It must have been fate that I happened to be in my car at 1:00 pm yesterday. After listening to WFAN’s Mike Francesa, I see the other side to this Valdespin issue – in fact it goes beyond Valdespin. I only was in the car long enough to hear his opening monologue, but you know what? He was dead on. Look, Valdespin is a jerk – he’s an immature bench player who constantly finds himself [...]

Usually, it isn’t until after the All Star break, when we need to combine series to come up with 3 Ups and 3 Downs. This week was an exception with the Mets winning 2 out of 6 games against the Chicago White Sox & the Pittsburgh Pirates. Unless the Met offense wakes up real soon, we’re going to be in for a long season. Sorry to say, a first baseman batting .190 in the middle [...]

Starting Lineup Ruben Tejada – SS Daniel Murphy – 2B David Wright – 3B John Buck – C Lucas Duda – LF Andrew Brown – RF Ike Davis – 1B Juan Lagares – CF Matt Harvey – RHP Game Notes The Mets went 2-3 on their recent road trip. The club begins a six-game homestand tonight. New York is 7-8 at home this season. Saturday’s rain out in Atlanta is now scheduled for Tuesday, June [...]

One of the players I most enjoyed covering was Robin Ventura for those two years he played for the Yankees. In that clubhouse full of stars and egos, Ventura was a voice of calm, reason and humorous relief. I enjoyed stopping by his locker to shoot the breeze for a minute or two, talking about things other than baseball. Very smart, clever and possessing an insight on numerous issues. When there was the inevitable blow [...]

The Chicago Tribune discussed Tuesday’s homecoming of sorts for Chicago White Sox manager Robin Ventura and his coach Joe McEwing. Both were teammates for two seasons with the Mets including the 2000 team that won the National League, but lost to Yankees in the World Series. “It was a great time,” said Ventura, who played for the Mets from 1999-2001. “We enjoyed it as a family just being there. The Mets were very good to me. [...]

This game had a definite carnival atmosphere feel to it as the Atlanta Braves beat the Mets by the score of 9-4 to split the rain-shortened two-game series at Turner Field. What a comedy of errors for the Mets even though the box score would suggest a clean game. I hate sad stories and bad endings so this will be short and sweet bitter. Jon Niese struggled from the word go and while it looks like he [...]

Edgardo Alfonzo remains one of the most beloved Mets alumni, both for his post-season heroics (e.g. 3 HR’s including a ninth inning grand slam in the space of two vital 1999 playoff games against the Reds and Diamondbacks), and his role as part of the “Best Infield Ever” as dubbed by Sports Illustrated. His flexibility as a player made him an invaluable asset to the team which moved him from his original spot at second [...]

The Mets and the Braves are currently battling it out atop the NL East this year, evoking memories of classic Mets-Braves rivalries of yesteryear.  The final pages of the script for the year 2010 have yet to be written, but the Mets gave their fans a memorable chapter in the Mets-Braves rivalry ten years ago today in a game played at Shea Stadium. It was the year 2000.  The Y2K scare had come and gone, [...]

And yet it seems that we’re in the same spot. October 17, 1999. Ten years ago last Saturday. Robin Ventura gave Mets fans one of the more unusual defining moments in team history. A “grand slam single” in the bottom of the 15th inning to break a tied game and send the Mets to Game 6 to face the Atlanta Braves one more time. As fate would have it, the Mets would fall short in [...]

On 9/9/09, Major League Baseball announced a fan poll contest, called the All-Time 9. What that means is that fans can go to official website of their favorite teams and vote for the best single seasons at a position in team history, with the goal of putting together an all-time lineup. After a quick jaunt to the Mets page, I found quite a nice list of memorable single season stats, some positions deeper than others. [...]