I was thrilled to come home yesterday and see that my copy of Greg Prince’ book “Faith And Fear In Flushing” had arrived. As soon as I saw the front cover I knew that this is THE book for Mets fans to add to their library as nothing sums up Mets fandom like the picture of Gary Carter and Ray Knight hugging after Game 6 of the 1986 World Series and the bottom picture of Yadier Molina watching Aaron Heilman’ pitch in the 9^th inning of <reaches for a Kleenex> Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS go out of Shea Stadium. Best of times, worst of times indeed and isn’t that what being a Mets fan is all about?

This book is more about what it’s like to be a Mets fan and how it is that we became a fan of this team. In fact Greg, shows we are more than fans, this team in imbedded in our DNA we are so hooked we couldn’t leave if we wanted to.

My family and friends know how I live and die with the Mets and they get their jollies by asking me “What team would you root for if the Mets cease to exist”?  I usually turn red and start cursing as that is akin to asking which of my two children I love the most.  As there are no other kids I could ever love like mine and I could never live and die with another team like I do with the Mets.

As far as I’m concerned this book is a must read for all the younger Mets fans. You guys need to know the history of this organization. You need to see your roots. As much as we all love David Wright and Jose Reyes you need to know about Roy Staiger and Teddy Martinez. As much as you all wear your 31 PIAZZA and 17 HERNANDEZ you have to learn about 31 PARKER (Harry) and MILLAN (Felix) and by reading Faith And Fear In Flushing you will be a better educated Mets fan.

This book is for the REAL Mets fan. The fan who couldn’t wait to attain drinking age to have a cold Rheingold  or  open a bank account at Manufacturers Hanover or pick out a car at your NY, NJ Fairfield County Plymouth dealer. The fan who feels that the 7 train is the ultimate stretch limo. The fan who sits in the Upper Deck of Shea and brings his sandwich and can of soda (placed in the freezer the night before and wrapped in tin foil for the ride to Shea) The fan who no matter how bad things are going in there life can smile at the sight of Mr. Met and feel secure that Gary Cohen and Howie Rose are on the job brings us the sights and sounds of Mets baseball. The fan who could sit and listen to Jane Jarvis play the Thomas Organ and for all of us who look to the late great Tug McGraw when things look hopeless and say YA GOTTA BELIEVE!    

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As I was channel surfing last night I stumbled upon the US-PR WBC game on the MLB Network and I nearly passed out when I saw D-Wright sliding head first into home plate for Team America.  I figured Wright, the Mets and Mets fans had dodged a bullet when Wright taking in knee to the head was ok but now here comes the separated shoulder and 6 months on the DL but Wright jumped up clapping his hands and was in fine shape.  So relieved , I went back to Rangers-Canadians on MSG.

After a thrilling Rangers victory in a shootout of the Habs (and a jump to 6^th place in the East, I so want the Devils in the first round just to kick Fat Marty’s ass) I flip back over to the classic which is now in the 9^th inning just in time to see D-Wright take Fernando Cabrera’ slider that was down and away-a pretty good pitch-the other way (J-Man’s hitting drill comes thru again) for a well placed single to win the game for USA.

As happy as I was for Wright it was still a bit unnerving to see Derek Jeter and Jimmy Rollins grabbing Wright and hugging him during the celebration. I bet Jeter wishes his third baseman was hot like ours

  

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I

 

 

 

 

 should be working but a few things have caught my eye:

 

See ya Rocky Cherry too bad you didn’t make the final 25 I would have loved to here you come into a game with WARRANT’ “Cherry Pie” blaring on the $iti Field speakers

 

Ollie Perez is back in camp after getting his tits lit while pitching for Mexico in the World Bullshit Baseball Classic and thank you Vinny Castillia for letting OP throw 85 fucking pitches in his last start. You know what I shouldn’t blame Castilla in fact I apologize to Castilla instead thank you Omar and you clueless Skill Sets for  not telling MLB to fuck off and for not having the balls to tell your players NO WAY ARE YOU PLAYING IN THAT BULLSHIT TOURNEMENT. Add in OP’s 85 pitches, Frankie Rodriguez throwing 4 out saves, David Wright getting kicked in the head and J.J. Putz throwing likes it’s the middle of a pennant race ENOUGH ALLREADY!!!!!!!!!!!  

 

I will never ever understand why people enjoy sleeping outside a venue to buy tickets when you can go online order your tickets and print them out without even wearing clothes. I put this in the same category as tailgating at a sporting event. What’s the fucking point?

 

Now that my blood is pumping all I need is for someone to wish me a Happy St “Paddy’s” Day so I can put a foot in their ass.

 

 

 

 

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If you picked up a copy of the NY Post this morning I’m sure you were as startled as I was with the picture of the Highlanders flamboyant third basebman Alex Rodriguez looking at himself in a mirror with lust in his eyes. This pictorial of Boy-Boli will be in this months DETAILS magazine where Rodriguez talks about his realtionship with some old couger who lives on the Upper West Side.

If the pictures weren’t enough to make you gag how about this quote Alex the Flamer:

   

Despite being one of the most recognizable men in the city, A-Rod told Details – in an issue that hits newsstands a week from today – that he enjoys taking the subway to Yankee Stadium, usually on Fridays.

“For night games . . . the day to do it is a Friday, because traffic is horrible,” he said.

The $27-million-a-year slugger, who’s sidelined for two months after having a cyst removed and undergoing labrum surgery on a bum hip, says he wears a hooded sweatshirt on the train.

Yet he’s usually discovered by eagle-eyed fans who pummel him with questions.

“I get a kick out of it,” he said. “We talk about who’s pitching tonight, and what we need to do. It’s like being on sports radio.”

Do you smell that? Yeah, me too. It’s the pungent aromar of BULLSHIT!!! A-Rod you are one sick bastard!!!!!!!

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Ah ‘tis quite the day here in NYC as the 248^th St Patricks Day parade is ready to step off at noon. First I’d like to welcome all ye suburbanites who are making you annual visit to our great city. If this year is like past parades you fools will make an ass out of yourselves but all we city dwellers ask is you puke in the proper receptacles and refrain from urinating in the gutter (this goes for the men as well)

 

 

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From the Fuck-adelphia Daily News

General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. told media today that Cole Hamels will be leaving spring training to fly to Philadelphia, where he will be examined by team doctor Michael Ciccotti.

 Hamels has had persistent soreness in his elbow, which Amaro says has become “more localized” lately

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You know what? All you LMillz haters out there you may be on to something. Check out this post from the Chico Harlan’ Washington Journal.

 

A part of me loves the rebellious attitude that Milledge has but a another part of me the baseball fanatic in me, takes away from this interview that Milledge really has no passion to excel at playing big league baseball.  You read how Milledge didn’t take to being told to come out to the ball park three to four hours before a game to do game preparation. In fact the way Milledge prepares for a game is down right disturbing:

 

 LM: Because nobody else can play the game for you. Nobody else is going to give you the money. Nobody is going to give his spot up for you. If I was to walk away from this game today or I wasn’t able to compete at this level anymore, then I have no regrets. I did it my way. Nobody else told me what I need to do. I didn’t try nobody else’s way. I tried my way. And if I just couldn’t play this game, I can live with that. But I couldn’t live with failing by trying somebody else’s way.

 

Q: OK, you keep talking about ‘your way,’ but what does that mean?

 

LM: You know, there’s always a thing where, oh, rookies have to be here 2-1/2 or three hours before stretch. No. I’m not gonna be here three hours before stretch. If you’re here and you get your work in, it shouldn’t matter how early you’re at the field. You know what you need to do. That’s fine. You don’t have to be at the park three, four hours before the park if you don’t want. You don’t see nobody clocking in three or four hours before they have to show up to work. So, I mean, some people feel like they have to get here to read the newspaper or do crossword puzzles or get their mind ready. I feel like I come to the park, I have 45 minutes of stuff I have to do to get prepared for practice and get ready for the game. Five minutes might be watching videos. Fifteen minutes might be going in the cage. And then getting whatever other work I need.

 

I have always been on record here as a Milledge fan but I have to say the way Milledge portrays his pre game habits tell me he will be out of baseball in about a year or two. 5 minutes of video? 15 minutes in the cage? Are you fucking kidding me? Where is your passion to play baseball? Milledge has none. This kid (and that could be an insult to children) has more talent but is lacking the work ethic and determination to take that talent to the next level. The biggest crime here is there are guys toiling in the minors would do just about anything to have the talent that Milledge is wasting.

 

It’s shocking really when you look at Dan Murphy who would sleep at the ball park if he were allowed to and D-Wright who was Cliff Floyd’s personal man servant in his rookie year and has gained the admiration of the vets and formed a life long bond with Floyd. I feel sad for Milledge because unless he has an Epiphany and changes his thinking, all he’ll turn out to be is some overweight ex-player who when Wright goes into the Hall of Fame will go around telling people that he once played on the same team as Wright and no one will believe him.

 

Tip of the Mets cap to Mack’s Mets and Baseball Musing for the links.  

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Lot’s of Mets news today and I have to peruse my brackets. I miss the days of the great NCAA Tournament contest at Jody’s on Forest Ave in Staten Island. Jody ran a pool where you played a ticket for 10 bucks and you had to pick the Final 4, the Championship game. The tie breaker was the total combined score of the championship game. The pool started out as something for the barflies to do while wiling away their time at the bar and through word of mouth on the Island kept growing and growing. Friends and relatives started sending in picks and before you knew it there were over 100, 000 entries and the cash prize went over $1mil bucks.

 

But of course some dumb fuck who one a boat load of dough reported this on his Income Tax which got the attention of the IRS and due to the hot spot light on the US Government the pool is no more. Sad so so sad.

 

Who’s better than Toby Hyde when in comes to knowing the baseball farm hands? No one. Here is his write up on newest Mets chucker, Fernando Nieve.

 

Nick Evans has been an after thoughT all off season and early spring as the right handed bat the Mets need off the bench but with a very productive spring due to increased playing time with the Wright, Delgado and Tatis off playing in the Patriot Games, Warlord Jerry is starting to think that Evans will head to Cincinnati with the team come April 6. I still feel the same about Evans as did the first time I saw him play, he looks and plays like Dave Magadan clone

 

On this date in 1961 the State of NY voted to approve a bond issue to develop a parcel of land that was used for the 1939 Worlds Fair in Flushing Meadow for the construction of a new multi sports stadium. That stadium would become <bows head> Shea Stadium

 

Speaking of ball parks, Paul Goldberger has a piece in the March 23^rd issues of New Yorker magazine looking at $iti Field and that ornate piece of shit they are building in the Bronx. 

 

I’m close to the point where I’m ready to demand the Mets give Jon Niese the 5^th spot in the rotation and tell everyone else to go the fuck home. That includes Petey as well. Enough already with the retreads and old men give the kid the job show him some confidence and guidance and bet the results will be better than anything Livan, Freddie, or Rotund Redding will give you.

 

  

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Busy day as I drafted my 13 year old Babe Ruth team this morning and I’m very happy that I got to pick my top three prospects and now I’m dealing with a nasty head cold that’s sucking the energy out me. I was going to stay away from the computer but after a looking at few stories a few items caught my eye:

John Maine had a very shaky first inning but then settled in to pitch three very strong ones (0 BB 5K) and it looks like it’s not a matter of Bobby Parnell making th team as a reliever but he figures to a major player in the back end of the pen so says Warlord Jerry

Jeopardy Contestant “I’ll take FREE FALL for 100 Alex”

Alex Trebeck: “The Stock Market, Republican Party, Team USA

Jeopardy Contestant: “What is American institutions that are not worth shit”

Trebeck: “Correct”

I’ve got to do a little homework on RHP Fernando Nieve who was picked up by the Mets off waivers from the Astros. I know he was signed by the “Stros at 16 and is now 26 and is a year removed from Tommy John surgery. No risk- high reward pick up by the Mets at best he comes up mid season to bolster the pen worst case he’s filler for the Buffalo pen

I’m done. Time for a hit of Sudefed

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Sports talk radio host Sid Rosenberg is out at 790 The Ticket in Miami and it hasn’t taken the rumor mill long to point Sidney back up north to NYC. You can take Sid out of NY but you can’t take the NY out of Sid. I hope he lands back here in NYC either at WFAN or 1050 ESPN. By the way great job by Neil Best for breaking this story and to Mike Silva at NYBD for the link

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