I'll Be Back...

after the All-Star break.

The Future of MSG

sorry about the lack of posts, i'll have at least one article posted by the end of the night, ive been busy. to make up for it, here's a picture.

Are You Kidding Me?

That catch was un-fuckin-believable. Awesome win last night, 17 innings, I'm exhausted. Kudos to the others who stayed up.

Depression of a Knicks Fan, Vol. 2

Alright, everyone relax. We all knew Isiah Thomas couldn't keep making great deals and actually building a decent team. We all knew sooner or later he'd trade for that one player that will screw up everything that was originally pieced together, and will eventually, destroy the team. According to numerous sites and newspapers, the Knicks are seriously interested in acquiring Ron Artest from the Sacramento Kings. Who are the Knicks centering the deal around? David Lee. I knew it weas going to be impossible for me to stay happy. Even though this deal hasn't happened, the rumors have thrown me into a state of depression. Thanks, Isiah.

at least the fans would be able to establish a close, personal relationship with artest

I don't even want to try and comprehend why the thought of this trade has crossed Isiah's mind. Maybe he's always had a secret desire to be a jail warden because he is turning the Knicks locker room into Cell Block D. Zach Randolph and Ron Artest in the same locker room is like putting Gary Busey and Robert Downey Jr. on the same movie set, at least 25-30 people around them are going to die or get seriously injured. I would put money it. It would be part 2 of Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson playing together in a Pacers uniform, but instead of fighting the fans in Detroit, they're gonna be fighting fans in New York. None of us want to see Spike Lee get punched in the face.

Aside from the terrible chemistry Artest would bring to the team, we would be getting rid of our 6th man who is above and beyond the best option we had off the bench in 06-07, and is also the teams best rebounder. God help us all if we're relying on Eddy Curry to grab 10 off the boards a game. Do Artest's scoring and rebound statistics look good? Yes. Is he a great defensive player? Absolutely. But why would the Knicks want to risk the head ache from someone who considers himself a rapper playing basketball while having to depart with an up and coming big man in David Lee? Artest has already maxed out on potential, you know what you're getting with him. With Lee, possibilities are endless. This isn't to say he is going to be a superstar, but the Knicks need players off the bench. As was shown in the Playoffs with Pheonix, if you dont have depth, it's gonna be hard to get far.

...is he serious?

So maybe Isiah got lucky with the Randolph trade, maybe grabbing Demetris Nichols with an '08 #2 pick was lucky also. That's fine with me, I pray to god he continues to eat Lucky Charms for breakfast every morning. But the chances of him getting lucky with a deal for Artest are slim, very slim. You can't rely on Artest to behave in his hometown of New York, that's like asking Snoop Dogg to not smoke weed when he travels to Amsterdam. Imagine the entourage Artest would have around him? Why not just keep the model citizen and terrific option off the bench with David Lee, and tell Sacramento to keep a bottle of Tylenol handy, and deal with Artest themselves. Knicks fans will all be bald from ripping their own hair out if this deal goes through. I can see it now, the next fan handout at MSG is going to be 2 Advil capsules for the first 2,500 fans.

Classic Isiah.

Have Faith... Every 5th Game

Why? Why does this team torture me so much? This entire season for the Mets has been up and down. One minute, they're the toast of the NL blowing everyone out of the water with hitting and terrific pitching. The next minute they're getting blown out by sub .500 teams and look worse than Gwyneth Paltrow in a fat suit. Seriously, the other night Shallow Hal was on and I turned the Mets game off to watch that. It's not something I'm proud of, just a fact. However as of late, it seems that when John Maine take's the hill, the team wants to win. Tonight's 6-2 win over the Astros was no exception.

John Maine > Cole Hamels

In Maine's last four starts, he and the team are 4-0 and have outscored their opponents 29-7. Maine has earned 6 of those runs in 30 IP and in 3 out of the 4 games he has pitched into the 8th inning. We need one of those machines from The Prestige that duplicates Hugh Jackman so we can use it on Maine. And through all of this, Maine has still gone completely un-noticed, which is just fine by him. Maine has come a long way from last years Hiroshima like explosions on the mound, he has now become a pitcher who is consistently determined, and is now the most reliable pitcher on the Mets staff. It may not sound like much given the personel on the staff, but it's a compliment. Trust me.

The point is, the Mets are just flat out better when Maine pitches, and those stats above are closer to his dominating begining of the year which earned him NL Pitcher of the Month honors in April. He leads the team quietly, and refuses to settle for mediocricy. In the 8th inning of tonight's game, Maine got taken out after giving up an RBI double to Carlos Lee or as his fans call him, El Caballo (The Horse). As Maine walked into the dugout and sat down, Rick Peterson came over and began to pat him on the back but Maine didn't look pleased. The man had just thrown 7 2/3rd's innings of terrific baseball but because of one RBI double he gave up with a 5-run lead, he was upset. He wanted to finish that inning unscathed. He wanted to go in for the kill, but couldn't. He was also probably angry because he gave up a double to someone who will later in life, be sold as glue. That's a legitimate pet-peeve.

Carlos Lee

John Maine's determination to finish off the game and get the win is what every player on the Mets needs to do. Instead, the team has been playing the way Keith Hernandez acts while in the SNY booth. In the famous 8th inning of tonight's game, Keith was shown without shoes and socks on, feet kicked up on the desk and slouched in his chair while doing the telecast. When Gary Cohen told Keith he was being shown on the air, Keith quickly threw his legs under the desk and looked more embarrased than pretty boy Brady Quinn after every team in the top 10 of the 2007 NFL Draft passed on him, including the team in most need of a QB, the Dolphins. Only Keithe didn't run and hide in the commisioners booth, he just sat there and tried to move along.

Is this not a parrallel with the way the Mets have played this year? It's like as soon as the team starts to take a dip and relax a little bit, they start losing and people are alright with it for the time being. But when it catches on and people are asking what the hell is going on, they quickly try and fix the problem and act like nothing had happened. Well no more emulating Keith and hiding feet under the desk, they need to emulate the Maine Event and play until the final out, and never play on cruise control. Cruise control is dangerous anyway, and only old ladies use it. But if the Mets haven't gotten the wake up call after being swept by the Rockies, I'm not sure they'll get one at all.

Unless us fans start to boo them...

...at 7am.

The Rant: NY Mets

To be blunt, these have been two ugly games at Coors Field, a place where pitchers go to die. Unfortunately for the Mets so-called potent offense, we've only been able to score 5 runs in the two games combined. Mix that with a display of pitching that would make Jose Lima look like a pretty good option right now. I couldn't help but have flashbacks to Lima Time, which is sort of a blur because of the amount of brian cells I lost banging my head against the wall when Jose Lima pitched, when Jason Vargas was hurling last night. It was more depressing than any movie Zach Braff has ever been in. I kept waiting for the Mets to bring him in as a reliever, because then my uncontrolable sadness would have suddenly made sense. So much for that.

dear jason, retire. love, got ny sports

Here's the thing Mets fans need to realize at this point, Oliver Perez and Jorge Sosa won't be back until after the All-Star break, which means we need to deal with one more start each from Mike Pelfrey and Jason Vargas. Vargas, however, may be sent down after his atrocious start last night, and could be relieved by Dave Williams at AAA New Orleans. We could only hope. Not that anyone the Mets can bring in to start a couple games is an ideal replacement, but I would take Chan Ho Park over Vargas at this point. Ok, maybe not but I'm at the point where I'm angry enough to make threats like that.

This whole season has been a lightswitch for the Mets, constantly switching positions from on to off, on to off. It's become a season where the offense is completely underachieving thanks in part to a first baseman who can't hit anymore, and is so old that he cant even reach down to field a ground ball, let alone do the hokey pokey. And if the hokey pokey truly is what it's all about, it may be time to get rid of Carlos Delgado. Willie and Omar's obsession with clubhouse leading veterans is already hurting this team enough (see Julio Franco). With reports coming in about the team's desire to cut ties with Lo Duca at the end of the season, it's becoming apparent the Mets are in for a face lift at the end of the season, and it couldn't come soon enough.

The only problem is Mets fans may have to wait for some serious changes to the team. Your not gonna move Delgado at the trading deadline, and Julio Franco is going to be pinch hitting all year long whether we like it or not. Tom Glavine is still gonna be giving us spotty start after spotty start, and his season is looking more and more like the movie Mr. 3,000 starring Bernie Mac, only this movie is called Mr. 300 and Tom Glavine isn't black. Needless to say, both of these movies suck.

i wasted time watching this, and i'm wasting my time watching glavine

Tonight, El Duque has to serve as the stopper for the Mets, because if they get swept by the Rockies be prepared for an onslaught of news articles comparing the Mets to the Yankees whose season went south after being swept by the Rockies at Coors Field. The bottom line is when you have taken 3 out of 4 from your division rival (the Phillies) in their hometown, you cannot then go and lose to a team that plays in one of the best hitters park's in the MLB and has just come off losing 9 of their last 10 games, but for some reason we can't even score more than 3 runs against them? We had also just won 8 of our last 10. I would expect something like this from the Knicks, but not from the Mets. Maybe El Duque can take a page out of Joey Chestnut's book, who devoured 66 hot dogs today at the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. He stopped the bleeding that was Takeru Kobayashi winning an American contest for 6 years in a row. Now, it's time for El Duque to stop the bleeding.

Please god, stop the bleeding.

The Weekend in Review

I think that it’s safe to say, this has been one of the best weeks and weekends for New York sports in 2007. Lets start off with Isiah Thomas actually making a good deal by trading away the bloated salary that is Steve Francis, along with a terrible mid range jump shot 3-4 times a game in Channing Frye for Fred Jones, Dangerous Dan Dickau, and last but not least Zach “Z-Bo” Randolph. On paper, this looks like an absolute steal, and as long as Zach Randolph can stay out of trouble in New York, you know, like not carrying a gun, possession of drugs, or worst of all killing someone, this could be the start of something beautiful at Madison Square Garden. The main word here is "could", because the ceiling for this trade is extremely high, however Eddy Curry may not like other big men who don’t play defense, in which case it could falter. We’ll find out.

does this look like a gun-toting thug to you?

After all of this went down, the Mets then swept a day-night doubleheader with the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park, showing them that they are still the team to beat in the NL East, despite what someone who didn’t even make the All-Star roster may think (cough, Jim-my Rol-lins!). Speaking of the All-Star roster, the Mets have 4 players to contribute to the team this year 3 of whom are starting. David Wright, Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran were all leading vote getters at their position, and the dominant Billy Wagner got a spot on the pitching roster. I have no complaints other than the fact that John Maine got screwed out of a spot. Maine is 9-4 with a 2.74 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP. The man Mets fans have to thank for Winona Ryder-ing Maine’s spot? Cole Hamels.

Hamels this year is 9-4 (push) with an ERA of 3.87 (advantage Maine) and a 1.22 WHIP (advantage Maine). To make things worse Friday night in the second game of the double header, Maine out-pitched Hamels by going 8 innings and allowing 1 earned run on 4 hits striking out 6 and walking nobody. Hamels on the other hand went 5 innings giving up 3 earned runs on 5 hits, 2 of which were home runs. He also walked 5 batters. So even though when they went head to head the Maine event was victorious, Hamels still gets the nod for the All-Star game. I don’t get it, John Maine is the Maine Event, Cole Hamels name reminds you of a coal miner. And what do coal miners get? Black lungs. What else gives you black lungs? Smoking. The MLB is promoting smoking this All-Star game, real nice.

John Maine could've been a Maine Event of the annual All-Star game, instead the MLB is promoting smoking

But even though the Mets lost the last game of a 4-game series, there was something to soothe the pain. The antidote: the New York Rangers reportedly have signed center Scott Gomez to a 7 year deal worth 51.5 million, as well as signing center Chris Drury to a 5 year deal reportedly worth 35.25 million. Is this a joke? First we draft a top 5 prospect in Alexei Cherepanov, then the Captain Mark Messier gets inducted into the hall of fame, then the Rangers sign two of the best centers in the NHL? What did I do to deserve this? This is like getting all my Christmas presents months in advance only when Christmas comes around I won’t give a crap that there isn’t anything under the tree with my name on it. Not only are both of these players top tier at their positions and make the Rangers a much better team, but we are also weakening two of our division rivals (the Sabres and the Devils). This also means I can forgive Chris Drury for ruining my life in a matter of 6 seconds in the ‘07 NHL playoffs after scoring the goal with 7 seconds to go to tie game 5. You all know the story, and it isn't a bed time story for Rangers fans. It's more of a drunken old 'Nam Vet's innapropriate story for his 10 year old grand children. But after months of cursing Drury out, I’m ready to accept his apology. He knows he made me go pre-maturely bald by causing me to rip out my own hair, and he knows it was wrong, so to make it up to me and thousands of others, he signed with the Rangers. Thank you.

let the past be the past... except for everything that turned out well for the rangers

In Gomez the Rangers are getting someone who has playoff experience, and plenty of it. They can also finally give Brendan Shanahan a true center to play with on the second line. Lord knows we needed one last year. And with Drury, not only are we getting a life ruiner and one of the most clutch players in sports history, we’re getting a Little League World Series champion. One could argue that he was better than Danny “I Shaved at 10" Almonte. Lets see Almonte rock a pair of skates. Drury also gives the Rangers a #1 center for the first line to play with Jagr. So to look at the upcoming two lines next season, the Rangers are going to have 4 legitimate All-Stars on offense on the first two lines.

This is too much to believe, Zeke makes a good deal, and now Glen Sather makes two great signings? What’s next? Pete Kendall and Laveranues Coles suddenly become team leaders on the Jets and are the most enthusiastic about Training Camp and team contact drills? Tiki Barber wins an Emmy? Actually don’t sleep on Tiki, he’s the next Ron Darling. But all of this aside, we’re looking at a Rangers team that is going to contend for the Stanley Cup next year, and make a strong push as long as everyone stays healthy. Pray to Roger McDowell.

So in retrospect, the Rangers, Knicks, and Mets all made a huge splash in the sports world this weekend. Don’t ask me to choose which piece of news pleased me the most because that would be like asking me to choose between Jessica Alba, Rachel Bilson or Scarlett Johanson. In other words, it’s the impossible choice. But championships for these three teams in the next few years is not impossible, in fact it’s probable. Yeah, I said it, probable. Of course, until we see them all play together, its just a great looking roster on a sheet of paper. And I mean really great looking. Maybe even better looking than Jessica Alba.

And that’s really saying something.