G-Fafif

For those of us who grew up in the 70s and early 80s, we don't have too many wonderful memories from Shea Stadium. I realize this isn't the point of this thread, but can everybody who writes ledes like this -- even if or especially if your shtick is Long Suffering Mets Fan -- be reassigned to lacrosse? (No offense to any lacrosse fans out there.)

Blow a shofar For Wilfredo Tovar And Herrera? Dilson's not here, man. Two more cross over to the minor side of St. Lucie.

Zvon wrote: Wow, what a shot. That is quite a find. That has to go on a card. 67 or 68 Topps? And in ten years, it can go on a 77 or 78 Topps.

MLB is eliminating paper ASG ballots. Voting was 80% online last year already. Trends, modernity, inevitability. But what fun is that?

No longer joining us at major league camp: Matt Bowman, Tyler Pill, Hansel Robles, Cody Satterwhite and Gabriel Ynoa. Each was told to go and be a minor leaguer again, just like Brandon Nimmo, Gavin Cecchini and Xorge Carrillo were previously.

There was a Colombian kid in eighth grade who wore gym shorts over his sweats. Always made me think of Tito. (He also wore a headband.) Difference between '74 and '75, I realize now that I'm thinking about it, was in fifth grade ('74) the exercise felt if not exactly obligatory but something I had to do. 660-card set, came close, eventually got 'em all. It was business on some level. In sixth grade ('75), the pursuit was pure joy. Maybe it was all those bright colors, maybe it was seeing Joe Torre get a Mets card so soon after he was traded. Also I was in a better mood in sixth than I was in fifth, getting out of elementary school soon, which struck me as mind-boggling. There was a textbook with an illustration of what Europeans supposedly thought the world looked like before Columbus, with dragons awaiting those so foolish to sail off the edge of the map. I think I wondered if that's what happened once dared to voyage to junior high. (Seventh grade turned out to kind of suck but it was too late to turn back now.) Anyway, got the 660 cards in '75, too, though I needed to give some wise guy a couple of bucks in 1978 for the last couple I was missing. It was worth it. It's four decades later and I'm exulting in it still.

Brandon was among the first cuts from the major league camp. He'll be 22 on March 27. He's been in pro ball since 1966, or so it seems.

Greeting former teammate Ralph Kiner this afternoon, one hopes. And speaking of the Tribe, learning a ballplayer named Rosen once won the MVP meant a great deal to me when I was 12.

I just mentally undressed four packs of cards from 1975. Got three of these, because I always do. [fimg=250]http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/kusick-again.jpg[/fimg][fimg=250]http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/kusick-again.jpg[/fimg][fimg=250]http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/kusick-again.jpg[/fimg]

At the beginning of the series, it seemed pretty clear Danny was a Mets fan. Then, without warning, he was partial to the MFYs. The whole show has been like that, dropping all of Mindy's non-office pals as well as various colleagues. Like many workplace comedies, the people who were consumed by their professional responsibilities in the pilot and early episodes eventually spend all their time chatting, getting into high jinks and, in the case of Mindy and Danny, coupling. It's only when you stop and think, hey, how does this practice function, that it gets in the way. The show is better for the shift it has taken: 90% Mindy & Danny relationship, 10% whatever. But that doesn't excuse whoever forgot Danny's Mets leanings.

“You're right, Father. I’m a Mets fan now.” —Danny Castellano, The Mindy Project, after his priest (guest star Stephen Colbert) tells him the Yankees are “the team of sin,” March 10, 2015, S3, Ep 19, “Confessions of a Catho-holic”.

Alexa grilled Matt Reynolds like Chuck Todd interviewing John McCain, except slightly more challenging. Don't know where Christina is. She was my favorite of the Hosting Trio, probably because she appeared the least of the three of them.

Spectacularly random staffing of the SNY broadcast today: Scott Braun of MLBN on PBP, Jim Duquette the analyst and Alexa "Who's" Datt of Branden & Alexa fame as your roving reporter. Will Ferrell Jose Oquendo-ing out west isn't quite as weird as this.

He can't wait until tomorrow 'cause he gets better looking every day.

Bryan Curtis has the best beat in American sportswriting. He writes about other sportswriters, not to frame their flaws but spotlight their strengths...and he does it magnificently. He focuses his high beams here on the late Dave Goldberg, for a long time the AP's key reporter of NFL affairs. We live in the age of omniscient NFL �insiders.� Well, three decades ago, NFL writers were just called NFL writers. And their power was divided among newspapermen who ruled like territorial governors. Don Pierson in Chicago. Ira Miller in San Francisco. Rick Gosselin in Dallas. Chris Mortensen in Atlanta. Every week, these NFL writers left their home bases, squeezed into airplane seats, and went in search of the big game. If they were lucky, they might run into the schlump. Because Goldberg was just like them, only instead of writing for one newspaper he wrote for hundreds. �They all had their little fiefdoms,� said the Los Angeles Times�s Sam Farmer. �Dave had the whole country.� Never heard of Dave Goldberg? Neither had I. Life as a wire-service reporter will do that to your Q rating. But the guy had a story, and Curtis, as usual, tells it. Plus, for what it's worth, there's an allusion to his fondness for talking about the Mets.

Josh Edgin in for MRI following elbow and general left arm discomfort following diminished velocity in yesterday's otherwise meaningless game.

Barwis and Mets chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon met in 2008 at the University of Michigan, and they kept in touch and began looking for ways to collaborate. Always a good sign.

Anthony DiComo takes a deep dive into the Mets' conditioning coach's ways and means. http://m.mets.mlb.com/news/article/111867500/strength-guru-mike-barwis-helps-motivate-mets

One of those neat WSJ stories (by Joe Lemire) on how the nocturnally oriented professional ballplayer deals with holding a day job every spring. http://www.wsj.com/articles/mets-players-try-to-spring-forward-from-early-routine-1425948191

The more the owners hang around, the more the manager is likely to grind his teeth to a fine powder.

Don't worry. As if on cue, Fred's got this. Wilpon also vowed to be around much more this spring training. �He expects it to be a much better team. There�s no doubt about that,� Collins said. �He told me two weeks ago, �Look, I�m going to be here a lot -- a lot,� where, in the past, he�d come in and he�d be gone for a week or 10 days.�

In case any of this is still an issue (because I assume it's been solved), Jason and I took our time and presented some thoughts here (Jason's) and here (mine).

City of Long Beach so moved by Matt's home run heroic they have named a body of water for him.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Tracky seems like a good enough guy when he's on SNY, opinionating. And he seems to burn through a Rubinesque amount of cellphone minutes and shoe leather in doing his job. AND he shows from time to time that he knows how to turn a phrase, when he really wants/tries. So why is it that when I read his stuff, about 40 percent of the time I want to reach through the electronic reading device and shake him, like, so hard it makes his goatee flake off? I find certain writers -- Martino, Pearlman -- compelling and repelling in the same paragraph. There's the ability to tell a story, make a point, articulate a sense, yet there's also this tendency to never let you forget whatever their core beliefs are and emit the impression that nobody sensible could possibly see it another way. (And Pearlman drops 500 words on every passing thought that afflicts him in the course of the day, making him all the less effective.) Martino in covering the playoffs in 2014 kept moaning about the possibility of having to wind up with Giants-Royals in the WS. "OMG, so boring!" he kept insisting, leaving me to wonder what the hell he was talking about. From a baseball standpoint there was nothing wrong with it. From a personality standpoint, I had no reason to be turned off by 25 Royals, 25 Giants and whatever stories they brought to bear. I still have no idea what was up his ass. That tic keeps coming back around, always with some kind of "everybody knows this is a troubling issue" or "everybody understands this guy is the best/worst" tone. The column he wrote last year about how he couldn't believe he was wrong about first base -- that Lucas Duda thrived when Ike Davis deflated -- was all his bests and worsts rolled into one. He really soul-searched and retraced his steps and questioned his assumptions but also left me thinking he'd wake up tomorrow and write "Ike's got the makeup to make it in New York, Duda doesn't" all over again. I like that there's a strain of originality to his work, which offsets a good bit of what I can't stand.

Gay Mets Fan Pens Open Letter to Daniel Murphy, from Mets Merized Online: To me, you are a great baseball player who has demonstrated commitment and determination when faced with adversity. I have followed you in your quest to become an All-Star second baseman and truly admire what you have accomplished. To my son, you are more � you are a role model. I understand that may not have been something you signed up for, but for better or worse, for him and others like him, you are larger than life. Let me try to explain why what you said was not an innocuous sound byte, but rather an offensive statement. First, I do not have a lifestyle. I didn�t choose my sexuality the same way you didn�t choose yours. Second, being gay is not what defines me, but rather it is just one important part of who I am. So when you say that you disagree with who I am, you are also disagreeing with my son and my family. We are not a lifestyle choice � we are a family. Even though I am extremely disappointed and hurt by your remarks, I am grateful that you spoke your mind, as it has started a national conversation. The discussions taking place today on social media, in bars and churches, and around the dining room table are exactly how GLBT progress is achieved. I know it is hard moving to an unfamiliar position (think about your transition to second base), but with faith, openness and commitment, positive change can truly happen. Some wonder how the gay rights movement has progressed so well so fast. To me it is quite simple: once you recognize that your brother, son, neighbor, or co-worker is gay, you don�t just continue to �love him� but you learn to actually accept and respect him for who he is as a person � and that changes everything. So Mr. Murphy, thank you for starting a very important dialogue. My son and I will be travelling out from San Francisco to root on our Mets this weekend in Port St. Lucie. If you are around we would love to meet you and continue the conversation in person.