Go Mac!!

Warning: this post has only tangential, at best, relation to the Mets.

My sister's boyfriend (hereafter referred to as MSB), like her, is a freshman at Macalester. He's a pitcher. For the last five months, he's been claiming that he's not that great a pitcher.

He was lying.

Today was opening day for Macalester Baseball, which happens to have taken place in the Metrodome, where the Twins play. That's awesome enough all on it's own, but MSB was
pretty sure he wasn't gonna play today. He was wrong. Not only was he the first freshman pitcher to take the mound, he threw two scoreless innings, including a strikeout on three pitches. That's MSB in his wind-up in the picture above.

What does all this have to do with the Mets? Nothing, really, except that I'm SO JEALOUS that my sister got to watch a baseball game live and in person today, and I'm really, really proud of MSB.

Go Mac Baseball!!


thanks to Molly Frean for the picture.

yet more WBC fun

It's pretty unusual for most of the regular starters to play full (or close to full) games this early in spring training. But because of the Classic, Manuel wants the guys who are going off to play for their teams as much work as possible before they go. Which means that in the first three games of the exhibition season, we've seen a very close approximation of the opening day lineup (or, at least the opening day fielding lineup-- I'm still betting that come April, Reyes will be back hitting lead-off).

Which just makes the exhibition games even more fun to watch.

the DH in spring training

According to the rules of spring training, the manager of the home team (National or American league) gets to decide whether the teams can use a DH. Jerry Manuel made it known early that he and Dan Wharthen had no intention of using the DH in spring training, for the most rational reason possible: National League pitchers have to hit. They need practice, too. So Jerry has been putting the pitcher in the #2 spot, to make sure the starter gets a chance at the plate.

Strictly speaking, a team using the DH has a giant advantage over a team letting their pitchers hit. The Mets have played three spring training games thus far. All were against teams using the DH, while the Mets let their pitchers go to the plate.

And we've won 2 of 3, losing the last one by just one run.

Rock on, Jerry.

Quotable Cohen

Don’t you think that it would make more sense for Axe Men to be sponsoring the batting line-up instead of the defensive line up?

--Gary Cohen, commenting on sponsorship.

When is the best time to play the World Baseball Classic?

According to MLB, I guess, in the middle of spring training.

I've written before about the hazards of playing the classic before the season starts, so I won't re-hash them here, except to say that I can't find a rational explanation for it on the internet. If you can, I'd appreciate the help with my terrible internet-searching skills.

Gary Cohen suggested on today's broadcast that perhaps a better time would be in the middle of the season; to lengthen the All-Star break to 8 days or so, and play the Classic then.

Keith pointed out the problem with that proposal: managers already don't want their best players playing for more than a few innings in the All-Star game, in particular they don't want their best pitchers to go more than 60 pitches (and would prefer fewer). This managerial position makes plenty of sense, given that there's still half a season to go after the break, and who wants to risk their best players in the middle of the season? Moreover, if it were the WBC rather than the All-Star game in the middle of the season, national pride is likely to make the players push themselves even harder than they would for the All-Star game. Johan Santana would never pitch more than two innings in an All-Star game, but for Venezuela? He'd go longer, and it would be silly to pretend otherwise.

The only thing I really like about the idea of playing the Classic instead of the All-Star game is that it would put an end to the utterly stupid practice of having the winner of the All-Star game gain home field advantage in the World Series.

Keith Hernandez thinks the best time would be right after the World Series, in October. Of course, there are drawbacks to this plan, too; guys who played in the playoffs will be, to put it mildly, tired. Guys who didn't get to participate in the post-season will be much more ready to play after the World Series than the guys who did when it comes time to play for their country.

Never the less, as is so often the case, I think Kieth's proposal is the best. After the World Series is the only time of the year when the Classic would have no effect on the season, which is obviously the way everyone with a financial stake in MLB would prefer it be, as would most fans.

Plus, more competitive baseball in October! Yay!

What do you think?

more WBC fun

Guess who's the batting coach for the Italian team?

Mike Piazza, who was at Tradition Field yesterday when the Mets played the Italian WBC team in the morning. Pelfrey pitched brilliantly during that game, by the way.

Guess who knew they played baseball in Italy?

Not me.

scoring

thanks to the magic of the Digital Video Recorder, I got to see all of today's game in Florida, and was in the mood for experimentation. So I looked all over the web for scorecard templates, finding most of them woefully inadequate for my scoring needs. I ended up with a Word template, which actually worked just fine, until the Mets started hitting in the second inning. I tried, but it just took too long to record the plays in Word the way I want to record the plays.

So I went back to my old standby, the legal pad, which never fails me. But by the 6th inning, it became your basic spring training game, with so many substitutions that I stopped scoring and just started watching. Which was pretty awesome, too.

Unfortunately, my camera is broken, but I'll add pictures both of the Word scorecard and the legal pad scorecard ASAP.

New Orleans to Buffalo

the Mets tripple-A farm team is moving from New Orleans to Buffalo this year.

Good: Buffalo is much closer to NY, makes call-ups easier, and will better prepare minor leaguers or the cold they will encounter in NYC at the end of the season.

Bad: Buffalo? Really?

Mets Baseball! On Television!

They've got the full broadcast team working today's spring training game, and I am loving every second. So much, it's inspired me to clean the living room, just to stay in earshot of the game.

I'd jump up and down and squeal with excitement, but not only wouldn't that translate to the blog, I'm a little embarrassed by how thrilled I am to be watching baseball, even exhibition games.

Its 6-0 Mets against Florida, and Nelson Figeroa just threw a 1-2-3 inning to end the 6th which is always a good thing. I also notice that Delgado is playing first (and just hit a nice double), and that Reyes is in the game (not just in the game, he just hit his second home run of the game), as are Wright and Beltran (who just hit his second homer of the day). This must be because these are the guys who are going to play in the WBC, and Jerry Manuel wants to send them off in as best shape as possible.

Have I mentioned recently that I love Manuel?

P.S. We won on a three-hit shutout. I'm a happy girl.

Opening Day in the Grapefruit League

I've written before about how little I pay attention to spring training games; they mean so little for the season that it hardly seems worth caring about. Never the less, these are exactly the headlines a Mets fan wants to see after the first exhibition game:

Church, Castillo start spring on right note
Ryan Church shines in Mets's spring win
Castillo, Church thrill their skipper with strong performances

Why? Church and Castillo are x-factors on the team's success this year, so even though this game means nothing, it's great to see that those men performed in a way that will impress their manager, and their GM. Let's keep our fingers crossed for more of the same.

My Maine Man also pitched well today, and just because I love him so much, here's some video of John talking about coming back from surgery and his performance today.

I'm just annoyed that I missed watching the game while sitting in the doctors office for EVER today. SNY seems not to be re-playing it tonight, which also annoys me. I've take precautions, though-- tomorrow's game is set to record on DVR.

picture and links via Mets/MLB.com and NYPost.com

Which team am I going to root for in the World Baseball Classic?

I've been struggling with this question since I realized the second WBC was happening this year. Given the floor I grew up on, the building and neighborhood I grew up in, I would be equally comfortable rooting for the Puerto Rican, Cuban and Dominican Republic teams. Which one to go with has never been an obvious choice.

But then this week it came out that Edgardo Alfanso, our beloved Fonzie, is going to play for Venezuela. That sealed the deal for me, even without Santana pitching for the team.

I'm rooting for Venezuela, and am very much looking forward to the WBC, which starts in 12 days. I've come around to the idea that the WBC is nothing but good for baseball as an entity, and I hope it promotes the fandom around the world that is it's intent.

Dave Racaniello, or I love Marginalia

There are days when I think Dave Racaniello has the best job in baseball. This guy catches pitches in the bullpen during the year, and is reportedly responsible for the start of the Great Shave of '07. During spring training, he literally plays. He's good friends with David Wright and has a reputation as a good guy. He's a part of every game, in the bullpen the whole game. And when the Mets lose a game, he is in *no way* responsible.

At spring training last year, every time we saw Racaniello, SJ and I would scream at the top of our lungs, "Love you, Dave!! Go Rac!!" Perhaps it hadn't occurred to hm that the average fan not only knew who he is but wanted to cheer for him. The big smile on his face when he heard us tells me that he appreciated being noticed by the average fan, and that's something that likely doesn't happen to him much. But I love the guy, for all kinds of reasons, and I'm glad to have been able to let him know for a second or two that he's appreciated by Mets fans.

not the first time, nor the last

in posts over the last couple of weeks, I've both said that I've been affected by the end of Shea and that it hasn't really hit me yet that it's gone, and that it has hit me in some ways. Contradictions in terms, all of then, but still true.

I felt the end of Shea at the last game I went to at the stadium. I was aware the last time I went to the park that the next time I'd be there, she would no longer be standing. Saying Goodbye to Shea was something I acknowledged at the time; never the less, I am SURE that it will be a very, very strange experience the first time I go to Cifi Field, when Shea is merely a parking lot.

so, I contradict myself. I'm a human being; this is bound to happen any times in my life. I feel a lot about the end of Shea, but I think I'll feel excited to visit Citi once I get there. The two opposite feelings contradict; never the less, I'm sure I'll continue to feel this way until I wake my way to Citi Field. After that... well, that's another post.

Jose on hitting third, and why the Phillies suck

Reyes reported to camp yesterday, and gave an interesting interview to the Post, which you should read here. Before giving that interview, he worked out at Tradition Field with the man who will most likely replace him at lead-off: Jose Castillo.

There is going to be some serious beef between the Mets and the Phillies this year, and I agree with Jose: the Phils won the World Series. Why are they so concerned with trash-talking the Mets?

Routine

Baseball players are creatures of habit, of routine. Most hitters do exactly the same things in the on-deck circle in exactly the same order every single time they're in the hole. Most pitchers come to a set position using exactly the same movements every time-- Joe Smith with his routine of pants, belt, hat, then onto the mound is an extreme example, but Johan has a routine too-- the adorable shaking of the hips while staring over his glove at the catcher, then coming to a set.

Baseball fans tend to mirror baseball players in the desire for routine. I've written before about how, during the season, baseball tends to order a fan's days; everything is measured in terms of how much of the game you'll see on TV, how much you'll get to on the radio, whether you'll be relegated to watching on your preferred internet gameday application, whether you'll miss the game entirely and will be furtively checking for updates during whatever is keeping you from seeing tonight's game.

There's not a lot in the world one can count on; I've had more examples of this in my life recently than I care to think about. But during the season, one can count on baseball, every single day. This has been perhaps the hardest winter of my life; I cannot possibly be more looking forward to the daily routine of baseball to bring the kind of order to my days that it does during the season, and to bring the daily feelings of joy and disappointment and anticipation and excitement and interest and love and competition and loyalty that one can only get from being a fan.

Only 46 days to go.

Shea, Nostalgia, friends and facebook

I posted in my status on facebook this afternoon about watching the last standing piece of Shea come down today, and my friend Dave (one of the many fantastic people who have re-entered my life as a result of facebook, and as devoted as fan as one will find in this city) commented on the staus update. This is one of my favorite things about facebook: the ability to connect with other people on exactly the level that is right for the relationship you have with that person.

Here's the text of our status-commenting:

Dave at 7:41pm February 18

it really just hit me that shea is gone, and i have very mixed feelings about citifield (starting with the name, the color of the seats, etc.). i can vividly recall coming to shea as a kid, seeing the last game of the '88 season there, chanting "darrrrryyyyyl". perhaps it's just nostalgia taking hold and i'll get over it. although putting it in perspective, i feel for the yankee fans (dare i say it), especially the older ones.

This Fan at 2:56am February 19

it still hasn't really hit me that Shea is gone. I don't think it will until my first trip to Citi this year and I see with my own eyes that Shea is no longer standing. I also have such a hard time thinking of the "Shea Faithful" being referred to as the "Citi Faithful" that my brain shuts down when I consider it.

and, wrt nostalgia, I just don't think there's a baseball fan in the world who doesn't feel its pull. I mean, as much as I love the Mets (and I don't think I have to convince anyone of how much I love the Mets), I would be so happy if Robert Moses hadn't fucked it all up and we still had major league baseball in Brooklyn. Nostalgia for something you've never actually experienced?! now THAT'S the kind of magical shit only baseball can pull.

I'm trying to have the long-view on this one: I'm thinking about how I'll tell my kids about Shea, about my experiences there, about how I acquired one of the true loves of my life there. Still, it's not real yet to me that she's gone, and I know I'm gonna feel it hard when it finally does hit.

**************

In truth, I'm sure it will hit me hard when I go to Citi Field for the first time and Shea is a parking lot. I'm sure of it because I'm a nostalgia addict, and I'm sure of it because despite all its many faults, Shea has been my baseball home my whole life. But the fact is, no matter how many pictures and videos I see of Shea's destruction, it doesn't yet feel real to me that it's gone. This reminds me, interestingly enough, that I felt similarly (though obviously of different emotional impact) that I needed to see the remains of the World Trade Center before I could really believe it was gone (and this after seeing the second tower fall with my own eyes, out a window, not on TV). Until I'm there and can see it, until it's tangible, very little is real to me. And that's definitely the head-space I'm in with regard to the absence of Shea; it won't be real until I get off the train for the first time to go to Citi Field.

I'm sure I'll have a whole post about that when it happens, but until then? In my mind, there are still two stadia in Flushing, standing next to each other, and I go to see my team play in the old, decrepit, inferior of the two parks. It's going to take lived experience, I think, to change that vision.

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

Jerry Manuel is talking about moving Reyes down to the 3rd position, presumably ahead of Wright and Delgado (depending on Carlos' performance) and behind Beltran in the 2 slot. I can't decide if I think this is a good idea; I think it depends too much on the performance of Castillo, which isn't a performance I feel comfortable relying on. This strikes me a little too much like the behavior of Willie Randolph constantly changing the #2 hitter, with little success. That said, this is the only thing Jerry Manuel has ever done that has reminded me of Willie, and I was never a Willie-hater to begin with. I've been impressed with Manuel, and I think he can have real success with this team; I'd just hate to see a constant revolution of players hitting first this season, for reasons I can't yet fully express. It just feels a bit like throwing stuff on the wall to see if it sticks, a strategy I can appreciate in business but not much in baseball.

Things seem to be looking good down in Port St. Lucie; it's weird to think that in a short time, many of the most important guys to the team will leave to play in the WBC. I wonder, given Manuel's stated goal of making this year about the team rather than individual performances, how this can do anything but harm Manuel's project. I can see getting really pumped up to play for your country (or Puerto Rico), and then having a hard time getting pumped to play for a random assemblage of major league players with nothing in common other than being paid by the Wilpons, having just left the camaraderie of one's countrymen while doing your favorite thing (playing baseball). I hope I'm wrong about that, and that playing in the WBC will hurt the Mets neither physically (I'm praying, along with every Major League owner and GM in baseball, for no injuries) nor emotionally.

All Gone

via Marty Noble's blog:

"The final upright moment of any part of Shea Stadium passed at 11:25 a.m. today. That piece was from Section 5, between the plate and first base. Jeff Wilpon says the plan remains to have all the debris replaced by a parking lot by Opening Day."

Somehow, I feel this deserves more commemoration than it's getting. Of course, as was pointed out to me last night, I get very sentimental over baseball. And I'm a sentimental Mets fan, so I think pretty much everything about its coming down deserves some sort of commemoration.

UPDDATE:

This is from William Valderrama, and is almost hard to watch. The sound of the fall is intense.

Noble on Shea

I've mentioned before that I generally agree with Marty Noble, enjoy his writing, and especially love his answers to fan's questions. And like most of the press and a lot of Mets fans, he didn't expect to feel any nostalgia for Shea. Because I'm a bit of a nostalgia freak, I expected to feel something at some point, but it didn't really hit me until the last game I went to there, the second-to-last of the season and among the most beautiful (if not THE most beautiful) games Johan Santana has ever thrown. In fact, it didn't even hit me until I was pulling up to the Shea station on the LIRR.


But it did hit me. Shea, for all it's faults (and there were many), is the only place the Mets have played in my lifetime, the field on which they've won both their World Series pennants. It's where I went to my first baseball game; it's where I've had so many happy times with my father and the rest of my family. And as much as I am looking forward to Citi, I know I'll miss Shea.

As it turns out, it took much longer to hit Marty Noble than it did me that he would fell nostalgia for the old stadium, and writes about it nicely today.

We’re born again, there’s new grass on the field.

Pitchers and catchers are due at Spring Training in Port St. Lucie today!!

And so a new countdown starts: 52 days until Opening Day.

I need to kill trees

Though my terrible spelling can be (mostly) masked by spell-check, I am absolutely horrible at editing for grammar and punctuation on-screen. I need paper to be a decent writer, one who is actually quite capable of writing grammatical sentences. And since I'm not going to destroy trees in the service of this blog, you'll run across errors from time to time. OK, more like often.

When I see these kinds of errors (which I often do, long after the fact), I do go back and edit them. But then, I'm probably the only one going through old posts and noting grammatical errors anyway.

I'm with John Maine on the weather in Florida

There's a sweet promo* up on Mets.com from Port St. Lucie, mostly centered on my Main Maine.

I am, however, disappointed to see that Ollie Perez is apparently clean shaven.

*Though it's not completely clear when you click the link, if you click the orange arrow in the middle right of the screen, you'll see the vid. A warning: it will go on to more videos after the Maine one, because I can't seem to figure out how isolate just one vid from MLB.com. I find this unsurprising.

One more day

Until the most important of the year, which for so many of us is Opening Day, tomorrow is the most exciting day of the year for baseball fans: pitchers and catchers are due at spring training. In truth, most of them are already there, guys like Perez and Santana (who's been rehabbing his knee in Pt. St. Lucie for a while now) as are a lot of the position players (David Wright likes to get to spring training early, and given that he lives in New York, who could blame him?).

Never the less, there is a special magic to the day when pitchers and catchers are due, whether they've arrived earlier or not. It means winter is almost over, and it's less than two months until there's baseball again. Baseball fans are creatures both of habit and routine (how else can you like a game that goes on for 162 games?), and pitchers and catchers at camp is one of the special days in the yearly cycle.

a relief and a small concern

Santana isn't playing in the World Baseball Classic (officially) because he's still rehabbing his knee and needs to be extra careful. I hope the latter is more an excuse than the truth, but I'm relieved that our ace pitcher won't be risking any of his season by playing in the Classic. Never the less, it does not instill confidence to hear that your star pitcher is still rehabbing a knee when he's already at training camp and the decision was made after a session on the mound.

Gogle Analytics, This Fan's Goals

though the analytics program that blogger uses can tell me a lot abut the overall trends of where people who visit this site are visiting from, and how they found themselves here. since it doesn't get any more specific than the cities from which folks visit (and how many from each place), it's fun to play the game of "who is that visitor from a place where I don't know a lot of people?" in my head. Some of them I'm pretty sure about (Danny in Ft. Lauderdale, SJ and Trevor in St. Paul, Tommy in LA, Sophie in Melbourne, probably Cierin in Louisville and Rica in Wilmington... though do correct me if I'm wrong!) but the ones I really love are the hits from places where I know no one, where people don't generally consider baseball a national pastime. Two summers ago, when I blogged as regularly as I plan to this season, I ended up with hits from all over the globe, which was both gratifying and exciting and frankly somewhat mystifying. This seems to be starting again--today, there were two hits from Hyderabad, in the central south of India. This is among the most interesting and exciting parts of blogging for me; seeing where the randomest of hits have come from, how long those folks have stayed on the site, trying to imagine (beyond what analytics can tell me) what brought them to an American girl's baseball-lover website. The world is a vast and interesting place, huh?

My goal for this blog this year is to have people comment more. I love comments! I love responding to comments! I love knowing what you think about what I have to say! So leave comments, people!

oh, and did I menion?

Two days until pitchers and catchers. Yay!

True Love

I've always hated Valentine's day, even when I've been coupled; it felt so artificial, like it was for amateurs who couldn't pull off being romantic an any particular day of the year, so they focused so much energy on this silly Hallmark Holiday. So, I generally ignore the holiday, and love my friend D's husband's response when asked by his sister how they'd be spending the V day: "We're boycotting it. We're in solidarity with the single people."

All those caveats rendered, I couldn't resist this new offering from the awesome folks who brought you the fabulous and endlessly entertaining omanicon me. Because that's the beauty of fandom; if you're really in it, you're in it when times are bad as well as when times are good, and being around your team brings out the endorphins like little else. So there's an argument to be made that baseball is one of the True Loves of my life.

Trader Joe's loves the Mets

The Trader Joe's that Alexis and I go to was clearly designed by a big Mets fan. Here are the three references I found:



the home run apple on what looks a bit like Citi Field.



a family hanging out in the park, with Mets cap.



The theme is just too obvious on this one to say anything.

When we got to the checkout, I was told that there were actually FIVE Mets references in the store... so on our next trip, I'm on a mission to find the other two.

posting habits

sometimes (often), I plan post titles and ideas in advance of actually writing the post. But the way blogger works, once I've saved those titles and notes, they seem to be permanently in line as I thought of them, rather than as I publish them.

Which is just to say, there's a new post a bit further down the page. And, if there's a more blogger-savvy reader out there who can explain how to move posts around, I'd be grateful!

Yet more to celebrate

Alexis just bought a 15-pack for Citi Field this season. Yipee!! Though I won't get to go to all of them with her, I'm so excited to spend time at Citi with her at all this summer as well as to watch games at home; my plan is to teach her not only how to score, but also how to love good pitching.

I've lived with someone who found my bodily excitement at the game-- the fist pumping and cheering when something good happened onscreen-- really annoying. I'm no shrink, but because he had a hard time feeling anything deeply, I think he was annoyed by how deeply I was able to feel about a simple* baseball game-- to care about something over which I have no control. To me-- and to my friends and family who are real fans-- that's the beauty of it. It's a romantic notion, really, to invest in something over which you have no control.

Alexis cheers and pumps fists and slaps hands and generally gets excited by what happens in a baseball game we're watching at the stadium or on television. So matter what happens on the field in 2009, I'm going to enjoy this season with Alexis a great deal.

*"Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona."
--George F. Will, Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball, 1990

a question for Mr. Shor and anyone else with an opinion on this matter.

would you consider either Maine or Pelfrey a known quantity in the Mets starting lineup?

Safeco, Citi and the New Yankee Stadium

I have to admit it; I'm really looking forward to the new stadium. I'm a bit (ok, a big bit, a bit large enough to be called a lot) disgusted that it's being financed in large part by a bank that's received an enormous amount of taxpayer dollars to be bailed out of their financial mess. That aside-- and I will leave it aside, because I'm not going to let it cloud my enjoyment of going to a ballgame-- I'm really excited to go to games at Citi Field. A while back, I went to Seattle and saw a Mariners game. The Mariners play in one of the first of the new-style stadiums, and the architects on Citi Field were the same ones who worked on Safeco. I loved Safeco. There wasn't a bad seat in the house, and the food options were plentiful and-- best of all-- afforded a view of the field while waiting on line for beer or other refreshments. And as a personal favorite feature, they piped in the radio coverage of the game into the restrooms, meaning that one didn't have to gamble on missing what happened while standing on line for the loo. In short, I loved Safeco.

And that got me excited about Citi. It's going to be a great place to watch a ballgame, and there really will be no bad seats in the house. Moreover, there's going to be a Shake Shack at the park. Does it get better than that?! It's also just going to be a beautiful stadium, a place designed for the enjoyment of watching a baseball game. Though I don't expect to get to as many games as I've been able to in the last couple of years (there are nearly 15,000 fewer seats a Citi than there were at Shea, and they'll definitely be more expensive, and I've just moved to Brooklyn, so my disposable income may be a prohibitive factor), I know I'll really dig the experience every time I go tot a game. I just hope that they pipe the radio coverage of the game into the restrooms at Citi.




Interestingly, I haven't heard nearly as much excitement about the New Yankee Stadium from my friends who are fans of the team from the Bronx. I'm not actually sure why this is, and it may be a flaw of sampling; I talk to a lot more Mets fans than Yanks fans, though I do talk to Yanks fans, too (Hi, Rica!). So, people who route for the team in the Bronx: how do you feel about the new stadium? Am I wrong that y'all don't seem all that pumped about your new stadium? Does anyone else find it bordering on obsessive to re-create a stadium in exactly the same dimensions, just newer? Are Yankees against progress?

Shea Demolition

Though there's almost nothing left inside the stadium, it still hasn't been demolished. There's a great site documenting the demolition that's worth checking out. The picture above is from January 31, and there are some pretty good ones of the site in the snow two days ago.

an unofficial Shea Goodbye

I was out of town this weekend, and so missed this informal gathering to say goodbye to what's left of Shea, though many thanks go to Mr. Rosen for passing along the link. The last time I took a good look at what's left of Shea, it was merely a TADIUM, as the letters for SHEA and the S at the beginning of "stadium" had already been dismantled. It was a pretty funny sight, as you can see on the right.

Was anyone reading this blog at the event on Saturday? How was it?

who would have been a better choice?

Once Derek Lowe signed with the Braves*, Omar's choices for a starter were essentially Oliver Perez, Ben Sheets, Randy Wolf, and Mark Mulder.

A number of my friends (Hi, Dave!) were all about Sheets, but his big problem has always been injury, and today's news makes it pretty clear the Mets dodged a bullet by not signing him. In truth, because I don't play fantasy baseball and as a result don't have a lot of knowledge about players not on the Mets or their big rivals, I don't know much about Wolf and Mulder. What I do know is that Marty Noble would have gone for Wolf, and I almost always agree with Marty.

However, Mary Noble is a baseball beat reporter, and I'm a Mets fan. So my approach is more emotional than his, and the Gd's honest truth is that I just *like* Oliver Perez. I feel about him the way Omar Minaya seems to feel about him-- with the right instruction and guidance, he could be not just good but great. And Ollie is so much fun to watch on the mound when he's got his good stuff, I would miss him if we hadn't re-signed him. Moreover, he's a known quantity. We know he can perform in the pressure of New York, and we know that he responded extremely well to the coaching of Dan Warthen in the second half of the season. If I were Minaya, I would want to believe that more time with Warthen as his coach, Ollie will really blossom into the star we know he can be.

So go ahead, argue with me. I'd love to hear your opinions.


*I can't stand Derek Lowe, never could. The man strikes me as a bully and a jerk. Which just makes it that much more appropriate that he's going to be an Atlanta Brave now. It would have been hard for me to cheer for him in NY.

and thank goodness for that.

Omar Minaya has made it clear that he's not planning on making any more blockbuster free-agent deals before spring training, and in particular that he's not interested in bringing Manny Ramirez to Citi Field. Yet another reason I like the Omar. Of course, another reason I like Minaya is that he was so gracious about signing Johanna's jersey at the spring training game we went to in Ft. Lauderdale during spring training in 2008.

All the reasons I don't want Manny on the Mets are many, and given my level of exhaustion, will have to be another post.

Three more years of Ollie

Though I know there are those who feel differently, I'm thrilled that Oliver Perez signed a three-year contract with the Mets today. I know he's inconsistent, but when he's on, Ollie is the kind of pitcher that people who love pitching (as I do) love to watch. I'm happy he'll be a part of the '09 rotation... and even happier if he keeps the facial hair.

And since Oliver is a pitcher, he'll be reporting to spring training in just nine days. It's almost spring!

spring is in the air

ok, not so much in New York, but having spent the last three days in Los Angeles, I can just feel the coming of spring, which is really the coming of baseball season. And what's better than that?!

Why I love the Superbowl

When the superbowl is played, we're no more than two weeks from when pitchers and catchers report to camp.

I've tried to get into football, I really have. My motivation is clear: I want a sport to care about during the months that baseball isn't being played. But no matter how I try, I just can't get into it.

So, I'm issuing a challenge to anyone reading who is both a baseball fan and a football fan: convince me that I can find football as interesting as baseball.

an old friend and a new meme

Thanks to the magic of facebook, I've recently been back in touch with a friend from elementary school who loves baseball the way I do (hi, Danny!!). He sent me a couple of links to baseball-themed sites last night, and of course I jumped all over them. After a while, I found myself searching for a fun baseball meme... and found the selection I was able to search out on the internet rather disappointing. Never the less, here's the most decent one I found, with my answers. If you can find another, more interesting meme, I'd be psyched.

How did you become a baseball fan?
The simple answer: I was born into my family. The more detailed answer: I was raised by my father.

How long have you been a baseball fan?
Though I haven’t always paid the kind of attention to the day-to-day of the game as I did as a child and do now, there has never been a time in my life when I wasn’t a baseball fan.

What's your favorite team?
The answer to that question should be blazingly obvious: The New York Mets. Never the less, I enjoy rooting for the Cubs, and before they became the kind of team who wins world championships, the Red Sox. Also, though I wasn’t alive while they played there, I am a Brooklyn Dodgers fan by familial inheritance.

Least favorite baseball team?
The answer to this question should also be excessively obvious: The New York Yankees. That said, I have plenty of hatred for the Phillies and Braves, too.

Favorite players?
Hard to say: are we talking favorite players of all time? Living or dead? Current players I like but are clearly not hall-of-fame material?
I’m going with all of the above, and off the top of my head (meaning this is probably an incomplete list):
Jackie Robinson
Hank Greenberg
Pee Wee Reese
Warren Cromarte
Keith Hernandez
Dwight Gooden
Darryl Strawberry
Howard Johnson
Ozzie Smith
Mike Schmidt
David Wright
Jose Reyes
Johan Santana
Oliver Perez
Mike Pelfrey
Joe Smith

Players you respect, but can’t call a favorite:
Big Papi
Jason Varitek
Albert Pujols
Cole Hammels
Scott Kasimir
John Smoltz
Greg Maddux
Derek Jeter

Any baseball players you dislike?
A-Rod.
A-Rod.
A-Rod.
Manny Rivera
Derek Lowe
Barry Bonds
Jose Canceco
Mark McGuire
Roger Clemens

Ever meet a baseball player?
Sure, but mostly while they were minor-leaguers, primarily with the Pittsfield Mets. Though John Maine did look at me, smile, and say thank you when I wished him a good game. That counts, right?!

Favorite Baseball Movies?
Bull Durham. No other baseball movie comes close, imho, though I do also love Field of Dreams. Ever notice how many baseball films Kevin Costner is in?

MLB/minor league/spring training stadiums I've visited:
MLB: Shea Stadium, Yankee Stadium, Dodger Stadium, Wrigley Field, Camden Yards, Jacobs Field, whatever they’re callig the stadium the Giants play in these days, Safeco Park, Petco Park, whatever they're calling the park where the Angels play.
Minor League: Pittsfield Mets (Western Mass), Brooklyn Cyclones, Staten Island Yankees.
Spring Training: Tradition Field (where the Mets play), Ft. Lauderdale stadium (where the Orioles play).

Favorite baseball announcers?
I know I’m in the minority here, but I love Tim McCarver, and I loved him even more as a kid when he broadcast with Ralph Kiner. I like Gary Cohen, but thought he was better on radio than he is on TV. I love the team of Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling, but I’m sure that has more to do with their being the Mets of my childhood than with any actual skill on their part. But hands down, the best baseball announcers ever are Vin Scully and Red Barber.

Least favorite baseball announcers?
Anyone who broadcasts for ESPN or FOX. They pretty much universally suck, with the exception of McCarver. But the tools he has to broadcast with bring him down.

Favorite baseball quote?
Too many to count, but here are a few, in no particular order, and I could go on for days with this one:

Rooting for the Yankees is like rooting for the house in blackjack.
--Adam Morrow, quoted in Bill Simmons, "Letters from the Nation," 20 October 2003

Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona.
--George F. Will, Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball, 1990

I see great things in baseball. It's our game - the American game. It will take our people out-of-doors, fill them with oxygen, give them a larger physical stoicism. Tend to relieve us from being a nervous, dyspeptic set. Repair these losses, and be a blessing to us.
--Walt Whitman

The World Baseball Classic

I'm of two minds with respect to the World Baseball Classic (WBC).



Reasons I like/love it:

1. Because of the timing of the summer olympics, the best baseball players in the world have little chance to play for their own countries. The WBC offers all MLB players a chance to play for their country, which is an honor and an opportunity that I think world class payers should have the opportinity to do, should they so choose.
2. Professional ballplayers playing competitive ball in the beginning of March, a full month before we normally get to see professional ballplayers playing competitive ball.
   
3. I'm all for spreading the popularity of baseball all over the globe, and I think the WBC is a good first step towards that goal.
   

Reasons I'm frightened by the WBC:

1. There is a very long list of Mets who currently plan to play in the Classic.
2. The classic takes place during March, when these players would normally be in spring training. Since it's the beginning of the season, the risk of injury is great.
   
3. That list of Mets playing in the tournament include our best pitcher, as well as a bullpen that actually features two closers.three quearters of our infield, and our most gifted outfielder. If a single one of these guys gets injured, it will have seriously deleterious effects on the team once the season starts:
   

Santana, Johan

Feliciano, Pedro

Figueroa, Nelson

Delgado, Carlos

Beltran, Carlos

Wright, David

Rodriguez, Francisco

Putz, J.J.

Ollie

I understand the arguments against giving Oliver Perez a large contract to be with the Mets for three years. I've seen him blow games against inferior teams, which is just sloppy and somewhat unprofessional play.

At the same time, I've seen Ollie dominate the Braves and other foes at exactly the time they needed to be shut down. If only Ollie can grow up enough to treat every game as though it were as important as a Mets-Braves or Mets-Yanks game, we'd have a true phenom in our starting rotation. It's for this reason that I agree with Omar Minaya in his desire to sign Perez rather than some of the other free agents this year (Ben Sheets at the top of the list these days). Minaya believes, as I do, that Oliver has yet to reach his full potential, and he no doubt noticed how Perez blossomed under the tutelage of Dan Wherthen once the latter became pitching coach.

The problem, as it so often is in baseball these days, is Scott Boras, who seems to believe that if he behaves as though everyone has as much money as they did last year, teams will throw around money like they have for the last couple of years. I'm hoping that the reality of the economy, combined with Minaya's desire to sign him and the unmistakable pleasure Ollie seems to feel in the spotlight of New York, will have this all end in a fair contract for Oliver Perez to continue pitching for the Mets.

And I'll be especially pleased if he rocks a goatee or beard this season.