Weekly Mail November 10, 2019

Hello:

I hope everyone enjoyed our 200th edition last week. Lots to catch up on here, so let's get to it!




BASEBALL- The Mets New Manager


So because I dedicated last week's blog to celebrating our 200th edition, I had a whole week to sit and stew over the decision the Mets made regarding their new manager. So now the venting will commence...


Let me start by saying that I believe in my heart that the whole interview process was a sham from the very beginning. I feel like the Mets knew they were going to hire Carlos Beltran from the time they fired Mickey Callaway. I believe the only reason they had Joe Girardi in was for appearances sake. "We'll act as if we are seriously considering Girardi so that when we hire our no experience manager, we can say 'Hey, we had him in for a couple interviews, he just didn't fit our vision."

And what exactly is their vision?

Well from where I'm sitting, it's to have a puppet in the dugout so that GM Brodie Van Wagenen can dictate the lineup. Do you think Joe Girardi would keep trotting 37 year old Robinson Cano out there every night if he's not hitting? Of course not. But since Brodie made that asinine deal, and doesn't feel like explaining to those morons the Wilpon's why they are paying someone $20 million to sit on the bench, he needed someone who would keep playing Cano. Enter Carlos Beltran.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Beltran will stand up to that empty suit and tell him Cano is washed up and he needs to sit. But, can anyone honestly see that scenario playing out? Because I can't. And that's just one example. Lets not forget the other gift we got from Santa Van Wagenen last winter. Edwin Diaz, the closer who couldn't close games, who had he converted half of the saves he blew, would have gotten us into the playoffs. Guess what team we would have jumped over to get into the playoffs, that's right, your World Champion Washington Nationals!

Now that's my issue with the Mets not hiring Joe Girardi, or reaching out to Buck Showalter. Replacing one inexperienced manager with another was bad enough. If you are going to do that, then give me Derrick Shelton, who was the Twins bench coach, or (as much as I didn't want him) Tim Bogar who had at least some interim manager experience.

No, they had to go and hire a man they knew I couldn't stand. The man who stood there and watched as strike 3 went by him and sent a not so good Cardinal team to the 2006 World Series. Oliver Perez turned out to be a bum, but he pitched his heart out that night. Endy Chavez made a catch that normally would have inspired any other team to the finish line. Instead, we had our highest paid player, striking out looking with the bases loaded.

I've been told countless times by people I truly care about (my father, my father in law {G.R.H.S.}, and my Weekly Mail co-editors,) that my anger towards Beltran is misguided.  "Ted Williams couldn't have hit that pitch! my father in law once yelled. Other people contributed to the loss that night. I'm aware of that. I'm guessing the next announcement is gonna be that Aaron Heilman will be the team's new pitching coach.

And here's the thing... I could have forgiven 2006, if one year later the Mets didn't have the choke of all chokes, and almost the exact same thing a year later. Followed by 6 years of crappy baseball, a fun (but lucky) trip to the World Series, a play in game loss, and two more crappy years of baseball.

Laying all this on Carlos Beltran maybe unfair, but lets face it, the Yankees did the same thing to A-Rod. In 2007 he hit 54 home runs and drove in an ungodly 154 runs. Yet most Yankee fans wanted to run him out of town because he couldn't get them out of the first round of the playoffs. Heavy is the head that wears the crown. Both A-Rod and Beltran were making the big mamoo. It was on them to carry their teams. A-Rod would get the Yanks there in 2009. Beltran never did.

Now everybody is saying "You have to give him a chance." Well I don't have a choice do I? Of course I'm going to give him a chance. And if he delivers? Well, I've eaten crow before. I hope to heaven I'm wrong about this.

But he better deliver. He gets no grace period here. He's already let me down once.


Speaking of poor coaching choices


FOOTBALL: NY's sad situation

I'm going to pull a Mike Francesa here (more on him later) and go on record to say that I knew the Jets were going to lose to Miami last week. Well, no. I predicted that the Jets would lose at least one of their two games to the Dolphins, I didn't specify which one.

The Jets and the Dolphins have been playing each other for over 50 years, and have provided some of football's wackiest games. I remember one Monday night going to bed with the Jets losing 30-7 only to wake up Tuesday morning to hear about the Miracle at the Meadowlands. (Didn't Jumbo Elliot throw the game winning pass for the Jets?) How about Dan Marino's fake spike?  A neighbor of mine said he's run into Wesley Walker around town, I'd love to talk to him about the game in 1986 the Jets won in OT 51-45. (and not the one they lost later on that season 45-3, the first loss of a 5 game losing streak that took them from the best record in the game to barely making the playoffs).

Put that fact together with the fact that Jets coach Adam Gase was pretty much run out of town by the Dolphins last year, and Miami's QB is former Jet Ryan Fitzpatrick, so revenge was on their minds, and you had all the ingredients for a Jet loss. I may have been the only Jet fan in NY who wasn't losing their mind. And I'm usually the first one to do so. (Well me and Joe Beningo). The Dolphins are one of the hottest teams in the NFL now, having beaten the Colts on Sunday. Wonder if they are going nuts in Indianapolis today?

In any event, I'd rather have lost to the Fish last week than have lost to the Giants on Sunday. Now THAT would have caused me to blow my stack. The game was pretty much as advertised. Both teams making mistakes, penalties turnovers. The Jets played slightly less awful and came away with the W. Now its Pat Schurmur's a$$ in the proverbial frying pan. And maybe the calls for Adam Gase's head will slow down a bit,

Look folks, I wanted Gase here as much as I wanted Carlos Beltran here. Like the case with the Mets, there was a more experienced, championship winning, coach that the team passed on. The situations are eerily similar,

But firing Gase at this point? 9 games in?  And again this is coming from someone who didn't want him in the first place. I don't think that's the move here. Give him the season at least.

What I would do, is bench Sam Darnold. Not as a punishment, not as a demotion. Just as a precaution.

Their offensive line is horrible, the worst I've ever seen. (And I saw Kenny O'Brien get sacked 62 times one season). He's also getting over mono. I still believe in this kid. And I see no reason to risk his getting badly injured because he's still weak from a serious illness and playing behind a line that resembles Swiss cheese.  This Giant game was the last one I even remotely cared about this year. Give him some more time to heal, and let someone else get clobbered back there.


POLITICS: Free Met tickets!!!!


I have a serious question here.... Mick Mulvaney was subpoenaed by the House Intelligence Committee and was supposed to testify on Friday. He refused to show up. Can he be jailed for that? If you or I didn't show up in court, we'd be thrown in jail right? Or maybe not. Maybe if Mulvaney changes his mind and shows up, he'll get to see the Nationals raise their World Championship banner in person.

Or at least if the Dope from Park Slope was in charge down there..

According to CBS 2 NY....

State judges will no longer require cash bail for most misdemeanors and non-violent felonies like selling drugs or burglarizing a home, and the state says nearly 900 city residents in jail now will be released starting mid-December.

That's bad enough. I mean I am all for taking drug users out of jail and into treatment. A guy shouldn't spend the night in jail because he took a wizz behind a bush.  But drug dealers need to stay locked up and having had my house broken into as a kid, I don't think we need those skells out either.

But that's not even the worst part...

A law enforcement source told CBS2 a city program will offer those released incentives meant to encourage them to show up in court such as Mets baseball tickets, a subway pass or a Dunkin’ Donuts gift card.

Have you ever heard of anything so ridiculous in your life?

Donald Trump and Bill DeBlasio really are two opposite sides of the spectrum aren't they? Trump thinks all Mexicans are criminals and wants to wall them out of the country. DeBlasio thinks criminals should get orchestra seats to Hamilton. There's no common sense here, no middle ground. It's either lock 'em all up or let 'em all out. And give them big cash/lots of prizes to boot.

The 2020 Election is now less than a year away....



Mike Francesa once again announced he was leaving his afternoon drive spot on WFAN in December, I'm sure it will be two years to the day he left the first time. Sitting Bull (as Phil Mushnick calls him) will not be leaving altogether, as he will stream his show at the Radio.com app. he just won't be arrogant enough to charge people for it. Had he stayed off the air after his farewell tour in 2017, he'd be remembered as the radio legend he was. Instead he's hanging on like Mohammad Ali when he fought Larry Holmes in 1980.  It would be sad, except that he screwed over people at the FAN. Good Riddance.

One of the reasons Francesa gave for leaving (again) is that he wants to spend more time at his winter home in Florida. Donald Trump also announced last week that he's changing his official residence to Florida. (Hopefully he'll be moving there on January 20,2021.) Now if we could just get those guys to take DeBlasio with them.
Hey I'm an idea man!



RANDOM NOTES


I just read that Robert (Bob) Morris, one of the original Marlboro Men, died this week at age 90. According to his family Morris never smoked a day in his life, and gave up working for the company because he didn't want to send a poor message to his kids. I thought that was pretty interesting.


Saturday marked the 30th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down. One of the strongest symbols of the cold war came down and a country reunified, and the only thing I remember about it was Dana Carvey's impression of George HW Bush on that week's Saturday Night Live...

"To sum up, Hitler-Bad, (Helmut) Kohl-Good. Dan Quayle-still gaining acceptance. Before Bush-Wall, With Bush-no more wall. Place in history-Secure!."
LOL


Last Monday, in addition to it being my parents 47th anniversary, it was also the 40th anniversary of the start of the Iranian Hostage Crisis.  In 6th grade, we used to get these little magazines called READ, and one of them had an excerpt from a book written by one of the hostages about his experiences while captive. It was harrowing to read as an 11 year old, and I believe I tracked down the actual book. Pieces of the Game by Charles W. Scott. It's coming into the Oceanside Library hopefully on Tuesday.  Can't wait to read the whole book.

And finally on a happy note, Sunday marked the 50th anniversary of the premiere of Sesame Street. Bob, Linda, Gordon, Susan, Maria and Luis are all still alive. (Bob McGrath is 87) Mr. Hooper and David have passed away. As far as I know, all the Muppet's are still alive too. So happy this is still on. One of the perks of Timmy coming along was that I got to enjoy Sesame Street again.


A Happy Veterans Day to all who have served our nation. And from all of us who haven't a million thanks for your service.

Hope all is well with all of you

and Have a Great Week