Brian Costello of the NY Post provides us with this hilarious pic while breaking down the popularity of Keith Hernandez. Costello talks to Hernandez about the possibility of managing one day and how he felt when he was first dealt by the Cards to the Mets 25 years ago today.

Matt Cerrone of Mets Blog and Keith’s booth mate Gary Cohen were asked for their opinion on Hernandez’ popularity.

“I think he hearkens back more to a tough era and a style of play that Mets fans appreciate,” said Matthew Cerrone, who runs metsblog.com. “I think things like ‘Seinfeld’ and the mustache contest have over time built up the legend of Keith Hernandez.”

“People just love him,” said Gary Cohen, who shares the broadcast booth with Hernandez on SNY. “He’s a rock star.”

The moment Keith joined the Mets he became my favorite Met. He was smooth in everything he did and he was always the man you wanted up in the big situations. He played his position with a grace and intelligence that made me proud that he was on the team I rooted for.

Over on Mets Blog today, Star Ledger writer Dan Graziano popped up in the comments section to defend himself and the role of official blogs in journalism. Some commenter’s leveled criticism on the journo, calling him unprofessional for putting the contents of a recent email between himself and Carlos Delgado’s agent David Sloane on his blog.

The email exchange centered around the accuracy of details of Delgado’s contract as published in the one of Graziano’s recent sidebars. Graziano did not publish the email today to set the facts straight. He published the email to show all his readers that Sloane is “insane” as he clearly headlined - “Breaking News - Delgado’s Agent is Insane”

Sloane does prove himself to be a number of things, mostly unprofessional for calling Graziano a retard. He even got a yo momma dig in there for good measure. Nobody is arguing that Sloane is a normal human being.

But the post raises questions about whether the same rules that guide journalists’ stories should loosely guide what they write on their official newspaper blogs. Graziano argued via MetsBlog that since he published the email on his blog and not in the newspaper, it was kosher. According to Graziano, the blog is supposed to show the funny side of the beat writer’s experience.

While the email is in and of itself kind of funny, I think publishing it was an abuse of Graziano’s power. As a journalist myself I can’t count the number of times I wish I could publish a PR person’s rant after the fact. It happens on a weekly basis- flacks and sources call up to complain after a story runs even when they did not call you back for comment in the first place. I’ve been called names(although never a retard) and had my sourcing questioned. It’s part of the job - you argue your point, you print corrections when they are warranted and then you write your next story.

I’m sure it’s not news to other journalists that Sloane is insane, and so these sorts of exchanges should be saved for the press box. I’m not as sure that Sloane’s comments fall under the definition of what is news for most readers. It’s a slippery slope. We like to see how some of the sausage is made but I found this example a bit vindictive. While official newspaper blogs can be a little bit looser with some standards and should share some behind the scenes stories, I don’t see how they can have carte blache to fire missiles even at those that are “insane”.

Took a look around the interwebs and some sports talk radio and this is what I found.

First up, Brian Schneider visited with Benigno and Roberts on their midday show on WFAN. Scheider told them even though he “hasn’t swung a bat yet” if they need him in an emergency he would “go out there”.

Asked if he had any thoughts on Oliver Perez, Brian said

“I just want to see an adjustment” when struggling with control. “I’ll go out there”, to the mound, “and tell him I don’t care if you throw the next two pitches in the dirt or if you hit this guy”… “He has to make an adjustment and I didn’t see that”.

Then I found these two nuggets that could kinda make you of scratch your head. First Adam Rubin of the Daily News tells us how higher-ups in Mets management mulled over the idea of replacing Rick Peterson this past off-season and Ed Ryan of Mets Fever points us towards a ESPN Jayson Stark article that reads:

So can Barry Zito ever get straightened out? We surveyed a half-dozen scouts and executives, and we found only one who thought he could. And that was a scout who said his only hope was to get reunited with Rick Peterson, “the only [pitching coach] Barry Zito ever had success with.”

So, baseball “experts” mull over whether Peterson was the problem with the Mets last year. Then six months later he might be the answer to one of the biggest flops in baseball free agency history…jeez.

Tim Marchman of the NY Sun has had enough of Willie Randolph an writes there’s nothing that Willie can do to change his mind:

It’s time for the Mets to fire Willie Randolph. They should fire him if his team sweeps the Arizona Diamondbacks this weekend. They should fire him if his team wins all three games by a total score of 27-0. They should fire him if his team puts on such a display this weekend that the greater Phoenix area literally burns to the ground around them, lit by nothing but the intensity of their passion and brilliance. The man’s time is up, and nothing can change that.

Jason at Faith and Fear in Flushing could not agree more.

NY Times Ben Shpigel gives us a pre-preview of the Arizona series in a small post he titled The Mets Past, Present and Future in Arizona.

Mets.com Marty Noble tells us about some bad memories Billy Wagner has from a ball that ricocheted off his head ten years ago in Phoenix.

Jeff Bercovici of Portfolio.com has a story about ex-Met Lenny Dykstra and some trouble he’s having with his publishing venture.

Lastly, Matt Cerrone over at Mets Blog writes about a story from the NY Post’s page six regarding Carlos Beltran’s 31st birthday party at Sofrito. Among other guest’s Jennifer Lopez was in attendance. Matt goes on to quote the page six story:

“Just when you thought it couldn’t get any wilder, Jennifer Lopez grabbed the birthday boy and shook her world-renowned booty. Then, the crowd improvised a song with the lyric, “We’re going to win the World Series.”

Then Matt totally cracked me up with this remark to finish up his post:

…take note, as this may be the first and last time the term world-renowned booty appears on MetsBlog…

For those who haven’t heard of him, blogger Matt Cerrone (of Mets Blog), apparently has some sort of contacts at SNY and will be at Spring Training all this week. Keep up with whats going on with him, and with the Mets, over at his site. I’m still trying to drink coffee and avoid sunlight, and he’s already gotten a press pass and watched Billy Wagner try to throw curveballs, so chances are he might have interesting things to share.

Head over to Mets Blog for video of Matt Cerrone talking about the experience of being at Johan Santana’s press conference.

Seriously, how cool is that? Short of being at a historic game, getting to be in the room when Johan was introduced to the Mets must have been a surreal experience. What a watershed moment for Matt and Mets Blog, a public acknowledgment of the power of the site, and what Matt has done with it, in a big way.

The best part is that Mike and the Mad Dog were forced to sit in the hallway.

Mets Blog’s Matthew Cerrone will appear tonight on SNY’s Mets Hot Stove program to discuss how fans feel about the Mets bullpen heading into 2008.

Kevin Burkhardt will interview Billy Wagner, and then be joined in studio by Adam Rubin of the Daily News and Ed Coleman from WFAN.

The program airs at 6:30 PM EST, and again at 11:00 PM EST.

Yesterday, 6th seed Matt Cerrone’s Metsblog took out number 4 seed The Hardball Times to advance to the Champion Round in Busted Coverage’s 2007 Sport Blog of the Year Tournament.

Now it’s down to the wire, MetsBlog is going up against FireJoeMorgan.com. Since Metsblog as always supported and worked with Hot Foot, I recommend everyone taking the time to go here and vote for them. Voting will continue until New Years Eve at midnight.

Good Luck, Matt!

Yesterday, 6th seed Matt Cerrone’s  Metsblog took out number 2 seed With Leather to advance to the Final Four in Busted Coverage’s 2007 Sport Blog of the Year Tournament.  Since Metsblog as always supported and worked with Hot Foot, I recommend everyone taking the time to go here and vote for them. Voting ends at midnight tonight, and voting for the championship round begins tomorrow and will continue until New Years Eve at midnight. Good Luck, Matt!

I think this would be a cool way to help Matt end his year. He works VERY hard for everyone and the deal with SNY and his loyal fan base proves that. I realize this poll is not something to be taken so seriously, but I think it’s a cool idea and would be a great way to say thanks to Matt.