Really?

“It’s sort of good now that there is debris to be blown out there. It shows people are spending some money and buying food and drink and enjoying themselves.”

-Dave Howard, Mets executive vice president for business operations

Um, yeah.

The curious case of the five baseball cards

On Saturday, I moved back in with my parents as my four years of college came to an end.  They were returning from Virginia late Saturday night as well.  My mother stopped the mail for that week, so when she went to get it at the post office yesterday, she came back with a small package for me.

In a small manila envelope, addressed to me, were five brand new New York Mets baseball cards in plastic protective sleeves.  Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, David Wright, Francisco Rodriguez and Johan Santana.  

Pretty cool, right?

One problem: I don’t know who they’re from or why I got them.

The package is from an Alan Duda from Rhode Island.  I think I found him on Facebook, but I can’t be sure. 

But why am I getting these?  How does he know my address?  Why these five cards?

The strangest thing about it is that they came alone.  There was no letter, no note, no nothing.  Just five cards in a small envelope.

Am I supposed to sign them and send them back?  If so, is this the first time a Mets blogger had been asked for his or her autograph?

My best guess for my address is that he got it off my resume, which I have linked above.  But why me?  Why these five cards?  Why no note?

I’ve reached out to Alan to ask for an explanation, but am yet to hear a response.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining.  I already have the five cards set up in my room.  Just found it a little odd.

Has this happened to anyone else?  Is Alan on a mass mailing campaign to spread Mets cards to other fans?  The mystery is yet to be solved…

Either way, thanks!

Manuel’s Musing

“It's a team concern, no doubt about it. We will do what we can to address the approach. When situations come, basically breath and enjoy.”

-Jerry Manuel on strikeouts

Oh, happy day!

Chris Carter called up from Buffalo. Frank Catalanotto DFAd.

-Brian Costa

Be right back, too busy dancing.

Game Recap: Nationals 3 – Mets 2

Twenty-three combined hits, five combined runs.

The Good

I’m going to slot in John Maine’s start into “The Good.”  Sure, he threw almost 90 percent fastballs, but he surrendered two runs over six innings.  They came on back-to-back homers in the third inning.  He walked four (one IBB) and struck out five.  You know, I’ll take it.

My boy Hisanori Takahashi.

Every Mets position player had a hit.

Alex Cora taking over for Jose Reyes.  He made an awesome stop and backward flip from his stomach to save a run in the 9th and singled in the bottom half of the inning.

Angel Pagan homered in the 9th to give fans a glimmer of hope, until…

The Bad & Ugly

…That hope was ripped away by a check-swing strikeout by Jason Bay to end the game.  Youch.

Only two of the Mets 12 hits were for extra bases.

The Mets left 11 runners on base.

Pedro Feliciano was in wayyyyy too long.  I’m fine with him facing Adam Dunn, but Josh Willingham and Ivan Rodriguez?  Wrong.  The run he gave up ended up being the game winner.

Jose Reyes and Jerry Manuel were tossed.  Not really awful, but yeah…

Game Ball

Pagan.

On Deck

Mets and Nats do it again tomorrow, 7 p.m.

Game Chat: WAS @ NYM [Game 32]

Chat removed, as usual.

Lineup for first versus Nats

1. Angel Pagan – CF
2. Luis Castillo – 2B
3. Jose Reyes – SS
4. Jason Bay – LF
5. David Wright – 3B
6. Ike Davis – 1B
7. Jeff Francoeur – RF
8. Rod Barajas - C
9. John Maine – RHP

Game Chat will be up at 7 p.m.

Blanco to bereavement, Thole up; Santos demoted

Henry Blanco has been placed on the bereavement list as he deals with a family illness.  Josh Thole is up from Buffalo to replace him on the roster.

Youth movement!

Just kidding.

In other catching news, Omir Santos has been demoted to Double-A Binghamton from Triple-A Buffalo.  Shawn Riggans will take over at Buffalo.

What a fall from grace.

Twitter Poll: What to do with Oliver Perez?

Ah, Oliver Perez.  Nothing riles up Mets fans more.

After yesterday’s short and walk-ridden start, what should the Mets do with Perez?  I took to Twitter to find out.  Here are some responses…

purple_fairy5: get rid of Ollie i'm sick of his antics.

cwatt08: eat the terrible contract and move on. Make a push for Roy Oswalt as well. (Ed. note: It’s not 2005 anymore.)

Jessica_Teresa: Get rid of him!

kevin_tor: Hire Dan Aykroyd and Daniel Stern to kidnap him and keep him from playing the rest of the season.

charlieryczek: take him out back and finish him the way of ole yeller

Majin_Bernard: Take him out the rotation, make him clean up the garbage that keeps being blown onto the field.

SwagBucksFan: burn him at the stake

MrMustSeeTV: The best thing the #Mets can do is release Perez and eat his salary. At the very least, they'd remove the problem.

Well, that about solves it.  Release him, make him a garbage man or put him out of his misery like Ole Yeller.  Just what I expected.

Manuel’s Musing

“We have to take everything into consideration as we contemplate and chew on it and marinate on it and see where we are.”

-Jerry Manuel on the bench

Marinate on it?  I don’t think that’s how it works, Jerry.