Luis Castillo stumbles on to the Citi Field Curse

Up to now, the Mets could not say they were the victims of bad luck. Every team has injuries, and while the Mets have had more than their share, they must take the blame for lack of depth in the organization. There are also continuing questions in how the team deals with injuries.

But when Luis Castillo gets hurt simply going down the dugout steps and must be carried to the clubhouse, it's time to wonder if more malevolent forces are at work. Is there a Yankee fan or a Phillie fan somewhere with a box of voodoo dolls?

If Castillo ends up on the disabled list, it will mean that just about every Met position player will have spent time there. Even backups Alex Cora, Angel Pagan, Fernando Martinez and Ramon Martinez have been on the DL, or in the case of the latter two, are still there.

David Wright and Daniel Murphy have been spared, but perhaps our sinister Phillie fan took a more subtle approach with them.

Wright was not injured, just sapped of his power. Murphy was fine, except when he was in the outfield, when he would lose the ability to stay on his feet.

Come to think of it, a perfectly-timed voodoo spell could also explain why Castillo dropped that popup.

Only Omir Santos has been immune to the spells among the position players. Santos has neither been injured nor humiliated. Instead, he was responsible for the high point of the season - the ninth-inning homer off of Jonathan Papelbon.

Santos came out of nowhere to take a share of the catcher's job. But the vibe around Santos is so positive that, even when Santos' success got Ramon Castro banished to Chicago, Castro ended up catching Mark Buehrle's perfect game. And Castro is also in a pennant race.

Or maybe Santos is living some sort of "Twilight Zone reality" in which he has all the luck and nobody around him has any.

Then again, Santos can't be that lucky - he is on a team that is nine games out of the wild card.

Photo by therozblog

Met fan faces his fear - putting on the game

Luis Castillo is a lot braver than I am. After a sleepless night, Castillo couldn't wait to go right back out there. After a sleepless night, I could not face watching another game that could end with the Mets ripping out my heart.

I suggested to Squawker Lisa that we attend the Big Apple BBQ festival instead, even though she had vowed never to go again after we spent hours waiting in lines last year in 95-degree heat.

But Squawker Lisa held firm.

"You've got to forget about last night," she told me. "Once you pick up the remote, the butterflies will disappear."

"Maybe I should go on the DL," I replied. "I think I have an anxiety disorder. I have a mental block about putting on a Met broadcast."

"If Luis Castillo can go back there with 50,000 fans laughing at him, you can sit down in front of the TV with just me laughing at you," she said.

I knew Lisa was right. I had to face my fears. I had to get back on the horse and watch another Met game.

But first, I needed some inspiration.

"Will you show me some clips from 'Rocky,' '300' and 'We Are Marshall'?" I asked.

Lisa was unable to provide the movie scenes. But she did turn out to be right about a couple of things. The Yankees do have a lot of trouble with unknown pitchers. And my butterflies did eventually disappear while watching the game, though it took until Sean Green finished the eighth inning with the Mets still up by four runs.

How did the Mets manage to go back on the field less than 24 hours after a historically bad loss and roll over the Yankees behind a pitcher who will likely be an answer to a trivia question by next year?

Here's the manager's take:

"I sensed there was an urgency to play well," manager Jerry Manuel said. "Obviously, the way the game ended last night, we all know to a man how difficult it’s been for Luis, and for him to go through it, I think to a man they felt an urgency to play well."

It was a great win today, especially after Friday night. But it would be nice if Manuel could figure out how to make sure his team always has an urgency to play well.

Did you watch the game today? Or did you need a break from the Mets?

Reversal of fortune: Yankees get gift-wrapped win from the Mets

Ever hear boos interrupted by screams, cheers, claps, and laughter? That's exactly what happened in last night's game. And yes, I was laughing up a storm. Sorry, Squawker Jon. It's nothing personal!

I told Jon after the eighth inning that the game would come down to Alex Rodriguez, as it usually does. But who could have guessed that it would have ended like that?

The A-Rod haters in the Stadium crowd, who had already booed him earlier in the night for failing with runners in scoring position, were exercising their lungs booing him again last night after it looked like he hit a popup. I figured we'd hear the usual stuff about how he never gets the big hit, even thought he got the go-ahead double literally the night before. And I also thought that we'd hear about how the Yanks' season was on the rails, especially after the Boston debacle.

Then Luis Castillo dropped the popup, we saw Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira circling the bases and, in the blink of and eye, the Yankees were celebrating at home plate.

After I screamed "Holy Bleep" a whole bunch of times, I literally couldn't stop laughing, especially when the Yanks kept on showing the play over and over again on that gigantic video screen. I also clapped my hands so hard I thought I broke a blood vessel in my finger!

How the heck did that muff-up play happen? Did A-Rod yell "Ha" or something? It figures that if something weird would happen at a game, Alex Rodriguez would somehow be involved with it! From the David Letterman/Sarah Palin tasteless joke controversy to this, A-Rod always seems to be in the middle of the mayhem!

It's also funny that somebody whose worst part of the game is his struggle with catching popups would be a recipient of such a gift. And that Mark Teixeira, who isn't exactly fleet of foot, would be able to go from first to home on that play because he motored around the bases.

I wasn't taunting Jon - I was cackling while looking towards home plate, which was in the opposite direction of Jon. He was very quiet right after the play. It took him a few minutes to speak. When he did finally speak, he was about as devastated as I've ever heard him after a loss.

I also noticed in watching the clip of the Mets' coverage of the game that the TV broadcasters were equally as speechless for a minute or two after acknowledging the play.

It's funny - Jon has been to three Yankee games with me this year - all wins - and two of them had these instant classic walkoff wins. Last month, in A-Rod's first game back at the Stadium, Joe Nathan blew the save and gave up that hit to Melky Cabrera.

This game, Francisco Rodriguez (I refuse to call him K-Rod), got the blown save, but it wasn't his fault (although I will fault him for starting his celebration "pointing to the sky" move even before the ball landed!) Incidentally, I did enjoy seeing him with his head in his hands!

Two other things I noticed about this game. Even thought A-Rod really had nothing to do with the victory other than being lucky, he was mobbed like a conquering hero after the win. While the Yanks may not be able to beat the Red Sox, they have been terrific this year as pulling together as a team.

On the other hand, the Yankee broadcast showed how Luis Castillo was literally all alone when he walked back to the dugout, and not a single teammate or coach was there to try to console him. How sad is that? Not a good sign for the Mets' leadership.


What do you think? Leave us a comment!

Squawker Media Alert: Jon and I are going to be on the radio

Squawker Jon and I are about to go on the air on Fort Lauderdale's WFTL Sports (640 AM.) We'll be on the air together at 12:30 p.m. today with Squawker radio friend Larry Milian to talk about last night's Subway Series game. You can listen live here- just go to the 640 link. Check it out.

Mets' late-inning song should be 'Send In the Clowns'

The worst thing about being at Friday night's horrendous Met loss to the Yankees was Squawker Lisa's reaction. She couldn't stop laughing.

I say New York is a two-team town. Lisa says the Mets are the little brother. I want my team to show Lisa that she is wrong. That the Mets are just as good, if not better than, the Yankees. Just as deserving of respect.

But after tonight's debacle, even I cannot respect the Mets. It's bad enough if something like this happens once. But anyone who said they have never seen anything like tonight's ending has a very short memory.

K-Rod induces an infield popup that will be the final out, only to have it dropped and result in two runs? It happened only a little over a month ago!

On May 5, K-Rod was one out away from victory with runners on first and second. Same situation as tonight. K-Rod got the batter to pop up in the infield. And just like tonight, the infielder dropped the ball, and two runs eventually scored.

The main difference was that the Mets had a three-run lead over Atlanta when Carlos Delgado dropped the ball. And the second run did not score until after the next batter singled him home. But the Mets could have lost that game in similar devastating fashion, considering that noted Met killer Chipper Jones ended up batting with the tying run on third.

Fortunately, K-Rod got Chipper Jones to fly out to end the game. But Delgado's miscue was just as bad as Luis Castillo's tonight.

After tonight's game came to its dismal conclusion, I wanted the Mets to get rid of Castillo. But by the time I got home, I realized that Castillo is a symptom, not the cause. If you want to get rid of Castillo, you also need to get rid of Delgado for making the same error. Then there's Ryan Church for missing third and Daniel Murphy for helping to cost Johan Santana a victory.

If you start to throw in serious baserunning errors, most of the team should be sent packing.

So for those who are dumping on Castillo, he has a lot of company on this team. And that's something that the manager has to answer for.

Why does Jerry Manuel's team keep making embarrassing mistakes? Why must there be a news conference every couple of weeks in which players and manager must talk about picking up the latest player to humiliate himself?

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The name most mentioned in Met trade rumors has been Washington first baseman Nick Johnson. In tonight's Nationals game, Johnson dropped a foul popup in the eighth inning of a tie game. Given another chance, the batter, Gabe Kapler, hit a home run that decided the game.

These things do happen in baseball. I just wish they wouldn't keep happening with the Mets.

Andruw Jones? Say it ain't so!

At first, I wasn't worried that ESPN's Buster Olney was reporting that the Mets were interested in Dodger disaster Andruw Jones, still owed something like $15M in salary and $7.1M in bonuses for one more year of his dubious services. After all, if you're going to get someone to take Luis Castillo, you have to take back someone the other team can't wait to get rid of.

And then Olney writes:

But it's unlikely that the Dodgers would have interest in Castillo, because they have a young second baseman in Blake DeWitt, and Castillo does not play a lot of different positions.

First of all, DeWitt was primarily a third baseman last year. According to baseball-reference.com, DeWitt played 95 games at third and 27 at second. So even if the Dodgers are planning to use him at second after acquiring Casey Blake, he does have another position if the Dodgers got Castillo.

No, the real reason the Dodgers are unlikely to have interest in Castillo is that it is unlikely that ANY major league team would have interest in Castillo at his salary.

But for the Dodgers to even mention trading Jones without taking back Castillo is just plain insulting.

In fact, the Mets might actually be better off with Castillo than Jones.

Andruw Jones hit .158 last year in 209 at bats. .158! A full 42 points below the Mendoza Line.

Pedro Martinez isn't exactly the Sultan of Swat, and he hit .154 in 2008. Johan Santana spent his whole career before 2008 in a league with the DH, and he managed to hit .141.

But the real comparison is with Castillo, who had a bad year at the plate, only batting .245.

That's 87 points higher than Jones.

And if you're thinking that maybe Jones, who used to be a power hitter, at least had most of his base hits leave the ballpark, nope, he only had three homers and 14 RBI in those 209 AB.

Jones' slugging percentage was .249, barely higher than Castillo's batting average.

Fortunately, metsmerizedonline.com and hotfootblog.com have both noted that Marty Noble of mlb.com says that the Mets are no longer looking at Jones.

And that's just as well, because not only is he a .158 hitter, but no good can come of the Mets trading for a former Braves star named Jones.