Recap of Yesterday's Mets Stuff and the 2011 Photo of the Day "Bonus Round": New. York. City.

“Today (Jose Reyes) came up right handed. That told me something. It told me he is either not as comfortable from the left side (against the knuckleball), or that’s just the side he feels stronger from. That tells me something – that gives me information I need.” --RA Dickey

Jose Reyes faced his former team for the first time yesterday, and while he did not swing through the knuckeball, he did ground it weakly to RA in his only plate appearance of the day (because of rain.) It will be interesting to see if batting from the right side against the righty knuckler was just an experiment, or if he recognizes early on that he will be more successful against the knuckle from that angle. Regardless, I look forward to Dickey making Reyes look silly swinging through that 76 mph knuckleball of his.

The Mets lost to the Marlins by a score of 3-1 yesterday. Jason Bay and Ike Davis both swung the bat well, but an Adam Loewen error in left field led to two runs scoring. It is clear that Adam can swing the bat well for a pitcher converted to an outfielder, but he has a lot of work to do before being compared defensively to Rick Ankiel. His body-type says that he most likely won't be Ankiel with the glove, but use two hands, Adam. Use two hands.

The Mets also made their first cuts, and nobody was surprised to see Matt Harvey and Jeurys Familia reassigned to minor league camp. They both are very close, but as I've said before, they need a little Wallyball before they make it to The Show.

The Mets will take on the Tigers at the Domain today on SNY at 1pm.

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I love New York City. I love the many pockets. I love discovering new pockets. I love the food. I love the people. I love looking down streets like Downtown Broadway and feeling as if you're in the Grand Canyon of Steel and Concrete.

I love baseball. I love the Mets.

And I love the view you get of the Manhattan skyline from Brooklyn, Queens, and the Citi Field upper deck smoking section.

New. York. City.

Lets. Go. Mets.

2011 Photo of the Day "Bonus Round": Sunset Over the Citi

The Mets lost to the Tigers 6-7 in 10 innings yesterday. Dillon Gee and his Goatee pitched well, only giving up a 2-run home run to Prince. He says he is working on using all his pitches more this year, and having watched Gee at the end of year last season, I appreciate his self-reflection. He didn't have the feel for some of his breaking pitches after his off-the-charts start, and that most certainly led to his second-half struggles.

The Mets head to Jupiter to take on Jose Reyes and the Marlins today. I'm sure we'll have some quotes from our former shortstop by the end of the day.

Here's a sunset over the Citi.

2011 Photo of the Day "Bonus Round": Soarin' Over the Skyline

Can't wait to hear them soarin' above again.

2011 Photo of the Day "Bonus Round": The Citi Field Media Monitors

The Mets defeated the Marlins B-Squad by a score of 7-0 yesterday. Unfortunately, since the Mets were the visiting team, this game was not televised, but I've been informed that Justin Turner, Josh Thole and Jon Niese all had solid days. The three of them will each get a bigger write-up as the spring goes along and as ideas for blog posts percolate. The Mets will take on the Marlins at the Domain today around 1pm on SNY. Whether Jose Reyes makes the trip will soon be revealed.

Speaking of percolating ideas, I wanted to be done with the photos of 2011 the day the 2012 season introduced itself with some form of baseball, but there are still a couple/few awesome photos I want to share. So, I have decided to open up a "Bonus Round" of 2011 Photos, and how deep this will go is unknown.

I do know that this photo was taken during a stretch of home games where the Mets kept taking short leads into the 7th and blowing them day in and day out. This one, I believe, was an eventual 3-9 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Cut down on those kinds of games, and we should win around 94 of them.

Easier said than done.

But do it, Mets.

The Citi Field Media Booth is located on the 2nd Deck of the ballpark on the 1st base side of Home Plate

 

2011 Photo of the Day: Get Ur Tickets Heeeeere

..........aaaaaaaaaaand..............baseball.

2011 Photo of the Day: The Light Globes of the Rotunda

One more day 'till a game folks.

2011 Photo of the Day: The Arches of the Rotunda

Exclusively Orange and Blue Baseball today. Competitive preseason baseball on Monday.

I like seeing the line-ups listed.

I'll love seeing actual baseball.

Monday, Mondaaaaaaay.....

2011 Photo of the Day: Citi

Sunny days ahead.

2011 Photo of the Day: The Long Island Railroad Promenade

Citi Field peaks over the horizon:

2011 Photo of the Day: Sun Sets Behind the Shack

First full workout done. View such as this one to come.

2011 Photo of the Day: The Apple Near Sunset

2011 Photo of the Day: We're Gonna See This Field Soon, Folks...

And the walls will be as they should have been in the first place!!!

Mets vs. Houston, Wednesday, April 20, 2011; 4-3 Loss

This was an interesting game, the last of a 7-game losing streak where Fred Wilpon mouthed off about his team to a New Yorker reporter (I appreciate his fandom, but come on, Fred, you should be smarter than that). The Mets could have won this game, much in the same way they could have won many of their losses over the last several years. RA didn't have it at the beginning but settled down to pitch into the 8th, unfortunately giving up the 4th run in that 8th on a homer. 

Baserunning blunders led to the demise of the Mets. Mistakes of this caliber are what made last year such a transitional year, and with the bullpen upgrade and tighter ball-play, this 2012 team should be better than their 85-loss counterparts. That's been the difference between winning and losing for the Mets. What I like about Terry Collins and Sandy Alderson is that they don't seem to have tolerance for the kind of play from this game (hence why Angel Pagan has been traded out of the building, one of the base-running perpetrators from this contest). 

It's all going to be alright, folks. Better days ahead.

2011 Photo of the Day: The Lonely Walk Back to the Visitors' Dugout

Mets vs. D'Backs, Friday, April 22, 2011; 4-1 Win

2011 Photo of the Day: Rainy Day Walkers

Thursday, June 23, 2011 vs. Oakland; 2-hour rain delay; 4-1 win

2011 Photo of the Day: The Warm-up

2011 Photo of the Day: Friday Night with the Yankees and Mets

Pitchers and Catchers, everybody.

2011 Photo of the Day: THIS used to be THAT big

I'll save you guys the trouble...."that's what she said."

But seriously, you guys........ THIS is what they originally thought was a good idea.

Another discussion for another day. One More Day.

I can't help it. Let's talk about this quickly.

"Hey, you know what we should do? We should make it a modest 330' down the line, then we should go to the left a little bit and indent the wall 8 feet farther. That's a good idea."

"HEY!!! I know what else we could do which would just knock everyone's socks off!"

"What do you have in mind, random person?"

"After we bring it out another 8 feet we should raise the wall ANOTHER 8 feet!"

"YES!!!! That makes perfect sense! We are trying to recreate the quirkiness old ballparks built in city blocks had. 8 feet out and another 8 feet higher would do great to recreate the quirkiness.....even though we are building in a huge parking lot as opposed to a city block."

2011 Photo of the Day: Fans at Braves v. Mets on Helmet Day (with a Cameo)

2 more days, folks.

June 5,2011

2011 Photo of the Day: A Win in Blue

Rest in peace, Kid.

I never got a chance to see him play, but all I've heard of the guy is how much of an outstanding human being he was. And all the clips clearly show he was a baseball talent above the rest. While he was taken what seems to be too soon, we should celebrate his life and all learn from it. How to handle ourselves and how to have fun.

And so we march on...

2011 Photo of the Day: Double over Loney's Head

Hey did you guys notice that baseball is kinda back in 4 days?