Sunday, January 31, 2010

Believe in What?

The late Tug McGraw said it best, "Ya Gotta Believe."

With spring training on the horizon (yay!), the Mets stayed mostly frugal this offseason, with the exception of signing Jason Bay.

While I am excited at the return of baseball season and the opportunity to see my future husband, David Wright, in action, I'm finding it very hard to be optimistic. And apparently, I'm not the only one. On Matthew Cerrone's MetsBlog, the fan confidence rating is only 10%, the lowest it's been since, well, October.

Although, I have compiled a list of things that I am looking forward to seeing this season:

1) David Wright
2) How long it will take for the team to realize that they need to score runs in order to win when Johan pitches
3) David Wright
4) How long it will take for Luis Castillo's knees to give out
5) Will everybody be using the Dark Helmet batting helmet?
6) Hey, at least we have home field advantage....on Opening Day
7) David Wright
8) How long it will take the team to realize that only Carlos Beltran's mole has shown up to Spring Training
9) Watching Jerry Manuel mumble through postgame news conferences, win or lose
10) David Wright

So whether or not the Mets finish miserably, at least we can enjoy the little things this season, like the Shake Shack.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Umm...What Pitching?

This offseason, our holes were blaringly obvious: a left fielder, a catcher, and at least one starter. We have our left fielder. We have our 36 and 37-year-old catchers waiting in the wings. But what about pitching? Sure, it seems like every team needs pitching these days, but the Mets really need pitching.

Great, we have Johan Santana. Our offense tends not to perform when Santana the Great pitches. Johan is the only pitcher I know that, on a regular basis mind you, pitches eight innings of shutout ball only to earn the "L" at the end of the day.

We have Mike Pelfrey. He can give you the innings you want. But sometimes they're good innings and sometimes they're bad innings. We have John Maine. Anybody wanna take bets on when he gets hurt? We have Oliver Perez. Game over. Put it in the books, Mets lose.

We have no depth at all whatsoever. When we really needed pitching, our GM over-bolstered our bench. As of right now, we are only projected to win 77 games. I think it will be less. Pitching wins ball games, not bench players.

Frank Catalanotto Equals Championship

Well, the Mets made it official today: if 35-year-old Gary Matthews Jr. gets hurt while subbing for Carlos Beltran, then they have 35-year-old Frank Catalanotto to fill in the void.

Last season, Catalanotto played both second base and the corner outfield positions for the Brewers, which means he could also fill in for Luis "Gimpy Knees" Castillo. Catalanotto is a career .292 hitter, with his best year coming in 2001, nine years ago. Last season for the Brew Crew, he hit a respectful .278 in 144 plate appearances.

One thing going for Catalanotto is that he is a Long Island boy, born and raised in Smithtown. One thing not going for Catalanotto is age. A stint on the Mets could ultimately lead to retirement, as it's happened with players like Moises Alou and Andres Galarraga, who never even played a regular season game for the Mets before calling it quits.

And maybe I'll learn how to spell Catalanotto by the end of the season. Along with Francoeur.

Maybe, Just Maybe

It's finally here!

I don't know why I've been holding back on creating this Mets blog. I certainly have an opinion and I certainly have a passion for our New York Metropolitans.

I made up silly excuses for myself, like "I can't think of a good name" or the one I use most of the time, "I don't have anything to say."

But then I realized something. I have something to say about everything the Mets do, whether it be good or bad. Mostly bad, but I'm hoping for more good. Sometime. Before I go gray. Just a thought. Maybe. It'd be quite possible.

I may not be in New York, I may not get to games very often and my best autograph story involves me getting trampled and not getting the autograph but I think I have just as much heart and passion as your season ticket holder. And I'm hoping that maybe I see things a little clearer. Maybe, just maybe.