213 Miles From Shea

You know that book I always quote for Stats and rankings, well this was last years, its interesting to see what they got right, and what they got horribly wrong

Sporting News Preview 2006 Big Book

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Power Ranking, Mets 3^rd NL

Four Analysts Said that Leyland and the Tigers was the worst Managerial Move

One Analyst said that Carlos Beltran was the most Overrated Player

Out of Eight Analysts, only 2 said the Mets would win the East, 6 said the Braves.

Four said Mets in Wild Card (Both who said Mets in the east, said Braves in the wild card)

3 Had the Mets in the NLCS, Once being beat by the Cubs, and then 2 saying the Mets over the Braves and Cards

2 Had the Mets losing in the World Series

In the overall Power Poll, The Mets were ninth

For the actually Ranking Portion:

Mets 2^nd in the NL East

Jose Reyes 7.7

Paul Lo Duca 7.9

Carlos Beltran 9.0

Carlos Delgado 8.6

David Wright 8.4

Cliff Floyd 8.1

Xavier Nady 5.7

Kazuo Matsui 6.0

Rankings for other Mets 07 starters

Jose Valtine  NR

Moises Alou 8.0

Shawn Green 7.2

No win, but no loss…so its good i guess. The end score was 5-5 thru 11 innings.

Todays offense was a big part of the story for me. First off, Delgado was finally back in the lineup. He went 1-3 today (single) but just being in the lineup was great.

Beltran and Wright both had a big day. Beltran was 1-4 today, but his one hit was a 2-run shot off former Met, Petit. David Wright, who was in the 2 spot today, went 1-2, with 2 walks, and a solo shot of Petit.

Castro continued his refound offense skills by going 1-3 with a double today (nice to know that we have a back up catcher who can actually hit) Sierra also had his 5th RBI today.

Jose Reyes, had an unusual calm day at the plate going 1-4, but he also had his fifth steal of the season,

Seems like the team is starting to get the rust of the winter off.

Glavin allowed 2 earned runs over 4 innings, and 4 runs overall, there was a lot of shotty defense out there in the second inning, and probably if this game was played two months from today, it would have been scoreless.

Scott Schowneis went for 1.2 innings today, and had 0 ER, there was a run tho from bad defense again. He also had a strikeout

In the battle for the 22 yearold in the pen, Smith had an inning of work today where he allowed no hits, no runs, no walks and had 2 strikeouts

Niiiiiiice

Head over to http://www.dailybaseball.blogspot.com

for news about the Phllies and Rowand, Lieber….News about Dice-K, Cliff Lee, and Piazza

In todays first game, the “B” game, the Mets took a step in a postive direction with a nice win. Here are some of the stats:

Today was F. Mart's day. He was 3-3 with a walk and a double.

Nice Nice Nice…he was having a combination of a rough spring but more along the lines of not enough AB's, getting 4 plate apprearences and performing this is a really good sign.

In that race for the 25th spot, Johnson added another RBI (4) in a day when he went 1-4 overall

In bad news, Hernandez continued to struggle, going hitless in 3 AB

This kid consistently does great in the winter, gets to the MLB and freezes.

The only pitching line i think that is important to report is that Sosa went four innings and allowed a run.

Recap of an exciting game so far with the Marlins when its over

Well this was an interesting guide. I like what was in it, had a lot of prospect analysis but i'll get to the big thing i didnt like…

Mets 2nd in the NL East

(But they do say Playoff apperance)

All of these rankings are out of 5:

Rotation 4

Infield 5

Catching 4

Defense 3

Bullpen 4

Outfield 3

Bench 2

Management 4

Ok, two things I dont agree with. With they way they ranked the bench as a 2, then the rotation is def, a 3. On that same note, a 2 for the bench! Come on….the Bench is much better than that.

They list the propsects like this: Pelfry, FMart, Humber, Gomez, Niese, Guerra, Garcia, Carp, Pena, Joe Smith…This gives a nice list for prospect looks for thsi blog.

GAHHHHHHHHHH The mets lost today 7-6 in extra innings

All I can say is that this came probably will be the one that blocks Soler from the 25 man roster at the start of the season. When he got the game, it was 6-1 lead. The events from him turned it 6-5 and later with other pitchers 6-6 and 6-7 nationals

For those of you who watched Soler last year. He was exactly how he was last year when he got in trouble, his nibble pitching was off the mark and caused him to walk a lot and later give up a 3-run shot.

On the flip side, Perez went 4 innings and 1 ER today, which was very pleaseant and good to know that he could do.

Now for the offense. It was actually there today. In the second inning Johnson and Newhan went back to back in homruns. In Milledge's first AB of the day, he hit a Homerun. Jose Valetin also had a homerun today…so the offense was there today.

Green had another good day too with a double and an RBI. Chavez also had an RBI.

In the race to be the 25th man, Johnson and Newhan both had big days. We already know that they both hommered, and I belive Newhan leads RBI for the Mets. Johnson today passed Jose Reyes for the most TB's on the team…this will go down to the wire. Right now, i beileve, Newhan has the upper hand because he did play last year (more than Johnson).

The Notes for Sierra are actually ingame notes. He would have had the Mets' fifth homerun of the game, but he was robbed by Logon.

Now I got two pieces of Milledge exchanges. One is a Milledge being Milledge. A few days ago, Milledge got his hair cut. He took his hair, put it in two bags, gave one to Randolph and one to Manuel.

This is a good human interest story.

The second piece is, before todays game, before batting practice, Milledge was joking around with Logan of the Nationals. Once BP started, Sandy jokingly, in an apparently funny tone, told Milledge “Get his address, get his phone number already and get to work” and all parties walked away laughing.

Well, we all knew that Schmol would have an outside shot for roster, and unforently, it was made official recently that he was placed in the Mets Minor League Camp now…we will still see him in some more training games.

I like this kid, and i dont know why more people feel the same

Before listening to todays game on 660 (via the net…HAHA gameday audio, cant take my money now) i had two straight fantasy drafts…wow that was a lot of baseball so far today…i will eventually have them up on Daily Baseball. Feel free to post ur teams on Daily Baseball on posts related to fantasy baseball…and leave updates on how ur team is doing during the season.

Well its spring training, and the games dont count…but i cant help to feel sad each time I look at the boxscore.

Today the Mets lost 9-5, now in this dark streak of losses, there were a few bright spots and a few dark spots.

Lets start with batting…because today there were two big accomplishments.

First off, CARLOS BELTRAN HAD HIS FIRST HOMERUN OF THE SPRING SEASON. He also doubled his RBI for the spring, which is now at 4…so this was a good thing.

In other news, Green had two hits, with an RBI. So yesterday he had 1, today he had 2…by pattern, tommorow he should have 3…it might now work that way but lets hope.

Alou also had a double today. More importantly, Alou had an RBI double off a left handed pitcher, showing off what Alou is good at.

There were 11 hits today, so check out …including a stolen base by milledge

Now for the pitching.

The GOOD: John Maine 3 innings, 3 hits, 3 SO's, 0 ER, spring ERA = 0. Wagner, shutout inning.

The BAD: Heilman, 4 ER in one inning…UGH…come on man……there is so much talent in the bullpen, but similar to the outfield postion, incumbents will get the upper hand. and Humber allowed 3 runs as well…which is also frustrating.

So after reading that…you probably need some relief of some sort. Check out http://www.dailybaseball.blogspot.com

today is a small bit about helton, lester, and a look at NL East SLOGANS

Tommorow is going to be really bad…I can already see it.

The Mets lost to the Orioles 8-7 today. It is not as bad as it seems. I checked the game when it was in the bottom of the fifth (before the Mets scored runs that inning) and the score was 7-0 Orioles…so seeing the final score was a nice surprse…sort of

Defense was an issue today. I believe from the box, three of those 8 runs the Orioles scored were not earned runs. Jose Valetin made his second error in two days, Reyes had one and so did Vargas.

You need to play Basics in order to win.

Starting with the offense, Shawn Green, a DH today, got his first hit in Spring as he went 1 for 5…so maybe Fracno helped? Im not sure but he has to turn it up to secure his spot. Chavez had an RBI today and is still making a good run for that position and Johsnon, a bit of a darkhorse, had a great day at the plate with a homer, and he could def. take that position.

Reyes being the beast that he is, had a double, three RBI, and stole his fourth base of Spring….In short he is amazing and Soriano better watch his records, cause in the future they will disapear to this guy.

In other Mediocre batting news, Alou had a hit and is hittin an amazing .125…woooo

Millidege also had a big day with 2 TB and 1 RBI…Thank god, he needs to produce more many reasons. And the Mets second Jose Reyes (the catcher) also played today and had a hit.

Now For todays pitchings notes

We all know that El Duque is good, or he is bad. Today he was bad going two innings and 5 runs….oy oy oy oy….well hope for a better start next time

Pelfry had a good day, he had 0 ER over 3 innings, with 2 UER, His ERA for spring remains at 0…so his stock is on the rise now (meaning humber has to be amazing next time out.)

Vargas went 2 innings with 3 hits and no runs…making the race for the rotatiom more interesting.

Schoneiws, continued to impress with a perfect inning (his bullpen spot i think is wrapped up now)

Joe Smith over Burgos? They are both 22 and Smith had a one hit inning today, improving his spring…this could go down to the wire

In other news former Met, former Rockie, and current enemy Mike Hampton will miss out till late April or early May due to a obligue strain

Please dont get me rong tho, i hate (yes actually hate, very strong word) people who wish other players get injuried…i just feel its beyound rude and inhumane

The Mets took a step back today on the Road to 500 at Spring Training with a loss today to the BoSox making their record at 3-5.

Here are some of the game notes, starting with the batting:

Jose Reyes continued his great spring going 2-4 with his 3rd Stolen Base

Continuning to solidify his spot on the Bench, Newhan drove in his 7th RBI today. DWright also had an RBI today

The big Bat came from Easley who hit a three run homrun that at the time tied the game at 5, and also helped him with getting that spot on the bench

Pitching highlights:

Park did ok with one run over 3 innings…good for his first start of the spring, but has to get better to get that fifth rotation spot. Sele, giving up 4 runs, really hurt his chances of making the 25 man roster. Schmol had a good outing, a scoreless, hitless, walkless inning that should raise his stalk as Feliciano did the same with 2 strikouts.

The big problem came to Burgos who loaded the bases and gave up a walk off grand slam

Shake It off, i still think u will make the team and your gonna have a big year, knock on wood

Head over to http://www.dailybaseball.blogspot.com for some other general baseball news from today

Franco taught Green how to swing again today…

MLB.com says that the results were “Awesome”

Franco was helping Green change his stance, and then Green started to hit all the pitches, They were flying all over the place each one being dubbed “Awesome”

Franco is saying that Green is now hitting the bottom of the ball. The problem was that his weight was too balanced over his feet and Franco feels that for Green it should be 70-30 in favor of his left leg.

Maybe he will get some hits agaisnt the Orioles tommorow, which will make a great day Friday…i.e. no harrasment in Baltimore

In other news Pedro threw about 10 pitches today

In other other news the Mets lost to a walk off grand slam today…more on that later

Brian Bannister hit Mike Piazza in the arm yesterday resulting in a bruised tricept for Mike. He left the game (ESPN and The Sun)

Normally I dont report HGH or steriod use, but I had to in this case.

If you ever needed another reason to dislike John Rocker, here it is, he is now linked to that steriod raid in Alabama.

But dont get to crazy, there really isnt much of a story here. It was prescribed just for medical reasons for the rotator cuff tear he had in 03

I still dont like him

Story at Yahoo Sports