The Phillies came back to win 4-3 against the Astros tonight. They scored four runs in the 9th against closer Jose Valverde. Pat Burrell and Chris Snelling both had HRs and Pedro Feliz had an RBI double.

Ugh

The Braves were shutout by the Braves 4-0. Marlins SP Scott Olsen threw seven scoreless innings. The scoring included an RBI double by Ex-Met Mike Jacobs.

I know it’s early in the year, but I think we need to get going, so I whipped out the lucky Mets tube socks this morning and wore them today.  

They have rarely failed me, and I can’t imagine that would change starting today.

The following are a series of clues for you to guess three different ex-Mets:

Player #1 (easy):

• This 6′7″ RHP pitched in 29 games for the Mets in 2002, with 22 of them as starts.
• He was acquired from the Mets as a part of a deal with the Brewers that also netted them OF Jeromy Burnitz.
• He finished his career with Pittsburgh and Cleveland. 
• In his career, he hit 2 HRs.

Player #2 (medium):

• This 1B played 53 games for the Mets in 2005. 
• In his 15 MLB seasons, he batted .273 with 537 RBIs.
• He played for seven different teams: Dodgers, Royals, Red Sox, Mariners, Twins, Phillies and Mets.
• He now plays for the LI Ducks.  Last year in a game for the Ducks he attacked the pitcher and catcher with his bat after being hit with a pitch.  He was presented with criminal charges, and remains on probation.

Player #3 (hard)

• This player was the opening day catcher for the Mets in 1998.  He played only 21 games for the Mets, batting .137 with 3 RBIs. 
• After being a 5th round pick of the Royals, he began his career with the Royals in 1999.  In between he played for the Mets and Expos.
• Although he batted only .198 in his career, his strongest statistical year was his last when he ‘mashed’ with 9 HRs and 26 RBIs in 155 ABs.

Post your guesses in the comments section, I’ll put the answers back in this same post later tonight.

The Nationals have optioned C Jesus Flores to AAA.  Flores was taken from the Mets as a part of the Rule V draft for the 2007 season.

The Nationals also activated OF Wily Mo Pena from the 15 Day DL.

I just thought I’d begin by saying Angel Pagan rules.

Single: In his column Rumblings and Grumblings for ESPN, Jayson Stark goes through the five biggest injuries in the MLB this year. As the fifth biggest, he places Pedro Martinez/El Duque.

Sometimes I look at things and say, why do two of our starters have to get hurt? Why us, why now? Sometimes it’s nice to remember that the Angels are missing their top two starters and the Mariners are missing their closer, just as a reminder that we’re not the only team getting screwed via injury.

Double: Throughout this week, the Mets have been trying out new sing-a-long tunes during the 8th inning, in an attempt to replace Sweet Caroline.

I was there Wednesday night, and they played Livin’ on a Prayer. It was fantastic. I’m not sure about the rest of the stadium, but my whole section was singing the whole thing, and I think that’s what supposed to be happening during a sing-a-long.

Also, one more note about the music at Shea: there’s too much of it. They played the techno song Sandstorm in the 3rd inning, which is all too early for it. Last night they played three different techno songs, only one of them at an appropriate time, that might have called for some pump up music.

One more note about last nights game: too early to bring out rally towels? It turned out to be an intense, extra-inning game, but I thought it was too early in the year to bring out the rally towels.

Triple: For AOL Sports, Jim Armstrong wrote an article criticizing fans for our obsession with statistics and numbers. He writes:

Have you seen some of the quote, unquote stats out there? When I was a kid hustling autographs at Wrigley Field, the game was all about W’s and L’s. Now it’s about WHIP and VORP and OPS and BABIP

Yes, we understand that in the end all that counts is whether or not we get the win. Yet, we’re trying to analyze how to get the win, and which players are most likely to give us that win.

For Fire Joe Morgan, Ken Tremendous went to town in a rant criticizing Jim Armstrong’s article.

In response to Armstrong writing, “Have you seen some of the quote, unquote stats out there?” Ken writes:

My man: when you are talking you say “quote-unquote” to indicate sarcasm. When you are writing you can just put things in quotes. As in: Jim Armstrong is a “journalist.” He is also “funny” and “smart” and I “want to hang out with him” because he seems to have a lot of “good” “points.”

Too funny. You must read the whole thing, I guarantee that you will not stop laughing the whole post.

Hat tip to Vines on FJM link

Home Run: As has become routine for the Cardinals, Tony La Russa had the pitcher bat 8th for the Cardinals last night.

I was thinking about it, and it makes loads of sense to me. Frankly, I think Luis Castillo should bat last. He brings no pop in the 2-hole. There are two main reasons to me that the SP should bat 8th. The first being, when you have a catalyst like Jose Reyes batting 1st, its rare that guys are on base for Reyes. Since Reyes can be such a great hitter, having someone with a high OBP like Castillo would allow for Reyes to produce more runs.

The second reason is that in a given game, we’ll pinch hit in the pitcher’s slot once or twice. Usually that pinch hitter is a better hitter then whomever the 8th hitter is (like how Marlon Anderson is a better hitter than Brian Schneider). So, it would allow for more production for Reyes and the pitcher only bats in that 8th hole a couple times, before a better hitter takes his place.

According to Delaware Online, the Phillies have signed LHP Steven Kline to a minor-league contract.  Kline was DFAed by the Giants, and was handed his out right release on April 4th.

Hat tip to MLB Trade Rumors for the link

For ESPN.com, Bob Klapisch officially commences the 2008 rivalry between the Mets and Phillies.  Among other things, he discusses the trash-talk, the collapse and the possibility of a brawl between the two clubs.

He writes:

The two rivals face each other six times in April, which will not only stoke the rivalry, but give both sides a sense of the 2008 chemistry, too. Are the Phillies even better now than in ‘07, as Rollins claims? Are the Mets damaged from the most prodigious collapse in regular-season history? 

Let’s win tomorrow. I’ll be there, and I can’t remember being this excited for an April game.   

At ESPN, their baseball staff has compiled their predictions for the baseball year, including division winners, World Series winner, Cy Young Winner, MVPs and Rookies of the Year.

Notably, many of the ESPN ranking analysts picked the Braves to win the division, such as Jayson Stark, Peter Gammons and Buster Olney.

At ESPN, Stark explains why he thinks the Braves will win the World Series: 

It’s too late to rewrite the history of the teams that ran off those 14 titles. But the great thing about sports is that the next chapter in the history books always can look different than the chapters that came before it. So don’t let the lack of clubhouse volume fool you. This is a team talented enough to resculpt history.

The only reporter to have the Mets winning the world series is Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes.

10 of the 20 analysts had a Met winning the MVP, 9 predicting David Wright would win, while Phil Rogers thinks Johan Santana will win.  13 predicted Johan Santana will win the Cy Young.

I think predicting wins and losses is stupid, but I do think this reminds me of the point that the Braves are well-rounded.  I’m much more worried about them than the Phillies.

If you’re more curious about why I think predicting end-results is pointless, check out last year’s predictions on ESPN, and count to see how many even have the Rockies in the playoffs, and check out how many have the Twins in the playoffs…among various mistakes that were made.  As an educated fan, you have as much of a shot as predicting what will happen.  Does the guy with the best NCAA bracket every year work for ESPN?

Hat tip to Vines for the link to this  year’s predictions.

Today I’m not bantering about the team and its issues, but just some issues I have with us the fans and our behavior at Mets games.

Single: The ‘Yankees Suck’ chant.  Even when we’re not playing the Yankees, at home games we seem to break out in spontaneous ’Yankees Suck’ chants.

Yes, the Yankees do suck.  We know it, and I’m getting the feeling they are starting to figure it out lately too.  Yet, we don’t have to stoop down to their level of behavior. Its just not needed.  Listen, I’m sure if you have friends who are Yankees fans they rub in your face the 26 World Championships, then they ask you, ‘Wait, how many do they Mets have? Two, that’s all?’ But, you can always defend your fandom by saying the Mets are classier, the Mets don’t use the DH, and they have a much more dedicated and well-rounded fan base.  You lose that if all of a sudden we stoop down to their level for a meaningless ‘Yankees Suck’ chant midway through a summer blowout against the Pirates. 

Double: The ‘Jose-Jose-Jose’ chant.  In 2006 as Jose Reyes was developing into a star and we were in the middle of wining our first division championship since 1988, there developed an amazing cheer, for Jose Reyes.  If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out youtube.

Here’s my issue with the Jose chant: in 2007 we did it too often.  Before at-bats we did it, after meaningless singles we cheered it, and that’s not what its meant for.  It should be saved for those crucial RBI doubles, and singles that we want to spark come behind rallies in the bottom of the ninth.  Granted, not all of the blame here goes to the fans.  The higher powers that control the music at Shea started playing it before at-bats and after every meaningless single.  Together, along with better performance from the audio crew at Shea, we can avoid ruining this great cheer.

Triple: It seems to be almost regular now, that at a Mets game (and my guess is at every other ballpark too) that somebody decides they will be that guy and bring a couple beach balls to the game and hit them around in the crowd.

Now the general notion of the beach ball does not bother me.  I’d just like to set a few guidelines regarding the conduct of the beach ball at the baseball game.  First of all, beach balls should only be brought during day games.  Day games are supposed to have a spring-summer almost picnic like feel, so beach balls are appropriate.  However, day game or not what really bothers me is how people act towards the ball.  There could be one floating getting bopped three sections away and the person sitting next to me is all giddy for the ball.  They’re on the edge of their seat yelling, as if the person three sections over will hear, “This way. THIS WAY!”  And for what, to take a smack at this beach ball?  Is it really such a thrill? It’s as if there are these men playing some sort of sport on a field in front of them that they could perhaps pay attention to, rather than a beach ball 100 seats to their right getting smacked by a random stranger.

Home Run: The ‘Hoo’.  At games, there tends to be a ‘Lets Go Mets’ chant, only to be followed with an even louder ‘Hoo’.  If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out youtube. 

I think the cheer is pointless.  What bothers me by far the most is that the ‘Hoo’ is usually much louder than the actual ‘Lets Go Mets’ chant.  What is the ‘Hoo’? Is it supposed to be intimidating, because its definitely not.  ‘Lets Go Mets’ is a classic chant being ruined by an idiotic roar in between each verse.  If you are a die-hard ‘Hoo’ person, I ask that you at least chant the ‘Lets Go Mets’ as well.  It’s just the worst when there is a faint ’Lets Go Mets’ but then there is an absurdly loud ‘Hoo’.  It’s a silly chant that takes away from a classic chant.  This doesn’t even graze my other issues with the ’Lets Go Mets’ chant.  For example, why do we try and do it so quickly?  Most of the time when we’re chanting it, Shea provides us with a nice steady beat to do it on, but people go way too quickly, and it results in parts of the stadium doing it at one pace, another section at another pace and it is in no way the classic chant that it could and should be.

I talked with Matt Cerrone of Metsblog about the ’Hoo’ and he expressed similar sentiment, however he had a unique reason for his views:

 ”The yelling of, ‘Hoo, is not my preferred version of the cheer.  However, like the black uniforms, I have learned to accept it as a product of a new generation of Mets fans, and I can live with that.  What bugs me most about it, though, is that after the game, in the parking lot after a win, people will beep their horns to the rhythm, ‘Lets go Mets,’ and it’s a great environment.  By adding that fourth beat, for the, ‘Hoo,’ it will turn in to one long series of beeps, and that is unacceptable.”

Whatever your reason is, please don’t chant the ‘Hoo’, and even if for some reason you feel compelled to, chant the ‘Lets Go Mets’ louder than the ‘Hoo’.

PS

This isn’t to the fans but Shea Stadium: Stop taking my freakin’ bottle caps. Now I just have to bring my own to put on top, which is moderately inconvenient.  Thank you.