Thursday, March 04, 2010

EXCLUSIVE REACTION TO DAVID WRIGHT’S ON-FIELD PERFORMANCE TODAY.

I know. It’s Spring Training. It’s one game (not even, yet).

I just have to be happy when I can about this team.

Monday, March 01, 2010

THE WEST COAST ROAD TRIP.

In an attempt to get back to talking about actual baseball, and something more positive, I wanted to share with you my West Coast baseball roadtrip plans for 2010.

As you know, every season, we like to add a few more ballparks to our growing list. I’ll never be able to do the once-in-a-lifetime “all ballparks in one season” trip, but I can add them a few at a time. The West Coast parks, especially San Francisco, have loomed large on my list of parks I have wanted to see.  Last year, we had planned on going to California, but the itinerary was difficult and then we ended up having a family conflict. This year, however, we will not be denied. We have planned a 10-day roadtrip that encompasses every West Coast park (except Seattle, of course, since we’ve been already).

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

SOMETIMES IT FEELS LIKE WE’VE MADE NO PROGRESS AT ALL.

[Since I don’t take content from other sites, you’ll need to go visit Yahoo! Sports to see the article and photo I am discussing below. Be sure you see the headline.]

This is a GREAT photo. I LOVE this photo. I love that they instead of the cliche spring training photo of some young boy in a Yankees jersey staring wide-eyed at Derek F. Jeter, it’s a girl in shock that she’s getting an autograph from Evan Longoria.

I LOVE the photo. I love that this girl is at Spring Training all decked out in her team’s regalia. (No, You don’t get to make fun of a 14 year old girl for being a Rays fan, if she lives down there, that’s what she’s got.) I agree that it is adorable.

I love everything about this article except for the headline:

“Looks like someone has a crush on Evan Longoria”

Really? Would you have said that if it had been a boy looking at the star of his team with any adoration? Why does she have to have a crush on him? Why can’t she just be thrilled to meet one of her team’s star players? Why does her fandom have to be diminished and demeaned by calling it ‘a crush’?

Monday, February 22, 2010

THE METS TICKETING OFFICE CONTINUES WITH ITS STANDARD OF INEPTITUDE.

When it comes to baseball, and the Mets, our household is a little, how shall I put this, unbalanced. That’s the only explanation I can give you for why TBF was poking around on mets.com this weekend, looking at what tickets were available for our Friday plan. That’s right, the one we already have, the one we have already argued with the Mets about - for some reason, my companion felt the need to peruse the ticket selection.

“Look at this!” he said.“There’s tickets in our section - IN THE ROW IN FRONT OF US!”
“Really? Are you sure?”
“Yes! Why did they not offer these to us!”
“It’s just one row…”
“But it’s still an upgrade.”
“True. Maybe I should call and see if they can move us up.”

Friday, February 19, 2010

A METS FAN’S GUIDE TO TWITTER.

Twitter can be a fantastic way to get news updates, connect with your friends, connect with people you don’t know but share similar interests with, and a great time waster. I personally love Twitter (I have two accounts - one for baseball and one for everything else) and have a great time as a baseball fan, and a Mets fan, using the service. I thought I would share some hints and tips with you, in case you were curious. And with the advent of BASEBALL 2010, with tons of info coming out of Spring Training, there’s no better time to get a handle on it.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

WELCOME TO 2010.

That rodent in Pennsylvania can go take a hike as far as I’m concerned. This is the TRUE sign of the end of winter.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

A LETTER TO THE NEW YORK METS. (THE ACTUAL PLAYERS.)

Dear David, Jose, Johan, Carlos, and the other 124 players in PSL right now,

You all just got to camp and the media is lining up to get interviews and quotes and hand-held video and camera photographs. I know. I get it. I’m seeing it.

Here’s what I want to hear from you, since you have to say the same thing about 50000 times: I want to hear that you’re working hard. I want to hear that you are confident. I want to hear that you know that last year was unacceptable. I want to hear that you worked hard in the offseason and came into camp in shape and ready to go. I want to hear that you are optimistic about the season. I want to hear that you’re looking forward to the season. I want to hear that you are confident in your abilities. Hell, you can even say you’re confident in your teammates’ abilities, even if you’re not quite on board 100% with that. You gotta share a clubhouse with these guys.

Your attitude should be calm and confident. Cocky is not going to cut it. Cocky makes you look stupid. I don’t want to hear that “We expect to win the National League East”. “We expect to dramatically exceed our performance last year and make our fans proud of us” would do just fine.

“We’re expecting to go out there and win the National League East, go deep in the playoffs and win a World Series.”

David. Cocky makes us yell things at the computer or television screen, because we heard you say all those things for the last couple of years.

I’m not saying you have to hang your head or wear a dunce cap or answer every question with, “Yeah, I know, we suck!” But please.

That said, I COULD NOT BE MORE EXCITED THAT PITCHERS AND CATCHERS REPORT TOMORROW. Why are there no cards for this auspicious occasion? Why are there no sterling silver Tiffany earrings in the shape of little baseballs? THERE WOULD BE A MARKET FOR THESE.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

NO. WE DON’T WANT CHARACTER RACES.

Matt Cerrone’s question over at MetsBlog (that he’s hearing that the Mets are “thinking” about having character races - so either they’re talking about and someone told him, or they told him so they could see what fan response would be) has me banging my head into the wall. This franchise keeps ignoring obvious ways to make the fans content and instead flails about seizing irrelevant, ridiculous ideas like character races. This is right up there with the “Sweet Caroline” debacle. You can argue it until you’re blue in the face, but that song has a strong association with Boston and continuing to play it at Citi Field, especially when it was met with constant loud booing that they could hear all the way in the press box, was just bullheaded. A source told me that the reason they doggedly insisted on playing it was because it was one of Jeff Wilpon’s favorite songs. (We also have him to blame for foisting Coldplay upon us).