So, I’m very angry about two things. One of them is clear by the title, so I’ll go with the other for now. If you watched last night’s Hornets/Spurs game and have at least one functional eye, you probably found yourself yelling at the television in the 3rd quarter. I’ll explain:

In the span of seemingly 3 seconds, 4 fouls were called against the Hornets, two against the MVP and two against David West. One of the David West fouls was somewhat legit. On the other foul, David West was hit in the face. Apparently that’s a foul now. The two fouls on Chris Paul were completely ridiculous flops by both Bruce Bowen and Tim Duncan, who by the way, shouldn’t fly backward 24 feet if Chris Paul touched them with his arm, while in the act of going to the basket. Flop artists! That’s what the San Antonio Spurs are at this point! They brought back Hack-a-Shaq in Round 1 and have even attempted Hack-A-Melvin Ely in this series. Why? Because they’re cheap. A team that plays as well as the Spurs do shouldn’t have to flop on contact and utilize a style of defense that is nothing more than cheap and hackney. And then this happened:

David West has been playing despite back spasms, which, taken from someone who plays only low-level pick-up games, let me tell you, probably isn’t too fun in the NBA playoffs. Well in the fourth quarter, Gregg Popovich sent in Robert Horry, who has been given the nickname “Big Shot Bob,” despite the fact that he hasn’t hit an actual shot in 3 years. Last night, Horry wasn’t playing to hit a big-3. He didn’t need to. The referees took the game away from the Hornets early on in the fourth by calling 3, maybe 4, foolishly cheap fouls. No, Horry came in to commit a hard, illegal pick on David West’s back. Combine that with his check of Steve Nash into the scorer’s table last year that got Boris Diaw and Amare Stoudemire suspended from Game 6 of the Spurs/Suns series (a game and series the Suns lost…Horry was NOT SUSPENDED for this hit) and you’ve got a new nickname for Horry: “Cheap Shot Bob.”

I’m going to take a second to calm myself down with my 2008 WNBA Season Preview. I’m not even kidding.

EASTERN CONFERENCE
Detroit Shock
Connecticut Sun
New York Liberty
Washington Mystics
Indiana Fever
Chicago Sky
Atlanta Dream

WESTERN CONFERENCE
Los Angeles Sparks
San Antonio Silver Stars
Phoenix Mercury
Seattle Storm
Houston Comets
Minnesota Lynx
Sacramento Monarchs

EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: Detroit over Connecticut

WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: Los Angeles over San Antonio Silver Stars

WNBA Finals: Los Angeles over Detroit

WNBA MVP: Lisa Leslie (LA Sparks)
WNBA Rookie of the Year: Candace Parker (LA Sparks)
WNBA Coach of the Year: Michael Cooper (LA Sparks)

-As you can tell, I’m high on the Sparks. Leslie is coming back after a year away from the league. The addition of Parker and her college teammate Shannon Bobbit will make the transition back very easy for Leslie. The Spark averaged 92 PPG in their preseason. I expect them to maybe lose 3 games this year, maximum.

Assuming you’re still reading Mid-Atlantic Bias, which at this point may be quite the assumption, back to why I’m angry and why today’s title is as it is:

Most of my readers understand that my baseball allegiances lie with the New York Mets. Yesterday, the Mets were wrapping up a 4-game set in Queens against the Nationals. Washington had won 2 of the first 3 games in the series and were throwing out a guy who had just been called up, in Jason Bergmman. The Mets were countering with Mike Pelfrey, who himself belongs in AAA New Orleans (though that is a post for another day). Well, Pelfrey pitched the lights out (though it was a day game) at Shea. He carried a no-hitter into the seventh before Aaron Boone, of all people, broke it up. The Mets only gave up one run in the game. The problem is that the Mets scored as many runs as I did yesterday. The bigger problem is that the game ended with Carlos Delgado hitting into a double play with Carlos Beltran on third base.

After the game, the New York media was talking to Mets closer Billy Wagner about the game. Two things are important here. 1.) If you know me, you know I hate Billy Wagner and 2.) Wagner’s line yesterday: 0 IP, 0 H, o R, 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0…you get the picture. He didn’t pitch. Wagner became frustrated and started talking about it before looking up, across the clubhouse and saying (cover the children’s eyes), “Someone tell me why the fuck the closer is being interviewed and I didn’t even play, while they’re over there not being interviewed? Oh, I got it, they’re gone. Shit shocker!” Wagner’s frustration, which is completely understandable, was aimed at Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran namely. The Carlos’ refusal to talk to the media has already gotten Paul LoDuca in trouble (Last year he said something to the effect of, “It’s funny how some of these guys forget how to speak English when there’s a microphone in front of them). For the Mets and the media, if there’s an interview, it’s seemingly always with Wagner or David Wright.

I can put aside my disdain for Wagner for this reason: He’s right. He got into trouble earlier this year for comparing talking to Oliver Perez to talking to a wall. Manager Willie Randolph, who lives in GM Omar Minaya’s rear end, reprimanded Wagner and told him to keep his problems in house. Wagner has decided to do otherwise. And it’s about time someone in that clubhouse spoke up. The reason everyone gives is the language barrier. But as Amanda pointed out today, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, two native Spanish speakers, have no problem talking to the media. It’s the one thing I can’t hold against The Manny Ramirez.

What the Mets need now is a change in philosophy. Omar Minaya’s insistence on signing and developing Latino talent is completely ridiculous first of all and puts an even larger weight on guys like David Wright, who do everything right on the field and still have to answer to the media for the missteps of guys like Jose Reyes, who I’m souring on very quickly, Carlos Beltran, and Carlos Delgado, who shouldn’t even be on this team anymore. Add that to the fact that Willie Randolph has lost any semblance of a spine and you’ve got a big problem. That’s why one, or preferably both, need to be ousted today. You cannot have a collapse like the Mets did last year and have no one who should take responsibility for it actually take it. The collapse wasn’t David Wright or Billy Wagner’s fault. But they’re the guys who have to come up with excuses for guys like Reyes who apparently can only speak English in ESPN commercials and gimmicky video board fodder.

Games O’ The Weekend:

5. New York Mets @ New York Yankees (Sunday Night Baseball). Beyond the fact that I’ll be at Yankee Stadium for the game, there’s also a pretty good pitching matchup between Chien Ming-Wang and John Maine. And really, even when they’re both struggling, it’s still the Subway Series.

4. Preakness Stakes (Saturday Afternoon). Big Brown wins.

3. Los Angeles @ Utah (Tonight). The Lakers close out the Jazz tonight in Salt Lake City.

2. Boston @ Cleveland (Tonight). [sigh]

1. Cleveland @ Boston (Game 7, Sunday). I’d love to have faith that the C’s will win tonight, but really, they haven’t given me any reason to think that they can win a road game yet. So I’ll assume there will be a Game 7, again, at the Garden, and avoid picking the game so as to prevent jinxing anyone.

Everyone, have a great, safe weekend and we’ll see you right back here at Mid-Atlantic Bias on Monday, depending on when I get back from New York. So don’t kill me if there’s no post until Tuesday.