Adios, Alex

Wave goodbye to Alex Cora.

The Mets cut their losses Saturday, as they released (very) light-hitting utility infielder Alex Cora.

*does a little dance*

Hitting a cool .207/.265/.278 this season (.234/.299/.298 with the Mets in two years), Cora was making $2 million this season for his un-trackable intangibles. He was due to make another $2 mil. next year if he appeared in 18 more games.

The Mets also demoted Jesus Feliciano.

Taking their place on the team is Fernando Martinez and Ruben Tejada, who will likely get a large bulk of playing time the rest of the year. Also not good news for Luis Castillo.

But all good news for Mets fans.

Adios, Alex. I won’t miss you.

A tale of two outcomes

Driving in the car last night, with the Mets up 2-1, I started thinking about what would happen if the Mets eventually won the game.

Five and a half out. Two of three from the Braves. Lots of time left in the season.

But alas, as the game moved along, the Mets dashed all hopes of that. Awful play – as we saw with the four miserable errors – seemed to put the nail in the coffin for the season. Yeah, lots of time is left, but with the way this team is currently operating it’s seems all hope is lost.

Ya gotta believe? Well, only if there’s something to believe in. And right now, there isn’t.

I’m not the only Debbie-Downer in the room – by far – but it’s rare for me to get down about my team like this.

I can’t be the only one that feels this way. Who else is totally bummed about this team?

More on Zack Hample

This long message was posted in the comments late last night.  Give it a read [sic’d].

I was just at a game and this guy (and a film crew now) came and sat in the same section as me in Camden Yards. Actually the row in front of me. So I got the great pleasure of watching this clown and his entourage sprint from side to side coming close to knocking over kids or whatever got in his way. When asked by the film crew he showed them numerous bruises he has attained in the past few weeks when he had collisions with and other near collisions with other fans. I told the person I went with that if he came close to running into me he would get an elbow and I hoped they got it on film. I swear it would have made ESPN top ten.

Oh, and this guy can't even be called a fan! He changes team shirts, hats, whatever to get a pity ball. Thousands of little kids, true team fans, have been robbed of the experience of getting a player, possibly a legend or their favorite player, to toss them a ball while at the one game they might have the money to buy a ticket for all year. Instead this jerk changes shirts sprints in front of an 8 yr old and gets the ball. He's like the guys in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that try to steal the golden ticket from Charlie Bump. Way to ruin the fan experience of people that can't afford to travel to every stadium and attend games all summer. Part of the allure of baseball and why it is America's pastime is not all what happens on the field. It's the experience at the park, believe me I'm an O's fan. I still convince myself to go because I love Camden Yards and the experience not Cesar Izturis batting .195 and making terrible throws to first.

The sights, the smells, the possibility of getting to your seat and getting a perfectly hit homerun land right in your hand. Sing take me out to the ballgame. Is he part of the song? Watch the end of Field of Dreams where James Earl Jones describes the fans coming to Iowa. At any point did he include some moron sprinting down the isle to snag a foul ball? NO! Many people follow him or ask advice or how to get a ball. This should show him seriously how much his effect has had on other fans. They feel like they don't have a shot unless they join his ranks. It's sad... I will say I still had a good time considering I caught BP ball hit right at me with my bare hands as one of his followers tried climbing over me with a glove. I told him good try, and laughed at him. Side note: Ballparks need to make a rule that children under 15 are the only ones permitted with gloves. Come on man, your 30 something, grow up and be a man bare hand it.

Seriously, poor Orioles fans.

Awesome old-school Nolan Ryan photo

My old soccer coach and friend sent me this awesome framed photo of Nolan Ryan as a housewarming gift.  Thought I’d share.

Megdal on ESPN.com

Howard Megdal on ESPN.com: I should be general manager of the Mets.

Give it a read.

It’s not often us Mets fans get published on ESPN.com

A sad Mets truth on PostSecret [Image]

OK, which one of us sent this in?

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.