I heard something happened in Philadelphia the last couple of days. Maybe you've heard something about that. Trailing in the sixth inning or later every game. Having to surmount the vaunted arms belonging to Roy Halladay, Joe Blanton and Cliff Lee. Dealing with injuries to Mike Pelfrey, Ronny Cedeno, Jason Bay, Ruben Tejada and Josh [...]
“Baseball is a game of redeeming features.” – Bob Murphy This was shaping up to be a horrible night. Jonathon Niese gave up a couple of runs early. Normally, this isn’t cause for alarm, dread, or despair, except for two reasons: first of all, it’s Niese’s third start out of the past four where that’s [...]
The Mets finished April ahead of even the most optimistic Met fans’ hopes. I should know; I’m one of them. 13-10 is a damn sight better than the 11-16 of last year, and those of us with longer memories will recall that they had to scramble to achieve even that wretched mark -- the 2011 [...]
It’s getaway day today (4/26) and the Mets are looking to sweep the Marlins before heading to Colorado, even as we speak. The lineup looks like this: Kirk Nieuwenhuis – CF Ruben Tejada – SS Daniel Murphy – 2B David Wright – 3B Lucas Duda – RF Ike Davis – 1B Josh Thole – C [...]
I went to my first game of 2012 last Friday (4/20). Dinner at McFadden’s with my wife & my cousin & his wife beforehand, meeting up with my friend Greg Prince during and a surprisingly – and dispiritingly – quick exit after. It was a great night and a very good game, despite the final [...]
The atmosphere here is decidedly different in 2012 than the past couple of years. The Mets have lost two straight games to the Braves at their own personal chamber of horrors, Turner Field. Add in the fact that the aggregate score of the two debacles was 23-9 against. This could be vintage late-’09 or most [...]
The Mets are off to one of the hottest starts in their 50-year existence and I, for one, am reveling in it. Summer has come early, both metaphorically and meteorologically. An 80-plus degree April 16th -- coupled with Metsian success on the field -- is conjuring up images of those lazy, hazy, crazy days. It [...]
The first drops of rain have fallen on the Mets’ 2012 season, in the form of a cracked pinky. The pinky has started to make parts of the fan base panicky already, including your intrepid columnist. Exposure has come quickly and the rainbows and daffodils we saw in the opening sweep of the Braves and [...]
“It’s great to be young and a Giant.” – “Laughing” Larry Doyle, New York second-baseman, 1911 In the history of baseball, certain archetypes have arisen to define positions on the field. Much like you can divine the attributes of the students who live in a particular house in a Harry Potter novel – Ravenclaw for [...]
Opening Day is two days away. That means a lot of things: it means we’ve crowned an NCAA basketball champion, it means we’re getting ready to hunker in and watch the Masters, it means warmer weather is on the way. It means summer is around the corner. Those days of soda and pretzels and beer, [...]
Opening Day is a week away. Some of the cobwebs have been cleared from the Mets’ financial picture, there have been a couple of revelations on the field, the pitching rotation is lined up. It’s time to unfurl the bunting and have the Shea family prepare the floral horseshoe. As has been widely reported, the [...]
We’re well past the Ides of March. The clouds are parting, the wind is dying down, the air is warmer. Spring is officially here, and the Spring-feel is knocking at the door. In fact, if the weather in New York last week is any indication, it’s pounding with both fists and steel-toed boots. To say [...]