To watch the video of our disucssion, click play below:

In this video, Church talks with me about:

• How to hit the ball the other way.
• Why to hit the ball the other way.
• The purpose of Jerry Manuel’s ‘extreme,’ 80–pitch, batting drill.
• The up-beat, team-first message and attitude in camp.

Here’s a quick sample, from the final Q&A:

• Matthew Cerrone: It seems like they’re preaching discipline and focus a lot.  The camp feels a lot like a youth practice, there’s a lot of energy, a lot of cheering each other on, compared to last year – is that something that’s coming from Jerry and the coaches?
• Ryan Church: Yeah, it is, they’re trying to instill that in us.  Obviously, it’s working.  I think the biggest thing with that drill it really gets you to feel, when you’re exhausted and tired mentally, what can you do when you’re that tired.  I think that’s the biggest thing, getting back to concentrating, and, you know, when we get to that 60 or 70 pitch mark you may roll over on a ball, because I’m tired, and you’re trying to force it.  Instead, you tell yourself to relax, the ball gets deep and you go the other way.

For more additional Mets videos, go here.

Here’s one Q&A in text from the discussion:

• Matthew Cerrone: The other one you always see, and one fans always boo when you’re on the road, is the fake-to-third, throw-to-first move – does that ever work?
• John Maine: (Laughing) You hear the boos when you do at a visitor’s park.  Actually, it works sometimes.
• Matthew Cerrone: Have you ever picked any one off that way?
• John Maine: I picked one guy off that way, yeah.  I’ve only done it a hand-full of times.  But, again, what people need to realize is that it’s about not letting that runner on first get a big jump stealing second.  Or, maybe it’s because we want to see what the hitters going to do, if he’s gonna bunt or swing…
• Matthew Cerrone: I always thought, if I ever get the chance to throw out the first pitch for a game, I would do that.  You know, do the fake, see how people react.  I’d probably get made fun of for it, but…
• John Maine: Well, you know in New York if you bounce a pitch you’re gonna get booed, so…

To watch my entire interview with Maine, click play below:

For more Mets spring training videos, click here. 

I was particularly interested in his remarks about playing with a foxhole mentality, which I wrote about last night on MetsBlog.

To watch my interview with Seaver, click play below, and to read a written transcript, scroll down.

Cerrone: There is a lot of stuff going on in the news about the Mets of late. They have been playing .500 baseball for about a year, and fans and media want to reinvent the wheel and solve all these problems. So, I’m curious, from your view as a player that has gone through a lot of these situations over the course of your career, how do some of solutions impact players. For instance if they were gonna bring in a new manager…

Seaver: Well everyone wants to win and the patience level in New York is probably lower than in any other place in baseball and a place where there is more than one newspaper and more than one tv outlet, etc., and all that stuff. So, you have a very passionate and energetic journalistic force beyond it – behind the scenes. If you do a knee jerk reaction every time someone throws a hand grenade, your gonna be all over the place. You have to have your gameplan, you have to stick with it…I’ve been on clubs where managers got fired and all that stuff. You have to do your job. You can’t come to work and worry that the managers gonna get fired. If he gets fired he gets fired, but I’ve still gotta pitch tomorrow night.

Cerrone: Well you mention knee jerk reactions; in that case if there is no move, no reaction, can that give the team confidence?

Seaver: It all depends on how they play. That’s the test of the players. Do you have foxhole people? Do you have people who you would get into a foxhole with and say, you got my back and I guarantee you I’m gonna watch your back. This is foxhole time, where you’re taking care of your teammate and taking care of your manager. You never hear people say Willie Randolph is a bad guy, bad manager. Why are we gonna change it? Because you’re not happy with what’s going on so you have to point a finger and its his fault or his fault – and what it really comes down to is that its the players fault.

Cerrone: So what if you have players that don’t have this foxhole mentality?

Seaver: You have to identify the problem before you get there?

Cerrone: So, if that’s the case, are there little things he can do?

Seaver: Well that’s a relationship the manager develops with anybody. You have different levels of those kinds of players. There are players that say, “I’ll see you at game 162,’ who don’t need anything. There’s some that need education, that need pointers and all the other stuff. You just have different types of players, that’s all it is.

Cerrone: Do you think that foxhole mentality no longer exists with free agency, there is so much camaraderie, and so on?

Seaver: I don’t know. The only way you know that is if you are in the clubhouse – and now you’ve come full circle, because that is what Willie and Omar have to define.

…this should be interesting…from what i understand, they want to speak with me about the ‘back-door link’ i posted so Mets fans can buy tickets to tomorrow’s potential one-game playoff in philly…back-door link…jeez, i linked to the ticket section of Phillies.com…unreal…

To listen live, click here.

…Update…12:55 pm…

…hilarious…so, basically, these two radio hosts believe i some how circumvented the system by posting the below link, because they were unable to navigate Phillies.com’s ticket system…oh well…all i did was post the exact link that had been sent directly to fans registered with Phillies.com…it’s not rocket surgery, gentlemen…

To listen live at 12 pm, click the icon below…

Here is the video, thanks to YouTube…

By the way, on September 22, Darryl will be performing in The Boy of Steel, along with Bernie Williams and others, which you can learn more about here.

To listen to this interview, use the audio player in MetsBlog’s left column, or go to BlogTalkRadio.com.

To subscribe to The MetsBlog Podcast, and receive new and old editions directly to your iPod, use this url, or simply search MetsBlog on iTunes and click subscribe.

To listen to our discussion, use the audio player in the site’s left sidebar.

By the way, Pinto will host his own online radio show tonight at 8 pm, which you can listen to here.

Lastly, to subscribe to The MetsBlog Podcast, and receive new and old editions directly to your iPod, use this url, or simply search MetsBlog on iTunes and click subscribe.

To listen to the entire 30–minute discussion, about both the team and MetsBlog, go to NYMetsCast.com.

However, to listen to only the 12–minute talk about MetsBlog, use the audio player in this left sidebar.

To listen to Gomez’s 11–minute interview on MetsBlog Talk Radio, click the play button below.

To subscribe to MetsBlog Talk Radio as a podcast, enter this URL in to your audio player’s software, such as iTunes, or simply search MetsBlog on iTunes.

To listen to last week’s show, which also featured Triple-A Zephyrs GM Mike Schline, go to BlogTalkRadio.com, or use the audio player in this site’s sidebar.

While talking with De Rosa, Gomez had the following to say regarding…

…playing other outfield positions…

“I have no problem, to play left, or any position, you know. I wanna play, I wanna play every day, no matter what…but I’ll play any position.”

…whether he feels he can eventually be a power hitter…

“I don’t have power now. I have to work on my swing. Sometimes I swing like a rookie, sometimes I swing like its professional baseball, and I work hard every day and I’m doing better with my swing. Now, in 10 swings, I swing six, seven good swings, and I have to be 10-for-10, you know. When I have I can swing good 10 swings, my power comes.”

…who were his favorite MLB players growing up…

“I had a couple of guys, like Andruw Jones, and Manny Ramirez, that’s my guys. But, [I want to be me]…I like baseball, that’s why I’m here, I don’t try to look like anybody else. I’m me, Carlos Gomez, and I’ll play like that.”

…whether he played any other sports growing up…

“Judo, running and basketball.”

…the hardest part adjusting to being a professional…

“Sometimes when you’re young, you can’t control your ability – and now I work with my mind. That’s what a lot of veterans teach me, and now I’m good. I feel like a real professional.”

…the type of pitcher he struggles to hit…

“The lefties, sometimes were a little bit of a problem before. But, now, I feel better. I’m here early, they throw me batting practice early as a lefty and now I feel like normal, like a right is pitching.”

…why he is drawing more walks this season…

“That’s why when you have a lot of professional veterans on the team. Before, in Double-A, Low-A, I no have veterans tell me you have to do this you to have to that.  Now, we know what the pitchers throw me.  I know now what I want to swing at.  That’s why I have more walks and take more pitches and my approach to hit it the other way.”