On December 1st 2007, Mets Nation was collectively left with its jaw hanging. After seeing the Mets trade away one of their “untouchable” young studs in Lastings Milledge, an uproar from fans could be heard as far as Washington D.C.

Enamored with his excited play and charisma, seeing Lastings leave created a dark cloud over lowly Shea Stadium. But alas, a silver lining! The Mets actually did get players back for Milledge. Ryan Church and Brian Schneider were shipped to the Mets from the Nationals for the exuberant young player. To say the least, fans were not expecting much from either of their 2 new players. But surprise, surprise!

Ryan Church has become the Mets best player in the early going. Leading the Mets in Homeruns (8) and second in RBI (30) and AVG (.324), Church has provided this Mets lineup with some much needed pop. Nothing has stopped Church from putting the bat on the ball. No matter where Church has been placed in the lineup he has continued to hit. The big knock on Church coming into the season was that he could not handle lefty pitching. Well skeptics, Church thus far this season is batting .326 against lefties (3 points higher than against righties!).

Even Willie Randolph is taking notice:

“His approach has been consistent. I’d still like to see him go the other way a little bit more. He’s in a real good groove right now…The results have been good. He’s seeing the ball well and just attacking the pitch in the zone. He holds well against lefties and he’s probably been our most consistent hitter. He’s done a great job so far.”

But let’s not leave out the other 1/3 of the trade. When trading for a catcher who has a career batting average of .255, the mindset going into the season has to be “Well, whatever we get from him will be a plus.” Well, seeing as how Brian Schneider is now batting .321, I think it’s safe to say he has been a plus. But his hitting prowess was not the leading culprit for why the Mets wanted Schneider. After having years of defensively inept catchers behind the plate, the Mets decided it was time for a change. Schneider, who has thrown out 39% of potential stolen base threats over his career has been a stabilizing force behind the plate. Brian has handled the Mets pitching staff seamlessly and his aggressive style of game calling enables the Mets pitchers to get into a groove.

So in a trade where it seemed as if the Mets just dumped a young superstar for a sack of potatoes, as of now, the Mets were not the one’s who let go of impact players.

It was not too long ago when Carlos Beltran was the one hearing the ire of Mets fan. At one point during his struggle with the fans, Beltran was given a peace offering by Mets nation and they asked him for a “Curtain Call.” If it was up to Beltran, he would have stayed in the dugout to spite the fans. But a certain elder statesman in the Mets clubhouse, Julio Franco, put his arm around Beltran and convinced him that taking a bow for the fans would be beneficial to his stay in New York.

But during yesterday afternoons game against the Braves the other Carlos, Carlos Delgado, was called upon this time. Due to his early season slump, fans decided it was time to get on this Carlos’ back and let him hear their displeasure. That’s why yesterday was a sight for sore eyes for Mets fans. After hitting an opposite field homerun against John Smoltz and later a bomb of a homerun that smacked into the right field scoreboard, fans implored Delgado to rise to the top step of the dugout and meet their praise.

But to Mets fan chagrin, Delgado sat idly in the dugout as they cheered him on. Very soon, jeers that turned into cheers, were jeers once again. By not responding to the fans call, Delgado received a rather large “booing” from the crowd. Maybe if Franco was still around, Delgado would have known it might have been a better decision to go out for the Curtain Call.

Delgado gave reasoning for not acknowledging the fans:

“It surprised me. The way I look at it, the fans here are very passionate, and you just don’t know what they’re gonna do…You hit a home run, shake hands with your friends, but you don’t want to show any one up. The game goes on. We had a two run lead, it went to a three-run lead. Yes, it’s a big run…but, I got a great deal of respect for the game and I don’t think that’s a place for a curtain call…We appreciate the support of the fans, but we’re here to play the game. They pay me to hit the ball and drive in runs. I didn’t think it was the right situation. Having said that, I’m not going to lie that I feel good and it’s a lot better than the boos.

Whether he thought it was the wrong time or not, Delgado needs to realize that this is New York. The fans here will love you today and despise you tomorrow. Curtain Calls from Mets fans are not an everyday occurrence. So when you do something that New York fans think is worthy of a Curtain Call, you might want to go to the top step of the dugout, wave your helmet and go sit back down.

To think that the fans of a city could not do much worse than throwing chunks of ice at Santa Claus, the fans of Philadelphia have stooped to a new low.

Friday night against the Phillies, Jose Reyes attempted to steal 2nd base. As he always does, Reyes slid head first and wound up ramming his head into the knee of Phillies 2nd baseman Chase Utley. Reyes immediately raised his hand calling for time and Utley bent down by Reyes making sure he was fine. But he was not and laid motionless on the ground for several seconds. When asked if he was knocked unconscious, Reyes said:

“I think so. I lost my mind for a couple of seconds. I went to space for a little bit.”

But as Reyes lay dazed on the ground, Phillies fans began an uproar of cheering and clapping as if Mike Schmidt had come back and hit a game winning homerun. But Schmidt had not made a triumphant comeback. The fans were cheering for Jose Reyes being injured. They were happy that another persons well being was put into jeopardy. For all they knew, Reyes could have seriously hurt himself.

As Mets manager Willie Randolph and head trainer Rey Ramirez rushed to the field to help Reyes, you could not help but feel a pit in your stomach. It took a few minutes for Reyes to be able to get to his feet but when he did, the fans decided to change the cheers into jeers. Booing Reyes for being well enough to rise to his feet. 

After a long talk with both manager and trainer, Reyes convinced the two that he was well enough to stay in the game. The whole ordeal lasted around 7 minutes but what Phillies fans did, will leave an indelible imprint in my mind for a long while. 

Mets closer Billy Wagner spoke out about the atrocious behavior of the fans:

“It’s really sad when humanity comes to the point where somebody getting hurt, it’s fun to watch,” Wagner said. “It’s sad when that happens. Nobody wants anybody to get hurt. I don’t want Jimmy Rollins getting hurt. I don’t want Pat Burrell to get hurt. I don’t want none of these guys. I want to compete against these guys because they’re the best, and you want to beat the best. You don’t want excuses. When you see Reyes laying there – it’s a tough shot, a clean play – and the fans cheering that he’s hurt, that just goes and shows you volumes about where our society is headed.”

Asked if fan behavior in baseball had worsened since his career began with Houston in 1995, Wagner added: “Not really, because this is about the only place I’ve ever seen somebody get cheered when they get hurt. (Shoot), they boo Santa Claus. What’s it tell you? They’ve taken it to a whole new level when you’re cheering for somebody to be hurt.”

In the words of Ron Burgundy: “You stay classy Phillies fans”

At the beginning of the season, not too many Mets fans were envisioning a lineup with Ryan Church batting in between Jose Reyes and David Wright. But, thats exactly what has transpired the last 2 games and the results are evident.

After taking the 1st game of a 3 game series against the Nationals, Church started off last night’s game with a bang.  Seeing his teammate John Maine give up a run in the top half of the 1st inning Church came up to the plate with one out. With one swing he brought the Mets faithful to their feet, tying up the game with a homerun to right field. For obvious reasons, this home run was a big deal but there were also underlying reasons. Church smacked last night’s long ball off of a left handed pitcher. The 2nd time he has done it this year.

The knock on Church coming into this season was that he could mash right handed pitchers but struggled mightily against lefties. There was a lot of offseason chatter about the Mets looking around for a platoon partner for Church. The team decided to give him a shot at becoming a full time player and it has paid dividends. Church now has 2 homeruns and 9 RBI’s to go along with his .340 AVG. In fact at .355, his average against lefties is 17 points higher than against righties.

But his batting is not the only aspect of his game that may have been surprising fans. His play in the outfield has been a welcomed sight after watching Shawn Green labor in right field last year. Church has shown he has the ability to take quick routes to fly balls and has shown off a rocket arm. He has already recorded 2 outfield assists on the season.

Willie Randolph has taken more than his fair share of heat during his tenure as Mets manager. Whether it be for the  mis-management of the bullpen or for not being very adept at the fine art of the double switch. But for most fans, the biggest complaint about the Randolph era has been his lack of motivational skills. Inspiring players and building up their confidence. Giving his team that swagger that the ‘86 Mets were so famous for.

During last years collapse, while speaking during post game interviews, the expression on Willie’s face and his speech never changed. He never gave any evidence that showed how he felt about his teams struggles or to let the fans know that what the Mets were doing was not alright. It seemed, from the outside looking in, that the team took on the lifeless demeanor of its manager.

 Even though it may be way overdue, Randolph finally openly criticized this team and made it seem like he would not just settle for the sloppy play the Mets have shown. After the recent 9-7 loss to the Brewers Randolph told reporters:

“Too many opportunities wasted,” Randolph said with disgust after the Mets hit into five double plays. “Just a sloppy game, the kind of games we can’t have. It was one of those giveaway games, and we’ve got to be better than that.”

David Wright backed Randolph’s “rant”:

“Willie is angry and the clubhouse is angry,” said David Wright, who hit his 100th career homer in the first but left five men on base the rest of the way. “It’s frustrating. We know that, to compete in this division, we’re going to have to play better baseball.”

Even though we all know that Willie is not the second coming of Billy Martin, maybe Randolph will finally let us see the side of him we have all been waiting for.

update 3:14pm…It’s a done deal. The Mets have signed Claudio Vargas to a minor-league deal…

With the injury to Mets starter Orlando Hernandez looking worse and worse everyday, Metsblog.com is reporting that the Mets are on the brink of signing free agent pitcher Claudio Vargas. Vargas went 11-6 with a 5.09 ERA for the Brewers last season.

After last night’s pitching performance by Mike Pelfrey against the hated Phillies, the Mets may feel a little more comfortable with the idea of having Pelfrey and Vargas as their 4th and 5th starters until Pedro Martinez returns. As the old adage says: You can never have enough pitching. The Mets are beginning to heed that message.

According to Metblog.com the Mets 2nd baseman Luis Castillo, has left the home opener with right knee soreness.

Utility fielder Damion Easley has replaced Castillo at 2nd for the time being. I’m not sure why the Mets wouldn’t put in Ruben Gotay. Oh wait, nevermind.

Last year, Jose Reyes could have easily been confused with the late tap dancer Gregory Hines. Doing such intricate hand shakes and dance steps that the FBI would have a hard time figuring them out. After one of his teammates would send a homerun over the wall, Reyes would joyfully meet them at the top of the dugout stairs and would perform what looked like a ballet with cleats.

While Mets fans well, let me correct myself. While some Mets fans enjoyed seeing Reyes prance around, other teams did not take a liking to him showing up the opposing pitcher. Reyes’ antics became the catalyst for the growing hatred of the Mets in 2007.

But Reyes vows that he is done with his former dancing ways. During a previous Mets telecast, it was said that Reyes told reporters that he will no longer be doing his extravagant handshakes. He wants to focus more on baseball and not on the extracurriculars. But do not fret fans, he said he will still be that vibrant kid with the huge smile annoying his fellow teammates with his chatter.

Hopefully Reyes will stick to his vow and not dance in the dugout but instead dance around the basepaths.

Jack Hillen six days ago was playing in the NCAA West Regional representing Colorado College. Last night, Hillen jumped in with both feet into one of the most heated rivalries in the NHL: Islanders vs. Rangers.

Hillen will not be confused with a heavyweight anytime soon. Standing at 5-11 and weighing 200 pounds, Hillen is more of an offensive minded defensemen. While playing for Colorado, Hillen notched 37 points(31 on assists)which lead all Division-1 defensemen.

After last nights 3-0 loss to the Rangers, Newsdays Greg Logan caught up with Coach Ted Nolan and asked what he thought of Hillen’s debut:

“He handled himself fairly well, but he definitely needs some seasoning before he’s ready for prime time,” Nolan said. “But we’re not going to judge a kid too heavily throwing him from college hockey into a game against the Rangers. That’s too unfair. But he looks like he has a good upside to him.”

Logan also spoke to Captain Bill Guerin:

“Jack played as well as anybody I’ve ever seen in their first game, especially against your biggest rivals,” Guerin said. “I thought he handled himself incredibly well out there.”

Hillen looks to be one of 3 core young defensemen the Islanders are looking to build around including Chris Campoli and Bruno Gervais. Unfortunately, players on the defensive side of the puck do not contribute too often offensively. That’s why last night was as important a loss for the Islanders as it was a Rangers win. The loss secured the Islanders a spot in the NHL Draft lottery, putting them one step closer to acquiring young star Steven Stamkos.

Coming into opening day on Monday, the biggest question marks concerning the Mets were their corner outfield positions. With the injury to Leftfielder Moises Alou looming overhead, the Mets decided to give Angel Pagan a shot in Alou’s absence. Mets fans were wondering what to expect from Pagan and they had every right to suspect failure. But Pagan’s performance thus far has been anything other than unsuccessful.

Pagan has driven in an RBI every game thus far and has 4 total. He has come up with big hit after big hit. Last night, Carlos Beltran drilled a double off the wall and advanced to 3rd base on a relay throw. With one out already recorded in the inning Carlos Delgado struck out leaving Beltran stranded. It was left to Pagan to drive in Beltran and come up with a clutch 2 out RBI. Pagan did not disappoint and drove in Beltran to extend the rally.

I know it’s early in the season, but Mets fans cannot be too upset with what they have seen from Pagan.