Results tagged “themets”

In 1965 The Beatles performed at Shea Stadium (video), beginning a tradition of rock on the ball field. Sadly, they won't be around to bookend the life of the stadium, which opened its doors on April 17th, 1964 and gets torn down after the 2008 season.

A video showing Mets star pitcher Pedro Martinez at a cockfight in the Dominican Republican briefly surfaced online, outraging some people. Cockfighting is a popular - and legal - sport in the Dominican Republic, but it's illegal in almost all of the United States.

The Mets introduced Johan Santana, their newest player and best attempt at getting back to the World Series, in Flushing yesterday. Just last week, the Mets and Santana agreed to a six-year $137.5 million contract that makes the Mets a favorite in the National League. Scores of press were on hand for the introduction, as well as David Wright, Omar Minaya, owners Fred and Jeff Wilpon, and Willie Randolph. Before his official introduction, the Mets played a video montage to showcase their new arm. The video had music by Carlos Santana and had greetings by famous Mets interspliced with the pitcher's highlights.

It may have taken a few extra hours, but the Mets finally got their man. The Mets and Johan Santana agreed to a six-year, $137.5 million contract, with a club option for a seventh year. When the Mets and Twins agreed to the trade on Tuesday, Major League Baseball gave the Mets and Santana until 5 p.m. Friday to reach a deal. With the deadline approaching yesterday, but no agreement reached, the two sides asked for, and were given, a two-hour extension. What's a couple of hours when you're working out the richest contract for a pitcher in baseball history? All that's left now is a physical for the players involved in the trade. Santana will take his today.

The Mets have finally landed a much needed arm to lead their rotation. USA Today is reporting that the Minnesota Twins and the Mets have agreed to terms for pitcher Johan Santana. The two-time Cy Young winner comes to the Mets at a high cost, with the Mets delivering outfielder Carlos Gomez and pitchers Phil Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey to the Twins. Conditions of the deal include the Mets and Santana reaching agreement on a contract (rumored at six or seven year contract extension in the area of $150 million) and that Santana passes a physical. According to USA Today Santana and the Mets have between 48-72 hours to reach an agreement.

Could this be it? Is our long nightmare about to end? It sounds like it might because there are strong indications out of Minnesota that the Twins are finally going to trade Johan Santana and the front-runners right now are the New York Mets!

Last week, Brett Favre was on the cover of Sports Illustrated. This week, Eli Manning graces the cover of the magazine. If you believe the S.I. cover curse/jinx, then the Giants may be in trouble. In the magazine, Peter King gives the Giants-Packers game the cover story treatment, while Dr. Z decides to pick the Giants to make up for picking against the Jets in Super Bowl III.

After news that a Green Bay Fox affiliate would not be showing Seinfeld because it's Giants quarterback Eli Manning's favorite show (the Giants are heading to the land of Cheeseheads to play the Packers in the NFC Championship), it was up to Jerry Seinfeld to rise to the occasion. The Mets fan told the Post, "I'm going to send Eli a complete collection of 'Seinfeld' DVDs and a partial collection of 'Hogan's Heroes' for inspiration!" We think Eli's gonna have to ask Archie about Hogan's Heroes.

Former Mets pitcher Don Cardwell died yesterday at the age of 72 in North Carolina. Traded to the Lovable Loser Mets in 1966, Cardwell's performance during 1969 mirrored that of the team itself and helped the Mets win the their division title on the way to their first World Series Championship. Like the Mets, Cardwell started the '69 season in a lackluster manner, posting a 3-9 win-loss record through the first four months of the season. The Mets were 10 games behind the Chicago Cubs heading into August.

A Historic Collapse: The Mets held a seven-game lead with 17 to play and were caught looking ahead to the playoffs. What followed was among the worst collapses in history and one that revealed the weaknesses of the players, the manager and the general manager. Jose Reyes and his questionable -- and downright poor -- play summed up the the performance on the field. Manager Willie Randolph's mismanagement of the bullpen came to light more down the stretch. So did Omar Minaya's complete neglect of the roster's periphery. The Mets trotted out inexperienced and ineffective pitchers down the stretch, and the bullpen that Randolph had to deal with wasn't that good to begin with thanks to some questionable trades. What this means for the 2008 season remains to be seen, but it cost the Mets fans Lastings Milledge, another symbol of the collapse. He was dumped dealt to the Nationals for Ryan Church and Brian Schneider.

If Barry Melrose ever goes to Newark, he probably won't be getting a warm reception. Melrose, a hockey analyst for ESPN and a former player and manager, said some disparaging words about the city of Newark when talking about the new Devils arena on his webcast last week. Melrose said, "It looks great on the inside but don't go outside, especially if you got a wallet or anything else because the area around the building...

For a team used to making miracles, conjuring up a disaster had an especially bitter taste. With a sloppily played 8-1 loss to Florida and the Phillies' 6-1 win against the Nationals, the Mets' season ended about a month too early. The loss capped an agonizing stretch of two and a half weeks in which the Mets played some of the worst teams in the National League and still played their worst baseball of the season.

A few months ago, a more unlikely scenario could not be imagined. The Yankees are barreling into the playoffs after recovering from one of the team's worst season starts in franchise history. The Mets, on the other hand, are staggering towards the end of the season having lost five straight and 11 of their last 15 games. A seemingly insurmountable lead in their division has been whittled to second place behind the Phillies, and the Mets have let a playoffs appearance escape from their control. Last night's game was almost emblematic of the horror show that has aired early before Halloween. Superstar David Wright couldn't locate third base for a force out. Faced with loaded bases, pitcher Oliver Perez hit two batters with errant throws.

How this team breaks out of these doldrums is hard to imagine. The Mets only got one runner to second base in Thursday’s loss and had only four base runners in the game. The offense hasn’t scored in fourteen innings and you already know about the bullpen. The good news, if there is any, is that Florida is coming to town this weekend. The Mets took three-of-four from them on the road last weekend, so they know how to beat the Marlins and now they have to.

From last place to the playoffs, the Yankees have taken their fans on a trip, but they will play October baseball once again. The same cannot yet be said about the Mets.

You probably won't catch any Mets fans or anyone associated with the club purchasing these yet, but MLB.com already has the New York Mets 2007 NL East Division Champions Roster T-Shirt up for sale on its website. Talk about counting your eggs way before they're hatched. The shirts aren't even available for pre-sale only, but are "in stock and ready to leave the warehouse" in 4-6 business days! Hmm...in 4-6 days, the NL East will have been decided. Does this mean MLB.com can cancel your order if the Mets fail to win their division?

• Yankees 12 Blue Jays 11 (10 innings): What could have been one of the more painful losses of the season turned into a very satisfying win. Down 3-1, the Yankees rallied to a 6-3 lead, only to fall behind 8-6. Once again, the bats responded, putting New York ahead 9-8, but Toronto jumped ahead again 11-9 in the eighth. The Yankees had another rally in them and tied things up in the bottom of the inning thanks to a two-run single by Melky Cabrera.
  Continue reading "Last Night's Action: A Long Day In The Bronx"

Marlins 8, Mets 7 (10 innings): Taking a three-run lead into the bottom of the ninth against the Marlins should be no problem right? Not when Billy Wagner is mysteriously absent -- the Mets later said he was having back spasms -- and his replacements are the not-so-capable Pedro Feliciano and the highly inflammable Jorge Sosa. They combined to cough up the lead in the bottom of the ninth, ruining a dramatic comeback posted by the Mets in the top of the inning. Then Sosa gave up the winning run all by himself in the 10th. Why is Sosa in there? Because everyone else stinks or had been used, frankly. After seeing the right-hander struggle so frequently of late, Manager Willie Randolph still didn't look for another option.

Oliver Perez improved to 4-1 against Atlanta this season, throwing seven strong innings allowing only two runs and striking out seven. David Wright continued his quest to become a 30-30 player with his 28th home run in the sixth, a two-run shot that scored Jose Reyes. Reyes also scored the first Mets run and stole his 75th base of the year.

The Mets don't get a reprieve as they travel to Atlanta for a weekend series. In the span of four days, they managed to let the Phillies right back in the division race. September doesn't look as fun as it did on Sunday.

The game remained that way until the ninth when the Mets broke things open by scoring five runs. But, Pittsburgh wasn’t finished yet and loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the ninth. After scoring three times to cut the game to 10-7, Willie Randolph brought in Billy Wagner to close things down. Pittsburgh got the tying run to the plate with two outs, but Xavier Nady struck out to end the game and give the Mets an exciting victory.

• Yankees 11, Indians 2: We thought things were supposed to be tougher for the Yankees when they played winning teams, but that doesn't seem to be the case. While Mike Mussina allowed one run in the first inning, the Yankees scored all they would need in the second when they tagged Paul Byrd for 7 runs. The inning included a two-run homer by Alex Rodriguez, who added another two-run shot in the 8th inning. While each Yankees starter had a hit, Jose Molina had four hits and Derek Jeter had three for the 2nd night in a row. The home runs by A-Rod continues his streak of home runs against Cleveland this year. He's now hit one in each of the five Yankees-Indians games this season.
• Marlins 7, Mets 5: It was looking good for win #301 for Tom Glavine until the Mets bullpen entered the game. Handed a 3-1 lead in the 7th inning, Guillermo Mota proceeded to load the bases full of fish (he inherited 1 runner, to be fair) before giving up a grand slam to Josh Willingham. The Mets bailed Mota out in the bottom of the 7th, scoring two runs to tie the game, but Aaron Heilman was quick to give the Marlins the lead again in the 8th inning. David Wright had two home runs (two-run and solo) to the left field bleachers in the loss.
• Doubledays 3, Cyclones 0: Auburn took the lead with a two-run bases loaded single in the 1st and never looked back. Brett Cecil and three relievers held the Cyclones to five hits in the victory.

• Yankees 16 White Sox 3: Is it really possible that the Yankees could tie a club record by belting eight home runs, yet somehow Alex Rodriguez would be about the only person not to get one? Somehow, that’s exactly what happened Tuesday as every starter except for A-Rod, Jeter and Andy Phillips went deep and Hideki Matsui did twice. Shelly Duncan continued his Shane Spencer imitation by belting his 4th home run in 21 AB’s.
  Continue reading "No 300th/No 500th"

• Yankees 8, Orioles 7: Way back on June 28th, the game between the Yankees and Orioles was suspended in the 8th inning with New York up 8-6. Last night, the two teams continued the June game with Mariano Rivera allowing one Baltimore run to make things exciting in the 9th before picking up what is officially his 10th save of the season.
• Orioles 4, Yankees 2: In the regularly scheduled game last night, the Yankees were unable to drive in the key runs to beat the Orioles. The Yankees had 5 runners at 3rd base over the course of the game, but were unable to plate any of them. Andy Pettitte had a solid game that consisted of one bad inning, which was all Baltimore needed. Pettitte allowed three runs in the 3rd inning when he allowed three hits and two walks. On the positive side, he did retire the last 12 batters he faced.
• Nationals 6, Mets 2: It's the games against the bad teams that the Mets need to win if they want to keep their minuscule lead in the NL East. Unfortunately, they couldn't muster up much offense last night against Washington. Moises Alou went 1-4 including a double and a run scored in his return to the team, but that wasn't nearly enough to bail out Jorge Sosa. Sosa allowed 5 runs over 6 innings and had the Mets in a hole from the 2nd inning. The Mets and Nationals play a day-night doubleheader Saturday with Mike Pelfrey pitching in one game and Orlando Hernandez in the other.

• Mets 13, Dodgers 9: While Tom Glavine was on the mound attempting to win his 299th career game, the Mets were trying to win their first game against the Dodgers this year. In an trip to Los Angeles earlier this season, the Mets were swept in a three game series. The Mets jumped out to a 6-run lead in the first inning last night and never trailed, but Glavine couldn't keep the Dodgers from scoring in his brief outing. Then again, no pitcher seemed to have an answer for either team's offense in this game. Although Glavine didn't come close to winning his 299th victory, the Mets did finally pick up a win in L.A. In the combined 22 run slugfest, Glavine was removed after only two innings, allowing 10 hits and 6 earned runs. Derek Lowe, the starter for the Dodgers, hardly fared better - 10 hits and 8 earned runs over three innings. Each position player that started the game for the Mets, had at least one hit. The two teams combined for 35 hits in the game.
• Blue Jays 3, Yankees 2: The Yankees were going for a four-game sweep of Toronto and for their 6th win in a row. All was well until they reached the 7th inning. Chien-Ming Wang pitched well through 6, holding the Jays scoreless, but it all unraveled in the 7th when Wang allowed Toronto to score 3 runs. The Yankees jumped to a quick two-run lead in the 1st inning, but Toronto starter Dustin McGowan shut them down for the rest of the time he was pitching, allowing only 4 total hits over 7 innings. Wang was eventually pulled from the game in the 8th inning after already giving up the go ahead run in the 7th. The Yankees start another four-game series Friday against the Devil Rays, who they took three of four from just last week.
• Crosscutters 4, Cyclones 2: The Cyclones fell to Williamsport for their first loss in seven games. Brooklyn had a one run lead entering the 7th, but the Crosscutters scored 3 unearned runs to take the lead for good. Brooklyn scored only one run in the 8th despite having the bases loaded and were unable to score in the 9th despite having two runners on base with no outs.