3/2/10

Recepe For Success, Getting Figgy With It, Wagner's Exit, The Rookie... and Carlos Beltran

Recepe For Success (phote by Sue Ade/Bluffton Today):

The New York Mets are coming off a disappointing, injury riddled season. Every Met fan, every baseball fan is well aware of it. The follies and poor play of 2009 seem to have done as much if not more damage to the Mets fans psyche than even seeing the Yankee’s win the 2009 World Series. Such is life. Get over it. Take a pill. Whatever it takes just let it go. I have an edict for Mets fans this year and if they adhere to it I promise no matter the outcome you’ll be thanking me by seasons end.

Stop comparing the Mets to the Yankees. Yes we aren’t the well oiled machine that the Yanks are…now. That wasn’t always the case friends. If you’re old enough to remember the Yankee’s of the 1970’s then you’d agree. How did they fix that? It starts at the top basically when George Steinbrenner finally stopped his daily meddling. Then gradually over the years he hired brilliant minds, many of whom went unknown and under the radar, to do the everyday grind work that has truly cemented them into the dynasty they are today. Add a lot of luck and great scouting and the fact that George Steinbrenner puts his money into each and every level of his team and you have a recipe for success. The Yankees had many lean years before the Jeter’s and the Pettitte’s arrived. It takes time and patience and of course the right leadership. - metsmerized

Getting Figgy With It (phote by Mack Ade):


And it's fitting that in the first game against a live opponent (don't give me intersquad ... we talkin' bout practice, man) it's Nelson Figueroa that will get the start. Not only is it nice to see Nelson get a chance to make the team after being tossed around the organization like a Jeremy Reed throw from first, it provides a certain symmetry from tossing in those long shadows that only meaningless October baseball can provide to pitching in the splashy sun that only spring training in Florida can muster up. It's Figueroa who provides the bridge between the despair of last season and the promise of 2010. And if you've reached the end of that bridge without jumping, then welcome to the season. If you haven't reached the end of the bridge, you've got about a month to get there. - metstradamus





Wagner’s Exit (photo by WPIX):

My friend Matthew Artus over at the Always Amazin’ New York Mets Fan Blog on NJ.com wrote a piece entitled “Billy Wagner in Hindsight.” His point was that of all the different ways the Wagner scenario could have played out for the Mets, the actual transaction that did occur might have been the worst. It is a good piece because even though I do not agree with its conclusion, it did make me think about the...  - mets360







The Rookie:

"There comes a time in every man's life when he realizes he'll never play professional baseball."

So says Josh Lyman in an episode of the West Wing, after criticizing a particularly galling Mets lost. I'm both a delusionist and an optimist, so for me that day has not yet arrived, but Jim Morris in the Rookie, played by Dennis Quaid, could have been forgiven for thinking that for him that day had been and past. In his thirties (35 to be precise), matched with a wife and children, a chemistry teacher and managing a lacklustre high school team, he hardly seemed a likely candidate for pitching in the majors. The only things going in his favour? He once had a minor-league career which was ended by injury, and the fact that he's pitched against a chain-link fence every night for a decade. He doesn't realise it, but he's developed a 98mph fastball.  - checkedswing

Carlos Beltran:

Beltran will be missing at least 2 months of the season which is very unfortunate for the Mets. When he comes back he comes back there will be a lot of eyes on his performance. Beltran to me is the player you want on a team. He’s an excellent fielder and he can hit both for power and average. There isn’t really anything to complain about when talking about Beltran. He steps up every year and every game and I expect to see the same when he does return. - metsmerized

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