You can root for the Mets without being convinced of their doom
Mets Spring Training games are here! Let’s get excited!
Today’s beer of the game is a local jersey brewery, Carton. G.O.R.P. or Good Old Raisins and Peanuts isn’t quite peanuts and Cracker Jack, but it’ll do.
This beer is a solid brown ale with a nutty peanut butter taste and some dark fruit sweetness hidden underneath. It comes in rather strong, something we hope the Mets will do when the season rolls around.
Let’s drink some beer, watch some baseball, and get pumped!
Today is the Mets first Spring Training game. Nothing goes better with baseball than beer. Today’s beer of the game is Sierra Nevada’s Hazy Little Thing.
Hazy New England Style IPAs are all the rage these days. Drinkers have an insatiable appetite for them, much like our appetite for Mets baseball, starting today!
It pours a nice golden, or perhaps ORANGE, color. It’s definitely got some haze but it’s not as opaque as some other beers in the style.
It smells of fruit. Fresh and bright. Lots of light colored citrus aroma, like oranges and lemons.
These IPAs are fruit forward, and this one has lots of those juicy notes and citrusy flavors like orange and grapefruit, which is perfect for Florida. It’s got a nice pillowy mouthfeel, and goes down real easy. There’s just a hint of some malt sweetness which provides a base and some traditional IPA piney bitterness that balances it all out. No harsh edges anywhere.
I could drink this all game, though at 6.7% I probably shouldn’t. Much like the Mets, this one’s a crowd pleaser.
There is value to what happens on the baseball field in Spring Training, but most of that is not in the results of the games or the at-bats. We need to stop getting worked up about the preseason stats.
Health and mobility are big ones. How the defenders are handling the mechanics of turning double-plays, preparing for throws home on sac-flies, rounding the bases while running, or getting good jumps when stealing. How guys look trying out new positions, new swings. Is a player being more selective at the plate, swinging at better pitches, or laying off ones he struck out on last year?
These things are different for everyone, and often tie into perceived faults from the year before. If the team felt a defender was taking bad routes to fly balls in the outfield last year, they’re going to be paying special attention to that this spring. If a team felt a player needed to be more selective at the plate, they might be paying more attention to when he swings this Spring, regardless of what happens after he does. These things, more than how many hits he gets off pitchers that may or may not be throwing the way they’d be throwing in a competitive MLB game, are the things teams are looking at.
It’s easy to get excited because Michael Conforto has some hits against lefties, or that Travis d’Arnaud is driving the ball, but ultimately these things are not indicators for 2017 MLB success. The Mets destroyed the Marlins in a game on Thursday, but many of the pitchers they hit were 28 year old guys with little to no major league experience. This is poor competition even if they were at their peak point in the season.
Players hit nothing during March and suddenly start the season 11/25 with 3 HR. Players also drive the ball all over Florida and start the season in a slump. The actual MLB season is such a different animal than practice games in Spring Training when everyone’s working on different things with different goals that it’s a hopeless task to try to figure out what any of it means for the regular season. This is especially true early in March when even the best pitchers are pretty rusty and the percentage of minor leaguers participating is higher.
So let’s just calm down on the over-analyzing of these games. Let’s just let everyone get in their reps and stay healthy and we can reevaluate in April.
These days most pitchers and catchers are in camp days earlier, and the position players are showing up earlier and earlier too. Thanks to the Mets acquiring a popular training program and moving it to Port St. Lucie, many players have been down there sporadically all winter, working out and getting ready for the season.
What we’re really counting down to when we talk about pitchers and catchers is to the day many of the media and beat writers start covering the team from Spring Training. The day is less about the start of baseball season and more about the start of forced columns about how guys are in the best shape of their lives. It’s basically beat writers taking attendance of all the players walking through the door.
What we’re really looking for is the first game against another opponent. The first game is Wednesday March 4th, and it’s the first game on the radio as well. We’ll get Josh Lewin’s voice, and perhaps Howie Rose’s as well if he can pop over to Florida between Islanders games in Dallas and Nashville, and the sounds of baseball in our ears. That’s when things start getting real, when two teams face off each other and half-heartedly try to get each other out while preparing for the regular season. The first television/SNY broadcast will probably be Friday March 6th against the Tigers.
It’s 20 days until the first Mets Spring Training game.
This isn’t a guide to every last detail of Port St. Lucie, but I’d like to share my observations about watching the Mets down there. Tonight is the first televised broadcast, and also the first audio broadcast.
The most interesting part, in my opinion, is the morning workouts. These occur pretty much every day, even on non-game days, on the fields behind Digital Domain Park. You’ll see the entire camp full of players out there, except ones that may be playing in an away game, doing workouts and drills. Minor and major leaguers in all shades of Mets uniforms wearing all sorts of different numbers. You’ll see guys you’ve never heard of, even if you pay pretty close attention to the minor leagues. They’ll do all sorts of interesting drills and you’ll see the coaches and managers barking orders and instructions. You’ll get an inside look at how players prepare for games and seasons. You’ll see them practice learning the signs and just doing baseball things. Sometimes the minor leaguers will start playing a game near the end of the session, this is normally the time the regular players retreat to Digital Domain Park to prepare for the regular game. Usually you’ll be asked to leave, but sometimes you can catch an inning or two.
You can get autographs if you’re persistent, but during workouts these guys are mostly working so you’ll have to be quick and paying attention to who may have a moment. They’ll have to walk by you to get from field to field, and often this is when they’ll sign. Another good time to get autographs is after games, particularly if it’s an away game and the players are headed back to a bus or their cars if it’s close. When the Mets travel to nearby Jupiter to play the Cardinals or the Marlins, many players drive. Many people looking for autographs wait in the walkway between the players’ exit and their parking lot. This is also a good way to get a look at what cars players drive. Autographs are there to be had, so if that’s your thing you should have no problem. Normal rules apply; if you’re a cute girl or a kid you’ve got the best shot.
Spring Training tickets are often not expensive, and it’s a chance to get seats that are really close that would be virtually impossible to get at a Major League park. The atmosphere is so much more relaxed and casual and it’s a fun time all around. Both years I went I sat first row in front of the Mets bullpen, literally within touching distance of all the pitchers as they warmed up to go in. Close enough that they can here what you’re saying to the people you’re with. There are season ticket holders in Florida, but there are still seats available mere rows behind home plate too. And it’s roughly 10% of the cost of a Major League stadium.
Another fun activity that’s probably more common in places like Port St. Lucie than Tampa Bay is player-spotting out on the town. Most people know about Duffy’s, a chain restaurant with a bowling alley attached down the road from the Spring Training Complex. SNY films some segments there, and it’s a common place for players to hang out too. The Mets do bowling nights on Sunday evenings, so if you want to watch baseball players playing a different sport that’s the perfect time. Port St. Lucie is not a tiny place, but it’s not a city so there are only a limited amount of places to go for a nightlife experience. Another good place is Vine and Barley which is a wine and beer bar down the road. The last time I was down there I ran into Scott Hairston, Justin Turner, and Kai Gronauer, and I’m pretty sure there were one or two players down there I didn’t recognize. Even on a non-baseball front I suggest this place, as it’s got self-serve wine tastings and an excellent beer menu.
The worst part of Spring Training is when you return home. You’re so ready for baseball that it feels wrong that there are no longer games you can attend. Still, it’s great time and a must-do for baseball fans. It’s baseball and warm weather and a great way to start to get excited about the new season. If you’re headed down this year, have a great time and tweet lots of pictures!
It’s arrived. The day we’ve been counting down towards since the Mets walked off the field last fall. Pitchers and catchers are reporting to Port St. Lucie Florida to Digital Domain Park to being preparing to play baseball.
It’s a time of new beginnings and fresh starts. The Mets begin 2012 with no players injured and everyone preparing together. Terry Collins and Sandy Alderson now have a year of familiarity with the team and the organization and a better sense of what they’re capable of. There are new faces and old ones. Someone here is going to surprise us and have a breakout season. There are going to be long majestic home runs arcing into the sky, diving catches on sinking liners, and curveballs making batters look funny and strike out. Everything you love about baseball starts happening now, as the Mets start to get ready to play some exhibition games in two weeks.
Soon (March 5th, 6pm) the voices of Howie Rose and newly acquired Josh Lewin will drift out over the airwaves, talking about Mets this, and Mets that. The Mets Extra jingle will play and we’ll hear Mets talk and interviews and daily sound bytes from Terry Collins. What could be better? It’s baseball!
What to expect from Optimistic Mets Fan this year? Think of these as my New Year’s Resolutions, because the baseball New Year starts now.
For one, I’ve got a couple of ticket giveaways planned. That should be fun, but I should warn you: I’m probably going to request optimism from you to be eligible.
I plan to work on getting a working database on my own computer so I can tweet and post random stats that amuse me, as well as delve further into the understanding of baseball as a whole.
I also plan to interface with other bloggers better. Whether this is linking them more, guest-writing, or talking on the various radio/podcast type shows out there only time will tell.
And I will continue to blog about beer as it pertains to baseball. I’ll specifically update the Citi Field Beer List, as well as talk about what’s going on in other parks. If you’re a beer fan of a non-NY baseball team and feel like helping me out, drop me an email.
Earlier this year I wrote about how the Mets had paintings of players done and using the profits from selling them to support Florida local Little League. Here’s a couple of those pictures that were on display at Digital Domain Park.
This picture was taken around 10am on Friday morning. Luis Castillo was still in a Mets uniform and on the practice fields. I wonder what they were talking about..
Shortly after this Twitter was all abuzz about Luis Castillo being released.
I’m annoyed that the MLB At Bat app for 2011 doesn’t include mlb.tv. There is no option for it on the Android version of the app, something I presume will be added for Opening Day. I don’t pay for MLB.TV anyway as the games I want most, the Mets, will be blacked out, but I’d love to watch the Spring Training games. The iPhone and iPod versions of this app do allow free access to the video feeds in Spring Training, and it’s a great feature. I do have an iPod touch, but I’m not going to pay another $15 just for that feature and there is no portability between platforms; I’d have to buy it twice.
I’d settle for the audio feed of mlb.tv, but even that’s not an option. Today’s Mets game is on SNY, but not the radio. So my app doesn’t let me see the video, and also provides no audio feed. At the very least couldn’t I have the audio feed from SNY without the picture? It might not be great, but it’s better than nothing.
Still, so far I’m pretty happy with the app. It keeps track of the play by play, provides me video highlights when they’re available, and is pretty versatile. I’m still glad to have purchased it, I just want to see some Mets baseball during my lunch hour!
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