it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive

But he would have loved Reyes. Of that much I am sure. Hell, we all love Reyes.

We love him. We watched him develop, and we have seen so many of his trials and triumphs. We know the way he gets when he’s happy, when he’s sulky, when he’s angry, when he’s jubilant. He feels, well, almost like family.

Note that I say almost like family, which is very different than actually being family. We are not actually related to Jose Reyes and the love we feel for him as fans is not the love we have for our real-life loved ones. Obviously. And the prospect of losing Reyes, weighing so heavily on the minds of Mets fans these days, is not the same as losing a family member. You don’t have to remind me.

But it is, on the orderly plane that baseball provides for us to try to sort some of these things out, some distant, more palatable version of that. Here is someone you love. And now, due to circumstances beyond your control, you might lose him too soon.

So understandably, Mets fans gather on blogs, in the airwaves and out on the Shea Bridge on Friday nights desperate to show the world their love for this great player, underscoring the pain we will feel if he leaves for some other green pasture elsewhere.

I can’t say if Reyes will be a Met at the end of this season or the beginning of the next one. Few can. And while I’m not as resigned to his departure as many in the media and fanbase, I know this for certain: He’ll be gone someday. Everything goes away eventually. If not next year for Reyes, then five or seven or ten years down the road.

We can lament the hand Reyes – and all of us, really – has been dealt, with so many of his best years wasted by a subpar front office, bad players around him, crappy bullpens, mishandled injuries, everything. Not to mention his contract coming up now, with the Mets in financial flux and hamstrung by a slew of bad deals. That all sucks, no doubt.

But we should celebrate, too, that we have this right now. No matter what happens with Reyes later this year or after the season, the special things Reyes has done and is doing every night this season are some we can carry forever. It is an awesome spectacle, a confluence of immense talent and pure joy on the baseball field, with the churning legs and flying dreadlocks and beaming smile. This is ours to keep.

And I can sit here now regretting that my brother never got to see this, knowing how much he would have loved it. But that’s useless. Besides, I carry with me my brother’s love of baseball. I carry him every day, and it’s not traumatic; it’s awesome. He exists now as an inextricable part of me, a part I can celebrate.

We are alive and we get to enjoy Jose Reyes playing baseball. It beats the alternative.

-- What We Carry

The Out Of Context quote of this week is brought to you by the letter T as in Trin:

Trin: i suggest also writing from the heart first
Trin: just vomit all over the cover letter

And this isn't the context, but it is similar to what I'm currently plotting; Did I tell any of you here on LJ that I emailed the Sports Legacy Institute with a general, hey I'm very interested in concussion research and stuff and are there any volunteer openings up and such? And I got an ACTUAL~! email~! from Chris Nowinski himself (saying no! but still~!)? If I didn't say that, I did now. And if I did say it, I think it bares repeating.

Anyway, I was kind of a bitch last night -- I sent a columnist from the Boston Herald a very cranky 5 AM email saying that even as a person who doesn't live in Boston, I know that the Herald is a pretty okay newspaper and that you should do some GODDAMNED FUCKING RESEARCH if you are going to be writing a baseball column. Jeff is NOT Jered Weaver. I mean it's one thing if a blog gets the two confused but this isn't a fucking blog. And then someone commented to the guy and said, hey that wasn't Jeff, that was Jared, so now the columinist still has it misspelt. I mean, come on. Even if I didn't stalk the Weaver brothers like I do, much like how I know there are two i's in Torii Hunter's name, it's just a thing, you know? Ugh.

Also, in regards to baseball, even though I think Amy is the only (other) one who would remember Phil Coke on my f-list -- but, caruso made a Phil Coke playlist that is AMAZING and just ugggh. Makes me shake my fist at Detroit for having him because he's so far away.

( Dontrelle Willis, Josh Beckett, and AJ Burnett walk into a bar -- and the bar burns down )


Anyway, that's where I stopped a couple days ago. Which is cool because yesterday AJ Burnett and Josh Beckett both pitched and were awesome. Beckett came back from his "injury" (both mental and shoulder/arm related I'm sure) and AJ just finally had a good game (because I didn't watch any baseball just to give him the extra cosmic boost yesterday -- the things I do for you AJ).


Instructor: Those people outside are crazy, wearing big ol' leather boots in this kind of heat!
Student: Maybe they're from Texas?
Instructor: Nah, they looked pretty American to me.

--Beauty School, 35th & 8th

Final baseball thing;

MLB.com has an article about how the Mets are failures. .. .... ...... in regards to never having a no-hitter, perfect game or anything else that would be awesome for a pitcher.

The topic in the Mets' clubhouse that day was no-hitters, a topic Mets pitchers discuss from time to time without firsthand knowledge of the phenomenon. It was in the summer of 2005 when Steve Trachsel recalled the six-man no-hitter the Astros had dropped on the Yankees two years earlier. "Is that allowed?" Trachsel asked. Then he answered his own rhetorical question. "Probably not; at least not for us. I don't think we are allowed."

[............]

The Mets, born seven years earlier, were guilty of a greater transgression, turning their backs on the patron saint of the no-no; they traded Nolan Ryan. "It's the Curse of Nolie," David Cone said in 1991 after he had flirted with a Mets no-hitter. "You can't trade that man and not expect some ramifications."

- I started missing David Cone in the announcer booth after a half an inning. Michael Kay is so boring - but we are being blessed with the sloooooooow looooow voice of Ken Singleton, and I'm all for announcers who aren't ADHD crack babies (Keith Hernadez) but at the same time, baseball is already boring... no need to make it worse.

- I forgot how much I hate the Blue Jays jerseys. This does not mean I hate the Blue Jays (if anything, I pity them and wish them the best of luck every year because Canadian baseball should live forever) or anything but I find the font they use for the numbers on their jerseys disgustingly ugly. Is that insane? Probably.

- This pitcher for the Blue Jays, number 60. is kind of gorgeous (Rob Rice? Ray?). Tall, lanky, awesome arm delivery -- pretty much everything I love. Lo and behind Singleton just pointed out to Kay that the pitcher looks a lot like a young AJ Burnett (which is a wink-wink-nod-nod thing that 'young AJ' really means "wild pitcher")
- Speaking of, I'm pissed as hell that I was at work when Doc pitched for the Phillies against the Yankees this week. Mmmm. The positive is that I'll probably see him more now that he's a Philly. The negative, is that he's a fucking Philly. =/

- To further prove why I hate (well dislike) Ken & Kay's Yankees hour(s), when talking about Adam Loewen, Ken couldn't think of Steve Ankiel's name. I mean, how can you not? His story is pretty much the story of pitcher to outfielder and. .... yeah. Further proof that even with the lisp, I could do better then most of these guys.

- Francisco Cervelli* was hit today during the game. And ended up with a concussion. AND HE WAS HIT WITH ONE IN NOVEMBER AND THE YANKEES ARE ACTUALLY GOING TO DO THINGS TO KEEP HIM GROUNDED. Oh Yankees. Oh the Memory Of Ryan Church, how you make me weep so. Thank god. Of course now Kay and Ken are talking about concussions and it's kind of ..... not totally correct, but it's a lot better then what Keith & Ron were saying a few years ago. Oh, I am weeping happy tears, you don't understand.

- And speaking of, the interviewer talked to Jorge during the game, and Jorge was in full 'I am a veteran and he will listen to me' mode, about how Francisco better tell the trainers when he gets the headaches "because he will get the headaches" and oh god <3. I mean this is freaking amazing. And while I don't want to hit the Mets when they are down (techinically they aren't down yet they've only played like 5 games so far I believe) but this is what a good veteran presence can get you and not dumb bullshitty politics things where because someone in the front office doesnt like a man, that they would do stupid things with him and his brains. /still angry.

- Also, Jose Molina is no longer a New Yorker (booo, I miss him so) - but he is playing for the Blue Jays now. And apparently he went and hugged Francisco after the hit and was talking to him. I told you there was a reason he is always my favorite Molina brother.

- Hmm. The David Wright Helmet Of Concussions will be mandatory in the minor leagues this season for post-concussions. We'll see how that goes. According to Kay, now people won't make fun of the helmet anymore. Yeah right.

* he's the backup catcher and I kind of have a crush on him. He's Italian and speaks a little bit of English - but you know how he learned English? By listening to Bon Jovi songs <33333333. I mean, yeah. That and the fact that he's cute in general = <3.

Just because two men are of the same background (Japanese in this case) does not mean that they are BFFE nor would they want to play on the same team. I don't know what you heard, but Seattle has been shit for years, and, yes, Ichiro is the lone bright spot in an otherwords dreary and depressing city team -- but for christsakes -- that does not mean Matsui would want to trade away everything here in New York to play for the Mariners because they are both Japanese. In fact, while both men are polite and nice about each other in the media, from everything I've read -- neither man actually likes the other. So, please, shut the fuck up Tim McCarver.

Love,
Doubts Ron Darling would be any smarter at this point.

So, you may have heard that David Wright suffered a concussion this weekend after being beaned in the head with a ball. Usually this is where I have a link or photo link of some sort -- but, yeah. So far I've been good with not seeing it (my cable was out for 2 days) in anything but pictures and that's the way I want to keep it. Well, of course, you know that something like this would catch my attention. Not only because there are moments (fleeting moments) where I understand why so many girls fangirl over D. Wright -- but because of the concussion part. I was so worried for him, not because his brains have been permentaly damanged --- but because he plays for the mother fuckijng Mets - who as you've heard me bitch for a year and a half now -- constantly found new ways to fuck Ryan Church up after his concussion through such means as not shutting him down after getting two within a span of a week (not good) or putting him on a plane ..... to Colorado..... and then bitching when he gets so sick he pukes and is light headed. No shit.

So, with all that as context for those of you who weren't privy to my bitching .... let me tell you -- I almost threw my fist through the wall this morning while reading the morning paper during breakfast.

They didn’t put Wright on the DL. They didn’t call up a player to take his place. They did take on the Giants with 23 available men – Alex Cora was out with a hand injury – after their manager, Jerry Manuel, said he wanted to give Wright “every benefit of the doubt.”

The same benefit of the doubt the Mets gave Ryan Church last year while imperiling his career.

Manuel used a pregame news conference to give the not-so-dearly-departed Church some deferred parting gifts, and to remind his audience that “some people like to get back in there.”

The tone of the questioning by semi-incredulous reporters likely made its way upstairs, and voila, five hours later, the Mets dispatched Omar Minaya to announce Wright had been placed on the 15-day DL after team doctors conferred with a mystery specialist in a conversation that likely went like this:

Doctors: Do you think we should put our third baseman on the DL?

Specialist: You’re kidding me, right? Aren’t you guys watching the same SportsCenter highlights I’m watching?

The sight of Matt Cain’s fastball exploding against Wright’s helmet was the most disturbing Mets scene since Roger Clemens crashed his own vile heat against Mike Piazza’s skull. There should’ve been no delay here. No discussion. No debate.

The choice should’ve been clear the very second the diagnosis was in. Only it wasn’t.

“Let’s just say we take the route of the disabled list,” Manuel said before Sunday’s 3-2 victory, “which could be a safe route, but you have a guy that wants to get back at the plate.”

A guy like David Wright and, apparently, Jerry Manuel, who told of the time he was “hit in the head” and “knocked out” in Class AAA ball. “The whole thing with me was, ‘I’ve got to get back to the plate,’” Manuel said.

No, this conversation wasn’t heading for a happy ending. So with columnists loading up in the press box, aiming their laptops toward the easiest of targets, the story changed the way most Mets stories do.

A nervous Minaya appeared in the postgame interview room with two marching orders:

1) Keep it simple.

2) While keeping it simple, don’t even think of saying the words Adam Rubin.

Actually, Minaya was given a third play to run. He needed to emphasize that Wright was pressing to remain on the active roster, and that the Mets chose a player’s well-being over their own game-day designs.

“He really wants to be out there with the guys,” Minaya said, “and we decided to take it away from him….He tried to fight me. He said, ‘Come on, man, I want to play. Give me a chance.’…I said, ‘David, no, we’re not going to let you do that.’”

So the franchise was saving the face of the franchise from himself, a curveball on a fastball count. If the Mets don’t lead the league in anything else, they’re the reigning champions of rushing injured players out of the tub.

[.........]

The Mets are in dire need of outside medical opinions like the one they solicited from the specialist they refused to identify. In case the team needs a quick concussion refresher, it should check with the good people at the Mayo Clinic, who define such injuries as those that “temporarily interfere with the way your brain works. They can affect memory, judgment, reflexes, speech, balance and coordination.”

Every concussion, according to the Mayo Clinic, “no matter how mild, injures your brain.”

So David Wright -- team spokesman, clubhouse leader, All-Star third baseman – has an injured brain. Not a calf, or a quad, or an ankle, or a hamstring.

A brain.

The Mets apparently haven’t done much homework since Church injured his.

“I think when it was going on we talked about it,” Manuel said, “but in going forward we never had any session on what to look for or what might be different.”

All in all, Manuel showed bad form when he used his pregame forum to compare Church unfavorably to Wright. The manager said Wright “is made up a little different than, say, Ryan Church.”

If Manuel wasn’t trying to belittle Church, never one of his favorites, he had the funniest way of showing it.

“I would have to go back and say that, as [Church] was saying that he wanted to play,” Manuel said, “there was still some complaints about other things. Those other things are kind of what made it difficult.

“Some people can say, ‘I want to play, but I’m a little queasy.’ You can say, ‘Well, you don’t really, you can’t play.’…I think with Ryan there was always something thrown from left field – we needed to check that. And that made it somewhat difficult to evaluate that particular situation.”

Church could’ve performed better as a Met. But by treating his two concussions as mild head colds, putting him in the outfield and flying him all over creation, the Mets wronged Church far more than Church wronged them.

On Sunday, Wright was dealing with headaches and other post-concussion symptoms after his release from an overnight stay at the Hospital for Special Surgery. The Mets won a ballgame without him, then did the right thing by putting the last star standing on the DL.

Too bad their first instinct didn’t look as good in the box score.

The Ian O’Connor Show is every Sunday, 8-10 a.m., ESPN-AM 1050

My mother, who knows that I practice at the feet of the Tao Of Nowinski, had the response of: "Well, this is why you are a Yankees fan" when I was telling her all of this. Which, while comforting ... isn't really as helpful as one would think -- because I don't trust the Yankees to be that much better at something like this either (even though when Damon got his Yankees!concussion (different, thank god than the one he suffered as a Red Sox), the Yankees didn't pussy foot around and put him on the 15-day DL. Of course, that's assuming two weeks and a day is enough time to keep the swelling down enough).

In conclusion, I miss the days when I could make fun of Eric Lindros and not feel any consquences (which is not to say that I still don't -- because I do, it brings great joy to my black little heart -- but sometimes I do feel bad when I think about everything he's lost from his 15 concussions).

Dodgers' 12th home win ties MLB mark
Weaver allows one run in five innings in first start since '07
By Ken Gurnick / MLB.com
05/06/09 2:17 AM ET


LOS ANGELES -- With a dreadlocked left fielder hustling on the bases, a second baseman who channels Jackie Robinson and a starting pitcher who leaves tickets for a 1970s rock star, the Dodgers Tuesday night reached a milestone even an old-school Ty Cobb could appreciate.

A 3-1 win over the D-backs gave the Dodgers their 12th consecutive victory at home to start a season, matching the modern-day record of Cobb's 1911 Detroit Tigers. It was the Dodgers' sixth consecutive win overall.

The tone of the game was pretty well set in the first inning, when Dodgers second baseman Orlando Hudson made the first of two spectacular diving catches to prevent Arizona from scoring in the top of the first, then triggered the rally for all of the Dodgers' runs in the bottom of the inning with a flare double.

"I closed my eyes and Jackie Robinson carried me to the ball," the three-time Gold Glove winner said.

Makes sense to Jeff Weaver, who took another step on his comeback-of-the-year journey with a triumphant return to the Dodgers' starting rotation. Making his first Major League start since 2007 and first for the Dodgers since 2005, he allowed one run on a wild pitch, lasted five innings while striking out six and walking only one.

"He gave us everything we could have expected or wanted," manager Joe Torre said. "We gave them a couple extra outs and he pitched around that. He couldn't have been better than he was."

It was like old times for Weaver, who won 27 games for the Dodgers from 2004-05.

"I finally had a pass list again," said Weaver, the Southern California native who spent all last year and the beginning of this year in the Minor Leagues. "I had a handful of people show up and share it with me. My parents, a couple buddies, my wife and Gary Wright. You know who he is?"

Wright sang the 1976 hit "Dream Weaver," not only on the platinum album but at Weaver's wedding.

"We met when I was pitching in Detroit, we kept in touch and he sang at my wedding," Weaver said. "He came to show support."

Weaver had just enough support in the field. There was Hudson's first catch racing out to right field on Mark Reynolds' popup to end the first inning with a runner on second base, another diving web gem toward shallow center field off the bat of opposing pitcher Max Scherzer with runners on the corners to end the fourth inning.

"I didn't think he had a prayer on either one," Torre said.

And there was barely enough offense in the bottom of the first inning, in which the Dodgers scored for the third consecutive game. Andre Ethier had a one-out RBI single on which Manny Ramirez went from first to third, so Ramirez was able to score on James Loney's groundout to second. Shortstop Josh Wilson's throwing error allowed a third run to score.

That was it for the Dodgers, who then relied on pitching. Weaver had to work out of repeated jams, having allowed hits to the leadoff hitter in the first three innings. The D-backs went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

"He said he didn't do a good job with the leadoff hitters, but that's pretty much why we felt good about sending him out there," said Torre, who replaced rookie James McDonald with Weaver. "He's done this. He's never been one to rattle."

But Weaver said he appreciated the historical significance of the record win.

"I'm happy for the team -- 12-0 and I hope we get 13," he said. "You never know exactly how the road is going to turn. I'm fortunate to be part of something like this, it's really special. I'd like to stick around and keep it rolling and get the team to the postseason."

Torre received four scoreless innings from his bullpen, using four relievers. Ramon Troncoso ran his scoreless innings streak to 14 1/3 with 1 2/3 innings; Will Ohman got a key out by retiring Chad Tracy to end the seventh inning; Ronald Belisario struck out the side in the eighth and Jonathan Broxton fanned a pair in a scoreless ninth inning for his eighth save.

Ken Gurnick is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

I wonder what sort of drugs Joe Torre is on to say that Jeff Weaver never gets rattled on the mound. Man, South California is really doing good for Mr. Torre. But, in conclusion, a) haahhahahhahahha Jackie Robinson guided me to the ball because Jackie Robinson loves Jeff Weaver's fire (ie: anger). When did Jackie Robinson become Rickey Henderson, I will never know... /joke no one will get. b) Jeff Weaver is the biggest dork in the world and I think I love it.

I dislike mocking online Mets fans. Why? Because I feel like the really stupid ones would be what my father would say if he could work the internet. However. I do enjoy mocking Yankees fans. Mainly because 90% of us are bitchy dumb, drunk assoholic fans. And the other 5% are snarky bitches who mock the other 95%, so the bitch factor is still there.

Anyway, this one is pretty damn bad. From the MLB fanhouse (the two Mets fans on my f-list would like the article though. It's very well done).

1111-14-2008 @ 2:16PM

fritz said...
Heilman is not a bad pitcher, when you are around garbage
you just become a garbage, Pedro Feliciano is not good
Schoeinweis another garbage, Smith samething, why Derek Jeter
is good because he has Alex rodriguez, Giambi, Petite,Mussina,
Mariano, who the Mets Have Reyes, Wright, Beltran, every times
the Mets Collapse they put the blame on reyes, Wright is not hitting
well with runners on base so are Beltran, Delgado, Mets should of try to bring Max Txeichira to NY young Powerful hitter with great glove, left field and right field are terrible, second base stinks
Castillo money wasted, think about all the money Omar Minaya has wasted, Julio Franco, Kelly Stinnett, Valentin, Moses Alou, Sandy Alomar Jr, Andre Galaraga, Jose Lima, Ryan Church, a lot more I cant even recalled, to me Omar Minaya is the worst ever GM
that still have a job even worst than Isaha Thomas, this is very sad for us the NY Mets fans Viva George Steinbrener the best Owner
in Baseball that cares about winning

Let's go through this.

Heilman is not a bad pitcher, when you are around garbage you just become a garbage
"a garbage" would be how I would seriously describe the bullpen, yes.

Schoeinweis another garbage, Smith samething
It might be the small soft spot (on the back of my babies head), but, I actually liked Schoeiweiss ("liked" because there's no way he's coming back). And Joe Smith is a baby. Not literally in the A-Rod sense, but, in the fact that he's very young and still needs time to grow and learn what he can and cannot pitch.

why Derek Jeter is good because he has Alex rodriguez

Wow. Woah. Back that train up. We all know I hate A-Rod and never give him credit when he does good things. But. He's only been on the team for a long 4 years. Those 4 years, Derek's been on a slight decline (okay, it's worse than "slight" but I love the man, leave me alone, I still defend Chuck Knoblauch), but, also, Derek's been a Yankee for 13 years. A-Rod's only been for 4. Do you see how "Derek is good because A-Rod is his right hand man" theory is fucked up? I mean, maybe this dude means Derek is good because he was compared to A-Rod and Nomar and Miguel Tejada in 1997, but, besides that, I don't know man. What the hell.

why Derek Jeter is good because he has Alex rodriguez, Giambi, Petite,Mussina, Mariano
Please see the above rant. A-Rod = Yankee in 2004. Giambi came to us either in 03 or 04. Moooooooose was an '01 steal and like Mo & Pettite are pitchers... which, what does that have to do with Derek as a shortstop?? (I can see it, but, I can't see it counting)

who the Mets Have Reyes, Wright, Beltran
I just want to state here and now, that while I might have problems with D. Wright, honestly, I get more annoyed with people claiming the Carlos' are the cornerstones of the Mets. Maybe the 02 Mets? Both men are old and not the same sorts of players they used to be (re: they are now old and shitty, but would really like you to come to Puerto Rico).

every times the Mets Collapse they put the blame on reyes, Wright is not hitting well with runners on base so are Beltran, Delgado
I agree! But, with better english, I would hope when I do agree.

Mets should of try to bring Max Txeichira to NY
......................... Max Txeichira? Wow. I love it.

left field and right field are terrible
Center field isn't the best either. Beltran's still got a good eye for the ball out there, but, he's not really the best at throwing them in (of course, compared to my love Johnny Damon, Beltan is Speedy)

think about all the money Omar Minaya has wasted, Julio Franco, Kelly Stinnett, Valentin, Moses Alou, Sandy Alomar Jr, Andre Galaraga, Jose Lima, Ryan Church
- Did this guy not get the memo? Julio Franco is leading the Latino Revolution now. Don't fuck with him. (Also, when he was healthy, it was pretty bad how much better the old guy was than some of the rookies. He's one of the few older players I wouldn't bitch that much about).
- Alomar Jr. is from a family of amazing catchers. If someone is going to know beisbol, it's going to be him. Shit man, it's not like Sandy was playing for the Mets this year (he was still trying last year and it was good to have him as a backup at the time), just an instructor
- I forgot The Big Cat even played with the Mets. Wow. Okay. Had this been 1995, it would've been okay to have Andre.
- Lima was shit (loved his hair though. But, he should've asked Metsui what happens to infielders with shitty hair). I never thought Valentin was good. Alou probably could've played another year, baring injuries, but, when you already have Julio Franco, that many old men will just make the clubhouse smell like Bengay.
- Ryan Church. Oh Ryan Church. How I hated you last year at this time and yet how I grew to love you (I think there is a Ryan Adams song in that. So many Ryan's in my life, so little room for spelling). But, Church had an amazing year. Before he got "teh concussions" and before the Mets and Omar and Willie and God and Jesus and everyone INCLUDING Ryan Church himself mishandled his concussions. So, he ended the year (with a pop-up fly) with a shitty average. But, I'm hopeful with the offseason off and not doing anything to fuck his head up anymore, he'll come back okay. I don't see him being a "waste" unless he suddenly ends up like my other favorite baseball player ever, and gets a sudden case of the yips from the trauma.

a lot more I cant even recalled, to me Omar Minaya is the worst ever GM
Seattle and a zillion other teams would beg to differ.

that still have a job even worst than Isaha Thomas
HA. HAAH. DO YOU HEAR THIS? Waaaaaaah Omar bought us a bunch of old broken down (latino, ohhh such a bad word!) baseball players~!! THATS SO MUCH WORSE THAN SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND CALLING WOMEN BITCHES AND COVERING UP TRYING TO KILL YOURSELF. zomgzzzzzzz

I can't even properly mock that without caps lock. Wow.

this is very sad for us the NY Mets fans Viva George Steinbrener the best Owner in Baseball that cares about winning
Listen, I straddle the fence between being a half Mets half Yankees fan like crazy. But. But. You honestly can't call yourself a Mets fan and then in the next breath, call Steinbrener the best owner in baseball. I'm a fucking Yankees fan and I don't even like George (or Hank and Hal is slightly more tolerable only because he's not constantly in the news being a douche). Wow.

Ahh. I feel good now that I've let that out. And now I can go to bed, because tomorrow is going to be a rough "let's go to NYC, in the rain, with an electric wheelchair, in subway stations that have power failures"~! sort of day.

Fuck you, tomahawk chop. Fuck you.

Weaver looking to rekindle his pitching career
Pitcher reunited with Radinsky
By David Briggs
NEWS SPORTS REPORTER - Updated: 07/07/08 9:34 AM

Jeff Weaver was a junior and the third starter for Simi Valley High in Southern California. Scott Radinsky was the team's iconic pitching coach, returning to his alma mater as he battled Hodgkin's Disease.

Working together every day, the 17-year-old and the Chicago White Sox reliever formed an unlikely friendship in 1994.

"I kind of got more personally attached to him than I did the other two guys [ahead of him] because they were always pitching," Radinsky said. "He was more like a project, and the coaches just said, 'Do whatever you want with him.'"

( yeah, I was shocked Jeff Weaver had friends too. Don't worry. )

Anyone willing to drive to Scranton with me in August? Bueller, Bueller...?

Less humorously, Ryan Church is still suffering .... something with his head.

Worried Ryan Church is headed for more tests
BY ANDY MARTINO
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Sunday, July 6th 2008, 10:20 PM

PHILADELPHIA - Ryan Church slumped on a stool in the Mets' clubhouse Sunday morning, his shoulders hunched and his eyes glassy. The tangle of emotions - anger, fear, relief - combined to make him feel exhausted.

Concussions have been the unwelcome theme of his season, and after Saturday's migraine, the subject isn't going away.

In fact, it will now intensify: the Daily News has learned that Church was likely headed to New York after Sunday's game to be examined. Church did not play in the 4-2 win over Philadelphia, and now he's poised to miss even more time - after spending much of June on the disabled list with post-concussion symptoms. His season seems in question.

This latest round of concern began when Church left Saturday night's game in the eighth inning with dizziness. He phoned Anita Wu, the neurologist at New York Hospital for Special Surgery who has been treating him. Wu told Church his symptoms were consistent with the migraines he has experienced since the ninth grade, and Church was relieved. "I called my wife (Saturday) night and told her I was glad it was only a migraine," he said early yesterday. "She started laughing, like, 'You used to hate migraines.'"

But relief had turned back to fear and frustration after Sunday's win, as Church, appearing distraught, quickly left Citizens Bank Park without speaking to the media.

Church has suffered two concussions on the field this year, the first on March 1 during spring training and the second on May 20 against Atlanta. After continuing to experience effects of the second injury, he went on the DL June 10. He returned last Sunday and started every game until Friday, when he complained of fatigue. Church also felt tired in San Francisco in early June, the week before the Mets shut him down.

At that time, the Mets were criticized for relying on Church to decide whether he could play after the second concussion. Jerry Manuel said yesterday that the team would no longer allow the patient to dictate treatment. "I'm just going to take it out of his hands," Manuel said.

"It's so frustrating," Church said, shaking his head while pointing to it. "I'm fine, except for this."

With Adam Rubin

Simi Valley's Jeff Weaver is hoping to get back to the majors
By Rhiannon Potkey
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/jul/08/minor-setback/

Jeff Weaver's baseball future was teetering on the edge.

As a senior at Simi Valley High in 1994, Weaver decided to try out for the baseball team and was in danger of being the last player cut.

But pitching coach Scott Radinsky saw something in Weaver during their bullpen sessions, and convinced head coach Mike Scyphers to give Weaver a spot on the roster.

( Damn him )

Now as most of you know, I go out of my way to call Billy Wagner a racist. For fun and my own amusement. Hell, I even wrote a fucking research paper on it~! My distrust of most Mets fans reasons for disliking Lastings Milledge since he was a rookie aside.... I actually agree with Wagner and while it may seem strange to some people that he made sure to point out that "hay, I'm not a racist!" over his latest controversy (actually, that should be air-quoted. He knows it's his last year and he's pitching better than the young kids, so, he's not going to keep quiet. So, it might just be the Media's Latest Billy Wagner Controversy).

Billy Wagner was being asked, as he often is, to explain away another loss, this latest one a frustrating 1-0 defeat to the Washington Nationals on Thursday. And Wagner, who hadn't appeared in the game, tried for a few moments and then blew up.

"Can somebody tell me why the [f---] the closer is being interviewed and I didn't even play?" Wagner said, stopping for a moment and then waving at the empty lockers across the room — Carlos Delgado seemed the particular target after the struggling first baseman had left without talking to the media. "Why they're over there not being interviewed. Oh, I got it. They're gone. [F------] shocker."

Later on, on the radio, he went on the defensive and said that he was trying to be racist or anything, he was just getting sick and tired of the same players (him and Wright) being interviewed. Because last year Lo Duca had said something similar and in true Lo Duca fashion, said it in such a douchebaggy way that he was implying that his Spanish teammates pretend not to speaky the Englishy, but they can (anyone who has heard Jose Reyes speak either English or Spanish can tell you that the boy speaks as fast as he plays, so in any language, he's more than a little hard to understand).

Wagner said it in a much better way: "Then it causes that tension because my opinion on something may not be the way it really was. If you're not there to answer the questions, the reporters can write whatever they want to. They can write you stunk, you sucked, whatever. But if you're there to say, 'hey man, I wasn't very good today, I came up and I had a chance and it didn't work out,' well, you're accountable. When you're not there, it gets a little ridiculous."

And then, he spoke to reporters again saying that; "Come on. I didn’t say a name … but now these average fans have got the perception that I’m some racist bigot that wants to get after my teammates. We want to win and yeah, I’ll say stuff when things need to be said, but to be taken that out of context where I’m pointing out teammates that I didn’t say, that’s a little much."

It hurts me to admit that I agree with him, but. 'cha that makes perfect sense.

Another article blames all of this crap on Willie Randolph.

Only, who would replace Randolph? Not Wally Backman; the Wilpons are too conservative to gamble like that. Bobby Valentine is close to Minaya, but currently happy managing in Japan. There aren't even any short-term answers on the current coaching staff. Actually, that's been Randolph's undoing, not having a bad cop among his lieutenants, the way Joe Torre had Larry Bowa to get in Robinson Cano's face last year. The Mets are full of Canos – flashy, skilled, crisp-looking players, too many of them drifting along without a rudder. Once Pedro Martinez disappeared on the disabled list, Randolph was doomed. Without the energetic Pedro to patrol the room, the "certain guys" Wagner was referring to were free to divest themselves of the passion Randolph preached about.

I feel we're drifting back into "THE REASON OUR TEAM SUCKED IN SEPTEMBER WAS ALL JOSE REYES FAULT" in that last sentence. But, yeah. Without Pedro around ... or a veteran presence, we'll say, the Double Carlos' have been shit. When everyone was bitching about Reyes, very few people who weren't me, weren't pointing out that it seemed like Delgado's only person he talked to on the field (on-field chemistry, what? Reason the Yankees haven't won a world series because of A-Rod / Jeter infighting, hey?) was his BFFE Shawn Green. And when he (Delagdo, but, even my sex god Shawn Green) and Beltran were up to the plate, it was like watching a little league game, with no hustle, and no heart.

Randolph can't reach them because most of the Mets don't understand his warrior ethos, honed by the '70s-era Yankees. Today's players have nothing in common with the Lou Piniellas or even the Keith Hernandez's of the past. That's why it was no surprise to hear Goose Gossage go off on Joba Chamberlain last week for his pirouette fist-pump after striking out David Dellucci. And it was equally predictable how Joba would react to Gossage's lecture: if you don't like it, too bad.

Exactly. They just think he's pulling an ..... Art Howe. God, I can't believe I said that name. *pukes and dies* But, Willie's not, because he does have an obvious vented interest in this team succeeding, but, no one can tell because the "calm, cool, nothing bothers me" just seems like Cap'n Art Howe on the sinking Mets ship of the post-Bobby V world.

Oh, speaking of, I got to see the ESPN movie / documentary that was made about Bobby Valentine, The Zen of Bobby V" and it was fucking amazing. In my next life, I want my next dad or grandpa to be Bobby Valentine. We'd have so much fun riding bicycles, climbing Mt. Fiji and going to the costume shop to buy fake mustaches for when he gets kicked out of games!

Finally, guess what two players they interviewed on the local NBC station about all of this tonight? Billy Wagner ....... and David Wright. Yep. That was it.