Mets To Play With 8 Players Friday?

Fernando Tatis became the 16th Met to head off to the WBC today – replacing A-Rod – leaving the Mets with I believe only eight active players left in camp.

John Maine is expected to start in left field, and Jose Valentin will shuttle between second and short depending on which side of the plate the batter stands.

In other not-quite-a-full-post-news the LA Times writes about the C-Field bricks  that people for some reason paid for:

One brick reads, “Jeri Hester was at Game 6. Nuff Said.” Another reads, “We Loved The Amazins At Shea, Heres To New Miracles At Citi Field! The Gebhards.” Oddly, no engraved stone reads, “Our Mets Bricked Down the Stretch In 2007 and 2008,” but that was probably scratched for being too obvious.

www.metspolice.com

Time To Let The Islanders Die

Farewell Islanders.
 
I will be sad to let you go.
 
Nassau County claims to lose one to two million dollars a year operating the Islanders.  Owner Charles Wang claims to lose $20 million.
 
That’s unfortunate.
 
Wang told Newsday,  “If we don’t build this, shame on us. This is something that has to be done. If we can’t, you tell me no. It’s OK. I mean, really, we’ll go where we’re loved.”
 
I hope Wang can find his love somewhere.  The Devils are having their 17th straight winning season, have won three cups in recent history, have the greatest goaltender of all time….and nobody cares.
 
The Nets are wandering through the desert and will never get to Brooklyn.  They’ll wind up in Newark eventually and the same amount of people that care now will care then.
 
1980 is a long time ago now.
 
Today the Islanders traded their captain.  I don’t know if Wang is familiar with the state of the economy or the tax burdens Long Islanders have been faced with the past few years.  It’s kind of hard to ask anyone to support a new building.   Folks in these parts are still annoyed with the Mets and their friends at the bank, and the Yankees and their tax breaks.
 
I understand losing $20 million sucks.  I can’t blame Wang.
 
Maybe the Kansas City Islanders will find happiness.   Maybe they’ll find the same happiness the KC Scouts did.
 
Oh you don’t know about the Scouts?  They moved to Denver for six years and then moved again and now call themselves the New Jersey Devils, and from KC to Denver to the NYC area nobody cares.
 

Never Trust A-Rod’s Relatives

We know not to trust Cousin Yuri.
 
Now we know not to trust A-Rod’s brother who told us A-Rod had a cyst.
 
Newsday reports:
 
Alex Rodriguez will not have surgery for now to repair a labrum tear in his hip, Brian Cashman told reporters Thursday. But if rest, exercise and treatment do not improve A-Rod’s condition, the Yankees’ third baseman would go forward with an operation. That, Cashman said, would be “a four-month situation.”
 
A-Rod never ceases to be entertaining.  
 
 

Nj.com about Piazza Speculation About You Know What

 
What interests me is the opening sentence by author Matthew Artus:
 
Murray Chass offered some speculation on his blog that surprised me. It didn’t surprise me for its content, but rather its failure to create buzz in the Mets blogosphere.
 
Artus then walks you through some of the back and forth speculation about Mike Piazza and the you know what.
 
Fair point by Artis.  I know I’ve danced lightly around that subject on this site because (a) I have no proof and (b) I know I’ll get called the devil since Saint Mike can do no wrong.
 
I can’t speak for my fellow bloggers as to why they ignore that topic.  
 
As for me, as I have said before on this blog, there’s one member of the 2000 NL Champion Mets who I suspect was on steroids, and I won’t be surprised when a 2000 Met appears on the list of the 104.  I’ll stick to that.

Tour C-Field for Free

NY1 says…
 
The Mets are dangling a carrot in front of fans who do not have season tickets, by offering tours of the new Citi Field.
 

The early look at the stadium is only being offered to those who are thinking of buying a seat package – and will not be available to current season ticket holders.

 

The tours will be given on a first-come, first-served basis beginning tomorrow.

 

Now I bet you’re glad you shelled out five bucks for a St. John’s game