From Now On, I'm sticking to the story that Fred Wilpon bought me pizza

Reyes Tosses

I didn’t interview any players.  I was just awestruck and honored just being there up close, watching them prepare for a game.  Walked up to the edge of the grass, watching the Mets take infield practice, batting practice, play catch, and chat and joke with each other.  I could see the players, hear the players clearly, and make out individual blades of grass.  I saw Angel Pagan take throws from Ike Davis at second base.  I saw Albert Pujols swing at BP pitches.  I saw Tony LaRussa play first base. (yes I did!) I was within inches of Jose Reyes and other such players as they walked by me into the dugout.  It was a surreal and wonderful experience.

Cardinals first base depth chart is real weak

I met (or re-met) a lot of fellow bloggers, and that was also a very cool experience.  I had a beer with Rustyjr of The Real Dirty Mets Blog, and Kerel Cooper of On the Black at McFadden’s before we went in and I ate “dinner” with Kerel, Shannon of Mets Police and Joe Janish of Mets Today in the Caesar’s Club.  I had conversations with a half dozen other fellow bloggers and I don’t even remember them all!

Ed Coleman Interviews Jerry Manuel while bloggers mingle in the background

Watching the game next to and in front of half my Twitter feed was a lot of fun, even if I felt in the 20^th century for not having a data plan to tweet live as many of them were doing. Sometimes they were even tweeting back and forth to each other from five feet away.  Why yes, we’re all basically baseball nerds.  I just enjoyed the level of understanding and knowledge of the game going on around me, the discussions about bullpens and usage and over managing.  It’s nice to watch a game with people that truly understand what’s going on more than the average shouting half-drunk fan.  Although we did have plenty of that, as one rather vocal fan to the left of us wouldn’t shut up the entire game.  Anthony De Rosa of Hot Foot dubbed him Will Ferrell.

The game itself was a roller coaster.  It was fun to see the Mets fight back, and if they hadn’t been struggling and weren’t falling too far behind the Braves, it’s a game you’d shrug off as a tough loss but one with a lot of plusses.  We’re past “moral victories” at this point in the season however, I’ll take a “should’ve lost” game like the one in San Francisco over this any day at this point.

Full Album

The lack of Mets history in Citi Field was one of the biggest complaints about the place last year.  More so than even Pelfrey letting Jody Gerut hit the first home run in the place.  Even if you only go to a few games this year, this should be near the top of the list of options.  It’s honoring one of our greatest teams.  Great players who we enjoyed rooting for for many years and the leaders who helped get them there.   True Mets.   It doesn’t matter what they did off the field or later in their careers in lesser leagues.  They did something for Mets fans that can never be erased, and to miss out on that for petty reasons like inflation, personal feelings about current players or administrators, or the organization or park not being precisely how you like it is just sad.  It’s one thing if it doesn’t fit into your schedule, your personal finances, or you’re flat out busy that day, but it’s quite another to make a specific effort NOT to go.    If you’re going to stop celebrating the best parts of the Mets history, what are you going to celebrate?

I hope it’s not, but if they fail it may mean the figurative end to their season.  The next two weeks are very critical, and the first order of business is just flat out winning games.  The Mets have played very well at home this year, and they’ve got three games against the tough Cardinals, and then three against the not so tough Diamondbacks.  There can be no excuses: They have to win games.  Omar’s job, provided he still has one, is to bring in reinforcements after that.  The trading deadline is next weekend, and the Mets are in need of some help.  No longer can they play waiting games or decide they don’t like the price.  When you drop as many games in the standings as the Mets did, you no longer have the luxury of pretending you’re not desperate for help.

After the Diamondbacks the Mets again head on the road.  It’s this road trip that could prove to be critical, as they face the Braves and the Phillies.  The Braves have been amazing lately, and the Mets have been making just about every other ballpark look to them like Turner Field did around the turn of the century.  By falling so far back, it’s become imperative that they make up ground by beating the competition in front of them.  Losing and falling further behind could very well be a death blow.

The Mets have been extremely streaky this year and they really are much better than they’ve shown lately.  If they take that streak and turn it into a hot stretch where they’re again a team that’s tough to beat, they could climb right back into this race.  There is still a lot of baseball to be played and August could be a good month for them.  After they play the division rivals on the road, they come home for the Rockies and the Phillies before going on a road trip that one would describe similarly to the Cleveland-Baltimore trip they took that they were successful on: they play the Astros and the Pirates.  Another home stretch with the Marlins and the Astros provides plenty of time to fight their way back into this race before facing the Braves again at the end of the month.

Can the Mets ace this next test and fight their way back into relevancy again?  I don’t know.  Neither answer would surprise me, but I’m certain they’re capable of it.  They often say you need to get hot at the right time and if the Mets can capitalize on that by beating up on the division rivals, as the Phillies did in 2007, they can certainly win this division.

I arrived at Citi Field with plenty of time to get my foam finger to vote for Wright (and Pagan), get some fries, and get to my seat.  It was a hot and steamy night, but the Mets made it worthwhile as I improve to 8-2 on the season at Mets games.

Vote For Wright!

I’m not going to break down Manuel’s thought process, but I would’ve used Carter in that pinch hitting situation when they determined they should let Pagan have the rest of the game off after the muscle spasms.  The crowd, who had previously been loud and excited, was befuddled and really had the wind taken out of them with that pinch hitter.  Well, except for the guy with the Vuvuzela, which was quite annoying even from five sections over.

Surprised this guy didn't get kicked out

This was my first time actually sitting pretty close to behind home plate at Citi Field, and it was fun to watch R. A. Dickey’s knuckleball from that vantage point.

Knucklin'

Many Mets fans booed the decision to bring in Frankie Rodriguez and not let Dickey finish.    He didn’t make it a clean inning, but it certainly wasn’t a stressful one.   The Mets win again at home, and keep rolling.

Taking Care of Business

Wright Trots home after his first Home Run of the Season

We should all be voting for the Mets to make the All-Star Game.  I know some fans think they should just stay home and rest, but in most cases the players themselves don’t want to stay home and rest, would rather have the honor of an All-Star appearance, would be running around doing media appearances anyway, and if they really need the rest they’d bow out.  So let’s vote our Mets into the game.   More All-Star appearances by Mets just increases their presumed value to the national audience and their overall resume.

David Wright has a chance at catching Placido Polanco of the hated Phillies, and would certainly be a deserving starter.  Additionally, the Mets have announced that the first 20,000 fans at Citi Field for Wednesday’s game against the Tigers will receive a Blue “Make Wright #1” Foam Finger.

Jose Reyes got a slow start to the season off the thyroid issue, but he’s back to playing ball like an All-Star, and there is no reason we shouldn’t vote for him to be there.

Rod Barajas has been a great addition to our team.  Why not honor him with a vote?

Most importantly, Angel Pagan has been an amazing fill-in for Carlos Beltran and extremely valuable.  Everyone reads stats differently, but there are categories where Angel Pagan excels.  WAR, Wins Above Replacement, a stat that tries to calculate how much a player contributes to the success of a team over an easy to find replacement, lists Angel Pagan as the top centerfielder in the National League.  Not just that, but he’s tied for 7^th overall! (Wright is second).  So voting for Pagan wouldn’t be a homer pick, he actually deserves it.

Since the ballot contains the AL portion too, my general philosophy is to vote for guys that have a chance to beat out Yankees.  Justin Morneau is one that can, and should, beat out Mark Texiera.  Andrus for SS and Pedroia for 2B are both long shots, but they’re the runners up at the moment.

David Wright’s Power:  David Wright has already surpassed his home run totals from last year, proving it was just a fluke.  He’s had big home runs, multi-home run games, and some absolute bombs.  Maybe now that the league realizes his power his back they’ll pitch to him a little more tentatively and he’ll be able to cut back on some of the strikeouts.

Jose Reyes: Jose Reyes is back.  He’s stealing bases, he’s lacing triples into the gaps, he’s hitting the ball out.  He’s terrorizing pitchers and reasserting that he’s one of the most exciting players in this game.  He’s smiling and having fun, and if there is any singular factor that’s making this clubhouse better than it was last year, it’s Jose Reyes’ infectious baseball attitude.   I’m still waiting for more home run handshakes though.

Citi Field: No longer is Citi Field where home runs go to die.  If Citi Field was intimidating Mets hitters, it no longer is.  The Mets have had plenty of home runs at home, and have had some fun walk-off homers.   The park is starting to feel like home and it’s become a big asset to the Mets, who have more home wins than anyone in the majors.  It’s better decorated this year as well.

The Bullpen: The bullpen has been a sore spot for a while, being one of the biggest parts of the two collapses.  So far the bullpen looks pretty solid.  Francisco Rodriguez makes things a little shaky sometimes, but he gets the job done.  There is still a state of flux with Takahashi and Mejia but the bullpen has come through, even more so now that the starters have been able to keep them from being overworked.  The arms and talent are there, so it’s no longer about trying to find someone, anyone, that can do the job.  As the season rolls on and the rotation gets more settling with Takahashi, Maine and/or Perez coming back and contributing, or acquiring another quality starter, the roles in the bullpen will become a little more settled and we’ll know who we can trust.  One things for sure though, we no longer think the game is doomed when the bullpen gets into it, and this knowledge probably helps the offense know they don’t have to score a billion more runs as well.

The Mets are a good solid team.  There are plenty of holes they could patch up, plenty of places to improve, and plenty of losses that will happen.  This team seems to have turned the corner and put the past behind them so that when things aren’t going as perfectly as they are now, I trust that the good times will return and that the Mets will be a fun team to watch all season.   They are no more flawed than anyone else in the league, and they’ve got the talent, the resources, and the desire required to make this season a successful one.

Well, like any major league team, it’s really both.  The Mets are capable of being the poorly run team on the road that lets little things beat them like making one bad pitch, failing to get a runner in from third, poor fielding, or the wrong pitching change.  They’re also capable of being the dominating team that you see when they play at Citi Field.  The team that laces doubles and triples into the gaps, that pitches out of jams and makes the opposing team struggling with runners in scoring positions, the team that comes back from deficits and is never out of a game.   

It’s not just that the Mets get lucky when they’re at home.  They really are capable of being a dominating, scary team.  Despite their poor play they’re hanging in this division and with a weak road trip coming up, they have a chance at reversing their fortunes.  First they have a revenge series against the Padres, with both Pelfrey and Santana pitching.  (I’m aware they had both pitching in San Diego as well)  If they can win this series, they’d be 32 and 28, four games over .500 with a nine game road trip coming up.   

The Mets roster has gotten quite a shakeup over the last couple of days.  Niese returns and Oliver Perez, Luis Castillo, and Gary Matthew Junior either went on the DL or were released.  Jesus Feliciano and Ruben Tejada have joined the team.  Both are rookies, Feliciano finally getting the call-up at 31 years of age after an excellent start to the season where he’s batting almost .400 in Buffalo.  He had a good season last year and played well in the World Baseball Classic for Puerto Rico.  I actually saw him play in the first game against the USA in which he helped them win in mercy rule fashion.   He’s received a lot of praise from his Buffalo team and from Alex Cora as a guy that can hit the ball and knows how to win. I don’t know if the “knows how to win” argument is really worth anything, but it won’t be hard to bring more value than Gary Matthews Jr did.  It’s yet unknown what type of player Tejada will be, and definitely unknown if he can get on base at the rate that Castillo normally does, but so far he’s played well and he’s young and exciting and his presence means the Mets have a fully home-grown infield for the time being.  Not a bad deal for a team that’s supposedly bad at the draft.  

So with some of the regulars rounding into mid-season form and some new fresh faces, I expect them to play better on the next road trip and return home in first place.  Six of those games are against really bad American League teams in the Indians and Orioles.  The three games at the end of it against the Yankees may be a little tougher, but they’ve already beaten them once. 

It’s going to be an exciting couple of weeks.  The Mets have invited me to Citi Field on Wednesday, I’m considering traveling the Baltimore for the Saturday game against the Mets, and I’ll be at the finale of the road trip against the Yankees, likely seeing Santana again.  By the time that road trip finishes the Mets will hopefully have put the road woes behind them, are at or near first place, and we’ll even know more about if and when Beltran is coming to rejoin the team. I’m really looking forward to the next 12 games. 

I thought the Yankees were supposed to take pitches, but excepting a couple of innings where some Mets pitchers struggled, they really didn’t. 

While a limited sample size, Jeter’s range looks very very suspect. 

My unofficial analysis suggests it was 70-30 Mets fans on Friday, and closer to 60-40 on Sunday, although most of the Yankees fans left on Sunday before they had anything to cheer about. 

Shake Shack continues to have ridiculous lines.   Need more grills!

In the past Subway Series games, especially Sunday night, have been rowdy and violent to the point of almost making it unfun.  This wasn’t the case this series, I was there for both a loss and a win, and it never progressed much past good-natured ribbing.  There will probably be more fights by the 5th inning against the Phillies Tuesday than all weekend.

The Yankees injuries have messed with the bench most of all.  It’s not as big a deal when they play AL ball, but when they need pinch hitters they are woefully unprepared.  I wonder if they could use a guy like Gary Matthews Jr?

Big thanks to the Mets for emailing me some postgame wrap up notes after the game yesterday.  I was pretty tired after driving back, but some interesting notes that I didn’t catch myself.  The so called “Bronx Bombers” did not hit a home run in the series, and the Mets only hit two, both by Bay.  This ties the least amount of home runs for a Subway Series and is only the third time in a series the Yankees have not hit one.

That was the first Interleague loss for C.C. Sabathia since June 15th, 2007.   It was a bad day for former AL Cy Young award winners, besides ours, as Halladay, C.C. and Greinke all got roughed up. 

The Empire State Building will be blue and orange tonight for the Mets victory.

Maybe the Mets anemic offense, despite double digit runs Thursday, gets the Yankees pitchers into a groove?  Or maybe the Yankees tattered and faulty bullpen is what the Mets need to wake up the sleepy bats.  The Mets are just trying to get back to .500 and get some momentum before they play division-leading Philadelphia.  The Yankees are hoping to right the ship and not erase what was an excellent start to the season.  This series is more about not losing than it is about winning. 

The Mets have their two best pitchers going in this series, and certainly a fair chance to win each game.  Winning at least two out of three is not only possible, but would actually create a lot of good will and confidence going into the bigger divisional series against the Phillies.  The Yankees are indeed supposedly better, but they’re losing lately, they’re injured, and even great teams lose 50+ games a year.  The lowly Pirates beat the Phillies and Halladay last week, for instance.  So It’s time for the Mets to make the most of their wins, and get them in these next six days.  No time like the present for a hot streak. 

The Yankees are no juggernaut.  Their biggest key to success last year may have been health, and that’s eluded them this year. Posada will not play.  The bullpen is a wreck, Vazquez is very sketchy this year. 

I’m headed out to the Citi today and Sunday.  I’m planning to enjoy myself.  Let’s have a fun weekend of baseball, an orange and blue Empire State Building on Monday, and momentum for the Phillies.

Free to season ticket holders, and also free parking provided, which is nice to hear. 

Fans will tour the press box and productions areas, visit the Empire and Sterling Suites, step onto the field on the warning track (weather permitting), visit the Bullpen, take photos in the Mets Dugout, and see the Mets Clubhouse.  The one-hour tour will conclude at the Mets Hall of Fame & Museum.

 So much like other teams tours, but all should be fun to see.  I’m excited to see the behind the scenes stuff, and it’s always cool to see the dugout and the clubhouse.  And like all tours around the country, you end in the gift shop (which is where the Hall of Fame & Museum exits).  It says the Mets Clubhouse, which excites me, as the couple of tours I’ve been on of other stadiums has only been of the visitors clubhouse.  I assume that you won’t see any clubhouse if the tour is on a game day though.   One, possibly silly, thing I’d like to see but I don’t know how feasible or accessible it is is the inner workings of the home run apple.

Sounds like right now the tours will only be on weekends for individuals, and will cost $10, which seems like a very reasonable price for a NYC stadium tour to me.