I KNEW I LOVED SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

Over the years, Sports Illustrated and I have had our ups and downs. We went through a stretch where I just wasn't reading it, so I cancelled the subscription. When I had time again and renewed the magazine, my free gift was stolen in the mail and they never made up for it.

But all is forgiven.

Sports Illustrated is picking the Mets to win the World Series.

I actually can't disagree with much that Sports Illustrated has picked in terms of this year's standings. If I were to have gone through the standings, I would have had the Mets over the Angels in the World Series, like they do (and like I've had every year since 1999, probably).

They also have the tight race in the AL Central that I'm predicting, though the records of the teams there were significantly lower in their opinion than in mine.

So I'm thrilled...at least someone is on board with the Mets, besides me.

But, technically, I haven't picked the Mets to win the World Series. Just in case that matters when it comes to karma.


THE YANKEES OPENED THEIR STADIUM, TOO: Justin in NYC was there for the Yankees' exhibition game at their new stadium last night. He wrote about it here. Part of me wants to ignore the fact that I wasn't at the 'first-ever' game at Citi Field (or the second-ever, or the third-ever, if you count the St. John's game)...but I'll be at the first game that counts, which is good enough for me.

MY OWN PERSONAL BASEBALL PREVIEW

Unlike last year, when I made an impulse buy of a terrible baseball preview magazine the night of our fantasy baseball draft, this year I bought my trusty old "Sporting News" Baseball Preview well in advance. It has lots of editing errors, which always drives me nuts, and also doesn't have any baseball move made after mid-January at the latest, which has always bothered me, but I like its layout and I find it the best of the selection...especially with our fantasy draft always waaaay earlier than normal fantasy drafts.

But - I have mentioned this in the past - I take a different approach to reading a baseball preview. Usually I save the Mets until last, but since we draft only from the AL and NL East, I now read those two sections first. And I spend a lot of time looking at players' birthdays.

This year, it struck me that there are a lot of players with my birthday. And Gary Carter's birthday - those are two specific dates that jumped out at me. And there are also a lot of baseball players with some pretty cool birthday numbers that made me want to write about them. So here they are:

COOL BIRTHDAYS

(Inspired mostly by Grady Sizemore, who has an 8/2/82 birthday, which I discovered on my souvenir cup on my trip to Cleveland a couple of years ago)

Mark Reynolds, Arizona - 8/3/83

Jamie Walker, Baltimore - 7/1/71

Jacob McGee, Tampa Bay - 8/6/86

Huston Street, Colorado - 8/2/83 (hmm, now that I've typed that one it looks less cool to me)

Craig Breslow, Minnesota - 8/8/80

Mark Worrell, San Diego - 3/8/83

Travis Denker, San Diego - 8/5/85

Mark Ellis, Oakland - 6/6/77

Angel Salamone, Milwaukee - 6/8/86

And the Mets have a pretty strong contingent in this department:

Sean Green and J.J. Putz share a 2/22/77 birthday

Brian Stokes has a nice palindrome - 9/7/79 (Justin in NYC's birthday, incidentally, which is quite popular among major leaguers, I noticed)

And Jon Niese, potential number 5 starter -10/27/86 - I don't remember when he was up last year that he was born on the day the Mets won the 1986 World Series. That should grant him total immunity from ever being sent down or traded - Met for life. And it should definitely not go as unmentioned this year.

PLAYERS WHO SHARE MY BIRTHDAY (JULY 7)

John Buck, Kansas City, 1980

Alfredo Figaro, Detroit, 1984

Brandon McCarthy, Texas, 1983

Luke Montz, Washington, 1983

R.J. Swindle, Milwaukee, 1983

Leyson Septimo, Arizona, 1985

PLAYERS WHO SHARE GARY CARTER'S (and Dave in Brighton's) BIRTHDAY (APRIL 8)

I can't believe how popular this birthday is. It must be a day for athletes to be born, as well as creative types who excel at sedentary sports:

Carlos Santana, Cleveland, 1986

Jeremy Guthrie, Baltimore, 1979

Bobby Wilson, L.A. Angels, 1983

Eric Patterson, Oakland, 1983

Kason Gabbard, Texas, 1982

Eddie Kunz, N.Y. Mets, 1986

Diory Hernandez, Atlanta, 1984

Yonder Alonso (great first name - he's a first baseman - it'd be awesome if he went to make a tag and the runner beat him by jumping over the tag - "He's safe, because he jumped over Yonder!"), Cincinnati, 1987

Chris Iannetta, Colorado, 1983

Matt Antonelli, San Diego, 1985

FREE AGENCY UPDATE

As I mentioned yesterday, the home computer is on the fritz. It's in and out, shutting down unexpectedly. So I'll try to get these blogs in when I can. It's also a busy time of the school year, so I'm inconsistent with the postings anyway - I'll probably be back to posting more often in a week or so.

But I've been sitting on this e-mail from Justin in NYC for about a week, and it's high time to get to it:

The Rays just signed Pat Burrell. I thought he would have been perfect for the Mets. They're looking for a power hitting left fielder. He is that. Plus, he fits into the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" mold. Yet, no one even mentioned it as a possibility. Your thoughts...

First of all, it's great to get an e-mail again. Since the comments section came to the blog, no one e-mails anymore. It's nice. Secondly, thanks for taking the time to write Justin. And thirdly, I'm going to go a step further and list a few other 'perfect fits' for the Mets:
-Brad Penny
-Rocco Baldelli
-John Smoltz
-Takashi Saito

While I agree Burrell seemed like a good fit, I'm also going to give the word of caution that he was one of those Chipper Jones-type Mets killers...while he did damage against the Mets all over the place, he was one of those guys who loved hitting at Shea. So maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't have continued at the new park. But that's a shot-in-the-dark rationalization.

The common denominator with those other guys is that they all ended up being signed by the same team - the Red Sox. And it makes me wonder why the Mets couldn't sign them all. (I haven't even mentioned the likes of A. J. Burnett.)

It's not like the Mets and Red Sox are in the same boat right now. The Red Sox are coming off two world championships in five years, and a loss in Game 7 of the 2008 ALCS. The Mets are coming off back-to-back September collapses that forced them to miss the playoffs in consecutive seasons. However, when it comes down to it, they have the same needs as most everyone else in baseball - pitching depth (and a spare outfielder).
If the Mets were really interested in Burrell (and it was at least mentioned as a possibility in my brain, if not on the site here, Justin...but I'm not sure where else), they should have fallen back on Baldelli. I know he's not an everyday player anymore, but I'm not sure the Mets need an everyday outfielder. They need someone to replace Endy Chavez, coming into games late and providing a spark. Baldelli could have filled that role - and performed even better in it. Or at least platooned with some of the younger guys. Plus he's an easy guy to root for.

Then there are the pitchers. Oh, the pitchers. Sure, they've added the likes of Francisco Rodriguez and J. J. Putz....but what of the rotation? (I watched Tim Redding closely last year for a period when he was on my fantasy team - he was not very good for most of the season.) What of the other bullpen depth? I would think if you're the New York Mets, you spend like the Yankees and Red Sox, and take some chances on guys like Penny, Saito, maybe even Smoltz, just to give yourself some arms so that 2008 never happens again.

Which leaves us now with a Derek Lowe and a Ben Sheets. The price on Sheets is supposedly dropping...I say take the chance. If he's healthy (which is the phrase I'm sure all of the contract negotiations on Sheets begin with), Johan Santana-Ben Sheets becomes one of the best 1-2 punches in baseball. And then Derek Lowe becomes a number three starter if you sign him as well. Lowe needs to be in a spot during the regular season where everything doesn't depend on him, especially in New York. I just have a bad feeling about him coming to New York City and having a lot on his shoulders - I don't know that his psyche can handle that. Come the post-season, I think he'll step up...but he needs to help the Mets get there first.

I doubt the Mets will sign both of those pitchers. I have serious doubts they'll sign one of them. And I hate to be the skeptical Mets fan...but I have my doubts about the Mets' financial viability right now. They're opening a new stadium - things should be great. They should be spending to beat the band - like the Yankees, opening their new stadium.

It makes me wonder about the Wilpons' involvement (the money they lost, not the bad kind of involvement) in the Madoff scheme. It makes me wonder about the deal with Citi for the park's naming rights. It makes me wonder about the current economic situation. It makes me wonder whether all of these things are causing the Mets to be just that more conservative when it comes to spending money. And if that's the case...it's going to set them back quite a bit.

GETTING CLOSER

When I turned 16, my mom sent a letter to the Florida Marlins, addressed to then-broadcaster Gary Carter. I don't know what the letter said, but I do know that a couple of months after my birthday, I received an autographed picture of Gary Carter in the mail. You can see that to the left.

That was the closest I've ever come to meeting Gary Carter. (He wrote, "Dear John".)

I had another opportunity - in 2006, Carter was among the 1986 Mets who were scheduled to greet fans the day tickets went on sale at Shea Stadium. It was a cold and wet morning in January or February, and I was in New York that morning, but I didn't go. I used the weather as an excuse, but it came down to the fact that I wasn't ready to meet my boyhood hero. I think I was afraid he wouldn't live up to my expectations.

Well, today, what amounts to breaking news on this site happened while I was at school (thanks to Justin in NYC and Steve in NYC for separately letting me know this): Gary Carter will be named the new coach of the Long Island Ducks.

They're an independent league team, like Carter's last minor league managing job, best known for signing some washed-up major leaguers for one last chance at being picked up by a major league team (most recently the likes of Carlos Baerga and Jose Offerman).

Instead of joy at the fact that Carter is moving closer to New York and maybe something back with the Mets, I was instantly nervous at the news.

What if, on my trips back to New York, I run into Carter on the street? What if we just bump into one another somewhere? What would I do? Would he be nice? Would he remember that he sent me an autographed picture 14 years ago? Where would it happen? Would I be dressed OK? Would I have a camera?

It didn't even occur to me that I could possibly meet him on my own terms, at a Ducks game, until Justin texted me a second time telling me that if I wanted to go to a game he'd go with me. I wasn't even thinking rationally about the situation. Of course I could go to a game. Heck, my first thought when he signed with the Orange County Flyers was, "I wonder if I could go to a game and meet him?" But the immediacy of the Ducks (of course I could go to a game - and possibly meet him) has me all screwed up. I'm not sure I even want to meet him. I just want the image of him catching for the Mets in the 1980's in my head forever. Perhaps meeting him might ruin that.

Anyway, this is exciting stuff. Guaranteed the Ducks are good this year - Gary Carter's minor league managerial success has been well-chronicled here. But it seems to me like Carter is making his move towards the Mets - he couldn't manage the Mets, so he's going to the next best thing.

A baseball team located physically on Long Island? That applies to both the Mets and the Ducks.
On Monday Carter will be introduced at Citibank Park, home of the Ducks. Of course, next season, the Mets move into Citi Field.

Coincidence? Probably not. Probably well-calculated. I bet this is the last minor move Carter makes for a while. He's back in New York, he'll start getting some attention.....next time we hear his name in regards to managing, I bet it's because a major league team has hired him.

I think I hope I get to meet him before he makes that move.

QUITE A DAY

September 7, 2008 - A Day For The Record Books

Two Mets-Phillies games - one in the afternoon, one at night

The Jets season opener, first game for Brett Favre; against Chad Pennington, no less

A Sunday of NFL

Throw in a NASCAR race in the evening

Lots of golf thrown into one day, due to rain delays

Even championship tennis, if you are so inclined

And then there just might be a baby born today

Imagine if this was your birthday, to boot. Lucky Justin in NYC

BOSTON: FENWAY PARK

It occurred to me recently that when I write about the new stadiums that I visit, there are a bunch I have been to before the blog existed that I've never written about. Part of the reason is because there's really no reason to review the ballparks, since they've been around for many years....but it's also not fair to them (as though they had feelings).

Fenway Park is one of those parks that I've gone to for years without singing its praises. I'm very lucky to be able to go every once in a while - every time I'm there I get a little bit of the same thrill that I got the first time I went.
Sure, the seats are small, it can be uncomfortable to sit for long stretches there, and it would have been nice to live so close to a new ballpark had they not chosen to renovate, but it still is a special place.
Friday night I had the opportunity to go with Justin From NYC, Dave in Brighton, and the Southern Bureau (thanks to the Southern Bureau's dad), and decided I'd take pictures to show on the blog. There's another thing about Fenway - from certain places in the park, it's impossible to take a bad picture. The other neat thing about Friday night's game was that it was the first for Jason Bay in a Red Sox uniform (the Red Sox acquired him at the deadline Thursday in exchange for Manny Ramirez plus much more). He got a huge standing ovation, which you can see below.
The one thing I couldn't capture in picture is how awesome the view is coming out of the tunnel to get to your seats at Fenway. I remember getting chills the first time I did, seeing the Green Monster in person for the first time, thinking about Gary Carter hitting two home runs into the screen in Game 4 of the 1986 World Series. I tried to recapture that feeling, but when I came out of the tunnel on Friday, it was way too crowded, and all I got was this:
The first time I went to Fenway was 1995. We drove up to see Red Sox-Twins. It came a few months after we saw the second-to-last regular season game at Boston Garden, which was on Patriot's Day in 1995. We drove up to see Celtics-Nets, and on the way we went on a tour of Boston University, which turned out to be my future college. Since BU was so close to Fenway, we stopped by the ticket office and bought tickets for later that summer. The Red Sox game was very hot and pretty uncomfortable, but I was so psyched to be there that I didn't notice much. I've been many times since - definitely more to Fenway in the past decade than to Shea or Yankee Stadium combined - and the same is true now as it was then - even though it has its faults (which in a ballpark that is pushing 100 years old makes it 'charming', I guess), Fenway is a great place to see a baseball game.

LAST PLAY AT SHEA - ONE DAY AWAY

It's the question I'm sure is on every Mets fan's mind - will Friday's Billy Joel performance at Shea be as good or better than Wednesday's?
I was thrilled when my brother was able to score tickets to the show on Friday - because, unlike the people who scrambled to buy the tickets on Wednesday for the "final concert ever at Shea Stadium", I would be seeing the actual final concert ever at Shea Stadium.

The thing is, the first show, last night, sounds like it was awesome. It was as I expected - similar to the Mohegan Sun show I saw last month, but with more bells and whistles - and lots of guest appearances. There was Tony Bennett joining in on "New York State of Mind", John Mayer playing guitar on "This is the Time", John Mellencamp singing "Pink Houses", and Don Henley doing "Boys of Summer".

The Beatles tribute was to be expected - he did three - "A Hard Day's Night", "She Loves You", and "Please Please Me"...and I'm sure he'll do at least three on Friday. And changing some of the words to songs like "Miami 2017" to include Mets references I'm sure will happen again. But I doubt Tony Bennett would make another appearance...although if he's paid the right amount he probably would. (What awards show was I watching where he got up there and thanked Target for being his sponsor?)

I'm almost sure of one thing - Elton John will make an appearance Friday night. He's in concert in Atlantic City on Saturday night. I thought maybe Bruce Springsteen might be a possibility too, because they both hail from the area, and they both have played Shea Stadium. My brother said, What would they possibly sing together? He's probably right - it wouldn't work...although I think Billy Joel imitates Springsteen on "A Matter of Trust". Anyway, Springsteen is in Europe, so there's no shot of that. (I also always associate Springsteen and Joel together because of the college radio show Justin from NYC and I did - Springsteen is his favorite, Joel mine, and we always played them once an hour. So I thought out of Billy Joel's sentiment to me, he would make the arrangements. I guess I was wrong.)

And this isn't the most exciting thing I've ever come up with, but in 1986 Billy Joel recorded "Code of Silence" with Cyndi Lauper. She doesn't seem to have anything on her schedule right now, and she hails from New York City, and I've seen her do the national anthem at Shea Stadium countless times...so that recipe seems right. I wouldn't be surprised if they broke out that song.

The question is, did Billy Joel go the extra mile for the Wednesday customers, because they didn't end up seeing the actual 'Last Play at Shea'? (In retrospect, the Friday show should have been sold first, and the second show should have been added on Wednesday.) Or does Friday's concert outshine Wednesday's, because it is the last show ever?

I'll let you know Saturday night.

ALL STAR GAME RECAP

I'm not the guy you want to be around if you're looking to see history. I'm the guy who watches an entire hockey game, but changes the channel for 25 seconds and misses the only goal of the game. I'm a Mets fan, so I've never seen a no-hitter that I really care about. I'm constantly aware that I may be watching something with historical significance, but it's the moment that I let my guard down that it happens.

Such was the case with the 2008 All Star Game, which was pretty magnificent (so I've heard). I loved the pre-game ceremonies, but I started feeling pretty sick by mid-game, so I turned in early. Justin from NYC wrote a great summary of the game at sportscracklepop.com. Here's the view of a guy who didn't make it past 11pm.

THE PRE-GAME CEREMONY: That was pretty cool. I saw some of the 1999 ceremony, at Fenway Park, but I was working then and didn't really enjoy it like I should have. This one I was able to appreciate. That was really, really great. I loved seeing Ralph Kiner out there, and guys like Bob Feller (when they showed him in the 1939 All Star Game at age 20 in the highlights earlier, I started questioning whether he was still alive - he looks good for 90!).

Justin pointed it out, too - but Willie Mays is a jerk. My dad was giving him the benefit of the doubt, thinking he was just 'out of it', but from all I've heard about Mays, he gave Josh Hamilton the cold shoulder. No wonder Barry Bonds is a mess - Willie Mays was his role model.

Speaking of 'out of it', I was wondering why Whitey Ford was not one of the guys throwing out a first pitch, then I thought back to the parade (which was horrible, but I watched anyway - Fox is such a joke...but that's a story for another day). When they asked him and Yogi Berra about the All Star Game Ford started at Yankee Stadium, he laughed and said he didn't remember - "How'd we do?", he asked. I thought he was kidding. Maybe he wasn't.

I thought conspicuous by his absence was Johnny Bench. Where was he? I can't really think of any other notable Hall of Famers that weren't there...but there probably were a few. And I know Paul Molitor finished his career mostly as a DH, but was that really fair to him to make him be the guy who represented designated hitters at the ceremony?

Finally, I was shocked by the George Steinbrenner appearance. He looked better than I expected...and it was much more touching than I expected as well.

THE GAME ITSELF: Billy Wagner still frightens the heck out of me. I didn't see him blow the save (truth be told, I didn't know until I saw a text from Justin this morning), but the fact that he only had to get one out and didn't in a big spot upsets me.

I only saw David Wright's first at-bat, in the eighth, where he struck out, but it's nice that he ended up getting four at-bats. And it's especially nice that he didn't play the field (he was DH), so he didn't have to beat himself up at all.

15 innings...I feel for the managers, who had to make some tough decisions. My newspaper didn't even have the final (it stopped at 13 innings in its game story), but The Wife forwarded me a quote from today's Boston Globe that said Clint Hurdle would have used David Wright as his pitcher had the game gone 16. I don't know if he was joking, or if he could only use Wright because he was the DH, but that probably would not have been a good thing for the Mets.

Finally, it was just a good All Star Game to watch (what I watched of it, anyway). It was truly the best of the best on display. I love baseball's All Star Game because of the uniforms - I love that the players wear their team's uniforms (just the home or away version, depending on the league), and I love the idea that on one night of the baseball season, all baseball fans are watching the same game. I think moreso than the post-season, where there might be bitterness, or there's competition from other sports, all eyes are on this one game. I think that's pretty cool.

ALL-STAR SNUBS

I was all set to do a preview of the All Star Game today, with my picks for who should and should not make it in, based on fan voting. But that's been done and done again...and I really have nothing new to add.

So I decided to take a look at some pitchers who should be chosen to the game, and I'm looking at the snubs before they happen - because you know some deserving player is going to get passed over for the All Star Game because someone from the San Diego Padres has to make the team.

STARTING PITCHERS

Without taking into account who is on the proper rest or anything like that, let me start with the starters. I think it's hard this year to pin down the best starter in each league. Can the National League's best pitcher really be Edinson Volquez? He's 10-3, with a 2.24 ERA and 113 strikeouts. His past two outings haven't been his best, but it looks like he gets the nod for the National League - his ranks in wins, ERA, and K's are 3, 1, and 2 in the NL - you come that close to the pitching triple crown, I think you deserve an All Star start.
For the American League, I think Cliff Lee will get the start, even though I feel like he will fall apart in the second half of the season (but that doesn't factor into what he has done the first half of the season). Joe Saunders of the Angels is having a great year, and Justin Duchscherer of Oakland, a converted reliever, is having a great season without the wins to show for it, so they both deserve spots on the team, but Lee probably starts.

I'm not sure how the politics will work here either - Terry Francona will be managing the AL team - does that mean he shortchanges the Yankees (in Yankee Stadium no less), or puts a couple of Yankee pitchers on his team to save his Red Sox arms? Either way, I think Mike Mussina deserves a spot on this team, and if I had to choose between him and Andy Pettitte, I'd go Mussina. Mariano Rivera makes the team as a reliever, and the Yankees pitchers will be well-represented on their home mound.

Interestingly, I don't think too many pitchers will get snubbed, because of injuries. Shawn Marcum and Felix Hernandez will both probably get named to the team, but both are hurt, and won't play - so two people should take their spots. I think that results in a well-earned nod for Zach Greinke of the Royals, and maybe Matt Garza, the second Rays pitcher, after Scott Kazmir, who I think will get named despite an early injury that limited his innings.

I also want to take this opportunity to note that despite a 9-1 record and 3.21 ERA, Daisuke Matsuzaka has not pitched like an All Star this year - those are very deceptive numbers. I don't think he deserves to be on the team - again, we'll see how Francona approaches that.

I think the National League gets dicey, and to be completely honest with you, I feel more knowledgable about it, so I'm more comfortable naming the snubs here. I'll start with the Mets - if no Met made the team, I'd say no one got snubbed. That's how bad they've been - no one has been stellar either. Billy Wagner might be the only player to merit a spot, but he's been spotty. If you twisted my arm, I'd say David Wright and Jose Reyes have earned a spot, but I don't mind seeing them sit out a year as punishment. Even Johan Santana hasn't been super-special...but I guess that's a product of the way the team has played.

The one guy I'm kind of campaigning for, and built this entry around, is Jon Rauch. He should be a set-up guy for the Nationals, not their closer. But when Chad Cordero got injured (again), he stepped up and has been pretty reliable all year. I don't know that anyone else on the Nats gets the automatic bid ahead of him, so he probably will make the team, but I think he's the most deserving.

For the most part, the voters have the positions right (in both leagues) - and the players who are on the fringe will most certainly get the at-large selections (I'm thinking Ryan Braun, 4th among outfield voting, or anyone in the AL DH voting, over the undeserving [this year] David Ortiz).

The Giants will see a pitcher get snubbed - Tim Lincecum will be the player selected from their team, but you can make a case for Matt Cain as well - his 5-6 record will cost him, even though he has a 4.13 ERA and is third in the league with 107 strikeouts. Their closer, Brian Wilson, leads the league in saves with 23, but I don't think he'll make the team - he has a 4.41 ERA.

There will be a couple of closers who will get left out - I bet Brad Lidge gets in at the expense of someone like Kerry Wood. Or vice versa. Or they both make it, and Jose Valverde of Houston gets left off because Lance Berkman already made the All Star team representing Houston.

Speaking of first base, which should (deservedly) go to Berkman - Adrian Gonzalez is a deserving member of a spot from San Diego. He should be their lone representative - I don't think he'll get snubbed (at risk of a plethora of NL first baseman - one can DH, I guess), but if he doesn't make the team, that would be a snub.

Selecting the team must be a hard job, making sure every team has representation while trying to make sure all of the deserving players get recognition. There are certainly going to be good players watching on TV next week...I'll let you know who the others are when it's not such an abstract concept as making these predictions is.

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.

IN PRAISE OF.....CHIPPER JONES?

Early this year, I threw caution to the wind. I lifted my strict no-Braves policy in favor of a fantasy baseball win-at-all-costs measure and drafted none other than Mets-Killer Chipper Jones. It was a move that made me feel a little dirty for a while after, but I kept turning back to the reason I drafted him - he's an on-base machine, and that would pay off with our new category this year being on-base percentage.

I haven't regretted the move one bit. In fact, I find myself rooting for Jones not just to get on base, but to get hits. And I bet I'm not the only one.

Chipper is batting .421 as of this moment (through Friday night's game), and his on-base percentage is .504 (!!). But let's focus on that first number.

Major League Baseball has to be thrilled with a .400 chase. The deeper we get into the season, and the more exposure this gets, provided Jones keeps his current pace, is all good news for MLB.

No one has hit .400 in a season since Ted Williams' .406 in 1941. There have been chases, flirtations - most notably George Brett in 1980 (.390) and Tony Gwynn in the strike-shortened 1994 season (.394) (but also the likes of Paul Molitor, John Olerud, Larry Walker, and Nomar Garciaparra - most of which faded very quickly) - but lately it's been the power categories that get the hot pursuit...and, we now know for sure, much of that was artificial.

There's nothing artificial about a batting average. There's even less artificial about it when it's a guy like Jones, who isn't legging out bunt singles. He's just a pure hitter, and because he's a switch-hitter, he's out there most everyday, no matter who's on the mound.

This has the potential to be a feel-good summer for Major League Baseball. It's like Cal Ripken pursuing Lou Gehrig, pulling baseball out of the shadow of the strike. For baseball to talk about the likes of Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Ted Williams, and George Sisler rather than Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and the now-defunct records of Roger Maris/Babe Ruth, and to have a die-hard Mets fan singing the praises of an Atlanta Brave - looks like baseball has turned the page on the Mitchell Report.

A LOOK AT CHIPPER'S NUMBERS
.421 AVG., .504 OBP, 14 HR, 39 RBI (played in 57 of team's 62 games)
vs. LHP: .450 AVG., .516 OBP, 1 HR, 8 RBI (36 games)
vs. RHP: .404 AVG., .497 OBP, 13 HR, 31 RBI
Home: .462 AVG., .538 OBP, 8 HR, 26 RBI (32 games)
Away: .371 AVG., .460 OBP, 6 HR, 13 RBI (25 games)

There are some holes in his statistics, which should be noted. First of all, that's a pretty low RBI total. Secondly, though .371 is an awesome average, it pales in comparison to how he's hitting at Turner Field. The Braves as a team really struggle on the road - 7-21 versus 25-9 at home. So I guess there's evidence to suggest Jones won't keep this up all year (not to mention whether or not he can stay healthy), but I'll be rooting for him. (I can't believe I just said that.)

For a look at Chipper Jones' career (he hit his 400th career homer this week) and place in history, check out Justin from NYC's article on sportscracklepop.com.

WHAT AM I MISSING?

OK. A few months ago I posted about my interest in the NBA getting a jolt. I wrote about the Jason Kidd and Shaquille O'Neal trades and wondered if those trades would turn their teams around. That question was quickly answered, and my interest has gone dormant again. But now the Celtics and Lakers are meeting in the NBA Finals, and everyone's all excited.

Am I missing something?

I don't pretend to know as much about the NBA as someone like Justin in NYC...meaning I can't recite all of the classic Lakers-Celtics matchups of the past. But I'm pretty sure Larry Bird isn't playing in this series. And I'm pretty sure Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar aren't either. Last I checked, it's still about 10 guys who don't hustle as much as they should, play pretty poor defense, and probably don't realize the significance of the matchup.

I know, Paul Pierce grew up in LA and lived and died with these games. That I buy. But I bet less than 10% of the combined rosters could tell you why Lakers-Celtics used to be such a big deal. And I mean used to. Because it's not that significant anymore. It's just one team against another. It's just a long flight for the Celtics. It's just a five-game series that the Lakers will win, and it will not be a classic.

Is everyone getting excited over a matchup that isn't going to recapture the glory of 20 years ago, or am I wrong here? (And I'm not bitter that it's not a new matchup. Although I don't blame you for thinking that.)

A NOTE ON THE METS: The MLB Player's Union gets so upset about the stupidest little things, I'm shocked they let baseball get away with this one. The Mets played the Dodgers Sunday night in a game that was originally supposed to get underway at 1:10pm, but was moved for ESPN coverage. Then they go out west for a series against the Giants, and there's no off-day in between. How does the union not gripe about that? (And on a related note, these games will be way past my bedtime.)

APRIL GOES OUT LIKE A LAMB

A disappointing month for the Mets. After a 1-0 March, the Mets were barely over .500 in April. The numbers:

13-12
.256 avg. (16th in majors)
16 HR (26th in majors)
3.64 ERA (4th in majors)

I have to admit, I'm pretty shocked the Mets' team ERA ranks them fourth in the Majors. I guess the pitching has been pretty good (the starters, at least)...and I don't know if that counts the 13-1 disaster on Thursday that ended the month. But with the offense the Mets have, the other numbers are too mediocre, and downright unacceptable.

Moises Alou will be back this weekend. Brian Schneider is out of the hospital - when he comes back, they'll have the starting lineup they are supposed to have. They need to break away in May.

Justin from NYC weighed in on the uninspiring play of the Mets (via e-mail...not sure what Justin has against comments on the blog):

"its not just the Mets who are uninspiring. I haven't been interested in a Yankee game yet this season. I don't know what it is. Maybe its the Giants hangover. Maybe its the fact that the Knicks meant nothing for so long that my sports fan muscles atrophied."

THE MAILBAG

For the first time in a very long time, we'll dig into the e-mail-bag.

I've been sitting on this one from Steve from Queens for a while, and it's sort of newsy right now, so there's really no better time to address it.

This was a forward, and the subject line had to do with the fact that the Mets are having a....less than manly, I guess....vote for some songs to play in the 8th inning of their games. (I've written before how embarrassing it is that the Mets ripped off the Red Sox with "Sweet Caroline" - see the fifth bullet here.)

Here's the content of the e-mail:

"[Following a derogatory subject line] But we have to do it.

The Mets are having the fans vote on the 8th inning song.

We need to ensure that ******* song from Friends is not the winner.

Send to every Met fan you know."

The choices were (I might be missing some here): "Waitin' on a Sunny Day" by Bruce Springsteen, "Brown-Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison, the aforementioned Neil Diamond song, "Living on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi, "I'll Be There For You", by the people who sang the 'Friends' theme song - Rembrandts, I believe, "I'm a Believer" by the Monkees, and my choice, had I voted, "Movin' Out" by Billy Joel. (I had my own Billy Joel list, you may remember, but that was obviously a waste of time.) Although I would choose Billy Joel, obviously, the Monkees are also a strong candidate, based on the "Ya Gotta Believe" theme through Mets history.

Anyway, apparently some Phillies fans stormed the voting site, and voted in Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up", which actually played during the home opener...and which is actually kind of funny and intelligent, for Phillies fans. So now this song vote isn't over - the Mets will apparently play a bunch of the songs, and pick a winner based on fan reaction. So help me if they end up keeping "Sweet Caroline".

A RESPONSE FROM JUSTIN IN NYC: Justin in NYC, always helpful in all things music-or-media-related (and a great idea guy), weighed in on yesterday's ESPNEWS crawl saga:

"in defense of espnews.. The reason the crawl gets dropped during certain commercials and not other is that different commercial time is sold by different companies. They keep the crawl up during their ad time, but have no control of the signal during ad time sold by your local cable company, or in your case, directv."

I guess that makes sense...but in that case, people advertising on ESPN on any cable system should not have any sort of phone number at the bottom of their ads. They should all be crawl-friendly.

FROM A YANKEES FAN

I've got nothing for tonight, so I'll print this e-mail from Justin from NYC, which I'm not sure why he sent to a separate e-mail instead of the johnnymets e-mail...or the comments section...but it doesn't matter. He makes a good point, in response to my posting from yesterday :

"As a yankee fan and a traditionalist, i have to say, I have no problem with the idea of a hockey game at Yankee Stadium being the last event there. I like the idea that the rangers and possibly bruins will be taking part in a historic event. and the reason they havent done it before is that the yankees were concerned with drainage issues stemming from the ice surface. obviously, once they're done playing there, that is no longer an issue. Plus, Yankee stadium has only been baseball only since the 70's. The giants played there, there were boxing matches there, etc etc etc. And this isnt even the real original yankee stadium. That was ruined in 76, when the stadium was remodeled.

so.. there you go"

I think the last point, about the Yankee Stadium remodeling, is especially true. Thanks, Justin.

TIME TO COME CLEAN

I feel I need to respond to the Southern Bureau's dig in the comments yesterday, where he seems to go overboard with the Chuck James references. For those of you who don't know, yes, that was a dig. Because I drafted Chuck James (high) in our fantasy baseball draft in January. And I think it's time to tell that story. But to save everyone embarrassment, I'll tell it in true story form, so that it comes across nearly fictional.

***

It was late January. It was cold in Boston...January cold. Four friends walked into the Boston University bookstore, looking for various knicknacks that they didn't need that they would buy just because it had their school logo on it.

John had a mission. He went straight to the magazine rack, knowing if he found the right magazine, he'd be able to spend the rest of the afternoon scouting for that night's fantasy baseball draft. John hadn't done much scouting, and he was a little embarrassed by that fact. What had been pages of research in year one of this league was down to an afternoon of scrambling to pick out the players he thought would perform best in an effort to defend his title. Well, half-title. He had to share the championship last year with Kevin.

Kevin. He'd probably been scouting since last October. Probably even September, before last year ended. That kid thinks about fantasy baseball all day, morning and night. John knew he had to work hard that afternoon to best Kevin.

He also knew Dave was one to worry about. Though he wouldn't pay much attention during the season, Dave was always well prepared for a draft. The draft played to his strengths. Stats. Spreadsheets. The rest of the season was just fluff. But John knew he had to get his players before they fell into Dave's lap. Justin, he wasn't too worried about, draft-wise. Justin knew his stuff, John knew, but he didn't prepare for a draft. He was like Allen Iverson - practice?! Justin just showed up and played.

One thing that did worry John about Justin was that he had a familiarity with the players. They all did, actually. More than he did, anyway. This was because they had spent the day before cutting out mini-pictures of all the players, putting together a tremendous draft board for the big night. So they knew the players...and not just their names, but what they looked like.

So this was the scenario facing John as he bought the magazine, and pored over it at the BU Hockey game that night. While Justin was obsessing over the Hot Dog and Jesus, and Kevin and Dave enjoyed the game, John had half an eye on hockey and the other half in his magazine.

He wasn't crazy about the magazine, to be honest. It was the "Fantasy Baseball 2008 Guide", and it gave projected stats for the players for the year ahead. The title sounded good, he thought, and you can't go wrong with projections, he thought.....if they're right. He looked at guys like David Wright, Carlos Beltran....they seemed reasonable. So he was sold.

John figured if he looked at the major players for each team, just to get an idea of their numbers, he would do OK. "Chipper Jones is made for our league," (where OBP is valued high) thought John. "I'll make him one of my top draft choices." And on and on he went. While still looking through the Braves, John came across Chuck James:

Projected 2008 stats: 15-9, 3.50 ERA, 191 IP, 61 walks, 173 strikeouts.

He did a double take.

Projected 2008 stats: 15-9, 3.50 ERA, 191 IP, 61 walks, 173 strikeouts.

He just found the steal of the draft. "I can't let anyone know about this," he thought. "If they find out about the year Chuck James is going to have, they'll take him before I can!" John became suspicious the rest of the night. He became very protective about his magazine. "I can't let them find out!"

The secret burned inside John. After the game, the four friends stopped for a bite to eat. John couldn't stop thinking about Chuck James. The draft finally came, and with the 36th overall pick, in the 9th round, John selected Chuck James.

The room fell silent.

"Not what I expected in that spot," said Kevin.

Justin laughed.

John got defensive. Now he felt stupid for believing a magazine prediction. He immediately realized he could have picked Chuck James up off the waiver wire.

In the grand scheme of things, not much was lost....except for John's pride. He would now join Dave in the annals of "Making Strange Picks Way Too High"...matching the Shea Hillenbrand pick Dave had made a couple of years earlier. And John still stood by the fact that James will have a good year - once he gets back from AAA Richmond, and fully recovers from the Tommy John surgery that wasn't mentioned in the magazine he hurriedly bought at Barnes & Noble at Boston University.

A GIANTS FAN'S REACTION TO THE SUPER BOWL

Besides me, the only other person connected to johnnymets.blogspot.com to boldly pick the Giants over the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII was Giants fan Justin In NYC. That merits a return engagement, writing about the win:

I've spent the last couple of days trying to figure out why the Giants win has been so satisfying. It finally struck me last night. For the first time in a long time, I got to root for an actual underdog.

This sort of thing doesn't happen when you live in New York. The Yankees are always the most talented and the most well-paid team out there. The Knicks just plain stink. It's not because they're a bunch of young guys in over their head. It's because they're a group of underachieving prima donnas who don't have enough personal pride to care. The Rangers are a slightly colder and slightly less offensive version of the same formula.

This year's Giants, though, are a different story. It's a team made up of good guys who play hard and seem to genuinely like each other. Strahan and Eli hanging out together on that float during the parade? That never would have happened before. The Offense and the Defense have always hated each other. Apparently, that must have been Tiki's fault.

And, they have the lowest payroll in the NFL. It's true. Look it up (I know John will, and probably already has). [I did, and according to USA Today, where that list you see to the right is from, Justin speaks the truth.]

For once, I was rooting against the juggernaut, the monolith, the Yankees. And I get the appeal of that now. But, that doesn't mean I'm changing my ways. The Knicks might still make the playoffs, and we're just a few days away from Pitchers and Catchers.

And with that, I think we turn the page on the Super Bowl. Unless some other huge thing comes up. But I doubt it. I have one more thing to say about the Jets, for tomorrow, and after that, it's our NASCAR pit stop, and by Monday we'll be full-fledged baseball. As Justin says, pitchers and catchers (note that these are not proper nouns) are right around the corner.

FROM THE FANS - JUSTIN IN NYC

The strange week for Jets fans continues. With the Super Bowl pitting the Giants against the Patriots, and all the news in football centering on either the cross-town rival or the division rival, it's been a rough week. As I've mentioned, I'm in the unique position, living in New England and having grown up in New York, of knowing fans of both teams. So this week, we are featuring their thoughts on the Super Bowl, and living vicariously through them as their teams get ready to play in the big game......again. While I still wait to see my team in one.

Our second entry is Justin in NYC, who grew up a Giants fan in New Jersey. Justin doesn't flaunt his football fanhood (he does flaunt his Yankee fanhood, though it's quite tolerable for me), but the excitement about the Giants shines through every now and again. Justin has made trips a few years now in a row to watch the Giants play road games, and when he was up visiting this past weekend, he was excited about staying up until about 2:30am to watch the Super Bowl XXI highlights on the NFL Network. Here are his thoughts:

There are two questions that every Giant fan is asking themselves this week. "Can they win?", and "How disappointed will I be if they don't?"

Let's take them one at a time.

Can they win?

Who am I to say no? They weren't supposed to get this far. Tampa was at best a tossup, and they had no chance against Dallas and Green Bay. Remember? Why am I asking so many questions? It's a rhetorical tool!

Ever since that week 17 loss that everyone treated as a win, The Giants have been on an unbelievable roll. But none of those wins have been blowouts, and even a game they dominated ended up in Overtime. They're doing just enough to win each week, and getting key plays at all the right times. I don't know if they can keep it up.

I'm also uncomfortable with how happy they are to be in the Super Bowl. They've spent the last week being coronated around New York. That's what happened in 2000, and everyone remembers how that game ended.

But, that being said. I have more faith in this team, and I have faith in Eli and Plax and Jacobs and Bradshaw and a pass rush that doesn't quit and a resurgent secondary that has made huge play after huge play all post season. So the answer is yes, they can win.

But what if they don't?

I think I'll be ok with it. At around 10 pm Sunday night, I'll either be basking in the glory of my team's 3rd Super bowl championship, or I will have just witnessed history. And as long as the Giants show up and put up a strong effort, I think I'll be satisfied.

John wants me to include a score, and so I will. Let's go Giants 34 Pats 30.

Justin from NYC lives in New York City, and is a political blogger. Justin contributes to the site every so often, and this time was nice enough to mix in some lowercase letters to accompany the capitalized ones.

A WINTER BLAST

The draft is over, and the weekend visit/mini-BU Reunion is over. And I can't wait for baseball season.

That's always the result of this weekend and its activities - when Dave in Brighton, Justin From NYC, and the Southern Bureau are all up for the weekend, we catch a BU hockey game, and then have our baseball draft. I need to spend a minute updating you on our draft:

We do things a little differently - for about the fifth year now, we're doing this league using only teams from the NL and AL East divisions. And we don't use the traditional stats. This year it's:
OBP, R, RBI, SB, and K's on offense and W, SV, ERA, K, and BB for pitchers.

There are other minor rules, involving which players are eligible for the league based on trades and free agent signings and such. You may think we're crazy for holding our draft in January, before the dust settles for the season, but we think it's part of the deal. For example, the Southern Bureau drafted the rights to Johan Santana, so while I still hope the Mets land him, if my suspicion that he won't even be traded turns out to be true, I won't be too upset.

And Dave in Brighton is being punished by the baseball gods. In the one year he does a traditional draft, instead of employing some sort of blockbuster strategy in which he tries to game the system, it looks like the Orioles are on the verge of pulling off a blockbuster trade. Or two. (And I think Dave has Brian Roberts, but I know he has Erik Bedard.) Both Bedard and Roberts look like they are going to be shipped out of the division, punishment to Dave, in my eyes, for drafting Bedard before I could. So it looks like I'm already charmed this year, because I wasn't even considering the Bedard trade (to Seattle) as I prepared for the draft...and I would have been left in a lurch had I taken him in the draft. And Dave went from having an awesome team to now having a team with two very big holes.

Who did I end up with? Well, a few Mets, no one earth-shattering, position-player-wise - Brian Schneider and Moises Alou...but I also got Pedro Martinez*. I was able to get Jonathan Papelbon, Chase Utley, Shane Victorino, Chad Cordero and Ryan Zimmerman again, holdovers from last year's co-champions. Former Mets also dot my team - Scott Kazmir, Cliff Floyd, and Lastings Milledge. I'm also psyched to see what happens with Matt Garza for the Rays and Scott Rolen in Toronto. That trophy is here to stay.

I know it's boring to go over fantasy stuff...but I'll only do it occasionally. Expect another update mid-season. I'm very excited to get to baseball - but there's one more week where the focus will be on football. Being in the "stuck in the middle" position that I am, as a Jets fan watching the Giants and Patriots get ready to play in the Super Bowl, I have the advantage of knowing many Patriots fans and many Giants fans. Two of each will weigh in this week with special guest blogs this week. It'll start late Monday/early Tuesday with The Wife.

THE DRAFT WEEKEND

Due to the fact that 80% of my readership will be spending the weekend at my house, I'll be taking the weekend off. But it's not like I won't be doing anything sports-related.

This weekend is the big BU Reunion, where Dave in Brighton, Southern Bureau, and Justin in NYC all come up for a BU hockey game and we hold our East Coast Bias fantasy baseball draft.

You may remember the heartbreak of last year where I lost my season-long grip on first place in the final weeks of the season and then had to share first place because I came up one pitcher's strikeout shy of winning on the final day of the season. It's better than finishing second, but it's still just a tie...and especially painful because due to a school event, I missed starting Pedro Martinez* on the final Wednesday of the season, and, I think, Jon Lester - and there's your strikeout.

I have the trophy (seen at left), but I still feel like I'm sharing it. I want to win it all this season, by myself, and it starts with the draft on Saturday night.

Unfortunately, I don't even remember what the stats are going to be that we need to keep track of. All I have is a list of names - no stats. Darn schoolwork. I'll be busy in the next 24 hrs...