With no Mets baseball today I figured I would share some of my random thoughts.

• This whole booing Johan Santana thing, as much as I hate it, it has received way to much play. It’s not like this is unique in this town. I know I can name plenty of athletes who were undeserving booed. The best example for me, is Patrick Ewing, he was booed at “The Worlds Most Famous Arena” for at least 10 years, disgracefully. So, lets not make this a “Mets Fans” thing, ok?

• I blogged the other day about Carlos Delgado’s nice start at the plate and in the field. I wrote about how I hoped he would keep it up and have a monster season. Well, of course the very next day he goes out and pops up in a crucial spot late in the game with the bases loaded and lets a ball pop out of his glove, Brian Schneider style, that lead to an unearned run. I think I’ll keep quiet about Carlos’s play for awhile. Don’t want to be a jinx.

• Mets Blog Matt Cerrone blogged about some fans at Shea doing a unique type Wave when Angel Pagan comes to the plate. Something from the movie “Angels in the Outfield”. I have never seen the movie but I love when the Shea faithful come up with original stuff ie the K corner for Doc and the Coneheads for David Cone. Keep it up guys. Fun stuff.

• I am sick of reading and hearing about last year’s collapse. The press/media will not let it go. The Daily News Vic Ziegel based a major part of his column on it today. So, anytime the Mets blow a lead it will be connected to last season, UHG, this annoys me to no end. I understand that yesterday’s lose can bring with it some negativity but this is a new season. In Ziegal’s column David Wright is quoted saying “Last year had nothing to do with getting guys in scoring position, Not making good pitches doesn’t have anything to do with last year.” Amen David, don’t let someone else’s negativity, whether it be boos or the press get in your head. Oh, and if you think the press/media is not being overly negative checkout how Ziegal ended his column:

The Mets’ last serious threat came in the eighth, bases loaded out, two out, Carlos Delgado batting, the crowd on its feet. He hit a really high pop-up that came down in the right fielder’s glove.

Disappointed? Disgusted? Somebody threw those words at Delgado.

“About what?” he answered.

So, Vic thats the only thing Delgado said in the clubhouse after the game? He said “About what?” and went home? Well that’s the impression left, and that is just wrong.

• Going to go out on a high note here. Yesterday while I was going through the pre-game notes I noticed this from the Elias Sports Bureau. David Wright who just turned 25 this past December is one of only eight players in their first three big league seasons to hit at least .300, hit 25 homeruns or more and have at least 100 RBI’s while under the age of 25. The others: Joe Dimaggio, Albert Pujols, Mel Ott, Jimmie Fox, Ted Williams, and Miguel Cabrera. That is awesome company.

According to Adam Rubin of the Daily News Mets OF Moises Alou is progressing fast from the hernia surgery he had on March 6. Alou is expected to play in a rehab game in Port St, Lucie by this weekend.

Other notes from Rubin’s column include, Jose Reyes says “It’s too soon to know” whether he’ll be able to play in the series opener against Washington on Tuesday. Reyes will be at Shea today for treatment.

Also, Willie Randolph said that he’s planning on batting hot hitting Angel Pagan in the six or seven hole in the line-up when Reyes comes back, leaving Castillo in the two spot.

Duaner Sanchez who hit 92 mph on the gun Saturday night will likely take Carlos Muniz place with the big club on Tuesday.

Adam also gives us a reminder that David Wright and Al Pacino will be on “The Late Show with Letterman” tonight.

After today’s loss to the Brewers Mets manager Willie Randolph spoke with the media. Listen to the press conference at WFAN

Before taking question’s Willie said:

“This will put a damper on a nice off day, huh?… Geez. Too many wasted opportunities. We get out to a nice lead and… just a sloppy game. Kind of games we can’t have.”

On Oliver Perez:

“He was struggling with his command. He just couldn’t stop the bleeding. Gotta make sure that doesn’t happen. It’s not the way you want it to be.”

On all the missed opportunities:

“Real dissapointing, lots of guys on and five double plays, geez, this was just a giveaway game. We can’t have it.”

Asked again about the double plays:

“I just addressed that, it’s not good. Gotta make sure you come through in those spots like that.”

On Brady Clark getting double up at home in the eighth inning:

“Brady’s real aggressive, but he has to read that better. With Castillo running (from first base) he’s (Fielder) not gonna double him up. Make sure you stay there (at third). Let them get one out. Not a good read. Mental mistake, that’s the day, too many mental mistakes, too many missed opportunities. If your gonna be a solid ball club you can’t play like that, you can’t play like that. We just have to get it done.”

On addressing the team:

“No reason for that. Ten games into the season. I could be disappointed in the way we played but I’m not gonna make a big deal about it.”

At what point should he address the team:

“No guys, it’s not about that. We got a lot of games to play. I’m disappointed but we have a long way to go and it’s not like I’m ready to flip out on anybody or anything like that. We gotta play better and crisper. That’s what I’m expressing that’s all. I’m not at a point where I gotta think about blasting anybody. We are playing hard, it’s about execution that’s all.”

The questions from the media about addressing the team were justified. If you listen to Willie here he sounds very agitated and rightly so. When Willie finished his opening remarks he said “Go” to let the reporters know that they can ask questions now. I have a sense that Willie will not be patient like he has been in the past. That may be do to job security or he might just think he needs to find a different approach. I just hear a different Willie so far, a little bit more aggressive.

Here’s some things I found to be good readin around the interwebs…

• Mike Lupica of the Daily News looks at Johan Satana’s Shea debut and the why behind us ornery Mets fans.
• Jessica Bader of take the 7 train brings us with her to yesterday’s last Shea home opener, video and all.
• Metstradamus remembers it being exactly 11 months ago that Ben Sheets and Brewers gave Mets fans other memories we would soon like to forget.
• Steve Serby of NY Post does some Q & A with “red hot” Mets OF Angel Pagan. We learn that Angel is not only hot with the bat but when he was with the Brooklyn Cyclones he was pretty “hot” with the ladies. Girls would scream from the stands “Angel, I love you.” “Angel will you marry me?” “Angel, you’re beautiful!” Stuff like that. It was crazy, but it was nice at the same time” said Pagan.
• Mets Fever’s Ed Ryan is up in arms over the treatment Johan Santana received yesterday at Shea. Ed says “we are better than that” and that it was “embarrassing”.

Well, Ed I agree it was embarrassing but I hate to say this, we are not better than that.

Good news from New Orleans, Mets reliever Duaner Sanchez pitched in back to back games for the first time since he injured his shoulder in 2006. Last night he pitched one inning and once again gave up no runs. Pitching for the Mets Triple A team New Orleans Zephyrs Sanchez did not give up a hit, struck out one and walked no one. Eddie D’Anna’s blog Ya Gotta Believe is reporting that Sanchez may be with the big club as early as Tuesday.

With injuries to Pedro Martinez, Moises Alou and now, hopefully not serious, Jose Reyes Mets fans can look at their team’s 5-5 record and sigh. But with positives like Ryan Church hitting lefties, so far, and the excellent contributions from Angel Pagan it seems the guy who everyone had marked down as “done” Carlos Delgado might still have some big time game left. He’s hitting .300 has 3 doubles and his swing looks good. Today he crushed an rbi double off the wall that just missed going out and he made an excellent scoop of a errant throw by David Wright that would have been David’s third error on the day. Now, I don’t want to get ahead of myself but if your looking for things to feel good about and some people who panic early do, then maybe you can look to Delgado. Over at Yoders Yard they blog about seeing Delgado up close in spring training and how much he’s improved since. Well, I’ve always found it real easy to root for Delgado, his smile is contagious and Moonshots that hit the scoreboard are always fun to watch. So, I hope he really does have a lot left and that this is just the beginning of a Monster season.

After today’s loss to the Brewers Johan Santana and Willie Randolph met with media. Here are some excerpts. To hear each press conference go to WFAN.com.

First Santana:
Santana’s overall opinion on the game:

“I felt good, tried to establish my fastball early in the game. Made a couple of mistakes and they hit them out of the park. They have a lot of strong guys over there.”

On the bunt play in which Brewer C. Hart scored:

“On that play, once he put the ball down I was told to throw to first base and that’s what I did. I got the runner behind me, I didn’t see him.”

On his first start at Shea:

“I was excited. Unfortunately it didn’t go the way a lot of people wanted it to. But I felt good, you’ve got to give credit to the other guy (Brewers pitcher Ben Sheets) he did a good job. He pitched real well and I didn’t.”

On hearing some Boos while exiting the game:

“If they boo, that’s fine. That’s the history they have from not being so good, I guess. I’ve seen it before, it’s not the first time I’ve seen that happen to a home player. We are not perfect. We are gonna make mistakes sometimes. It’s just how you react to it and how you bounce back. I know a lot of people are expecting a lot from me and I am trying to exceed all those expectations. If the fans feel that way, they can feel the way they want. We are trying to do our job here and please a lot of people, but we are not perfect.”

Note: Peter Botte of The Daily News wrote “I didn’t view that as a rip on the fans, more a matter-of-fact observation about what went on here at the end of last year, etc”.

Listening to the Santana press conference I have to agree with Mr. Botte. There wasn’t any “attitude” in Santana’s comments towards the fans.

Willie on Santana:

“I thought he threw well. The defense made him work harder. I don’t like to see the homeruns but he’s gonna come after you, pound the zone. He’s gonna challenge you. Hope the homerun’s don’t happen too much though (slight smile).”

On Brewers Pitcher Ben Sheets:

“He didn’t give us many opportunity’s. He set down something like 18 in a row, he was on top of his game.”

Overall:

“This is what happens when you don’t catch the ball. Overall defense was key today and we weren’t very good.”

I personally hated to hear, what sounded like just a few boos. But that was still too many for me. The fact that there were enough boos for it to be brought up to Santana in the press conference was too bad. I know, I know, people pay their money and they have the right. But I just think it’s so counter productive. We are suppose to ROOT for the home team. No matter what the players say, it gets to them and if we can help, even for purely selfish reasons we as fans should do so. But that’s just my opinion and you already know what they say about those.

Eddie Coleman, who covers the Mets for Wfan spoke with host Richard Neer this morning.

On Pitchers Mike Pelfrey and Nelson Figueroa Eddie basically stated the obvious saying that they “both pitched well enough and deserve another start”.

On Duaner Sanchez:

“Last night he pitched a scoreless inning in Triple A. Today will be a big day for Sanchez because he is scheduled to pitch back to back days for the first time.”

On Aaron Heilman:

“That’s what I like about Willie, he gets you right back on the horse and Heilman looked real good last night. He is important to this team and a lot of the criticism is unwarranted.”

On Jose Reyes:

“For me there is a concern (strained left hamstring) because Reyes in the past, is a “I’ll play, I’ll play” type guy. But last night, right away he said he wasn’t gonna play today. So it makes you wonder, it’s a concern.”

On Carlos Delgado:

“He pulled a base hit last night but he has been going the other way and that is good to see. No real power yet but I think it will come. The Mets as a team haven’t hit many homeruns, it’s to early to tell if Citi Feild has anything to do with it, they haven’t played many home games. But I think Carlos is still a 30 homerun guy.”

On Angel Pagan:

“He has certainly been legit with everything so far. Everything they have asked of him he has excelled at. He’s played the field well, timely hitting, base running. He has just been strong since spring training. You might see him in the lead-off spot today.”

Not much news here but Eddie’s take on Reyes quickly saying he won’t play today is a concern for me and I can assume for all Mets fans. Also, Sanchez throwing in back to back games for the first time today in triple A is definitively something to keep an eye on. If Duaner can get healthy this could be an elite bullpen.

“A dream come true” is what Brooklyn born Nelson Figueroa called his first win as a NY Met and his first in the majors since 2003:

“I dreamed about this and I am grateful to Willie and Omar for giving me the opportunity to pitch for this organization.”

While watching the final out be recorded:

“I was real emotional, I thought I was gonna lose it. It was like a storybook, Wagner let me use his suite for my family and friends. The original pass list was for like 55 people but by the end of the game there were about 100 family and friends in Wagner’s suite. I want to thank him for that, it was great.”

On his future with the Mets:

“I just want to be a cog in this machine whether it be in the bullpen or as a starter.”

You keep pitching like that kid, well maybe not kid, but you keep pitching like tonight, you will indeed be a cog in the Mets machine.

Figueroa’s quotes were gathered watching SNY’s Post Game Show.