Mets Schneider out indefinitely with calf strain

According to ESPN.com Mets' catcher Brian Schneider is out indefinitely with a calf strain.

Fantastic. The one guy who didn't play in the WBC is now out for who knows how long. Ramon Castro is the easy choice to start the season behind the plate.

By the way the term "indefinitely" when associated with an injury makes it seem like such a tragic injury, when in fact it's merely that the doctors don't know how long it will take to heal.

While Schneider is not exactly the linchpin to the Mets offense, he was having a nice spring batting over .300 amidst talk that the Mets were shopping him in the offseason and potentially pursuing a better hitting catcher to add before opening day.

I really wanted Schneider to get off to a good start this season and put some of that talk behind him. I also think he calls a very good game and is one of the most sound defensive catchers in all of baseball.

You may not think the loss of Schneider is a big deal, but with Maine struggling, Perez being a mental patient and the unknown state that is the 5th starter, this injury may have a bigger impact than you would think.

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Hi, My Name is Luis Aguayo

Hello. My name is Luis Aguayo. You don't know me? I'm the third base coach for the New York Mets (thanks Jerry!). I'd post a picture of myself, but none exist on the entire Internet. Can you believe that? I can.

I'm just your average third base coach. I like to spit. I like to stand outside doing nothing. And I absolutely love the sunflower seeds. They're so tasty and crunchy at the same time. Plus they allow me to have an excuse to do the other thing I absolutely love, spit!

One of my other hobbies is getting Endy Chavez thrown out at home plate. Oh, it's so funny watching little Endy run around the bases. He's reminds me of Speedy Gonzalez, who I love almost as much as spitting.

When I see Endy flying around second, it just makes me want to see him embarrass himself by making an out at the plate. He's so cute with his skinny little arms chugging back and forth. I just love to watch him get thrown out.

In fact I did it last night, twice! Oh what a wonderful evening. I could hardly write about it in my diary because I was just smiling from ear to ear as I thought about sending Endy around third while Jimmy Rollins' rocket arm was waiting to gun him down like Bambi's momma.

The only person I enjoy sending to home plate more than Endy Chavez is Ramon Castro. Oh that bucket head huffs and puffs around the bag and I send him home just for the fun of it.

So now you know me. I'm Luis Aguayo and I love to watch Endy Chavez get thrown out at home plate. It's almost as fun as spitting. And that's my job.

What's the Deal with Brian Schneider's Intro Music?

Ok, I can't dwell on yesterday's game because it was a debacle and there's no use thinking about it anymore.

But I have to ask has anyone noticed Brian Schneider's intro music when he comes up to bat? Usually intro music is suppose to symbolize who you are or it's a tune that gets you geared up.

I know that Piazza used to switch his music up to various metal groups. My 3 year old can tell when Carlos Delgado comes up because he's been using the same song with that familiar Latin beat for the past three years.

So that brings me to Schneider who unless I'm totally mistaken has some type of hip hop/techno music for his intro. I don't know the name of the song, but it's probably the last song I'd envision to symbolize Brian Schneider. I pegged him as more of a classic rock kind of guy, but maybe I'm just revealing my stereotyping tendencies.

Anyway, the best intro music still goes to Ramon Castro who has "The Imperial March" from Star Wars play when he bats. That still makes me laugh.

I guess I can't knock Schneider because he's been hitting the ball, but if his average starts to dip I think the intro music should be the first thing to go.

The Mets Need Mike Piazza

At Metsblog.com this afternoon a post was uploaded discussing the idea of the Mets getting Mike Piazza to help with their catching woes. I really enjoy Metsblog.com, but here at MetsLifer.com we discussed this idea a few weeks ago in a previous post.

I was surprised to see Metsblog.com respond that the Mets shouldn't go after Piazza (blasphemy!). One of the reasons was that Castro does not appear to be out of the lineup for very long (good news), but the more surprising reason was that this is no longer Mike Piazza's team. It's Reyes' team or Wright's team.

In my opinion that's exactly the reason you add Piazza.

Piazza doesn't have to be the superstar or leader of this team. He's a contributor, one of those intangibles off the bench, a la Kirk Gibson on the '88 Dodgers. This is Reyes' & Wright's team, but that doesn't mean Piazza shouldn't be on it.

Mike DeFelice is quite possibly the worst hitter in baseball, and any at bat he has is one too many if you ask me. Piazza calls a great game, and it's not like Lo Duca or Castro are gunning runners down left and right. But it's the intangibles that make me want Piazza now more than ever. It would be like the return of a hero to the ball club. Piazza is one of the greatest clutch home run hitters I have seen, and if the Mets make the playoff you know there is a historic moment waiting to happen if Piazza is in pinstripes.

There are a number of other reasons which I discussed in my previous post that I think are still valid.

For the fans as well as for the ball club, getting Piazza is a win-win situation. Send DeFelice back to the minors to tutor Mike Pelfrey, and bring in Mike Piazza which adds a nice bat to the Mets bench and a solid backup catcher.

Bring Mike Piazza home where he belongs.

Go Get Mike Piazza

I'm starting a new campaign to bring Mike Piazza back to the Mets. ESPN.com has been reporting that the A's are shopping Piazza and possibly even trading him to the division rival Angels.

You know how Billy Beane likes to talk with the Mets about trades and I think it's time we considered bringing Mike Piazza back where he belongs for the close of his career. Here's why.

1. We need another power bat off the bench - Take a look at our bench and name one guy you can see hitting a game winning home run. Castro? Maybe. Easley? Not likely. Gotay? Probably a single or a double. Piazza would add that pop to the bench that the Mets need, especially if we make a playoff run.

2. We need Castro to be available - Lo Duca is good, but Castro has been other-wordly. But Willie won't pinch hit him because he'd be using his only back up catcher. Piazza would allow Castro to be used more.

3. Piazza is ten times better than Mike DeFelice, Sandy Alomar Jr, etc. - Let's be frank. No one wants to see DeFelice up to bat. Alomar Jr.? Ditto. Hmmm, having a hall of fame catcher with 300+ home runs as your 3rd string catcher = priceless.

He'd probably pass through waivers and for the pure mystique of seeing #31 back in Mets pinstripes would be priceless. Who's with me?

Ramon Castro: El Capitan

Call him whatever you like, but Ramon Castro to me is now "El Capitan." Ramon Castro continues to impress pretty much everyone with his bat this year. But not to be overlooked is that Castro calls a good game and plays well defensively too.

Did anyone notice that for the last few games Castro's intro music when he bats it is "The Imperial March" from Star Wars (a.k.a. Darth Vader's intro music). I love it. Not sure if it's a play off of Pedro Martinez's nickname for Castro, which is Bucket Head, or if it's the fact that he seems to smack the ball hard every time he swings the bat.

Castro's 400+ ft. home run yesterday was a spectacle to behold. He killed it amidst the pouring rain. On a clear day it would have hit that huge black structure that sits in center field (does that thing really serve any purpose?).

While I hate to see the Mets suffer another injury in Lo Duca, I do like the idea of El Capitan getting some more at bats. Castro is not the greatest pinch hitter. He needs to be in the flow of the game to perform.

If only he were a little bast quicker. I think he's arguably the slowest man in baseball. He's slower than Julio Franco's bat, which is saying something.

But it doesn't matter if he keeps crushing home runs and hitting with runners in scoring position. Keep it up, El Capitan.

Terrible Decision by Randolph

What was Willie Randolph thinking last night? He made one of the worst decisions in managerial history (the worst I’ve ever seen) when he decided to use two players in one at bat. Yes, you read that correctly. He literally used up two guys on one play.

In the 7^th inning, when Lo Duca pulled up lame at second base, Randolph put El Duque in to pinch run for him, and with the pitcher due up, he inexplicably chose to bat Marlon Anderson - against a lefty no less – rather than put Ramon Castro up and save Anderson for later in the game. Instead, Anderson hits, and Castro replaced Lo Duca in the top half of the inning. I could not believe what I was watching. A major league manager is making this mistake? The blunder is even worse when you consider that Anderson was the last player available – and they were only in the 7^th inning! Everyone in the building, watching from home, or listening on their radio assumed Castro was coming in. Even Ramon figured as much since he had his helmet on, bat in hand. It was shocking.

"Anderson is a professional pinch-hitter. I'd rather have him in that situation," Randolph said. "If I'd had Castro pinch-hit there, they'd have brought in setup man Jon Rauch." Uh…really?

So what? I’d rather have a scorching hot Castro face Rauch than Anderson facing a lefty. And guess what? I’d still have Anderson to pinch hit later in the game, rather than ending up with Tom Glavine in that spot. In fact, I don’t care if there were two or three guys remaining on the bench, why use two for one? As fas as I am concerned, Castro was the only choice. And after all, the Mets were carrying three catchers for a few weeks specifically to allow Castro to get pinch hit ABs. If this wasn’t one of those opportunities, then I don’t know what was.

It was simply an awful decision in what has become a very questionable season for Randolph, who was runner up for manager of the year last year. I’ve been a big supporter of Randolph's, but even I am starting to see the flaws.

The Mets Batting Order

I heard on WFAN today that Willie Randolph has used 55 different batting orders this season. Of course this includes variants in who the starting pitcher is, but still makes for a ton of lineup changes for only being halfway through the season.

I do feel that it's important to have a standard lineup to go with especially down the home stretch of the season. Batters get in a groove and I think a team clicks better when there's some standard structure to the lineup. Of course there will be days when substitutes are made or it's a day game after a night game, but here I propose what the "every day" starting lineup should be between now and the end of the season:

1. Jose Reyes - easiest selection to make; no brainer
2. Ruben Gotay - until he cools off I like him as a table setter up top
3. Carlos Beltran - part of me wants to drop him in the order, but he should stay
4. David Wright - he's reprising the role of Mike Piazza in 1999, he's going to carry this team
5. Carlos Delgado - I like the way he's starting to swing the bat
6. Moises Alou - if he's healthy, he could knock in 50 RBIs from this spot before the season is over
7. Shawn Green - lefty, righty, lefty, righty, lefty
8. Paul Lo Duca - his at bats are shaky compared to last season, still he's potent #8 hitter.

The only thing I'd like to see and Bryan and I were talking about it this morning is getting Ramon Castro some more at bats. I'd plug him in the 6 or 7 spot and move some other people around when he's in the lineup. Ramon Castro is on a hot streak right now and I think he needs to start playing at least 2-3 games a week. If he starts to falter, you can relegate him back to the bench, but he's too good right now to be riding the pine.

You got all that Willie Randolph? Great, now let's go do it.