Ernest Dove - Final Thoughts & Pics/Video From Recent Visit to Mets Camp...

  I've had a few days to further digest the sights and sounds of the return of major league baseball in my own Mets universe while visiting Tradition Field in beautiful Port St. Lucie Florida.  I wanted to share a few more thoughts, and pics that didn't make the previous cut, from my time there.

  Well, by now many of you have heard all the additional news and notes regarding the young man in the wheelchair who received an amazing greeting from our beloved Mets. I wanted to repost this pic for one particular reason.  To point out that this pic was taken BEFORE the more professional ones that were taken by all the beat writers later on in the morning. Upon my arrival at camp, I noticed Terry and Wally greeting a woman, and this young man.  NOBODY was around. Terry obviously already had big plans to ensure this young man had a great time at camp, but before any of that he made sure to properly greet him, without any needed fanfare........I'm just sayin, between this and the random sights and sounds I got watching Terry, I can see why the team, and the organization love him so much.  And he deserves this chance to make another title run with the team.

                                  Short video of Terry introducing young fan Ryan to players

 I keep trying to figure out the role of Logan Verrett, pictured, above.  My buddy Scot was at the game in Colorado where Logan completely baffled and dominated a team, IN COLORADO, and shut them down.  He proved his worth, helping this team mightily to stay afloat when they needed it the most.  Now he's just another name, based on overall team health.  It seems like many are choosing guys like Goeddel over Verrett.  Only time will tell.  I wish Logan luck. 



  
  As I briefly stated in previous post, Noah Syndergaard takes EVERYTHING seriously, including hitting off a tee in the cage. You can just tell, both visually and what we continue hear through the media, that young Thor wants greatness, and I'm hoping the Mets do whatever it takes to lock up Thor for a very long time.

                             Hey, is that beat writer Marc Carig photo bombing Terry Collins ?

                                                              Steven Matz taking BP

                              Hey, let's enjoy at least one more year of pitchers hitting in the NL ;)

  One more thing of note regarding David Wright.  During fielding drills, I wanted to point out my simple non expert witnessing of David throwing more 'over the top' and at least '3/4 arm angle' rather than the side arm-ish angle of his throws last year.  Of course, the double play drills are where he continued to side arm it, but that I believe is what third baseman do in those circumstances.  Again, just wanted to point out the higher arm angles he was showing in practice.

  I also wanted to take a second to vent about the state of 'adulthood' and economics regarding the after practice signings that a few players were graciously offering for fans.............Fellas.....yeah you with the glossy photos, bats and mint condition baseball cards......How's about you let actual fans get autographs and try earning a living doing something else, will ya.  My favorite moment was when my friend Scot, with me at camp, saw the crowd of these guys, and before David even moved from one side of crowd over said, "watch, I bet David goes right by these douchebags and heads straight to these kids first over here in front of us"...... sure enough, David went down the line and immediately walked in front of a group of about 3-4 kids, signing autographs for them.   Then he left ;)

                         yup, extremely short and grainy cell video of Matt Harvey fielding drill ;)

   Oh, and just so we're clear, Matt Harvey and Yoenis Cespedes are 'just one of the guys'.  They looked and appeared friendly. They interacted well with fans, and like I said in previous post there are younger players who gravitate towards Yo, and I see this as a good thing.

  Also of note:  I swear, in my heart of hearts I truly think that Dilson Herrera, in the moment, was as shy as I was while we randomly waived to each other at one point as he was walking in dugout from a fielding drill ;)  I look forward to hopefully seeing him manning second base full time for the Mets in 2017.

 

                      Well, I guess I should end it with the first pic I took when I arrived at camp.


  Oh, did I mention that Dom Smith looked thinner and ready to rock ;)

  Oh, never mentioned a brief moment after stretching where the team all huddled around Travis d'Arnaud, who appeared to be teaching/instructing everyone on something.  I found it interesting and cool to see from the young catcher.

  Ok, probably not as much valuable information in this post, but again I wanted to say again how cool it was of an experience, and I think everyone willing and able to come out for it one year should do it.  Not exactly the most amazing, spectacular, magical 3 hours of your life, but its an experience I think is worth it to any/all Mets fans out there, especially one in which you can certainly bring your children.  I bet that If I bring my daughter with me next year, David will make  b-line right to her and sign an autograph for her instead of those........well, nevermind, LETS GO METS.