Monday, March 24, 2008

THANKS, WILLIE.

TICKETS WE ORIGINALLY HELD:

• April 8
• April 11
• April 12 (Did I mention we picked up a Saturday plan? Um, we did.)

TICKETS WE BOUGHT SO WE COULD SEE JOHAN SANTANA’S FIRST START:

• April 10

Well, we’ve now got *really* good f’ing seats to see… John Maine’s first start of the year (which, under normal circumstances I would be quite happy about, and when we originally looked at the rotation, it looked like we wouldn’t get to see Johnny for a while, but we bought good seats so I could be in a prime location to photograph Mr. Santana).

Right now it looks like we’ll be at Shea FOUR times that first week. I am almost thankful that Passover obviates any ability to go down to Philly (hi to any random family members reading this).

On that note, anyone looking for good upper reserved seats for Saturdays, drop a line, there are some we won’t be using….

Sunday, March 23, 2008

METS WEEKLY 2008.

If you’ve spent any time reading MetsBlog recently, you can’t turn around without tripping over the hordes of commenters salivating over the new host of Mets Weekly. Julie Donaldson has headed off to work for NESNMWHDH in Boston, and her replacement (one Jocelyn Pierce) was causing one to slip in the puddles of saliva dripping from the mouths of some of the members of the community.

We like Mets Weekly. It became a Saturday ritual to watch the program together while eating brunch or getting ready to go to a game. How can you not love a television show that’s just about the Mets? We felt that it really did capture the “for fans, by fans” ethos most of the time, and even when it didn’t, there was enough interesting stuff that you could overlook the things that made your skin crawl. Last year, however, it started to wear a little thin. I realize it was hard to find anything good or interesting to say after the season’s ignominious end, but if I had to sit through that puppet one more time I was going to boycott the show forever.

Eagerly, we looked forward to the 2008 version of Mets Weekly. Unfortunately, the first show does not bode well for the rest of the season. More, as I ensure I will never ever again be invited on the program, after the jump.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

MORE 2008 CREATIVE.

A sojourn around Brooklyn yesterday (en route to DiFara’s) yielded the following:

*sigh*

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

HEY! NEW YORK MEDIA!

While you’re all so busy falling over yourselves, pointing out the fine moral fettle of That Team From The Bronx, just because they went to Virginia Tech to play an exhibition game… why aren’t any of you asking where any of those players were LAST YEAR when David Wright and the David Wright Foundation sponsored a benefit right here in NYC… ONE MONTH after the shootings? He helped create a scholarship fund. He didn’t pose for pictures and sign autographs, although he probably did that too.

You didn’t give David Wright that much attention then.

Wait, don’t answer that.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

STEPHEN MALKMUS LIKES THE METS.

For the indie rock geeks who read this blog (and I know you are out there), you will be as delighted as I was to find an interview with Stephen Malkmus [ex-Pavement, current: Jicks] where he discusses baseball (and mostly baseball, and fantasy baseball, and other fun things) in my RSS reader this morning.

And you will also likely to be as gleeful to discover the following as I was:

YS: I’m hoping John Maine can do it again.

SM: Maybe he’ll have a little less pressure with Santana there. Who knows. Do you like the Mets?

YS: Yeah I’m a Mets fan.

SM: All the Matador guys are. They’re huge into the Mets. They go to games occasionally and get into trouble. They’re really good fans. I picked them up back in the ’90s when they weren’t so good. I’m excited. They’ve got the old question marks like always with Alou and Delgado, so I don’t know what to say about them. You’ve gotta be excited about Santana. That guy is unbelievable. You gotta do it now. That guy pitching in Shea, it’s gotta be great.

[via]

Monday, March 17, 2008

“NO, THE OTHER JOSE.”

David Lennon has the quote about his latest injury upate:

“Just give a chance to a young kid, give him a chance to earn some money,” Valentin said. “My career has been good enough. I’ll go to Plan B—coach, be with my family. Live ‘La Vida Loca.’ Have fun.”

Is it not-baseball of me to be happy that instead of taking the Mets’ money and making another rehab attempt - which may or may not be successful - he’s going to say, “Thanks for the memories” and go on with his life? Is it unAmerican for him to say, “Gee, I got enough money, had a great run, see ya?” It just makes me like him more, even though I have struggled in the past with my ability to truly embrace Jose Valentin.

I will never forget that Milwaukee series in 2006 where Jose Valentin sparked into life and confounded everyone’s expectations.  Yeah, he started to let us down a little bit last year, but so did almost everyone. And I never hated him the way I hated Julio Franco or Moises Alou (who could still redeem himself, I hate to mention him in the same breath as Moses). He showed up. He played as hard as he could. I’d blame Willie or Omar before I’d lay blame at Valentin’s feet.

Vaya con dios.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

2008 CREATIVE.

Photo credit: TBF

We were driving through Long Island City earlier this week when I glimpsed what I thought was new creative over a subway entrance. But I was tired and hungry and although TBF offered to do a u-turn so I could go back and take a photo, I waved it off.

I was working today when the above came into my phone, courtesy TBF’s cameraphone. And I think part of the reason I didn’t make an effort earlier was because I knew I was going to hate it, and I do.

I know what you’re going to say, “It doesn’t matter, it has nothing to do with the team.” But it’s still embarrassing, because it looks like it was put together by a 13 year old with their first copy of Paint Shop Pro. It’s supposed to look modern and edgy, and it just looks sloppy and unprofessional. We’re in one of the advertising capitals of the world, and yet the Mets can’t seem to find (or choose not to find) someone capable of producing world-class collateral, and settle for this garbage.

Also, as Matt Cerrone feared a while back, while the slogan isn’t “This year we are the team to beat,” it might as well be. On the other hand, I appreciate that the team isn’t pretending that 2007 didn’t happen: “Here, look! Johan Santana!! Forget about 2007!! Shiny toy, shiny toy!” I’ll need to see the rest of the campaign before I pass judgment on the tone and positioning. If you see ‘em, send ‘em in.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

THE HATE LIST.

Last week, I got an email from my friend Sarah in Seattle, she of the Mariners Charter Seats. She has a very high-powered fantasy league every year, and TBF was invited to join last year. (I was invited, but I do not have time for fantasy leagues and this is the first year I feel like I would actually be competent enough to be a good participant.) The draft for their fantasy league was scheduled for this past Sunday.

At the risk of creating a conflict in your household over your fantasy team allegiances, I would love your input as I do my research for Sunday.

Filtering out Yankees is easy enough, but beyond that, do you have a list off the top of your head of Baseball Players You Hate The Most?  I would like to put an asterisk next to their names.

My response, after the jump.

WEBCHAT CATCHUP.

Thanks to The Happy Recap for inviting me to participate in last night’s chat. If you missed it, you can catch up with the transcript, here.

Aside from a 30 second blank where I couldn’t remember wtf Timo Perez was (except someone TBF mentioned with expletives around his name), I think I did all right.

Saturday, March 08, 2008

METSGRRL AT THE HAPPY RECAP CHAT ON 3/11.

Yours truly will be participating in a Mets blogger roundtable online chat at The Happy Recap on Tuesday, March 11, at 8pm EST. I’ll appearing with Mike Steffanos from long-time MG favorite Mike’s Mets along with the bloggers-in-charge at Shea Nation and Always Amazin’ (over at nj.com). I would be thrilled to get a little support from regulars, if you had a few minutes on Tuesday night.

To participate, visit The Happy Recap, register for an account (hey, it keeps out the trolls) and click on the live chat button under David Wright in the site banner.  See you there!