The 2009 Mets did not set out to be failures but managed to pull it off. Benched wants to tell you why. Reason #3: Ruining Johan Santana’s Career
When Johan Santana became available before the 2008 season, Omar Minaya went out and got him. In the words of the Mad Dog, “that’s a great job out of Omar”. By landing the #1 left handed pitcher in baseball, the Mets had a clear path back to the playoffs. Not so fast, my friend. Johan pitched well, but he often lacked run support to put up the numbers fans expected. Johan finished 16-7 with a low 3 ERA - solid, but not electric. 2009 would be different.
And how different it turned out. The Mets roster and season was done in by injuries and poor play, and Santana bore the brunt of it. He battled arm trouble from the start of Spring Training, but showed up every fifth day for what quickly became a last place team. By the end of August, the pain returned and Santana was eventually shut down. It turned out he had been pitching with discomfort since July, but continued to trot out there when it was his turn. The result was the Mets worst nightmare. Their prize pitcher would require surgery and be done for at least 12 months.
The injury to Santana will impact the Mets for 2 seasons at least, as they struggle to find a replacement ace (impossible) and deal with the questions of how they couldn’t know he was hurt. If it was us, we’d be all over our prized assets, making your they were feeling OK after every start. Where were the trainers? Where were the coaches? Where was the skipper? As the ship started to sink, they were covering their asses. They should have been covering their assets. Now we can’t be sure when he will return and if he will ever be the same pitcher.
Just another in the multitude of problems that helped sink the 2009 Mets.
Jets fans may be enjoying the start of the 2009 season with The Messiah, but that doesn’t mean they have forgotten the crap that Brett Favre pulled on them. Case in point: These Jets fans decided to burn a Favre Jets jersey in effigy before the Jets win against the Titans on Sunday. While the Vikings are having a nice season so far and are not scheduled to play the Jets this year, may we recommend that Brett stay out of New Jersey for the next few months. Better make that years.
We know some of you Benched readers are also Devils fans, so here is David Clarkson rag dolling Sean Avery during a Devils/Rangers game last year. The NHL starts next week, so if you are one of those fans who don’t care that the Yankees are in the playoffs and the Giants and Jets are undefeated, at least there is something to look forward to.
Benched wants to send its best to Chad Pennington, who badly injured his shoulder during the Dolphins loss to the Charger yesterday in San Diego. Chad never had the most talent, but he certainly had a lot of heart and put all he had into every game. Pennington has injured this shoulder twice in his career, and according to reports, has suffered a serious injury once again. We hope that it is not as bad as feared, and that Pennington can return to the field before the end of the season.
To say Eric Mangini has been knocked off his loft perch could be the understatement of the century. The former Mangenius has fallen from leading the Jets to the playoffs in his first season as an NFL coach to running what is now being described as “the worst team in the NFL.” Ouch. Mangini has shown an inability to build a team from the ground up, deal with the media, or adapt on the fly, all things that winning coaches are able to do to a degree. Again, it’s only been 3 weeks, but the wheels may come off the Browns before they get to week 8. If Mangini can’t get it together, his NFL career may be finished before he gets to 40, something that no one could predict when he was poached from New England 4 years ago. As much as the Patriots can be dealing with the cosmic implications of Spy Gate, could Mangini be fighting his own Karma demons from dropping the dime that brought the whole mess on?
It’s only week 3, but we are ready to crown the New York Jets and New York Giants the class of their respective divisions. Sorry Vikings, but you are too fluky. Sorry Ravens, but Rex built your defense and will tell Mark the Messiah just what he needs to do to beat their vaunted D. Both teams are now 3-0 and sitting atop their divisions and conferences looking back at the rest of the competition after the Giants destroyed the awful Buccaneers and the Jets held on against a talented Titans team. Will both teams go 18-0 before an early February match up in Miami, in front of all of the New Yorker’s who retired to that pit they call the Sunshine State? We are putting the probability at 99.9%. And what a contest it would be - the offense of Peyton Manning lining up against the greatest defense since the 1990 Eagles. The NFL may need to cancel the 2010 season to give everyone a chance to recover. What’s that? We are getting ahead of ourselves? Wrong. Y’all have just fallen behind.
1. Jeff Fisher is the longest tenured coach in the NFL. And that’s a bad thing. You need fresh voices with pro athletes. That’s Running a Team 101. Everyone sweats Jerry Sloan, but has he won shit? No. Point is, again, Rex is the man.
2. Lendale White is fat, and probably not as thirsty as the pre-season. I’m sure he hit the sauce this week after Chris Johnson went off for 545 yds last week. Dude quits tequila and still can’t get carries. I would have done something to take edge off too. Can’t blame the guy. It’s a sickness.
3. Rumor is the Jets were working on a 10 man blitz this week with Revis covering everyone else. Typical Rex. Ahead of the curve. I never root for guys to get hurt because I am all class, but I think Vince Young makes an appearance this week. Not a good sign for Titans fans. Even though Vince is a future HOFer, not a good sign.
4. The Titans aren’t good. Their best player last year was Albert Haynesworth and he is gone. They didn’t add any talent. No one in their locker room actually believes the Titans are contenders. They were better last year and couldn’t close. All the experts are picking a Titans win bc the Jets are due for a let down and the Titans are in a must win. Please. The Titans know that if they lose this week, their season is over and they can go back to dranking. There does seem to be a lot of trash in Tennessee, huh? On the other hand, if the Jets win, they know that they are only 14 wins away from an undefeated regular season. One week at a time Jets fans, one week at a time….
Call us crazy, but every time we see a picture of Jay Cutler’s smug face on TV, we think of New York writer and the king of sports bloggers Will Leitch. These pictures don’t do it justice, but just think about it. Now you see. Anyway, we hate Jay Cutler.
This excitement for this weekend’s Yanks Sox series went flying out the window when the Yanks unexpectedly showed up against Anaheim and the Sox unexpectedly didn’t against the Royals. Read that sentence again. So these 3 games are basically meaningless, unless the Sox somehow take all 3. Call us crazy, but we don’t see that happening with CC starting tomorrow’s game. Having meaningless late season games between these two teams is frustrating, so we want to propose something that may seem a bit crazy. A bit off the wall. A bit Benched. Let the Yankees and Red Sox play 9 consecutive games twice a year. Bam! It would go like this:
The last 6 games before the All Star break.
The first 3 games after the All Star break.
The last 9 games of the season.
Whichever team finished ahead of the others would finish at home. So instead of the Yankees cruising into an AL East crown, they would slug it out with each other for the last 2 weeks of the season. Think about the excitement this would bring. We are drooling. Let’s do this!
It’s the NHL preseason, so get excited! Whatever, the season has another 10 months to go or something. But Rangers fans can be excited for Donald Brashear, a low level enforcer who has been known to drop the gloves with just about anyone and everyone. He will also pick up a cheap goal or two, which will get the fans on his side for a few months until he picks up a major penalty at a crucial moment for blind siding someone during a playoff game. Dem’s da brakes! Anyway, enjoy this highlight reel of the Brasher’s best fights from his career.
The 2009 Mets did not set out to be failures but managed to pull it off. Benched wants to tell you why. Reason #2: Luis Castillo drops the ball.
The Mets were still having a decent season as of June 12, 2009. It was a Friday night, and the Mets headed to the Bronx for their first game in the new Yankee Stadium. The subway series always draws a level of excitement, but Mets fans seemed particularly giddy at headed into the house that George built and teaching the Yankees a lesson. And things were going well, as the Mets stayed close and managed to score the go ahead run against Mariano Rivera in the top of the 9th. Then they racked up two outs in the bottom of the 9th, with Mark Teixeira on first and A-Rod up to bat. No fear, right? A-Rod stinks in the clutch. True to form, he popped up to shallow right, where Luis Castillo was waiting for the ball. We all know what happened next. Castillo dropped the ball and for some reason fired it to second base as Teixeira was rounding home. Yankees win and go on to clinch a playoff birth. Mets lose and have Benched writing their postmortem. It’s amazing to think that the difference between a winning season and the Mets season is a dropped pop up, but baseball’s funny like that. Unless you’re a Mets fan.
If you want Yankees playoff news, you go to Tank, who guarantees that in the ALDS, it will be CC Sabathia in Games 1 & 4, AJ Burnett in Games 2&5, and Andy Pettitte in Game 3. When (not if, but when) they advance to the ALCS, they will give Joba Chamberlain Game 4. This has World Series written all over it.
The Giants first game with the Philadelphia Eagles is still 5 weeks away, and Big Blue fans may be licking their chops in anticipation for seeing Osi Umenyiora line up against Eagles tackle Winston Justice. The last time these two faced off, Osi racked up 6 sacks, dominating the game and helping lead the Giants rout. But be warned Giants fans, this Winston Justice is not the same one who came on the field in 2007. The difference? Jesus of course.
I met my wife [Dania]. We found Christ together, a couple of years ago. We didn’t really accept him at first. After a while, we started accepting him more and more. This off-season, I really made a commitment, to glorify him in everything I do. That’s why I think people see a difference.
“I used to be in the other camp - playing for money, playing for myself,” Justice said. “For some players, that works. But for me, I like playing for Jesus. It might sound cliche. It might sound like he’s trying to be Tim Tebow, something like that. I’m not Tim Tebow. I don’t even know Tim Tebow.”
It seems to be working. Justice has been a bright spot on the Eagles offensive line, allowing them to shut down troubled starter Shawn Andrews for the year. Even though he has the Big Man on his side, we still like Osi’s chances in this matchup.
We know that Sunday’s loss to the Jets was painful for Patriots Nation. Some of them handled it a lot better than others, like our friend in this here video. Can there be a more typical Patriots fan? Let us count the ways.
Ridiculously thick Boston accent? Check
Crappy apartment that had a giant rear projection television? Check
Adidas warm up pants? Check
Jumping all around like an ass, as if his actions could change the pre-destined outcome of the game? Check
Ripping off his shirt in frustration to reveal a shitty tattoo and a gut? Check and check.
The best part is when he demanded a cell phone from his buddies. Who do you think he was calling? We would hope it was his bookie to try and make back the cheddars he lost on the Pats game, but dollars to doughnuts he called his mom to come get him. No way this loser has a whip to get him home.
It’s official - Russian oligarch and huge basketball fan Mikhail Prokhorov has offered the New Jersey Nets owners $700 M in financing for their new arena and Atlantic Yards development project, and in return would receive the Nets for a “nominal price”. In the words of Billy Ray Valentine, “it sounds to me like y’all are a bunch of bookies”. [ESPN]
It’s only week 3, but we are ready to crown the New York Jets and New York Giants the class of their respective divisions. Sorry Vikings, but you are too fluky. Sorry Ravens, but Rex built your defense and will tell Mark the Messiah just what he needs to do to beat their vaunted D. Both teams are now 3-0 and sitting atop their divisions and conferences looking back at the rest of the competition after the Giants destroyed the awful Buccaneers and the Jets held on against a talented Titans team. Will both teams go 18-0 before an early February match up in Miami, in front of all of the New Yorker’s who retired to that pit they call the Sunshine State? We are putting the probability at 99.9%. And what a contest it would be - the offense of Peyton Manning lining up against the greatest defense since the 1990 Eagles. The NFL may need to cancel the 2010 season to give everyone a chance to recover. What’s that? We are getting ahead of ourselves? Wrong. Y’all have just fallen behind.
