Author: Shannon Shark @metspolice

(I wrote this last Sunday, and sat on it because everyone was in Citi mode, and I like to hang onto “generic” pieces for when there is nothing going on.   I’m releasing it now because Murray Chass just wrote a hatchet piece on V , and I know how the blogosphere works…)

Anytime I don’t kneel before V I get attacked…and Chass isn’t the most popular person in Flushing these days because he um wonders about Piazza’s acne…so I’ll let Chass lead off.

….in 15 years of managing in the major leagues, Valentine never had a team finish in first place. In fact, only Jimmy Dykes managed more games (2,962 to 2,187) without finishing first.

Dykes, however, played on three teams that finished in first place so Valentine’s combined 2,826 games played and managed are the most without finishing first in baseball history. (Valentine’s 2000 Mets played in the World Series but as the wild card. They finished second during the season.)

That’s always been my issue with the legend of Bobby V.   Chass goes on to talk about some personal issues he has with the man.  You can read about those here…

So while V is in the news…here’s what I didn’t publish Sunday when I saw the WBC piece:

Want To Finish Second in the 2013 WBC? Manager For Hire 

The man who convinces everyone he wins, except for the winning part, is looking for a job:

“I think they would be a bit worried about me against them.”

That’s Bobby Valentine talking about leading the Americans to a WBC victory over Japan in 2013.

Valentine said he would conduct in-depth interviews with players to determine who was willing to do the necessary work to prepare for a tournament that begins a month before the regular season. In addition, Valentine said part of the evaluation process would involve finding players with strong career statistics in March.

Oh boy.  Does that include spring training, or just going two for four on a Sunday Night Baseball season opener?


“If this is a real championship, why should there be any pitch limits?” Valentine said. “Do you think it is right that the rest of the world of baseball has to be told what to do by M.L.B.?”


Awesome.   Can you imagine Mike Pelfrey’s arm being blown out by V in March so that Bobby can prove to everyone how awesome he is?


Hopefully Bobby gets a job in the NL East, there will be one fewer team to worry about.   Sure they’ll win 86 games, but they’ll be 8 in back on April 30th so you won’t need to worry about them winning the division.


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Let the attacks begin!  There’s a comments button below.

More in the Times.
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The forecast is still lousy.  90% chance of rain at 5pm and 90% at 8pm.

As I mentioned in the 5 Reasons Friday’s Game Won’t Be Rained Out I expect we’ll be sitting in our seats tomorrow. 

The reason for this post is because I’m getting asked what will happen if the game isn’t played.

It won’t be made up.   There is zero percent chance of a day-night exhibition on Saturday, and since neither team plays in New York on Sunday there’s no chance of the game being made up on Sunday.   Even if the Mets wanted to, why would the Red Sox when they play at home Monday at 2:05.

The Mets know we want to see the stadium, and they’ll hope for the best.   I think we’ll get our first look at the tarp, and find the game quickly called.  They won’t make us sit there until 9:30 hoping for a window.

As for refunds – they’ll likely offer you a ticket for a game later in the season.

The Mets aren’t making it rain.  This just sucks.  Let’s hope for the best!

The official Mets (non)refund policy is as follows:

Tickets are not subject to any refund and bear no cash value. In the event a regulation game as defined by Major League Baseball is not played due to weather, Act of God, or any other reason, then the ticket will not be subject to any refund but will constitute a rain check that can be either (1) used for admission to the rescheduled game, if any, subject to certain doubleheader limitations (see below), or (2) exchanged for a same price ticket for any regular season Mets home game within 12 months of the originally scheduled game, subject to availability. In the event the rescheduled game is part of a single admission doubleheader, tickets for the game originally scheduled to be played on the doubleheader game date will take precedence.

The Yankees policy is similar.

(I wanted to include a photo of a rain delay of Citi Field but we don’t have one yet).

www.metspolice.com