Bring Back Professor Reyes! Tweet This Post
Bring back Professor Reyes!
I know Jose Reyes decided to focus more on baseball and cut out some of the dancing and theatrics. It’s a move I disagree with, but whatever makes him play better. His replacements for the Professor Reyes’ Spanish Academy are pathetic though. I’m glad John Maine is getting some attention, but Maine Street USA is very lame. It’s basically the same thing they did last year without him, with giving three hints and having you guess the city. The other one is even worse, with David Wright. I believe it was called Do The Wright Thing, and it was all about making sure you ‘always wear your helmet’. It was very bad, and he must’ve repeated the sentence 15 times. Good intentions..maybe the other ones will be better, but I doubt it.
Home Opener 2008 Tweet This Post
Now that was a rather depressing game. My camera died before the game even started and the spare batteries I brought were duds, and then the Mets were duds. The game pivoted on that double play ball that Delgado field and hit Utley in the back with.
First time they’ve ever lost to Philadelphia on opening day. I was really hoping that we could put last year behind us, but with losing to Atlanta and Philly so far and the poor bullpen, it feels like last year.
It seems like they need some time to really mesh well with each other, the way one screaming fan was pointing out as he stormed out of the building after the 8th inning because no one was standing in the bullpen clapping or cheering for Church to get a hit. You could see it in Sunday’s game where David Wright was surprised by Santana fielding a bunt, and wasn’t at third to field a throw. Little things like this that they’ll hopefully fade away as they get comfortable with each other and really click.
It’s Reyes and Castillo offensively that have been having the biggest problems, but once the lineup balances out a little more with slumps and streaks, things should be fine. The Mets are very much like Mike Pelfrey right now; They can be great, but they need to find their confidence.
All the pre-game stuff was pretty cool, with them unveiling the retired Shea in left field, or the game countdown. It was very neat seeing Citi Field so nice looking in the beginning, sort of a window into next year’s Opening Day. There was a lot of curiosity about how it may affect wind patterns in Shea and make it more hitter friendly, but judging by the way Easley’s and Wright’s long fly balls flew, I’d say it’s much the same.
Opening Day jitters out of the way, I can’t wait for tomorrow. Hopefully the Mets find their strike, and start mashing this poor pitching team that Philly has.
Ups and Downs Tweet This Post
As harrowing as Tuesday’s game was, last night’s game was pleasant. It was basically against a minor league team, but it still counts. Oliver Perez still pitched well, and the offense still swung the bats well.
One thing it was good to see was runs in the top of the 9th to make it 13 to 0. There was no mailing it in, or signs that anyone thought ‘Hey, maybe we got enough tonight.’ Excepting Casanova, the rest of the bench and bullpen got their first appearances out of the way. Billy Wagner managed to come into a non-save situation and not pitch like me.
The news about Pedro is not good. Four to six weeks plus rehabilitation. The biggest impact this has is on Mike Pelfrey. If Pelfrey can figure out how to be consistent and pitch like he seems to be capable of, Pedro will barely be missed. We’ll see how that goes, against Glavine of all people, on Saturday. Maybe Pelfrey will make his case that it’s him that will replace Glavine’s innings from last year, and that Santana’s are just icing on the cake.
The baseball season is here, and it’s even been christened with it’s first wrinkle. You didn’t really think the entire season was going to be as easy as Monday did you?
April Fools of Silly promotion? Tweet This Post
I assume this is a silly April Fools joke since I can’t find any other reference to it.
From the Mets Press Pass for today’s game:
“The club has decided to honor unique angles from players who not only put on the Mets uniform but also featured rare talents off the field …Dyar Miller, who pitched for the Mets in 1980-1981, will be the first player to be so honored…In 1980, Miller was 4-0 in cow milking contests across the league…Miller will be recognized prior to the Mets-Nationals game on May 14th when New York holds its’ first annual Farm Night at Shea…Miller will reenact his cow milking skills prior to the game.”
It’s funny though.
Tags: april fools, cow milking, Dyar Miller, farm night, Mets
Opening Day Tweet This Post
BASEBALL! It’s begun, and so far Johan Santana appears to be the real thing. After watching the Nationals, and David Wright’s good pal Ryan Zimmerman, hand the Braves their first loss of the season last night it was a good feeling to watch the guys take the field for the first time and come through like they should. And the best part is we get to flip on the television and see them do it again tonight! That’s eight strike-outs for Santana, now lets see how many Pedro gets.
In other news, the biggest story in “Yankee Country” was again not baseball, but weather. The ghost of Babe Ruth is giving them grief, 86 years after he christened the structure with a home run, they’re knocking it down.
For an interesting article I wrote about why Opening Day should be a national holiday to celebrate our national pastime, click here.
Tags: Babe Ruth, curse of the bambino, holiday, Mets, opening day, Rain Delay, Yankees