I have lived an hour from New York city for 9 months but had yet to visit Citi Field. The promise of free tickets, a bonus to working with so many military people, drew me out last night to visit the stadium of my favorite baseball team. I did not have high expectations for the actual game, the Mets offense of late has been pretty horrid. Actually to call it horrid is an offense to the word, and any other part of the lexicon does not do it horrible justice. Just take a look at this:
(Mets fail via TSH @ TBL)
So I decided to take the stadium in and forget the Mets. The rain was threatening when we arrived into Grand Central but we figured the game would go on despite the threat. I had never traveled to the game by the train but I knew it was the number 7. Why? John Rocker. Yep, Public Enemy #24A in Flushing and his damning quote in Sports Illustrated over ten years ago reminded me of which train to hop on. Once we arrived I saw banners hanging off the light posts. On one side of the one I was looking at was David Wright, the other side had Tommy Agee. Right away you could tell there was a determined effort to remember the Mets and National League baseball in New York. The Jackie Robinson Rotunda was as great a tribute a stadium can make to a player that never played for the team. Upon entering the rotunda we were blessed with a surprise; a Mets lunchbox. Awesome! I am making that the method of conveyance for my lunch everyday to work from here on out.
Once inside we discovered our seats were 2nd row behind the visitor's dugout, drizzle aside it was badass. The view from inside the park is fantastic and the great thing is that when you walk around the park from the concession area there is always a view to the field. I was very impressed with the park and the asceticism actually convinced me to make it back soon.
Some of the highlights from the game:
- The most player jerseys I saw were Reyes jerseys believe it or not
- Philly fans were boisterous and I couldn't blame them. It must have been how the Mets fans were in Veterans stadium when the Phils sucked.
- Closest Phillie fan to me was a dude who looked like a chunky Adrien Brody, only way, way greasier.
- I overheard a Philly fan refer to the Mets lunchbox with the following when I was walking over the Shea Bridge: "Now I have a new poopbox." I am not surprised that people from Philadelphia crap in small metal boxes.
- Before the 8th inning to rally the Mets they played footage of the 1-2-3 Met hitters Reyes, Pagan and Wright set to The Smashing Pumpkins "Tonight, Tonight" to pump up the crowd. Even though that song was totally the soundtrack to my 1996, I found it lame because I knew the Mets would do nothing in the inning and they did not. In fact the Mets scored 2 runs the whole series.
Overall the stadium exceeded my expectations while the Mets met my expectations, because they blew. Bonus news from this afternoon, K-Rod injured his hand when he punched his father in law last week, he's out for the year. That's ok though, I will never disown the Mets, they remind me too much of my own inadequacies. As my favorite Mets sign said, "To err is human, to forgive is a Mets fan."
Monday, August 16
A Night At Citi Field
Thursday, July 15
David Wright: Under The Radar Superstar
May was not kind to David Wright. His hitting went in the tank and struck out over a third of the time at the plate. With the Mets wobbling around .500 and Wright looking worse and worse at the plate, many began to wonder if the beaning he took to the head at the end of last year had done some permanent damage. Others wondered if the tinkering of his swing was the cause of the problems. Last year Wright only hit 10 home runs, the lowest total of his career and that includes the 2004 season when he only played in 69 games. In the offseason Wright focused on getting his power back but early this season in April and May he couldn't hit the ball.
Once he got to June his hitting took off and even after a mini-dip before the All-Star break Wright is batting .314 with a .924 OPS. He is tied for the NL lead in RBIs and has 14 home runs already this year. One thing that has been consistent this year and throughout his time in New York is that David always faces the media and answers the questions, whether he or the team is struggling.
Wright is the Derek Jeter of the Mets. What I mean by that is that he is the superstar symbol of the team. In the New York area Jeter has his Ford Edge commercials and Wright has his Lincoln commericials (and that ad with The Situation). The Jets have Sanchez, Giants have Eli, Yankees Jeter, and the Mets Wright. Nationally, Wright is the least talked about. He does the ads (even a Sportscenter one) , made the All-Star team for the 5th straight time, hell he even threw Joe Buck a bone and went on his show. He does everything you want in a superstar. Yet that is not always enough to garner attention. Sanchez has more hype and all he did was throw 20 interceptions and a few TE drags in the playoffs and people are hailing him as the next sliced bread of New York.
That might be how Wright wants it, but it is how the media portrays it. As I mentioned he does the commercials, the charity work (he has a batting average charity bet with Jeter in fact), he has the clean cut image, but outside of New York he is just known as a superstar and nothing more. He has helped foster a culture of commaraderi in the clubhouse with the help of teammates like Jeff Francoeur. Wright even took charge when he saw his left infield partner Jose Reyes was too hobbled to continue last weekend against Atlanta. Wright took the initiative and had Reyes taken from the game. After the game Wright was incredulous as to why Reyes was out there and the training staff did not take charge of the situation. The Mets trainers and doctors have not had a good track record lately, just ask Carlos Beltran's knee.
Wright makes a little over $10 million this year, and is slated for $14, $15, and $16 million over the next three years. A hefty sum but one you would expect for the most constant star on a big market team. The Mets are only 4 games back in the NL East, a position no one thought they would be in. They accomplished this without Carlos Beltran and with the disapointing performance of Jason Bay. It is likely the Mets will fade out of the race, but the known entity is the quiet tenacity of David Wright.
photo via NY Daily News
Wednesday, June 9
Mets May Own An Unwanted Trade Record
If you read this blog often or even from time to time you may know that I am a Mets fan. Yes, thank you for your sympathies. While flipping back and forth between Steven Strasburg's debut and the Mets-Padres game last night, I heard Mets' color man Ron Darling mention some of the bad trades the Metropolitans have made in their history. The one he mentioned got me thinking of another and suddenly it hit me that New York may own a bad piece of MLB transactional history.
The trade Darling was referring to was the 1971 trade that sent Nolan Ryan to the California Angels for Jim Fregosi. The Mets also threw in Frank Estrada, Don Rose, Leroy Stanton. Fregosi never panned out for the Mets, while Ryan went on to win 138 games for the Angels and averaged 272 innings per season. Ryan would eventually end up with 324 wins throwing 7 no-hitters and holding the seemingly untouchable strikeout record with 5,714. The Mets cannot be blamed for trading Nolan in his prime, but Ryan had started to come around under the tutelage of Tom Seaver. Whatever the situation was, Ryan was not happy in New York and asked the team to trade him. Now some people say to get rid of player right away when they say something like this, but this was not one of those cases, even though that insight comes from hindsight.
The Mets failure here was the inability to recognize what Ryan was and what he could become. Maybe that was a little on the coaches, or maybe the front office personnel with their hands in player development. Whichever it was, Ryan was dealt and it would not be until years later the error in Mets' foresight was visible.
The other trade was more of black mark on the Mets' history. It was so bad the trade itself has a moniker. "The Midnight Massacre" occurred on June 15, 1977. Seaver was sent to the Reds for the memorable ballplayers known as Pat Zachry, Steve Henderson, Doug Flynn, and Dan Norman. Home run hitter and fan favorite Dave Kingman was also traded the same night. The trade was the culmination of friction between Seaver and chairman M. Donald Grant. After beloved owner Joan Payson passed away her daughter gave more control to Grant and by the late 70s, Grant had basically total authority over the team's roster management. Seaver had been the the ace and the icon of the franchise. He won the Cy Young award 3 times, and lead the team during their 1969 World Series and 1973 NL pennant. From 1968 until the trade he had never struck out less than 200 batters in a season. 
Seaver wanted top pitcher money, and why should he have gotten different? Grant refused to budge and the some writers in the press turned on Seaver. Talks between the two parties completely broke down. Seaver went 14-3 for Cincinnati the rest of the season, including a shutout against the Mets. The next season Seaver threw his first career no-hitter. The Mets have still yet to have a no-hitter in their history. He did return to the Mets for the 1983 season but was picked up in the compensation draft by the White Sox denying his 300th win coming as a Met.
These two trades were under different circumstances and were to varying degrees of misjudgment by the Mets front office. The fact that the Mets did not get much if any value for the trades does not help their legacy. Yet the fact remains that the Mets traded away two 300 game winners while both had good,quality baseball years left in their arms. Ryan had yet to reach his potential but he had the greatness in him. Seaver was on the latter side of his prime but still a terrific pitcher not to mention the face of the franchise. There are only 24 pitchers in the 300 club, and the Mets might be the only team to trade 2 of them while not in the twilight of their career. Not a desirable footnote in your team's history.
Monday, August 24
Looking Good Oliver! Feeling Good Omar!
It does not bother me that the Mets have one of the highest payrolls in baseball yet find themselves out of the playoff picture. Nor does it grind at me that the Mets have taken a beating in the press and in the blogosphere despite losing 3 of their top 4 offensive bats in the lineup and added the 4th when David Wright got beaned in the head. I can handle the fact that the Phillies dug up Pedro and he waltzed into Citi Field and won yesterday. I can even stomach the unassisted triple play by Eric Bruntlett who had made two errors on the previous batters to get the tying run on first and only made the triple play because he was covering second because the runners were in motion. I accept that it is only the second unassisted triple play in Major League history to end a game.
After all I am a Mets fan and while I was born in time to witness the 1986 Championship, what has followed can only be described as exercises in futility sprinkled in with a few good seasons that ultimately came up short. If you are going to be a Mets fan and not jump ship and take the easy way out and root for the Yankees, your stomach builds up a titanium lining to become immune to such acts of atrociously vile fortune. There is, however one aspect of the Mets' season that I fine too much to bare, and that is Oliver Perez.
I do my best to stray into individualized player bashing, but today I will allow myself an exception. Perez has never been a consistent pitcher, but he did have a fantastic start in game 7 of the 2006 NLCS but the Mets lost that game due to a superior performance by Cardinals pitching. Last year Perez went 10-7 with a 4.22 ERA. Before this season started, the Mets needed starting pitching after shoring up the bullpen with K-Rod who has been good this year and J.J. Putz who is now injured as well. Omar Minaya turned to Perez, who had been decent but nothing special. Not only did Minaya turn a blind eye to possible health problems with Perez but he allowed the market to drive up his price tag. In the end, the Mets gave Perez a 3-year, $36 million dollar contract. Everyone was up in arms about the contract; the media, the fans, and even the statisticians. Is it hard to believe that Perez is a Scott Boras client? There are some who say Boras is good for baseball, especially when it comes to negotiating contracts for players in the amateur draft, but when he gets this kind of money for this kind of player in my mind it puts him more toward Bernie Madoff than Curt Flood.
Predictably Perez started out awful this season. The Mets blamed the problem on a knee injury and placed him on the DL where he would soon be joined by a host of Met players as the season began to fade away. He came back in July and actually got a win against the Dodgers, going 5 innings and giving up 3 runs. He has not gone over 6.1 innings since he came back, maybe this is to protect his injury or maybe because he is incapable. His last three starts were two no decisions where he only gave up 1 run and had 7 Ks in each and a win against Atlanta where he gave up 4 runs in 5 innings but still got the win. That brought us to yesterday where he gave up a two 3-run home runs to Jayson Werth and Carlos Ruiz, who was 0 for his last 23 against the Mets. All this leads to a $12 season which has yielded a 3-4 record with 66 innings pitched, a 6.82 ERA, and a 1.92 WHIP. In these economical times it is great to see someone is still able to get fast money. If one thing is true among the increased media coverage, increased criticism and delving into the lives of athletes it is that they are certainly well-compensated for it. So while the Mets flounder this season and will no doubt make some absurd offseason move and produce another ridiculous contract to attempt to keep up, Perez can laugh all the way to bank.
Monday, June 15
Weekend Recap
Hi I'm Cleet and I'm a New York Mets fan. Yes I am aware that the above picture is how it is always going to be. I'd still rather live with this kind of crap than cheer for the Yankees.
Speaking of the Subway Series, no name Yankee reliever who is still on the DL called out K-Rod for celebrating too much after a win. Rodriguez confronted said reliever before the game yesterday because he is acutally a man and is nt afraid to talk face to face. Or maybe he just wanted to show this guy his ring. Video below. [MLB.com]
Speaking of rings, Phil Jackson now has more than Red, Kobe has one without Shaq, and yes Bobcats fans, Adam Morrison and Shannon Brown have one! [Yahoo Sports]
Speaking of semi-anonymous people getting rings, the Pens pulled the game 7 upset on the Wings on Friday. Marian Hossa is taking the heat, but he says "that's life." How profound [NHL.com]
Speaking of tough breaks, Jim Calhoun breaks his ribs but finishes bike race. He then did interviews, passed out and only went to the hospital at the behest of Ray Allen. [Hartford Courant]
Speaking of college basketball news, today is the deadline for players to withdraw from the NBA draft. Players like Luke Harangody have to make a difficult choice. [Sporting News]
Speaking of college athletes not everyone pays attention to, the IRA regatta to decide the men's rowing national champions took place last weekend (sorry forgot to post) with Washington taking the men's eight title. With that and the news about Nick Montana, the Husky faithful must be pretty content right now. [Row2k]
On a last note, I saw The Hangover this weekend. While I do think it was funny, I thought it went begging in several areas and would not put it in the upper echelon of epic raunchy comedies. I think it belongs in the second tier with movies like Road Trip, Euro Trip, and PCU but falls short of Animal House, Revenge of the Nerds, or Wedding Crashers territory.
Monday, May 11
Round Tripping: Mets Are Hot And The Reason Starts With Pitching
Yesterday the Mets beat the Pirates 8-4 for their 7th straight win and remained atop the NL East. Just over a week ago after the Mets dropped a 6-5 10-inning loss the Phillies, many were wondering if it was even possible for the Mets to contend for the division. The focus of the ire of Met fans and the doubt of prognosticators was the starting pitching. Before this win streak, New York starters had a 5.45 ERA. The lowlights of which were Oliver Perez's 9.97 ERA and 1.05 walk to strikeout ratio, the fact that they have already used 7 different starters and the weekend in St. Louis where no starter went to the 6th and gave up 16 runs over 3 games. It appeared if fortunes did not change on the mound the Mets would not even get a chance to possibly give the division away again this year.
Of course the one bright spot on the mound for the Metropolitans has been Johan Santana. He is 4-1 with a 0.91 ERA and opponents are hitting .168 against him. His run support has been severely lackluster (less than 2 runs a start), but it has not stopped his confidence or performance. Santana has guided the Mets on two occasions to 1-0 victories. That fact is bolstered by the improvements GM Omar Minaya made to the bullpen in the offseason headlined by the signing of K-Rod. Rodriguez is 9-9 in saves so far. The offensive firepower is there and with the bullpen is so much improved it was frustrating to the fans and players that they had plugged one hole while another gashing one opened up.
The Mets were relying on Santana to be the anchor while John Maine, returning from injury, and Mike Pelfrey would be a solid front three. They re-signed Oliver Perez for $12 million per for 3 years which now seems like a joke. They also signed Livan Hernandez, yes the same Livan who was 1997 World Series MVP, to eat up some innings which he is usually good for. Perez is now on the DL for horrible pitching knee tendinitis and they have brought in John Niese from Triple-A and had Nelson Figueroa start a game as well.
Over the last 7 games however the starter ERA for New York has been 2.39 and no starter has gone less than 6 innings. Consequently, the Mets have shot up through the standings and confidence has returned as they are now where they though they would be at this point in the season. It has not been all pitching that has propelled the Mets; some bats have awoken as well. David Wright is over .300 now and hit two HR during the winning streak after struggling the previous weeks. "I think we just needed to get hot a little bit to realize how good we are," Wright said on Sunday. One player who has been terrific so far this season at the plate has been Carlos Beltran. With a .374 average, .600 slugging percentage, 24 RBI, and .467 on-base percentage Beltran has quietly been the most consistent hitter for New York.
132 games still remain in this baseball season so to say the Mets have permanently solved their pitching problems would truly be a cart-before-horse situation, but the recent stretch they have put together showed them that they could win consistently with their rotation and allowed them to avoid sinking into a deep hole with many more miles to tread.
Monday, April 13
Citi Field Debuts Tonight
It may not just be the asymymmetric dimensions of the New York Mets new stadium that are a mystery, the fans themselves may need time to adjust. I can only imagine what it would be like to be a Mets' season ticket holder for years in the horrible, yet lovable dump that was Shea and now, if you can afford it, be moving in to the nice new digs across the way. It would be like if my '91 Volvo were suddenly replaced by a shiny new BMW. Having 17,000 less seats than Shea kind of irks me but the almighty dollar rules out over Joe fan sitting in the upper reaches spilling his mini-helmet filled with ice cream all over his shirt. The good news is that there will be plenty of bathrooms for all in the new digs.
New York hosts San Diego tonight in a new home for the first time in 45 years. The game is on ESPN tonight at 7 and should feature plenty of coverage of the park itself to exceed the game itself. A lot of focus will be on the Jackie Robinson Rotunda at the front of the stadium which will be a tribute to the city's past. A nod to the old Brooklyn Dodgers is fitting because it was the exodus of the Dodgers and Giants that soon prompted the birth of the Metropolitans.
The Mets are a ho-hum 3-3 so far and after the excitement of getting good work out of the bullpen early, it was dissapointing to see the team blow a 13K, no earned run performance by Santana yesterday. Expectations are high for the team and along with them are hopes that the team will not squander another September lead in what should be a highly competitive division.
Some good news even before the opening pitch was that Bernie Madoff's tickets went for $7.5k on ebay.
Tuesday, March 31
A Mustache And A Dream
The Wright Stache Inspiration from The Wright Stache on Vimeo.
Our first baseball post of the Spring! So this is what it sounds like when doves cry. Here is a video emploring David Wright to grow a mustache in order to prevent another New York collapse in September. It even has its own website, thewrightstache.com. While the theory is solid, I'll take solid bullpen play over facial hair anyday.
Via Big League Stew
Tuesday, September 30
A Goodbye to Shea
Sunday was a somber day in Queens. Not only for the failure of the New York Mets to beat the Marlins on the last day of the season for the second straight year in order to reach the playoffs, but also because the loss meant the last Mets game in Shea Stadium had been played. The frustration over the Mets collapse was shared by the fans, the Mets management and the players. It was not as historic as losing the 7.5 game lead of last year, but it stings the same. As disappointing as not reaching the post-season is, it should not take away from what Shea means to the fans of the Mets. It is no Cathedral of baseball like its cross-town counterpart, rather it is more like the worn down Knights of Columbus meeting hall of baseball but it has seen its share of memorable moments and is home to a host of faithful, if not dejected fans.
To look at the Mets compared to last year the result was the same but the team was different. The Mets of this year did show up offensively, even if not on Sunday, and it was the bullpen that let the team down. Johan Santana was masterful all season and even better on Saturday as he pitched a complete game shut-out on three days rest. Since the move to replace Willie Randolph with Jerry Manuel, both Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran were more productive, particularly in the second half of the season. Beltran certainly has not lived up to the over 18 million dollars he gets paid per year, but he played much better this year down the stretch. Carlos Delgado would have had a solid case for MVP had the Mets reached the post-season. Every time the Mets needed a big hit, seemingly Delgado provided it. The left side of the infield was again terrific with the play of David Wright and Jose Reyes. Wright had some struggles in the final week, but there is no arguing with his numbers. But so many times this year the big plays of the Mets big four were thrown away by the bullpen. The relievers were 28-28 with an ERA over 5.00 and blew 29 saves. Pick any two of those games the bullpen threw away and the Mets would be a playoff team. The injury to Wagner was a huge loss, but the front office never made a move mid-season or by the deadline. Once Wagner was down, there was nowhere to turn, and watching Luis Ayala trying to be a closer was downright painful. The lack of motion by Omar Minaya and company coupled with the atrocious bullpen performances sank the Mets well before the final game. After Sunday’s game Delgado said the Mets were a playoff caliber ball club, but with that kind of bullpen, it is easy to argue against him. Even the late injuries to John Mayne and Fernando Tatis are not valid excuses, just ask the Tampa Bay Rays who weathered their storm by making a few late-season moves and having their pitching step-up instead of bail-out.
Stepping away from the gloom of the game, let’s take a last look at Shea. Many pundits, including some windbags at ESPN love to point out that Shea Stadium was named after a lawyer. While this is true, it was William Shea who was responsible for brining National League baseball back to New York after the Giants and Dodgers fled to California. Shea was the head of a movement to form a new baseball league, the Continental League and when MLB became wary they welcomed the Mets into the NL. Shea opened in 1964, when the World’s Fair came to Queens. The first 4 seasons at Shea were similar to their first 2 in the Polo Grounds: lots of losing. Even in losing, the Mets gained a fan base through their lovable team persona. The esteemed Casey Stengel who had won multiple championships with the Yankees was now the heartwarming grandpa over his bumbling young team. “Can anybody here play this game?” he would say. But when Casey had enough, it was Gil Hodges who in 1969 would help the Mets would pull off the stunning worst-to-first move that would propel them to the pennant and eventually the World Series. The Amazin’ Mets were a term coined by Stengel to describe his surprise when the Mets did anything right in those early years. In 1969 they were amazingly terrific and became the Miracle Mets after dropping the Orioles. Shea had some landmark moments in that series including two incredible catches by Tommie Agee to his left and right and an insane diving catch by Ron Swoboda in right field. The final catch of the series was made by Cleon Jones as he dropped to one knee and the fans poured out onto the field (as they did in those days) and the Mets became permanently endeared to their portion of New York. The Yankees had more titles than you could count on two hands at that point, but this one for the Mets was special, it was theirs.
The next magical moments in Shea came from Tug McGraw in 1973. The Mets trailed deep into August when McGraw heard a speech from Mets chairman M. Donald Grant about how they still believed in the Mets players and it was Tug who jumped up and yelled, “Yeah, you gotta believe that’s right you gotta believe!” That night the Mets won and McGraw got the save and from then on it was their rallying cry. It took them all the way to the NL pennant but in the World Series they could not overtake the mighty Oakland A’s, even with Willie Mays playing his final season with the Mets that year.
Shea wasn’t exactly a home of greatness during the next 12 years. The club floundered until the Mets began to cultivate their farm system where they produced two first prize crops: Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden. After adding Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter they were ready to take the league by storm. The Mets of the 1986 were a new kind of Met team. They were still rugged and rough, but they were also confident, if not cocky. Their confidence was almost silenced until another magical moment at Shea took place in the World Series of ’86 against the Red Sox. Mookie Wilson’s roller past first (behind the bag!) is one that will always be a part of baseball lore, loved by Mets fans and loathed by Boston fans. The Mets had some great seasons following ‘86 including a NLCS against the Dodgers in 1988 which if not for the pitching of Orel Hershiser or the hitting of Kirk Gibson may have played in another World Series.
After the 1990 season Strawberry left the team and the Bobby Bonilla era began. Once again, the Mets’ faithful suffered some horrid years of baseball. It was not all Bonilla’s fault, but he was the high man on the payroll and took most of the heat. Shea would not see playoff baseball again until the late 90s. Although they would not win a third World Series they had some great moments, like Robin Ventura’s walk-off Grand Slam(err single due to Todd Pratt’s excitement) and the Mets run to the 2000 Subway Series against the Yankees. The first game in Shea Stadium after 9-11 was an emotional game for all of New York and included a late home run by Mike Piazza versus the Braves that will always be remembered by many including yours truly.
Many other moments outside of baseball happened at Shea from the Jets playing football to the Beatles playing their landmark American concert, but of course the Mets were the centerpiece. The Mets have 2 World Series titles, the Yankees have 26. Yankee Stadium is hallowed ground according to baseball purists, and Shea is most often referred to as a dump. The final ceremony for Yankee Stadium was featured for hours on ESPN and attended by the legends of the franchise and their kin, and at Shea the ceremony was missing some of the key players from its history and played out in front of a depressed crowd. Still that’s been part of the Mets and their fans’ identities; they don’t want people to pine after their franchise. It’s pretty easy to be a Yankee fan; it takes discipline and a strong stomach to be faithful to the Mets. When you root for a team and become a true fan, you love your team like a family member. You stick by them when they make a fool out of themselves, in the good times and when you wish they were not related to you, and most of all, when they need you. LeBron can keep his Yankee hat, that’s fine but the Mets’ fans are glad that they stand alone while America has its love affair with the Yanks. Shea did its job in representing the team for what it was: the team that is hard to love, but hard to let go of once you do. Citi Field looks like it will be a marvel of modern baseball, I just hope it keeps the charm of Shea Stadium, we already know it is keeping the home run apple and hopefully, the mini-helmet ice cream.
Here are a couple Shea articles:
Fans share their Shea memories. [Deadspin]
One last visit to Shea. [ESPN Page 2]
