Spring Training: Met's Positional Players, My Anxiety

In no particular order, here is the Good, the Bad and the Ugly...

Mets Spring Training:  Positional Players

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CATCHER - ....has been a problem for the Mets since MIKE PIAZZA's last game and has gone unresolved to the present.  Omar has never really found a stable solution for this position.  Omar brought in PAUL LoDUCA to replace Piazza and was servicable for a year and 1/2.  It's been a revolving door ever since.

I would give the job outright to JOSH THOLE.  It's easy to get caught up in the sparkle of a promising September call-up like he experienced in '09.  Having said that, I don't think I'm getting caught up by a sparkling Sept. call-up.

The other options are OMIR SANTOS and HENRY BLANCO.  Bengie MOLINA chose against signing with the Mets for less money to stay in S.F.  Omar tried.  I cede him that.  But by no means was Molina a solution for the catching position.  At best he would have been the latest through the revolving door.

Back to Santos and Blanco, they are considered the defensive specialists.  Problem is they are both offensively challenged.  Let's be honest.  If you're going to tell me one of them is the starter while we continue to look for someone else and we're sending Thole to the farm for more seasoning.....That's fair.  If I'm being forced to be pragmatic about this....that's fair.  But my official stance is I would give the job to Thole.  My official opinion is Omar hasn't been able to give this position stability entering the 5th year since Piazza last played here.  And my sarcasm asks...Santos and Blanco?  Really?  Make the arguement why one of those two should start over Thole and get back to me.

I'm going to admit, all I want from my catchers is superlative defense.  I'm a Jerry Grote guy if that gives you an idea what I'm talking about.  Having said that....gimmie Thole.

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FIRSTBASE - I made it quite clear...I wanted Carlos Delgado back under a one-year deal...Like Jane wanted Damon back!  He is so close to 500 HR and 1600 RBI and I wanted him to do it as a Met.  If you know me by now and how I followed the Winter Leagues, even I have to admit he was not moving well and struggled in Puerto Rican League play.  I saw it for myself.  Ask me and I will tell you, in better days, it was Delgado and not J.Reyes that made the Mets' line-up dangerous. 

A quick digression which leads me into our other options.... When Carlos Delgado was a free agent he chose to go to Florida over us.  There were rumors and speculation it was because Tony Bernazard was playing the Latino Card and it turned Delgado off.  Omar traded to get Carlos Delgado anyway.  He traded a kid of ours at the time, Mike Jacobs.  Now we just re-signed Jacobs.

DANIEL MURPHY - This is tough for me.  We need more slugging from 1B.  It's just too hard to "hide" him in our line-up.  I like the kid and I want to be patient with him.  In 508 at-bat he only struck out 69 times and had 38 doubles, while batting .266 in his first full year.  It's something to work with.  He makes contact and maybe he can build upon and translate those doubles into something else.  Oh yea...He's still learning how to play the position.  He's still raw out there, but I won't say his glove is for self-defensive purposes only.  But this is such a tough call.  After you look at our options, we don't have much choice.

FERNANDO TATIS - ...again?  Really?  C'Mon!!  I'm all for a strict platoon at firstbase.  But are we doing this Tatis thing again?  Not happy.

MIKE JACOBS - ...is very interesting.  I was sorry to see him go in the Delgado deal.  He never lived up to the promise he showed here once he left.  He topped 30 HR in his career but has struggled away from "Shea".  I have mixed emotions about him.  I'm glad to see him back.  Maybe he can pick-up where he left off here and recapture some of that swing we saw and actually win the 1B job.  But Jacobs completes a cycle of sorts as he is here and Delgado is not.  Omar is literally back to where the 1B situation was when he arrived here for the 2005 season.

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SECOND BASE - ...Luis Castillo had a nice bounce back season.  He really got a bad rap around here for the foolish contract Omar signed him to, then offering up a stinker of a season in 2008.  But the truth is he's always been a .300 hitter with very solid defense.  Omar was killed routinely about Luis Castillo and still is.  All the talk here in NYC is Luis Castillo is the reason why we don't have Orlando Hudson playing 2B for us.  The Mets won't eat Castillo's contract.  I'm not drinking that HUDSON Kool-Aid.  I think Castillo can give us another season like he offered last year.  He was one of the few things that went right around here last year.  But he still gets a bad rap.  I myself don't like the contract Omar gave him, but I could be more critical of this situation than I am.  Side note...There is no one worth mentioning coming up from the farm.  It's Luis Castillo or bust Met fans.

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SHORTSTOP - this is easy.  If Jose Reyes is fully healthy, he's one of the most dynamic players in all of baseball.  If Jose Reyes, who has now lost two complete seasons to leg injuries that sandwich his career, is not healthy, meaning if his legs aren't the same, he is not Jose Reyes and is no longer one of the most dynamic players in baseball.  It's that simple.  His legs are what make him special.  If his legs are compromised, his unique skill is over.  Simple.

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THIRD BASE - David Wright.  He waited till his 5th full year in the league to have his Sophomore Jinx.  What happened to him last year?  Ya can't blame his lack of HRs on CitiField.  He was equally futile on the road.  His strike outs went through the roof.  Now it could have been because everyone dropped like flies around him in the line-up and it was just easier not to give David Wright a good pitch to hit.  Why would anyone have done that last year?  Maybe getting beaned in the head shook his batter's-box confidence a little.  That's just speculation on my part.  I expect David to bounce back and get back to what he's done between '05-'08.  But he needs a healthy Carlos Beltran in the line-up also.

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INFIELDERS - ALEX CORA, can play 1B, 2B, 3B and SS.  Another one of the few bright spots for the Mets last year with his ability to step in for injured players and actually improve the defense in the absense of the starter.  His attitude and leadership were heralded throughout the clubhouse.  He is rehabbed from thumb surgeries and ready for the season.

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LEFT FIELD - JASON BAY.  I can't knock this signing.  As a matter of fact it's about time.  LF has been another of Omar's revolving door postions.  One of Omar's fetishes is trying to capture lightning in a bottle from older players at the end of their careers and injury comebacks.  Omar, not once but twice, mistakenly signed Moises Alou for this position.  First time shame on me....second time shame on OMAR!  At least now with Jason Bay the position is settled for a few years.  There are some health concerns that scared the Red Sox away and a few other teams felt likewise.  The fact that I wouldn't trust the Met's Med Staff to put on a band-aid at current,  has to leave a small fraction of uncertainty in Met Minds.

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CENTER FIELD - CARLOS BELTRAN....out till June.  Surgery-Gate.  Who knew...Who didn't...who gave the OK?.....NON-SENSE!!  Front office buffoonery.  We just have to bide our time and wait, and that hopefully he comes back healthy and ready to contribute.  Carlos Beltran is a player who asked the Yankees to sign him for less money the Mets offered him.  He wound up here.  His first year here was a rough start especially with the fans.  The fans really got on his case his first year here.  I'd admit it, but I was not one of them.  Met fans can not get the image of him watching a curveball fall in for strike three to end the 2006 NLCS out of their minds.  And now because of this surgery snafu, I fear the Mets and Beltran are headed towards an ugly divorce.  That's just me.  I am a Beltran fan.  He is one of the few players, as they go, who signed for the big money then performed and delivered above his career averages after signing.  Usually teams fall into the trap of paying for past performance.  Beltran had his career years here.  Yet he gets critisized at every opportunity.  The rumor is he told Bengie Molina not to sign here.

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Until he gets back there's ANGEL PAGAN and FERNANDO MARTINEZ

ANGEL PAGAN is someone I've liked since he played with the Brooklyn Cyclones (A) in 2001.  In spring training of 2008 he was winning the day and himself a LF job.  Injury ended that.  Last year was another season waisted to injury also.  He's not a kid anymore however much Met fans thinks he still is.  But when he was on the field he always seamed in the mix, part of a rally and doing good things.  Beltran's injury is probably Pagan's last chance to show his worth here but he has to stay healthy.  If he can manage that he can be a good player for us.  I am pulling for him.
FERNANDO MARTINEZ, a product from the farm I claim doesn't exist anymore.  He was MVP of the Caribbean Series for his Dominican Republic team this winter.  He is still only 21 and seems to be our only "blue chipper".  That remains to be seen.  But I like this kid and want to see him get substantial time in CF in Beltran's absence.

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RIGHT FIELD - ...anyone the Braves don't want anymore I am skeptical of.  JEFF FRANCOEUR gives me the willies.  Another postion Omar has never straightened out is RF.  Remember Shawn Greene?  Remember all the other shleps we threw out there?  I bet you don't.  That's my point.  If the Braves gave up on him and accepted Ryan Church in return, whom they themselves did not retain, what does Omar see in Francoeur that John Schuerholz didn't?  If Schuerholz doesn't want him, I want everyone who reads this to ask themselves, why would I want him? I know he did well in the short time he was here last year.  Maybe a change of scenery will do him good.  Maybe we'll get the Francoeur of 2006-07.  Bottom Line > Jeff Francoeur is a roll of the dice.  I'm hoping we don't roll craps.

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That about covers the impotant stuff about the Mets positional players. The Mets offense will be living a precarious existence this season if ANYTHING goes wrong. There is just no room for error on this team and I don't see this team washing out the taste from our mouths in reference to the way the last 3 seasons have gone. I'm trying folks....I'm trying to be optimistic.

Let's Go Mets !!

(sigh)

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Pitchers and Catchers: Met's Pitching, My Angst

This shouldn't take long at all.  The Mets' starting rotation:

1 - Johan Santana
2 - pray for rain
3 - pray for snow
4 - pray for sleet
5 - pray for hale.

There is no shot gun to JOHAN SANTANA.  There is no number two guy here.  Additionally Johan is coming off injury.

JOHN MAINE is coming off two consecutive injury years.  I like the guy, I really do.  His durability is a huge question.  If he does not step up and fill the shot-gun role behind Johan this year, I'm not sure we can compete with the Phillies.

OLIVER PEREZ is slimmed down and supposedly with a repaired knee.  Even during the Baseball Classic his weight gain was noticeable.  I don't think he is the head case everyone makes him out to be.  I know that's surprising coming from me.  But I think his problems are strictly mechanical and correctable.  His landing foot is like lightning; it never strikes the same ground twice.  His landing foot is closed and not open perpendicular to his catcher.  That throws everything else off as you are throwing against your body and with nothing but arm support behind the pitch.  I can't believe for the life of me why Dan Warthen can not see this.  Ollie could be the Mets' Phantom Menace or saving grace this year but it still comes back to Maine if Ollie can even help and be a factor and give the Mets depth.

MIKE PELFREY is Omar Minaya's only hope right now of ever proving what used to be written in bold letters on his resume...: Talent Evaluator.  Pelfrey's freshman and sophomore years have produced a .500 win pct. and an era around 4.30 +/-.  The kid has ability.  I'm certainly patient with him as I am most kids.  I believe too much was demanded of him last year because of the way things went.  His hard sinker is a very miss-able pitch and if he can improve on his change-up this kid could be dangerous.  I think he's got mental toughness and he eats up innings.  If the season turns sour on the Mets this year I don't think it will have anything to do with Pelfrey.

The number 5 starter - I don't know and neither do the Mets.  JOHN NIESE is a kid I like and I would give him the job out of the box.  I believe in telling a kid "here's the ball. We're gonna give it to you every five days. Make the most of it and we'll talk after a couple of starts."  I think that way you give the kid confidence and relieve him the stress and pressure of thinking his next pitch gets him yanked and sent back down to the minors.  NELSON  FIGUEROA is a useful spot starter and good for long relief.  I'm not ready to give him the 5 spot yet in spite of a rather impressive effort in Venezuela this winter.  The only other credible option in the 5 spot is FERNANDO NIEVE.  Again, I'm not averse to give a 5 spot to a kid.  My choice is Niese.  It's the best we can do considering what we have to work with.  Does Kelvim Escobar fit into this rotation?  I dunno.  Maybe.  But it seems like he's destined to be out 8th inning guy.

To summarize the NYM starting rotation, this is my feel:

Johan
big IF
bigger IF
Maybe
and Who?...(not to be confused with Who the 1st baseman)

Can you feel my angst?

This is what we need to know about the Mets' bullpen. 

K-Rod has been pitching competitively and continuously since last February when he began preparing for the Baseball Classic.  He pitched through the season and pitched in Winter League in Venezuela right up until February 1st.  I fully expect him to have a dead arm by August.  It's just too much of a load with no recuperation time to speak of.

Kelvim Escobar, another pitcher coming off a two year recovery from injury has credible work on his resume.  That is before he got hurt.  Omar Minaya is trying to catch that lightning in a bottle that CAN be found from time to time when these players come back from injury.  Omar has said he'll begin the season as our 8th inning guy.  This has been a position with bad luck attached to it between Duaner Sanchez and JJ Putz lately.  Will Kelvim be the latest guy to suffer the 8th inning voodoo?  I guess his arm will answer that for us.

Eddie Kuntz and Bobby Parnell are two more youngsters I think can be tremendous contributors.  I like these kids a lot and sort of blows back in my face my complaints about our farm system coming to a screeching halt.  But let's see.  Time will tell who's right.

There it is, the Mets pertinent pitching information as told by me.  After Johan Santana we have two question marks, followed by Hope and a Mystery in the five spot.  Omar Minaya is putting all his eggs in the Maine and Perez basket.  He belongs in Vegas if he's such a gambler.  I will say this in his defense about the Mets' apparent lack of activity this winter, Jason Bay aside.  The free agent pool wasn't all that.  While I can't explain their head-in-the-sand approach with John Lackey knowing full well their number one need is a #2 starter, I've thought, like the Mets and Omar it's best not to have signed the other pitchers still available.  They would have commanded too much for a minimal return and cost us more in the way of a mismatched and mediocre roster with onerous contracts.  So you see, I can be fair minded and not be so narrowly focused on complaining.

The New York Metropolitan's positional players and offense with be addressed in my next posting.  Blog ya later.


Omar is in a real pickle.  I like him.  I wanted him in 2004.  I'm still on his side.  I'll complain and disagree with him.  I'm not in favor of firing him as a purely reactive measure.  I want to ensure we can get someone with some real clout first.  That requires back room wheeling and dealing.  I'm afraid that's not the Wilpon's gig.  And if the Mets idea of change is another in house move, I'd rather keep Omar.  I digressed.

The Mets starting rotation has a 65% chance of stinking like hot garbage this summer.  However if they cash in on the other 35%, they can be very good.  Maine and Ollie are former 15 game winners.  When Ollie is on he can be electric and his strikeout totals become impressive. If...only if.  If my aunt had hair on her back she'd be my uncle.

That's the Met's and Omar's idea of the 2010 Pitching Staff with my opinion about it.

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Trolley pullin into MetCamp a day early too.

Pitchers and Catchers are right around the corner now.  It's time to start getting a little more serious about this blog and my Wilponian concerns about the Mets.  It's still winter and well, there's only so much that goes on in spring training.  But we, I, like the players, need to get into season's shape.  Low-Ridin' in the Trolley is fun and all, but it's time for some METrospection.

Sandy Koufax showed up at Met camp as is his custome.  Sandy played first base for Layfayette H.S. here in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn while Mets owner Fred Wilpon was a pitcher.  Suffice to say Fred and Sandy are good friends.  Normally I would start taking cheap shots at Fred about now for being such a Dodger fan at the Met's expense.  But Sandy has been showing up here for some time and how can having a guy like Sandy Koufax around your pitchers hurt?  So Fred gets a pass here.

My biggest concerns about this organization start at the very top - Fred and Jeff Wilpon, majority owners of the NYM.  Without Frank Cashen, the team suffers lack of organizational structure and standard operating procedures.  Without Nelson Doubleday, the ownership group as presently constituted has no baseball acumen.  The Wilpons have exhausted every executive brought in by Cashen and Steve Phillips (this isn't about him, not now).  Omar Minaya is the last vestige of someone familiar to the Wilpons.  After Omar, who is on the hot seat for sure this year, is also expelled, the Wilpons will truly be on their own.  At the 30 year mark since the Doubleday/Wilpon group purchased the Mets from the Payson Estate,  Fred Wilpon is alone.  He is also without a new thought, idea, philosophy, or anything of the like.  The Mets front office thinking has become inbred.  It is time for the Wilpons to go off campus.  Under sole ownership of the Wilpons since 2003, this team has been turning into the iceberg.  Saul Katz, minority owner and non-factor but none the less promoted to President in the post Doubleday era, is a non entity.  This IS the S.S. Wilpon and what I like to call Saul B. Katz' dilemma.  You've heard this before from me.

John Ricco is what I like to call the Wilpon's latest Weapon of Mass Confusion.  He was unleashed upon us Met-o-philes during the Beltran-Surgery-Gate earlier this winter.  John Ricco is the assistant GM brought in by Omar.  Mr. Ricco is yet to build up a rap-sheet thus far.  I say give it time before he demonstrates more of the marionette thinking promoted by the Wilpon's college atmosphere Fred likes to maintain.  But is he possibly our next GM in waiting?  Really?.........Really?  ...(and why not) - Remember the other Sergeant-at-arms Omar brought in, Tony Bernazard?  We don't need to rehash that.

Now here was a move in the right direction.  Right now I'm more inclined to give the Mets credit for this move than my want to say something derisive.  They hired Bob Melvin to be, as the Mets term, a "professional scout".  I'm just happy someone from outside the organization is on board....anybody!  Bob Melvin?  I'm not doing cartwheels about it, but it makes our front office 2% better than before hiring him.  That's the best I can do.  In a lesser developement they promoted Guy Conti to a senior advisor for minor league developement.  He was our bullpen catcher ya know....our bullpen catcher?

I can't really kill Omar for the Mets' lack of activity this winter outside the Jason Bay signing, although yes, we really can and should.  I'm still trying to understand the head-in-the-sand approach they took with Lackey, but the rest of the free agent pool this winter wasn't all that.  Omar was probably wise not to throw away money on nonsensical signings and just bog the roster down with more rejects and bad contracts.  But that only speaks about this winter.  Omar's whole body of work here lies in the balance this year.  As it stands, 2006 and 97 wins are an aberration versus the 5 full years he's been GM.  There are a lot of things you can blame on injury last year.  What you can't blame on injury is the lack of preparedness and lack of fundamentals the Mets displayed last season.  That's on the manager, and another matter.

I'm not a happy camper heading into 2010.

Johan Santana, says and seems OK, but he's coming back from injury.
We have no #2 shotgun to Johan.
John Maine is coming off 2 years of injuries.  I like him but he has a high hill to climb.
Oliver Perez isn't the nut-case everyone makes him out to be.  I think his flaws are correctable.  A Maine comeback is paramount but Ollie can be a major X-Factor should things go well for us this year.  You just never know with him.  But he's slimmed down which takes pressure of the knee and maybe now Dan Warthen (pitching coach) can finally see the obvious which is Oliver Perez's landing foot is like lightning...it never strikes the same ground twice.  Why can't Dan Warthen pick this up?  Your whole delivery is ruined by that one error.  Ollie does not land with his front foot open and perpendicular to the catcher.  It causes him to throw across his body with random release points, using only arm strength behind the pitch.  He's Jeckle and Hyde...which one do we get this year?
Mike Pelfrey is a .500 pitcher with a 4.30 +/- in his freshman and sophomore years.  Maybe maturity shows up in his locker this year and he starts to harness his ability.  He does have ability.
After that, our number 5 starter is any-one's guess.
There's too many "ifs" involved here.  My hope is our kid, Niece develops well and can give us 8 to 10 wins this year.  Nelson Figueroa had a nice winter but he's not a solution much less an option.  I'd keep him around to pitch the second game of a twin-bill....but we don't do those things anymore.  And our other kid, Nieve?  C' Mon!

Speaking of winter ball, I already expressed my concerns about K-Rod pitching competitively without a discernible break since last February as he tuned up for the Baseball Classic.  He pitched right through the season and in Winter Leagues in Venezuela till February 1st when his contractual obligation kicked in.  I'm predicting a dead arm for him by August.  I hope I'm wrong.

We have no 8th inning guy to speak of.  This is a good a time as any to bring up Kelvim Escobar.  I have no idea what we can expect from him, what we're going to get from him, or where we're going to use him.  It looks like he's the 8th inning guy, so says Omar.  This could actually work out.  However, he's one of those guys where you try to catch lightning in a bottle when they come off injury.

Of the 11 or so pitchers that we'll break camp with, I can not envision a different scenario than - Johan is my only reliable hurler.  Will we get Ollie and Maine or will we be praying for rain?  There is no margin for error in the Mets pitching staff and that seems to have been the plan the front office has been pushing on us all winter; - the old Health and Hope routine.  Omar is prepared to figuratively live and die with this rotation of:
Johan
IF
IF
MAYBE
and Who?  (not WHO on first)

The rest of the pitching staff is a bunch of reclamation projects signed to minor league contracts.  When we once thought that scouting and talent evaluation was Omar's forte', we come to find out he is really an administrator for the AARP signing players off the path on their way to the glue factory.

In a nutshell, that's the Met's pitching situation.  It's all predicated on hope that the "IFS" come back and are effective. That's some dangerous living fellow Met fans.  Omar is live and without a net.  This may get ugly because he never really had a plan in place.  The whole time here he's been piece mealing this thing together.  The only constants have been Reyes, Wright and Beltran > Omar's only signing of the three.  Since Reyes and Wright,  this organization's farm system has come to a screeching halt for the first time since before Joe McDonald was running the farm operations in the late 60s.  Omar is still waiting for Pelfrey to pan out so he can say he at least groomed one prospect.

Fred, go off campus please!
Knock on the Marlin's BoatHouse with wheel barrels of cash to entice Larry Beinfest to come work for us and enough to grease Jeff Loria and keep him from whimpering .  Then, Mr.Wilpon, you get out of sight, give Larry the keys to METropolis and let this guy run your team and spend your money; Money that you yourself could not manage well enough and subsequently got swindled by Bernie Madoff.

The Grapefruit League, and you Cactus Leaguers too...., lets start our stretching and get ready for the season.

I'll tackle the offense the Mets will be featuring this year to start the season tomorrow.  I already feel my blood pressure rising just thinking about it.  This team drives me crazy, you all know that by now.  But I'm fair as you'll learn because till now all you've heard me do is vent.  I'll deal with what I have as opposed to dealing in wishful thinking.  Just know that my problems are less about the players and more about my owner.

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Don't Look Up..these aren't Hitchcock's Birds

This means you!

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We got your size..Hang on.

I think we have your size...

...as you see we have a wide selection...

(check out the little baby dolls on this one)

Thank you for shopping, Please come again.

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President's Day Celebration

PRESIDENT'S DAY CELEBRATION

featuring

"fightin" George DUKES Washington

(random wall post equal to graffiti...you don't want to see the rest of it, trust me LOL)

...And Now

The Military Leader who guided the Continental Army of the American Colonists
in their quest for Independence.

Who Took His Oath of Office in NYC as
The First President of the United States of America

A Man who declined to serve beyond two terms and who

Refused to be King

General George Washington

Welcome to Continental Army Plaza

At the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge, Brooklyn

Part of the Revolutionary War was fought right here in my little town.

This is one of several markers around town identifying the Battle of Brooklyn sites.  This neighborhood is called DUMBO (Directly Underneath Manhattan Bridge Overpass) and Fulton Landing which sits directly across downtown Manhattan and the Wall St. District on the East River.  It looks a little different now than it did in 1750 though.

(Fulton Landing, Brooklyn in 1750, foreground)

(Fulton Landing, Brooklyn, Today)

The white house and lighthouse is actually

The Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, awesome anytime of year!

There is a lot of construction surrounding it as Empire State Park is in the process of being built.  Miles of the Brooklyn waterfront along the East River is being reclaimed, rehabilitated and reinvigorated converting it from obsolete merchant docks and piers.

This bronze is embedded into the sidewalk.  There are several more, under the snow!

Back inside Green-Wood Cemetery, (remember Green-Wood?), many of our revolutionary patriots rest.  If it weren't for them, right now we'd be screaming 'Bloody-Hell' and clamouring for the good-ol-days of Margaret Thatcher, wearing our Manchester United jersies.

The story didn't end there however.  Those rascally British came back for some more and with a "litt'l bit more urgency towards returning his Majesty's insolent children back under his numerous abdominal folds"

  Those crazy Brits came back for what we call the War of 1812.  Heck! They burnt our nation's Capital City down to it's foundations.  But the lesson those Brits didn't learn the first time wasn't lost upon their memories this time around. 
The 7th president of the United States made quick, sure and decisive moves towards that end.  Andrew Jackson and the Battle of New Orleans ended any and all thoughts the British ever had of securing our home as their colony, again.  Andrew Jackson was one crazy individual though.  He gave his stamp of approval for the "removal of Indians" and was unconcerned with ending slavery.  However he did prevent our new nation from falling back into his Majesty's empire.

We had to wait till our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln to address the domestic issues that ailed our nation.  He kept the United States of America in tact when it was at it's most fractured.  Through the efforts of the American Civil War, our nation was preserved and endured.  Baseball, which evolved from Mahnhattan and Hoboken's Elysian Fields and then became great in Brooklyn, spread like wildfire among all the Civil War soldiers who came in contact with it.  They took their love of this new game back to their homes and the rest is Baseball and American History.

If not for these three Presidents of the United States of America, I may have grown up playing Cricket on the streets of Brooklyn in search of the ultimate three sewer-cap...."whatever they call a good hit".  In stickball, if you can hit a three sewer shot, you're gold.  Or, I could be a hooligan for some ficticious Brooklyn FC "Football" Club.  I like...eh hem...soccer!!  Yes I do.

But there is nothing like:
a walk-off
a can of corn
a hot corner
a Baltimore Chop
a triple to right
a Dodger Dog   ; )
Inter-locking NY and Pinstripes   ; )
Red and Blue States   ; )
the Idiots of 2004 and the Nation   ; )
 being Amazin'
Dem Bums
a squeeze play
a sacrifice
and singing the National Anthem.

No Rounders!! No Rounders!!

Thank You,
George Washington
Andrew Jackson
Abraham Lincoln
..and Thank You to F.D.R. who during WW II told us not to cave into fear and that BASEBALL needed  to continue on!
Pres. William Howard Taft, first president to throw out a first pitch.
And Big Props to Teddy Roosevelt too, for daring America to be great.


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Rabbit Season...Duck Season

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Latest on NBA NETS to Brooklyn

As far as I can tell, Russian billionare Mikhail Prokhorov is still on course to purchase the Nets from Bruce Ratner.  That is something I'm very much in favor of. 

There seems to be a little more buzz and activity over at Atlantic Yards these days.  Brett Yormark, Nets CEO has said recently on sports radio, the plan is to be playing in Brooklyn by the 2011-2012 season.  I myself find that unlikely.  If they could start by 2012-2013 I'll be happy.  He also said something I find interesting which is he has no problems moving in mid-season.  Basically he said the moment the move can happen is the right moment to transition over to Brooklyn, regardless of what point of the season thay may be.  He even agreed with a scenario where the regular season could be played in N.J. and the playoffs in Brooklyn, should they advance.  Mr. Yormark reitterated anytime will be the right time.

(jersey, Junior's cafe)

I like what I'm hearing. 

The fact they are a 4 win team in mid-February doesn't concern me right now. 

I just want them here.

http://thebrooklyntrolleyblogger.blogspot.com/