213 Miles From Shea

David Einhorn, President of Greenlight Capital (Hedge Fund) became the Minority owner of the Mets today with a 200 million dollar investment.

But who is the 43 year old?

Einhorn is a lifelong Mets fan, and as it is getting reported through a variety of sources today, actually dressed up in a homemade Dave Kingman Jersey for Halloween when he was a child. He graduated from Cornell in 1991 (BA – Government). You can read about his business adventures on Wikipedia, I'll openly admit that reading about hedge funds, investments, and banking generally gives me a head ache, something that started my Freshman year of college where I was surrounded as a Communication Major by the Business School Rejects, where they would all talk about investments in a generally very incorrect manner. I would soon vacate that major and move to Astronomy and Physics, and far away from Business greed as possible.

Anyway, Einhorn is also very involved with charity, especially the Michael J. Fox Foundation. In 2006 he actually finished 18th in the World Series of poker, and he donated his earnings to the foundation.

Other notes about Einhorn:

– He publicly “attacked” the Lehman Brothers

– Apparently, publicly “attacked” Microsoft Today

All in all, I'm excited. Einhorn is young, and he is a Mets fan. I'm hoping that he is the perfect owner in the sense that stays out of the picture, and allows the General Manager to do his own thing. Sadly though, he still is the Minority owner, and only in a situation where the Wilpon issues get worse, does he get to take over the team. I'm just ready for this situation with the Mets ownership to come to an end, and for the Mets to “have the money” they need to do things like resign Reyes (I still think they had the money before this, but whatever).

The Mets and Cubs play a classic day game in Chicago. Last night, the Mets bounced back from a terrible opening game with a 7-4 win in a rain shortened game. Yesterday, the Mets found themselves in a quick 4-1 hole, but they came roaring back in the top of the second, scoring 5 runs, putting the game out of reach for the Cubs. Today Dickey will go up against the always fiery Zambrano.

This season Robert Allen is 2-5 with an ERA of 4.71. He bounced back from his bad outing in Houston nicely against the Yankees last week where pitched 6 innings allowing only one earned run. Last season he had an abysmal start against the Cubs where he pitched 6 innings allowing 7 earned runs. The Cubs have the following numbers on the knuckleballer:

Pena 2-10, 2 HR

DeWitt 2-5, HR

Soriano 2-5, HR

Castro 2-3

Fukedome 0-3

Johnson 1-3, 2B

The Mets will get another bout with Carlos Zambrano today, who is 4-2 with a 4.88 ERA over 62.2 innings of work. In his last three starts he has pitched 18.1 innings while allowing 13 earned runs (6.50 ERA). Before that streak started, his ERA was 4.23 and it has raised a good bit. Last season he was 1-1 over 2 games over 13 innings with a 2.77 ERA against the Mets. The Mets have the following numbers against Carlos:

Bay 14-41, 4 2B, 3B, 5 HR

Beltran 3-18, HR

Paulino 1-19 (Ouch)

Reyes 5-21, 2B, 3B

Let's Go Mets!

The Mets try to bounce back from two headache losses. (Headache Loss: When the mental miscues from Professional Athletes cause a fan to hit their head on a desk, wall, or other object, thus giving the fan a headache). Tonight Dillon Gee looks to continue his pitching from his last strong outing and the Mets bats look to take out frustrations on Casey Coleman of the Cubs.

Dillon Gee was fantastic last time out as he pitched 7 shutout innings allowing 2 hits and not hits to the first 17 batters of the game. Probably the best part of the start was something you could only get in the Mid-Atlantic region, listening to the broadcasters try to explain the Nationals vs Gee. They downplayed Gee, showed some unprofessional conduct as they made excuses for the Nationals. It was like watching political pundits still throw mud after their side losses an election. Anyway, last season Gee didn't face the Cubs and there is no one on the Cubs who has faced Gee with another team, so Dillon is a complete mystery to the Chicago lineup, and it will be interesting to see how he uses that to his advantage tonight in the Windy City.

Casey Coleman gets the start for the Cubbies tonight. Over 34.1 innings of work this year, he has a 6.03 ERA and a 2-3 record. If you look at his game record, there is very rarely a middle ground. Casey is generally either terrible (slightly more often) or great. He made his debut last season and never saw the Mets, however one player on the roster does have some experience against him (Harris 0-2, BB). Casey will be a mystery for our ball club tonight as well, so it should be an interesting game.

Let's Go Mets!

Where the New York Mets are, there is Drama. Where there is Drama and Sports, the New York Back Pages are always there to lend an opinion.

The Mets start a series in the Windy City tonight as they try to get back on the winning track after dropping two straight to the Yankees. The Mets have had a stressing weekend where they started off finally getting back to .500, then dropping the next game, and then looked to go back to .500 on Sunday, but blew up in the 7th inning and got crushed. Tonight the Mets will send out Jon Niese to go up against Ryan Dempster.

Niese is 3-4 on the season over 55.1 innings with a 4.39 ERA. He bounced back in his last start really nicely. Two starts ago, he struggled against the Rockies where he allowed 5 ER over 7 innings of work. Last time out, he allowed 6 hits over 7.0 innings and no runs. During that time he walked only one batter, while striking out 7. Last season he pitched 11.2 innings against the Cubs where posted an ERA of 3.86. The Cubs have the following numbers against him:

Ramirez 2-8, HR

Soriano 2-7, 2B

Baker 4-6

Castro 0-3

The Mets will try to get consistent tonight against Ryan Dempster who is 2-4 over 56.0 innings with an ERA of 6.91. Ryan got the season off to a terrible start, and then in May he looked to start to turn it around with three good starts in a row, a streak that was snapped in his last outing where he allowed 5 ER over 5 innings of work. So in some ways, tonight is a crossroad for him (like how Pelfrey's next start will be). Does Dempster return to be the pitcher at the start of May? Or the one in April? Last season he pitched 4.2 innings against the Mets where he allowed 7 runs, 3 earned. The Mets have the following numbers on Dempster:

Bay 2-13

Beltran 6-9, HR

Reyes 2-5, 3B

Harris 2-4

Thole 1-3, 2B

Let's Go Mets!

The problem the Mets face with Reyes right now is making a decision of what they are going to do.

I'm sure internally, because despite what the majority of us think, the Mets are an actual sport franchise, thus they must have these discussions about what to do with Reyes.

Reyes is a key part of this Mets team. As of right now, he is not replaceable. There are players in the minors who could eventually provide some offense at SS, but realistically speaking, there is no such thing as another Jose Reyes out there, because of what Reyes the person means to this team and the locker room. In this regard, Reyes is essentially priceless. On top of the off the field stuff, he is one of the best players this season with the bat, and he is having a great year with the glove. The Mets, if they want to be successful, need to retain Reyes.

The problem starts with “Can We Afford Reyes?” If we can afford Reyes, than the solution is to sign him to an extension, and not trade him. Continue to build a team around Reyes, Wright and Davis and see what happens.

The idea right now is the Mets cannot afford Reyes. If that is the case, if the Mets really cannot afford Reyes, then we have to trade him. I still feel the Mets have a real shot at being competitive this season, however, winning a World Series, is a long shot. If we were in the running to win the World Series this year, then the Mets could take the risk of retaining Reyes and then losing him at the ending of the season, because of the few things that are more invaluable than a sparkplug, is a championship.

However, since we are probably not going to win a World Series this season, and if we cannot afford to sign Reyes to an extension, then Reyes must be traded for some team's entire farm system. Luckily, Reyes has been playing like that this season, that he can demand a large chunk of someone's system. We need players that are major league ready, because the only prospect that we have that is maybe (and that is a strong maybe) major league ready is Mejia. If this is the case, we should probably trade Beltran as well (because going halfway would also be a waste of time).

The take home point of this article, is the Mets are going to soon have to commit to a plan. If they don't trade Reyes, then they must make it a priority to sign him to an extension. If they do trade Reyes, they must get Major League prospects, and then they must try to move Beltran, K-rod or both to set up the farm system for the next 5 years. The worst possible thing for the Mets to do is to keep Reyes this season, and then not resign him. Because if that happens, the Mets just lose.

The Mets and Yankees conclude their three game set this afternoon with the rubber game. In the first game of the series, the Mets were able to edge out the Yankees, thanks to some strong pitching, and timely hitting. Last night, the Yankees took advantage of the sand box they play in and took the Mets deep, and often, as they took the game 7-3. Tonight Mike Pelfrey will try to keep it in the park against Ivan Nova (Lox).

Pelfrey 3-3 on the season with a 5.11 ERA over 49.1 innings of work. This month, he has looked like the player we have been looking for. In three starts he is 2-0 over 21.1 innings with a 2.11 ERA (side note: isn't kinda of funny that he has a 2.11 ERA over 21.1 innings?). Anyway, let's hope he keeps it up this afternoon. He was 1-1 against the Yankees last season over 13.0 innings of work with a 4.15 ERA. The Yanks have the following numbers on Big Pelf:

Cano 3-11, 2B

A-rod 3-10

Garnder 4-10

Jeter 1-6, 2B

Jones 1-5, 2B

The Mets will deal with the rookie Ivan Nova today who is 4-3 with a 4.33 ERA over 43.2 innings of work. After a rough start to the season, he has become an effective pitcher in the month of May for every start except for one. As you can imagine for a rookie who made his debut late last season, he has never faced the Mets, nor has faced any individual Mets batters, so he is a mystery to this ball club.

Let's Go Mets!

The Mets took the first game of the Subway Series last night, completing their climb back to .500 for the first time since they were 4-4. The Amazin's look to continue that climb tonight in Yankee Stadium in game two of this three game set. Last night's game featured, for the Yankees, your average pop-fly homer at Yankee stadium that put the Yanks up 1-0. The Mets immediately responded in the next half inning with a run to put the game tied at 1-1. Justin Turner (who else at this point) got that RBI, and not to be outdone, Murphy added on the go ahead homer. Tonight the Mets will send out Capuano who go up against A.J. Burnett.

Capuano has a 3-4 record this season with a 4.78 ERA. In his last three starts he has pitched 18 innings with a 3.00 ERA with 15 K's and 9 BB's. He has not had much experience against the Yankees, which makes sense since he has been in the National League. He has 4 recorded innings against the Bronx Bombers where he has allowed 7 runs, 5 earned. The Yankees have the following numbers on Chris:

Jones 6-18, 4 HR

Martin 7-11, 4 2B, HR

Jeter 0-2

Arod 3-3, HR

The Mets batters will try to breakout tonight against A.J. Burnett, who is 4-3 this season over 59.1 innings with a 3.99 ERA. He started off the month of May strong, with 14 innings and 3 ER over 2 starts, but he hit a snag in his last start where he allowed 6 ER over 8 hits in 5.2 innings. The last time he faced the Mets was back in 2009 where he pitched 14 scoreless innings against the Amazin's. The Mets have the following numbers on A.J.:

Bay 8-21, 2 2B, HR

Beltran 5-19

Reyes 0-17 (Ouch…..)

Murphy 0-4

Hairston 2-3

Let's Go Mets!

This season in particular, it seems like nothing positive the Mets do lands them on the back of the New York Sports pages. However, with them playing the only other New York Team playing Sports right now, they at least guaranteed themselves some attention today. Anyway, the New York Post decided to poke fun at the end of the World, with a a sign being the Mets winning and the New York Daily News did a normal Subway gag on the back cover:

It's that time of year again where the Mets and the Yankees play each other, and the 2011 Subway Series opens up in the Bronx this year. For the Mets, they are coming off of a two game shutout sweep of the Nationals as they look to return to .500 in tonight's game. Since the game is happening in the Bronx, the Mets will have a DH tonight, and as of last night (when this article was written) the DH was penciled in as Fernando Martinez as he looks to get some much needed AB's. Tonight Dickey will look to bounce back as he takes on Freddy Gracia.

R.A. Dickey has struggled at points this season, and hopefully he can turn back to his consistent self tonight. This season he is 1-5 with a 5.08 with over 50 innings logged. Things have been rough this month, as he has posted a 7.36 ERA in three starts. The last time Dickey faced the Yankees was in 2009 where he pitched 9.3 innings where had an ERA of 0.93. The Yankees have the following numbers on Robert Allen:

Granderson 3-10, 2 2B

Jeter 1-8

Arod 5-8, 2B

Swisher 0-6

Posada 0-3

The Mets will get a look at Freddy Garcia tonight who is 2-3 this season with a 3.22 ERA. This month he has pitched 18.1 innings and has posted an ERA of 4.42. The last time he faced the Mets was back in 2007 where he pitched 4.2 innings allowing 3 ER over 8 hits on his way to a loss. The Mets have posted the following numbers on Freddy:

Beltran 14-31, 2 2B, 3B, 3 HR

Harris 3-12

Bay 0-7

Paulino 3-3, HR

Reyes 1-3

Let's Go Mets!