I think the players will be held to a higher standard under the new regime. I think one of the main issues under Omar was that he recruited these players to come to N.Y. and that he developed a relationship with them that shouldn’t have been in place. Instead of going to the teams manager, I’m certain that players would go directly to Omar or Tony Bernazard to voice complaints and issues, which shouldn’t be the case. I don’t see that happening often under Sandy Alderson.

We have some very intelligent people in place, let’s hope they don’t outsmart themselves here in N.Y. This is the first time I think any of these executives will have the access to the financial resources the Mets have, so let’s hope they use them, but this time use those resources wisely. I don’t think the Mets will ever quite be the Yankees, but I’m hoping we look more like the Red Sox, who seem to spend their dollar wisely and are perennial contenders by developing players internally and adding key pieces via trade and free agency.

The manager search continues. Honestly, it doesn’t matter to me who the manager is. I’m not going to the ballpark just because Wally Backman is the manager. I want a manager who wins, bottom line. I don’t care about their personality, I just want wins. Now the new manager will be tasked with creating a new atmosphere in the clubhouse, so their will have to be change. Right now, it looks like Terry Collins is the front-runner, certainly not a sexy name but neither was Terry Francona, Joe Torre or Charlie Manuel when they got hired.

Lastly, I promise I have not forgot about the over/under game. I’m going to try to get the winner their pessimets t-shirt by Christmas.

Fast forward to Sunday October 3rd 2010. A mere five years has passed since those wonderful thoughts went through the minds of many a Met fan. And now the future couldn’t look more dismal. It was quite fitting on this last day of Omar Minaya’s tenure as GM and Jerry Manuel as skipper that Oliver Perez would be the pitcher to lose the game, of course by hitting a batter and walking three straight. You couldn’t have planned that any better. Right now, there is no plan in sight, drama around every corner, a useless owner and a terribly underachieving, disappointing team.

So when did it all go wrong?

I mean it was just four years the Mets were one hit from the World Series, just two years ago one win from the playoffs. That seems like such a  long time ago now, doesn’t it? Two miserable and mediocre years will do that to a fan. We had been burnt by 2007 and 2008, severely beaten(literally) in 2009 and finally now I think most of us have thrown our hands in the air and given up in 2010, yes I’m waving the white flag. No more misery, please.

Don’t get me wrong I’m still a Met fan for the rest of my life. But, at least for the next few years, we won’t go into the season thinking playoffs are even a possibility, at least we shouldn’t. Not until we get back to that promise land of the post-season, will I allow hope and happiness to crawl back into this Pessimet’s head. After the caught looking in 2006, the destructive endings to 2007 and 2008, the injury filled year of 2009 and the mediocre and disappointing 2010. Not to mention Tony Bernazard, firing of Willie Randolph at 3am and countlessly other mishandled moves it’s easy to understand a Mets fans reluctancy to get our hopes up for the future. 

Fool me once shame on you, fool me four straight years after that and I’m just a moron.

Well, it will soon be time to begin a new chapter for the franchise. Gone will be Omar, gone will be Jerry Manuel.  Don’t get me wrong, I think Omar did a pretty good job of restoring this franchise to respectability and contention. Signing Pedro and Beltran was amazing, acquiring Johan for next to nothing was genius. The peak of the Omar era was clearly the Endy Chavez catch in the 2006 NLCS Game 7. I remember him making that catch and thinking, yes we’re going to score some runs, World Series here we come.

Ever since that Endy catch the team has gone down hill.

Omar, I thought, did well for the most part, but under his guidance the organziation lacked the forward thinking approach that was desperately needed. It was always patch up a hole in the off season but never address any major problems in season. I’m not sure how much flexibility Omar was given in the last couple of years but the Ollie P and Castillo contracts sure didn’t help.

In any organization it starts at the top with the ownership. Unfortunately, that probably won’t be changing any time soon for the Mets. I don’t have the answer as to who the next GM should be. I’m hoping who ever is chosen is given full control with ample spending opportunity. I’m praying Ollie P and Luis Castillo are no longer on this team next season.

It’s going to take A LOT for the organization to regain the fans trust and take A LOT more for them to get the fans back in the ball park. Even if they do well for a half a season, I’m not going to be in any rush to buy tickets because I’ve been so badly burned in recent years.

There is some hope in the future with Mejia, Ike and Niese but I’m afraid by the time they become dominant we’ll have the same problems with a different cast. Time to close the book folks on one very dissapointing chapter in Mets history, ladies and gentlemen the Omar Minaya era is officially over, let’s pray for a better tomorrow!

The Mets beat the Indians to win their sixth straight 8-4 tonight. Niese wasn’t perfect but did the job pitching 7 strong allowing three runs. The Mets scored 5 runs in an inning for the third straight game.

You really can’t say enough about this team right now, 9 in a row. Everyone seems to be contributing, Angel Pagan has been amazing, Jerry better not take Angel out of the 2 hole.Wright and Reyes are clicking. Let’s hope they keep it going into this weekend.

Last season, Pelfrey also faced the Orioles, he won that game against Jeremy Guthrie going 5 2/3 allowing only a two run homer to Nick Markakis. The homer came on Pelfrey’s third best pitch, a changeup. Former Oriole pitcher Jim Palmer thought Pelfrey could have done better.

After the game last year the Hall of Fame Pitcher and Orioles broadcaster approached Pelfrey and gave him some advice.

“The guy is very, very approachable,” Pelfrey said. “He was a pretty good guy to come and talk to me. You always try to get insight, and that guy definitely knows what he’s talking about.”

Mike recalled what Palmer had told him,

“He said he read that I thought I should have gone seven [innings]. He said I might have gone nine. He talked about some things I did that maybe next time I could get away from. He said remember what my best pitch is. Don’t get beat up on your third or fourth pitch, which the changeup was.”

This season, Pelfrey seems to be using his bread and butter pitches much more effectively and he’s not getting beat often at all. I thought it was interesting that a former pitcher for a team that you’re trying to beat was nice of enough to reach out to Big Pelf last season. I guess Palmer saw the potential in Pelfrey last season that we were all hoping would come to fruition as it has this season.

Before they met last year Pelfrey said he only recognized him from the Jockey ads Palmer appeared in for many years.

“I don’t know his stats,” Pelfrey said. “I just knew he was really good.”

Carter connected in the fourth after Ike Davis singled and Bay drew a walk.

Dickey had the knuckler working once again, striking out a career high 8 batters.  Dickey came up especially big in the fourth, managing to pull out of a very tight situation. The Orioles loaded the bases with no outs before Dickey struck out Luke Scott and  Adam Jones, then retired Matt Wieters on a popup.

You gotta love guys like Chris Carter and R.A. Dickey basically reclamation projects, their former teams had given up on them, and here they are ready and contributing. Everything I’ve heard about Carter is that he’s one of the hardest working guys on the team and is constantly fired up, the Mets haven’t had a guy like Carter on the team in a while. I like it.

Unbelievably, Mets will try win two consecutive games on the road for the first time this year, tomorrow.

Pelfrey who was selected 9th overall in the 2005 draft has developed into ace material this season. Big Pelf pitched 9 innings of one run ball with 6ks and no walks. Impressive numbers. A combo of Pelfrey and Santana is an awesome luxury, but the Mets still need a stronger 3rd to realy become a contender.

With the Mets down one run in the 8th Jose Reyes hit one out that just cleared the wall. It was initially ruled a double but after review was declared a home run.

Ike Davis, drafted 18th overall in 2008, then won the game in the 11th with a walk off bomb home run. I was a little afraid he was going to pull a Kendry Morales crossing the plate, but everything ended well.

Johan vs. Matt Latos for the Padres Wednesday night as long as the weather holds up.

That being said, once 7:10 rolls around it will still be fun. Hisanori Takahashi will get the nod in his first MLB start. Luis Castillo is a little banged up and won’t go tonight. He can’t drop any pop ups that way either.

Here’s the Mets Lineup:

Jose Reyes, SS
Alex Cora, 2B
Jason Bay, LF
Ike Davis, 1B
David Wright, 3B
Angel Pagan, CF
Rod Barajas, C
Jeff Francoeur, RF
Hisanori Takahashi, P

Here’s a great Subway Series Met moment to remember. Who could ever forget 2005 Dae Sung Koo

Finally what we’ve been calling for. Oliver Perez has been the biggest Met bust in recent history. I doubt he’ll pitch any better in the pen but at least we can limit his damage there.

Reyes struggled mightily in the three hole. Who knows if he was over thinking things or not. I think eventually Reyes can still be a three hitter but not right now apparently. I don’t love Pagan in the three spot, would honestly prefer Ike there.

Regarding his return to the leadoff spot, Reyes told reporters:  It feels like I’m going home to see my family.

One thing you have to say about this team, they don’t give up. Even when they’ve lost they fight hard and come back. It paid off tonight with a big win.

Big contribution in his Met debut by Chris”"The Animal” Carter wtih a RBI double in the 8th to give the Mets the lead and cap the rally. I said it in the beginning of the year, Carter should have made this team over either Jacobs or Tatis.

Jon Niese did his best Oliver Perez impression tonight giving up five walks and five runs. Once again though Hisanori Takahashi gave the Mets a solid two scoreless innings and K-Rod shut the door as Ike Davis made one of his routine over the railing, flipping grabs.

I think Ike Davis should be named Mr. Fantastic, it seems like he has these rubber arms that reach over and grab these balls over the dugout railing. He also just missed a grand slam in that 8th inning.

Great way to end a great win for those who stuck around to watch the end of this one. CitiField was empty.The Mets need to be more consistent in hitting with runners in scoring position but glad to see them break out like this tonight. Bay and Wright were both 3-4, once we get Reyes going this offense could take off again. Let’s hope the momentum carries over to tomorrow afternoon at 1:10p with Mike Pelfrey on the mound.