Thoughts and Prayers for Rusty Staub

USAToday.com:

The New York Mets say former star Rusty Staub is recovering in a hospital in Ireland after a heart attack on an overseas flight.

The Mets said Saturday the 71-year-old Staub is "resting comfortably."

The team said Staub was on a flight from Ireland to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York this week when he had a medical emergency. The team said the plane was diverted back to Ireland, where Staub was treated.

Staub played nine seasons for the Mets over two stints in the 1970s and 1980s. An outfielder, first baseman and pinch-hitter, he is a member of the Mets Hall of Fame and was a six-time All-Star in a 23-year career.

Staub was recently at Citi Field and has remained popular with Mets fans. His foundation raises money for the families of New York police officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty.

A 6-time All-Star and arguably the greatest pinch-hitter of all-time...hope he has a speedy recovery.

Mets Will Face Dodgers In NLDS, Should Be Just As Afraid Of Utley and Rollins

NYPost.com:

Clayton Kershaw pitched the big-money Dodgers to their third straight NL West title, throwing a one-hitter as Los Angeles beat the San Francisco Giants 8-0 on Tuesday night.

Kershaw allowed just a third-inning single and struck out 13, and now he will get a chance to erase those sour postseason memories as the Dodgers (88-69) advance to face the NL East champion Mets in a best-of-five Division Series.

Kershaw (16-7) finally got the best of his 2015 nemesis in the fourth matchup of the year against World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner, striking out the side in order three times and retiring the final 19 batters as the Dodgers snapped a four-game losing streak.

“There’s a little bit, if you don’t win this one then you’ve got two more and you start getting a little nervous, you start panicking a little bit,” Kershaw said. “We’ve still got something to play for. We’re still trying to fight the Mets for home-field advantage. It’s kind of a sigh of relief. We weren’t playing that well.”

Don Mattingly’s Dodgers earned a third straight playoff berth for the first time in franchise history, and did so by snapping a seven-game losing streak at AT&T Park this year. It’s also their sixth postseason berth in 10 years.

I don't care that both Utley and Rollins have had bad regular seasons statistically and are clearly on the downside of their careers. The disgruntled Mets fan in me just remembers how they were both huge Met killers during their longtime days with the Phillies. And I imagine either one of them coming up in a huge spot during this series just feening to put their foot on the Mets neck again. So sure, we can be afraid of Greinke and Kershaw all we want, but to me Utley and Rollins are just as dangerous, if not moreso when it comes to the Mets winning this series.

Mets Are 2015 National League East Champions!!!

There's still plenty of work to do, but right now I'm super proud to be a Mets fan.--so much so that I'm even reviving this blog.

The Mets Face a Vista of Empty Seats and a Discrimination Lawsuit

NYTimes.com:

Citi Field was so empty as the Mets took the field Thursday night, it looked as if every spectator could have fit comfortably in the lower bowl. Even then, people would have had room to spread out. When Curtis Granderson casually tossed a ball into the stands, it landed rows from the nearest fan.

“It’s been a ghost town,” one elevator operator said.

This scene has become more common in the six years since the Mets left Shea Stadium. As the team kept losing, average attendance slowly dropped. Mets games in September have become a punch line.

The Mets’ dwindling crowds are the backdrop to the federal lawsuit filed last week by Leigh Castergine, a ticket sales executive fired by the team last month.

Castergine accused the Mets and Jeff Wilpon, their chief operating officer and son of their owner, of discriminating against her because she was having a child out of wedlock. The Mets apparently indicated to her that she was fired for failing to meet sales goals.

“The claims are without merit,” the team said in a statement. “Our organization maintains strong policies against any and all forms of discrimination.”

Castergine’s suit, in part, attempts to show how difficult her job was by likening it to selling “deck chairs on the Titanic” or “tickets to a funeral.”

The Mets hired Castergine in December 2010 to help curb a steep decline in attendance. It was a crucial time as the trustee seeking assets for victims of Bernard L. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme sued the Wilpon family, which had invested hundreds of millions of dollars with Madoff.

In 2008, the Mets’ last year at 57,000-seat Shea and the last time they finished with a winning record, they sold more than 51,000 tickets a game, second in the major leagues behind the Yankees. During the inaugural season in 42,000-seat Citi Field, the Mets’ average attendance was about 39,000, although they lost 92 games. The next year, the average dipped to almost 32,500, and the Mets brought in Castergine.

Attendance represents the number of tickets sold, not the turnstile count, so, in reality, Citi Field has had plenty of empty seats.

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Why Are The Mets Playing The Oakland A's???

Dumb. That is interleague play. Another stupid idea by uber-non traditionalist Bud Selig that has long out-lived its usefulness. The Mets should be playing the Dodgers, Giants or Padres, teams in the National League that fans have long known, welcomed and have real rivalries with.....but they're facing Oakland in a 2-game series no less, for no other reason than our useful genius of a commissioner thinks it's cool. Dumb.

RELATED: d'Arnaud set to return to Mets for opener vs. A's

Mets Take 3 Out of 4 from Marlins

On the road no less. And wonder what all the "experts" out there ready to dig David Wright's grave think now? I've said it before, the Mets have a "core" they should never give up on no matter what happens: Wright, Niese, Harvey (if he return to form), Mejia and Murphy. The right GM can build a winner around these guys if only Fred Wilpon ever loosens the purse strings:

MIAMI -- Daniel Murphy hit a three-run homer and the New York Mets matched a season high with 17 hits Sunday to beat the slumping Miami Marlins 11-5.

Jonathon Niese (4-4), who has been plagued by poor run support this year, won for the first time since May 22. He allowed less than four earned runs for the 19th consecutive start, giving up three in six innings.

Mets starters have an ERA of 1.74 over the past six games.Niese drove in a run with a suicide squeeze bunt, but the bulk of the offense came from higher in the order.  

David Wright drove in a run for the sixth game in a row.Curtis Granderson thrived again in the leadoff spot, reaching base four consecutive times. He and Lucas Duda each had three hits.Murphy had two hits, including his sixth homer. 

Kirk Nieuwenhuis, making his first start since being recalled from Triple-A, doubled twice.

Rookie Anthony DeSclafani (1-2), making his fourth major-league start, gave up seven runs in 3 2/3 innings and departed with a 7.59 ERA.The Marlins (37-38) fell below .500 for the first time since April 30. Ten days ago they had the best home record in the majors, but they went 3-7 on their longest homestand of the year, losing all three series.

The Mets had scored a total of 13 runs in Niese's previous five starts, but he led 7-0 before giving up three runs in the sixth. The left-hander then struck out Derek Dietrich with the bases loaded to end the inning and his afternoon.

RELATED: Wright leads at third for ASG, but Murphy needs help

Mets Continue To Mess With Daniel Murphy's Head

Today it was announced that manager Terry Collins is moving the slumping Curtis Granderson from the cleanup spot and replacing him with...who else? Daniel Murphy:

Terry Collins is considering moving Curtis Granderson out of the cleanup spot, the manager said after Saturday’s game.

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Update 10:30 a.m.: Granderson will bat second on Sunday. Daniel Murphy will bat cleanup.

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Granderson, who signed a four-year, $60 million deal this past winter, went 0-for-5 earlier in the night. He left six runners on base.

I've been saying for years that besides David Wright, Daniel Murphy is the best hitter the Mets have--a consistent .280 to .300 guy who could easily score around 80 to 100 runs for you and drive in around 70 every year all the while playing a decent 2nd base...if the Mets just left him alone. And just looking at Murphy's career stats, he's more then proven this. But this is the Mets organization, a woeful program operated by Fred Wilpon that hasn't won it all in 28 years and here's yet another reason why. Instead of leaving Murphy (a homegrown talent who always plays hard regardless of the situation) be, the inept Mets management continue to show a willingness to screw with his head. Whether it's constantly putting Murphy on the trading block, incessantly trying him out at different positions, getting into his head when he goes through a periodical slump or in this case, panicking and moving a guy with a lifetime total of 39 home runs to the cleanup spot all because your new multimillion dollar CF is off to a bad start...it's always Murphy who gets the short end of the stick. Will they ever learn to just leave Daniel Murphy alone? He's earned that right.