Mets Steal More Than Just Signs: Phillies Find it Hard To Beat Dickey, Thrown Out of Hizzoner's Court

 
 Hizzhoner is not much impressed by the Phillies

The 2010 NY Mets brief renaissance continued last night as the Mets stole a series from the hated Philmes. Though the club remains mired in the final slot in the standings with wild card contention most probably a pipe dream, the baseball gods want us to start caring about this team so our hearts can be ripped out on schedule. That explains the stirring victories over vastly superior clubs (the Yankers and the Philmes) in recent days.

Something new: 
People are saying that the play of Angel "Crazy Horse" Pagan should get some credit for the Mets recent successes, but we also should take into account the fact that Jason "Throw Money into the" Bay has started to use that piece of lumber for more than fanning umpires with cool breezes. And of course, R.A. Dickey is probably the real reason, if not for the Mets successes, than for millions of blog posts and renewed interest in the Mets on the part of all of us with sophomoric senses of humor.  I say the Mets GM needs to seriously consider A) filling out the rotation with as many knuckleballers as possible and B) cruising Mexico for players and seeing what else we can borrow from Tabasco (and give the Yomiuri Giants a call while we're at it).  Winning with players you expect to lose with is much more pleasurable than the usual situation around here, losing with beleaguered star players and a poorly chosen supporting cast, and I'm all for it. Back up the truck Omar, and fill it with scrubs!

Meanwhile the NY media is feasting on the juicy stories flowing from the doomed franchise that is the NY Mets.

Something old:
Darryl Strawberry, who is somehow comfortable pronouncing on anything after the way he's conducted his affairs, got into the clubhouse long enough last Thursday while the Mets were in DC to deliver a pep talk that did or did not rub some Mets players the wrong way. The papers are saying that the until recently useless Jason "K" Bay and clubhouse leader and go-to smiler Jeff "Franchise" Francouer are the aggrieved parties, but also that both players deny this.
 
Something Borrowed:
Charlie Manuel probably had to be reminded that the Mets are irrelevant to the Philmes in every possible way after he claimed that the Mets should be the ones under investigation for stealing signs.  Mannel apologized for his statements:

“That was just something I said that was stupid,” he said. “Someone said something dumb to me, and I said something dumb back. I have a lot of respect for the Mets. It wasn’t very smart.”

While Manuel gave ground, another Phillie, bitter ex-Met Nelson Figueroa, was getting his licks in with some telling quotes:

“There are no guarantees here, but it’s a lot more fun in first place.” Figueroa said it was a bit odd being in the visiting clubhouse because the Phillies see the rivalry with the Mets differently.
“On the other side, we were always worried about the Phillies,” he said. “They’re not worried here. There’s no panic. It’s a different vibe, the whole atmosphere, from management on down.”

Something Blue:
In an article that has no byline (is Jon Harper trying to hide from his own reporting?) in the Daily News, a NY reporter uses rumors and anonymous player sources to make the case that Francisco Rodriguez is chafing under the Jerry Manuel regime's use of his services. As the story goes, the when bullpen coach Randy Newman Niemann told "K"-rod to stop complaining, to which the noted hothead reacted with his noted hotheadedness.  It seems like it's been a long time and a lot of shabby play--dating perhaps to the injury of Billy "Countrytime Lemon" Wagner-- since area reporters have mucked any rake about the Mets clubhouse.  Without tried and true sources of discontent and centers of controversy such as Wagner and Carlos Delgado, reporters were probably consumed by the advent of their own irrelevance, too much to engage in the kind of stirring up trouble that sells papers and makes stuff interesting.