Tuesday, February 05, 2008

NO, SERIOUSLY.

You didn’t believe me, did you?

I was delighted to learn on MetsBlog yesterday that the Mets were telling people that shirts would be available today. Given their past successes in making merchandise available to people who want to buy it, I was not optimistic that the mental giants in the merch department would step on it any time before Opening Day.

But the MetsBlog post made it abundantly clear that shirts were available - they were even available yesterday! - and so at lunchtime, I sent TBF a text:

LUNCH PLANS? WANT TO GO TO CHIPOTLE* + METS STORE?

He met me on the corner of 5th and 42nd. With great excitement, we walked down the block and entered the Team Store, where, with uncharacteristic common sense, the SANTANA 57 shirts were hung just inside the doorway - what was left of them, anyway. There were four hangers empty and two still full.

I pounce. I rejoice. We once again burble how happy we are. While I am paying for my purchase, the phone rings. “We have black in XL and XXL. Jerseys will be in later this week.”

Of course, since THE GUYS WHO WORK AT THE METS TEAM STORE ON 42ND STREET ARE YANKEES FANS, the entire process, which should have been a joy and a delight, was somewhat muted.

(On that note, I have heard these guys telling tourists that they couldn’t tell them anything about Shea Stadium because they were Yankees fans. One of them even had his Yankees-themed iPod barely out of sight under the counter today. No, seriously, they couldn’t get a job at the *Yankees* team store? These were the most qualified individuals to hold these particular jobs? At the major presence the Mets have in Midtown, we have YANKEES fans representing? WTF?)

It is silly, I know, to buy a shirt I can’t even wear yet, except around the house, or maybe to the gym. Opening Day is two months away. And I could have waited, I could have saved my $20 and put it towards a jersey, or something.

But I wanted to buy the shirt today. At the Team Store. It’s like running around the arena to find the place that’s selling the event-specific shirt or the event-specific poster. It’s like waiting in line at 11:59pm on a Monday night so you can get the record coming out THE NEXT DAY at 12:01 sharp.

It is my ritual, my way of doing things from other lives that fits here, makes sense here, makes sense to me. I don’t know what you’re ‘supposed’ to do but this, this felt dead right. I want to be able to say in years to come, Remember when we signed Santana? Man, I cut out of work on a busy day to run and buy a shirt so I could have it right away.

It may not be “Where were you when you heard we traded Seaver” or “Where were you when you heard we signed Piazza?” but it’s what I got. You have to start somewhere.

*(For those not denizens of Midtown Manhattan, they are, conveniently, adjacent to each other.)

Saturday, February 02, 2008

“EVERY BATTER LOOKS LIKE HANNAH MONTANA.”

Kick ass. Kuff and the Buttheads [check their MySpace page] of Mets Weekly fame have already written their ode to Johan Santana.

all the pain from last year is gone
the fans are happy with fred wilpon
omar smiles because the deal is done
willie says, “let’s go johan”

Friday, February 01, 2008

ABRAXAS.

[I realize that I am going to regret, much later, using all my Santana references now.]

You know where you don’t want to be waiting for crucial baseball news?

In a hair salon.

While I realize that this may seem obvious, it wasn’t until I was sitting in my neighborhood salon, smeared with haircolor and my hair do more of a hair don’t, and frantically trying to get signal on my PDA, that I realized that this was THE WORST POSSIBLE PLACE to be waiting for the final countdown.

[cue music]

Because nobody walking into Zoe’s Beauty Supply was going to 1) know anything or 2) care about my issue. Wait, I take that back: Anna, the woman who does my hair, cared deeply about the results (although she freely admitted she wasn’t as insane as I was). She, however, had customers. And cousins. And more crucial gossip than how much the Wilpons were eventually going to fork over to Johan Santana.

TBF was at the gym.
Coop was out at dinner, and asking me for updates.
Will was - well, somewhere, and asking me for updates

I am sitting in Greenpoint with hair color on my head and trying to figure out WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON WITH THE SANTANA TRADE.

I lose signal, and decide to sneak to the front of the shop. The only problem with that, of course, is that the front of the shop is a boutique and has AN INCREDIBLY LARGE PLATE GLASS WINDOW facing Greenpoint Avenue.

And I am standing there looking like Phyllis Diller on a bad hair day.

One of the drunks from the bar next door comes staggering up the street and peers into the window. When he sees me, he does a double take.

It’s at about this point that I decide enough is enough and skulk back to the salon. I have enough signal to try one more time.

DONE DEAL.

Thank god. I sink back into the chair, and start texting people with details.

“Uh, Caryn? Can someone rinse you now?”

Um, yeah.

STOP IT. JUST SIGN THE PAPER ALREADY.

Sources: Santana extension talks stuck on number of guaranteed years

WAITING, WATCHING THE CLOCK.

DEADLINE EXTENSION? WE DON’T NEED NO STINKING DEADLINE EXTENSION

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

SANTANA ROUNDUP.

Lipgloss & Baseball:
Dear Everyone in my Office,
Swear. To. God. If one more of “youse peoples” come up to me and say “Hee hee, what about that Santana trade, eh?” I will head butt you in the chest. Don’t test me. To quote one of our irate clients “Go to hell and stay there you bitch!” Okay, that was a little extreme but I was just looking for a way to incorporate that quote in my blog today!

Misery Loves Company:
This is merely a placeholder for some serious bliss if, as reported, the Mets have acquired Johan Santana. To be a total Nervous Nelly, I will wait until the extension is signed, the physical is passed, and Johan is at the podium, donning the colors and breaking in that stiff, new cap. I am loath to count chickens, so I’ll just walk around with a sly grin and a whole lot of fingers crossed.

MetsBrotha:
This is truly a great day to be a Mets fan. Not only does Omar Minaya and the Mets land THE premier pitcher in all of baseball, they do so without giving up any starting players OR their top prospect, Fernando Martinez. For Omar to pull this trade off is remarkable when you think about where the Mets were 2 months ago… which was behind the Red Sox, Yankees and Angels in terms of best deals on the table. Omar, all is forgiven after that horrible Milledge trade!

For the Twins, you have to feel a bit sorry for their fanbase. Again, the economics of baseball deprive them of an opportunity to hold on to a future hall of famer… wait what am I saying, screw that WE JUST GOT THE BEST PITCHER IN BASEBALL FOR DIRT CHEAP!!! WOOHOOOOOOOOO!!! WOOHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

[more after the jump]

“YOU THINK YOU A CONTENDER NOW?”

In a development like few others in franchise history, the Mets have put themselves in position to change the dynamic of their team, their upcoming season, their place in the New York sports spectrum and their foreseeable future.
—Marty “Eternal Raincloud” Noble

So this is what it feels like?

I was walking to the train last night with a undeniable spring in my step, which had arrived about the same time as the USA Today story. I sat at my desk at work, trying to concentrate, and doing the happy dance in my chair.
JOHAN SANTANA!
I sent text messages to friends that read OYE COMO VA.
I started receiving congratulatory text messages from non-Mets friends.

“Wow, is this what it feels like when the team gets someone good?” I asked TBF.
“It’s similar to how it felt when we got Beltran,” TBF said. “Or Pedro.”
“I’m buying a shirt AS SOON AS THEY ARE AVAILABLE,” I say.
“You’re buying a jersey?”
“It depends on how long the contract is. But if it’s long enough, yes I am. For sure, I’m getting a goddamn t-shirt. Tomorrow if I could.”

On the way to work this morning, I see a crowd of guys on the street, maintenance workers and supers and elevator operators for the buildings on my block. I see one of them - wearing a hat for that team in the Bronx, being jostled. I see two other guys wearing Mets hats. I hear the words “Santana” and raucous laughter.
As I pass them, I hold up my hand at one of the guys in the Mets hats. “Johan Santana!” I say, and we high-five.
More laughter in the direction of the Yankees fan. “You see that? You see that? Women know about Johan Santana!”
I turned around. “Let’s try ‘baseball fans’.”
“What? What’s the big deal?”
“You didn’t care about Santana,” I say, “You just didn’t want the Red Sox to get him. Well, now we got him.”
“So what? You think you a contender now, or something?” Yankees Fan asks.
“I don’t think it, I know it.”
Howls of laughter as I walked away and into my building, BIG smile on my face.

It’s so silly, I know, and it’s just one pitcher and there are still 162 games to play. But the winter got a little brighter, a little less grey, a little closer to green grass and blue sky and what it feels like when that pound of bricks I carry around all day falls off my shoulder as soon as I walk through the turnstiles. It’s all about hope, and hope is what we got a little extra helping of right now.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

BATGIRL WEIGHS IN.

Although she stepped down earlier this year, I sent an email off in hopes that, perhaps, I could coax her out of retirement briefly to offer her thoughts on Mr. Santana.

I got lucky.

“Johan Santana is the sort of player that reminds you why you love
baseball in the first place. He is a joy to watch play, the sort of
transcendent player that comes to a team once every couple of decades.
I am not a fan of emptying out one’s farm system for a player, as
usually one finds, eventually, one needs one’s farm system. But Johan
is worth it. Mets fans are very lucky today—not just because they got
the best pitcher in baseball without even having to give up their best
prospects, but because that pitcher is Johan.”
—Bat Girl

If you are not familiar with her Lego reenactments, you don’t know what you’re missing.

Or, my favorite piece of writing:

At about two a.m., Johan Santana popped out of the dugout wearing a smoking jacket and sidled up to Batgirl.
“Hey, BG,” he said.
“Hey, Jo. Que Pasa?”
“Just finished filming my show. You?”
“Fielding drills.” Batgirl motioned to the soggy bunch in front of her, then yelled, “LET’S SEE SOME HUSTLE, DIMPLES!”
“It’s about time. Want some help?”
Batgirl eyed him. “Shouldn’t you be resting? You’re starting tomorrow.”
“I do not require sleep.”
“Oh, I forgot. Thanks, Jo!”

SAINT SANTANA. [view from the twins]

Last week, I decided that it was high time that I said something about the Santana Situation. Given that my blogging idol was the inimitable Bat Girl, I knew more about the Twins than most folks since I cut my teeth reading her writing about her team. As a result, I have this odd but charming alliance with more than a few Twins bloggers.

I reached out to a few of them last week to get their thoughts, and was waiting for everyone to respond before posting. However, no time like the present.

Let’s meet our first blogger, Lipgloss & Baseball.

As a die-hard Twins fan, what do we need to know about Johan Santana that the media circus is missing?

• He is a clubhouse leader.
• He does most of the talking for all the Spanish speaking players.
• Santana and Silva are good friends and would bike to spring training together last season.
• Nickname Cy-tana.
• During the campaign for his first Cy Young everyone had “Santana for President” buttons.
• Donated a fire truck to his hometown in Venezuela that had both the American and Venezuelan flag as its logo.
• This may sound cliché but he really is a nice guy. He does interviews, is friendly with everyone and is often seen smiling in the dugout.

What are his quirks, superstitions, traditions? What trivia would Mets fans need or want to know if he came to Flushing? Does he have walk on music?

• They play “Smooth” by Rob Thomas/Santana during warm-up.
• Last year listened to Gasolina by Daddy Yankee in the clubhouse on his pitching days.

What is your favorite Johan story?

• 6/20/07: Was dared by announcer Bert Blylevin to pitch a shutout. If Santana did he would shave Bert’s head. The clip of Santana shaving Bert’s head was played all over the news the next morning.
• 8/19/07: Santana strikes out 17

What do Twins fans really think about all the media hoopla? Is it as bad in Minneapolis as it is in New York?
The media is as bad but in a different way. We spend most of our free time reading and talking about all the tight-fisted crap that Pohlad is giving us. He is not a liked man here. I think we are now resigned to the fact that Santana won’t be our starting pitcher on March 31.

If he has to leave Minneapolis, where would you and/or Twins fans of your acquaintances hope he ended up?
Anywhere but the Yankees. We would prefer a great NL team (mmm…Mets?) so we wouldn’t have to face him as often.

Besides the obvious, what will you miss the most about Johan Santana?
The secure feeling when he takes the mound. Having an Ace. The interaction between Santana and Baby Jesus (Joe Mauer.)
—
When the news broke today, I followed up to get some closing comments:
My first thought was “I am glad the hype is over.” Then I was sad, then
accepting and finally a little confused to what the hell we traded
for!!! Our management team always talks about how they excel at building
good players. Anyways, I am more pissed at what we got in exchange. 4
prospects for a 2x Cy Young? Argh!
In other words, I stand by the fact that if Santana had to go I am glad
he is going to the Mets. I think you guys will treat him right and enjoy
him.
I am sad and happy at the same time. Now we can focus on 2008.
Congrats!!!

THERE IS A GOD. [SANTANA PT. 1]

ALL HAIL THE BASEBALL DEITIES..

IN OMAR WE TRUST!!!