Farmer Ted

Home plate will be located near the site of the infamous Fire of 1999. The result of some jerkoff using charcoal at his tailgate party and putting the grill UNDER the car to cool down before heading into Shea. That was a pleasant smell while sitting in the leftfield loge.

Van Halen, Unchained.

Me and Lukas are tight. Can't find the link but he quoted my ass for a spring training '05 piece on Uni-Watch.

I hope you get to see Beltran hit the canoe on the rightfield concourse. We did and it was spectacular.

The Farmer Teds make an annual pilgrimmage to Milwaukee for the Mets series. Monk even went to the same game as we did last year, but didn't find out until afterward. Miller Park is nice. Good views and the fans aren't hard asses. The tailgating is top notch so show up early and grill some Brats and dogs. TGIFriday's opens early and is located in left field. You can watch the home team BP before heading down to watch the Mets BP. As for Milwaukee, the good news is you can get there in 90 minutes from Chicago! Maybe a brewery tour of some sort can fill some time.

Can't find the celebrity Mets fan thread. In any case, SI.com interviewed the Daily Show and Academy Awards host, Jon Stewart. This Q&A stuck out like a Mackey Sasser toss back. SI: As a Knicks and Mets fan, would you ever post on one of those team's Web site's message boards? Stewart: I would -- and I would paint my face for the Web cam.

Bonds has a right knee made of glass yet NO ONE pitches him down and in?

Daley 'disappointed' in Ozzie Chicago Sun-Times, February 10, 2006 Mayor Daley can't think of any place he would rather be than the White House on Monday when his beloved White Sox get the presidential visit afforded all World Series champions. What the mayor cannot understand is why a handful of Sox players -- and specifically manager Ozzie Guillen -- don't have the same passion for a White House visit. "I'm disappointed,'' Daley said. "It's a great honor to be invited to the White House. I don't care who you are. Maybe you think you're too important. "Ozzie's on vacation or something. That's up to him. But you don't realize how precious that is. Very few Americans have ever been in the White House. To me, that's a privilege for anyone. . . . I could ask [any police officer]. If they ever get [an invitation] to the White House, they'd be walking down there. They'd get there some way.'' Guillen is vacationing in the Dominican Republic with his wife, Ibis, and their youngest son, Ozney. The oldest of Guillen's three sons, Ozzie Jr., said Thursday that his father had considered re-arranging his vacation plans to accommodate a White House visit. But when he was told no wives or families were permitted to accompany the team on the visit, he chose to spend time with his family. "My dad cares about two things, his baseball team and his family,'' Ozzie Jr. said. "He's not interested in pleasing other people. The White House had changed the date of this visit a couple of times. It was supposed to be right after SoxFest [at the end of January]. Mr. Daley probably doesn't know that.'' Is there any chance Ozzie Sr. will reconsider and interrupt his vacation with a quick stop in Washington? "No way. Not at all," Ozzie Jr. said. "To Ozzie, his family is more important than getting attention for himself. You have to remember, Mr. Daley is a politician. My dad is not." White Sox spokesman Scott Reifert said Guillen isn't trying to diss President Bush, stressing that Guillen, then a third-base coach for the Florida Marlins, made a White House visit after that team won the 2003 World Series. "For Ozzie, he's been there and done that,'' Reifert said. "This is a guy who was just made an American citizen two weeks ago. But he had this trip with his family scheduled with the season kind of looming on him for seven or eight months. He had scheduled this time to be down -- to be with his family, not dealing with the media and not dealing with being Ozzie. It certainly wasn't about any political statement.'' The White Sox traveling party of 55 to 60 will include 23 players, coaches, trainers, equipment managers, broadcasters and front-office types, plus chairman Jerry Reinsdorf. But the list of no-shows starts with Guillen and includes five key players. Pitcher Freddy Garcia is back home in his native Venezuela practicing for the upcoming World Baseball Classic. Second baseman Tadahito Iguchi, who tried to make alternative plans, is back home in Japan, being honored Monday in his native Tokyo. Left-fielder Scott Podsednik is on his honeymoon. And flame-flowing closer Bobby Jenks won't be in Washington, either, because of unspecified personal business. Slugger Frank Thomas, whose contract was bought out in a bitter parting this offseason and has since signed with the Oakland Athletics, confirmed he will not make the visit. But a few players who were jettisoned after the World Series victory have confirmed they will make the trip, including center fielder Aaron Rowand, infielder Willie Harris, reliever Damaso Marte and utilityman Geoff Blum. Daley can't understand the less-than-100 percent showing. It doesn't matter who the president is or whether the president is a Democrat or a Republican. When the White House calls, the mayor listens. "If I get invited to the White House, you'd better believe I'm on that plane down there," Daley said. "What a great privilege to go to the White House. Very few people have ever gone to the White House. How would you like to go to the Oval Office? That's a great honor for anyone. I don't care who the president is." Apparently not everyone has such an easy time separating politics from honorary visits. In a recent radio interview, Sox general manager Ken Williams said he decided to make the Washington trip, but only after thinking long and hard about it because he differs with President Bush on the war in Iraq.

Much to Cooby's excitement, a new minor league team to her neck of the woods. And I mean it when I say woods. The NY-Penn Cardinals are moving from a stadium in the middle of a farm in North Central Jersey to a stadium in a parking lot next to Paterno University. Still no match for the Clones. Another logo that looks like a deer in headlights. Pun intended. http://www.statecollegespikes.com/

Omar has been getting kudos for his moves in the offseason, but J.P. Ricciardi has been on a tear, too. The Blue Jays keep making moves, getting Bengie Molina for one year and $5 million. The backside, our old friend, Jason Phillips looks to be a backup again with this signing. I'm looking forward to a nice logjam in the AL East.

In ragard to Matsui and the 2B question, will Boone be a factor as a potential starter on this team or has he essentially washed up?

Graves looks not only overweight but, dare I say, like a woman playing the part of Danny Graves. You sure this isn't his sister promoting the new women's softball league?

That cheerleader has cankles.

Seaver's gone six ways to Sunday. When that somabitch wouldn't even acknowledge me saying hello in the Pittsburgh airport last year, that's when I knew all the critics were right. Asshole. Ron Darling, on the other hand, had the time to shake my hand and talk some baseball with me on a crowded 7 platform outside of Shea after a game. Seaver only had a good delivery on the mound. In the booth and in person, he sucked.

I can live with those practice jerseys. Blue is dominate and the all-orange is finally friggin gone.

I have the ticket stub from that game. Mrs. Sponge/Ted asked if we could leave early. I was reluctant but caved. I am a weak man.

First they hired Bowa. Then brought back Mazzilli. Now Pena heads to the Bronx. If Joe really can't manage (see Mets, Braves, Cards), hire three former managers to cover his ass. Just catching a game in the dugout while your $200 million team takes the field isn't as easy as it once was. Former Kansas City manager Tony Pena was hired by the New York Yankees on Thursday as their first base coach. Pena was hired as Royals manager in May 2002 and was voted AL Manager of the Year in 2003 after leading the team to an 83-79 record, its first winning season since 1994.

Odds are that you'll never get that photo from last year's Wrigley game if you can't swing me an email address.

Mental note...while in Vegas in January I put 20 bucks down on 8-1 odds for the Mets to win it all. I could be a lucky weiner.

Saw a t-shirt at Wrigley Field recently..."Who Died and Made you Mark Bellhorn?"I think the shirt idea was actually conjured up in Boston. Still trying to figure that one out. Any clues?>

I went to college with Karchner and he was more of a hitter than anything, setting all kinds of school and league hitting records. He was last seen as interim baseball coach at Susquehanna University in PA. He had 26 saves in 84 appearances for the ChiSox so they must have thought he had some value to get Garland. It's very rare for a Cubs-Sox trade, though. Matt was one of the rare few who was a teammate of Michael Jordan in the minors for Birmingham. Originally drafted by KC IIRC.

From ChiTown...The team is clicking and seemingly having fun. Who said chemistry is over-rated? The Podsednik acquisition was tremendous and most fans thought it was a dupe job to let Carlos Lee go. They've gotten support all through the lineup and the young players like Crede and Rowand aren't playing like young players. A bonus is Timo still getting his hacks in and the fans like him. Don't know where they'd be without Garland, though. That extra arm has given them a lot of mileage. In all, a good rotation with Buehrle at the top, followed by Garland and the Cuban/Yankee ex-pats. As for DH, Thomas came back for a while and was just sick, getting seven homers in like his first 12 hits. He's out and Everett isn't killing it. Trade talk involving Griffey swirls around Comiskey/US Cellular. They're locked in for the playoffs and will do some damage. That's all I got. HE GONE.

PTBN is still warming up in the bullpen. Getting it major league-ready has been an eventful process, encompassing all of my time.

A player to be named later will be added to the family roster circa Sept. 20th. A late season call up if you will. Just in time for the Mets post-season run. Hopefully as productive as one Timo Perez down the stretch (albeit with more hustle around the bases on long flies to left field).

Willets, Goose Island Beer.