NY Daily News Adam Rubin spins an interesting yarn about Canadian Olympic curler Kevin Martin, retired teacher Jeff Francoeur’s father, and Mets Left Fielder Jason Bay.

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 .

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!

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.

So yesterday was not much of a eventful day for the Mets, losing to the Atlanta Braves at the “ESPN Wide World Of Sports”  Stadium in Orlando Florida by the score of 9-5. Pat Misch and the Mets rotation pitched well , keeping the Braves at bay while the Mets scored four runs. Fernando Martinez - the forgotten prospect looked great, going 2-3 with a r.b.i scoring triple. But Eddie Kunz along with the Mets defense gave the game away. Kunz gave up four earned runs ( not helping his cause), while the infield let us 3 straight errors including one by uber prospect - Ike Davis. But lets look at this from a optimistic perspective, for the most part this was not your opening day line up- far from it, so to get all upset because the Mets didn’t win yesterday is ridiculous ( yes I am reinforcing that point to myself). Today Jason Bay will make his Mets debut against the St. Louis Cardinals at what used to be known as Tradition Field in Port St. Lucie ( maybe they should rename it Shea Field as a nod to the old stadium - but I don’t think the Shea’s could or would pay for the naming rights).

                                                                                          ” He’s such a Kunz !!!”

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

Today would have been Clyde McCullough ninety third birthday (1917) . Clyde was a coach for the ‘63 team.

Utility infielder for the ‘67 team Bob Johnson is 74 (1936) . Bob would be traded that off season to the Cincinnati Reds for future Mets hero , outfielder Art Shamsky .

Jack Fisher, The first Met to ever pitch at Shea Stadium is 71 (1939) .

One time Mets reliever, Danny Frisella would have been 64 today.(1946) Danny died tragically when he flipped his dune buggy on New Years Day in 1977.

Reserve first baseman for the ‘78 Mets , Tom Grieve is 62.(1948)
One time Mets third base coach , Sam Perlozzo is 59. (1951) .

On this day in 1986 the New York Mets signed one of my all time favorite Mets scrubs - back up first baseman , Tim Corcoran as a free agent. He would only play in six games with the Mets - getting on base once ( intentionally walked) before being released that June.

And don’t forget - There are only 32 Tom Hausman days until the Mets open the 2010 season against the Florida Marlins at Citi Field.

Adam Rubin of the New York Daily News had conducted a interview with mets owner Fred Wilpon which you can read here http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/mets/

I found the interview with Fred to be very insightful. He seems to care about the Mets and called this past off season ” torture”. He also claims he is a Mets fans and feels the frustration of the common fan, But where Fred loses me is when he said that the Mets have ” one of the best medical staffs in all of baseball “. I don’t know if he was referring to the Hospital for Special Surgery or the Mets training staff itself, but Fred comes across as being a bit delusional on that topic in my opinion. I also have to take Fred’s noncommittal answer to the security of Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel’s jobs as being a subtle way of saying if this is a repeat of last season then they are gone.

                 ” Fred sez the Mets will be owned by the Wilpons for future generations  - OY !”