Monday, May 12, 2008

DISCUSSING THE SUBWAY SERIES TONIGHT ON BLOGTALKRADIO.

Tonight around 9:30pm I’ll be discussing the Subway Series on A Show Of Their Own. This is a talk show hosted by two Yankees fans, Brittany and Bernadette, the latter behind the web site Lady At The Bat.

As most of you know, while networking with other women baseball bloggers is something that’s incredibly important to me, I generally don’t associate with fans of That Team In The Bronx and I won’t even put them in the blogroll. This may be immature but it works for me. However, Bernadette recruited me to , a community for baseball bloggers, and seems like a reasonable, intelligent human being. So I’m going to give this a try. I would be wrong if I didn’t mention that I have a great deal of trepidation about the whole thing, as my experience with Yankees fans has been at least 90% negative in the past.

So, please do not leave me there all by myself. The game’s going to get rained out. Come and listen. You can call in at (347) 945-7751.  C’mon, represent.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

FOUNTAIN AND FAIRFAX.

One of my must-read blogs is The Church of Baseball. Last season Sister Daedalus blogged about the Nats and the Reds (since she was living in DC at the time, although her Reds loyalty is from birth). This season she’s closer to home. 

I do not wish to rub salt in wounds. However:

Dear Mets, let us introduce you to Senor Johnny Cuest. Sorry you have to meet him in this way, as we are going to take the series from you. No hard feelings about those 96 mph heaters blowing by you, ok? But hey, we left you with a gift this weekend - your guys started hitting a bit, too. Don’t give up, and stop booing your players. It’s early in the season, and you guys have some good ones.

HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Let’s remember that this was a game in which the opposing pitcher STOLE SECOND.

It was lovely to see The Good Oliver again, and if this is how he performs because his mother’s coming to town tomorrow - well, I would say we should take up a collection so she could come to everyone one of his starts except that Ollie can certainly afford to make that commitment himself.

I wish I could feel cockier about today. I wish I could really feel like the Mets are starting to show us what it will be like this season. But on a day where even Scott Schoeneweis doesn’t get booed, things have to be looking up.

And I have to thank Gary Cohen for explaining the rule about what happens when a team bats out of order in such elaborate detail that even I could explain it back to TBF (not that he needed me to explain it to him, just doing it to see if I understood) when he got home from visiting his folks. That had to be one of the most absurd things ever.

--
We didn’t go last night. At the end, we decided to take the refund and put it back into the playoffs fund - and then at the last minute took it back out again when TBF found good seats in our price range at the House of Evil next Sunday. (I know, I know, but it’s the last year, we should go one more time.) I miss Tuesday night’s game since I am going to see Mike Ness with Ms. Coop. I generally try hard to not schedule concerts for game night but I love Ness solo and he has another love, the amazing Jesse Dayton, opening for him. Jesse Dayton never gets outside Texas much so it was not difficult to make the decision that rock and roll trumped the Mets against the Nationals.

THE GREATEST METS SHIRT EVER.

Buy yours NOW here.

Created by the curmudgeons over at the Crane Pool Forum, whose motto is “Intelligent, lively, and provocative discussion of the Mets, Ed Kranepool, and, on a good day, the Ramones.” (The latter comes from something Gary Cohen said on-air once, I believe.)

(The only unfortunate thing is that despite their Forest Hills origins the closest to baseball fandom I can tie to the Ramones is Johnny’s equally unfortunate Yankees loyalties.)

MAPS AND LEGENDS.

I sat down the other day to give an update to my first review of this season’s Mets Weekly and Kids Clubhouse. I still feel like Kids Clubhouse remains the superior of the two programs, especially after the most recent MW debacle with its 20 minute feature of a fan called “The King of Brunch” whose claim to fame is that one of the SNY camerapeople caught a shot of him in the field boxes and Keith and Gary made a comment about his hair.

That segment made me sad because it seemed like such a waste. Because there are thousands of stories at Shea. Every game I see someone that I’d like to know more about. Instead we get footage of more drunk Mets fans going “LET’S GO METS” in the parking lot or at a bar. I realize that this will be taken as me “slamming” them again, but I’m not the only who feels this way - I’m just the only one who actually cares enough to think about the program and review it.

I got this email the other week from the producers of the Mets fan documentary “Mathematically Alive”. Now, this is the kind of thing I’m talking about:

We want to hear about your most memorable days at Shea.  Maybe it was Buckner’s goof. Tom Terrific’s near perfection or Ventura’s grand slam single. Or more memorable still was your 1st opening day.

We want to hear all the stories. Join us in creating Heckuva Day: Stories from Shea Stadium

“The Directors of Mathematically Alive: A Story of Fandom have just announced that they will be working on a tribute video to Shea Stadium called Heckuva Day: Stories from Shea Stadium. The best part of this video is that everyone makes the cut! According to the filmmakers, there will be no time constraints for this project so everyone who is interviewed will be included in the video. The directors said that they shot over 150 hours of video for Mathematically Alive and the worst part about it was making the cuts. They said they plan to use some of that extra video, but want Mets fans to meet up with them to talk about their best memories of Shea. Again, any fan who would like to be a part of this video should email the filmmakers to find out where and when they will be conducting the interviews. 

They plan to unveil the video at a “Mets Everything” event that they will host in September 2008. This event will be filled with Mets fans, bloggers, authors, etc.  The event is set to happen before the last game at Shea and will be a celebration of the wonderful memories that Shea has given to so many people.

Hope you’re all in and please feel free to pass this on to every Mets fan in the world. Check out the trailer on YouTube.

Email me at if you’d like to be included in the video

This also compliments Steve’s rants over at The Kranepool Society about how he can’t fathom that the Mets aren’t sponsoring anything to commemorate the end of Shea - no old timer’s day, no chance for fans to get on the field, no recreation of Banner Day, nothing, at least nothing that we know about, which leads him (and me) to believe that they don’t plan on anything.

Think about this: you have a day when the Mets are on the road. You open up the stadium to allow fans to have photos taken on the field, in the dugout, with Mr. Met, with their name on the scoreboard, and all the money charged for this (depending on what you want) goes to charity. That would go a lot further than, say, charging fans to get onto the back fields at PSL for open workouts, or donating $100 to have your name on the sidewalk in front of Citi Field. (We want to get a brick that says, ‘THIS IS ALL WE COULD AFFORD AT CITI FIELD’ but we are pretty sure the Mets will say ‘no’.) And before you say it can’t be done - The Mariners do this for Christmas, and as a result, my friends have a photo of their family with the Mariner Moose in a Santa suit with their names on the scoreboard behind them - all for a donation to charity. I realize more people would want to do this than they probably want to do in Seattle (although I’m not so sure) - so what? The Mets could make it happen. They just don’t care or want to.

Get the stories. Get the history. Get the memories. Get it now. 

Saturday, May 10, 2008

MENTAL GIANTS.

I normally enjoy the blog East Village Idiot. He also has LOLYankees, to which I have contributed. And he hates the Yankees, which is always commendable.

However, this post makes me question the intelligence of the average Red Sox fan:

5:10 PM Ben: wanna go see santana on saturday afternoon?  i have a ticket seat’s not great but it’s free
[I frantically search Pollstar and Santana’s web site, wondering why I don’t know about a Santana concert happening on a Saturday afternoon in or around New York City. I am baffled.]

Friday, May 09, 2008

RAIN DELAY.

We knew they were going to call the game.
They knew they were going to call the game.
There were no ‘windows’ in the radar, there were no meteorological experts prognosticating, Mr. G didn’t appear on Diamondvision and tell us to hang tight, the weather was going to clear up soon.
The Rain Hotline advertised that the game was going to be played at 6pm...and when the 7 train came out of the tunnel at 6:30pm...and when TBF found me on the 7 at Woodside at 6:45pm… and when we got to Shea at 7pm.
There was no anthem. There were no marching bands or Cub Scout troops presenting the colors on the field. There were no players doing sprints and agility drills.
There was a big white tarp on which sat the biggest rain puddle in the world.
And then, there was an announcement...that the game was going to be delayed.
At 7:05pm.

But we are troopers. We traipse all the way over to Gate B so we can go to Mama’s (because of course given the huge crowds at Shea tonight, security couldn’t make an exception and allow us to walk around on the field level). We traipse all the way back to third base. We find Miriam and Julia and settle in in Section 12, where the security guard is being utterly ridiculous and not letting people sit in seats other than the ones they are ticketed for.

We eat sandwiches while Miriam and Julia drink. We’re having such a good time we don’t really notice how bad it’s getting until the rain started blowing sideways.

I put on another shirt. I put on my playoffs sweatshirt. I now have two shirts, a fleece and a sweatshirt on. I rummage for gloves and crankily scold TBF for forgetting a blanket.

When they started rolling a cart onto the field around 8pm, carrying what looked like square insulated bags, my first silly thought was: “Pizza going to the clubhouse!”
But no.
The person rolling the cart went into the dugout.
They started loading up the coolers.
And then they started loading the equipment bags.
The Rain Hotline tells us that the game is going to be played tonight.
TBF is turning on WFAN when a curmudgeon in Section 10 yells, “Day-night doubleheader tomorrow at 8:10pm.”
We wait a minute or two for an announcement, but when we see the field level stalwarts heading up the aisles, we say “fuck it.”

We are clearing the new team store near the subway when we finally hear the announcement… and that was with a stop in the Diamond Club lobby to try to find Coop (who was sensibly ensconsed there with her cousin). I’m still trying to figure out why there was at least a FIFTEEN MINUTE DELAY between the announcement on WFAN and the announcement IN THE PLACE WHERE THE PEOPLE WHO NEED TO HEAR IT THE MOST ARE WAITING, cold and wet.

When something similar happened to That Team In The Bronx last year the media jumped all over them for not calling the game until everyone had trekked uptown and spent some money. I know, Cincinnati isn’t coming back this year and no one wanted a day-night doubleheader, but this was also bullPUCKY.

Here, have a cannoli:

The only consolation tonight was learning that Mama’s has pastries on the field level.

Since I was going to be missing tomorrow’s game for Mother’s Day (don’t ask, we do it on Saturday and not on Sunday), at least I get to see a game this week.

TBF CONVINCES THE MTA TO CHANGE THE 7 TRAIN.

Although we are big fans of the new Super-Express 7 after the game, there was one fatal flaw:

It didn’t stop at Court House Square. Which is our stop. Normally an express stop on the 7.

“We can get off at Queensboro Plaza and get the same bus,” I argued. “Or get the local, it’s one stop.”
“But Court House Square is the only connection to the G and to the rest of Brooklyn. I’m going to write the MTA.”

We are big on writing letters in our house. We write letters when bad things happen and we write letters when good things happen too. However, not since some customer service rep at ESPN acted like a total moron to TBF, necessitating a letter and the forthcoming free subscription, has anything this good ever happened:

Subject: Mets Express
Date: Fri, 9 May 2008 14:41:18 -0400
From: “Maldonado, Rachel” <email redacted>
To: <tbf_address_also_redacted>

Dear Mr. TBF,

You described an oversight in this year’s post-game Mets Super Express in comparison to last year’s service:  the missing key connection at 45 Road/Court House Square for transfer to the G Line.  You were one of three customers who wrote to us about this oversight.

We took your comments seriously and beginning today the Mets Super Express will stop at 45 Road/Court House Square.  Signs were made and are being posted today.  You and many other Mets fans will now be able to enjoy a fast ride and a transfer to the G Line.

We read every message from every customer and use your comments to improve the service we provide to you.  Thank you for taking the time to share your valuable thoughts with us.

Sincerely,

Louis Brusati
General Manager
7 Line

This will mean, however, that we will have to stop hurling invective in the direction of the MTA employees who routinely misdirect us to the wrong train after the game, or tell us there is no express running when one rumbles in as soon as we’re through the turnstiles and on the local platform. At least temporarily.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

GHOST NOTES.

This is a post about a lot of things.

It’s a post where I offer up any number of reasonable excuses about, say, not posting much about the Arizona roadtrip. The problem I think is that I read what everyone else had to say, and then realized I had nothing else to add. I can add that I would love to go to Chase Field. I can add that we were thinking about doing a roadtrip this year so we could have hit Phoenix and LA, but we rejected it because at the time we were still pissed at 2007. I can add that TBF has been there already.

And I can talk about how great it was that the Mets picked up their asses and won two games. But it feels like every minute part of the games was covered by someone and there was nothing more to add… except that if i had to listen to Eric Byrnes’ at-bat song one more time I was going to kill someone. Because these are the things that I focus on, instead of focusing on Mr. Futility or Mr. Contribution or the rock out in left field.

Click to continue reading GHOST NOTES.

Monday, May 05, 2008

WOMEN IN BASEBALL.

Nats’ blog We’ve Got Heart has a great interview with the lobbyist for MLB, Lucy Calautti, who grew up a Mets fan:

In 1962, a young girl waited patiently outside the Polo Grounds for her childhood baseball hero, Mets Short Stop Elio Chacon, to autograph a foul ball caught by her father.  Young Lucy Calautti could never have predicted that one day she’d be working at the right hand of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball.  Some people spend a lifetime trying to find a job they love, but Lucy Calautti, Major League Baseball’s lobbyist, has achieved that dream.

A Mets fan by birth, Lucy spent her summer nights as a child at the newly opened Shea Stadium, just one subway stop from her home in Flushing.  It was there that Lucy first fell in love with the American pastime.  “My generation of men and women in New York were huge baseball fans.  You rode the subway, you talked baseball.  I mean, that’s just the way it was.”

Definitely worth your time to go over there and read. Hats off to the gals at We’ve Got Heart for a great idea.

[And while we’re talking about women in baseball, a belated, but well-deserved mention to The Church of the Fonz for her article on The Girls Of Summer. A must-read.]

Sunday, May 04, 2008

ATTENTION: ERIC BYRNES.

OMFG COULD YOU PLEASE PICK ANOTHER AT-BAT SONG? I CANNOT HEAR IT ONE MORE TIME.

Dude. I know the band is called “The Outfield” but trust me there are 3,426,972 other songs that would work for you just as well and not sound like a cross between the lead singer of Loverboy and the lead singer of Supertramp and a buzzing mosquito.