Late Edition: Spring Has Sprung, Jon Niese, Ike Davis, More Ike... and the MLB Moolah Screw-Up

Spring Has Sprung:


The team you support is right there in living color. That first peak of the newly acquired, such as Jason Bay-how does he look in a Mets uniform (and Ryan Thompson’s old number?) is always highly anticipated. What about the imports from Japan? Will they have to be recalled like many Toyotas, or are they reliable and help drive the team to victory?

Is Ollie really throwing great like pitching coach Dan Warthen says or is that bluster? Look there’s Carlos Beltran in uniform, a welcomed sight. How does Murph look at first? Did his sessions with Keith Hernandez rub off? Questions abound and spring training helps answer them.

http://metsmerizedonline.com/2010/03/spring-has-sprung.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter



Jon Niese:

And there was Jon Niese, facing hitters for the first time since collapsing on the mound last summer with a torn hamstring tendon, throwing curveballs that would have made Sandy Koufax proud.

For a team carrying so many scars from 2009, these were at least signs that with good health will come a return to contention. Reasons to believe

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/2010/03/02/2010-03-02_off_to_a_niese_start_as_jon_shows_off_curves.html#ixzz0h4scHw63


Ike Davis:

The change had been initiated long before the first day Ike Davis brought his strapping body, soft glove, loud bat and considerable future back to he Mets' clubhouse 10 days ago. It was in early November. A number of Mets staff members had traveled to Arizona to take in some game in the Fall League. And there, they were quite taken with Davis -- his size, power, contact, defense and his sense of how the game ought to be played.

Davis had made his marks as a first baseman and left-handed hitter with power in Double-A last summer, but it was in the fall that the change began. No longer was he Ron Davis' kid; he had become Ike Davis with a rejoinder: "You know, his dad is Ron

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100302&content_id=8655340&vkey=news_nym&fext=.jsp&c_id=nym&partnerId=rss_nym 


More Ike:

Ike Davis really impressed me right out of the gate, going 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored on the day.

Besides the double, it was great to see Davis hit an opposite-field single later in the game, as he didn't do too much and just went with the pitch. Sign of a very mature hitter I think.

http://networkedblogs.com/p28794077


MLB Moolah Screw-Up:

Darren Rovell of CNBC’s Sportsbiz reports that “sources told CNBC that Yankees players recently received a letter from the Major League Baseball Players Association that informed them that there was mistake in the calculation of the World Series championship share. By virtue of winning, the Yankees divided up $21.2 million. Originally, the Yankees awarded 46 players and coaches full shares, making the full share a record $365,052.” Seriously, who is running the show over there? Imagine if your company gave you a bonus and six months later asked you to return it? What about the young kids who aren’t millionaires like the big name Yankees? Think forking over ten grand is not going to hurt? In the case of the Yankees this would be the exception, not the rule, but the principle of the matter would annoy me.

http://hxcyi.th8.us/