The Mack Attack - April 6, 2009

Mets:

The Mets placed OF Angel Pagan, RP Billy Wagner, and SP Tim Redding on the 15-day DL, retroactive to when they went down…

Mack – all normal stuff you do a couple of days before the season starts…


- A couple of weeks ago Howard Megdal pointed out just because Marlon Anderson played left field in 2008 doesn’t make him a left fielder. Knowing the history of Anderson’s troubles out there it doesn’t bode well covering ground in center field at Citi. What’s next Gary Sheffield manning third base

http://nybaseballdigest.com/?p=9208

-Mack: there’s also a lot of concern already about the siz e of the left field fence in left field.. this sure looks like CitiField is going to demand a more than decent defensive outfield


Based on what I ate today, at my next game I would probably get an order of ribs to start and later on an order of tacos - the group of three so I could try the chicken mole. But if you've never had Shake Shack, make sure you get something from there. I actually prefer the regular burger to the Shack burger, but they don't have that at the ballpark. Shake Shack also offers a couple of different kinds of hot dogs. One of them is $5. We saw people waiting on long lines for Nathan's hot dogs, which were also $5. If you're willing to wait on a long line for a hot dog, check out Shake Shack! I'm glad to be sitting higher up for the next game, since I never got off of the field level at this one. I look forward to exploring more of Citi Field. As for the food, it's already in midseason form.

http://subwaysquawkers.blogspot.com/2009/04/citi-field-is-great-especially-food.html

-Mack: I haven’t read a bad word about this stadium yet…


The last few seasons of Craig Swan's career were a struggle thanks to injuries, so he'd already been thinking of his post-baseball life when Angels manager Gene Mauch told him he was being released. While he waited at LAX to catch a flight home, Swan went to a pay phone and called the Rolf Institute for Structural Integration to inquire about enrolling as a student in the type of therapy that had once helped him become the first pitcher to return to the majors from a torn rotator cuff. "The president said, 'What have you been doing?'" the ex-Met recalls. "I said, 'Well, I've been trying to throw a baseball low in the strike zone.'" Within a week, Swan was in a summer-school anatomy course and two years later he graduated from the Rolf Institute in Boulder, Colo. Swan opened his own practice in Greenwich, Conn., where he's been ever since, and his son, Mark, a former pitcher at Dartmouth, joined his dad at Greenwich Rolfing about two and a half years ago.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/2009/04/04/2009-04-04_where_are_they_now_former_met_pitcher_cr.html

Mack: good pitcher during a great time to be a Mets fan…


B-Mets:

The new roster is out and it includes: Pitchers: Nick Abel, Edgar Alfonzo, Mike Antonini, Adam Bostick, Eric Brown, Ryan Coultas, Julio De La Cruz, John Madden. Tim McNab, Roy Merrick, Fernando Nieve, and Dylan Owen… Catchers: Sal Paniagua, Mike Nickeas, and Josh Thole… Infield: Shawn Bowman, Lucas Duda, Emmanuel Garcia, Mark Kiger, Josh Peterson, and Ruben Tejada… Outfielders: Frank Diaz, Carl Loadenthal, Caleb Stewart, and D.J. Wabick.

Some thoughts:

1. That’s exactly 25 players, so I assume there will be no cuts before the season ends.

2. Who’s missing is more startling than who is on the roster… no Dillon Gee, Eric Niesen, Elvys Quezada, Jacob Ruckle, German Marte, Nick Waechter, Stephen Clyne, Tobi Stoner, and Edgar Ramirez.

3. It’s obvious that both Ruben Tejada and Roy Merrick earned their spot playing for the Mets in ST this year… Merrick seems to be on a fast track…

4. A fair amount of players that should be AAA players. The Mets simply have too many minor leaguers right now and big cuts have to be made…

5. I’m sure P Sal Aguilar is on the IR. I expect both Stoner and Ruckle to be on that list also…

6. Too many starters, so we will have to assume guys like Bostick and Brown are being converted to relievers. Antonini and Owen are definitely rotation guys.

7. Gee most probably got bumped to Buffalo.


Mets Alumni:

The Red signed P Scott Sauerbach.

He came to the major leagues like so many other young prospects: Confident in his abilities, but also a little nervous. When he got the call to join the New York Mets in September 1983, Ron Darling decided to keep a low profile, partly because he didn't know anyone and partly because he didn't know what else to do. Sitting alone in the dugout that first day, Darling felt proud to be wearing a sparkling new Mets uniform -- until Ron Hodges, a veteran catcher, approached Darling and greeted him with a spurt of tobacco juice, ruining the perfection of his home whites. Later, Hall-of-Fame pitcher Tom Seaver would toss Darling The New York Times crossword puzzle, saying "Finish this."

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/ae/s_618938.html

-Mack: 1983… working in Dallas at KLUV-FM…Greenville Avenue… white powder everywhere… what a great time to be a Mets fan

Rockies purchased the contract of LHP Glendon Rusch

Padres purchase the contract of RHP Duaner Sanchez.

Rangers purchase the contract of RHP Kris Benson