Monthly Archives: October 2006
MLB does not allow any news to break during the World Series, and the week following there is little action as teams are only allowed to talk with their own potential free-agents…
As such, this site will be silent through Tuesday, November 7, to allow its readers to collect their thoughts, enjoy some time away from baseball, and regroup for the frenzied Hot Stove season…
In the meantime, should you want to chat with fellow Mets fans, go to HotFoot’s Bleachers … or, to access the chat room through IRC, go to server name irc.echo34.com and channel #metsblog…
Thank you, Fred Wilpon, Jeff Wilpon, Omar Minaya and Company, and Willie Randolph, for giving us a ton of exciting baseball to enjoy this season. More than anything, thanks for making us proud…
Thank you, fellow bloggers, specifically Zoe, Mike, Adam, Dan, Coach, Mark, Greg and Jason, Ryan, the Geeks, Steve, and others, for helping to create a great little society. I hope to see you all back in 2007…
Thank you, D.J., Anthony and Jason, for helping out with the site as the season came down the stretch…and to Brian, the DJ at McFadden’s, for helping get nearly 150 readers from this site to finally enjoy a game together in the same room…
Thank you, John, from Blog Harbor, for helping to keeping me sane, and for keeping this site moving forward and not going dark…
Thank you, beat writers, columnists and editors, for all the hard work, crazy hours and creativity you bring to us every day. Keep in touch…
Thank you, Mets Weekly, Kathy and Joe, Chris, and others, who gave me a chance at doing a little publicity for the site on screen, I hope I didn’t mumble too much…
Lastly, thank you, readers, to whom I owe so much of this site’s success…
In the fall of 2004, this site was logging close to 500 unique readers every day. Last fall that number was up to 15,000. Yesterday, 45,000 unique readers checked in and this absolutely boggles my mind, as I sit here, alone, in silence, typing on a laptop in a small town in Connecticut. This year I got e-mails from Mets fans from all over the planet, from our east coast to west coast to New Zealand to Australia to Honduras. It’s crazy to me, and I appreciate it. I can’t thank you all enough for making this site one of your first stops every morning for Mets information.
I intend to take the next two weeks off, in part to get my mind in order, and just take a break from thinking about baseball, but also to get the site geared up for the frenzy of rumors and Hot Stove activity that we all love to hate. This club has a lot to do. It needs to address second base, the corner outfield positions and it must get younger and more durable in the starting rotation. This off-season will be intense. I can sense it, so get ready…
Good luck, and I’ll see you back here on Tuesday, November 7…
Enjoy the break…
Talking with WFAN a few moments ago, Mets GM Omar Minaya had the following to say to his team’s fans…
“We are getting ready, as of today, we’re getting ready and focused to put the best product out there on the field going in to ‘07…
“We are committed from ownership to front office to anybody who works in our organization to give the fans a product that they can be proud of…
“Our standards is to have a first-class organization that our city and our fans can be proud of…
“I can tell you that this morning, when I woke up, after going to sleep last night, if you wanna call that sleep, the first thing going through my mind was: how do we get better. I already got scouts lined up, I talked to some general managers and we are in work mode as of this moment for ‘07…
“Our fans can rest assured that we well be there exploring all opportunities on how to get better – and not just to get to the playoffs, because getting to the playoffs is not the goal, it’s winning the World Series, that’s the goal.”…
In a column for the Associated Press, Mike Fitzpatrick informed us that while celebrating their victory over the Mets in the visitor’s locker-room at Shea Stadium, the Cardinals sang “Jo-se, Jose, Jose, Jose,” the chant given to Jose Reyes, by Mets fans, which they sang all season long…
If you need proof, click the play button below, which is an audio file of Cardinals RHP Jeff Weaver talking to reporters, with a champagne-soaked choir behind him…
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…what an odd day…i’m getting e-mails and phone calls that would make you think a person had died…
…the thing is, i’m not sad, necessarily…i’m just out of it, sort of, melancholy…sort of exhausted and ready for a break, you know…
…over the last few years we have all had plenty of opportunity through september to wind down, and slowly turn out…each week we’d watch a few less games and start thinking of other things…by the time october rolled around, we had all moved on…
…this time, the plug was pulled out on us in the blink of an eye…and i feel like i have lost a close friend…or, it reminds me of when i left a place of work, where i had been for many years…my co-workers were not my best friends, and in some cases i didn’t really know them, or even liked them, at all…but they occupied such a huge part of my day, in my life, for so long, that even though i hated the job, i missed all of these people when i quit…it was like a part of my soul was missing…i knew the future would be better, but i still kind of missed what had been…
…we spend so much of our time, so many hours every day, from mid-february through mid-october, talking about the mets, thinking about the mets, arguing about them, believing in them, writing about them, and so on, that to have that gone is very strange…
…i’ll be honest, i need the break, i miss my wife and look forward to just blobbing on the sofa and catching up on some non-sports television, but i’m gonna miss this season…i’m very sad to see it go…
In the New York Observer, John Koblin writes an outstanding column from inside the 
locker-room at Shea Stadium after last night’s loss…
…this is a must read…koblin provides a ton of unique and honest quotes, such as the following…
Rick Peterson, after last night’s loss…
“As great as some of these moments have been it just makes it so hard to swallow when you have a moment like this…“I think I’m going to be on Prozac for the next month.”…
Anthony, from Hot Foot, understands if you feel upset and disappointed, even proud and a bit exhausted, but he concludes by reminding you, that “this is not the end, it is only the beginning.”…
Meanwhile, at Mike’s Mets, Mike is doing his best to stay proud, and upbeat, noting that this team, “survived one blow after another that would have crippled a lesser team.”…
…quite true…lo duca referenced this in his post-game, noting how the mets were the favorites, then the underdogs, then the favorites, back to the underdogs, and ultimately failed as favorites…crazy…it was a wild ride…
The Brooklyn Met Fan, Adam, is also positive, writing, “Mark my words, this team will be back next fall fighting for the Golden Trophy. And next time around we’ll have more experience.”…
Steve Keane, the nothing-if-he-isn’t-passionate writer of the Eddie Kranepool Society, does not know what to think, noting, “I’m numb. I’m drained. I’m angry. I’m proud. I’m shaking my head. I don’t know where to begin.”…
Meanwhile, John, from Metstradamus, points to a bit of irony, writing, “the team that lived on the swords of hitting and relief pitching, died tonight by those very same swords.”…
…you can also add willie’s tendency to manage from his gut to the pile of irony, as well, which got him and his team pretty far and also made for the wall that stopped them…
At Always Amazin, Ryan points to the famous essay by former-MLB Commissioner Bart Giamatti about baseball, which reads…
“It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.”…
Lastly, as only she can do, Zoe, from Pick Me Up Some Mets, leaves us with some passionate parting words…
In a column for ESPN.com yesterday, Rob Neyer explained that Oliver Perez was the worst pitcher to start a Game 7…
In a chat later that day at ESPN.com, he was asked by a reader, “Will you resign if Oliver Perez shuts down the Cards tonight?”…
Neyer responded…
“Not only resign, but I’ll donate my salary from this season – which I’ve saved, just in case – to the animal shelter of your choice. Because of course we’re supposed to always be right.”…
…brilliant…
…i suggest the north shore animal league, and a box from u-haul for your things…
In a column for the Associated Press, Mike Fitzpatrick writes…
“The Cardinals, with their 17th pennant in hand, charged out of the dugout and mobbed Wainwright in front of the mound.
“During the champagne celebration in their clubhouse, players gathered around several times and chanted “Jo-se, Jose, Jose, Jose,” mocking the popular chant Mets fans crow when Jose Reyes comes to the plate.”…
…well, it’s official, i am back to hating the cardinals…
…i mean, i despised these guys in the 1980s, but that hatred waned when the two teams parted in the the mid-1990s…
…now they mock us, and reyes, plus knowing that Bill Belichick likes them, and my hate for the cardinals has returned in full force…
…Keith Hernandez, it’s time for to choose…
In his daily report for the New York Post, among other comments, Mets LHP Billy Wagner says…
“I love this game and love the fans. The fans, for me, and I said it after the big win on Wednesday, were the 26th man on the team. They were my inspiration…There is no greater feeling than being on the Mets and playing at home at Shea…
“All these guys gave their hearts and all sat at their lockers sad. We won as a team all year long and we just wanted to give the fans one more thriller in Flushing. Once again, thanks to YOU – the FANS – for believing in me and for making me feel comfortable in New York.”…
…he’s a perfect fit, because billy thinks like a winner and he genuinely expects more of himself then the fans do…if a player seeks success in new york these are essential qualities…he had his rough moments this season, but he fought them off and, as a mets fan, i’m glad he is on our side…
