Unacceptable

I enjoyed busting the chops of my Braves fan co-worker about his team losing to the horrible Nationals just yesterday, and after today I'll have to endure the same abuse on Monday. What is with all the walks? And why can only the opposing team hit homeruns at Shea this season? Oh, and I loved hearing how facing Paul LoDuca was the biggest fear that Shawn Hill had about pitching against the Mets, and instead Castro the indecent assaulter got the start. I don't need to hear that.

More importantly, I'm also sick of hearing Gary Cohen speak so admirably about Dmitri Young and how he's come back from so much adversity in his life to get back to the big leagues. I love you Gary, but just because the Nationals found a place for him on their pitiful roster does not mean he's done anything to make up for his domestic violence offense. We have a real problem in this country when it comes to our tolerance to violence against women. We need to stop downplaying this.

OK, I'm off my soapbox for now.
Mets (7-4) fall to Nationals (3-9), by a score of 6-2
ESPN Game Recap

El Duque gets the loss, allowing all six runs on 8 hits, including 3 homeruns in five innings. Burgos, Schoeneweis and Joe Smith combined for four-no-hit innings following his departure in the sixth, when he was ejected for hitting Shawn Hill with no outs.

Mike V's Met of The Game: No one, but my wife came up with a new nickname for Shawn Green. She says he looks like Fievel from American Tale. I've never seen the movie, but after googling the mouse's image, I have to agree:

Mets Beat Expos 3-2

Despite the nice home crowd I think the Mets still would have rather they'd played up in heated Olympic Stadium instead of the freezing cold temperatures at Shea last night. But even though there was yet another night of control problems from their starter (Mike Pelfrey), the Mets prevailed, thanks to another night of stellar defense by the Metropolitan infielders. With the game tied at two in the seventh, the go-ahead run was scored on a pinch-hit single by Julio Franco. Julio Franco is now the oldest man to hit a pinch hit single up the middle to drive in a go-ahead run in April at Shea Stadium against a team from Washington managed by a former Mets Coach. All hail Franco!

The Mets bullpen was pretty damned good once again. Heilman got the win for his 1/3 of an inning of work, The Show recorded a hold (they still track those?) and Billy Wagner shut the door with a perfect ninth for his third save.

Mets (7-3) over Nationals (2-9) by a score of 3-2
ESPN Game Recap
Mike V's Met of The Game: Jose Reyes for scoring two runs and turning three double plays.

Transplanted ex-Mets: Jesus Flores went 0-1 as a pinch hitter, making the final out of the game.

Todayt: The Mets and Nationals play game 2, which will probably be the finale with a storm due in tomorrow. El Duque gets the start.

Moises Alou... Be Thou "Goldfingers"!

Major props to Toasty Joe for coming up with the first great nickname of the 2007 season:

Moises Alou shall hereafter be known in this space as... Goldfingers.

Well done, well done...

What's Wrong With This Photo?

Is it just me or does Alyssa Milano appear to have a GIANT HEAD in this picture? No way this isn't photoshopped.



Metstradamus coulda done better.

Alyssa Milano, because we are about the same age, is one of those girls who've always been hot...

Mets Bats Overcome Rollins Revenge

The performance last night by Public Enemy#1 Jimmy Rollins was the polar opposite of his Opening Day showing. He had two homeruns, accounting for all three of the Wiphbeaters runs for the night. Glavine didn't have his best stuff, but had enough to hand the bullpen a lead after six innings. Smith, Schoeneweis and Wagner pitched scoreless frames to close out the series winning game. Mets win 5-3, mostly on the strength of Jose Reyes (2 RBI's) and Moises Alou (3 hits, 2 runs scored, 1 RBI).

Lastings Milledge got a really nice reception by the Shea Faithful when he was announced as a pinch hitter. You can tell how badly the home crowd want to see this kid succeed. We've been looking for Green or Alou to fail. Just read between the lines or the lines themselves of blogposts of my pals on the right side of the page over the past week or so. Nothing wrong with it - we want to see our homegrown talent blossom! Wright and Reyes are the most popular players on the team, even though Beltran puts up gaudier numbers.

Gary Cohen was responsible for the two funniest moments of the night. First was when they were talking about the last time the Mets faced Jamie Moyer, back in 1986, and how it appeared Keith Hernandez had ducked the lefty. Gary couldn't razz Keith in person because he'd apparently had a car accident on his way to the ballpark. he's apparently OK, and Gary insinuated that Mex took the opportunity to stretch a three day weekend. The other funny part was, even though the ad had been plastered behind the batters box for the entire game, Gary was absolutely perplexed as to what he was looking at when the logo for madpackers was shown on screen close up. Gary was so confused, and those of us watching at home were wondering how he'd missed the ad right behind home plate! Well, it was funny to me...


Mets (6-3) defeat Phillies (2-7), by a score of 5-3
CBS Sportsline Game Recap
Mike V's Met of the Game: Jose Reyes
Tonight:

The Expos roll into town tonight, serving as a nice welcome mat for Michael Pelfrey to make his 2007 debut He'll face John Patterson tonight, he of the 0-2 record and ERA over 9.

Transplanted ex-Mets watch: Manny Acta's new team beat the Braves last night, 2-0 and will try and show that they can be competitive. Former Mets prospect Jesus Flores may see some action this weekend, but Alex Escobar is on the DL with continuing shoulder problems.

Options for out-of-market fans: This weekend, if you live in the mid-Atlantic region of the country you can catch the game on MASN. Otherwise you're stuck with XM Radio, Gameday Audio, or MLB.tv. Your next opportunity to Meet The Mets on national TV is Monday night against the Phillies on ESPN.

Transplanted ex-Mets Update: Richard Hidalgo

Dan over at Hot Foot reports that Richard Hidalgo has joined Edgardo Alfonzo on the roster of the Atlantic League's Long Island Ducks.

O'Perez Melts Down; Mets Beaten By Eaton

Well, we're going to have games like this one over the course of a long season, it just stinks that it happened against the Wiphbeaters.   I felt pretty bad for Perez out there.  He looked great in the first inning, and then suddenly completely lost control.  He looked like he was on the verge of tears when he got the hook.  The strange thing to me was when he jumped over the foul line on the way back to the dugout.  Hey buddy, I fully understand wanting to keep a good thing going anyway you can, but maybe you need a change of luck, huh?  The Mets and Perez will have a chance for revenge against Eaton on Monday, as ESPN projects a repeat matchup of the starters.

Eaton looked good against the Mets, what can you say?  I know he's not that good of a pitcher, but when you spot him three runs early on you take the pressure off him and there you go.  The good news is that Sele looked pretty good out of the 'pen and Feliciano and Smith had good stints as well.  Those who've been screaming for Willie's head for leaving Ambi in to face Howard on Opening Day were vindicated last night when Pedro Feliciano struck last year's MVP out.

I guess Milledge Time is almost over.  Willie declined to start him the last time we faced a lefty, but maybe he'll get in there tonight against Moyer before getting shipped down to Louisiana so Mike Pelfrey can take his roster spot and start against the Expos tomorrow.

Mets Roll Over Rollins on Opening Day at Shea

Another great Opening Day for me and the Mets.  I'll post some pictures when I get back to the Carolinas, meanwhile here are some brilliant observations on Shea Stadium's penultimate home opener:

Jimmy Rollins heard it loud, heard it often, and pretty much lost the game for the Phillies.  I find it rather interesting however, how much heat Rollins gets, compared to Brett Myers.  You say your team is going to win and you get made Public Enemy #1.  You beat your wife in the streets of Boston, and it's completely forgotten within a few weeks.  Pretty sad, actually.

Way to go Carlos Delgado for laying down the bunt against the shift.  I wonder if it will change how teams play defense against him going forward?

John Maine was kind of frustrating to watch walk the ballpark, but throwing to third when he should have thrown to first was more annoying.  Seeing Green throw to the wrong base annoyed me too.  The Mets were lucky to have not been further behind early on.  Hey guys, I just heard of this product called "Where's The Play - an approved product of Little League Baseball"

Leaving Ambi in to face Ryan Howard when Pedro Feliciano was ready in the 'pen was a stupid move.  Luckily for us, the Phillies bullpen is atrocious.

Seeing Citi Field get constructed while we watched the game was like a second form of entertainment.   Why though, was the only thing I could of was what teh price of beer would be at teh new stadium if they charge $7.25 at Shea?  Seriously, how do they get away with $7.25 for Budweiser?  I guess I'll never be rich.  If I was in charge of concessions and someone said that we should charge seven bucks for beer, I would have just laughed and said no one will pay that!  Meanwhile there were more than enough drunk fans.  I think the Mets made some bucks today.

Boy I sound angry today, huh?  Why am I so pissed when I got to see the Mets win on Opening Day and the weather wasn't as bitter as I expected?  Probably because I had to listen to those two morons on WFAN on the drive home.   Honestly their "insight" is so misguided and idiotic!

Mets (5-2) over Phillies (1-5), 11-5
Mike V's Met of the game: Carlos Delgado, for the ballsy bunt, the nifty slide, and the pair of RBI's

All in all, a nice trip to New York.  We head back south early tomorrow morning, but I'll be able to see the Mets live again at the end of the month in DC!

On My Way To Opening Day

To hell with yesterday

Shea Stadium's penultimate season begins today

Can't wait to see John Maine and the Mets play

I'll be screaming my head off in my own kind of way

 

Upper Reserved Section 26

Gotta get my NY Mets fix

Even though I now live out of state

Can't miss seeing Rollins stroll to the plate

 

The bathrooms will be crowded and the wind will be cold

The pundits will say Moises is old

And nothing will wipe my face of it's grin

If I should see in person my beloved Mets win

Glavine's Back On My Hate List

With apologies to the great Metstradamus, Tom Glavine's back on my hate list. I had finally gotten over my anger over his pathetic first 2.5 years at Shea, his whining about getting to 300 wins, and even his waffling this past offseason, when I read a blurb in the Daily News yesterday that he was "noncommital" about next season, leaving open the possibility of returning to Atlanta for 2008. Then, before the game lst night, the guy was practically in tears about picthing against his BFF John Smoltz. So, when he departed the game on the short side of the score yesterday, I had mixed emotions. Naturally I want to beat the Braves, but I also was OK with Glavine not notching closer to 300 a day after indicating that he might want to finish his career with our rivals. I mean, c'mon guy! So much for that crap he told Schmuck & His Lap Dog this offseason that even if the Braves had matched the Mets offer he wouldn't necessarily have returned South. Yeah, right. As long as "The Confederacy" offered anything Glavine could have accepted without pissing off The Union, he would have been gone faster than you could whistle Dixie.

Mets (4-1) lose to Braves (4-1), 5-3

Mike V's Met Of The Game: Nobody

Oh, Perez!

Friday was our first full day in Manhattan for quite awhile. We spent the afternoon checking out art galleries, but my wife was annoyed that I was most captivated by the subway posters of David Wright and Jose Reyes. Friday night we went to a play, but stayed up til 2 AM watching the Mets game on my brother in law's DVR. It was great to see Perez pitch a dominant game against the Braves. I think it's time we laid off Rick Peterson. He may not have been able to fix Victor Zambrano, but O'Perez looks like the real deal.

Mets (4-0) beat Braves (3-1), 11-1
Mike V's Met Of The Game: Oliver Perez

Big News For Out Of Market Baseball Fans - Extra Innings Will Be Available on Cable, After All

Anthony DeRosa alerts us on Metsblog that

iN DEMAND has entered into a seven-year agreement in principle to carry the MLB EXTRA INNINGS subscription package of out-of-market games and will distribute the MLB Channel, which is scheduled to launch in January 2009.

iN DEMAND is a joint venture by Comcast Time Warner and Cox Communications, so if you have those cable companies in your area, the ExtraInnings package will be available to you. The press release says that other cable companies will be able to carry the package through iNDEMAND as well.

So, there you go.

How Sweep It Is!

In April 1986, after losing to the Cardinals in the 1985 pennant race, the Mets traveled to St. Louis and swept a four game series. Tonight the Mets completed a three game sweep at Busch Stadium, making a statement that they will be a force to be reckoned with this season. Especially with a dominant performance by John Maine (W, 7 innings, 1 hit 2BBs) and nice outings by Burgos and Sele, I think the naysayers will be quieted early this year. I'm not saying they'll run away with it like last year, but I do think the talk about them being "ancient" will be a thing of the past soon.

The Mets shut out the Cardinals 10-0 tonight, scoring all their runs in the 6th 7th and 8th innings. Beltran had a pair of homers and 4 RBIs, Reyes had one homer 3 RBIs and two runs scored, LoDuca had 3 hits, and Alou and Green each had a pair of hits. After watching the opener on ESPN and catching the SNY game coverage last night, tonight was a night for the WFAN broadcast. I listened to a slightly fuzzy call of Beltran's first homer in my car on the way home from class, and listened to the rest on MLB Gameday Audio.

Couldn't script the opening of the 2007 campaign any better. The Mets now head to Atlanta for a three game set starting Friday, but I'm off to New York tomorrow night to see the Home Opener on Monday. Hopefully they'll be 6-0 by the time Keith Hernandez throws out the ceremonial first pitch at Shea.

Mets (3-0) over Cardinals (0-3), 10-0
Mike V's Met of The Game: John Maine

Transplanted Ex-Mets:
Braden Looper allowed 3 runs on 8 hits over 6 innings and took the loss.
Jason Isringhausen pitched a perfect ninth inning
Preston Wilson went 0 for 3 with 2 K's, left 3 men on base, and allowed a run to score on a missed sacrifice fly by Julio Franco. This was the third straight night a Cardinals outfielder looked foolish. I think someone should check the lights at Busch.

Extra Innings Free this Week on DirecTV

Thanks to Neil in the comments section for pointing out that the Extra Innings package is free this week on DirecTV.

Vote For Pedro Keith!

Rawlings is compiling an all-time gold glove team, and right now Keith Hernandez is losing to Don Mattingly. Puh-lease. Hurry to Rawlings Website and cast your vote. I like this because they don't require you to register or anything to cast your vote. That's good. Me hate SPAM.

What I don't think is good is the cartoon depictions of the players you pick after your ballot is cast. Check out my ballot:
OK, Bob Gibson is black, Johnny Bench is white, Keith Hernandez is... yellow?









And what a pathetic representation of his pushbroom!