Gary Sheffield has had enough of this baseball stuff

Two Gary Sheffield posts in one day. Hey, someone's got to do this!

Per Joel Sherman of the New York Post, Gary Sheffield today asked for a contract extension and this was refused by the Mets. He then threatened to leave the team and the Mets then pulled him from the lineup as you can't play someone who is in a taxi. In the end, he stayed (sounds just like Sheffield with these bombastic empty threats) and struck out as a pinch hitter in the 8th inning. (I did not see the at-bat but he better not have been called out "looking".) Apparently on his way out of the stadium, he said, "I'm done."

I bet he comes back. This guy is just not right. At 40 years old and with the injuries to Beltran and Delgado, he is the primary clean-up hitter with the Mets. He should be happy but he is sulking. Very tiresome. I discipline my kids for stuff like this.

Remember that intervention I referred to in the earlier post today before all of this happened? We need that like NOW! Fly these professionals in who do this kind of thing. No time to waste.

Come on. Help this guy out in his time of need.

Newsflash! Gary Sheffield is not happy again.

It appears that Gary Sheffield is just not happy again in his present situation. Will this man ever find peace?

Per Larry Brooks of the New York Post (yea, I know it is a tabloid but I seriously doubt that he made up these quotes), Sheffield advised that he does not expect to finish the season in a Mets uniform.

"Based on what I know, no, I do not think I will be here. But if I am sent to a team that I don't want to play for, I would go home."

"I have to look at everything. People always say they are going to do the right thing for you, but sometimes it doesn't work out that way. If I don't take care of myself, who will? That's what I focus on."

"I'd go to a team where they already have (a strong lineup). I don't want to go someplace where I would be seen as the guy who would make the difference, because if that didn't happen, then it would be blamed on me."

"I've never played in a hitters' ballpark. Put me in Yankee Stadium right now and you're talking about 50 home runs."

Obviously, this is pretty corrosive stuff considering that he is saying these things in the middle of the clubhouse but we have seen this from him before. I don't even have a clue as to his specific complaint this time but I do know that he always seems to be complaining.

What a ray of sunshine!

Isn't there a local Optimist Club that could help him? If he is not open to that, maybe schedule an A & E-style intervention or something. Lure him to a hotel by telling him that a reporter will be there to speak to him about writing a book outlining all of his grievances in life. Once he is there, pounce on him, give him your tearful pleas to change and then offer therapy. If he says no, well at least you tried.

Just trying to help.

Do not hit a home run here. It will ruin everything!

In the AP story on last night's Mets/Braves game, there is a really strange quote by Jeff Francoeur. It is even stranger than Dusty Baker's quote of a couple years ago when he said in all seriousness that he did not like walks (from an offensive perspective) because base runners "clog the bases".

As background, in the fourth inning last night, the Mets had like a mega-rally where they reeled off 10 hits erasing a 4-0 deficit.

Jeff Francoeur had this to say about the inning: "That was a lot of fun. You just keep pounding balls into the gap. The one thing you don't want to do is hit a home run. That's a rally-killer."

I can't tell if Francoeur was speaking "tongue-in-cheek" or not here. I sure hope he was because if not, he needs to go back to "baseball school" where on the first day he will learn that a home run is the best result a batter can get in any situation; bar none.

If he was speaking "tongue-in-cheek", I give Francoeur credit as that is kind of a funny quip for that circumstance. If he was completely serious, it is also funny but in a different, less flattering, kind of way and again some remedial education would be probably be necessary here.

I can just see Jerry Manuel telling Francoeur just as he was leaving the dugout for the on-deck circle: "Whatever you do, do not, I repeat DO NOT hit a home run here. We're on a roll and I don't want to mess things up. Understand?"