New Manager Time

To the NY Mets: It is time to get a new manager. While Mr. Manuel's amusing wit and sparkle with the media is certainly refreshing, his management of this ballclub is NG. Ken Takahashi? To face Howard and Ibanez (and don't give me that Lefty-Lefty BS). Ryan Church sits the bench when a hit is needed?

And so Omar knows, he should be on the plank as well. How many 30-something middle infield utility players do we need?

I understand that players are hurt. Got it. But you don't play Fernando Martinez over Ryan Church at this point.

So we play 3 against the Yankees - and we have to get 2 out of 3. Phillies play the Bosox, so maybe Boston can spark some magic and sweep (JUST LIKE THE DID TO THE YANKEES!)Papelbon rules.

BIG NY Baseball Week

Couple of days late...maybe I could pay you with some pocket change?

Anyhoo, in the AL, The Evil Empire (aka Yankees) play the Nation (Red Sox) at Fenway for three. Since they've played two, that's the Red Sox in first place, with a perfect record against the NYY this season to date. And I guess 2 2/3 innings isn't exactly what they had in mind when the let Mr. ERA, errr, Wang, pitch tonight.

Over in the National League, Phils visit the Mets at Citifield. Mets win game one, Phils win in 11 in game 2 with some outstanding defense by Jayson Werth to end the 10th. Rubber game tomorrow night.

And this weekend it's the enhanced version of the Mayor's Trophy Game, with the Amazin's visiting the new cathedral of baseball oppulence, Yankee Stadium 2.0. As Longoria said "it's not the same as Yankee Stadium".

Good times.

The Pick-Up Artist (NOT!)

Bit of advice, romeo.

Talking up the countergirl at the local corner store while buying a 2 liter Pepsi and then paying with the pennies, nickels and dimes you have in a little sandwich bag is not really the way to go about getting the ladies. She was not impressed. Loser.

Late Night Post

Not too late though, I have to get some rest.

Now, SoulSlam lives in the town he grew up in. Which is great when somebody wants to walk down memory lane and reminisce about the good old days. And sometimes, you see a person or two (or three) from your youth that you weren't friends with, some of these people might have been running with a different crowd. And you see these people, who ran with what was essentially the wrong crowd, and you say to yourself, and sometimes to their face "don't you wish you paid attention in school now, jerky?". Because it really is amazing how many of these losers continued to be losers, and now are old losers, with no prospects except for that afternoon six-pack.

Funny how life works out.

A Lot Of Rain

Weather here in N. (as in North) Jersey has been miserable this week. We've had enough rain today to last the rest if June - no kidding. Beautiful weekend is forecast -so maybe the ballfields will dry out so we can play some baseball sometime before next Monday.

Checked my e-mail earlier this evening, and I received a fwd of an e-mail from a local guy who is an assistant coach for a team my in-town crew played earlier this week. Why am I mentioning this? Well, the guy wasn't at the game, but "heard" about something that happened that he deems "poor sportsmanship". Now, I'm not going to get into the whole incident; suffice to say, it didn't happen, and since he wasn't there, what the hey is he complaining for. Thing is, I'm friends with both the head coach and sponsor 9and asst) of the other team, and they never said anything. Now, my in-town team has been running through the rest of the league like Jason Voorhees in a sleep-away camp, and I get the feeling that other teams, particularly the assistant coaches and parental units, don't like playing us. Too bad. I don't care if we win, but we always play hard and aggressive baseball. Rule 1.

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And while I have your attention, the MLB Draft is next Tuesday. No secret who's should go first, but you never know until the name is called. Hope the Nats don't screw that up.

And last, GEICO has some new cavemen commercials. I guess the taint of a sitcom, and the Power and Allure of Flo have awakened these bipeds for more TV hilarity.

.500

That's the final winning percentage of my 10U Travel team - 5 wins, 5 losses in the spring season. We're playoff-bound, but it's win or get lost.

We actually had a 5-2 record a month ago, but lost the last three. A little disappointing, but the boys are fine. Considering we were 1-7 last season at this time, we've come a long way. So we play a team who beat us last night by not swinging, and see where it takes us.

Now summer season is approaching - and in summer we play all town teams; no clubs, no $2000 youth baseball teams, so I like what we have on the field.

And in the "where do you find the time" department, me and the guy who coaches 11U have assembled an 8U team for the summer as well. We see a lot of potential in that age group, so we jumped in. It's always baseball around here!

First of June

That is today, all you followers of the Gregorian Calendar.

Survived the onslaught of bargain-seekers over the weekend, I'm glad to report. The economy even impacted the yard-sale types, but we're slowly coming out of the recession according to people who know such things. Funny how they can never really predict (and avoid) going into one, until we are already there.

Time to go to work.