Daily Archives: March 6, 2008
…the players seem to all be arriving at 1 pm for what will be a 7 pm game…apparently, they know the schedule better than i do…
…Jose Reyes drove up in his SUV, parked, got out and started walking slowly to the clubhouse…he has swagger, as willie would say…he is dressed in jeans, a designer t-shirt, sunglasses and was carrying an Ipod…also in street clothes, sitting on the picnic bench outside of the locker room was Anderson Hernandez and a few of the team’s younger players, who smiled and began singing, “Jose, Jose Jose Jose,” as he walked toward them…jose smiled, laughed and gave a salute while looking embarrassed…he sat down on the bench and chatted a bit, before they all got up and went inside…
…i don’t blame them, it can be a catchy song…
The Mets today announced that single game tickets for 2008 will go on sale this Sunday, March 9 at 9:00 am.
For more information, go to Mets.com, or call (718) 507-TIXX.
will now produce every Mets regular season game - in 2008 and beyond - in High Definition (HD).
…now, get on closed captioning, and then Hartford, and then every one should be more or less happy…
Tagged SNY |
…the Mets have altered the shape of a back field here in the complex to reflect the exact dimensions of Citi Field…
…if you recall from my tour of Citi Field, the wall in left-center and in right-center will be close to 18 feet high…
…i took a picture of myself from behind the wall, on the field here in St. Lucie to try and give you a sense of just how tall it will be…keep in mind, i’m only 5’ 8”, but still, you get that picture…
…it’s no joke…it’s huge…there will be no spectacular Endy Chavez catches against this sucker…at least not without a ladder…
…i feel a bit foolish…also, i have been very naive…
…in some ways, i guess i just took it all for granted…you know, i turn on the television to watch a game, players hit and catch, articles come out the next day, and it all just is…it just happens…over and over again…like clockwork magic…
…the reality is that all of these people work very, very hard to make something so complicated seem so simple, from the reporters to the coaches to the players…
…actually, i came here hoping to reveal a bit of absurdity in a world that makes a business out of a kid’s game…
…but, it never happened…
…this may be why i initially perceived the beat writers as just ‘wandering around aimlessly’ in the locker room, as i wrote on Tuesday…the reality is that they work just as hard as the players…as a fan of their product, it’s actually quite fascinating to see them operate…again, i just sort of took they’re work for granted…i recently noticed a very successful, very popular columnist working on a single story over the course of a few days…he spent days and hours talking to people, observing others, taking notes, typing, making phone calls, etc…initially, it simply looked to me like drifting with small talk…it wasn’t…it was work…so, i guess what initially looked like ‘wandering,’ is actually strategic waiting, most all of which includes a specific plan, along with getting bits of information, forging relationships, keeping tabs and knowing when to react and when not to…
…also, what first looked to be a bizarre and awkward relationship between the players and writers, i now see as a sympathetic balance, in which each party has a necessary dependence on the other, whether they choose to accept that or not…and that’s good for you and i…
…i never would have realized all of this had i not seen it in person…which is why my initial remarks from my very first day – about how the locker room operates – were very innocent, but also very naive…in fact, i sort of feel bad, considering that a lot of MetsBlog’s success can be attributed to their hard work…i hope nobody was offended…i mean, i write what i see and what i feel…i’m not always right, but i’m always honest…
…additionally, i clearly have taken for granted how the players perform, and how people in the front office and on staff help insolate them so the work gets done…again, without really giving it much thought, it often feels like these guys just roll out of bed and hit a curve ball…which is clearly not the case…i mean, i turn on my television, watch the game, it all just sort of happens, i turn it off and go to bed, and i repeat it all the next day…but, in between that time, they work on everything – from lifting weights, to methodically tweaking their deliveries, to learning new pitches, struggling with grips and stances, doing fielding drills, while running the bases, over and over again, doing shuttle runs, hopping in and out of tires, sweating, stretching, being exhausted, and so on…it never ends…
…and that’s the thing, it never ends…it just repeats itself over and over again…just like i continue to watch and read it all, over and over again…every day…
…in some ways, looking behind the curtain may be a bad thing, because it broadens the frame of what i have always perceived to be just a game…i often fear that by doing so, baseball will stop feeling fun for me…on the other hand, i have gained a greater understanding for how it all works, be it the players playing or the writers writing…and because of that, i appreciate the game that much more, which is a good thing…
…i am the definition of amateur hour, folks…there is no getting around it…i got to the stadium like i have done all week, at 8 am…usually when i get here, the place is already jumping…
…it’s 10 am, though, and nobody is here yet…it’s a ghost town…
…i just learned that today’s game is a night game, and so nobody shows up until early afternoon…ugh…
…trial and error, folks…trial and error…
…there are so many players in camp, from major leaguers to minor leagues to non-roster invitees, but 
only 14 players have reserved parking spaces…
…there are two rows of parking spaces, each including roughly 25 spots…the first spot in one row is for Carlos Beltran, followed in order by Jose Reyes, Jose Valentin, Oliver Perez, Scott Schoeneweis, and Orlando Hernandez…
…the next row, which is closest to the actual stadium, begins with Pedro Martinez, followed in order by Carlos Delgado, Moises Alou, Willie Randolph, David Wright, Billy Wagner, Johan Santana, Aaron Heilman and Luis Castillo…
…the list appears to include the team’s highest paid players, all-stars, the starting rotation, and heilman, who has been on the team longer than any other player short of reyes…it’s true…
…the two who seem out of place are valentin and schoeneweis…valentin is a non-roster invitee, and schoeneweis, despite his strong finish last season, spent the better part of the year being booed…
In 22 at-bats this spring, Brady Clark is hitting .360 with two RBI in seven games for the Mets.
Clark has never played any other position except outfield during his major-league career.
However, he will receive a first-baseman’s glove today, as he has been granted the opportunity to try out at the position.
Yesterday at camp, Jose Valentin worked out at first base as well.
Valentin has played just only game at first base, in 2006.
At Baseball Musings, David Pinto posts what he believes should be Moises Alou’s theme song.
…hilarious…of course, there are a few other players on this team who could adopt the same song as well…well done, pinto…
For more on Alou, who will be out of action through at least most of April following hernia surgery, read the New York Post, the Daily News, and the Brooklyn Met Fan, who is actually happy that Alou is hurt.
…if you haven’t noticed, the Mets are dealing with a lot of injuries, which is 
actually putting it mildly…
In fact, for a list of each injury, check out this graphic from the Daily News, which breaks down each player, their injury and recovery time.
In the New York Post, Joel Sherman compares the Mets to the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, adding:
“The organization is becoming expert in downplaying players going down…But this is the Mets now, acting as if the bizarre is commonplace.”
Sherman writes more about age and baseball at his blog for the New York Post as well.
…frankly, sherman is making me depressed…because every single word he writes, and the reason he is writing them, make sense…
In a similar report for the Bergen Record, Bob Klapisch points out that Kenny Lofton, Reggie Sanders and Preston Wilson are still free agents.
…ummm, maybe…pass…and pass…i have no interest in wilson or sanders…however, lofton intrigues me…
On the flip side, in a report for FOXSports.com, Ken Rosenthal writes that there is still plenty of time for the Mets to get healthy and make some moves, such as Tigers OF Marcus Thames, O’s OF Jay Payton or Pirates 1B-OF Xavier Nady, who would certainly cost major-league ready prospects.
…i really, really like the idea of bringing back nady…he can play outfield, first base, he hits from the right side, hits lefties, he runs well, plays decent defense, and he was popular with the players and fans during his last stint…i mean, what’s not to like…but, from what i recall during the off-season, a deal for nady would require a pitcher like, say, Joe Smith and Jon Niese, or maybe less if a team is also willing to eat Matt Morriss’s contract in the process…the thing is, the Pirates had ample time to move nady during the off-season, during which they were not short on suitors, and it never happened…so, my sense is that he is more difficult to attain than we think…
Of course, in Rosenthal’s opinion, the Mets should explore trading a starting pitcher to the White Sox for 1B Paul Konerko.
Tagged Xavier Nady | ← Older postsNewer posts →
