I was able to go to last night’s game on one of those spur (or as Archie Bunker used to say “sperm” ) of the moment deals. My son was with his friends when one the boys’ dads called and said he had gotten tickets to the game from his job. My son called me and asked if we could go and I said “Giddy up! Let’s go”

First it was the latest I’ve ever left for a game, 90 minutes before first pitch. I’m usually in the ball park at least two hours before game time, but when the folks we were going with had to get home from work so, you do what you can do.

Now from my shack on Staten Island to $iti Field it’s approximately 23 miles. In a place like say, Bismarck North Dakota, a 23 mile trip may take 15 minutes but in the Greatest City on Earth at rush hour it takes close to 90 minutes. We got our seats just before first pitch.

Needless to say, I did not get to inspect my brick in the Fan Walk, but I did get a glimpse of the old Home Run Apple which looks like it has found the perfect home. We passed by the new McFaddens which looked awfully dark. The bouncers at the door, one really big dude who had a chin like a Jai-Alai Cestna, scared the shit out of me so I didn’t look sideways at the place or ask a question but I’ll pose it here to any of y’all who have been inside the place. I believe it’s open all year round and on non game days? If so, who in that neighborhood is going to frequent the place? Do they serve food or is it a joint just to get a load on?

We sat in Section 106 down the right field line, close to the field but we had these annoying Asian tourists in the five rows in front of us who felt the urge to take photographs during game action. In the first inning the crowd in the section just called out “Yo sitdown” but by the third inning it was the whole section screaming “SIT THE FUCK DOWN” which I guess were the magic words as all cameras were finally put away.

By the third inning I had seen enough of John Maine and decided it was time for the Shake Shack and Box Frites. Seeing that I was comped tickets and a ride to the game, the least I could do was offer a Shack Burger, Fries and a beer to my host. Even though the crowd was as large as any I’ve ever seen for a second game of the season, 90 degrees in April will do that (remember when the Mets used to do Second Opening Day ? Rodney Dangerfield was a guest one year when they did this promotion as the second game of the season gets “no respect, no respect at all”) and I’ll be honest if it were 35 degrees and windy, my ass would have been on the couch at home watching this game, but I digress. It only took an inning and a half to get my Shake Shack order and beer but to cart the provisions back, I looked like a contestant on “Minute To Win It”. It’s not easy balancing four burgers, four fries and two beers from the center field food court to section 106. But here is the best part of the night, as get to the steps of the section and feeling a great sense of accomplishment that I have not dropped nor spilled any of this fine fare, the usher…..opps excuse me…the Hospitality Attendant, seeing me struggle to get to my row has the balls to ask to see my ticket. I give this dolt a look and say to him “Are you fuckin’ kidding”? Now get this? This asshole is offended by my language. I tell him call a supervisor or a cop and as soon as I put this food down I’m coming back up to show you my ticket.  He then says “no that’s all right”.

After I eat my burger I go back up to tap a kidney, on the way back I find Mr. Hospitality Agent ( I wish I wrote down this guys name as I’d put it in this post, in fact because of this guy, for now on, whoever pisses me off at $iti Field will have their named printed on this site) and I ask him, “let’s look at the logic here, I have two arms full of food and drink, you know my ticket is in my pocket. Since my hands are occupied, how did you think I was going to get the ticket out of my pocket, to show you”? “And your not cute enough for me to let you put your hand in my pocket” All this guy could do was turn a nice shade of crimson. Now I could have stopped there but I couldn’t, I had to add, “Don’t you feel foolish”? What can he say or do? He can’t call a supervisor because he’ll look like a dope and he can’t argue with me because now I’ve got a posse backing me up all he could do was apologize. Asshole!

Oh yeah the game! Not only was John Maine ineffective, he looked very uncomfortable on the mound. Jerry Manuel can run this start through the spin cycle all he wants there’s no way he or the front office are not concerned with Maine’s start last night. His location on the majority of his pitches weren’t even close to hitting their target and it seemed every Marlin hitter started their at bat with a 2-1 or 3-1 count. I don’t think Maine ever topped 90mph on his fastball all night and the speed of his fastball and change was much different.

There’s not much I can add about the bonehead play by Fernando Tatis in the 7^th that ran the Mets out of a potential big inning. You have to know your home court. The backstop at $iti is not very deep but also, with your best hitter at the plate and two out, Tatis shouldn’t even think of running unless the ball went off the backstop and up the first base line. Bad baseball right there. Give Tatis some props for manning up after the game and talking to the press and admitting he fucked up.

That Tatis throw out at the plate, by the way, emptied $iti Field. There was a mass exodus complete with heads shaking and faces etched in disgust.

Hey Jenry Mejia, We’re not in St Lonesome anymore uh?

I know, I know it’s only two games but I’ve seen enough of Mike Jacobs.

Tough to kill D-Wright on the steal of second in the 9^th that set up the IW of Jason Bay. GMJ is about the only guy in the lineup besides Wright, Bay or Frenchie that gives you any confidence as a Mets fan to get anything done. How sad is that?

3 days ’till pitchers and catchers

So how did you spend your Valentine’s  Day ? Me? I spent mine at Madison Square Garden with my three Valentines watching the NY Rangers play their last game before the Olympic break.

Needless to say, I had a better Valentines Day than this guy, who supposedly was proposing to his girlfriend. I’ve read where this may have been hoax, but I can tell you at the time it happened The Garden was buzzing for awhile over this rejection. Hoax or not it boosted my standing at home as my wife said to me “As bad as you are at least you proposed that right way”

In case you were wondering it was New Year’s Eve 1984 at a restaurant at the stroke of midnight on my knee in front of a bunch of strangers.

Some things  just amaze me like who gets a job sticking pimentos into olives, or how can people sit for hours watching cars make continuous left turns but what has me stuns me the most is Bob Raissman actually gets paid to write the crap he does. I’d call Raissman a horse’s but that would an insult to the horse and it’s ass.

After seeing that Forbes has ranked the Mets as the 9^th most valuable brand in sports and the 2^nd most valuable in MLB (guess who’s 1^st ?) it makes it tough to take those “the Mets are broke” stories “ seriously.

So let me get this straight, the first base job is an open competition but Luis Castillo has a strangle hold on 2^nd base. I need to lie down.

MetsGrrl makes the point that the Mets do not need some schlock character race to enthuse the Mets faithful. Of course I agree 100 % and her take on the whole $iti Field experience is right on, especially the playing of Sweet Caroline in the 8th inning, which to the Mets fans credit is booed lustfully when it’s played. If I had a say in it, I’d play Kick Out The Jams by The MC-5 as the 8^th inning song.

 

As for Carlos Delgado thank you for all you’ve done here in your four season as a Met. Hopefully you will find an AL team that needs a DH part time first baseman. No need to come back to $iti Field this season your check s will be sent to you in the mail.

 

 

Tonight at 9PM on Pro Baseball Central we will be talking Mets and Highlanders with our guest Lenny Neslin of LenNY Yankees as we discuss the post season plans for the Highlanders along with the obligatory what’s “wrong with Joba”topic. Tune in at 9PM EDT on Blog Talk Radio and join in the conversation as well on our call in line (646) 595-462. If you can’t listen live then check us out on the podcast either here or on our Pro Baseball Central web site.

 

 

I must admit, I didn’t watch much of the Mets-Giants game last night and from the looks of things I didn’t miss much. One thing I did notice and I kind of noticed this on Saturday, $iti Field is not exactly packed and jammed.

 

Remember back when the plans for $iti came out and it was announced that the seating capacity would be about 15,000 less than Shea and the outcry that fans would be shut out of games? Now there are tickets a plenty even in the beginning of the season the secondary markets were awash in Mets tickets. I’ve been to 10 games so far this season and I plan on going to at least 5 more. Sure it bothers me that the team is awful but what bothers me even more is winter. As bad as the Mets are right now, just think what it’s like in the middle of January with the snow, wind and cold and you have to wear three layers of clothes and a coat, hat and gloves. I can’t get enough days at the ball park to suit me. Besides the way the team is constructed right now, it has a nostalgic feel to going to a Mets game, very 1975-ish.

 

Is there a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel? First, the team started to listen to the fan base and has made improvements to $iti Field. The video screen in the RF corner came in handy on Saturday and the montage of Gooden, Straw and Hernandez looked great along with the banners on the outfield wall and even the cow in the promenade was cute. The place had a Mets feel to it, finally.

 

Then there were the Throwback uni’s paying tribute to the our NL heritage that the Skill Sets are finally embracing and maybe, just maybe the organization is realizing that blue and orange are our colors and the uniform we all grew up with is what we want. I’ll go out on a limb here and say that after this season the dreaded black uniforms will be no more.

 

But last night was the topper in this starting to feel better about my team. The Skill Sets actually went over slot money to sign their top draft pick RHP Steven Matz, by close to 400K. Now we’re talking here, let me give Jeffey and Freddy an ‘Atta Boy for that. See it’s not hard fellas.

 

Let me send out my hopes for a speedy recovery to Alex Cora who is having both thumbs operated on and is down for the season. The Mets should have let Cora take one more at bat so the fans could give him the ovation he deserves. Cora should have had his thumb surgery back in June but put it off due to the dearth of infielders to step up and play. Alex Cora is a gamer.

 

To fill Cora’s spot on the roster the Mets have resigned Teddy Martinez

 

At this point in the season, it isn’t really worth getting worked up over, but enough of Livan Hernandez already.

 

The Mets fan version of the Weather Underground will meet again a week from tonight at Two Boots Tavern 384 Grand St on the glorious Lower East Side. Come one come all we all need the therapy.

 

Highlander fans are starting to bloom in all their glorious doucheness over their teams recent run of good fortune. As I stated to my colleague who sits next to me at work, you can break balls all you want right now Highlander fans, but keep this in the back of your small minds, if you want to belittle the Mets and Mets fans and stick out your chests and walk around like it’s a foregone conclusion that World Series title 27 will come this late October you better hope it does, because if your Bronx Bastards fall short this post season. I WILL MAKE YOUR LIVES A LIVING HELL!!!!! Believe me it is very tough for me to hold my tongue when I wear my Mets shirts, shorts, cap, watch, and sling bag and get a bunch of shit from Highlander fans so you know I’m just waiting to attack and when I do it won’t be pretty. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

 

Memo to Adam “The Bull”

 

You can kill the Mets all you want but remember your place at WFAN, you’re a benchwarmer . Come September you’ll be back in your proper place taking phone calls from Jerome in Manhattan at 2 AM.

I can’t wait to check out the new and improved Mets-centirc $iti Field. I’m still puzzeled by those throwback unis fromlasr night. If they used the Mets inter-locking orange NY in a small version on the left breast with the Mets round logo on one arm with the Mr Met on the other that would be a cool uni.

Bravo to Bobby Parnell for that great start last. If Parnell can finish the season this strong look for John Maine to be late inning reliever in 2010.

 

Two out of three deep in the heart of Bush Country and now the Rox come to town for a foursome (I’ll be at the game tomorrow night to celebrate my 51^st birthday. My kids tell me they will go and get me my Shake Shack burger and Box Frites and even give me back the change) so what would happen around here if the Mets by some strange super natural force took the 4 games?

 

Maybe if he close our eyes and click our heels three times, Reyes, Beltran and Delgado will report for duty today and demand to play. With Tony B standing at the club house door telling the trio “Get lost we can’t make three roster moves at one time” and Delgado rips off his shirt and say “Move out of the way bus driver, we’re going in”. It’so nice to dream isn’t it.

 

Greg Prince with a spectacular post shows why he is in the pantheon of not just Mets bloggers but Mets fans. Even when we say the team has no chance we never believe it.

 

Remember the Mercury Mets? I’d like to but The Mets Police revisits July 27^th 1999 so we can never forget. Does anyone have one of these awful jersey’s ? In the hundreds of games I’ve been to in the last 10 years at Shea/$iti I have never seen anyone wearing a Mercury Mets shirt?

 

The Star Ledger today looks at the empty seats at $iti and the glut of tickets on the secondary market. Remember when Mets fan were up in arms over the 15,000 less seats at $iti Field over Shea and the fear of not being able to get a ticket to a game? Not only is the seating capacity fine, Mets tickets are as common as weeds growing out of the Manhattan sidewalk.

 

Saturday was not a very proud day for Philles fans. First, during the National broadcast of the Phillies-Cardinals game, some dick head had a laser pointer in the stands and decided it would be fun to point the beam at Cardinal players. This resulted in a stoppage of play while fat guys in mustard stained shirts with the word SECURITY on the back searched out the culprits along with the umpires and players. The pointers weren’t pointed out but play resumed without further incident. But the real tragedy was after the game in McFaddens bar which is located on the CPB property but not a part of the ball park where a bunch of fans who were tossed out of CPB for being drunk and disorderly, continued that behavior into McFaddens (it seems from the stories in the Philly papers this kind of behavior is condoned in the bar) A fight broke out between the two groups (seems they were both fractions were from Philly) and one man was killed as he was pummeled with fists and feet. I guess some towns can handle success.

I was sitting in the Pepsi Porch today and after the Tatis homer the Home Run Apple did not go up probably due to the fact it hasn’t had a lot fo work this season and after the Schneider HR must have thought it’s day was done. A bunch of kids sitting in back of us started chanting “APPLE, APPLE, APPLE” and then the whole ball park joined in to scream “WE WANT THE APPLE” We had to wait until the end of the inning to get our second Apple raising of the game.

Tonight at 10 PM EDST  I will be a guest on Frankie The Sports Guy radio show tune in by clicking here.

 

I am on my way to $iti Field to root on our Mets to take three of four from Cards and tonight on PRO BASEBALL CENTRAL I’ll have wrap up of the game plus our guest will be Ben Kabak of River Ave Blues and we will discuss the state of the Highlanders and look at this weekends match up with the Mets at $iti Field Join us live on Blog Talk Radio or listen later to the podcast right here at Kranepool Society or at our Pro Baseball Central site.

I’m starting to sense among  Mets fans that there is a loving embrace for lack of something better with this team of B-listers.  It has become the type of team that suits it fan base better one in which the media and other outside forces mock and belittle and the team picking up on this is developing and us against the world mentality. I mean seriously how could you call yourself a true orange and blue Mets fan and boo this bunch?

Mets fans have always declared “bring up the kids” well the best of the kids are here, F-Mart, Murphy, Evans, Parnell I’ll even throw Santos in the mix  even if he’s not technically “a kid” so now we have to back them up to booing no yelling remember they’re our kids