Every now and then, even in a ghost-season like this one – ephemeral, amorphous, in flux, would-frighten-Scooby-Doo, “are they really there?” – following the Mets can be most entertaining. Take Sunday night (6/5) for example. Wonderful pitching from our friend R. A. Dickey, scoring like a Chicago election (early-and-often), even giving the Atlanta fans a [...]
Last week, a rush of news from the Ivory Towers of Flushing informed the world that hotshot fancier David Einhorn had sunk $200 million of his hard-earned moolah into a shaky-at-best operation known as the New York Mets. Over here, it was immediately viewed as good news . If I were to listen to the [...]
When a man’s right, he’s right. Terry Collins finally had one of the meltdowns for which he’s so famous on Wednesday night (6/1). Who could blame him? In a game which took on an all-too-familiar pattern, the Mets got outstanding starting pitching from Chris Capuano for six innings, then drowned in two feet of water [...]
I actually went to bed feeling better about the Mets than I had in a week. A win will get that for you, however it comes about. And when I woke up, it got even better. The Mets scored a run in the top of the first, then immediately gave four of them back, then [...]
I spend most of a week at a conference, then have computer issues for the rest of it, and look what happens. I was able to follow the Monday night follies (5/16) against Florida (http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN201105160.shtml) and the dancin’ through the rain (5/18) vs. Washington (http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN201105180.shtml) from the mostly unfriendly environs of the Tropicana Casino/Hotel in [...]
I’m kind of new at this, OK? See, there was supposed to be a Met game in Denver yesterday (May 11) at 3:30 PM or 1:00 Mountain Daylight Time. But the rain that held things up the night before -- a most satisfying NYM win – apparently came back with a wallop yesterday morning, as [...]
Justin Turner and Jason Pridie make me happy. They do just what they were hired to do: provide steady defense and the occasional surprising big hit. You can’t really ask more than that. I LOVE Ronny Paulino. He’s a lefty masher and used correctly – i.e., by anyone NOT named Willie Randolph or Jerry Manuel [...]
As if it weren’t painful enough to watch Tim Lincecum and company dismantle a major league lineup – playing slightly fast & loose with the term – to the tune of sixteen strikeouts… As if it weren’t ridiculous enough to see a closer with a Mohawk & a trapper’s beard throw seven consecutive strikes in [...]
“The Mets have shown tremendous grit tonight.” – SNY’s Gary Cohen, 4/27/11, 9th inning of an eventual 6-3 win over the Nationals. Really? Did I hear that right? The Mets described as “gritty?” I haven’t heard that since 2005, the early days of Carlos Beltran, Pedro Martinez, Cliff Floyd & Mike Cameron. Since Doug Mantkiewicz [...]
I’m not going to go into detail about this point in this 2011 season. If you’re reading this, it’s already painfully obvious to you what’s transpired. Base running gaffes, lousy pitching, over-eagerness at the plate and a general, overall malaise are the marks of this year. It all seems very Polo Grounds-ish, without charm, or [...]
I must admit, I am somewhat a Facebook junkie. I check statuses constantly. I want to know what my friends are up to, I want them to know what I am up to – short of opening a Twitter account. I love that I can reconnect with people I haven’t even THOUGHT about in 20 [...]
The 2011 season is underway and even only five games in, there are several story lines that bear monitoring from now through September – and hopefully beyond. I apply the tail end of that sentence unironically for the first time in four years: I think these Mets might have it in them to hang on [...]