I don’t know what else there is to say.

The Mets handled Willie Randolph incredibly wrong.  There is no doubt about that.  Randolph definitely should not have his job anymore and Rick Peterson absolutely had to go.  But not like this, not while New York was asleep and not in the middle of a road trip against an excellent team like the Angels.

Nice work by Fred Wilpon to completely throw GM Omar Minaya under the bus by saying that both the timing and the decision was Minaya’s and no one else’s.  This is, of course, asinine because no owner worth their salt wouldn’t have a say in such a decision.  Former Mets GM Steve Phillips even went on 1050 ESPN Radio to say, in essence, that Wilpon’s statement was a load of crap.

Then there is the sewer sludge that spews forth from Hank Steinbrenner’s mouth.

After his starting ace Chien Ming Wang hurt himself running the bases he referred to the National League as 19th century baseball and told them to get with the 21st century.

Despite the absolute idiocy of his tirade, I have a theory.

Its very possible that Steinbrenner made such obviously idiotic and inflammatory comments to keep the spotlight off of his team that hasn’t played well for much of the year.  The Yankees are under constant pressure by the New York media, and perhaps this was a ploy on his part to deflect that pressure onto him.

I sincerely hope that is the case, but it remains one of the dumbest things uttered by a baseball man in certainly my lifetime.

This is a very difficult town to make sense of, even if you grow up here and learn everything you know from New York first-hand.  One usually thinks of New York as a big market and the big market attracts the best minds and voices of the game and yet, some of the strangest things come forth from this city.  Michael Kay has a job here, Suzyn Waldman has a job here, Max Kellerman and Brian Kenny, though I find them both bright and likable, are perhaps two of the biggest homers on radio anywhere, constantly using fancy language and that famous term “comparative analysis” to convince listeners that the Yankees are the best team in baseball all year every year.  Perhaps the most egregious was Kellerman’s proclamation that Mariano Rivera is the best player in baseball is the best evidence of this.

And, of course, we have the Steinbrenner family here, who are never shy about sharing their opinions on things.  We also have the Wilpon family here, who are perhaps the dumbest family to own a baseball team in the last fifty years.  It is both frustrating and mystifying on one hand, yet on the other hand, it is all gold for a writer such as myself.

It appears that New York Mets manager Willie Randolph doesn’t know the meaning of the word “shutout.”

On Wednesday night, Mike Pelfrey, a young kid finally pitching with confidence, held the Arizona Diamondbacks scoreless for eight innings.  He gave up one hit in the ninth and was immediately pulled.  Pelfrey’s pitch count was 112.

On Thursday night, Johan Santana, the ace, the stopper, held the Diamondbacks scoreless for seven innings.  He was pulled.  Santana’s pitch count was 116.

Randolph, in his effervescent wisdom, doesn’t seem to realize one basic truth: A tired Johan Santana is ten times better than any fresh arm that is coming out of his bullpen, including Billy Wagner.

The lucky weasel was saved on Wednesday by Carlos Beltran’s 13th-inning home run, but nothing could save Randolph from pulling the same stunt again on his ace the next night.  At 116, he pulled Santana out of a marvelous pitching performance.  What is he saving him for? He’s the ace, he’s the one guy that should (and can) be able to pitch a game from start to finish.  Especially with the bullpen the Mets happen to have.

Decisions like these are why Randolph will never win a World Series.  Remember when John Maine took a no-hitter into the eighth against the Marlins last year? Maine gave up one hit, a ball that went about thirty feet from the plate that no one could make a play on, and Randolph pulled him.

See, you don’t do that to a pitcher.  He didn’t let Maine finish what he started and Maine had every right to finish that game.  Who cares if he’s at 115 pitches? It was his game.  His team was up 13-0, I’m sure Maine could have stuck around and if he gave up a couple runs, then you can take him out.

Poor Mike Pelfrey, who aside from being only a decent pitcher at best also happens to be a very unlucky person.  The kid had everything going that night and was about to pick up his first career complete game, boosting the confidence that so desperately needs boosting.

Then his manager got in the way.

Its going to be an interesting night in New York baseball.

In the minds of New York Yankees fans, their entire season rides on tonight’s game.  That is, of course, completely ridiculous.  Welcome to New York.

Joba Chamberlain takes the mound tonight and all of New York will be looking for him to be the same electric pitcher he is coming out of the bullpen.  They expect 98 MPH fastballs all night long, they expect devastating sliders for seven innings.

However, none of the above is all that likely.

Chamberlain will likely pitch only four innings and should be in the 93-94 MPH range.  He will also have to throw at least four different pitches in order to be successful, which means he cannot rely on his fastball and slider all night or he’ll start getting hit.

Chamberlain also has never had to adjust to a major league lineup.  Someone in the lineup tonight is going to get a hit off of him, and it will be up to Chamberlain to learn and make adjustments on the fly, something he hasn’t done at all in his bullpen work in the Majors.

Tonight will certainly not be the night the Yankees season is saved, despite the hopes of fans all over New York.

Out in San Francisco, Pedro Martinez is on the hill for the Mets for the first time since April 1st.  Expectations are much lower because Martinez is now considered a luxury for the Mets rather than a necessity.  A good start by him will help the team’s confidence and bode well for the future, but it is not the end of the world if he’s a little rusty.   His injury was a leg injury, not an arm, so he should be fairly sharp.  He’ll never throw 92 MPH again, but he should re-gain the form he had last September which would be just fine for the Mets rotation now that Santana is in place.

Lots of high hopes for tonight in New York.  We will see what, if anything, comes to fruition.  I’ll try to keep an eye on this while I’m in the press box in Newark covering the Bears against the Bridgeport Bluefish.

We are just about 1/3 of the way through the 2008 Major League Baseball season.  The Tampa Rays are still in first place in the American League East and has the second best record overall in the Majors.  The top team is the Chicago Cubs, who were picked by many to be the representative for the National League in the World Series this year.

However, the most comical prediction made by so many experts was the Seattle Mariners winning the American League West.  Time and time again I said “With who will they be winning that division?”

The team traded for Erik Bedard, which was the right move, but now Bedard is getting hit around.  The lineup isn’t that good, they don’t have much offense behind Ichiro who is still one of the best lead-off men in the game.  Their defense is average, the bullpen is alright but not great by any stretch.  Yet, so many analysts had them winning it over the Los Angeles Angels who are the clear class of the division.

A team with a burnt-out bulb (Jose Vidro) currently hitting third, the irrelevant Richie Sexson hitting clean-up and one-hit wonder Adrian Beltre sitting fifth in their lineup was chosen by experts to go to the playoffs.  You can’t dig much deeper in the desperation well than counting on those three to carry your offense outside of Ichiro.

The rotation isn’t a whole lot better.  Bedard is an ace, but isn’t pitching like one.  Felix Hernandez, once a can’t-miss prospect, has been ruined by being rushed to the majors, Jarrod Washburn was once effective, but is just about finished and Miguel Batista is just flat-out mediocre.  Carlos Silva is young enough that if he lands on a good team he could become a nice middle-of-the-rotation guy, but not on this team.

I’m not the best prognosticator in the world, but I thought it was absurd that I was laughed at when I picked the Angels to win the division.  But they are the class of the West barring a multitude of injuries.  They’ve already come so far without John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar, there’s no reason to think they can’t go the rest of the way with them.  Escobar, at last word, is soon to re-join the team and will likely pitch against after the All-Star break, barring a setback.  Imagine this team when Howie Kendrick and Erick Aybar return from their injuries.

Tell me again why this team didn’t have enough to win the West?

About 30 minutes ago, Jorge Posada came in from his workout. Posada is still recovering from pain in his right shoulder (essentially a “dead arm”), but he’s throwing more and more and hopes to be ready to go in June when the Yankees get back from a road trip.

However, he was certainly full of fire this morning. When Mike Puma of the New York Post asked him what drills he did this morning he got indignant with him and the rest of the reporters, yours truly included.

“You guys don’t go out there?? Do I have to tell you what I did? Why don’t you come outside and see what I’m doing? Then I won’t have to tell you. Its really easy for you to do your job and stay in here [in the clubhouse], ask the questions and have everyone tell you what to do.”

I was always under the impression that Posada was a good guy in the game, however, he apparently has this acrimonious relationship with the media.  Its something you rarely hear about.  Puma didn’t ask him anything sensitive or bring up a subject that was out of bounds. It was a simple question asking Posada to outline the workout he did this morning.

I was out on the field and I watched him throw, but how are any of us supposed to know he’s throwing from 90 feet? Or 120 feet? I don’t go out there with a tape measurer and calculate the exact distance he’s throwing from at any given time.

It seemed like such an odd question to be upset about. Now, I’m not here everyday, so perhaps he gets asked that question a lot, but you can’t compare that to Alex Rodriguez who probably gets asked all the time about his relationship with Derek Jeter. I’m sure that’s a question that a player would really get sick of hearing.

If Posada’s arm comes back as quick and fiery as his tongue, he won’t have any trouble throwing out base runners this year.

Its really staggering how baseball just refuses to learn from the past.

In the mid 1990s the Mets had three futures aces coming up through their farm system: Paul Wilson, Jason Isringhausen and Bill Pulsipher.

Pulsipher and Wilson made zero impact, while Isringhausen survived the ordeal and became a fairly successful closer.

But, the fact is that all three of them were rushed to the majors, put into various roles and the New York Mets organization was shocked and flabbergasted when all three of them fell to injuries and were unsuccessful.  No one could understand how not one, not two, but three future aces all failed to live up to their promise.  Again, Isringhausen went on and found second life as a closer, but all three of them were supposed to be perennial all-stars.

For those who had not yet followed baseball in the mid-90s close enough to remember, just take a look at the New York Yankees of 2008.

In the role of Paul Wilson is Philip Hughes.  A big, young, strong kid with electric stuff.  Hughes is on the disabled list for the second time in his career and he’s only made 19 career starts.  At 22 years old, he was expected to be the Yankees No. 3 starter and he’s responded with a stunning 0-4 record and an ERA of 9.  That’s right, he’s given up 22 earned runs in 22 innings.  But, that’s immaterial because he’s out until at least the All-Star break.

In the role of Jason Isringhausen is Joba Chamberlain.  In their infinite wisdom, the Yankees decided to move Chamberlain out of the bullpen and stretch him out into a major league starter.  That’s a smart move.  Let us bare in mind that part of Chamberlain’s initial success is, in part, due to the fact that no one sees him more than once in a game.  Chamberlain has not had to make adjustments to hitters that have found success against him.  Keep an eye on him first time he goes through a lineup for a second and third time and see how he fares.

Taking a young pitcher who is still finding his way in the majors and throwing him out of his element into something new exposes a complete lack of logical thinking on the part of the Yankees organization.  Do they really think Chamberlain is going to have the success that Kennedy and Hughes couldn’t find? A pitcher who hasn’t started once in the major leagues and has a grand total of 15 career starts at the minor league level.

In the role of Bill Pulsipher is Ian Kennedy.  Kennedy a fine young pitcher who doesn’t have overpowering stuff, but very good command and certainly has the potential to be a fine major league starter.   Kennedy doesn’t have 200 professional innings to his credit, yet was expected to win 10-12 games and provide an ERA of 3.5 to 4. Of course, Kennedy hasn’t learned how to get a lineup of major league hitters out, so its not so surprising he hasn’t found success at the major league level.

The sad part is, its too late, at least for this season.  You can’t send the three of them down and let them develop anymore.  The  Yankees just have to hope they right their ships on their own.  And, unfortunately, its not the fault of the pitchers.  They put their trust in an organization that ruined them.

Perhaps 10-15 years from now when another franchise is blessed with three future aces, they’ll remember what happened to the Yankees Big 3.

As a writer, once in a while, you get a story that is so miraculous and unbelievable that it just writes itself.  Jon Lester’s no-hitter last night was nothing short of that.  He’s 24 years old and has already battled and beaten cancer.  Lester has also pitched a World Series-clinching game.  Here he is, less than two years after that victory, pitching an absolutely masterful performance going the distance and striking out nine Royals, including the last batter he faced with a 96-mile-an-hour fastball.

What else can you really say about this? I cannot imagine a better story in the majors this season.  Just the fact that Lester beat cancer is a huge story in itself, but now he’s tossed a no-hitter and pitched in Game 4 of the World Series last year in which the Red Sox won.

Its something that deserved to be written about in every newspaper, website column and blog in the entire world because it cannot be said enough times how beautiful a moment it was when Lester struck out Alberto Callaspo to finish it out.  He was still strong at 130 pitches.  Can you imagine Willie Randolph letting a starter throw 130 pitches? He’d be in cardiac arrest in the eighth inning.

But, really, all kidding aside, I could not be happier for Lester.  He deserves every bit of success he has along the way in his major league career.  Hats off to you, John.

In society, the media, and for that matter most people in general, have become obsessed with things that should be irrelevant.  Why should we care about the personal lives of celebrites and how many cars they drive and what bars and clubs they like to get drunk in?

Fine.  I choose to ignore that sort of thing, but most don’t, and I’m really okay with that.  But now it has crept into Major League Baseball.

Last night Nelson Figueroa of the New York Mets lambasted the Washington Nationals, calling them a bunch of “softball girls” for the way they cheered on their team.

Figueroa clearly wasn’t paying attention to his own game and that’s probably why he didn’t pitch that well and his team lost 10-4 last night.  He’s been promptly sent down to the minors.

Why are we caught up with things like this? The old men that write about this game kick and scream anytime Joba Chamberlain pumps his fist after striking out an opponent.

Lastings Milledge was run out of New York because he was an exuberant, youthful player that high-fived the fans going down the line after he hit a game-tying home run.

In all of these situations, you can give a decent argument for either side.  I just find it strange that these have been the subject of hot debate over the past couple of years.  Instead of letting these things just go away like they should, we hold onto them and discuss them for days and weeks on end.

I suppose its all part of the evolution of the game.  The players are behaving differently, perhaps its natural that we react in a different way.   Even the fact that I have to take the time to write this entry is proof of that.  Perhaps I should have left it alone altogether.

I, for one, would like to get back to discussing the game rather than discussing things that are unimportant to the game itself.  I promise that in the next entry.