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Hey guys I have been in touch with Shannon from Mets Police.com in regards to his Blue Cap Army get together. From the way it looks we will meet up at the new McFadden’s Pub by the bullpen entrance probably around 12 ish - if not we will possibly congregate at the new Mets Museum. I will update the status of this event in the coming weeks , or as soon as Shannon has a set itinerary.
To become a member of the Blue Cap Army please go to www.metspolice.com . I hope to see as many of us TRDMB staff and readers there as possible. I will be the red head wearing the Rusty Staub ‘85 throwback Jersey

                     ” On April 5th ,Gil Hodges Memorial Stadium - err  Citi Field will be the place to be !!”

As many of you faithful readers that follow this blog know, I was very disenfranchised with the perceived lack of significant off season moves. But as pitchers and catchers reported to Port St. Lucie during the frigid month of February my anger started to ebb and a wave of positivity came rushing forth ( thanks for the pep talk Kong ). So far I see the positives outweighing the negatives . I see a team that for the most part that has taken the perils of last year to heart and are vowing to avenge their reputations for blip in the road for what was the ‘09 season. I see smarter defense being played ( especially Daniel Murphy). I see that hitters are being patient at the plate. Our bullpen might be one of our biggest strengths this coming season. And how can a smile not crack your face when you think of the strides that Mejia, Davis, Martinez and Neise are making ! But then you either listen to the radio whether it is WFAN or 1050, or you watch SNY and Espn and you sense the utter lack of respect that is being heaped on this team , not just by the hosts and the talking heads - but by our fellow fan base as well !!! I was listening to Evan Roberts on WFAN yesterday, and he has been a bit more positive about the Mets of late . But some caller with the brain of a typical Yankee fan ( lobotomized) went on to kill the Mets about their off season , he kept to the usual script about how we have a poor farm system with no prospects and went on to pontificate how the Mets signed a bunch of AAAA ringers to play in Buffalo ! Both mine and Evan had the same reaction which was WHAT!!!! This alleged Mets fan ( I suspect he was really a Skankee fan) was in my opinion way out of line and although my views have clashed with Roberts of late , we were on the same page that it seems fashionably to knock our team at every possible moment. I swear sometimes I feel like our team is the Rodney Dangerfield of baseball. But remember Rodney always did get the last laugh - and so shall the Mets !

                                                                              ” Our Patron Saint !”

And with that said …. HERE COMES THE INFAMY !!!!

Happy Birthday to one time catching prospect and understudy to Mike Piazza from ‘01-04 , Vance Wilson . (1973)

New York Mets signed free agent outfielder Jerry Martin of the Kansas City Royals on March 17, 1984. Does anyone here have any recollection of him playing in ‘84 ? Because I sure as hell don’t !

New York Mets traded pitchers Pete Walker and Luis Arroyo to the San Diego Padres for outfielders Roberto Petagine and Scott Adair on March 17, 1996.

New York Mets signed free agent Timo Perez on March 17, 2000. Timo in my opinion was the first incarnation of Angel Pagan. Both were fourth string outfielders who were thrusted into playing everyday , could hit, and made great defensive plays. But both suffered brain farts when running the bases - see the ‘00 World Series game one for a prime example.

New York Mets released ” Super” Joe McEwing on March 17, 2005. There was no position that Joe didn’t attempt to play to keep himself in the line up. He was a average player at best, but man did he ever own Randy Johnson !! He is currently a manager in the Chicago White Sox organization.

And don’t forget - There are just 19 Tim Foli days until the Mets open the 2010 season against the Florida Marlins at Citi Field.- ( Yes I know that Bobby Ojeda also wore the number 19 - but this is my countdown so deal  with it !!!)

Well yesterday was yet another showdown between Jonathan Neise and Fernando Neive for the battle of the number five rotation spot. So far neither have overwhelmed me. They both have had very good starts and both at times have been god awful. Neise so far this spring training has a e.r.a of 7.04 which included two earned runs ( three runs total) over three innings yesterday , while Neive is sporting a hefty e.r.a of 6.00 allowing just two earned runs in his start yesterday. If I was a betting man I still think Neise gets the nod while Neive gets sent to the pen along with Japanese import Hisanori Takahasi, who has turned many heads with his dominant off speed pitches. I don’t know what to expect from Ryota Iragashi. He (from the information I can find) has pitched decently, but if there is a spot for him and his guaranteed two year contract up in Flushing remains to be seen. That leaves us with The much maligned Nelson Figueroa. Nelson has pitched his ass off so far this season . In nine innings he has not let up a run - neither earned nor unearned. But I feel that Nelson will be designated for assignment and will either be picked up by a team with a need for a long reliever/ spot starter and might have success elsewhere. If not expect to see him as extra depth in Buffalo when the season starts.Is this fair to him? the answer is no , he has been a good soldier the past couple of years but there is a stigma attached to him as being a quality AAAA pitcher who can’t have sustained success in the majors. I feel he hasn’t been utilized properly but he that’s just my opinion. But there is still about two weeks left in this competition and maybe one of the pitchers that I have just mentioned will make a good case for themselves to become the fifth starter that this team has been sorely lacking since El Duque in ‘06.

                                                      ” I hear he has a nasty fastball !”

And with that said… HERE COMES THE INFAMY !!!!!

Happy birthday wishes go out to original Mets back up catcher Hobie Landrith (1930). Hobie would be traded 23 games later to the Baltimore Orioles for future Mets icon ” Marvelous” Marv Thornberry .
Utility infielder from the ‘74 Mets, Rich Puig is 57 (1953).
Reliever from the ‘95 team , Don Florence is 43 (1967) . It is strange that Dan only pitched one season for the Mets. His record was 3-0 in fourteen games with a e.r.a of 1.50. But disappear he did , and he was never seen in the majors ever again.

Utility infielder from the ‘08 team , Abraham Nuñez is 34 (1976) .

New York Mets traded reserve outfielder Bob Gallagher to the San Francisco Giants for reserve outfielder Leon Brown on March 16, 1976.

New York Mets released one time outfield prospect Danny Garcia on March 16, 2005.

And don’t forget - There are just 20 Tommie Agee days until the Mets open the 2010 season against the Florida Marlins at Citi Field.

I have a man crush on Jenrry Mejia !!! - There I said it !! But with that being said I feel under NO CIRCUMSTANCES should Jerry Manuel be allowed to bring him up north when spring training finally breaks . First off the kid has yet to play and excel above AA ball, and as we saw yesterday , although he was dominant for the most part, you could see that he was having some issues with his control giving up one run in the two innings that he pitched. I can see how it could be a tempting option to put him in the bullpen as a setup man for Frankie Rodriguez with his blazing fastball and nasty curve - but I feel that Jenrry’s better suited as a starter. Imagine this starting rotation next year
Johan Santana,
Mike Pelfrey
John Maine (or) Oliver Perez
Jonathan Neise
and Mejia
This could be a dominant rotation, filled with young arms that could dominate most line ups! The future is Mejia - but in my opinion , the future is not now .

                                                                    ” Be patient Mets fans - Be patient !”

And with that said … HERE COMES THE INFAMY !!!!

New York Mets claimed pitcher Fernando Nieve on waivers from the Houston Astros on March 14, 2009.This was a great under the radar pick up for the Mets. Fernando started his season for the Mets Buffalo farm team where he showed that he had major league stuff. He pitched well for the Mets last season until he became a member of the not so exclusive Mets disabled list with a torn quad. He is currently in the mix for either the Mets fifth spot in the Mets starting rotation or in the bullpen.

And while you are getting your NCAA brackets in order, don’t forget that there are just 22 Ray Knight days until the Mets open the 2010 season against the Florida Marlins at Citi Field.

I apologize for not posting yesterday but after the Jose Reyes thyroid fallout this past Thursday, I just felt I needed a 24 hour break from everything Mets related. Yes during this hiatus I even managed to stay away from the negativity box that is WFAN placating myself by listening to the soothing sounds of the new Slayer CD entitled ” World Painted Blood” ( I recommend it highly !). So as I was regrouping my thoughts ( and cleaning my high powered rifle ), I had a epiphany. This might be the best thing that could ever happen to the 2010 Mets. Okay so now before you reserve the rubber room for me just hear me out. With both Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran out for a period of time ( who knows how long before they take the field again), this could be a rallying call for this team, a incident that could quite possibly band this team together. I feel that if Jerry Manuel Would instill a “fight or die”" us against the world ” mantra, this team could find the fire that it has been sorely lacking since game seven of the ‘06 NLCS. I believe that Ruben Tejada is the best in house option to hold down the fort until Jose gets back, with Alex Cora serving as backup . From the stats I saw Tejada has a better than adequate bat and is possibly the most defensively sound shortstop other than Reyes in the organization He might not be the human highlight reel like Santana is, but if he is more like Rafael Santana than Ramon Martinez I feel that this team can win. I feel the Mets would be making a big mistake if they traded for a temporary replacement ( remember Mike Bordick).
But to get back to my main argument here, it seems that almost every media outlet is predicting nothing but doom for this organization this year. This team has to channel this negativity - get angry and DOMINATE !!!

                                                         ” The Mets have to get ANGRY !!!”

And now …. ON WITH THE INFAMY !!!!!

Happy Birthday wishes go out to back up outfielder from the ‘66 -’67 campaigns , Al Luplow (1939)

Utility-man for the ‘65 team , Gary Kolb is 70 (1940) .
One of the best pitchers the Mets never gave a real chance to , Terry Leach is 56 (1954) .

Former third base coach, Luis Aguayo is 51 (1959) .
Back up catcher for the ‘98 team , Jorge Fabregas is 40 (1970) .

Happy 31st birthday to our Ace - Johan Santana (1979)

New York Mets traded reliever Mardie Cornejo to the Detroit Tigers for reliver - and Pride of Flushing - Ed Glynn on March 13, 1979. It is common knowledge that Glynn was once worked for the Mets as a concessionaire when he was a teenager, and he was a decent reliever in his two year tenure as a Met, garnering eight saves and a e.r.a of 3.53

Detroit Tigers claimed infielder , Shane Halter of the New York Mets on waivers on March 13, 2000.

And don’t forget - there are just 23 Doug Flynn days until the Mets open the 2010 season against the Florida Marlins at Citi Field !

Well if you were listening to the Mike Francesa show at three o’clock yesterday afternoon you heard a war. You see clogging up the airways yesterday was a modern day ” Battle of the Bulge between resident know it all Mike ” The Sports Dope ” Francessa and Chris ” Pangea” Carlin. Francesa had Carlin on the show to clear up a report where Carlin had intoned that UCONN Mens Basketball coach Jim Calhoun  might retire.  A local Conneticut paper ripped Carlin is a article and Mike figured he would have Chris on to clear the air - or at least one might think that why he had him on the air. Francesa went on to rip Carlin a new third orifice about how he’s a journalist and why would Carlin report something that was a non- story since Calhoun never admitted that he’s retiring. Carlin getting quite irked explained that he had inside information  that said he “might ” ( key word - might) retire but Carlin never said that he “was ” retiring. The battle of the words became even more heated with Mike pretty much intimating that Chris was irresponsible for going with the story and that Carlin should name his sources ( a journalism 101 no-no - shame on you Mikey !) and Carlin held his ground and refused to take abuse from Francesa. When Francesa saw that he wasn’t going to win this battle of the porcine gods, he called Carlin a clown and abruptly hung up on Carlin - very classy Mike ! Oh and in a bit of disclosure Mike did admit that he has a relationship with Calhoun , so is it quite possible that Mike had a personal axe to grind with Carlin? - Or did Chris steal Mike’s last Diet Coke before he left for SNY ?

Now back to the Mets. Chris Carter continues to make a case for him self, hitting a two run home run is yesterdays loss to the Atlanta Braves. Jonathan Neise had a shaky first inning where he gave up three runs on two hits, walking two. The other fifth starter candidate, Fernando Neive also gave up three runs in three innings, while Bobby Parnell pitched one scoreless and minor leaguer Eric Niessen gave up a walk off homer that ended the game.

It was reported by Tim Dierkes over at www.mlbtr.comthat Kelvim Escobar is considering retirement if is surgically repaired shoulder doesn’t improve. He goes on to say that Escobar , who signed a $1.5MM contractwith the Mets in December World “ further weaken the already-thin New York bullpen and it certainly wouldn’t look good on the Mets given the team’s myriad of injuries last season.” So the media’s negative bent on the Mets continues .

                                     ” That was no earthquake that was Mike & Chris fighting !”

And with that said … HERE COMES THE INFAMY !!!

Happy Birthday wishes go out to the late Dock Ellis (1945)  - the only known pitcher to ever pitch a no- hitter on L.S.D.  Unfortunately the no - hitter happened early in his career when he was Pittsburgh Pirate and by the time he came to the Mets in ‘79 he was a shell of his former dominant self.

Pitcher from the ‘02 team, Steve Reed is 45 ( 1965). Steve will forever be known as the player the Mets traded Jason Bay for !

And don’t forget there are just 25 Amos Otis days until the Mets open their 2010 season against the Florida Marlins at Citi Field .