Category: CitiField

Johan Santana Struggles as Twins Fans Watch A Pavano Win

David Daniels CitiField

If ever there was one game I could pick to attend this year based on entertainment value alone, Saturday’s game was the one I wanted to see. Johan Santana against Carl Pavano. Interleague play. So I packed up my bag, hit stubhub and went down the block for a visit. Here’s what I saw…

Old Ace Against Former Team

There were quite a few Minnesota fans wearing Santana’s Jersey from his Twins days. They were there to see their team take on their old Ace. I’m sure all Twins fans are secretly laughing at how this deal turned out, especially after the first inning.

Pavano Comes Back to NY

Pavano had always been my favorite target when bringing up “great” Yankees. Carl Pavano is one huge sore spot for any Yankee fan and I remind Yankee fans of this fact whenever I can. Now my gut feeling was he would turn around and show NY just what they were missing. He will always have something to prove when coming to NY. He did just that with a 3 hit, complete game shutout and also went 2 for 3 at the plate.

There were also plenty of Minnesota fans who were sporting the new “stache” that Pavano has grown a la Keith Hernandez. Continue reading “Johan Santana Struggles as Twins Fans Watch A Pavano Win”

Mets’ Jason Bay Lack of Power

I’m surprised that I’m not more concerned about Jason Bay. And I’m surprised that I haven’t heard more rumbling and grumbling about Bay from my friends and fellow Mets fans about him too. Bay seems to be likable. He hustles all of the time to the point that you rarely see players do these days. And he plays a much better left field than I expected. He’s not great in the field but he makes all of the plays and doesn’t make any dumb throws. He’s always throwing to the right spot, hitting the cutoff man at the right times.

There’s no denying Bay’s inauspicious start at the plate though. The Mets haven’t gotten the guy that they thought they were getting. His OPS is down about .100 below what you would expect. 4 home runs after playing 65 games is a concern. It’s more than a concern. He was the guy that could pull the ball down the left field line and get it out of Citi Field.

Jack Moore did an analysis for FanGraphs on Bay’s 2010 season to this point. He came to the following conclusion: Continue reading “Mets’ Jason Bay Lack of Power”

Mets’ Oliver Perez Not Going Anywhere

NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 28: Starting pitcher #46...
Image by Getty Images via @daylife

The continuing Oliver Perez saga has taken a few turns but the result has been the same. Perez isn’t accepting a demotion to the minors. He isn’t going to Florida to see a sports psychologist and he wants to know who the anonymous teammates are that told the media that he should go.

He told Fanhouse that he’s staying to work through his problems with Dan Warthen and Randy Niemann. He has to start prepping himself to pitch in New York again and that could get really ugly. There’s been a lot of talk about booing home players over the past couple of years. This one could be off the charts though.

Check out what Perez had to say when asked about the teammates that told the media that he should go.

Audio- Oliver Perez

The fans and the media are calling loudly for him to go including the Times drawing a comparison to Dontrelle Willis and the Daily News as well. But none of that could compare to the barrage of boo’s he’ll get the next time he pitches at Citi Field.

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Mets 2010 Schedule – Looking Ahead to June

San Diego, Calif. (Apr. 15, 2004) - The San Di...
Image via Wikipedia

With Memorial Day signifying the start of summer, June brings us some interesting match-ups and more interleague play. Here are some of the things I’m looking forward to this month:

The Mets schedule starts the month of June in San Diego. Actually, the Mets are IN San Diego for Memorial Day May 31st. San Diego, being a huge naval base to the Pacific Fleet, is an appropriate choice to spend Memorial Day and a great way for us Mets fans to brush up on our history.

There will be a Midway Memorial Day Tribute at Petco Park as part of a special pregame tribute to the military and the USS Midway as well as a fireworks show after the game. I hope the Padres wear their military themed uniforms. I was always a huge fan of Adrian Gonzalez and always wanted the Mets to get him to play first base. Having Ike Davis, who is also homegrown, means this will never happen. After watching Ike play, I’m glad the Mets never made the attempt. Continue reading “Mets 2010 Schedule – Looking Ahead to June”

Mets Links: Oliver Perez, No Offense, More

The Mets are in a bad way right now. Dropping below .500 yesterday could be a dangerous sign for the 2010 season and where it’s headed. Expect the Wilpons to enter their first decision point in two weeks. If the Mets aren’t moving in the right direction at the end of May, it could spell the end for Jerry Manuel as manager. I would also expect Dan Warthen and Howard Johnson to be fired as well. If Manuel, Warthen, and HoJo make it into June in their current jobs that’s a very good sign for them.

So much has happened over the last few days, here are the links.

The Mets are 4-11 on the road this year and have no offense in those games at all. You would think they would take advantage of getting away from Citi Field but they haven’t. It’s been just the opposite.

It’s been well documented that Oliver Perez lost his spot in the rotation yesterday. But ESPN broke the news that Omar Minaya brought up the possibility of going to the minors and Perez refused. Perez has nine years in the bigs and doesn’t have to agree to go to the minors if he doesn’t want to. I wouldn’t either. If he went, he would have no control over when he came back. They could leave him in the minors all season. The difference between this situation and Steve Trachsel going to the minors in 2005 is that the Mets would have released Trachsel. They won’t release Perez. He doesn’t have to worry about that because of his big contract. There’s no motivation for him to go to the minors. Continue reading “Mets Links: Oliver Perez, No Offense, More”

Mets Have Biggest 2010 Ticket Sales Drop

Florida Marlins at New York Mets

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsI wrote back at the end of April that the Mets were experiencing the largest drop in ticket sales this season among MLB teams. That was according to a report in Fanhouse. Since then, things have only gotten worse for the Mets according to the NY Times.

In April, sales were down an average of 6,690 tickets per game. Now they’re down 6,852 tickets per game. Things have gone completely into the toilet. If you’re on the Mets email list, you know how aggressive they’ve become this season trying to sell tickets. It’s become a daily event for them to email about some new ticket sales promotion. Continue reading “Mets Have Biggest 2010 Ticket Sales Drop”

Citi Field Tours

Citi Field
Image via Wikipedia

The Mets announced that they’re going to start offering tours of Citi Field on Memorial Day weekend. It’s only $10 for adults and $7 for kids and senior citizens. The tour is 60 minutes and includes the Empire Suites, the dugout, walking on the field, the clubhouse, and the Mets Hall of Fame.

It sounds like a good deal and I’m surprised that the Mets haven’t offered this sooner. I did a tour of Safeco Park in 2002 when I was in Seattle and it was awesome! I wish I could find the photo of me at the Mariners press conference table. It was a blast though. You’ll love the tour if you do it.

Call the Mets box office to get tickets at 718-507-TIXX.

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