Monday, February 19, 2007

THE BEST NEWS OF THE SEASON SO FAR.

From the Daily News:

The popular “Profesor Reyes” segments, during which Jose Reyes teaches Spanish to fans, will return to Shea. After it took Reyes an hour and a half to tape the 2006 season’s segments last spring, Mets officials planned to spread the duty among several players this year. But Reyes enjoyed the segments so much, he asked to again tape the entire season.

Have you ever watched the dugout during these segments? All the Spanish-speaking players cluster down around the steps, watching avidly, laughing their asses off, and (I imagine) giving Jose endless amounts of good-natured grief. Pedro, especially, always displayed special interest.

[Okay. I admit here, as you all know, that I sit on the MEZZANINE, so all of this is my vivid imagination and a pair of binoculars. But I think I’m right.]

I’m just very glad that a promotional bit that allows the personality of the players to shine through will continue through 2007.  And, Hey Mets Front Office, while you’re at it, let’s remember:

Labels: reyes, shea

do not adjust your set

Yes, we are doing a little spring cleaning and light rearranging behind the scenes here at metsgrrl.com. New colors, tweaking the layout, and making the best of the constraints of Blogger until we can pick up and move house.

Saturday, February 17, 2007

gorgeous photos from spring training today

Click here to see the AP photo feed from today’s spring training session.

*sigh*

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Thursday, February 15, 2007

another “help d.wright with his at-bat music” request

On the NY Post’s Spring Training blog.

*AHEM*

PITCHERS AND CATCHERS!

7 Train
Originally uploaded by Triborough.

Less than two months before I’m walking into Gate B again.

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Wednesday, February 14, 2007

just don’t play the strokes. or dire straits.

EXHIBIT 1: Note comment at bottom of page, item #3 specifically.
EXHIBIT 2: Note reply in middle of page.
EXHIBIT 3: Speaks for itself.

Coincidence? You decide. :)

Saturday, February 10, 2007

d.wright: man about town

[Thanks to Nancy on Myspace for the pic!]

Okay. First, D.Wright has dinner with the President [I just couldn’t even bring myself to write about that], and now we find him on the cover of a magazine called ”Player," which, according to its website, can be described as “a blueprint for style, substance and sin” - and this is about the time I barf.

I don’t know who is handling his media appearances but he’s starting to be overexposed and inconsistent. The photograph is NOT flattering; it doesn’t make him look tough, street, or anything except cranky. It’s not sexy or tough in the least. If he wants to get away from the All-American Boy image, do it right.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

i am trying to break your heart

Dear Mets Ticket Office:

With all due respect, this plan sucks eggs.

I have never been to Opening Day. I didn’t go last year because TBF wasn’t home and I already had all these baseball tickets in hand that I barely knew what to do with. But this year, we were going! We were bound and determined. I was going to use one of my floating holidays in order to take the day off (and the other one, of course, goes to Yom Kippur).  TBF believes that Opening Day should be a national holiday, but that’s besides the point. I was SO excited! Opening Day of another great baseball year for the Mets.

We had held off making any kind of serious plans for weekends in February, because we believed that during one of them, we would be bundled up in sixteen layers of clothing and sleeping bags, and we had the folding chairs and the hand and feet warmers and polar fleece and snacks in the cooler and I’d emailed my brother (who has every piece of camping equipment known to mankind) about the possibility of borrowing a tent and one of those space blanket thingies. Waiting in line? Hell, we’re pros. It was the price that had to be paid. Besides, we were veterans of waiting in line on the boardwalk in Asbury Park to see Bruce Springsteen - IN DECEMBER. February in Flushing would be nothing compared to that.

Instead, you surgically remove the cameraderie and the ability to earn it with this surgical, unemotional lottery. And I gotta say, not only is it slightly unfair, the reasons are b.s. I can understand - almost - the need to implement a method like this during the playoffs. There’s big money involved, scalpers get nasty, they hire people to wait in line for them, you didn’t want a security problem out at Shea. I can understand all of that.

But for OPENING DAY? You really think *that* many of the alleged influx of fair-weather fans allegedly ringing the phones off the hook in the ticket office are going to camp out in 30 degree weather in February to buy their tickets?

Um, not bloody likely.

You’ve done it this way for years and it’s a tradition, and frankly, it should still continue to be a tradition now that the team has achieved a degree of success. Let your press release be about the huge, unexpected camp out in the parking lot instead of “extensive demand has required we institute a lottery”. As my sister would say, BULL PUCKY.

What’s that, Mets Ticket Office? I can guarantee myself a ticket to opening day if I buy a seven-pack or full season plan?  Well, MTO (can I call you that?) I already have a Tuesday-Friday plan, and I kind of think that should allow me access to buy a ticket for Opening Day if I want to. And you know what - we’re so happy to give the Mets our money that we *would* buy a seven-pack, but the “Opener Pack,” the only option featuring Opening Day…

...FEATURES FOUR TUESDAY GAMES! Not one, not two, but FOUR! And, as you should know, MTO, Mets Grrl already bought tickets to all the Tuesday games. So this doesn’t help me. At all.

And - MTO - before you start talking to me about the wonders of the full-season plan, let’s get real: if I had the money, I would have bought in. But the jump from the cash involved to finance Tuesday-Friday to the small fortune involved to purchase a full season is not trivial. C’mon, MTO, deep down inside you know that, even though right now you’re all caught up in the romance of your new sweethearts, all the people who broke your door down waving dollar bills at you, demanding full season plans for 2007.

But, don’t worry, MTO, we’ll be at Opening Day no matter what. Because if that many people truly became full season ticket holders, Stub Hub and Craigslist will be hopping with tickets for sale in a few weeks.  So you’re right - it will truly be both “fair and convenient” for me to buy tickets to Opening Day after all.

See you soon!

With love,

MG

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Can You Hear Me Now, Willie?

Or: HOW MANY DAYS UNTIL PITCHERS AND CATCHERS, PLEASE?!

Mr. W. Randolph will be officiating at the opening of a new Verizon Wireless Store in Harlem on Friday. Ribbon cutting and EVERYTHING. [via]

OMG CAN THE BASEBALL PLEASE START ALREADY SO THE METS BLOGGING COMMUNITY NO LONGER HAS TO RESORT TO THIS LEVEL OF INANITY

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Tuesday, February 06, 2007

bored in the off season?

The UK Guardian is featuring a fascinating article about how a UK football (soccer) coach is using Moneyball principals.

(I’d never read Moneyball, and then a few weeks ago someone I know wrote asking me a question about it, so I finally ordered the book - which TBF and I promptly played tug-of-war with, until I distracted him with something else and devoured the thing.)

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