Oh, son of a %!#@*....

I have GOT to start reading the newspaper more.  I had no clue this was happening:

Hall of Famer Darryl Strawberry speaks in Ocean Springs

I had to work late last night at a softball tournament, but drove within a few hundred yards of this place on my way home.

DOH!

 

Read more here: http://www.sunherald.com/2013/03/09/4518206/hall-of-famer-darryl-strawberry.html#storylink=cpy

The Dickey Deal

I'm sorry, but the fans who view their baseball team as a boy band and insist on sulking in their rooms for 3 days when their favorite member leaves to pursue a solo career cannot be more wrong about this one.

Yes, R.A. Dickey is a remarkable human being.  Yes, the story that is the arc of his professional baseball career is a fantastic one.  Yes, he put up good years with the Mets and won the Cy Young.

Nonetheless, this trade was a good move for the baseball club.  Quite frankly, after decades of Vince Coleman, Eddie Murray, Bobby Bonilla, Roberto Alomar, Luis Castillo, Moises Alou, Jason Bay, and countless other trades and signings that still make even the biggest Dickey fans cringe, it's refreshing to see the Mets finally grasp the concept of "Buy low, sell high."  Personally, I've dreamed of the day that the Mets would trade someone at the peak of their value as opposed of their historic pattern of paying huge prices, whether it be in money or prospects, for someone on the downhill side of his career.

I've got nothing but good things to day about R.A. Dickey, but the fact remains he's 38-year-old journeyman knuckleballer.  More power to him if he can keep riding his streak of success a few more years.  More power to the Blue Jays if they get it out of him.  The reality, though, is that Dickey's carriage is due to revert back to a pumpkin any moment now.  If you're planning on contending for a title in 2013 and one more solid pitcher could be the difference between making the post-season and not, that's a risk-reward ratio you can live with.  If you're not, you get while the getting's good.

For Mets fans who for some reason keep believing that the Mets have been just one or two pieces away from contention every season since they last won the division, trading the Cy Young winner makes no sense.  I get that, but it's wrong.  For someone like me, who realized long ago that the team needed to be blown up and rebuilt from the bottom, this trade is one more step in the right direction.

Best of luck to R.A. Dickey, but even better luck to the youngsters the Mets are getting in return.

Hubba! Hubba!

If this jersey were a woman, I'd offer to buy it a drink.*

For some reason, I tend to gravitate towards road jerseys anyway, but this baby is absolutely gorgeous.

Don't get me wrong, the homes are nice, too, and were it not for a year of nearly-identical blue BPs, I'd have also greeted that unveiling with boundless enthusiasm. I kinda already figuratively fired all those bullets, though.

This, though...wow.  I'd say there's about a 70% chance I'm wearing one of these come Opening Day.

*Hypothetical situation also assumes either I were still single or the wife was down with it, neither of which is going happen any time soon.

Congratulations, R.A. Dickey

Anyone who's found there way to this blog already understands the many levels of awesome Dickey winning the Cy Young entails, so I'll just add that it's a good thing nobody broke the consecutive scoreless innings record this year.  Yeah, I still hold a grudge about that.

Official mlb.com release here.

Fare ye well, Jason Bay.

Well, it happened.  The Mets negotiated a release with Jason Bay.  I'm sure I'm just echoing the sentiments of every other fan on the internet, but what a shame this is.  Not on anyone in particular, mind you, just a shame in general.

It's not like Bay is anywhere close to the first big free-agent flop in Mets history--or even recent history--but he's the only one I recall feeling sympathy toward.  As much as his production may have stunk, there's nothing else negative to say about him.  He played hard, he wasn't a pox upon the clubhouse.  He struggled mightily, but never packed it in.  He was at least once outright mistreated (seriously, I'd love to have a chat with whoever decided to put him on a plane from Atlanta to Denver mere hours after he was knocked senseless on the infield).  He was subjected to the criticism and boos and whatnot that come when one's performance is wholly disproportionate to one's contract, but he never once complained, never once gave an excuse, never once said something derogatory about anyone else or otherwise put his foot in his mouth.

Now, I'm not going to lie.  There were times I groaned when he came up to bat in a key situation.  I even kinda groaned a little when he came back to a lineup that was otherwise clicking right before the All-Star break.  Even so, the man was all class during his time with the Mets, and no matter how badly he may have been doing at any given time, all you could do was root for the guy and hope he somehow snapped out it.

Hopefully, this will be one of those "right time, right place" deals from which both Bay and the Mets benefit.  Why he struggled as he did in New York will forever remain a mystery, but I know more than a few Mets fans will keep an eye out and hope Jason Bay finds his groove with a change of scenery.