“I’ve had enough; I’m getting out to the city, the big, big city.” – Peter Gabriel Even for a town like New York, where everything is magnified, yesterday (3/21/12) was a rare convergence of circumstances. Johan Santana’s impressive start against the Cardinals was not the least of it, but it was semi-buried amid all the [...]
The dust is just starting to lift on the Mets’ financial situation and I’m not entirely sure if I should be happy about it. The Wilpons and Irving Picard – the trustee representing the victims of Bernie Madoff’s elaborate Ponzi scheme – settled on a payment of $162 million. Think about that for a second. [...]
For the Mets, 1978 was already shaping up to be a rough year by June 30. The team was dispirited, the fan base was dwindling and those that remained continued to pine for the banished Tom Seaver. The team’s hierarchy tried to salve the fans' wounds by going out and signing free agents, something they [...]
OK, so yesterday, Monday, March 12, was not the best for the Mets. David Wright – on the shelf for a week and a half – was in New York, getting cortisone for his sore ribs. Tim Byrdak found out he has a torn meniscus and is having surgery as we speak. Lucas Duda started [...]
The Mets lost last night. 3-1 to the Nationals. I couldn’t be happier. The New York Mets played a real, live baseball game last night, against a real live opponent. This wasn’t BP. This wasn’t a side session. This wasn’t an intra-squad or simulated game. There was a different team throwing and catching balls the [...]
On the old Late Night With David Letterman show, they used to do a bit called “Brush With Greatness,” where audience members would recount chance meetings with celebrities. That was kind of fun, as I recall. For a reason you’ll see soon, I was reminded of this and thought I’d do a column, recounting various [...]
“If you ain’t got a bullpen, you ain’t got nothin’” – Yogi Berra, 1973 In 2011, the Mets didn’t have nothin’. Unless you’re a dominant team (like ’86) or a hapless collection (like…oh, never mind), the difference between being over .500 and under is a matter of a couple of wins. Last year, the Mets [...]
The confetti from the Giants’ Super Bowl victory is scarcely swept up and we’re gearing up for spring training. The annual winter doldrums between the end of football and the beginning of baseball seem shorter than ever, mercifully and will shrink further still if the NFL goes through with its plan to add two more [...]
Well, it just gets better and better for the Wilpons, doesn’t it? For an organization that tries its darnedest to put out nothing but positive PR, it sure has a funny way of achieving the exact opposite. The tighter the choke hold on the Mets’ message, the more mangled it becomes. Even what would be [...]
What comes to mind when I mention “1962?” Is it Casey Stengel’s fractured fairy tales? Is it Marvelous Marv and his unintentional hilarity in the environs of the first base bag? Is it sad-sack starter Roger Craig, a very good pitcher both before and after his Met tenure? Is it the sheer futile enormity of [...]
So this is what we’ve been reduced to, apparently. So starved for some good news on the acquisition front are we fans, that more than a few of us got excited at the prospect of acquiring a 31-year-old journeyman outfielder. Another right-hander hitter, I might add, so friendlier fences in right and right-center would do [...]
Former “super-prospect” Fernando Martinez was placed on waivers yesterday. Never having played a full season in the majors or minors and still just 23 years old, Martinez was jettisoned – along with Danny Herrera – to clear out space on the 40-man roster for must-haves Ronny Cedeno and Scott Hairston. Let that sink in for [...]