Jerry Manuel, Superstar!

It really is amazing.  Who could've possibly thought that the Mets could choke away leads in the division and wild card two years in a row.  When it happened in 2007 it hurt, but afterwards I thought, everyone hits a streak of crappy luck now and then.  But then 2008 started.  The Mets didn't exactly light the world on fire the whole season, but at the end all they needed was to win one more game and they would have been in the playoffs and the collapse of 2007 would have been forgotten.  But if you had a pulse in the last year and were remotely involved in sports the Mets collapsed again and missed clinching by a game.  Willie Randolph got fired, too soon in my opinion and it was handled terribly.  So Jerry Manuel took over.  In my opinion, he did a good job.  I'm glad they brought him back for at least two more years.  He knows how to handle the media,  keeps his interviews interesting and is not afraid of answering the question.  He has a fire about him that can really motivate a team(just watch a game where he got all up in the face of an umpire against Atlanta I believe).

I really didn't notice his genius until this off-season.  Like I said before, the Mets are fresh off of 2 end of season collapses but have you read a written story about it this off-season?  I haven't.  I don't count the Philles players talking about it because, I feel that they should celebrate the fact they won.  Its like how I felt after the Giants won Super Bowl XLII.  I didn't worry about shoving it in the Patriots faces.  I soaked it up as much as possible because who knows when or if they will get back there again in my lifetime(see Boston Red Sox 1918-2003).  But anyway, Jerry has caused some "controversy" this off-season.  He has done everything in his power NOT to have the collapses come up.  He talked about having Luis Castillo hit leadoff to jump start his season, and then the attention shifted to Reyes to get his reaction.  Not to get crazy over spring training games but Castillo has seemed to respond, which is a positive sign.

Jerry also made Daniel Murphy the everyday leftfielder.  For those that don't know, Murphy is going into his first full season.  Ryan Church is a veteran and will be platooning in right field.  Now, that can't be the best feeling to him, but its keeping negative stories about the Mets out of the news, which for all intensive purposes, is great. 

I do have to give credit to A-Rod for keeping the Mets under the radar as well.  But Jerry really seems to know how to run this team and so far its working.  I look forward to seeing where this team goes.  But I've learned not to count them chickens before they hatch....

No injuries through Spring Training and Lets go Mets!

I'm Back...and this time its serious business...

I know it has been a long time since the last post.  It has been almost a year and much has happened since then.  The Giants won the Super Bowl.  Brett Favre retired, came back, and retired again.  The Mets collapsed again.  I could go on and on .  But if you had a pulse within the last 2-3 weeks the sports bombshell hit.  The news broke as I was driving to work.  I couldn't believe my ears.  Alex Rodriguez tested positive in 2003 for performance enhancing drugs.  This one hurts the most because A-Rod was looked at as the savior of the game.  When he passes Barry Bonds for the all-time home run record, us fans and sports writers said that the record would return to being clean.  But now there really is no escaping the fact he did steroids.  People may forget for a while but when he comes closer to the record(and theres no doubt he will come close, if not pass it, barring some injury) the talks will begin about how they are tainted.  The problem is Alex has had two times to come clean.  I mean totally get everything out about what he did, and without missing a beat, he didn't.  There are so many holes in this story.  I was going to write about the "cousin" but in recent days "my cousin vinnie" has been found.  But what gets me is,  the drugs came into this country illegally, first off.  So there will be some kind of investigation coming with that.  Because now this is a federal case because now it deals with border security.  Second, he got them, didn't think he was doing anything wrong, but didn't tell anyone about it.  Now I realize that he might have said that so he didn't have teammates asking favors to get more of the drugs, but at 25 years old, you know what you are doing and getting yourself into.  Third, he said he wasn't sure that he was taking them correctly, or what the effects were.  You just signed a $252 million contract, how in the world do you not know what you are putting into your body and the effects that were to come out of it.  But, lets say thats the truth, why would he keep doing it for 3 YEARS???? If anyone had a cough, and after 2 days you would throw the medicine out and get something else.  Don't insult our intelligence by saying you didn't know  what the effects where when you took them regularly.  Steroids need to be taken in cycles.  You don't take them when you feel like it.  Fourth, why would Alex say when asked if he had any thoughts that this was wrong that he would say, "well i knew we weren't doing tic tacs".  Now this point really hasn't been brought up and to be honest when I heard it, I didn't think much of it.  But now that I think of it, wouldn't that be an indirect reference to pills.  He said he was injected but, Pimobolin is ususally supplemented with testosterone.  So maybe he was doing both.  

Now this next part is a shot at the Yankees.  I realize this coming from a Mets fan is a bit cliche because supposedly thats all we do.  I had no problem with the Yankees saying Alex would do no one-on-one interviews, totally understandable.  That press conference  was tough enough.  The problem I have is, NO FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS.  And as a fan, that pissed me off.  I don't want to be fed the excuse that there isn't enough time.  All there had to be was one follow up question.  As soon as that was said, the interview was almost not worth it.  To me the Yankees are guilty of aiding and embedding. 

Lastly as a side note: for all us non spanish speakers, what did that woman say.  And why didn't it need a translation.

That is all see you next week.