213 Miles From Shea

Yesterday we took a look at the 2010 Logo Set for the MLB Postseason. What's interesting about the logo's is that they are so different than logos used 2007 and earlier, but very similar to logos 2008 and later. The argument that I'm presenting, is that we are witnessing (very slowly) the idea of the Post Season as the Fall Classic. It's been referred to as the Fall Classic for a while but in terms of logo art, the idea of “Fall” has really been pushed on us.

Let's first take a step back, yearly logos for the World Series as far as I can tell, started in 1974. They changed (in terms of shape) yearly until '78 where the '78 and '79 logo's were nearly identical (note all images are from Sportslogo.net):

After 1979, the World Series had essentially the same logo from 1980 until 1986. The big initial change for this logo switch was for the first time since 1977, MLB put the year of Series in the logo, which was necessary to tell the logos apart from each other. And then they had the same logo from 1987 until 1991. If you notice, up until this point, the message in the art is baseball, and Americana (ie. Red, White and Blue):

Starting in 1992 thought, the concept of “World” really came into play in the art again. The MLB kept the idea of keeping the same logo set from 1992-93, changed the color for '94 (although there was no series in 94), then they changed the color of the logo in '95, and then changed the color again for the logo for '96 and '97:

Honestly from above, they all look incredibly similar, with the exception of the 1995 logo. The main common theme that started in 1992 and really will be pictured all the way through to 2007 is this idea of the globe, especially the globe designed in this grid form. After '97 season, the logo took slight change for the '98 and '99 season:

This was the first time the logo got more dynamic looking. The key characteristic of this logo was that it formed the bridge to the 2000-03 logos, which all looked very different, except for a few common themes that linked them together. The 2000 logo also really started this notion for a while (in fact until this day) that year to year the logos need to be different. Here is the first set:

So two themes here. The first is the one that started in 1992 of the globe that is portrayed like a grid. This look continues for a few more years. The one theme that starts in 2000 and ends in 2003 is this sweeping or flying baseball across the back and in front of the logo. Besides those themes (and of course the MLB logo and year) these logos on the whole are different and unique. The next set of similar logos started in 2004 and ended in 2006:

Once again, the grid sphere. However where the sphere has generally maintained a common shape over the years, it was stretched, then became an actual sphere, and then streteched again. Two things I wanted to point out before moving on are the pennants in the '04 logo and the stiches on the '05 logo. Now here is my opinion, the 2006 logo is really the last logo for this concept of “World” in world city. Using the ability to see beyond the year 2007, looking at all of the logos toghether, the 2007 logo becomes the bridge to new fall theme because it downplays the global-grid theme:

Notice that the two other symbols pointed out in the 2004 and 2005 logos are in the 2007 logo above. It still has a circular look to it, but at this point is it a world or is it a baseball? Of course they want you to think its both (again a shout out to 2005) but its really the end of this “globe” idea. Starting in 2008, the fonts, colors (which I'll argue starts here), and symbols start to change to push this idea of “Fall” and “Classic”:

It is obvious from the above, that 2008 is the official start of a new set of logo design. First the words “Fall Classic” have been added to each logo. Also the colors, continuing from 2007 (thus my arguement for it being a bridge) are muted, they feel older and more classy. The fonts have now changed as well. They have left this space like, futuristic feel to return to a “classic” font. Also, outside of the word “World” there is no feeling of “World” which hadn't happened since 1991. Finally, the most crucial symbol addition is the leaf at the bottom of the symbol.

If I was more cynical, I would say this is a push to make the World Baseball Classic or appealing, because of the play of Classic but I think it has more to do with the Super Bowl and other major sports. Baseball's arguement for America's game is that has been here for so long so this push for classic, especially the Fall Classic is a push to keep reminding people that there is so much history in this game.

After a less than stellar road trip, the Mets open up a tough homestand tonight as they will start a series with the Reds before taking on the Braves. Amazingly on the road trip where the Mets went 3-4, they are still only 2.0 games back from first in the division and still hold the Wild Card spot by half a game. The Amazin's will face a team that started a bit of spiral earlier in the season on a road trip as the Reds took 2 of 3 from Amazins, with all three games being decided by one run. Before breaking down the pitchers for this matchup, I just wanted to talk about perceptions. The casual fan might see this series and say “Oh the Reds? That should be easy”. Well if it was last year that perception would be true but these Reds are a first base club and are playing good and dangerous baseball.

Big Pelf will be looking for a bounce back performance from hot and humid San Juan where he allowed 4 ER in 4.2 innings of work in a no decision game that the Mets eventually won 6-5. Mike has now pitched 104.1 innings on the season with a 10-2 record and a 2.98 ERA. He didn't face the Reds the first time around this season but last year he was 2-0 in two games against the machine while posting an ERA of 5.25 (7 ER over 12 IP). The Reds have these numbers on Pelfrey:

The Mets bats are coming off of a 14 hit, 9 run day in Washington and will try to bring that jump back to Citi. Harang on the season is 6-7 with a 5.02 ERA. In his last four games he has a 1-2 record over 23.2 innings while posting a 4.56 ERA. He missed the Mets the first time around this season and last year posted an 0-2 record in as many games against the Amazins while having an ERA of 6.75 (6 ER over 8 IP). The Mets have these numbers on Aaron:

Lets Go Mets!

After seeing some images leaked around the interwebs and slowly through
promotions, the majority of the Postseason logos are now in plain view
on the MLB website since you can now order your postseason tickets now.
Actually lets look into that for a second. I've never tried to get
postseason tickets, before, is this normal? I always felt like
reseverations started in September but apparently you can now request
to have the opportunity to buy them now (limit 2 per person). Strange
(or not, like I said before I don't know if this is a new thing or
not). Here are your 2010 MLB Post Season Logos (these are just a few of
them, over the last few years they started introducing multiple logos
for each event, but at least you get the main set here). All images are
from MLB.com:

(From Wii Ware)

There's something beautiful about the Hot Dog Eating Contest. America as a land of freedom and a place to share opinions allows people to become divided over their opinions on what is right and what is wrong. It allows us to debate about controversial issues in an arena where (hopefully) we all can be heard. One of the polarizing issues in this country is actually eating contests. As there are many Americans who love Major League Eating (seriously, that is the name) there are a lot of opponents to the league as well (for fairly obvious reasons including gluttony and boasting wasting food where others even this country starve).

Yesterday is the main day for MLE. It was their Superbowl, World Series, Daytona 500, etc because the July 4th Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest is the main contest that everyone knows about (the other ones are not nearly as well known). Mainly MLE has had a story line for the last 10 years or so as Kobayashi demolished the competition for 6 years in a row but has recently over the last 4 years been upstaged by Joey Chestnut.

This year Chestnut ate 54 hot dogs, a far cry from previous years, but still enough to beat the other eaters as second place was 9 dogs back. Joey's main rival wasn't there this year because he is fighting with MLE over a contract that will prevent him from eating in events that are not sponsored by the MLE (and I feel that Kobayashi is right in this regard). However Hot Dog fans, don't fret, as Kobayashi did make an apparence at this year's event as he stormed the stage after the show before being arrested.

It's a day later now and I'm assuming the news about this will stop today (unless something else major happens) as MLE takes its seat behind the MLS but in front of the NHL (I kid, I kid) as the least known major sports league in this nation. (Fun Fact though, MLE does have a video game).

Macfarlane Toys is a well known company for making incredibly detailed figures of sports players, movie characters and video game characters. Every year for baseball, they release a series of MLB figurines that feature some of the best (and most marketable) players in the game. Usually the figures come extremely pristine, like this David Wright figure from June 2007:

(Spawn.com)

Well this year they released a completely new product line called MLB Playmakers. Essentially, its a combination of their impressive eye for detail, and an action figure. The problem is that this makes for a pretty strange combination on the final product. The goal is to create a very poseable figure that has over 20 moving parts. However, when you want parts to move, you have to give up some degree of appearence so the final product looks like this:

(Spawn.com)

The above looks a little odd, but itx not that bad. However there is another version for David Wright, his batting version, and it has a more odd look:

(Spawn.com)

Some quick hits to go with your Monday morning Plain Bagel:

(NY Times)

The 2010 MLB All Star rosters were announced today and two Mets will be heading over to the West Coast to represent the National League team. The first one is no surprise, David Wright. The question about Wright would be if he would make the team as the starter. It was a little over a week ago that he was 130,000 votes down. However, he rallied and he will start at the hot corner. This of course makes sense because how can a player be in the MVP conversation and not be starting his position during the All-Star game. For Wright this will be his 5th trip the game in his 7th season in the bigs. All 5 selections have been consecutive.

The second Met was a surprise. Jose Reyes was selected thanks to the injury to Troy Tulo. At the beginning of the season it didn't look like Jose would deserve a trip to the game but he really turned it around in May and started to flash some power. It will be nice to see Reyes and Wright back in the game together since they really are linked together in their history with the Mets. This will be Reyes' 3rd trip the game.

The only “snub” on the Mets will be Mike Pelfrey. For a while it looked like Barajas really deserved it but he cooled off enough to sort of exit the conversation. Pelfrey is a victim of two things. The first that this is the year for pitchers in the National League and there are a lot of really good starters. Second, every team needs one representative. This combination keeps Pelfrey, sadly, on the other side of the All-Star door. If Strasburg made the team though, I would have been livid about this.

Trying to not talk too much about last night, the Mets dropped another game in the ninth inning or later which as we all know is extremely frustrating. Anyway, the Mets will attempt to put that behind them today as they go for a win on a National Holiday (Happy 4th Everyone!). The Mets will be sending out Takahashi who will go toe to toe with Stammen.

I'm not sure if you have noticed but Takahashi has two good games and then two bad games (He was good against the Yanks and Phils, then bad against the Padres and the Marlins, then good against the Orioles and theYankees and then bad again against the Tigers and the Marlins). He just finished his second bad game in a row, so I think its time for Takahashi to have a good game again. Takahashi hasn't faced the Nationals as a starter yet but as a reliever he is 0-0 while pitching 4.1 innings of shutout ball. The Nationals have these numbers on him:

Stammen has started 13 games this year for the Nationals and yet he only has 4 decisions to show for it as he is 2-2 with a 5.13 ERA. He missed sometime in June and in his last start back (June 29th) he picked up the win in 7.1 innings of work while allowing 2 ER and only 5 hits. He faced the Mets once this year where he had a no decision while allowing 4 ER in 5 innings on 4 hits and 4 walks. The Mets have these numbers against him:

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets play the 4:00 game today against the Washington Nationals and their star starting pitcher, Stephen Strasburg. Stephen has been dominating since coming up the majors (31.2 IP, 48 K, 2.27 ERA) however he has been plagued with a horrible curse. The Nationals just can't score runs when he pitches. That being said, I am worried about one aspect today when he pitches against us. When you look at the Mets as a team, we have a lot of free swingers at the plate, and lot of players that can easily fall to a strikeout. Strasburg is the type of pitcher that matches favorably against the Mets (for the opposition). The main strategy for Strasburg is to remember that he is a rookie and like all rookies, the Mets need to be patient at the plate. Take those borderline pitches, and force him the second time through the order to have to make those tough pitches.

The Mets will be sending out R.A. Dickey who will look to rebound from his last start. Up until his last time out, he was fantastic, and unbeaten, but we all know that streak had to end eventually and it did in San Juan. Overall on the season, R.A. is 6-1 with a 2.98 ERA over 51.1 innings. His first start was actually against the Nationals where he recieved a no decision while pitching 6 innings, allowing 2 ER, walking 4 and striking out 2. I feel its fair to say that he has become a different pitcher since that start, he has been made better with success. The Nationals have these numbers against Dickey:

Lets Go Mets!

With all of the coverage on politics these days (seriously, you turn on CNN/MSNBC/FOXNEWS and its just information about what politicians are doing, or opinions about them, and not the actual news) you would think an event like this would get more coverage, alas it doesn't (and that's probably a good thing). June 29th came and passed, and probably none of us realized that it was the annual Congressional Baseball Game. Honestly, I never even knew this was such a thing.

Anyway a bit of history. This is the 49th year of the Roll Call game and probably the 49th year of no one caring. Once again, that's not a problem. If you check out this album though, you will probably see the one redeeming aspect of the game, that every politician wears a jersey from their district (or that they are a fan of, I don't know enough about these people). Here's a photo of Representative Anthony Weiner representing the Mets:

(SBN Nation / NBC Washington)

If you are curious, the Democrats beat the Republicans by a score of 13-5. This was mainly due to a 9 run (yes 9) in the 9th inning. Thats a pretty big meltdown. Actually, I'm more impressed that they kept playing through all 9 innings.

*I don't live close to New York, I live outside of DC (thus why I'm even more surprised I didn't hear about this until now) and I'm assuming that this wasn't really covered up in New York. So if it was, my bad.