Daily Archives: February 23, 2009
Update, 11:20 am:
Santana was getting called to the sidelines to sign autographs by three young fans. He stopped, pointed to the last kid, who was wearing a Yankees t-shirt and shook his finger as if to say, “No,” then he laughed grabbed their pens and signed, but sure to tell him he should be a Mets fan instead.
Update, 11:10 am:
Batting Practice broke up, and I got to overhear a quick discussion between Jerry Manuel and Howard Johnson talking about Carlos Delgado, and how they can better work with to hit to the opposite field, noting certain players on the team he can learn from.
Update, 10:57 am:
Bobby Kielty is taking BP. I have to think he is in direct competition with Marlon Anderson for being a right-handed bat and reserve outfielder die the bench.
He’s got some pop in his bat, more than Anderson, but Marlon is liked a lot in the clubhouse.
I’ll post video of Kielty’s BP in a minute.
Original Post:
Johan Santana and Oliver Perez tossed dueling bullpen sessions on the mound to the side of Tradition Field.
After, Santana had a lengthy talk with Dan Warthen, which Perez listened in on.
Though, I have no idea how they concentrate with the barbecue going on behind me.
The guy cooking said it was the boar Tim Redding shot the other week, but I think he may have been joking with me, though he swears he is telling the truth.
The Mets will play an intrasquad game today at 11:30 am, which will pit Sandy Alomar Sr. against his son, Sandy Alomar Jr.
The batting order for Alomar Sr.’s team will be:
SS Alex Cora
2B Marlon Anderson
LF Daniel Murphy
CF Carlos Beltran
3B Fernando Tatis
RF Ryan Church
1B Nick Evans
C Brian Schneider
DH Fernando Martinez
Jon Niese, Nelson Figueroa, Kyle Snyder, Conor Robertson and Heriberto Ruelas are scheduled to pitch.
The batting order for Alomar Jr.’s team will be:
2B Luis Castillo
SS Jose Reyes
3B David Wright
1B Carlos Delgado
RF Bobby Kielty
CF Jeremy Reed
C Ramon Castro
LF Cory Sullivan
DH Rene Rivera
Dillon Gee, Brandon Knight, Bobby Parnell, Carlos Muniz, Eddie Kunz and Jon Switzer are scheduled to pitch.
There are lots of clouds in the sky, and it looks like it could rain, but they say it should clear up as the day goes on.
In the Bergen Record, Bob Klapisch does a fantastic job of capturing the vibe in Mets camp, and the role Jerry Manuel is playing in it, writing:
“Manuel… is a pure freelancer – an intelligent but spontaneous administrator who isn’t afraid to tweak his players… Manuel wants the Mets to know he thinks outside the box, although he’s not necessarily obsessed with tranquility. ‘I know what’s going on with the Yankees, but to be honest, I don’t mind adversity once in a while,’ the manager said. ‘I find that it brings a team together. So I’m not too hung up on everyone being happy all the time.’”
In an online report for WFAN, Eddie Coleman explains why, “It has been nothing short of Camp Contentment here in Port St. Lucie.”
Over the weekend, I wrote:
It’s nothing against Willie Randolph, but his camp was far more quiet and professional, which, while it worked fine for the Yankees in the 90s, it just never felt right for this team.
Manuel’s camp, this spring, actually reminds me of a younger, high-school like camp, with lots of rooting for one another, lots of clapping, lots of team-oriented drills and talk and motivation and constant chatter from coaches and teammates encouraging each other.
Yesterday, I watched Randy Niemann and other coaches reading from a prepared speech, talking to the team’s pitching staff, about focusing on the specific task at hand, be it a big pitch, or a small drill, or one throw in a warm up, stressing how every action is part of one long process towards winning a championship and so no one task can be taken lightly.
For me, as a fan, who wants desperately for this team to win, this is all exciting and it probably warps my reality of what is really happening – because, when I hear Razor Shines talking about Championships, rings, etc., I get pumped up. The good news is that the players seem to be responding too, and that’s what is most important.
In case you missed it from over the weekend:
The Braves signed Garret Anderson to a one-year deal.
Tim Redding is a week or so behind schedule, after having toe surgery in November to repair a stress fracture in his left foot.
Here, I talked with Brian Schneider about passion in baseball, adjusting to new pitchers and this year’s camp compared to last season’s.
Robert Parnell is learning a split-finger fastball from J.J. Putz, which he explained to me here, in an interview – to watch him working with Putz, click here. For more on Parnell’s splitter, which he used to throw in college, check out David Lennon’s report for Newsday.
Valerio De Los Santos has a nice fastball, which you can watch here.
In Episode 8 of my video diary for SNY, here, you’ll see Cory Sullivan, Jeremy Reed and Rob Mackowiak take BP.
To see Church and Fernando Martinez take BP, click here.
To see pictures from Sunday’s camp, click here.
Yesterday, Jerry Manuel told reporters he is leaning towards starting Daniel Murphy in left field, full time, while Fernando Tatis could 
end up on the bench or competing with Ryan Church for playing time in right field, which you can read about in the New York Post, the Bergen Record,
Manuel told reporters:
“I don’t want Murphy to get into a strictly platoon situation… I think he’s a little better player than that, so Tatis could go that way – and with Church being a left-handed hitter, I kind of see Murphy being a better hitter right now at this time… It all depends on how well they’re doing. If they’re not getting hits, they’re not going to play.”
In the Daily News, Adam Rubin writes, “Manuel clearly sounded as if he feels Church has more to prove to him than Murphy.”
Last season, the 23–year-old Murphy hit .400 against left-handed pitchers and .306 against righties.
Tagged Ryan Church |Here are some random photographs I took yesterday in camp.
The last image is of Manuel flipping the ball to himself and hitting grounders to Luis Castillo and Marlon Anderson.
To keep an eye on my entire photo album from Tradition Field, including hi-res versions of the pictures in this post, click here.
Tagged Notebook | Newer posts →
