The Met Cats
I was browsing around the web aimlessly when I came accross the Communication Breakdown, the blog for Chris T.’s wfmu.org podcast of the same name. They have a cute post proposing the Mets bring back The Met Cats. Cute.
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José Guillén Is Right!
I was talking with a co-worker last week about the steroids issue in baseball. The conversation occured on the heels of Twins reliever Juan Rincon. The co-worker brought up a point about how the rules could be unfair to Latin players because of a language barrier. I said that the language barrier is no excuse. I don’t care what race or color the player is, I don’t care what his native language is. When it comes to the rules of the game and the league in which he is playing the player must learn the rules at all costs and be sure he has an accurate understanding of them. I was pretty much branded as a racist for this comment.
Then came Jose Guillen. Guillen is quoted in a report by the AP as follows:
I don’t buy that, that they didn’t know what they were doing. They knew what they were doing. There’s no excuse for them. We’re all grown enough men and we all know what we’re doing.
Guillen is also quoted as follows:
They say we need translators. I came to the States and spoke no English, but I took it upon myself to learn. This is an American game, not a Latin game. You need to learn to speak the language.
I have one thing to say to this co-worker: I told you so.
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DÃaz Replaces Hot Floyd
Click here for a recap of yesterday’s game.
Imagine yourself a major league manager. Your team is playing well, you have injured players returning to active duty and your team seems poised to turn the corner and make some noise. Today you will see your number 3 starter pitch his first game of the season at the same time as your regular right fielder makes his debut. So what do you do with your star left fielder who has been carrying the offense while on a 20 game hitting streak?
Willie Randolph answered this question by giving Cliff Floyd a day off yesterday. This seems like an odd move and is being second guessed by a lot of people. (The second guessing would be a lot more widespread and critical if the Mets had lost the game.) Randolph justified it by saying the left fielder formerly known as “Glass” was hurting and this seemed like the right day to give him a rest. Anyone who has followed the Mets the last few years knows how fragile Floyd has been since coming to the team and can understand if he’s given an extra day off here and there in the interest of keeping him rested and healthy so he can stay on the field later in the season. But why would this day be the right day?
The answer to this can be found in the roster moves made after the previous night’s game. Jae Seo and Royce Ring were sent to AAA to make room on the major league roster for Kris Benson and Mike Cameron. Most people thought that VÃctor DÃaz, who replaced Cameron in right field while Cameron’s wrist healed, would be one of the players sent down to the minors. DÃaz apparently dodged a bullet there but was probably still a little emotional about the transactions. Randolph saw how DÃaz responded to the moves and wanted to make a gesture to show the young outfielder that he still had his manager’s confidence. Randolph did just that by resting the hottest bat in the league and having DÃaz take his spot. DÃaz responded by hitting his 6th double of the season and knocking in a run.
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Say It Aint Seo, Jae!
Click here for a recap of last night’s game.
Jae Seo pitched a great game last night (7 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 8 K) and then packed a bag for Norfolk. Seo and Royce Ring were sent down to make room on the roster for Kris Benson and Mike Cameron, both coming off the DL for today’s game. Seo was the obvious choice to be sent down in order to allow Benson to make his first start of the season today. Most people expected VÃctor DÃaz to be sent down to make room for Cameron due to his recent slump. Personally, I think the team was carrying too many pitchers to begin with so I’m not upset about Ring being sent down. That being said I’d like to see something done with VÃctor Zambrano. He obviously has some issue to work out and maybe a few minor league starts is the way to go here like Steve Trachsel did a few years ago. We may see something like that before too long when Kazuhisa Ishii is ready to come off the DL.
Back to the game. Cliff Floyd had a great game both offensively and defensivly. Floyd hit his 8th homer of the year and then stole a homer from Phillies CF Jason Michaels when he reached over the wall to make a spectacular catch. The catch prompted chants of “MVP!” from the crowed.
The game was nearly thrown for a looper in the ninth when Braden Looper gave up homers to Chase Utley and Bobby Abreu to pull the Phils to within 1 run before finally closing the door. This is just more evidence that Looper is not going to be the closer that takes the Mets to the championship.
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Words of Encouragement for Yankee Fans
As a long time Mets fan I’m used to poor play on the field so I think I’m qualified to give the following words of encouragement to Yankee fans in the wake of last nights loss which featured another lousy start by Kevin Brown (5 IP, 13 H, 8 ER): At least he didn’t walk anybody.
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Phillies Are Also Glavine’s Daddy
Click here for a recap of last night’s game.
Tom Glavine got rocked again, this time at the hands of the Phillies. Pat Burrell continued his success against the Mets by belting a 3 run homer in the first.
On the bright side, Cliff Floyd continued his hot hitting with a solo homer in the fourth to keep his hitting streak alive at 19 games.
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Podcasting Mets Games?
As a family man I don’t often have a chance to catch more than an inning or two of a game on TV. But as a working man I have a 1-hour commute in each direction during which I catch up on my reading and other miscellaneous things. My commute is my ‘me’ time. So I got to thinking about how I could use my commute as a way to better keep in touch with the games and team that I comment on in my blog. Then I had a great idea.
MSG used to (maybe they still do) air 1 hour long condensed game broadcasts of Knicks games at midnight. What if someone would borrow the same concept and apply it to Mets radio broadcasts? Then take it a step further and make it into an MP3 file so that every morning I could put the condensed game onto my MP3 player and listen to it on the way to work. (The popular term for this is ‘podcasting’. I don’t like the term but that’s a subject for a rant at a later date.) There would obviously be some licensing issues involved in distributing such a broadcast but it’s exactly what I need to be able to keep in closer touch with my team.
What are you’re thoughts on this idea? Do you know of a good way to implement it? Do you have another solution? I’d like to know. Use the comments link below to share your thoughts.
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Ramón Castro: Pedro’s Personal Catcher?
Ramon Castro got the start last night at catcher in place of Mike Piazza. This is getting to be a habit for Willie Randolph when Pedro Martinez starts and the media has been taking every opportunity to point this out. Castro is starting to be called Pedro’s personal catcher by the media.
I don’t understand why this is such a big issue. You have an aging starting catcher (Piazza) that you are trying to keep healthy and fresh over a 162 game schedule. Art Howe’s solution was to put Piazza at first base. Not a bad idea if it would have worked. Randolph’s solution is to rest Piazza more often and take him out late in games. If that means letting Castro start for the same pitcher every start then so be it. This strategy actually gives a competitive edge with Castro being able to get to know one starting pitcher very well instead of getting to know 5 starting pitchers moderately well. That and the fact that my late grandmother could catch Pedro and win the game makes this a good strategy to keep Piazza fresh.
Is there something else we don’t know about Piazza and his relationship with Pedro? Is there something we don’t know about Pedro’s feelings on this issue? Does Pedro prefer not to pitch to Piazza? The answer to all these questions is maybe. But until Piazza, Pedro or Randolph give us something real on this let’s not get ahead of ourselves and just let these guys do their jobs.
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Rain Delayed Game
Click here for a recap of last night’s game.
The Mets beat the Phillies last night after a 2 hour, 17 minute rain delay. The game featured a good outing by Pedro Martinez (7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER) and Carlos Beltran‘s 4th home run of the year.
Though the game ended with a happy recap I still have to wonder why they didn’t just call off the game and make it up today as part of a twi-night or day/night doubleheader? The answer, obviously, is money (just like everything else in baseball these days). But to start a game so late just doesn’t make much sense to me. Anyone care to share an opinion on this issue?
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Chocolate Milk and Doughnuts
A few weeks ago I wrote of my frustration at Duane Reade at their lack of skill in keeping their fridges stocked and carrying certain items. This frustration grew this morning as I looked around my workplace for a place where I could get a doughnut (Entenman’s frosted with chocolate) and a chocolate milk (Hershey’s, Nesquick, whatever). I looked in 3 Duane Reade’s and none of them had both of these items. As mentioned in my previous post one of these places doesn’t even stock chocolate milk at all. I then widened the search to 4 other non-franchised stores in the area and likewise came up empty. It wouldn’t seem to me like I’m asking for much especially in the area that I was looking (between 8th ave. and Broadway in the upper 30s). What’s up with that?
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