The Morning Report 4.14.2015 | The Harvey Effect, Stanozolol Links, Duda vs. Lefties

Jay Schreiber | New York Times- Back in 1985, Dwight Gooden was Matt Harvey, and more. Gooden also drew fans to the ballpark. And why not? He was a sensation. In the 18 games that Gooden started that season at Shea Stadium, the Mets’ average attendance was 40,072. In the 60 other dates the average attendance was 34,005. Last season, the Mets sold 42,442 tickets for opening day at Citi Field, against the Nationals. Game 2, two days later, sold 29,146 tickets, according to the Mets, although the actual crowd that night appeared to be a good deal smaller. On Monday, the Mets sold 43,997 tickets for the home opener, a jump from a year ago. As for Tuesday, and Harvey’s Citi Field return, the Mets said they expected to sell around 35,000 tickets, or maybe more. That’s a lot for a midweek Game 2. And it doesn’t hurt that forecasts have been calling for nice weather, too.

(Chris Soto: The Harvey effect is in full swing at Citi Field. After some same day ticket sales I would expect today's attendance to be in the 37,000 range which would be a near 30% increase year over year. You can hear it in the players voices, the bloggers, beat writers, and fans.....the sense of optimism....a sense of pride and determination. A feeling that hasn't been around in quite some time.)


Adam Rubin | ESPN New York- Commissioner Rob Manfred says Major League Baseball is investigating four recent positive tests for the steroid stanozolol along "the same model" as its 2013 Biogenesis probe. Injured New York Mets closer Jenrry Mejia was suspended for 80 games Saturday, the fourth player in 16 days banned under the major league drug program following a positive test for stanozolol, a steroid popular with body builders. "Whenever we have a series of tests for a single substance, we undertake an investigative effort to determine whether there's a connection and what that connection might be," Rob Manfred said. Mejia's discipline came after positive tests and suspensions for Minnesota pitcher Ervin Santana, Seattle pitcher David Rollins and Atlanta pitcher Arodys Vizcaino.

(Chris Soto: BioGenesis round 2? Maybe...maybe not...however stanozolol is one of those "old school" type of steriods that kind of disappeared for a while. It certainly is interesting that it's popped back up all of a sudden with a series of guys all testing positive for it in a short time span.)


Tyler Slape | Mets 360- It has been talked to death about how Lucas Duda struggled heavily against left handed pitchers. His lefty struggles were part of the reason that both Michael Cuddyer and John Mayberry Jr. were brought in this past offseason. It is a small sample size so far, but Duda has hit well off of lefties so far this season. In seven at-bats against lefties so far this season he has three hits. Over the next few weeks the Mets will not be facing a lot of left handed starting pitchers. The Mets will miss Cole Hamels in this series with the Phillies. They then move onto the Marlins who do not have a lefty in their rotation. 

(Chris Soto: Duda has looked sharp so far this season and doesn't look completely helpless against lefties anymore. He still seems to be struggling with breaking pitches from the left side, however, he IS doing a better job of laying off them to get himself into more favorable counts. From there, pitchers have to come in with a fastball which Duda sits on and has been poking around the field. As Tyler said....not many lefties over the next few days so look for Duda to catch fire here.)

LETS GO METS!