Let me reciprocate your kindness, Anz, with this rare piece of audio from a great game in Mets history!
Thanks for that Eric.
Bill Mazer, a legend of NY sports talk. It was great to hear his voice again. And of course, the voice of New York Mets baseball for over four decades the late great Bob Murphy. '73 was an improbable year for the Mets.
They were not expected to go very far but they had the solid pitching 1-2-3 led by Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, and Jon Matlack and won a lot of important games when it counted that year to get them to the World Series. And of course, they had Tug McGraw warming in the bullpen at the first sign of trouble.
Like a lot of Mets fans, looking back I always wished they had another big bat or two in the lineup to help support that great pitching staff. The load was always on the pitching in those years. Beating Sparky Anderson's legendary "Big Red Machine" in the NLCS was certainly no easy task.
PLAY BALL! Indeed, Gary.
The start of the 2013 season is right around the corner.
It will be interesting to see how effective rookie "closer" Bruce Rondon will be for the Tigers. He has three go to pitches (Verlander has 5) He has been clocked on his fastball at 104 MPH.
It will be interesting to see how effective rookie "closer" Bruce Rondon will be for the Tigers. He has three go to pitches (Verlander has 5) He has been clocked on his fastball at 104 MPH.
Valverde is still out there waiting for a contract.
Have the Tigers completely closed the door on bringing him back ?
The Mets have shown some interest, mainly because closer Frank Francisco is coming into spring training with health issues. They signed sinkerballer Brandon Lyon this winter and he might be in the closing mix at some point during spring training.
I don't know what Valverde's asking for, but I wish the Mets would just hand the ball to Bobby Parnell and see once and for all if he can close. This is the year to see what he can or can't do moving forward. Pitching coach Dan Warthen will no doubt be working hard with him again this spring.
Parnell is another in a long line of frustrating hard throwers who have talent but his fastball has always been straight as an arrow causing many baseballs to leave the park in a hurry.
Let me reciprocate your kindness, Anz, with this rare piece of audio from a great game in Mets history!
Thanks for that Eric.
Bill Mazer, a legend of NY sports talk. It was great to hear his voice again. And of course, the voice of New York Mets baseball for over four decades the late great Bob Murphy. '73 was an improbable year for the Mets.
They were not expected to go very far but they had the solid pitching 1-2-3 led by Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, and Jon Matlack and won a lot of important games when it counted that year to get them to the World Series. And of course, they had Tug McGraw warming in the bullpen at the first sign of trouble.
Like a lot of Mets fans, looking back I always wished they had another big bat or two in the lineup to help support that great pitching staff. The load was always on the pitching in those years. Beating Sparky Anderson's legendary "Big Red Machine" in the NLCS was certainly no easy task.
PLAY BALL! Indeed, Gary.
The start of the 2013 season is right around the corner.
I won $100 from a friend very early in the 1973 season, because I believed they could go all the way. $100 was a lot of money in those days. It was an extraordinary year to be a METS fan.
After taking over 2 hours to get to my office this morning due to weather (normally about a 45 minute drive), I got to listen to Dan Dickerson and Jim Price call the Tigers 2-1 win over the Atlanta Braves. Porcello seems to have worked out some of his mechanics issues from last year. A work in progress continues. Tomorrow Toronto and Detroit go at it in Lakeland.
All off-season I have been having that Star Wars, "I've got a bad feeling about this" attitude regarding the coming season. Today is the Han Solo "It's worse" declaration as he hears the rumbling sound before the walls of the garbage chute start to close in.
Curtis Granderson, whose power the Yankees NEED is out for the first month because of a broken arm suffered on a hit by pitch in his first at bat of the spring.
The 2009 World Series is going to get a lot of rewatching from me this year, I suspect, to dull the pain.
It will be interesting to see what move the Yankees have planned to replace Granderson's short right field porch power stroke. That's a big loss in their 2013 offensive scheme after letting Swisher, Ibanez, and Martin go. They also lost A-Rod for an extended period and added Youkilis. Can Youkilis at least repeat his 2012 output?
Good outfielders with some pop are not easy to find right now (Just ask the Mets) and Cashman is obviously going to have to go via the trade route to try to fill the hole.
Other GM's know the Yankees are in a bind now, so obviously they will fish for some of the better Yankee prospects in any proposed deal.
I heard Granderson is lost for at least 10 weeks, but how long after that will it take for him to get his stroke back after missing most of spring training and the opening months of the season?
The Yankees always seem to land on their feet, but they were already coming in to 2013 with a lot less power production in the lineup than they finished 2012 season with.
As is always true in baseball and as we've seen over the years on this thread, it's a long season and a lot can happen during the course of 162 games. I wouldn't count the Yankees out just yet.
March would ordinarily be a month for many updates to this thread but not this year. It just seems like from the perspective of a Yankee fan, every new day brings another one of those "It couldn't be any worse." "It's worse" moments like in the original Star Wars.
Truthfully, the offense looks like a brittle mess with little depth. Only if the starting pitching comes through will they have any real hope of staying in this tighter race for the division. Even the most optimistic of Yankee fans can't presume they are easy favorites for postseason this year.
I have to admit I sensed this as early as the ALCS last year when the image of Jeter, the heart and soul of what this era of Yankee history has been, being dragged off the field in a postseason game in which the Yankee karma of seasons past couldn't work to give them victory, just had too much of the "end of an era" quality to it. Much like the famous image of a battered Y.A. Tittle on the sidelines in the season the New York Giants tumbled from the elite ranks of NFL teams.
I just finished up a book on that rascal Union General Dan Sickles, so "Swinging 73" would definately be a nice relaxing change of pace for a bit.
With the season openers across baseball just days away now I'm sure we'll still have much to discuss as the season goes along. I have to say that this Mets spring training was one of the first in many years that I haven't watched all that closely. Once the regular season starts as always I'll be on top of things.
The starting pitching is already banged up this spring, and that was supposed to be the upside of the team this year. Still, the season hasn't even started yet and hopefully these concerns will get worked out in the coming weeks. I'm shaking my head at this whole Johan Santana situation. He's approaching the end as a Met and the issues between himself and management is on a downward spiral.
Belated Happy Birthday Eric. I hope you enjoyed your day!
Well, Mets manager Terry Collins has announced his five man rotation that will open the 2013 season.
Jon Niese will get the ball for the opening day start. A logical choice considering that he improved dramatically last year and was the Mets second best starting pitcher in 2012 . Had R.A. Dickey remained a Met he would have taken this start. Since that chapter in Mets history is now closed here's what we have to work with in 2013.
Number one through three have lots of upside. Hefner has never really impressed me and and Marcum is the seasoned veteran of the bunch who has had success elsewhere but can't seem to stay off the disabled list for a full season. As a matter of fact he may eventually have to be scratched from his first start at the back end due to yet another injury this spring..
And now a bit of an early season rant..
Matt Harvey is one of the potential stars of the future for the Mets and he will be given a full season right out of the gate to show what he can do. When Zack Wheeler is ready to come up either later this year or early next Harvey and Wheeler have the potential to be 1-2 bumping Niese to the number three spot. This is no knock on Niese, but if those two develop as advertised wherever they are eventually penciled in this can be a very good rotation. Provided of course that they stay healthy. Wilson, Pulsipher, and Isringhausen. Three names that will forever be linked together by Mets fans. High hopes, dashed expectations.
Early comparisons in the press of Matt Harvey to the great Tom Seaver are going a bit far at this point. Harvey has a lot to accomplish before he can even be mentioned in the same breath as Seaver and he's (Harvey) uncomfortable hearing those comparisons. They shouldn't go there. What people are seeing now is the work ethic and pitching smarts along with the early talent and live arm that were part and parcel of the young Tom Seaver. Let the kid breathe and concentrate on being Matt Harvey.
Many moons ago now the Mets had a pitching phenom in the minors who is mostly all but forgotten today (apart from Mets fans of course) and his name was Tim Leary. Leary was a big kid who threw hard and came through the minors with almost the same reputation as Harvey has now. Leary came up to much fanfare and got injured early in his big league career and was never the same. He just sort of faded away. We must be mindful not to expect too much too soon. (I really should have that last sentence printed in quotation marks on a royal blue shirt with the Mets skyline logo beneath it.)
It is that time of year again, yes, folks about a year ago I predicted that THE DETROIT TIGERS would win everything, well they got to the WORLD SERIES, didn't they?Pretty good prediction when you consider all the teams in major league baseball. DAN THE MAN AT THIS TIME NOW PREDICTS THE TIGERS WILL WIN IT ALL THIS YEAR.
Hearing that castoff Vernon Wells is now a Yankee is another sign of how despearate they're feeling at this point. Meantime, Jeter's recovery woes continue.
It was an extraordinary year to be a METS fan.
