Daily Archives: March 14, 2008
Tonight at 8 pm, I joined Alex Remington from Chop-n-Change 
and the Huffington Post in a discussion about the NL East during BlogCritics.org’s sports show hosted by Matt Sussman.
Sussman is the sports editor of BC Magazine and writes for Deadspin.
To listen to the program, click here.
…the NL East segment starts around the 30–minute mark…
Speaking of interviews, tonight on Gotham’s Live from Mickey Mantle’s Restaurant, Mark Healy and Mike Silva talked with Art Shamsky: former Mets outfielder and member of the 1969 World Champions, and author of the book The Magnificent Season.
For more information, check out Gotham Sports Radio.
The Mets defeated the Marlins 8 to 2 in Jupiter today.
- John Maine faced 20 hitters, allowed no runs, three hits, walked one and struck out six. He has not allowed a run in his last nine innings.
- Argenis Reyes had three hits in five at-bats, and is now batting .545 in 22 at-bats this spring.
- Carlos Beltran was 2–for-3 with two runs scored, while playing five innings in center field.
- Robinson Cancel had three hits and two RBI.
- Lastings Milledge did not wake up the Marlins.
- Angel Pagan was 1–for-5, dropping his average to .380.
- The Mets left eight men on base.
- Scott Schoeneweis, Ruddy Lugo and Steve Register each pitched a scoreless inning, while Brian Stokes allowed two runs and four hits.
For a complete boxscore, go to MLB.com.
First, at Pick Me Up Some Mets, Zoe provides a few photos and video from Luis Castillo’s Bubblegate.
According to this MySpace page, “Joe Smith is God.”
…hat tip to Steve Popper’s Amazin Stories for the link…
Next, in a lengthy – but outstanding – column for the New York Post, Kevin Kernan catches up with Dwight 
Gooden and his son, Dwight Jr., who is working to start a rap career with the help of his father.
Kernan writes of Gooden: “Life consists of helping Dwight Jr. with his music career, going to his daughter’s high school softball games, his sons’ Little League, AAU baseball and basketball games, helping the teams out, and his grandson’s T-ball games and staying straight…He begins each day with meditation to stay calm.”
Also in the New York Post, Bart Hubbach provides a profile of Angel Pagan, who entered the day batting .400 this spring.
In the Journal News, John Delcos writes about Jose Reyes, and the shortstop’s new, more professional approach to baseball, while talking with David Wright, Willie Randolph, Tony Bernazard and Jerry Manuel, who is quoted as saying:
“Last year was a painful time for him, but growth can sometimes be painful. He’s going to be better for it. You can see it with him now. He seems to have a renewed focus.”
Lastly, in a post to MLB.com, Marty Noble catches up with 1B Mike Carp, who is currently in minor league camp.
Tagged Mike Carp |
Jon Heyman at SI.com reports that Johan Santana was very close to becoming a Texas Ranger before being dealt to the Mets.
Heyman writes:
“Indications are that Texas’ trade discussions with the Twins progressed to the point where there was either agreement or near agreement on the young players going back to Minnesota. At that point, executives involved in the talks believed that the trade was very likely to be consummated if only Santana gave a more enthusiastic response when Twins higher ups quizzed him about whether he’d accept a trade to the Rangers. However, a diplomatic Santana is believed to have told the Twins only that he’d ‘consider’ going to Texas, an answer that was seen as less than enthusiastic.”
…more evidence that santana’s preference to play in the national league and with the mets was a key part in getting the deal done…
…added to by Matthew Cerrone…
…way, way back on December 11 i wrote, “From what I can gather, the Rangers are the third team in this mix, not the Yankees, Mariners or Angels, but I do not believe they have much of a chance to get him anyway.”…
…i am surprised to hear that discussions were further along than i anticipated…goes to show you, never underestimate any team when in the middle of hype and the Hot Stove…
The Mets will face the Marlins today in Jupiter.
2B Argenis Reyes will leadoff, followed by OF Fernando Martinez, DH Angel Pagan, OF Carlos Beltran, 1B Carlos Delgado, 3B Jose Valentin, OF Brady Clark, C Robinson Cancel and SS Anderson Hernandez.
John Maine will start on the mound for the Mets.
…beltran and delgado were not originally scheduled to make the trip, but after a quick meeting with Willie Randolph, the got in the bus and are now in the starting lineup…
To follow the boxscore, go to MLB.com.
In another edition of 1st Person with 
, Ryan Church, Billy Wagner, Marlon Anderson and Willie Randolph talk about what they’ll be working on this spring to improve in 2008.
To watch the two-minute video, click here.
Tagged Ryan Church, Willie Randolph |
The Philadelphia Inquirer relays an interview Phillies SS Jimmy Rollins conducted for the April issue of Men’s Journal.
Rollins, when asked if the Phillies are still the team to beat in 2008, as quoted by Men’s Journal…
“That wasn’t a one-year thing. It’s still gonna ring true in 2008, and every year I’m with the Phillies. We’re going to win; it’s gonna come down to who wants it more, and we want to win more than the Mets do. Truthfully, I don’t worry about anybody in our division, or anybody in our league for that matter. I’m not worried about getting into the playoffs, because that part is accomplished. We’re a playoff team now. Our next goal is to win the World Series.”
…last season, when rollins originally declared that the Phillies were the team to beat, i thought it was major mistake - but you have to give him a ton of credit for backing up his statements and playing at an mvp level…however, these comments, in my opinion, are mostly made to fire up his team’s fan-base, than a direct shot at the Mets…that being said, i’m tired of all the talk, Carlos Beltran’s rebuttal included, let’s just play the games and see how this all plays out…if nothing else, it should be a fun season…
Tagged Mike Nichols, Phillies |
Jose Reyes, Johan Santana and Brian Schneider have teamed up with Charity Wines to raise money for a variety of worthy causes, according to a press release from Clos LaChance Winery & Estate Vineyard located in San Martin, CA.
Reyes, Santana and Schneider join Curt Schilling, Manny Ramirez, Jorge Posada and Bobby Abreu, among other players, by lending their name and image to the bottle, creating CaberReyes (which will benefit the Major League Baseball Players Trust), Santana’s Select (benefiting The Johan Santana Foundation), and Schneider Schardonnay (benefiting The Catching for Kids Foundation).
Wines will be available in retail shops all across the Tri-State area starting mid-May and are expected to sell for $13.
In a report for the Associated Press, Ron Blum writes about the rising cost of tickets around all of MLB, who expect to draw roughly 81 
million fans to baseball games this season – up from 79 million last year.
…just yesterday i had a conversation with SNY.tv’s Ted Berg about the number of seats that will, or will not be, in Citi Field…i understand both points of view, that of the fan perspective and that of the business side considering supply and demand and what it does to ticket prices…from what i understand, the Mets will likely raise ticket prices again, from the level they are at now, to a higher rate when Citi Field opens its doors one year from now…this is partly why they raised tickets for this season, so the increase in to 2009 will be a more easily digested…
…personally, i have a hard time getting worked up over this…i trust that the market will work out these issues in time…although, like i said to ted, on the day i am standing outside Citi Field, banging on the front door being denied access because the game is sold out or i can’t afford tickets and can’t get in, i am sure i will have a totally different opinion…but, for now, i’m not too concerned about it…
In a post to Metsmerized Online, Mike Bailey also wonders what the new seating situation will be like at Citi Field.
Speaking of Citi Field, in a report yesterday on ESPN Radio, Andrew Marchand quoted Jeff Wilpon as saying he will soon hear from MLB regarding when Citi Field will host the All-Star Game.
Marchand cites a baseball official as saying the Mets will likely play host in 2013.
However, today in the Daily News, Adam Rubin points out that Johan Santana is the only player on the major-league roster who is guaranteed to be under contract through 2013.
In four starts for the Mets this spring, Mike Pelfrey has allowed 16 hits, six walks and nine runs through 13 innings.
In Newsday, Anthony Rieber explains why Pelfrey has not done enough to earn the fifth spot in the starting rotation.
According to Jeremy Cothran, in a report for the Star-Ledger, Pelfrey wasn’t ‘pretty,’ but he was ‘effective.’
Yesterday, Pelfrey allowed just one earned run, but, in a post to Amazin’ Avenue, Eric Simon digs through the boxscore to reveal that Pelfrey ‘really didn’t pitch all that well.’
“I thought he threw the ball pretty well. He was behind in the count a lot, you’d like him to throw up a few more first strikes, but he didn’t really cave in or give in he just needs to work harder to get back in the count. he was behind a bit, but I thought his stuff was pretty good. When his ball was down in the zone he got ground balls and he was effective. But, next time out he needs to make sure he pitches more ahead.”
Pelfrey, after yesterday’s start, as quoted by Cothran:
“Maybe I get too amped up and I’m trying to do too much.”
…like willie said, he was behind in the count a lot, which was not the case earlier in the spring…it actually reminds me a lot of last spring, when he pitched ahead in the count, got a ton of groundballs and impressed, only to return mid-season, pitching behind in the count while allowing a ton of hits…
…this will always be my concern with pelfrey, until he proves otherwise, in that he just doesn’t seem to have that killer instinct to be a consistently good pitcher…
Tagged Mike Pelfrey | ← Older posts
