2013 – Page 289 – The Mets Police

March 26, 2013

Vote for Mr. Met over whatever the hell Ranger Captain is

Woo-hoo Mr. Met II got a one-seed.

Big League Stews Mascot Madness bracket is underway!

Check out the matchups below and click on each matchup to head to the BLS Facebook page to vote. Your mascot is counting on you.

Day 1 of the matchup is right here.Crazy Crab Bracket

#1 Mr. Met vs. #8 Rangers Captain

Mr. Met is pretty much the only draw left for the Other Team From New York. Good thing hes a No. 1 seed. He draws a matchup against the Texas Rangers nightmare-fuel Captain; question is, how many people will hate-vote against Mr. Met in every round?

via Big League Stew Mascot Madness Day 2: The Crazy Crab bracket | Big League Stew – Yahoo! Sports.

March 26, 2013March 11, 2013

Not @mediagoon’s Mets Bobbleheads #48: Backman Double Mini

Since Shannon, Goon, and I have pretty much cleaned out our closets of Mets jerseys (at least for now, we all know there will be more later), I was thinking where can we go from here. Easy answer – who doesn’t love bobbleheads?

I REALLY like this bobble. When Wally Backman was managing the Cyclones they gave away this double bobblehead of Wally as a Mets player and Cyclones managers – then and now. Well done.

March 26, 2013

Forbes: Mets fans are 26th most loyal

The Sports Fan Loyalty Index, which measures all the teams in the four Major Leagues, provides an apples-to-apples comparison of the intensity with which fans within a team’s MSA support the home team versus corresponding values for fans of other teams in that market, which is important because fan loyalty correlates very highly with broadcast viewership, merchandise purchase, and ticket revenues. Happier fans as well.

via The Most Loyal Fans In Baseball – Forbes.

Forbes has the Yankees at #1 and the Mets at #26. Discuss!

Blue-cap tip to @MHealeySports

March 26, 2013March 25, 2013

Mike V’s Countdown to Mets Opening Day – 2009 Flashback

Six Days Until Opening Day!

Today’s Flashback – 2009 (First Opening Day at Citi Field)

Monday, April 13, 2009 vs San Diego Padres (Game 7 of regular season)

Loss, by score of 6-5, to go 3-4 on the season

41,007 fans were on hand to see the Mets open up their brand new ballpark on Opening Night. Tom Seaver threw out the first pitch to Mike Piazza, the most enormous American flag I’ve ever seen was displayed in the outfield grass, and Padres outfielder Jody Gerut led off the game with a homerun off Mike Pelfrey, becoming the first player to lead off a game with a homer in the first game at a new stadium. David Wright did hit a 3-run bomb to centerfield, but Ryan Church misplayed a flyball and Jose Reyes goofed on the basepaths on the way to a sloppy 6-5 loss.

At transplantedmetsfan.com, I wrote that being at CitiField for the first time “was really cool, yet very very surreal,” although Aramark managed to make me mental with their ineptitude on Opening Night. I had a paper printout instead of an actual ticket stub to prove I was there, but apropos the Mets gave out commemorative ticket stubs to fans who were there.

Six years later CitiField does feel like home, and (along with time) I believe R.A. Dickey and Johan Santana deserve most of the credit for that. R.A. and Johan gave Mets fans indelible memories to associate with Citi Field, so even though David Wright is the captain, and these two pitchers won’t be with the team to start the 2013 campaign, in my opinion CitiField is the house that they built.

photos after the jump

Continue reading “Mike V’s Countdown to Mets Opening Day – 2009 Flashback”

March 25, 2013March 26, 2013

Farewell Dave Howard….Dave is leaving the Mets

I am sad to hear that Dave Howard is leaving the Mets. If you are a long time reader you know that I am fond of Dave and we even hung out at a game together.

I am a little busy tonight but did want to say “goodbye” to Dave and wish him the best.

Meanwhile…

The Mets indicated that team executives Paul Asencio, Leigh Castergine and David Newman will now join Mike Landeen in reporting to Jeff Wilpon to absorb Howard’s role for the near future. Wilpon also will pick up some of Howard’s duties.

via Mets VP Howard leaving for MSG – Mets Blog – ESPN New York.

…which I find curious. Dave had a pretty senior position to not replace. I assume Dave made a nice six-figre salary. Hmmm.

Also, my two cents is that in a good organization there is some senior manager who keeps the owners/senior executive away from the worker bees so that the worker bees can do their thing.

Let’s say Executive A thinks Jeff is off-the-rails with something. Maybe Dave could be candid with Jeff. Maybe now without that buffer the executives can’t be as candid. I don’t know how things worked in the Dave Howard Era but it’s a scenario I can imagine.

Well Dave, thanks for the laughs and we’ll always have Banner Day. See you at the Garden.