The 'Ropolitans has obtained a photograph of Castillo's off season workout program.
2/19/09
How Castillo shed the pounds
According to reports, Luis Castillo reported to camp yesterday 17 pounds lighter than 2008.
The 'Ropolitans has obtained a photograph of Castillo's off season workout program.
The 'Ropolitans has obtained a photograph of Castillo's off season workout program.
2/18/09
Guest post: Shea's last stand
This is from Howie Mansfield, a long time reader and friend of the blog. Enjoy...
---
The place where my boyhood dreams were played out -- the place where my heroes lived forever -- where the Mets always won and where the hope for another World Series championship lived forever, has passed away.
Shea Stadium, the old mare of a ballpark that had seen its better days, the great jewel of Flushing, is no longer.
In a pile of rubble beyond the parking lot. Snuffed out and erased from existence.
As I sat here by the computer and heard the news of Shea's demise, I just thought...
I thought about the Home Run Apple. I thought about the pennants on the outfield wall. I thought about the retired numbers...37, 14, 41, and 42. I thought about the smell of beer and hot dogs. I thought about the green grass that seemed to go on forever. I thought about my experiences there and what the place meant to me and my baseball dreams.
In April 2007, my family and I took our last trip to Shea. It was only my second time there (I went once before in 1983 when I was 7), but it was the first for my wife and my daughter. It's only fitting that the two people more important to me saw the place where all of my greatest baseball dreams were housed. We watched the Mets dominate the Rockies, and had a great time. But it was hard to leave, because of what I was leaving behind. I took many pictures that day, and I will cherish those as the years go on.
So many stories of my family going down for games -- just too many to name. My aunt and uncle that live on Long Island attended the 1969 World Series. My dad talking about his visits in the early days. My brother lived in Long Island for a while and he went to a number of games, we always talked about what Shea was like, and it was always electric. And my own experience chanting "Jose, Jose, Jose" with the rest of the Mets faithful, and of course, "Let's Go Mets, Let's Go Mets." Those images are stamped on my brain.
Maybe today would be easier had the last two seasons not ended in a 7 Train wreck on the way to the World Series. Mets fans deserved better. Shea deserved better. Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS was one of the last shining moments for Shea, a great performance, an amazing catch, but just not enough. And there really wasn't a memorable game played after that. The last game was not the way it should have been, but it was.
But there is hope. A new day is dawning just across the way, in our new Citi Field. We can only believe that this team will find a way to honor Shea and its memory by playing an amazin' inaugural season.
The old has passed away. And our hopes and dreams of a world championship starts April 13. The new hope. Our mecca and our home. May Citi Field someday hold the same memories that Shea will forever have in my mind.
You Gotta Believe.
---
Thanks, Howie. That was great.
---
The place where my boyhood dreams were played out -- the place where my heroes lived forever -- where the Mets always won and where the hope for another World Series championship lived forever, has passed away.
Shea Stadium, the old mare of a ballpark that had seen its better days, the great jewel of Flushing, is no longer.
In a pile of rubble beyond the parking lot. Snuffed out and erased from existence.
As I sat here by the computer and heard the news of Shea's demise, I just thought...
I thought about the Home Run Apple. I thought about the pennants on the outfield wall. I thought about the retired numbers...37, 14, 41, and 42. I thought about the smell of beer and hot dogs. I thought about the green grass that seemed to go on forever. I thought about my experiences there and what the place meant to me and my baseball dreams.
In April 2007, my family and I took our last trip to Shea. It was only my second time there (I went once before in 1983 when I was 7), but it was the first for my wife and my daughter. It's only fitting that the two people more important to me saw the place where all of my greatest baseball dreams were housed. We watched the Mets dominate the Rockies, and had a great time. But it was hard to leave, because of what I was leaving behind. I took many pictures that day, and I will cherish those as the years go on.
So many stories of my family going down for games -- just too many to name. My aunt and uncle that live on Long Island attended the 1969 World Series. My dad talking about his visits in the early days. My brother lived in Long Island for a while and he went to a number of games, we always talked about what Shea was like, and it was always electric. And my own experience chanting "Jose, Jose, Jose" with the rest of the Mets faithful, and of course, "Let's Go Mets, Let's Go Mets." Those images are stamped on my brain.
Maybe today would be easier had the last two seasons not ended in a 7 Train wreck on the way to the World Series. Mets fans deserved better. Shea deserved better. Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS was one of the last shining moments for Shea, a great performance, an amazing catch, but just not enough. And there really wasn't a memorable game played after that. The last game was not the way it should have been, but it was.
But there is hope. A new day is dawning just across the way, in our new Citi Field. We can only believe that this team will find a way to honor Shea and its memory by playing an amazin' inaugural season.
The old has passed away. And our hopes and dreams of a world championship starts April 13. The new hope. Our mecca and our home. May Citi Field someday hold the same memories that Shea will forever have in my mind.
You Gotta Believe.
---
Thanks, Howie. That was great.
Shea is gone
From Twitter used bluenautica...
So long, old friend.
Update: Here's video of the final piece going down, thanks to Jim Baumbach.
More video...
So long, old friend.Update: Here's video of the final piece going down, thanks to Jim Baumbach.
More video...
Luis Castillo is already the scapegoat of 2009
Who knew when this happened, it would turn out the way it did? Well, maybe a few people.Luis Castillo still has three years left on his contract. $18 million is owed to him through 2011. Today, the day he walks into spring training to start his second "full" year with the Mets, he's already the most hated player on the team.
Not by his fellow teammates, mind you, but by the fans.
Every little thing he does is scrutinized, labored over and likely criticized. I can only imagine the outcry when (not if) he gets injured this year.
Even Aaron Heilman wasn't hated like this.
I'm not claiming to be on the outside looking in. I think the Castillo signing was absurd, and as his talent and physical ability continue to decline, the albatross that is his contract just grows larger and larger.
There is no chance, either due to a trade or simply cutting him, that Castillo finishes the contract out with the Mets. The way this team is built right now, they cannot wait around for one of their starting players to magically find talent and start playing at the top of his game again.
With that said, I wish all the luck in the world to Castillo this year, but the way I see it, he's going to need a lot more than luck. Prove us all wrong.
First injury of the 'season': Brian Stokes
Update: David Lennon says Stokes will likely be back on the mound tomorrow. Whew.
Via Adam Rubin:
I was looking forward to seeing Stokes pitch again, hopefully solidifying the sneaking suspicions I have that he's not all the Mets expect him to be. Sure, he was OK last year, but is he ready for a full load of work for an entire season?
I still maintain the notion that the bullpen middle relief has been overvalued by the Mets, and they're expecting some players to do more than they can. I realize they tied up the eight and ninth innings, hopefully leaving only one or two innings to six guys in middle relief.
Still, a lot of game could be lost by a weak bridge to J.J. Putz and Francisco Rodriguez. And handing them a game where the Mets are down two runs doesn't really do much for the team.
Hopefully Stokes can bounce back quickly and get into the groove of things soon. Hamstring injuries are always frightening.
Via Adam Rubin:
Brian Stokes became the first notable casualty of the spring, when the 29-year-old righthander injured his right hamstring, leaving him unable to work off a mound. "It didn't pop or anything," Stokes said, downplaying the severity.Stokes is pretty much penciled in to the bullpen for 2009, so hopefully this isn't anything severe.
I was looking forward to seeing Stokes pitch again, hopefully solidifying the sneaking suspicions I have that he's not all the Mets expect him to be. Sure, he was OK last year, but is he ready for a full load of work for an entire season?
I still maintain the notion that the bullpen middle relief has been overvalued by the Mets, and they're expecting some players to do more than they can. I realize they tied up the eight and ninth innings, hopefully leaving only one or two innings to six guys in middle relief.
Still, a lot of game could be lost by a weak bridge to J.J. Putz and Francisco Rodriguez. And handing them a game where the Mets are down two runs doesn't really do much for the team.
Hopefully Stokes can bounce back quickly and get into the groove of things soon. Hamstring injuries are always frightening.
Poll Results: Will you miss Shea?
In my last poll, I asked the readers "Will you miss Shea?"
With over 115 votes cast, here are the results:
Next Poll: Who will hit the first home run in Citi Field?
With over 115 votes cast, here are the results:
- Yes! -- 64 percent (75 votes)
- Not Really -- 19 percent (23 votes)
- Citi Field, Here I Come! -- 14 percent (17 votes)
- Shea? Shea Who? -- 1 percent (2 votes)
Next Poll: Who will hit the first home run in Citi Field?
2/17/09
The orange foul pole tradition continues
I'm not sure if this was a well known fact, but Shea Stadium could lay claim to the only non-yellow foul poles in MLB. They were, as you most likely are picturing right now, a New York Met orange.
I hadn't checked StadiumPage.com in a while, so I shot the Mets an e-mail yesterday. Just a few minutes ago, I got off the phone with a representative from the team. He told me, and now I see for myself, that the foul poles in Citi Field are also orange.
"The ownership was very adamant about having the orange foul poles," Chris, the representative said.
Here's an image from StadiumPage.com, taken this past weekend...
Bright orange, just like I remember.
I love this sort of stuff. Fun little facts and trivia like this are pretty much all I remember.
The other thing I e-mailed about will have to remain a secret, for now. Hopefully the team comes through with my little proposition.
I hadn't checked StadiumPage.com in a while, so I shot the Mets an e-mail yesterday. Just a few minutes ago, I got off the phone with a representative from the team. He told me, and now I see for myself, that the foul poles in Citi Field are also orange.
"The ownership was very adamant about having the orange foul poles," Chris, the representative said.
Here's an image from StadiumPage.com, taken this past weekend...
Bright orange, just like I remember.I love this sort of stuff. Fun little facts and trivia like this are pretty much all I remember.
The other thing I e-mailed about will have to remain a secret, for now. Hopefully the team comes through with my little proposition.
Overabundance of outfielders
Ben Shpigel has a profile of outfield hopeful Bobby Kielty, which is pretty funny as Shpigel talks to Jerry Manuel who claims, "he helped me lose my job, and now he wants me to give him a job? It don’t work like that."
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Kielty has the largest differential — 69 points — between his career right-handed (.296) and left-handed (.227) batting averages among switch-hitters who have made their debuts since 1969 and have had more than 500 at-bats from each side of the plate.
No other active player comes close, with Houston’s Lance Berkman, who has a 42-point difference (.312 from the left side, .270 from the right), ranking second. Kielty has also pummeled some of baseball’s top left-handers, batting better than .290 against his new teammate Johan Santana, CC Sabathia, Jamie Moyer, Scott Kazmir and Buehrle.
Unfortunately for Keilty, the Mets have an absolute logjam in the outfield. With four guys (platooning Daniel Murphy and Fernando Tatis in left field) pretty much penciled in already, there's really only one or two spots for players that can fit in the outfield.
As it stands now, I think Jeremy Reed is the first guy that will be riding the pine in Citi. After that, in order, I have Angel Pagan, Kielty, Nick Evans and Cory Sullivan. That puts two people in front of Kielty, as I see it.
Does this set the Mets up for a spectacular triple-A team or a spring training trade? It's too early to tell. Injuries and spring play will show how the roster will fill out.
Report: Griffey signs with Braves
According to my pals over at Braves Blast, Ken Griffey Jr. is the newest member of the Atlanta Braves.
I've always loved Griffey, for no particular reason. Now, I need to learn how to despise him.
Update, via Braves Blast:
I've always loved Griffey, for no particular reason. Now, I need to learn how to despise him.
Update, via Braves Blast:
Griffey’s agent is apparently communicating via text that the deal is not yet done. Hopefully this is just a “nobody signed anything yet” concept and not a “I’m shopping the term sheet to the Dodgers” event.
Mets Fanwalk blog
I got an e-mail over the weekend asking me to post a little something about a new Mets blog that has popped up. Usually I'll add them to the blogroll and start to read them regularly, but this is something different.
Mike has started a blog in an attempt to post people's bricks they have purchased for the new fanwalk at Citi Field.
So far, only a few bricks have been posted, but this is easily my favorite.
How many people are going to find that brick and stomp all over it?
Did anyone else purchase a brick? I know I wanted to, but they were just too costly.
Head over to the Mets Fanwalk blog for a look at the rest, and to submit yours, if you have one. Great idea, Mike.
Mike has started a blog in an attempt to post people's bricks they have purchased for the new fanwalk at Citi Field.
So far, only a few bricks have been posted, but this is easily my favorite.
How many people are going to find that brick and stomp all over it?Did anyone else purchase a brick? I know I wanted to, but they were just too costly.
Head over to the Mets Fanwalk blog for a look at the rest, and to submit yours, if you have one. Great idea, Mike.
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