A Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library (Formerly 2007 - Another Year of Happy Recaps)

My First Impression of Jerry Manuel - August 2006

Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:14:00 -0400

I like Jerry Manuel. Not to say that the team would be doing any better today if Willie was still in charge, but looking at what he brings to the bench, and the new aura they are playing with, I like what I see. He is encouraging unity, and discipline and looks very much in charge out there. He also handles the media with a sense of ease and relaxation. At least for the moment, despite being 500, he looks like he is having fun out there. I like the blend of humor, authority and brains.

My first impression was a between-innings interview he gave back in 2006. I Blogged:

They had a great in-game interview with Jerry Manuel last night. I never heard him speak before and I had no idea how intelligent, articulate and baseball-wise he was. He made some excellent points and articulated them with class and perspective

http://happyrecap.metsblog.com/blog/_archives/2006/8/3/2194696.html

Good luck Jerry. We are in the thick of it and our Right Fielder is due back next week, but we'll need some real leadership skills to get to the promised land in October. You seem up to the task.

Here Comes the Throw, Here comes the Slide....

Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:23:00 -0400

The Mets won a thriller last night and I am happy to say I was at Big Shea on a beautiful night for baseball, and that I stuck it out for the full 11 innings. It was a sweet reward watching Angel Pagan single Jose Reyes home in the bottom of the 11th after over 4 hours of battle. I had snuck from Loge section 6 to the seats right behind home in the 10th, and had a great view of the play (see below).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RCb86pixls

John Maine looked great, Aaron Heilman, not so much. I am not worried about him....it was a bad outing for a good pitcher. Scott Schoenweis turned boos to cheers with a gritty 11th inning performance.

Nelson Figueroa goes tonight and I relaly liked theway he looked in spring training. I think he'll be a very good fill-in for El Duque (I prefer to think of him as Hernandez' replacement, not Pedros). He had good stuff, a smooth consistent delivery and what looked like excellent control.

It was very cool to see Citi Field looming behind the leftfield fence first hand.

Its great to send the Phillies packing with a series loss to mull over on the bus home. See ya!

The Wisdom of Blutarsky

Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 17:41:00 -0400

An Eteranl Optimist, my attempt to Rally the Troops unfortuantely fell short

Mota Implodes on cue

Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 13:08:00 -0400

...whats it gonna take for Willie to bail on him?

Well done Redbird....

Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 23:22:00 -0400

Ankiel...a feel good story possible gone bad...

Revisiting my First-Half Predictions - The Luxury of a Monday Morning QB

Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 17:40:00 -0400

Looking back at my early projections....

Four Straight Wins and A Walkoff Moonshot Brings Back the 2006 Feeling....

Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 08:27:00 -0400

The Swagger was back...

Walk, Balk, Bunt, Balk - Its the oldest play in the Book...

Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library — Wed, 30 May 2007 08:02:00 -0400

As Maxwell Smart would say, "the old Walk-balk-bunt-balk" play... works every time.

Acknowledging the fact that you jinxed your team is the first step in making things better...

Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library — Sun, 27 May 2007 01:52:00 -0400

No more...PLEASE!!

Beam Me Up Omar, I Don't like life here in this Alternate Universe!!

Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library — Fri, 25 May 2007 13:41:00 -0400

Looking at the situation through the eyes of a Braves fan...

How Do You Sum Up a Game Like Last Nights Extra-inning Nailbiter?

Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 12:26:00 -0400

Two differet takes on the same excellent result...

In Good Hands...

Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 07:28:00 -0400

Theres nothing better than knowing your team "has your back", even if you can be there to watch that night...

The Mets Butt-kicking Machne, Coming Soon to a Town Near You....

Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 12:17:00 -0400

Friday night was just another day in the office for the 2007 Mets ....

Phillip Humber looking good as a heat-throwing, curve-snapping Zephyr

Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 17:38:00 -0400

Yowzer, this kid has some stuff....

Taking Care of Business - Redux

Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 15:28:00 -0400

2 and 0 and done with pizaz

Taking Care of Business

Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 11:50:00 -0400

With workman-like precision and little wasted motion, the Mets came to Busch last night and made quick work of the Cardinals...

Glavine Cruises, the Defense Shines and the Bats were out in force on Opening Day

Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 08:23:00 -0400

Letting go of the heartache of ’06 will not happen overnight, but knocking around the hated Cardinals was a good way to start.

Counting the Hours 'till Opening Day

Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 08:20:00 -0400

Speaking my piece the evening before Opening Day....

Carlos Gomez, Class of 2008 (Hopefully)

Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 07:39:00 -0500

In Each of the last 4 years, my friend Dave and I make an Pilgrammage to Binghamton to see the newest Met prospects play. We've seen Lastings Milledge, Mike Jacobs, Royce Ring, Victor Diaz and, for the opposition guys like Hanley Ramirez and Jon Lester.

Last year we saw probably the most exciting player we've seen grace Keyspan Park in Broome County...Carlos Gomez. He's got a great swing, speed and tremendous grace. Here is a video of Gomez singling and then stealing second and third. Harrisburg Manager John Stearns is not pleased by the call and you will see another ex-Met, 3rd base coach and Manager Juan Samuel positioning himself perfectly to view the play.

Gomez is starting the year in AAA in all prboability and younger phenom Fernando Martinez should be patrolling the outfield in Binghamton. Can't wait. See you in July, Fernando!

Video of Carlos Gomez

Some of the Best Deals are the ones you don't make

Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 22:17:00 -0500

A lot of people are saying Omar dropped the ball over this winter, I applaud him for his restraint...

At 7 Years, 18 Million per, Barry Zito can Kiss my ass

Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 17:06:00 -0500

Talk to me in 6 years when Zito is nursing a sore arm and a 9-12 record

After Seven Weeks of Denail, its time to recap Game 7

Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 23:32:00 -0500

You can run but you can't hide....I finally quit being a little baby and re-live a painful end to an amazing season...

Post Mortem to come

Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 12:37:00 -0500

Post Mortem coming soon....

NLCS Game 6 - Shea was Rocking and so were the Mets.

Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 16:33:00 -0400

Its 103 wins down, 1 more to go in this season-long quest for the NL crown

NLCS Game 5 - The Best I can say about Game 5 is that its behind us

Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 17:42:00 -0400

It was an agonizing experience but what doesn't kill us makes us stronger

NLDS Games 1-4: It may be 2-2 in games but the Mojo belongs to the Mets

Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 00:22:00 -0400

Like a wounded animal, the Mets strength and survival instincts kicked in during a must-win Game 4.

NLCS Game 3 - Game, Set and Match, Mets

Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 01:43:00 -0400

An over matched Dodger team goes back to LA with its tail between its legs.

NLDS Game 2 – “But can they Core a Apple?”

Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 10:40:00 -0400

Ohhhhh they can core a apple. Like a modern-day Chef of the Future, the Mets showed they have many tools to bring to bear. Last night the played small-ball…and did it brilliantly.

NLDS Game 1 - Play at the plate..he's out...and so is he!

Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 09:04:00 -0400

NLDS Game 1 - Good Managing, A gutty performance byJohn Maine, a wild DP at the plate and a slugging display by Carlos Delgado staked the Mets to a 1-0 lead in the NLDS.

We've won 97 games with "Plan B" - Bring on the Dodgers

Beautiful Addition to Your Baseball Library — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 08:33:00 -0400

The Mets have been winning with "plan B" since April. The loss of Pedro and maybe El Duque are more of the same.....