"We've been playing competitive baseball."

I swear to God Omar Minaya really said that. Paul White's USA Today cover story didn't really tell us anything that we didn't already know, but that statement made me laugh to the point of tears.

In competitive baseball, your offense hits the ball. You don't resort to putting Oliver Perez into an 8-3 ballgame. I saw that man, knew the season was immediately over and turned on Bachelor Pad.

In the same USA Today article, David Wright said, "We're not doing a good job collectively of scoring runs and winning games."

I don't know if anybody else sees this or is thinking what I am thinking, but I'm quite possibly thinking that Omar Minaya doesn't see the problem. The team sees the problem. I think even Jerry sees, but doesn't want to mention, the big elephant in the room: our offense is terrible. It is putrid.

While Jerry is not signed beyond this season, Omar has a contract through the 2012 season. It doesn't matter who the manager is; if we continue to have the same problems year in and year out, then this team is going nowhere. The manager takes the easy fall when really, it's the general manager's fault that there are these huge gaping holes in our lineup that are being filled by guys like Luis Rodriguez...who is Luis Rodriguez?

Perhaps Omar or the Wilpons should take a tip from Ron Darling: "This team has to be brutally honest with the fanbase. If you get knocked around, don't say 'Well, I thought I made some good pitches.' The fans around here know better."

At least somebody gets it.

David Wright Strikeout Counter: $13.80

You Mean the Baseball Gods are Listening???

Yes, this is what I am suggesting. Jon Heyman reports that Omar Minaya's job might not be as secure as Fred Wilpon was letting on around three weeks ago. Hey Fred, the sun didn't come out in Florida; does that mean we get our wish? In fact, it's rained here for about three days straight.

Sure, last night's walk-off win was good, but a win yesterday means a loss today. In fact, we haven't won more than three games in a row since the middle of June. And winning two in a row seems to be such a devious task that we can only do it in rain-shortened games against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Unless some sort of miracle happens, ala 1969, I have a feeling that Jerry might not be the only handed a pink slip come October 3. The only coach, in my opinion, that should feel safe is Dan Warthen. He basically took a starting rotation of Johan Santana, Mike Pelfrey, and three replacements and turned them into the lone bright spot in this Mets season.

Of course, to us Mets fans, the miracle would be the axing of both our GM and our manager. Naturally, this change doesn't automatically mean that things are going to get better. It won't guarantee that the Mets won't go through growing pains in 2011 with a new coaching staff. It will, however, show us that ownership realizes that they aren't getting anywhere with the guys that they have now and that they just don't see us as dollar signs.

Of course, if Omar is terminated as Mets GM, it will come as a surprise to few. He put himself in a position to be incapable of improving this team when we really needed to, like last year when everybody got hurt. He has deemed so many prospects to be "untouchable" that if their name comes up in trade talks, it's immediately dismissed. He signed Oliver Perez to a $36 million dollar deal, which is the same money that Drama Rodriguez is getting. Luis Castillo is still a Met.

I have a sneaky feeling that the Mets are gonna finish with the .500 record they seem so settled on. It's time for change peeps!

Just a friendly reminder: tonight is the Citi Field sitout. Don't go to Citi Field tonight. Watch the game on TV, listen to it on the radio. Don't go to Citi Field. The power of one will turn into the power of many and our voices will be heard--by being completely silent.

David Wright Strikeout Counter: $13.30

Jerry Manuel Finally Admits This Team Stinks

As I'm perusing my usual morning blog run, I find an interesting Jerry Manuel quote, courtesy of Joe D. over at MetsMerized. Usually, we can count on Jerry to at least have some optimism about this team; I mean, if I was a manager that didn't have to worry about (starting) pitching, I would be optimistic too.

But instead, Jerry offered this piece of knowledge that is not news to any Mets fan that has actually watched a game since the All Star Break:

“We have to do what we’ve been talking about all of the time, we have to do more offensively. We’ve got to find a way to get that done. I mean, that’s poor. That’s a very poor effort on our part offensively…We have to do better. Period. It’s pathetic. We have to do better.”

Jerry used words that Mets fans use in their lexicon every day such as "poor" and "pathetic." I would like to add "disgusting" and "unwatchable" to the mix. I mean, this blog counts how many times our star player strikes out! By the way, I am glad to say that Mark Reynolds has struck out far more than any other player in the bigs and that David hasn't led the league in this category since like June.

What really sucks is that we signed a "bat" in Jason Bay and he did nothing before getting the Ryan Church treatment after suffering a concussion. Jerry needed a bat. What did Omar Minaya do? Call up Ruben Tejada and Fernando Martinez. Omar Minaya has done nothing to fix the needs of this team for three years. We still need bullpen arms (hopefully ones that don't punch their father-in-laws). We still need that bat in the middle of the line-up because lets face it: David Wright is not a clean-up hitter.

But we really can't put all of the blame on Omar. This team has been terribly managed by Jerry at times. On Sunday, the Mets were facing Kyle Kendrick. Jeff Francoeur has like a career .400 batting average against this guy and what does Jerry do? Bench him. Yeah. And the Mets looked stupid on national TV.

As much as it sucks to be Jerry Manuel right now, I would have to agree with Joe and say that he did bring some of this upon himself.

David Wright Strikeout Counter: $12.90

There are now smiley faces on my pocket schedule where the Mets have days off.

So the Mets lost 3-2. No big surprise there. We won one, so now we have to lose one.

Once again, Pat Misch didn't pitch a bad game. He went six-plus innings while letting off the three runs of death. The Mets just don't score....or hit the ball. The Mets offense got three (3!) hits tonight! Pat Misch had a better night at the plate than six of his teammates! Our two runs came in the fourth inning, courtesy of Jeff Francoeur and Chris Carter.

This win one/lose one pattern has gone on since the end of June. I know this pattern all too well. I'm predicting the outcomes of these games before they even happen. We've tried shaking up the lineup, shaking up the rotation, releasing the guy who did have some sort of leadership role while riding the bench, bringing up young studs like F-Mart and Ruben Tejada, and threatening the team with Oliver Perez. Nothing has seemed to work. Maybe a coaching shake-up or a managerial shake-up. A sacrificial lamb? It might work or it might not work. At least then the Wilpons would be committed to having their team finish with the .500 record they are struggling to maintain.

On the bright side, if the win one/lose one pattern continues (which I'm 99.9% positive it will), the Mets will finally win a road series against an NL-team this weekend....but then again, even the Pirates have to win sometime.

David Wright Strikeout Counter: $12.90

David Wright Went Home Sick, So Why Was He Limping?

David Wright provided one of the more scarier moments in the game when he came up lame while running to first base. For two innings, Mets fans were left wondering: "Was it the hamstring? PLEASE GOD DON'T LET IT BE THE HAMSTRING!" Well, I thought it was the hamstring, and my dad thought it was the hamstring.

Game ends, Mets win. On the post game show, we wait in suspense to see what happened to David. And in the end, we find out that he was feeling "lightheaded and queasy." So basically, he needed a hotdog? They couldn't have told us that in the 13th inning so we're not freaking out? And even though people have tried to explain it to me, I still don't understand how queasiness leads to limping. Which leads me to a more important question: is David playing hurt?

If David was playing hurt, it would certainly explain this ugly slump that he seems to breaking out of. But somehow, I doubt he's hurt. Fatigued? Maybe. Tired? Maybe. Frustrated because the team has no offense and he's carrying the weight of this team on his shoulders? Most definitely.

We'll see what happens tonight when the Mets try to win their first road series against a National League team. Pat Misch takes the hill. And somebody makes sure David Wright has a pretzel before the game. They tend to make you thirsty, thus providing hydration.

David Wright Strikeout Counter: $12.80

Where's the Leadership?

So this team somehow won two games in row before ultimately losing two out of three to the Phillies. Before turning off last night's game, Jon Miller and Joe Morgan were commenting on David Wright's 5-for-43 August. I turned the game off in like the sixth inning, so I lasted longer than I thought I would, but that number is probably not accurate.

Miller and Morgan also pointed out that as of the sixth inning of last night's game, the Mets were hitting a .187 with RISP after the All Star Break.

As David grounded out that inning, the fans at Citi Field let him have it. "Boo," they said, "BOOOO!!!!" As much as I love him, I have to admit that I did boo at the television screen.

David is supposed to be out homegrown superstar, our Derek Jeter. Except we don't show David Wright commercials on the YES Network. However, the difference between Jeter and Wright is that Jeter is able to lead his team. Wright hasn't harnessed his leadership abilities yet. Trust me , I know they're there. How? Well, Alex Cora had to have done some good for this team.

If David is waiting for the (W)right time to step up as a leader.....step up now!!!!! Sure, we're not gonna make the postseason, but at least lead us to a respectable record and let us go out with dignity! Then we can fire Jerry Manuel and get somebody like Wally Backman to be the manager.

By the way....the sun is not out in Florida. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some firing. Even if we fire Oliver Perez.

David Wright Strikeout Counter: $12.60

Worlds Are Colliding

In Mets Land, there are two worlds: the Real World and the Bizarro World. The Real World is the same ol' song and dance, win one-lose one and your closer gets arrested for beating up his father-in-law. In the Bizarro World, the Mets are Amazin'. We have awesome offense and great pitching and your ace pitcher doesn't get accused of sexual harrassment.

With the pitching performance of one Robert Allen Dickey tonight, the worlds are colliding. You see, Robert Allen Dickey pitched a complete game, one-hit shut out. And the hit was to Cole Hamels, so if you want to look at it from another perspective, Robert Allen Dickey no-hit the starting eight players. Holla at yo' boy! I'll classify this performance, although we expect solid outings from Robert Allen Dickey, as Bizarro.

Carlos Beltran hit an RBI double. Mike Hessman hit a ball that was out of the park but was ruled a triple and I have never seen my Facebook News Feed explode in anger so quickly. This was all the run support that Robert Allen Dickey got, which is very, very real. The Mets offense combined for five hits, one of which was a double by David Wright that *fingers crossed* will break him out of his slump and keep my strikeout counter silent (although I would love to get to 200).

So, my Mets expectations for the second half of the season are very low: maintain a .500 record and win two games in a row...and guess what??? The Mets have done that for the first time since June 22-23 against Detroit! Actually, I'm dead serious. I have the Pocket Schedule O' Suckage to prove it. As Lou Brown would say, "We won one yesterday. If we win today, that's two in a row. If we win tomorrow, it's called a winning streak. It's happened before."

Lets make it happen again. Pretty please?

David Wright Strikeout Counter: $12.50

Hey, look at that, we blew it!

Jon Niese pitched 7 innings of 1-run ball. The Mets were winning. The Mets blew it. To take a quote from the bleacher bums in Major League 2.

Angel Pagan hit a home run in the first inning and That. Was. It. HELLOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! WAKE UP OFFENSE!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, I love the pitching. But that's it. I hate the bullpen. I despise the offense. David Wright is striking out waayyyyy too much.

There are no words. There are no words.

David Wright Strikeout Counter: $12.50

Count Your Blessings

To the left is one of the many signs of Karl Ehrhardt, or as we all may know him, "The Sign Man."

If the Sign Man were still alive today, I'd really like to know what his signs would say. The great thing about the Sign Man was that Ehrhardt so perfectly articulated how he felt about the team as a whole, without using the word "sucks." I would, and do, use the word "sucks" on an almost regular basis.

I'm counting my blessings tonight. The Mets scored one run against the Phillies tonight. One. Freaking. Run. And we're about to trade the guy that produced that run...allegedly. Thank you Frenchy for making the ball go bye-bye. I thought Citizens Bank Park was supposed to be hitter friendly. I guess that's unless you're the Mets.

The Mets won no thanks to guys like David Wright and Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran. Nope. It was a brilliant pitcher's duel between Johan Santana and Cole Hamels. In the end, Cole's one mistake cost him the game. Johan totally confounded the Phillies offense, not letting off a hit until the sixth inning. I think 2nd-half Johan is finally getting into his groove, and hopefully just in time to help this team stay above .500, which is really all I want right now.

Count your blessings. The Sign Man says so. A win is a win, and I should be happy for at least the next 12 hours, which is always a good thing. And in the spirit of counting our blessings, R.A. Dickey pitches tomorrow. (against Roy Halladay)

David Wright Strikeout Counter: $11.80 (I think. MLB hasn't updated their stats so I had to go back to David's last 10 games. Correct me if I'm wrong.)

All Hope Is Lost

Apparantly, Fred Wilpon has no intentions of firing Omar Minaya after the 2010 season comes to an end on October 3. Oh, come on, like I'm the only Debbie Downer amongst all Mets fans.

When asked by Mike Puma of the New York Post about whether or not Minaya would be back next year, Mets owner Fred Wilpon said, "Is the sun going to come up tomorrow?"

Sadly, yes, the sun'll come out tomorrow. You can bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow, there'll be sun.

Omar's best move came when we got Johan Santana on the cheaps before spring training 2008. Omar's worst move still plagues the Mets bullpen. And obviously, after like three and a half years of suckage and then the general manager doing nothing to improve the team rewards you with job security. My only question is....where do I sign up?

Thanks to Mack's Mets for the tip.

David Wright Strikeout Counter: $11.50

Welcome Back to the Real World

I hope you have enjoyed your stay in the Backwards Bizarro World. We are now approaching our final destination: The Real World. Your captain today is Mike Pelfrey. Just a little bit about your captain today: he is 2-6 with a 7.98 ERA in his last eight starts. In his first 14 starts, however, he was 9-1 with a 2.39 ERA.

Seriously, what has happened to Mike Pelfrey? Not only that, what has happened to this team? It's come to the point where they are not watchable, not listenable, not even "check the score"-worthy.

What is it about Jerry's Boys that has disgusted so many? Maybe it's the fact that when pitchers do their job, the offense doesn't come though. Maybe it's the fact that our only reliable pitcher right now is R.A. Dickey. Maybe it's the fact that our general manager did absolutely nothing to improve the team at the trade deadline because he put himself in a position where he couldn't do anything to improve the team. Maybe it's because our manager absolutely kills our bullpen arms (Estimated Death of Manny Acosta's Arm: Saturday). Maybe it's because Oliver Perez is still in a Mets uniform.

Barring some kind of miracle (like sweeping the Phillies on the road), I consider the Mets out of the playoff hunt. They should focus on bettering their farm system and finding new personnel. As for the fans, there's always football. And Keith-isms. The Keith-isms alone might save the season.

David Wright Strikeout Counter: $11.50

Welcome to the Backwards Bizzaro World

Last night, Jeff Francoeur hit the game-winning home run off current Braves closer/former Mets closer Billy Wagner. I give you now the series of events that transpired to get us into the backwards bizzaro world:

~July 2009: Jeff Francoeur gets traded from the Braves to the Mets. At the time, we are pissed off because at the time, Ryan Church was our best player. Frenchy then makes Omar Minaya look like a genius and we forgive him...for today.

~Later in 2009: Billy Wagner returns from surgery, and goes to the Red Sox after the Mets decide that we don't need him because the whole team is hurt and the Mets are out of the playoff hunt anyway. Mets get Chris Carter in return.

~2010: Billy Wagner is named closer of the Atlanta Braves. Billy Wagner does good for the Atlanta Braves, making Mets fans scratch their heads and say, "Why couldn't he do that for us?"

~Yesterday: In a tie game, Bobby Cox relies on his closer to get to the bottom of the ninth inning unscathed. Bobby probably figured it'd be easy, because it was the bottom of our line-up. WRONG. Jeff Francoeur sticks it to both the Braves and Billy Wagner in one swing. As I'm sure that Frenchy has done the same thing while he was a Brave and Billy was a Met, we have now entered the Backwards Bizzaro World.

Of course, in the Backwards Bizzaro World, the Mets perform in the clutch and get good hitting, pitching, and make sweet defensive plays. Meaning, our stay in the Backwards Bizzaro World could very well end tonight, so enjoy it while it lasts.

David Wright Strikeout Counter: $11.50