nysports

Do you think he is contageous?

You always want to do what you do best, but what about when the circumstances call for something different? Just like fourth-and-inches isn’t the best time for a downfield heave — even if you’re Joe Montana and Jerry Rice — executing your standard draft plan isn’t the best course of action when you’re one impact player away from a championship. The Giants should have shipped whatever percentage of their 2009 allotment of draft picks was necessary to land one of the two impact, veteran wideouts available — the Cardinals’ Anquan Boldin and the Browns’ Braylon Edwards. Their passing game hit the skids last year after Plaxico Burress left them, and either of these guys is skilled enough to be a No. 1 target starting the first minicamp and continuing through the season.

Instead, the Giants and general manager Jerry Reese kept their draft booty and really focused on wide receivers, landing North Carolina’s Hakeem Nicks, a reasonable facsimile to Boldin in size and toughness and real-life giant Ramses Barden (6-foot-6) of Cal Poly. The odds are slim that either of these guys steps in and has an impact in 2009, when the Giants otherwise are Super Bowl ready.

There is no No. 1 target on the Giants, though. In fact, there’s no veteran that defenses have to game plan to stop or double-cover in the passing game. Nicks, especially, isn’t going to have the advantage of being able to sneak by secondaries even though he’s capable of making outstanding plays, like this catch that is one of the best I’ve seen (wait for the replay, it’s subtle.)

The Giants are still formidable even if their passing game remains relatively anemic (as it was down the stretch of 2008). But the competition is more fierce now. The Cowboys aren’t in the Giants class. But the Eagles were very tough last year, whipped the Giants in the playoffs and are now considerably better offensively.

That new Mets bullpen was no help for Johan Santana on Wednesday.

Cody Ross hit a two-run single off J.J. Putz in the eighth inning, Jorge Cantu cracked his third homer in two games and the Florida Marlins rallied for a 4-3 victory over New York.

Putz (1-2) entered in the eighth and walked his first two batters before Ronny Paulino’s sacrifice advanced both runners. Ross lined a single up the middle, sending Florida (13-8) to its second consecutive victory following a seven-game skid.   Sean Green, the Aaron Heilman clone, blew Tuesday nights game for the Mets.

The Mets fell to 6-6 at their spacious new ballpark, where they have 10 triples and seven homers. They begin a three-game series Friday in Philadelphia, their first matchup this year with the rival Phillies, who won the 2008 World Series.

Alex Rodriguez may have been using steroids when he was a highly touted high school player and was suspected of using performance-enhancers while playing for the New York Yankees, according to a soon-to-be-released book.

The Daily News reported in Thursday’s edition that Sports Illustrated writer Selena Roberts’ upcoming book “A-Rod” offers an unflattering portrait of the MVP slugger as a needy personality who wanted his ego stroked constantly.

The paper doesn’t say how it obtained a copy of the Harper Collins book, scheduled to be released on May 12.

A high school teammate of A-Rod’s told Roberts that the future No. 1 draft pick was on steroids as a prep player and his coach knew it - an allegation the coach, Rich Hoffman, denied.

Rodriguez has admitted to using performance-enhancers while with the Texas Rangers but insists he gave up the habit when he was traded to the Yankees in 2004.

Here is another family friendly version of the Jets Gameday Host.

There was no draft day trade for the Giants, although many big name wide receivers were rumored to be headed to NY, to replace the recently released Plaxico Burress.  Among those rumored names were Braylon Edwards, Chad Johnson and Anquown Boldin.  Instead, the Giants decided on a rookie WR to replace Burress, taking receiver Hakeem Nicks of North Carolina with the 29th pick overall.

The Giants released Burress earlier this month after concluding that veteran was not going to change his ways after four troubled seasons. His tenure was highlighted by a game-winning touchdown catch in the Super Bowl against the previously undefeated New England Patriots in February 2008, but it was also dogged by fines and suspensions.

Nicks, who left school after his junior year, set 14 school receiving records at North Carolina, leaving as the all-time leader in catches, yardage and touchdown receptions.

It’s old news now, but the Jets were the big winners at the draft, pulling off a trade with the Cleveland Browns which allowed them to secure Mark Sanchez with the first round pick.  The Jets traded the 17th overall pick, their 2nd round pick, and 3 unneeded players, including Brett Ratliff, for the 5th overall pick in the draft, which they used for Sanchez.

The bottom line of the Jets post-NFL Draft is that they have a much better chance at having a franchise quarterback then they did before it. Now they still whatever minimal potential Kellen Clemens had plus the promise held by USC poster boy Mark Sanchez, the fifth overall pick and the highest selected by the Jets since Joe Namath was nabbed in 1965.

There have been 15 quarterbacks drafted in the top five since 1998. We’re tabling JaMarcus Russell as an unknown (I’m pessimistic, I confess). That leaves 14. Of those, seven have demonstrated that they are guys you could win with, assuming you count Michael Vick who did play in a conference championship game. That’s a coin flip. Plus Clemens could still pop like Drew Brees did after the Chargers drafted Philip Rivers. So the odds are now a little better than two and three that the Jets have the position covered for the next 10 years. That’s a lot better than one in four, at best, they had going in and well worth a second-round draft pick (none of the players the Jets traded wasin long-term plans given this trade).

By now, all Mets fans are familiar with the biggest problem in the Mets starting rotation. Oliver Perez!  Jerry Manuel said last week that he would give every starter only 1 more start to get their act together.  However apparently he is giving Ollie two more starts.

 Late last June, when Perez was in a similarly confounding funk, Manuel and the Mets debated whether to send him to the Minors or the bullpen — same stuff they’re kicking around now — and decided instead to give him one more start, because his next scheduled start was against the Yankees and he always seemed to pitch well against the Yankees.

It worked. Three days after Manuel made that announcement, Perez pitched seven brilliant, walk-free innings to beat the Yankees on a Sunday afternoon at Shea Stadium. He followed that up with a dozen solid starts in a row — a stretch that may be the main reason he got that three-year, $36 million deal this past winter.

My feeling is that Manuel should follow through on his threat and either send Perez to the minors or put him in the bullpen until he can get his head on straight, or possibly become valuable enough to trade.  Oliver Perez is the biggest mistake that Omar Minaya has ever made, and may cost him the job as the Mets GM.

Seriously? Where do the Mets go from here?  The Mets are currently in the midst of a 4 game losing streak, and after last nights game, manager Jerry Manuel discussed the possibility of making changes to the rotation if the Mets pitchers can’t get it together soon.  Specifically the Mets manager said he would give the starters 1 more turn through the rotation to prove something to him, or then look to make changes.  But what changes could he actually make?  Let’s take a look.

 First of all, both Santana, and I believe Pelfrey are fine.  Even though big Pelf has been a little shakey to start the season, I believe the extra rest will have done him some good and you will see better performance from him moving forward.  But he isn’t really the problem.  The problem has been Maine, Oliver Perez and Livian Hernandez.  What moves can he make with these 3?

Maine - He is in the last year of his contract, which will make him potential trade bait, which would seemingly be the only option for him.  Maine has shown a willingness to pitch from the bullpen before, so that could be another possibility for him.

Perez - Well, the Mets signed him to a 3 year, $36 million dollar deal this off season.  What the hell are they going to do now?  With that kind of salary, you can’t really trade him?  I’m not even sure if there would actually be interest either.  I mean, Perez was signed LATE during the off season, with no other offical suitors at the time.  So who would want him now that he has proven to be even more inconsistant than he was last season?  Also, putting him in the bullpen is rule out, because he throws too many balls and walks hitters, which you don’t want from a bullpen guy.  Although I think that is what they should do.  Put him in the pen and have him only pitch to 1 or 2 hitters at a time.  That should straighten his head up.

 Hernandez - He is the most expendible of the 3.  He has also pitched the best of the 3 respectively, but that’s not saying much.  The Mets only options are to release him or send him to the pen.  The Mets are hoping to get 200+ innings out of him, and they should be willing to ride him out longer than Maine or Perez.

I don’t even want to discuss who their replacement optoins are at this point, because they are not that good.  Maybe I’ll do that in another post.

That’s my 2 cents… tell me yours!