Love The Dickey

Congratulations to R. A. Dickey who won the Cy Young award.
He was such a bright spot this season for Mets fans.
Here are his performance stats:

• 20-6 
• 2.73 earned run average

Lead the league in

• Innings pitched 233 2/3
• Strikeouts 230
• Complete games 5
• Shutouts 3

To complete 5 games in a season is a feat for current pitchers.  Of all the records, I think complete games will stand with the record holder, Cy Young himself at 749 games.  The list barely includes any recent players and by recent I mean those that pitched 30 or 40 years ago. The Mets won 74 games this year, so for Dickey to be responsible for 20 of those wins, is a big deal.  Dickey is 38 and his pitch is the knuckleball.  He is the first knuckleballer to win the award.



The humble R.A. said to MLB, "But for me, this is an honor to be shared. It's a great honor, and I am not a self-made man by any stretch of the imagination. There have been countless people who have poured into me in a way that has changed my life -- not only on the field, but off."

Note:  R.A. stands for Robert Allen. I'd like to think it stands for Really Amazin'

Happy Opening Day!

Opening Day

The excitement of Opening Day! No matter who your team is, they are in it on Opening Day. It's a level playing field. Opening Day is like the start of a tour. The team/band is refreshed, rehearsed, ready for the crowds and feeling confident. The laundry is all washed, there is air in the tires and everyone is in a great mood.

The Mets won today behind great pitching from Santana and a big offense which started with David Wright's two-run homer in the first inning. As Bart Giamatti said "The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again....."

Dusty in Carl Schurz Park showing off her jersey.

Season Opener At Shea (oops!)

Tonight is the Mets official opening of Citi Field, which I continue to call Shea. My friend T'Boo refers to it a Two Shea (touche). In the spirit of things, my dog Dusty put on her game face and donned a Mets jersey. Let's Go Mets!

Miserable Day - Better Evening

Mets fans have been pretty forgiving. I think our patience is spent. To quote ex-Mets' Manager Yogi Berra, It's Deja Vu all over again. How does a team fall apart two years in a row, in the same fashion? At the plate, they looked like all life had been sucked from them. Were they aware they were playing for the post season? It was a suckydo ending to the illustrious history of Shea Stadium. For an short time after the game, the Shea Goodbye closing ceremonies made us put aside the debacle of a game. Mets heros of better days entered the field and crossed home plate. Tom Seaver threw the last pitch at Shea to Mike Piazza and the lights at Shea were dimmed for the last time. Anger and frustration for the 2007/8 Mets. Admiration and fondness for the 1969/86/2000 Mets.

Boosting my spirits for one hour, was the return of Dexter: The craftily written and acted story of a serial killer. Brandi Shearer's song Lullabies may have a whole new place in music as the song to repeatedly have sex to. Lullabies: the aphrodisiac, just ask Dexter's girlfriend Rita.

Is there anything worse than a Blown Save?

Is there any worse than a Blown Save, when it's your team that is blowing the save? Mark called at 2pm to say he had 4 tickets for me for the game: Phillies and Santana! I'm there. At 9:30 the game at Shea was moving along nicely with the Mets ahead 5-2. The Shea air was stagnant, with the threat of a storm but it held off. Never feeling like I can breath a sigh of relief no matter how many runs are on the board, I was ready for the top of the 9th. The guy seated behind me had yelled a few innings earlier that he knew the game would be tied. He underestimated things. The Mets needed 3 outs to be in sole possession of first place - something that has eluded the team this year. The Philles pounded on Sanchez. Joe Smith got the ground ball, but Reyes had a problem figuring out what to do with it. The rest is depressing. Maybe the bigger question here is WHY AREN'T STARTING PITCHERS ALLOWED TO PITCH THE 9TH INNING ANYMORE?????

Statues, All Stars and Omnipresent Jerseys

Between yesterday and today, I photographed all the major league team-represented Statues of Liberty. If you remember the cows that were painted and placed all over the city years ago, or the angels in LA, this is that sort of thing. One difference is all of these were done by the same company with one exception. There are 42 statues. I captured the 30 teams and Shea Stadium, which was my favorite. It would have made for a more interesting trek if each was unique and I would have spent more than about 30 second at each statue. Even with a 30 second stop time, I think I spent about 7-8 hours in total getting from place to place. An unlimited Metrocard made it easier.


The Astros statue seemed to be deep in thought or maybe just pondering Madonna's next visit to the Reebok gym which it is poised in front of.
This was the closest I could get to Ms Cubs. The area is near the Stock Exchange which is closely guarded.

Whenever there is an event in New York, the city is nicer, happier and more polite. People wanted to know how many photos you got so far, do you want me to take your photo with the statue, etc. The ironic thing is everyone I encountered was a Mets or Yankee fan. I'm sure there are plenty out-of-towners here for the game (I've witnessed many a Boston Jersey), but I didn't see them taking photos or chatting. Maybe New Yorkers are just as crazy as the town we live in and what makes us tick are enjoying the unique things our home has to offer.

The Mets didn't deserve to win, but the fans didn't deserve to lose.

In the blink of an eye, the season was done. The Mets were 7 games up with 17 games to play. The Mets didn't deserve to win, but the fans didn't deserve to lose. We take it the hardest. We have so much invested: mentally, physically and monetarily. This is the first year in as long as I can remember, that I did not attend a game at Shea. It was not a conscience decision. It just didn’t happen. The Mets have an awful home record-so another level of disappointment for the fans. I didn’t hear Tom Glavin’s interview after the show, but according to the Howard Stern show, he was nonchalant and brushed the loss/season off. Even Artie Lange, the biggest Met hater, said he felt sorry for Met fans after hearing his interview. Glavin who pitched a career low .1 of an inning and gave up 7 runs. He was only able to get one out. A brilliant career. A lousy finish. To be down 7-0 before a Met picked up a bat, basically sealed the team’s fate for the year. Well it will be a very long winter for us Met fans. There will be unsettled anger for months to come. Blame can go around, but ultimately the collapse was a team effort.