Letters to the NL East, part 1

Letters to the NL East, Part 1 oletf 5

Dear Florida Marlins,

I don't have much to say to you, except shame on you! I can't take you seriously or give you any respect, even for your two World Championships, while you still are so obviously profiting off your team. Between licensing money and luxury tax money, you could probably pay all your ushers the same as the players and still make money. When Babe Ruth hit more home runs than some teams, it was a great thing for baseball. When Alex Rodriguez makes more money than your entire roster, it's not a good thing. I understand you have complaints about getting a new stadium, but that doesn't excuse your AAA behavior. Your team was laughed at in attendance figures last year, including that one game where people had whole sections to themselves.

I understand Hanley Ramirez doesn't like the Mets, and there was that whole bench clearing incident on the final Saturday of the season last year, but I just can't be bothered to think about your team. You're so bad, that the media and fans will give the Mets less credit for having a good season just because they play you 19 times. So here's my advice: Sign some players, get some fans, and come back up the the majors when you're ready.

Your dismissive rival,

Optimistic Mets Fan

Letters to the NL East, part 0

Part 0 of the 5 park series, “Letters to the NL East”

Letter to Hank Steinbrenner and the New York Yankees.

Dear Yankees,

We get it, you've won a lot. Guess what? You haven't won a lot recently. You've lost four consecutive playoff series, and the first in historic fashion. You haven't made a significant acquisition during that stretch, and you didn't this year either. You're biggest claim in the offseason was retaining the guys you had, but the guys you had didn't get you anywhere.

Joba and Ian and Phil are gods? Well, we'll see. I'm sure you don't need anyone to tell you about Generation K, or that less than 10% of top prospects succeed in the majors. Hughes and Chamberlain have already had some success, but that doesn't mean they'll be successful over a full season. Pettite's only older and it's unlikely Wang wins more than the 19 games he won last year.

Hank, you are a fiery guy who is always commenting on something. The new manager, Girardi, is also a fiery guy. I'm looking forward to the stories when you two bump heads during a tough patch down the road. Is this Steinbrenner v. Martin part two? Have you ever noticed how the biggest Yankee stories seem to be about non-baseball stuff? That's not a good thing.

Enjoy being the second team in New York this year, the buzz is all here in Queens.

Your Anti-Fan,

Optimistic Mets Fan

Letters to the NL East

Baseball starts soon, and that means I'll probably start updating with a little more regularity once there is actual content. For now I'm planning a 6 part series of "Letters to the NL East" which I'm envisioning as a sort of rally cry/smack talk analysis of what I think of those teams.

the 6th team being the Yankees, as they are close enough to warrant a little attention.

Letters to the NL East: Yankees

Letters to the NL East: Nationals

Letters to the NL East: Marlins

Letters to the NL East: Braves

Letters to the NL East: Phllies

Letters to the NL East: Mets

Betting on 2008

Pending wagers for the upcoming season.

I like to place a couple of simple wagers every year, and this year is no different.

My first one is the Mets to win the World Series. I made this wager pre-Santana so I have 15-1 odds.

Hanley Ramirez, Under 27.5 Home Runs. I don't expect Hanley to have as good a year as he had last year, as pitchers will figure him out a bit.

Mariano Rivera, Under 36.5 Saves. 37 is a lot of saves, and I think the Rivera is in decline, plus the Yankees with a shoddy bullpen and inning-limited young pitching are unlikely to give him as many opportunities in years past. I made this bet last year and won.

Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays, Over 75 wins. 76 is a lot of wins, would be a franchise record. I was hoping this number would be lower, but I still think they can do it. I think they're a better team pitching-wise this year, and the division is worse, if only by a little.

New York Yankees, Under 93.5 wins. From the Yankees perspective I think the division is about the same as last year, Tampa improved, Orioles downgraded, Boston and Toronto remained about the same. I won this bet last year(I think the number was 96) and I would've won it with 93.5 last year too. The Yankees didn't get better, in fact they got worse. (A-Rod and Posada won't do better, and they didn't acquire any new talent. Unless the young pitching blows everyone away, they're in for a tough year)

Philadelphia Phillies, Under 87.5 wins. Did the Phillies get better? I'm not a big fan of Myers anyway, I think Lidge doesn't give them much of an improvement. Just give the Mets two more wins against them and I'd win this. Philly will probably stick around though May and then fade. They just don't have any pitching.

New York Mets, over 93.5 wins. Can the Mets fight off their stagger last year, and does Johan add what it takes? I actually think the Mets will annihilate this number, because I think Johan and Pedro will have years that make us drool. I lost this bet last year, when the number was 89.5, which I thought was practically a given.

So there are my bets for this year, I may add others if I see them, I'd love to bet on over strikeouts for Pedro, but I didn't see one anywhere. Anyone else make any wagers, or think I'm crazy on any of these?

Pagan to start in left

Angel Pagan is going to make this team.

Stay tuned for other wagers I've been making on baseball, including Over/Unders on the Mets, Rays, Phillies and Yankees. Haven't seen a wager out there for over/under Pedro strikeouts, but I'm for the over.

Metamerica

Red Sox Nation, Yankee country? How about Metamerica? My Santana t-shirt provoked plenty of comments walking around downtown San Diego, on one March evening. I had a conversation about Santana, about Delgado, and about El Duque 3000 miles from Shea Stadium. I didn't hear one peep from Padres fans, and I didn't see one Yankees or Red Sox cap. This isn't a very representative sample; it's March and I was wearing a Mets shirt and hat. However, there were certainly Mets fan about, and people were excited enough to cheer “Let's Go Mets!” at me as they walked by.

I'm not suggesting we have an election for “America's team”, I'm just suggesting that maybe Hank shouldn't count the Mets out so easily. There are plenty of relocated New Yorkers, and plenty of them are Mets fans. There are also plenty of people out there who will always remain National League fans, never jumping on an American League DH team's bandwagon.

And remember, no one's talking about how the Yankees kept the same roster they had last year, they're talking about the biggest trade in baseball and New York; Johan Santana to the Mets.

Watching the Game

I'm way more excited about grabbing a beer (homebrew), sitting on the couch in 30 minutes, and watching Johan Santana pitch for the Mets in Spring Training. But it's a good way to warm up for the same event in a little over a month.


I'm also way too excited about hearing Keith, Ron, and Gary again. I don't even know if they're all doing this first game.

Headliner Ryan Church

Now that the trade of Milledge for Church and Schneider has become a minor deal behind the acquisition of Johan Santana, I think we need to think back and remember how good the deal was for New York headline writers. Lastings Milledge has a unique name, but nothing can parallel the headlines the papers can write with Church.

If Church has a good day at the plate or a key hit, we could be 'blessed' with headlines like,

“Church is in session!”

“The Savior!”

“Hallelujah!”

“Church Crusading for All-Star Team”

If Church is quoted saying something notable, we could get something more like,

“Church Sermon”

“The Sermon on the Mound”

Or if Ryan makes a play at the wall on a fly ball,

“Thou Shall Not Homer”

Maybe whether the Yankees or Mets get more back cover stories is not dependent on the teams at all, but who can think up the most headlines.

Mike and the Mad Dog

I enjoy listening to Sports Talk Radio. I'm not a big music person, and I don't want to listen to news and politics on the radio. ESPN Radio's personalities are not very good in my opinion, so that leaves me with Mike and the Maddog. But they infuriate me.

They, especially the last couple of years, seem so out of the loop and so elitist. Especially when it comes to the Mets, who it seems like they only follow via second-hand news unless they have to be at Shea. They try to micro-manage every little aspect of the game, the Yankees too, and most of the time they're way off base.

For example, they started their show today with “The Mets are not a great team”. Then they start talking about stars in the line-up and stars in the rotation, but that's not enough for them. They seem to want every position to be an All-Star before they proclaim them 'great'. Hopefully the Mets will prove them wrong, but they'll be parading around Manhattan before they would admit it. Now they've started talking about how Jose Reyes is going to be this year. He's said he's going to tone it down, and whether or not you think that's a good thing, it's certainly not set in stone based on February statements. They couldn't remember the details of that Saturday afternoon fight with Miguel Olivo. They're constantly underrating the Mets and the Mets pitching, while overrating the Phillies. They were shocked that the Phillies weren't listed as the second favorite team to win the National League. Personally I think it's even up in the air whether the Phillies should be second in the division. If it wasn't for the Mets, the Phillies would've spent 2007 fighting for second with the Braves, and I don't think they're a better team this year. This is coupled with them talking about the the Yankees' Joba Chamberlain and Phillip Hughes as can't miss number one prospects.

This entry probably wasn't very positive, but I'm looking forward to the Mets making fools out these two all season.

Good.

Beltran's making statements now? Good. I love it. I'm glad he thinks the Mets are the team to beat. They are. They own this division. This was my favorite part.

"I don't care," Beltran said. "They boo me in Houston. One more city won't make a difference."

Good. Stop worrying about what fans think and just take what belongs to you. Maybe Willie's right when he suggested you becoming a father gave you confidence.

It's still February and I'm starting to feel some strong magic with this team..March 31st can't come soon enough.

How Many Strike-Outs for Mets Pitching This Year?

Tomorrow is the day. At noon tomorrow the moment we've all been waiting for since Glavine walked off the mound that Sunday afternoon. His upgrade, Johan Santana, will report to Port St. Lucie and officially start the 2008 baseball season. It's not quite the regular season games we're waiting for, but having daily news, even if it isn't much, to look forward to everyday will be a much needed joy.

David Wright will be showing up this weekend, as ready to get started as we are for him to get started. Wright is the player I think we have the most confidence and faith in. He played his heart out last year, all year. He truly cares, truly wants to win, and plays the game the right way both on and off the field. I would rank the players I have the least questions about going into next year like this. David Wright, Johan Santana, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran. I also have few worried about John Maine, or even Pedro Martinez.

I know most people probably think I'm insane for not worrying about Pedro, but I'm not. As the time came for him to return last year, I thought he'd have a good couple of starts, and that he could really contribute in the playoffs. We never got there, but Pedro did pitch well. Now everyone is saying you can't count on Pedro, but I don't think that's true. His pitching in September proves that the injury he recovered from isn't going to inhibit him, and he's only recovered more from it now. He's still an ace pitcher, he still knows how to pitch, he still has that ability. And he's healthy. Sure he's brittle, but he's always been brittle, whatever that means. It's possible anyone can get hurt in 2008, but I don't think Pedro Martinez is more likely, and certainly not a given, to get injured. Plus Pedro is a competitor. I think he'll truly thrive on this come back of his, plus I think he'll thrive on the friendly competition he'll have with Santana. They are going to feed off each other all year. A thriving, strike-out thirsty 1-2 punch of Santana and Martinez is going to have opposing batters at Shea Stadium whiffing so much it'll change the wind patterns.

However, this team did come off a horrible collapse, and we're going to need to see something from them to really regain our confidence in them. One thing that comes to mind would be to see a combined 3-22 stat from Jimmy Rollins and Pat Burrell during the opening series. That would really make us feel good, although we can't forget that Rollins and Burrell had a pathetic showing during the opening series at Shea in 2007 also.

A quick word on the former player Roger Clemens. I listened to some of the hearings today, and I was actually laughing at Clemens. He comes off so badly in my opinion, that I'm absolutely convinced he did steroids. It's no longer a he said, she said situation, it's a he said, THEY said situation. From the little I heard, McNamee, Pettite, Pettite's wife, and Mike Stanton all have said Clemens has taken steroids. Clemens countered most of this with garbage like “I don't remember that.”, or “Pettite must have misheard”. It doesn't look good, and I'm done with all the attention this is getting, it's time to talk about baseball now that spring is finally here.

Fantasy Baseball

I know it's early, but I'm impatient for the season to start. So I created a "Mets Bloggers" fantasy baseball league on Yahoo.

Unfortunately we can't all take Johan.


League ID#: 17569
League Name: Mets Bloggers

Opening Day, Closing Day, Subway Series lottery

I'm sure there will be emails going out and all that, but Registration for the Platinum Game lottery is underway through Feb 18th at http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/nym/ticketing/tixop_season08_form.jsp.

Good luck. The same 6 ticket allotment as last year.

He's Here

He's here...and It's going to be great.

I'm going to buy a Johan shirt at the Bryant Park Mets clubhouse shop on monday afternoon. Look for me. Who cares if I have ~10 other Mets shirts, I can always use another! (Still looking for a Maine jersey too..)

I still have on extra seat in my 13 game Saturday Plan if someone out there is interested.

Those 13 wins

I think Johan Santana can cover those 13 wins from Glavine, don't you?

And we didn't have to give up Pelfrey, or F-Mart. It seems to good to be true. Let's get this contract done and hurry up and get to Spring Training.

This season is going to be sweet..

Over/Under on how long it takes someone with the Phillies to complain about the Mets having the money and advantage, salary cap, buying championships..etc?



It's a good day to be a bartender in Philadelphia.

2008 Slogan

I don't think it's going to be "Final Season at Shea."

I actually like the Yankees' "Swan song for the Cathedral" even if I don't think it's a cathedral.

"The Farewell Tour"

"Shea's Eulogy"

"One for the ages"

"It's Destiny."

The 2008 Mets, the "Fastest route to the Citi"

(And seriously, when are we going to get Jose Reyes' face on the 7 express trains? Could the marketing idea be more perfect?)

"You have to see it to believe it"



I don't see how 2009's isn't going to be "Welcome to the Citi", but i've been wrong before

A-Rod and Santana

I've given it some thought, and I think this scenario would be perfect.


It's the 4th quarter with the Giants down by 2 and the ball on the Patriots 45 yard line at the two minute warning. The broadcast cuts to A-Rod in one of the luxury boxes, who announces that the Mets have traded for and signed Johan Santana.

New Theory

I have a theory that the 2008 Mets will win a game for each time Metsblog.com has a Johan Santana related post.

The Collapse, and 2008

I've been thinking about this, and it has a lot to do with David Wright and how he's easily the captain of this team.

The Mets maybe be an 85 win team next year, but I don't think so. I think they're going to be angry about last year, angry and ashamed.

You know how the the Patriots played after being caught cheating in week 1? That's how I see the Mets next year. Up 9-2 going into the 9th? Why not go for another run? There will be no 'taking it for granted'. And I don't care if it pisses off Hanley Ramirez or anyone else. I want them to take the confidence of 2007, but not think they deserve anything. They should go out and play the Phillies(and the Braves and Marlins and Nationals) like they punched their mothers.

Last year they had what I felt to be a good attitude, but they seemed to lose it on the field. 2008 is going to be a good year.

What's up doc?

All quiet on the Mets front. They raised ticket prices, which is no surprise. I hate that so many sports franchises seem to treat it solely like a business and forget the working class little people that love and enjoy the game. My last TOTK.com article was about this.

There are still rumors floating around about Johan, and I doubt there is a prospect I would miss past Santana smacking around the Phillies on opening day. We’ll see what happens. It’s not 2008, 2007 is in the past. The holidays are over, and if your not that big a football fan like me, it’s time to start counting down the days until pitchers and catchers report.

Btw, I still have a fourth seat of my Mets Saturday Pack available, if you happen to be one of those fans that wants to go, but has no one to go with regularly. It comes with a nice 27% price increase over last year!