I'm becoming convinced Bill Shea is cursing this team from his grave.

Do the Mets lead the league into hitting into double plays?

Do the Mets lead the league into hitting into double plays?

Someone needs to teach these guys some situational hitting..my god...

HOJO needs to go.

I don't think the problem is the hitting coach. Nor is it the pitching coach. Nor is it the manager. Hell, I don't think the problems were the manager a year ago when they fired Willie Randolph per se.

The problems are somewhere between Omar and the clubhouse. Plus Omar isn't helping the situation. But it seems like whenever there are problems this Bernazard guy's name pops up. Stories about him undercutting the manager. Stories about the manager being told to do things and not being allowed to manage the way he wants. Not to mention the Wilpons aren't exactly the most helpful owners.

At least I have the Giants.

As a casual observer, isn't this the type of game where Oliver Perez has a great outing?

You are referencing he moniker "Big Game Ollie," yes?
"Big Game Ollie" hasn't shown up in quite some time.

By the way, I'm jumping on the movement about calling Citi Field "Shea" or something else. In fact, I'm planning on doing something for the front page about it since things with free agency are dying off a bit.

So, what I need are name suggestions for Citi Field. So I've been collecting nominations from people on Facebook and I bring it here. So post your suggestions.

Oh and I'm going to the game tonight. I'm sitting in the Pepsi Porch and will be in the Alfonzo jersey, which I haven't worn in a long time. I don't know why I don't wear this jersey more often except that Fonzie hasn't been on the team in a long, long time.

This is one of my faves from one of my friends: Shea 2: Electric Boogaloo

The "_______ 2: Electric Boogaloo" has to be at least a LITTLE played out by now, no?

Tuesday afternoon, Mets GM Omar Minaya held a press conference and indicated that he didn't think either Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes or Carlos Delgado would return until sometime in August. He also hinted that Delgado could be the first to return of the three.

Without those three superstars, the Mets will struggle to score runs and win ballgames. With that said, should Minaya choose to be a seller, and I doubt he will, who is his most tradable commodity?
...
Poring over the AL East, we see that the Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell is currently on the DL. The Red Sox are only 1 game in front of the Yankees heading into the All-Star break. Wright would be perfect for that lineup, and the Mets could make a killing in return. Minaya could start with AAA P Clay Buchholz, AAA P Michael Bowden, AA 1B Lars Anderson and AA OF Josh Reddick. Maybe substitute Bowden with Dustin Pedroia.

With one major deal, Minaya could bolster his roster with young talented starting pitching behind Santana and John Maine, replace Luis Castillo at 2b with Pedroia, replace Carlos Delgado at 1B with Anderson, and replace Ryan Church in RF with Reddick. Sure he would lose one of the top 3Bman in the majors, but he would get alot of young, controllable talent in return. This deal would also give him flexibility to spend in the free agent market in the off-season.

Just to get Met fan takes on this, for fun:

By the way, I'm jumping on the movement about calling Citi Field "Shea" or something else. In fact, I'm planning on doing something for the front page about it since things with free agency are dying off a bit.

So, what I need are name suggestions for Citi Field. So I've been collecting nominations from people on Facebook and I bring it here. So post your suggestions.

Oh and I'm going to the game tonight. I'm sitting in the Pepsi Porch and will be in the Alfonzo jersey, which I haven't worn in a long time. I don't know why I don't wear this jersey more often except that Fonzie hasn't been on the team in a long, long time.

Wow. I can say I saw Ryan Church's last game as a Met.

Have you looked at the Mets line-up recently? It's David Wright and, um, David Wright. And. Hmmm. David Wright!

Mets trade Ryan church for Jeff Francouer.

Bronson. Arroyo. 4 hit. Complete game. Shutout.

Brian Kenny: “We’re talking to Buster here live on SportsCenter, breaking news here in baseball, the Mets make a trade with the Braves, Ryan Church for Jeff Francoeur, if I’m hearing that correctly.”
Buster Olney: “Wow!”
BK: “…there’s the shocking reaction. Wh-”
Olney: “Wow!”
BK: “Why would this trade be made exactly? Church, again, has come back from the concussion, playing fairly well; Francoeur, a guy who had a lot of potential… what’s with this trade?”
Olney: “Well certainly, um, Francoeur had fallen out of favor in Atlanta, the fact that he’s such a free-swinger, uh, in recent days he had been benched by Bobby Cox, they were trying to work him back in. And Ryan Church, uh, eh, em… he can be a productive player, but it seemed like he wasn’t Jerry Manuel’s favorite guy, there’s no question about that. On the face of it, you’d say, Boy, an in-division trade in which the Braves are getting a player, a left-handed hitter, who might be able to help them right away.”
BK: “Not what you’d expect, again, that’s why you’re sounding stunned.”
Olney: “I am stunned! I mean, a lot of people around baseball did not view Francoeur right now as being a guy who had a lot of value; in fact, who could possibly be a non-tender candidate in the offseason unless he really stepped it up and started to hit. And I think there are probably going to be questions about, as he tries to work through his issues with his swing, is New York the best place to have him right now?”

I had to make up some syllables there for Olney trying to transition to his thoughts on Church because he was literally flabbergasted. It was pretty awesome to see, actually.

Church was stunned by the deal.

"Shocker. Came out of nowhere," he said outside the Mets clubhouse. "The good thing is I get to play these guys next week."

New York opens the second half at Turner Field on July 16. Church immediately sent Chipper Jones a text message.

"They're going to have to change up a lot of signs. I know everything," Church said. "I'll definitely fill them in."

Wow. Church must really have worn out his welcome with the Mets. Since coming off the DL in early June, Church's line is .290/.336/.402 ... far from good for a corner outfielder, but decent enough compared to most of the Mets' other outfielders ... and of course a far sight prettier than Francoeur's .250/.282/.352 line for the season.

Defense? According to UZR, there's little difference between them and Church might actually be better.

Handedness? With Fernando Tatis and Gary Sheffield, the Mets already had two righty-hitting corner outfielders; now they've got three.

So, let's review: The Braves got a decent hitter and fielder who bats left-handed, and thus can platoon (or semi-platoon) with Matt Diaz in right field. The Mets got ... what, exactly? If you figure it out, drop a line to Jerry Manuel. He's going to need all the help he can get with this one.
Update: Awesome quote from Omar Minaya: "One thing we like about Francoeur is the amount of games that he plays."

Braves Steal From Mets, Clear and Simple

This will be the last full sentence of the article.

Fielding (Career UZR/150 in LF/CF/RF, CHONE RF 2009 Projection)
Jeff Francoeur: --/--/+8, -1 run
Ryan Church: +4/+1/+10, +5 runs

Hitting (OPS+, 2005 through 2009)
Jeff Francoeur: 126, 87, 103, 72, 68
Ryan Church: 118, 131, 114, 106, 88

Fun fact: when they swing at it, hitters make contact with over 96% of Bronson Arroyo's fastballs.

Just woke up and saw the Francoeur trade. What the fuck? That trade makes no sense at all.