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.

Funny Tweet from Adam Rubin this morning.

“Bobby Bonilla distributing checks in clubhouse.
He works for Players Association. “Today you’re
the most loved man in the world,” Johan says”

Be careful Santana you wouldn’t want Bonilla to
show you the Bronx.

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 !

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.

As of 12:15pm it’s 69 degrees and mostly cloudy in Port St. Lucie where the Houston Astros visit to take on the New York Mets.  Johan Santana makes his spring debut for the Mets.  Today’s lineups courtesy The Star-Ledger’s Brian Costa:

Mets lineup
1. Gary Matthews Jr., cf
2. Luis Castillo, 2b
3. David Wright, 3b
4. Mike Jacobs, dh
5. Jason Bay, lf
6. Ike Davis, 1b
7. Jeff Francoeur, rf
8. Alex Cora, ss
9. Henry Blanco, c
Johan Santana, sp

In the bullpen: Sean Green, Elmer Dessens, Travis Blackley, Eddie Kunz, Jack Egbert, Clint Everts

Astros lineup
1. Michael Bourn, cf
2. Kaz Matsui, 2b
3. Geoff Blum, 1b
4. Jason Michaels, lf
5. Pedro Feliz, 3b
6. Chris Shelton, dh
7. Cory Sullivan, rf
8. Tommy Manzella, ss
9. Humberto Quintero, c
Brett Myers, sp

In the bullpen: Matt Lindstrom, Alberto Arias, Chris Sampson, Sammy Gervacio, Jose Valdez, Wesley Wright, Wilton Lopez

If you don’t have access to SNY which is carrying today’s game you can follow it via MLB Gameday and for those interested also at 1:00pm on the MLB Network the Washington Nationals’ phenom Stephen Strasburg is scheduled to make his debut.

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.