All I know is that after the chain of events that happened in Mets camp yesterday , I wish I was a fan of curling at this moment. I kid I kid !  But anyone who thought Johan Santana in his first appearance since mid August was going to be dominant and show no signs of rust needs to have their heads examined. Okay so the Mets lost to the Houston Astros by the score of 8-4  , but lets look at the bright side. David Wright had another home run yesterday , which was encouraging, and first baseman of the future, Ike Davis is still making his case by going 1-3 with a solo homer ( he still needs to start the year in Buffalo). But of course there always has to be some controversy surrounding  regarding a interview that was published last night by ESPN Deportes in which Jose Reyes contradicts earlier reports that stated that he is suffering from a over active thyroid. He claims that the doctors told him not to worry and to lay off seafood that contains high amounts of iodine. Whatever the case may be it seems that whatever Jose is suffering from can be treated with medication, and I expect ( or is that holding out all hope ?) to see Jose in a  Mets uniform when I see the Mets on Opening Day at Shea -Err I mean Citi Field.

This leads me to my next question. I will be attending Citi Field on Opening Day  - will there be anyone else there also? If so  I would like to have a pregame meet up so that we can all put the faces to the names . So if you are expecting to attend either write me at rustyjr@nleastchatter.comor write in the comments section where you think a good location to congregate .

                                                  ” Don’t worry about Johan , The force is with him !”

With that said  HERE COMES THE INFAMY !!!!!

Happy Birthday wishes go out to original Mets reliever from ‘62- 63, Ken MacKenzie (1934). Ken was one of the better Mets pitchers from that era, posting a record of 8-5 with a e.r.a of 4.96.

Middle reliever from the ‘79 team, Wayne ” The Twitch” Twitchell is 62 (1948). He was one of the few bright spots on that ‘79 team - so bright that they sold him to the Seattle Mariners in August of that year because the team was strapped for cash.

Mets  bullpen coach for much of the ’90’s, Greg Pavlick is 60 . (1950)
Emergency starter from ‘92 - ‘95, Mike Birkbeck is 49 .(1961)
Brooklyn’s own John Cangelosi is 47 (1963) . He was a reserve outfielder for a horrible ‘94 Mets team. He didn’t play all that well, but he became a fan favorite .

New York Mets released Duaner Sanchez on March 10, 2009. Lets face it , Duaner was never the same after that car accident in ‘06 , in ‘07he came into spring training out of shape and proceeded to reinjure his shoulder. And by the time spring training ‘09 came along he was not the dominant reliever he once was. He later signed with the San Diego Padres , where he was released two months later.

And don’t forget , there are just 26  Dave Kingman days until the Mets open the 2010 season against the Florida Marlins at Citi Field.

Again here for your enjoyment is a new desktop background that also has the 2010 New York Mets schedule so you can always know who the Mets are playing next compliments of T.R.D.M.B. If you missed out on any of our past fan art no worries, you can still get it at these previous posts.

• NYM Pitcher Cards
• NYM Pride
• NYM Heroes
• NYM Shield
• NYM Player Cards
  

Just click on image to download.

Photos:

Alex Cora signing autographs for the kids

Would have come in handy for 2009

A Jose Reyes Action Figure...cant get any cooler than that

Me, MRose and Jeff "Frenchy" Francoeur

Dirtysanchez:

Just got back from Port St Lucie and it was great. It has been unseasonably cold here in Florida but today was just beautiful. We got there at about mid day and walking up to the park, we saw Alex Cora (and his BMW) signing some autographs for the kids. Me and Matt didn’t have anything for Alex to sign so we just waved and he waved back. We decided to get something for the players to sign if we saw another one. At the Fanshop, it was honestly more difficult in showing restraint than anything. I could have bought half the store if I had my way (and a crap load of money), I mean who could resist a Jose Reyes action figure or a Mets Flask? After getting at least a baseball and sharpies, we went back to the parking lot and chatted it up with some other Mets fans.

The security guard was pretty good at letting us know who was coming out. We caught a glimpse of Jason Bay as he rode off, apparently he had to be somewhere fast but he was pretty apologetic as you could see him mouth “I’m sorry guys” while he made his turn up the ramp and out of the complex. Jeff was the next one up out of the complex and let me say, Jeff is a BIG guy…like TV does not do him justice. He actually was VERY cool and stopped on his way out and signed every fans ball that was there (including ours). He was smiling the whole time and didn’t mind taking a picture with whoever asked him too…Jeff was just really cool and definitely jumped up in my personal favorite Mets group. The last guy we saw was David Wright, but like Jason Bay he was in a rush to get somewhere (in a very nice Audi). Everyone there was waving to catch his attention but David just waved back and drove off. All in all it was a very nice trip and I would recommend that everyone should visit that place at least once. Even though there wasnt a game that day, you can still feel the vibe that baseball is seriously right around the corner.

MRose

I don’t have much to add from Dirty’s post, he covered most of the feeling.  I will add that David Wright must have had somewhere to be, as there was a girl there that had a picture from a “night out with David Wright” she had won, and he took a look, waved and kept on goin!  I have read in the past that he is typically very good about interviews, so I’ll give him a pass.  I also completely agree about Frenchy climbing up my list of favorite Mets.  When I said to him “Jeff, we are looking forward to what you can do for the Mets in a full year”, he responded with “Yea, me too! We have to stay healthy though!”.  Also, if you notice in the picture with him, before we shot it, he looked at Dirty, then looked back at me to make sure he wasn’t blocking either of us, and that we would all be in the picture.  He seemed genuinely happy to be there and be talking to fans.  I know there are a lot of people hes not too popular with, but I’m 100% pulling for him now.

I did catch on pretty quickly that Jason Bay was driving a rental car.  I believe it was some middle of the road small SUV, with Florida plates.  Being I’ve read his offseason home is Seattle, he is originally from Canada and the only teams he has played for are the Pirates and Red Sox, that was pretty obvious.  It also doesn’t help that all the other players we saw come out were driving much nicer vehicles, he must have just not shipped his down like the others.

All in all, we did not get to see a whole lot, but we got our feet wet with the Port St. Lucie area, and found it is just under 2 hours for us to get there.  I will be likely making a trip down in a couple weeks to see some games, which Dirty is welcome to join for or we may go to the Wide World of Sports and see them play the Bravos at some point as well.  Worst case, we did decide that this is a definite yearly trip and next year will be done with more planning and we hope that some of our readers or other authors can make a plan to join us as well!

Lets not forget Duffy’s.  We went to Duffy’s for a late lunch, even though it was fairly empty it had a great atmosphere.  It appears that it gets pretty packed at night, or after game days.  Next time, we will plan that portion better as well.  Good beer prices, great food.

Enjoy the pictures (additional small pics @nleastchatter on twitter), hopefully we will have better ones in the future and hopefully we can get a TRDMB Bandwagon in ‘11 worked out.

Lets go Mets! Its almost time!

If you think this is going to be another “Reyes will be O.K” article…you are completely correct.  I’m not going to panic over this issue with Reyes and neither should our TRDMB readers.

Watching Reyes over the past month working out shows me that he is in great shape and as an athlete myself, one or two weeks off, won’t affect anything.  In fact, this may benefit Reyes as it gives him time to recover and rest.  We’ve all seen the inside of hell with the 2009 season, could a thyroid scare us?  I don’t think so.  I look at it this way, just imagine if Reyes pulled his calf or ripped his rehabbed hamstring.  So far, I think this Spring Training has shown a lot of positives and to me, that’s what we should be talking about.

And lets discuss these positives.  Two words that might make every Met fan smile, Ike Davis.  Our own David Wright is showing some power;  Oliver Perez who seems focused and motivated.  If you told me Jon Niese would be pitching this well now, I would have lost a bet….I’m surprised he can walk normal after his injury.  Santana is throwing without any discomfort and is on pace to pitch Opening Day.   Does Mejia impress you as he does me?  Even Pagan ran the bases well yesterday.   And let’s not forget that even Omar Minaya  is getting in on the act as he is still trying to improve this club on an almost daily basis.

It is very easy (just watch any New York Television Station) to fall into the ”here we go again” routine when it comes down to the Mets, but I’ll tell you now, this Reyes thing will be just fine. 

Let’s not sweat the small stuff and let’s not push the panic button.

One Month to go.
One month until baseball comes back to Citi Field.
Thirty days until ” meaningful games”.
One month before Jose steals his first base.
Thirty Days until Johan wins his first game.
One month until David, Jason, Frenchy and the Murph hit their first home runs.
Thirty Days until we see amazing fielding plays being made.
One month until Frankie notches his first save.
Thirty days until the demons from ‘09 are exorcised.
And sixty days until Carlos Beltran comes back to the line up ! (knock wood !)
One month the BELIEVE !!

                                                                      ” I think this says it all!!!”

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

Happy Birthday wishes go out to the Mets third base coach from ‘97 - ‘00 , Cookie Rojas (1939)

Los Angeles Dodgers signed backup catcher Rick Wilkins of the New York Mets as a free agent on March 6, 1999.

New York Mets signed free agent Tony ” Bong Hit” Tarasco on March 6, 2001. It appeared that he hit the bong more than he hit the baseball and was not resigned by the Mets after the ‘01 season had ended.

New York Mets signed free agent relief pitcher, Orber Moreno on March 6, 2003.
And don’t forget - There are just thirty Mike Scott ( he wore the number 30 when he was a Met) days until the Mets open the 2010 season against the Florida Marlins at Citi Field.

Jerry Manuel
Tuesday, March 2nd - The Mets skipper joins Mike live in Port St. Lucie to discuss the status of his club

Jose Reyes
Tuesday, March 2nd - A healthy Jose Reyes talks with Mike about the upcoming season live in Port St. Lucie

David Wright
Tuesday, March 2nd - The Mets 3rd Baseman talks with Mike live in Port St. Lucie about the upcoming season

Jeff Francoeur
Tuesday, March 2nd - Mets RF Jeff Francoeur talks with Mike about the Mets and playing in New York for a full year

Audio courtesy of 660 WFAN NY