LOOK OUT YOUR WINDOWS, BASEBALL SEASON IS HERE!

Ahh, a fresh coat of snow on the ground making the normally dreadful Monday morning commute that much worse, knowing that you have a full 5 days before the weekend, getting splashed by cars that drive too fast through puddles. It all adds up to a perfect day. Why, you ask? Because the 2006 National League East Champion Mets are taking the field today for the first time.

Sure they are just playing themselves today and tomorrow but on Wednesday, they start the real spring training against the Detroit Tigers (the World Series that wasn’t). Wednesday and Thursdays games can be seen on SNY if you call in sick, 1:10 pm start. For those that are all “responsible-like” then just wait until Saturday when the Mets will face the Dodgers, also at 1:10pm on channel 11. Enjoy.

Here are the two teams to todays game. It looks like Sandy got the better side…

Jerry Manuel's team:

Anderson Hernandez, SS
Damion Easley, 2B
Carlos Beltran, CF
Moises Alou, LF
Shawn Green, RF
Ruben Sierra, DH
Ramon Castro, C
David Newhan, 3B
Michel Abreu, 1B

Pitchers:

Jorge Sosa
Ambiorix Burgos
Willie Collazo
Steve Schmoll

Sandy Alomar Sr.'s team:

Jose Reyes, SS
Endy Chavez, CF
Paul Lo Duca, C
Carlos Delgado, 1B
David Wright, 3B
Jose Valentin, 2B
Julio Franco, DH
Ben Johnson, LF
Lastings Milledge, RF

Pitchers:

Jason Vargas
Pedro Feliciano
Lino Urdaneta
Eddie Camacho
Jorge Vasquez

Now a few notes from around the web…

Who better to lead us off then our lead off hitter?

Here is a quick quote from Reyes on his recent contract…

"I'm just 23 years old and when that contract is up I can make a lot more money. Now I can concentrate on playing baseball and nothing else. I don't worry about that kind of stuff. A lot of people said to me, 'Why'd you sign that contract?' I'm still young. That's some security for me and my family. And the next one's going to be big."

And a comment on whether or not the Mets can be a dynasty…

"Without a doubt, we have the talent here. We just have to work hard and push. Never look down. We can be a strong team that can make a run at it every year for a long time."

This kid is amazing. All that talent and still doesn’t have the ego or the dollar signs in his eyes that you would expect. I cant wait to be a part of my first “Jose, Jose, Jose, Jose” chant at Shea.

Here is a scary thought for upcoming pitchers and catchers on other teams…

When Jose Reyes and Carlos Gomez (one of our best prospects) race, Gomez wins about 70 percent of the time. Wow! Plus, he has power potential. For those keeping track, Gomez will be wearing number 88 this spring.

Willie likes to make fun of his coaches…

http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/baseball/mets/blog/2007/02/willies_gangsta_lean.html

Is there a better manager in the game? I mean who else has it in them to build a team based on respect for each other, then once everyone is all on board, and everyone is so comfortable with each other that they crack jokes on each other almost as often as Phillies’ players open their fat yaps, he joins in with some jabs at his players and coaches. Lead us, Willie, and we will follow…laughing the whole way.

Why is Rick Petterson such a good pitching coach? Well for one he is a Jedi, according to Matt Cerrone at MetsBlog, and because he knows how to relate to pitchers. The “power mullet” doesn’t hurt either. Here are a few articles about him…

This one is about how he plans on making Oliver Perez (and any other young pitcher meet their goals by simply making them focus on what their goals are. Sounds simple enough…

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkxMTQmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTcwODQyNjUmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2

Peterson: If someone says to you, ‘I'm lost,’ what would be the first thing that you would respond? Where do you want to go? It's a logical question. Can you show me your map?

Perez: I don't have one.

Peterson: No wonder you're lost.

Also there is a little story (cant find the link, sorry) about how he uses pop culture references, like Seinfeld to help explain things. I can just see him now, showing a clip of Elaine dancing to illustrate how to not be ready for a come-backer up the middle.

Here is a brief story about how pitchers hate using those BP Screens in practice…

http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070225&content_id=1815966&vkey=news_nym&fext=.jsp&c_id=nym

A quick excerpt…

…It wasn't quite the same with Mets reliever Scott Schoeneweis, who wanted nothing to do with the screen when he threw BP with the Angels one spring. He asked not to use it, but manager Mike Scioscia insisted. "I told him I'm ready for batted balls, and if one comes back at me and there's no screen, at least I can brace myself for it," Schoeneweis said, demonstrating how a slight adjustment can turn a potentially blow into a glancing blow.

Scioscia wouldn't hear of it, so Schoeneweis worked with a screen, only to have a hot ground ball by Jeff Da Vanon scoot under the screen and strike him in the shin. Angered, Schoeneweis said nothing to his manager. But his next pitch hit Da Vanon in the shin.

"He was young," Schoeneweis said. "He wasn't going to say anything."

The Mets took photos for a Mets cook book and everyone was goofing off. The link has more stories but here is one that made me chuckle…

http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070225&content_id=1816049&vkey=news_nym&fext=.jsp&c_id=nym

"You want me to throw a changeup with a pepper?" Glavine asked in wonder.

"Make them chase it," Rick Peterson, his coach, said.

Who said big leaguers don't play pepper anymore?

You have to click the link above even if you don’t plan on reading the story. As Hot Foot put it, the pic that goes with the story is of Paul LoDuca and Ramon Castro goofing off and it is “priceless”.

Quickies

In a bit of sad news, Xavier Nady is undergoing tests for Chrohns Disease. I always like Nady, even from before he was a Met and I hope he recovers in time to be on the field when the Mets beat up on his team this season.

Get your F.O.O. hat and show your support for our MVB (Most Valuable Brass) Omar Minaya. Apparently Mr. Wilpon (that’s Fred, not Jeff) made up hats with F.O.O. on them that stands for Friends Of Omar. I want one, I mean, aren’t we all F.O.O.’s?

Joe Smith is a hot young side-armer that should see some time in Shea before the season is through. He essentially was the reason that we let Bradford go to the Orioles.

Ambirox Burgos looks good too. He had a very live fastball. And Rick Peterson is very excited about teaching him and Oliver Perez to develop into some top stuff pitchers.

Get amped, boys and girls.

It has begun.

Of course, I must thank my sources on all of this...

Cerrone at MetsBlog & Footie at Hot Foot

Visit and read them daily.
You will not regret it!

Oliver Bites?

Despite the title of this post, I do not believe that Oliver Perez is a bad pitcher. While he may not be on the "10 minute" fix regimen that Rick Peterson lieks to employ, I still believe that with a good off season and spring training with Peterson, he will be a quality middle to end of the rotation guy.

With all that said, the Mets website had this funny pic of him from last nights game...

That cant taste very good, huh?

And while I am not the definitive source on the rule book, I am pretty sure that this would be considered 'doctoring the ball'.

An Update On 'Lil Sanchez

I previously posted about Duaner Sanchez having a baby.

Due to his accident and layoff (lack of better word) from baseball, he has decided to spend his time in Florida with family. Becasue of this, my mother will not be helping with his wife's pregnancy but they did visit her and the doctor recently for a scheduled check up and all looks good. Duaner was there and my mother said that he was very very nice to everyone. I can really see that as he just looks like a nice guy. What did they find out while they were there?

They are having a boy. Yup, a little arm that can be trained to be as effective as his papa.


Thats right, how is this for some "hot stove" material...

(fill in the blank) Sanchez will help the Mets to yet another chmpionship ring in 2031.

You can quote me on that one.

My Return

Expect to see more of me here. I was put off on this whole blogging thing for a while (see previous post) but I am now back.

See you in a few.

MetsGrrl or MetsGrrr ?

Several months ago, I had a terible expirience with MetsGrrl, whom some of you may know from her blog. The following is the story about how I became disenchanted by her and how it turned me off of blogging until just now. I feel ashamed to have let one cruel person alter how I felt about about anything.

When I first happened upon some of the many Mets blogs, I noticed that there was always a sense of comraderie. I would routinely ask ALL bloggers about themselves (as I pointed out to her, that is why many books have a small pic and bio on the author on the inside back flap) because readers for the most part want to know about the author of whatever you may be reading. In a way, it helps to make the experience more personal and on quite a few levels, more enjoyable. I had just started my own blog (which you are currently reading) and I was reaching out to other bloggers for their support and as I said earlier to better understand who they were and where they were coming from (I had not discovered HotFoot just yet). I had a nice back and forth with several bloggers including Cerrone from MetsBlog. I had also been posting on many other blogs with little blurbs and notes. I started to notice that I had received a response from just about everyone with the exception of MetsGrrl. This puzzled me as I was posting to her site more and more as she was echoing many sentiments that I had noticed first hand from an ex-girlfriend that became a Mets fan while I was with her. After a few days, I sent an email requesting why the lack of love was being shown to me. Allow me to break down her response (these are all quoted directly out of her email, grammar and spelling errors in all:

“Okay, I'm going to reply to this against my better judgement because i
know all it will do is get a negative response.”

OK, I am starting to feel that she is not a very optimistic person...

“…you started posting a ton of comments, asking to see my picture,
how old am I, etc. - all of this was weird and creepy and massively inappropriate.”

I think I have more then justified all of this already. Granted, I didn’t explain it to her at the time that she wrote this (I did however in a later email, but we’ll get to that later) so I can give here a “pass” on this one. Even though most people would be exited to have a new found reader that is active on the site, she chose to view it as creepy. It’s nice to know when an author appreciates his or her audience, isn’t it?

“yes, all of that is completely irrelevant, and i guarantee you that you didn't write those
questions to matt cerrone or mike of mike's mets or any of the other mets sites.”

Wrong! But thanks for playing, Chip, tell her what she has won. Actually she is right about one thing. I didn’t ask Mike those questions but that was mostly due to the fact that I wasn’t reading Mike’s Mets and didn’t have any clue who he was. OK, she got lucky on that one.

“and, you criticized my grammar, which is rich, given that - with all
due respect - you are hardly strunk & white.”

As I noted to her, I don’t recall ever doing that, but I very well might have. I can not in any means claim that I didn’t do it, but if you could see any of my other posts (I think she deleted all of mine off her site) then you can see that I was always supportive. I apologized to her for this and noted that I must have been joking.

“now, i am quite sure that like most guys you will proceed to attack me and tell me how
i am paranoid and you were just being friendly. I don't care. i'm not going to engage in
dialogue with you about this. I don't have to link to you, reply to you or post your comments
and the more you relentlessly try to get my attention, the more i know my first instincts were right.”

A nice open mind here, huh? Not even close to being sexist, right? I can only imagine that her first sentence indicates that she has done this to someone other guy. I guess because I have a penis, that means that I will follow every female that I come across online home and hide in their bushes and rummage through their garbage. Sounds like the logical explanation that I have now come to expect from MetsGrrl.

“I don't link new web sites or blogs.”

To be fair (which I am trying to balance with being sarcastic) I do have to point out that she goes on to mention that she doesn’t believe in the “link exchange” and that it is “so 1995”, which quite frankly I “so” don’t understand. She might “so” be dating herself. (for the record, I was 14 then). I guess she doesn’t like advertising much? Maybe I should have just written my blog and hoped that someone would accidentally typed in “h - t - t - p - : - / - / - m - e - t - s - w - i - t - . - b - l -o - g - s - p - o - t - . - c - o - m”. She continues on about how I mentioned that I had started a few blogs before and that I discontinued them. What she did not know was that those were personal blogs that were written over several years (most in 2000-2003) and during a time when I really didnt do enough things to warrant a blog.

Despite my frustration and anger over the fact that a fellow Mets fan would be as harsh as she was, I tried to explain to her everything that was legit and that I enjoyed her blog. Here is my letter in it’s entirety:

"i understand your concern. and i apologize.

i honestly meant no harm. you dont sound like you trust many guys but hopefully you believe that. i do not know how that last statement is coming across since it is hard to convey mood with just text on such a small scale, but i do not intend for that to have any sort of "edge" or "bite". please take it with a grain of salt.

i have asked cerrone as well as others, including the guy over at mets walkoffs, their age and all that other stuff to. honestly. i have not asked jessica over at chicksdigthepitchersduel due in part to your less then warm reception to the question. i dont blame you for that as you did nothing wrong. it is society at hand that has dictated this sort of behavior. in hindsight, i should not have asked about a pic. i was merely trying to break down the coldness of this era that we live in. it is sort of a pet peeve of mine that we have this wonderful technolgy sitting front of us that we as a people can use to connect with each other about the things that we are passionate about (the mets) and instead, becasue of a handful of degenreates the exact opposite is achieved.

surely as a writer, you could understand that a person's age, sex, location, ethnicity, income and any number of other factors will weigh on how much stock a reader puts into trusting an author. if you were to read a book titled "Growing Up Poor in America", wouldnt you like to know if the author was a 53 year old white guy from Ann Arbor, Michigan with several degrees and not a 27 year old black guy from down on Cornelias St. in Brooklyn? That is why they put the authors information on the inside flaps of books. Perhaps you disagree with me on this. I am not trained in writing, where as you are. This is just my opinion and how i enjoy (and trust) reading.

sorry about the grammar thing, i dont really recall the details but i enjoy your blog and i dont believe i ever did anything in a malicious way. it had to have been meant as a joke. i cant be 100% on that but i really dont think that i would have attacked you and meant it.

as i said, i really do enjoy your blog and i hope you continue with the good content. i am fairly new to the blogging thing. yes, i did write other blogs that i did not keep but they were not really about anything, there by making it hard tokeep my attention. they were mostly done while i was unemployed and quite frankly, i didnt do much to warrant a blog.

i am sorry that you dont like my blog. not everyone is going to, i understand that. your dislike of it only makes me want to do better. after all, what good would any work be if not for some crtitics. i can only hope that you dont mind me still posting comments on your blog as i really do enjoy the community/family aspect of it. maybe you will still give my blog a chance and with some work, it will be good enough for you to add to your site. i apologize for assuming that all mets fans are willing to help out other mets fans as we are used to being down together. this is actually the second time that i have offended someone by assuming that and it is having me reconsider my theory.

if you would prefer that i stop visiting/posting to your blog, please say so and i will stop.

hopefully, at the very least you have read this and can see that there is a logical explanation for everything that "creeped" you out. and maybe, just maybe you will see that i am really just a rabid mets fan that wants to share his thoughts on them, and not a drooling pervert that i somehow have come across as.

i do feel a bit insulted at some of the things that you implied with your email, but as i said, that is not your fault. i can only assumed that some assholes have driven you to be "skeptical" of guy on the internet. but i pose this question, would you be as creeped out if i was a female? i openly invite you to view any and all of my information on myspace (link on my blog). it wouldnt take long to discover that i am not who you think i am.


once again, sorry for any and everything. and i hope that you do not hold a grudge.

enjoy the mets and hopefully, i will still be reading your posts come mid-october."

You would think that after my explanation, anybody with a shred of moral fiber would extend an apology or maybe a kind word or two explaining why she had her concerns but… nope. Not a single syllable. I guess she deemed me not worthy enough. Shucks.

Now that all of this out there, I will let the readers decide whether or not MetsGrrl is a stand-up, happy Mets fan or a disgruntled man-hater.

Bless her boyfriend/life partner’s soul.

A 'Lil Sanchez On The Way

I am not sure if this is "breaking news" or not but it is good news for Duaner Sanchez regardless.
My mother works for a doctor that delivers babies and she called me up the other day...

"One of the Mets players' wives came in the other day, she is pregnant and Dr. Doctor (obviously a false name) is going to deliver the baby."

"No shit, who?"

"Sanchez. Dw... Dw... Dwayne Sanchez"

"Um, Duaner Sanchez?"

"Oh yeah, that's it."


Ahh, Bless her soul.

Anyway, as you can see, thankfully Sanchez wasn't hurt any further in his unfortunate accident because he is expecting soon. I am not sure if he has any other kids or if this will be his first but I am sure that all Mets fans wish him a healthy recovery and many blessings for his unborn child.

I told a coworker about this and he suggested that I try to get my hands on the umbilical cord and sell it on eBay. Um, no thanks. Besides the fact that it might be illegal, I doubt the strength of the market for Sanchez's wifes umbilical cord.

Now, if it was Betran's wife...


I plan on getting him a "get well soon" card to give to my mother to pass along to his wife. Hopefully it will be thanked with some autographed stuff or some tickets.

Davey Is Killing Me

Davey, What is going on?

I know it is only been like 2 weeks that he is in this “slump” but for me, personally, it couldn’t have come at a worst time. Being the only representative from the Mets on my fantasy team, I look forward to cheering my favorite Met a little extra each night (except for the 20 or so games that they have had off in July). These past two weeks have been incredibly important as I was trying to hold on to 1st place (which I have now lost).

Our league is based on individual performance so we only use certain stats. Unfortunately RBI’s is not one of them as they rely too much on a team effort (the team needs to be on base after all to be knocked in).

Here’s hoping he will turn it around

M * A * S * H

You have to hand it to the guy in the sound booth at Turner Field.

When Carlos Delgado was hit in the knee (shin?) the other night, I started bullshitting with my roommate about the same old shit that we usually talk about, when suddenly I had to cut off the conversation and turn up the Mets game. No, it wasn't the witty banter of the SNY booth as they played the 9th replay of the ball hitting Delgado, that had the game BLARING. What I was listening for was to confirm that, yes indeed, the Braves were playing the theme song to M*A*S*H!

Haha! Great. I know it sucked that it was a Met that was in pain but I couldn't help but smile. Who doesn't appreciate a clever way to taunt an opponent?

Well done, anonymous Turner Field sound technician, well done.

B-PALM ANGRY!

A buddy of mine created his own blog about the Mets as well.

Take a look at it.

The Team The Time The AMAZINS

A few things to note:

• He is a fellow coworker and we talk about baseball all day long so don't be too shocked if our topics are similar, but they might just compliment each other.
• He is from Howard Bitch, so basically, he is just better than you at everything you do. Yeah, EVERYTHING! Even if you are a woman, he menstruates better than you. Sorry, that's just the way it is. You don't know who his uncle is.
• He is the 3rd baseman on our corporate softball team. He plays a good 3rd base but occasionally looks more like a hockey goalie out there than a third baseman.
• He is deaf in one ear so when you post comments to his site, make sure you use all CAPS.
• He IS George Costanza.

Here is an artist's rendering of him...

A Confession

I have a small confession:

I have actually started to like Larry (Chipper) Jones. OK, maybe "like" is a strong word, but I no longer hate him. I cant really pinpoint why but as of late, I have started to like guys that have carried themselves in a particular manner. Maybe it is that I am a bit more mature and can appreciate a professional athlete that carries himself (or herself) in a professional manner. Despite what any Mets fan has to say about him, he does display a clear head on his shoulders. At least to what I have seen, he seems to love and embrace his fans, he plays hard all the time and appears to be a great teammate. Not to mention, he has had nothing but praise and semi-well wishes for our boy Davey.

I am a huge Mets fan but I am also a Baseball fan. And quite frankly, Baseball needs more players like Jones.

Sorry if that hurts a bit fellow Mets fans.

The Atlanta Who?

I just don't feel very excited about this series. Sure a few Braves have given us some bulletin board material, but that is really the only thing that makes this series any more interesting than any other.

I understand (from reading other blogs) that I am in the minority on this issue but really, do the Braves actually pose a threat? Bob Wickman is NOT the answer to their bullpen woes. A step in the right direction? Absolutely. The cure? Not even close. They simply have too many holes. What happens when (not "if") the Mets go on a 2 week tear and even if the Braves go .500 during that same stretch? They would in all likelihood be about 20 games out.

That is all it would really take. We are late enough in the season that any pro-longed winning streak (or even a good stretch) will in fact bury the Braves.

I was looking forward to the Phillies contending so that we could get that great rivalry going again. My dad used to tell me about how he and his buddies would go to the Vet back in the day to see the Mets playing Philly. If the games had meant anything, I would have tried to have gone out to Philly at the end of this year. Oh well, maybe I still might.

Sorry About The Bernie Williams Shirt

I dont know if any of you noticed this but in my pic to the left is a picture of myself licking a friend.

This pic was taken at a local bar (where else do people lick each other?) and a buddy of mine is clearly seen in the background wearing a Williams #51 shirt.

Sorry about that.

I would change it but ehhh.

"Endy Chavez! . . . Endy Chavez!"

This is a bit off topic, but still about the Mets.

I been playing Major League Baseball 2K6 on XBox for some time now and most of the time, I either have the sound low or am watching TV while I play, so I didn't really focus on some of the audio in the game. But, you know what they have in there? If the title of the post is any clue, it is an Endy Chavez chant. For some time now, sports games have been adding player specific heckles and cheers and they are usually reserved for the big names. Logically, you have to have the heckle/cheer planned, recorded, coded, programmed and tested. That requires some time and effort, so it is not hard to see why only the big names get that treatment. Especially when you consider that crowd noise is most often the lowest volume setting of all the sound options.

You have to tip your hat to the guys at 2KSports for doing their homework and really going the extra mile. Pretty cool.

Also of note in the game is the heckle of Eric Byrnes. You can clearly hear a fan yelling "Hey Byrnes, Go back and touch the plate".

For those of you that don't know, Byrnes was in a collision in a big playoff game (2003 ALDS, Game 3) and never touched the plate. He was tagged out one his way to the dugout.

Pretty specific, no?

DAMN YAHOO!

Being in a fantasy baseball league with some co-workers (Davey is the only Met that is on my team) prompted me to purchase Yahoo!'s (is that proper) StatTracker. It has been pretty handy as it allows me to follow what my team (fantasy, not the Mets) is doing on a minute by minute basis since StatTracker is joined up with GameChannel which you can use alwasy.

For some reason, GameChannel wont update. When Floyd just grounded out to short to end the bottom of the ninth, it still had Beltran up in the bottom of the 8th with one out. That was like 45 minutes ago.

What the fuck?

Yahoo! owes me $9.95.

Maine Looking Good

So, after learning that the conference room (where we watch day games at work) was booked for a meeting today, a bunch of co-workers decided to head to a local bar/restaurant to watch the game.
John Maine looked great but my favorite moment was just after he let the second runner on in the 6th (I think) with Aramis Ramirez coming to the plate and Willie came out to talk to him.

You know Willie just asked him how he was doing. Maine appeared to say that he felt good. Willie just patted him on the ribs and had to have said something like "OK kid, go get him then".

Long story short, we are still in a 0-0 tie in the 8th as I write this.

Maine is looking better each start. Some of his pitches today were near-untouchable. I look forward to seeing this kid for some time. Hopefully.


On a side note... Prior, looked good too, except for the HIGH SOCK STIRRUPS!
Chicago needs a gay guy in the locker room to help them dress.

Just Like The Old Days

Last night was a heartbreaker but it made me feel a little good inside. I know it sounds weird but it made me miss the old days of laying on the floor as a kid in the late eighties(after '88)/early nineties and watching the Mets hopelessly fail.

Mel Allen was still hosting TWIB (This Week In Baseball), and the Mets were putting out sub-par performance's on a daily basis.

It was those times when they were a terrible team, that I fell in love with underdogs the world around. To the Mets credit (or lack there of), they always seemed to have a chance to win or at least make it interesting. They rarely succeeded but it was always fun to watch.

I am not saying that I enjoyed last night's loss, just that I felt it pull on the old heartstrings a bit as I thought about being a little kid again.

After reading a fellow Mets Blogger's blog (MetsGrrl) about how this is her first season as a Mets/Baseball fan, I started to think of all that she missed out on from back in the day. She missed all the heartache(Darryl/Doc), the pain (Dallas Green?!) and torture (Anthony Young). But more importantly, the sheer exuberance when we did pull one out. Didn't it seem like we won on Opening Day like every year, and said to ourselves "maybe this year will be different.". Now, I am not taking anything away from here because one can clearly see in her posts that she is a diehard fan, but she lacks a certain feeling that just cant be described. While she may know, and even learn in great detail about those years, she wasn't there. There are tons of fans like that out there. Maybe they didn't follow baseball back then, perhaps they followed a different team and switch at some point, or maybe they simply were not born yet but a whole slew of Mets fans just don't know what it was like.

Like I said, this does not mean anything against these fans, I am merely pointing it out.

Our Mets are doing well and anyone that supports them is fine by me but let us never forget what we been through and NEVER look back at those times in an ill light.

Those years made us who we are today. They are the ones that make us believe that we can still come back in the bottom of the 9th to (at least) make it close.


...I wonder what Anthony Young is up to these days.