The bio reveals some shocking and even sad details about his life in baseball and the toll that drug addiction took on his career and his life.

Gooden believes if he had died the moment the Mets won the World Series in 1986, he would have saved many people a great deal of grief – starting with himself.

The mercurial former ace’s downward spiral began just minutes after Jesse Orosco tossed his glove in the air to celebrate the Amazin’s comeback victory over the Red Sox, Gooden writes in his new autobiography “Doc: A Memoir.”

The first call Gooden made after becoming World Series champion was his father. The second was his drug dealer. That night, Gooden went on a cocaine and booze bender that ended up causing him to miss the Mets’ victory parade. Instead, he watched the celebration on television at his home – a moment he describes as the loneliest he has ever felt.

“As my teammates road through the Canyon of Heroes, I was alone in my bed in Roslyn, Long Island, with the curtains closed and the TV on, missing what should have been the greatest morning of my life,” Gooden wrote.

The book reportedly chronicles Gooden’s rise to become one of the best young pitchers in baseball history, his years with the Yankees and his complicated relationship with Darryl Strawberry.

People make mistakes, and Dwight has made a lot of them. But we have always been a forgiving people and we now know that drug addiction is a disease that can sometimes grip you and never let go.

I’m glad Gooden didn’t die and I’m even happier to see him continuing to fight through his addiction. It’s a never-ending battle.

I was talking about Gooden just last night and discussed how cool it is that this one-time mets pitching phenom is the one leading the charge and heading up the Matt Harvey Fan Club. He never misses one of his starts and he takes to Twitter every five days and joins the rest of us to cheer Harvey on.

Doc’s always had a good heart and many times I often wonder just how great his career could have been before the drugs took him down that dark path. To this day, his rookie season was one of the most thrilling and exciting times of my life as a Met fan. The World Series in 1986 was the cherry on top. I will always love Dwight Gooden for that.

Pre Order “Doc: A Memoir” Now!

Don’t, OK? Save your breath – and Anthony Young’s time. Just get to the question. That’s right, the question; the inevitable query about losing. He won’t mind answering because, well, the reply is always the same.

“I pitched well during the stretch. It just happened. I don’t feel like I deserve it. I will be known for this forever. It was destiny.”

He accepts his place in history, yet, he reveals nothing about his true feelings.

What irks Young is the mind-numbing process; the back-and-forth, like some silly parlor game, between reporter and former athlete. The Q&A lingers. The questions turn to small talk. How do like coaching? What do you teach young baseball players? He takes a deep breath and exhales his frustration. Minutia, he thinks. Young’s mind is screaming: Ask the question!

Anthony Young has been living in baseball infamy for more than two decades for losing 27 consecutive decisions. The streak, which started on this day (May 6) in 1992, lasted 465 days, across 81 appearances and two seasons. The long slog finally came to a halt on July 24, 1993.

How can you tell when something bad is about to happen? There was nothing more than circumstantial evidence looking back at the aftermath of the New York Mets 5-3 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on May 6, 1992. Young pitched six innings, allowing five earned runs and six hits (including two home runs) in his first loss of the season. But it was OK. He won his first two starts. The Mets were 16-12.

“Take away two pitches (gopher balls) and it’s a different game,” Young told the media after the loss. “Those were about the only pitches I didn’t get where I wanted.”

A couple bad pitches led to a few bad games, a disappointing season, a long slump, a full-feature horror flick. The record has grown like an extra appendage to Young. As the losses piled up, Young held on to his confidence.

“I’m a good pitcher,” he said. “I believe in myself. The Mets believe in me, too.”

Young entered the 1992 off-season with a sense of hope. But Young had a four-month break – to think. Spring Training was a struggle. The media pressed him on the streak. After a relief appearance (2 IP, 4 R, 3 H) in a 7-3 loss against the Houston Astros, Young began to crack. Suddenly, the idea of breaking Cliff Curtis’ 23-game losing streak became a reality. There was enough negative momentum to not even Tony Robbins could save Young’s fragile state of mind.

As Young approached the record the stories turned downright laughable. No. 18 came on a walk-off hit to Mike Lansing of the Montreal Expos. Young, angered by his performance, attempted to kick a roll of toilet paper but missed, kicking a nearby porcelain toilet and nearly fracturing a toe.

Murphy’s Law seemed took over in June, adding fuel to the fire. Young appeared to be on the brink of snapping the streak in Chicago. He pitched six shutout innings against the Cubs; then Mike Draper and Mike Maddux surrendered eight runs in the final two innings. Young got a no-decision.

No. 22 was eventful. At Three Rivers Stadium, Young sneezed and snorted his way through seven innings in a 5-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. It was later reported that prior to the game groundskeepers in Pittsburgh spread a drying substance on the mound to soak up rain. Young took the mound and suffered an allergic reaction to the substance. Apparently the old saying is true: When it rains … oh, nevermind.

Five days later Young tied the record thanks to four Mets errors that led to three unearned runs. He left after six innings and New York’s defense tightened up, causing former Mets pitcher Jeff Innis to comment: “Did you see the plays we made after he left?” he said. “When he goes out there, the whole team feels it. It’s intense.” Young left the Mets clubhouse that night wearing a tee-shirt that read: LIVE AND LEARN.

The tee portrayed a carefree, event hopeful, attitude on the outside, but inside, Young was terrified. “I’ve had four different managers in the three seasons I’ve been around,” he told the media. “Start? Bullpen? “Right now, I’m confused.”

By late June the Mets were buried in last place, 30 games under .500. They had lost four straight and Young was scheduled to start against the St. Louis Cardinals. The night before the game Young went to dinner with Gregg Jeffries, a former teammate. Let’s just get this over with. One way or another, he thought, break the record or break the streak. Less than 24 hours later, it was over. Young gave the 36,911 morbid Mets fans what they had come to see: a loss, and a piece of history. It was one for the record books. He owned the record: 24 consecutive losing decisions. Young was officially branded “a loser.”

The media presence was overwhelming. The Mets moved the post-game press conference to Dallas Green‘s office because of the media overflow. As they circled the perimeter and doorway, one member of a camera crew poked a hole in the ceiling, causing plaster to reign down on the media. Young shook his head in disbelief saying, “Everything is over with now. I broke the record; I’m in the record books. Now that I have the record, I hope you all can leave me alone.”

Not so fast Young man. It would be another month (and three more losses) before it was over.

Finally, on July 28, 1993, Eddie Murray drove in the winning run at Shea Stadium, giving the Mets a 5-4 victory over the Florida Marlins, ending Anthony Young’s infamous 27-game losing streak. Dallas Green popped the cork on a bottle of champagne. A fan sent roses. The Mets, and Young, celebrated.

“It wasn’t a monkey,” Young told reporters. “It was a zoo … the zoo had been lifted off of my back and we had just won the World Series.”

Two decades later and Young still has the shrapnel stored in his attic in the same box he kept them in at his locker at Shea; letters, cards and notes of encouragement and a videotape from his 1993 appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. In two-and-one-half seasons with the Mets he recorded five wins and 35 losses. Young was shipped off to the Chicago Cubs just days before Opening Day 1994.

“It was initially disappointing because I wanted to have a great season in New York,” he said years later. “Sure enough, Chicago hosted the Mets at Wrigley Field for Opening Day and Karl Rhodes connected on three homers off [Dwight] Gooden.”

It wasn’t all that bad. During one stretch, Young pitched 23.2 straight scoreless innings and over the one year and two-month stretch, he recorded 15 saves. There were moments – but not many.

And with the No. 11 Pick of the 2013 First Year Player Draft…

The New York Mets select:

OF HUNTER RENFROE, MISSISSIPPI STATE

Player Profile:

Position:  OF/C
Height:  6-1
Weight:  216
Bats/Throws:  R-R
Birthdate:  Jan. 28, 1992
College:  Mississippi State
Projected Draft Round:  1

Scouting Grades:

Hitting: Present 35 – Future 55
Power: Present 70 – Future 70
Speed: Present 60 – Future 60
Fielding: Present 55 – Future 60
Arm Strength: Present 60 – Future 60

John Sickels Says:

Renfroe packs a big punch at the dish. He has massive power. He has quick wrists and a short powerful swing. He sells out for power most of the time but in his summer league runs, it has paid off. He was named Cal Ripken League MVP in both 2011 and 2012. He hit ..395 with a .581 SLG in 2011, followed by a .366 mark with an .866 SLG in 2012. Renfroe is a good athlete with above-average running speed. He also has a quality throwing arm.

Player Summary

Renfroe is a high-impact college bat in a draft that has few of them, with a big, athletic build and the potential for three or more plus tools, but despite the strong junior year still has a ways to go with the bat.

He can show you three plus tools on the field — power, running speed, and throwing arm — with the power more like a 70 (on the 20-80 scouting scale) and the others grading out at 60.

At 6-foot-1, 216 pounds, he already looks physically developed enough to play in the upper levels of the minors. His swing is very rotational, with a good stride into the ball and excellent follow-through to generate all of that power. He lifts his back foot off the ground at contact, which isn’t ideal since it means he’s hitting entirely off his front foot, something a few good big league hitters have done, but that most don’t.

His pitch recognition right now is a weakness, and pitchers can get him out just by changing speeds effectively. Renfroe hit just .252/.328/.374 last year with 51 strikeouts in 230 at bats after going 4-for-26 his freshman year, so while he was a known entity coming into college — Boston took him in the 31st round in 2010 — he came into this year without any strong history of performance, appearing in a second-tier summer league last year rather than on Cape Cod or in the Northwoods League.

In a deeper draft, he’d be a sandwich-round guy because of that history, as scouts and execs asked why he didn’t hit in his previous two years in the SEC, and why he didn’t play in a tougher summer league. In this year’s draft, however, he’s clearly one of the top five college bats, and offers more raw power potential than anyone other than Kris Bryant.

2013 Stats and Accolades

On May 3rd, Mississippi State’s Hunter Renfroe was named to the Golden Spikes Award midseason watch list. The award is given to the top amateur baseball player in the nation.

Renfroe leads the Bulldogs in batting average (.403), home runs (14), RBI (48), total bases (119), on-base percentage (.489) and slugging (.799). He is also tied for the team lead in doubles with 13.

What He Said

After hitting a walk-off homerun: 

“It’s pure elation. It’s total joy,” he said. “You know you’re helping your team get that much closer to winning the game or won the game. It’s awesome. It’s an awesome feeling. You get chill bumps every time you talk about it or when you do it. When you run around first base, second base, it’s pretty special. I love just playing the game.”

The Grand Slam

Gotta love that Griffey-esque flair on his follow-through, bat release, the pause, and his walk to full-on homerun trot.

“They rigged the signing of free agents. They got caught. They paid $280 million to the players. And I think that’s polluted labor relations in baseball ever since …”

In spite of Selig’s unscrupulous past he was able to corral enough owners to his side in an 18 to 9 vote of “no confidence” to force Vincent out. Now, you’d think it would be difficult for an owner with a history of impropriety to ascend to a position best suited to someone who might inspire trust from both sides, not so. Selig took the commissioner’s chair in 1992, passing control of the Brewers to his daughter, Wendy Selig-Prieb.

Selig of course presided over the 1994 player’s strike. The 232-day work stoppage lasted from August 12, 1994, to April 2, 1995. What has since been described as the worst work-stoppage in professional sports history was precipitated by a collective bargaining proposal that included a salary cap. Tensions were exacerbated by the collusion attempts … Ownership dug in and the players didn’t budge. Eventually the 1994 season became a lost cause.

The strike damaged the game deeply, fans walked away in droves. There was a prevailing perception that the great American pastime had been irrevocably corrupted by greed. It was also during this time that steroids took root in MLB locker rooms. This issue was covered in a previous piece, so I will only note here that while it is true that the players shoulder a preponderance of blame, the owners did little to stop the spread of PED’s while they lined their pockets, and, in the end, the spread of steroids did occur on Selig’s watch.

The strike hurt the Montreal Expos more than any other team. Montreal had the best record in baseball at the time. The Expos were also lobbying for a new stadium, an effort that disintegrated with the work stoppage. Soon thereafter the Expos were sold to an art dealer named Jeffrey Loria who immediately demanded that the local government build him a new stadium. When this didn’t happen Loria eviscerated and sold the Expos to Major League Baseball for 120 million.

Loria used the proceeds from this sale to purchase the Florida Marlins. A suit was promptly filed by 14 minority owners of the Expos accusing Loria of conspiring with MLB (Selig) to dilute the minority partners’ share of the team from 76 percent to 6-to-7 percent. The suit went on to assert that Loria never intended to keep the franchise in Montreal and that he planed all along on flipping the Expos with an eye on the Marlins. Eventually the suit was settled with the former Expos owners receiving an undisclosed amount. As part of the settlement, none of the documents from the case were made public. This was in effect the second ruling against Selig in a 15 year span.

In the meantime Selig continued to pursue a contraction campaign focusing on the now MLB run Montreal Expos and the Minnesota Twins (for which there was a glaring conflict of interest since the Brewers and Twins shared the same market). Selig himself (who was good friends with the obscenely wealthy Pohlads) had managed in 2001 to get the city of Milwaukee to build Miller Park with $290 million in public funds, so he knew the drill — threaten and lobby.

Selig’s efforts to contract the Expos and the Twins failed as a result of a ruling requiring that the Twins honor their contract to play in the Metrodome. The Expos were subsequently sold and moved to Washington. What remained unresolved for many fans, however, were the exaggerated claims of losses on the part of baseball owners who at the time argued that the market was stretched thin and that teams were being pushed to poverty by player salaries and crumbling venues.

The Twins did eventually get their stadium (with 250 million in public funding), and on the day of its unveiling in April of 2010, Selig, strangely, brushed aside questions about contraction by brazenly stating, “there was a lot of mythology” to it. These comments left many feeling as if contraction was an elaborate ruse to secure support from legislators for stadium funding, a ruse Selig’s old conspirator Jeffrey Loria went on to perfect in securing public funding for a new stadium in Miami. An endeavor that eventually left Miami-Dade County with a 2.4 billion dollar debt, an empty stadium, and a massive abomination of a fish sculpture.

What does all this have to do with the Mets? There’s a pattern of influence and impropriety here that stretches back quite a ways. Wilpon was able to wrest the Mets from the more belligerent and restive Doubleday with Selig’s blessing (and a handy low-ball MLB appraisal). Selig has also presided over an office designed, ironically, to help maintain the integrity of the game, turning it instead into a vehicle for charting new profit streams. In the business world Selig is considered by many to be the greatest commissioner ever, having overseen an era that saw profits increase by 400%. But if there is one thing we know about Bud, it’s his long-standing desire to undermine free agency and level the playing field for smaller markets.

Bud Selig may have seen a unique opportunity to bring down spending and bolster parity by recommending a high level MLB operative (known for his ability to slash budgets and operate on a shoe-string), for the position of GM of the NY Mets. What better place to promote a small market paradigm than the biggest stage in the world?

In 2010 two crises were raging in MLB. Frank McCourt of the Dodgers was running his team as a personal bank account during divorce proceedings that had brought him to the brink of bankruptcy, and the Wilpons in N.Y. were in danger of losing the Mets as a result of a massive stadium bill and a disastrous association with Bernie Madoff and his ponzi scheme. Selig all but guaranteed that McCourt would sell by imposing a heavy-handed MLB takover, while he quietly supported the Wilpons with loans and votes of confidence.

In the fall of 2011 Frank McCourt filed a lawsuit against MLB, accusing Selig of forcing bankruptcy on the Dodgers by rejecting a contract with Fox Sports. The Fox contract would have allowed McCourt to retain possession of the Dodgers, but as the Dodgers were under MLB control by then, Selig was within his bounds to reject it — even though it was similar in principle to contracts signed by many other MLB teams. The court sided with MLB, but not without a stern warning to Selig. Again Bud had deftly maneuvered borderline illegal practices with impunity. Selig knew the Dodgers would fetch an obscene sum in sale and he also knew that any buyer would have deep enough pockets to pour truckloads of cash into the franchise. The Mets on the other hand would receive the austerity plan, a painful rebuilding process focusing on cutting payroll and rejuvenating their farm … the polar antithesis of what transpired with the Dodgers.

A friend who was in San Diego during Alderson’s tenure there warned me, “Alderson,” he said “would chop the team up piecemeal and sell off the parts for prospects, it’s what he does.” I didn’t believe him. “This is N.Y.” I countered “Here you have to spend money to make money, the fans wouldn’t stand for it …” After losing, in successive seasons, Beltran, Reyes, and Dickey, with a budget effectively halved, I can only admit he was ostensibly on the mark.

The more pressing question, however, is one of influence. Selig has exerted his influence over the years with mixed results. His approach in 1994 backfired as the players hit back, and his attempts at collusion resulted in a 280 million dollar settlement against MLB … but his influence was largely successful in both the migration of the Expos as well as the funding of numerous new venues on the public’s dime. The real defeat he’s never been able to undo is his failure to limit free agency and his inability to institute a salary cap.

Bud Selig is friends with Fred Wilpon, but given Selig’s commitment to the almighty dollar don’t let a personal relationship fool you. Selig would just as soon pop open a can of Milwaukee’s finest than hesitate to throw Wilpon under a bus if it meant more money in the coffers. His reasons for coming to the rescue of the Wilpons while moving to oust McCourt, can only be explained with an eye on profit. You could argue this is contradictory, how would the “Met austerity paradigm” mean more money for baseball when the Dodgers just boosted values of MLB franchises across the country by raising the bar with their sale price?

It’s all about parity. As Jason Stark recently pointed out, MLB now features more parity than the NFL. If a small market approach can succeed in a big market it would effectively establish an operational model that could be duplicated in any number of cities big and small. Increased parity means more money across a broader spectrum of markets, precluding the need for revenue sharing mandates. Why didn’t Selig attempt a similar austerity program with the Dodgers? McCourt was himself imbued in impropriety and was openly hostile to MLB, his was a hopeless cause where the only resolution was a forced sale.

If Selig’s plan proceeds according to design, the Mets will benefit from a self sustaining minor league feeder system what will propel them to perennial contention while the Dodgers dig out from an array of bad contracts … but, there are no guarantees. Selig lost control of the Dodger situation once the winning bid was accepted. The Mets on the other hand were under his influence in so far as he was able to impress upon both the Wilpons and Sandy Alderson that they needed to cut payroll. Granted, under the circumstances the Wilpons didn’t have much choice, but when you consider Selig’s history and the fact that he got his man on the GM’s seat in NY, you have to believe he was pleased.

Whether or not this experiment benefits the Mets remains to be seen. Given the volume of pitching the Mets have been able to accumulate you have to feel good about the team’s prospects, no pun intended. The Dodgers on the other hand appear to be a flawed, injury prone, aging, and above all expensive mess. As far as business models, you can bet there will be lots of baseball minds keeping an eye on the Mets and Dodgers in the coming years.

It’s now been over seven years since that promising Opening Day in 2006, which was only day one of a season that took the Mets just a big swing away from the National League Championship trophy, and a visit to the World Series. With the exception of a few R.A. Dickey masterpieces, and a special no-hitter, there hasn’t been much cheering in Flushing since that magical run in 2006.

The Metropolitans are a team that has always been known for its pitching, with ace Cy Young winners like Tom Seaver and Dwight Gooden leading the pack, career years from David Cone, and the aforementioned Dickey, are just compliments to the team’s rich pitching history. All of those Mets aces brought with them to the stadium every fifth day, great stuff, a great baseball mind, and of course big crowds.

With an ace, comes a crowd. With Matt Harvey, come the masses. He is in a word, phenomenal, and perhaps even more important to Flushing than the wins he brings, is the spirit he brings to the ballpark.

Matt began his pro career as a first round draft pick for the Mets in 2010, but hasn’t always been looked at as the ace type he has recently shown to be. Just last season before he arrived in Queens to play with the big boys, scouts as well as others around the organization, and around the league, had doubted Matt’s ability to be a front end pitcher.

Unlike his early success this season, Matt, although he performed well, did not dazzle as he has thus far in 2013. He finished the 2012 season at 3-5, with a 2.73 ERA; impressive, yet not startling.

Any bit of doubt that had yet to evaporate going into this baseball season, was gone after Harvey’s very first start of the year. If the season were to end today, the Cy Young Award would most definitely be spending a second consecutive year in the Big Apple, and it would say Harvey all over it.

The good doctor, Mr. Dwight Gooden has already given the Mets 24 year old ace his blessing. Gooden tweeted to his 35,000+ followers on twitter Saturday, that the Mets now have “The Real Deal” in town, and Gooden likes what he sees.

Citi Field has a very different aroma on “The Real Deal” days, instead of Amazin’ fans chowing down on some delectable delights during innings, Mets fans are paying close attention to each and every time Harvey serves up one of his out pitch – that devastating high fastball.

The fans rise on each two strike count, and they get behind their, so far, 4-0 ace every time he needs that extra bit of adrenaline from the Citi Field faithful. He is certainly a special player to say the least, and there is absolutely no doubt from anyone in baseball that there is much more from Matt “The Real Deal” Harvey, yet to come.

* * * * * * * *

This Fan Shot was contributed by MMO reader, Michael Feldman. Follow him on Twitter at @michael4ny. Have something you want to say about the Mets? Share your opinions with over 16,000 Mets fans who read this site daily. Send your Fan Shot to GetMetsmerized@aol.com. Or ask us about becoming a regular contributor.

One of the most revealing things about the Mets’ 7-6 loss to the Nationals today, is that they are 7-1 this season when Jon Niese and Matt Harvey start, and 1-7 when they turn to Dillon Gee, Jeremy Hefner and Aaron Laffey. That says a lot, doesn’t it?

Today’s sacrificial lamb was 26-year old Jeremy Hefner who made a quick exit lasting only four innings and allowing four earned runs on four hits, three walks and a pair of homeruns to Ian Desmond and Bryce Harper. It might be time to consider bringing up Collin McHugh who seems to be having no problems pitching in the hitter-friendly PCL and owns a league leading 0.59 ERA. As for Heff, his 7.07 ERA tells the story.

Fifth starter Aaron Laffey came out of the bullpen for this one, but offered little relief and quickly served up a three-run homer to first baseman Adam LaRoche and couldn’t even finish his one inning of work. Laffey has a 7.20 ERA this season and there’s really no reason to keep him around even as a longman.

The backbreaking blow came when Bryce Harper nailed southpaw Josh Edgin with his second homer of the game in the eighth inning. The blast was proved to be the game winner. I like Edgin, but he’s been throwing batting practice this season and his velocity has tanked. This is not the same reliever we saw last season, and it may be time to cut bait with Edgin and his 9.00 ERA.

Offensively, the Mets were able to muster up six runs including five off of Nats starter Gio Gonzalez. The five runs all came in a big fourth inning, with Collin Cowgill and Daniel Murphy each driving in a pair. David Wright nearly got a hold of one, but had to settle for a triple. Ike Davis, who had two home runs yesterday off right-handed pitching, did what he usually does when a southpaw is on the mound and struck out three times. Sooner or later they’ll figure out they need to platoon him. Davis stranded three runners in scoring position in the process.

The Mets didn’t homer for the first time in eight home games at Citi Field this season.

The Mets obviously have two hug immediate concerns; a backend of the rotation which has totally sucked, and a bullpen that already needs some revamping.

Joe D.’s Crystal Ball:  Expect Shaun Marcum to be activated from the DL and Collin McHugh to get promoted from Las Vegas. Say goodbye to Aaron Laffey and Jeremy Hefner. In the bullpen, I expect that both Greg Burke and Josh Edgin are as good as gone. We could see Robert Carson get promoted and one of either Frank Francisco or Pedro Feliciano get activated after the weekend. I’m betting it’s Frank-Frank.

This game was underwhelming and a big letdown after Friday night’s prime time spectacle. If they don’t fix the backend of the rotation, the Mets will be 15 games out by the end of May. And so far, Zack Wheeler is not looking like a solution, let alone an option.

With that in mind, let’s compare Harvey’s numbers through his first 14 starts with those of the aforementioned Seaver, Koosman and Gooden.  That threesome ranks 1-2-3 in most of the Mets’ all-time pitching categories, including wins, starts, innings pitched and strikeouts.

In addition to having lengthy and successful careers with the Mets, all three pitchers started off exceptionally well when they were neophytes, with Seaver and Gooden taking home the Rookie of the Year Award in 1967 and 1984, respectively, and Kooosman finishing second to future Hall of Famer Johnny Bench in 1968.

Does Matt Harvey compare favorably to the triumvirate of Seaver, Koosman and Gooden through 14 starts?  The answer is a resounding yes!

Note:  Jerry Koosman made six relief appearances for the Mets in 1967 before making his first start.  The numbers above do not include those relief appearances.  Only each pitcher’s first 14 starts as a Met were considered for the purposes of this comparison.

Although Matt Harvey pitched fewer innings in his first 14 starts than the other three pitchers, only Jerry Koosman earned more wins.  In addition, Harvey’s 102 strikeouts are far more than the whiffs recorded by Seaver and Koosman through their first 14 starts, and falls just five short of the total posted by Gooden.

Gooden has a slight edge on Harvey in strikeouts per nine innings and strikeout-to-walk ratio, but Harvey is the proud owner of the lowest ERA and lowest WHIP of the four starters.  Harvey has also held opposing hitters to the lowest batting average.

Where there’s smoke, there’s Matt Harvey’s fire.

It’s been nearly three decades since Dwight Gooden burst onto the major league scene with an assortment of pitches that caused many a hitter to walk back to the dugout shaking their heads in disgust, amazement and bewilderment.  It’s been even longer since Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman did the same.

All three hurlers pitched in a Met uniform for over a decade and no conversation about the top pitchers in franchise history can be complete without the names Seaver, Koosman and Gooden being mentioned.

Matt Harvey is only 24 years old and in a short period of time has established himself as the ace of the pitching staff.  It’s impossible to say whether he can maintain his incredible production over the course of the season and the rest of his career, but one thing’s for sure.  What Harvey has accomplished over the first 14 starts of his career has rarely been duplicated by a Mets pitcher.  However, some of the few Mets pitchers who did match Harvey’s phenomenal start went on to become team legends.

Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman and Dwight Gooden all have plaques in the Mets Hall of Fame to honor their achievements on the field as three of the best pitchers in the history of the franchise.  Matt Harvey wants to become the fourth face on the Mount Rushmore of Mets’ starting pitchers.  If his performance through his first 14 starts is a portent of things to come, it would be wise for the team to keep that mountain-carving chisel sharp.

1. You went to the right movie, but for the wrong reason
2. You missed a great movie … and that’s a shame

Maybe, both.

Coincidentally, sports media reporter Ed Sherman fell victim to both of those circumstances. In a column for the National Sports Journalism Center at Indiana University Sherman seemed disappointed by the fact that 42  “… hardly captures the totality of (Wendell) Smith’s role in integrating baseball and his overall impact on the life of the baseball legend.”

A quick refresher for younger generations who might be asking the question: Who is Wendell Smith? He was an African-American sportswriter who recommended Robinson to Branch Rickey. Smith was also a victim of discrimination like many working black men and women of the generation. He wasn’t allowed in the press box at Forbes Field and wasn’t welcomed in the all-white Baseball Writers Association of America but, like Robinson, he broke the color barrier in sports journalism, becoming the first African-American member of the BBWAA in 1948.

There is no question, Wendell Smith is a part of sports journalism history. Civil Rights history. Black history. Baseball history. Yes, Smith played a central role in creating an opportunity for Robinson, but this 128-minute movie is not about Wendell Smith or Branch Rickey or Rachel Robinson, it’s about Jackie Robinson. Sure, each of these people helped shape Robinson’s life but the story, the movie, is about Robinson. The tag line to the movie should give it away: The True Story of an American Legend.

Meanwhile, Eric Deggans, TV and Media Critic for the Tampa Bay Times, contributor to the National Sports Journalism Center at Indiana University and Sherman’s colleague, selfishly failed to understand 42. He confessed,  “… the journalist in me also wished we could have seen a bit more of the media story; namely, how Rickey and Smith managed the media to make Robinson’s quest look noble as possible to uneasy white baseball fans … it’s a bit of pipe dream to wonder what might have happened if Smith got more screen time — even if the intimate story of a quick-tempered Robinson and the activist sportswriter who helped sell him to the world might have been the different take critics were looking for.”

For the longest time there was a sense of frustration because no one could sell Jackie Robinson’s story idea to Hollywood. Not Spike Lee. Not Robert Redford. Then, finally, director Brian Helgeland comes along and gets it done. And what happens? Critics want equal screen (and story) time for Wendell Smith. If you plan on forking out your $10 for a ticket to see 42 this weekend please, remember, this is a movie about 42 — Jackie Robinson.

Mr. Sherman, Mr. Deggans, with all due respect, you missed a great movie.

Updated by HoJo at 10:45 PM

Pedro Feliciano tossed a scoreless seventh inning for Advanced-A St. Lucie tonight in his first game action in nearly a month and the results were encouraging.

The Mets’ southpaw allowed one hit, one walk, and had one strikeout. But his velocity was in the 84-86 mph range, according to Adam Rubin, which was up from 82-83 in spring training last month.

Original Post 7:00 PM

Other Mets News

• Tonight’s game between the Mets and Rockies has been postponed due to snow. The two teams will play a split doubleheader tomorrow, the team announced. The first game will begin at 3:10 PM, and the second game will  start around 8:40 PM. It was the Mets second straight postponement for the Mets after wintry conditions in Minneapolis on Sunday forced the game against the Twins to be called off. It was rescheduled for August 19. Weather forecasts call for additional snow on Tuesday.
• Pedro Feliciano has officially joined Class A St. Lucie, the team announced today. The lefty reliever spent the past two weeks building up shoulder strength. According to Adam Rubin, the Mets asked Feliciano to give them a month in the minors from Opening Day before leaving the organization.
• Frank Francisco is set to begin a rehab assignment Tuesday with Class A St. Lucie, a club source told ESPN New York. Francisco underwent surgery in December to remove a bone spur from his pitching elbow. He experienced inflammation upon arriving at spring training. An official rehab assignment starts a maximum 30-day clock after which the pitcher is due to be activated. The right-handed Francisco has disappointed since signing his tw year, $12 million deal before the 2012 season.  He went 1-3 with a 5.53 ERA in 48 relief appearances last season.
• Shaun Marcum will not be ready to be activated from the DL until the middle of next week at the earliest. He has been on the 15-day disabled list with biceps tendinitis, retroactive to March 22. Marcum is scheduled to throw a bullpen session Tuesday and then throw a three or four inning simulated game in Port St. Lucie on Thursday. Marcum, who signed a guaranteed $4 million dollar deal in January, has been injured with one ailment or another since he reported to spring training.
• A Monday morning fire damaged parts of the administration building at Citi Field, the club announced, though sprinkler systems contained the blaze before it was extinguished by FDNY. The cause of the fire is under investigation, according to the team, though it did not damage areas accessible to fans and nobody was injured or harmed.

Hours after being named MMO Player of the Week, Mets right-hander Matt Harvey was named the National League Player of the Week this afternoon by MLB.

Harvey fashioned a 2-0 record and 1.20 ERA last week, and took a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Twins on Saturday. Through three starts this season, the 24-year-old has yielded only six hits in 22 innings, while striking out 25 and walking only six. He is the first pitcher since 1900 to win each of his first three starts of a season with at least that many strikeouts and that few hits allowed, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

In his first outing last week, Harvey outdueled Phillies veteran Roy Halladay, as the youngster limited Philadelphia to one run on three hits in seven innings. Five days later, Harvey held Minnesota to one run on two hits in eight frames.

Harvey is the first Mets pitcher to earn NL Player of the Week honors since Johan Santana accomplished the feat on June 3, 2012, two days after the southpaw tossed the first no-hitter in franchise history.

Original Post at 12:00 PM

MATT HARVEY, RHP

MMO PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Is anybody else beginning to think we might have something really special in Matt Harvey? I think Dwight Gooden put it best, when he said in a tweet that the hurler’s nickname should be Matt “The Real Deal” Harvey. I think that is an awesome nickname, and I hope it sticks. Gooden wasn’t the only one to praise the big righty recently. Tampa Bay Rays ace David Price recently tweeted that “Matt Harvey is my new favorite pitcher outside of current and former teammates!! He’s nasty.”

The 24-year-old made my choice for MMO POTW an easy one, as he had one of the most dominating weeks for a Mets pitcher in recent memory. Harvey fired 15 innings over his two starts, including taking a no-hit bid into the seventh inning against the Minnesota Twins on Saturday. Over his 15 innings of work, he mowed down 15 batters, gave up just four hits, and had an ERA of 1.20 with a record of 2-0.

With Harvey dominating his opponents the way he has through his first three starts, here are some interesting stats.

• Harvey is the first Mets pitcher to begin a season allowing no more than one run in any of his first three starts since Al Leiter in 2004.
• According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Harvey is the first pitcher in modern major league history (since 1900) to win each of his first three starts of a season, with at least 25 strikeouts and six or fewer hits allowed over those three games.
• Joe D. noted on Saturday, that he is only the third pitcher since the end of World War II to open a season with three straight starts of seven-plus innings and three or fewer hits allowed, joining Nolan Ryan and Jim Rooker as the only other pitchers to perform that feat, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

Prior to Gooden’s tweet anointing Harvey “The Real Deal, I had been using the same words to describe his performances, and obviously I wasn’t alone. I even asked a couple of fellow MMO writers if they were getting goose bumps watching this kid pitch as I was. The last time I remember being this excited about a player the Mets brought up, was when Jose Reyes and David Wright made their debuts.

It’s been a long time coming for Mets fans to feast their eyes on a pitcher of Matt Harvey‘s potential and skill set. He has shown himself to be a dominating power pitcher, who is not afraid to pitch inside. The kid is a homegrown player who has all the makings of being the next Mets ace, something Mets fans have long been asking for.

Honorable Mention

The legend of John Buck continues to grow in Flushing, and if it wasn’t for the dominating performance of Harvey, would have been selected for a second consecutive MMO Player Of The Week honor. The Mets backstop has virtually carried the Mets on his back offensively for the first two weeks of the season. The pitchers love throwing to him, the hitters love getting on in front of him and the fans are getting to watch a performance of historic proportions.

Buck batted just .238/.238/.810 during his second week as a Met, but when he made contact, he crushed the ball.  The veteran hit a home run in four consecutive games (April 8-12), a feat that had not been done since David Wright did it in 2007. Richard Hidalgo holds the Mets franchise record with a home run in five consecutive games in July of 2004. Buck ended the week with four home runs, drove in 10 runs and scored five, but failed to draw a walk.

As Joe D. pointed out in his post on Saturday, Buck has entered rarefied air with his staggering RBI totals to start the season.

Buck hit six home runs through the first 10 games of the season, which is the second-most in team history behind Dave Kingman‘s seven home runs through 10 games in 1976. He did not hit his sixth home run of the season last year until June 24 (52 games) and did not drive in his 19th run of the season until June 27 (55 games). The veterans six home runs are more than all of the Mets catchers combined during the 2012 season.

Other Noteworthy Players

Daniel Murphy

David Wright

Murphy had a great week batting .500/.522/.750 with five RBI and five doubles. He seems to have settled nicely into the two hole, and should continue to see good pitches in front of David Wright. The captain had a .286/.348/.476 slash line, with six RBI, two doubles and a triple. It was a nice improvement in the run production department, as he had only had one extra base hit and three RBI during the first week. The Mets have been getting great production from Buck, but they need Wright to start to drive the ball, as he has yet to hit a home run yet this season.

Player Of The Week Scoreboard

T1. John Buck – 1

T1. Matt Harvey – 1

Last night, former Mets’ righthander Dwight Gooden tossed out the idea of coming up with a nickname for current great righthander Matt Harvey. Doctor K suggested we go with Matt “The Real Deal” Harvey.

As is usually the case when I get inspired, I immediately took to Photoshop and went straight to work and this is what I came up with.

Hey Matt… This one’s for you….

MATT-TASTIC!

Matt Harvey hurled a career-high 8.0 innings yesterday and did not allow a hit until Justin Morneau slugged a solo home run with two outs in the seventh inning. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Harvey is the first pitcher in modern major league history (since 1900) to win each of his first three starts of a season, with at least 25 strikeouts and six or fewer hits allowed over those three games.

Harvey now has 95 strikeouts through his first 13 career starts, the third-most in team history after 13 games. He trails only Nolan Ryan (103) and Dwight Gooden (96). Harvey’s 25 strikeouts this season are tied for the fourth-most in the majors.

Additionally, Harvey became only the third pitcher since the end of World War II to open a season with three straight starts of seven-plus innings and three or fewer hits allowed, joining Nolan Ryan and Jim Rooker as the only other pitchers to perform that feat, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

WOO HOO! On Saturday, MMO smashed it’s all time single day record for unique visitors and hits! Exactly 20,345 different users visited our site yesterday and we had over 1.2 million hits. Of course, our Sandy Alderson interview being on ESPN, FOX Sports, Yahoo Sports, MetsBlog and even a few mentions on WFAN, sure didn’t hurt! Whatever it takes… Thanks everyone!

Not snow, nor sleet, nor rain or hail could keep John Buck from belting his sixth home run – a grand slam.

Another game, another highlight. That’s what the season has been like for Mets catcher John Buck who belted a grand slam and scored two runs last night against the Twins.

Buck is now batting .351/.350/.865 with an incredible 1.215 OPS on the season with a National League leading six home runs and 19 RBI and tied for tops in the Majors with Baltimore’s Chris Davis.

The RBIs put him in some impressive company:

Terry Collins is at the point where when he needs a big hit, he believes Buck will come through for him every time.

“Right now, you’re almost starting to take it for granted. When you need a big hit, he’s going to get it. And he’s going to drive in runs when he gets his hit. It’s just amazing.”

Collins added that once Ike Davis get it going, the Mets will have a formidable middle of the order with Wright, Buck and Davis.

John Buck has hit a home run in four straight games (April 8 – present) extending his career-best. David Wright was the last Met to hit a home run in four consecutive games during the 2007 season. Richard Hidalgo holds the franchise record with a home run in five straight games from July 1-5, 2004.

Buck has six home runs through 10 games, the second-most in team history behind Dave Kingman’s seven home runs through 10 games in 1976.

So where is all this power coming from? Buck did not hit his sixth home run of the season last year until June 24 (52 games) and did not drive in his 19th run of the season until June 27 (55 games).

One last and amazing factoid for you. With his sixth home run last night, Buck now has more home runs than all the Mets catchers combined during the 2012 season.

Travis d’Arnaud may be in for a long wait before he makes his debut.

To date, the Mets front office has not even discussed the subject internally, according to one team executive. They probably will not do so before next winter. The team wants a bigger sample size on which to base projections on Harvey’s future performance and health. For as dominant as Harvey has been—posting a 2.33 ERA and striking out 10.9 batters per nine innings in 12 career starts—it is still only 12 starts.

Costa conducted his own study and polled a group of students from Pepperdine University who were recently honored by the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) and this was what they concluded after examining all the comps, history, injury risk and evidence.

To mitigate any injury risk, the Pepperdine team suggested the Mets wait until after the 2014 season before offering Harvey an extension. They then looked at the contracts of not only the five pitchers listed above but also other starting pitchers who signed extensions after their first or second professional seasons.

Weighing all this, they recommended that the Mets offer Harvey a four- or five-year extension worth $30 to $35 million after 2014, assuming he remains on roughly the same performance trajectory.

Makes logical sense to me, and while it’s too premature to be discussing a longterm deal after only 12 starts, this does show how high;y regarded Matt Harvey has become in so short a time.

The Mets right-hander owns a 2.33 ERA in those 12 starts, allowing just 46 hits and 30 walks in 73.1 innings while striking out 89 batters.

Here’s a couple of shots Matt sent in from the press box at Target Field. Looks like he has a great view…

Bases Loaded For John Buck…

Is that Kevin Burkhardt roaming around in the upper deck?

Matt tells me he’ll bring a regular digital camera for the Saturday and Sunday games…

Starting Lineup

1. Jordany Valdespin CF
2. Daniel Murphy 2B
3. David Wright 3B
4. Ike Davis 1B
5. John Buck C
6. Lucas Duda DH
7. Marlon Byrd RF
8. Mike Baxter LF
9. Ruben Tejada SS

Jon Niese LHP

Game Notes

The Mets went 8-7 in Interleague play in 2012. The Mets are .500 or better in 11 of their 16 seasons of Interleague play, and are 135-127 all-time in Interleague play. The 135 wins are the fourth-most among National League teams.

The Mets have signed LHP Sean Henn to a minor league contract. Henn has not appeared in a Major League game since 2009 when he went a combined 0-3 with a 7.53 ERA in 20 relief appearances with the Twins and Orioles.

David Wright has 89 career RBI vs. the American League, tied with Mike Piazza for the most in team history. The 89 Interleague RBI are the ninth-most among any major leaguer since 2005, the first season Wright played an Interleague game. He has 19 career Interleague home runs, nine behind Piazza (28) for the most in club history.

Jonathon Niese has thrown 6.0 or more innings in his last 22 consecutive starts, the longest current streak in the major leagues. The streak is also the longest by a Mets pitcher since Tom Glavine went 27 starts from July 15, 2005-June 3, 2006 lasting 6.0 or more innings.

Has hit a home run in three straight games (April 8- present) for the first time in his career. Buck has five home runs through the team’s first nine games, tied for the second-most in franchise history with Darryl Strawberry (5 home runs in nine games in 1987) and Jeff Kent (5 home runs in nine games in 1994). Dave Kingman holds the team mark with seven home runs in New York’s first nine games in 1976.

In New York’s five wins, Mets starting pitchers have posted a 2.03 ERA (seven earned runs/31.0 innings). In the club’s four losses, the starters have combined for a 6.87 ERA (14
earned runs/18.1 innings).

The Mets bullpen has hurled 16.2 innings in their last four games. During that span, the pen has allowed four earned runs (2.16 ERA). Overall, the Mets pen is 2-0 with a 3.34 ERA (11 earned runs/29.2 innings). The ERA is 7th in the National League.

Overall, the Mets have recorded a 3.53 ERA (31 earned runs/79.0 innings), ranking third in the NL and seventh in the majors.

Game Preview

The Mets travel to Minnesota tonight to start their first interleague game of the season. Some of you may be asking yourself, “Hey, why are we playing an interleague game so early”. To those of you, “HAVEN’T YOU BEEN PAYING ATTENTION! GEEZ..”

The Astros joined the American League this year making each league have 15 teams thus making the wild card system for fair in terms of chance of getting one. Having 15 in each league forces two teams to always be locked in an interleague series. Anyway, the Mets might be playing in the American League tonight but will see an old foe as they take on Vance Worley behind Jonathan Niese.

Niese is off to a good start this year going 1-0 in his first two games pitching a total of 12.2 innings allowing 3 earned runs, 4 total. In that stretch he has 12 hits and 4 walks while striking out 9 batters. He has faced the Twins once where he picked up the win throwing 6 shutout innings of baseball allowing 4 hits and 3 walks while striking out 4. The Twins have the following numbers against Niese:

Carroll 3-5
Willingham 2-5, HR
Worley 1-6
Mauer 0-2

The Mets batters going from facing the Phillies to an ex-Philly in Vance Worley who is 0-1 this season over two starts. During that time has pitched 11.0 innings allowing a league leading 18 hits, 8 runs (7 earned), and 2 walks with 5 strikeouts. Last season he was 6-9 over 23 starts and 133.0 innings with a 4.20 ERA. He was 0-2 against the Mets last season over 3 games where he allowed 14 ER over 14.1 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Vance:

Murphy 10-15, 2B, 3B (Seriously, that’s 2 hits per 3 AB’s)
Tejada 7-17, 2B
Wright 4-15, HR
Duda 5-10, 2B, HR
Davis 1-9
Turner 4-10, 2 2B
Baxter 1-3, HR

Let’s Go Mets!

Check 213 Miles From Shea!

The Mets don’t have the multitude of power options that say, Ben & Jerry’s has ice cream choices, but Daniel Murphy appears to becoming one.

Lately, he has been driving the ball for power; something I always thought he was capable of doing. Through seven games he has eight hits, with five going for extra bases – two homers, two doubles and a triple. He encored his five RBI weekend against the Marlins with two doubles last night in Philadelphia.

Apparently, his strained intercostal muscle isn’t an issue, or is it?

Terry Collins suggested in trying to protect his injury Murphy has fallen into the good habit of staying within himself. He’s focusing on the pitch with the intent of driving it up the middle and going to the opposite field.

Consequently, his swing is shorter and compact. He’s not overthinking to the point of trying to pull the ball or guessing pitches.

“It’s made me do is focus on work I was able to put in during the off-season, and even the work that I’ve done in past years,’’ Murphy told reporters in Philadelphia, “I get a little bit older in this game, it doesn’t have to be perfect.’’

Power comes from strength and bat speed. Murphy is strong, and coupling that with sound fundamentals quickens his bat.

Wade Boggs, Tony Gwynn and Ichiro Suzuki aren’t power hitters, but fundamentally strong. I’ve seen Boggs drive ball after ball into the seats during batting practice. He always said he could hit for power if he wanted to.

I believe Murphy can be the same way. He’s the most patient of the Mets’ hitters. For whatever reason why Murphy is driving the ball, it makes one wonder about his optimum place is in the batting order.

His patience and on-base percentage suggests he could be a leadoff hitter. For those saying he’s not fast, you’d be right, but he’s fast enough. Remember, Pete Rose wasn’t fast, but simply one of the best leadoff hitters in history.

He’s currently second for the purpose of working the count to enable the leadoff hitter a chance to run. Only trouble is the Mets have used four leadoff hitters already. Who is running?

“I continue to think [Murphy] is going to be a very, very good offensive force,’’ Collins told reporters in Philadelphia, “to the point where it’s going to be a question whether he has to continue hitting second or you’ve got to put him in the middle of the lineup someplace.’’

Ideally, a team’s best hitter – defined as the combination of power and average – bats third, but that’s David Wright’s spot. However, should Murphy continue to stroke the ball while Ike Davis keeps struggling, why not move him to third and drop Wright and Davis one slot into the order?

This lengthens the order to the point where Lucas Duda could be batting seventh, which doesn’t make the bottom third a black hole.

They are winning so keep a pat hand. This is just a suggestion to tuck away for later.

That the Mets dispatched the Padres on opening day should not be as much a surprise as the manner in which they did it. The Mets reputation as world beaters on opening day goes without mention … it likely has something to do with the presence of some fine pitching throughout Met history and the natural advantage pitching has over hitting early in the season. Yet somehow, yesterday felt different. It reminded me of a passage from the Lord of the Rings.

And in that very moment, away behind in some courtyard of the city, a cock crowed. Shrill and clear he crowed, recking nothing of war nor of wizardry, welcoming only the morning that in the sky far above the shadows of death was coming with the dawn. And as if in answer there came from far away another note. Horns …

For those of you familiar with the trilogy you will recall this was the moment of the tense standoff at the city’s broken gates. It remains for me perhaps the single most inspiring moment in the entire epic (amazingly botched by Peter Jackson), it was the turning point, a breath of morning air so to speak. Watching Collin Cowgill digging for third with his head down yesterday was that for me and I can only hope it is a wake up call to fans who’ve for too long slumbered in the doldrums of chronic despair. The ensuing trot to home without fanfare or antics iced it. This team has a different aura about it — there’s a no nonsense attitude permeating them. Their demeanor resonates with the notion that those who are privileged to walk onto the field need to play the game right or get the hell out of the way, what a concept. It is refreshing to say the least.

Whether it translates into victories is almost beside the point. Fans can forgive an awful lot, but one thing that turns them away in droves is indifference. Too often have Met teams of recent history been plagued by a deference to apathy, too quickly have specters of collapse exhumed an infectious invocation to repeat a pattern of surrender; their default to capitulate. Indeed, pride comes before a fall, and this team hasn’t had anything to be boastful about in quite some time. For those of you wondering why Jordany Valdespin didn’t win a spot on the starting lineup look no further. Jordany will make it to the starting roster, I’m certain of it, but a dose of unassuming modesty will only make him better. There is something to be said for the kind of grinding humility that pushes an individual to scratch and claw regardless of outcome.

There will be days when we don’t score 11 runs, when our pitching falters. There will be injuries and heartbreaking losses, but the Mets need to find ways to rebound that have eluded them in recent years. As Bluto of Animal House famously said, “Over? Did you say over? Nothing is over until we decide it is. Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell, no.” This team needs an “I may go down but I’ll take a few of you with me” attitude to losing. They need to care damn it, they need to care more about winning than just about anything else in their world, and those that don’t reflect that quiet obstinate ferocity need to get out of the way.

Alderson may be criticized for a lot of things, but enabling a foundation of fringe characters like Cowgill and Rice and Byrd (who are literally playing for their baseball lives) while grounding the team with sober veterans like John Buck and Scott Atchison and LaTroy Hawkins, with a cadre of frothing rookies in reserve raring to circumvent any potential collapse, should not be one of them. A lot of things could go wrong, this team could fail in ways we can’t imagine, but right now, I like the make-up of this team, a lot.

The team with the most talent doesn’t always win … it’s the team that plays better that wins.

If the 2013 Mets are to have a snowball’s chance in hell of securing a wild-card … they have to adopt this style of play with every fiber of their being, every single last one of them, every single chance they get.

I just caught a glimpse of what this season’s Opening day tickets look like, courtesy of Leigh Castergine, VP of Ticket Sales & Services for the New York Mets, and I must say they look spectacular!

Those tickets are so awesome… I love the vintage look and of course the image of The Franchise, Tom Seaver just makes them an instant Mets collectible.

I thought it would be pretty tough to top last year’s tickets, which were also great, honoring 50 Years of Mets Baseball, with each ticket featuring a prominent figure from Mets lore.

Just a great job by the Mets on this and it’s so good to see them embracing their history like never before, especially in the last two years. A hat tip to you all from all of us at Mets Merized Online.

I hate the fact that the Mets are always being picked apart by the usual suspects for the silliest things. Lately, almost every little thing they do gets magnified to umpteenth degree, with so many so-called fans always trying to create a drama when there really isn’t any.

I think we need to cut all of that nonsense out and instead start giving them credit especially when it’s due. For the most part they do a lot of good things that go unnoticed – and that shouldn’t be the case.

By the way, I recently learned that Leigh came to the Mets a couple of years ago with some impressive credentials on her resume.

She once worked for the NBA’s Orlando Magic and prior to joining the Mets she was Director of Sales for the NHL’s Boston Bruins.

I had no idea she was such a seasoned veteran. I say we make her co-captain with David Wright…

You can follow Leigh on Twitter at @LeighJC_NYM.

On Sunday, Murray Chass published his thoughts on minorities in baseball with a splash of recent statistics, claiming the numbers would “disappoint, if not disgust” the late Jackie Robinson. The baseball columnist pointed out:

• Since the Philadelphia Phillies named Ruben Amaro Jr. general manager Nov. 3, 2008, teams have hired 14 general managers. All have been white.
• Of the last 23 managers hired, dating to May 2010, three have been minorities.
• Heading into the 2013 season, MLB has only one minority general manager (Amaro) and four minority managers.

The moment Chass starting thinking in these terms, discrimination reared its ugly head. As for his algorithm on equality in baseball – nonsense. Is the game better off if we have 15 white and 15 black major league managers or general managers? Let’s not offend the Hispanic community by ignoring them. Maybe we need to slice the job opportunities into 10/10/10. What about women? Don’t they deserve equal opportunity in the sports industry? You see where this is going right?

At the risk of offending every man, woman and child on earth, may I offer this bold, but novel, idea: Hire the most qualified candidate for the job. The fact that we — regardless of race, creed, culture, color or gender — are still placing labels on people is indicative of a larger problem: racism.

Racism starts, not on the field or in a blog post, but in the human mind. If there are inequalities they should be addressed, but should MLB (or any other organization) be required to meet a race/gender quota? Isn’t policy founded on this principle the very definition of racism at it root?

I grew up in a small railroad town in upstate New York. My high school graduating class could fit all its members on the front of a t-shirt. Translation: it was small, still is. This means nothing to you. But, for me, it revealed something about my personal experience with race. My entire graduating class was white. My entire neighborhood was white. In my recollection, not a single person that lived and grew up in Mechanicville, New York when I was young was anything other than white.

I was ignorant about discrimination – not by choice, but by circumstance. Until about five years ago, discrimination was a radio talk show subject. It was the central theme of a movie or a television program. My life had never truly intersected with the issue. Then, one summer, I found myself devouring books about Jackie Robinson, Josh Gibson, Buck O’Neil, John Feinstein’s The Punch and Glory Road, the story of Don Haskins and the 1966 Texas Tech basketball team.

The stories led me on a personal journey to discover my personal definition of discrimination. It became clear to me that if I wanted to really know about the subject, well, I better find a subject matter expert. Living in Charleston, South Carolina — home of the well-preserved Slave Market in historic downtown — I was confident I could find athletes who grew up, even made local history, for breaking the “color barrier,” in sports. I did better than that, I found two: Remus Harper and Norman Seabrooks, the Jackie Robinson’s of college athletics in Charleston.

I needed to meet, hear, see and listen to their stories, their experiences, if I had any chance of understanding the painful truth. This exploration led me to write two stories about racism in sports: Citadel Grad Breaks Silence and Stumbling Blocks and Stepping Stones. I encourage you to read their stories. What I learned from these two men is discrimination is not a policy; it’s “a learned behavior,” Harper told me. You can’t create guidelines to stifle discrimination. It is an act that starts in the mind.

Seabrooks, the first African-American to play athletics at The Citadel, taught me a lesson in grace and hope. It took him two decades before he could talk about his experience. When he finally did, Seabrooks said he “noticed something different … progress. You are seeing a generation of kids who are growing up whom, unlike my generation, were exposed to African Americans and others in high school and grade school. I realized, these kids grew up in a world so different from my grade school years that, it’s a new place. To paraphrase Dr. King, people are now being judged on their character, not their skin color.”

The more I listened to Harper and Seabrooks, the more I began to realize Thomas Gray was right, mt ignorance was bliss. There is nothing more powerful than to look in the eyes of discrimination and see the pain; or, listen to the voice and hear the pain. Now, when someone like Chass uses numbers to describe discrimination, I can close my eyes and see a face. I know what discrimination, even racism, sounds like.

Statistics tell a story, but not the story. Sure, siscrimination lives, but there has been progress and there is hope. Is there equal opportunity? The numbers tell us one thing, but history suggests another. We’ve come a long way since Haskins, Robinson, Harper and Seabrooks. Would Robinson be satisfied? I doubt it. Robinson was a competitor; he was never satisfied. Would he quit? Not a chance. As William Seabrook’s told his son Norm, “You’re going to have a lot of tough times in your life, but quitting becomes comfortable when you do it the first time. Once you start quitting it never stops.”

We should never quit the pursuit to right the wrong. But as a whole we must understand, discrimination is not a set of numbers, it’s an act that leaves a deep scar on people’s lives.

Sure, I’ve seen it before. Most of us probably have. If not at a Yankee game than maybe as Mets fans during a Subway Series game. Yes, I go to Yankees games. I have friends that are Yankees fans and I love hanging out and watching baseball. It’s only fair, since some of them have been to Shea or Citi with me. But when I’ve seen Rivera saves in the past, I regarded it as a common happenstance. The Yankees win, Rivera gets the save. What else is new?

But this time, I’ll pay a little more attention. I’ll save my ticket stub. I might even purchase a program and keep score in that, instead of printing off a bootleg scorecard I created in MS Word that I take to all the games I attend. Because this time, it will be the last time I’ll ever see it.

Saturday morning, Rivera announced his retirement subsequent to the 2013 season. It wasn’t a surprise to anyone, but I guess it was required to make it official. And therefore, I feel I owe it to myself to witness the scene one last time: the clean guitar intro, the E minor-based riff and the jog in from the pen holding his glove in his right hand.

See, the beauty of baseball is that there are no right or wrong answers to any of the subjective questions. Was Willie or Mickey the best position player of all time? How would Babe Ruth have fared in this era? Did Barry Bonds have enough talent to be the best without “help”? Where would a healthy Ken Griffey, Jr. rank? Where does Tom Seaver rank in the pantheon of pitchers? But Rivera ruins the curve. There is a certain right and wrong answer to the question of who the best relief pitcher of all time is. Rivera is the right answer and anyone else is the wrong one.

Besides having the most regular season saves of all time and the plethora of postseason records – of which I won’t waste your time and mine listing – there are two factoids about Rivera that astound me. The first is his career WHIP. Get this: there are three men in the history of major league baseball with a minimum of 1,000 innings pitched to compile a career WHIP under 1.00! Mariano Rivera is second behind Addie Joss of the Cleveland Bronchos/Naps and ahead of Big Ed Walsh of the White Sox. For historical perspective, Addie Joss died in 1911 and Big Ed retired after the 1917 season. Neither of them pitched in the live ball era, let alone the steroid era.

As magnificent as the WHIP is, this next one is truly astounding. There have been more men to walk on the moon (12) then there have been men to score an earned run off Rivera in the postseason (11).

Let that simmer.

And it’s not as if Rivera has only had a handful of opportunities. He leads the universe in playoff appearances and innings pitched for a relief pitcher. His ERA is 0.70 in the postseason.

It’s because of all that I owe it to myself to revel in Rivera’s ubiquitous dominance one last time, and to savor and remember it this time. It’s because I can watch Rivera warm up to Metallica, saw bats in half and cut-fastball his way to baseball royalty. And unlike those who had witnessed Willie and Mickey in their prime, I can say without even a shadow of doubt, I witnessed the best ever.

You won’t like me when I’m angry…

Bobby Parnell has been something of a wildcard for the Amazin’s each of the past few seasons. He has been bounced all around the pitching staff,  however in 2012 seems to have found himself a home in the late innings of New York Mets baseball games.

The question remains however, which inning does the young fireballer belong? He hasn’t exactly found success as a closer, but has proven to be a very effective set-up man. With Frank Francisco likely starting the year on the disabled list,–and better off staying there–Parnell has been handed the job and has a golden opportunity to prove he deserves to stay there. In his six Spring Training games, he is certainly on the right track, but the question is will Parnell be able to incorporate this exceptional performance into higher leverage situations as the year goes on. The common perception among Met fans is no, Parnell is not a big game pitcher, however if we see this Bobby throughout the 2013 season, we could be looking at a completely different pitcher than in years past.

Parnell overall went 5-4 with a 2.49 ERA and 1.23 WHIP. Last season, despite a history of having command issues, walked only 20 in 68.2 innings pitched. He also struck out 61 and opposing batters only hit .249 off him with a .303 on-base percentage, both career bests for Parnell.

Let’s see some swagger in 2013!

The now 28-year old had seven saves, three of which came in September out of just as many opportunities. Also pitching to a 0.60 ERA in the final month of the season, Parnell definitely showed signs that he can handle the ninth.

Although it has only been a matter of six outings down in St. Lucie, Parnell has dominated every time he has been out on the mound this past month. Will that electric stuff continue? That remains to be seen. Throughout his career, Parnell has struggled when the going gets tough, however so far it appears as if we are seeing a changed athlete. One who wants the ball when the game is on the line. One who doesn’t get around hitters, but goes after them and blows them away.

Which Bobby Parnell will show up? I can’t say. But in my opinion, these Spring Training outings, unlike most, are a sign of more than just a hot start in a few meaningless games.

We have slowly seen progression from Parnell  each of the past four seasons, and I believe 2013 is his time to shine.

Thoughts from Joe D.

I don’t have much to say other than to look at my images in this post and their captions. It’s time to see some fire in the belly from Parnell – not in the seventh inning, but in the ninth. It’s put up or shut up time for Parnell. He’s not a kid any more and it’s time to man up… No more “deer in the headlights” look either… It’s time to get mean… It’s time to get angry…