Daily Archives: June 10, 2008
According to the food blog Endless Simmer, Mama’s Italian 
Special Sandwich, which you can get at Shea Stadium, checks in among the Top Five Best Ballpark Food.
…any one who knows of my love for sandwiches, or, ‘sangwiches,’ as my nana insists on saying, will not be surprised to know that i have had one of these…as far as sandwiches go, it’s good…as far as food at Shea Stadium goes, it’s great…
Tagged Shea Stadium |In a column for SNY.tv, Marisa Belaidi talks with 29–year-old OF Chris Aguila, who is hitting .318 with 17 HR and 40 RBI in 218 at bats for Triple-A New Orleans.
What’s more, Aguila is batting .353 against left-handed pitching, with a .413 OBP.
Hit .234 with 18 extra base hits and nine walks in 141 games played for the Marlins between 2004 and 2006.
In a recent report for ESPN.com, fantasy baseball guru Erik Karabell wrote: “The Mets might want to take a look at Aguila in the outfield…Yes, this is the same singles hitter who did very little in the Marlins outfield…but he’s playing well and hitting for power now.”
…i don’t actually believe aguila or Triple-A OF Val Pascucci will rise to the Mets and save the season…however, i don’t understand why Abraham Nunez is a better option for the Mets bench right now, especially if Marlon Anderson is set to return from the disabled list in the next day or so…at least aguila and pascucci are hitting…nunez isn’t hitting, and didn’t hit in the minors…
In 39 games in New Orleans this season, Pascucci is hitting .297 with 11 home runs and 29 RBI, with a .479 OBP against left-handed pitching.
For more on Pascucci, check out Billy Turner’s report for the Times-Picayune, where manager Ken Oberkfell is quoted as saying, “Val’s a patient hitter. He’s not just going to chase pitches. If people are going to try to pitch around him, he doesn’t mind taking his walks.”
…to me, considering the realities of this roster, the team’s back-up outfielders should be Damion Easley, Fernando Tatis and Endy Chavez…at the same time easley, tatis and Marlon Anderson can back up the infield, while pascucci or aguila are used exclusively as a pinch hitter – assuming Ramon Castro is viewed strictly as a back-up catcher…because this three-catcher, no-hit-infielder system, which the team is currently using, just makes no sense and is not at all effective…
Tagged Valentino Pascucci |
Today at noon, Wilie Randolph will be at Prospect Park Tennis Center to announce the launch of BeFitNYC.org, which allows people to find fitness activities in their neighborhoods around New York City.
Prospect Park Tennis Center is located at the Parade Grounds on the corner of Coney Island and Parkside Avenues.
Tagged Willie Randolph |In a recent chat for Baseball America, the great Jim Callis believes that within the next few months the Mets Top 10 Prospects will shake out as follows:
1) OF Fernando Martinez, 2) 1B-OF Ike Davis, 3) SS Reese Havens, 4) LHP Jon Neise, 5) 1B Dan Murphy, 6) 1B Mike Carp, 7) RHP Eddie Kunz, 8 ) RHP Brad Holt, 9) OF Javier Rodriguez and 10) 1B Nick Evans.
According to ESPN.com, Davis got in to an on-field fight with a teammate prior to yesterday’s game between Fresno State and Arizona State in the College World Series.
However, according to the East Valley Tribune, the fight between Davis and Brett Wallace was a joke.
“We wanted to do it to loosen up the team a little bit and maybe get the other team to think about other things,” Davis said after the game. “It didn’t work, but it was fun.”
According to the report, Davis and Wallace are good friends, “who plan to go on vacation together some time after the season.”
Yesterday, at the team’s Teammates in the Community charity event, Mets GM Omar Minaya told reporters:
“To me, .500 is not acceptable because we’re better than that. It’s not so much about the financial investment, it’s about what this team is about. We know we’re better, we think we’re going to do better and I think we will.”
…the thing is, you can’t just run around saying things are unacceptable unless you’re willing to hold people accountable for their actions…otherwise, it is acceptable…
Minaya also told reporters that he is satisfied with the effort being put forth by his manager and players, which he feels is a playoff-caliber roster.
According to Adam Rubin in the Daily News, “You are watching the painfully slow demise of The New Mets, the vision Omar Minaya articulated four years ago but built as a house of cards.”
Rubin looks back at the job done by Minaya, adding, “The 
dependence on free agency coupled with the lack of a farm system also raises the question: Has Minaya failed to recognize a seismic shift in the MLB landscape?”
…i raised that exact question two weeks ago, here, in which i wrote:
“And so, while people want to get on Randolph’s case, and understandably so, Omar Minaya should also be held accountable for the way this roster was put together and his potential lack of foresight regarding issues with age, attitude and energy…The thing is, and what worries me, is that the old market – in which Minaya worked so well – is now changing, and being run by a younger, different-thinking generation…I hope Minaya is able to adapt…
“As I said a few weeks ago, I sense that the Mets are at a crossroads. Minaya did outstanding work, and did what was necessary to get from Howe to here. However, I have a feeling that more work will need to be done to get from here to a World Series ring – let alone remain over .500.”
According to Bob Klapisch, in a report for the Bergen Record, “Minaya promises to ‘look deep and hard’ at the culture of mediocrity that’s dropped the Mets 7½ games out of first place.”
…culture of mediocrity…well, if that’s not an effective talking point, i’m not sure what it is…well done…
Klapisch quotes a Mets official as saying, “This can’t go on.”
…i bet most of the team’s fans will agree…which is probably what the team official is really saying, whether he realizes it or not…
For more on Minaya and the state of the Mets, check out stories in the Bergen Record, Newsday, the New York Post, Star-Ledger and the Daily News.
Tagged Omar Minaya |
Moises Alou and Marlon Anderson will work out at Shea Stadium this afternoon, at which point the team will decide whether to activate them from the disabled list.
…well, it would seem at least one of the two will return, since Ryan Church must be replaced on the roster…
In the 14 games that Alou has played this season, the Mets are 7–7, during which he is hitting .340.
As noted yesterday, the Mets bench is hitting .165, which is good for last place in the National League.
Tagged Moises Alou |The Mets held their second-annual Teammates in the 
Community charity event last night at Richards clothing store in Greenwich, Conn.
…i love that the Mets are so charitable, and they do an outstanding job with all of these events and programs…they really do…
…however, and not that the team could have had the foresight to know it would lose four in a row to the Padres, but why did they schedule this event on the Monday after a six-day West Coast road trip…even Keith Hernandez commented on how crazy this was, during Sunday’s broadcast on SNY…i would think a better day would have been on June 26, when the team has a Thursday off wedged in between back-to-back home series against the Mariners and Yankees…
…in the grand scheme of things it probably doesn’t matter…plus, helping to raise money for charity is probably more important than these men getting time off, but i have to think there was a better way to do this all around…for every one…
David Wright, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Brian Schneider, Pedro Martinez, Aaron Heilman, Scott Schoeweis, Billy Wagner, Johan Santana, Carlos Delgado, Willie Randolph, Tom Seaver, and others, all attended the event, during which 400 guests paid up to $750 to meet players and bid on unique experiences, including an tour of Citi Field and the opportunity to get baseball lessons from their favorite player.
This year’s event raised nearly $600,000 for the Mets Foundation, which funds local, national and international charities, including youth athletic programs.
Lastly, according to the New York Post, seven people, including Martinez, Schneider, Schoenweiss and Jeff Wilpon, all got stuck in an elevator at the event for roughly 20 minutes, which prompted the newspaper to use the headline, “This Team’s Going Nowhere.”
…classy…you just couldn’t help yourselves, could you…
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