The address for Citi Field

In case you're heading out to Citi Field today, and you're looking for the address to plug into your GPS system, here it is.

126th Street and Roosevelt Queens, NY 11368

Hope to see you there!

Madoff tickets back on the market

Do you have a whole lot of money laying around? Do you want season tickets to the New York Mets? Do you want to sit behind home plate? Do you want to sit in the same seats Bernie Madoff would have -- if he wasn't going to jail from now until eternity?

Then boy, do I have the deal for you!

According to the AP, the tickets that Madoff's company purchased in Citi Field will soon go up for sale.

"We have no intention of not monetizing them and letting them go unused," trustee Irving H. Picard said Saturday in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "When we have something to announce, we will do so."

Mets executive vice president David Howard said the seats were paid for and were in either the first or second row behind home plate, a section known as Delta Club Platinum. They list for $695 each for Opening Day on April 13 and June interleague games against the New York Yankees, all classified as platinum by the Mets.

They cost $595 for gold games, $495 for silver games, $395 for bronze games and $295 for value games. Overall, the season ticket comes to $40,095 per seat, an average of $495.

"They're paid for. They can do with them what they want to," Howard said.

That's right! Only $40,095 per seat!!

But if you call within the next 10 minutes, we'll throw in a free Mr. Met bobblehead!!

Ugh.

Possible Castillo replacment?

I know I've said that I'm willing to give Luis Castillo a clean slate this season. He showed up to camp in great shape and has put together a great spring. But deep down, I'm still worried about how his knees will hold up and if he can still perform up to his contract and at the major league level.

The Mets are particularly thin at the second base position through the minor leagues, but Jonathon Malo had been impressing Jerry Manuel -- until he was sent down to minor league camp.

And as scant a chance as Green had, it was diminished by the late emergence of Jonathan Malo, a 25-year-old Canadian-born second baseman who has impressed Manuel to such a degree that the manager has told people in the organization that Malo is among his favorites among the possible reserves. But there seems to be no place for Malo on the roster.

Very interesting. Manuel doesn't really keep up with a lot of the minor leaguers, so it's especially telling if he said something to this degree.

Keep on eye on Malo to see if he can play. I wouldn't mind seeing if the Mets can find a suitor for Castillo midway through the season.

Game Recap: Mets 4 -- Nationals 1

Johan Santana was on fire tonight. Enough said.

On The Mound

Santana was in control from beginning to end. There's not much outside of his final line that needs to be said: 7 IP, 4 hits, 1 earned run, 6 K. He was pitching in mid-season form and absolutely dominating batters.

He is too awesome.

Francisco Rodriguez followed Santana, something Mets fans are hoping to see often during the season, pitching a scoreless inning. He did allow two hits, but struck out two in the inning.

I love it. Santana to K-Rod. Beautiful.

Pedro Feliciano pitched the 9th inning, striking out one in a no-hit effort.

With the release of Ron Villone, it looks like Feliciano is the only left hander going into the season. Very interesting.

At The Plate

The left fielder platoon drove in all the runs tonight. Daniel Murphy went 3-4, driving in two runs and Fernando Tatis drove in two runs on one hit.

Murphy has been absolutely raking this spring. He is such an exciting player sometimes.

Los Carloses each knocked a double, with Carlos Delgado scoring twice in the game on two hits. David Wright made his return to the lineup, singling once.

Delgado was hot during the World Baseball Classic, hopefully it lasts through the whole regular season.

Off The Field

Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling called the game on SNY, and did a pretty good job. There were flubs and mistakes, but overall I would say I was impressed at their play-by-play / color combination without Gary Cohen.

On Deck

The Mets welcome the Florida Marlins to Tradition Field tomorrow for a 1:10 p.m. start. The game will be aired on WPIX.

Ron Villone released; Figueroa, Muniz, Valentin and others demoted

My dreams have come true, but it warrants a major question.

The Mets have released Ron Villone, according to Adam Rubin.

This begs the question: Are the Mets really going into the season with only one lefty in Pedro Feliciano?

Other moves in camp today: Six Mets were sent to minor league camp, among which were Nelson Figueroa and Carlos Muniz.

I was completely under the impression that Figueroa was going to be the long man in the bullpen, at least until Tim Redding was ready to pitch again. I guess I was wrong.

Jose Valentin was also sent to the minor league camp.

So long 'Stache. It's almost time to hang up that uniform and put on your coaching cap.

The State of the Mets -- 3/27/09

Here is the 11th edition of The State of the Mets!

Topics covered: Will Ohman, Oliver Perez and a grab bag of Mets topics to end it.

Enjoy.

Chris Carlin and Bob Ojeda: Your new pre- and post-game hosts on SNY

In the seemingly ever-revolving door that is SNY hosts, the Mets have two new ones this year for their pre-game and post-game shows. Chris Carlin, who is most likely known from WFAN and Loud Mouths on SNY, and Bob Ojeda, who spent five years with the Mets from 1986 to 1990.

From Bob Raissman:

When SportsNet New York executive producer Curt Gowdy Jr. tore the cover off Carlin, he liked what he saw inside. Liked what Carlin, often self-deprecating, had to say, too. First he hired him to co-host "Loud Mouths" with bug-eyed Adam Schein.

Gowdy is now really rolling the dice. Carlin, with no experience in a baseball studio, will be under the nightly microscope anchoring SNY's Mets pre and postgame shows. Bob Ojeda, who proudly admits to being a total TV novice, will sit next to him. The openings were man-made after SNY jettisoned the team of Lee Mazzilli and Matt Yallof.

It's not up to me to judge them -- I'll leave that to Raissman and Neil Best -- but to put an extremely abrasive Carlin with no baseball experience and a novice like Ojeda in front of millions of fans on the team's own network just doesn't make sense to me.

I've never been a fan of Carlin's, so that's where some of this stems from. He just irks me. I'm willing to see what Ojeda has to offer, though. Lee Mazzilli was great last year, as was Harold Reynolds and Darryl Strawberry.

All the best to these two hosts, because I know I'll be seeing a lot of them in 2009. And maybe, just maybe, Gowdy will tear the cover off me one day and like what he sees.

Twitter Poll: If you could have dinner with any Met...

I'm trying a new thing out here on the blog. I've fully embraced Twitter, and I'm going to be occasionally throwing out some questions or polls about the Mets on Twitter, and posting the responses here.

Last night, I asked my Twitter followers: If you could have dinner with any Met, past or present, who would it be and why? Here are the answers...

• letsgoduke said: keith. He's the funniest.
• metschick said: D-Wright because I'm bad
• kierankelly said: Lenny Dykstra, because he was better as a Phillie. :-) haha (ed. note: He's a Phillies fan!)
• mets_geekette said: Pelf. He's a goof-ball.
• ProctorsArm said: Carlos Delgado so I could teach him a thing or two about patriotism. (ed. note: He's a Yankees fan!)
• cselland said: Keith Hernandez - no one else even close. Just a brilliant guy - and he was there for the fun parts
• JD1877 said: Todd Hundley. Always wanted to hear his side of the Bobby V incident, his dad was on the 69 cubs, & he was one of my faves.
• Retire31 said: Jose Lima or Dae-Sung Koo. Why? Just having a conversation with either of them is going to be hilarious, let alone dinner.
• charlieryczek said: Gary Carter because he just seems like such a nice personable guy who could talk about anything at anytime
• MetsGal said: Keith Hernandez. Because he's Keith Hernandez.

It seems Keith Hernandez was the most popular choice, and why not? The man was around for some of the Mets best years, was the leader, the best player and now he's on SNY and he's hilarious and wonderful. I'd pick Hernandez, no doubt.

What about you?

Follow me on Twitter to participate
in the next Twitter Poll!

Game Recap: Mets 9 -- Cardinals 5

A rough start for John Maine turned into a decent appearance, coupled with a seven run inning, led to a Mets win over the Cardinals.

On The Mound

Maine made his first start since Dan Warthen tweaked his mechanics. His first inning was a bit rocky, as he gave up two runs on two hits and a walk. Ryan Church did not help matters with a throwing error. From there though, Maine recovered and shut out the Cardinals until the fifth, his final inning.

Maine's final line: 5 IP, 6 hits, 3 runs (1 earned), 3 BB, 5 K.

Pretty good. I wish the walks were down and the play in the field was a bit better, but it's only spring. If Maine felt good out there, I'm more than happy with his performance.

J.J. Putz and Bobby Parnell each logged a hitless inning. Putz picked up a strikeout while Parnell issued a walk.

I don't think Parnell will make the bullpen, but he's still with the team so he must be impressing someone.

Nelson Figueroa pitched one inning, allowing one run on two hits. Carlos Muniz pitched the 9th inning, also allowing one run. He let up a hit, walked one and struck out two.

Figueroa was the forgotten candidate for the fifth starter, but it looks like it's Livan Hernandez's for the taking. I still don't like Muniz.

At The Plate

Jose Reyes picked up three RBIs, going 2-4 with a double and a walk.

He seems to be in midseason form.

Jose Valentin and Carlos Beltran each picked up a double among their two hits on the day. Omir Santos drove in two runs. Brian Schneider, Carlos Delgado and Mike Nickeas each picked up one RBI.

On Deck

The Mets will welcome the Washington Nationals to Tradition Field for a night game on Friday. The game will be on SNY and will feature only Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez in the booth. No Gary Cohen. This is a must see/listen.

Make Opening Night become Opening Day

The Mets Police are spearheading a movement to switch the 7:10 p.m. game against the San Diego Padres, the first real game in Citi Field, switched to a 1:05 p.m. start.

You might ask: Why? Here's their explanation...

It's a new stadium, a new beginning and it's already annoying. If you're interested enough to read my dopey blog then I'm sure you had been to Shea in April for a night game. It's miserable. Even if it's 81 degrees at noon, it will be in the 40s at 8:30.

The Mets are selling "Opening Day" packages. Sunset for Monday April 13, 2009 is scheduled for 7:32pm. Unless the Mets have a deal with God worked out, or they plan to get the game in in under 22 minutes, I think they lie.

Funny stuff. I'm avoiding Opening Day Night, but if anyone is up for this, head over to MetsPolice.com to check out what they have to say.