Well, That Felt Like the Mets

Leave it to Citi Field to make the home team National League look offensively inept.

Obviously it wasn't the ballpark more than the actual offense (and, of course, the AL pitching) but there might just be something about Citi Field that radiates and latches onto the home team so they can only come up with 3 singles and no runs.

Outside of the game which was a bit of a letdown (except our Mets who did their part, with 2 scoreless innings from Matt Harvey and one of the singles from David Wright [not to mention Carlos Beltran collecting one of them as well]) this week was a METS BRANDING BONANZA.

I can't remember the All-Star Game's identity, which is always a form of the hometown team's colors and logos, selling the brand of one team so dramatically. We all knew it was Bud Selig's gift to the Wilpons to help them on their way back from Madoff, but my God. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED IT, especially how every player looked like they were in a Met uniform for the Home Run Derby and the pre-game workouts. I had just never seen one team's brand be so showcased the way the Mets were to America and the World this week. 

It was awesome.

Anyway, before tonight's game, take a listen to Dan Haefeli and I on this week's Rising Apple Report, where we discuss the All-Star Break, the 1st half, and preview both the upcoming Phillies series at Citi Field and the 2nd half overall.

Welcome back to baseball, everybody.

LET'S. GO. METS.

Listen to internet radio with Rising Apple Report on BlogTalkRadio

Then there was THIS guy.

Let's see how that worked out.

Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter @convertedmetfan. And for the latest on a Brooklyn Baseball TV Series I am developing, Like the Bedford & Sullivan Facebook page, and follow on Twitter here.

Breaking Good

It would of course been better had we been able to take the series from the Pirates on our way into the break (and we could have, but there's always a lot we could have done, amiright?)

The good feeling can keep going, though, since we didn't get swept.

We didn't blow the game, Dillon Gee kept pitching well, Eric Young kept hitting, Marlon Byrd kept being The Word, Satin got another hit, Buck is Bucking Hitting again, and all the while two Mets prospects were starting the Futures Game at Citi Field (Noah Syndergaard and Rafael Montero.)

And Mike Piazza was elected into the Mets Hall of Fame.

And Hit a home run in the Celebrity All-Star Softball Game.

The City is all dressed in Orange and Blue, with many a Met fan walking around near my neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen, the Fan Fest at the Javits Center this weekend bringing them from all over. This All-Star Game, a gift to the Wilpons from Bud Selig, is great for the Mets brand, not only here in town but all over the country (and the World.)

There are still a lot of question marks, but it seems as if the bad feeling that has surrounded this team for a while now is slowly dissipating. Our pitching is some of the best in baseball, we have arguably the best 3rd baseman in the game, and though the outfield is still something to be desired and our star 1st baseman is still having a rough go at it, 2013 has brought a good feeling back to the National League side of New York.

It has become a cliché thing to say these last few days, but as our record stands at 41-50 (whereas it stood at 46-42 with a 3-game losing streak goin' on a year ago) maybe, just maybe, we'll have a reversal of fortune regarding the 2nd half. Am I saying we're going to make the playoffs? No. (my opinion is that Terry Collins, not talent, is what is keeping us from going on a real run. I obviously hope I'm wrong and would gladly welcome a run deep into October with Terry leading the charge, I just don't believe that's a scenario with him managing.....I guess Ya Gotta Believe, right?)

Regardless of my feelings on Terry Collins, I don't believe the success we've had recently is a fluke. I believe this team is capable of continuing to play winning baseball, and I look forward to what the 2nd half has in store after an Orange and Blue All-Star Week.

Enjoy the break and the festivities, everyone.

LET'S. GO. METS.

Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter @convertedmetfan. And for the latest on a Brooklyn Baseball TV Series I am developing, Like the Bedford & Sullivan Facebook page, and follow on Twitter here.

Well. Here Goes Nothing.

On it's way after that called 3rd strike is a lull. No matter what happens from October 29, 2012 to February 13, 2013, we find out nothing as to what it will truly mean on the field. Spring Training helps get some kind of idea as to what you're dealing with, but even then, until that 1st day, there is nothing. Everything that happens in baseball and involving my favorite team will mean the world to me in the moment...but baseball. Baseball being played at the type of level it was played last night, does not come till Monday, April 1, 2013, which my newly downloaded iCalendar has told me is a 1:10 start time between the 2013 San Diego Padres and the 2013 New York Mets.

Yes, those New York Mets. The Highiest of Highs, The Lowiest of Lows. The Floppiest of Players, The Piccasso's of Pitching. The Marvelest of Marv's, The Miraculous Moon Walkers. The Yoiest of La Tengos, The Scummiest of Bunches. The Worst Team Ever.

The Champions of the World.

(of baseball.)

Around the 5th inning, even before I thought about the idea of Angel Pagan winning the World Series, or seeing the shot of him in center field when that last out was recorded, I was imagining R.A. Dickey on a World Series Mound at Citi Field in the 4th game in THAT uniform, pitching his heart out well enough to be on the mound in the 9th inning with 2 out, and the ruckus as he strikes the last batter of the year out with a wicked knuckler, the entire Mets family erupting into pure unadulterated elation. (In this scenario, the National League, after having won the last three All-Star games, gets its dose of what is disguised as the Citi Field Curse and loses next July in Flushing. And R.A. Dickey would have to have pitched a 7th game for the pennant and the earliest he could pitch is game 4.) It's a pretty specific scenario that played out in my head, but I'm sure other fans have similar moving pictures in their heads as they watch year in and year out other teams celebrate come Late-October.

The truth is, in all honesty, and with all my sincerest regards, we will know nothing till Friday, July 19, 2013, when the New York Mets open up the 2nd half hosting the Philadelphia Phillies. The Mets will have to play good baseball in the 1st half as well, but nothing will be secure in most Mets fans' minds till they see these guys lock it down in the 2nd half, whether that's in July, August or in meaningful games in Effin' September. This isn't just a recent issue. This is a historical issue.

There's a core forming within the depths of this Metropolitan franchise, and they have one more year under their belt. We saw glimpses of the kind of camaraderie this young group can have, and maybe with another year, and with The Older Professor and the Big Brother helpin' them along, it can translate into more success past July 19, and then into the kind of camaraderie those New York Giants of San Francisco have (that phrase was delivered to me at one of the NY Giant Fan Get-Togethers from this past week.)

There is a lot of work to be done, but I'm as excited as ever. I know the New York Mets will be the Orangest of Blues come 2013. And I look forward to extending moments like the one below into the 2nd half.

And beyond.

BASEBALL. FEVER.

LET'S. GO. METS.

Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter @convertedmetfan. And for Rising Apple twitter updates, click here.