Potpourri

By Metstradamus
Posted Friday, July 11, 2008

Funny how we've all made some sort of snide remark (and by we I mean me) about Moises Alou and his myriad of injuries, including his latest, the most severe of his Mets career. But what gets lost in that is that this is a guy who's 41-years-old and could have packed it in after any one of those injuries and nobody would have batted an eye. Heck, people all over are probably saying the same thing: "dude, just retire already".

But statements like that should be reserved for the Brett Favres and the Roger Clemens' of the world, who hold cities and media outlets hostage while deciding whether they have the desire to play or not, with a spot in the starting lineup waiting for them when they return. Not only has Moises Alou not done that, but he's willing to keep his dream alive with rehab stints in Brooklyn and Binghamton ... at the age of 41. Never has Alou waffled and given us cryptic comments designed to keep people guessing. He just wants to play baseball.

People like Alou are the ones we should want to play, and not shame them into retirement because they're old, or "it's time". I mean, isn't it what we as fans have wanted all along ... grown men retaining their desire to play well into their twilight years? Sure, it was a risk to sign Alou at the start of the '07 season. And perhaps going forward it's a risk that the Mets shouldn't take. But if Moises wants to play next season, he shouldn't worry about what any of us say, since ... you know ... he's the one that has to ride all those buses until he's well enough to play.

***

It shouldn't surprise anyone that Corey Hart is in the All-Star game and David Wright will have the three days off. When you look at the final vote totals in the N.L., there were Brewers in the top five in every category, while Mets languished. Consider that Wright's position is the only one where a Met finished ahead of a Brewer ... and Bill Hall was less than one million votes behind him.

Bill Hall, by the way, is batting .237 (which includes a hot homestand after all-star voting ended).

So sadly, David Wright will not be going to the All-Star game. But think of it this way: It'll save many a Met fan from having to make the hard choice of whether to by a David Wright All-Star jersey in Yankee colors. I mean, how many Met fans are going to buy a Billy Wagner jersey that looks like that ... with the iconic Yankee Stadium facade? When they keep stats on how many of these jerseys get sold, would anyone be surprised if the final tally for Billy Wagner Yankee Stadium jerseys was a big fat doughnut?

***

Chris Russo went on a rant after Jerry Manuel defended Carlos Beltran, where he basically dismissed the fact that defending your players is important. I believe he said something like: stuff like that only matters if you win.

Well, over the past week, the Mets have won. Does it mean that Jerry Manuel defending his players now matters? Or does it mean that defending his players played a small part in the Mets resurgence? You decide:

Mets players love the fact that Manuel has already been tossed from two games by umpires for arguing calls on their behalf. Monday night, when umpires overturned a call and awarded Ryan Howard a home run that cut the Mets' lead to 10-5, Manuel raced out to argue and got tossed. It notified the players that the game was still in the balance and that they needed to continue to take it as seriously as he was. It also let them know he was on their side.

"I think we see the urgency with him," (Billy) Wagner said. "He tells us, 'If I think you're right, I'm going to go out and battle for you. If you're wrong, don't even look in the dugout."

I also believe that it's no coincidence that the Mets winning streak coincides with the first period of time that there hadn't been a "controversy of the century" surrounding the Mets, whether it be Billy Wagner throwing Oliver Perez under the bus, Carlos Delgado making snide comments to Jon Heyman, Willie Randolph's endless job security issues, or Manuel's comments about gangsters or fertilizer.

I don't know if this makes Russo right or wrong, but his Giants couldn't get out of Shea Stadium with their hides intact. And that's good enough for me.