Archive for February, 2007
Pitching: Perfect World
Hope springs eternal, and as far as baseball goes, spring is eternally hopeful. Optimism abounds at every camp in Arizona and Florida in Februray through the end of March, as every team has a chance to contend in the coming year (OK, except for the Devil Rays). Inexperienced youngsters are “up and coming phenoms”; fading [...]
Who Is Chip Ambres and Why Do We Care?
On December 19th, the Mets added invited several non-roster players to spring training, among them, Chip Ambres. The move was about as loud as a mouse fart, though a few decibels quieter. Very few, if any, Mets fans know who Chip Ambres is, and if they do, they likely had no idea he would be [...]
The Business of Milledge
This week, before either player even stepped on to the field, many members of the media and blogosphere were debating the “competition” between Shawn Green and Lastings Milledge. (For the record, Willie Randolph has already stated that as of now, Green is his rightfielder.) It’s clear to anyone with two eyes that Green is in [...]
Pitching: Keeping Seats Warm
Obviously, we won’t know anything about how the Mets’ pitching staff will shake out come the end of March. Right now, it’s all guesswork. Injuries can occur to anyone at anytime; for all we know, we’ll start the season with Tom Glavine and Billy Wagner on the DL. Or Willie Collazo will surprise everyone and [...]
Pelfrey and Humber
The multitude of young arms will make this spring will be especially exciting for Mets fans, with the bulk of the eyes glued to Mike Pelfrey and Philip Humber. There are even a number of MLB writers and pundits projecting Pelfrey as the #5 starter. However, Mets fans should enjoy the spring moments of these [...]
Continuity is Key
For once, let’s forget about the Mets’ starting rotation and focus on a positive: the continuity of the regular lineup from last year to this year. It may seem like a small detail, but in fact it may be significant that the 2007 lineup will look very similar to the 2006 lineup. Let’s look at [...]
Lastings Impression
Lastings Milledge has entered the building. The heralded, cocky, misunderstood, enigmatic, immature, tremendously talented Milledge reported to Mets spring training today, one day before the rest of the position players are expected to show up. Though it’s nice that he showed the initiative to arrive one day early, there are already folks on his back [...]
Who who, who is Carvajal?
I’m dating myself here, but anyone remember Donovan? The song (not the soda) Mellow Yellow? He also sang a song that went, “goo goo, goo goo Barabajagal, was his name now …” It may be a stretch, but one day at Shea you may hear that song being played when a pitcher emerges from the [...]
Kobe vs. Matsuzaka
What’s this? Daisuke Matsuzaka has challenged Kobe Bryant to a game of one-on-one? Or is Dice-K going against Masahiko Kobe on an episode of Iron Chef? Neither. In fact, it’s a battle of the beef. As you may be aware, Kobe beef has become de rigeur in the finer steakhouses and uppity restaurants. It’s revered [...]
Spring Training Pre-Predictions
Last year, right before Opening Day, I made some predictions about the 2006 season. Some were close to right on, some were completely off the mark, on the whole I was far from making people forget Nostradamus, or the local weatherman, for that matter. But, predictions are fun for me to write, and fun for [...]
