I'm Too Tired for This. I'm Done.

The previous post was written when the Mets still had a 7-4 lead. Over the next 15 odd minutes I watched WIllie Randolph make bad decision after bad decision. Last night's game was lost for four reasons:

1 - Feliciano was taken out after one batter. He is a strike out pitcher and the Marlins are a free swinging team. Feliciano should have been allowed to at the LEAST pitch to the next batter.

2 - After a lousy bunt attempt in the top of the 10th, Willie did not have Gomez try and steal second. Gomez has been called "the fastest runner on the Mets" more than once, but was held until there was 2 outs and 2 strikes before he was sent. He should have been stealing within the first five pitches of the Gotay's at bat.

3 - Sosa was kept in to pitch the bottom of the 10th despite having a fairly horrible ninth inning. I would have rathered have Aaron Sele pitch the 10th. Sosa didn't even get an out before surrending the winning run.

4 - The Mets continue to pitch to Cabrera. This is reaching Pat Burrell proportions. The fucking guy beats us in almost every at bat. STOP FUCKING PITCHING TO HIM.

The fun and joy I used to have for baseball has been sucked out of me. It's not just that they are losing... it's the horrible way they're playing and are managed. It's not fun and I don't know if it's going to be fun for me anymore... at least not this year. Maybe I'll feel different in a few days, but as for now I'm not following this team anymore this year. I can't. Every game feels like a fucking knife in the chest. They cannot protect a lead so watching them consistantly blow three and four run leads is a nightmare. I'm done for this year. For all I know they'll win the whole fucking thing. Hell the 2000 Yankees, 2005 White Sox and 2006 Cardinals all played HORRIBLE baseball at the end of the season and all three almost blew their leads and all three recovered to win the world series those years... so maybe that will happen for the Mets... but if it does... I can't say I'll be watching cause this just isn't fun anymore.

And when a game makes me feel the rage I felt last night, it's time to let that game go.

I Seriously Cannot Take This...

I'm starting to wonder if Willie Randolph has any clue what-so-ever on how to run a bullpen.

The Mets blew a 3 - 0 lead tonight, but managed to rally for four runs in the top of the ninth for a 7 - 4 lead. For some reason Billy Wagner is not available so Pedro Filiciano started the bottom of the ninth. He gave up a single to the first batter... and Willie pulled him.

WHAT THE FUCK!?!?

Why the hell did he pull one of his best relief pitchers after ONE batter?

I swear... I like Willie a lot... but he's a HORRIBLE decision maker when it comes to the bullpen. HORRIBLE.

The last week has been like a fucking nightmare. The Mets can't seem to win or even play decent and the Phillies can't lose and look like the 1998 Yankees.

God, I need to get a hypnotist to hypnotise me into not caring about baseball... These fucking Mets are going to be the death of me... seriously.

The King (Part One)

There are really only two men who I feel deserve the nickname "The King". One is Elvis Presley. The other is Jack Kirby.



Jack Kirby is famous thanks to his amazing contributions to the world of comic books. Kirby helped create Captain America, The Fantasic Four, The Hulk, The X-Men, The Silver Surfer, Dr Doom, Galactus and the Black Panther. He created, all on his own, The New Gods, Mr Miracle and Big Barda, The Forever People, Kamandi, Omac, The Demon and Darkseid.

I honestly think that without him, the rich history and culture of the comic book world would have never survived to become the huge blockbuster industry it is today. For all of the credit Stan Lee gets for creating a juggernaut with Marvel Comics, he couldn't have done it at all without Kirby.

Endless amounts of books, essays and accounts of Kirbby's life have been written. I'm really not going tobe able to add much more than the tremedous accounts written about him. All I want to do here is pay tribute to a great talent that should be remembered and respected. I'll start off with a (semi) brief history of his comic career, and then get into the stuff I really enjoyed the most from him.

Jack Kirby was born in 1917 with the name Jacob Kurtzberg and raised in The Bowery in New York. He grew up in poverty and his ticket out of the slums was his drawing ability. In 1935 he got a job with Max Fleischer Studios working on animated cartoons. He did that for about two years and in 1937 he began drawing comic strips and single-panel cartoons for a small newspaper syndicate called The Lincoln News.

At twenty years old Kirby was already outputting a large amount of work and he managed to use some different styles and use different pen names on about a half a dozen different features. Some of those features were reprinted in the comic book market, and Kirby found a new world waiting for him. Some of his work found it';s way to Fox Comics.

At Fox Comics, Kirby met a freelance writer and artist by the name of Joe Simon. The two hit it off well and started producing work together. Simon started out doing the layouts of their work together with Kirby doing the finishing, but Kirby was so much faster and seemed to understand the way comic books worked a little more, and down the line he started doing the layouts with Simon finishing.

The two worked on a number of things before hitting it big with Captain Amercia, a character they created for Timely (ie Marvel Comics) Comics in 1941.



Captian Amercia has a HUGE hit and helped Kirby and Simon to get work over at DC Comics creating The Boy Commandos.

Not long after that, he was drafted into World War II and spent the war as a soldier.

Coming in Part Two: Jack's work following the war, and the creation of some characters that went beyond anything Jack could every have imagined.

Vote for Pedro

He's got skills... you know... nunchuck skills, computer skills, pitching skills...

Pedro looked very good today. Would have looked even better had Alou not misplaced that ball in the first inning into a double... but no matter...

So... he looked very good and retired nine in a row at one point. Obviously not like the "old" Pedro... but that Pdero is gone. I'll take the 2005 version quite happily thank you.

Phillies lost again. The lead is back up to five. Only 24 games left which makes the Mets magic number eighteen. Yes, it's the first week in september... time to start figuring out magic numbers.

Crisis averted. I figure the Mets should be able to go about 16 - 8 in their last 24 games, which would give them 93 wins. They have three left with the Braves and three left with the Phillies, but also have 13 games with the Marlins and Nationals.

Hopefully Orlando Hernandez is going to be fine... add in a healthy Pedro and I like the rotation going into the playoffs.

SWEEPING SUCCESS IN THE HOUSE OF HORRORS


...aaaaaaaaand that's three.

Wagner made it a little interesting, but held up a great performance by Glavine, and another clutch hit from David Wright.


Way for the Mets to take advantage of a miscue by Braves shortstop Escobar to let Jose Reyes get on base on what should have been an out. Wright hit a home run two batters later and that was the difference in the game.

Nice. I said it all last year and I will say it again. I love David Wright and I don't care who knows it.

Big... BIG strike out of Texiera by Heilman in the 8th. I STILL think that if Heilman pitchesd the 8th inning of thursday's game the Mets win and they would be 6 up on The Phils instead of four.


So, after being just totally smacked by the Phils, the Mets played a unreal three games in Atlanta. I'm really thinking at this point that the four game sweep forced this team to take a long look at themselves and realize it was time to pick up thepace.


The Braves and Phillies now will face each other in Atlanta for three games. This is good. The Phillies can pretty much knock the Braves out of the playoff picture overall with a sweep. The Braves could serverly damge the Phils chances with a sweep. In the end, I'd like to see the Braves win 2 out of 3 and hope the Mets take 2 of 3 from the Reds. That would basically put the phillies 6 games out and the Braves 6 1/2 games out and pretty much make the magic number about 18.

So, I surevived the weekend and the Mets righted a seriously shakey ship. Good job all around.

That's Two...

Just a couple of quick comments about yesterday's game.

I said to my son Tyler yesterday early afternoon that Mike Pelfry was going to take a no-hitter into the 7th, and eventually throw eight innings of 2-hit shutout ball enroute to a 4-0 Mets win.

As Ty walked away feeling happy at that though, my oldest, Pat, asked me "Wow, you really think so?"

I said "No freaking way. I'd be estatic with 5 2/3 of 3-run ball. The Mets should've brought up Hubner or let Sosa make the start. Pelfry's most likely gonna get smacked."

Good thing I don;t make those decisions for the Mets huh?

So my "faux" prediction was almost right on target, but in relaity it was wishfuly thinking that I really didn't believe.

Pelfry was awesome. Six innings, one run. Seven strikeouts. One hit. Took a no -hitter into the 4th actually.

Mets hit well, fielded well, pitched fantastically and would have scored even more runs but had some baserunning blunders.

The Phillies lost last night and now trail the MEts by 3. The Braves were pushed back to 6 1/2 games out.

Like I said yesterday, I'd actually almost feel that being swept by the Phils would be worth it if it lead to the Mets sweeping Atlanta IN Atlanta.

Maybe this past week was a wake up call, cause the Mets have played so good and crisp the last two days that perhaps they finally realized it's time to flip that switch.

Nice job guys. Now please... show a little killer instinct and complete the sweep.

Two down... one to go.