213 Miles From Shea

There have been a lot of “moments” in this season, which is just shy of being halfway over. The Mets have gone on horrible losing periods, and fantastic winning streaks and then alternating them to cause Mets fans to go nuts. There have been severe disappointments (hello Oliver Perez and John Maine) and we have had Amazin' performances (Dickey, Pagan, Tejada, Davis). In a year that has seen to winning streaks of 8 games, 6 consecutive home series wins, a 20 inning game, and a goose egg sweep, my favorite moment was not televised, reported, or talked about it.

It occured before the game in Washington (the one that Maine was pulled from and the Mets won 10-7). I had never seen batting practice like I did that night. At the beginning you had the big names like Reyes and Wright out there, but after they went down into the tunnel, it was time for Chirs Carter and Ike Davis.

All They Did Was Hit Bombs.

Seriously they put on a clinic during that batting practice on how to swing for power. Every swing looked great, and just about every ball left the ball park. In typical Davis fashion, they left the ball park. After being mesmerized for this for a few minutes, wishing I had a videotape recorder (seriously I must be the only 21-year old to not automatically think about grabbing a phone to take pictures of this or something) I looked around to see if anyone else was watching this display of skill, talent and strength, and no one really was. It was a moment though where you can see the immense ability these players, especially Davis have, and makes you appreciate that they are on your team.

I recently thought about this moment becuase of a quote from Jeff Francoeur that was posted on Metsblog after Sunday's game:

Ok time to redeem myself for not exactly being the most tech-savvy person on Earth. For those of you who are not in the loop with poplular culture stupid in this sense means basically the opposite of what it used to. It basically means amazing or crazy (more of the latter). Basically its an amplifier, meaning greater in a positive sense. I'm not exactly sure where this started, but if I had to put a finger on it, I would say the Hyphy movement in the Bay Area. Hyphy here meaning Hyperactive or a subculture of hip-hop that literally likes to act hyperactive. This is the same movement that brought us Ghost-Riding the Whip (putting your vehicle in drive, getting out and dancing on it), Stuntin Shades, E-40 (rapper) and Mistah F.A.B. (rapper). Some songs you might want to check out for information include Tell Me When To Go – E-40, Ghost Ride It and Stupid Dumb and Hyphy both by Mistah F.A.B.

Anyway back on track. Francoeur really puts it right. Davis has pop. His homers remind of shades of Cliff Floyd who never seemed to hit a small homer, they all were monsters (I can still hear in my mind “Cliff Floyd Off The Scoreboard!”) and thats where Davis stands. If he plays long enough with the Mets, Shea Bridge might become David Bridge or the Pepsi Porch will probably become Davis Porch. Its as if the Mets play in the House that Ike Built.

Next time you find yourself at a Mets batting practice, watch Davis and Carter, and hope that you get to watch the show that I got to see, because it's just like the Home Run Derby, all it needs is Chris Berman (actually, can we get Berman to just call Batting Practice, that would probably be entertaining).

Some quick hits to go with your Wednesday Morning French Toast Crunch:

The Mets look to rebound after last night's loss with game two of this series. Game one featured some great offense from Jason Bay, but pretty much the rest of the game, the Mets looked flat. In baseball's usual drama of parallels, both starting pitchers tonight have struggled against their opponents and both starting pitchers are looking to rebound from recent outings.

One player on the Mets who really needs a rebound is Takahashi. He goes in waves of being good and then being and then being good again. Sadly in his last outing he was in lower part of his performance wave and he is now 6-3 with an 3.78 ERA. Even more bad news for him will be that he has faced the Marlins several times this year already and has recorded 8 ER while pitching 9.2 innings. The good news for him is that he is calm and generally strives to overcome his own challenges. Here are the numbers for the Marlins against Hisanori:

The Mets will get another shot at Nate Robertson tonight, who is 5-6 on the season with a 4.89 ERA. He has faced the Amazin's three times this season with a 2-1 record and has allowed 10 R (9 ER) in 15 innings of work. The Mets can hit off him, and they will need to do so again tonight. In his last four starts he has pitched 18.2 innings and allowed 14 ER. The Mets have these numbers off of him:

Lets Go Mets!

This month I'm trying something new. Instead of forcing the rest of the major league into one promotion preview article, I'm going to break it up into two which should allow me to focus more on the cool things that teams are doing and should also save me some sanity as this article, for 29 teams, generally takes a long time to write when its all in one part. Anyway, your American League highlights (all images via the mlb.com network of sites):

Baltimore: Right off the bat they get an automatic mention in this article as on July 17th they will be giving out an orange replica Brooks Robinson Jersey. Awesome. Also, they will be giving out an item I'm surprised you don't see more often at the ballpark: the tankard. It just seems logical to have this at the game because its fantastic for home bars. Anyway besides that, the Orioles are their normal self as they will also be fitting in two t-shirt nights in the month as well. Good work Baltimore. Here's the Brooksie Jersey:

New York AL: They get an automatic mention on the other way to recieve instant praise in this article series. They will be giving out a collectible Yankee Stadium pin. Pins are always great.

Tampa Bay: This is fantastic. In the beginning of the month they are having a Vanilla Ice concert and they are giving away David Price shirts that say “Price Price Baby”.

Kansas City: Hat giveaways are common. However sometimes a team makes a hat that is really worth noting and this one of them. Check out this old time KC hat:

And then not to be outdone by their own creation. They do it again in their annual celebration of the KC Monarchs:

Twins: Easily the best bobblhead I have seen in a while. Maybe the best on the season:

Oakland: Automatic mention for a free Jersey,

Come back tomorrow for National League July Promotion Look!

Some quick hits to go with your Tuesday morning Golden Grahams:

The Marlins have been having a rough week. They fell below .500, they fired their manager, their owners have really unreasonable expectations for the team although they refuse to pump money into the club, and now their is talk of a firesale looming. You what they need? They need a vacation. How about Puerto Rico? You what would be nice as well? Some company. The Marlins were nice enough to invite the Mets on their trip down to the PR as the Mets and Marlins face off in an NL East showdown outside the country as Ricky Nolasco and the fish will try to stop R.A. Dickey and the Mets.

The legend of R.A. Dickey looks to continue tonight as the Mets knuckleballer makes his 8th start of the season. So far in his first 7 starts, Dickey is 6-0 with an ERA of 2.33 over 46.1 innings. He faced the Marlins once this season so far pitching 6.1 innings while allowing 3 ER, walking 2 and striking out 4. His ERA at the end of that game for the season was 3.20, and now its 2.33 so that gives an idea about how he has been trending since then. Anyway the fish have these numbers on R.A.:

The Mets will face Nolasco again tonight as the former ace of the Marlins staff tries to get his season bac on track. On the season he is 6-6 with a 4.97 ERA. He has made 5 starts in the month of June with a 2-2 record over 27.2 innings pitched and a 5.53 ERA. The season is almost halfway over, and Ricky has already faced the Mets three times with a 1-0 record over 18 innings pitched while recording an ERA of 4.00. The Mets have these numbers on Nolasco:

There are some items out in that giant ocean of sports marketing that really make you stop and think about why this item exists. It is not generally an expression of whether the object is awesome or not, just that its supreme lack of practicality leaves its creation in doubt of cause. I had one of those moments last week when I logged onto MLB.com and saw this:

It's a Mets Toaster. But no ordinary Mets Toaster. Most major sports teams kitchen appliances just stop at the logo on the piece of equiptment, but these toasters, which exist for multiple leagues (not just ever MLB team) go a step farther. They burn a logo onto your toast. Seriously look at the photograph. I have only been able to think of one time when this would be useful. Picture this, you live in a two team house. Your team just beat your (roomate/wife/husband/sibling/parent)'s team in the World Series the previous night. They are upset, you offer to make them breakfast to make them feel better and you hand them toast of this machine. Thats it, thats the only thing I can think of.

Luckily my friends and family are more creative than I am. I've been talking about this device to everyone I know to see if anyone else can think of a good use for this device. The best answer came from my Mom when I went home the other day to visit the folks. After living in Baltimore for over 20 years, my Mom has become an Oriole sympathizer fan to go along with her fandom of the Mets. She feels that if you make Oriole toast and spread Orange marmalade on it, then its an Oriole themed breakfast. Going on this theme, I guess you could do the same with the Mets and put blue sprinkles or something on it. Well, I guess I have some new breakfast foods for Mets breakfast in the future.

In the month of July the Mets (on mets.com) have 5 promotion days planned featuring shows and giveaways. Sadly this month, I have only been able to find a picture for one of the giveaways, so we'll have to use our imagination for the others. Anyway the month starts off with a July 5th celebration against the Reds as the Mets have an Independence Day Pryotechnics Night. I'm not really sure what that means in terms of theme, but if they do this right it could really be awesome. (In other words, I'm not sure if this is just a fancy way to say there will be fireworks after the game or if it actually will be a celebration of pryotechnics, with demonstrations etc. I'm hoping for the latter because science, fire, and baseball makes a great combination.)

Anyway the next actual promotion will be on July 10th where the Mets will be giving the 25,000 fans Jose Reyes drawsting bookbags:

(mets.com)

This is the basic drawstring promotion, but they remain to failry popular (and they should be). I'm actually amazed how over time these backs start to look more like actual jerseys.

The next three giveaways we will have to take on faith because there are no photos for them (yet). First there is the Jason Bay bobblehead which will be given to the first 25,000 fans on July 11th. I really wish there was a photo of this. Anyay its really hard to mess up a bobblead giveaway so it will probably be a hit (hahahahaha). The next promotion will be on the 29th for the first 25,000 fans. This time the lucky fans will get an umbrella. I really can't make a review or an opinion about it though, without seeing it. Finally the last promotion will be the next day an will be a free shirt. My opinion of free shirts is the same as every other college student out there in the states which is we don't need to actually see it, its a free shirt so there for it is good.

Some quick hits to go with your Monday morning Diet Coke with Bacon*:

*This was an April Fools Press Release from 2006.

The Mets beat the Tigers by the score of 6-0 today at Citi Field, and before we get to the game itself I just wanted to throw some numbers at you. The Mets now have 11 shutouts on the year (tied with the Padres for the most), the Mets have now won 6 consecutive home series including the Yankees (2-1), Phillies (3-0), Marlins (3-0), Padres (2-1), Tigers (2-1) and the Twins (2-1). With the exception of the Marlins (maybe) those are all good ball clubs. Finally with the win today, the Mets have a shot of having the best interleague record. If the Rangers lose tonight, then they will drop to 13-5 and they will split the title, also if the Red Sox win then it will be a three way tie but the Mets had the best interleague record in the National League.

Anyway back to today. Today's story was pitching and power. Niese came out rebounded nicely from his last start (which has an asterisk by it anyway due to the rain) and recorded 6 shutout innings on his way to 4 wins in his first 5 starts since returning from the DL and the Mets have won all 5 of his starts. The bullpen that came in behind him threw some 0's on the board as Dessens pitched in and out of trouble, Feliciano made quick work of Twins and then Parnell came in, to finish the job.

The power was also there for the Mets this afternoon as Francoeur put the Mets on the board first with a two run homer. He was then followed by Wright who sent out his 14th of the year and 2 more RBI's (bringing him to 61) and then was directly followed by Ike Davis and his 9th of the year which was an absolute bomb. Also worth noting is Feliciano (Jesus) stroking 3 hits this afternoon. If you feel that Wright has been hitting a lot lately, he has, and his average is now an even .300 on the year.

Next up for the Mets is another road trip where they will face the bottom two teams of the division. They have a three game set starting tomorrow in Puerto Rico where the Marlins will be the home team and then they will have a four game set in Washington before returning home. Before June, a road series meant a loss of momentum, but the Mets have proved this month they can play on the road so lets keep the ball rolling in Puerto Rico. Lets Go Mets!