Something on your mind? Care to leave a rip for Jimmy Rollins? Care to gloat? Or, do you have a question you’d like me to look into?
Do it all here.
Something on your mind? Care to leave a rip for Jimmy Rollins? Care to gloat? Or, do you have a question you’d like me to look into?
Do it all here.
21 Comments
WHAT A WIN, that felt great. Jose ran wild, as he will all season long.
The Mets are a juggernaut that is prematurely on their way to their World Series championship!!!!!!!!!
I could rip Jimmy Rollins, but the Philly papers already did that. Lovely headline on the Sports: The team to beat and beat and beat!
It’s very early, but our team looks really sharp. Can’t help wondering/hoping if it’s 85/86 redux.
Thanks for all your in-game commentary, John. It’s always fun to read.
john, this is sort of off topic, but
I have a question that Matt Cerrone of Metsblog didn’t have an answer to.
That is, does Lastings Milledge play two sports somehow? I have never heard anything, but check this out:
Lastings Milledge of
1 year/$0.383M (2007)
* re-signed 3/07
* 1 year (2006), contract purchased 5/06
* signed 8/03
* drafted 2003 (1-12)
* $2.075M signing bonus (paid over 5 years as two-sport athlete)
* ML service: 0.083
.......that is weird, the “paid over 5 years as two-sport athlete”
also John, I am a 16 year-old kid who attended mets spring training and interviewed John Maine and Endy Chavez for a youth baseball magazine, and I am planning on being a sportswriter when I get older. Is there any advice you could give me about interviewing or just sports journalism in general? I am also interviewing David Wright during the season.
thanks a lot
P.S. I have been checking your blog daily, it is wonderful, keep up the good work! Lets go Mets!
Is Milledge’s hand still sore?
Don’t you think that Jose Reyes is a tad overrated?
(You can stop laughing now)
Can Jimmie Rollins please shut up now?
matt tracy,
i think the “two sport athlete” bit refers to his initial signing. he used to play football as well before, so at his signing perhaps they just classified him as a two sport athlete
Let’s talk about role models and team camaraderie. Omar and Willie have made a team that works within itself. Veterans and rookies sharing goals and strengths. Pedro started this when he first came to the Mets with his teaching by example. He also brought his sense of humor to the game to keep the guys loose.
This season, Willie kept up the role model example by starting Glavine and El Duque and they performed as expected. You might also say that this is a team without overt individual egos – not a lot of ‘me’ talk from this group.
Last season was special, but if this keeps up, this one will be extraordinary.
“You Gotta Believe” said Tug McGraw – and in his memory and for all of us who have been there since the start, we will.
John – You asked about Rusty Staub stories. We all heard some of them through the years – I suggest you talk with Keith Hernandez and ask him – he was there and he knows them all – they are still friends.
John,
What talents and particular insights do the Mets pitchers believe pitching coach Rick Peterson has brought to the team, in general, and specific to their own individual development as pitchers?
When I hear pitchers talk about their pitching in post-game press conferences, it is all very vague and seemingly rhetoric (such as, “They told me to to just relax and stay with myself, play my game, throw strikes, keep the ball low in the zone”). These comments are no different than what little league managers tell their players. But, there is a difference between rhetoric and putting talent into practice.
I’m curious as to whether Maine and Perez are providing you (and / or other sportswriters) with specific examples of how Rick Peterson (or even veterans like Tom Glavine) have offered guidance that has influenced their preparation, mechanics, delivery, etc.?
Many thanks,
DJ
thanks, ace$$ !!!
John, could you please ask Mr. Glavine why….4 days into the season… he found it necessary to reiterate that he may still want to play for the Braves (while playing the Braves, no less.) No Mets fan wants to hear that at the moment. It was a stupid thing to say imo. He’s putting himself in a precarious position with Mets fans.
....dude, I really believe Shawn Green is done. He’s up there chopping at the ball, looking like the best he can do is pound it into the dirt. No way he makes it through the season as starting RF…
Dave dude…the guy is batting .333 with no errors in the field. But, you’re right. Cut him immediately. Why the hell isn’t he batting .400? I feel your pain!
Dave::
So far, theres not much else you can ask for Green right now. No other player could preform much better that .333 and a handful of RBI’s already. give it time…
ok, maybe shawn green is doing alright, but… come on seriously, do you think a 34 year old slowpoke is better than a 22 year old or however old milledge is? and milledge has speed.
im not saying green sucks, im saying milledge is BETTER, and why not get him a head start NOW?!
PUT IN MILLEDGE
Matt:
Milledge has more upside, a higher ceiling, I agree. But you can’t argue that Milledge would be playing any better than Green.
The Mets are going to go with Green until he’s hurting them. He’s on the books for $3.8 mil (the portion of his salary that the Mets are responsible for.)
On top of that – and I really do think that this is a factor – he’s got a bunch of friends (Delgado especially) on the team. I have a sense that the team’s vets would grimmace more than a little to see a fellow vet, one with a strong track record, and a guy they genuinely like, lose his job to a prospect, even a very high-ceiling prospect, who hasn’t proven anything yet. At least, that is, until it’s clear the Green won’t help them.
You can argue that its a business,and that none of that should matter, but with the amazing chemistry on this team, and how important that chemistry seems to be to their success, and the trust that Willie and Omar have earned from the vets that have come here, and Greenie hitting .333 thus far, I’d have to say that it’s just not gonna happen.
There are moves that Willie makes that I do question. But it certainly looks like he’s got his finger on the pulse of this team personality-wise. The results of that happy and unified clubhouse pretty much speak for themselves. Milledge will most definitely get his shot. But for now, as Willie said yesterday, “if it ain’t broke…”
ha, don’t fix it.
I believe that Jimmy Rollins said “The Phillies are the team to beat”. So far, The Braves and The Marlins have done just that by beating them in 4 out of the 5 games they have played. Telling it like it is Jimmy!