Bleacher Report - Articles by Nick Carlo

Note To Omar Minaya: Trade Luis Castillo

Nick Carlo — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:13:43 -0500

The Mets top priority this season isn't left field or starting pitching. It is to bring change to the team. The Mets need to bring in a number of new faces to bring the team a new attitude.

I am totally against the team getting rid of the core, but I am in favor of them getting rid of some of their older aging players. One of those is Luis Castillo, I am a big fan of Castillo and the way he plays the game of baseball, but I think it is time for him to go.

This past offseason, Luis Castillo's main goal was to train himself back to the player he used to be. He participated in many activities to make him a better player, and many doubted that these activities would make him a solid player.

One of the main concerns for Castillo was his knees. Castillo has been known to have weak knees and they have recently been a huge problem in his career. His knees have cost him many games and it's never good for a team when your starting second basemen needs at least one day off a week.

Luis wasn't off to the best of starts this past season. It looked like he was done and that the Mets made a wrong decision by not getting rid of him. It all hit rock bottom on Castillo's infamous dropped pop up that would've wrapped up a win against the Mets cross town rival, Yankees.

But, Castillo faced the press like a man after that game and it seemed to have taken a load off his shoulders. After that game, there were many sarcastic cheers when he caught a routine pop up. He did not let that get to him, he actually got a laugh out of it.

Soon after the error, he started to swing a hot bat and fans quickly forgave him. He was putting up solid numbers and he never looked back. He ended the season with an impressive batting average over .300, but that doesn't convince me that the Mets should keep him for next year.

He is a solid player and a great guy, but the Mets must get rid of him. This is obviously the best time for the Mets to get rid of Castillo. His trade value is as high as it will be for the rest of his career and the Mets must take advantage of that.

There are plenty of teams out there that would be more than happy to have Luis on their team, under some circumstances. Such as, swapping a bad contract for a bad contract, or the Mets paying off some of Castillo's contract.

Castillo will be earning six million dollars every year for the remainder of the contract, and that is without a doubt, way too much money for him. Even if the Mets trade him and pay off half his contract they can use the other three million to spend on a guy like Orlando Hudson.

Hudson, would be an all around upgrade over Castillo. He will especially help the club house out a lot. He also would love to play for the Mets, because he grew up a huge Mets fans down in South Carolina.

Although I would love to see the Mets get rid of Castillo, that is definitely not their top priority, but it can help them fill one of their minor needs. The Mets are in need of another right-handed reliever.

If the Mets can trade Castillo for a solid right-handed reliever than that would be taking care of two problems for the Mets.

I hope that we all know that, Luis Castillo is a great guy. Mets fans have to appreciate Castillo and try to remember the good things that he did for this organization. If the Mets trade him, then I wish him luck with his new team. But, the bottom line is, get rid of Luis Castillo.

My Thoughts On The 2010 New York Mets: Left Field

Nick Carlo — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 13:25:34 -0500

Left Field is arguably the Mets biggest need this off season. They have many holes to fill, but left field stands out the most. The Mets lacked power last year and that is something that they are looking for in their new left fielder.

The Mets are interested in not only one left fielder. The Mets are looking at multiple left fielders such as, Matt Holliday, Jason Bay, Carl Crawford, and Mike Cameron. All of those players can greatly contribute to the team.

Holliday brings one of the best bats in all of baseball along with Jason Bay, and Crawford brings great speed, and let's not forget about Mike Cameron's fielding ability's and power. The Mets might not even have one of those players in left field on Opening Day.

They are looking all over the place for a left fielder and those are the player's who have the biggest chances to come to the Big Apple to play for the Mets. Three of the four are free agents this off season.

Holliday, Bay, and Cameron are all looking for a new contract, while Crawford will be acquired in a trade. I would be happy with either one of those players in left field for the Mets next season, but if I had to rule a player out it would be Jason Bay.

Bay has plenty of talent, but I just don't think that he would fit in with the Mets. The Mets used to have him in their farm system, but they traded him away to the Pirates. Although it would be great to see the two sides reunite, I just don't see it happening.

That leaves three candidates. The Mets' farm system isn't the best, and I would call it average. They have a handful of solid players that they could trade, but that would leave the Mets with close to no big prospects. The Mets need to stick to free agency.

They just don't have enough prospects to give away to other teams, but they do have enough money to spend on free agents. Fans would love to see, Mike Cameron reunite with the Mets, but I think they would rather the Mets sign Matt Holliday.

Cameron is one of the best fielders in the game, and he would add to the Mets already great defensive outfield. He has above average power, but his contact isn't what the Mets are looking for.

I think the Mets have to pony up and spend some money on Matt Holliday. Holliday is one of the best hitters in game. He hit's for a high average and plenty of home runs. Holliday would make the Mets' lineup so much stronger.

His only weakness is his defense, but Beltran can help him out by tracking down some balls in mid-left. So, his defense shouldn't be a problem for the Mets. He made that crucial error in the NLDS this postseason that might have cost the Cardinals a trip to the NLCS and possibly the World Series. But, if the Cardinals didn't have Holliday then they might have not even been in the playoffs in the first place.

The Mets have plenty of holes and signing Holliday won't mean that the Mets are ready for 2010, but it would certainly help them out. Holliday would make the Mets' lineup a whole lot scarier to opposing pitchers. Holliday is the right choice for the Mets in left field.

They will have to spend a good amount of money on him, but in the end, I think he will be totally worth every dime and penny he earns. You can't put a price on a player of his caliber, if it means helping the Mets get back to the playoffs.

My Thoughts on the 2010 New York Mets: Third Base

Nick Carlo — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:12:45 -0500

David Wright, is one of the best third basemen in the game of baseball. The New York Mets are lucky to have a player like him, but he still has his flaws.

Ever since Wright made his debut in the bigs he has pretty much, been a star. He's got great talent and he can be a pretty good team "Captain."

Wright hits for a high average, hits home runs, and steals a solid amount of bases. He is a Gold Glover in the field, and an expert at anything that has to do with bare hands.

Last year in 2009, Wright had the most awkward season of his young career. Things were just not working out for him. Sure, he led the league in batting average for quite some time, but it just wasn't satisfying the fans.

Wright had a problem with hitting home runs last year. Some say that it was because of the Mets' new stadium, Citi Field. That is not true, David had around the same amount of home runs both home and away.

Wright had a total of 10 home runs last year. That is the least amount of home runs in his career. In his rookie season he had 14 home runs, and after that he hit no less than 25 home runs in each season other than 2009.

No one will ever know what caused David to have his home run drought this year. I'm sure that he is still capable of hitting around 25-30 home runs and maybe even more. He just has to go out and play the game of baseball.

He has to stop worrying and have fun. I know, that it was probably pretty tough to concentrate with all that was going wrong with the Mets last year, but David had to concentrate.

David Wright is still my favorite player and I believe that he is still progressing as a player and a person. Wright is going to be the least of my worries for the Mets next season.

I know that he is going to put up great numbers and be a great leader for the team. I also think that the Mets should reward David with the big "C" on his chest.

We all know that the Mets have been lacking leadership and that Wright is the best decision for being team captain.

Even if he isn't officially named the captain of the team, I still think that he will lead this team and forget about his awkward season.

My Thoughts On The 2010 New York Mets: Shortstop

Nick Carlo — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:01:18 -0400

One of the most crucial injury's last year was at shortstop. All-Star shortstop, Jose Reyes had his season end early. A hamstring injury sidelined him for the majority of the season.

Reyes is one of the key parts of the Mets offense. He acts like the spark plug for the Mets. When he hits, the Mets hit and they usually win. When he doesn't hit, the Mets don't hit and they usually lose. That's how things worked out for the Mets most of the time when Reyes is healthy.

For some reason, many Mets fans have been in favor of trading the young Jose Reyes. I have no idea why anybody would want to trade Reyes. He is, pretty much, the heart of the New York Mets.

He's one of the most exciting players to watch, and the Mets desperately need his personality back in the clubhouse. One of the many problems with the Mets this season is that they lacked heart, that couldv'e been because Jose Reyes wasn't around the team for most of the season.

Reyes isn't just a great asset in the clubhouse, he is also one of the best hitters in the league. His speed also creates mayhem for all teams. It's a pitchers worst nightmare when Reyes is on base.

I have been hearing that Reyes will never reach his potential and many other bad things about him. I really don't get why people are getting on Jose. He is an amazing young player, and every team would love to have him on their team and in their clubhouse.

In New York this stuff can happen. A player has one injury plagued season and his career is over. Reyes had successful surgery a couple of weeks ago and his doctors say that he should be ready for training camp in February.

I think that Jose Reyes really matured this year. He learned a lot of things and I look for him to come back strong next year.

I also think that Reyes is going to be smarter in games next year. By smart, I mean that he would hustle more and just have more knowledge on the game of baseball, and almost all the great players have great knowledge of the game.

I think that all Mets fans should embrace Reyes and great things will show. Jose Reyes is one of the best players in the game. He is an incredibly gifted young man and all Mets fans must recognize that.

My Thoughts On The 2010 New York Mets: Second Base

Nick Carlo — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 14:13:39 -0400

Last off-season, second basemen, Orlando Hudson let everyone know that he would love to play for the New York Mets. Sadly enough, he did not come to the Big Apple in 2009.

Instead, he headed over to Los Angeles to play with the Dodgers. The Mets were stuck with aging Luis Castillo. Many Mets fans were getting on Castillo. Bad things were expected from him in 2009.

He proved us wrong, but not until he proved us right. After he made his famous dropped pop up in the Yankees vs Mets game that allowed the Yankees to win the game, he turned it on and kept it going the rest of the season.

That event was kind of like a spark plug for Castillo. He had a pretty solid year.

He finished the season with a .302 batting average, along with 12 doubles and 40 RBI. Not too bad, he had a great season and I hope that Mets fans recognize that.

But, despite his great season, I believe that it is time to let him go. His trade value probably won't get any higher than it is now later in his career. This is the time to trade Castillo, and make room for Orlando Hudson.

I believe that the Mets shouldn't be picky in trading Castillo. They should just look for the best offer, and if that is a couple of B or C prospects, then so be it.

I believe that Castillo's contract has around eight million left on it, and most teams won't have a problem with that if the Mets help pay some of it.

If the Mets can get rid of Luis Castillo then I totally believe that they should go after Orlando Hudson. They are getting a second chance at acquiring and they can't mess it up this time.

Hudson should be pretty cheap, no more than five million I think. If the Mets can sign Orlando Hudson he would bring so much to the team. Not only his great ability to bat and field his position but also his personality.

Hudson is a great team leader.

He loves the spotlight and he makes those around him better. I don't know what else the Mets can ask for in a second basemen. I respect Castillo, but it's time to trade him while we can because his value will be decreasing with age.

Orlando Hudson is one of my favorite second basemen and he is one of the best defensive second basemen. One of the Mets biggest problems last year was their defense and Hudson can help that a lot.

More double plays would be turned and less errors which means more wins. More wins means more happy fans; you get where I'm going with this? The Mets don't get many second chances, so they must capitalize on this one.

My Thoughts On The 2010 New York Mets: First Base

Nick Carlo — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:34:53 -0400

First base is a power position. First basemen such as, Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard, Adrian Gonzalez, Mark Teixeira, and many more are among the top home run hitters in the league.

The Mets did not have much power last year. Albert Pujols singlehandily had more home runs than the whole Mets' team.

The Mets' new stadium, Citi Field was brought up by many as the reason why the Mets suffered this huge power outage in the 2009 season. I don't believe it is, because the Mets had one more home run at home then away this season.

It might've been because the Mets' biggest home run hitter, Carlos Delgado missed a huge chunk of the season. The Mets also suffered many lengthy injuries and some players just did not produce in the home run column.

Some people are in favor of the Mets trading for a power hitting first basemen, such as Adrian Gonzalez. I am not one of those people, I do not believe that the Mets desperately need a power hitting first basemen.

Of course, it would be nice, but it just doesn't make sense to me with the position that the Mets are in. They have plenty more dire needs than first base.

The Mets farm system isn't one of the best and a trade like this could totally drain it. I believe that the Mets should let go of Carlos Delgado. Carlos is one of my favorite players and I always wanted the best for him.

He is a great player and what counts more is that he is a great person. The Mets need to cut him loose though. His body is aging and getting more vulnerable to injuries every day.

I believe that the Mets already have their answer to first base next season. His name is Daniel "Irish Hammer" Murphy. Murphy showed a lot of progress at the end of the season.

He showed that he can be a guy who hits around .275 with at least 10-15 home runs in a season. I think that those numbers can help the Mets greatly. They don't need to send all their top prospects to the Padres for Adrian Gonzalez when they already have a solid first basemen.

Like I said earlier, the Mets have more important holes to fill then first base. They must be wise with money so they can spend it on a number two starting pitcher, left fielder, possibly a second baseman, and some other small parts.

To wrap it all up, I believe that the Mets 2010 first basemen should be Daniel Murphy. He is a solid player and he's only getting better. My next article will be on who I think should be at second base for the Mets come Opening Day of the 2010 season.

I hope you are enjoying my thoughts on how the 2010 New York Mets should look. All comments are appreciated and I would be more than happy to give you my insight on any of your thoughts.

My Thoughts on the 2010 New York Mets: Catcher

Nick Carlo — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:36:56 -0400

The New York Mets have had plenty of great catchers in their short history. Jerry Grote, Gary Carter, and Mike Piazza have all crouched behind the plate for the New York Mets.

All of them were very good players, and the Mets were more than glad to have them. Since Mike Piazza left, the Mets, well, they haven't really had a great catcher. Some solid guys, but nothing special.

Brian Schneider was all right for a couple years, but he just didn't cut it. I'm sure that all of you Mets fans out there are hoping for the Mets to do something big for a catcher and get another great player behind the plate.

Even though that would be great, it is definitely not necessary. The Mets have plenty of bigger problems to address. Last year, two young catchers, Omir Santos and Josh Thole, impressed New York.

They are both young, solid guys, and I think that they should have no problem behind home plate. I do think, though, that the Mets do need to try to sign a cheap catcher and see if he can be productive.

If he is, then Omar Minaya is a genius once again. If he isn't, then the Mets have two young catchers to turn to. The person I am thinking about is 36-year-old Jason Kendall.

He's not the most dominant player, but I think he can bring a lot to the Mets. He's got attitude and he's a good clubhouse guy. He has the talent to put up some solid numbers.

I would be fine with a .270 average, and that is all that the Mets need behind the plate. He would make a great bottom-of-the-order batter. He is a decent defender, and the Mets can live with that.

He is a Type B free agent, and that might ruffle some fans feathers. I don't think it's a big deal, and I don't think you should either. I look at this signing as a win-win situation for the Mets.

In my Mets offseason preview, you will see that I am being very realistic. I am thinking like Omar Minaya would. Only spend a significant amount of money on what we really need. The free-agent market for catchers is one of the worst in a long time.

I'd rather the Mets sign a player than trade and give up prospects. Jason Kendall will be cheap, and he has the talent to be a solid player and can be a great clubhouse guy.

On the other hand, if he doesn't produce, then the Mets can just plug in either Omir Santos or Josh Thole. Like I said, this is a win0win situation and the Mets should look into it.

I hope you enjoyed my article. If you have any questions or comments, please post them.

My Thoughts On The 2010 New York Mets: Preview

Nick Carlo — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 21:34:10 -0400

A lot of things feel weird for the New York Mets and their great fans while approaching the end of the 2009 season.

It feels weird knowing that the Mets aren't in a tight playoff race at this time; it feels weird that the word collapse isn't being thrown around the Mets; it feels weird that the Mets' games mean close to nothing at this point in the season.

The 2009 season for the Mets was anything, but a success.

It started out so promising, and the hopes of making the playoffs, and maybe winning the World Series ended so early in the season. I really don't need to explain why this happened, as all Mets fans are probably sick of hearing the same story over and over.

It's time to look ahead, time to see what can help the Mets get back to being in contention.

Many people are saying that the Mets have to rebuild. It's certainly been a tough season, but some feel the Mets can't recover from it. These same people say a lot of things that make no sense to me.

I don't understand why the Mets should trade Jose Reyes, fire Omar Minaya, etc. It seems like it's "Doom's Day" for the Mets.

I think differently. I must admit, I haven't been watching my beloved Mets games. I feel guilty, but to be honest it's too painful to watch. Most of you Mets fans and baseball fans out there are probably thinking that I only like the Mets when they're winning.

That is not true, I will always love the Mets. The problem is that I am oddly not used to seeing them play this bad. I became a huge Mets fan at the start of the 2006 season. If you didn't know, that's when the Mets started to become a pretty good team. In my young, but great fan hood of the Mets, I honestly never saw them play as bad as they are this season.

The thing is though, that the "Mets" really weren't going out on the field every game. I know that those backups have "Mets" written across their chests, but we all know that those weren't the great players that brought the "Second Baseball Team" in New York some success.

I stand by my words saying that the Mets don't have to rebuild. Sure, there have been many bad things happening for the Mets, but if the "Mets" were on the field every day and winning, these problems wouldn't even be discussed.

If you take Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Raul Ibanez, and Cole Hamels away from the Philadelphia Phillies, I guarantee that their record at this time would be similar to that of the New York Mets.

You simply can't judge any team in any sport, when they don't have their best players taking the field every game. Sure, injuries are part of every sport, but when you lose your whole core for most of the season, you know that it's an excuse for a bad year.

With that, I still don't believe that the Mets will be fine next year when everybody comes back healthy. Changes are in need, changes for the team. Let's see what the management can do with a healthy team before we kick them out of their offices.

Mets fans can't let this tough season hypnotize you into thinking that the New York Metropolitans are doomed for the next 25 years. I will not be surprised one bit if the Mets contend next year.

All they have to do is make some moves and upgrade their team like every other team is out to do. The Mets have one of the best cores in all of baseball, when healthy.

In my next few articles, I will be sharing my thoughts on what the Mets should do this offseason and how the team should look on Opening Day. I will be listing my thoughts on the Mets by position.

My first position will be on the catchers. The Mets have been weak at the catcher spot since Mike Piazza left, and the Mets need a makeover behind the plate. I am going to be reasonable in this series budget-wise for the Mets.

I'm not going to say for the Mets to go out and spend a fortune like the New York Yankees did last year, but I will name some players that the Mets will need to reach deep into their pockets for.

I look forward to this series, and I hope you do to.

The New York Mets are not doomed, so stay positive Mets fans...even in times like this.

Let's go Mets!

Who's to Blame for All the Mets' Injuries This Season?

Nick Carlo — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:40:07 -0400

Week after week, the New York Mets DL seemed to keep growing. It is bad enough for a team to lose players, but it's even worse for a team to lose their core for an extended period of time.

Some say that the Mets were just unlucky and that may be true, but some fingers must be pointed.

Note: This article is not meant to bash anyone in the New York Mets organization. It is meant to explore the possibilities and hear other people's opinions on this topic.

The Players

Just take a look at the Mets DL and those are all the players that I am talking about. Some players couldn't prevent the reason they landed on the DL, but it seems that if some players conditioned themselves better then they might not have got injured.

The off-season is a time for rest, but I believe that players should exercise even if it's only for 30 minutes a day. Players are getting paid the big bucks to be on the field playing the game of baseball.

They should at least do stretches to keep their muscles loose during the off-season. Just do something to stay in shape. Laziness is not good and it can affect your team's season.

I am pretty sure that this off-season many players are going to wake up and stretch, and also stretch before they hit the hay. That's how it should be.

The World Baseball Classic

I enjoyed the WBC this year, but there are a whole lot of problems I have with it. One of the biggest problems is that they are rushing players into playing competitive baseball.

They might look good on the field, but when it comes to late April, you begin to see the effects that it has on the unprepared players.

This problem has to be fixed, because as we see, it can ruin a team's season. When the next WBC comes, I believe that it should be mandatory to work pretty hard to get yourself in shape.

The Training Staff

The training staff's job is to keep the players in shape, especially the star players. It looks like the trainers didn't do such a good job this season.

Injuries happen for every team, in every sport, but definitely not like the Mets have experienced. Injuries are a part of the game, and that's why there are such things as training staffs.

Next year, if there's not a whole new training staff for the Mets then somebody better tell them to actually condition the players.

Jerry Manuel

I'm not Jerry's biggest critic, but there are some problems I have with him. I love to see team's work hard in spring training, but there comes a time where you have to give it a rest.

Tossing 80 straight curve balls in the heat of Port St. Lucie, Fla., isn't exactly the smartest thing. All that would do is help the team hit balls to the opposite field before they land on the DL and that would be soon.

The Management

It is not the management's fault for the injuries, but the way they handled them was atrocious. They also didn't prepare for anything like this.

You might be saying, how do you prepare for that amount of injuries to core players? Depth. That's the answer, teams such as the Rangers suffered a good amount of injuries, but the reason that they are still in contention is because they have depth.

They bring in players that win. The Mets are bringing in career minor-leaguers and other unestablished players.

A big part of the Mets off-season should be acquiring some good back up players and also some solid back ups for the back ups. Kind of like a third string.

It might not be any of these people's faults, and the Mets just got unlucky. If that's the case, then God is not a fan of the 2009 Mets. Let's hope He changes his mind in 2010.

Are Injuries a Valid Excuse for the New York Mets' Dreadful Season?

Nick Carlo — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 13:52:41 -0400

What could have been? The 2009 New York Mets seemed like such a promising team. Many picked them to win it all, and many were wrong.

Coming off of two of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history (2007,2008) the Mets were determined to get back to the playoffs.

The Mets' main focus in the offseason was fixing up their bullpen. They signed, Frankie Rodriguez and traded for JJ Putz and Sean Green. Those three relievers supposedly revamped the bullpen.

One of those guys would fall victim to injury like so many others on the New York Mets. JJ Putz, "The great set up man" went down and hasn't got up. It looks like Putz is out for the season.

With Putz gone Frankie Rodriguez's job got a little tougher, but at least he stayed healthy (knock on wood). Sean Green is putting up a solid season for the Mets and he is one of the reasons along with K-Rod, that the Mets' bullpen is one of the few bright spots on the team.

You may think I write like a broken typewriter, but here is the Met ever growing disabled list. Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, David Wright, JJ Putz, Oliver Perez, John Maine, Johan Santana, and many more.

That is pretty much, the Mets whole core. The team that they have been putting out their everyday is the third string team except for a couple lucky players who have stayed healthy.

2009 will be a season highlighted by many injury's to many valuable players for the New York Metropolitans. Everybody know's that, but the question is, is that a valid excuse for the Mets woes this season.

I say, without a doubt it is. If you take away any teams core offensive players, along with their ace, two other starting pitchers, their setup man, and a whole lot of backup players. I guarantee you that that teams result's will be similar to the Mets this year.

Just think of the New York Yankees losing, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano, CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte, and Joba Chamberlain. The Yankees won't be in first place, that goes for any team.

I'm not taking anything away from those teams who are contending for a spot in the playoffs. They deserved it, and they played for it. But, if you take away all those players where would they be? Pretty low, right?

I come to my conclusion, and that is, that injuries are an excuse for the New York Mets crappy season. It is really hard to be a Mets fan these days, but this year, although disappointing doesn't judge the team at all.

If the whole team was on the field healthy, except for a couple of players. I believe, that the Mets would be contending. But, we will never know.

New York Mets: Dazed and Confused, But Keep On Trucking

Nick Carlo — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:10:06 -0400

2009 hasn't been the kindest to the New York Mets. Their four core players have all been injured in some way, shape, or form. First it was Carlos Delgado, then Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, and then David Wright.

It seems unreal, you have to be sorry for this team. Many picked the Mets to win the World Series in 2009 and those chances are diminishing with each and every day.

The New York Mets started the season with high expectations. They had a new revamped bullpen and were more than ready to make a run for the gold.

Before the team and fans knew it, the Mets were striving for .500. And they couldn't even accomplish that. The whole team were growing their .500 beards and it came time to shave them off when the team was tripping on them while running the basepaths.

The team decided to just go out there and play. They did that and they produced as expected. Not good, I don't believe any team can do good with three-fourths of their core injured.

Oh wait...how does four-fourths sound? David Wright was pegged in the head by Giants' pitcher Matt Cain and is now suffering from post-concussion symptoms. The whole team core is on the DL, along with many other valuable players.

It all seems like a bad dream to Mets fans and the team, but it's not. It's reality and we have to learn to live with that. The team is playing solid baseball, but that won't be enough to make it to the playoffs.

No matter what happens to this team, they will keep on trucking and they proved something that was questioned. The New York Mets do have heart.

Your 2009 MLB Trade Deadline Champion Is The...

Nick Carlo — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 16:45:02 -0400

This year's trade deadline was like most of the others, it was hectic. Every single team's front office was scrambling around with a phone on each ear. At the end of the day many great players were traded.

Players such as, Matt Holliday (Cardinals), Jake Peavy (White Sox), Cliff Lee (Phillies), George Sherril (Dodgers), Freddy Sanchez (Giants), John Grabow (Cubs), Joe Beimel (Rockies), Nick Johnson (Marlins), Orlando Cabrera (Twins), Jarrod Washburn (Tigers), Victor Martinez (Red Sox), and many more were sent packing to their new team.

Some teams got a great player and some teams lost a great player in exchange for some solid prospects. For example, the San Francisco Giants acquired two solid players in Ryan Garko and Freddy Sanchez, and on the other hand, the Pittsburgh Pirates totally cleaned out their team.

The Pirates traded, Nate McLouth, Jack Wilson, Freddy Sanchez, Adam Laroche, Nyjer Morgan, John Grabow, and Tom Gorzelanny. Did I miss anyone?

All teams have different plans when the trade deadline approaches. Some teams are buyers and some teams are sellers. The buyers are the teams that need a little more talent to push them to the postseason and the sellers are the teams that are mostly out of their division race and are rebuilding, trying to free up salary, and simply looking for a new start.

I am going to try something different and crown a team the true Champions of the 2009 MLB Treadline. This is how it will work, there will be all of the regular MLB divisions with their respective teams, I will rank each team and that will be their standing. The teams will be ranked on what players they got that will contribute to their team this year.

I'm sorry for you Pirates fans, because your team will not be winning this Championship because, even though the Bucs got a lot of good prospects I am ranking teams on the players that they got that will influence their play for the rest of the season.

After the division and wild card champions are decided there will be the playoffs. The playoffs work like this. Two teams will face each other and the team that I think did better at the deadline will go onto the next round until they win it all and are crowned the 2009 MLB Trade Deadline Champions. Enjoy!

American League West

1. Seattle Mariners: Major Subtraction(s): Jarrod Washburn-- Major Addition(s): Jack Wilson, Jack Hannahan

2. Los Angeles Angels: Major Subtraction(s): Nobody-- Major Addition(s): Nobody

3. Texas Rangers: Major Subtraction(s): Nobody-- Major Addition(s): Nobody

4. Oakland Athletics: Major Subtraction(s): Matt Holliday, Orlando Cabrera-- Major Addition(s):Sott Hairston

The AL West wasn't that wild after all. The only team that made lots of noise was the Oakland A's. The A's traded away two of their biggest offseason acquisitions in Matt Holliday and Orlando Cabrera. The Mariners made some noise by acquiring both Jack Wilson and Jack Hannahan.

Both players will help the Mariners in their pursuit of playing in Ocotber. The Angels and Rangers were very quiet this year. The Angels didn't really need to make a trade, and they didn't, but it would have been good for the Rangers to trade for a solid starter.

That would have helped their playoff chances.

National League West

1. San Francisco Giants: Major Subtraction(s): Nobody--Major Addition(s): Freddy Sanchez, Ryan Garko

2. Colorado Rockies: Major Subtraction(s): Nobody--Major Addition(s): Rafael Betancourt, Joe Beimel

3. Los Angeles Dodgers: Major Subtraction(s): Nobody--Major Addition(s): George Sherrill

4. San Diego Padres: Major Subtraction(s): Jake Peavy--Major Addition(s): Nobody

5. Arizona Diamondbacks: Major Subtraction(s): Felipe Lopez, Tony Pena-- Major Addition(s): Nobody

The NL West was one of the more noisier divisions this year. Most of their moves were small but they will all have an impact. The only big trade in this division was the Padres parting ways with All-Star hurler, Jake Peavy.

All three teams in contention in the NL West helped their biggest problems a little bit. The Giants got a couple of solid offensive guys to help score some runs for their team, and both the Rockies and Dodgers strengthened their bullpens.

American League Central

1. Chicago White Sox: Major Subtraction(s): Nobody--Major Addition(s): Jake Peavy

2. Detroit Tigers: Major Subtraction(s): Nobody--Major Addition(s): Jarrod Washburn

3. Minnesota Twins: Major Subtraction(s): Nobody--Major Addition(s): Orlando Cabrera

4. Kansas City Royals: Major Subtraction(s): Nobody--Major Addition(s): Nobody

5. Cleveland Indians: Major Subtraction(s): Cliff Lee, Victor Martinez--Major Addition(s): Justin Masterson

Both the White Sox and Tigers improved their rotation with great pitchers. Both the Tigers and White Sox sit at number one and number two respectively in their division. The other team in the race, the Minnesota Twins got another good player in, Orlando Cabrera.

The Royals didn't make any noise, but the Indians might've made the biggest noise of the trade deadline in a bad way. They traded away two of their best players in, Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez. That makes it two years in a row that the Indians traded away the defending AL Cy Young winner.

National League Central

1. St. Louis Cardinals: Major Subtraction(s): Chris Perez--Major Addition(s): Matt Holliday, Mark DeRosa

2. Chicago Cubs: Major Subtraction(s): Kevin Hart--Major Addition(s): John Grabow, Tom Gorzelanny

3. Milwaukee Brewers: Major Subtraction(s): Nobody--Major Addition(s): Felipe Lopez

4. Cincinatti Reds: Major Subtraction(s): Edwin Encarnacion, Jerr Hairston Jr.--Major Addition(s): Scott Rolen

5. Houston Astros: Major Subtraction(s): Nobody--Major Addition(s): Nobody

6. Pittsburgh Pirates: Major Subtraction(s): Eric Hinske, Adam Laroche, Jack Wilson, Ian Snell, Freddy Sanchez, John Grabow, Tom Gorzelanny--Major Addition(s): Kevin Hart, Jeff Clement, Ronny Cedeno, Lastings Milledge

Every team in the NL Central made a pretty big trade except for the Houston Astros. The Cardinals got Albert Pujols his protection in Matt Holliday, the Cubs got the lefty reliever that they desperately needed, the Brewers replaced injured Rickie Weeks with Felipe Lopez at shortstop, the Reds swapped third basemen with the Blue Jays and the Pirates... shipped out their whole team.

I think that these moves are going to make this division a bit more interesting down the stretch, we will see.

American League East

1. Boston Red Sox: Major Subtraction(s): Adam Laroche, Justin Masterson--Major Addition(s): Victor Martinez, Casey Kotchman

2. Toronto Blue Jays: Major Subtraction(s): Not Roy Halladay--Major Addition(s): Edwin Encarnacion

3. New York Yankees: Major Subtraction(s): Nobody--Major Addition(s): Eric Hinske, Jerry Hairston Jr.

4. Tampa Bay Rays: Major Subtraction(s): Nobody--Major Addition(s): Nobody

5. Baltimore Orioles: Major Subtraction(s): George Sherril--Major Addition(s): Nobody

There weren't many big moves in the AL East. There were some small moves like both of the Yankees acquisitions and the Blue Jays getting Encarnacion. By far, the biggest move in the AL East was the Boston Red Sox acquiring catcher Victor Martinez.

The Red Sox have been recently struggling and V-Mart will give them yet another dominant bat that may push them to the top of the AL East.

National League East

1. Philadelphia Phillies: Major Subtraction(s): Nobody--Major Addition(s): Cliff Lee

2. Atlanta Braves: Major Subtraction(s): Jeff Francouer, Casey Kotchman--Major Addition(s): Nate McLouth, Ryan Church, Adam Laroche

3. New York Mets: Major Subtraction(s): Ryan Church--Major Addition(s): Jeff Francouer

4. Florida Marlins: Major Subtraction(s): Nobody--Major Addition(s): Nick Johnson

5. Washington Nationals: Major Subtraction(s): Nick Johnson, Lastings Milledge, Joe Beimel--Major Addition(s): Nyjer Morgan

The NL East had one of the more balanced trade deadlines. Each team made at least one headline trade. The Phillies strengthened their pitching rotation with Cliff Lee, the Braves traded for a couple good hitting and fielding players.

The Mets swapped right fielders with the Braves. So far, that trade is working out for the Mets—Francouer is playing a lot better than Church but we'll see if that keeps up.

The Marlins got Nick Johnson and that strengthened their lineup no doubt. The Nationals didn't give away their star players and that is good, I think that they were trying to find lighting in a bottle with Nyjer Morgan and he is producing.

The NL East seems like its going to the Phillies but everybody else except for the Nats is in the wild card race.

Wild Card Winners

American League: Detroit Tigers: Major Subtraction(s): Nobody--Major Addition(s): Jarrod Washburn

National League: Atlanta Braves: Major Subtraction(s): Jeff Francouer, Casey Kotchman--Major Addition(s): Nate McLouth, Ryan Church, Adam Laroche

American League Playoffs (Winner goes after equal sign)

Seattle Mariners vs. Chicago White Sox= Chicago White Sox

Detroit Tigers vs. Boston Red Sox= Boston Red Sox

Chicago White Sox vs. Boston Red Sox= Boston Red Sox

National League Playoffs (Winner goes after equal sign)

San Francisco Giants vs. Philadelphia Phillies= Philadelphia Phillies

St. Louis Cardinals vs. Atlanta Braves= St. Louis Cardinals

St. Louis Cardinals vs. Philadelphia Phillies= St. Louis Cardinals

2009 MLB Trade Deadline World Series

St. Louis Cardinals vs. Boston Red Sox: St. Louis Cardinals

Your 2009 MLB Trade Deadline Champion is the St. Louis Cardinals. The St. Louis Cardinals got two great outfielders in Matt Holliday and Mark DeRosa. DeRosa is one of the best utility men in the game and every team could use him and Matt Holliday is one of the best players in the game.

Holliday will give Albert Pujols the protection he's been needing and that will get Pujols more chances to smash the Big Mac sign.

I hope you enjoyed the first annual 2009 MLB Trade Deadline Playoffs. If you have any questions please leave them in the comments and I will be more than happy to answer.

New York Mets Showing a Little Bit of Life

Nick Carlo — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:01:00 -0400

45-20, that's what the New York Mets have to do to play in October. It seems like it won't happen, but if you have been watching the Mets recently, that hope for a miracle gets a little bit bigger.

In the Mets' last four games, they are 3-1 and have scored 29 runs. It just seems like things have been clicking for the Mets. They are getting some breaks and simply playing good baseball.

As of now, the Mets are six and a half games behind the Colorado Rockies in the National League Wild Card, and are 10.5 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League East.

Both of those leads are not insurmountable, and if the Mets play good baseball until their big guys get back, I believe they will be in good shape.

There is not a lot to write about this subject, because a couple of words sum it up. The New York Mets are playing good baseball, showing some life, and giving their fans a reason to hope.

I don't care what some fans say (Richard Marsh), I know that they have some hope for the Amazins' to pull off a miracle and that hope is increasing due to the team's play.

Now, all the Mets need is to win series and hope that the teams in front of them lose to teams out of contention (One of the eight teams out of contention, haha).

Mets fans, don't feel ashamed to let your mind wander. A miracle can happen, I'm not saying it will, but it can happen. "It's not over 'til it's over".

- "Ya Gotta Believe"

"Ya Gotta Believe" For The New York Mets

Nick Carlo — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 16:15:42 -0400

Back in 1973 the New York Mets were far behind in the standings in their division. It looked like it was a lost year for the Metropolitan's until, former New York Mets' relief pitcher, Tug McGraw said one of the most famous catchphrases in all of sports. All he said was, "Ya Gotta Believe".

The 1973 Mets team believed and they went from sixth place to winning the National League Pennant. The Mets went on to be defeated in seven games by the Oakland Athletics. But just making it to the World Series and even the playoffs was Amazin' for the 1973 Mets.

There have been many great comebacks like the 1973 Mets had. Some actually resulted in winning the championship in it's respective league and some feel short like the 1973 Mets, but it was still a great comeback.

The 2009 New York Mets find themselves in a familiar hole that many other teams in the history of all sports were in. For some teams the hole was too deep for them to climb out of, but a handful of teams rose up to the occasion and played there hearts out and climbed out of their hole no matter how big it was.

The Mets are in a pretty deep hole as of now and it looks like it's only getting deeper. They have lost their first two games coming back from the All-Star Break and find themselves eight and a half games out of first and in fourth place in the National League East. The Wild Card isn't even much of a difference as the Mets are seven games back.

The Mets season has had plenty of mistakes and mishaps. There record shows as they are 42-47. It seems like the Mets have found every way to lose a game in the first half of the 2009 season.

To name just a few, when former Met Ryan Church, the go ahead run in an extra inning game against the Dodgers didn't touch third base and was called out when he got home safely for not touching third, and when Mets' second baseman dropped a game ending fly ball off the bat of A-Rod to let the winning runs score.

It has been a mess of a season and along with the sloppy play the Mets have also been hit real hard with injuries. Their disabled list is ever growing and they have some of their biggest names on it too. Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran, John Maine, JJ Putz, and many more players are currently on the Mets' disabled list.

It seems like the Mets are fielding a third-string team every game. Players such as Gary Sheffield and Alex Cora, who were signed to be playing off the bench and give the regulars a rest are playing pretty much every game and their bodies are showing.

The "Last Man Standing" for the Mets is David Wright. Wright is putting together a solid, but weird year. His home runs are down and his strikeouts are up. While that is happening he has a .323 average which is in the top 10 in the league.

Despite how hard it is to believe. All of the Mets fans out there have to have at least an ounce of hope. Even if they say they don't, I know for sure that they do (Richard Marsh). Let's keep the posters coming and bring them over to Citi, those posters should read "Ya Gotta Believe".

New York Mets: First Half of the Season Over, How'd They Do?

Nick Carlo — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:45:37 -0400

It's been a long first half for the New York Mets, and they can sure use a break. As of now, the Mets are in fourth place in the NL East with a 42-45, but they are only six and a half games behind the Phillies. The Phillies have a 48-38 record and lead the NL East at the unofficial halfway point of the season.

The Mets have had a really tough first half of their season. They lost so many players who mean so much to the team. Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran, John Maine, JJ Putz, and many more are currently on the Mets' overflowed disabled list.

Despite all those huge losses, the Mets have somewhat managed to stay alive in the National League East. They are within striking distance and their players should be making their way back soon (knock on wood). But this article is about how the Mets have done in the first half of the season.

The Mets came into the 2009 season with high expectations. They had a great core of players and a solid starting rotation and a new revamped bullpen. Little did they know, they would be playing with a totally different team later in the season.

Since Opening Day, the Mets have lost many valuable players.

Despite all the injuries the New York Metropolitans have managed to stay alive in their division. Even though the Mets are in striking distance, I would be the first one to say that they shouldn't be in the thick of things.

The Mets were very fortunate last month when they had a record of 9-18. The Phillies could've gained serious ground but they stumbled too. The Mets could've plunged down deep in the standings, back 10 or more games, but they find themselves six and a half back.

After the dreadful month of June was over, all of baseball was getting ready for the All Star Break. All of the teams were playing their last games of the unofficial first half of the season.

Twenty One of those teams still have their sights on playing in October as they are still in contention.

The Mets went 5-6 before the All Star Break, and they managed to win their last two games with their newest player Jeff Francouer.

Francouer went six for nine with two RBIs and a double in his first two games with the Mets. The Mets gave up Ryan Church for "Frenchy" and although I liked Church, the Mets needed a new face in the clubhouse.

The Mets have given themselves and their fans so much anger, but they can fix that with a strong second half.

Their players should be back some time soon (knock on wood, do it with me), and when they come back let's hope the Mets can do some good damage.

If I were the Mets' teacher, and I was filling out their report card for their first half of the season, this is how it would look like.

Teacher: Mr. Carlo Student: New York Mets

Offense: C-

Defense: B-

Starting Pitching: B

Clutch: C+

Teamwork: A

Injuries: F

Bullpen:B+

Overall:C+

That's it for my first half review of the New York Mets, I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know what you think about the Mets in the first half of the season and how they can improve.

New York Mets: "We Stink"

Nick Carlo — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:29:29 -0400

Right now, it seems that the New York Mets don't know how to win, and that is very much true. They have lost eight out of their last ten and show no signs of winning anytime soon. The Mets have been shutout in back to back games for the first time since 2005.

The Mets aren't pitching, hitting or fielding. That is their formula for losing, and it is the formula for pretty much all baseball teams that lose a game.

The thing is, this is happening pretty much every single day for the Mets, and when they hit, they pitch even more dreadful and vice versa. To me, the Mets play is disgusting and I don't know how I still watch their games until they're down by five or more runs.

Maybe it's because of Gary, Keith, and Ron or it's just that I'm in a such shock that I can't even reach for the remote to shut the TV off, or it might be when the Mets came back from five runs down to defeat the Pirates in one of their two wins in their last ten games.

Whatever it is, each and every time I know that there is a very slim margin for the Mets to come back.

If the Mets didn't come back against the Pirates in their makeup game last week then I would have most likely turned it off after they were down by two runs. Like Jerry Manuel said, "One run seems like three runs."

That is so true. It's true because the Mets have no offense to get the runs back. They don't have that big power bat in the middle of the lineup that can tie up the game with one stroke of the bat. The Mets don't have many luxury's on their team as of now, and it's starting to show.

The Mets have been "surviving" and staying at .500—until last week. It was only a matter of time that all of the team's injuries caught up to them. Every team has injuries, but very few have three fourths of their core taken out of the lineup for more than a month each.

It seemed that the Mets were going to get their big players back but that doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon. The Mets' spark plug, Jose Reyes, seemed to be making progress until he needed a cortisone shot and that pushed him back. Carlos Beltran won't be back until after the All Star Break and Carlos Delgado will be lucky to be back sometime in August.

The "last man standing" is David Wright. Wright has been having a very weird season. His average is among the league's best but he is striking out way too many times and his power numbers have plunged.

Wright has chosen the wrong season to not hit home runs, because his team deeply needs them. The Mets have very little home runs this year and Gary Sheffield is their team leader with 10 homers.

I feel bad for David because he is getting so much pressure put on him due to his supporting cast all on the disabled list. The thing is that David can't have the mindset that he has to do everything for the team to succeed.

I believe that he is currently in that mindset and that he has to get out of it as fast as possible. It would explain his recent slump, and it seems now that when Wright doesn't hit the team doesn't win.

Each and every player has to worry about themselves and try to do as much as they can to help their team. I don't care if it's David Wright or Argenis Reyes, everyone can do something to help the team get back to it's winning ways.

If I was the Mets' manager I would tell them some harsh stuff and it would go something like this, "You guys (Mets) have to get your heads out of your asses and start playing the game that all of you grew up playing for fun. Go out there and have fun, you're all treating it as if you have the worst job, if this is even a job. You all have it made, you're playing your favorite sport and getting paid to do it. Let's take it one game at a time and have fun, don't worry about the reinforcements and when they are coming. Go out there and play! We are pretty much at rock bottom and we can go nowhere but up, because right now we stink!"

I hope that Jerry is saying something along those lines to his team before tonight's game. The team is in a lull and someone needs to wake them up, fast.

The New York Mets' Top Five Prospects

Nick Carlo — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:00:10 -0400

The injury has officially hit the New York Mets, and it hit hard. The Mets' disabled list is ever growing and consists of most of the Mets' core players. Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, Oliver Perez, John Maine, JJ Putz, and many more are currently on the Mets' disabled list. With that, many of analysts are starting to look at the Mets minor league systems. Earlier in the season, highly touted prospect Fernando Martinez got the call to the bigs. Martinez hasn't been phenomenal but he's showing good signs. The New York Mets have plenty of prospects like any other team, but some are more special than others. Here is who I think are the Mets top five prospects.

Begin Slideshow

New York Mets: There Is No Need To Make a Trade

Nick Carlo — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:50:57 -0400

In this past month, the New York Mets have turned into the New York Bets; people all around the world are betting on when the next Mets player will find himself with all the others on the bloated DL. Some even go a little bit farther and pick a player.

Some of the biggest names on the Mets' disabled list are Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, JJ Putz, Oliver Perez, John Maine, and the newest player to join the club, Carlos Beltran.

It seems like David Wright is the last starter standing. Although Wright leads the league in batting average, he only has five home runs on the whole year.

With that stat and everything else happening around the Mets, the trade talks have begun a bit earlier than the Mets expected.

It seems that the main need for the Mets is a power bat, the home run leaders for the Mets are Carlos Beltran and Gary Sheffield with eight. The Mets just haven't been hitting the ball hard and high enough. Everybody must feel bad for the chicks that dig the long ball.

A few of the biggest names out there are Matt Holliday, Adam Dunn, Carlos Lee, and Aubrey Huff. The one that would most likely cots the most is, the Oakland Athletics, Matt Holliday.

Holliday has been one of the leagues best players for the past couple of years, he helped the Rockies reach the World Series in 2007 and he came to Oakland looking to do the same.

As of now, the A's stand at the bottom of the AL West 6.5 games behind and with a record of 31-38. The Athletics are falling short of their expectations and might be ready to go into rebuilding mode and before they do that they will have to get rid of Matt Holliday and his huge contract.

You can't rebuild without young stars and that is one of the reasons why I think the Mets should not go after Holliday. The A's will be asking for at least, one of the biggest prospects, Fernando Martinez. Along with him could also be Jonathon Niese, Bobby Parnell, Daniel Murphy, and strikeout machine, Brad Holt.

If you haven't heard of Holt just look at his stats on the Brooklyn Cyclones a year ago, they are phenomenal. He is, to me, one of the Mets brightest prospects in their system.

I hope that the Mets know better enough, not to trade that amount of talent for a guy who is hitting 270. with eight home runs. That's the thing about Holliday, he's nowhere close to putting up MVP numbers. He also lacks the long ball and that's what the Mets need.

The player that makes the most sense to me to trade for is Adam Dunn. Dunn leads his team with 18 long balls and the Mets could really use his bat. Dunn would cost some good prospects, but not nearly as much as Holliday.

Although Adam Dunn sounds like an ideal fit for the Mets, he is not what they need right now at this point in the season. They are only 1.5 games behind the Phillies in the NL East and that's with their second string team on the diamond.

The Mets are staying alive and that's all they need now. Like Mets manager Jerry Manuel said, "I just want my team to stay above 500." I totally agree with that, Jerry has the right idea. Sometimes I question Jerry, but I think he might be doing the team some good with what he said.

For those of you who wanted Jerry to say that the Mets have to go out there and win every game, you must be out of your mind. If Jerry said that then right now his team would be underachieving. Right now the Mets are achieving their goal of keeping their head above the water until the regulars come back.

Unless this team finds themselves five games under 500. then they should consider making a trade. But only if they are not giving up a good amount of their biggest prospects.

A lot of people don't look at it this way, but the Mets do have help coming on the way. That is their players on the disabled list that are making their way back. Those players are all the help the Mets should need. The Mets are in striking distance of the Phillies and can be sitting at the top of the NL East as early as the weekend.

With that, their is no need for the Mets to make a trade. They would just be giving up too much for too little production. The Mets have what they need and that is the determination to prove everybody wrong, and that they can go to the playoffs despite their recent tough times. They will prove everybody wrong, you watch.

MLB: My Code Of Life

Nick Carlo — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:11:06 -0400

Today, I finished all my finals. I am now finished with school and I'm so happy.

Although it was the last day of school, it wasn't the easiest day. This whole week I had finals, they were mostly easy but just the word finals gets you a little nervous.

I am pretty confident that I passed all of them. But anyway, today I had my science final. There was one question that stood out to me. It said something like, "Which one of these are the Code of Life." I had no clue, but I eventually used common sense and chose choice "C", which was DNA.

The funny thing was that choice "A" was MLB and choice "D" was NBA. If you were wondering if choice "B" was NFL or NHL, it wasn't. I was joking around to my self that the answer was choice "A." It was to me, though I did not put that down for the sake of my grades. It got me thinking though.

MLB really is my code of life.". My whole life revolves around Major League Baseball. I always go to places where I can make sure that I am able to watch the Mets play or any other good game that might be on.

The MLB is such a big part of my life; if it didn't exist I would probably be a totally different person. Because of the MLB, I have some friends that I probably wouldn't have had. The only thing that we have in common is that we like the Mets, or they might be a rare cool Yankee fan.

Whenever I have nothing to talk about, I just start talking about the Mets or one of the big stories in baseball. It's like a little switch gets turned on in my head; if I'm in an awkward situation, then I would most likely turn that switch on and talk about baseball until I could think of something else.

Sometimes I wouldn't even have to think of something else; I would just talk about baseball until the end of the period or wherever I am.

Now that I am thinking of it, baseball really has made me who I am. That's not a bad thing because I'm sure their are plenty of people who can relate to this with, either the MLB or another sport.

If baseball wasn't around, then my room would most likely be different. All you see is blue and orange. Pretty much every time I get bored I go onto MLB.com, metsblog.com, or any other site having to do with baseball.

The sport is just so great. One swing can change the whole game. In baseball, "It's not over til' it's over." The other team always has a legit chance to come back, unless they are really taking a beating. That's why the game is so great.

The MLB has been changing ever since it was started. There has been many different eras; some bad, some good. There has also been many different teams and a whole lot of players.

The MLB is currently in a tough time, but it is still the "code of life" for a whole lot of people on Bleacher Report and out of it. The MLB will always be my "code of life" and there's nothing I can do about it. I'm hooked and I've been hooked since 2006. There will be good times and bad times, but I will always love the MLB, my "code of life."

What's this so-called DNA?

Even Writers Go In "Slumps"

Nick Carlo — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:29:21 -0400

If you are reading this article then you most likely read the title. You probably put two and two together and found out that I am considering myself in a "Slump", a "Writer's Slump". You are right, ever since I won the Article of The Day, a couple of months ago, I have a feeling that my writing hasn't been the same.

I have found myself forcing myself to write and the results haven't been good. In this past active my activity on this site has been dormant due to review for finals and all other types of things that kept me form writing. I would check my profile and see that I haven't written an article in 10 days, I would then just force out an article.

To me, they seemed pretty good, but the website didn't think so. I have been getting very little reads and comments on my articles.

Before you click the back button out of this page because you think I'm complaining that no one reads my work or comments, I am not. Trust me on that.

When I saw that I wasn't getting any type of success with my articles I made a big mistake, I started to get mad at myself. Now that I am thinking about it, I put myself in this "Slump" just like all the other sports players in the world who go into slumps.

I am going to use baseball as an example and then compare my situation to it. Most slumps follow hot streaks.

Pretty much every time a player falls in a slump, they have been playing great prior to the slump. They were hitting .600 with 7 homeruns and 14 RBI in the past week.

Everything was going right for them, when they didn't hit the ball hard it would find a hole in the outfield. When they hit the ball hard there was nothing stopping them from an extra base hit or a home run. Many players say that when they are hot the baseball looks like a "Beachball" coming to the plate and that everything is in slow motion.

Suddenly the player's hitting streak stops at a screeching halt, he goes 0-4 and strands 5 baserunners. His team loses and he feels it's his fault. He starts to beat himself up and then everything starts to fall apart.

He goes back out the next day and swings for a homerun the whole day and he goes 0-4 again. The stats start popping up on the television screens showing he's 0-8 in his last two games.

I have never been a major league baseball player and I don't think I ever will be, but I strongly believe that this is what happens to players who fall into slumps. This is how they all start.

After he is "declared" to be in a slump it is up to the players himself to determine how long he will be in that slump. For some players their slumps last a mere 4 or 5 days, but on the other hand some slumps can even last a whole year. That is very unlikely, a more reasonable amount of time is at least a month.

If the player keeps beating himself up then his slump will be prolonged until he figures out to just go out and have fun. If the player sets it straight and goes out on the field not concentrated on getting out of his slump he eventually will get out of his slump and go into a hot streak.

It's a weird world right?

As for me, this is how it happened. I was coming off of some decent articles with plenty of reads and comments.

I didn't know what to write about, I didn't panic, I just sat there and thought.

An idea struck me, "How I Discovered Bleacher Report". I went on writing and had fun writing it just like I am now writing this article.

When I published my article, despite mentioning getting a POTD, I had little to no confidence that that article will get me a POTD, I wrote just to share my story with other people.

Things went right and I found a gap, I also got some great help from some great editors. Hotnuke, Pete McKeown, Hao Meng, and many more helped make my article the best it could be. The reads were flowing in at a rapid rate and so were the POTD votes.

I couldn't believe it, I felt so good. I got so many great comments and it really made me want to write more great articles.

I had a good feeling that I was going to get the POTD, there were blue ribbons all over my recent activity. I went out with my friends and I came back to my article in the little orange box on the front page of Bleacher Report.

I sat there in awe, I was so happy. I told my mom and urged her to read it, I had to explain to her what a Pick of The Day was because she looked confused. After I explained she was so happy, she read the article and was amazed.

I told my whole family and they were all amazed too. I felt great, and realized that I can actually be a pretty good writer on this site.

I went from a cocky Met fan that knew how to get on everybody's nerves to a POTD winner that was said to be the young blood the site needed.

After that article I was, in a way, trying to hit a homerun every at bat. I found myself always going for the big one.

One POTD wasn't enough for me, I needed more. I then had a couple of bad articles and started to think that I was a bad writer.

I was trying to do too much and it showed. Everything was coming at me faster and smaller at the plate. I dug myself a deep hole that I am still not out of.

I have no idea when I will get out of that hole, and I hope it would be sometime soon. I am falling apart and I don't have enough experience to know what to do.

I hope that I showed you how similar slumps in baseball are to slumps in writing. They are both so similar and both so hard to get out of. Some get out of them faster and some don't.

A pencil and paper or a keyboard and a computer screen are powerful things. They do what you tell them to do, they write what you tell them to do.

There's nothing stopping you from trying to do too much. In a recent article by Graham Brunell he talks about that one month that every Bleacher Creature should experience.

He took a break and he's back and writing his usual great stuff. I am sure everybody else like me, is proud that he's back and their was nothing wrong with his month off, he needed it.

And I'll be the first one to admit that I may need a month off, but I just can't. I love this site too much and I will keep writing even if I'm not writing good, I know that that one article will come, that one hit that get's you out of that slump and back on a hot streak. Just remember, Even Writers Go In "Slumps".

New York Mets: Great Chance To Shut Both of Their Biggest Rivals up

Nick Carlo — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:17:53 -0400

Starting on Tuesday, the New York Mets will be playing their biggest division rivals for a three-game series. They will be playing the Philadelphia Phillies at the Mets' new home, Citi Field. When the Phillies come to New York, they won't be seeing the Mets team that they usually face.

They will be, in a way, playing the New York Mets' second-string team. You ask, why? That is because the injury bug has hit the Mets, and it hit them hard. There are a countless amount of players on the New York Mets' disabled list.

Some of the names that highlight that long list are Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes, JJ Putz, and many more key players to the Mets. Without these players, it takes away a lot of the luster on the Mets team that was predicted to win the World Series by Sports Illustrated (let's hope they break the curse).

I'm not saying that that won't happen, but if they want that to happen, then they will have to work a lot harder. So, with that, the Mets have a lot of key players injured and they are going into their hardest part of the schedule of the whole year.

Those two things don't usually equal success, but I think that the Mets can pull it off. They have to take it one game at a time. They have their ace, Johan Santana going on the mound for them on Tuesday night against, the Philadelphia Phillies' JA Happ.

To me, and many more, that is a must-win game for the Mets. When you have your ace on the mound, you should always be able to have a good shot at winning, especially when your ace is one of the best pitchers in the game. Santana has been doing that this whole year, and he still has three losses.

Johan Santana is coming off a tough couple of games, but the good thing about him is that a bad game for him is still a quality start. Santana has the ability to bounce back and I am 99 percent sure that he will.

He tends to shine the most in the spotlight. That is exactly what he, along with the whole Mets team, will be in this whole week. They will be playing their two biggest rivals, their division rival Philadelphia Phillies and their crosstown rivals, the New York Yankees.

Both of those teams have been playing phenomenal baseball in this past month. Both teams have also had their share of being No. 1 in their division for a pretty long time and they will both be fighting for that spot in their own divisions for the rest of the year.

When the Mets play the Phillies and Yankees, there are many keys to what they have to do in order to win. But some of the biggest ones are playing good defense, being aggressive on the base paths, and good pitching.

This whole year, the Mets have been very inconsistent with their defense. At the beginning of the year their defense was dreadful; they made quite a few errors that had cost them games. When the year started to progress, so did the Mets' defense. The Mets had a hot streak and led by their defense. After that, their defense began to get a little shaky but not that bad. As of now, their defense can go either way.

With the Mets' biggest base-stealer on the DL, you might not think that they can be overly aggressive on the base-paths. The Mets have some of the greatest overall speed in the game, and if they use it right, then it will help them so much. David Wright is used to stealing bases; he only stole four bases in a game a couple of weeks ago. Another legit base stealer is Carlos Beltran, who runs like a track star. Speed is a big part of his game. Rookie Fernando Martinez also has great speed and he has already swiped a couple of bases this year.

Even though stealing bases is a big part of being aggressive on the base-paths, it's not the only part. Sometimes taking the extra base can really set your team up for a big inning and that is what the Mets have been doing in the past week. The Mets have to keep that style of play now that they are facing tougher teams. Sometimes they were called out, but when they were safe, they really helped themselves out. If they can perfect taking the extra base, that would give them a great edge on the base-paths in the series to come.

The last big key for me is that the Mets' need good pitching, if not great. The Mets' pitching started out a little sluggish, but began to round out and since then the Mets have one one of the best pitching rotations in all of baseball. Pitching is always a big part to any team's game, but right now, it is a huge part to the Mets winning.

With all of the injuries that the Mets have been suffering, the pitching must hold up. The Mets don't have an offense that can overcome a large amount of runs. There's not enough pop in the lineup, but maybe their trip to the new Yankee Stadium, a.k.a. BamBox, will get their power started up. Anyway, I would love for each pitcher for the Mets to go out their every day and pitch quality starts, but we all know that that won't happen.

Every pitcher has their bad days, but when they do, they can't kick themselves on the mound. Many Mets' pitchers have been doing that this year, especially Mike Pelfrey and John Maine, two of the biggest keys to the Mets rotation. The Mets' pitching rotation has to take a lesson from Livan Hernandez, who you can't tell if he's down by 10 runs or if he's throwing a no-hitter when he's on the mound. They just have to relax, and success will come.

If the Mets do those three things, then Mets fans won't be hearing a lot of yapping from Phillies and Yankees fans for maybe...a couple of weeks, maybe days. It'll also really help the Mets in the standings if they can take two out of three in both series. To me, the Mets have a great chance at beating both of the tough teams they will be facing this week. I only ask for three things from them: win, take my three keys of winning on the field, and last but not least, don't get inured. We've had enough that.

New York Mets: The Most Unpredictable Team in Baseball

Nick Carlo — Fri, 29 May 2009 18:08:07 -0400

Over the past three years, what was expected from the Mets was not what happened. In 2006 the Mets dominated their way to the playoffs only to lose to a less than great Cardinals team in game seven of the NLCS.

That was a huge disappointment, everything looked to be ready for the Mets and that they would indeed go all the way and win the World Series. That didn't happen, Adam Wainwright shut the door on the Mets' dreams of becoming 2006 World Series Champions.

Wainwright threw a curveball that broke perfectly to Carlos Beltran and he got the backwards K.

Mets fans couldn't believe it, "we were supposed to win" was said by many Mets fans and players. But, they didn't, I watched Yadier Molina jump up and celebrate with his team on the Mets' turf, Shea Stadium.

I reached for the remote and turned the TV off, my brother came up from upstairs and we didn't exchange any words, our quietness spoke for us. It said "I can't believe what just happened." That night I pretty much cried myself to sleep and thinking that we'll get em' next year.

After a very long offseason, it was time for baseball again. 2007 was shaping up great and it looked like the Mets were going back to the playoffs and that they were going to take another shot at winning it all. As most of us know, they didn't. All they did was collapse, they blew a 7.5 game lead with, I believe 12 games left in the season.

The Philadelphia Phillies stole the division crown and the Mets were left in the dust. The Phillies got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, that cushioned the blow a little bit, but it was real tough for Mets fans. It seemed like it was going to be a long offseason.

That wasn't the case, to me, it flew by. The Mets also traded for, the best pitcher in the majors, Johan Santana. They swooped up and stole him from the Red Sox and Yankees, no one expected it, but they did it. With Johan Santana, Mets fans were very cocky going into the 2008 season.

You guessed it, the Mets blew the season. They were expected to win their division and make a run at becoming the champions of the world. Statistically they did good, except for their atrocious bullpen that pretty much blew the season for the Mets.

The Phillies won the division in the last month of the season, the dreaded September. The Phillies went on to win the World Series.

After 2008 Mets fans didn't know what to expect from their beloved team. They knew, that if the Mets wanted to win, then they would sign, free agent, Francisco Rodriguez, and stock up their bullpen.

It turned out that they wanted to win, Omar Minaya worked some serious with getting K-Rod and JJ Putz in a span of 2 days. The Mets' bullpen was fixed and it was time to go out and play.

The Mets got to work after a long offseason. Their goal was to forget about their past collapses, their first game was against the Cincinnati Reds. The game was perfect, the Mets won, the bullpen was perfect. All three of their new relief pitchers pitched scoreless innings in this order, Sean Green, JJ Putz, and Francisco Rodriguez. It was great.

After that first game their has been plenty of ups and downs. As of now, the Mets are 26-20 and lead the NL East by a half game. In the past couple of years the Mets established themselves as one of baseball's best teams, but they don't always play like one.

Many teams, even the best, have bad games and play bad, but the Mets do it too much. Especially behind Johan Santana, they have made countless errors behind Santana in critical situations. Sometimes they play like legends, and other times they play like chumps.

I, by no means am ripping this team, I love this team so much, but if you ask Mets fans if they know how the Mets will play every night most of them will say that they have no idea. I'm sure some of them will say that they hope they do good, which is the bulk of the time, but then their are those games that you can't stand.

A perfect example is how the Mets played the Dodgers recently on their roadtrip and how the played the first two games of their series with thew Red Sox. Against the Dodgers, the Mets were flatout, horrible. Whenever you miss third base to score the go-ahead run late in the game and get called out because of it. You're not playing good.

I could go on and on about their mishaps in that series, but I'll decide to talk about how good they played against the Red Sox at Fenway.

They, pretty much, made all the big plays, and that's what all great teams do. That's the thin line between a good team and a great team, a good team has a winning record, but loses games they shouldn't because they didn't make all the big plays.

Even one play messed up can determine the whole game. A great team will do anything to make the right plays and that's what gets them W's pretty often.

The Mets have been on the thin line for three years now and that's what causes them to be inconsistent with their play, and unpredictable. The Mets have to pick a side soon, I want them to be great, but that's up to them. If they want it, they'll be good, but if they want it with a passion, then they'll be great.

Let's not forget that their is also a thin line between bad and horrible, let's hope that that article never has to do anything with the New York Mets.

Tonight's game is a big one for the Mets, and it might show whether they are good or great. Mike Pelfrey's on the mound and he's "Yip" free, I think Big Pelf is going to give the Mets a good chance to win and that the Mets will take full advantage of it and show that they are great.

Omir-Acle for the Mets: Santos' Homer in the Ninth Pushes New York Past Boston

Nick Carlo — Sat, 23 May 2009 22:42:07 -0400

Whew! My adrenaline is pumping! What a game—a possible World Series preview with so much hype. The Saturday night game in Boston definitely lived up to that hype in a 3-2 Mets victory thanks to a two-run home run by Omir Santos in the top of the ninth inning.

An amazing pitching matchup between Josh Beckett and Mike Pelfrey. Both pitchers really turned it on. They both made very few mistakes. Both gave up their only runs in the game in the first. An unearned run for Beckett in the first to give the Mets a 1-0 lead early, and Pelfrey gave up two on an RBI single from Kevin Youkilis.

The score of 2-1 stayed for a long time; both pitchers turned it on after the first inning and looked unhittable. It was becoming a great pitching duel and it looked like each pitcher's first inning troubles would decide their team's fate.

Both pitchers were pitching great enough to go for a complete game, but that hardly ever happens anymore—too bad for Red Sox fans. Beckett pitched eight masterful innings, and it looked like he had it in the bag.

One of the best closers in the game, Jonathan Papelbon, came in to shut the door. He was 11-for-11 in save opportunities. Going for his 12th, he walked Gary Sheffield to start the inning but struck out both David Wright and Jeremy Reed to follow the leadoff pass.

The Mets were one out away from losing a tough one. Santos, a backup catcher, stepped to the plate in one of the most important spots in the Mets' young season. Earlier in the year, Santos his first major league homer in Citi Field, and it was a grand slam.

Though Santos is a guy that doesn't have much power and was up against Papelbon, who looked to be untouchable, the pitch came and Santos launched it; he knew it was gone and was yelling in joy down the first base line and halfway down the second base line until the umps signaled it was a double.

I leaped up from my bed pissed knowing it was a home run. Their was mixed reactions in the stands, the Mets' fans said it was a homer, while the Red Sox fans thought differently.

Mets' manager Jerry Manuel made his way out to the diamond and asked the umps for a replay. After a crazy heart-racing few minutes, the umps ruled it a home run. It was the longest home run trot in Mets history for Omir Santos.

Their was a few minutes of cheering and clapping, but Mets fans knew "It's not over till it's over." Just ask both 1986 Mets nd Red Sox teams. J.J. Putz was in the bullpen for the Mets to close it out...yea, Putz.

Many fans were asking "Where's K-Rod?" As I just found out, thanks to the Mets' postgame on SNY, K-Rod had severe back spasms and couldn't even walk—yet another injury for the Mets. Let's hope K-Rod's alright and could bounce back and maybe pitch on Monday against the Washington Nationals.

Anyway, Putz came in and was throwing hard, but the Red Sox didn't care, they were hitting it harder. Thanks to some astonishing plays by, David Wright, Luis Castillo, and Ramon Martinez. And not to mention, Dan Murphy's great pickup from Ramon Martinez's great play to end the game.

David Wright also saved a double off the bat from Jason Bay, that would have put runners on second and third for the Sox with no outs. Wright, playing close to the line, dove for it and made a tough throw to second that was off target, but Luis Castillo got full extension and mad a great play to get the lead runner out.

Ramon Martinez also capped off his defensive bounce back night that had plenty of great plays, and the biggest one was the last out for the game. A diving play and the throw to Murphy at first to put an end to it. Ramon, we forgive you.

It was Omir-Acle for the Mets, and they now sit, only a half game back in the NL East. Tomorrow the Mets will get a chance to retake possession of first place in the NL East. That's about it, and "Let's Go Mets!" It can't get any better than this. Once again, Mets win it 3-2 to win their second straight.

New York Mets: First Quarter of the Season Is Over, How'd They Do?

Nick Carlo — Sat, 23 May 2009 12:33:53 -0400

The first quarter of the season is done with. It has been quite a wild one for the New York Mets. The Mets, right now, have a 22-19 record. They are 1.5 games behind the defending champs, the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Mets started off the season with beating the Cincinnati Reds, everything was great. The bullpen worked exactly as planned. Sean Green in the seventh, JJ Putz in the eighth, and Francisco Rodriguez in the ninth to get his first save fo the season.

The Mets went on to take two out of three in that opening series. After that series, the Mets' play was mediocre. They were not doing what was expected of them.

Mets fans expected the Mets to bust out of the gate and put their bad memories behind them. It seemed like they didn't, Mets fans were getting more and more aggravated. Their were some happy times, and some not so much happy times.

Like when the first ever batter at the Mets new stadium, Citi Field, Jody Gerut hit a line drive home run to right field.

That was the first home run at Citi Field, RBI, run, hit, etc. It really sucked, the Mets went on to lose their first game at Citi Field, but David Wright did hit the first Mets' home run at Citi Field.

The worst part of the season for the Mets so far was their series against the St.Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals swept the Mets to put them under 500., they were 6-9 after that series, things were getting ugly.

At the end of April, the Mets were 9-12. Things were bad big time, until the Mets really turned it on in May. They had a seven-game win streak going at one time, and they were also on top of the NL East.

The streak ended against the Braves at Citi Field in a frustrating series for Mets fans. The Mets lost two out of three, but still felt on top of the world.

After their great homestand the Mets were on their way to the west coast. It was in the west coast were the 2006 Mets noticed that they were good, it was in the west that in 2008, Mets' former manager, Willie Randolph, got a cold goodbye in the middle of the night. What would the west coast bring the Mets in 2009?

It brought them a 3-4 record in their seven games their. They won their first three, but then it all went downhill from there. They lost the final game of the series to the San Francisco Giants and got swept off their feet by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

It was rough, the Mets were now 21-19 and struggling to stay over .500. Although the four game losing the streak, the Mets were only a 1.5 games behind the Phillies.

The Mets had an off day in which they made their way to Boston, to play the Red Sox in interleague play. Johan Santana was pitching for the Mets and was determined to stop the Mets' losing streak, that he did.

The Mets, as usual made some errors behind Johan, and continued their sloppy play when he's on the mound, but that didn't stop Johan from shutting down the Red Sox.

Santana went seven innings with 118 pitches, eight strikeouts, and only two earned runs. He also shut the Sox down when they had runners on base and in scoring position. The Red Sox were 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position. Johan continued to be clutch.

Santana, improved his record to 6-2, but his ERA sky rocketed to, league leading, 1.50. Santana looks like the front runner for the NL Cy Young Award this year. You also can't forget that Santana does better the second half of the season. I don't know how he can be any better, we will see.

After Santana was taken out, Bobby Parnell came out and threw a scoreless eighth, ans at one point reached 100 MPH on his fastball. In the ninth K- Rod did his job and closed the door for his 12th save of the season. He's 12 for 12 in save opportunities, Brad Lidge has nothing on K-Rod.

That leads us to where we are now. A quarter into the season and the Mets are 22-19 and 1.5 games behind the Phillies. Sure, it can be better, but with all the injuries that happened this is great. Also, the bulk of the injuries might be over and the Mets can run smoothly for the rest of the season with a lot less trips to the DL.

If I were the Mets' teacher, and I was filling out their report card, this is how it would look like.

Teacher: Mr.Carlo Student: New York Mets

Offense: A-

Defense: D

Starting Pitching: B+

Clutch: B+

Teamwork: B

Injuries: D

Bullpen: A+

Overall: B

Note to parent: The Mets are doing very good in my class. I think that they will improve with the injuries and it will not get worse. Their defense is their biggest problem, and I think you (Jerry Manuel) should work with them a little bit.

Other than that, keep up the good work, things will get better.

That's it for my first quarter review of the New York Mets, I hope you enjoyed. Let me know what you think about the Mets in the first quarter of the season and how they can improve. My second quarter review will most likely be up sometime during the All-Star break. I can't to write that one, and I hope their report card will be even better.

Breaking News: Jake Peavy Not on His Way to Chicago

Nick Carlo — Thu, 21 May 2009 16:20:34 -0400

Just recently, the Chicago Tribune released the big news. They said that the Padres' ace, Jake Peavy, is very close to becoming a Chicago White Sox. This is a huge surprise; no one expected the White Sox to go after Peavy.

Early in the offseason, the White Sox' crosstown rival Chicago Cubs were said to be seriously pursuing Peavy. That was not the case. The Cubs were still thinking about it along with many other teams, but the White Sox came in and swooped Peavy up before anybody else could.

The only thing needed to finalize this trade and make it official is, Peavy's OK. If Peavy OK's it, then all he would have to do is pass a physical. After those two steps, Peavy will officially become a Chicago White Sox.

The White Sox are currently 17-22 and six games behind in the loss column in the AL Central. Their pitching hasn't been spectacular this season, and Peavy would definitely help. Right now, I just checked MLB.com and the Chi Sox are losing 20-0 to the Minnesota Twins in the seventh inning.

Ouch!

If the White Sox get Peavy, it will certainly lessen the blow of their loss today, and more importantly give them another shot at winning their division and playing in October.

As for the Padres, they will recieve the Chicago White Sox two and three ranked prospects. Aaron Poreda, and Clayton Richard. Both good prospects.

Update 9:08: Peavy has used his no-trade clause and it doesn't look like he's going to the southside of Chicago. I think he did the wrong thing, he said himself "it was a crazy 24 hours". I bet it was, lets see if he has another crazy day with another team like the Cubs or Mets. So, for now, Peavy will stay as a San Diego Padre.

My Take On The Mets Problem at First Base

Nick Carlo — Wed, 20 May 2009 21:09:01 -0400

As of now, all us Mets fans have heard that, first baseman, Carlos Delgado is going to be out with an injury for around ten weeks. With that news there are many people saying what the Mets should do with their roster.

Everybody's opinion differs. I believe that the Mets should stay in the organization. To me, there's no reason to trade away right now.

Some of the biggest names for the Mets to get outside of the organization are, Russel Branyan, Nick Johnson, and Aubrey Huff.

My favorite out of those three is Huff. Huff is a great player who can fill that spot very well. My least favorite is Branyan, even though he's off to a pretty hot start. I wish him the best, but I highly doubt his numbers will keep coming the way they are now.

That leaves the Nationals' first baseman, Nick Johnson. I have always had a strong hate for Nick Johnson, I don't know why it just happened. But now, that doesn't matter. I'm actually starting to like him a little bit more. The only problem with him is that he's always injured. That's why we have this hole at first, Nick's a great player, but he gets injured too often.

What I think the Mets should do is put Daniel Murphy at first base, just to see what he can do there. I understand that Jerry Manuel just wants him to get adjusted to left field, but in this situation you have to try anything. If it doesn't work out with Murphy, the Mets can stick with the platoon of Jeremy Reed and Fernando Tatis.

Both players Reed and Tatis, have impressed me. They both have also made some bonehead mistakes, ones that may have cost the Mets the game. It isn't necessarily their fault, as long as they can play the position solidly and improve as the season progresses. It would also be nice if they could get some strong at bats as well.

Back to Murphy, I strongly believe that Murphy has the ability to play at least some first base. If he does his worst enemy would be himself. He has to be positive, it's all a mind game with him, and many other young players. If Murphy thinks positive, I promise you he will be a good first baseman.

Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya must handle this problem extremely carefully. If they don't have to go outside of the organization they shouldn't. The Mets have plenty of talent to put out there at first base, they just have to play all the right cards, and some times that can be very tough.

New York Mets: Blazin' Amazins

Nick Carlo — Sat, 16 May 2009 14:48:49 -0400

These last few weeks have been great ones for the New York Mets and their fans. The Metropolitan's have won 10 of their last 12.

Many say the team is on fire. That is true, but individual Mets are on fire, too. With that, as of now, the New York Mets are the "Blazin' Amazins."

We all know that can change in just one game, but with the Mets performance now, they truly live up to their new name. Some of the biggest names of the Mets have been Blazin' along, players such as Carlos Beltran, David Wright, Johan Santana, and Frankie Rodriguez. Those are just the red hot ones, but everybody else is hot. Not red hot, but hot. That's still great.

Carlos Beltran came out of the gate red hot, maybe he should've said his famous quote that "The Mets are the team to beat" this year, not last year.

We all know what happened last year. Beltran is currently hitting 370. He also has six HRs and 25 RBI. If the season ended today, Beltran would no doubt be a serious contender in the NL MVP race. The only problem that people find with Beltran is his leadership in the clubhouse. Many people say that he is too quiet and he needs to be more like a Jose Reyes, not too crazy, but able to pump his teammates up.

I have no problem with what Beltran's doing. His hitting is what's pumping up his teammates, you really can't ask for much else when somebody is batting 370. Carlos, keep doing what you're doing.

Another big piece to the Mets' hot run is third basemen, David Wright. Wright came out of the gate looking a little sluggish. Wright's so good that when he's doing bad he's still batting over 300. That's what Wright had been doing. Now, Wright has officially turned it on. He's batting over 400 in the Mets recent hot streak.

Johan Santana is up to his usual. He has been totally dominating opposing batters. He has an 0.78 ERA, and opposing batters are hitting a mere 185 against him. If the season ended today, Johan Santana would definitely be the NL Cy Young winner. Too bad that Royals guy, Zack Grienke, isn't in the NL. It would be fun to see who falters first and who gets the Cy Young.

Last year, the Mets' bullpen was one of the worst parts of the team, if not the worst part of the team. The numbers for the bullpen are atrocious and I'm not going to bother posting them. I'll explain them in one word—horrible. This year, it has been a totally different case. Led by new closer Francisco Rodriguez, the Mets bullpen has been lights out.

Rodriguez, is 11-for-11 in save opportunities. I wonder how Brad Lidge likes that, he's got nothing on K-Rod. Other than K-Rod, there are some great relievers in the Mets' bullpen.

JJ Putz is doing pretty good and Mets fans hope he will be doing better after his bone spur is fixed up. My two favorites in the Mets' bullpen not named Francisco Rodriguez and JJ Putz are youngster Bobby Parnell and Brian Stokes.

Despite Parnell's recent tough outing he has been lights out along with Stokes, who had allowed only one earned run in 16 innings pitched. That's the type of pitching that gets you an 0.56 ERA.

There's one more thing hotter than the sun on this Mets team.

The saying, "you can't win without pitching" is very true, and the Mets demonstrated that early in the season. Early in the season, the Mets' pitching rotation was pure garbage except for Johan Santana and Livan Hernandez.

The three biggest pitching keys for the Mets this season, John Maine, Mike Pelfrey, and Oliver Perez, all got off to bad starts. Two of the three bounced back. Maine and Pelfrey bounced back nicely. Perez, not so much. Perez, is currently on the DL, and all Mets fans are hoping that he can turn it around when he comes back.

From now on, when the Mets are hot, they will be known as, the Blazin' Amazins. Hey, "New York Post", beat that.

Steroid Era's Doors Shutting With a Boom

Nick Carlo — Thu, 07 May 2009 16:42:55 -0400

As many of us have heard by now, Los Angeles Dodgers star, Manny Ramirez has been suspended 50 games for using performance enhancing drugs.

No one knows exactly what performance enhancing drugs, he had been taking. I don't want the title of this article to make people think that I believe Manny is taking steroids, this article goes for many athletes, not just Manny and Alex Rodriguez, for their use of performance enhancing drugs.

Right now, us fans, know close to nothing about this whole situation. What we do know, is that the past baseball era, has been called the "Steroid Era" because of many players that used steroids over the span of their career. Some had hall of fame careers, and some not, but they all broke the rules.

"Performance-enhancing drugs are substances used by athletes to improve their performances in the sports in which they engage." That is how Wikipedia defines what performing enhancing drugs.

Their are countless athletes in the world that use PED's (Performance enhancing drugs).

They all have their own different stories of why they took PED's. But, the simple answer is that they wanted to be better. They just weren't satisfied with themselves and they would do anything to fix that problem.

Another common answer is that they wanted the spotlight.

They wanted to go up and beyond, these athletes weren't satisfied with 40 home runs without steroids, they wanted 70 with PED's.

Who could blame them? Being the best was, the best.

I could use this whole article listing every single person who took PED's, but I won't, for two reasons.

1. It's not about that, it's about the effect it has on the world.

2. It most likely would not fit.

Athletes are referred to as "role models" a whole lot.

For instance, Yankees third base, all-star, Alex Rodriguez was many young kids "role models." Even some older people. The only reason people didn't like him was because he was too good.

Anyway, A-Rod was, for some kids, not only their role model on the baseball field, but in life. That's what hurts, these kids must have been heartbroken.

I'm a kid myself, I've been 14 years old for about two weeks now. If I found out that, my favorite player, David Wright, has been using any types of PED's, I would be heartbroken.

A lot of times athletes get caught up in the bright lights of stardom and seem to forget that they mean so much to many kids, and that they play a big part in their lives.

It's sad, because they realize that when the judge slams the hammer. I'm not saying all athletes have this happen to them, but many do, and that's the sad part about this whole "Steroid Era."

When you hear names like Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Rafael Palmeiro, the first thing that comes to your mind is steroids.

Not their amazing stats, you think of steroids. All those players along with many more, screwed up real bad, they had it going for them.

All of those guys had great talent.

I bet that without steroids they could have made a big impact, maybe not as big an impact that they made with their stats, but that's not the impact people remember.

We fans remember the negative impact they made—if they didn't use steroids or any other PED's they would've been known for their positive impact. The positive impact of obeying the rules, and still putting up good numbers.

Everybody gets caught up in stats, stats, stats, and more stats.

Even though they are important, and fun to pay attention to, there is nothing more important than who they are and how they play the game.

Are they good people who obey the rules or bad people who disobey the rules. Sometimes, their are even good people who disobey the rules and vice-versa.

This article has mainly been focused on baseball, but in all sports their have been uses of PED's and these stories.

It is going on worldwide, and even though it is coming to an end, us fans still have to endure the last "hurrah!" of the era.

The doors are shutting, but not quietly, just wait til' the big "boom!" and let's hope that it will all be over.

Is this the boom we've been waiting for? Let's hope so.

The Wright Way To Win: Mets Power Past Braves

Nick Carlo — Tue, 05 May 2009 16:17:48 -0400

Last night, the Mets beat the Braves 6-4, in a very important game. The pitching matchup was, John Maine vs, newly acquired, Brave, Javier Vazquez. Delgado was making his first start in eight days, and Brian McCann, was on the bench, due to a problem with his eyes. Before the game even started many knew that it was going to be a great, and many were (W)right.

In the first inning, both the Mets' and Braves' bats were quiet. Mets' pitcher, John Maine seemed to fall apart in the third. He issued the first of his, career high, six walks in a game. Maine, was walking people left and right, and they eventually found their way home. The Braves tacked on 3 runs, and every Met fan had a sick feeling in their stomachs.

In the bottom of that inning, the Mets did nothing. Vazquez, seemed untouchable through the five innings along with John Maine after his tough first couple of innings. The Mets had to do something fast, and they did. In the sixth inning, youngster, Daniel Murphy led off with a single, and the red hot, Carlos Beltran was up at the plate.

On a 2-1 count, Carlos Beltran, got the pitch he wanted, and he crushed it! Many Mets fans reacted by saying, "Somebody pinch me". The Mets aren't really known for that type of stuff, let's hope this is the start of something new with the Mets.

Just like that, the Braves' lead was cut to one. Delgado, got a single, and David Wright came up. Wright had a double earlier in the game, and a nice bare hand play to throw out, David Ross. Wright then whacked the ball out of Turner Field. Many pinching's were going around for all Mets fans, and maybe some Braves fans too.

Just like that, the Mets were up by one run. Wright, absorbed all the "Let's Go Mets" chants in the bleachers of Turner Field. For the second straight game, the Mets showed plenty of fight, hoping this time that it would pay off, and they could walk out with a W.

Vazquez, looked like he totally lost his "Touch". The tables turned, and the Braves were now losing, with a pitcher on his "Game" opposing them. John Maine, allowed nor runs after his team gave him the lead. That was the end of Maines' night.

Maine issued six walks, but made up for that with, seven strikeouts and a mere three hits over six innings. Maine looks to be breaking out of his little pitching slump, we'll see in his next start against the Pirates.

In the seventh inning, Vazquez was still on the mound, and Carlos Beltran's eyes lit up at the sight of that. After Vazquez served one on a platter to the red hot, Beltran, Beltran was up again, and what do you know? Right in the wheelhouse! Beltran, touched em' all with his second two run homer of the game, and his fourth RBI.

With a 6-3 lead, the Mets turned to their new and revamped bullpen, something that the Braves haven't seen yet. Bobby Parnell, came up in the 7th inning and posted up a 0 in front of his parents, who attended the game.

The Mets' didn't score any more runs against the Braves bullpen, but they had more than enough runs. The JK Express was coming up. Putz came in and allowed a solo shot to, Met killer, Chipper Jones. It was alright, all Mets fans saw that coming, c'mon it's Chipper, he loves facing the Mets. His son's name is Shea.

After the home run, Putz was locked in, and only allowed the solo shot. It was up to Frankie Rodriguez, who was 5 for 5 in save opportunities coming into the game. He was looking to go 6 for 6, and he did just that. The JK Express, shut em' down once again.

So, all in all, the Mets played a pretty nice game. They showed that they have heart, and that they do have the power that they have been lacking. Us Mets fans can just hope that the Mets keep doing the Wright things.

Mets-Phillies Preview: First of Many Great Series in 2009

Nick Carlo — Fri, 01 May 2009 16:10:16 -0400

This weekend, the New York Mets-Philadelphia Phillies rivalry will be renewed, as the two teams will be playing a three-game series at Citizens Bank Park.

Despite the slight similarity in name, the Mets' new home, Citi Field, is very different from Citizens. Citizens Bank is a bashing box, while Citi...well, not so much.

There have been more than 10 triples in Citi Field's first 12 games. The Mets have a 6-6 record in their new home so far this season, which isn't bad, but they can definitely do a lot better.

These NL East foes will also be meeting next week in a two-game series at Citi.

Many people are looking at this series as a tone-setter for each team's season. I don't think it is, because both of these teams are so good, that they can pretty much bounce back from anything.

But I still predict that this is going to be a great series, easily one of the best in the early part of the 2009 season. I almost wish it was a four-game series, so that the clubs could split it.

The Mets have a 9-12 record at this point, while the Phillies are 11-9. Philadelphia has overall been performing better, but things can change quickly. Both teams have a lot to play for here, especially the Mets.

This New York team can not get swept; that would put them in a huge hole that would be very tough to climb out of. The Mets need to at least take one; two would be great, and a sweep would be Amazin'.

On the other hand, the Phillies can afford a sweep, but it's unlikely any Phil would allow that to happen. As long as this team takes just one game, they will still be over .500, and if the Phillies win the series, then they will be in good shape.

I am predicting that the Mets will win the series 2-1, but I know that each inning is going to be exciting.