In Part One of my story, we left off with a discouraged Collin McHugh coming off a mediocre junior year at Berry College in Georgia. McHugh found himself at home watching the 2008 MLB Draft, more out of habit than because of any expectation that he would be selected.  But then the phone rang… It was the New York Mets. By Elliot Chester McHugh was floored. Beasley had known it was coming. “I knew Collin [...]

By Elliot Chester I. Collin McHugh’s third pitch as a major league baseball player was not a bad one, a four-seam 91-mile-per-hour fastball that tailed away from Charlie Blackmon, a slap-hitting nobody who had just two hits all season entering the late August game. But Blackmon, recently installed as the Colorado Rockies’ starting right fielder due to a rash of injuries, stayed with the pitch and sliced the ball past the jutting field-level seats of [...]

In 2003, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, a book written by Michael Lewis, sparked the interest of not only baseball fans, but also management and statistical scholars across the country. [1] Recently in 2011, this book was introduced as a sports drama movie starring Brad Pitt. Basically the storyline of the book encompasses how the main character Billy Beane, General Manager of the Oakland Athletics, implemented a measurement and feedback system based [...]

Looking back on the year just gone, fans of the New York Mets will view 2012 with disappointment.  Yet again, for the sixth straight season, they missed out on post-season baseball.  There is certainly plenty of work to do at Citi Field ahead of the start of the 2013 season in April.  However, even the most optimistic Mets fans would have to think twice before betting on success this coming season, even if it means [...]

When the Mets acquired Mike Piazza from the Florida Marlins on May 22, 1998, they didn’t just acquire one of the premier catchers in baseball. They also found the face of the franchise for the the next eight years. At the time of the trade, the Amazins were a team on the rise under Bobby Valentine. However, despite an 88-win season in 1997, the Mets lacked the sizzle (or star-power) that the crosstown rival Yankees [...]

Ha, Ha, Gotcha! Yesterday, our own John Delcos sparked a solid debate with his post highlighting some of the good things that has happened under Sandman’s watch. This morning, XtreemIcon emailed me a comments from that post from out reader DrDooby. It was a well thought out comment that wasn’t lacking in objectivity si I decided to promote it to a Fan Shot. # 1 Beltran for Wheeler Even if Wheeler tears his labrum tomorrow or [...]

The year was 2000, and the Mets had just lost to the Yankees. Being 20 and in college, I was surrounded by Yankees fans that were giving me the business. I was left with only one reply, “wait until next year!, we will sign A-Rod and take this town over!”. Then the rumblings began about how A-Rod was a 24 and 1 type of player. Well, we all know how that worked out for the [...]

For the first six years of his baseball career, Jason Bay was one of the game’s up-and-coming stars. He toiled in relative obscurity, first with the San Diego Padres and then with the Pittsburgh Pirates, where his tenacious, hard-slugging style of play caught the attention of baseball fans everywhere. After a two-season stretch with the Boston Red Sox, Bay reached the pinnacle of his career. He was able to test the free-agent market for the [...]

I don’t remember much about the summer of 2004. I vaguely remember turning 21 that June, taking an ill-advised trip to Atlantic City, and realizing that all casinos are not created equal. (Apparently you have to win twice at the Taj Majal, once at the table, and once again in the parking garage, successfully making it to your car without getting stabbed). AC trips aside, I spent the majority of my summer life-guarding at a [...]