Voices, I Hear Voices...

When I saw this news, I immediately emailed my comrade/fellow Figgs fan Jason over at Faith and Fear and wrote, "You might want to pass this along to your blog partner." And within 30 minutes Greg posted with joy. I had nothing against Tom McCarthy and there were plenty of times I thought he jelled very well with Howie Rose. But his calls did seem to be a bit slow at times and most disturbingly, he wasn't Gary Cohen.

So who's next in the radio booth? Will Ed Coleman (who I got the impression would kill for the regular spot in booth from the one time I spoke with him at length) get the call and someone else take over the fill-in and Mets Extra duties? Since Eddie is a full-time WFAN employee (he deftly runs the NFL In Action show once the baseball season is over) I wonder if this could happen. I did notice he's not going down to the winter meetings like his Yankee FAN counterpart Sweeny Murti. (SI.com's Jon Heyman is now doing on air reports for the station.) Could this be a sign of things to come? I don't even have a good suggestion for any other possible replacements.

In other news, the 2008 schedule is out. Those McCarthy-loving Phillies to open, those pesky Marlins to close out Shea on September 28th. And yes, I will be one of those suckers the day tickets go on sale trying to get seats for that last game, hopefully somewhere in the upper deck. I did get a chuckle that among the highlights are "Torre and the Dodgers" coming to town May 29th through the 1st. That being said, the Mets are doing L.A. twice this year--once against the Dodgers in early May and an interleague series in mid-June. Hmm, Jet Blue might be calling me next year. On the negative side, this means that the team will be making three separate trips (San Diego and San Fran are the first week of June) to the West Coast, which won't be any fun.

Addition by Subtraction

I didn't watch TV or listen to the FAN last night, so I had no idea this deal had happened until I read the paper on the F train. Mota's gone and the team gets a starting catcher in return? Sweeeeeeet. One of the soon to be hundreds of steroid boys and one of the worst resignings by the Mets in the past three years gone? Who do we boo now? I mean, we don't have Tom Glavine to unleash our pent-up fury upon (except when he returns in the enemy's uniform). And as a plus, Johnny Estrada seems perfectly capable of splitting time with Ramon Castro.

But the Daily News says that might not be the plan. Adam Rubin writes:

"'Johnny adds depth to our catching situation,' GM Omar Minaya said in a statement that raised red flags because it suggested that Estrada and Ramon Castro may not ultimately be the catching tandem by Opening Day. (Now, other teams may have less leverage in a potential trade with the Mets for a catcher because viable alternatives are in place.)"

Hmm, looks like the Mets off-season might be more interesting than we thought.

The best headline inspired by this trade? Greg at Faith and Fear in Flushing scores with this gem:

Mota-ring! What's Your Price for Flight?

Sweet indeed.

This Day Isn't So Taxing

The past 24 hours have brought a smile upon my face, to paraphrase Coldplay. To wit:

--Derek Jeter is a Tax Cheat? Oh, sweet. The teflon is wearing off him like my old frying pan I just tossed this week.

--Yankee fans are stuck with A-Rod for a decade. Of course, they'll have that amazing offensive production, but they'll always have a distraction every day with his baggage.

--Barry Bonds has batted leadoff for the winter of our steroid discontent, which ought to see a whole bunch of good dirt come out once the Mitchell report is released. I look forward to the surprising names (i.e., lots of pitchers).

One more thing on the Bonds front--Will at Deadspin has the best take on it today:

"Let's be clear: Bonds is not being indicted for taking steroids, or ruining the game, or simply being an asshole. He's being indicted for lying about something the government has yet to prove; it's the Martha Stewart principle. It's gonna be a tough case to prove, but that's not the point of this; it never was. Right now, the general public believes there's new information about Bonds, that the government is finally punishing him for the sins we all believe he committed. There isn't ... but we want our pound of flesh. We want justice."

On the non-smiling front, Cincy lost a legendary voice and pillar of their baseball community. I encourage Zisk readers to vote for Joe Nuxhall in the Ford C. Frick Award nominating process. (And why don't you vote for Ralph Kiner too, just because.)

Oh, Zisk # 15 is now online.

Lastly, on a non-baseball note--who the fuck would vote for that jackass Lou Dobbs? He needs a good kick in the cock. And I think a gang of Mexicans are just the ones to do it.

This Makes My Stomach Hurt, Part 2

No, please, no. Let this story and this story be wrong. And let this one be right.

Honestly, if the Mets signed A-Rod, I'd have a hard time rooting for them in 2008. It sounds crazy to not want stats like that (50 home runs Steve!!! 150RBI!!!!!) but I'd rather avoid the publicity and the inevitable clubhouse cancer and post-season curse that's going to come with his contract. And how could they think of moving David Wright from third? He just won his first Gold Glove. (And congrats to Carlos Beltran for his second in a row as a Met.)

It's blasphemy to speak it, but I'd rather not make the playoffs again without A-Rod than make the playoff with him. And isn't pitching the real problem?

Ugh. I am not looking forward to this off season. I guess I will have WFAN off a lot more than usual the next nine weeks.