LEFTOVERS FROM THE OHIO TRIP

Things I forgot to mention/didn't realize:

• I was reading through the Indians yearbook (the Indians don't sell programs - they sell their yearbook for about 5 bucks, and then throw in a scorecard...the Reds sell "Reds Magazine"), and I guess new this year is an area called "Heritage Park", celebrating the Indians' history. It looks very nice, and I'm sorry I missed it. It's out beyond centerfield, and it opens at 4:30 for 7:05 games. Maybe that's why they keep the other gates closed for so long (remember, we didn't get in until 6pm). But they do not do a very good job of advertising it - there were a lot of people just waiting outside the gate we were at, and no one seemed to have any inclination to check out Heritage Park.
• The Reds have cheerleaders - I only saw them make one appearance - they did a dance about a half-hour before the game started, and we didn't see them again.
• Thom Brennaman is riding the coattails of his dad, Marty...because he seems to be very popular in Cincinnati. They have all these ad campaigns, with people with signs that say, "We love Marty and Thom!" I'm sure people just really love Marty, and they don't want to offend Marty by saying, "We love Marty, and we're quite indifferent to Thom, but we don't want to upset Marty, so we'll just say 'We love Marty and Thom!'". Luckily we went on Frank Robinson bobblehead night. Sometime this month the Reds are having Marty and Thom bobblehead night.

SWEET ENDING: Thursday night's Astros-Braves game was pretty awesome. I turned it on in the seventh inning, and the Braves were up 9-5. With a man on first, there was a grounder to short, and Edgar Renteria turned his ankle bending down to field it (this part wasn't satisfying - Renteria was placed on the DL on Friday). What was satisfying was that when Renteria left the game, Chipper Jones was moved from third base to short, and Willie Harris moved from the outfield to third base. Naturally, the next player hits it to third, and Harris boots the grounder, so the bases are loaded. Pinch-hitter Mike Lamb then hits a grand slam. 9-9. Turned out the Astros took an 11-9 lead in extras, but the Braves tied it, then the Astros finally won in 14.

NL EAST/NL CENTRAL CHALLENGE: The Mets did some damage to the Brewers by taking two out of three, and now have a chance to help Milwaukee against Chicago. The Mets beat the Cubs in a good win on Friday afternoon, scoring 4 in the ninth to break a 2-2 tie...too late to support El Duque's great start - he got a no decision - but a good win nonetheless. Meanwhile, the Phillies, after playing the Cubs, swap with the Mets and now take on the Brewers. The Cubs and Brewers are tight in the Central race - the Mets are still keeping their distance from the Phillies and Braves.

INJURY UPDATE: Pedro Martinez* has thrown a simulated game, but the Mets are apparently being very cautious about his return: if and when it will be. It's sounding a little too cautious to me...it seems like the date for his return is getting pushed back further and further, and now the information is vague. Hopefully he comes back and is effective...

CINCINNATI: GREAT AMERICAN BALLPARK

Note: A temporary malfunction with the digital camera forced me to buy an overpriced disposable camera for the Cincinnati game. The flash was brutal, and not a lot of these pictures came out too well. Also, the CVS where I had the film developed does not have the capability to do a photo CD, so I had to scan the pictures. Therefore, there are not many....and the good ones didn't even come out. The above picture is not mine. I took one just like it, where the flash must have failed me. But it was a beautiful picture, of that I'm sure. Johnnymets.blogspot.com apologizes for any inconveniences this situation may have caused.

Whereas Jacobs Field is all business (you go to see a baseball game), Great American Ballpark is an experience (you go, and if you have time, sit in your seat and take in the baseball game). The park itself is beautiful, sitting right on the water. And I didn't realize this, but across the river is Kentucky, and The Wife and I actually stayed in Kentucky for our trip to Cincinnati.

I can't quite put my finger on why I love traveling to these ballparks so much...but there are a couple of conclusions I've drawn, and it could be one of these or a combination of them. 1) I'm crazy. 2) I like the new ballparks and the architecture involved. 3) I like using them as an excuse to see different cities and the rest of the country. So many of these ballparks/stadiums are the centerpieces of their cities, and I think 4) the biggest thrill for me is driving into a new city and seeing the skyline, with the beautiful ballparks in the middle. This wasn't so much the case in Cleveland, at least the direction we drove, with Jacobs Field - we drove straight towards the Browns stadium, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But when we drove into Cincinnati, and there were Great American Ballpark and the Bengals stadium, I loved it. It's a wonder we make it through these trips without me crashing the car.

We got to the ballpark early, and I had the chance to walk all around and explore (unlike Cleveland, the gates were opened an hour and a half before the game...for some reason Jacobs Field only opened at 6 for a 7:05 start). This was Frank Robinson bobblehead night, so we got our bobbleheads...but upon arriving home, discovered one was not a bobblehead at all - it was a severedhead. (As you can see in this poor photograph.) I'm considering writing the Reds a letter.



Part of my problem with PNC Park in Pittsburgh was I felt like the Pirates had a lot of history that wasn't captured in their new park. That was not a problem in Cincinnati. The Reds have a Hall of Fame right outside the ballpark (you can access it from the street or from the ballpark), and I think ticketholders get in free on the night of a game. We checked it out without actually going in - it looks great. They had a feature on Pete Rose (who was actually at the same game as us, I discovered later), and they have all the pennants the Reds have accumulated over the years. In the concourses, there are bigger-than-poster-sized newspaper headlines from Reds history hanging from the ceiling.

The concourses are gigantic. They're closed right behind home plate, open everywhere else. And they're divided. So behind a wall, down in right field, behind where we were sitting, there was a sort of playground and all kinds of activities for kids, like running to first and getting timed, and seeing how fast you can throw a ball. There's also a stage where they have live music leading up to game time.





Out in center field, there is a deck that looks like the deck of a ship. My investigative journalism (I asked the teenager taking tickets) revealed that the deck was exclusive to Cincinnati Bell employees. I don't know if he meant only that night, or if that is always the case - but that would stink if you could only get into that area if you worked for the phone company. Although, I guess our seats were better, not sitting there.

The food, like Jacobs Field, was nothing to shout about - notably, though, the Reds don't have souvenir cups at the drink stands. The seats, to be honest, weren't the most roomy things I've ever sat in either. And one more complaint - from our seats, when the sun was setting, the glare off the scoreboard in left was so bad you couldn't read any statistics at all.

And this is worth saying: One of the neatest things about these ballparks is how nice everyone is who works there. It's like they go through these training sessions where they make the people who work at the stadiums be nice to everyone who walks through the turnstiles (the nicest people by far were the people in San Diego...but why wouldn't they be nice? They live in San Diego.). And don't get me wrong - most of the people in Great American Ballpark were very nice - the souvenir stand girls who directed me to the 4th floor to get a ripoff of a disposable camera saved my night from feeling like it was ruined. But when we got to the fourth floor, and took some pictures from the upper deck, and asked one of the ushers if he would take our picture, we met our first not-nice person of our stadium trips.

He was standing off to the side, watching these tourists (us) take pictures with their crappy disposable camera. If you could read his mind, I'm sure he would be saying, "These people BETTER not ask me to take their picture." But we did. And he said, "I'm not a very good picture-taker." I gave him the camera anyway, and we stood and smiled. He goes, "What am I supposed to do? Press this button here?" Now, keep in mind, this wasn't one of them new-fangled digital cameras. It was a crappy green disposable camera. There's only that one button. "Yes, sir, press that button." Now, truth be told, he didn't take a bad picture - the flash failed him like it failed me (although I took note that his finger was in front of the flash...and made sure the girls behind us at our seats took another safety picture). But I guess the Reds knew what they were doing when they put this guy on the fourth floor...much less populated up there...and he was definitely not a people person.


Finally, the other attraction of the game - I guess occasionally the Reds have a former Red come and sign autographs before the game. This night it was ex-Met George Foster. I walked by him when I was exploring the park, and seriously considered stopping to take a picture. I didn't. I wanted to tell him that he was the guy who set the example from which I learned about people getting fired. But I didn't. Maybe if The Wife and Baby were walking with me I would have stopped...but I was alone, and didn't have the gumption. I felt like he might not like me. I'll say this about George, though - he looked almost exactly as he did in his playing days - which means he was a powerful, compact man. That guy on the left hit 52 homers in a season back in 1977. That's some kind of strong.

Incidentally, in the game, the Reds beat the Brewers. The Baby handled this game much better, and we stayed until the game slowed considerably after six innings.

ASK TIM & RALPH

I'm a little upset with my mom right now.

When I was young, the majority of Mets games were on WWOR-TV, Channel 9. The broadcasters were mainly Tim McCarver and Ralph Kiner, with a rotating cast of others, Steve Zabriskie is the first to come to mind. This is why I have a sentimental attachment to Tim McCarver, despite the fact that so many people don't like him - he reminds me of 1980's Mets baseball.

In the late 80's, or thereabouts, WWOR-TV started a segment during Mets games called "Ask Tim & Ralph". In the segment, viewers were encouraged to send a postcard with your name and address and a question for Tim & Ralph. I don't remember whether the segment was meant for viewers to try to stump Tim & Ralph with some sort of trivia (as we shall see, this is how I interpreted it), or if the viewer was meant to seek analysis of a situation, like, "Is this Juan Samuel really worth the Mets trading Lenny Dykstra and Roger McDowell?"

I wanted to get a question on the air. I don't think the question that was selected won anything, other than the glory of the sender seeing his or her name on TV, and Tim & Ralph answering their question on TV. But that was good enough for me in the late '80's. So I sent in my question, and waited for my name to turn up faithfully, every game, waiting for the segment to come on...then never seeing my question.

I only sent one postcard, so my chances were probably one in a million. But that one always had me clinging to the hope that one day I would see my question come up in a bottom-third graphic, and there would be my name on the TV! The segment lasted a couple of years, if I remember correctly, and I remember thinking it must have been a popular segment, if they never had the chance to get a 9-year-old's question on the air.

This failure became my punchline. I had a cousin who was lucky enough to get down on the field and meet some Yankees. I used to tell her, "Wow. You're lucky. I couldn't even get my question on 'Ask Tim & Ralph'." Whenever someone had something good happen to them, that was my response, "I couldn't even get my question on 'Ask Tim & Ralph'."

Turns out that one in a million chance was actually a zero percent chance. My parents, as you well know, are cleaning out the house. Last weekend, when we were visiting on our way back from vacation, my mom came up to me and said, "John, look what I found, isn't this cute?!" And imagine my surprise when she showed me this:


She never mailed it. I never had a chance.

COMMENT ON THE COMMENTS: In response to the Southern Bureau's comment - Rochester had a really good free breakfast buffet at the Marriott Residence Inn. I can't say enough good things about Residence Inns - love them. That's about all I have to say about Rochester. Except I much preferred driving through western/upstate New York than western Pennsylvania.

CLEVELAND: JACOBS FIELD

I had no idea what Jacobs Field looked like. Sure, I've watched plenty of Indians games, and I've seen the big wall in left (an ode to Fenway, if I remember correctly when it was built), but I didn't really know many details about the park, other than the fact that it was one of the beautiful new ones. I was very surprised how the park looked from the outside - but in a good way - the park is indeed one of the prettier parks in the majors.

What I like best about Jacobs Field is that it is original. Yes, they took parts of older stadiums and incorporated them into their look, but along with Camden Yards, Jacobs Field was among the first of the "new" ballparks, so much of what it looks like is an inspiration to other new parks...not inspired by them. The thing I was most shocked by was Jacobs Field from the outside - it has a very unique look. Remember last year when I was confused by the shell-like exterior of Petco Park (where the Mets go)? I thought it looked nothing like a baseball stadium...well, it does. It looks like Jacobs Field. (Note the outside walls in the pictures below - it's kind of tough to see in the Cleveland picture, but I think you get the point.)

As I've mentioned before, The Wife planned this trip, and we had an excellent hotel - right in downtown Cleveland. The view from the window:

You can see Jacobs Field on the left above that parking garage...and that's Quicken Loans Arena on the right. I have no idea how they handle the crowds when the Cavaliers and Indians play the same night - it must be insane. I wonder if the Indians were home any nights when there was an NBA Finals game. The city must have been jam-packed. Funny thing is I took this picture on a Sunday, when downtown Cleveland had nothing going on. Note the empty parking lot. The next morning, the parking lots were jammed, and the parking garage on the left was packed, with people going to work.

Anyway, we walked to the game, which is always a nice experience. If you take the path to the left of the parking lot in the picture above (obscured by the trees), you get the view of the ballpark at right, entering the gate above the left field wall. This picture was taken as we were heading home - in the fifth inning - The Baby didn't take too well to the game. We had great seats - 11 rows back, sitting down the left field line...but unfortunately we were surrounded by Red Sox fans. This wouldn't have been a problem, except the Sox scored four runs before an out was recorded, and this created a high level of excitement and volume in our area, making The Baby a little upset. So I spent an inning in the seats, and the remainder of our time at the game walking around, mostly hanging out down the left field line by the foul pole in the standing room section. We left after Jon Lester (in his return) pitched out of a bases loaded jam.

Also as a result, I didn't get a chance to explore the entire ballpark. I never made it down the right field line. But from what I saw, there weren't very many extras at Jacobs Field. It isn't as much of an attraction (as you'll see later in the week with Cincinnati) as it is a ballpark - and I'm quite all right with that. It's a really beautiful park. The food was just OK - but I didn't get too adventurous - a hot dog and a sausage late in the game. The Wife and I split a souvenir drink. The coolest non-baseball part of the park is what you see at left, which was above and behind our seats - a really well-placed restaurant. In Arizona the restaurant is out in left field, in fair territory - I like where this one is better.

As for the field, I love the wall in left, and the Indians have a great scoreboard behind the left field wall. As a fan, the seats were comfortable, and our seats down the left field line didn't necessarily point us towards home plate, but they weren't at all uncomfortable. The concourses were open down the lines, closed between third and first behind the plate...but there were TV's by the concession stands - including a huge screen behind third base by a picnic area. I mentioned above The Wife and I had a souvenir drink - on the cup was Grady Sizemore and his stats - and his birthdate. 8/02/82. Pretty cool.

For what it's worth - the Indians play some great music as they introduce their lineup - it's the best I've heard for a home team...and it's a looped intro to some song, I just don't know which one. Good choice, whatever it is.

Overall, a trip worth taking. I would not recommend the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame if you're taking a trip to Cleveland (too much stuff in too small of an area), but definitely make sure you check out Jacobs Field.

REMEMBERING BILL ROBINSON: Lost in the attention given to the death of Bill Walsh (attention which he deserved, incidentally) is the fact that Bill Robinson passed away on Sunday. Robinson was the Mets' hitting coach for most of the 80's, including the 1986 season. I'm reading reports that he invented one of the Mets' handshakes that year - the "Low Two", opposite of a high five. As a player he was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 70's. He was a good player, with good numbers, but by all accounts Bill Robinson was a great person. And at age 64, he passed away way too young.

TRADE REACTION: Not much to react to. The Mark Teixeira deal became official, and I'll just say this: The Braves have been scoring runs. In their 8 wins since the All Star break, they've scored 4 runs once, 5 runs 3 times, then 7, 10, 14, and 10 runs. The problem is they've lost 9 games, where they didn't score as many runs. My point is, they've been capable of putting some runs on the board, I don't know that Teixeira makes a huge impact, which I mentioned yesterday.

The Phillies added Kyle Lohse. I think that just makes them even more beatable.

The Red Sox have a pretty formidable bullpen with the addition of Eric Gagne. They certainly gave up a lot for him, though, in Kason Gabbard, David Murphy, and this 16-year-old prospect who is supposed to be very good.

BACK FROM VACATION

I don't expect you all to be monitoring my whereabouts at all times, but I will tell you that I am back in Massachusetts after logging roughly 1800 miles on the Johnnymets-Mobile (see graphic above). I think I've mentioned this, but since The Wife took over the scheduling of the stadium trips, the whole experience has been much more fluid and organized. Instead of hitting a random stadium on a whim, we have well-thought-out trips that cover a couple of places. This year, it was Ohio - visiting Jacobs Field in Cleveland and Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati. We also stopped in Rochester, New York on the way out, and drove through Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on the way back. All very nice stops (except Rochester...not much going on there).

For those of you wondering, The Baby did very well considering that's a lot of time for a baby to be cooped up in a car. She's so good. There will be more on the trip later in the week, but before I get to a recap of what's happened with the Mets in the past week, a few of the highlights during the trip (not counting the ballparks) and since we've gotten back:

• A real treat on the ride from Cincinnati to Gettysburg (aside: The Wife originally thought this was a 4-hour trip, which would have been a breeze. She discovered last week it would be a 7-and-a-half hour trip. Whoops. It was not a breeze.) - While looking for some good radio to keep me awake one hour into the long trip (lots of Christian music out there, incidentally), I found ESPN Radio - Mike & Mike in the Morning, with Mike Greenberg and Tim Kurkjian. And they had as a guest none other than Hall of Famer Gary Carter. This was Thursday morning, and he was preparing for Hall of Fame festivities, and plugging something for MasterCard. Then, I started to lose reception on ESPN Radio right after that interview, so I found Fox Sports Radio, and they had none other than Hall of Famer Gary Carter plugging MasterCard. Back-to-back Gary Carter interviews....good start to the day.
  
• Before I left, I used the search function on TiVo to find a 'Scrubs' episode in syndication - the episode where Janitor organizes an air band. When we came back, it was waiting for us, so that was a nice mini-surprise. It's probably my favorite episode, a laugh a minute, though I wanted there to be more air-banding. It really came in the 'Scrubs' wheelhouse, too - where they were treating Mrs. Wilk, and Mandy Moore was J.D.'s girlfriend. That was a great stretch of episodes. On a related note, Comedy Central seems to have done away with the 11am-12 noon back-to-back 'Scrubs'. That was always a nice treat for The Baby and I for her 11:30 bottle...we'll have to change our routine...because we don't watch MADTV.
  
• Also a bonus - two 'Flight of the Conchords' waiting for me on the TiVo. The first was the first bad episode I've seen...I deleted it so it doesn't ruin The Wife's blossoming enjoyment of the show - she doesn't have to know about that episode. The second one from this past Sunday was funny enough - lots of Murray, that's always good.
  
• The digital camera worked all through Cleveland, and then for the Cincinnati Zoo...but when we got to Great American Ballpark, the camera gave some sort of error message. After a lot of cursing and frustration, I went to Plan B (Plan A is that I need plenty of pictures of these stadiums, using the digital camera), buying a disposable camera at the team store. $20. Yikes. So the Cincinnati pictures need to be developed from a store, and then I'll write about the trip - that's why Cincinnati comes late in the week (approximately Thursday. Cleveland will be tomorrow.)
  
• Did lots of reading over the trip, mostly Harry Potter. For those of you wondering, the final Harry Potter was a much more satisfying ending than The Sopranos. I like my closure. I'm not going to spoil anything here, but I'll give this piece of advice - it was very helpful for me to re-read the sixth book before reading number 7. I had forgotten a lot of important details. JK Rowling is a genius.

ONE MORE NOTE BEFORE THE METS: MLB.com has what seems to be a cool contest going for the post-season. You've probably seen the commercials, with Dane Cook (why?), that have the actober.com website. They are releasing certain sets of classic post-season games on their website, and fans can re-create the moments however they want...the cleverest would win tickets or some such thing. I'm going to keep checking back, and when I see a scenario that inspires me, I'm going to win that contest. I have not been inspired yet...and I'm not sure I even understand all the rules yet. But I will.

THE METS

So the Mets played Pittsburgh and Washington while I was away, and they did OK. They took two out of three from the Pirates, and then split 4 games with Washington. The Washington series was a bit of a disappointment because of the way the Mets lost Saturday night's nightcap of a day-night doubleheader (the first day-night doubleheader at Shea Stadium in 35 years - pretty wild stat, I thought). They fought back a couple of times to tie the game, then gave up the lead one last time, and had a rally fall short.

People are criticizing Willie Randolph for a complicated situation Saturday night where he pinch hit Marlon Anderson, after he already knew he had to insert Ramon Castro into the game because Paul LoDuca got hurt running the bases (he might be hurt bad, incidentally). By putting in Anderson, Randolph used his last bench player, and was forced to pinch hit Tom Glavine in the ninth inning. The problem here is Carlos Beltran, who is hurt again, but hasn't been placed on the DL yet, so the Mets are wasting a roster spot waiting for a decision. He'll probably go on the DL Tuesday. Randolph defended his move, and I'm fine with his defense (that Anderson is a pinch-hitter, Castro is less comfortable in that role), and the bottom line is that the Mets had another chance to tie in the next inning and left a runner at third, so that wasn't the deciding play of the game. But I think Randolph's hands are tied with the Beltran situation.

The Mets have injury problems right now - Moises Alou is back, but Beltran and LoDuca might be out for a while now. Mike DiFelice was called up to replace Mike Pelfrey, who was needed for the doubleheader, and DiFelice gives the Mets depth at catcher, and then David Newhan was called back up and Anderson Hernandez was sent down because the Mets need outfielders, with Beltran now out (though not yet on the DL) and every other outfielder seemingly injured. Expect another roster move in the next couple of days if Beltran is disabled.

All told, though, the Mets are holding on. They're 3-and-a-half up on the Phillies, who play the Cubs Monday night in the only National League game. The Braves are a game behind the Phillies.

SPEAKING OF WHICH: The reports right now are that the Braves have agreed to a deal for Mark Teixeira in which they get the first baseman and pitcher Ron Mahay in exchange for Jarrod Saltalamacchia and another top prospect. They're saying this is going to shift the balance of power in the NL East. I know that Andruw Jones is playing better now, Tim Hudson has been pitching great, and Chipper Jones is having a very good season, and I acknowledge that Teixeira is a better option at first base than ex-Met Julio Franco, but I don't think Teixeira is a difference-maker. (He might be in East Coast Bias, where my lead is slipping more and more everyday...but that's another story. Hurry back, Pedro*.) I think it makes the Braves better offensively, but I don't know that it gives them the oomph to pass the Mets in the division.

The Mets have just countered (at this writing) by trading two minor leaguers for Luis Castillo. Castillo is coming from Minnesota, but you'll remember him making his mark in Florida. The important thing to note here, and what makes this a great trade for the Mets, is that Castillo has been an outstanding hitter over his career at Shea Stadium. He had one of the longest (if not the longest) hitting streaks at Shea for a visiting player, and definitely has a great career average there. He hasn't done as well recently, but the career numbers are staggering - I'm sure they'll be all over the papers tomorrow...I don't even know where to search for them right now...maybe Yahoo!.....they don't split the career stats. Castillo was 1-for-13 at Shea this year for the Twins. Maybe now that he's back in the National League, though.....

COMING TOMORROW: Jacobs Field Review, lots of trade reaction, I'm sure, too

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE WORLD SERIES...

I'm just as guilty as all the other Mets fans...I fully expected the Mets to be in the post-season this year, and pretty much cruise to the World Series, where they would finally meet some tough opposition. Though the Mets are still in first place in the division, we've certainly seemed to hit a bump in the road, haven't we?

The problem is, I haven't changed my ways, even with the Mets stumbling through the summer months. My thoughts (especially with 10pm starts that I can't stay awake for the end of) have been wandering lately to the NFL, which is right around the corner, and how I'm feeling partly excited for September, and college and pro football, to get me through to the baseball playoffs. The problem with that is it's shaping up to be a pretty important September for the Mets - one in which they could find themselves fighting just to get into the post-season.

I went back into my archives to prove the March/April version of myself wrong - how I probably said the season was going to be a breeze, and that turns out to be not the case. But I'm proud to say - I just about hit the nail on the head:

"In my limited spring training write-ups, I've been somewhat critical of the Mets. It's not that I don't think they'll be good...it's just that I don't think they'll be as good all season as they were last year. But I think this team has the chance to hit its stride at the most important time - September and October - which is the opposite of what happened last year." - March 21, 2007

I went on to predict that the Mets will pull away from the much-improved Phillies (who are again playing the way I expected them to at the beginning of the year) when Pedro Martinez* returns in August.

Then there was this:

"I was checking out the Mets' schedule. July looks particularly tough. There are 10 home games, and 16 road games. It looks more intimidating on the schedule than it sounds...but there are a couple of lengthy road trips." - April 3, 2007

Turns out July has been tough (not to mention June...didn't see that coming), and it's tough as we speak. The month started on Sunday, July 1st, in Philadelphia - a loss. The trip through Colorado and Houston was more challenging than it should have been, and the Mets were 2-6 on that road trip in July. (It's 5-6 when you go into the last few days of June, and include the three wins over Philly that preceded the loss...but we're focusing on July.) The Mets took 3 out of 4 at home against Cincinnati, and now are back on the road, traveling across the country, to San Diego and Los Angeles, where they are already 0-1, after losing to the Padres Monday night. I'll try to keep a positive attitude, but keep in mind the Mets were already in Los Angeles this year (just about a month ago, really), where they were outscored 18-5 in a three-game sweep. So this doesn't bode too well.

The Mets might take two out of three in San Diego, and a split with the Dodgers would be acceptable. Then you look at their second half of the season so far, and things look pretty good, and there's no need to worry. But, unfortunately, the way the Mets have been playing, that's not a foregone conclusion, as it might have been last year. This year, it seems, the Mets are going to have to prove their worth right up until the end.

NAME GAME: I missed a golden opportunity Monday night in the ol' name game. I've explained this before, but I'll go through it again. Basically, it's fun with baseball names - I like saying, "What if Wendell Kim married Turk Wendell? He'd be Wendell Wendell." It's stupid...but sometimes these things come up during three-hour baseball games. Well, Monday night, pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals, was Braden Looper. And then as I was switching around during the Mets game, who is pitching for the Oakland Athletics? None other than Dallas Braden. Hello, Braden Braden. There have been times with the Name Game where players have opposed one another, being on opposite teams in the same game. But I'm not sure there's ever been a pitching matchup with opposing names. I look forward to the day the A's play the Cardinals, and the Bradens match up.

-On a somewhat related note - I mentioned the NFL before - I saw in the transaction wire that the Jets signed a receiver named Juan Wong. That's pretty cool. Doubt he makes the team, considering I've never heard of him - but I'll try to catch him in a preseason game, just because.

It's been a little while since I've posted, but since I might be getting some more readers, so I figured I'd better put something interesting to read on here.

For my new North Carolina visitors, I should tell you about myself. I am a huge Mets fan, and I write in this space so I can vent about such things as the Mets being 2-9 in September, right after it looked like they turned a corner and were about to make a post-season push.

For my regular readers - remember when the Mets started their stretch of 17 out of 20 on the road with a 5-2 start? Well, after dropping 2 of the 3 home games in between, the Mets went 2-8, finishing 7-10 in those games. Tonight, Tuesday night, they open up a 3-game homestand against the Nationals, then it's the Braves and Marlins at Shea. This is a long homestand - 9 games. If the Mets go 9-0, maybe I'll come back on here and talk about them going to the playoffs. But they won't, because they have to play the Braves, and they can't beat the Braves.

The Mets' record is 71-72 right now - they're five-and-a-half behind the Marlins for the wild card. They're tied with the Brewers - that should tell you about all you need to know.

You also need to know, especially if you're new to the site, that David Wright hit his 39th double of the year on Sunday - so he is five away from tying the team record for doubles in a season (44). He has 19 games left to get those five doubles - the Wright Watch will be in full force.

One more thing for the many new readers I'm sure to get from all of the Orange Couch readers - you know, me, Dave in Miami, Dave in Brighton (when he gets back from Napa), and Justin in New York - (unless the Orange Couch gets more readers than I do....which I find hard to believe...actually, I just listed more readers than I get, so I guess it does) - I am a teacher, so I can't stay up until the end of the baseball games anymore - and if I do, it's watching from bed. So I can't update the site every day after games. But I'll try.

OK - I gotta go - Sam Shelby just walked in. I bet he wants to talk about gearing the blog towards a southeastern audience. I'll just smile and nod.