Spent the day at the Poor Man’s Rivera (Coney Island) and after strolling the Boardwalk where I saw women in bikinis who should not wear bikinis and women in bikinis that made you very happy the bikini was invented, plus Salsa music at high volume and the always popular Shoot The Freak (The Freak is a guy in body armor who runs around an alley hiding while people shoot him with paint balls, in the old days it would have been bullets) and then off to Keyspan Park (I guess they will change the name to National Grid Park soon as there is no more Keyspan or so my gas bill says) to see the Brooklyn Cyclones.

 

Not much offense out the Brooklyn Nine but there were some good points of interest. RHP and 2008 Sandwich Pick Brad Holt pitched a great game. Holt K’d 10 Spikes and walked but 2 in 7 innings of work.  In 23 innings pitched Holt has now K’d 30 and walked just 10. I was sitting in the Bleachers so I could not gauge his speed to well but from watching State College hitters look absolutely clueless on off speed and breaking balls, Holt looked like he had a grasp on how to pitch. Ike Davis just looks like a player maybe its being the son of a former Major Leaguer and growing up in the Highlander clubhouse but he has good size (6’4”) and looks like he could be a very good power hitter. Angel Pagan was in RF for Brooklyn. His right arm seems to be in fine working order as he threw a runner out at the plate from right on the fly. Pagan’s trouble is hitting from the right side due to what is now revealed as a torn labrum (Mets management has to stop bullshiting the Mets fans about injuries and start being more honest. Remember as bad as a lie is, the cover up is worse) the fans in the Bleachers starting chanting “An-gel Pa-gan” as he took his spot in RF and he gave a nice wave. Then the fans did the “Angel Wings” like wave and Pagan turned around and laughed when he saw it and proceeded to give the “Angel Wing Wave” back to the fans who were most appreciative. Oh yeah, the Cyclones won 2-0 to top off a great day in Brooklyn

 

The emergence of Big Pelf is one of the best stories this franchise has seen I years. All the angst and worry about Pelf have been put to rest as Big Pelf took his first curtain call of his career and after all the negiviative reaction to his performances he was grateful for the love. No crying about bad treatment just a cool and calm confidence that he has turned the corner from prospect to solid starter and is now looking at rotation main stay next.  

 

With all the winning and solid play the best part of last nights game was in the top of  the 8^th when the Rockies got a couple of base runners. With Joe Smith and Pedro Feliciano warming in the pen. D-Wright went to the mound followed by Castro, Delgado, Jose Reyes and Pitching Coach Dan Warthen. Wright covered his face to not show the smile on his face and Pelf looked like he was cracking a joke, Delgado had his arm around Reyes and Warthen strolled on and off the mound like he checking if the plants needed water. There is such a calm, loose feeling around the team and even though no one wants to say bad things about Willie Randolph you can tell it was a tension convention when he was in charge.

 

I went to the last All Star Game at Highlander Stadium back in 1977. I was just about to turn 19 years old and was working the summer at Century 21 Department Store on Cortland St. I built displays in the stores and did handy work and chased shoplifters. The store was owned by the Gindi family and Mr. Gindi game by our lunch room with a stack of tickets for the game and gave a bunch of us grunts tickets gratis. Now back then I was a bit of a run around and I had few beers in me so my recollection of the game is a bit fuzzy but I do remember Greg “The Bull” Luzinski putting on a home run display during batting practice (there was no Home Run Derby in the olden days kids) and Tom Seaver making his return to NYC after THE TRADE to the Reds. I think that’s why I got tanked as the sight of Seaver in a Cincinnati Reds uni broke my heart.

 

I am about ready to highjack a bulldozer and knock down Highlander Stadium myself as I am sick of the gushing over this place. When you rate ball parks to me Wrigley Field and Fenway Park are BASEBALL PARKS that make you feel like your back when men wore straw hats and you know that the greats of the game actually played there. Highlander Stadium for what it’s worth was torn down in the early 70’s and rebuilt to what you have today. There’s not much resemblance from the “old” to the “new” and if the place is so fucking revered why did they have to build another one? I usually buy a shirt of whatever Mets player makes the team but between Jose Reyes getting snubbed (a total miscarriage of justice that the main stream press in this town has failed to go in depth on as it would cut into their weeping of the last year of the House The Gambino Crime Family Made A Mint On closes) and everything has Highlander written all over it so I’ll pass and by another Mr. Mets shirt instead.

 

Howard Megdal has a column today in the New York Observer on Fernando Martinez-a/k/a The Teen Aged Hitting Machine. With this resurgence of the team the Mets (Omar Minaya) has to figure out how to add an outfielder and not give up the prize prospect in return or does Omar promote The Teen Aged Hitting Machine at the end of the month?

 

Classy move by Davey Johnson yesterday as he wore a Mets Cap as manager of the Team USA in the Futures game.

 

 

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