Issue #19 is up...and Santana is out

If you look to your right you'll see the link to get issue # 19.

And if you look to your left you'll see me laughing at the state of the Mets. A shoulder surgery for Johan Santana? When will the fun stop with this team?

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

The Mets team visit to Walter Reed Hospital Tuesday obviously had a large impact on the players (and the broadcasters, if the reaction by Gary, Keith, Ron and Kevin last night was any barometer).

Wait, let me change that to the players that went. Starting pitcher Dillon Gee was told not to go. The toxic contract twins, Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo, and Carlos Beltran did not. If there was ever a sign that not just the front office needs some housecleaning, the controversy stirred up by their absence made it clear to anyone that has watched the team.

Adam Rubin at ESPNNewYork has a great article on it. My favorite paragraph is this:

"Beltran responded after Wednesday's 3-2 rubber-game win against the Nationals that he had a conflict with planning for a high school in Puerto Rico he has pushed to build. Castillo suggested he was too squeamish. Perez declined to discuss the matter at all.

"You see people with no legs and with no arms, being in a hospital like that, I don't like to see that," Castillo said.

Said Perez: "I don't answer anything about outside the stadium.""

Amazing.

Oh, Hi There.

Yeah, I totally slacked off on the blog. For like the entire season. Sorry about that.

I found it hard to muster up enthusiasm for baseball because 1) my fantasy team was about as mediocre as it could be and 2) the Mets, well, jeebus, what do you say. I retweeted something Twitter about this Mets team being the closest to .500 for the longest time of any Mets team and my friend Brian responded with, "Of course here in Pittsburgh... we dream to someday have an average baseball team." And he's right, I should be happy the Mets are not the Pirates. But I think I would take a team playing .400 for an entire season with a thought that there was a plan for a future as opposed to knowing the organization wasn't run by a total bunch of fucking morons from the top on down. The only good thing I can say is that Gary, Keith and Ron are still entertaining. (And listening to the radio call has gotten tougher because Wayne Hagin has become insufferable. Fire Wayne Hagin, indeed.)

So let me say now, in the blogosphere, that if there isn't some serious change in the way the organization is run (as in, clean house in the front office and the coaching staff and actually admit mistakes and not to put a positive spin on everything) AND Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo aren't gone from the 2011 opening day roster, I won't be rooting for the Mets next year. I'll just get the MLB extra innings package and watch the Red Sox instead of listening to the occasional game through my iPhone. No games at Citifield either. They won't be getting my money until they stop acting like jackasses.

Oh, hey, Zisk #19 is done, and it's got a whole lot on Ichiro. You should have your print copy soon. The online version will go up at some point this month.

Finally, a couple of random thoughts:

--This Keith Hernandez site is, well, odd.

--Even though the story was later shot down, heckling Omar Minaya on a plane is awesome. I would have done it for sure.

--Frank Deford just missed our deadline.

--This piece by Joe Sheehan makes me enjoy statheads even more.

--Lastly, SNY is doing a great service with their new online show, Kiner's Korner Revisited. Ralph Kiner has sounded great this year, which is amazing.