The best from NY Times Mets banner day

This was designed by Rachel Eisenman for the New York Times Mets Banner Day.  It was the best “banner” designed, in my opinion.

There are some other gems that were submitted by fans, so check out the rest of the designs, head over to the Bats blog.

Game Chat: NYM @ ATL [Game 88]

Oliver Perez (2-2, 8.78 ERA) vs. Derek Lowe (8-7, 4.39 ERA)

Join in for some game gabbing and barstool banter with your fellow fans!

(Chat removed, as usual.)

Lineup for Game 88

Back from the All-Star break, the Mets are in Atlanta to visit Ryan Church and his new team.  No sign of Angel Berroa in the lineup.

1. Angel Pagan – CF
2. Luis Castillo – 2B
3. David Wright – 3B
4. Gary Sheffield – LF
5. Jeff Francoeur – RF
6. Daniel Murphy – 1B
7. Alex Cora – SS
8. Brian Schneider – C
9. Oliver Perez - LHP

F-Mart tore meniscus, had surgery; Other updates

Fernando Martinez tore his meniscus and had the subsequent surgery on Tuesday.  He is out six to eight weeks.

I’ve had this surgery before and it’s no fun, but for the knee, a meniscus is a good thing.  The Mets are very lucky that is wasn’t the ACL, MCL or any other CL.  You may remember Ramon Castro had the same surgery a few years ago.

For the rest of the Mets walking wounded, Omar Minaya updated reporters earlier today.

• John Maine should be pitching again within a week or so. 
• Jose Reyes is swinging, but not running yet. 
• Carlos Delgado’s is swinging and taking grounders. 
• Carlos Beltran had another MRI and he still has a bone bruise. 

Wonderful.

Mets sign third-round draft pick

It seems I’m weeks behind on my draft pick signings.

The Mets and their second-round draft pick, Robbie Shields, agreed to terms on July 8.

The New York Mets today announced that they signed infielder Robbie Shields, the team's second selection (103rd overall) from the 2009 First Year Player Draft. Shields, a 6-0, 220-pound shortstop out of Florida Southern College will report to Brooklyn (A) of the New York-Penn League.

Shields, 21, hit .345 (76-220) with 65 runs scored, 19 doubles, two triples, five home runs, 37 RBI and 10 stolen bases in 57 games for the Division II Moccasins this season. A native of Dade City, Fla., Shields hit .329 (215-653) over his three-year career at Florida Southern, while starting all 167 games. He was named second-team all Sunshine State Conference as a sophomore.

Gary, Keith and Ron catch tons of praise in the Observer

There is a gem of article in The New York Observer on everyone’s favorite broadcasting trio.  Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling are fawned over in a must read for any Mets fan.

Here’s an excerpt…

The old adage for a good broadcast is that when things are going well, it’s like you’re having a conversation with the viewer at home.

Keith and Gary and Ron have done just that over the past four years, for 60 games a season, and about another 90 games using some combination of two of them. But the viewer they’re talking to is jaded, and cosmopolitan, and, not infrequently, a little bored with the Mets.

Keith and Gary and Ron don’t pull for their team. They remark, cruelly and accurately, on the Mets’ poor play. They voluntarily discuss the Mets’ horrific collapses of the last two Septembers. They digress.

This wouldn’t work in St. Louis, where approximately 100 percent of the supposed best fans in baseball wear red to the games, or on the North Side of Chicago, where there is a rich tradition of homerism in the booth. Nor would it work in the Bronx or in Boston, where the fans crave reinforcement of a smug certainty that their organization is different, and special, and superior.

What Keith and Gary and Ron do is something less obvious, and more difficult.

For the full article, head over to The New York Observer.

Angel Berroa to join Mets tomorrow in Atlanta

Tonight, Angel Berroa is playing shortstop and batting third for the Brooklyn Cyclones.  Tomorrow, Berroa will join the Mets in Atlanta.

Berroa will take the roster spot of Argenis Reyes, who was demoted on Sunday.  Berroa was signed on Saturday after the Yankees released the former Rookie of the Year earlier last week.

Through six innings in Brooklyn, Berroa is 1-4 with a strikeout, a run scored and an RBI.

Photo: Paul McCartney’s stage in Citi Field

The stage is in place for Paul McCartney’s concerts at Citi Field.

For more photos, head over to WBCS880.com.

Thanks, Tom!

Citi Field for All-Star Game in 2013

Way back in July of 2008, Ken Davidoff had a note that the Mets and Citi Field were in line to host the All-Star Game in 2013.

Here’s what he wrote way back when…

Baseball has announced the sites for the 2009 and 2010 Midsummer Classics, with next year's at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, followed by Angel Stadium in Anaheim.

The 2011 game is expected to be at Arizona's Chase Field, then Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City in 2012. Then it will be the Mets' turn.

And here’s what Kevin Kernan wrote for the Post today…

The next two All-Star Games are set, Anaheim next season and Arizona in 2011. Then it shifts back to an AL club the following year, most likely in Kansas City. That leaves 2013 all set for Citi Field and the Mets.

Well done by Davidoff.

The Home Run Derby in Citi Field? That should be quite fun.

And here’s what I wrote a year ago…

Shea Stadium held the 1964 All Star Game, and saw the National League actually win a game (shocker!) by a score of 7-4. Ron Hunt was the only Mets player elected to the game that year.

According to Baseball Almanac, Shea was host to over 50,000 fans that day. Unfortunately, Citi won't hold that many, but I'm sure they'll find a way to squeeze more and more people in.

Still rings true.

Poll Results: Mets fans not counting on October in 2009

Will the Mets make the playoffs in 2009? Mets fans don’t seem very optimistic about their teams playoff chances in 2009.

Next poll: How many games will Johan Santana win in 2009?