Piazza Coaching Italian Team for WBC
Former Mets catcher Mike Piazza is the hitting coach for the Italian team in the WBC. MLB.com has a profile on coach Piazza.
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Verducci Inspired By Delgado, Me Too
I was watching my Twitter feed this morning and was struck by a message by bigleaguestew (from the blog Big League Stew) who quoted a recent article by Tom Verducci at SI.com. The quote was as follows:
I would rather be fooled again by a rogue player in sheep’s clothing than indict them all and forfeit optimism.
The quote struck me because it is what I have been feeling lately. We have spent the last several years talking about ‘roided players. Who does it and who doesn’t? Should there me an asterisk (as I have said in the past there should be)? Should their awards be revoked and given to the player who finished second? Should they be booted from the game? Should they be eligible for the hall of fame?
Verducci’s article, though, discusses whether or not there should be an asterisk on the entire era and puts the whole question into perspective through the eyes of his prime example of a player who was victimized by the steroids era, current Mets first baseman Carlos Delgado. Delgado has a very healthy outlook on the steroids era, his choice to stay clean and the impact it may have had on his career and hall of fame chances. We can learn a lot about life from Delgado’s approach here.
Thank you, Tom Verducci, for being able to write a sentence that evokes such hope in humanity and explains my recent feelings better than I could myself. And thank you, Carlos Delgado, for being able to put things in perspective and teaching us fans that what really is important is our own decisions and not those of others even if the others cheat.
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Murphy in Left, Tatis and Church in Right
Not much more than a routine weekend at Mets camp this past weekend. In fact I’d probably have nothing to write about were it not for Jerry Manuel’s announcement that Daniel Murphy will be the starting left fielder with Fernando Tatis splitting time with Ryan Church in right field. Most people expected Murphy to split time with Tatis in left.
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HHR: ARod Cousin Suspects
I loved this post from the always entertaining Hugging Harold Reynolds Exactly the laugh I needed after watching the video of the last piece of Shea Stadium coming down.
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And The Walls Come Tumbling Down
Video of the last piece of Shea being torn down:
Thanks for the memories.
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Beltran: We’ll Kill Hamels
Carlos Beltran had some very strong words for Cole Hamels yesterday. When asked about Hamels calling the Mets choke artists this winter beltran said “The only thing that I know is he will be watched every time he faces us. Hopefully we kill him, and then he’ll have to deal with the situation.”
I always worry when words like that are spoken. Especially when a hitter is talking about a pitcher. Every time Beltran comes up to bat against Hamels will be that much more interesting and suspenseful but also that much more scary. You never know when Hamels may just throw at Beltran.
Regardless, it’s still good to see that Beltran’s confidence is still up entering his 5th season in a Mets uniform. The closest he got to a championship was the 2006 season. Hopefully that will change. Beltran certainly seems to think so as he expressed disappointment hat Francisco Rodriguez beat him to the punch at calling the Mets the team to beat this year.
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ARoid Press Conference = Non Story
Today is a big day at Yankee camp. Alex Rodriguez will arrive at spring training and hold a press conference regarding last week’s report about steroids use. This is a good move on the Yankees part as it is an attempt to get all the talk of this subject out of the way as soon as possible and minimize any distraction. But it’s really a non story. Last week the report was published and ARod commented on it. What else could there possibly be to say about it? Do you think he’d admit to further use? No way! Not until another failed test comes to light. So watch it and read about if you must (there’s bound to be a couple of good quotes that come out of it) but let’s not make this into anything it really isn’t.
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Weekend Camp Recap
A few things happened over the weekend in Mets camp.
The Mets signed Livan Hernandez to a minor league contract. He will be in camp to compete for the 5th spot in the rotation. The competition for that spot includes Hernandez, Tim Redding and Freddy Garcia.
Elsewhere in camp Francisco Rodriguez talked with reporters and called the Mets the team to beat. It’s nice to see that kind of confidence but the players need to learn from history and stop making statements like that. It doesn’t make things any easier, especially when your biggest division rival is the defending champion.
Lastly, manager Jerry Manuel revealed an aggressive plan to try to jump start beleaguered second baseman Luis Castillo. Manuel said he would move usual leadoff hitter Jose Reyes to the third slot in the order and have Castillo bat first. If Manuel goes through with this the top of the order would be Castillo, Carlos Beltran, Reyes, David Wright and Carlos Delgado. The bottom of the lineup will include Ryan Church, Brian Schneider and whoever is playing left field that day.
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Ramon Martinez Signed, Not Pedro
I’m seeing a lot of reports with the headline something to the affect of “Met Sign Martinez to Minor League Deal”. The report is referring to infielder Ramon Martinez who has been signed and invited to spring training. However the headlines are misleading as it’s very easy to confuse someone into thinking that somehow the team got Pedro Martinez to sign such a deal. Admittedly the likelihood of Pedro signing a minor league deal is extremely remote but the headline writers need to be more clear. It’s annoying.
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Pitchers and Catchers Report
Amazon.com
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