metirish

When it was Gary and Howie we were spoiled , those two could go back and forth on Mets history or on any number of things. Why do the co-announcer ting on the radio, why not get a good color guy in there with Howie . Wayne is OK and pretty good when the Rockies are the other team.

They should never be under consideration for the Hall of Fame." Could be a whole lot of guys when all is said and done. We are fortunate to have a great TV crew and a great radio crew. I do like me some Howie but I just wish he had a partner I liked more. I always feel like Howie is carrying the load in that booth.

I'm picturing Jeff Goldblum circa "The Fly" and horrible mutations coming for Reyes from the blood-spinning .

Yeah, I would tend to agree with that JCL. Woods brings the guy to Florida and he's not licensed to practice for treatment after his knee surgery. Obviously there is a lot of shady stuff going on with him. Question. Would the Mets know that Reyes was seeing this guy?

It's nothing , Reyes got a perfectly legal blood spinning treatment from a doctor in Canada who is suspected of trying to bring performance-enhancing drugs across the border.The FBI spoke to Reyes about the doc and that was it....we hope. I guess some people are wondering out loud why all these rich athletes are going to Canada to get treatments that are available in the USA.

Look at baseball reference for this guy and they have him under "minors" http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=igaras001ryo

Reports had Neise throwing a wicked curve . Jerry talking him up for the fifth starters spot..." if he's our fifth best guy , wow" Manuel said....or dead panned.

WOW, talk about campy and uncomfortable...Rashad and Bill Murray sat behind home plate for game 7?......wankers

I'm skeptical too of the whole thing. I remember much giddiness about the whole 80 balls hit the other way drill when it was started last season. It might have even been seen as another Jerry the innovator type thing that separated him from Willy.

From John Harper today, kind of a lame attempt here to blame Tony B for the Mets lack of power hitting last season. It seems to me though that Hojo was on aboard with this. New York Mets scrap Tony Bernazard's opposite-field approach PORT ST. LUCIE - Tony Bernazard is long gone as a Mets' executive, rather famously fired last summer for bad behavior, but the legend of his notorious influence on all phases of the organization continues to grow. It turns out that Bernazard even dictated the extreme opposite-field hitting philosophy the Mets adopted last season, which may have contributed to their stunningly low home run total. Hitting coach Howard Johnson, who has now changed the philosophy to try and make the Mets more of a power-hitting ballclub again, Sunday confirmed what I'd been told by sources in the organization. "Yes," said HoJo on the question of Bernazard setting the hitting philosophy. "That was a big thing in our organization. It was a big part of the organization's philosophy, starting in the minor leagues." Sources say Bernazard, who oversaw minor-league development, was so insistent on players hitting the ball to the opposite field that minor leaguers were scolded for pulling the ball, sometimes even when they got a hit. Going into spring training last year, after the Mets had a poor 2008 season as situational hitters, especially with runners in scoring position, Bernazard convinced others in the organization to adopt the opposite-field approach at the major-league level as well. The intentions were good but the methods were extreme. In spring training players took 80 swings a day against curve balls from a pitching machine, hitting the ball the other way. The drills, which continued at a modified number during the season, were emphasized to the point that players eventually thought they were silly, and perhaps even detrimental. Jeff Francouer, who arrived via trade at midseason at about the same time Bernazard was fired, remembers wondering what the heck was going on when he found himself taking so many batting practice swings trying to hit the ball to right field. "At one point," Francouer recalled, "I remember Jerry (Manuel) telling me, 'Wait until we get to spring training and you're hitting 80 balls (a day) the other way.' "And I'm thinking, 'Jeez, in that case I might not report until about March 2.'" Fortunately for him, it didn't come to that. HoJo, the one-time power-hitting third baseman for the Mets, became convinced the opposite-field emphasis was being overdone to the point of adversely affecting hitters, in particular David Wright. "We did improve in some areas as we hoped," said HoJo, "but we didn't anticipate how it would affect some guys. I realized we had to make a change in our philosophy. "It would be like in football, and all you do is try to complete five-yard passes. You have to stretch the field at some point." In baseball too you have to go deep. The Mets' total of 95 home runs was by far the lowest in the majors, and while spacious Citi Field, plus widespread injuries, obviously contributed to the low total, Johnson began to talk to Manuel late in the season, after Bernazard was gone, about the need to teach a more aggressive hitting style. "Jerry agreed," said HoJo. "We still want to maintain our discipline to go the other way in certain situations, but we also want to work on driving the ball and being a power threat again. We need to open it up to allow guys to drive the ball rather than forcing the ball the other way." Along with the volume of swings being reduced in camp, the curveball drill now calls for hitters to hit 10 balls to the opposite field, 10 in the middle area of the field, 10 pulled for power, and 10 line drives. Wright, who hit only 10 home runs last year, likes the new approach, and Francouer, a natural pull hitter, loves it. "For me I think it's perfect," Francouer said. "I need to work on going the other way because I get in trouble when I try to pull everything, but when I'm up there with a 2-0 count, I'm trying to turn on the ball and hit a home run, I'm not trying to hit the ball to right field. "After the way we lacked power as a team last year, you look back and say maybe our approach was off, and I think that starts here in spring training. I think we've just got a better idea of what we're doing now." Likewise, for yet another reason it seems the Mets are better off without what was Bernazard's rather amazing influence.

"Do you realize what this game has done for hockey?" "This is just what hockey needed" " A great advertisement for the NHL" I've heard all of these and more since the game yesterday, Ed Olczyk was beside himself with excitement about this one game and I guess how it will do wonders for the NHL. Except I don't think the NHL will learn any lessons from the Olympics. Tune in to Versus tonight if you have it for the Red Wings at the Avalanche and you'll see a good game but not the same game we saw yesterday. I didn't realize this but it makes sense thinking back but the game yesterday had only 4 penalty minutes and of course it didn't have a TV ad break every stoppage of play. It didn't have goons whose only purpose is to fight or to stop the skill players from playing. None of that will change because of the Gold medal game . I would like if it did but I can't see it. The NHL doesn't get a dime from NBC for it's TV rights but they share the ad money...so the more ads during a game the more money. I watch a fair bit of hockey and the regular season for the most part I find unwatchable , the playoffs though feature a better game without the constant penalties and there is lots of brilliant hockey played. In the playoffs no one wants to give away needless penalties and the refs let the play flow too . Not saying I have answers here but it would be nice to see the NHL try and improve the regular season .

Liked the book a lot , I'm sure I'll see this when it's out in DVD.

Still one of the great things in all of sports the handshake line.

It was coming wasn't it...Canada were going for it. J.R. might well be crying now

Squeaky bum time here boys.

The color guy called it though, Luongo all day instead of catching very catchable pucks would bat them away...got caught out that time.

Joe's packing a little something in his right pocket , great pic

Never saw this before , the Mets sure did some quirky things over the years. What did Mettle do? EDIT - http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/26/when-the-mets-had-mettle/