A Metsian Rundown with 6 Days Left

All of you might very well know all the information I am about to spew, but I figured as the days to opening day dwindle down, I would give an up-to-the-minute rundown of what's going on with our Metsies.

The Mets informed Pedro Feliciano that he would not be on the Opening Day team, and because of new Collective Bargaining rules, Pedro could have either accepted the Minor League assignment or opted out of his contract and looked for a Major League job. Luckily for our left-handed depth, he has accepted the assignment.

David Wright has been swinging the bat well in the cages and will hopefully be playing in Grapefruit games at some point this week, and if all goes well he'll be running out on that field come Monday against the Padres in Flushing.

Daniel Murphy has been playing in Minor League games, and will continue to do so with the hopes he can trot on out there come Monday. He will not play in any Grapefruit games because if he reaggravates the oblique in those then the DL stint cannot be retroactively dated. Hopefully he is out there on Monday, but it is still disappointing that Murph couldn't have a normal spring for a change, now that he has settled into 2nd base.

Travis d'Arnaud, whom I thought the Mets might consider heading north with had Wright and/or Murph not been ready for Opening Day, was finally sent back over to the Minor League side yesterday. I GUARANTEE if he continues to play as well as he has been playing that we will see him by the end of April. Hopefully it all goes smoothly out in Sin City...

Matt den Dekker unfortunately broke his wrist, so any talk of him joining the roster gets thrown out the window (he needed more hitting seasoning anyway.) Luckily he will not need surgery and just has to wear a brace for 6 weeks.

It's Orange and Blue.

With Shaun Marcum's status in limbo, it makes sense that the Mets would look at our old friend Chris Young, who has opted out of his Minor League deal with the Nats.

Yesterday, Dillon Gee, after a few rocky spring starts, fine-tuned himself and kept the Braves hitters extremely off-balance, giving up no runs and striking out 7 in 6 innings of work. I recapped the Mets 7-4 win over at Rising Apple.


And there you have it- some of the more important information coming out of the Metsian universe with 6 days left before Opening Day. 

It's lovely to say that.

It'll be even lovelier to say "5 days..."

And so on and so forth...


Tune into SNY at 1 today for the Mets and the Cardinals.

Here's the Song of the Day.

FIVE. MORE. DAYS. NOW.
LET'S. GO. METS.

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

Will Someone Get Captain America Some Tylenol?!

Last night, after a fantastic Metsian evening in the clubhouse* with Ira Berkow, author of Summers at Shea, I found myself in a melancholy mood as I clicked on mets.com for the David Wright headline. A few hours before, my attention was more concentrated on getting downtown than it was on any pregame World Baseball Classic news, though pumped for the game I certainly was. I didn't find out about the David Wright scratch until we, the clubhouse, turned the game back on around the 5th. 

That was a bummer. 

Though it was awesome seeing R.A. Dickey had bounced back.

So, around the midnight hour, I just stared at whatever info had been gathered so far on the left rib cage soreness (which was first reported as a sore back). It was clearly precautionary, clearly of some concern, but nothing to necessarily freak out about (though I try to say that more often than not these days about most things.) As I read on, I realized I hadn't even addressed in my last post of yesterday the fact the USA and The Dominican were playing last night, which is counter-productive to everything I've been talking about. If you were a superstitious fellow (which I am) you'd think that I was the reason for last night's loss; that I started the evening off sending out bad karma.

OR, maybe it was just Kimbrel's pitch selection after that terrible call (and I mean TERRIBLE, by the way.)

Anyway, I stared at my computer contemplating writing about the night. And I just kept coming to the conclusion that I wasn't in the mood.

So, I read my friend's interview with David Cross.

Then I thought about watching a random episode of Arrested Development, even though I recently went through the whole series again.

Then I watched Louis CK at the Beacon instead.

And dosed off seemingly mid-crack-up.

Oh, also, I used to love Jose's antics, but an ENTIRE TEAM OF IT is getting on my nerves.

I want to beat those guys so badly...

Anyway, tonight we play an elimination game against Puerto Rico at 7 PM EST. Ryan Vogelsong on the mound for the US, and NELSON FIGUEROA on the mound for PR.

Somebody else has to start coming through for this team.

They won't have Captain America to drive in 2 with a game-winning single this time.

Step it up, USA.

LET'S. GO. METS.

*(More on the evening at the Clubhouse this coming next week...)

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

Well, That was disappointing.

I'm not so much disappointed in R.A., as the Mexicans came out swinging and he did not have his knuckleball working yet. He DID have some good ones, but one (to Adrian Gonzalez) stayed way too up and was way too devastating. The air was deflated from all the other players by their Knuckler not having it early. And the USA team never recovered. They looked listless the whole night, and not in sync. Wright had a great defensive showing, though, and a better offensive showing after he grounded into a double play in the 1st inning, including the first USA rbi of the year with a single to right, plating Jimmy Rollins (which is still weird to say, but we might as well get used to it in these tournaments. Luckily, it's the only place we'll be saying it.)

That overall performance, combined with Italia mercy-ruling the Canadians, and we are looking at kinda a scary matchup all of a sudden when the USA takes on Team Italy at 9PM EST tonight on MLB Network.

Sidenote: R.A. Dickey really is the first athlete ever I will root for and follow like he is a team.

He is an extension of my Met fandom and an extension of the Mets....until he finishes his career with us.

As for this Spanish team, as I type this, they are working the same formula today as they did against Puerto Rico: pitch ok but not good enough to keep a great Dominican lineup off the board early, and miss every RBI opportunity you have...and play poor defense. Their inexperience is dangling off their sleeve, and they are tripping over it. BUT if their offense comes around, it could get interesting...but what is most likely going to happen is that DR will mercy-rule this thing at some point.


Lotta baseball today. Got the Mets on SNY at 1PM, Canada v Mexico at 2:30PM, Puerto Rico v Venezuela at 5:30PM and, once more, USA v Italia at 9PM, with World Champion Ryan Vogelsong on the mound.

We'll see how he does on March 9th.

(Oh, and Cuba mercy-ruled Chinese Tapei early this morning.)

Enjoy your Saturday, folks.

Here's the Song of the Day.

LET'S. GO. METS.

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

A Game Tomorrow & The Song of the Day

There isn't much else to say except that I'm so stoked I there is any form of Metropolitan baseball on TV tomorrow you guys. So many storylines to focus on, I'm pumped for the analysis to begin. Who knows what this year could bring? So stop all your whining (for those who do) and enjoy some New York Mets baseball for a change.

Here's the Song of the Day.

BASEBALL. BASEBALL.
LET'S. GO. METS.

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

Here's to the Mets and the Song of the Day

"Honestly, what are people like us going to be — not Mets fans?

There are worse things than rooting for a bad ballclub. There is nothing better than rooting for your ballclub, good or bad, especially when you know you’re not alone. I am reminded annually of how unalone I am in this endeavor on Closing Day."

--Greg Prince, Sunset Grill, Faith and Fear in Flushing

The Mets Fan Incarnate himself says exactly what all us diehards feel and think about yesterday's events and the ballclub itself, set to Don Henley's own Sunset Grill. There's no point in me summing the Closing Day post up any more than that. Do yourself a favor and head on over as soon as you can.

I was happy to travel to my 2nd Closing Day, and happy to share it with Greg and several thousand patrons.

And while, he links to a Miami Vice rendition of the song, I present to you...

Sunset Grill...with Sunsets.

See what I did there?

The Song of the Day.

LET'S. GO. METS.

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

"Oh, the days dwindle down to a precious few."

The skies have cleared 
and there's baseball in my view.

Though the Summer's almost gone 
I can still enjoy a few.

It's been too long 
and it won't be long before

The only baseball I can watch
Isn't right at my own front door.

I'll see you all at the game.


Here's the Song of the Day.

LET'S. GO. METS.

 

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