The Mets’ offense is not bad

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As of today, the Mets have a collective 102 OPS+. That stat, which is adjusted for park and league factors, ranks theirs as the third-best offense in the National League so far in 2011.

They have the fifth-best on-base percentage in the National League in 2011. They have the sixth-best slugging in the National League in 2011, and they are fifth in OPS.

If you see an article that suggests the Mets’ offense is bad — and I have seen news articles, not even columns, say as much — that article is incorrect. The Mets’ offense has not been bad. The Mets’ pitching has been bad. The Mets’ offense has been just fine.

Will that continue? Probably. Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran and Ike Davis have all exceeded expectations so far. But even if Beltran needs more time off and Reyes and Davis regress a bit, David Wright, Jason Bay and Josh Thole should hit better than they have in the early goings. And though Jason Pridie can’t be expected to keep up his torrid pace, the team’s bench almost has to get better, and Angel Pagan will provide a lift whenever he returns from his oblique injury.

Sandwich of (last) Week

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As I mentioned, my back has been a bit cranky lately. Nothing crazy, but bad enough that I didn’t want to spend any more time in front of a computer than I had to this weekend, delaying this Sandwich of the Week until today, when I have to spend time in front of a computer anyway.

This deli was recommended to me by Adam Zagoria, who writes a fine blog about multiple levels of basketball for this here blog network. You should check that out if you don’t read it already.

Also, I really wanted to avoid pork for my friends that keep Kosher, since I already know next week’s sandwich will not and there has been pork on like the last 50 sandwiches. But this deli didn’t have any specialty sandwich board or anything, and when I panic I order bacon on my sandwiches. My bad, again.

The sandwich: Spicy chicken cutlet with bacon, cheddar and mayonnaise on a kaiser roll from Rocky’s Deli on Saw Mill River Road in Millwood.

Important background information: Doesn’t sound like that interesting of a sandwich, right? WRONG!

I know I’ve reviewed a bunch of sandwiches that are essentially fried chicken, bacon and cheese, and truth be told that’s pretty much my go-to when I’m ordering a hot sandwich at a deli I’ve never before tried. Like with burgers at restaurants, I figure a chicken cutlet is a good standard by which to judge delis. If the deli does it well, you can trust it’s a good deli, go back there and start experimenting with other sandwiches. If it sucks, don’t bother.

But more and more lately I’ve noticed spicy chicken cutlets on deli menus. I think this might be en route to deli standardization.

I remember when I was in third or fourth grade, a couple bar-and-grill-type restaurants on Long Island started carrying Buffalo wings, and they were like this amazing new thing but they were all over the map: some places served them breaded, some had them dry with the sauce on the side. Now most bars serve standard Buffalo wings because everyone has wised up to how ridiculously awesome they are.

So I think — trendspotting baby! — that might be happening with the spicy chicken cutlet at delis. No deli in Rockville Centre served spicy chicken cutlets when I was growing up, but I saw that they were new on the menu at the Cherry Valley Deli in Queens and I’m pretty sure I’ve recently spotted them a few other places as well. Also Wendy’s now has those Spicy Crispy Chicken Nuggets.

They don’t have spicy chicken cutlets at the delis closest to me in Westchester, but my pocket of Westchester is pretty reliably behind the times food-wise. There’s no Chipotle or Five Guys yet and I swear they still sell salsa in the International foods section of the grocery store.

What it looks like:

How it tastes: Tremendous. I’ll say it right now: Just barely shy of the Hall of Fame.

When I ordered the chicken cutlet, the dude pulled it from the pile and dropped it in the deep fryer, which is always an outstanding sign. No microwaved nonsense at Rocky’s Deli; you’re spicy chicken cutlet is coming at you hot and greasy, the way Colonel Sanders intended.

The breading on the cutlet, due to the frying, was nice and crispy. As for the spicy part: Good. It wasn’t overwhelmingly spicy or spicy in the Buffalo hot saucy style, it had more of a black peppery kick, a nice but not overpowering amount of seasoning. The flavor, actually, was not terribly unlike that of those Wendy’s spicy nuggets, only it obviously tasted way less like it came from some sort of fast-food power, not that this site judges anything produced by delicious fast-food powder.

The bacon was delicious, since it was bacon, and well-prepared bacon at that. It could have stood to be better distributed, though — the only thing really holding this thing back from the Hall of Fame. About a quarter of this sandwich didn’t have bacon.

Cheddar cheese and mayo you know about. The roll was good, fresh. Appropriate for a deli sandwich.

What it’s worth: I’m not exactly sure since my wife got a sandwich too and we both got beverages and we didn’t get an itemized receipt or anything. But I think about $7.

How it rates: 89 out of 100. Check this place out if you need a pit-stop off the Taconic. And look out for spicy chicken cutlets. They’re coming.

Man with sweet beard wins PGA event

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Our man Rob points out that Lucas Glover, winner of the Fargo Classic on Sunday, has a pretty awesome beard:

I almost never watch golf. I have no doubt that it requires a ton of skill to golf at a professional level because I’ve golfed myself and I can’t even make the damn ball go in the air. But there’s very little about the sport that makes me want to watch it in its televised form.

I think my main issue is that no one’s playing defense. Basically you’re just watching to see who hits the ball the best, and if someone’s playing really well the other golfers can’t intentionally walk him or double team him or anything.

I remember the first time I golfed, we all hit our first drives and I was like, “OK so when do we tackle each other?” and one of the other dudes was all, “no, we don’t tackle each other.” So I said, “oh so we’re playing two-hand touch golf then? I guess that’s cool…” but then that guy explained that you basically just hit your ball then go find your ball then hit it again then go find it again.

A lot of my issues with golf were actually solved by Jackie Mason in the movie Caddyshack 2. I know that film is widely panned for not having Rodney Dangerfield or Bill Murray and for not being Caddyshack 1, but it made a lot of good points about improving the sport by adding large-scale mini-golf obstacles and incorporating Randy Quaid as a golf/hockey defender. Really inspired stuff.

I, for one, think all sports could stand to look in the mirror and consider the ways in which they could improve by involving Randy Quaid. I know we think baseball is damn near perfect, but with MLB reportedly thinking about an expanded postseason, maybe it’s time our national pastime finally allow teams to use Randy Quaid once per playoff game. Teams in the field could set up Randy Quaid in the batter’s box across from the one the hitter is standing in and he could do all sorts of distracting things.

It might be dangerous, especially with maple bats. But he could wear a helmet, and there’s only one October.

I can’t even muster up the strength

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Remember my whole thing about how I’m not bothering to react to other writers’ columns this year because the glut of stupid, negative articles written about the Mets aren’t even worth our time? Go read this one. It’s so bad it deserves pity traffic.

I wanted to write a lengthier response, but truth is my back hurts and I can’t even muster up the strength. This guy is faulting Jose Reyes for getting called out on a mistake at third base. It was a blown call. It’s the umpire’s fault. Since Reyes was safe, of course he should’ve gone for third base. Since it was a great throw by Rick Ankiel, of course Reyes had to slide. Since… oh, whatever.

I’ll add this: Van Riper writes that “top leadoff men eventually learn the major league strike zone and walk 100 times a a year,” but only one leadoff man has walked at least 100 times in the past three seasons: Chone Figgins in 2009. And Figgins kinda sucks now. He’s had a .329 OBP since then, actually.

The only leadoff man you’ll find who managed two straight years walking at a clip like that anytime recently was Grady Sizemore, then he broke. Not many guys consistently walk 100 times a year, and the ones who do are mostly big-time power types. That’s part of why Rickey Henderson was so exceptional, and why it’s so unfair to compare any leadoff hitter — including Reyes — to Henderson, the greatest leadoff hitter in the history of the game.

Anyway, the rest is standard blame-Mighty-Casey dreck. Jose Reyes has not let the Mets down. The Mets have let Jose Reyes down, in countless ways.

Real men drive Hyundais

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Turns out Ron Artest is a Hyundai driver. Via Jalopnik:

Artest got the car as a gift from George Lopez, apparently.

Obviously the Lakers details are ridiculous, but I’ll say this: The Hyundai Genesis is pretty awesome. I sat in one and played with the gadgets while I was in the dealership waiting on the paperwork for my own Hyundai, which, believe it or not, is significantly less flashy than Ron Artest’s Hyundai.

Also, here is an excerpt from Ron Artest’s Wikipedia page:

In a December 2009 Sporting News interview, Artest admitted that he had led a “wild” lifestyle as a young player, and that he drank Hennessy cognac in the locker room at halftime when he was playing for the Chicago Bulls at the beginning of his NBA career.[40] During his rookie season in Chicago, he was criticized for applying for a job at Circuit City in order to get an employee discount.[41][42] He once attended a practice with the Indiana Pacers in a bath robe.[43] He was suspended for two games in the early 2004–05 season by Pacers coach Rick Carlisle after he allegedly asked for a month off because he was tired from promoting an R&B album for the group Allure on his production label.[41] Artest had also been suspended for three games in 2003 for destroying a television camera at Madison Square Garden, and for four games for a confrontation with Miami Heat coach Pat Riley in 2003.