Tonight’s game was so frustrating I am not even going to go into it. Have a good night!

Gets up, gets beer from fridge, sits down in silence.

Turns on PS3 and MLB the Show 07 loads, Lonestar Mets shuts off console in disgust.

Sips beer and looks at computer out of the corner of eye

Sips beer again, scratches various body parts.

Gets up, takes two steps toward computer

Stops, curses Mike Scioscia’s stupid face for events of 19 years ago

Clears throat

Walks over near computer

Ok, Willie’s autobiography should be called Leaving your starter in 3 innings too long when it is obvious to everyone in the ball park except me that nothing good could possibly come of it and me, this sort of think is my bag, Baby by Willie Randolph.

This is the second game in 3 days where it was obvious the starter would give up a big inning, does so, THEN Willie wants to be Mr. Cautious Manager Man and start pulling pitchers every few hitters when the Mets are down late. I mean, is Aaron Sele in Willie’s doghouse? Freaking frustrating.

Hey in the department of MLB prizes not involving the chance to creep out Alyssa Milano, I purchased a Texas Lotto/MLB scratch off ticket today.

Match any of YOUR NUMBERS to reveal any of the WINNING NUMBERS, wind prize shown for that number. Reveal a baseball symbol , win the prize shown instantly. Reveal a home run “HR” symbol, win all twenty prizes instantly!

Anyway, I decided to play for both reasons driven out of greed and curiosity, I plunked down a fin. The guy gave me an Astros ticket despite my request for a Rangers themed ticket or at least a team I don’t hate but since he already tore off the ticket, no refunds were honored. Anyway, I had the chance to win the Merchandise prize pack four times but did not match the numbers. It was not made clear anywhere on the ticket what exactly was contained in said prize pack, so I don’t know what exactly I was playing for, but I won 10 bucks.

Does anyone see any hypocrisy of MLB strict no gambling policy but putting their logos on Lotto tickets? Pete Rose just cleared his throat from over in the corner.

Dodger Dogs are over rated

I still hate the Dodgers…

Even the velvet smooth voice of the great Vin Scully doesn’t make it any easier to watch as the Mets dropped their ninth of eleven games to the Dodgers 4-1. It seems the Mets offense has lost the ability to produce any kind of relevant offense after the third inning.  I am so sick and tired of watching the same game over and over. The video recent at bats are on the highlight reel of every mediocre pitcher that looks like the second coming of Walter Johnson facing the slumping Mets. If the Dodgers sent out a tee to pitch the ninth, the Mets would have still lost 4-2. They should just forfeit after the fifth inning if they are behind to save us all the time and frustration.

John Maine botching the sac bunt attempt in the fifth after giving up a solo homerun to the freaking pitcher was the degree to make my Mets-rage boil over.

I’ve lived through some mighty poor to downright bad baseball as a fan of this team, I could live through the years of trotting out Joe McEwing or Jason Phillips to the everyday lineup and watch the Mets record deteriorate out of contention in the past. What is driving me crazy is that this team IS the best in the National League, though you wouldn’t know it by watching the June 07 Mets.

I swear to god if I see Beltran or Delgado take another homerun cut off their heals I am going to smash my computer. Memo to power hitters, shorten your stroke when your team needs a base hit; you should have gotten this information sometime around triple A. Oh, and I’ll make sure you get another copy of that memo.

What scares the crap out of me is my suspicion that this team feels entitled to the Worlds Series. Yeah fellas, ask the 06-07 Dallas Mavericks how wise of a strategy that was and get back to me. This is the team that would fight and scrap for every hit and every run seems to be mailing it in, and is damn lucky they aren’t 8 back of Atlanta at this point.

I don’t know if other Mets fans are feeling the same frustration, but by the bottom of the eighth of Wednesday’s game my cynicism devolved to me co-broadcasting with Vin Scully

Scully: So in the ninth the Mets will have the heart of their order, Beltran, Wright and Delgado.
Me: Like it *expletive deleted* matters.

Not fun times for Mets fans.

WAKE UP METS!

Lonestar Mets here, reporting from the silver lining of that rather large cloud hovering over Shea Stadium. After the 4 game home losing streak and sweep at the hands of Philadelphia, a team circling the drain prior to arriving at Willets Point and amidst the growing sentiment that this years team just isn’t as likable as its 2006 version, Lonestar Mets is here to put the Mets fan populace (Mets Nation if you feel Red Soxey) at ease.

I will admit, without a Pedro dominated April, a Delgado monstrous month and our Golden Boy showing he isn’t always golden, and after a heartbreaking loss to far less than superior team in the NLCS, I can certainly understand the hesitation. Losing Endy for a month or so sure doesn’t help either. But let me remind my fellow Met-heads that we are Mets fans for a reason; things aren’t supposed to be easy here. If we wanted to root for a team that wins its division in June, and takes all their playoff series in five or less, we certainly would have bolted for one of those other teams in that other league that seem to be en vogue in the ought’s. Not here; here the reason Mets fans border on fanatical is precisely for the dramatic storylines. Nothing comes easy for this team and rightly so; the Mets aren’t supposed to be boring. No one gives the Mets anything by default.

This is the part of the movie where the hero faces adversity, questions his existence and with a lesson or talk with an old friend strengthens his resolve and finds the medal to proceed on his monumental task, what ever that task may be. (Lonestar Met will humbly play the role of motivating friend here).

I will be the first to admit that this team didn’t really knock anyone’s socks off the first third of the season. Sure, they were the considered the best of the National League, but how hard is that in recent times? My recommendation is to wait, and watch. The Mets are about to embark on a hellacious part of the schedule against the toughest teams the AL has to offer, then those Los Angeles Dodgers, a quick trip back home to fight off the likely inebriated Cardinals and then they get another crack at the team that just wronged them, the Phillies.

Looking for a little character building, struggle up a mountain. Do you feel that things have been too easy for the Mets the first third of 07? Do you doubt the size of the fight in our dogs? Then stay tuned, the fun just started. So Jump on; the Mets are headed to downtown Bagdad Detroit tonight. This team is going to show us just what it’s made of.

I fear all we have done is awaken a sleeping giant and filled them with a terrible resolve. -Charlie Manuel

Last night’s loss to the Phillies was very similar to watching the Will Smith vehicle Hitch. The storyline looked interesting; I went in with high expectations and expected to enjoy watching. After floundering around and major injury to a beloved character, it left me frustrated, bitter,angry and exeedingly intoxicated. Oh, and Kevin James might have been there, I think…

After the game, like after I watched Hitch, I went to the Zoo because after you’ve watched your team ground into a double play with one out and the bases loaded AND your gutty bench player that has been forced into starting duty sustains a serious hamstring injury, you kinda want to see a hippo. Am I right?

Anyway, Cole Hammels tries for the Sweep against Johnny Maine and one third of the outfield.

At least they didnt make Hitch 2 right?

The must anticipated, and delayed release of this game is a welcome alternative to MLB 2K The Show. This is by far the better baseball title of the two. (I have not been compensated for this review nor have the cheap bastards at Sony sent me a free copy of the game, I plunked down my $59.99 like everyone else). Lets break it down.

The Good: MLB The Show uses the familiar button approach to hitting, the circle button for power swing and the X button for contact, a welcome change from the failure of the SIXAXIS controller’s Wii-like swing influence of the other title (though the SIXAXIS should have been enabled for the seldom “run over the catcher” play, ala Resistance Fall of Man. The game play is smooth and in game roster management is the best I have played on any game platform. What is really addictive is the online gaming. True baseball fans that know the complexities and value of the hit and run or the squeeze bunt have an advantage to the AL mind set of players that swing from the heels. Your pitcher may also gain or lose confidence in certain pitches as the games progress, which is fairly reasonable. The games umpires also have their own “personalities” in how they call the game. Certain umpires have a large zone while others tend to squeeze the plate and a pitchers successes or failures during the particular game affect the calls, though only slightly (I swear, I must get Angel Hernandez for every freaking game.) Sony has set up the system to update rosters to current status. If Moises Alou is on the DL in real life, he is unavailable for online game play. Players not on the roster at the date of the game, like Carlos Gomez, are created and available for use. The game also updates attributes, though I haven’t seen one for Damion Easley yet. There is a divide between types of online players. There is a “Guess Pitch which allows you to try and guess a pitch selection, location or both. This feature can be enabled or disabled depending on your preference. there are two types of online players, guess pitch on and guess pitch off. You do earn points for wins and lose them for losses, though I haven’t figured out what they are for just yet. There are a few drawback to online play, however, just keep reading.

The Bad: As I mentioned before the Online game play is outstanding. Let me qualify that statement; the online gameplay is outstanding when it works. There are lags though, the biggest drawback to this title are the “Traffic Delays.” Traffic Delays not only interrupt what, at times is captivating game, they have the ability to alter your online record to either your benefit or detriment. Let me explain, say you are losing by one and you have a man on for Carlos Delgado. Carlos hit’s a rocket over the right field fence. Inches before the ball leaves Shea, the game goes to traffic delay. Guess what, you lose. I have contacted Sony to make them aware of my problems, as well as the other players problems related to me in the games online chat room. Sony suggested I “open up some ports” whatever that means. The best I can figure, that translates to “the server is has problems and we don’t want to admit it.” Anyway, this game is so addicting, you will sit through 4 traffic delays to play one full game. And for those of you who, like Vince Vaughn from The Break-up fancy talking smack to your online opponents; uh, yeah, there is no headset feature. The most you can do is fork over 60 clams for the keyboard or take the time to insult Yankee/Red Sox/ Cubs fans (that seems to be the only teams people play with online) via one letter at a time with your controller. The other extremely annoying attribute to this title, one that will make you want to throw something at your TV, is the other players ability to stop you from Pinch hitting. Have you pitcher at bat with the game on the line and you are playing a horse’s-ass? Well too bad, hope he gets a hit for cheaters justice.

The Mets: There are no “unlockables” or teams from the past, which doesn’t really mater as those teams are never the true roster and have no resemblance to the actual team. Shea looks accurate and there are billboards and advertisements up from sponsors that don’t advertise at Shea like Upper Deck. With the delayed release of the title, I guess Lazy Mary in the 7th or the Jose, Jose, Jose , Jose chant was too much to ask for. There are really no Mets goodies on this game save Mr. David Wright gracing the cover. There is a “Road to the Show” game mode if you fancy building a player in your likeness and bringing him up through the Mets system, though most Mets fans will play the game to play with the real Mets. Honestly, if you’d bench or trade Jose Reyes so you can fulfill your dream of playing shortstop for the Mets, what kind of a Mets fan are you?

Bottom Line: Despite the few drawbacks involved in the online play, I can honestly say this is the best baseball title I have ever played, and I play constantly. Compared to the other baseball title, MLB 2K7, The Show has it beat hands down. If you are ever online and fancy a game, challenge Lonestarmets to a game, just as long as you are willing to let me be the Mets- NO EXCEPTIONS!

Final Ranking MLB The Show 2007 for the Playstation 3: 8.7