Join us tonight for another edition of Pro Baseball Central as we march toward St Lonesome and the start of spring training. We will discuss the Ollie Perez re-singing, Manny, the lack of a right handed bat off the bench or at a corner outfield spot and my time at the 69 Heroes luncheon yesterday so tune in and turn on and join us on the call in line at (646) 595-4462

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My bucket list isn’t very long just few things I’d like to do before my ass burns in hell:

 

Capture Osama Bin Laden and put him on display at Astroland there by saving Coney Island.

 

Land a jetliner in the Hudson River (yeah I know that Sully guy did it already but it looked so cool on the video I’d just like to try it once)

 

Watch baseball highlights in a heart shaped bath tub with Hazel Mae

 

Go clothes shopping with Don Cherry 

 

Hit Mega-Millions and use the money to reopen CBGB and wear spandex and boa everyday and hang out with David Johansen.

 

Meet my favorite Mets player of all time Ed Kranepool

 

Well, scratch that last one of the list as yesterday my 44 year journey was complete as I finally met my Mr. Met, steady Eddie Kranepool. Oh I’ve come close a few other times. Once at a bank opening on 18^th Ave in Brooklyn, Kranepool and Mets bullpen coach Joe Pignatano were at the grand opening signing autographed 8 X 10’s. When I arrived at the bank, Ed had already left but “Piggy” was there and not only gave me and my kids autographed pics but also found a few that Eddie had signed to give out later so needless to say the are prominently displayed at the World Headquarters of The Eddie Kranepool Society (a/k/a my basement) next to my Mr. Met bubble bath and my Ron Swoboda 12 oz tumbler from Sunoco.

 

A second time was at Keyspan Park when Ed was doing color commentary on a Brooklyn Cyclones game and I tried very hard to conceal my fanboy admiration so I could infiltrate up to the press box (this is how I get around Highlander Stadium like a Special Opps agent I go in watch the game and get out and none of the Highlander faithful know there is a spy amongst them) so when I received an e mail about yesterdays event I was as happy as Navin R Johnson (Steve Martin’s character in The Jerk) when he got his new phone book. I called right away and reserved my seat.

 

So now here I am bopping into Gallagher’s Restaurant yesterday and the first thing that I notice was the plethora of fat, bald middle aged guys in attendance (as opposed to moi as I may be bald and middle aged but I’m svelte <sticks out tongue>) and I thought here we are on the eve of the 40^th anniversary of the 1969 World Champion team and the vast majority of the attendees were teenagers back then and for the next couple of hours we are all teenagers again. As I look around the bar I see Ron Swoboda holding court with a small group of businessmen (by the way I didn’t know what the dress code was for this event so I decided to gussie myself up real nice and wear a collar shirt over my orange Mets t-shirt that I got for filling out my 485^th Bank of America Master Card application at Shea. That’s why I have more blankets than the Red Cross) I saw Emerson Boozer and shook his hand (which still has an ice pack on it from his grip) I acknowledged Art Shamsky (I’m sure you all read the NY Post this morning and I wish I hung around longer as I would have ran inference for Art when the ex came after him) and then as I made my around the bar there he was, Steady Eddie.

 

At first I felt a little intimidated to speak to him. When I told him I’m the guy who named his blog after him I didn’t know if he’d take it as the compliment I set it out to be or if he start screaming “You? YOU”RE THE GUY”? but thankfully it was the former. Krane seemed to get a kick out it and said he heard about it and asked me if I had a card with the website on it which of course I did, and then Ed gave me HIS BUSSINESS CARD!!!!.

 

I don’t know if it was fear of him being mad about the blog or just the anticipation of meeting him that my childhood was flashing before my eyes (visions of Ebingers Bakery, egg creams, The Sea Beach Line, The Worlds Fair, The Beatles on Ed Sullivan, my Mr. Met megaphone that I just ate popcorn out of, and cans of Rheingold the Orange and Blue aluminum shingles of early Shea, all set to the sound track of Jane Jarvis and her Thomas Organ) but I was nervous talking to Ed and he was just the opposite calm and relaxed, Steady Eddie. He got a laugh as I told him that he was and still is my favorite Mets player of all time because I was a left hand and played first base and not fleet of foot and went by the nickname “Kranepool” and how I had a Mets uniform with 7 on it and how I wish the Mets would retire that number since he still holds or is in the top ten in most Mets lifetime hitting categories. I tried not to ramble but I’m sure I did but he seemed to enjoy my carrying on.

 

One of the dangers in meeting someone who you grew up being a huge fan of is when you do get to meet them the experience is not what you had hoped, but I would like to thank Ed Kranepool for not disappointing me by being so gracious and making yesterday even better than I had hoped it would.

 

Now back to that bucket list. I wonder what Gretchen Mol is doing Saturday night?

 

 

   

 

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Tonight at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers will add GRAVES 9 to the rafers of the Worlds Most Famous Arena and every Ranger fan will cheer not just for the player that Adam Graves was but for the man Adams Graves is.

Thank you Gravy for all you’ve done on the ice for the Blushirts and thank you for all you’ve given off the ice as well.

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Looks like Omar saw his shadow yesterday and declared winter is over with the signing of Ollie P to a 3yr/$36 mil deal. The best part of that deal is the 3 yrs forget the money part it’s the years that are key as Ollie/Boras were looking for at least 5 years but had to settle in at 3.

 

Add to that news that Manny/Boras have turned down the Dodgers latest proposal of 1 yr/$25 mil deal which means the Manny to the Mets talk will never die as you have figure that Boras had to talk  Manny with Omar. He had to right? RIGHT?

 

More Mets news today as the off season levee has broken. It looks like the deal with Citigroup for the new Pleasure Palace is under fire and Citi Group may look to void the deal due to pressure from Congress. Is the karma changing in Flushing? Will we see the ball park named after Gil Hodges or will it keep the Shea name atop the façade?

 

Mike Silva has a great post on New York Baseball Digest on how the Mets strive to be good and not great and as I commented on Mike’s post as long as the Skill Sets strive to be just good me and the rest of the Mets bloggers will continue to fight them to strive to be great. That doesn’t mean to spend like our neighbors in the Bronx but to have a plan stick to it and make any necessary move to attain greatness. Signing Manny would work well to achieve that goal. The Skill Sets remind me of the landlords I deal with who get violations on their buildings and cry to the court that they have no money to make the necessary repairs to meet the city code. Usually these buildings have address on Park Ave and Central Park West and are worth umpteen millions of dollars and just like with the Skill Sets I give them a big yawn when they cry to me about how hungry they are when they have not just loves of bread under their arms but the whole damn bakery.

 

Joel Sherman in his HARDBALL blog talks up Ty Wiggington who makes so much sense for the Mets it’s guaranteed the Mets won’t sign him.

 

Excuse me now while I pry my eyes out with a fork. 

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No fourth year but the money was sweetened so I guess Scott Boras saved some face but you have to wonder what took so long? How tough a negotiation was this? 3 years/$36 mil is a victory for Omar and the Mets in terms of years and money. So now what? Now that the pitching has been addressed will the need for an outfielder with some pop be added? Can the Mets be happy with a projected 7-8-9 in the lineup of Schneider-Castillo-Pitcher De Jour? Can Gimp handle the two hole anymore so that Ryan Church get take the 7 hole with Schneider moving to 8?  Still more questions than answers with 12 days to go before pitchers and catchers report to St Lonesome Time to stock up on the Pepto Bismal

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Observations on last nights Super Bowl:

 

I am so happy I didn’t waste a minute of my time watching the pre game show, it’s bad enough I turn the game on at 6PM to get more Bob Costas than my daily requirement of self-important blow hards. Someday a head of a TV network will realize what a waste of money these pre game shows are in this day and age of instant information just like FOX figured out the money they save on Aqua Net for Jeanie Zelasko could be put to better use like getting Doofus Joe Buck a personality.

 

By the time the fourth quarter rolled around and the game looking like a Steelers lock, and the continued parade of commercial after commercial just killing the flow of the game I was ready to call Michael Phelps to come over with his Aqua Lung Bong. How about poor old Flipper getting outed while going one toke over the line? My God what’s’ next? Sully doing an “8-ball”?

 

Hey Rodney Harrison, I just spoke to David Tyree; he sends his regards and wants to know how his ass tastes.

 

WOHA! When did Brenda Warner get the Hollywood makeover? Da-am-n!!!!

 

Besides the Steelers and the Rooney family last night’s biggest winners were Al Michaels and John Madden, especially Madden who was totally on his game last night and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band who made me for the first time ever watching Super Bowls wanting halftime to last longer.

 

Rumors are running rampant through the ‘net that Scott Boras is in NYC to meet with the Omar about OP and Manny. There is no substance to these rumors but it looks like OP names on a contract is a foregone conclusion and with Manny still out there, there is still a scintilla of hope that maybe a package deal of OP/Manny could come to fruition. But don’t hold your breath.

 

Outstanding find by UGOT2B-LIEVE is this video of Bobby Valentine telling a wonderful story on his mustache in the dugout appearance. This is classic.

 

More video wonderment this one from Michael Leggett of the great Random Fandom Red Sox NYC site as he took video this past weekend of the rubble that is Shea Stadium. With all the pics and video of the rubble left of Shea I find myself in a quandary. I loved Shea and even at “Fitty” years old whenever I’d go to Shea no matter the opponent I had the same enthusiasm as I had as a six year old, in 1964, the first time I walked into Shea. I have tons of memories in there not just of games and events I’ve seen there but with the people I went those games and events with. Some are gone some are older and the first time I went to Shea with my son and daughter was very emotional for me and now that they are full fledged Mets fan I’m just glad they were able to experience Shea Stadium. But then there are the days I went to Shea where the sewers were backing up and the corridors were so jammed you couldn’t walk and the lines for the bathrooms made you miss the action on the field and the pipes leaking from the mezzanine to the lodge section with a liquid substance that wasn’t water and the cramp seats and I say yeah it’s time for a new place. The one big problem I have with $iti Field is its’ name and the corporate greed that goes with it and my biggest fear that the true Mets fan will be kept out of the place in favor of the stuffed shirts who are there for “the event” and have not put their heart and soul into the team like you and me. If all my Upper Deck brethren get into to $iti then it will be a success if the it becomes just a place for the know nothing corporate hacks then it will be the end of the Mets as we know them. I fear this because the Skill Sets have no feel for their fan base, because if they did I’d be wearing a RAMIREZ 24 jersey today.

 

This has nothing to do with the Mets or baseball but I got a kick out it. Kulas Korner is a great hockey site and they have a video up of yesterdays Bruins-Canadians game where Alex Henry of the Habs and Shawn Thornton of the Bruins went toe to toe in a slobberknocker . B’s play by play man Jack Edwards goes off on Henry who is what we used to call back in the 70’s a Goon, very funny stuff but not as funny as the awful looking throwbacks the Habs wore yesterday that reminded me of a barber pole.

 

Happy Birthday Leo “Bananas” Foster 

  

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What is there something else going on today? Oh yeah the Super Bowl. I never understood why people who never watch football get all excited to watch the Super Bowl? It would be like me watching the finale of Desperate Housewives a show I couldn’t give a rats ass about. 

That’s why I avoid Super Bowl parties. I’ve been dragged to a few in my day by my wife but even she would get annoyed with all the questions I’d be asked at these functions  asking to explain ever play and all the rules and that’s why I’ll be home in my Archie Bunker recliner enjoying the game.

What I look for today is who wins the turnover battle. Ben Roethlisberger has a tendency to throw picks and the Cardinal defense has been getting turnovers this post season so that is an intriguing matchup. Can the Steelers run the football and control the clock on offense and use a ball control offense as a defense to keep Kurt Warner and his wide outs on the sidelines? 

This game looks to be a very good matchup and from reading all the predictions from the experts most of them are split right down the middle. I have to say I’ve flip flopped all week trying to decide who I think will win but in the end I always go with the team that plays the best defense and that’s the Steelers So it’s Steelers 24-17 (right on the number) for me and Ring 6 for the Terrible Towlers.

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