MLB Entrance Music

When I was a kid I was a big fan of WWF wrestling, and part of the deal with a wrestler's personality was what music was played when he walked to the ring. My favorite wrestler, Macho Man, came to the ring to Pomp and Circumstance. Junk Yard Dog came to the ring to Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust." That is, until, WWF created The Wrestling Album. After that he came to the ring to Grab Them Cakes. That's also around the time Hulk Hogan picked up on "Real American" by the legendary Derringer.

My reason for this tangent is to put some perspective on the topic of music for baseball players, which I hadn't given a whole lot of thought to until last year's "controversy" with Billy Wagner and Metallica, though I do remember being annoyed when John Franco gave up on "Johnny B. Goode" in favor of "Boy From New York City". During Spring Training this year, David Wright let MLB.com voters choose the music played when he comes to the plate this season (Blame MetsGrrl for that one). Meanwhile, Jose Reyes composes some of his own entrance music.

Over in the comments section of Metsblog, MouserDZ posted a link to a website that lists a bunch of MLB players and the song played when they come to bat or are introduced into the game as a pitcher. Have a gander if you're interested. The only thing I really found interesting is that according to the site Armando Benitez has finally gotten over "Who Let The Dogs Out" and has moved on to "Big Pimpin'" and "Big Poppa"

So there you go.

Too Annoyed Not To Post

Grad school obligations have forced me to take a week off from blogging, but yesterday's affair is eating at me too much not to post. I was feeling pretty damn good headed into yesterday. Pelfrey's failure didn't bug me too much Friday, and O'Perez's effort had me pretty jazzed up on Saturday, so with the beautiful weather and the Junkees dropping the first two to the Sawx life was looking good.

I don't get the CW on my set, but I do get to hear the Braves broadcasts on AM 790. So I had to listen to the clowns the Braves have hired to do their radio broadcasts. I don't know which guy is which, but when Bobby Cox got ejected one of them said that he felt bad for Bobby because he was sent down to the bowels "of this rat-infested stadium." Now hold on there, pal. Shea may not be the Taj Majal of stadiums, and I am the first one to admit that, but rat-infested is going a little too far. Despite that, I thought the game was in the bag when Reyes hit that bases-load triple, followed by an RBI by Lo Duca. I happily headed into my class meeting at that point. When I came out an hour later I was shocked to hear teh game still playing, and when they said Sele was being brought into the game, for some reason I had a feeling of dread in my stomach. Sure enough, the Mets 6-3 lead had become a 9-6 deficit. The bottom of the ninth came and went without a rally and we even had to suffer the indignity of Transplanted ex Mets pitcher Tyler Yates getting the win.

Willie is getting raked over the coals today for his bullpen management. This is the first game of the season where Willie is getting blamed for a loss. I think we fans tend to get a little too worked up over the manager. OK, maybe he did lose the game, but really how many games over the course of a season can you attribute a particular win or loss to a manager? I would venture to say the difference between a brilliant strategic manager and an awful strategic manager, is 4 or 5 games over the course of a season. Meaning the brilliant guy wins a couple games because of smart moves and the idiot loses 2 or 3 due to stupid maneuvers. Is Bobby Cox brilliant and Willie an idiot to those degrees? Doubt it. And you still have to take into account a manager's motivational abilities and his ability to maintain control over a clubhouse. Bobby V is a brilliant manager but he had to get axed because he lost control of his team, with players whining to Wilpon about stuff and whispering anonymous quotes to the media. Art Howe could light up a room but he couldn't light a fire under his team. Willie is right for this team, even if he is a stubborn guy who follows his gut when he should follow his head. His players respect him and play hard. He deserves heat today, but let's let it go at game time.

Speaking of heat, Shawn Green is hitting .338 and went 3-4 yesterday but he still is getting tons of grief over his misplay. And it's not because it was against the Braves. It's because of this guy. Milledge is hitting .342 down in The Big Easy with 5 stolen bases and a .447 Slugging Percentage. It's almost as though the Shea Faithful would rather see Milledge find his way than see Green flourish. But at this point Green is going to have to get hurt or have a solid six week slump before Milledge gets a call-up.

The Rockies come in to town tonight. John Maine will face Taylor Buchholz. Buchholz is making his first start of the year. Last year we saw Buchholz as a member of the Astros and the Mets roughed him up for six runs in 5 innings, with homers by Valentin and Delgado. What's up with the Rockies? They currently reside in the NL West cellar, with an 8-11 record. Kaz Matsui won't be making the trip to Shea, as he's rehabbing a bad back. However, we will get to see three time Met Clint Hurdle, who is the Rockies manager. The Rockies have God on their side but that's about the only thing they can brag about, except for Matt Holliday, who is leading the league in hitting.

Transplanted ex-Mets Update: Roberto Hernandez

At MetsBlog, Anthony DeRosa provides a link and an excerpt of an article about former Met and current Indians pitcher Roberto Hernandez, who apparently grew up as a Mets fan.

Transplanted Ex-Mets Update: Wally Backman

Newsday has a story in today's paper about 1986 Mets second baseman Wally Backman, who's taking his first step back into the game since being fired before he was hired as manager of the D'Backs two and a half years ago. He'll be manager of the independent minor league squad, the South Georgia Peanuts. The team is part of a new league called the South Coast League. It's a nice story about a guy whose name invokes nice memories from all of us who remember the 1986 World Champion Mets.

SNY has a story about Backman's return to baseball as well.

Goldfingers Delivers!

Toasty Joe, Jason, Dan at Hot Foot and of course the incomparable MetsBlog all do great jobs at capturing the Mets 8-1 conquest over the last place Phillies. Goldfingers hit two bombs, Wright extended his hitting streak, and Mr. Glavine reached win #29something. More newsworthy was Charlie Manuel's meltdown after the game. This guy has to get his psyche together, man. Not good. Not good at all. More telling to me was Aaron Rowand's post game quote. In less than a month, the team has gone from a player proclaiming themselves the team to beat, to another player saying he guarantees they'll be better than the 1997 Phillies, who went 68-94.

Mets (8-4) Over Phillies (3-9), score: 8-1
ESPN Recap
Mike V's Met Of The Game: Moises Alou

Tonight we'll see John Maine face the Florida team that plays in Dolphin Stadium. Unfortunately he'll have to match Dontrelle Willis pitch for pitch if he wants to get a win. Willis is on fire, looking to tie Babe Ruth's all-time April record tonight.

Transplanted ex-Mets to watch out for: Mike Jacobs, Jorge Julio, Henry Owens.

Options for out-of-market fans: Unless you live in Flordia, you're pretty much screwed for this two-game series. I don't have XM Radio, which boasts "every team, every game" in their ads, but ESPN's schedule says neither game is carried. Can someone out there shed some light on this? Try channel 185. If you have Extra Innings on DirecTV, tonight's game is carried on channel 740. Tomorrow night's affair is also on 740, and in HD on channel 741. If you don't have access to Extra Innings, you'll have to stick with Gameday Audio or MLB TV on the internets.

Back To What Matters - Actual Game Tonight! (Maybe)

Those of us hoping to see an O'Perez vs. Adam Eaton rematch won't get our wish, due to the back to back rainouts, and instead tonight's matchup is Mr. Thomas Glavine against the 2007 debut of Freddy Garcia. Garcia, who was 17-9 for the White Sox last season, was acquired over the winter in a trade, but found himself on the DL with bicep tendinitis before his season could get started. Depending on how healthy Garcia is, tonight could be a good matchup of pitchers. However, the game is being played in Citizens Bandbox Park, so hopefully the Mets can find their homerun stroke, get Garcia out early, and have a crack against the Wiphbeaters pitipful 'pen.

Of course there's still the minor issue of rain once again. Please oh please get this game in tonight! Debating the merits and history of Neil Diamond has gotten old...

The Red Sox "Stole" Sweet Caroline From A Canadian Beer Ad!

Beautiful Girls came out in 1996.

Wedding DJ's conducted Bum Bum Bum sing-a-longs as early as 1997.

This beer commercial is from 2001.

The Red Sox started playing the song nightly in 2002.

The Mets, as do the Rangers, have every right to play it, for the simple reason that it's fun, as pointed out by Fafif's Greg in the comments section.

I Was Going To Go With The Theory That His Quotes Were Probably Taken Out Of Context...

...but now I'm just going to pretend I didn't read this.

Transplanted ex-Mets Update: DL Comings and Goings

You just knew it would happen. Off to a hot start with the Rockies, hitting .361 with 5 stolen bases in 11 games, Kaz Matsui is headed to the disabled list with back spasms.

Over in the American League, Jim Duquette's attempt to re-form the 2001 Mets takes a step forward as Jay Payton may be ready to join the Orioles lineup as soon as Friday. Payton had been out with a strained hamstring.

Hot Foot: Transplanted ex-Mets Update

Over at Hot Foot, Devon Edwards posts an update on the whereabouts of nine members of the 2003 Mets, including Timo Perez, Vance Wilson, and Jason Phillips.

Boston Doesn't Own Neil Diamond

A lot has been made around the blogosphere about the Mets "ripping off" the Red Sox "tradition" of having a Sweet Caroline sing-a-long late in the game. Matt Cerrone is embarrassed by it. Mets Grrl created a banner to protest it. Brooklyn Met Fan says it's horrendous.

Personally, I think this is much ado about nothing.

First of all, the Red Sox did not invent this tradition. Yes, it was made a little bit more famous in the movie Fever Pitch, but they only started playing the song at Fenway in 1998, so it's not like this is something Ted Williams used to lead the crowd in between innings or something. In fact, it's only since 2002 that playing the song became a nightly affair. I really think the craze of screaming BUMP BUMP BUM SO GOOD! SO GOOD! became really popular after the 1996 movie Beautiful Girls. That's when wedding DJ's around the country started playing it during parties. My buddy and I used to have a DJ business in the late 90's and we played that song all the time. So maybe the Red Sox ripped off me and Tubby !

Look I wish the Mets would bring back Curly Shuffle too. I'm permanently scarred from any music that reminds me of my wedding DJ days, so I don't care if I ever hear Sweet Caroline ever again, or the Electric Slide or the Macarena or the god-forsaken Chicken Dance for that matter.

But to worry about which team came up with the idea of playing a song from 1969 by Neil Friggin Diamond in a stadium is just silly. And by the way, Neil Diamond is from Brooklyn. So there. Don't fret for a minute about taking the Jackie Robinson Expressway up to Shea and singing Sweet Caroline to your heart's content, OK? But if you want to sing Paradise By The Dashboard Light, I'll catch you in the parking lot.

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...