Brian Costa at the Star-Ledger discusses how spring training is essentially starting now for the players who are returing from the World Baseball Classic, noting that today’s lineup against the Tigers will feature most of the Mets’ starters for the first time in a long time.
At Newsday, David Lennon discusses the WBC “bromance” that is now over between Jimmy Rollins and David Wright.
Doug Miller of MLB.com highlights the various food options at Citi Field, as does the New York Times.
…not to discredit the great new options, but they could have soggy cheerios and it would be better than what was at shea…
The Mets issued a press release about how Sharp will be supplying over 800 HDTVs to Citi Field.
…as long as there are tvs on the bathroom line, i’ll be happy…
Joel Sherman of the New York Post finalizes who he feels will be on the Opening Day roster.
And Mike Pelfrey got roughed up in yesterday’s loss to the Astros, giving up six runs on ten hits in just under five innings of work. For a full recap, check out SNY.tv.
{ 83 comments }
What was wrong with Shea food? Hot dogs, peanuts, beer, pretzels – it’s a baseball game not Park Avenue!
Seriously, I don’t go to Mets games for a gourmet dinner. A lot of these Citi Field amenities are for the corporate lackeys that get free tickets to the game so I could really care less. Just have decent parking, a good view, and leg room and I’ll be happy.
Agreed but more importantly a good product on the field every year.
A good product? Is that you Omar? :)
That being said, you know what I’m saying?
Maybe a bit harsh, but I did get very undercooked chicken tenders more than once.
Haha, fair enough.
My friend, you must have never gone to Shake Shack.
So long as I can get my cracker-jacks, hot dogs, carvel sundaes in the little helmet cups, and beers for under 10 bucks, I will be happy. I dont need the foie gras.
i thought the sausage with peppers and onions was above average. could do without the $8.75 beers but i guess those prices have nowhere to go but up
Some of us, who go to more than a game or two a year, like to eat more than crappy over-warmed hot dogs or lukewarm soggy fries or the other junk they had at Shea.
Sure, If it was a leaky cramped shack where I had to keep my legs folded all the time and had to squint to see the field and the only food there was airline food, I’d still go.
But just because the primary attraction is the reason I’m there, doesn’t mean I don’t want more beer and food options, and the other stuff to be nice. I’m actually thrilled that the Shake Shack stuff is roughly only $1 than it costs in Madison Square Park. That’s a freaking bargain when you think about the markup on the fries and the beer and the other stuff.
I’m in general agreement with you – hot dogs and beer will still be available (and a higher quality beer thankfully). But if you want to get something more upscale, I’m glad there will be options.
That said, after reading the NYT article, I got the impression that the restaurant behind home plate will only be available to ticket holders in that area (and tickets there are between $175 – $495 per seat). So, if I’m reading that correctly, it will cost a minimum of $175 per person just to walk in the door of that restaurant. After all is said and done, it may end up costing as much as a dinner at Per Se, which is kind of ridiculous.
They should just take reservations at the restaurant and open it up to all the Shea faithful.
Oops! I should have said CitiField faithful – old habits die hard I guess.
i didnt even notice the slip-up. That is going to take a while i guess….
i liked the mets’ fanbase being known as the shea faithful. unfortunately, ‘citi faithful’ does not have the same feel
there is that fine dining place, but also a food court in left center, where shake shack will be.
also awesome: the skyline from the old scoreboard will be above the shake shack. couldnt think of a better place for it.
i am very much looking forward to a shake shack burger while watching the mets. Awesome way to spend a summer afternoon.
Thank you James, that “soggy cheerios” comment was absurd.
not to mention the sausage and pepper heros and mama’s both were very good.
Soggy Cheerios? Ouch! I kind of enjoyed the knish, but it was getting hard to find. I don’t go to the games to eat, but I am looking forward to becoming intimate with “Beer Island.”
The lack of knishes was expressly BECAUSE of the old facilities– no real kitchen space means no convection ovens… which means the knishes (A) are fried when they are around and (B) have to fight for fryer space with ostensibly more popular products (fries, etc.).
(Yes, I’ve spent entirely too much time thinking about this. And yes, I’m getting an eat-rection thinking about Shake Shack and elote.)
And I anticipate being stranded for long stretches of time on “Beer Island.”
As long as Mama’s of Corona is there, that’s all I care about it terms of food. Mama’s is the best!!
Eh. Sandwiches. May be above average, but I want more than deli meat sandwiches.
it would be awesome to at least get the radio feed (actually more better to get the tv feed) while waiting on lines for food/drink.
any truth the rumor that a 16 oz. Budweiser Light will cost $137?
Yes, but that’s before tax.
The pitching staff is worrying me:
-Johan is there (thankfully with no lingering effects of the injury)
- Maine hasn’t shown anything yet.
- Pelf will hopefully continue his strong ‘08 but lets face it, he’s not an automatic and we’re expecting him to be one.
- Ollie for some reason i have confidence in. Can’t really place it.
- Livan/Other – Livan is looked darn good so far, but if he was a no doubt 15 game winner, he wouldn’t be a 5th starter anywhere (except maybe the Yankee’s staff which you have to admit is disgustingly good).
I just hope they all come through, otherwise its going to be the Phillies with a 3rd straight NL East title and a sick feeling that this current core isn’t going to make it.
do the same breakdown you did for the Mets pitching staff with the Phillies pitching staff and tell me what staff you have more confidence in…
Spot on Pelf. The phillies trolls on Rubins Blog/NY Post and ESPN act as if their team has no question marks and everyone will repeat their 2008 performances. Their rotation is suspect, how is their pen going to perform? Howards declining numbers and awful periphials, any nagging effects from Utleys hip? Will Romero be effective when he comes back?
every team has questions, just start the season and hammer the answers out on the field!
i will take the one that didn’t break down the last two septembers, and the one that was fortified by mid-season acquisitions (lohse and blanton) each of the last two years while the mets sat idly by with their gun-shy GM.
Let’s talk about 2009, are you confident in the phillies staff as currently constructed?
Of course he is. It’s not the Mets is it?
Hahaha! Perfect TRS!!
as currently constructed we have a better staff. Both teams have legit aces thats a wash. they both have guys who are total dr jekyl/mr hyde (ollie and myers). So if I had to choose between Pelf/maine/livan or moyer/blanton/kendrick I go with us. I have a feeling blanton will be a disaster this year and go back to his usual routine of giving up a ton of fly balls aka HRs in CBP. Moyer EVENTUALLY has to stop getting people out and kendrick is just not very good. Then again maine could easily fall apart, pelf could easily have a setback year and livan could easily be livan of last year. guess we just have to wait and see.
I agree completely on Johan and Maine. I’m not “counting” on Pelfrey, but I have the confidence in him that you have in Perez. I don’t have that confidence in Perez. What 5th starter is a sure thing for 15 wins? None as far as I know. I think something people forget about a 6.00 ERA is that what it means is you pitch 6 innings and allow 4 runs. I’ll take that from my 5th starter, and I believe Livan will be slightly better than a 6.00 ERA while holding the fort down for a few months.
The thing I really don’t understand is, your whole premise is the pitching staff is riddled with question marks, yet if they don’t ‘come through’ this somehow reflects on ‘the core?’
Keep in mind that 6.00 ERA was inflated in Colorado, so he should be better.
Johan- Like you said is there and we have nothign to worry about.
Maine- Claims he has just been working on things and shaking off the rust of off season surgery. Hopefully he will be fine.
Pelfrey- I really expect him to have a very good year and become a solid number 2.
Ollie- Can’t really say I have confidence in him but I do have high hopes for him. We all know how good he can be when he’s on and how bad he can be when he’s off. Hopefully he will be on more than off.
Livan- He doesn’t have to be close to being a no doubt 15 game winner to be a valuable 5th starter. If he can win 10 games with and ERA in the mid 4s while pitching deep into games (something we desperately need out of someone other than Johan and Pelf), he will be one of the better number 5s in the league (not to mention he will be a good bat at the end of the lineup).
If I’m right about Pelfrey and Maine and Perez can do what they did in ‘07 or even, hopefully, improve upon it, this has the makings of one of the better rotations in baseball. This combined with our pen would make our staff the best in the NL.
The chances of the Phillies repeating are so slim..they caught lightening in a bottle last year. 85-86 wins. Third place. They just aren’t that good.
I would not be surprised if all top-4 of the Mets pitchers had better years than Hamels.
I dont know about all top four being better than hamels unless your implying he will miss significant action. One thing is for sure and that is Brad Lidge WILL BLOW A SAVE this year (hopefully itll be in philly) JC Romero is off roids and wont be around for 50 games. Their bullpen CANT be as good as last year. Our bullpen has no where to go but up and I think its safe to say it will.
soggy cheerios!! :o
i got sucked in by the smell of sausages every game, they were awesome
Who cares about Rollins? Why the obsession here all the time?
I guess David Lennon watches Scrubs.
Ahhh….that’s where I heard that expression from. Thanks!
I was actually enjoyed rooting for Rollins during the WBC. He was fun to watch….but now thats over and I feel so dirty…
I felt very uncomfortable cheering for David Wright to drive in Jimmy Rollins. Just felt weird and wrong.
Outside of the TV’s on the bathroom lines, they should take a page out of the ESPN zone playbook and put TV’s at every urinal…. ha,ha…
not much of an article from lennon
There’s a link within his blog post as well.
oops, missed that
I’m still looking for a few good men (or women) to join my Metsblog Fantasy Baseball league! Roto style, NL only – it’s gonna be a lot of fun…if we can get a few more people!
Email me at [prismofillusion at gmail dot c.o.m] for the details!
Come on, you bums! Metsblog staffers are invited as well.
Sorry Prismo, I just don’t do fantasy leagues. It feels wrong when I’m watching a game and saying, “I want the Mets to win, but Rollins needs to hit a few HRs for my fantasy team….”
Poor guy says that Anderson may be kept over Evans because Evans can’t play defense. Anderson can’t walk.
Or hit or field. I suspect Anderson will be cut sometime this year. Unfortunate but he’s just not able to contribute enough.
If they were willing to release Jorge Sosa last year, they should have no problem releasing Marlon if he isn’t producing. Sosa was owed the same amount of money as Marlon (more or less).
That said, I like Marlon and hope he can come through. But if not, Nicky definitely deserves a shot.
My thing is the bat. If Tatis starts and we need a RHPH then we would have uh…. nobody. They won’t use Castro unless we are carrying 3 catchers.
I don’t see what the difference is between Anderson and Evans in terms of what they can contribute to the team. Except that Evans is younger and has more upside.
Why not give him an opportunity?
I do, Evans hits RH, Anderson hits LH.
Kistics, Marlon is a leader in the clubhouse, supposedly. . . . though given last year and the year before, that should hardly be seen as an asset.
mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2009_03_25_detmlb_nynmlb_1
Gameday link
Looks like a lot of the regulars are back playing. Hopefully we get a good outing out of Perez.
Reyes
Castillo
Beltran
Delgado
Tatis
Keilty
Malo
Schnieder
Perez
awaiting moderation is probably the low point in my day. i guess i have a pretty good life then, but still, come on
Man, I timed my lunch for this game and now I see that it’s not on Gameday Audio!
Gotta love how gameday can’t tell the entire story. Everett doubles on a pop fly to Jose Reyes?
Then of course Ollie walks the bases loaded.
K’s the next guy on 3 pitches.
Gives up a run on a force out.
Gives up another run on a double then gets a fly out to end the inning 2-0. 1 inning 2 hits, 2 walks, 2 runs, 1K.
Where is everyone today?
Manny rally?
Jeez, is Santana the only pitcher on the team capable of a clean start?
We have had some decent ones. Some stinkers too though.
Reyes gets caught stealing with Castillo up. Castillo walks anyway.
Beltran singles. Castillo to 2nd. Sometimes the SB is just not needed.
All of a sudden it’s almost 2 and I forgot the game was going on.
Where’s the pregame post?
Evidently they did too. It’s been dead on here today.
So it seems….although, it’s not like there’s been a plethora of news today. Besides Matt’s twitter updates of the Citifield tour this morning, it would seem like the Mets were dead all day.
Can’t make news up I guess.
Alright. Heres some news for ya.
One of Tim Bogars ex-highschool
teammates 2nd cousins says:
he has a friend whos ex-wife believes
Bogar must have been on steroids.
This because in 10th grade she had
a crush on him.To quote”he was very cute”
But she believes steroids may have advanced
his career since he was” just not that good”
back in High School.
I knew it all along!
ya know,i was all for signing ollie
but man is he frustrating.
i will say if he doesnt do it this-
live up to his potential-he may never.
its time to grow up.he got his nice,new,
fat contract. hes bing paid big time,in a
big time market so now its time to be big.
that 1st inning looked alot like mitch williams.
i mean its one thing to be wild but he was
missing by 3 feet.very frustrating.
and why is malo playing 3rd?
I wish we coughed up the $$ and signed Lowe…. oh well…come on Ollie get it together
Not a huge fan of either. Lowe would have been better this year, but that could be an albatross contract, and the need for a closer was greater.
This team needs to stop thinking about “windows” and thinking in the short term, and they’ve done a reasonably good job of producing some young talent of late. (I’d like to see more young pitching, but we traded a bunch away.) We have Delgado — an important piece, granted — on the way out. Everyone else is relatively young, and the team isn’t/wasn’t good enough to justify going for broke. It’s not like we need to win NOWRIGHTNOW before Castillo declines. . . . Lowe would have made the team stronger, but if the budget is bigger next off-season, all the better — and, not that we will or ought to, but we CAN win with what we have.
I had an awfully tough time following you. Come again?
Hmmm, I wonder who this poster is??
:-)
I have only seen ONE post so it couldn’t be.
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