Mets News
Jose Lima will throw out the first pitch at CitiField… April Fools!
New York Mets: Predicted Finish: First Place (96-66) - Forty years ago Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Tommy Agee and Cleon Jones led the “Miracle Mets” to one of the most improbable World Series wins in baseball history. The 2009 Mets don’t have that kind of pitching, but have a far more potent lineup. Jerry Manuel is in his second season at the helm and despite letting his charges blow another commanding lead in 2008, he believes his team is ready to make a run. One change he envisions for 2009 is moving Jose Reyes to the third sport in the lineup to give more presence for his young star, to make him more of a team leader. The most crucial leadership will need to come from Frankie Rodriguez and J.J. Putz who have moved into the NY media glare for the first time. Talking about his shortstop may be a shell game Manuel is playing to keep the press focused on his proven players, rather than the ones most important to September success for the Mets. The other variable is Carlos Delgado who at 37 is the old veteran and who needs to stay healthy to back up Wright and Beltran in the lineup.
http://seamheads.com/blog/2009/03/31/nl-east-preview-grudge-match
Carlos Delgado, 1B New York Mets (6-3/264 Pounds): Delgado should be considered an injury risk every year because he’s getting up there in age (37), but that shouldn’t scare you away from adding one of the most dependable Home Run threats in the game to you HR Derby team in 2009! Delgado went on a tear the second half of last season and hit 27 Home Runs in 84 games which allowed him to finish with 38 Home Runs in ‘08. Delgado is one of the all time best Home Run hitters that ever played the game & should have no problem hitting anywhere from 30 to 35 Home Runs if he can stay healthy all year long. 2009 Home Run Projection: 30 Home Runs
http://allamericanfantasysports.blogspot.com/2009/03/meet-b-list-for-all-american-home-run.html
Who are these guys? Chokers? Jokers? A team with 4 of the games' best players needs to solve its perennial leadership problem (in case you're wondering, Marlon Anderson does not seem to be the answer here) and establish some kind of identity. They haven't had a real ra-ra, sis boom ba kind of leader since Mike Piazza (I keed). In any event, they need a narrative about who they are and where they're going, and this time they must aim for going farther than the last weekend of the regular season. If the team identity is in any way defined by the suits, we're all in trouble. The Mets organization has perfected a certain...something. We need a German word. Laughingstocknfreud.Only the Mets could be so tone-deaf as to schedule the historical Shea lovefest directly after the previously scheduled annual last-weekend collapse, so that no one, in their heart of hearts, could bear to view it. Of course, many of us still watched, as the masterminds of Sterling knew we would. But we couldn't bear it. Whatever didn't kill us, to paraphrase Nietzsche, would strengthen Mets fans... for the coming ticket price gouging of historical proportions.
http://itsmetsforme.blogspot.com/2009/03/demolished-mets-2009-preview.html
Brian Schneider is not only not a good fielding catcher but quite possibly a bad one. Dewan shrewdly measures catcher ERA in the defensive stats and in a good essay on Jose Molina. So we can see that Mets pitchers had a 4.11 ERA with Schneider behind the plate and a 3.68 one with Castro. In fact, Schneider's adjusted ERA of minus-16 runs since 2006 is the second worst Dewan has on record. What I wished the book had, and I'll put in my request with John and Steve, is strikeout and walk totals per nine innings for catchers, too. I've been sitting on this since last year because it was never worthy of an entire article, but Mets pitchers were significantly more prone to issuing walks with Schneider catching than with Castro: 3.73 per nine innings for Schneider compared to 3.14 for Castro. Maybe it's the pitchers they tended to catch. But it could also be another strike against Schneider. Of course, there's little hope that Castro can hold up for anything approaching a full season of action behind the dish.
http://web.sny.tv/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090331&content_id=1496897&oid=36018&vkey=9
A scout told the New York Post that he believes 24-year-old Daniel Murphy will "get better and better." "He has a professional approach at the plate," said the unnamed scout. "He knows what he is trying to do. Guys like that get better and better. His pitch selection will get better and better, and he will start turning on pitches and hitting with more power. Most scouts think he will hit 15 or fewer homers. I think he will be in the mid-20s with a lot of doubles." Murphy will bat second in the Mets' lineup this season. He's hitting .363/.411/.525 this spring with one home run and 15 RBI. - NYPost
B-Mets:
I had a report from one of the “sources” that SP Tobi Stoner went “dead arm”… checked it out with another of my sources, who told me “Tobi told me two days ago that he was long-tossing at 180 feet, and expected to get on a mound any day. He'll be behind, but hopefully will be in Binghamton by the end of April.”
Gnats:
The Savannah Sand Gnats and the Savannah College of Art and Design Bees will play an abbreviated exhibition game at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 8, 2009 at Historic Grayson Stadium, the two sides announced today. The event is open to the public and there will be no fee for admission. This will be the only exhibition game the Sand Gnats squad, which has yet to be announced, will play before their home opener on Thursday, April 9. This is the first time in recent history a Sand Gnats squad has played a local college team in an exhibition game. “We’re glad that we could provide such a unique opportunity for these kids to play in a professional setting against a professional team,” said Team President R.C. Reuteman. “It will be a great experience for both the Sand Gnats as well as the young student-athletes of SCAD.” The Bees (24-14) are coming off a doubleheader split with Southeastern University at Chain Field over the weekend. SCAD will play the night before, April 7, on the road versus Brewerton-Parker College in Mount Vernon, Ga. The Bees have played a majority of their home games in 2009 in the confines of Historic Grayson Stadium.
http://mail.google.com/mail/#inbox/1205e6f7fa3446bb
Mets Alumni:
Jeff Keppinger played in a minor-league game Tuesday, then went back to his condo to pack because he had to be out on March 31. Little did he know his next stop would be Kissimmee. The Cincinnati Reds traded the utility infielder to the Houston Astros for a minor-league player to be named - and the naming must be by May 1.
http://www.daytondailynews.com/o/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/cincinnatireds/index.html
Lee Mazilli was born in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, March 25, 1955. Mazzilli's grandfather was from Bari, Italy, came to NY and worked in the piano business. His father Libero was a former welterweight boxer & lived in the same 3 1/2 -room apartment until his passing in 2007. Mazzili won eight national speed-skating championships, but chose baseball when the Mets drafted him first round in 1973. At Visalia in the California League, he stole seven bases in a seven-inning game in 1975. He was brought up to the Mets, in 1976 and was promoted as a star prospect. The hometown boy with matinee idol looks drove the ladies crazy, and became a sex symbol. He broke into the majors with a bang in September 1976, pinch hitting a three-run homer off the Cubs' Darold Knowles, then two weeks later a two run game winner off Kent Tekulve with two out in the ninth. Overall in 24 games he only hit .195
http://www.metspolice.com/2009/03/centerfield-maz-lee-mazzilli.html
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