About Last Night …
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- April
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-What can you say? Oliver Perez was terrific last night and the offense was in high gear.
-“We’re not going to do that every night, but it was fun,’’ David Wright said. “This is what we’re capable of.’’
-What I liked about last night was putting the Marlins away after a tight loss from the night before. This is a team they should beat, and two of three against them is a good start.
-Pedro Martinez is on the DL as you know and I think the Mets should be very cautious with this. They say up to six weeks. I’d be surprised if he came back by then. I believe they should think worst-case scenario and try to add pitching if they can. They’ll need it eventually.
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on Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 at 10:04 am by John Delcos.
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Now if only the Mets can pull off another game like that from any other team aside from the AAA Marlins… Truth is we should have swept them. Ironically it was the game against the righthander that we lost, and we won the two games against the lefties.
FYI – Here’s what John wrote about Nelson Figueroa only a couple of weeks ago before he was sent down to New Orleans. Now, Nelson is back in the Mets clubhouse and pitched a scoreless inning last night in the happy game.———————————————————————Figueroa has business to fall back on if he doesn’t make Mets
By John Delcos
The Journal News • March 16, 2008
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – Nelson Figueroa was in his Atlanta hotel room when the planes hit.
Playing for the Philadelphia Phillies at the time, he was waiting to go to the ballpark when his brother Nicky called with the news that Figueroa characterized as a personal attack.
“How could this not be personal?” said the 33-year-old pitcher who is trying to stick in the Mets’ bullpen.
Figueroa considers himself a citizen of the world, having played baseball in Mexico and Taiwan and explored playing in Italy. He speaks English, Spanish and a smattering of Chinese.
However, he grew up in Brooklyn where he could see the Twin Towers.”Who can forget that day?” he said. “If you’re from New York, it hits you at home.”
Figueroa’s passion outside of baseball is computer graphics. He likes to cut-and-paste photos of teammates over the bodies of animals or put them in humorous positions.
One of his favorites was when he doctored a photo of minor-league teammate Josh Labandera and placed him on the dance floor with three very plus-sized women.
In the days after Sept. 11, as what was left of the buildings smoldered, Figueroa’s mind was racing.Figueroa has an uncle, Carlos Garcia, in the NYPD, and another uncle, Angel Ortiz, who was in the NYFD.
Neither was hurt that day, but Figueroa sought to honor them and his city. It was as if his fingers were on autopilot as they worked the keyboard.
The product was a baseball as the United States flag, with the solemn words: “For all the victims and the heroes … United we stand.”
The words and design are powerful in their simplicity.
Figueroa took the print to Kinko’s and came away with a half dozen shirts and a cottage industry.
Figueroa gave a couple of shirts to teammates with New York ties, but Sept. 11 was more than an attack on a city.
Before playing at Shea Stadium where Mike Piazza hit one of the most dramatic homers in Mets history in the first game played in New York after the attacks, the Braves were in Philadelphia.
Chipper Jones and pitchers Jason Marquis and Mike Remlinger noticed the shirt Figueroa was wearing during batting practice and put in an order.
“Remlinger has an uncle in Boston who has a screening business,” Figueroa said. “We sent them to all 30 teams.”
But there was a bigger market than just players, so with the blessing of Major League Baseball, the sport’s outfitter, Majestic, produced the shirts and sent them to stadiums throughout the country.
However, there was a caveat.
“I didn’t want this to be a commercial thing,” Figueroa said. “The money had to go to the people who needed it.”
Figueroa also sold online, and together, over $450,000 was raised, all of which went to the 9/11 Fund.
Of course, a thing that big outgrows the grass roots.
There are plans this year to sell the shirts at the Mets Store inside Shea Stadium, with proceeds going to the Wilpon Foundation earmarked for the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Mets owner Fred Wilpon is a staunch supporter of United States troops fighting in the Middle East.
Will Figueroa be at Shea this summer to see fans wearing his shirts?
He hasn’t pitched in the major leagues since 2004 after undergoing shoulder surgery and is trying to hook on as a long man.
His odds might be long, but his numbers are good at 1-1 and a 3.86 ERA in four games, working 9 1/3 innings.
Figueroa showed his shoulder is sound pitching for the La New Bears when he started Games 1, 4 and 7 in the Taiwan Series and was named MVP.
“I wanted to build up my Asian resume,” Figueroa said of why he went to Taiwan and about possibly pitching in Japan.
Figueroa received a $50,000 online bid from Japan for one of his shirts, but none of the Japanese teams have shown interest in him as a ballplayer.
“They say I don’t have an out-pitch,” Figueroa said. “They’ve run hot and cold with me.”
If not the Mets, minors or Japan, where will he play?
“I don’t know,” Figueroa said. “I love to play. I’ll play until nobody in the world wants me.”
Reach John Delcos at jdelcos@lohud.com and read his Mets blog at mets.lohudblogs.com.
After this injury from Pedro I’m starting to have the sense that he is made of inferior quality body tissue. He strained his hamstring THROWING A PITCH!! I just can’t imagine his body withstanding the rigors of pitching in the major leagues for any significant length of time.
coming out of the first series of the season, i really liked what i saw from Church and Schneider, on both sides of the ball. Even if Church doesn’t hit a lick the rest of the season, his defense compared to Shawn Green’s is day and night. Also, if Angel Pagan keeps playing like this, i don’t see why Moises shouldn’t have another surgery in the coming weeks. DW and C-Belt are in mid-season form as a top 3-4 combo. I like that Willie gave Reyes some time off last night too. Sure, it’s the Marlins, but it’s a good start and one they needed.
Hey little metsies. went to the yankee blog and saw they had almost 1000 posts during their game and the little metsies didn’t even have close to 100… why is that little metsies?
Its because the NY Yankees are the number 1 team in NYC forever!!!!! and the metsies aren’t even close!!!!!!!!!
No it’s because we have quality over quantity.
hello from DC,
you truly must be mentally retarded, there is no other explanation to your post. We met fans DON’T CARE ABOUT THE YANKEES, THIS IS A MET BLOG, GET A F@@KIN LIFE YOU A##HOLE. You keep coming on here spewing exactly the same stuff. There is nobody with a normal IQ that would keep doing something like this. Do yourself a favor and go play in traffic so you can be with your parents.
I know it’s not kosher to feed vacuous trolls like DC, but it should be noted that there are numerous other sites that Mets fans post to and visit. Metsblog, the top website for Mets fans, gets over 80,000 hits per day. It makes any Yankee blog look like little league.
Also, I think we should be a little sympathetic to the poor DC troll. He has no realistic hope of ever seeing his team in the playoffs. So let him enjoy this brief time where he can see his team in first place. Don’t ruin what will forever be only fantasies for him!
well speaking of the DC troll, I just watched his team, the first place nationals give up 6 hits in a row and a 5 run lead and are now losing 7-6 and the bases are loaded with still only one out, ouch!!!
Hi DC: Correct me if I am wrong, but I know I am not – twice Washington lost a baseball team because the city couldn’t support a team. As for the new park, they don’t even have enough parking. So, if you want to just get in your car and go to the game you can’t.Nice.-JD
Hey John, what do you think of Robinson Tejada? Sgn him to a minor league deal and see if Rick can work his magic on him.
Hello from DC is a troll but let’s remember New York lost two baseball teams in ONE year..the NY Giants were dead last in attendance and Brooklyn’s was slumping. We will see how the new franchise and its parking works out.
to be fair, the Nats park is in downtown DC, and the expectation is that a lot of people will take the Metro down. Or park nearby in garages (like in Baltimore).
Delcos: I guess you don’t give a hoot about the environment. Typical NYC metsie: We have nice metro unlike your filthy dangerous subway, and if you really want to drive you can park in RFK and a bus will take you to the game for free, something I’m sure the metsie owners will never do, By the way historian, how many teams did nyc lose???? TWO. So I think we’re even on that one and considering how many more people live in nyc that’s super pathetic, even you must admit…. if you’re gonna try to knock us at least knock us things you won’t get knocked back on. Remember nyc had NY Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers… And your football teams fled your state, not just your city….. both of them… and how about the ny football yankees… where did they go? they went defunct maybe before your time…
jk: thanks for stating the super obvious.. do you think the lohud yankee site is the only yankee blog in the world… I guess you do…. and jk your team has a history you don’t want to brag about… worse team in the entire history of the big leagues. 2 WS champs in almost 50 years with all thoise big bucks you got 2 and you ain’t gettin # 3 this decade jk….. 2 is all you got… how many do those marlins have that you all made so much fun of.. TWO same as the great metsies… when we’re around 50 years we’ll have more than you. you guys still paying bobby bonilla??
PS: we lost today because we don’t want the phillies demoralized and now they will relax and destroy you guys again next week….
and at least our team cares about regular people enought to keep some cheap tickets.. what’s the cheap ticket in your parking lot field gonna be???
ps: you guys enjoy the choke or the all season underperform better???
hey at least you guys tried some trash talk this time.. its about time you showed some life something your zombie team won’t do anymore…. not with church and schneider leading you down the tubes!!!!!!!
Hi DC: You have proven DC stands for dunce cap, at least in your case. There’s nothing that screams safety in your metro system. To park at RFK, which is in such a lousy part of town that the cabs won’t go there, just to take a bus to another lousy part of town screams stupidity. The novelty of the new place will wear off soon and it will be empty because the team will stink.
Of course, less fans means less trash, so that will help the environment.
A few missed trains because of rain delays and extra innings, and we’ll see how popular mass transit is.
Yes, NY lost two teams, but an effort was made to keep them. The owners were greedy. Teams left DC because nobody wanted to see them. Look it up.
And, the reason your team lost today, and will lose a lot more, is because it isn’t any good.-JD
That’s better JD> But you gotta give the guy credit for the football Yankees. That’s ancient history. Didn’t they lose the championship of the old AAFL or whatever it was called to your Cleveland Browns?
Watched a bit of Bucs/Braves. Looks like winter has arrived in Atlanta? Why are you on the internet instead of out playing?
I hate to say this Delcos, but you’re OK. Hear that little METSIES. I say Delcos is ok, press guy willing to trash talk…. you be the man!!!!!!!! all the little metsies are gonna hate you now!!!!!!!!!!!
and you be right Delcos, we choked and we stink but you metsies are right behind us because now you and not us have the worst gm in the world minaya!!! destroyer of farm systems, small market/ big market… he destroys the system…. tell all the metsies to come on down and wear their church uniforms, what’s his number, 94?
by the way little metsies what’s the over under on how many homers pat the bat puts on you this year?? 10? 12?
Delcos? if nobody cared when we lost all those teams, how come we got another one? somebody must have cared…..
you really think nyc subway is safer than metro… i’m dazed by that one….. speakin about hoods… only reason metsies ain’t in bad one because they are in a parking lot… nobody will live near the metsies…. how’s that hood the yankees play in… real nice i heard….. i bet jk won’t go there in daytime, much less night time, right jk…....... you come to our place jk.. we’ll protect you here…. and jk don’t tell church about kosher. you know he has problems with religions not his own…. don’t you?
see ya metsies and you too the best beat writer in all of nyc and the lower hudson valley, if you ever run into pete seeger tell him hello, he’s the best, Ever been on his sloop the Claremont ???? Go to the festival this Spring….. love all you little metsies!!!! keep trash talkin back boys and girls and you too jk….
ps: why would anybody “want” to drive to a game???????????
DC: I feel so bad for you. You not only have a pathetic team, but you yourself have zero knowledge of baseball history or their franchises. I hate to break it to you, but since the Mets have been around they have more WS titles than 18 other franchises including the Braves, Phillies and, of course, your lowly Gnats. And they have the same # of WS titles as 6 others including the Red Sox, Blue Jays, and Marlins. In fact, only 6 other teams have more WS titles during that time.
And as for all those “big bucks,†the Mets haven’t even been all that “big bucks†in their past with even the Marlins outspending them by about $10 million in 1997. But hey, don’t let facts get in the way of your delusions and little whine. If it makes you feel better to make things up as you go along, then go ahead.
Your pitiful Gnats have been around just 7 fewer years than the Mets, but have ZERO titles to show for it! In 7 years – when they are at the same age the Mets are at now—do you really think they’ll have more titles than the Mets do now? LOL, that means your Gnats need to win 3 titles in the next 7 years! You need to stop skipping your meds, DC.
And of course I don’t think the lohud Yankee blog is the only one in the world. How stupid can you be? But no Yankee blog can match Metsblog for popularity and traffic on the web. As I said in my previous post, Metsblog makes any Yankee blog look like little league.
As for Church, I feel bad for you, DC, that you can’t even differentiate ignorance from bigotry. They are not the same. While ignorance is often at the root of bigotry, those who are ignorant are not always bigoted. For example, I know you are ignorant, but I’m not sure it’s fair to call you bigoted.
And real nice pen those Gnats have. I can’t wait till the Mets get to tee off of them.
OOOH!!! JD talking some trash!!! Gotta love it!
jk: your quote “As for Church, I feel bad for you, DC, that you can’t even differentiate ignorance from bigotry. They are not the same. While ignorance is often at the root of bigotry, those who are ignorant are not always bigoted. For example, I know you are ignorant, but I’m not sure it’s fair to call you bigoted. ”
is so wrong and is a lame excuse for bigotry and hatred.. To say that an adult is ignorant and excusing it on that basis is acceptance for racism in all forms. when he made the comments that were referred to was he an infant asking his pre-school teacher something? He wasd a grown man with a supposed education of some level higher than middle school.. Your defense is a defense of hatred of all sorts. I know you live on a very high horse and will give your holier than thou response like you do to everyone ewlse, but come on, writing a defense for bigotry is bigotry in its own right…. By the way did you excuse Milledge’s rap album as ignorance??? I’m sure it was an example of his badness., while Church is ignorant. Get real….
nice response hollywoodjosh. hollywoodjosh and Mike C are the smartest Met fans in the world.
JK: On today of all days…. shame…..
JK: Church manned up and apologized for his mouth. He didn’t make ignorant excuses. So why do you have to make him look small and ignorant when he was a man?
hollywood: We’ll just have to agree to disagree then, because simple ignorance and bigotry are not the same, and when one looks at the circumstances surrounding Church’s statements, it’s clear they arose out of ignorance. John Rocker is bigotry. Church isn’t. And the difference is with bigotry there is an element of hatred and intolerance.
I feel bad for you too, hollywood, because your own intolerance for the viewpoints of others and your paranoia regarding racism will prevent you from even opening your mind to the possibility that such a difference exists.
LGMG: Agreed, Church did not make ignorant excuses and I never said he did. But his original statements arose out of ignorance. Surely you can’t be saying the belief that all Jews are doomed is not an ignorant one? Or are you?
To categorize Church’s comments as racist is just trying to be inflammatory. His comments had less to do with Jewish people as a race and more to do with Judaism as a religion.
You can be an adult and ignorant. It happens all the time.
The question with Church is not did he make these statements. The question is once confronted with them and having it explained why they are wrong, did he continue to defend them? Did he mend his ways or did he continue with his previous stance?
Also religion is a very personal and inflamatory thing. Depending on how you view the subject at hand giving to your view a reasoned argument as to why something is wrong will not always be taken that way by the other party.
Since Church has been a Met I have not heard him making any racist or bigoted comments. If he did I am sure it will be on the back page of the post.
Also speaking of religion, there is a very old man who has made inflamatory religious statements denigrating other religions.
Perhaps you have heard of him? He is the Pope. Did so about a year ago.
jk: I am saying you are ignorasnt…. you feel the need to excuse or justify everything Mets even when it doesn’t call for it… nobody else… simple enough for you…
dave…. the Pope made inflamatory religious statments… so what’s your point. its ok now???
jk: you feeel bsd for….
I feel bad for your family and co-workers for having to co-exist weith someone as obnoxious as you are…...you are the judge and jury of everything in the universe apparently… hope you haven’t reproduced. the shrink bills for those poor people will be horrendous when they escape for your wondrous and perfect grasp…..
You can’t take the heat on an anon board even…. people like you need to be discriminated against. Then you won’t be so high and mighty….
Well LGMG, let me put it this way … I don’t think much of your knowledge or intellect either, especially since it’s simply not true that I “excuse or justify everything Mets†as you say I do … and especially when your own prior statement that I made Church look “small and ignorant†contradicts what you just said.
I hope this will be the last of this. 2 things should never be discussed on this site. Where to get a good burger after… Oh wait wrong site.
The 2 things are religion and politics.
I hope in the future posting on these topics could be avoided.
I agree with hj about jk….
Scott, you are right. However since this was an issue with Ryan Church at one point, it is related to the Mets. And the topic is likely to be brought up again at some point by the Church haters. But I shouldn’t have fed the DC troll who first brought up the topic. For that I am sorry. He should have just been ignored.
lgmg
Hmm. I keep wanting to write a response, but somehow I think Scott is correct. This is a baseball forum and should remain so.