Another doubleheader

Tonight's game has been rained out.

Because the Mets almost never play the Texas Rangers, the game will be made up tomorrow in a day-night traditional doubleheader.

A day-night traditional doubleheader will leave the Mets to head out to Los Angeles late early tomorrow night.

Oh great. That's going to be awesome. Just what this team needs right now.

This might give the front office some time to think over Willie Randolph and his job status, which is probably a terrible thing for him.

UPDATE: I'm a fool. I just assumed that it was a day-night doubleheader, which it is not. It's actually, surprisingly, a traditional doubleheader with one game starting at 1:10 p.m. and the same ticket allowing you to stick around and watch the second game right after.

So if you're going today, enjoy the double dip of baseball!

Why I hope to like Trot

The Mets acquired Trot Nixon from the Arizona Diamondbacks organization on Friday. Nixon was activated, with Chris Aguila was sent back down to AAA.

Nixon is a veteran, but not very old. He has leadership qualities, and can impart his wisdom to younger players.

Sure, he's a new guy, but he's always seemed like the guy who's willing to step up and say what needs to be said.

I think I'm going to like Trot.

Guess what? Alou back to the DL

Surprised?

Moises Alou is back to the disabled list. Robinson Cancel has been recalled to fill his roster spot.

The Mets should always just keep someone at Shea when Alou is "active" just waiting to take him place.

TSTDIA: Mets 7 -- Rangers 1

The good Oliver Perez showed up and the Mets bats beat up on a poorly managed starting pitcher.

FOX Fan Night @ Shea -- Tonight!

Tonight at Shea Stadium is FOX Fan Night. Hopefully, you already have tickets because the entire bleachers is sold out already.

I'll be working the event tonight, so if you're lucky enough to be attending the FOX shindig, look for the guy handing out thunder sticks.

I'm leaving for the event in an hour or so, and I won't be back at my computer until tomorrow night. Hopefully, I'll have a bunch of photos from tonights game, so check back tomorrow for that.

Enjoy the game tonight, hopefully Billy Wagner doesn't blow a lead, and if you're coming out to Shea for FOX Fan Night, keep a look out for me!

In place of dynamite, the Mets' bullpen is blowing up in Shea a few months early

Boom.

A few months ago (now lost on the old site) I wrote the Mets finally had a strength they could rely on: the bullpen.

It's amazing what two terrible games will do to a man's psyche.

15+ absolutely dominant innings from Mets starters in under 24 hours, and what does the bullpen do to "help" the team? Surrender eight runs in six innings. Four of those runs charged to the, until recently, dominant Billy Wagner.

Three out of the last five games have been lost by the bullpen. One cannot forget about the offense's lack of ability to score late inning runs (besides Wednesday night) in this implosion that doesn't seem to be garnering the media attention it should.

Stupidly, I lamented the Mets thrilling (albeit, unnecessary) late inning win on Wednesday could be the turn around for the entire season. For the first seven innings of Thursday's game, it looked like I was some sort of prophet, sent from the heavens with news from the future. With the quick handshake of Johan Santana, Rick Peterson and Willie Randolph after the seventh inning and a sponsored phone call to the bullpen, the Mets turned my "prophecy" into "idiocy."

Fans have whined and complained about the starting pitching not giving the team enough innings. These last two games have been the mirror opposite. A downright dirty smack in the face from the gods of baseball.

The other shoe has to drop eventually, right? Or in this case, maybe the plunger needs to be pushed.

TSTDIA: Diamondbacks 5 -- Mets 4

Another stellar outing from a starting pitcher (Johan Santana, this time) was blown by Billy Wagner & Co.

Wagner, after the game: "I suck."

Join the discussion!

Just a reminder to check out Mets Lounge, a growing new Mets forum.

We have a thread to discuss every game, and we talk a lot, so feel free to join in on the fun. We talk Mets baseball, NL East, and MLB in general. We also have a ton of talk about all other things besides baseball in life too.

Mets Lounge, the official forum of The 'Ropolitans.

Cooler heads prevail...and write a whole lot less

Every weekday morning, I awake roughly around 6 a.m. and begin to prepare myself for another day of train rides, subway platforms and a constant stream of news.

Instead of coffee, I start my morning with a dose of Google Reader. Reader, for those that don't know, is an RSS reader. I'm sure you've always seen those little orange logos with the bars (this). It works like e-mail. Every time a website posts something, it gets routed to you RSS reader, so you're never behind.

Anyway, I usually wake up every morning and check my latest RSS items. Currently. I'm subscribed to 181 different blogs and websites, most of them Mets related. If there is a Mets blog out there, I'm probably subscribed to it.

Over the last 30 days, I've read 14,481 different articles in all. When I wake up in the morning, I usually have 80+ items, over 75% of them dealing with the Mets. This morning, I woke up to only 50-ish, only 30 of them had to do with the New York Mets. I was pleasantly surprised, to say the least.

By the time I get to work, usually around 10 (but 9 today) I have well over 120, without fail. This morning, getting to work just an hour early, I only had 33.

The moral of the story: When the Mets win, bloggers write less.

I guess this makes a lot of sense. Most things I read and rants and raves picking apart a managerial decision, blasting a player for not doing something correctly, or things to that effect. A win seems to calm things down, though it doesn't make it go away. I read only a handful of articles about Willie Randolph pulling Mike Pelfrey in the 9th inning, and rightly so.

Pelfrey was working on a stellar game, but you don't want it to get away from you. At the time, I said I would have given him one more batter. Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and unfortunately, the game got away from the Mets anyway, with Billy Wagner giving up a game-tying home run in the top of the inning to Mark Reynolds.

I can't fault Randolph here. You bring in your closer, one of the best ever, to finish out the game and earn you a win. Sometimes a pitcher just doesn't have it, and Wagner has been going through a bit of a rough patch (see: Tony Clark's home run) right now.

The game ended up swinging in favor of the Mets with a swing of Carlos Beltran's bat. Thankfully, for the sake of the Mets and my morning ritual.

Early Morning Madness: Wishful thinking edition

Last night's performance from Mike Pelfrey was inspiring. Billy Wagner owes him a few steak dinners.

Pelfrey has been pitching very well, but isn't getting wins to show for it. It's encouraging to see him possibly start to turn it around, with good starts coming more and more. Maybe he's turned the corner?

*****

The win last night could be a turning point for the season. Battling against one of the best pitchers in the league, watching the win slip away, and then battling back to win the game.

Maybe this team has turned the corner?

*****

Craig Carton of the Boomer & Carton show on WFAN divorced the New York Mets yesterday morning. I can't wait to hear what he has to say this show.

I love Carton, but he comes off just a little too brash sometimes. Sure, it's probably just an act, but when Boomer Esiason is your voice of reason, how good does that make you look? (I'm a Giants fan, if you were wondering).