213 Miles From Shea

In the second installment for the Major Leagues best promotions. Today we look at the National League, which on the whole, will be much more interesting in August 2010 than the American League. There has been one common theme between the two leagues, the catcher bags for kids. I guess all the teams were pitched this last offseason and a lot of them said yes? I'm not sure, but there are a lot of them.

Atlanta: The Braves will be having a very special Hall of Fame Induction this year where they will be inducting, now legendary, Tom Glavine into their hall of fame. It is beyond special because the Braves will also be raising up the #47 as the retire the number.

Florida: Seriously what is up with all of the Catcher style bookbags this month? Well the Marlins will have their Baker bag:

Washington: Fans are getting DVD's in the District this month. DVD's of Strasburg's debut. Even if he was a New York Met, I would think this promotion is a little much, but whatever:

Cinncy: Yep, another team with the catcher's bag:

Houston: Also has to join in the catcher bag fad:

Brewers: Some great bobbles this month out of one of the more creative franchises. First up they have one of the racing sausages in a bobble. Next, they celebrate the decades with a rental player, CC. Yeah, they are really doing that:

Pittsburgh: A bobble with attitude. Oh, and they have a bag as well:

Arizona: This is a first, they will be giving a replica of not their actual stadium, but their Spring Stadium. Bizarre.

LA Dodgers: Sometimes you see a bobblehead that makes you go “wow”. This is one of those:

I have always found All-Star teams intriguing in the sense that how does one expect to put together tons of talent from across the league, give them a day or so to work together, and then expect them to be a great team. It just doesn't quite gel (this is where those who really believe in team chemistry rejoice). The problem is that there aren't many sports that this can be proven in because you have to assemble a team of all-stars that are close in talent to a team for another league. For example, MLB All-Stars against teams in Japan is not a fair assessment because the play level is completely different. You can't take an MLB team and play them against MLB All-Stars because players should be on both teams.

However, for those of us who are interested in this really bizarre and unimportant topic, there is a league who has to rely on this: MLS. Because of the MLS development, there is not enough All-Star talent yet to field two teams in the MLB so they decide to do something much more interesting, bring in a big name team (For the record, they can do tradtional East West games, but it is not as interesting). This year it was Manchester United. While the players in the EPL (English Premier League) are better than those in the MLS, the MLS All-Stars should be on par with Manchester United. So here the difference is how the team works.

MLS has used this system since 2003 till now (with the exception of 2004) and in each of those games so far, the All-Stars have lost. Its starting to be clear that either our All-Stars suck, or their really is something to concept of a team. Just food for thought I guess.

An Open Letter to ESPN, Fox, and other non-SNY/WPIX/WFAN announcers:

To whom it may concern:

Hi, I'm a Mets fan and I have bone to pick with you guys. This is not one of those, I am angry about what you say about my team, or why don't you respect my team rants. This is a request to make sure you actually supply the public with correct information when talking about the big, spacious ball park, the Mets play in. There are a lot of stats out there that can be very misleading, especially when you don't fully explain them.

While the ball park is big, there are some key numbers you need to remember to represent correctly. While it is accurate to point out that David Wright has only hit 4 out of 15 homers at home this season, you need to stop talking about his power outage last year and the connection to Citi Field. While he may have altered his swing, he had an even split of 5 and 5 for homers at home and on the road. So, for example, if you want to use last year's example of Wright, you need to mention that he hit an even amount of homers on the road and at home and if Citi had an effect, it had one on his swing, that it became a mental issue (or you could talk about the protection he had in the lineup, which was minimal at best).

The other player you need to present more information on is Jason Bay. Yes he is really struggling this year, but its possible, just possible, that is not entirely the dimensions of Citi-Field to blame. He is by definition a streaky hitter and he has not gotten on a power streak yet. If he hit all 6 of his jacks on the road, I would be inclined to agree with you that it is a home problem, however is also splitting them 3-3 home and away (and for what its worth, his slugging is about 100 points higher at home, thanks to triples). Also for what its worth, last year he hit 15 homers at Fenway while hitting 21 on the road.

So please announcers, you can continue to talk about how big of a stadium the Mets play in, and you can talk about how the Mets have changed their swings to take advantage of it (thus players like Bay having a higher slugging percentage because balls they hit out in the gaps, that could be singles in other parks can quickly become doubles and triples against teams that are not used to the dimensions), but please be careful when you talk about homers, because you may misrepresent the numbers, and then in the end it, it is you who looks foolish.

A Disgruntled Statstician,
Elliot Teichman

The Mets lost a really tough game last night as they came back to tie to 7-7 but lost it in extras. Tonight is a crucial game as the Mets need to keep winning, or establishing some form of momemntum, and not suffer from a hangover from last night's game. Anyway todays game will feature RA Dickey vs Blake Hawksworth.

Dickey makes a start after a frustrating start for him, but not for the normal reasons. Before he was taken out of the game he was dealing pitching 5.2 scoreless innings and then he was pulled for an injury. He was, rightfully so, furious about that. On the season he is still 6-4 but now with a nice 2.55 ERA. In the month of July he was 0-3 but he pitched 33.1 innings with a 1.89 ERA (showing that record may not actually be his fault). In 2009 he pitched 1.1 scoreless innings against the Cards who have these numbers on R.A.:

The Mets bats will get a chance at Blake Hawksworth this afternoon who is 4-6 with a 5.23 ERA. His record in his last three games is a 2-1 with an ERA above 6. He has logged three innings against the Mets this year not allowing any runs but allowing 4 hits. The Mets have these numbers against Blake:

The Mets go for two straight tonight as the ace Johan Santana takes on Jamie Garcia. Last night, the Mets took on one of the best pitchers in the league in Wainwright and unloaded on him as the bats finally came alive and smashed in 8 runs as the Mets took the opener 8-2. Santana is 8-5 on the season with a 2.79 ERA. He picked up a win in his last outing as he allowed only one run over 7 innings. In the month of July he has made 5 starts with a 3-0 record over 38.0 innings pitched and a 0.71 ERA while walking 10 and striking out 26. He got a no decision earlier this season against the Cards in one of the most famous games of the season where he threw 7 scoreless innings in a 20 inning game. The Cards have these numbers on Johan:

Where was Garcia on that day where the Mets and the Cards played 20 innings? Garcia was starting that day!. Yessir, this is a rematch of that nearly 700 pitch game. He pitched 7 scoreless innings that day and on the season he is 9-4 with a 2.21 ERA. The Mets have put up the following numbers on Garcia over his short career:

Lets Go Mets!

As normal, the beginning of a new month means its time for our monthly tour around the majors for creative promotions. Same rules as always. To make this list, the promotion has to be interesting, a free jersey, crazy or a lapel pin. Today we will explore the American League, tomorrow the National League. Yesterday was Mets only and Friday will be Mets minors. All images via MLB.com:

Baltimore: The Orioles finish up their three part mini-bobblehead series with Nick Markakis. The three bobbleheads join together to create the Camden outfield. Also the Orioles are doing something that I have heard before, but I guess I never really recognized it. They will be giving out backpacks for children that look like catcher chest protecter. This one is of course for Matt Wieters, picture below:

Cleveland: Lofton “The Catch” Bobblehead. Ineteresting perspective for the website shot:

Kansas City: When most teams want to celebrate an anniversary of a championship, they give out hats, pennants or posters. The Tigers are giving out a coaster set. I love the combination of history and function:

Seattle: Free Jerseys For Kids:

Texas must be thinking on the same lines as Baltimore:

Some quick hits to go with your Wednesday morning Cranberry Juice: