Mets release Oliver Perez from contract - NYPOST.com
How long have I waited for that headline?
EONS.
Eons stretches back to the day when I heard the Mets traded the then beloved X-Man, aka Xavier Nady for Roberto Hernandez and this "throw in." As a matter of fact, that's the day this blog was spawned.
A friend put it in perspective on a Facebook post -- and I don't know why it took the Mets such a long time to cut bait -- but they finally did. The line was:
For everyone who thought Ollie was such a great find (read: Minaya and Co.), just remember how the Mets got him... he was a *throw-in* from *Pittsburgh*. When the Pirates don't want you, you can't be good.
Think about that for a second. OK. Makes sense, but why did Mets management award him $12m? It is still baffling. There were a few - not many - good pitchers available during that time, but why give a stratospheric number. That was more than Barry Bonds made (among others).
This is my favorite line of the whole article: "Perez said he received a fair opportunity with the Mets this spring."
And last year. And the year before that, ad infinitum. Heck, even Steve Howe would have been jealous of the chances Ollie got - and blew.
I am glad this happened before the season started. For those who know me, I am not a radical, an activist or a rabblerouser. But had Ollie not been released, I would have called for a boycott from all fan on Opening Day. Then, when the Mets would bring in Ollie, my edict would be for all fans to vacate the stands.
There are many sad things about Perez being on the Mets. One of the biggest was the fact that he pitched the last game EVER at Shea Stadium - http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN200809280.shtml I can list many others, but the 8.38+ ERA in spring training has got to be the kicker.
So, #46, in 101 starts with the Mets, 29-29, ONE complete game. No shutouts. 29 batters hit. 74 gopher balls surrendered. 1.51 WHIP and ERAs of the last two years 6.80 and 6.82.
Well, to quote a line from the old gospel song, "Hallelujah, the strife is over."
There is also another one - "RELEASE ME"
Ollie. We did. Pack that steamer trunk and ship on out. There won't be many W's or K's to pack, but you may have to stuff a lot of those L's and pack em tight.
Buh Bye!
Showing posts with label Shea Stadium. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shea Stadium. Show all posts
Monday, March 21, 2011
Sunday, October 03, 2010
Leave it To Ollie -- OR, How the Last Game of the Year is Always a DUD - Right AFTER a Brilliant Game the Day Before
It would be trite to quote Charles Dickens to open up a blog post about the Mets.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Trite? Yeah. Accurate - partly.
This was no ordinary season. Far from it. The Oliver Tolerance/Intolerance capped off what was one of the most see-sawed of emotions for a Mets fan. The big burst of wins in April/June - with the ebb of many heartbreaking losses.
It seems to be that the day before the final season, there is a big hope. '07 - Maine almost pitched a no-no, then Glavine tanked it with that Godforsaken first inning. In '08, Santana pitched a gem and then they lost in their final game at Shea. Yesterday, a nice W. Today....Typical Ollie - Walks in the winning run in the 14th.
Stan Laurel used to say, "I'm Sorry Ollie." Stan, so are we....so are we.
Rumor has it we are going to be replacing Jerry and Omar. I want someone who will be a rainmaker and get the most from their players, much like Buck Showalter has done with the lackluster Orioles. Minaya, well, he was a genius when he came on board and got Pedro Martinez and a few other good veterans to come to town, but he got lackadaisical -- and so did many of the players.
There are a few bright spots for the future. Ike Davis has shown he can play. Lucas Duda looks like he may swing a good bat and propel the cowhide with the maple ash. The heroes on the team, it goes without saying - Angel Pagan, R.A. Dickey and Hisanori Takahashi. Unexpected icing. Bring them back. Thole looks like he will develop into a good catcher.
It remains to be seen what the lineup will look like but if the above players can mesh and get it together, they can turn a once bad nucleus into a nuclear bomb that produces Ws and gives other teams Agita.
Who should go? Ollie. Castillo. Beltran (yeah, I said it), Maine and a few more ignobles. Who should come? Well, a lot of players, but we need to jerryrig the management (and send Jerry Manuel to pasture) and get the Wilpons to open their pocketbook. There are a lot of good players that are under the radar that would be perfect. (Think of the Jeff Keppingers - a former Met - of the world.
It's just 107 days before catchers and pitchers report....Oh, Ollie, that doesn't include you.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Trite? Yeah. Accurate - partly.
This was no ordinary season. Far from it. The Oliver Tolerance/Intolerance capped off what was one of the most see-sawed of emotions for a Mets fan. The big burst of wins in April/June - with the ebb of many heartbreaking losses.
It seems to be that the day before the final season, there is a big hope. '07 - Maine almost pitched a no-no, then Glavine tanked it with that Godforsaken first inning. In '08, Santana pitched a gem and then they lost in their final game at Shea. Yesterday, a nice W. Today....Typical Ollie - Walks in the winning run in the 14th.
Stan Laurel used to say, "I'm Sorry Ollie." Stan, so are we....so are we.
Rumor has it we are going to be replacing Jerry and Omar. I want someone who will be a rainmaker and get the most from their players, much like Buck Showalter has done with the lackluster Orioles. Minaya, well, he was a genius when he came on board and got Pedro Martinez and a few other good veterans to come to town, but he got lackadaisical -- and so did many of the players.
There are a few bright spots for the future. Ike Davis has shown he can play. Lucas Duda looks like he may swing a good bat and propel the cowhide with the maple ash. The heroes on the team, it goes without saying - Angel Pagan, R.A. Dickey and Hisanori Takahashi. Unexpected icing. Bring them back. Thole looks like he will develop into a good catcher.
It remains to be seen what the lineup will look like but if the above players can mesh and get it together, they can turn a once bad nucleus into a nuclear bomb that produces Ws and gives other teams Agita.
Who should go? Ollie. Castillo. Beltran (yeah, I said it), Maine and a few more ignobles. Who should come? Well, a lot of players, but we need to jerryrig the management (and send Jerry Manuel to pasture) and get the Wilpons to open their pocketbook. There are a lot of good players that are under the radar that would be perfect. (Think of the Jeff Keppingers - a former Met - of the world.
It's just 107 days before catchers and pitchers report....Oh, Ollie, that doesn't include you.
Friday, April 03, 2009
Keep in Mind...It's CitiField - NOT shefFIELD
Where do we start? Today was the first time the Mets walked onto a new field. For those keeping score, they walked on the Polo Grounds for the first time in'62, Shea in '64 and CitiField in '09.
So it was nice to see a "win" over the Red Sox as Manuel did a tune up before Monday's opening day. I was offered two tickets to the game, but unfortunately was unable to make it out there due to a few previous unbreakable commitments. (All I know is productivity for half of Metropolitan New York will be at a diminished rate from 1:10 p.m. on April 6 until the last pitch is tossed -- I plan to partake!).
News today also hinges on the signing of Gary Sheffield. Now, we all know he's a problem boy - and that's why Detroit let him go eating $14 million (stimulus $$$$ -?) of that contract and one HR shy of 500. Is this the makings of a dented can sale?
Omar was on WFAN today and basically summed it up, there is little downside risk. He's being signed at the Major League minimum (boy, we'd all like to have that!). So if he produces, we bought low and (can we? sell high. If he flops, cut bait.
Story in the Star Ledger: http://www.nj.com/mets/index.ssf/2009/04/sheffield_can_help_this_team_n.html
Now, my 2 cents...not a fan of Sheffield, but I do believe he can help the team as a pinch hitter and as a late inning defensive replacement. Would I go out and buy a Sheffield jersey? Nah. Do I think he will be around next year? Nah. Is he going to be part of the franchise? Nah. But, we need live bats and Yah - he's got one. Not for average. Not for clutch - just power. We are still trying to decide whether CitiField is a pitcher's or a hitter's park...I am hoping offensively, a hitter's and defensively, a pitcher's.
That's all for now...back soon!
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Gettin Ready for City Field...
Good Article today in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/05/sports/baseball/05stadium.html?_r=1&ref=sports
I was fortunate to get a ticket to the St. Johns -Georgetown game at the end of the month. It will be exciting to be at the first game at the new park, regardless who plays.
Shea was a great place. All the bashing and shortcomings people make of it, well, that's their loss.
Sure, I once sat in the last row of the loge in left field and couldn't see an outfielder (or two). Did I care? NO! I was at a baseball game.
The excitement is back. I'm worried about Santana's elbow a bit, but, let's face it, I rather he be safe and someone else pitch than to rush it for pomp and circumstance.
Before you read Belson and Sandomir's article, repeat this soothing mantra (NO, It is not "ommmmmmm" it's LET'S GO METS!
March 5, 2009
The Mets’ New Home: Call It the Anti-Shea
By KEN BELSON and RICHARD SANDOMIR
For those fans who hated Shea Stadium, fear not: Citi Field is nothing like its predecessor, the last bits of which lie in ruins a few hundreds yards away.
The Mets’ new park, which will open its doors for a Georgetown-St. John’s game March 29, is far more intimate than Shea and corrects some of the old stadium’s worst faults.
Citi Field will hold about 42,000 fans, 15,000 fewer than Shea. The park is enclosed and many seats wrap around the outfield, so it feels much cozier than Shea’s open-ended bowl, which favored watching football.
During an extensive tour of Citi Field on Tuesday, Jeff Wilpon, the team’s chief operating officer, spoke in the Acela Club, a restaurant in left field that will have 550 seats, table service, a bar and wine cabinets for frequent patrons.
“There’s all this light and air, and then you’re looking back at the field,” Wilpon said. “We want to make people feel they’re in a living room.”
The seats throughout the stadium are angled toward the center of the infield, reducing the need for fans, particularly on the field level, to crane their necks toward home plate.
Sitting in their seats, few fans will see the chop shops in Willets Point, the cars roaring past on the Van Wyck Expressway, the subway yards to the south or the U-Haul sign. They will still get a crystal-clear view of the planes on their final approach to La Guardia Airport. Some things never change.
Citi Field has many nooks and crannies that are nothing like Shea’s tired symmetry. The grandstand that hangs over right field, for instance, was inspired by the old Tiger Stadium, which Wilpon visited with his grandparents as a child. Fans in center field will get a bull’s-eye view of the bullpens, with Aaron Heilman only in the visitors’ half, which is on a slightly raised level, with some protection from fan saliva.
The 16-foot wall that rings much of the outfield means an Endy Chávez-like catch is unlikely, though.
Going for food or a bathroom break will be a lot easier. The concourses are far wider, bathrooms are more numerous and beer drinkers will not have to wander far for a microbrew. Gabila’s knishes will return thanks to convection ovens. (The old knishes were fried, which helps explain the heartburn they generated.)
The chance of a plumbing malfunction has also been reduced: the Mets have installed waterless urinals, an eco-friendly touch.
The walk from the subway station to Citi Field’s front entrance will take about as long as it took to reach Gate E at Shea, but an acre of planters, trees and other landscaping will usher fans to the new park’s brick exterior and ornate rotunda named for Jackie Robinson. Bricks embedded in the capacious plaza include inscriptions from fans who paid $195 to $345 for the privilege. Several applications were rejected because the language was deemed insulting of New York’s other baseball team.
Citi Field’s exterior is a splendid architectural response to the dullness of Shea, while the inner bowl is muted. Shea’s candy-colored plastic seats are gone (along with generations of chipped paint on the handrails) in favor of dark green seats everywhere.
“Dark green is the color of a classic ballpark,” said Dave Howard, the team’s executive vice president for business operations, as he stood ankle deep in snow. “And we thought the other team in town would use blue.”
Citi Field, with 28 different seating categories, also feels more fragmented than Shea, which had sections of box and reserved seats that stretched from one foul pole to the other. The collection of far smaller blocks of luxury suites, party rooms, restaurants and exclusive box seats spells exclusivity or exclusion, depending on your point of view.
Everything has a new name, as well. There’s the Ebbets Club, the Delta Sky360 Club and the Caesars Club. Seaver, Hodges and Stengel have their names on three of the five party suites. The name game is not done, either.
“In this economy, you don’t turn down sponsors,” Wilpon said. “Anyone who’s willing to pay. ...”
The suites, apparently, will not be just for baseball. Howard said that the club had already booked bar mitzvahs in the Caesars Club. A 150-seat auditorium could host corporate events.
While all the major construction is finished, many little touches remain. The kitchens are filled with refrigerators and even French fry baskets, but much of the equipment is unplugged, out of position and covered with layers of dust.
The much-improved sound system and scoreboards were getting a workout. A version of Johnny Nash’s “I Can See Clearly Now” played loud and clear. The LED scoreboards that line the facades were ready for June. One read: “David Wright .320 AVG 15 HR 66 RBI.”
Wilpon said the team had not decided who would throw out the first pitch on opening day April 13. But he said it would be great if President Obama did it on Jackie Robinson Day two nights later.
With the sun setting, dozens of employees were waiting in the parking lot next to the park before their orientation sessions. Gary Brown, who worked at a concession stand for two years at Shea, said he and his friend Faruk Stokes were looking forward to their new workplace.
“Any type of progress is a good thing,” said Brown, who lives in Corona, Queens. “It’s a beautiful facility. I just hope the team is more successful here.”
I was fortunate to get a ticket to the St. Johns -Georgetown game at the end of the month. It will be exciting to be at the first game at the new park, regardless who plays.
Shea was a great place. All the bashing and shortcomings people make of it, well, that's their loss.
Sure, I once sat in the last row of the loge in left field and couldn't see an outfielder (or two). Did I care? NO! I was at a baseball game.
The excitement is back. I'm worried about Santana's elbow a bit, but, let's face it, I rather he be safe and someone else pitch than to rush it for pomp and circumstance.
Before you read Belson and Sandomir's article, repeat this soothing mantra (NO, It is not "ommmmmmm" it's LET'S GO METS!
March 5, 2009
The Mets’ New Home: Call It the Anti-Shea
By KEN BELSON and RICHARD SANDOMIR
For those fans who hated Shea Stadium, fear not: Citi Field is nothing like its predecessor, the last bits of which lie in ruins a few hundreds yards away.
The Mets’ new park, which will open its doors for a Georgetown-St. John’s game March 29, is far more intimate than Shea and corrects some of the old stadium’s worst faults.
Citi Field will hold about 42,000 fans, 15,000 fewer than Shea. The park is enclosed and many seats wrap around the outfield, so it feels much cozier than Shea’s open-ended bowl, which favored watching football.
During an extensive tour of Citi Field on Tuesday, Jeff Wilpon, the team’s chief operating officer, spoke in the Acela Club, a restaurant in left field that will have 550 seats, table service, a bar and wine cabinets for frequent patrons.
“There’s all this light and air, and then you’re looking back at the field,” Wilpon said. “We want to make people feel they’re in a living room.”
The seats throughout the stadium are angled toward the center of the infield, reducing the need for fans, particularly on the field level, to crane their necks toward home plate.
Sitting in their seats, few fans will see the chop shops in Willets Point, the cars roaring past on the Van Wyck Expressway, the subway yards to the south or the U-Haul sign. They will still get a crystal-clear view of the planes on their final approach to La Guardia Airport. Some things never change.
Citi Field has many nooks and crannies that are nothing like Shea’s tired symmetry. The grandstand that hangs over right field, for instance, was inspired by the old Tiger Stadium, which Wilpon visited with his grandparents as a child. Fans in center field will get a bull’s-eye view of the bullpens, with Aaron Heilman only in the visitors’ half, which is on a slightly raised level, with some protection from fan saliva.
The 16-foot wall that rings much of the outfield means an Endy Chávez-like catch is unlikely, though.
Going for food or a bathroom break will be a lot easier. The concourses are far wider, bathrooms are more numerous and beer drinkers will not have to wander far for a microbrew. Gabila’s knishes will return thanks to convection ovens. (The old knishes were fried, which helps explain the heartburn they generated.)
The chance of a plumbing malfunction has also been reduced: the Mets have installed waterless urinals, an eco-friendly touch.
The walk from the subway station to Citi Field’s front entrance will take about as long as it took to reach Gate E at Shea, but an acre of planters, trees and other landscaping will usher fans to the new park’s brick exterior and ornate rotunda named for Jackie Robinson. Bricks embedded in the capacious plaza include inscriptions from fans who paid $195 to $345 for the privilege. Several applications were rejected because the language was deemed insulting of New York’s other baseball team.
Citi Field’s exterior is a splendid architectural response to the dullness of Shea, while the inner bowl is muted. Shea’s candy-colored plastic seats are gone (along with generations of chipped paint on the handrails) in favor of dark green seats everywhere.
“Dark green is the color of a classic ballpark,” said Dave Howard, the team’s executive vice president for business operations, as he stood ankle deep in snow. “And we thought the other team in town would use blue.”
Citi Field, with 28 different seating categories, also feels more fragmented than Shea, which had sections of box and reserved seats that stretched from one foul pole to the other. The collection of far smaller blocks of luxury suites, party rooms, restaurants and exclusive box seats spells exclusivity or exclusion, depending on your point of view.
Everything has a new name, as well. There’s the Ebbets Club, the Delta Sky360 Club and the Caesars Club. Seaver, Hodges and Stengel have their names on three of the five party suites. The name game is not done, either.
“In this economy, you don’t turn down sponsors,” Wilpon said. “Anyone who’s willing to pay. ...”
The suites, apparently, will not be just for baseball. Howard said that the club had already booked bar mitzvahs in the Caesars Club. A 150-seat auditorium could host corporate events.
While all the major construction is finished, many little touches remain. The kitchens are filled with refrigerators and even French fry baskets, but much of the equipment is unplugged, out of position and covered with layers of dust.
The much-improved sound system and scoreboards were getting a workout. A version of Johnny Nash’s “I Can See Clearly Now” played loud and clear. The LED scoreboards that line the facades were ready for June. One read: “David Wright .320 AVG 15 HR 66 RBI.”
Wilpon said the team had not decided who would throw out the first pitch on opening day April 13. But he said it would be great if President Obama did it on Jackie Robinson Day two nights later.
With the sun setting, dozens of employees were waiting in the parking lot next to the park before their orientation sessions. Gary Brown, who worked at a concession stand for two years at Shea, said he and his friend Faruk Stokes were looking forward to their new workplace.
“Any type of progress is a good thing,” said Brown, who lives in Corona, Queens. “It’s a beautiful facility. I just hope the team is more successful here.”
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Nice W over the Giants...Barry Zito? Zee-WHO???
I had the chance to take in some of the game today, live, in-person. It was the day before my final day at my job and I decided that Shea would be my venue for my lunch Menu.
Maine, in my opinion was paradoxical. He had several strikeouts, but looked like he was struggling and he put a lot of homo sapiens on base by issuing 4 balls out of the strike zone.
A bit later, I had to leave. My supervisor called for a 4pm meeting, so I left in the bottom of the 5th. OH, when I got back to the office, the meeting was canceled, else I would have parked it in the blue seats at Shea. A special thanks to the unnamed guy who gave me an extra ticket he had when I got shooed away from sneaking into the Box area. Us die hard Mets fans watch out for each other.
A special Kudos to Fernando Tatis who is tattooing the ball. A guy I sat next to at the game today had a British accent. He used to live in the US and then moved back to his native UK, but told me he catches ALL the Mets games online. He said he wasn't too familiar with Tatis, but as I was about to leave, he told me he liked the way he played. Can't argue with that London Logic.
So, the word Streak can now be used in a positive way as the Mets put more than 5 Ws together. It is all a matter of time. It's not how fast you play in May, but where you end up in late September.
For the true stat junkies, here is the box score.
Something else to ponder...I was listening to Steve Somers on WFAN and the topic was who to trade for Matt Holliday of the Rockies...a consensus was Aaron Heilman, and if you had to, Pelfrey. I'd go an alternative route: Heilman, Schoenweis and a prospect.
Maine, in my opinion was paradoxical. He had several strikeouts, but looked like he was struggling and he put a lot of homo sapiens on base by issuing 4 balls out of the strike zone.
A bit later, I had to leave. My supervisor called for a 4pm meeting, so I left in the bottom of the 5th. OH, when I got back to the office, the meeting was canceled, else I would have parked it in the blue seats at Shea. A special thanks to the unnamed guy who gave me an extra ticket he had when I got shooed away from sneaking into the Box area. Us die hard Mets fans watch out for each other.
A special Kudos to Fernando Tatis who is tattooing the ball. A guy I sat next to at the game today had a British accent. He used to live in the US and then moved back to his native UK, but told me he catches ALL the Mets games online. He said he wasn't too familiar with Tatis, but as I was about to leave, he told me he liked the way he played. Can't argue with that London Logic.
So, the word Streak can now be used in a positive way as the Mets put more than 5 Ws together. It is all a matter of time. It's not how fast you play in May, but where you end up in late September.
For the true stat junkies, here is the box score.
Something else to ponder...I was listening to Steve Somers on WFAN and the topic was who to trade for Matt Holliday of the Rockies...a consensus was Aaron Heilman, and if you had to, Pelfrey. I'd go an alternative route: Heilman, Schoenweis and a prospect.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Trounce The Yanks On Their Turf
Today was the first time this year I went 'cross town to the rivals' Yankees house and I must say, a friend and I were treated to a great game. Originally, this was slated for a Friday in May, but was rained out.
Mets were nothing short of brilliant. I have been rough, tough and salty on Delgado, but today, he had a very good day. 2 Hrs (one a granny, one a 3-run and doubled in 2 to give him 9RBI.
See Box Score
In essence, the Mets of today were like the Mets of 05, 06 and early 07 - run scoring machines.
Tonight, the second part of the day-night doubleheader, they are being shut out in the 7th. Boys, I hope that rally happens.
Well, on to Sunday, where I will be back at Shea and I just saw that --- GULP ---- Ollie Perez is pitching.
Not that I root against him, but he's consistent..that is, unpredictable. That's what we KNOW - but we don't know the outcome. All I ask is that Ollie has a break-out like Delgado.
Incidentally, Michael Kay on ESPN Radio was saying that Delgado's efforts today was a result of Major League pitching gone diluted.
Mets were nothing short of brilliant. I have been rough, tough and salty on Delgado, but today, he had a very good day. 2 Hrs (one a granny, one a 3-run and doubled in 2 to give him 9RBI.
See Box Score
In essence, the Mets of today were like the Mets of 05, 06 and early 07 - run scoring machines.
Tonight, the second part of the day-night doubleheader, they are being shut out in the 7th. Boys, I hope that rally happens.
Well, on to Sunday, where I will be back at Shea and I just saw that --- GULP ---- Ollie Perez is pitching.
Not that I root against him, but he's consistent..that is, unpredictable. That's what we KNOW - but we don't know the outcome. All I ask is that Ollie has a break-out like Delgado.
Incidentally, Michael Kay on ESPN Radio was saying that Delgado's efforts today was a result of Major League pitching gone diluted.
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