Man, if I was psyched about baseball before, I sure as heck am now.

I must start by saying that I did not meet Hall of Famer Gary Carter on Sunday. The situation wasn't right. I will meet him someday, and it will be without a bunch of other Mets fans pushing around me as we wait to buy tickets for the 2005 season. So instead of going to Shea Stadium Sunday morning, I sat at home, and received a call from James from Bayside. (OK, full disclosure, my mom received the call, and relayed the message.) The members of the 1986 Mets who were at Shea Stadium were on WFAN, on "Talking Baseball with Ed Randall". Great interviews. I heard the end of Gary Carter's, heard Tim Tueffel, Sid Fernandez, and a little bit of Ron Darling. Good stuff. It really got me psyched for this season.

A couple of other things - Hall of Famer Gary Carter is managing the Gulf Coast Mets this season. I think I heard that announcement at the end of last season - but it might have come after the blog closed down for the season. Needless to say, the Carter Count will be this year's version of the Wright Watch, and we'll track Gary Carter's path back to the majors...this time as a future Hall of Fame manager. FYI, the Gulf Coast Mets finished in first place last year in their division, and lost a playoff game to the Red Sox. It's a 60-game season, which I think starts in June....maybe even July. I'll keep you posted.

In other former Mets news, Mookie Wilson will be managing the Brooklyn Cyclones this year.

As for the '05 edition of the Mets, future Hall of Famer David Wright and Jose Reyes (possibly THE GREATEST BALLPLAYER WHO EVER LIVED) have been invited by Carlos Beltran* to join him working out at night at the Gold's Gym in Port St. Lucie. Wright has already taken Beltran* up on the offer, but didn't tell Beltran* that he had already been working out at the gym at night separately by himself. Reyes, I think, has yet to join them. Beltran* says he asked them because he sees the talent there and he wants them to be the best they possibly can be.

There's going to be an uproar developing about revelations by Carlos Delgado's agent that Al Leiter helped Delgado choose the Marlins over the Mets by badmouthing New York. I think the only reason this might become an uproar is because Leiter badmouthed the New York media, and they hate to be badmouthed (see: Chad Pennington). Again, in this situation, I don't disagree with anything Leiter said - stuff along the lines of, slumps are prolonged in NYC because 7 or 8 newspaper writers are asking you about it, and the talk radio stations are talking about it, and it influences fans negatively. He said it better, though...I don't like the way I just wrote it. Anyway, this might be an interesting side story for the Mets/Marlins matchups this year.

The Mets' first spring training game is on Wednesday at 1:05pm, and it will be on ESPN. Tom Glavine will pitch against the Washington Nationals. I will not be able to watch, because first of all, I will be in school, and second of all, I no longer have cable, as I get ready to move into the House, brought to you by DirecTV. I will try to find someway to catch highlights, at least.

I would love to preview pitching tomorrow, but tomorrow also happens to be closing on said house. Hopefully I'll find the chance to write.