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.