ISSUE #10

Week Niner

(May 30^th – June 5^th)

 ^{“Memorial Day Blues”}

New York Mets

(24 - 28)

4^th place/8.5 GB

The Past (week five): Chicago Cubs… (Lost series 1-2) The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round. The wheels on the bus have fell to the ground, fell to the ground, fell underground…all the way home.

            I’m trying to stay positive and keep the right frame of mind but when each week gets worse and worse it’s just tough to be optimistic. They get blasted in the rain on Tuesday night as Jon Niese lobbed the ball over the plate and one of the worst hitting offenses exploded scoring 11 runs on 13 hits. Three big errors in the game certainly didn’t help with two by Ronny Paulino alone. The Buffalo Mets then came out swinging on Wednesday after Dillon Gee gave up four runs in the bottom of the 1^st, putting on one of their infamous false-hope type performance and counteract Chicago’s rookie pitcher Coleman. They needed Mother Nature’s help after taking a 6-4 lead after 2^nd.  The rain came and stopped the game in the 7^th and the Mets steal one in Chi-town. All is well at 1-1 in the series with R.A. Dickey going for you in the rubber match. He’s record doesn’t show much this year, but a faint glint of confidence pulls you behind the Buffalo Mets to take the series any way you can.

            The 3rd inning was another Doomsday scenario as R.A. Dickey twists his ankle, falls and gets hurt...nope here’s was a new one…He felt a burning in his ankle. The DL is filled with starters and the first half of the season needs to be completed quickly. The sad sack of a team limped out of Chicago losing 9-3 as the bullpen gave up a whopping eight runs in 5 innings. The trade rumors are blaring in every newspaper in the Tri-State area. The ticket sales are down and prices for two seats on EBay are cheaper than tickets to the Big Apple Circus. After Beato (L, 1-1) and Misch exploded by giving up seven runs, 6 earned in 2 plus innings I was horrifyingly wishing that a tornado would have blown into Wrigley at some point on Thursday, sweeping this Triple A team (at best) away.

Philadelphia Phillies Series… (Lost series 1-2) The Mets had 38 hits against the Phillies this weekend with an amazing 17 hits alone in Sunday’s game. Sadly the team lost the first two games 6-4 and 5-2. What can I say to make you feel better? They kept it close…they tried their hardest…they look good until the last few innings of a game?

I don’t really know what to say, but Frankie Rodriguez couldn’t get the third out on Friday’s game and he had his worst outing of the year giving up 5 hits and 3 runs picking up his first loss of the season. Honestly he’s been lights out lately so I can’t kill him with typed words right now. He does it again, they I can say anything I damn well please. The Mets had a chance with a good 6 inning stretch by starter Chris Capuano, who stuck out 8 Philly batters. The bullpen put a damper on the party again!

Hey, you know when you know your bullpen is terrible? When they do the same horrible thing over and over again. On Friday night’s game the Mets bullpen gave up 4 runs in the last two innings of the game. On Saturday it was a mirror image with different stars/players/bums doing the work. The Phillies get stifled by Mike Pelfrey all night and then BOOM!!! Another four runs given up by the Mets bullpen in the last two innings giving the Brotherly Love city another comeback victory.

The only positive this entire week has been the rising trade value of Jose Reyes who added to other team’s interests by hitting 2 triples on Sunday and going 4 for 5 raising his batting average to .335 on the season which is amazing for a leadoff batter. In my opinion trading Reyes would be the absolute nail in the coffin. You will not find a better leadoff man anywhere right now. Sure trade Beltran or K-Rod, they have short futures and are way more of a problem everyday than anyone else, but Jose Reyes has speed, spunk and agility. He’s healthy and not being jumbled around the lineup. A top-notch leadoff batter who is still young. If the Mets trade him away it’s a sign of boring seasons to come. A sign of taking the easy way out of personal troubles. A sign that the Mets will die a slow death into obscurity until fans reek anger and protest seasons away. You want fans in the seats, you need excitement and that is what Jose Reyes stands for. The Mets salvaged game three of the series winning 9-5.

Player of the Week: I just ranted for a minute about Jose Reyes for good reason. He had multiple hits in all six games this week going 14 for 21 raising his average from .310 to .335. It’s pretty amazing to have 6 multi-hit games in a row and hopefully he starts a sick streak to have fans tuning in this week to come.

EXTRA NEWS:  Pagan is back…meaning his body not his bat. D. Wright has no set timetable. Ike Davis has been swinging and I guess stretching.

The Future (week ten):              

Pirates @ Mets 7:10pm Monday May 30^th    METS WIN 7-3

Pirates @ Mets 7:10pm Tuesday May 31^st

Pirates @ Mets 7:10pm Wednesday June 1^st

Pirates @ Mets 1:10pm Thursday June 2^nd

The Pittsburgh Pirates come to town and I couldn’t be happier. Black & Gold are the colors I bleed and I think they could take at least two this year from the flailing Mets. Both teams continuously beat themselves up. The Pirates have the upper hand however for the first time in years. The Pirates are 15-13 on the road this year after only winning 17 games on the road all of last year…that’s right I said 17. Wow, incredible right? Mets have a .252 batting average over the Pirates dismal .235, but flip the tape and on the pitching side the Pirates have a 3.47 ERA to the Mets 4.21 ERA. The Mets pitchers have walked and struck out more batters then the Pitt pitchers. I can’t see any team having a dominance over the other so I see (and hope for) a split series at best.

Braves @ Mets 7:10pm Friday June 3^rd

Braves @ Mets 7:10pm Saturday June 4^th

Braves @ Mets 1:10pm Sunday June 5^th

            After the weakly Pirates another division foe comes back into town. The Atlanta Braves look real well rounded this year, from head to toe. Young and old take the field each day and the team battles hard. The series in Atlanta back in mid-April didn’t go so well and the Mets we’re in the middle of a bad stretch of play and lost the double header 4-2 and 4-0. The third game was Dillon Gee’s first start in rejoining the Mets since 2010. He will pitch again Saturday so there is always some hope there. Maybe the Met fans will show up this weekend if they play Pittsburgh well and creep their way back to .500, because if they let as many Atlanta fans in like they did for Philly (yes I know Philly is much closer just stating a fact here) it’s going to be a sad time in Queens.   

 (A “weak” long prediction 4-3)

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New York Yankees

(28 - 23)

2^nd place/1 GB

The Past (week eight):  Toronto Blue Jays… (Won series 2-1) Watching Boston rise up the AL East standings like their 0-9 start never happened the Yankees came out just as flat as the previous week on Monday against the Blue Jays. Bartolo Colon pitched 5 solid innings only having one mistake in the Top of the 1^st against the ball-bashing Jose Bautista giving New Yorkers an in your face show of home run number 19…and it’s only May. The Yankees had no fight after Colon was knocked around in the 6^th inning. There was no recovery and question marks on the faces of Bronx fans all over the park. With Posada’s batting average still way down under .200 and no one in the starting lineup batting over .300 minds can’t sleep well. Boston’s getting hot and the Yanks are not…

            Tuesday night was no different for 8 long innings. They needed this game, they had the taste to maul in their mouths, but still the fight and the offense was not there. The ace of the staff was in trouble early giving up four runs in the first 4 innings of the night. He was pitching well, but Toronto hitters were reaching for balls and knocking them into the opposite field. They were dropping blooper base hits and manufacturing runs. CC gave up eight hits all night and all were singles except for a Juan Rivera double. Ricky Romero had things going nicely and cruised through 7 innings leaving with a 4-1 lead with six outs to go. It was looking like the Yankees bad baseball was going to continue since they’ve only come back from an 8^th inning deficit once this year. The comeback feel was not around so far this year.

            Robinson Cano woke up from his slumber in the bottom of the 8^th doubling in a run and later scoring on a Russell martin base hit. 4-3 after the 8^th, not bad. CC trucks his heavy frame back out on the mound for the 9^th and gets the job done. An uncharacteristic move from Joe Girardi, but not that hard of a decision as his pitch count was under 100. He gets the job done and now the Yankee offense felt the need to pick themselves out of the dumps and over the losing hump to get CC’s complete game effort a win. Posada swings the bat like its any year but 2011 and doubles. With a pinch runner in and Jeter making the second out of the 9^th, it was up to the team’s hottest player to keep things going.  Curtis Granderson who already had three hits on the day roped a base hit tying the game at four.  He wasn’t done helping with the comeback. During Teixeira’s at bat Curtis snatched second base and set the table for Mark’s first walk off in pinstripes. A mini-text message was all that was needed as he scorched a single past Juan Rivera at 1^st base, (just like Granderson’s shot) and the Yankees win in walk off fashion boosting the team and some fans morals in the meantime. It was finally an exciting night in Bronx, which has been a bit different for the previous few weeks.

            This opened up the old Yankee feel for Wednesday afternoon’s game as Toronto’s bad luck Jo-Jo Reyes pitched his 28^th consecutive winless start. Andrew Jones reminded all of MLB baseball that he was still playing while making good of his start in LF going 3 for 3 with 2 big HRs and 4 RBI’s. Freddy Garcia pitched as well as we thought he would since March 30^th going 6 and a third giving up 3 runs and striking out 4 Blue Jays. Mo finally got some work in pitching a scoreless 9^th to end the game as the Yankees proudly took the series.

            Seattle Mariners Series… (Lost series 1-2) The Yankees usually take care of Seattle with an all time record of 203-161 before the two teams meet on Friday night. A pretty large gap between the two, in favor of the Bronx Bombers and coming off of two convincing wins against Toronto you would figure this trip West could start out in the right direction. The Mariners on the other hand have had resurgence in their pitching staff. Rookie Michael Pineda has turned heads already this year with a 6-2 record and a 2.16 ERA going into Friday night’s game. He was not sharp, but held Seattle close enough to keep them in the game. He walked a season high five and struck out a season low (since his 1^st game on 4/5) five batters which still is not awful. The Yankees had a 3-0 lead in the 5^th and couldn’t hold it. A.J. faltered and gave up two and then Logan and Ayala each gave up a run in the 4-3 loss for the opener.

            Then it wouldn’t get any easier on Saturday night. After facing the possible Rookie of the Year candidate the Yankees would have to try and beat King Felix Hernandez.  The King has pitched 3 complete game shutouts against them in the past and hope was minor in Yankee Camp. Cano and Teixeira hit bombs in the 2^nd and 3^rd inning giving the Yankees another early lead that would dwindle quickly because of another bad outing by Ivan Nova. Nova only lasted into the 4^th inning after giving up four runs on five hits. Joe Girardi took him out after 74 pitches and never gave him the chance to pitch out of trouble. The King standing atop the mound after giving up 2 HRs and 3 runs in the first three innings had a chance to redeem himself…he’s a King, I think he has full say over what manager Eric Wedge has to say. He pitched well, not lights out, but well. The 4^th, 5^th and 6^th innings were scoreless for the Yankees and in the meantime Seattle took the lead 4-3. The Yankees were able to tie it and extra innings again. The game lasted 4 hours and 18 minutes, mostly because of Joba Chamberlin taking a ton of time to pitch the damn ball. It’s as painful as watching a Ben Stein documentary. Funny guy, but holy Lord does it drain your soul. Joba…just pitch! Mariano Rivera came in with only one other appearance in ten days and the rust showed. He gave up three hits and the winning run in the 12^th inning suffering his first loss of the season.  

            Sunday the Yankees looked like the Yankees after Mark Teixeira hit his 6^th HR in 9 games the previous day someone else was going to have to step it up.  Cue the forgotten about Nick Swisher…he knocked his 3^rd HR of the season and walked twice for the man of the week Andrew Jones, who hit a base clearing double in the 3^rd and the Yankees never looked back with their ace on the mound.  CC pitched eight strong innings striking out five and giving up one run. The Yankees were able to scorch through the rubber match thankfully taking one out of the three 7-1.

Player of the Week: Andrew Jones came off the bench this week and helped drastically with 2 of the Yankees 3 wins. He went 4 for 6 with 2 HRs and 7 RBI’s. He did come into the extra inning game on Saturday but went 0 for 2. Let us also not forget about CC Sabathia pitching 9 innings on Monday night in a win against Toronto and 8 innings against Seattle going 2-0 this week.

EXTRA NEWS:

The Future (week ten):

Yankees @ Athletics 4:05pm Monday May 30^th   YANKEES WIN 5-0

Yankees @ Athletics 10:05pm Tuesday May 31^st

Yankees @ Athletics 3:35pm Wednesday June 1^st

The trip out west continues and the Yankees need to shut down these teams that are basking in the sun and cruising along the tracks, or hovering their way around .500 baseball and make some headway. Boston is not sleeping anymore and the lead the Yankees once had over them has been short lived. Oakland is decent, that’s all. Matsui is nothing more than a Japanese seat filler, but there seems not to be enough Japanese in the Oakland area. Do you blame them? Of course not. The Yankees need to wake up and start a streak of winning ball games handedly and stop playing around with these mediocre clubs.

Yankees @ Angels 10:05pm Friday June 3^rd

Yankees @ Angels 9:05pm Saturday June 4^th

Yankees @ Angels 3:35pm Sunday June 5^th

            There is a battle going on in the AL West and the Yankees need to fly in, win and get the hell out. Let the four teams (Texas, LA, Oak, and Seattle) deal with their own race to the top on their own.  The Yankees are better than LA and Oakland, it’s true. It’s just that sometimes they have a hard time proving it. The Angels are stacked with solid starting pitching that has been underperforming so far this year with Dan Haren and Ervin Santana leading the way. Sparks of greatness comes from players like Tori Hunter and the two rookies in Mark Trumbo and Peter Bourjos, but the effect the relief pitching has on this low scoring team is hurting them to no end. Regardless the AL West has for teams all within 2 games of each other. Now that’s exciting and the Yankees get to help by putting a damper on a couple of those team’s parades.         

(A “weak” long prediction 5-1)

Adam Hammer’s Loose Lips

-          The big news this week: Buster Posey is out for the year after his leg was basically O.J.'ed in a home plate collision. Several have called for a ban on home plate collisions and blocking the plate. In other news, the NFL is working on a rule that will allow QB's to call timeout right before getting sacked.

-          Umpire Wally Bell no-showed the Phillies-Mets game on Sunday. It was the first time all year an umpire did not completely blow an easy call.

-          The Mets have a new minority owner and many expect him to own the team within 3 years. He already has a team of writers making excuses for when the Mets blow division lead in 2016.

-          Scott Kazmir has an ERA of 36.00 in Triple A after two terrible starts for the Salt Lake Bees. The other players on the Bees are not happy, and not because of Kazmir's pitching but because he changed the music being played on the team boom box during warm-ups.

And now for your reading pleasure…

***

The Future; According to the Late-Great George Carlin

“All the knowledge in the world will be contained on a single, tiny silicon chip which someone will misplace.”

 

Last Quip by Doctor KAS – “I just bought a 40 dollar Pirate hat to replace the one I held on to for five years. So I guess it’s safe to say that I just paid two-thirds of the team’s salary.”

UPDATE May 30th

Issue #10

Week Niner

will be out later today due to technical difficulties

and the fact that none of you are at your computers on a 90 degree day...

If you are GET OUTSIDE you bum.

Look for Issue #10 later tonite,

Thank you,

-Dr. Kas

ISSUE # NINER

Week Eight

(May 23^rd – May 29^th)

 ^{“Birthdays, My Bachelor Party,}

^{A Christening and Baseball”}

Before the Subway

            The long week started off with rain all over the country and questionable weather. The Mets only played one against Florida on Monday and two against the Nationals on Wednesday & Thursday. The pitching was looking real effective as they lost Monday night in 11 innings 2-1. Mike Pelfrey pitched 7 strong innings, but Florida used seven pitchers to defeat the banged up Flushing crew. After a rainout on Tuesday the Mets pitching lead the way with two shutouts against the Nationals. Rain was falling continuously and Jon Niese won his third game of the season pitching 7 innings with a season high 7 K’s. Izzy-“old man”-ringhausen picked up his 10^th hold and lowered his ERA under 2.00 to 1.93 on the season. Then the Mets and the now quietly unmentioned or talked about Frankie Rodriguez closed out another game on Thursday night. It was another shutout for the Mets at 1-0 and one more save for K-Rod. Remember him? Number 14 on the year and get this…his ERA…0.79. I haven’t seen that since he was bought by the Mets in 2009. The lineup was banged up with no D. Wright or Ike Davis, but the pitching was doing the job as they moved closer to the Bronx for a wild three game series. Their closer hasn’t given up a run in May and is secretly putting together his best season since the year of his 62 saves.

            The Yankees didn’t have to deal with the rain when they went down to split a two game series in Tampa Bay. A.J. was looking real good again on Monday night as the battle for 1^st place began. Granderson helped the Yankees jump out towards a 5-0 lead by the 5^th inning with his 1^st of three HRs this week. The little Grandyman seems to have the most power right now on a big Yankee squad. Mr. Burnett finally imploded in the 6^th inning and Joe Girardi waited way too long to pull him out. So after the Yankees got a nice cushion on David Price before you knew it those scrappy “devil” Rays were victorious by the end of the night. This loss made it six in a row for the Yankees and you felt worry in the air. Boston was now gaining ground and Tampa Bay took over first place outright. What was going on and how can this be? It was as if the Yankees were drifting down a rolling river the wrong way and everyone on the boat was just sitting around letting the vessel sink. The bats needed to wake up! 23-5 in the next three games will turn this around and that’s how they solve despair in the die-hard fans eyes. Ivan Nova pitches a gem on Tuesday while he got support by the one-time struggling Alex Rodriguez as he blasted 2 solo HR’s to get out of his funk. As the traveled into Baltimore (Yankee Stadium “South”) the team wanted to play extra innings. It took them 15 innings in an extremely long night to win 4-1. The game took just under 5 hours and should have been over and done with in the ninth, but Mariano Rivera blew his 3^rd save of the season and 2^nd against the Orioles this year. A-Rod went 4-7 putting the long three week slump behind him. The following day the Orioles had nothing in the tank and lost for 2^nd time this year to C.C. as he pitched 8 innings of shutout ball and the Yankees began to stir the ship in the right direction moving into the Subway Series.

The Past (week seven):

My brother came in from Indiana this week to celebrate my sister’s 40^th (which was actually in March) and my Bachelor Party on Saturday. To add fuel to the fire my good friend had his first child’s Christening on Sunday afternoon all while the Mets and Yankees lock in and do the first of their two battles, this time in the Bronx. I’ll be straight up honest with you and have you understand this weekend was like back in the day. When I saw some innings on TV it was at a bar or a party or a restaurant and the sound was off as the crowds and rowdiness passed by in the background. The best part about it was that everyone talked about updates of the games. What the score was on the bus ride home from Belmont Park on Saturday with thirty drunken friends. Some would chant “Let’s Go Mets!” and the Yankee fans would just snarl. The games were a part of the weekend no matter where I was or how much money I was spending, if I looked up the game was there. If I asked a friend, the update was being search on his phone. It was a great weekend, but my memory is jumbled…

GAME ONE:

The night started off easy, calm, relaxed. Descent restaurant in Babylon and the first order of drinks were in. The game was about to being and the first pitch would be missed. R.A. Dickey needed to pitch a gem against Freddy Garcia. It was a game I know could’ve went either was with it being an offensive show or for some reason a tight pitching duel if both pitchers brought their stuff. Dinner lasted 5 innings as the good times ensued and birthday songs were sung. The game was stuck at 1-1 in the 5^th and I was pleasantly surprised. I thought the series was going to be a runaway with all the injuries on the Mets side, but they hung and clung on to do battle. In front of 47,874 people R.A. continued to pitch his way out of trouble and gave the Mets 6 innings of one run baseball. When I saw the game for the first time I was surprised that the stadium actually looked full. The seats behind home plate had heads in them and the spirit of the game really took off.

It was time to move on to the next place. A better bar, the kind where you know the bartender, but in my case still don’t really want to be there with people stepping on my feet and bumping into my chest as I walk through the place. We get to the spot and hear that Daniel Murphy just hit a homerun giving the Mets their first lead of the series.  The place was about to switch over from a band in the bar to a deejay making it a dance club. We went outside on the first nice comfortable night in over a week and proceeded to drink, laugh and glance at the Mets hold on to a 2-1 lead for the rest of the night. I’ll admit it was shocking for me to see. I thought the Mets had no chance this weekend, but in front of a packed house Frankie Rodriguez kept his scoreless month of May streak alive and well. Save number 15 and win number one.  

GAME TWO:

I was waking up early for a trip to Belmont racetrack in the morning. This was no ordinary relaxing trip to the park on a beautiful spring day with a couple of buddies. This was the beginning of my bachelor party and I found myself with a beer in my hand at 10:30am. Mmmmm breakfast. My brother rounded up 30 or so friends and the school bus was to arrive soon to experience the Preakness Stakes at Belmont. Sounds odd, but if you enjoy betting it was the most gorgeous day of the weekend by far. The Mets and Yankees were on later that night, but I was going to win money first and get drunk second. By the time it was to take the bus ride home I switched that theory quickly. Get drunk and losing money. As the Preakness approached at 6pm with rumors of the end of the world and a giant storm looked to begin I decided to spend all the money on my betting voucher on every horse but the winner I bowed my head in disgust.  God Damn Shackleford kicked my ass like the rest of the Belmont card that afternoon. However, the beers never disappointed and the brownies are always considered a special treat.

The day was fantastic and the bus ride home was just as funny as the crazy bus ride there. My bald Met fan friend (who was wasted by 5pm easy) started a Met chant as he realized they took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. I remember being shocked, and saying “Holy Shit, the Yankees need to pull it together.” Bald Bobby replied with a simple “No they don’t” and the loudness and drunkenness continued.  The big yellow school bus packed with drunken fools finally made it home alive in time for a group dinner where they serve pitchers of beers out of boots (das-boot) and the wait staff pours shots for a bachelor like it’s their job to put you down for the night. The Mets were down 4-3 when we got there and from every cigarette break in between shots off Kettle One, Wild Turkey, Jagermister a pitcher of beer and a delicious medium rare steak it seemed the further and further the Mets would be of shocking New York and taking the first two. I saw Curtis Granderson and Alex Rodriguez’s HRs in the 6^th as the Yankees were pulling away. The Yankees hit four big ones off of Capuano that night and that was enough for A.J. to cling to. Jose Reyes continued to hit the ball and get on base and with amazement to my eyes I realized he had 17 SB’s already this year after such a slow start. He really is one of the best lead-off hitters in the game and it makes me laugh that some fans want him gone. There is no other guy in a farm team anywhere that will do what he does, especially in Citi Field where he is a triples machine. He’s batting .318 and continues to embark havoc on opposing team’s pitchers. All in all I ended up completely trashed and barely with a memory as my friends treated me right and I thankfully woke up the next morning in bed and happy to not be in a pile of puke.

GAME THREE:

My head was pounding a bit and my mouth felt like sand paper. I don’t think a non-alcoholic beverage touched my lips in over 30 some odd hours and I had a little baby boy’s christening to go to in about an hour. Same time the Mets and the Yankees were starting the last game of the series. This was the game I would have loved to just sit on the couch with my wonderfully understanding fiancé and just relaxed. No dice my constant reader…no dice. While waiting for my lady to get dressed I watched the Mets pull out early again. Pelfrey looked good and Nova looked shaky, but both of these would change as I stood outside in the cold blowing smoke out of my mouth late May. Once again I was getting updates through people’s phones around me. I kept on hearing 3-1 Mets. It’s still 3-1 Mets. Yeah, Pelfrey is still in…its 3-1 Mets. Another shocker for me as I stood by a clean sweep from the Yankees that was already put to rest on Friday night. Then came the fateful 7^th inning stretch when the Yankees woke up and the Mets became too relaxed. Granderson already hit his team leading 16^th HR in the first, but the bats woke up and took charge scoring 8 runs in the inning and putting to rest Pelfrey and the Mets for good. A-Rod went 4-5 while Jeter, Gardner and Dickerson added two hits each on the day. The final score was 9-3, and it really was a great series until that inning. The one inning my brother Kris from Indiana saw. He watched a half of an inning all weekend and it was of course the inning the Mets turned into bums. Mike palfrey pitched 6 strong innings and erased it all by the 7^th. Tim Byrdak and Pedro Beato couldn’t get outs and Pat Misch had to finish off the weekend by doing some scrub work. The Mets fought hard most of the time this weekend but the Yankees are better on paper right now and in reality. Hopefully the Mets find a way to even things out a bit and get Ike and Wright back for the rematch on the first weekend of July.   

Player(s) of the Week

YANKEES – Curtis Granderson & Alex Rodriguez both had real good weeks. A-Rod found his way out of a slump going 13 for 31 with 3 HRs and 4 RBI’s. Curtis the New York Yankee powerhouse, for some reason only had six hits on the week, but 3 of those were homeruns.

METS – Francisco Rodriguez didn’t get as much work as Met fans would’ve liked but he did keep his May scoreless streak alive by picking up 3 more saves in 4 appearances this week. His ERA is way down to 0.76 and he is 15 for 16 in save opportunities this year. Boy oh boy what a punch to a father-in-law’s face can do for your career.

New York Mets

(22 - 24)

4^th place/6 GB

Tuesday – Thursday

Mets @ Cubs

8pm, 8pm, 2:20pm

            The Cubbies are five games under .500 and the Mets can’t fall too far behind without the stars in their lineup. If Jon Niese can find his groove and continue his play the way he looked last week he should be turning that all important corner. The problem with the Mets is that you never know who taking the mound. The confidence is something that needs to be consistent and the Mets have none of that. The positive is that the Cubs are just as inconsistent as the Mets are and the classic battle in Wrigley Field will be fun to watch. Those Cub fans are strong believers in a losing franchise and they are filled with a team of young and old. Mets must take two and hopefully a bright spot can be seen with Dillon Gee trying to stay undefeated on Wednesday night.

Friday – Sunday

Phillies @ Mets

7:10pm, 7:10pm, 1:10pm

            It’s been a bit lop-sided between these two teams so far this year. The Mets are 2-4 against the Phillies but the last two games these two teams have played were both 2-1 games with both teams taking a win. The Mets are a very scrappy team and I’ll say it every week until they wave the white flag and give the season up, but for right now with all the injuries and bruised egos this team is still not dead in the water. No team is in this league for that matter.

           

EXTRA NEWS:  Angel Pagan should be back shortly as they were hoping sometime last week. David Wright will see a back specialist in California because I guess there are none in New York and Ike Davis has not started running or swinging a bat yet. Wonderful.

 (A “weak” long prediction 2 - 4)

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New York Yankees

(25- 20)

1^st place (tied with Tampa Bay)

Monday – Wednesday

Blue Jays @ Yankees

7:05pm, 7:05pm, 1:05pm

            I’m so tired of the Yankees playing Toronto…no I’m not. Division games are the best to watch and this matchup is no different. The Yankees are 3-2 against the blue jays this season. Jose Bautista is leading the Majors with 18 HRs this season with a slugging percentage of .816, a fact I refuse to comprehend. Bartolo Colon goes twice this week so we can really get a good idea on how long this Colon train will really last. If he can give two straight-up solid performances this over-weighted love story might stick around for a while.

Friday – Sunday

Yankees @ Mariners

10:10pm, 10:10pm, 4:10pm

            First trip out West might always be though and the Mariners pitching have been lights-out over the past nine games with the resurgence of Erik Bedard. Seattle’s starters have a 0.77 ERA over the past 9 games and still only won 6 of 9 games. Their offense is horrendous and the Yankees need to keep it that way.  This will be the beginning of a nine game west coast swing, so it’s late night baseball for fans with no jobs.

EXTRA NEWS: Being cleared to throw a baseball is great, but there is still no timetable on Phil Hughes.

(A “weak” long prediction 3 - 3)

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Living in a Fantasy 1-2-3:

-          Who Killed It? – 1.  Milwaukee went out and bought up some pitching this off season. Shawn Marcum showed his value this week by winning two games pitching 15 innings and only giving up 2 runs. He struck out 12 batters and gave up only 9 hits.  2.  Boston red Sox are waking up here in May and pulling close to the top of the AL East partly in thanks to the week Kevin Youkilis has had. He went 10 for 20 with 4 doubles 1 HR and 7 RBI’s. The team has a lineup; they just have to use it.  3.  Texas has had some pretty surprising pitching the past two years and Colby Lewis has been one of the factors. He put together a solid two-start week pitching a CG shutout against the White Sox earlier in the week and pitched 6 innings against the Phillies on Saturday suffering a pitching duel loss. He struck out 6 Phillies and only gave up two runs but the ranger offense was quiet.

-          Who Thrilled It? – 1.  I can’t understand it myself, but who ever drafted James “Big Game” Shields…nice job smarty-pants. The Tampa Bay pitcher continues to mow down opposing batters as he struck out 22 batters in 16 innings and pitched another CG shutout this year on Sunday against Florida. I’m shocked! 2.  Have you ever heard of Asdrubal Cabrera from the Cleveland Indians? Not until yesterday…when the little SS went 5 for 5 with 2 HRs and 5 RBI’s. A day like that is thrilling no matter who’s the one swinging the bat. 3.  King Felix Hernandez did what he always has done this weekend pitch 8 innings of goose egg baseball and striking out 13 against San Diego on Sunday. He also pitched 8 innings on Tuesday night giving up only 2 runs while striking out 9 Twins, but lost that game because of Seattle’s terrible offense.

-          Who’s on Deck? – 1. With his first real good start of the season I don’t want you to just forget about Ervin Santana. The kid is only 28 years-old and I know he’s been hit or miss I tend to like his stuff. Four starts back he had a no hitter after 4 innings in Boston get washed out and Friday against Atlanta he pitched a CG shutout.  2.  Hey, who’s closing games for the Phillies nowadays? Ryan Madson again? Well the kid had a good week in the fact of 3 saves. The positive was he only gave up one hit in each of the three appearances, struck out four and walked only one. Dicey, put the job could be his till the All-Star break.  3.  Asdrubal Cabrera can possibly be a quiet SS on a surging Indians team that keeps winning. After an unbelievable Sunday performance his average is up over .300 on the season.

Adam Hammer’s Loose Lips

-          The Yankees suffered a six game losing streak this week despite solid starting pitching. Luckily Major League Baseball has integrated Triple-A teams into the schedule and the Yankees went 4-1 against the Orioles and Mets.

-          The Red Sox won the Battle of 1918 by winning the first and last games of the series. Since the last meeting between the two teams in Boston 93 years ago, the teams have combined for 2 championship and 182 excuses.

-          The one Yankee loss was in the Friday night game against the Mets, who improved to .500 with the win. The Yankees were kind enough to supply champagne and goggles to the Mets who celebrated for hours after the game.

HAMMER’S SIDE NOTE FACT:  No one threw a no-hitter this week and no players were arrested for DUI's!

Best Series You Missed – Chicago Cubs @ Boston Red Sox

Any time four players get hit by a pitcher and one gets hit right in the face breaking many bones and possibly ending a man’s career you have yourself a serious series. The series was won in the end by the surging Red Sox 2-1 but the tempers were high and the only two teams with the oldest ballparks left had three great games in Boston over the weekend.

Best Series for you to Catch –

SERIES 1:  Reds (25-22) @ Phillies (28-18) – Last year in the NLDS Roy Halladay pitched a no hitter against the Reds to put a damper on the dreams of youngsters in Cincinnati. This week the Reds look to get revenge and on Wednesday the doctor is back in.

And now for your reading pleasure…

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The Future; According to the Late-Great George Carlin

“At birth, religions will charge people an initial fee of $50,000 and then pretty much leave them alone.”

 

Last Quip by Doctor KAS – “The end of the world never came and that bastard has now predicted nothing at least twice. My goal is to somehow have him involve me in his next PR campaign and I’ll steal his advertizing money while I call him an asshole one last time.”