stevejrogers

I'm game for a 07-08 edition of the CPF Song Parody Contest.

RealityChuck wrote: Johnny Estrada is already the best Estrada to play for the Mets (as a Met). Though, of course, it's unlikely he'll be as interesting a trivia question as Chuck (a pitcher who won just one game for the team -- but a very historic one for the Franchise). UMDB is your friend Tom Seaver's debut That is a pretty interesting bit of trivia. And I assume that is why you said "the Franchise" the way you did!

Jumping in here as we await Wolfie's one, No pics here as I didn't realize how many there were Jim Fregosi, Dean Chance Gene Woodling Len Randle, Elliott Maddox Bob Aspromonte, Joe Foy, Galen Cisco, Jerry Cram Tommy Davis, Greg Goossen, Jim Gosger, Mike Marshall, Skip Lockwood, Jack Acker Greg Goossen, Skip Lockwood, Ken Sanders, Wayne Twitchell Rusty Staub, Donn Clendenon, Don Bosch, Kevin Collins, Don Hahn, Don Shaw, Preston Wilson, Gary Bennett, Carlos Baerga, Mike Stanton, C.J. Nitkowski Chris Cannizzaro, Jerry Morales, Dave Roberts, Dick Selma Leroy Stanton, Tommy Moore, Doc Medich Bob Bailor, Rick Cerone Daryl Boston, Chris Jones, Jim Tatum, Armando Reynoso, Willie Blair, Steve Reed Jeff Conine, Chuck Carr, Dave Magadan, Carl Everett, Dave Weathers, Rich Rodriguez, Bob McClure Miguel Cairo, Mike DiFelice, Bubba Trammell, Rick White, Dennis Springer, Roberto Hernandez Kelly Stinnett, Jay Bell, Karim Garcia, Jorge Fabregas, Bernard Gilkey, Chris Jones, Willie Blair, Barry Manuel

I remember me being soundly ridiculed for hating on Glavine early on on another forum, probably not as bad as WP, but I was some good rips.

Interestingly enough, as I was walking towards the Glavine crew my cousin was trying to get my attention because Lastings Milledge was in the area, but once he noticed who I was going towards he realized that I would rather say hello to a future HOFer than someone who still hasn't played a full season in the bigs!

Probably best shot my cousin took Me and Gotay, not bad but I still look retarted, so here is for comparison of camera skills, my cousin and Gotay

Okay, from the top. My cousin and I find out what hotel in downtown Chicago the Mets are staying in. We show up about 7:30-8ish, and there isn't a big crowd but Luis Castillo is at the bar nursing a drink. My cousin and I hang with him for a while, and actually end up buying him a beer! I don't know, a welcome to New York kind of thing, funny since the guy still hadn't played a home game yet at Shea! Anyway he had this hanger on that was pretty much running crowd control and when Luis left momentarily this oily slick fellow told both me and my cousin, well essentially not to be morons and respect the privacy of the players. Both me and my cousin though are among the LAST people you need to tell that speech though as we've both had multiple professional brushes with greatnesses, so we act normal and treat those with fame like, I don't know, like if we saw KC and Edgy walking by (first two posters that came to mind, sorry guys) Well anyway, we're hanging around the bar, talking with other fans, we see Ruben Gotay and Mota chill with Castillo and eventually other Mets came rolling in as Saturday turned into Sunday. I noticed the entire Glavine party in the hotel lobby and had to say hello and that I've been a fan of his work since the 1991 World Series! I got a pic of my cousin with Glavine, sadly I have to convert a 1 second movie clip because apparently Glavine's (I think) brother-in-law can't keep the camera setting on AUTO and moved it to the video setting Well, anyway, we head back to the bar and Paul Lo Duca was holding court. I ask politely for a photo during the conversation Edgy references up thread, unfortunately my cousin is only slightly better behind a camera than Glavine's in-law (though my cousin was bombed) and this resulted Great shot of Paul, but horrible shot of the moron in the Blues Brothers shirt. Could there BE any more flash used? And does my cousin know how to use the W/T mechanism? Anyway, that could be what tipped off the aforementioned Castillo Entourage member because as soon as I got my camera back from my cousin a hotel employee actually escorted me out of the hotel! Didn't even let me tell my cousin I was kicked out! Just tossed me out into the Chicago streets. So anyway, I wasn't able to plead my case as all I was told was that "The baseball manager said you were harassing the players." Something that could hardly be anywhere near the truth, especially since crowds were starting to gather in the bar and photos were being taken, and as I said, I did ask if they minded having pics taken. Clearly I was steamed, I didn't act it though, but I calmly said that I wasn't doing a single thing out of line (i.e. interrupting meals and/or conversations, actually being that annoying prick that causes such meetings to be arduous for the famous, ect) and that there were plenty of people in that bar who were doing the same thing. Not to mention I had a friend in there that still didn't know I'd been forcibly removed. Anyway my cousin finally hears about this, goes outside and asks me what happened. At this point I really just wanted to leave the premises anyway, I had a case, but it was falling on deaf ears, so I hail a cab. This is 1:30 now in Chicago, I get one, my cousin tackles me and tries to get me to calm down since I did not have my cell and I was leaving him alone. I think at that point I was just too wasted, pissed (plus the Mets lost that day) and just wanted to get to the hotel because we had a 4:00 wakeup call to get our plane. I brush my cousin off and proceed to have a 45 dollar (or whatever it was) cab ride from mid-town Chicago to Rosemont, IL where our hotel was. Anyway my cousin, understandably pissed at both me and the hotel roars back in, starts to tell off the employees, the Mets (Castillo, Gotay and I think Oliver Perez was there at this point) overhear this, and it was the Entourage wannabe that kicked me out, with zero actual authority! Interestingly enough in my mind when the hotel employee was telling me that a "baseball manager" kicked me out I wanted to run down names such as Willie, Omar, Charlie Samuels and Jay Horowitz (Does Jay even travel with the team I wonder?), essentially people who actually would probably be in that position, but I figured she wouldn't know those names or people from the average Joe off the street. Well anyway turns out the guy was trying to become Castillo's publicist and get back into the Mets after the two Carloses had fired him, and this caused Castillo to have it out with him right there! My cousin almost ended up with a free room at the hotel for his trouble, and Castillo invited him to go out into the early morning Chicago night life. But since he had to find out that I made it safely back to the hotel, he took n 8 buck ride on the L all the way to where we were staying (45 dollars...8 dollars, boy am I wasteful when I'm drunk and pissed) his night was done. Well thats the story. The lesson I guess is that A) I need to stand up for myself a little better and I shouldn't make snap judgments, it would have saved me about 35 freaking dollars!

Edgy DC wrote: So, Steve, you get your ass bounced, get a Met to stick up for you, and you rat him out, and dog him online? Agreeing that he is a party animal is not "rating him out and dogging" him!

Mex17 wrote: "Okay, this is from a site that will not be MentiOned FOr several reasons" Did you say hi to Paulie? KO, Bill, BRD and crew all say hello as well!

A Boy Named Seo wrote: Steve, if you're going to post the trade talk, give us the source, too, and we'll make up our own minds about it. I did in code.

Elster88 wrote: ="metsguyinmichigan"]Hell, Jeffrey Meier could have fallen out of the stands, pushed Tarasco over, dropped the ball, pick it up, built a sand castle in the warning track and get pulled into the stands by a hot dog vendor and the umpires in that case STILL would have called it a home run. Remember, you're talking about Derek Jeter. "Yankee Magic" trumps all common sense. I dunno, this was pre- Jeter = God, no? Not really, Jeter was pretty much being touted on the Gregg Jefferies level by the Yankees and the media as being that next "Great Yankee" Though this moment probably was his first "Magic" moment.

Okay, I see that point.

Okay, this is from a site that will not be MentiOned FOr several reasons ]METS ACQUIRE CATCHER JOHNNY ESTRADA[/font] The New York Mets announced today that they have acquired catcher Johnny Estrada from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for righthanded pitcher Guillermo Mota.[/font] �Johnny adds depth to our catching situation,� said Mets General Manager Omar Minaya. �He�s a former All-Star who switch-hits and has hit over .300 three times in his career.�[/font] Estrada, 31, hit .278 (123-442) with 40 runs scored, 25 doubles, 10 home runs and 54 RBI in 120 games with the Brewers last year. The 5-11, 209-pounder batted .313 (42-134) vs. lefthanded pitchers and hit .297 (60-202) with runners in scoring position last season. Johnny also constructed .313 (31-99) mark with four home runs and eight RBI against National League East opponents in 2007. He underwent arthroscopic surgery on October 4th to repair the torn medial meniscus in his left knee and also had a bone spur removed from his right elbow. The surgeries were performed by Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, AL. Estrada has batted .280 (567-2,026) with 198 runs scored, 129 doubles, 42 home runs, 281 RBI in 589 major league games with Philadelphia, Atlanta, Arizona and Milwaukee. Johnny was named to the 2004 National League All-Star team. In addition, he has hit .333 (7-21) with two home runs and five RBI in six postseason games in 2004-2005 while with Atlanta.[/font] Estrada has compiled a .297 (272-915) batting average during his career with runners on base and has hit .353 (18-51) with the bases loaded. Mota, 34, went 2-2 with a 5.76 ERA in 52 games with New York last season. In 59.1 innings, he allowed 63 hits, 39 runs, 38 earned, with 18 walks and 47 strikeouts.[/font]

The sports radio shows are reporting that Johnny Estrada has been traded from the Brewers for Mota! Right now I can't find an internet link

Castillo was the one who it looked like would miss the start due to "exhaustion", not Reyes, my cousin and I saw him and Ruben Gotay that night at the Mets hotel bar. According to my cousin Castillo left circa 3 with Gotay and Oliver Perez to go back out into the early morning Chicago nightlife.

Not to go all Yankee Fan about this, but who cares, all that matters is if Wright ends up with a ring. The MVP thing can be chalked up the same as the No-Hitter, as the years go by it seems more of a good quirk that the Mets never had one than if they did.

Elster88 wrote: ="SteveJRogers"]="Valadius"]I would have liked this before I found out that Castillo was a bad influence on Reyes. My dad has a good source who told him that Castillo parties way too much, and stays out really late, and that Reyes went out with him nearly every night after Castillo was traded here. Just to corroborate, remeber he missed Glavine's 300th game, a NIGHT game after a DAY game due to "exhaustion." Well...I can tell you I saw him the night before the Glavine game, and he certaintly was still up around 2-3am. This is not corroborrating. Reyes was being overworked and needed a day off. You mean Castillo.

Valadius wrote: I would have liked this before I found out that Castillo was a bad influence on Reyes. My dad has a good source who told him that Castillo parties way too much, and stays out really late, and that Reyes went out with him nearly every night after Castillo was traded here. Just to corroborate, remeber he missed Glavine's 300th game, a NIGHT game after a DAY game due to "exhaustion." Well...I can tell you I saw him the night before the Glavine game, and he certaintly was still up around 2-3am.

Probably 2nd behind Carter (if you want to consider Carter more an Expo since that is what he's in the Hall as) in terms of productive future HOFers who aren't in as Mets. Ryan was too ineffective to be considered better than what Glavine gave the Mets, and Eddie Murray, Rickey Henderson and Richie Ashburn just plain weren't around for that long despite soild numbers. Though there isn't much of a list with Snider, Mays, Spahn and Berra rounding it out.

Valadius wrote: We're going to have a very classy stadium with a very shitty (pun intended) name. Let it go, the bad puns go on by haters no matter WHO got the naming rights. Hell, the fact that the Mets play in an area called FLUSHING is still top on the haters list of things to make fun of the Mets with.

Yup. Went for a drive on a nice Saturday afternoon. No traffic, but interestingly enough something was making College Point Blvd stop and go. Sure wasn't Shea/US Open traffic!

Around the corner

Alongside 126th

Behind the stadium's pavilion

Along side the current picnic area, soon to be the Left Field line