There are 15 days until pitchers and catchers report to spring training, 15 days until grass looks green instead of snow-covered white or dingy grey. Many among the Mets’ fan community can hardly wait. There are some staunch glass-half-full types -- right here in our own back yard -- who see the potential for great [...]
Your intrepid columnist is usually pretty bad at predictions. Oh, not a Mike Francesa-level of ridicularity, but the mark is usually missed. If the Mets’ first baseman is projected to hit 35 home runs, he will invariably hit eight. If a star pitcher looks like a lock to win four games, he will break the [...]
It snowed the morning of January 18th. That was the scheduled date for the first annual Queens Baseball Convention – “QBC” for short. Your intrepid columnist wasn’t going to miss this for all the ice in Antarctica; besides, what better way to spend a snowy Saturday than to take three trains and one subway out [...]
All the leaves are gone and the sky is grey. A look out the window yields brittle grass, bare branches, leaden skies and whipping winds. It’s January and even though winter is officially only four-and-a-half weeks old at this writing, it already feels like forever. On these here interwebs, there are countdowns to spring training [...]
The past two seasons have been dubbed “The Year(s) Of The Pitcher.” This is a retread of the label first trotted out in 1968, in response to record-shattering mound performances by the likes of Bob Gibson, Denny McLain and fine years by several other hurlers, including our own Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman. At that [...]
You can still hear the clattering. The Hall Of Fame vote – made public almost a full day ago – has elicited much moaning and shouting about how flawed the process is. The words floated about are “broken,” “unworkable” and “antiquated.” You won’t hear any argument here; your intrepid columnist is about to join the [...]
Welcome to the doldrums. It’s early January, which means a number of things for the baseball/sports fan. The General Managers’ and Winter Meetings have come and gone. The Holidays are now officially over, the College football championship has been decided – how ‘bout ‘dem ‘Noles?!? -- and the Super Bowl is still four weeks away. [...]
Over the past five years or so, there hasn’t been a fan base more abused from within than that of the New York Mets. Or at least it seems like it. No doubt, there has been mischief done -- mostly unintentionally, one would hope – by the team’s ownership group, Fred & Jeff Wilpon and [...]
So this is what a whirlwind of activity at the Winter Meetings looks like. It’s been awhile. We’d forgotten what that was like. Sandy Alderson and crew headed to Orlando with a pocketful of dreams. They came back with Curtis Granderson – number 3 in your program, number 1 in your hearts! -- officially in [...]
Movement! We Met fans are seeing some movement for really the first time since the last out against the Brewers on September 29. No, Chris Young doesn’t count. It looks like some of the “money-coming-off-the-books” we’ve heard so much about will at long last be freed up. Word is swirling that the Mets are this [...]
We are Met fans. We want the team to do well. We want to know we’re spending our money on something worthwhile. Deep down, we know the team can’t compete with the Yankees -- be it in history, prestige, spending or wherewithal to improve – but we would like them to at least try. We [...]
“We’re still a fraud! We trimmed the attendance again!” -- Casey Stengel, following a loss on Opening Day 1963 The Mets’ first manager many things: quotable, funny, old and brilliant. Turns out he was also prophetic. “News” – if you want to call it that – is that Sandy Alderson is experiencing “sticker shock” at [...]