Gary McDonald - Just Rambling Along

Thank goodness it's here, Baseball 2017 has finally arrived and Opening Week is upon us.  What a glorious time it is.  Hope springs eternal but we , as Mets fans, are in store for a great season, in my humble opinion.  This is the year evrything will come together for this team and we will be celebrating with a ticker tape parade come November.  

Opening Day is always a wonderful time.  All the pomp and circumstance, that excitement in the crowd is unlike any other sport.  It's so wonderful to see the green grass, the brown of the infield, the colors in the stadium , and the fans in all their New York Mets finery.  Just a wonderful day and a wonderful week. I will miss Opening Day  (due to work) but I'll be there in spirit.  I'm actually going to game 2 of the season, which, many years ago, they used to promote as Opening Day 2.  I guess this year it will be deemed Opening Evening as it is the first night game of the season.

With all the optimism and hope around them, the Mets are starting the 2017 campaign with some injuries. Not the ideal way to begin, but.... Juan Lagares has an oblique strain, and Steven Matz with a sore elbow.   We talk about Travis d'Arnaud staying healthy, but, miss the fact that Lagares has a difficult time staying on the field as well.  Wrists, hamstrings, sore shoulder, ever since his Gold Glove season, Lagares has not been able to stay healthy and that could be why is offense has yet to get untracked.  Matz is another one who cannot seem to stay healthy.  There is so much potential there if these guys could stay off of the DL.  Add to it David Wright, Brandon Nimmo, and Seth Lugo not exactly how your season should be starting but hey, get it out of the system early and be healthy the rest of the season.

This from a press release in February :   SNY, the official television home of the New York Mets, Jets and all things New York sports, today announced that the network will begin streaming live Mets baseball during the 2017 MLB regular season. The service, available to authenticated SNY subscribers at no additional cost, will deliver baseball's most-watched local broadcast and award-winning pre- and post-game programs streamed at SNY.tv and on the NBC Sports app.  

This is how I'll be watching when I'm away from the television and need my Mets fix.

If you need some great reading material on your way to the ballpark this season may I suggest a few books. Piazza : Catcher,Slugger,Icon,Star by Greg Prince is a terrific book all about everyone's favorite Met. I recently interviewed Greg about his book (MetsMusings #275)  and have enjoyed this book immensely.

Another wonderful book on the Mets is Brett Topel's  So You Think You're a New York Mets Fan?: Stars, Stats, Records, and Memories for True Diehards which is more in the trivia , unknown facts category and another great read for that trip to the park. You can hear Brett talk about the book at www.metsmusings.com (#274).

Well thats it for now the season has begun and it is time to :

Keep The Faith

Stay Optimistic 

And

Let's Go Mets!!!!!