David Wright Overtakes Polanco for Starting 3rd Base at All-Star Game

The 2010 MLB All-Stars have been announced.

After weeks of trailing a player who has had less RBIs all season than he has had in just the month of June, Mets' Third Baseman David Wright has overtaken Placido Polanco in the final vote tally for the starting spot at the 2010 All Star Game. 


He joins Jose Reyes as the only other Mets' all star.

So way to go New York Mets' fans. You outdid Philly and restored some order and sanity to this world...and All Star Game.

Mets, Coming Off Win, Get Ready to Face Strausburg

After beating the Nationals to even the series last night, 5-3, the Mets prepare to face MLB poster-boy and flame-throwing phenom, Stephen Strasburg, today at 4:10 PM ET.

Funnily enough, the Mets already have two players with career hits off Strasburg, albeit in the Minors. Both Ruben Tejada and Jesus Feliciano hit singles off Strasburg in his final start before he debuted in the Majors. In fact, Feliciano was the last batter Strasburg faced in the Minors.

It should be interesting to see how the Mets' hitters handle him today.

Pitching for the Mets is R.A. Dickey, which makes for one of the most odd pitching match-ups in the MLB this season.

Bobby Bonilla, Overrated Player, Underrated Businessman

According to a report by Mike Sielski of the Wall Street Journal, Bobby Bonilla has essentially fleeced the Mets of almost $25 million, and, quite frankly, it was either complete genius by him or complete stupidity from the Mets' front office.

After the 1999 season, a year in which Bonilla gave the Mets a solid .160 BA with 4 HR and 18 RBIs, the team clearly did not want to keep him for his final year at the $5.9 million he was owed. Therefore, the Mets decided to buy out the final year of his contract.
Okay, that makes sense. Let's not even go into why they would re-acquire him in the first place after his first failed stint with the team.

However, this is where things get a little tricky. Instead of simply buying out his contract for a little less than the $5.9 million that they owed him and paid him to leave the team, the Mets wanted to defer his payments with interest, so that they could spend this money right away. While baseball economics were different even only ten years ago, I don't see how the Mets could not afford to pay Bonilla his buyout upfront and still pay other players a total of $5.9 million. (This is the same team who gave Bonilla a 5 year $29 million contract earlier in his career for no justifiable reason.)

Anyway, let's go to the result: the Mets, starting in 2011, will start paying Bonilla annual payments of $1,193,248.20 for the next 25 years that total $29,831,205, or 505% MORE THAN THE FINAL YEAR OF HIS ORIGINAL CONTRACT.

(I can feel Mets' fans cringing at these numbers.)

The Mets have had no comment on the issue other than to say, "It's old news. There's nothing new here."

However, Bonilla was happy to chime in for the story.

"Hey," Mr. Bonilla said, "a blind squirrel can find an acorn."

Questionable Managing of Pitchers, Sleepy Bats Doom Mets

The Mets lost to the Nationals 2-1 Thursday night on a walk-off sacrifice fly by Ryan Zimmerman. Santana got back on track and pitched very well, only giving up one earned run over seven innings, but, as has been all too common this season, the Mets' offense supplied no support.

Due to the rain delay for the last game in Puerto Rico, the team did not arrive at their Washington hotels until 7 AM, and Jerry Manuel thought that contributed to the dormant bats.

However, as much as the lack of hitting could be to blame for Thursday night's loss, some of Jerry Manuel's suspect pitching changes could also be considered part of the problem.

After throwing only 97 pitches after seven innings of one run ball, Santana was pulled by Manuel, because the coach wanted the pitcher to end his start on a good note. Huh? Wouldn't Santana feel like he ended his start on a better note if he left the game with the team winning? As Santana made clear after the game, he did not want to come out:

“No, not at all,” he said. “I felt pretty good throughout the whole game. I felt that everything was working. My fastball, my changeup and my slider was working pretty good. But Jerry is the manager and makes the decisions, and he decided what was good for me.”

Furthermore, the Mets bullpen had just been used a lot in the San Juan series, so seeing if Santana could handle the eighth would not have been such bad risk.

Unfortunately, Manuel's mistakes did not end there. With the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth and in need of a strike out, ground out or pop-up, Manuel decided to put in the wholly unstable Ryota Igarashi instead of closer, Francisco Rodriguez. Granted, Jerry has tended to overwork K-Rod this year, but to put the game on the line with your most inconsistent relief pitcher was simply throwing in the towel. Furthermore, Jerry's stubborn and simplistic explanation is enough to incense any New York Mets' fan:

"All the walk-off losses on the road is indicative of an eighth-inning guy," Manuel said, referring to their collective lack of proficiency this season. "That's where an eighth-inning guy pitches. It's basically that simple."

Sadly, Jerry's belief that a tied ball-game on the road with bases loaded is not the time to bring in the closer might prevent the Mets from winning a few close games that they will need to overcome the Braves and Phillies in the NL East race come September.

Even scarier for me, though, is that Manuel is married to his philosophies and not willing to conform his decisions to the nuances of the night;'s game or the pace of the season.

I hope I'm wrong, but I'm afraid Manuel is going to cost the Mets more games than he is going to win for them.

Utley Out for 5-6 Weeks After Thumb Surgery

Just when Mets' fans thought the stars could not align any more perfectly this year, there are reports today that Phillies second baseman Chase Utley will be out 5-6 weeks following surgery on his sprained right thumb. He joins third baseman, Placido Polanco, on the DL for the foreseeable future.

This is another opportunity for the Mets to try to widen the gap between themselves and the Phillies. With Jason Heyward of the Braves recently being put on the DL, too, the Mets have a chance to head into the All-Star break in first place.

Somehow, though, I feel Mets' fans aren't too confident that will happen.

How the Philadelphia Phillies Got Three More Home Games...

So this is why the Toronto Blue Jays-Philadelphia Phillies series was moved from Toronto to Philly? What a travesty.



This might make you feel a little better, though, Mets fans...

Peaceful G20 protest at Queen & Spadina from Meghann Millard on Vimeo.

Mets Win Final Game in "San Juan Series"; Reyes Out, Though

The Mets, back to their old road woes, lost their first two games to the Marlins on Monday and Tuesday, but were able to salvage a 6-5 win behind some timely hitting from David Wright and recently promoted third catcher, Josh Thole. Mike Pelfrey had an uncharacteristically poor game giving up 12 hits and allowing 4 earned runs over only 4 2/3 innings pitched. However, the Mets' bullpen continued their impressive streak by giving up only one run over the last 4 1/3 innings.

However, the Mets did not leave San Juan on a completely positive note, as Jose Reyes sat out the final game with some stiffness in his lower back or side, depending on if you believe the Mets or Reyes himself. Although it does not seem major, this injury bears watching, as Reyes' laundry list of past injuries have made us cringe every time he stubs his toe. If Reyes is out for a significant amount of time, it would be a huge blow to the Mets' offense, especially since Reyes was just getting hot.

If he does go down on the DL, though, you would assume Tejada would be moved over to shortstop and Alex Cora would step into second base until Luis Castillo is healthy.

With Pagan also not healthy right now, the Mets powerful 1-2 punch at the top of the lineup has been transformed into jsut Jesus Feliciano and Ruben Tejada. Considering that, the Mets have to be even more excited that they were able to pull out a 6-5 victory last night that allowed them to stay only 1.5 games back on the Braves in the NL East.