ONE MORE GO-AROUND

I'm sure it hasn't gone unnoticed that it's been hard for me lately to keep up with '200 Miles From the Citi'. Part of this has been a busy home life, but I'm not going to lie - the Mets have been less and less inspiring to me as the season has gone on.

I think I'll address that another day. For now, I'm going to build on some feel-good momentum from last night and touch on a few topics that have been on my mind:

Last night, thanks to a class gift, The Wife and I were able to go to the Red Sox-Marlins game at Fenway Park. Despite the fact that the Red Sox missed the boat on building a new facility, there's always something special about watching a game at Fenway, especially at night, with the light towers. (Maybe because of 'Field of Dreams', I don't know).















It also helped that we had good seats, which is always a better viewing experience at Fenway.

As a nice bonus, last night also happened to be the 500th consecutive sellout at Fenway Park, so we received a commemorative baseball (on the way out the door; the Red Sox are not stupid) and other little giveaways throughout the night - we ended up with a free burrito. Rare giveaways at a place that doesn't really need to draw crowds with free items, so that was nice.

It made me think, though, that the Red Sox, while definitely successful between 2003 and 2009, have a bit of an advantage in that a sellout only needs to be 40,000 tickets sold (or less - 38,000+, I think). While that's more than teams like the Marlins and Nationals could dream of, I wonder how many other teams have had 40,000 for six straight years without being sellouts. The Yankees come to mind - even with their well-known troubles selling tickets this year, they are still over 40,000 a game. Just throwing that out there.

Some other things that have been on my mind:

Last night we happened to catch Brad Penny pitching for the Red Sox. With John Smoltz coming back into the Red Sox' plans for their rotation, rumor has it that Penny is expendable. (There are other options, but the Penny ones have caught my interest the most.) One of the teams rumored to be a destination for Penny is the Mets. I can't tell you how angry it would make me if the Mets traded for Brad Penny. They could have had him, on the cheap no less (unlike Oliver Perez and his 9+ ERA, high salary, and overall ineffectiveness), as a free agent. If they trade someone to get Penny, it might be the final straw that breaks the back of my already high level of frustration with the team.

Finally, you may remember a few years ago when I critiqued all of the Major League Baseball broadcasts. I didn't comment much on the Marlins guys, but I did mention that I was not a fan. They have not climbed the ladder too much in my view, and as I watch their 'sideline' reporter on occasion - I believe it's Craig Minnervini - they've dropped further. He creeps me out. One time in Arizona stands out in particular for me, when he leered at all of the girls in their bathing suits in a poolside interview. Well, that stuck with me, and it didn't go unnoticed last night when he made sure to introduce himself to Red Sox sideline reporter/former model Heidi Watney. Something tells me he doesn't go out of his way to make sure he gets to know the other male sideline reporters (which, it occurs to me, is not an extensive list beyond him) in the league.

So hopefully I'm getting back into updating the site more often. For some reason I hit the 5-year anniversary and maybe even a wall at the same time.

Again, I'll get into this more in a future post, but I'm feeling pretty upset with the Mets lately, though my enjoyment of baseball is still at its peak. Part of my issue is that it still feels odd for me watching the Mets play home games - I feel like I don't recognize anything.

Next week brings another trip to Citi Field. We'll see how things go after that trip. I'll have pictures and a new update on the new ballpark for sure by the first of July...but I will be updating before then as well.

STILL GOING STRONG

Some Mets number 5s help me recognize 5 years of blogging:

I distinctly remember how the blog started. I was sitting with The Wife (then the fiancee - I've been blogging longer than I've been married), surfing the net on her laptop, saying, "I want to write about the Mets. How do I start my own website?" She said, "You can start a blog." So I did. That happened on April 11, 2004. The site has come a long way, I think, since those mini-game recaps.

In 5 years we've seen the rise of David Wright, the closing of Shea and opening of a new stadium, Carlos and Pedro* and Johan, and disappointment after disappointment after disappointment. (Not to mention the Jets' share of disappointments...as well as the birth of two children.)

Hopefully the enthusiasm with which I've started off this year stays with me until late October.

A World Series championship would be a nice way to celebrate the end of our fifth season.

THE NEW SCENE

As far as pictures taken from the car go, this is not one of our finer efforts, but the last time we were down in New York, about two weeks ago, we snapped this picture of Shea-less Citi Field on our way back:
It was weird seeing just one stadium in that spot...even though for my whole life there was ever only one stadium in that spot.

But there it is. The new view from the Whitestone Expressway. And The Wife is celebrating because she'll never have to take another picture from the car there again.

AM I READY?

My bracket's nearly busted. The temperature nearly hit 70 today. Many other years, this weekend is the start of the baseball season.

But I'm glad it's not...because I just don't feel ready.

I mean, I have my fantasy rosters drafted and the starting lineups are just about set. I have the notebook for the 'New Baseball Pool' set up, just waiting for Week 1 picks to be entered. I'm looking forward to the newspaper and Sports Illustrated baseball previews in the next week. So logistically I'm all set. It's mentally, I think, that I'm not.

And I think I know why.

It's this late start. For months, I've known that it was nearly a full week into April before the Mets would take the field (when it counts). And almost halfway through the month when they opened up the new stadium (I guess it could be worse - the Yankees' new stadium doesn't open until the 16th). So I guess I adjusted my mental state to account for all that.

Now, let's not confuse 'not ready' for 'not excited'. It's weird, though, this year - I really am more excited about the place than the event. I can't wait for Opening Day at Citi Field to see the stadium, and to go back all summer long, rather than to see the Mets play. Maybe that will change when I see the team in uniform for the first time (it probably will), but right now I'm excited for different reasons than I usually am.

I haven't even made season picks this year...which is too bad, because I'm in a non-homer mental state, and I might nail the picks.

Maybe I'll get around to that since it's still a while before we see any action that counts.

TWEET: So, I'm on Twitter. I have to credit The Wife - she thought it might be a good way to draw some traffic to the site. So since I want to get back into the everyday blogging life I've abandoned recently, I'll try whatever it takes to get some people to read. So if you're on Twitter, follow me. It's johnnymets. Not quite sure how it works, but I'll even follow you, too. When the season starts, I might be able to 'Tweet' more often than blog...so that might be a nice little add-on feature. We'll see what develops.

A WRECK

This Shea Stadium situation is much more upsetting to me than I thought it would be. Remember when I thought they would demolish it in one fell swoop and I wanted to be there to see it? I'm second-guessing that thought process.

Though I do almost wish now that it was gone all at once instead of piece by piece.

It's like a train wreck - it's so gruesome to me, but I can't take my eyes off it.

As we drove by Monday for what could be the last time, The Wife asked, "How much longer am I going to have to take pictures every time we drive by the stadiums?" Unfortunately, the answer is not much longer.

As you can see below, the progress in just a couple of weeks since my last visit is pretty staggering. (It doesn't seem like it from the way Shea looks, but these are pretty much taken from the same angle.)

WELCOME TO 2009

Perhaps sadly, I feel like 2009 will be the year of the stadium, rather than the occupants, when it comes to the Mets.

Like the sucker that I am when it comes to the Mets, I'll be rooting for a world championship, but last year took a lot of the wind out of my sails. That said, the excitement level for 2009 is very high - mostly because the Mets will finally have a new stadium.

The Wife snapped some pictures on our Christmas trip to NYC, and I have for you some views of Citi Field near completion, as well as the beginning of the demolition of Shea Stadium.

First of all, I wanted to show you one of the images of Queens, New York. When we get on the Grand Central Parkway near my parents' house, right by LaGuardia Airport, this is the scene:
It's going to look strange to me when Shea is no longer a part of that horizon. But Citi Field will look great.

Here's another view that will change in just a couple of months, at the on-ramp to the Whitestone Expressway at the end of Astoria Boulevard (note that when you look at Shea you can pretty much see right through it as they have removed all of the seats...more on that in a second):
Now, a look at Citi Field near its completion (I think it's pretty much done, though I can't see the inside):
And then two looks (click on these so they become bigger, and then look inside Shea to see the damage) as the tearing-down process at Shea has started:

Finally, we drove through the Bronx to see some family on Saturday - and The Wife snapped a shot of the new Yankee Stadium (which also looks really good - I'm going to try to get there this summer as well):

Happy New Year!

2008 - YEAR OF THE GAG?

Looking back at the 2008 NFL regular season, I think the one theme that stands out is the fact that a lot of teams blew a lot of chances this year. Sure, there were teams that pounced on opportunity: the Arizona Cardinals took advantage of being in the worst division in football to win said division, the Miami Dolphins took advantage of their schedule to be good enough to win the AFC East, and the San Diego Chargers took care of their business to put themselves in a position to win and get in in the final week of the season.

But the Chargers were only able to do that because the Denver Broncos wasted their (very good) chance. And the Dolphins wouldn't have won had the Jets held their ground. And they were joined by the likes of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Chicago Bears, who at one point controlled their destiny, only to let those opportunities slip away. Throw in teams like the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys, and it seems like there was an inordinate amount of teams this year who had a chance to make things happen for themselves, and blew it. (Teams like the Bills don't count - though they got off to a really hot start, they faded too far too fast.)

I noticed a couple of patterns with these teams - the Jets, Broncos, Bucs, Redskins, and Cowboys. The first is, other than the Jets, who lost too many games to beatable teams, the teams really beat up on their weaker opponents - meaning maybe they didn't really deserve to be in the positions they were in because they didn't have the most difficult schedules. (I noted how easy the Broncos' schedule was way back in August.)

But the other thing is a lot of these teams had a big win, followed by a big collapse. Look:

1) The Jets beat the Patriots and Titans in back-to-back weeks on the road, improving to 8-3, then went 1-4 the rest of the way.

2) The Broncos started the Jets on that downward spiral, but that was their high water mark - after beating the Jets, Denver beat Kansas City, then lost their final three, all with an opportunity to clinch the division.

3) The Buccaneers were 9-3, coming off a win that pretty much buried the Saints, then lost to Carolina in a big divisional matchup as part of their 0-4 finish to the season.

4) The Redskins started hot, became everyone's favorite darkhorse, were sitting pretty at 7-4, and then finished 1-4 - including a loss to Cincinnati - to finish the season.

5) The Cowboys' chokes have been well-documented, but they fit this pattern, too - after regaining some hope by beating the Giants, they lost their final two games of the season with everything on the line.


I guess this is all just to point out that as horrible as the Jets season was, they had plenty of company this year. It's just hard to notice that other teams and their fans are sharing your plight in the heat of the moment.

ON THE OTHER HAND, MY YEAR WAS PRETTY GOOD: I have to admit, on this last day of 2008, that I got really caught up in my number of posts this year. When I changed format sometime last year, the new page kept track of posts per month and year. And I decided I wanted to try to post as much as I could in 2008, watching those numbers very closely.

I ended up posting a record 284 times in 2008. Of course, it was a leap year, so you have to subtract from 366 to see how many days I missed instead of 365, but still...I'm impressed.


April and May were tough - a busy time at school. October, a month into having the new baby, was also sporadic. But I wrote this year more days than ever before - by a long shot.

And the reason I did it was because people were reading. I was picked up a couple of times this summer by other blogs, which was a first. And I have my small, small circle of loyal readers, who I really appreciate taking a couple of minutes out of their day to read what I have to say, and either comment on it in writing or in person. Thank you, because I'd like to think I'd do this in a vacuum, but I'm not sure I'd continue if no one read it.

I'm proud of the fact that I was able to keep the writing up this year. And I doubt that I'll be able to match that output in 2009. But I'll try. And I'll have help. I'm excited to announce that in 2009, as I floated out as a possibility in early August, the Southern Bureau will become a regular contributor - I've officially handed over a set of keys. Maybe I can get The Wife to do some more contributing in 2009 as well.

But just like a year ago, there's a lot to look forward to in the coming year. And I will write about it. And who knows, it might just turn out to be more often than in 2008.

A WII LITTLE CHRISTMAS

My sister bought Wii recently. So, naturally, I told her to host Christmas so we could all come over and play it. I dubbed it a "Wii Little Christmas", a bit redundant, but we had mini cookies, little hot dogs (Wii-ners), and my brother and his girlfriend got me a mini deck of cards as a gift. It was fun.

And the Wii is awesome.

Afterwards, the Wife confided that for a long time she thought about getting me a Wii for Christmas. But she couldn't justify the cost, what with two children and all, and the time we'd need to play it. I can't argue with her - we barely have time to watch a half-hour sitcom a week, let alone play video games in our spare time (though, somehow, I manage to watch about 20 hours of football a week.....). So I'm not upset with her.

But it is something I'm thinking we should do down the road. Because it's great. We played Wii Sport, but that was all I really needed to see.

I played a few rounds of Wii Tennis with my brother, and I handled him pretty well. Then we (Wii) played some bowling - my brother and his girlfriend, the Wife, and I - my brother kept rolling strikes - I think he might have broken 200 in one game. Can't figure out how he was so successful. But he whooped us pretty good. I came in second place in two games - I think my high was 159.

I hit a home run off my brother's girlfriend in baseball, then knocked her out in boxing in a tense 3-round match. I then knocked out the Wife in the first round - she barely had time to pick up the controller before she was on the ground.

So a Wii Little Christmas was a hit. I over-ate (ironic, maybe, considering it was supposed to be small), had a great video game experience, and got to spend some time with the family. It's a Wii-nderful Life.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

I have a ton I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving, mostly the personal stuff. But you don't come here to read about my wife and daughters - I assume you come to read about the Mets and the Jets. So I'll keep this to the foolish stuff.

And tell you that this year, as a sports fan, I am extremely thankful for the 2008 Jets.

At the very least, if the Jets didn't go any further than the 8-3 at which they now stand, they've taken the bad taste of the end of the Mets' season out of my mouth. At most, they'll give me some playoff football, and I'd be disappointed if it isn't multiple playoff games for the first time in four years.

I'm thankful for Brett Favre. I think it begins and ends with him. The Jets line finally seems to be coming together, and I think it's no coincidence that the less Favre is pressured, the less he makes mistakes. I maintain that Chad Pennington wouldn't be having this same amount of success with the Jets this year because he would have been crushed (physically) by Week 3. Favre is tougher, and battled through some injuries, I think, and now he's not getting hit as much. Put Pennington behind the Jets' line in Week 13, and yes, I think he and Favre would be on equal footing. But not from early in the season...and that's part of the reason he's doing so well in Miami - I don't think he's been touched all year. (I'm also thankful that to this point, rooting for the team I despise to see Pennington succeed hasn't bitten me in the behind.) And I love the youthful joy Favre brings to the team -he makes it fun to root for the team.

And there's one last thing I'm thankful for regarding Brett Favre. I'm thankful he's a Jet. I don't like the way he went about things this off-season, that's for sure. And I slightly dread the fact that the Jets might be the Packers of the past couple of years in the coming off-seasons, the difference being they don't have a first-round draft pick waiting in the wings....but I'm afraid from now on Favre will hold them hostage the way he held Green Bay hostage the past few years. But maybe that's the price you pay for this kind of success.

Point is - I really like Brett Favre. I've rooted for him for a very long time. Remember, I've always had a soft spot for the Packers - maybe it was the yellow in their uniform, maybe it was that they were a playoff team when the Jets were awful. So it was very easy for me to root for him as a Jet - it's like a dream come true for me. Remember a couple of years ago when I mused that Mike Sherman could become the new Jets coach and lure Favre over? It happened, in a different way than I expected, and I'm happy about it. It's not like a guy like John Elway or Dan Marino, both of whom I could never stand, is now quarterbacking my team - it's a guy I've always rooted for.

I know losing seasons. Baseball, football, you name it - I've seen the worst of it. So I think that makes me appreciate the good times even more. And this is a good time. And for that, I'm thankful.

IT ENDS TONIGHT

I haven't been following the ALCS as closely as I would have liked to. I forget if I mentioned this already, but it's probably a good thing for me the Mets didn't make the playoffs...I'd either:
1) Not be able to watch past the third inning,
2) Be way too tired to function during the day, or
3) Be dead, what with all the parenting and working and baseball watching I'd have to do.

I throw that in about the NLCS to make it very clear that I saw none of the Red Sox' dramatic comeback in Game 5. My thought process when I shut the downstairs TV and went up to fall asleep in front of the bedroom TV (while lying in bed, rather than sleeping on the couch) was that I would either wake up during the Rays' celebration (I saw until 7-0) or see what the final score was in the morning.

The Wife got up with the Baby for a feeding, and said to me, "The Red Sox tied it." I thought I was dreaming. When she whispered, "The Red Sox won," I was really confused. I had to see highlights in the morning to convince myself.

Nevertheless, I think I was probably more bothered by the extension of the ALCS to Game 6 than the Rays were. They were going home anyway, their reaction was probably, "Well, I guess we'll win it on Saturday night."

I know it's impossible to count the Red Sox out, when you look at the ALCS deficits they've overcome in recent years (heck, stretch it back to 1986 - their last World Series before '04 - even then they overcame a 3-1 deficit), but this year feels different.

I get the impression the Rays just don't get intimidated. And I think Joe Maddon has a lot to do with their mindset. They could have been crushed by Game 1. They could have been disheartened when the Red Sox kept coming back on them in Game 2. But in both cases they rebounded pretty well. They took the first two at Fenway and darn near swept the Sox in their own park.

Coming home to Tampa just means they'll win it in front of their own crowd. And close out the Red Sox. Because these Rays are a better team than the Cleveland Indians of last year....so they'll do what that team couldn't.

PLAYOFF BOUND? YEAR 2

11:12am - Well, here we are, one year later. Early returns on the day are not promising - the rain is coming down in buckets, which is interfering with my DirecTV. For some reason, the channel that has the most trouble coming through is SNY...or maybe I just notice that more because I want to watch it.

So it looks like I will not get to see the pre-game Shea ceremonies...but as long as it clears up in time for the game I'll deal with that - my parents are recording it for me. (Incidentally, I just called my mom, and she says if they played yesterday, the weather today should also allow them to play. Funny how the weather hasn't wreaked havoc on the games like I thought - just my ability to watch them.)

Speaking of watching the games - I have to start out with huge, huge thanks to the Southern Bureau. Not only has he been the biggest fan of 200 Miles From the Citi from its inception, but yesterday he did the nicest thing ever.

No sooner had I finished loading up the crappy ol' GameCast to virtually 'watch' the Mets-Marlins game than I got a text message from S.B. asking if I wanted his MLB.TV password to watch the game on-line. I did. (And I might need it again today.) I was able to watch every pitch of Johan Santana's masterpiece thanks to the Southern Bureau. And here we are today.

11:30am - This is so eerily similar to last year. I just read through last year's posting - my Sunday routine hasn't changed much - Sunday is still laundry and garbage day here. I did the laundry yesterday to make sure I had nothing in my way today. And last week, I put out the garbage Sunday night at around 6pm. It had no sooner gotten dark then by 8:30pm there was a raccoon in my driveway feasting on the trash. So there's no chance I'm even setting foot outside after dusk tonight. The garbage will be done tomorrow morning before I go to work. And speaking of work, I did as much as I could last night - something tells me not much will get done today.

I will not be having Riley's Roast Beef this year - that was unlucky last year...plus, I don't think they're open on Sundays anymore. We have some burritos from Whole Foods that I just ran out to get.

Also on the list of things that haven't changed since last year - I suspect The Wife is rooting against the Mets so that she doesn't have to put up with this anymore. Because there's one big difference - instead of neglecting my parental duties with one child this year, now there are two.

And let me tell you this story about our 2-year-old...she woke up about 5am today, and came into bed with us. After tossing and turning a little bit she sat straight up and said, "Watch baseball?" I turned on the TV to watch ESPNEWS and catch some highlights. Little did she know she'll be getting her fill of baseball today.

Weather update from Mom via Instant Message - "a little drizzly" in Queens.

11:45am - If I believed in conspiracy theories, I'd believe the Cubs were manipulating this weekend to avoid the Mets. (Yesterday's Cubs win probably makes this point moot, but I'll continue anyway.) If I were the Cubs, I think I'd rather face the Dodgers...wouldn't you? Maybe that's what Carlos Zambrano was thinking when he said he'd rather throw a side session against the Brewers today instead of pitching in the game (maybe he can pinch-hit and help the Mets that way). His replacement, though, is named Angel - hopefully that signals divine intervention for the Mets, not Milwaukee.

Incidentally, the Cubs were 5-2 versus LA this year - not having matched up since late May and early June (read: before the Manny Ramirez trade). The Mets gave them fits just earlier this week.

It's also a bit of a relief that there won't be a 3-way tie (thanks to Philadelphia clinching the East last night), and the only tiebreaker, if necessary, will be Mets-Brewers Monday at Shea. The 3-way tie would have dragged into Tuesday. It would have been nice, had the Mets won the division and the Phillies gotten the wild card, for the Mets to have L.A. in the first round, but at this point, I'll take a playoff appearance through the path of least resistance.

11:47am - I'm wondering if I should have written this bottom-up, instead of top-down?

11:55am - Still nothing on the satellite. Interesting note via mets.com - Brian Gorman will be an umpire in today's game - the last regular season game at Shea. His father, Tom, was an umpire who called the first game at Shea. Pretty cool symmetry there.

12:10pm - Incidentally, if the Mets were in the position the Brewers are in, facing a September call-up with a 7.04 ERA, they would be shut out on two hits. I have a feeling the Brewers won't be. As it is, the Mets are facing Scott Olsen - they've had his number this year - in 4 starts he's 0-3 against the Mets with a 6.95 ERA.

Oliver Perez, going on short rest, pitches against the Marlins. It's probably the biggest game he's pitched for the Mets since the 2006 NLCS, when he was great. Let's hope he's still a big game pitcher. For the record, he's 3-0 with a 2.03 ERA in 5 starts versus the Marlins this year.

**I haven't mentioned this yet - please feel free to weigh in with your comments by e-mail or in the comments below throughout the day.

12:45pm - Similar to last year - looks like I might have to watch this game on the Marlins feed. I can't stand the announcers on Fox Sports Florida...but it's better than nothing. I don't get DirecTV, though - why do I not get SNY or TBS, but get Fox Sports Florida? Luckily, too, there will probably be a rain delay - so more time for SNY to tune in. (Also, mom says "weather not good - raining a bit heavier now." It definitely won't be a rain out - could be a long day of waiting.)

The delay will also mean closer start times between the Mets and Brewers games - Chicago-Milwaukee's first pitch is 2pm.

1:05pm - Jets punted on their first possession. SNY is in and out - briefly I caught a look at some of the VIP's arriving for today's game. Ralph Kiner, Ron Darling, Keith Hernandez, Buddy Harrelson, Rusty Staub, Darryl Strawberry, Jesse Orosco, and Hall of Famer Gary Carter. I'm thrilled Carter was there - I was afraid there might have been some hard feelings with that whole Willie Randolph thing. Rain delay to start the game, by the way.

1:30pm - End of 1st quarter for the Jets - no score. The Jets have had a huge sack to knock the Cardinals out of scoring position, recovered a fumble, and blocked a field goal. Unfortunately, due to a Brett Favre interception, they haven't scored either. But they're on the doorstep - 2nd and goal from the 2 (or 1) - Thomas Jones has already been stuffed there once.

Still not sure what's going to happen with the Mets - I'll check back after this Jets possession, I guess.

1:35pm - Favre to Laveranues Coles - a double-whammy against me in fantasy football, but I'll take it. This, after FOX came back from commercial after an apparent TD pass, called back due to a holding penalty.

Still no Mets - I only have the Florida channel right now (Sun Sports, by the way, not Fox Sports Florida) - and they're showing fishing. My dad tells me it's sunnier now, though.

1:42pm - Jets just returned an interception for a TD - 14-0. And the Mets are about to start. Oh boy.

I have a wonderful wife, by the way - this is hard to do with two kids...she's changing a diaper right now that I should be changing...and she argues with my earlier point - saying she is actually rooting FOR the Mets so that she doesn't have to put up with me being miserable.

2pm - OK, now the Mets are starting for real. And Favre just threw another TD to Coles. 21-0. Much better than last year so far (when the Jets lost to the 0-3 Bills).

2:03pm - A 1-2-3 inning for Perez. That's how you show up for an important start. Oliver Perez 1, Tom Glavine 0.

2:15pm - 1-2-3 for Sabathia, too. The Mets got nothing in the bottom half of the 1st. I think it's really important for the Mets to take a lead before the Brewers do - both teams are scoreboard-watching, the Mets are tight enough at the plate as it is - they don't need to see Milwaukee up before they're up.

2 minute warning for the Jets - they just forced another Kurt Warner fumble. What a disaster the Cardinals are today.

2:30pm - Don't have to worry about the Jets this week - after another Coles TD and Warner turnover, it's 34-0 at halftime.

Oliver Perez has had two good innings - the Mets need to score some runs.

2:50pm - Sun Sports' roving reporter just interviewed Gary Carter. He was pretty low-key, but not without hyperbole - when asked about Shea Stadium, Carter said, "It's one of the greatest stadiums of all time, because of the fans." Uh, thanks Gary, but come on, really. I love Shea as much as the next guy, but I'm not going to go that far. (For my Shea Memories, click here.)

Also, no mention by the Florida guys of Carter's minor league championship. Guess they don't read the blog.

Jets just gave up a touchdown, so it's 34-7. No score through 3 for the Mets. And the Cubs have a 1-0 lead in Milwaukee - the run scored on a very close almost-double-play by the Brewers (the right call was made, though).

2:55pm - 4 great innings by Perez. You may have heard the Cubs might not go more than two innings with any pitcher today. They're keeping to that - Chad Gaudin started the third, and retired the side without difficulty. Mets need some runs.

3:10pm - The Jets are now ahead 34-15. I don't really think they're going to blow their lead, but I hope the defense stops letting Arizona march right down the field.

Whole Foods has crappy chips - they break the minute they touch the dip.

If the Mets don't get on the board soon I'm going to be really upset. I can't stand that they make everything so difficult.

3:21pm - A double and a bloop single have the Marlins up 1-0. I'm nervous. I also just switched back to SNY - I wonder if that was bad luck. Maybe I'll try out TBS.

3:26pm - Oliver Perez's day is done. He leaves with the bases loaded (an intentional walk to load the bases after runners on first and second tagged up) and one out - Joe Smith is on.

Brewers still trail the Cubs 1-0 through five. The Cubs aren't exactly trotting out a Murderer's Row of relievers...the Mets need to get on the board....but first keep the Marlins from adding more.

3:34pm - A bases-loaded walk by Joe Smith and two outs later, the Mets dodged a pretty big bullet. 2-0 Marlins, going into the bottom of the sixth. 1-0 Cubs, going into the bottom of the sixth. The Mets have a pinch-hitter, then the top of the lineup coming up - they need to get runs NOW.

3:42pm - I love Carlos Beltran. And until Wednesday night (or Thursday) I love each of these relievers the Cubs keep trotting out. 2-2!

And Anquan Boldin just scored against the Jets - good for my fantasy team, matching some of the points Coles has put up.

3:50pm - OK. New life, heading to the 7th tied at 2. But now I echo the Southern Bureau's sentiment - uh-oh on the bullpen being in the game now.

Sabathia looks strong - he's through seven, having just given up that 1 run. His third start in nine days. Jeez.

Beltran's homer came when I was watching TBS. Not two minutes later, I lost reception and had to resort back to Sun Sports....a Marlins conspiracy, no doubt.

4:01pm - The Jets defense looks horrible. I'll worry about that in two weeks though, after the bye week. The Mets defense looks great - Endy Chavez made an awesome running catch to end the seventh inning. The Brewers have the bases loaded...uh-oh.

4:06pm - Wuertz just walked in a run, so the Brewers tied it up 1-1. Is it just me, or does it seem like this year there have been tons of bases loaded walks? Drives me nuts - just throw a friggin' strike.

4:08pm - I don't think the Jets are going to lose...but watching them the past couple of weeks is like playing a game of Madden. Ridiculous scores against them.

The Cubs got out of that inning - it's 1-1 heading to the 8th. At this rate it looks like the Mets will be tied going into the 8th as well.

4:17pm - Scott Schoeneweis - are you kidding me? 3-2 Marlins in the 8th. The top of the lineup will be coming up again...hopefully the Mets bullpen doesn't give up more runs, because the Mets can't score too many the way they're playing.

4:23pm - Dan Uggla just got one off Luis Ayala. And now the Brewers just got a 2-run shot. Not good.

4:26pm - The Mets have made things tremendously difficult for themselves. The Brewers are now taking a 3-1 lead into the ninth - they got clutch hits when they needed them. The Mets need to do the same.

On a much more serious note, Anquan Boldin just suffered a really serious injury in the Jets game. He's taken off in an ambulance - bad news.

4:34pm - Well, it's over in Milwaukee. Nothing the Mets can do about that - just have to win and force a game tomorrow.

Marlins pitching change with runners on first and second - clutch double by Reyes, walk by Beltran. Now, with two outs, it's up to Delgado. Otherwise, those bats are all out of the way in the 9th, and I'm not crazy about that scenario.

4:37pm - Delgado flew out. I feel like I'm going to throw up.

4:52pm - Marlins 4, Mets 2. Here comes either the final three outs of the season or a great beginning to the end of Shea Stadium.

5:09pm - Wow. Brutal. And making it worse for me was having to watch the Marlins broadcast. I strongly dislike Rich Waltz and Tommy Hutton.

5:10pm - I am so pissed off...but in the end the Mets didn't deserve the playoffs. The Brewers won 5 of their last six games - the Mets lost two out of three to the Marlins. The Brewers got a clutch homer from their star, Ryan Braun, the Mets couldn't get a hit from David Wright in their biggest game (Wright hasn't had a clutch hit in his career). The Mets had no bullpen. They couldn't hold a lead, they couldn't keep a game tied. It happened a bunch throughout the season (just think if the Mets had held five leads - a few Johan Santana starts, and last Sunday against the Braves - they would have won the division by three games and not been in this position on Sunday) - it would have happened again in the post-season. I'd like to think things would have been different in the playoffs....but I doubt it - the Mets would probably have bowed out in the first round.

So there will be no playoffs. The last game at Shea Stadium has been played. The Mets will not open Citi Field as defending champions.....they will just be another team opening another new ballpark.

I'VE BEEN TO YANKEE STADIUM, TOO

I've spent so much time this year reminiscing about my visits to Shea that it wouldn't be fair for me to not touch on Yankee Stadium. I've spent nowhere near as much time at Yankee Stadium as I have at Shea, but I lived 10 minutes from Shea - that made all the difference.

I wish I had been to the old, old Yankee Stadium...any old ballpark, really. I like the idea of an expansive outfield that actually had monuments and flag poles in play. I'm in the camp of those who aren't too sad to see Yankee Stadium go, because it really went when it was renovated in the mid-1970's.

A couple of visits to Yankee Stadium stand out - I went to a Yankees-White Sox game in 1996, the day I got my driver's license, which got rained out in the 7th inning, tied at 1. My uncle, who I went with, drove me home, and then his car stalled out in a flooded road in Flushing. In 1997 I went to one of the first Mets-Yankees interleague games, sitting in the bleachers for a near no-hitter by David Cone. But the ONE stand-out memory of visiting Yankee Stadium is even less pleasant than those:

The Wife, back before she was The Wife (even before she was The Fiancee), thought it would be nice to bring both of our families together for a Yankees game. So she bought a bunch of tickets to see the Yankees and Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. Seats in the upper deck. Had I known she was making this purchase, I would have suggested she either A) not get upper deck seats, or B) not get tickets to a Red Sox-Yankees game. But she did, so on July 20, 2002, we went.

I'll keep this relatively short - it was a hot, hot July day, and this was a typical Yankees-Red Sox game. In other words, it took forever. So people had lots of beer, in the hot sun, and sat out there for a while. That led to a woman sitting in front of us throwing a peanut at the head of a Red Sox fan a few rows down.

He swung around, and immediately locked eyes with the Yankee fan who had been razzing him all day about five rows behind us. He goes up there, they get in each other's face, and then there's a full-out brawl. Punches are thrown, and less than 5 seconds into the fight, they're tumbling down the rows of the upper deck. Naturally, they come to rest right in our laps. Literally. A friend of The Wife's got pushed down two rows. The brawlers tumbled over the head of my future mother-in-law. I actually ended up in the middle of the two antagonists, pulling on one's shirt to make him stop punching. It was the most awful thing I've ever been near at a ballpark.

Great credit goes to the cops, especially the short, red-haired female cop, who were on the scene pretty quickly to break things up.

This fight overshadowed the exciting ending to the game, where the Sox took the lead in the 9th, but the Yankees came back to win in the bottom half. And the overall experience - we met in Manhattan and ferried to the Stadium - something I had never done before. (On the way back, though, the water level was too high for the ferry - we all had to stand in the front of the boat to get it to duck under an overpass. That was pretty ridiculous.)

I haven't been back to Yankee Stadium since. No desire to, really. One day I'll check out the new Yankee Stadium. But I'll make sure we have better seats. And it won't be a Red Sox game.

NOT SURE I UNDERSTAND THIS ONE

I made what I thought to be a very reasonable request tonight. The Wife seems to disagree. I know because she made a terrible face when I asked the question (note I didn't even demand it - I merely requested it). I'm chalking it up to the ol' pregnancy hormones - she'll be more reasonable after she has the baby.

The baby is coming soon - real soon. Which is why I made the request in the first place.

See, the due date is September 15. The Jets home opener is September 14. I requested permission to maybe attend the Jets home opener, and see Brett Favre's first home game as a Jet. Really, I'm the one putting myself in a bad position - I have school the next day.

But I'm forgetting the most important part. The baby is probably going to come early - our estimate has it coming in the next week or so. So I think it's quite reasonable that I head down to New York for a day a couple of weeks after the baby is born, provided someone comes and sits with The Wife and our older child for the day.

My suspicion is that The Wife enjoys the time we spend watching the DirecTV Sunday Ticket together and would be upset if I left her flat to go watch the Jets in person that day. In which case, I totally understand where she is coming from.

Otherwise, I can't imagine what the problem is. I welcome your comments.

ALL OVER THE PLACE

I have lots of things on my mind this morning - I'll throw them all at you here:

Let's start with the Tampa Bay Rays. As I've been saying for a while, they're not going anywhere. The Yankees have had a couple of pretty poor weeks, so they're looking like a long shot to overtake the Rays, and the Red Sox are now without Tim Wakefield, who will miss a couple of starts - it just seems like the stars aren't aligning for them this year. I'm not sure they will even hold onto their wild card lead...but that's another story for another day.

It makes sense with the Rays - they've had this young team that has been on the cusp for a few years - if they only had some pitching, people would say. Well, now their pitching is performing. But here's what I don't understand about Tampa Bay - I get that they have Scott Kazmir, James Shields, and Matt Garza, good pitchers all. But what has gotten into Edwin Jackson? This guy has been awful his entire career - first, as a reliever, with 23 appearances and a 5.45 ERA. Then last year in his first as a starter, 5-15 with a 5.76 ERA. This year he is now 9-7 with a 4.07 ERA. Has it just taken this many starts for him to be comfortable as a starter? Or is he having one of those flash-in-the-pan seasons? I mean, Kazmir had the good stretch earlier this season where he was dominant for 6 or 7 starts in a row, but Jackson has been way more consistent recently. I totally buy into the Rays this year...I just don't know what to think about Edwin Jackson.

Now the Mets - this is their week to make hay. They start this afternoon with a makeup day game against the Pirates at Shea, before hitting the road for the rest of the week - going to Washington then Pittsburgh (a wraparound series ending Monday). That has to be 6 wins. Has to be.

Pittsburgh has given the Mets trouble in recent years, which is why I'm not automatically throwing a 8-0 out there...and also, the bullpen is bound to blow a game this week.

So 6-2, 7-1 - that would allow the Mets to take over first place - especially while at the same time the Phillies are on a west coast swing and the Marlins will have their hands full with St. Louis and Chicago.

So Friday night I was kind of interested in the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics. The Wife had it on, I sat for five minutes, and it bored me. I couldn't even tell you which part I was watching because it just didn't register in my head. I kept thinking, "I'd rather watch baseball." So I put on baseball, and didn't tune back in to the Olympics until the swimming Saturday night.

Now all I keep hearing is how wonderful/exhilarating/just plain cool the Opening Ceremonies were. How could this be? Wouldn't I have been able to tell if it was going to be exciting? Is it just that it got good towards the end (4 hours after I watched) when they lit the cauldron? And that the ending was so good that people forgot how torturous the rest of the show was (like women who give birth forget all the uncomfortable aspects and just remember the joyous parts)? Someone help me out here, please.

Finally, the Chad Pennington mystery is over - he's a member of the Miami Dolphins. This is kind of like the football gods screwing with me. I hate the Dolphins. Most of that is Dan Marino residue - I guess I really don't hate them anymore...I probably dislike the Patriots more these days - but I love seeing the Dolphins lose. The Patriots is more of a recent thing - for so long they were harmless, usually joining the Jets in awfulness year to year. But the Dolphins were rivals. And I hated them.
But now I'll be rooting for them 14 out of 16 games a year. I really hope Pennington wins with them, except when they play the Jets. And the cool thing about football is I can root for Pennington to do well against the Jets, you know, 14-20, 200 yards, and throw no touchdowns or interceptions. Maybe a bunch of dropped balls, so he's not even to blame when the Jets beat them, then he can do really well in the other games.

Miami is really the best-case scenario for Pennington - he'll play right away while teaching young quarterbacks at the same time.

In Jets camp, meanwhile, Laveranues Coles is apparently stewing about the loss of Pennington. Listen, I love that Coles is so attached to Pennington...but he's got to get over it and enjoy the fact that he will have a monster season running downfield for Favre bombs. And I think he will - he told the media last week that he just needed time to get over it.

Jerricho Cotchery took the opposite approach - I don't know if it was a veiled shot at Pennington or not (I'd like to lean towards 'not'), but he commented on how hard Favre threw. He said Vinny Testaverde threw hard, but Favre's ball was "definitely the hardest ball I've had thrown at me in a long time." Just realize, Jerricho, that the difference in the speed of Favre's throws compared with Pennington's is about the same as the difference in their accuracy at certain points in the game. I hope the receivers are ready for that.

LAST DAY AT SHEA

As part of our vacation, The Wife and I made a pretty much last-minute decision to go to the Mets-Giants game last Thursday, thinking it would be our last chance to see a Mets game at Shea Stadium. (For her, it definitely was, for me, I'll be going to see Billy Joel on Friday, and I'm holding out hope that even after the new baby comes in September I'll be able to sneak in a playoff game.) It also allowed us to take The Baby to her first and only game at Shea. The trip gave me my first up-close look at Citi Field. I can't wait. There's not much more I can add to that.
Unfortunately, in order to park in the very limited parking spots that are available near Shea, we had to get there very early - so we were there around 11:20am for the 1:05pm start. This did not make it a pleasant experience for The Baby. She was pretty worn out by the time the first pitch was thrown, so we didn't last very long.

The good news, though, is that most of the stuff to see was before the game. I got to take the pictures of the new stadium that you see here.
I also got to see one of the Shea Countdown numbers come off - this day marked 39 games left at the stadium. With all due respect, I was less than thrilled by the person who changed the sign - Joe Pignatano. Sure, he was an original Met and coached with the team for many years, but I was hoping for someone I could more closely relate to. I was occupied with The Baby at this point, but The Wife snapped an awesome picture:
The Mets won the game, 7-3, their sixth game in a row as part of their current nine-game-winning streak. John Maine pitched for the Mets, this is him in the first inning, throwing one of his too-many pitches. We left in the third or fourth inning...and one of the bonuses of my parents' house location is that we made it home in the same inning. Great souvenir by the way - I bought a souvenir soda and it came in a Shea Stadium Final Year cup. That's just a great idea by the Mets. (Although I rarely use these souvenir cups I get, I am gathering a nice little collection.)

ALL STAR GAME ROUNDUP: I wasn't feeling 100% last night, so I think I might post multiple times today. Keep checking back, if you don't mind. I'll have at least an All Star Game roundup, but I also plan on doing a look-ahead for the Mets.

SHEA MEMORIES: AN INTRODUCTION

The first in an occasional series.

I'm not going to sit here and defend Shea Stadium as one of the best ballparks of all time. Deep down inside, my dream of visiting all the different ballparks probably came about when I was younger because in my subconscious I might have been thinking, "There has to be something better out there."

But the bottom line is, Shea is where the Mets play, and for me, it will always be special. That's why I was psyched when The Wife mentioned going to Thursday afternoon's game. I realized that I won't have many more opportunities to visit Shea this year (this will in all likelihood be my last visit for a game - Billy Joel won't be the same - unless somehow the Mets can swing the playoffs and I can swing getting down there for them), and this is probably the only time The Wife and The Baby will be there. And with her pushing eight months pregnant (The Wife, not The Baby), I wasn't going to push it - so it being her decision, I'm loving it.

The suggestion for Thursday, though, made me think about my favorite memories of Shea. And I'm only considering events I attended, so I'm not going to talk about things like 1969, 1986, or anything involving the Jets. I'll do this once a week or so (maybe more) to share with you why this cookie-cutter ballpark will always be one of my favorites, right up there with the current jewels in Houston and San Diego.

My first memory (these are in no order) doesn't refer to a specific game, but moreso the times I spent at Shea when I was younger.

We lived very close to Shea, and through work, my dad had on-and-off again season ticket packages. So we went to a lot of games when I was younger - I'd say roughly 10 a season. Maybe more...some years less. Bottom line - I spent a lot of time at Shea, and often it was with my brother or sister. (Once a year we took about five of my friends in July for my birthday party.) And there was a period of time where my entire family (aunts, uncles, 10 cousins all together) went to either a Mets or Yankees game. Those were great.

I was into the games...often, my brother or sister (or both) weren't. Certain patterns developed over the years, and I see them as I thumb through old scorebooks (I always kept score - for a rough estimate of how many Shea games I went to, between 1986 and 1996, when I went away to college, I amassed 60 scorebooks. I kept score less as I got older, so I think it's still an accurate estimate of how many Mets games I went to per season.).

Anyway, back to the patterns - here's a look at a sample from 1991 - turns out this scorebook is from a Dodgers-Mets game, and you'll notice Hall of Famer Gary Carter, as well as Darryl Strawberry, are playing for the visiting Dodgers. I vaguely remember this game, but only after I pulled out the scorebook. (It also brings back painful memories of an early indication that Gary Carter talked too much - I think this was the series where Keith Miller made a costly error for the Mets that allowed the Dodgers to win the game, and Carter gave him a classless "Thanks, buddy" or something like that, then made a public show of apologizing. Actually, that might have happened in Los Angeles, because I seem to remember Carter boarding a Mets bus to apologize. But that's another story for another day.)

If you care enough to look closely (for some reason it's not clicking-and-enlarging), you'll notice a couple of things. First of all, there is an elephant at the bottom - for some reason I took to drawing elephants and monkeys (no monkey on this day) in between innings to keep my sister entertained.

In addition to flawless scorekeeping, you'll also notice on the left-hand side, below the Dodgers roster, a tally. This was something my sister invented while with my cousins at one of those games where everyone went - due to Shea's proximity to LaGuardia, there were a lot of planes that crossed overhead throughout a game. So I allowed her to keep a "Plane Tally" on my scorecard - a big sacrifice on my part. I have to believe there were more than 10 planes during this game - but maybe, ironically, the baseball game diverted her attention from the plane game.

I realize these are pretty individual memories, but I hope reading them stirs up something in your mind about some place that you may take for granted. Because the more I think about it, the more I realize that Shea Stadium played a significant part in my life...and while I'm looking forward to Citi Field, I'm going to enjoy looking back on my experiences at Shea.

THAT WAS A DISAPPOINTING 23 HOURS

I'll admit it - I'm not exactly living and dying with the Mets this year. If I were, I'd be dead ten times over right now. But I'm still following them closely...and last night was a disaster.

I'm also following the Brewers pretty closely this week - they're my flavor of the week for the New Baseball Pool (patent pending). So last night was only half-bad. The Brewers pulled out a come-from-behind win after the Mets blew their game. It was today where Milwaukee killed me.

Let me give you a run-through of the past 23 hours:

7pm - I settle in to watch my fantasy pitchers do their thing. Scott Kazmir going against the Red Sox - that's an automatic, if recent history is any indication. I'm not worried. An hour until Pedro Martinez* starts against the Cardinals - I'm worried.

8pm - In the first inning, Pedro* gives up 4 runs. Ouch. Tack that onto the 5 Kazmir has already given up. A note on Pedro* - if he wasn't Pedro Martinez*, he'd be pitching out of the bullpen right now - and he'd be very effective in three or four inning bursts. That said, Wednesday night's start was pretty good, relatively speaking (compared to his previous starts). Maybe that's a sign of encouragement.

OK, by 10pm, both my pitchers are long gone, I'm up in bed, and I fall asleep with 2 outs in the ninth of the Red Sox game. I wake up groggy and shut the TV.

7:15am - I have to be out of the house early, but as I'm gathering my scores, I see the Mets lost a tight one. Hm. And the ESPNEWS crawl tells me that Troy Glaus hit a walk-off homer. How did that happen? I wonder. At least the Mets showed some fight, coming back from a couple of deficits, I think. Typical 2008 Mets, though, losing the game in which they might have shown the most heart all year.

11:55am - I finally have a minute to check out the paper and box score and see how the Mets lost. They blew a 2-run lead in the 8th, and then lost it in the ninth. Not good. At least the Brewers beat Arizona.

From noon to 6pm I'm out of the house. I knew there was some afternoon baseball, but I didn't think it was anyone I really cared about. (Truth be told, after picking The Wife up from work, we went to dinner. At 4:15pm. We're like 80-year-olds.)

So anyway, we come back home, and I turn on the TV, and find out the Brewers were playing - it's the bottom of the ninth, and they're up 5-0. Sweet. Hm. Bases are loaded and there's nobody out. Ah. That's OK if they give up a couple of runs. All that counts is the 'W'.

Five minutes later it's 6-5 Arizona. Game over.

Now that is a disappointing 23 hours. I challenge anyone to top it. Except Alex Rodriguez.

BOOK REVIEW

STILL A KID AT HEART: MY LIFE IN BASEBALL AND BEYOND
By Gary Carter with Phil Pepe

You may remember, more than two months ago now, when I said I was dropping everything to read the new book by Gary Carter, which I just happened upon in Barnes & Noble while walking down the sports section aisle.

Well, I've only just finished the book (in case you thought I was holding back on the review I promised). It's not that it was a 550-page tome that had me slogging through it every day. It's partly because when I get books like this that have to do with baseball or something I'm really interested in, I savor them, and read them slowly, trying to drag them out for a while. The other part of taking my time with this book had to do with the fact that it wasn't really setting my world on fire.

The good news about the book is that it wasn't the same ol', same ol'. I have two other books by Gary Carter (I think they're the only other two, but I can't say that for sure) - A Dream Season, which is all about the 1986 season, and The Gamer, written right after his retirement, which summarizes his career. There's a little overlap in those books.

This one, while I was expecting that, doesn't really dwell on 1986, which I thought it would, nor does it focus on his family. While I find both of those things interesting (the 1986 part more than the family part, though for an embarrassingly long time I daydreamed that I would marry one of Carter's daughters and become part of his family, so I can't say I'm totally uninterested in his family), it was nice to hear Carter voice his opinion on other things.

And voice he did. Carter writes about coaching, his impressions of the business side of baseball, steroids, the game of baseball in general and his love of the game, the Hall of Fame, who might end up in the Hall of Fame, who should be in the Hall of Fame, and how he felt becoming a Hall of Famer.

Some of this stuff is interesting, some of it is pages-long examples of what it would be like if you gave Gary Carter a job interview, and none of it is ground-breaking. There's not one thing in there that makes you think, "Wow. That's an original idea - no one has thought of that before."

I want to give you an example of what I mean when I say parts of the book read like a job interview. At times Carter comes off as desperate, or rather eager - as in this excerpt:

"Having been a minor league manager, I think I now know what it takes to be a good big-league manager, but do I really know? I've never done it, and until I have, I really can't know. I know a lot of responsibility is put on a big-league manager that minor league managers don't have to face. It takes working with the media, being fan friendly, and caring for your players. I have the greatest appreciation and respect for those who have done it and have been successful. I think I can be successful, too. I believe my qualifications are there. I'm confident I can handle it, but I won't know until I've done it. I would love the opportunity to try. I accept the fact that it might not happen. If it does, it would be a blessing."

So, I'm thinking he'd like a shot at managing in the bigs. Just a guess.

That's a taste of what the book is about. Though it's fading fast (see next section below), I have a high tolerance of Gary Carter because he's my favorite. I don't think this book would be for everyone...but if you want a heaping helping of Carter, this is where to get it.

FOOT-IN-MOUTH DISEASE, AGAIN: I'm not sure I understand why Carter keeps opening his mouth these days. The Wife sent me this article the other day from the New York Post in which Carter goes off on Joe Girardi and the Steinbrenners. I don't know why he does this. If he's trying to get publicity for himself for his book, someone should tell him he's going about it in totally the wrong way. (The Post took the quote from an interview with T.J. Simers in the LA Times - I can't figure out if Simers is in Carter's corner or not. But that's worth a read too.)

Here's the kicker - the guy can manage. The Orange County Flyers are 21-6, best in the Golden Baseball League. We might have to start another edition of "The Kid's Kids".

So three minor league stops, and all Carter has done at each of those stops is lead his teams to winning seasons (very winning seasons).

With the kind of characters involved in professional sports, it's amazing to me that no one will give Carter the time of day...whether or not he can keep his mouth shut.

A LAST PLAY AT SHEA PREVIEW

Let me tell you about my weekend:

The Wife and I had a weekend packed to the gills. We went up to Hanover, New Hampshire Friday and Saturday for her 10-year reunion at Dartmouth, but I'm not here to tell you about that. Sunday was more eventful.

Billy Joel is in the midst of about 10 shows at Mohegan Sun, so we drove down there Sunday evening to see him. It was in the works for a while, a Father's Day gift of sorts. As you probably know, I love Billy Joel. There are a handful of pop culture/sports people I put on the proverbial pedestal, and Billy Joel is one of them (along with Hall of Famer Gary Carter, the Mets, the Jets, and the likes of David Wright and Chad Pennington). I certainly see these people's faults (moreso these days than ever), but I will always hold them in high regard.

Anyway, I've seen Billy Joel a bunch of times, and the last few times I've seen him he's been great - really energetic - better than you'd expect.

Sunday night, though, was about what you'd expect...which is to say, still very good, but I guess he's showing his age. He spent less time dancing and running around (though still got up for a few songs in a row), and a lot more time just sitting at the piano. And that was awesome.

But it got me thinking...my brother is still efforting getting me down to the "Last Play at Shea" in mid-July. Last I heard, Billy Joel is doing two shows at Shea - the last concerts there. I'm sure Billy Joel will be awesome there - and since it's such a high profile show, I imagine he'll be even better at Shea Stadium than he was at Mohegan Sun on a Sunday night.

And I thought how sad it is that in their final season at their home of 44 years, the Mets will be outperformed in their last season at Shea by a 59-year-old musician. Because unless the Mets have a dramatic turnaround in the next month, that's what will happen. Not what I expected coming into the 2008 season.

3 More Things:

1) Thanks to the Southern Bureau for the updates over the weekend. The "Willie Watch" was a nice touch - and just so I'm on the record - the Mets are really doing themselves no favors by stringing Willie Randolph along day by day. The "lurking shadow" is not helping matters - obviously they want to get rid of him - just do it already. If Omar Minaya looking over Randolph's shoulder hasn't worked by now, it's not going to work just because he flew out west with the Mets. At the very least fire the coaching staff - do something - we all know it's inevitable anyway.

2) This just isn't fair - but it's the way the schedule goes sometimes. Just two weeks after playing a Sunday night game in New York, then playing in San Francisco on Monday night, the Mets finished up a doubleheader late on Sunday (7-ish) against Texas in New York, then flew out to Los Angeles to play the Angels Monday night. That looked tough enough when the schedule came out, before the day game against the Dodgers became a night game and the Rangers game on Saturday was rained out, forcing the doubleheader. Things like that (along with all the losing) make it seem like it just won't be the Mets' year.

3) Interesting that the Mets will probably be naming their new manager on the west coast, the current residence of one Hall of Famer, Gary Carter. Coincidence? Maybe...maybe not.

PLEASE MIND MY MESS FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS

I got home late Wednesday night (late for me...like 9:30, I guess), after an end-of-year celebration, before beginning my summer vacation. I turned on the TV, saw the Mets game was 3-3 in the 10th, and I settled in to watch.

As I emptied my pockets, I realized there was a text message on my cell - from Justin in NYC. It said "Seriously. Worst team ever." I was puzzled. The Yankees were a late start out west, so he had to be talking about the Mets. How bad could a 3-3 tie in extra innings be?

I rewound the TiVo, and saw the Diamondbacks tie it with a homer after being down to their last strike. Then Thursday afternoon, I watched as Billy Wagner blew another save. At least the Mets came back to win Wednesday's game.

The Mets are just a mess. What happens now? Does Willie Randolph get fired? (In his defense - your closer has to finish those games. I mean what more can a manager do? I don't care what Wagner's breakdown is entering an inning versus starting an inning - get three friggin' outs.) Do the Mets still have a chance?

Interleague play has been disastrous for the Mets the past few seasons. There is a real chance that the Mets could be long gone by July first. Keep an eye on it this weekend without me - I'm heading up to Dartmouth College for The Wife's college reunion. I'll be back on Monday. It might be a loooooong summer.