what a way to start the season

 

Tonight I headed over to Butterfield 8 in Midtown (not too far from where I work, thankfully) for the MetsBlog viewing party. While there I watched the game with Zoe, Coop, faithful Mets blogger reader Dykstraw, Crazy Met Girl, their assorted friends and/or significant others, and about a hundred or so other Mets fans (can I just say that a lot of those guys were insanely good-looking? Sighz) to cheer on our boys as they opened the season against the Florida Marlins. What a great atmosphere, everyone cheering and high-fiving and screaming or groaning as a collective. It was like mini-Shea in there.

I must say this Johan Santana character has got some potential. When he began the game by striking out Hanley Ramirez, I screamed, “I already have a boner!” What a stud, honestly. His only bad pitch of the night was the two-run shot to Josh Willingham, which shouldn’t even have been an issue considering some bad calls that gave Ramirez a walk to start the inning (how bad was the umpiring tonight? Neither Reyes or Wright were out on their stolen base attempts, from what I could tell). Luckily, the Mets had already exploded for a six-run fourth, capped by Golden Boy’s bases-clearing double, after which I swear the bar’s entire male clientele would have gone totally gay for him, already erupting in “MVP!” chants. What’s funny is that some dude behind me said “Bases-clearing double right here” before Davey Boy hit it. This same guy then idiotically began talking about a no-hitter for Santana (Dykstraw and I shushed him), and then five seconds later Willingham hits the homer. Idiot.

Otherwise, it was a great night, and even Scott Schoeneweis and Jorge Sosa got out of Matt Wise’s jam in the eighth. Good way to start the season. Especially with the Phillies giving up five runs in the ninth in a loss to the Nationals.

Fuck, are we supposed to worry about the Nationals now?!!?! L-Millz and Paulie, ready for vengeance.

your 2008 new york mets

Per MetsBlog, here is the roster:

Starting Pitchers: Johan Santana, Pedro Martinez, John Maine, Oliver Perez and Mike Pelfrey

Relief Pitchers: Billy Wagner, Aaron Heilman, Pedro Feliciano, Scott Schoenweiss, Jorge Sosa, Matt Wise and Joe Smith

Starting Lineup: Jose Reyes, Luis Castillo, David Wright, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, Ryan Church, Angel Pagan and Brian Schneider.

Bench Players: Brady Clark, Endy Chavez, Marlon Anderson, Damion Easley and Raul Casanova.

First game of the season tomorrow. So fucking excited.

cross-bloggination pt 2

So, in case anyone is interested in my non-baseball blogging thoughts (ha! no one is even interested in that!): I have been/am co-editing an anthology of short fiction by gay male writers under thirty that is due to be released sometime later this year. The contributors to the anthology have been blogging random ephemera here.

I have to say that I’m proud of the book if only for the myriad views on “modern gay life” that it offers up–and in some ways, treats it as an afterthought, as a given, as a simple fact that even needs not be mentioned.

More to come when this is actually published, surely, but I figured I’d get a head start.

cross-bloggination

My pals over at the fine and funny And Here Come The Prezels! made the mistake of asking me to write a preview for the NL East. Not only was I able to rehash some old jokes, I fucked up on html because I am that much of a professional.

Because I enjoy spreading my inane bullshit all over the internet, go here please and thank you.

macguyvering a starting rotation

As March 31st inches ever nearer for our dear Mets, Willie Randolph announced his starting rotation as Johan Santana, Pedro Martinez, Oliver Perez, John Maine, and…someone else. Please, anybody else!

At the beginning of spring training, the fifth slot seemed like El Duque’s to lose, and lose it he did as bunions and root canals and arm fatigue and menopause pushed back his first start to this weekend, where he got lit up for five runs in three innings. Which left the door open for Mike Pelfrey, who started spring training with a sense of purpose that bled into his performances, up until recently…like the very same game this weekend, when he subsequently went out and got lit up for eight runs in four and a third. Grrrreat. How does that starting position feel, Butterfingers?

Without a viable option like, oh, Kyle Lohse or somebody (like…Jason Vargas? *snicker!* Oh I know he’s hurt but c’mon, did you see that dude last year? P.U.), it was even stated by Omar Minaya that the heretofore unheralded (unless you were this dude; good call, dude) Nelson Figueroa had pitched his way into the fifth starter discussion.

And then there’s this development. Coupled with this morning’s surprising news that Steven Register–who had a 3.12 ERA in spring training and managed to impress Willie–was placed on waivers today, this means some possible maneuvering in the bullpen as well:

A person in the Mets hierarchy indicated Tuesday that the club is considering Sosa for the seemingly unclaimed No. 5 assignment, noting that the recently improved relief work of Joe Smith and the swing-and-miss pitches of Brian Stokes have the Mets thinking they can afford to remove Sosa from the bullpen alignment.

I’m not totally against this move–I mean, like so obvs, especially if it means a spot for Joe Smith. And Sosa did pitch beautifully when he was brought up last year (my first game at Shea last year was his first as well!); but then, well, you know the rest. Like everyone else on this team, he quickly went down the shitter. But I’m willing to give some cautious optimism, and hope that he can handle a few starts until either Pelfrey proves his mettle or El Duque finds some spirit gum to slap his limbs and joints together. I guess I can afford that cautious optimism when our top four are Santana-Pedro-Ollie-Maine.

Incidentally, this was my 100th post. Took long enough!