However, Gee was excused because he was pitching the same night, so I’d hold off on the conspiracy theory.

Castillo just flat out refused to go because he “didn’t like to see that”, and Perez flat our refused to answer why he didn’t go.

While Perez had the right to refuse minor league assignment, he was one of the most selfish players and deserves the bad press he got for the Walter Reed incident as well as what happened after refusing to go to the minors.

So while Beltran should NOT have been lambasted in the media about not going, I feel Castillo and Perez deserved what they got.

But, like you said, a lot of speculation and hearsay.

Bay did not get a pass after the first year.

I know you have your thing to hide behind, but the facts are against you.

Terry Collins Class Act considering what he has been given to work with along with injuries.

At least we know that TC won’t pull a JM and keep a young, not ready for prime time rookie pitcher in his BP to save his job, regardless of future for player or team.

Two class acts, Nuff Said!

the main villian in the press at that time was Strawberry…Kevin was hiding in the woods

I always thought K-Mac was to the Mets what Charles Smith was to the Knicks…

and if u remember…Smith replaced X-Man, in our case, K-Mac replaced Kevin Mitchell

Most credited Rick Down with helping Reyes up his OBP from .300 to .350 in 2006.

He was unfortunately a casualty of politics.

He was Willie’s only trusted choice in the dugout…and by then, Tony B had Jeffy’s ear…

Tony supposedly went to HoJo…and asked him why was the team slumping at the plate ( esp with RISP )…HoJo said he had the secret trick to get them on track…they canned Down, promoted HoJo…then the rest is history….

I lost so much respect for HoJo after that…

even when the mets were performing like crap at the plate in 2010…he was pretty much holding on as David Wright’s buddy…

then when he gets moved out the position, he refuses a reassignment to any other position.

and HoJo was my favorite player as a kid in the early 90′s…so it hurt a lil extra to see how that played out…

here was HoJo’s infamous interview from last year
http://www.nextlevelballplayer.com/clubhouse-convo/clubhouse-convos-with-howard-johnson/

What are you’re thoughts about “working the count”?

What’s the objective when you come to the plate? To get a pitch to hit. That’s why you’re called a ‘hitter.’ What if the best pitch to hit is the first one? The umpire becomes more of a factor the deeper you get in the count. I want the ump involved as little as possible. Just me against the pitcher. The game has always been about hitting. You have to hit to score runs. When you go to the plate you should always be ready to hit. Some coaches try to make players better by having them work deeper in the count, but I think that’s a bunch of crap. A hitter should be ready to hit every pitch.

Mind you I wasn’t in the room for any of this, but I do remember him doing the updates on air and the rest I read and heard from various other people, and they all corroborated the story. I used to work for CBS radio, albeit in a capacity much different than Evan does now and I’ve never met or spoken to any of the involved personalities.

RA Dickey is the best SP ever signed in met history.

Aside from production, both are humanitarians, class acts, and just overall considered good people.

How on earth were both vilified ( beltran up to 2011 and Dickey at the end ) is beyond me

Please don’t remind me of that Reyes liner – when it went off the bat I felt for sure the game was going to be tied. Then when LoDucca walked, I felt that maybe we were getting a second chance.