Earlier, my friend Dan Stack made some great points regarding the promotion of pitching phenom Zack Wheeler sooner, rather than later. Your intrepid columnist can’t help but agree. Of course there’s no guarantee that Wheeler will match the near-perfect Matt Harvey in either technique or temperament – the way Harvey’s been dealing, it’s barely possible [...]
I’m not a huge proponent of invoking precedent because every situation is different… but Mets teams that wander through [May] gaining no traction have been known to Do Something. • When attendance fell through the floor in May 1983, the Mets called up Darryl Strawberry to sweeten a dour 6-15 proposition. • When masses failed [...]
Full disclosure: your intrepid columnist did not watch or follow all of last night’s (4/29) Mets game. He took an hour off to watch Revolution. That was probably the best move of the night, seeing as the game was near-unwatchable -- fifteen innings worth of unwatchable. The Mets took a 2-1 lead into the ninth [...]
For those of us who hung with last night’s (4/24) game vs. the Dodgers – and your intrepid columnist was barely one of those – there were numerous rewards. Working backwards, there was Jordany Valdespin’s walkoff grand slam, of course. There was the grit – Oh! That Word! – on display in the eighth and [...]
Longtime Mets beat writer Adam Rubin of ESPN tells us today that the Mets will be promoting outfielder Juan Lagares from Las Vegas in the very near term. Lagares is currently “tearing up the Pacific Coast League,” according to Rubin. Apparently, Lagares’s fine numbers have little to do with the PCL-is-a-hitter’s-league meme, since his form, [...]
In the winter of 1925, a couple of New York hustlers approached noted Wall Street broker and bookmaker – a legitimate profession back then – Tim Mara, looking for an investor. They had an idea of starting a new team in the fledgling National Football League. When Mara inquired as to the amount of his [...]
Let’s say a MLB team is not expected to compete much in its division. They’re short on talent, been known to have money troubles and have been having difficulty attracting fans to its ballpark. Let’s say most pundits have picked them to finish no better than fourth – and only because the team that’s projected [...]
There’s something about a young pitcher throwing well that makes you stop and look. Met fans are all too familiar with the concept, having made Tom Seaver, and Dwight Gooden must-see experiences. There was always the chance that you’d see something extraordinary: 15+ strikeouts, say, or a one-hitter – in those pre-6/1/12 days, you didn’t [...]
In the early season, all of two games old, the Mets have had more than a few pleasant surprises. On Opening Day, there was Collin Cowgill and his home run hustle, there was Jonathon Niese acting like an ace, there was Scott Rice arriving – finally! – on a big league stage. In game two, [...]
The Mets ALWAYS win on Opening Day. It’s only April 1; you can’t tell anything from this. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. After a rousing opener like yesterday’s, these are the hoary bromides that Met fans have to repeat to themselves to keep from getting too giddy. And beyond being an annual cliché, they [...]
Opening Day is four days away and a lot of Met fans are excited. It’s safe to say that the seven-week narrative that has been spring training is played out. Issues and surprises have been covered ad nauseum. We fans can get excited about the springs of Jonathon Niese, Matt Harvey and Ike Davis. We [...]
It seems hardly a day goes by when we don’t hear about a player of at least moderate importance to his team sustaining an injury. Someone is forever being “shut down” for a few days or more. We hear about some muscle or other being tender, sore, tweaked or torqued. There are the intercostal strains [...]