Kuzul

The Rays made it look easy in the first two months of the season. They bludgeoned opponents with their pitching, hitting, and baserunning. This gave the Rays the best record in the majors by the start of June.

Then, the Rays went through a bad stretch in June. The pitching was not up to par, and their hitters slumped at the same time. This resulted in the Rays finishing 11-14
in June. The Yankees leapfrogged the Rays for first place in the AL East standings after the swoon.

The Rays chalked off their June struggles as a bad month. They believed they would get it together when the calendar turned to July. The Rays did just that by winning 10 of 13 games before the All-Star break. It was not good enough for first place, but it was good enough to take the lead in the wild-card race.

Overall, it’s hard to complain about the Rays. They responded to adversity well, and they came together after B.J. Upton and Evan Longoria had their tussle in the dugout during the losing streak. They have one of the best records in baseball, and they managed to create breathing room between themselves and the Red Sox for second place while keeping up with the Yankees.

Despite their success, there’s room for improvement. That can’t be taken lightly. In the AL East, teams can’t be complacent or satisfied with their success if they want to entertain thoughts of playing in October.

One of the things that the Rays need to do is make a deal. They need to go for it with many players not likely to come back next year due to free agency. 

So why not think big? They need to go get an elite hitter or an ace. Either Corey Hart or Dan Haren needs to be wearing a Rays uniform soon.

By getting someone at the trade deadline, it sends a message to the players and coaches that ownership expects them to go out and win a championship. It can energize a team; it sounds ridiculous, but it’s the truth.

As great as the Rays are, they need one more player to seal a playoff spot. They need a starter more than anything. Jeff Niemann and Wade Davis pitched well enough before the All-Star break, but can they sustain that success? Davis has been shaky after a good start, and Niemann can have his slumps. It’s hard to trust James Shields anymore.

That’s where Dan Haren comes in. He can complement David Price and Matt Garza to form a great starting trio. A great team features three great starters. The Yankees have the best record in baseball because they have four starters who can win every fifth day. The same can be said for the Red Sox.

If they can’t get a pitcher, they need to get a hitter. A guy who can hit a home run. A guy who can be the bookend between Carl Crawford and Longoria. That’s where Hart
comes to play. He hits for power, and makes it hard for starters to walk Crawford or Longoria.

They also need to get better performance by their veterans.

It starts with Upton. He has not hit the ball well throughout the first half, and it shows with his .230 batting average. He has homered seven times this year, and driven in just 30 RBIs. Too often, he is an automatic out. With his talent, there’s no reason for him to play like that.

Carlos Pena went through a long drought the first two months of the year. He did okay in June, but they need to get more out of him. His batting average is .203. At least, his home run power is good with 18 home runs.

Jason Bartlett has to hit the ball better instead of being an automatic out. If not, he should lose playing time.

With the track records of these players, the bright side of these slumps is that they may be coming to an end.

Speaking of slumping, Shields needs to start winning games. He needs to go deep in games and avoid self-destructing. It’s a mystery how he has regressed. The Rays may have a hard time getting a pitcher, so the onus is on him to figure out what’s wrong and fix it.

He can get started tomorrow night against the Yankees.

The Rays need to have a killer instinct, and that means going for sweeps. Taking a series is nice, but playoff teams have at least 10 sweeps during the course of a year. The Rays have seven sweeps so far this year, which is good. That means sweeping the Orioles, Blue Jays, Mariners, and Royals in September, and maybe several other teams in July and August.

There’s no question that this team has the talent to do great things. It would be a disappointment if they don’t make the playoffs. With this roster, they should have an opportunity to win a championship.

A perfect situation would be the Yankees slumping these next two months to the point that they would be fighting for their playoff lives, but we live in reality and not in a dream world. The Yankees will be in the playoffs whether they win the division or not. Their talent speaks for itself.

The Red Sox could be a team that will give the Rays trouble when all is said and done. They managed to stay in the race despite injuries to Josh Beckett, Victor Martinez, Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jason Varitek, Mike Lowell, and Jeremy Hermida. It’s impressive that they are 51-37. Any time a team has that many guys on the disabled list, it can break a team, but their success speaks of the depth of that organization and the great leadership of Terry Francona.

The Red Sox will get all their stars back from the disabled list soon, and bet on them to make moves at the trade deadline. They will be a better team. That’s the team the Rays need to fear most.

The Rays can hold off Boston by continuing to win at the pace they did in April, May, and the first couple of weeks of July, but that’s going to be easier said than
done. But there’s no question they can do it.

All the Rays have to do is make some improvements!

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When the season started, everyone expected this team to fail. This writer thought the Mets were good enough to win 79 to 83 games this season.

The Mets finished April by going 14-9. They started the month of May playing .500 ball until the Marlins swept them at Florida.

This caused concern within the hierarchy. Jeff Wilpon and Omar Minaya visited Jerry Manuel in Atlanta after the team’s series with the Marlins. They demanded answers from Manuel about what happened that weekend.

Based on that meeting, everyone figured Manuel would be fired as soon as the team finished their road trip. In fact, everyone thought Bob Melvin would manage the Mets after the Yankees were done with the Mets in their first installment of the Subway Series.

It didn’t happen. The Mets took the series against the Yankees, and they followed it up by sweeping the Phillies to complete a successful homestand.

The thought was the Mets could make a run for a playoff spot, but then the Mets played awful against the Brewers and the Padres in their last road trip.

Now the team has everyone excited again after taking two of three against the Padres last night.

The best way to describe the Mets? They are an enigma. It’s befuddling to see this team play well at home yet struggle on the road.

The Mets may not be an elite team, but they are an above-average team. This team has a good starting pitching trio that should be winning at least 90 percent of its games.

That should be enough to make a run for the wild-card at best.

The hitting has been good enough to win games. For all the alleged problems this team has at Citi Field when it comes to hitting, they still figure out a way to put runs on the scoreboard. The lineup isn’t bad despite the inconsistences by David Wright, Jason Bay, and Jose Reyes.

So what’s the problem?

It comes down to Wright, Bay and Reyes. Their stars need to play like stars on the road. Too many times, those three stars struggle. They have one good game, and they follow it up by playing awfully the next few games.

This can’t go on. It’s June already.

By now, these guys should have enough at-bats to have hit their stride. It’s hard to understand why it is, especially Wright.

Just when Wright figure it out, he struggles again. He strikes out often, and he looks lost at the plate. It’s surprising to see this. One figures he is smart enough to know what to do. This shouldn’t be happening at this point of his career.

For Pete’s sake, Ike Davis has more of a clue how to hit the baseball than Wright. Tge rookie approaches the game as a sage veteran while Wright has that rookie approach.

Reyes started to turn his season around couple of weeks ago, but now he is a shell of himself again. He’s not the dynamic player the team expects him to be. He’s never on base, and he is not displaying the speed he used to exhibit as a rookie.

A case can be made that Reyes’ injuries hindered his ability to run. Reyes’ struggles is a mystery for this management team. He had a great season in 2006, but ever since then, he has been a symbol of underachievement.

It wasn’t coincidence the team took off when Reyes established himself as a bonafide player in 2006. The Mets will be a contender as soon as Reyes figures himself out. That could be a tough task.

What to make of Bay? It was thought to be a good signing, but it hasn’t worked out so far. He’s a streaky hitter, but so far, it’s been more of bad than good.

The Red Sox know what they’re doing when they let their best players go. Maybe that’s the case with Bay. Maybe his legs are weak to the point he’s struggling to pull the ball.

This team has been fun to watch. Fans will take watching this team over watching the unwatchable team of last year.

This version of Mets give fans hope. At Citi Field, everyone expects the home team to win. People expect good things to happen from their players. The Mets know their starters will pitch well at their pitching-friendly park.

Still, this team needs to win on the road. They are not making the playoffs with terrible hitting performances away from Citi Field.

The onus is on their big three to step up and get it done. It’s one thing to struggle against great road teams, but it’s another thing to struggle against bad road teams.

This year is a crucial year for Wright and Reyes. If they can’t get it done now, what makes the organization think it will get better for those two in the future? If Bay struggles the rest of the season, it’s a good bet he may not live up the rest of his contract.

The team’s present and future relies on those three stars to do something now.

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We knew those guys in recent years.

Bill Hohn, Jim Joyce, C.B. Buckner, Jim Joyce, Lars Diaz, Darryl Cousins, Phil Cuzzi, Joe West, Angel Hernandez, Jerry Crawford, Brian O’Nora, Bob Davidson, Tim McCelland, Ron Kulpa, Dan Iassogna and Doug Eddings.

Those names turned out to be baseball household names. Only difference is those are not baseball players. They are the umpires employed by Bud Selig.

Umpires are not supposed to be the story of the game. No one should know any of those names. It would mean they had zero impact in the game.

The game belongs to the players. A player’s talent should dictate the outcome of the game.  The umpire’s job is to make sure everything is under control and the game is called properly.

In the last few years, that has not been the case.

This season is two months old. We are supposed to celebrate the perfect games, no-hitters, and the success of the Padres and the Reds.

Instead, it’s all about the umpires. It’s not the type of attention that should be deemed as positive. For those umpires that enjoy the attention, they should hand in their badge and get out of this sport.

Last night’s events brought this issue to the forefront. It’s time for a changing of the guard when it comes to the umpires.

It’s an ultimatum that Bud Selig should deliver in light of couple of blown calls at Detroit and Seattle. Joyce denied Armando Galarraga perfect game after failing to call Jason Donald out at first last night. A few hours later, the umpire called Ichiro Suzuki safe when he should have been out. The Mariners scored the game-winner against the Twins after that decision was called in extra innings.

It’s one thing for an umpire to struggle in judgment calls, but when it’s blatantly obvious, it’s inexcusable for them to get it wrong. That was the case in Detroit and Seattle.

All signs pointed to Donald beating the throw, but when Cabrera caught the ball and put his foot on base at the time Donald reached first, it was an out. It should have been an out. How did Joyce struggle to see from a good angle?

Suzuki was out by a mile. The tag was easily made. How did the second base umpire lose sight of it? If Suzuki was out, the third out was made and the extra innings goes on.

Umpires are having hard time of understanding if a player reached first or not. They struggle to make a decision too. We saw an incident at Tampa Bay last week. A Ray easily reached to first, but he was called out and he and Joe Maddon were immediately tossed.

We saw a Blue Jay forgetting to hit the basepath at third on his way home. The umpire let him get away with it by not calling him out for that few days ago.

It’s understandable umpires are human, but they are paid well to get it right. Isn’t that what they’re hired for? Too often, we see them not making the simple calls right.

This goes back to last year when couple of umpires messed up badly. Phil Cuzzi called Joe Mauer’s hit foul after it was clearly in fair territory. It happened in Game 2 of the American League Division Series at Yankee Stadium. It played a role in costing the Twins that game.

Tim McClelland couldn’t figure out who was tagged out in a rundown play. The Yankees had two players being in a rundown yet Robinson Cano gets on base even though he was tagged out. What’s wrong with that picture? This took place during the ALCS last year.

Who can remember Brandon Inge not getting a call on hit by pitch in Game 163 last year at the Metrodome? That could have been the difference between the Tigers playing the Yankees in the playoffs and them staying at home for the playoffs.

These simple calls are one that are supposed to be correct. It should never be a debate. If these guys can’t get that one right, why are they employed?

In Major League Baseball, it’s about the best played in the world producing. These standards should be the same for the umpires. If they fail to get it done, they should be fired.

Honestly, it’s time for them to go. They lost their effectiveness long time ago. Part of that could be age. These guys have been in the game for a long time.

The theory goes like this. As players grow older, their skills are diminished. One can make the same case for umpires. Those same umpires were great at one time. How is it now they can’t get it right?

That has to be the only explanation.

Instant replay will help things. With that said, the umpire has to know balls and strikes. Most of the umpires don’t grasp that concept well anymore.

If they can’t get it right, it’s hard to think they will be effective in calling a game.

Baseball is all about the human element. The umpires can’t rely on instant replay to bail them out. They either know it or don’t.

Here’s another reason why all of them should go.

Too many umpires are too hostile towards the players. They toss them out if a pitcher or a hitter dare question them. They don’t allow a discussion anymore.

Here are several examples:

Hohn threw Roy Oswalt out of the game when the Astros starter expressed frustration about his poor inning. Hohn felt Oswalt showed him up.

West tossed Mark Buehrle and Ozzie Guillen for laughing and making faces last week.

When Joe Maddon approached Davidson for a discussion, Davidson threw him out.

The umpires conveyed to those guys that they’re the stars of the game. That is wrong on so many levels. No fan pays his or her expensive ticket to see an ump make a fool out of himself by throwing people out.

Umpires throw stars out rather than crappy players. It’s clear they are doing this for attention.

This is grounds for firing. Selig should have fired those guys last year. Players and coaches work hard only to see umpires screw up. That’s not fair for those guys.

He owes it to the fans, players and coaches in getting the best umpires out there.
It’s time for a fresh blood. Get some new young umpires. They can’t be any worse than what we’re seeing now.

Even if they’re struggling, they will learn and get better.

It’s hard to think that’s going to be the case with this group.

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New York baseball teams opened up their new palaces last year. Citi Field and the new Yankee Stadium were the new sports buildings in town.

After watching games at both stadiums, let’s just say both stadiums left a lot to be desired.

They had zero charm.

There was nothing interesting about either ballpark.

This author visited Yankee Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Sitting in the terrace seats, it was hard to see anything on the field.

It was hard to figure out if David Huff was hit or not. It took four minutes to figure out it happened thanks to the jumbotron pointing it out.

Then, it was struggle to find out if the ball was foul or fair whenever a Yankee or an Indian hit the ball. It was confusing to see if the ball was caught or not.

If that wasn’t bad enough, it was hard to hear anything from that jumbotron. It was like hearing something from the subway speakers. 

That’s not meant to be a compliment.

If anyone watched a Saturday Night Live skit years ago, the show made fun of MTA workers talking at a subway booth. In that skit, straphangers couldn’t understand a word that was said.

That’s what it’s like at the Bronx.

The stadium looked like new. It was hard to make a difference from the old stadium to a new stadium.

The only thing that stands out is more seats and more advertising. In other words, it’s the same old stadium.

If there is a difference, it comes in the locker room. The Yankees have better facilities in the locker room. The visitors receive nothing.

Is that what a stadium should be? The purpose of a new stadium is to make it attracting for the fans. Only thing interesting about the place is the food.

The food is better than it was at the old stadium, but then again, it should be expected. Most new stadium offer better ballpark food. It’s about time the Yankees kept up with the other teams.

Other than that, the stadium offers nothing. It’s great to go to the rotunda and look at the banners of great players. Still, other things can be visible.

Where are the flags of the championship years? Where are the banners? How come Monument Park is hard to see?

There’s so much wrong about the place. It could have been better. For one thing, there should have been a retractable roof. In this day and age, most parks have one.

Second of all, it would have been nice if fans can see the game well in all sorts of angles not just sitting in the front.

Finally, it would be nice if the place was aesthetically pleasing.

Certain parks have special spots. At Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the place features warehouse. At PNC Park and AT&T Park, it’s a middle of a river. At Citizens Bank Park, there are gardens and buildings that surround the place. At Comerica Park, there are amusement ride over the place.

Yankee Stadium does not have those things.

Citi Field isn’t better.

It’s bad enough the place is hard to hit in, but it’s terrible to see the place have nothing exciting to watch.

That place is more known for its food court. That’s it. Other than that, it’s nothing to see.

The seats are terrible. It’s hard to watch a game from any angle.

It took public criticism for the Mets to realize they needed to honor their past. When they opened up the stadium, they honored mainly most of the people from the Brooklyn Dodgers. 

Finally, they created a museum to honor the Mets’ greats this season.

Still, it’s hard to see where the Mets’ pennants are. The murals are middle of nowhere when it comes to honoring the players.

The Mets at least put a banners of all their best players outside the stadium. It would have been better at inside the stadium.

Citi Field looks like a haunted place when a fan goes inside. There are no lights whatsoever.

Both teams studied other teams’ ballparks for the last few years. It’s remarkable how those guys did not know how to create a park that would capture the fan’s imagination.

For all the criticism the old Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium received, those stadiums are much better than the old place. At least, there was history at both places.

Fans enjoyed being there. It felt like home. It was comfortable. It was just about the game. It was simple.

With new places, it’s more for the rich folks more than anything. Those people fork up money to get all the good things. That’s not fair.

Shouldn’t a stadium be for all types of people to enjoy? It’s not the case in Flushing and in the Bronx.

Hard to believe, but the old stadiums are missed.

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A visitor watched a game at Yankee Stadium this afternoon. It was his first visit to the new ballpark.

It was quite an experience to say the least. It will never be forgotten.

It started with Alex Rodriguez’s line drive hitting David Huff’s head. It was similar to couple of years ago when Nick Blackburn took a Bobby Abreu line drive off his face.

The blood dripped all over Huff’s face. As a result of that, Huff was taken to the hospital. The Indians sent Aaron Laffey to take Huff’s place in the third inning.

It wasn’t pretty. The Yankees made Laffey look like an independent league pitcher in the fourth inning. Laffey granted free passes to couple of Yankees hitters, and the Yankees created a big inning by scoring six runs off him in that inning.

CC Sabathia did not have good stuff against his old team. He was okay at best. Girardi thought it was best to take him out with a comfortable lead after the sixth inning. He wanted his middle relievers to get some work in the seventh inning.

He used David Robertson, Sergio Mitre and Damaso Marte in that inning. Robertson and Mitre were erratic at best. Marte found a way to get the second out.

By then, Girardi decided to make a change. The Yankees manager was booed for taking Marte out. They weren’t happy he overmanged by putting many relievers in that inning.

Girardi turned the boos to cheers when  he signaled Joba Chamberlain to pitch. By then, everyone felt at ease. This visitor decided to tour the stadium around.

The thought was Chamberlain would go for a four-out save. So much for that.

Chamberlain did not have it. He gave up four hits and a walk. The Indians took a 12-10 lead over the home team. For all intents and purposes, it was over. The Yankees did not have it in them to make a rousing comeback against a terrible Indians team.

By then, the audience booed their underachieving reliever. When he struck out Shinn-Soo Choo, he received a Bronx cheer follow by being booed.

It’s about time the fans called him out for his ineffectiveness. It won’t be long until the Yankees question his ability to pitch.

Yes, Chamberlain vows people with his ability to strike people out with his fastball, but it’s a good bet he will disappoint. It was not just today. It was couple of weeks ago at Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees setup guy struggled against the Twins in that eighth inning. Girardi saw enough. He went with Mariano Rivera for a four-out save.

Rivera walked Jim Thome, and Jason Kubel hit a grand slam to give the Twins their first victory at the new stadium. The loss went to Chamberlain.

Go ahead and blame Girardi for over-managing that seventh inning today, but Chamberlain has a job to do. He needs to get it done.

At some point, this has to be mental for him. Chamberlain can talk all he wants about how none of this bother hm. How could it not?

The writers remind him all the time. At some point, the fans start losing their faith in him. These losses become a vivid reminder that can’t get away.

When relievers struggle at this rate, they expect to fail. It’s only natural. Chamberlain proved this is not an exception.

Talking to several guards after the game, they weren’t happy. They expressed his concern about his confidence and his stuff. Right now, he’s not scaring anyone.

Chamberlain has that Armando Benitez syndrome. He likes to be fancy in getting his outs. He wants to strike them out at a high velocity instead of just getting an out. He tends to be frustrated if he does not get help from the umpires when it comes to balls and strikes.

When he walks and gives up a hit, he loses confidence. Everything snowballs. It wasn’t surprising to see the Indians have success against Chamberlain.

Maybe we should have learned something about him. When he struggled to pitch against the Indians with all those midges in the field during a playoff game in 2007, it said a lot about his toughness. How is it Fausto Carmona found a way to win yet Chamberlain couldn’t? If Andy Pettitte pitched in that game, he would toughen up.

That’s the difference between a great pitcher and a bad pitcher right there.

At some point, the Yankees can’t pamper the guy. It’s all about results in this market.

The team assumed they found a closer of the future in Chamberlain. Fortunately for them, Mariano Rivera is good enough to pitch until he is 60 years old.

It’s hard to believe Chamberlain can be a closer when he can’t flourish as a setup guy.

This type of inconsistency is not going to cut it. In the postseason, it will be an issue.

Either he figures it out or Girardi has to find an option in the eighth inning. Problem is there are no option out there.

The Yankees will make a trade, but relievers are hard to get in the trade market.

If the Yankees want to win a championship this year, they have to win because of him not in spite of him.

Who knows if he can be that guy? Today only increases doubts than confidence.

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Last week, Roy Oswalt spoke publicly about wanting to be traded. He did not want to waste his final years playing for a terrible Astros team.

He wanted a shot to win a championship.

In New York, we get excited when a team ponders about trading a star player or when a player demands to be traded. We assume the Yankees and the Mets will get involved.

Fans get excited. Sportswriters write those names to fill space in the papers.

It’s good to dream. Of course, reality sinks in. The Astros will want a lot in return. The Mets have to think long and hard about whether it’s worth giving up everything for Oswalt. The Astros ace has to waive his no-trade clause.

There are too many hurdles to overcome. It’s a good bet Oswalt will not be a Met. While we’re at it, let’s stop fantasizing about Cliff Lee. He’s not coming here either.

Let’s face it, even if the Mets acquire an ace, they are not going to win the division or make the playoffs. Their bullpen is alright, but not enough to keep up from now until September. Their starting rotation has been up and down.

It’s hard to think what will scare off the other teams in the division, especially the Phillies.

The Mets have to stop being like the Yankees. They can’t buy players or acquire mercenaries. They tried it, and it didn’t work.

Winning teams build from within. The Twins, Rays, Red Sox, Phillies, Angels, Cardinals, and the Marlins win with homegrown players.

Only the Yankees can get away with buying players. The best players know they can win a championship with the Yankees. With teams like the Mets, that’s not the case.

Guys are coming to the Mets for the money. Are those the players the Mets want to help build a winning team?

Often times, most mercenaries are miserable about their Mets experience.

Who needs that?

There’s something special about winning with homegrown players. Fans relate to the players better. There is a sense of pride when fans talk about how a player grew up in the Mets system. Teams love to brag about how great their farm system is.

When guys grow up together from the minors, they play for each other. They take care of each other. They know what it takes to win. The journey offers appreciation on how they got to be successful.

Everyone loved the 1986 Mets. Not only because they won the championship, but because they won with homegrown players. There was a special chemistry shared by the players that went unnoticed. Players bonded together and they stood up for each other.

If someone messed with a Met, every Met ganged up on them. Just look at the brawls the Mets took part in that season.

Those lads loved being in the ballpark. They knew they were going to win every game.

That team was the best team a baseball fan ever watched.

The same can be said about the Phillies in recent years. That team features grinders who know what to do to win ballgames. They have guys who help one another.

Teams like that are hard to build. Still, the chances of winning championship with homegrown players are better than winning with outsiders.

The Mets are not in a position to trade any of these guys. Why trade them for a guy who is about to finish his career? It does not make sense.

This team can win a championship if they do it right. This team has some young players to build around.

Ike Davis can play. Jenrry Mejia can be an ace in the making. Fernando Martinez can be a nice hitter. Josh Thole may not be Mike Piazza, but he can be the catcher the team can build around for years to come.

If they trade those guys, their farm system will be barren again.

The organization worked hard to get the system back on track. They would risk damaging their credibility by changing directions. In a division where most teams are building with youth, the last thing the Mets need is to fall behind.

The Phillies’ farm system continues to flourish year after year. They will lose their star players at one point, but they will reload. They’re not going to be pegged down in the standings.

The Marlins rely on their farm system to win games. They can’t afford to spend money on free agents. Their market does not provide them the revenue.

The Braves won with a great farm system for forever, it seems.

The Nationals are building their team with homegrown players.

That’s not going to change with those teams. The Mets have to keep up if they want to play with those teams for the next few years.

The organization wants to make money. They need to see Citi Field be filled. Winning does that. If they trade for Oswalt and Lee, they think it will send a message to fans that they’re serious about winning.

It’s good for a few months, but this is about the next few years.

Stores spew out the cliché about the customer always being right, but in sports, if teams listen to what the fans say in running a sports business, that franchise will be left behind.

Making a trade at this juncture is not worth it.

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The Mets surprised the critics by playing .500 baseball for most of April and early May. They highlighted their April run by taking three of four against the Cubs and sweeping the Braves and the Dodgers in their homestand.

Life was good for Jerry Manuel. He needed it to survive April. No one was talking about his managerial future after that.

The Mets played a bad series against the Marlins couple of weeks ago. They committed numerous errors and baserunning blunders — reminiscent of last year. As a result, the Marlins swept the Mets. This inspired Jeff Wilpon and Omar Minaya to meet with Jerry Manuel at Atlanta.

Their visit meant the Jerry Manuel watch was on. Manuel has been in the game long enough to realize it’s never good when an owner visits the team.

Reporters interviewed Manuel shortly after the meeting last Monday. It was clear Manuel was not his usual self; he did not show his usual happy-go-lucky attitude. Instead, he sounded nervous when he spoke to the beat writers.

He knew a bad week would doom him for good. The Mets responded by playing mediocre against the Braves and the Nationals to finish up the road trip.

It came down to the Subway Series. The Mets understood they had to play well and win the series. It wasn’t going to be easy. The Yankees were recovering from being outclassed by the Rays. 

The Mets pitched well enough in their first game against the Yankees, but the Yankees found a way to win the game by scoring two runs late in the game against Elmer Dessens, who signed with the Mets that same night.

Manuel made it harder on himself by using a reliever, who arrived in town the day of the Subway Series. It was good enough to be second-guessed. Everyone knew the Mets would fail there.

The Mets answered the Yankees’ victory by winning the last two games of the Subway Series. It was more of a relief than celebration for Manuel.

It’s clear Manuel’s job security has taken its toll on him. He looks miserable out there.

For his sake, the Mets should announce he’s going to manage the entire season or they should fire him now.

There’s no point forcing a manager to worry on a daily basis. The last thing the players need is to worry about who they are going to play for.

A winning team has to concentrate on playing the game. Playing the game is hard enough as it is. Distractions make it harder.

The Mets experienced this with Willie Randolph in 2008. Randolph was in shaky ground when the season started. It was a matter of time until he was fired.

Sportswriters mentioned Randolph’s lack of job security in the first three months of the season. It overwhelmed the players after awhile. They were tired of talking about it. They put too much pressure on themselves in doing whatever it took to save Randolph’s job.

After going through it already, the players don’t need an encore.

Manuel should have been fired along with Omar Minaya last year. It was time for the Mets to go in another direction. They went as far as they could with those two.

What they need is a general manager and a manager who knows what’s he doing.

Minaya knows how to make an unheralded trade, but the farm system has not been great under his watch. The Mets have some good young players, but not enough to say their farm system is great.

Manuel makes managerial decisions that make people mutter expletives. He has no idea how to work with pitchers. He leaves his starter too long, or he uses the wrong reliever in a situation he should not be used.

Several of his young players regressed under Manuel. David Wright and Jose Reyes are good examples. Randolph tapped into the talent of Wright and Reyes, but when the Mets fired Randolph, they never recovered.

Fair ot not, Manuel has to take responsibility. A manager has a hand in working with young players. Manuel does not do a good job of teaching his players to play baseball. That wasn’t the case under Randolph.

The Mets haven’t won much under Manuel’s watch. This team has been mediocre at best. What has Manuel done to think it’s going to get better?

That is why he should go. Plus, Wilpon hasn’t exactly been enamored with Manuel’s performance overall.

A good baseball owner should be decisive. He must have a strong conviction. No one would have blamed Wilpon for firing Manuel.

For him to make his manager worry though —that’s not right. It’s a headache no team should go through.

Wilpon should realize that aspect.

The Mets won their fourth straight game last night. They put themselves in a position to sweep the Phillies tonight and be two games out for first place in the process.

There’s no question Manuel will be safe for now. Make no mistake. Another losing streak, and we will hear more about the manager’s future.

If Manuel has self-respect, he would demand an answer about his future now.

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Bob Raissman and Phil Mushnick write about sports media for the New York Daily News and the Ne w York Post respectively. When their papers publish their columns, it’s a must-read.

Those two are not afraid to savage any media personality. They point out their stupidity on the airwaves. 

Michael Kay is a fixture on those columns. No one can go through a week without reading a criticism of Kay in the paper.

Kay deserves it. He brings this all on himself.

The Yankees announcer is terrible at what he does. It’s amazing he has been doing TV play-by-play since 2002 yet he is not getting better at all.

He has no idea how the game is played. He loses track on the play too often. He does not know if the ball is going to be gone or not. He rarely adds any analysis, and he does not make his analysts better.

Like John Sterling, he is more into doing catchphrases and loving the sound of his voice rather than calling a good game.

He is poorly prepared when he does the games. For example, he wondered why the Rays were bunting along with stealing bases in a game last week. What he does not realize is the Yankees are capable of coming back at anytime. It’s hard to blame the Rays for their approach.

That’s how the Rays play the game. This is something an announcer should be knowing. It’s called doing research, but that’s not how Kay does his job.

Kay’s strength is to start something up and ripping people on the air. It’s been his shtick for years, and it is tiresome.

He likes to take shot at teams. He often rips the Red Sox, Mets, Rays, or any other successful team. He criticizes Joe Maddon, Ron Gardenhire, Terry Francona, Joe Torre, and other managers. He makes fun of people too.

This is a guy that picks fight with another regional sports network in town. Last month, he ripped SNY for doing a call-in show in a middle of a game. Only he knows why he sense the need to do that.

How does this writer know all this? It’s because Mushnick and Raissman mentioned this.

It’s time for Kay to grow up and start getting better at his job. He shouldn’t be resorting to this. His job is to describe the game and let the analysts do the talking.

If anything, Kay does most of the talking. Not one Yankee analyst can get a word in.

It would be nice if he stopped acting like a shill. He mentioned the litany of injuries to reason why the Yankees are struggling. It sounds convenient, but the Yankees’ pitching is still good enough to win games on their own, which is what Raissman pointed out Sunday.

Plus, it’s pathetic when an announcer has to whine about injuries on the air.

One wonders what Kay ever done to earn a job as an announcer. He wasn’t special on the radio back in the day.

He said lot of stuff that resembled junk on the radio. It worked well for him since he worked with John Sterling, who did the play-by-play.

On TV, it does not work well, period. One would think Kay would work hard to get better at his craft, but he shows no inclination to do so.

It’s a joke the YES Network insists on having him to do the games, but it shows lack of credibility of the network and the Yankees.

Kay will always suck up to the Yankees at every opportunity. In that regard, the network and the organization will continue to enable him.

Baseball fans deserve better than this.  For this viewer, I cringe watching the Yankees game on television. I try to put them on mute, but it’s hard to watch a baseball game on mute.

Why should pressing the mute be an option? Baseball is meant to be listened not hearing in silence.

An announcer should know how to paint the picture well. It’s similar to what a sportswriter has to do in presenting his or her thoughts.

Kay does not mirror those things. All he does is speak nonsense and treat viewers as if they are stupid.

When is enough is enough? When does YES hold him accountable?

Yankees fans love it when their announcers say nothing but good things about their favorite team. With that said, they can’t stand Kay. It’s hard to come up with one Yankees fan that like the guy.

It’s an indictment of how bad he is as an announcer and a human being.

He should be ashamed of himself for what he is. One figure he would have some sort of pride and start working.

That’s not how he is though. He can care less. He is making money. He has a dream job that people wish they had. He is not afraid to rub it in and tell people he has a better job than others.

Maybe he is inspired to do that because he was picked on a lot as a kid.

With that anal voice of his and the way he looks, he was probably picked on.

It’s just sad he has to resort to stupidity. He can be a better announcer if he wants to be.

What a shame!

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The Mets invited most of their 2000 team to a weekend reunion at Citi Field. Last night, the Mets honored several stars of that team prior to their game against the Yankees.

The manager of that team was nowhere to be found. Bobby Valentine wasn’t on the guest list.

If that does not convince folks he will not be managing the Mets again, nothing will. It’s clear Jeff Wilpon has no use for Valentine.

It’s too bad the Mets did not feel the need to include him in the ceremony. Before Valentine managed the team, that team had zero identity. They expected to lose, and the team was boring to watch.

If people think fans are indifferent about the Mets now, they should go back to the Dallas Green years. The Mets couldn’t convince anyone to watch or attend their games.

The Generation Ks failed to produce for the Mets. Green couldn’t get his team to have winning records. That team had washed up veterans.

The Yankees started building a good team in 1993, and from there, it became a Yankeetown.

Fred Wilpon loved what he saw out of Valentine in the minors. He decided his team could use a boost from an energetic manager who could relate to the young players.

Valentine was hired in the summer of 1996. In his first full season, the Mets overachieved. Valentine won win with unheralded players. Matt Franco, Todd Pratt, Andy Tomberlin, Carl Everett, Luis Lopez, Roberto Petagine, Rick Reed, and Corey Lidle helped lead the team to 88 victories.

Look at that roster. That roster was bad enough to win at least 63 games. Valentine found a way to have those guys believe in themselves. In fact, the Mets actually were in the wild-card race that season. That team did not have the depth to keep up with a great Marlins team.

It did not matter though. Fans enjoyed that season. They related well to those underachievers.

Mets fans started to support their team again. They were proud to be associated with the Mets.

Valentine made this team relevant in this market. He backed up that great season by having his team make the playoffs in 1999 and 2000.

Valentine outmanaged Dusty Baker and Tony La Russa to get his team to the World Series in 2000. He forced La Russa and Baker to change pitchers often by using bench players to bat against the opposing team.

There’s something to be said about a manager making an impact on the team. Managers need players to help them win, but players need a manager to motivate them.

Valentine’s dynamic personality rubbed off on the players. The players expected to win, and they were not afraid to tick the other team off by doing whatever it took to win. They would steal bases and act exuberant out on the field.

Ever since the Mets fired Valentine, we haven’t seen any of those things. The players are disinterested, and they don’t seem to take winning seriously enough. They accept losing.

The Wilpons took Valentine for granted. One would think they would appreciate Valentine after he left, but that’s not the case.

If anything, they prefer he did not exist at all. They disdain the bad publicity he brought to the team during those winning years. He was feuding with Steve Phillips, Todd Zeile, John Franco, Todd Hundley, Al Leiter, and Daryl Hamilton often.

He would disrespect the Wilpons by not obeying their ultimatums.

That’s his punishment for not listening to them. They decided to get back at him by being petty.

They can talk about how they did not want Valentine to be a distraction to Jerry Manuel, or how he was busy on ESPN, but that’s a bunch of crap.

If the Mets don’t want Manuel to feel insecure, how come Jeff Wilpon decided to go to Atlanta to meet with his embattled manger in light of the Mets being swept by the Marlins last weekend?  Plus, ESPN would have given Valentine the night off.

It’s too bad it has gotten to this. They should remember what was it like before he came to town. The team earned publicity thanks to Valentine.

An appreciation should have been made. Valentine was a big part of the team’s success whether the Wilpons like it or not.

He wasn’t fun to deal with, but despite that, give him his night by acknowledging his success. It’s the least this organization could have done.

Instead, they offer a course on how to fail in public relations.

Is it any wonder why people savage the Mets?

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The New York Times mentioned the Mets’ awful attendance at Citi Field last week. It was in the front page of that newspaper.

Last night, the Yankees helped the Mets get their second sellout crowd of the season by making an appearance at Citi Field for a weekend series. There’s a good chance the Mets will sell out tonight and tomorrow night.

The Yankees inspire people to show up at other stadiums when they go on the road. That’s why many American League teams want the Yankees to come to their town often.

As a result of their appearance, the Yankees provide revenue to those teams. The Mets are no different than any other AL teams.

The Mets will be happy to pocket that money for the entire weekend. This is as good as it’s going to get for them this year.

This is embarrassing. It’s nothing to be proud of. Only losers enjoy this.

The Mets should draw well because their team is good and exciting. The Yankees’ presence can not have anything to do with the jump in attendance.

When Yankees fans do most of the cheering last night for every great play the Yankees made, that should make the Wilpon family wretch.

When Yankees fans cheer whenever the Mets make an out, that should tick the organization off.

The Mets are not a good team, but they put on a professional effort out on the field. The players deserve better than to hear Yankees fans revel in their failures at their own park. This should never happen.

It’s easy to go blame Mets fans for not buying the Subway Series tickets. It’s easy to say Mets fans should not sell their tickets to Yankees fans.

Mets fans are smart to stay away from Yankees fans. Who wants to be associated with stupid people?

It’s the organization’s responsibility to convince the fans to come. The Mets must field a good product.

That hasn’t been the case for a long time now. The Mets had a brief success in 2006 when they made an NLCS appearance, but since then, the team has disappointed by failing to win September games in 2007 and 2008. The Mets had a losing season last year in what was an injury-filled season.

It isn’t just the losing that’s been a problem. A couple of stars have not played well. David Wright struggles to hit these days while Jose Reyes might be finished as a Major League ballplayer.

Wright strikes out on a consistent basis. Reyes can’t hit past the infield anymore.

When those two are getting worse as players, it does not bode well as an organization.

Stars bring people to the games. Right now, the Mets’ stars are causing people to react with horror.

If the stars can’t excite them, there’s no reason for fans to pay attention.

This Mets team is unwatchable. They play hard, but no one wants to watch blue-collar players play and lose. Alex Cora is a good example to this theory. He plays hard, but he is not an impact player that help the team win.

Management does not have a clue how to run a baseball operation. They can’t scout guys who know how to play the game. They can’t develop players.

Those factors play a role to why the Mets can’t draw at their one-year-old stadium.

For fans that watch the game last night, they saw an unexpected pitching duel between Javier Vazquez and Hisanori Takahashi. Both starters pitched six shutout innings. They were relieved in the seventh inning.

The fanbase expected something to happen late in the game. Yankees fans had a good feeling they would leave Citi Field happy. Mets fans knew it would be another heartbreak experience.

It turned out to be true. The Yankees found a way to get couple of runs in the seventh inning. The Mets continued to scuffle at the plate.

There was hope the Mets could get to struggling Mariano Rivera in the ninth, but Mets fans know better. The Mets couldn’t drive the second run in after scoring the first run of Rivera, and the Yankees closer earned another save on a predictable out by Wright to end the game.

When fans expect their own team to lose, there’s no incentive for them to go out to the stadium. They can find other better things to do.

Who knows if it’s going to get better? There’s no evidence it will.

Sure, the Mets can hire a new general manager and a new manager. They can sell to the public that things will get better, but history shows that’s not the case.

As long as the Wilpons own the team, the fans know things are not going to change. The Wilpons are the constant to the team’s losing fortunes.

The only way change will happen is if the Wilpons sell the team, and that Rays owner Stuart Sternberg becomes intrigued about owning the Mets.

Maybe then, the place will be filled every homestand instead of once in a year with the Yankees’ arrival.

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