To watch this edition of NYBT, click below:

To watch the two-minute segment, click play below:

…i think this came out well, though i’m still trying to figure out when i became a ‘Connecticut Man,’ as they put it… i’m only 32…

To view Episode 3 of our trip, during which we move on to Binghamton, where we talk with coaches, as well as Tobi Stoner and Brad Holt, including highlights of them in action, after which we try to hit a floating wiffle ball, click play below:

To watch Episode 2, click here; to watch Episode 1, click here.

To view Episode 2 of our trip, during which Ted talks to Brandon Knight and the team’s mascot and I speak with the K-Guy, after which we go to Anchor Bar for the original Buffalo wings, click play below:

To view Episode 1, click here.

…updated by Ted Berg at 4:00 pm…

I thought some parts of the conversation with Knight that got left on the cutting-room floor were interesting, so I posted a transcription here.

The Disgruntled Mets Fan looks in to the peaks and valleys of David Wright.

MetsBlog’s Regis Courtemanche recently did a Q&A with Will Sommer of Mets Fans Forever.

In a post to Hot Foot, Rich Resch explains why Brad Holt could be this season’s secret bullpen weapon.

The Real Dirty looks into Joel Pineiro, who will start tonight for the Cardinals against the Mets.

In a post to Game On, MSG’s Boomer Esiason,  is soliciting questions from fans for an on-air interview he will soon do with Omar Minaya.

To sign a petition to have blue bats used on Father’s Day, click here.

Ted Berg of SNY.TV details some notes from the last week regarding the Mets, media and Carlos Beltran, among other things.

Lastly, to check out Episode One of my trip to check out the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons with Berg, during which we talk with Jonathan Malo, among other players, watch Lance Broadway pitch, and track down fried dough sticks, click play below:

Instead of reading direct questions, I tried my best to give a sense of the three most popular subjects that were sent to me, so to hopefully cover more ground.

Manuel has agreed to do this type of discussion once every home stand.

The following is a transcript of the interview, or you can watch a video of the discussion at the end of this post:

Matthew Cerrone: There’s been a lot of talk among fans and reporters about whether Omar Minaya should go out and get a power bat because of the perceived lack of power… Talk to me a little bit about how you adjust to that and maybe play a little bit of a smaller ball type of game, in the case he doesn’t make a deal.

Jerry Manuel: Well, I think, the way we can adjust to that, is that, if we continue to win games here, where we have played very well and not hit a lot of homeruns, that style can be conducive to winning on the road.  What we know in baseball, in the industry as a whole, is that pitching and defense wins its share of games, or most of the games.  So we have to focus on that part of the game more than we have to focus on whether we have power or not.

Matthew Cerrone: If you had a choice, do you enjoy managing that type of team, do you feel it’s more consistent, or do you need a dash of power here and there?

Jerry Manuel: Well, you like to have power.  Power is an important component of a team.  It gives you instant offense.  It takes a lot of pressure off of trying to manufacture all the time.  But if that is something that’s lacking, it’s lacking.  But, in order to be good without power you have to have consistent at bats.  You have to have grinding at bats.  You have to have Luis Castillo type of at bats, see a lot of pitches, Alex Cora type of at bats, see a lot of pitches, work the count to get to a lesser pitcher in the bullpen – and that’s kind of the mindset we have to take.

Matthew Cerrone: I took questions from fans, and a lot of them think they can do your job better than you, as I’m sure you know…

Jerry Manuel: They probably can (laughing)…

Matthew Cerrone: …and everyone likes to fill out the lineup card.  So, explain to me how you go about who’s going to play the corners, who’s going to play first, what’s the decision process like?

Jerry Manuel: Generally, I’ll watch the opposing pitcher for most of the day and I’ll also look at the history of matchups.  If there’s no history, then I try to matchup who will have good swings off this particular pitcher or whose swing matches up with this guy.  I go that way, but lately it hasn’t been that, it’s been who’s healthy, and then you just try to mix and match.

Matthew Cerrone:  When it comes to things like mental mistakes and base running errors and things like that, how do you work on that between games with these guys, these are veterans.  How do you communicate with them and how do you work on that stuff game to game?

Jerry Manuel: When a guy makes a mistake, makes a mental mistake, at some point, you don’t have to point it out at that particular time, you can wait for the right time but keep that in your mental bank and say, ‘Hey, I need to remind you that this is not a good play,’ and why.  If we are to be good, we need to eliminate or downsize these mistakes.  But you never let them go or not talked about or don’t face them with those errors, regardless if you win or lose.