The Marlon Anderson Era is Over

Matt Cerrone posts the inevitable news that The Marlon Anderson Era is Over. Marlon's been released and put out to pasture and should be turned into glue or something.

By the way, the reason I have always announced the departure of a Met by saying The _____ Era Is Over is as a tribute to a dear departed friend of mine, Dino Tortu, who used to always say that. I believe "The Butch Huskey Era Is Over" was the first time I heard him say it, but I'm not sure. Anyway, I'll raise a glass to my good friend Dino on Tuesday. Thanks for the memories.

Cantu. Cantu. The Guy Named Jorge Cantu.

I have an every-other night agreement with my wife this season. We only have one TV in the house, and I can only take it over every other night. I've reluctantly agreed so far, but it hasn't yet become much of an issue. Since the season started on Monday there have been off days and day games that have made it easy to comply. Tonight is the first night that it's really a pain, and I'll have to "watch" Livan make his first start on the radio or internet or something.

Not as much of a pain as it was to actually watch the game last night though. One for Eleven with runners in scoring position is not fun. And Luis Castillo has done nothing to stave off the inevitable boos that are about to come his way when the road trip is over. I hope the fans aren't too rough on him. He stinks, no doubt about it, but what has he done to incur our wrath, really? It's Omar who signed him, and Willie who refused to bench him. Argenis Reyes isn't breathing down his neck anymore for his job, so if we boo, what are we asking for? Alex Cora? I don't think Jerry Manuel will stick with Luis through thick and thin, but I don't really understand the vitrol. There have been plenty of Mets enemies to don teh orange and blue who deserved every expletive they recieved, but Luis is trying. He's just not very good.

Even though the Mets are only 2-2, I had a very good Friday myself. I fininished Faith and Fear In Flushing (the book) and found out that my Opening Day streak will continue!

I will not say how I came by the tickets, but I will just say that I did not give in and pay a scalper or mortgage my home for a ticket plan. They were a gift, and I am thrilled thrilled thrilled. I will absolutely post photos on Tuesday, even though there are so many photos of this building out there that I feel like I've already been to the place. I'll try and find something unique that I can share for all you transplanted Mets fans out there.

One Down

It was so difficult to avoid the temptation Monday afternoon to check out the various live blogs, etc. to see what was going on between the Mets and Reds on Opening Day 2009 over in Cincinnati while I distractedly worked in my office.  My company has a pretty hefty firewall that blocks out most sports sites, so following any GameDay apps on Yahoo or ESPN were out anyway, so it wasn't as hard to avoid as it might have been, but I still am proud of myself for avoiding any sites that might have hinted at the latest updates.  I even hunkered down in office, rather than venture out into the hallways where I might run into someone who did have word from the outside world.  Anyone I did talk to I made sure to start off the conversation by saying I was trying to avoid hearing about the Mets game... all so I could watch the "Encore" presentation that night on SNY and pretend it was a live night game.   Success!  And SNY themselves were smart enough to leave the final score out of their news roll on the bottom of the screen.  Instead viewers only learned that Plaxico Burress had been released and Gary Sheffield had been signed, over and over and over again.

 

I'll spare a lengthy postgame recap here, as I can't come up with any scenario to explain why you'd be reading Transplanted Mets Fan 44 hours after the game ended hoping to find out what happened.  However, I must say I am thrilled to have seen Johan Santana pitch 5 and a 1/3 innings, give up just one run, and have his 2-1 win preserved by Sean Green JJ Putz and K-Rod.  Daniel Murphy drove in both runs and Ryan Church looked sweet in the outfield, making all of wonder exactly how Jerry will Cook Up A Way To Use Shef this season.  I was pretty annoyed when I heard the news about the Sheffeild signing, wondering why Omar thought we needed one of the biggest jerks in baseball on the roster, although I was happier the next day after reading about how Doc Gooden felt more connected to the team because of it, and especially after reading Gary say he was willing to be a bench player if it meant winning a World Championship, as well as after finding out David Wright had done some recruiting for the Mets.  So who am I to judge?

 

Game Two is this evening and we'll tune in to see Big Pelf take the mound for the first time this regular season.  Of course we'll also tune in to see glimpses of Mr. Met's evil twin brother.

Happy Opening Day 2009!

The Mets are already 1/2 game up on the Phillies!