Hip! Hip! R.A. !

November 15, 2012 by 3 Comments

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Congratulations to R.A. Dickey on his winning the 2012 NL Cy Young Award. Here is a clip from the film Knuckleballwhere Dickey shows his craft

 

In a perfect world, R.A. Dickey would be a Met 4 Life. For an organization run as bad as a Guy Fieri restaurant that also suffers from public mocking like no other team in town that doesn’t have a bench warming Christian QB, through all that muck and mire there has been one beacon of enlightenment for Mets fans. His name is Robert Allen Dickey.

Dickey’s rough road traveled in his life and baseball career has been rewarded with his being named the 2012 recipient of the NL Cy Young Award. This award does not just legitimize the pitch that made him a star, the knuckleball, but it goes to show how sweat equity in a craft and a belief in one’s self pay off.

You would think the announcement of Dickey winning the Cy Young would set off a huge celebration in the Land of Orange and Blue. Mets fans should be making sure they secure a ticket for April 1st 2013, opening day of the baseball season at Citi Field. Mets fans should have a smile and warm feeling during this off season just thinking about hearing Mets P.A. announcer Alex Anthony make the following proclamation:

“Ladies and Gentlemen….boys and girls ….please direct your attention to the area in front of the pitchers mound where Commissioner Bud Selig has special presentation…..”

At that point the sellout crowd rises as one with a ghost of Shea Stadium roar as Selig with Cy Young plaque in hand presents it to today’s starting pitcher, R.A. Dickey. Dickey tries to say a few words to the fans, a fan base that has fallen in love with not just the pitcher but the man and his life story and his rebirth as a husband, father and baseball player, but he can’t as the crowd of 40,000 Mets fans are serenading him with chants of “R.A DICK-EY, clap clap…clap, clap..clap R.A. DICK-EY, clap, clap….clap, clap, clap…… “What a scene….what pride in being a Mets fan….what…..may…..never….happen…..

I understand that discussing trading Dickey is an option. As you and I think with our hearts, Sandy Alderson thinks with his head and is trying to obtain players who will help turn this team around but who would you get back in trade that would push the Mets to that level and is better than having R.A. Dickey on this team? It’s not like Dickey is looking for a big time deal either, a 3yr/$25-$27 mil deal would be more than suffice for him.  Instead of dealing away a guy like Dickey the Mets need more players like Dickey.

Here is a player who in 2010 played with a plantar fasciitis injury and took pain killer injections on his day to pitch. Last season he played with a torn stomach muscle that he waited until the season was over to get surgery on.  You can’t put a price tag on a will like that.

The Mets love to monitor social media and I’m sure they were all over Twitter and Facebook last night so that means they saw the reaction of the fan base to the announcement of Dickey winning the Cy Young. The Mets brass was in attendance for the last game of the 2011 season at Citi Field when Mets fans skipped school and work and any other responsibilities they had in life to come see a second division team close out another lack luster season that featured the now annual second half collapse only because R.A. Dickey was pitching for his 20th win. Those new to the organization BS (Before Shea) were stunned by the support and the atmosphere Mets fan displayed that day. If the organization wants to keep that fan feeling and want to give as David Howard calls them “the dormant Mets fan” a reason to buy a ticket to a game at Citi Field, they will extend Dickey’s deal and reap the benefits.  Unless Alderson can get back Mike Trout the best move is to not move R.A. Dickey.  

 

 

 

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Hey Dan Warthen, Babe Ruth’s Dead

August 6, 2012 by Leave a Comment

You figured Matt Harvey would have a rough start here or there as he adjusts to life in the big leagues where unlike Triple A mistakes end up over an outfield fence. But Harvey, who is seen as a bit of a pitching savant, should be able to make the adjustments, if the mixed messages he hears don’t make him crazy.

For some strange reason Dan Warthen and Terry Collins love the breaking ball which is ok unless you forget all pitchers are not alike. Bobby Ojeda on the pre-game show on SNY yesterday seemed to send a cryptic message that Warthen’ approach is not the best for Harvey. Ojeda repeated that manta that Harvey is a power pitcher and he should stay working as a power pitcher and not worry about throwing off speed  and breaking pitches so much. Ojeda seemed to hint that the Harvey is a bit of a revelation as a good old fashion hard throwing starting pitcher.

My big concern with Harvey is that Dan Warthen is going to try to make him something he isn’t, a finesse pitcher.  It’s the biggest knock on Warthen, he has made this Mets staff into a bunch of nibblers instead of going with a more aggressive approach. When was the last time a Mets pitcher threw up an in on a hitter?  That approach is fine if you have a stable of Glavine-Maddox-esque pitchers but the Mets have some very hard throwers who should have better results than they do, especially in the bullpen.

Parnell hits 100 mph on the radar gun and sits at a consistent 95 mph. Josh Edgin hits 95 as does Frank Frank and Manny Acosta.sSo with electric arms such as these why is the Mets bullpen so bad? Could it be the approach taught by Dan Warthen? I think so. The Mets bullpen has a 4.26 BB/9IP rate which is only second to worst to the Cubs who have a close to 5 walks per 9IP rate. Why with a pen of hard throwers do Mets relievers have such a high walk rate, I’d have to say it’s the approach set by Warthen of nibble, nibble, nibble instead of attack, attack, attack.

Pitching is deception trying to keep the batter off balance.  I don’t think Warthen’s approach to pitching is effective in doing that. When was the last time we’ve seen a Mets pitcher go up the ladder on a hitter? How many times have you screamed at your TV set when the 7-8-9 batters reach base on a walk on off speed and breaking pitches  that miss the outside of the plate when challenging the batter should be the plan?

Terry Collins has been a loyal supporter of Dan Warthen and his teachings but I know I’m not alone wondering how Warthen was kept on staff after the purge of personnel of the Minaya era. With the ineffectiveness of the bullpen and the very valuable arms coming through the Mets farm system, it is paramount of Sandy Alderson to find a pitching coach who not only can relate and help the growth of these young arms but he also needs a pitching coach to change the mindset of many on this staff to pitch aggressively. The approach that is in play now is not working and needs to be eradicated.

 

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Who Needs TRAIDS ? It’s Matt Harvey Day

July 31, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I’m positive that the Mets front office would love to make a deal or two or three today, Trade Deadline Day, (I was very close to taking the day off from work by claiming today as a religious holiday) but the Mets baseball ops know this team needs a ton of work to become a pennant contender and none of the roster restoration that’s needed can be accomplished today.

The Mets outfield is a disgrace, as is the catching position along with the bullpen and depth at starting pitcher, but still the lunatic fringe of Metsfandom scream for Sandy Alderson to make a TRIAD!!!!!!!! Everyone is tickled that Zack Wheeler has zoomed up the prospect charts to the point he will be promoted to Buffalo this weekend and a September call up to the big club is not out of the question. What the loonies kind of forget is it took dealing Carlos Beltran to get Wheeler. The only player the Mets poses that would bring backing anything to close to a Wheeler-like prospect is David Wright and he’s not going anywhere.

There are some, who think that Scott Hairston can bring back a big return prospect wise in a deal.  Hairston is outstanding when matched up against left handed pitching and he plays a plausible outfield, so if you were the Mets GM and listed Hairston for sale what do you think you’d get back in return?  B or C level prospect or a C and a D? Well, then why trade him? As it stands now, Hairston is the best outfield option the Mets have and with Jordany Valdespin as his lefty platoon partner to go with the platoon in left of Bay-Baxter, that is the Mets best chance to salvage any positive outfield production. I’d rather sit tight and keep Hairston than roll the dice on some kid from A ball.

The fact that the Mets are in a transition period is tough for many of the fan base to grasp. The Alderson Plan is to rebuild the organization via the Entry Draft and building a strong minor league system.  There is no reverse in this plan. What makes it more difficult to stay the course with this way of doing baseball business, is the part of the fan base than is in dire need of immediate gratification, who feels the lack of a TRAID is sign of failure, thankfully the Mets front office laughs off the Mong Mets Fans who think this way.

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If Not Matt Harvey, Then Who ?

July 12, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Looks like the Sandy Alderson regime has come to face its first real crisis of its reign with what looks like the season ending shoulder surgery that Dillon Gee will undergo. I call this a crisis because Gee’s ailment came out of nowhere and starting pitcher was not on Alderson’s shopping list.
So what’s a GM to do? It seems the last thing the Mets want to do is promote Matt Harvey to the big leagues because they would love to see some more consistency out him and the fact that he has a tendency to leave his fastballs up in the strike zone and in the big leagues that’s a batting practice pitch. Emotionally Harvey is ready and quite frankly he’d fit right into this Mets team as he is young and confident and an ex-teammate of many of the young Mets and besides what are the other options?
Alderson is on record as saying he will not trade a top prospect at the deadline so to getting Matt Garza or Ryan Dempster is out as that would be cost prohibitive in terms of players. Do pitchers like Paul Malholm or Kevin Millwood excite you? Didn’t think so.
It’s great that the Mets want to try to solve this unexpected problem without disrupting the development of a top prospect but sometimes you have no choice. Miguel Batista is clearly not the answer and Jeremy Heftner is like a dounut spare tire, he’s good once in a while for an emergency start or two but more than that you run a great risk of serious damage.
I would love to hear the talk going on in meetings today the Mets brass will have in Atlanta before that start of the second half starts tomorrow night, just to hear who is pro-Harvey and who’s not.

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United CardinalsBloggers-NY Mets Bloggers Progressive Game Blog for Mets vs. Cards 6/2/12

June 2, 2012 by 1 Comment

This post is part of a progressive game blog as a joint venture between members of the St. Louis Cardinals chapter of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance and the NY Mets chapter of the BBA. Members of both chapters have been assigned an inning to write about on their blogs with your’s truly asked to write a Mets prospective  post game wrap up of today’s game. At the bottom of this post are the links to the other Cardinals/Mets bloggers involved in this endeavor

 

To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the New York Mets, the organization has brought back many of the fans favorite things such as blue and orange as the team’s primary colors, the pinstripe uni and blue cap, blue outfield walls, Banner Day and last but not least, winning baseball.

The only way R.A. Dickey would have been able to top the historic no hitter tossed by Johan Santana last night would have been to pitch a perfect game. You know what? He came damn close.

Dickey scattered seven hits in a complete game shutout win over the St. Louis Cardinals by a score of 5-0. Dickey has taken his game to another level this season. With the win today he is 8-1 with a 2.69 ERA and a head spinning 70 K in 73.2 IP, this from a pitcher who today threw his knuckleball at a Bugs Bunny- like 54 mph.

The Mets were led on offense by whom else? David Wright. The Mets have had a lot of firsts between last year and this year, the dearly departed Jose Reyes won the first (tainted) batting title ever by a Mets player last year and of course Johan Santana with the first no hitter in franchise history last night, so maybe we are looking at the first NL MVP award ever won by a Met with David Wright? The way this season is going never say never.

Cardinals starting pitcher Lance Lynn, will be staring at the ceiling of his hotel room tonight, trying to figure out how the hell he gave up three runs in the Mets half of the second inning. Ike Davis led with the only solid hit of the inning, a single to right field. Fourth string shortstop Omar Quintanilla was hit on the left wrist with a pitch to make it first and second for the Mets, no one out. The faster than your average catcher, Josh Thole reached on an infield single and the Mets had the bags juiced with no one out.

When you look back after the Thole hit, Lynn should have been out of the inning and if he did escape unscathed and unscored upon this could have been a whole different ball game, alas the defensively changed Matt Adams botched a play on an R.A. Dickey ground ball hit by not catching a toss from second baseman Daniel Descalsco allowing Davis to score. Lynn got Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Andres Torres to ground out but instead of being down 1-0, runs scored on both outs leaving the Mets with a 3-0 lead and Lynn and the Cards trying to figure out what just happened.

The Mets tacked on two more runs on a wild pitch and a David Wright new Citi Field dimension home run.

There are still many amongst the ranks of Mets fans that have not seen the light with the 2012 Mets. These are not your “Willie Randolph, Jerry Manuel we couldn’t care less Mets” there is finally accountability and an esprit de corps in the Mets clubhouse led by field manager Terry Collins.  The toughest thing for a manager to do is getting his players to buy in to what he’s selling and in his second year at the managerial helm, the Mets are buying in big time. Eat your heart out Mark Zuckeneberg.

For those new to watching Mets baseball in 2012, you got a good view of the new Mets under Terry Collins on Friday night especially if you saw Collins post-game presser as he tried hard to hold his emotions in check when talking about the historic night.

Many of you Cardinals fans reading this post are Missourians hailing form the Show Me State. Well when it comes to the Mets, Mets fans are from the Prove It To Me State so far the proof is on the playing field.

During the off season Mets Executive Vice President David Howard met with few of the Mets Bloggers to discuss the season ahead and the festivities for the 50th anniversary season.  We talked about the low attendance numbers at Citi Field and Howard made a very interesting statement. He said there are a whole lot of Mets fans out there, millions of them but many of them are dormant Mets fans. What he was getting at is there are Mets out there who still root for the team but when they’re losing  they find it hard to come out to the ball park or watch on TV but when the team starts winning they come out of hibernation. After Santana’s no hitter Twitter blew up with so many Mets tweets that the top ten trending topics on Twitter were Mets related. Glad to see the dormant Mets fans come out of the cave.

Pre game United Cardinals Bloggers

1st inn Pitchers Hit Eighth/Subway Squawkers

2nd inn Cards N’ Stuff

3rd inn I 70 Baseball/Mets Fans Four Life

4th inn Rally Birds/STL Sports 360

5th inn Fungoes/Metsrospectus

6th inn On The Outside Corner

7th inn Aaron Miles’ Fastball/Mets Public Record

8th inn Cards Tied For First/Saint Louis Sports

9th inn Balls & Strikes/Mets News Now

Game Recap C70 At The Bat

 

 

 

 

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Being Beltran

June 1, 2012 by Leave a Comment

 

Carlos Beltran, another former Mets fan lighting rod returns to Flushing for the first time since he was traded to the Giants last summer and his return has stirred Mets fans passions. I never could understand the ire of Mets fans toward Beltran. Yes I know that called 3rd strike from Adam Wainright (tonight’s Cards starting pitcher by the way) has stuck in many a Mets fan craw but what the critics forget is Beltran  made a major contribution in that series hitting at .296/.387/.667 clip with 3 HR’s. It just added to his outstanding season, one of the best season ever by a Mets player where Beltran bashed 41 HR’s drove in 144 runs and complied a robust .982 OPS, good for a 4th place finish in the MVP voting plus a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Award as well.

I’ve always felt Beltran’s disconnect with the Mets fan base was due to his mistrust of the front office that was in place during the bulk of Beltran’s tenure as a Met. It’s quite interesting that the front office had Latino‘s in top management positions, yet they did not mesh well with two of the best players on the team Beltran and Carlos Delgado, both men who are held in high esteem in the Latin community. Beltran never had a great relationship with Omar Minaya as proven with the botched medical care the Mets GM presided over when Beltran had to go on his own to Colorado to see a specialist to deal with his deep bone bruise in his knee and Beltran has said on many occasions that he never felt respected by the club. It wasn’t until Terry Collins took over as manager of the Mets that Beltran felt comfortable and respected as a Met.  I have no doubt that Beltran’s Mets career would be looked at in a much more positive light if Terry Collins was his manager from day one.

Beltran was never a problem or embarrassment to this organization. The P.R. debacle of the missed trip to Walter Reed Hospital was handled terribly by the Mets.  That and the medical mess ups really made Beltran become withdrawn. The Mets should have been in front of the missed trip to Walter Reed by explaining  that Beltran’s return to Puerto Rico to open a school he helped build was scheduled long before the Walter Reed trip was planned. A player should have the confront knowing that the organization has his back and would have a simple explanation instead of adding to the cluster fuck the Walter Reed trip became. Never would something like this happen today with this administration running the Mets.

Mets fans hold a grudge as well against Beltran because of the rumor that his agent Scott Boras called the Highlanders while negotiating with the Mets, offering Beltran’s service to the Bronx Bastards for less money.  It irked me too. But when you look at the seven year career Beltran had with the Mets he had one of the greatest careers of any Met in history.

If fans want to boo Beltran tonight that’s their prerogative but before they do I would hope they look at Beltran’s career numbers with the Mets and remember that he also would buy a suit for every minor leaguer who came up to the team so they had clothes to wear on the road and that he had David Wright and Jose Reyes join him at his home in the winter to workout with him when he first joined the club. Unfortunately to the narrow minded, none that means anything and for that you can’t blame Beltran.

 

 

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Time For Skill Sets and Sandy Alderson to Step Up

April 25, 2012 by 1 Comment

I don’t know about you but after hearing the news of Mike Pelfrey’s name getting added to the DL and that he’s now packing his bags for a date in Birmingham with Dr. Andrews, my focus was on Johan Santana and how sound his left shoulder is. Oh I know most of you were obsessing over Jose Reyes’ first at bat, quite frankly it was much ado about nothing, yeah some booed, some cheered but Reyes first at bat ended with Kirk Neuienhuis telling Jose “Bite Me” with his outstanding catch to save at least a triple, but I digress.

See it’s not the fact that Big Pelf looks to be done for the season that has me edgy , it’s the next injury to a starting pitcher that’s giving me the shakes,  the Mets can pop in a Chris Schwinden for Pelfrey and not really miss a beat, but if another starting pitcher goes down, then what? This is the byproduct of lack of depth in your upper levels of your farm system. If another starter were to go down then either Garret Olson of Jeremy Hefner would be next on the list. So now would be a good time for ownership to show the fan base that they have the resources to add a pitcher and go contact Roy Oswalt’s agent and see what it would take to bring him to NY . It’s time for Sandy Alderson and the Skill Sets to get pro-active before the next starting pitcher hits the DL. If they don’t, the Mets will be entering into the Yogi Zone where it gets late early.

Okay are we done with the cross examination of Jose Reyes’ first rip to Citi Field as a Fish ? He came, you cheered, you booed, you shrugged. In fact it was a fitting tribute for Reyes last night as there were just as many fans  for his return as there was for his departure at Citi Field. The Mets showed a little video tribute and no baby seals were killed. Let’s move on shall we.

The message was sent to Ike Davis by Terry Collins last night, produce or grab some pine and for all of you who were flabbergasted by the move, grow up this is big league baseball not Little League. If Ike doesn’t straighten out soon he’ll be a Bison in a couple of weeks.

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WE INTERUPT YOUR WINTER OF DISCONTENT WITH SOME GOOD NY METS NEWS

February 14, 2012 by Leave a Comment

 

Blue sky, sunshine

What a day to take a walk in the park

Ice Cream, daydream

Till the sky becomes a blanket of stars

What is this? Positive Mets stories? And from all places the New York Post?  Hey what the hell it’s Valentine’s Day right? A good day to tone down the Mets snark right?

Johan Santana is down in St. Lonesome and is determined to become a contributor to the team this coming season. Santana has not thrown off a mound yet, he may do that by the end of the week, but yesterday he was stretching out his arm by having a long toss catch with Terry Collins. According to Santana, he’s done with rehab and is now working on building arm strength and working on his mechanics and getting his delivery back to where it once was.     

What makes me optimistic that Santana can come back is his intelligence on the mound, he may never get the velocity back but he’s clever enough and schooled enough in the art of pitching to make the adjustments needed to become a solid starting pitcher once again.

Ike is alright, or so he says. Ike Davis is in camp early as is Daniel Murphy as both had bad season ending injuries and both are trying to come back and build on what looked to be solid offensive seasons in 2011. Murphy has the added burden of working on his defense, and as we know Murph never shies away from working hard, oh yeah #ImWith28.

Terry Collins is a pragmatist; he sees the landscape of the NL East and knows that his team will have to play flawless baseball to keep up in this division. He also realizes that there is a lot peripheral bullshit surrounding this team and it’s his job to keep it on the periphery and focus on making the right pitch and the right time, get the big hit with men on base, and playing solid fundamental baseball. It’s a tough agenda but with a season of managing this team under his belt, Collins should be up for the task

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THIS COULD BE THE WILDEST OFF SEASON OF OUR METS FANS LIVES

September 29, 2011 by 5 Comments

While I was riding the Staten Island Ferry on my way home from the Mets finale at Citi Field yesterday, I was reading over the notes I took during the game. I decided to invoke my “sleep on  it before writing” rule because it was quite an emotional day and even after “sleeping on it” I’m still having a tough time deciphering where this organization is headed, positive or negative. It’s the most confused and befuddled I’ve ever been in my 47 years of Mets fandom.  

Before my stream of semi-conscience begins please turn to page 1986 in your Mets Missalette to read the words of fellow Mets blogger/fan/Staten Islander by way of Brooklyn, Ed “Rusty Jr.” Marcus who lays out the events of yesterday quite eloquently.

Usually when I ride the 7 train to Citi Field, it’s filled with a full platoon of uniformed Mets fans excited to be headed to see their beloved Metropolitans. Yesterday on an 11AM 7 train out of Times Square, I was the lone infantry man in the car. If there was an invasion of Loyal Order of Red Legs. I’d have fought a losing battle.

I spent the time on the train reading this outstanding book, I had no real emotion about the day. It wasn’t until we left the 111 St station and Citi Field was on the horizon, I stared having flashbacks to Mets games of yore, good days, days when you could not get to the ball park fast enough. Games I went to that Tom Seaver pitched in, for some reason the game he struck out Manny Sanguillen for his 200 K back in 1975 to become the first pitcher to K 200 batters in eight straight seasons, popped in my head, another obscure game I was at that flashed in my mind was the walk off home run by Steve “Hendu” Henderson against the Giants in 1975. What sticks out for me in that one is, my friends and I bet on the Mets in this game for the sole reason we had hung out at a bar in Bay Ridge with Pete Falcone the weekend before and he was the games starting pitcher. I have to come clean and let you know we didn’t stay for the whole game, and we didn’t know the outcome until we got back to the neighborhood when we were informed of our “busted ass” luck.

When I got off the train at Citi Field-Willets Point the depression set in. The weather didn’t help that grey muggy one second it’s warm, the next it’s chilly temps, just like our Mets. After a summit on the Shea Bridge that Ed reported on, I headed to the Shake Shack for a burger (the line was long but not the usual four wraparounds) and then made my way to my $2 (Stub Hub-a Hub-a) buck seat in Section 519, just in time to see Jose Reyes’ first at bat of the day. Little did I know it would be his only at bat of the day.

This is why I invoked “my sleep on it rule” because at the moment Reyes came out of the game I was one ornery fucker. What bother me the most and still does was THE WAY he came out of the game. Reyes should have gone to his shortstop position and have Bastia step off and call time and then let Turner enter into the game. Would I have liked to see Reyes play the whole game? Of course, but his coming out of the game to protect a batting title is not unprecedented.

What also conflicts me with Reyes is the fact I really like him as a player and a person and I hope he’s back as a Met next year but if he signs elsewhere I’m not going to be sad or heartbroken. I still feel that Jose wants to stay a Met but I’m sure there will be One Dumb Owner who will make an offer that Sandy Alderson can refuse.

It’s time for us Mets fans to face facts, and the to face those facts we are fortunate to have someone like Howard Megdal to report the facts as he does here in his piece for New York Magazine which lays out the awful truth about the Skill Sets, their finances and the direction the club his headed due to money that would have been funneled into the baseball team will instead go to lawyers, creditors and maybe the Madoff Trust.

If you don’t have the stomach for some tough times in Flushing, it may be time for you to find another rooting interest in baseball because it looks like a very rocky road here for a couple of years. The team in the Bronx may have some openings, especially after the Mowtown Cats sweep them in the ALDS.

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“JUST WHEN I THOUGHT THEY WERE OUT, THEY PULL ME BACK IN”

August 30, 2011 by 1 Comment

Just when you thought the Mets would fold up the tents and head into the off season with the refrain of “Same Old Mets” from the Flushing Faithful, echoing in their ears,  they not only reverse course but do so in impressive fashion.

After dropping 4 in a row to the Brewski’s and Phuck Phaces, the fan base was going over their fall/winter plans just glancing at SNY or tuning in to Howie, Wayne and engineer extraordnaire,  Chirs Majkowski   but then something amazing happened, two of the most unlikely players, Nick Evans and Mike Pelfrey led the team to a win against the Phuck Phaces to save face since the Philly Phucks embarrassed the Mets in the first two games of the series.  After the off day, Chris Capuano gave SNY some winter programing by pitching the game of the year for the Mets.  If you don’t think this was the game of the year, find a clip of Howie Rose making the call of the final out as it was classic Howie, staying in professional mode but letting you know there is still a lot of Mets fan in him.

Then came the hurricane and the Bravos ran out of town and in came the Fish and a good ol’ twi-nighter at Citi Field. The first game was started by Mets fan fav R.A. Dickey who was stellar as usual but this time he got the WIN but personal wins are not what Robert Allen Dickey is about:

“Wins and losses are nice, but it’s not the metric that I measure my season by,” Dickey said. “If the team gets the win, I know it sounds cliche, but that’s what you want as a starting pitcher, to go out there, put up quality starts and the result be a win for your club. So that’s what I try to focus on. We’re playing pretty good ball right now.”

Then in the second game, Dillion Gee had a great bounce back game which is quite encouraging in such a young pitcher. Maybe it was having Jose Reyes back, or maybe the it was the BP Jersey’s the team wore or maybe Old School Dan Warthen threatened to send Gee into the Iron Triangle draped in a suit of pork chops to fight off the pit bulls (are people really surprised there are dogs roaming 126 Street chop shops? They ‘ve been there since Jack Fisher and Joe Christopher were Mets) whatever,  it’s stellar pitching and the mighty bats of The Dude and DFA Evans have the team back on track.

Another reason why you should be proud of your NY Mets. A kid was stuck between the eyes last night by a foul ball. Justin Turner saw the kid get hit and it made him sick to his stomach, he was so bad off he had to go confide with Nick Evans who also watched the flight of the ball strike the young man. Turner was still worried about the kid after the game that he tried to get info on how he was, and sent word on Twitter he was still waiting and hoping to hear from the boy’s family. Justin Turner is a good man.

The Mets are also ready to make a PSA for an Anti-Bullying Campaign:

 The New York Mets today announced the launch of an anti-bullying public service awareness campaign designed to educate and support our children about all forms of bullying. The PSAs will begin airing today, Monday, August 29, during games at Citi Field and on SNY to help deliver the message to the broadest audience.

 

 

 

Jason Bay, Chris Capuano, R.A. Dickey, Daniel Murphy and David Wright are among the players who participated in tapings for the segment.  The content was developed in conjunction with StopBullying.gov, an official U.S. Government Web Site managed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Education.

The Mets place a high priority in supporting children in the community.  For 18 years, the organization has been a proud sponsor of the Student Athlete Leadership Conference Series, a mentoring program that includes an anti-bullying and civility message with particular attention paid to language and behavior that is derogatory and offensive based on racial, sexual and ethnic biases.  Over the years, thousands of high school athletes have been trained to promote positive activities to hundreds of thousands of elementary school students across Long Island.

This is another great job by Mets management and their outreach in the community. I would hope they would also add  “It Gets Better” video to help stop the attacks and homophobia that Gay and Lesbian teens face too many times in their everyday lives.

 

 

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