Monday, March 21, 2011

DING, DONG, THE WITCH IS DEAD.

Our long national nightmare has ended. Oliver Perez has been released.

I don’t remember who was interviewing Cliff Floyd and when it happened, but I think Uncle Cliff hit the nail on the head when he was asked what he thought happened to Oliver: that the money went to his head. You can pinpoint the decline to that, to the intervention of THE GREAT SATAN himself, to the departure of Rick Peterson, to the WBC, hell, to Ollie getting married.

Friday, March 18, 2011

LUIS CASTILLO RELEASED.

I don’t have a lot of photos of Luis Castillo, which will probably not surprise you. It surprises me a little, because there was that golden period when we all loved him (or a lot of fans did, anyway). He was Johan Santana’s closest friend on the Twins, and I always gave him some credit for Johan choosing to come to the Mets.

I feel bad for Luis Castillo, because the wave of fan resentment was not his fault. It was Omar’s fault, for giving him that contract. He outstayed his usefulness. He became a constant reminder of the team’s mismanagement and bad decisions, on the field every day. There was no way that he could ever regain fan loyalty because of that. Add that to that dropped ball at the House of Evil, and the demonization of Luis Castillo as the representative of everything Mets fans were angry about was in full effect.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

IT’S TIME FOR ANOTHER EPISODE OF “REALLY??” WITH METSGRRL.

Before we all go jump on the Mets, this is clearly the brainchild of someone at MLB, because other fans have gotten similar emails - Indians fans being encouraged to go to Detroit, Mets fans in Florida being encouraged to go to Mets/Marlins, in Chicago for Mets/Cubs, and a NC fan getting a note to go to Atlanta or Cincinnati.

In this case, however, someone forgot the asterisk: “...and get your car keyed.” “...and watch the Phanatic go through those old tired routines of smashing the helmet of the opposing team.” “...and spend three hours waiting on line for a cheesesteak.”

Sure, MLB, in this economy, the way to fill the ballpark isn’t discounts and reductions of service charges, it’s encouraging fans to TRAVEL! Bud Selig, Genius!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

“MR. MET’S LANDING”.

This just in:

The Mets have also announced “Mr. Met’s Landing,” a new, specially priced area of the ballpark. Tickets in sections 338 and 339 in Citi Field’s Left Field Landing are $10 for kids 12 and under and $20 for adults ($20 and $30 respectively for four Marquee dates).  Mr. Met will visit both sections during every home Mets game.

For a family of four - two adults and two children - the real price of this section will be $81, because of the $4 per ticket and $5 per order service charge. (Yes, I am going to be tiresome about this this year.) More after the jump.

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

THE METS TICKET SITUATION, 2011.

The team has recently initiated a broad shake-up of its ticket operations. Over the last several months, Bill Ianniciello, the longtime head of ticket sales, was replaced by Leigh Castergine, an executive brought in to overhaul the department in the wake of last year’s steep decline in attendance.

Mets Could Feel Financial Squeeze Beyond Opening Day, New York Times, 2/26/11

In all of the Madoff/Wilpon madness over the past few weeks, this particular bit of news appeared to be glossed over. It doesn’t surprise me when issues regarding ticket sales get ignored; beat writers don’t buy tickets and they sit in the press box. Issues of pricing, obstructions, and how many people are actually in the ballpark vs. the idiotic attendance figure (which is tickets sold, not bodies through the turnstiles) get ignored.  But there is a potential story here.

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

A STATEMENT FROM CARLOS BELTRAN.

“I felt a little discomfort in my left knee last week.  I spoke to the doctors today.  They advised me to just give it a rest for a couple of days.  I can hit and do everything, but back off the running part of it.  I feel fine.  I think I just overcompensated from all the work I did on the other knee and I just need to give it a little break.”

—A Statement From Carlos Beltran, as emailed by Mets PR

I already miss him.

THIS CALL TO THE BULLPEN, TONIGHT, 11PM.

In honor of International Women’s Day, I’ll be appearing on Steve Keane’s (of The Eddie Kranepool Society) podcast, THIS CALL TO THE BULLPEN, tonight at 11pm.

Steve is a funny guy with tremendous baseball knowledge and is a huge music fan, so it’s going to be a hoot.  It’s also available for listen or download after the fact.

Monday, February 28, 2011

COMMENTING IS BACK.

Thanks to the Kind Reader who let me know that commenting was broken. I don’t know that I will get native commenting fixed any time soon, and this site has a Wordpress migration in its very near future.

So for the time being, I’ve installed Disqus, which you probably recognize from other sites.  Older comments are still here.

Comment counts aren’t going to work until I get some more time to tinker with things, but for now, at least commenting is available again.

Thanks for your patience.

REASONS WE LOVE R.A.

R.A. Dickey had more money to spend than at any point in his life. And yet, after signing a $7.8 million contract with the Mets on Jan. 31, he allowed himself only one small extravagance.

The day the iPhone for Verizon was released, Dickey went to an Apple store near his home in Nashville at 5:30 a.m. and, when the store opened at 7, bought a pair of phones for him and his wife.

I’m almost ready to buy the jersey. If nothing else, I need to find someone to help me design my “I <3 DICKEY” shirts (where the heart has seams like a baseball) for this year.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

THE SECOND-BEST DAY OF THE YEAR.

Pretty soon, we’ll be heading there again.

Happy Pitchers & Catchers!

If only Tiffany’s made a line of baseball jewelery for these yearly occasions. I believe they are missing out on a great opportunity.