Tag: Mike Piazza

John Buck Continues Torrid Power Hitting

Mets catcher John Buck continued his assault on National League pitching yesterday by blasting a garbage time home run to left-center in the ninth inning of a blowout loss. Yesterday the victim was Phillies pitcher Jeremy Horst. But Buck has been taking advantage of NL pitchers all month.

Buck started to tail off a bit over the last week, so I thought his storybook month might have come to an end. But he lit up Horst for a garbage time homer to keep the fairytale alive for one more day.

Buck’s now third in the NL in home runs and first in RBI’s. The Mets haven’t had a catcher with this kind of pop since Mike Piazza left. Sure, Paul LoDuca had some solid seasons. But what Buck is doing right now is amazin’. Continue reading “John Buck Continues Torrid Power Hitting”

Mets September 11, 2011 Game

I was at at the Mets-Cubs game last night with my father and I wanted to share a few images with you. As you know, it was another disappointing loss in a season filled with them so far. But the pre-game ceremony was more than worth the price of admission. The crowd was sparse as you would expect at this point in the season without playoff hopes. And the Cubs aren’t exactly a draw either.

There were representatives from pretty much every city service agency on the field before the game along with the kids from Tuesday’s Children. The NYPD and FDNY bagpipers and drummers were marching in a stirring ceremony that was filled with emotion. Continue reading “Mets September 11, 2011 Game”

Mets Links- Spring Training, Gooden, Clemens

Dwight Gooden
Image via Wikipedia

A few of the Mets have started to arrive in Port St. Lucie over the last week. Pitchers and catchers will report by Tuesday. You can see the full spring training game schedule at the Mets site. Even though the full team hasn’t even arrived at PSL yet, there’s still plenty of news about the Mets over the past few days.

Here are a few of the stories that caught my eye this week:

  • Beyond the Box Score– Post about just how good Doc Gooden was
  • ESPN – Josh Thole talks about the Mets pitchers among other topics
  • ESPN – Dan Warthen believes that Jenrry Mejia will be a reliever (as do I)
  • Studious Metsimus– Roger Clemens joked about throwing a bat at Mike Piazza in 2000
  • NY Post – Mike Puma writes one of a million spring previews for the Mets
  • Amazin’ Avenue – 2011 season preview
  • NY Times – Dan Rosenheck writes that the Mets could compete for the playoffs this year
  • ESPN– Adam Rubin talks to new Mets hitting coach Dave Hudgens
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Mike Piazza Wants Hall Call With Mets Cap

Image courtesy of WikimediaThe NY Times has a good article today by Joe Brescia about Mike Piazza. Basically, Piazza says that he wants to go into the Hall of Fame with a Mets cap on. That’s great to hear and I was talking about this recently with a friend of mine. We were discussing whether he will go as a Dodger or a Met. I think it’s a foregone conclusion that he’s in the Hall in 2013, his first year of eligibility.

There have always been rumors about Piazza using steroids during his career. But nobody ever found anything in his locker like Mark McGwire. And he wasn’t linked to BALCO like Barry Bonds. So I don’t think the unfounded rumors will keep him out like it will McGwire and Bonds. Continue reading “Mike Piazza Wants Hall Call With Mets Cap”

Citi Field Opens With Seaver And Piazza

Mike PiazzaThere would be no other way to open Citi Field than to have Tom Seaver throw out the first ceremonial pitch to Mike Piazza. Two of the Mets biggest superstars are the only former players that make sense. Sure, Doc Gooden could do it but he had an acrimonious parting with the Mets in 1995. That acrimony is only beginning to subside with his appearance at the Shea Stadium final game last September.

There will be a game tonight at Citi Field. Its somewhat anticlimactic that the opening game in the history of the stadium will come against the lowly San Diego Padres. The scheduling gurus at MLB certainly didn’t do the Mets any favors with this pairing. Why would they pick a team from the west coast with no real ties to the Mets? At least they could have chosen the Los Angeles Dodgers to open Citi Field. The stadium is pratically a shrine to the Dodgers as it is.

Of all of the strange things that Fred Wilpon has done, and there are many things you can criticize him about, choosing Tom Seaver and Mike Piazza to throw out the first pitch was the right thing to do.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

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Mike Piazza Retires

Source: Flickr- Llima

The official announcement about Mike Piazza’s retirement hit the media today. He hasn’t played all season so it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.

Since leaving the Mets after the 2005 season he bounced around to the Padres and A’s. He didn’t sign with anyone this season. I’m not sure if that was his choice, but I doubt it. Otherwise, he would’ve announced his retirement after the end of last season.

Piazza is a first ballot Hall of Famer due to his monstrous offensive numbers for a catcher. He wasn’t much of a defensive catcher… he only threw out 23% of runners stealing on him. I was surprised that the SNY crew during the game today mentioned that he played well defensively. I seem to remember the Marlins (Juan Pierre and Luis Castillo) running at will against Piazza.

By the way, he’s not gay.