213 Miles From Shea

The “new” look Mets take on the Phillies tonight after dropping the opener last night. This could be a potentially very important game (side note: I'm getting tired of writing “very important game”) as the Mets need their ace to step up today. Johan is 8-6 on the season with a 3.20 ERA. He wasn't stellar in his last start picking up the loss allowing 4 ER over 7 innings (he had another rough beginning to that game, and then started to get the ball rolling) however he did get 11 strikeouts. The big story for Johan today, besides the fact that the Mets really need to win, is that it is here in Philly where he had one of the worst starts of his entire career. The Phillies have these numbers on Johan:

The Mets bats will look to continue break out of their collective month long slump against Hamels tonight who is 7-7 on the season with a 3.56 ERA. In his last two starts he has allowed 7 ER over 12 innings pitched. He lost his only start against the Amazin's this year as he allowed 3 runs, 2 earned over 6.1 innings. The Mets have the following numbers on Hamels:

Lets Go Mets!

Masato Akamatsu of the Yokohama BayStars made a catch last night to end all catches. Seriously, this catch is easily the best I've ever seen and well, might make people just not want to try to be the best anymore. Masato made this catch in a game last night. Here's the video:

Seriously those are the catches that are only in the movies and comic books, climbing all the way on top of the wall to bring that back in. Just Wow.

Huffington Post article and Dead Spin.

In what has become a surprisingly really busy August Day, another “major” move was made by the Red Sox. Boston has called up Delgado for his offense services and signed him to a minor league contract. The contract will allow him to opt for free agency if he is not called up to the majors by September 1st. One would have to assume that this move was made because the Red Sox need somebody while Youk is out, and Delgado is a quick solution.

The Red Sox were not the only team to be interested in Delgado. A couple of days ago the Rockies and the White Sox were kicking the tires on Carlos, with the White Sox looking more serious than the Rockies.

For Delgado, this is a critical step for a personal career goal and for a team next season. He wants to play long enough to make it to the 500 club (he has 473 right now) and in order to do that he will need to show people he's healthy. Also, I saw several different Delgado jerseys the other day for 15 dollars. I'm not sure why I just broadcasted that.

The Mets finalized their moves, and they weren't exactly Earth shattering:

My reaction: This is a half-step in a the correct direction

As much as I like Cora, the emotional side of me knows that this was a necessary move. Cora really wasn't hitting, he was just a veteran presence on the bench. He was also really close to enacting his vesting portion of his contract, where the Mets would have to have play next year for 2 million dollars (ridiculous). It was time for Cora to go. The problem with this though is that it also time for Castillo to go. I will tolerate this move if Tejada gets the bulk of the playing time, and Castillo becomes the bench player. If Castillo stays the main second basemen, then this move is worthless.

Feliciano demoted was a necessary evil. The problem is though that F-Mart needs the bulk of the playing time, so we have the Francoeur problem again. No need to go into detail with this because we all know what that means.

Finally, I really would have liked to see Castillo released and Perez dropped. At this point, I guess the reason they are keeping them around is because they want to make a move for some prospects in the winter. Looking far into the future, if they are not moved a week after the Winter Meetings, they need to be dropped because them on the roster will impede on a prime period of time to improve the team. 

It seems that the Mets front office is sick of the last 4 weeks of play. Well actually, sick might be too strong of a word, because if they were, they would have made some other moves earlier this season. Anyway all signs (via Metsblog) are pointing that the Mets are up to something, although the all of the stories seem to have conflicting views of what is actually going to happen:

At this point in the season, youth movement is looking necessary in order to start a new thinking mode for next season, but if they don't get rid of Castillo, than this could be a waste of time. We'll see what happens.

More on this topic later if we can actually figure out what the Amazin's are up to. 

The Mets start the second series of the crucial road trip against Philly tonight as they try to do what the they were only able to do once in Atlanta: win. Statistically speaking, the Mets would be able to compete for a playoff spot even if they do terrible tonight and for the rest of the series, but the Mets really cannot settle on that fate. They need to actually go out and win, not talk about effort (see any frustration starting to mount?). Anyway Niese is looking to rebound tonight vs Blanton.

Niese was not himself in his last start as he allowed 6 ER over 4.1 innings as he took the loss. With the exception of that start vs Dbacks, and his other start vs the Dbacks, Niese has been fantastic since coming off of the DL. The last time he faced Philly was before his injury and it was a great start as Niese allowed only 1 ER over 7 innings of work while striking out 7 in Philly. The Phillies have these numbers on Jon:

The Mets are in the middle of a critical road trip for this season, and tonight they start a series with the Phillies which can either resurrect this road trip or send it straight down the toilet.

Even with a losing series in Philly, it is fully possible for the Mets to make a comeback, there is basically a third of the season left, there is plenty of time to flip the standings around. The feeling though right now is crushing. A month of ago the Mets were less than a stone's throw away from first place but now it is slipping away.

I stand by a stance that I have had for a while that the problem is mainly two-fold. The first problem is something that the Mets have no control over which is their investments are not playing as well as they should, or as well as dictated by historical stats (aka Jason Bay) the second is that although Manuel can recieve some of the blame, the front office and ownership needs to cut their losses. It is time for Oliver Perez to go. It is time for Castillo, although a hero of late, to go. The team needs to start some internal promotions if the Mets are going to make a serious run.

There is, however, a flip side. If the Mets continue to slide, then they need to keep playing the veterans because a slide this year, compounded with last year means the Mets will need to move Oliver, Castillo, Beltran possibly Maine, etc. In order to move them, these players who are in a situation to play need more opportunities to raise their trade stock so the Mets can get something out of them this offseason.

Either way, I think we are starting to look at a mini-firesale this offseason. It's about time. We could use a clean slate. 

Here are my tips for making it through the 31st Annual National Sports Collectors Convention in one piece, and with a wallet still intact: