He and his wife, Anne, have also been involved in charitable causes for years, including the International Justice Mission, which rescues victims of slavery and sex trafficking in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The Bombay Teen Challenge resonated with Dickey, who has two daughters.

“The thought of what these girls are subjected to, it’s just horrifying,” Dickey said. “It really is. It’s horrifying.”

The Mets have already sent him a letter saying they’ll basically void his contract if he gets injured and can’t play next year because of the climb. Dickey is scheduled to earn $4.5 million in 2012 in the second year of a two-year, $7.8 million deal. Dickey is still going ahead with the climb willing to risk his career for the cause which you have to find admirable.

With not much to root for over the past couple of years R.A. Dickey has been such a great story for the Mets. His performance on and off the field makes you realize there are some athletes out there that care and look to make a difference. His cause also hits home with me as I was born in Bombay, India and have seen what poverty and struggle is first hand over there. I wish him nothing but the best for his climb and of course on the field as the ace of the Mets pitching staff this year.

Photo: David Kasnic Wall Street Journal

I’m not exactly sure how this team is doing it right now but they’re winning ball games. I keep waiting for them to hit that big skid again but it hasn’t happened in a while now. I will be very very impressed if they go 4-3 while facing these 7 straight all-star pitchers, so far they are 1-1, realistically I hope for 3-4, let’s see what happens.

Today it will be Chris Capuano vs. The Freak Tim Lincecum. Lincecum has not been as dominant so far this season as in years past but he’s still been very solid with a ton of Ks. Shout out to my family in San Francisco who will be at the game today. I believe my sister in law Kanika will be rocking her Pessimets lady tee out in AT&T park. Let’s Go Mets!

You really do put baseball into perspective once you have a family of your own. A Met loss or win doesn’t mean nearly as much to me as it used to and it’s not just because the team isn’t very good, although that’s part of it, but it’s because you realize your responsibility as a father and husband is so much higher a priority than anything else in life.

Don’t get me wrong, amidst the chaos that can be parenthood at times, it’s always good to have the constant of baseball. Having the game on in the background can sometimes bring a little sanity back into your life.

I will be in attendance for today’s game at 1:10p with my amazing wife, who got bought us tickets for Father’s day, and my beautiful 2 month old daughter, Zahra. It will be little Zahra’s first Mets game ever, so I’m really hoping Niese can come through and the Mets get back to .500 once again. I’m also hoping Zahra becomes a Met fan when she’s actually old enough to choose a team to root for, after all there are many positives to raising your child to be a Mets fan:

TOP 10 REASONS to RAISE YOUR CHILD AS A METS FAN:

10.) Early training to become a lawyer later in life (reading Madoff files)

9.) Teach kids just how hard it is to hit a major league home run (since Mets don’t hit any)

8.) Baby can easily become a doctor later after studying all of the Met injuries of players on the DL

7.) Learn a foreign language with “Professor” Reyes

6.) Learn how to save money and be thrifty just like Uncle Fred Wilpon

5.) At least tickets will always be cheaper than the Yankees

4.) Mr. Met does children’s birthday parties in his spare time

3.) Just say No to Drugs. Teach your children the lessons of Daryl and Doc at an early age

2.) By the time your kids are old enough to have kids the Mets may actually be good again

and the number one reason to raise your child as a Mets fan . . .

1.) Builds toughness and character. Teach kids at an early age LIFE IS FULL OF DISAPPOINTMENTS! You can’t win ‘em all!! : )

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY  to all the Father’s and future Father’s out there, especially to my dad Stan and father in law Sanjiv, thanks for everything!!

I think Reyes is definitely going to cash in this off season, but the chances of him leaving would have increased big time if Boras was his agent. Let’s hope the Mets can re-sign him.

Jose Reyes is an extremely hot commodity these days, on and off the field. According to Ken Rosenthal of foxsports.com super agent Scott Boras is speaking with Reyes about becoming his representative.

Reyes’ current agent is Peter Greenberg. Another prominent Greenberg client, reliever Rafael Soriano, switched to Boras shortly before becoming a free agent last season and got big bucks on the open market.

Ugh, if Reyes gets with Boras the chances of him remaining a Met get smaller in my opinion. Simply because the Mets are broke and they’re being held to a much tighter budget than in years past I doubt they’d really willing to negotiate as much if he’s on the open market.

My guess Sandy already has some numbers in mind, and a breaking point number that he won’t/can’t go past.

How hard would it be to Jose Reyes in a uniform other than the Mets? Seeing him flying around the bases going for a triple? Or high fiving and pumping up his teammates? I don’t even want to think about it right now.

To me if you let Reyes go, you might as well tear down the entire team. Reyes is the type of player you build a franchise around and if you have him, you have to find a way to keep him.

I guess hindsight is 20/20 but Sandy should have made signing Reyes a priority when he got on board. As much as we kill Omar, you know Omar would have signed Jose in the offseason as he did in the past. Instead Sandy took the wait and see approach. I can’t kill Sandy for that because Jose was coming off and injury but what’s the upside in waiting really?

If you had signed him in the offseason you probably would have got him at a more reasonable price, thus allowing him to be an even bigger trade chip if you wanted to deal him later, since he’d be under contract. The risk of course is that he stayed injured, but he’s only 28 now and I believe just entering the prime of his career.

While I’m hoping beyond hope the Mets keep one of my favorite Mets of all time, I think as much as it hurts we all have to really start prepping ourselves to see Jose in another uniform next season.

Surprises are always best when you don’t expect them.

Below is the 2011 Over/Under Game. Lets see how many of these we actually get right at the end of the season. Winner will receive a FREE PESSIMETS T-SHIRT and will be contacted by e-mail at the end of the season. Congratulations to “steven” winner of the 2010 Pessimets Over/Under Game. Copy the picks below in your comment and then write your predictions in whether the stat will be over or under. Good Luck!

1. Johan Santana Games Pitched – 11 1/2

2. R.A. Dickey Wins – 12 1/2

3. Number of different Mets to start at 2B – 6 1/2

4. Jose Reyes Triples – 13 1/2

5. Jose Reyes Stolen Bases – 47 1/2

6. Carlos Beltran Games Played  as a Met – 92 1/2

7. David Wright Home Runs – 28 1/2

8.  Jason Bay RBI’s – 91 1/2

9.  Chris Young Innings Pitched – 143 1/2

10.  Roy Halladay & Cliff Lee Combined Wins – 34 1/2

11. K-Rod Games Pitched – 54 1/2

12. Bobby Parnell Saves – 7 1/2

13. Ike Davis Home Runs – 26 1/2

14. Mike Pelfrey Wins – 13 1/2

15. Mets Wins  – 82 1/2

Tie Breaker – Number of wins for 2011 New York Mets -

Here are the correct results below:

1. Johan Santana Wins – 17 1/2 Under

2. Mike Pelfrey Wins – 11 1/2 Over

3. Mike Pelfrey Balks – 3 1/2 Under

4. Jose Reyes Triples – 14 1/2 Under

5. Jose Reyes Inside the park Home Runs – 1 1/2 Under

6. Carlos Beltran Games Played – 115 Under

7. David Wright Home Runs – 24 1/2 Over

8.  Jason Bay RBI’s – 106 Under

9.  Oliver Perez starts go over 6 innings – 6 Under

10.  Roy Halladay Wins – 18 1/2 Over

11. K-Rod Saves – 40 1/2 Under

12. Jenrry Mejia Games Pitched – 22 1/2 Over

13. Ike Davis Games Played – 30 1/2 Over

14. Number of Met Managers in 2010 – 1 1/2 Under

15. Mets Wins – 85 1/2 Under

I guess there’s two ways you can look at this, 1.) He’s now the Phillies problem and will be a drag on their team or 2.) The Pessimet way, and that is Castillo will join the Phillies motivated to prove the Mets wrong for releasing him. He will come back strong with a vengeance and starting tearing up the N.L. East.  Knowing the Mets luck #2 is a strong possibility.

As for the Oliver Perez watch, Terry Collins will be meeting with Sandy Alderson Monday morning to discuss Ollie’s fate. I suppose the only reason he’s lasted this long is because the organization was hoping some desperate franchise would trade a bag of balls for Perez. Apparently no one is biting, knowing the Mets have no real thoughts of actually bringing Perez north with them, teams will just wait till the Mets cut bait with Ollie and pick him up on the cheap.

Watch the Phillies sign Perez next. . .

No one has stood out this spring at second base. It will be interesting to see who gets to start, which it seems will be basically by default at this point. We know Riccardi loves Emaus, Castillo is the old vet but no fan wants to see him, Murphy is likable but can his defense is a concern.

So Luis Hernandez is a distinct possibility. Either way, I think the team does need to move on from Castillo, they need to get rid of some of the older vets who are not going to be in the long term plans who are taking up cap space one way or another.

“I’ve talked to a number of people interested in purchasing part of the New York Mets, but I’’m not formally with any group that is actively pursuing this venture,” Valentine said Sunday night.

I think eventually the Wilpons will have to sell a majority interest in the Mets. I’m a little tired of hearing about the financial situation the Wilpons are in. I miss just talking baseball, but this cloud will continue to hang over the team’s head throughout the year or at least till the situation is resolved, which I’m sure will take a long time.

I think this is a solid move by Sandy. Since we know we’re going cheap at least we’re going cheap with someone who has a high ceiling and not a Livan Hernandez/Freddy Garcia type. Young, if healthy, could return to his Padre form in another pitcher’s park in CitiField. Worst case scenario we’d probably have the two tallest pitchers in baseball in Pelfrey and Young, with Young standing at 6′10.