Guest Blog: Being a West Coast Mets fan

This Guest Blog was written by Kevin Strauss. You can follow him on Twitter.

Let it be known right off the bat that my roots are in New Jersey. I was born there, but my immediate family relocated to Los Angeles when I was just a baby. Family legend holds that I am named after Kevin McReynolds, whose grand slam in the 7th inning the night before (August 30, 1989) finished off a 3 game sweep of the Dodgers on the road only hours before I was born. The Mets are in my blood.

With that being said, maybe it was destiny that we moved out here to LA. Either way, as far back as I can trace, my family has been full of die-hard Mets fans. Growing up in Los Angeles, a city that bleeds blue when the Dodgers win and makes other people bleed when they lose, is tough for any fan that doesn’t “Think Blue.”

So, you might ask, just how hard is it to follow the Mets every season? Well, let’s start off with physically watching games. For us college students, it’s tough to shell out hundreds of dollars for MLB Extra Innings or MLB.TV. On the west coast, we rarely catch a Mets game, especially since TBS and WGN don’t carry Braves and Cubs games anymore.

Along with the price barrier, we have to deal with time. 7pm would be great to watch a game if that didn’t mean 4pm for me. Working until 5 and in LA traffic until 6:30 leaves little time to open up Gametracker to catch the end when I get home. Weekend games start at 10am out here, and the local FOX station only carries baseball at 1pm. Needless to say, it’s rough.

Basically, I’ve taken to buying the MLB At-Bat app for my iPod and watch the condensed game the next morning for most of the year. Your sympathy is greatly appreciated.

It is a family vacation when the Mets make a west coast trip, and we save up time and money to sit in Dodger Stadium for 3 straight nights (gross). This June, I made my first trip down to Petco Park (beautiful) to see Johan throw a gem only to have K-Rod blow the save and Adrian Gonzalez hit a walk-off grand slam. What else is new?

Through it all, the Mets have taught me about life. Sometimes the Benny Agbayani’s and Timo Perez’s can succeed (I should point out that the 2000 Mets are the ONLY reason I have “Who Let the Dogs Out” on my iPod). Guys like Mike Piazza can lift an entire country up with his bat after tragedy strikes. Guys like Endy Chavez can climb fences to make us believe and the Aaron Heilman’s can tear us down from the moment they take the mound.

In the end, it is the moments of agony, hope and excitement that bring us together as Mets fans and give us the emotional range and strength we need to survive in the “real world.” So, for that reason alone I will do whatever it takes to be there for the Mets, despite the difficulties I face being here in California. I wouldn’t trade this rollercoaster ride for anything…except maybe a bat and an arm at the trading deadline.

Thanks, Kevin!

Manuel’s Musing

“By the time we cross over the Mississippi (River) and whatever, hopefully, we'll leave all these bats here, everything that we brought with us. We'll leave them right here. We'll get home and get our stuff together.”

-Jerry Manuel

Yes, please

I will never, ever make fun of you again, Dayton Moore.

Guest Blog: My Citi Field experience

This guest blog was written by Jeremy Schilling, who has his own sports, Bruce Springsteen, Tiger Woods (and other things) blog here.  Enjoy.

My dad and I went to Citi Field way back on May 9 when they faced the San Francisco Giants. It was cold. And it was windy. For anyone living in this area you may remember that May featured a bunch of those chilly, windy days. It was my first time in Citi Field, and I was anxious to see what it looked like after hearing rave reviews.

(Oh, wait, I need to add a disclaimer here. I'm a big Tiger Woods fan...this was the Sunday of The Players Championship, and while waiting for the game to start, I got word that Tiger had withdrew due to a neck injury. Whether that impacted my view of Citi Field is up for debate.)

(Oh, and the other disclaimer. Oliver Perez was on the mound. And if you hadn't already heard, he's HORRIBLE. So what should have been a nice quick baseball game went on for about 4 hours. Whether that impacted my view of Citi Field is also up for debate.)

Anyways, the stadium is awesome. The big Jackie Robinson Rotunda is very nice looking, the wide concourses were great, and the food offerings for lunch were plentiful and very nice. Also, the enhanced, detail-driven scoreboards fit nicely in the stadium and with the modern day, young fan.

What I didn't like was the lack of warm desert options (where are the nice, warm Mrs. Field's cookies on a cold day...or DONUTS from Dunkin' Donuts! I hate when stadiums just put DD coffee but not donuts in there.) Also, the lines at the Shake Shack were very long, and the stadium wasn't even close to being sold out!

I guess the bottom line is that I need to return to Citi Field on a warm day, with a sold out crowd to get a true sense of the atmosphere and when Oliver Perez doesn't pitch....but so far, so good from my perspective.

Thanks, JSchil.

If you would like to submit your own guest blog, e-mail me at TheRopolitans@gmail.com.

Snow drifting away

The Mets designated Fernando Nieve (Spanish for “snow”) for assignment, likely making room for Manny Acosta who was flown out to LA yesterday.

Nieve has a nice start on the season but started to fall apart as Jerry Manuel turned to him again and again and again in nearly every game.  The wear and tear showed, as Nieve’s season started to disintegrate as he his arm failed to keep up with the workload.

Manuel should foot the bill for a decent vacation in the tropics for Nieve if no team is willing to take a chance on him.

If not Jerry…?

A lot of people are calling for Jerry Manuel’s head – with good reason.  I’d have no issue seeing Manuel our as manager.

But here’s my issue: Who would take over?

I really have no idea.  Lots of people are in favor of Wally Backman or Bobby Valentine.  But there are also many who wouldn’t like that move at all.

So, please, I’d love to hear your suggestions and reasoning.  If Manuel gets canned, who takes over?

Mets to ink Cordero

“Mets reach terms with reliever Chad Cordero on minor-league contract. Deal will be completed today.”

-Ken Rosenthal tweets

Remember when he was good and Mets fans were clamoring for him to no avail? Now he’s not very good (out of baseball) and the Mets sign him.

Genius!

Alex Cora is a leader!

$2 million for calling out your teammates.

Summing it up [Video]

Is adding a bat an issue?

The last two games in San Francisco have seen the Mets facing one of the better rotations in the NL.  But the Mets pitching hasn’t been far from stellar.  Surrendering only three runs over the last two games should be enough to see the Mets win one or both games.  Unfortunately, they haven’t been able to score any runs, and have been shutout in both games.

So is adding a bat an issue?  If so, where?

Ike Davis sure isn’t hitting.  The young first baseman is ice cold, hitting just .182 in his last 15 games.  Jeff Francoeur should see his time diminish as Carlos Beltran made his return on Thursday night and Angel Pagan will be seeing more time in right field. But they seems to be the least of their worries.

With Luis Castillo on the DL and Jose Reyes nearly there, the Mets are relying on Alex Cora and Ruben Tejada up the middle.  Cora’s OBP is a cool .279 while Tejada just worked his back up to .300.  Sure, they’re middle infielders who are bench players taking on a much larger role, but if the Mets are looking to add some pop, this might be the place to do it.

Outside of that, I think the Mets should be looking to get Josh Thole a lot more playing time.  Rod Barajas gave the team a nice jolt at the beginning of the year, but he too has been chilly at the plate and hasn’t hit a home run since May. Thole and Henry Blanco should be the tandem behind the plate, trying to find a taker for Barajas. That will allow the Mets to bring in another arm in the bullpen, which can’t hurt.

In short, the Mets need to hope Reyes and Castillo can get healthy and bounce back to form. If not, it might be time to explore a trade for a second baseman.

This would probably make me physically ill

Blech.

Manuel’s Musing

“I think I'm going to try to split that time up. But if we face a series where we face four right-handers I'm going to still have to find time for Francoeur and find time to give Beltran a day off.”

-Jerry Manuel

I really can’t wait to see how Manuel works with Bay/Beltran/Pagan/Francoeur in the outfield. It should be fun.

One year ago today, I was on Mets Weekly [Video]

Also, Happy Birthday to me.

Manuel’s Musing

“We're just not clicking offensively right now. We got a good team and we'll be fine.”

-Jerry Manuel

Found!

Guess The Met

The rules are easy: I post a Mets player photo, but only reveal a tiny part of the image.  From there, your goal is to try and guess which player the photo is of.

No prizes, but pride and honor is on the line.

Here is today’s Guess the Met… Good luck!

Answer will come later today. Leave your guesses in the comments.

Answer: JOSH THOLE!

Best game of the season? Best game of the season

Johan, Johan, Johan.

A complete-game shutout. A demand to stay in the game and finish it out in the 9th. His first career home run. Awesome.

Johan was far from dominant, striking out only five and walking three. But the offensive power that is the Reds barely had a sniff of a chance to score. He held the Reds to only three hits, one coming in the first and another coming in the 9th.

He also helped his own cause with his first career home run, clanging one off the right field foul pole in the third inning. He was pumped, saluting the crowd as he walked backed to the dugout.

It was one of the most exciting games of the season, I thought. The offense did just enough to support Johan's gem. I was worried going into the 9th, but I was glad Santana stayed on the mound - and then demanded that he stay in the game to finish it out.

All around, one of the best games of the season. Welcome to the second half.

Manuel’s Musing

“He said he wanted to finish it. I said, 'OK.'
That was that.”

-Jerry Manuel on his best managerial decision this year

Domo Arigato Vote Joey Votto [Video]

He should be in the ASG.

A letter from Zack Hample

Last week, I wrote this about Zack Hample.  He saw, read and responded.  His e-mail is below as I felt it should be shared with you.

Hey. 

Just saw your blog entry about me. Thanks for not being completely negative, but I'd still like to point out a few things you may have missed:

1) My life's work is not catching baseballs. I'm a baseball writer. My third book is being published next year.

2) I give away lots of balls to kids, and I've helped countless others snag balls for themselves. Here's some mail I've received from grateful fans.

3) For the last two seasons, I've been using my baseball collection to raise money for a children's baseball charity. Click here to learn more. Last year alone, I raised over $10,000.

4) Even if I were to catch 1,000 home runs during games, the 1,001st would still be an incredible thrill. Yeah, I've "been there before," but my reaction is one of pure joy and excitement. I don't sell these balls. I just love the sport, and I love being a part of it, if only as a spectator. I also love beating the odds. That, to me, is what it's all about, and it'll never get old.

Hope that gives you a better idea of who I am and why I do this.

Leave your thoughts in the comments...

Happy 4th

By the way, July 2 marked the 4th birthday of this website.  That means I’m entering my fifth year of blogging about the Mets. Wow.

I can’t thank you, the readers, enough for visiting, commenting and e-mailing.  You are all the best.

Why does this exist? [Image]

Postseason Ticket Reservations on MLB.com

Don't worry, they exist for every team.  Even the Orioles.

Manuel’s Musing

“If we'd have put any runs on the board, it wouldn't have mattered if he'd have pitched two more innings.”

-Jerry Manuel

The surprise

This morning, I felt like I was seven again.

For some reason last night (likely due to my beer-cap table), I was in no mood to watch baseball. I caught about two innings of action before retiring to an early slumber, accompanied by my trusty laptop and the complete catalog of The IT Crowd.

So this morning, when I woke up, I had no idea what the score was of the Mets game.  It was weird.  In this age of connectivity - of smartphones, netbooks and iPads - not knowing the score of the game is so foreign to me.

For the first time in an unknown number of years, with my laptop powered off and Motorola Droid charging, I turned to the ESPN bottom line.  As I munched on my Cheerios, I waited with bated breath for the MLB tab to turn up.  Then, I had to wait for the Mets and Marlins score to roll around.

Finally, the scored turned over and I saw the Mets secured a 6-5 victory, with the win going to Mr. Elmer Dessens.  Confused, it wasn't until I got into work this morning that I was able to look up the game recap and the box score for last night's affair.

So, hooray for not getting swept.  Now get the heck out of Puerto Rico.