Tag Archives: Espn

Jul 02

Josh Thole To Talk With Buster Posey?

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Very interesting note from ESPN this morning. Mets catcher Josh Thole said if Giants and NL All-Star catcher Buster Posey doesn’t contact him, he’ll reach out to him to give tips on how to catch knuckleballer R.A. Dickey.

Too bad Dickey can’t bring his own catcher.

It’s a great gesture by Thole, and one that shouldn’t be underestimated. We know it’s silly, but the winning league gets home field for the World Series. Yes, that’s easily one of baseball’s most inane rules. But, it is a rule, and it could come back to bite the NL.

Suppose for a moment the NL loses by a run, with that run being scored on a passed ball by Posey with Dickey pitching. Would kind of stink wouldn’t it?

So, the call could be worthwhile.

Of course, the best line I ever hear about catching a knuckleball came from Ball Four, when Jim Bouton wrote, “let the ball stop rolling then pick it up.”

 

Jun 08

The Great Mets, Yankees And Fan Debate

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I was debating what to write about Mets-Yankees this weekend and was coming up dry. I despise interleague play, but you already knew that. It is unfair, and I’ll get into that later.

I thought about writing this weekend being a make-or-break series for the Mets, but the other day I mentioned its importance as part of a longer stretch of games, and didn’t want to run those bases again. Afterall, it is only three games, and unless they were playing the Yankees the last weekend of the season to get into the playoffs, what is the use?

Basically, that last one is of several fundamental flaws of interleague play. I’d rather watch Mets-Padres, Mets-Reds or Mets-Nationals than Mets-Yankees. Afterall, those games somehow matter more when it comes to sorting out who gets into the playoffs.

I recently had surgery so I’m pretty much still confined to the house, and with daytime TV being one of the Eight Miserable Wonders of the World (however, I would like to see a re-run of the Odd Couple, Get Smart or WKRP in Cincinnati) I thought I’d scan the Internet.

Went on the ESPN site and started to read this article on whether who has it better, Mets or Yankees fans? Lame with no real answer. OK, if the criteria was World Series titles or Hall of Famers, it is no contest. There is none because the Mets have been around half as long as the Yankees.

Then again, what does a team’s success or failures have anything to do with its fans? It’s not like two neighbors deciding to join different country clubs, with one clearly having the better pool.

Everybody has their reasons why they cheer one team over another. When you start pulling for a team when you’re eight years old, I doubt history has much to do with it. There’s logistics, growing up in the same area as your team. Maybe it was a player you started to follow. It could be anything. Perhaps your father liked that team, so you did the same.

Then again, if your dad followed the Yankees, maybe you cheered for the Red Sox. Of course, those could be deeper issues.

There aren’t any stedfast rules to cheering, but here’s one that seems pretty safe: You can’t cheer for both the Yankees and Mets. I don’t put much stock into cheering for both because you cheer for New York. Much like you can’t pull for the Celtics and Lakers, or the Steelers and Ravens. It doesn’t seem right.

A Mets fan is a Mets fans for a myriad of reasons and you have your own reasons why you cheer for them. Same thing for being a Yankees fans. There are Yankees fans of all ages, and yes those of you started following them from 1995 on could get points off for being front runners. You do get bonus points if you saw Horace Clark played.

If you are a Mets fan, you know disappointment, but that doesn’t always translate to being a “deeper,” or “greater” fan. I never bought into the saying as being a “diehard,” or “long-suffering,” Mets fan. If you’re a true fan, you don’t die with your team because die denotes permanence.

True fans are those who hung around with the Celtics being blown out last night and chanting “Let’s go Celtics.” If was an inspiring moment. And, long-suffering doesn’t cut it, either, because while there’s disappointment, if you really suffered, you wouldn’t be a fan of that team in the first place.

Only a masochist would choose to suffer.

I don’t know how this season, or this weekend for that matter, will turn out. But, a third of the way through this summer being a fan of the Mets has been rewarding and fun.

And, I’m happy for you.

 

 

 

 

Apr 24

Mike Pelfrey On DL; Could Be Done For Year

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The Mets just announced they placed Mike Pelfrey on the DL after a MRI showed swelling in his elbow (retroactive to April 22). Taking his place on the roster is left-handed pitcher Robert Carson from Double-A Binghamton.

ESPN reported Pelfrey has a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow and could undergo season-ending surgery.

Pelfrey is expected to get a second opinion. Pelfrey was rocked in his first start, but pitched well in his last two.

Carson, 23, is 0-0 with a 3.18 ERA in five games at Binghamton.

Mar 02

Mets need to hit the streets hawking tickets.

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Over the last few days I was on the ESPN.com website and noticed ads for Yankees tickets. Even on the Mets site. I don’t see the Mets on the ESPN site advertising for tickets.

Actually, I don’t t see any ads by the Mets for tickets anywhere.

The Yankees will outdraw the Mets this year even without the ads, but they are still in there pitching for business while the team from Flushing does nothing.

Now is the time, when there’s the spring interest in baseball to promote, but I’m not seeing much of that – just more from the Yankees. The Mets need to be all over the newspapers, the Internet, radio and TV hawking their tickets.

You will undoubtedly see commercials for Mets tickets on SNY, but want to guess how much they’ll pay for them?

I know a lot of fans complain about ticket prices even though the Mets have dropped their rates. There is such a thing as supply and demand, and when the supply is high and demand is low, something must be done to get the buyer to act. That something is lower the prices again until the customer will act.

It is quite simple really, that in absence of a winning product on the field, the Mets must do something to generate interest in purchasing tickets.

I know what they are thinking: “If we lower the ticket price from $50 to $40 we are losing $10.’’ That’s not true, because if nobody is buying the ticket at $50 they are losing a chance at $50.

It is better to lower the price than to have the seat go empty. Of course, it is still better to put a competitive team on the field.

 

Feb 16

Duda Hoping To Get It Right

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Andrew Keh of the NY Times says the Mets have replicated the new dimensions at Citi Field at the team’s spring training complex in Florida. Field 6, which was initially constructed with fences that mimicked the original shape of Citi Field, was altered this winter to match the stadium’s new design.

So far, it has been left unused by the players who came here this week for voluntary workouts, and no one is expected to practice there before the team officially opens spring training next week. But when they do, the first fly balls there will carry with them a significant dose of intrigue.

Good call by the Mets in my opinion and it will be interesting to hear what kind of feedback we get from the players once they start playing some games there.

In addition to getting a feel for what it will be like to hit at Citi Field, it will also be useful Lucas Duda who really needs to elevate his play in right field.

Mark Simon of ESPN shared some insight on Duda’s defensive problems last season:

Duda had trouble coming in on balls and he had trouble going back on balls too. Duda had four Defensive Misplays for failing to anticipate the fence, which rated his biggest defensive issue. Pro-rated over a full season, Duda’s misplay rate would come equate to nearly 60 Defensive Misplays & Errors for an everyday player over a full season. That would be about as bad as could be. Last year’s major league leaders, Justin Upton of the Diamondbacks and Mike Stanton of the Marlins, had 49.

Yes, Duda emerged as a viable hitter with power for the Mets after he replaced Carlos Beltran in right field last season. But he looked like a train wreck defensively. Now with the new dimensions, he can gain some valuable reps out there that could make his job easier. Duda told Keh that he is eager to start the process.

“I can’t wait to get out there,” Duda said of Field 6. “My routes have to get a lot more precise, so it’ll be a good thing to go out there and start to get used to the dimensions.”

By the way, Mets outfielder instructor Tom Goodwin is already in camp and working with Duda on getting a better jump on balls.

Duda is going to be an important piece of the puzzle in 2012, and this focus on fielding his position well, should pay some nice dividends for Terry Collins and the Mets this season.

Collins, incidentally, sees the situation with Duda like this:  “This guy is going to be a monster.”

Written by Craig Lerner of Mets Merized Online.