The game has started.
I won’t be able to live blog this pitch by pitch, but I’ll do my best to upload video, photos and key moments as the game goes in.
For live, in-game updates, read Adam Rubin’s blog for the Daily News.
I’ll post notes, photographs and video below…
Notes:
11:45 am: Jerry Manuel watches the game from behind second base, like the roamer in softball, as you can see in the pictures below.
12:04 pm:There is an older lady behind me, who is actually booing during an intrasquad game. Ya gotta love baseball.
12:13 pm: Most of the coaches, specifically Howard Johnson and Dan Warthen, sit behind home plate, on plastic chairs, behind two giant metal cages, talking, scribbling on note pads, and giving instruction to players as they walk to the mound or th ebatter’s box.
12:33 pm: There is no score, in case you’re wondering, with not a whole lot of action going on. But, who cares, it’s just great to see live baseball finally.
1:10 pm: I needed a drink, so I walked back to the media room, where I noticed Luis Castillo taking extra batting practice in the cage, after he left the game.
1:15 pm: Most of the regular, every-day players are done. I didn’t spend to much time photographing and video taping them, as I wanted to provide some footage of new guys, who some people may not know about.
Photographs:
Video:
Luis Castillo running from first to second:
Cory Sullivan facing Brandon Knight:
Conor Robertson throwing to Daniel Murphy:
Daniel Murphy striking out against Robertson:
{ 71 comments }
From Adam Rubin’s blog:
First inning:
Jon Niese pitching. Alex Cora grounded out back to pitcher. Marlon Anderson grounds out to shortstop Jose Reyes. Daniel Murphy strikes out.
Prospect Dillon Gee pitching. He’s likely ticketed for Double-A rotation to start the season. Luis Castillo, leading off, broken-bat groundout to Nick Evans at first base. Reyes flies out to Ryan Church in right-center. David Wright lines out to center. End of inning.
Second inning
Niese back on the mound. Carlos Beltran grounds out to shortstop. Ramon Martinez grounds out to shortstop. Church strikes out swinging on a big curveball from Niese.
Gee on mound for second inning of work. Carlos Delgado grounds out to second base on the outfield gra-ss. Yes, the Mets played a shift aganist Delgado as well. Bobby Kielty grounds out to third base. Jeremy Reed flies out to center. End of 2.
Third inning
Nelson Figueroa pitching
Nick Evans gets game’s first hit. Single to center.
Brian Schneider broken-bat groundout to shortstop. Evans to second.
Fernando Martinez infield single to second base, on a slow roller to Luis Castillo’s backhand. Evans to third.
i like evans, he’s a good offensive player
the chosen, keep posting below..
Scorekeeper is harsh on Castillo, actually. Error for Castillo, not hit for Martinez. Cora walks to load bases. Half-inning called because Figueroa reached pitch count. Ahh, intrasquad games. Loose rules.
(Inning called….what??)
Alex cora’s OBP is .500..
Alex Cora grounded out back to pitcher”
get used to seeing that a lot from our second basemen
Lol, Alex youre a riot.
lol, if it wasn’t for castillo this would be my scape goat for the season..
Thanks for giving us these updates about the game.
Brandon Knight pitching.
Keep the updates going Santana…be back in a few.
Ramon Castro flies out to Evans in foul territory.
Scorekeeper overruled, apparently. No error on Castillo. Probably part of Jerry Manuel’s plan to build up his confidence. (I kid. It would have been a tough error to score.)
Rene Rivera grounds out to third base. End of third.
Fourth inning:
Figueroa’s second inning of work. Jerry Manuel, by the way, has been watching the game from shallow center field. Guess he likes the view. Anderson grounds to out third base. Strong throw from Wright after backhanding the grounder. Murphy grounds out to second base. Beltran called out on strikes looking.
Knight takes the mound for his second inning of work. Castillo walks. Reyes fielder’s choice groundout to Marlon Anderson at second base. Wild pitch. Reyes to second. Wright walks.
Beltran called out on strikes looking”
hmm.. where have i seen that before..
Not cool alex, though I was thinking the same thing. :-)
Delgado strikes out on changeup. Kielty flies out to shortstop in shallow center. End of four.
lol.. just kidding.. nice job with the posting man..
Top 5th:
Kyle Snyder pitching. Ramon Martinez called out looking on strikes. Church grounds out to second base. Evans strikes out swinging on offspeed pitch.
Bottom 5th:
Bobby Parnell pitching. Reed strikes out swinging, chasing a pitch up and away, out of the strike zone. Castro grounds out. Sullivan flies out. End of 5.
Then Rubin writes:
Sorry. Have to conclude blogging for the moment. Check back later for box score, etc
Real nice Adam. Well, looks like that’s it for the updates.
either way the chosen 1, nice job man, thanks..
No problem my friend. Just very excited to see things getting under way.
Old lady booing…hahahahahaha
Did a foul ball knock over her ensure shake?
Is game being played in stadium not one one of the back fields?
You can see where they are playing by looking at the video above.
Video wasn’t available when I posted… I wouldn’t have asked if I could have see,,,
Intrasquad games have always been played on back fields
Relax Max LOL
Why are they played in the back fields?
Why? I don’t know.
Past few years they’ve been played on Field 7.
Ya get even closer to the game and the players.
Thanks
lol, wow.. talk about antsy
Jerry watches from behind 2B… how cool is this guy
That is really cool…
Hmmmm, he was primarily a 2nd basemen when he played in the 70s—maybe he is thinking comeback??
Feels good to see some live baseball of any kind. Bring on April.
It’s great seeing Castillo run without limping or wincing in pain. He’s the key to the lineup this year.
from someone in the FAN:
“abreu and orlando hudson cost 8 million total for this year. Do you mean to tell me that this organization didnt want to upgrade this offense for 8 million with all the stupid spending they have done these past few years??? Alou 8 mill for nothing last year, orlando hernandez 7 mil for nothing etc. etc. etc. Wow, the boos will be early and often at Citi Field for sure!”
this guy makes my rants be PG-13..
Kind of strange to complain about the Mets wasting money and then complain about them not wasting money. Maybe they have learned their lesson.
Either way, Hudson was never going to happen. The Mets were never going to just release Castillo and eat 18 million and then pay Hudson for marginally better numbers than Castillo. We can say Castillo’s a cancer all we want but in buisness that’s just not going to happen.
Abreu, I wanted, but again I respect the commitment to youth in Murphy. It’s something that many of us have complained about over the years, signing aging veterans instead of giving the kids a chance. So again, we can’t have it both ways. I will just have fun rooting for Murphy.
for once in what seems to be a lonnnnnnnnng time i agree with you..
Uh…. thanks Alex?
lol.. you’re welcome??
don’t worry, this blog wouldn’t be what it is if me and you agree on a lot of thing so don’t get used to it..
Hey The Chosen and SantanaClaus: thanks for the updates. How cool is this….
It’s awesome man. Baseball is back!!!
no problem
Was that Luis Castillo’s patented groundout to second, or his patented single that just barely eludes the glove of the second baseman?
Give the guy a break nobody has a hit.
yeah beltran and reyes went 0-2.. and cora 0-1 with a walk..
Hey, man, I hope every ground ball he hits barely eludes the gloves of Kelly Johnson and Chase Utley, and he hits .999 and scores 1,094 runs.
But I’m a realist.
Nats release no-show Odalis Perez this morning.
Man, I guess $850K wasn’t enough money for his minor league deal.!!
At the rat we’re going wouldn’t surprised me if we sign him too..
Hey, give the guy 851K and bring him in to compete for the 5 starter/ long relief spot. He actually was pretty solid for the Nats last year.
or maybe the same amount we offer one of the bums we sign for a minor league deal.. this guy actually has some good in him..
The problem is that he was and is wanting a guarnteed deal. In this market that was unlikely.
Odalis was okay last season by 5th/spot starter standards. But what from his track record suggests he is better than Freddy Garcia (minor league deal) or even Livan Hernandez (other than last season)?
I think the key was last season. Last season, Odalis was effective pitching as the Nats #1 while Garcia was out all year injured and Livan had his career worst year.
look, wanny, i don’t talk about overall, but livan is like 100 years old and garcia is hurt.. i’m telling u guys, he’d be out before u know it.. this guy is 31 years old, lefty and younger, i’d sign him before i sign any of the other two in a heartbeat but as TRS always say i’m not the GM of this team so one can only hope..
Let’s just relax before we start annointing this guy the big mistake of the offseason. He hasn’t been more than a five inning pitcher since 2004, was pretty awful in 2006 and 2007 (as bad as Hernandez last season) and his peripherals from last season (near 1.5 WHIP) suggest he was lucky to escape with a mid 4 ERA. Despite his “solid” season he putched only 5 per game last season.
Redding was the better signing. Garcia easily has the higher upside. And Livan will at least be durable if nothing else.
I don’t see Odalis as serving a better purpose than any of the three.
I wonder if the Nats are still on the hook for any salary? If so the team that signs him will only have to pay MLB minimum.
Nats are off the hook for any money, because he needed to arrive in camp by Sunday 2/22/09.
Interesting saga there. I wondered about that signing from the begining. If anything, although not great, he had earned a guarnteed contract and more than 850K. I would still be interested if our guys don’t pan out. Maybe a MLB contract to be the long man thus solving our need for another LHP.
Nice work from Jon Niese! 4 groundouts and 2 strikeouts against 6 batters.
Here’s a funny one:
Red Sox outfielder forgets what team he plays for?
When Rocco Baldelli was introducing himself in front of the cameras, he identified himself as “Rocco Baldelli from the Tampa Bay Rays.” Oops — Boston Globe
Crap. Can’t get those last two video clips to play. Getting ‘the video you requested is not available’….
On another note, did you see the just added post on A. Rubin’s blog?
‘
Jerry makes things all right for Church
February 23, 2009
Ryan Church said Jerry Manuel came up to him during stretching Monday morning and made things clear that Church is the right fielder.
“He’s very approachable,” Church said. “He’ll tell you how it is. He came up to me and said, ‘You’re preparing to be the everyday right fielder for the Mets.’”
Church said he never doubted that anyway and just looked at Manuel’s original comments as a challenge.
“He always said he’s going to challenge guys in spring training,” Church said, “because come September we don’t want any more collapses.”‘
because come September we don’t want any more collapses.”‘
if manuel said that is cool, if i say that i’m as negative as i can be,, huh..
Because he said he, because of the past collapses does not want anymore collapses and you are saying that because of past collapses we will still collapse.
when have i said that? i may have said we will finish third, therefore not giving us any chance to collapse, is more a chance of failure than collpasing don’t you think..
But then you say we will make the playoffs. Are you planning on 1 team getting disqualified?
yeah..
Love hearing the crack of a bat in February. I can feel the warmth already.
greetigs, sir Spam-a-lot
sry, was replying to a comment that dissappeared
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