metirish

I just saw on the news that Cuba beat Puerto Rico 4 - 3 to advance to the semi-finals, the PR is out......Cuba will play the DR Saturday at Petco Park, no score in Korea V Japan.

Yeah this sucks, college basketball takes over ESPN tonight.

Damn it's great to see you Piazzafan, now I know baseball is here.

It will never happen but still it's interesting. WARNING :picture of Clemens here, 16 game season

Fucking A, now that's the attitude to have, Shaun White won Gold but failed to nail Sasha Cohen, I bet he's pissed about that.

I can't blame the snowboarders on this, it's more of a leisure sport for stoners and the like so when theye act goofy that's to be expected.

I thought this was about Bret/Sal/Doc.....anyway it's sad about Gooden, tough addiction to beat.

And it gets worse, a two run A-Bomb from Japan makes it 4 zip.

Yeah my guide says they are but ESPN2 is showing the DR game, this scire is not good for the USA as Dave O'Brien pointed out.

It's on UPN 9.

Holy shit, that's what I get for rushing at work, sorry Mike Pelfrey.

Ahh fukc, can that be changed?

Expectations seem to be growing by the week for this kid, also look who Popper lists as the Mets top prospects. ] Mike Pelfrey, 96 mph fastball Tuesday, March 14, 2006 By STEVE POPPER STAFF WRITER PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Tom Glavine walks across the Mets' locker room, stopping just for a second as he passes Mike Pelfrey's locker. Seemingly helpful, he tells Pelfrey that he has missed a belt loop as he puts his uniform on, a kind bit of advice from a nearly 40-year-old veteran to a raw youngster in his first camp. The only thing is, Pelfrey didn't miss a loop. It was part of the monthlong initiation process for the towering prospect, a constant stream of mild jokes and ribbing. But it is all good-natured, a rite of passage for a player who seems to have every tool for the major leagues on the field and is welcomed -- with a wink and a laugh -- into the fraternity of pitchers. "My first couple of days I don't know if I talked to anybody," Pelfrey said. "I was just kind of in awe. I just did my thing, just kind of observed everything, got acquainted with everything so I could understand everything." "There are a lot of guys that come up here with very little experience and act like they've been here for 20 years," Glavine said. "Those are guys that rub a lot of guys the wrong way. A kid like him, you can see right away he's not like that. "He's very respectful, understands his place, and because of that he lends himself to being one of the guys and being part of all the ribbing that goes on. That's a good quality to have." Of course, the soft-spoken, friendly quality would mean nothing if Pelfrey didn't possess a few other qualities -- namely a 96-mph fastball, a breaking ball that buckles knees and a flawless delivery that has allowed Mets executives to imagine a speedy path from Wichita to Shea Stadium. Drafted No. 9 overall in the summer out of Wichita State -- only dropping that low because of the presence of Scott Boras as an agent to scare off the low spenders -- Pelfrey came to camp without an illusion of earning a spot on the major league roster. But that hasn't stopped him from accelerating his expected start date. Any nerves seemed to fade with his first pitch when he gripped tightly and hit Victor Diaz with a fastball in an intrasquad game. But in his first real appearance in a professional game, he faced the Puerto Rican National squad, essentially an all-star team, before a sold-out crowd and a national television audience, and shut it down on one hit over two innings. He then hurled three innings against the Cardinals on Friday and didn't allow an earned run. "It's awesome," said the Wichita native, who projects vibes as a sort of Joe Hardy in "Damn Yankees". "Anytime you can get your feet wet and face this kind of competition, it's always good. First time here, I love it here. "Hopefully I made a good impression, so that when things are going good later on down the season, they'll remember me." That is something Pelfrey doesn't have to worry about -- not with a $3.7 million investment in him already. But he has done more than just open eyes in camp with his 6-foot-7 frame and his natural ability. Besides being a target of the veterans' jokes, he also has been a pet project of some, too -- a side effect of quickly being taken in as one of the guys. "He's got a chance to be pretty special," Glavine said. "You hate putting a label on what he is or what he can be. So much depends on how healthy he stays, but no question, he has the talent to be a major league pitcher and he's on a fast track." "He's not afraid," general manager Omar Minaya said. "He is mature. We put him against the toughest competition right off the bat and he just blended in. "There's definitely a sign of youthfulness, fearlessness, but he's like a kid. He's just got a youthfulness about him that stands out. You can tell he's a kid. But his physical maturity, his overall game between the white lines, it's pretty impressive." Mets' top 5 Mike Pelfrey, a first-round pick who was 12-3 last year at Wichita State, heads the list of Mets pitching prospects: 1. Mike Pelfrey, 22, righty: Flawless delivery, 96 mph fastball and an aw-shucks manner. 2. Brian Bannister, 25, righty: Heady pitcher who gets outs with command and control. 3. Philip Humber, 23, righty: Tommy John surgery cost him a year, but still highly regarded with above-average fastball and curve. 4. Henry Owens, 26, righty: Like Sidd Finch, seemingly came from nowhere -- a former catcher with eye-popping arm. 5. Alay Soler, 25, righty: Dismal spring, but Mets still like the Cuban defector's potential.

Didn't the Mets have a huge inning in a game yesterday?,...Go Mets

How is the College name pronounced?, would it be the same name?

] Nady blasts away at Mets' RF job BY MARK HERRMANN STAFF CORRESPONDENT March 14, 2006 PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Xavier Nady's journey doesn't rival something out of a John Steinbeck novel, or anything dramatic like that. Mostly, that is because the journey really hasn't begun for Nady, the Mets' new rightfielder from Steinbeck country, Salinas, Calif. "It's also the Lettuce Capital of the World," Nady said last night after another showing that was impressive, bordering on awesome in the Mets' abbreviated 10-4 win over the Nationals at Tradition Field. The game was called after six innings by a power shortage that caused many of the stadium lights to go out. A power shortage was far from what happened when Nady was at the plate. He went 3-for-3, including a mammoth home run over a 40-foot-tall batter's eye in centerfield. "You don't get to experience that that often," he said, "that feeling on the bat." But he seems to be finding it more than most. Nady is batting .481 this spring, a figure that is going a long way toward improving his chances to beat Victor Diaz in the two-way race for the starting spot. That figure might be surprising to the people who found it puzzling that the Mets would deal Mike Cameron for essentially a utility player for the Padres. But it would not surprise anyone who knows the way Nady's dad would drive four hours round trip from the vicinity of Steinbeck House -- the museum a mile from the Nady household -- for good baseball competition when he was a youngster. It would not surprise anyone who recalls that, when he was a third baseman for the University of California, Nady was considered one of the best prospects in the country (drafted in the second round instead of the first, it was said at the time, because clubs were wary of dealing with agent Scott Boras). The way Nady looks at it, this is not the case of someone failing to fulfill his potential. It is a look at someone who, even though 27, still is on his way. "You always think back," he said. "You think about at-bats. I had 500 at-bats [one year] in A ball, a couple hundred in Triple A and the first thing I knew, I was in the big leagues. So a couple guys have told me, 'You haven't had many at-bats above the college level.' So you hope you keep experiencing it, getting closer to where you want to be. This may be the opportunity." You could say this chance has been generations in the making. The Nadys trace their roots to France in the 1500s and their baseball lineage to Xavier's grandfather, who coached baseball. The Met's dad, a lawyer in Salinas, pitched for the University of Colorado. He has been a pretty good big-leaguer, not an outstanding one or a full-time one. Nady believes he might be just hitting his stride now, a stride that might be quicker because of all the extra training from this winter. "I've always been pretty competitive and I'm going to play hard every day," he said. "But I think this whole offseason was getting ready for a big year, having the opportunity to play in such a wonderful city." The Mets would be happy if the stride is a home run trot. His blast last night left heads shaking. "Oh my God. Everybody knows he's strong," Tom Glavine said. "Still, when you see something like that, it's impressive." "I hit it good, I'm not going to lie," Nady said. "The wind helped, too." Notes & quotes: Reliever Juan Padilla will have season-ending Tommy John surgery on his elbow today ... Anderson Hernandez left for his home in the Dominican Republic to be with his family after the death of his grandmother ... Pitcher Alay Soler, the only Cuban on the Mets, took a lot of heat from the bevy of Dominican players when they all watched the Dominican Republic's World Baseball Classic win over Cuba.

]It must be hard to tell when Johnny Damon can't throw. Ouch but true, hard to imagine they balked at Beltran because of money and then give Damon a big deal.

Just saw this..... ] BY KEN DAVIDOFF STAFF WRITER March 14, 2006, 9:04 AM EST ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Johnny Damon has been shut down from throwing due to an ailing left shoulder, and if Team USA advances to the World Baseball Classic semifinals, the Yankees' centerfielder could be removed from the roster. Damon sat out last night's game, a 7-3 loss to Korea, after speaking with Yankees general manager Brian Cashman late Sunday. Damon didn't start Sunday, although he did pinch-hit late in Team USA's 4-3 victory over Japan. "It's just a problem for the short term. Long term, I'm good," Damon said late last night. "We'll play it safe and start winning games for the Yankees. We know we have to kind of wait, which kind of stinks." http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/ny-spdamon0315,0,1116432.story?coll=ny-sports-headlines

Damon is sucking huge in this thing, he's hitting .143 , I guess Martinez is going with the hot hitter in Winn.

May he forever be known as this....

This kid Lee for Korea can hit, four homers in the WBC, Korea up 2 zip...

Yeah but this bollox is on.... listen to him, everyone is a great guy, and he meets people in the hotel lobby and he loves them, I swear he will annoy you.

Well sorry, I have a thing for announcers though, watching Mexico V Korea now and my least favourite announcer is on, Rick fucking Sutcliffe...Rick just annoys me like no other announcer that I hear on a regular basis.

keppinger is pissed and I don't blame him..... ] Keppinger Keeps Hitting, but Support Is Still Missing E-Mail This Printer-Friendly Reprints Save Article By PAT BORZI Published: March 13, 2006 FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., March 12 � As he looked out onto the field at Fort Lauderdale Stadium on Sunday morning, Mets second baseman Jeff Keppinger maintained a tight grin, as if forcibly preventing his mouth from saying something it should not. Not far away, Kazuo Matsui, the current and presumably inevitable starting second baseman, stretched on the grass. Even though Matsui has not done much this spring � he is hitting .143, with three errors � Manager Willie Randolph said Saturday that Matsui would play the most at second in the final three weeks of camp, and that he had "somewhat of an upper hand" in the competition with Keppinger and Anderson Hernandez. Hernandez would continue to mainly play shortstop until Jos� Reyes returned from the World Baseball Classic, Randolph said. And though Randolph did not declare the competition over, he added this: "Keppinger really wasn't in the mix. Keppinger was kind of a long shot, and he's still kind of a long shot, but he's there." That hardly sounds promising for Keppinger, 25, a prolific minor league hitter who missed much of last season with a fractured left tibia. Keppinger seems to understand that Matsui is the incumbent, that the Mets have a big financial investment in him, and that the job is Matsui's to lose unless the Mets trade him � which may yet happen. What left Keppinger simmering and choosing his words carefully Sunday morning, however, was that he said he had not heard Randolph's assessment of his chances from Randolph. "I had a friend who was watching a telecast, and they put Willie on the headphones during the game, and he pretty much said the same thing," Keppinger said. "Whatever. I don't know. They don't really say much to me. When they put me in to play, I play. When they send me, I go. "It's not a surprise. I figured that would be kind of the way it would go. That's all right. I get in there, I do what I can, and hopefully somebody takes notice." The Mets took notice in 2004, acquiring Keppinger from Pittsburgh in the Kris Benson trade. Keppinger has hit better than .300 in every minor league season except his first, and .284 in a brief stint with the Mets in 2004. Last June 15, he was batting .337 for Class AAA Norfolk and leading the International League with 86 hits when Charlotte's Felix Martinez jammed his cleats into Keppinger's leg on a slide into second, ending Keppinger's season. The timing was awful. Six days later, Matsui went on the disabled list with a bruised left knee. On Sunday, Keppinger was 1 for 3 with a double after replacing an ill Chris Woodward at third base in a 3-2, 10-inning loss to the Orioles. That put his spring average at .316. Still, he cannot seem to make any headway. While still with the Pirates, Keppinger said he once asked a coach why his minor league hitting did not impress people. "He said when it came down to it, I'm not a scout's guy," he said. Right now, he does not appear to be Randolph's, either.

I used to be one of those Mets fans that wanted Soriano, but I have soured on him since he went to the Nats, terrible attitude which he probably always had.