Mets: 0 STL: 7
Mets: 0-2
With that out of the way, like any Spring Training Game, there were some bright spots, but there were a lot of dark spots in terms of the pitching today. Because its always easier to complain and criticize first, lets look at some of the dark spots, and the pitchers that it will effect.
Maine, who has a rotation spot that no one is questioning, had a rough opening in his first Spring Training game of the year. He went 1.2 innings where he let 4 H, 3 ER, BB, 2 K. For a positive, he did not let up any homers, which has been one of his weaknesses over his career.
Lugo and Smith, who need to impress in order to be in the pen had identical box lines today of 1.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 BB, K. Its the first outing for both of them, so I'm trying to take it as a grain of salt.
Padilla and Register both had good outings, which, when compared to Lugo and Smith, is helping to even the playing field for spots in the bullpen. Smith still has an upper hand because of his throwing style, so lets see how the rest of Spring goes.
In terms of how much I talk down about Schoeneweis, he had a good game today. He actually came out in relief, went 1.1 innings and the only blemish he had was a BB. If he keeps this up all spring, I will not be complaining about him beating someone else into the penn.

Yesterday, the Phillies beat the Reds 8-1. How much of that was an effect of their starters continuing what they left off in the regular season in 2007? Well, mlb.com seems to think so thanks to their headline on the page that links to yesterday's box scores: "Day 1 of NL East bragging rights go to Philly."
That really is not the case though, and I am not just talking about the basic argument that Spring Training games mean nothing. When you look at their starter's batting yesterday, their bats were pretty cold for being that explosive of an offense:
Rollins 0-2
Victorino 0-2, K
Utley 0-2, K
Howard 1-2, R, 2B
Burrel 1-2
Jenkins 1-3
Feliz 2-2, R, RBI
Moyer 3.0 IP, H, 3 K
To be fair, Moyer via box looked pretty good yesterday.

In other news, the Mets take on the Cardinals today and hopefully with more 2008 players playing on the field. Anthony Reyes, who is battling for a SP start for the Red Birds, will be pitching first followed by a slew of minor leaguers, so for the Mets, how they perform during the first few innings will be important.

The first box score from an official Spring Training Game is in, and depending what you were looking for, you either found a lot gems, or a lot of apathy. The Mets B-squad, their B-B-squad, faced off against a general A-squad for the Tigers in the first half of the game. Many of their starters actually stayed in until after the 5th inning. The Mets were beating the A-squad 2-0, and eventually lost 4-2 due to one very bad inning.
Mets 2 , Tigers 4
Mets 0-1

Gems in this game go to the pitching staff. With the exception of the blowup from Collazo (IP, 4 ER, 5 H, BB). Pelfry had a strong start with 2 IP, 1 H, 1 K, and Wise and Stokes each had a perfect inning behind him.
Sosa then came in, threw IP, 2 BB, 2 K.Feliciano was 1 BB short of a perfect inning himself.
Overall, the competition for the bullpen is on, Schowenweis better prepare for a battle to keep his spot.

In terms of hitting, Machado had a triple and Gotay had a double. Besides that, no one had more than 1 hit in the game (6 hits total in the game). Fmart was 1-1, so he has 1.000 BA this Spring, and Abreu was 1-4.

When I was writing this, the Phillies were winning 8-1 over the Reds.

As you know by now, today the Mets will travel to the Tigers in the first official game of spring. Players on the actual roster for the Mets that are known to be playing today are Pelfry, Church, Anderson, Wise, Sosa and Feliciano.
They will be against the tough pitching of Bonderman and the familiar hitting of Miguel Cabrera and Renteria.

Its good to know that Pelfry will be pitching against some MLB caliber, and All-Star caliber batters today, lets see what he can do. There is also a bullpen subplot growing here as Sosa and Feliciano have their places, but Wise is trying to fit in. Personally, I would prefer Wise or Lugo to Schoenwies, but lets see what this spring brings.

Here is some other news in links in case you missed it:

Scott Kazmir will be out 2 weeks due to an elbow injury and will receive a MRI.
Cubs owner willing to sell the naming rights of Wrigley.
Myers will be the opening day starter for the Phillies over Hamels.
Vizquel will have knee surgury and will be out for up to 5 weeks.
TBS has National Games on Sundays now.

On February 8th, I wrote about Michel Abreu being at Spring Training this year and his previous stats. That article can be found here. His stats show that he could be a threat, but as a reader brought up in the comment section, there is question about his age.

In today's game, he hit a two-run homerun in the ninth inning. Although that was against University of Michigan, it still counts and lets see what happens as he takes AB's against actual teams. I would not be surprised to see him getting a lot of AB as Spring continues. He could be a dark horse for one of the bench spots (or an eventual trade token).

Although this statement is redundant, Abreu is one of the players that I will be keeping an eye on during Spring Training.

Here are some stat lines from today's game:
Abreu: 2-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI's
Wright: 1-2, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI's
Reyes: 1-2, 1 R
Church: 0-1, SB
Fmart: 1-2

The first real Spring Training games start tomorrow for many teams. There is a flurry of news that might get lost in the shuffle, so here are some of the tidbits that I found interesting:

Remember Francisco Liriano? He was the pitcher that was so dominant in 2006, that the Twins were thought to be starting a powerhouse dynasty in pitching with him, and Johan. Then he blew his arm out and has been out all of this time. Well he finally got his VISA issues taken care of, and should be reporting to camp soon. You can read more about it here.

The Mariners with their improved pitching staff looked to take on the Angels and recapture the AL West Championship crown. There was a story on mlb.com yesterday about how their Manager, wants and expects Ichrio to steal over 80 bases this upcoming year The most that he has ever done in a season has been 56. If he steals 80 bases, its just another reason why he is one of the great players in the game.

Foxsports.com has a video of the Marlins preparing for one of their new promotions next year. Its pretty desperate, but original. They have assembled a team they call the 2008 Marlin Manatees which is comprised of a good number of overweight, middle age men, who will be dancing to various hip hop songs.
They do have attendance issues, will this help? The video doesn't explain anything, its just 45 seconds of watching their tryouts.

In the edition of Sports Weekly on sale now (with Santana on the cover), there is a 2008 power poll. Here are the top 10 teams:
1. Boston Red Sox
2 Detroit Tigers
3. Cleveland Indians
4. New York Yankees
5. Los Angeles Angels
6. NEW YORK METS
7. Arizona Diamondbacks
8. Colorado Rockies
9. Seattle Mariners
10. Philadelphia Phillies
(16. Atlanta Braves)

So, according to USA Today, only 4 NL teams are good enough to be in the top 10 of baseball, and they all are ranked 6 or below. I feel that the Mets are better than 6 on paper, but until the NL starts winning All-Star games and World Series Rings, preseason rankings like this one will continue to be published.
Overall though, I think the argument will start to surface that talent is starting to squeeze teams closer together. Outside of teams that should win their division without much trouble (Cubs for example), there is a cluster of teams that are good enough for the Wild Card. This argument originates from just looking at the polls, there are so many teams that you look at and go, "Hmm, I think they should be listed higher than that", but when you look at the teams above them, they are slightly better, so teams are starting to look better and better on paper.
What we saw at the end of last season, with the possibility of 3 or 4 teams going for a Wild Card playoff game, (where 2 actually made it), could be a trend starting now. Bring it, because that is great for baseball.
(Another way to look at this is that the middle-level teams are starting to grow while horrible teams and excellent teams are starting to shrink)

Who's excited for actual box scores this week? I know I am and I made a list by day, based on the schedule, of pitchers I am spending a little more attention on this week.
Monday: Niese, Lugo, Sanchez
Tuesday: Kunz
Wedensday: Pelfry, Wise, Stokes, Callazo
Thrusday: Sanchez, Lugo
Friday: Kunz, (Santana)

First off, thank you to a reader who found a very recent article from the IBL website that lists 8 players that played in the IBL last summer and are moving on to tougher leagues. The entire post and comments can be found under the article Get To Know A Prospect: Juan Feliciano.

Mlbtraderumors.com talks about the future of Ryan Howard and the Phillies. The Phillies have him until 2011, which the feeling on the site is, and I believe around baseball, is that as long as he produces, he will continue breaking arbritation records. The Phillies probably don't have the funds to sign Howard long term and would benefit, depending on the direction of the team by 2011, trading Howard for prospects. Its an interesting discussion, go check it out.

If you didn't hear yet, the Marlins new stadium got approved, the Cubs Closer position is open and has many candidates, and finally, K-rod lost his arbritation case today.

I will not be appearing on Late Hits with AG and the Beast on WUCP.
Due to a Woman's Basketball game, which could cause the show not to happen, I will probably be on the show next Thursday.

The following are my final standings predictions for the 2008 season. This is the first set I will do. There will be another set at the end of spring training (or near the end, right before the Red Sox/ Oakland game in Japan on March 25th), where I will adjust my predictions accordingly based on Spring Training and any last minute trades (like Roberts or Blanton). Without further ado, the MLB 2008 season. (later on I will do reasonings for these rankings)

AL East
1. Boston
2. NY Yankees
3. Tampa Bay
4. Toronto
5. Baltimore
AL Central
1. Detroit
2. Cleveland
3. Minnesota
4. Chicago White Sox
5. Kansas City
AL West
1. LA Angels
2. Seattle
3. Oakland
4. Texas

NL West
1. Arizona
2. San Diego
3. Colorado
4. LA Dodgers
5. San Francisco
NL Central
1. Chicago Cubs
2. Milwaukee
3. Houston
4. St. Louis
5. Cincinnati
6. Pittsburgh
NL EAST
1. New York Mets
2. Atlanta
3. Philadelphia
4. Nationals
5. Marlins



Programming Note: Tomorrow, there is a possibility that I will be on the WUCP, Late Hits with AG and the Beast Show, if it happnes, I will let you know tommorow of a link where you can hear the show and more details of what I will be saying.

The Daily News got some good quotes from the Phillies regarding Beltran's comments on how the Mets are the team to beat. These some of the quotes:
    "With Beltran making his statement, it sounded like, 'All right, Jimmy, this is for you.' It's almost to the point where it's personal more         than anything"-Victorino.
Shane was getting to the point here that last year, Rollin's quote was said as a way to pump up the Phillies to be a winning team and Beltran is not doing that with this quote, instead its more of an attack on Jimmy. If this quote will pump up the Mets, then Rollins has to be part of it because his name, his being represents the Phillies as a whole when it comes to making predictions before the season starts.
    "It's fun. It creates excitement."
Hmm...Who on the Phillies would give a classy, nonaggressive, quote like that? Yep, thats from good 'ol Utley, who doesn't disrespect. His quote does show that the players are ready for this new age rivalry.
    (This Quote is About the Braves) "They're probably laughing inside not say anything - like, 'Okay just let us go to work'" - Victorino
This was in response to a question about the rivalry between the Phillies and the Mets leaving out the Braves. No one is talking about them, so what if they come from surprise? Shane is stating here, and in other quotes around this one, that no one is counting the Braves out, and by getting occupied with this, we are letting the Braves just train harder and not be distracted so they can go out and win the division.
That is a little fear of mine with their rotation that they just working hard right now and come out and win the division.

Over the past couple of days, I have collected a small list of notable quotes and acts in the NL East from Spring Training. As you can probably guess, the first one is one of the quotes is the one you have probably have heard a lot so far, and I am very excited and pumped to tell it to you again. (Quote cited from Metsblog.com)
    "With (Santana), I have no doubt we're going to win our division. I have no doubt about that... So this year, tell Jimmy Rollins we are         the team to beat."
That quote from Beltran is the statement that I have been waiting for. I haven't been waiting for the specifics of the quote, to claim the Met as the team to beat, I have been waiting for Beltran to step out and saying something to grab attention. Players help embrace rivalries and this statement not only helps that put places Beltran as an assertive player.

Over on espn.com, I found three quotes from Pedro Martinez that are worth noting. They are about the steroid era, Johan, and the Phillies.
    "I dominated that era and I did it clean."
    "I'm extremely happy to have Johan here. It's like a big glass of cold water when you're thirsty."
    "We have to make Jimmy swallow his tongue."
I love the second quote in that sequence. Only Pedro would equate Johan to have a glass of water.

The Phillies recently played a prank on Kyle Kendrick. You can read about here. I am not quite sure if I find this prank funny or not. They think its hilarious though.

I was just watching Wednesday night's episode of the Colbert Report, were Stephen Colbert was welcoming back his writing staff with a few extra celebrities (like Tiki Barber).

The last writer to come out was Mr. Met, who came out to different music and lights.

I had to share that immediately.

On the first day of spring, lets finish up our journey through the regular 2008 season with a look at the month of September. At this point it will be a year from the horrible collapse. The Mets will get plenty of chances next September to close the book if the race is tight between the Braves and the Phillies. For this entry, the Games will be listed in order that they will be played, because in September, the order of the games is crucial for the postseason birth.
MIL 3
PHI 3
WAS 2
ATL 3
WAS 4
ATL 3
CHC 4
FLA 3
The breakdown of the games is as follows. The Mets will play 25 games, 10 away 15 home. They will play 16 games against teams that were over .500 last season and they will play 7 games against teams that played in the playoffs. That month, they will get the 4th off, the 8th off and the 11th off, and the last game will be on the 28th. The breaks are at good places as one is before the PHI series, one after (before the WAS series) and one after that series before the ATL series.
Playing a four game set with the Cubs at the end of the month should be very beneficial if the Cubs run away with the NL Central, because they will be in rest mode there. So if the season goes down to the wire, the Mets could have the advantage. The Mets have a good mix of important games against rivals and teams that they should aways beat on paper to help them close the book and get into the 2008 postseason.

Pitchers and Cathers report in under 2 hours.

By a weird coincidence, MLB.com was looking in depth at their 2B men today as I was going to do so as well (by using their fantasy rankings). MLB.com recently released their fantasy projections that included projection stats for 2008 for every player that they feel will play in the Major Leagues. They have 73 players listed for 2B, 4 of whom will play for the Mets next year. Just if you were curious, Kaz Matsui was ranked at 24.

Luis Castillo: Ranked 21
Projected: 557 AB, .298 BA, 105 R, 2 HR, 44 RBI, 25 SB
His AB here seem a little high, but his BA and HR seem right on the spot. Spending the whole year in the #2 spot for the Mets, I think he will have above 50 RBI and hopefully more than 105 R. With stolen bases, you never know with this team.

Damion Easley: Ranked 67
190 AB, .246 BA, 20 R, 8 HR, 22 RBI
I agree with these stats because Easley is expected to fill in multiple positions on the fields, so he might have a shot of 190 AB, although that seems a little hight. The rest of the stats seem fair for that amount of AB.

Ruben Gotay: Ranked 68
135 AB, .260 AB, 15 R, 3 HR, 18 RBI
I do not agree with the AB here, I think Gotay will barely get to 100 AB due to health of other players. That being said, I think Gotay can put up these same numbers with only 100 AB.

Jose Valetin: Ranked 70
186 AB, .238 BA, 18 R, 6 R, 24 RBI
These stats make sense because I can only see Valetin making the roster and playing if there is a major injury on the Mets roster. If that doesn't happen, I really hope the Mets stick with Gotay, because the Mets need a mix of Veterans and Youth on the bench. This Gotay vs Valetin battle will be played out in a matter of days and should last all Spring Training.

First off, in the last Minor League Jersey entry, by an oversight, I put the link to the Star Wars jersey for the Mike Lowell link. Here is the real link:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1298/565829992_a1cc7b9e8e_b.jpg
That is Keith Foulke doing a rehab assignment in a Mike Lowell Spinners Jersey.

An anonymous commenter posted on another article that Michel Abreu is 32, not 29 as originally thought. That does lower his stock a bit, but lets see what he does in Spring and he might be a good bench member if he puts up the numbers.

Before I start, I realized recently that on the last post both links are the same, later today I will change that when I have more time. Also, through a comment someone brought up something pretty important about Micheal Abreu, check it out, it should be two articles down. (This too I will put in a separate post later today).

Our Journey through the season has brought us to the dog days of summer. July on paper looked like a pretty easy month for the Amazin's. What about August? Will they their bullpen start to be wearing down? Will the pen being looking forward towards September when rosters expand so they can rest up?  Here is a break down of the games the Amazin's play in August:
FLA 6
WAS 3
ATL 3
PHI 2
HOU 7
SD 3
PIT 4

When looking at this list from a perspective of last years' final stats, out of the 28 games (15 away, 13 home), the Mets will only be playing 2 games against a playoff team (5 if you count SD as a playoff team), and they will only be playing 8 games against teams that had records above .500. (In terms of division, 14 vs the east and 14 vs other).
That being said, this month, that looks pretty easy right now on paper can be a lot harder than it actually is. Houston, although I do not agree with most of their moves, has made a slew of minor upgrades and could, and probably be a much tougher team to play than they were last year. (Although I am not really too concerned, but with the weak NL Central, there is plenty of room for another team besides the the Cubs to end up above .500).
This month, the Mets get a small dose of their main rivals, the Braves and the Phils, and only have a combined 5 games against them. These are the five games that are must win for the Mets. In a two game set, they need to take both, and in the 3 game set, they have to take at least 2 of 3. It is hard to say these situations though before the seasons has actually started, because the situation around these games cannot be predicted before spring training begins.

Minor League teams are known for completely out-there, strange, wacky promotions. There is a whole genre of promotions that recently have gone to a new extreme and that would be the promotional jersey. The most basic form of this promotion has been in the majors for years and that would be "Turn Back the Clock Night.

Searching the net I found  a few examples of crazy Minor League Jerseys:
http://cache.deadspin.com/assets/resources/2007/07/wcjersey.jpg
The link above takes you to a picture of a Star Wars Jersey from the West Michigan Whitecaps for their Star Wars night. As you can see there is a storm trooper on the front of the jersey. I found the link to the picture on uniwatch.com.
The idea of uniforms like this is really just goofy, but when you go to a lot of Minor League games, you understand the charm of these types of gimmicks.

Have you ever been to a Minor League game thats a tribute for a player? Most of the time its for a player that used to play for the team and they give out bobbleheads of that player in the Minor League team's uniforms. Well the Lowell Spinners decided to take this idea to another level when they named their team after Mike Lowell from their parent team for one night. I found this picture on ESPN.com of Keith Foulke in a rehab assignment wearing the jersey:
http://cache.deadspin.com/assets/resources/2007/07/wcjersey.jpg
Its a little hard to read but above Lowell it says Mike and and they changed the font of their jerseys to look more the like the Red Sox front. It is an interesting idea.

I have some more of these that I will post at a later time. If you see at a game or online a crazy Minor League Jersey and would like to be featured in this article, please let me know: eteich@umd.edu
Some of the ones I will be writing about later are the Aquasox and the Fresno Grizzles.

At the age of 27 in 2006, Michel Abreu lit up the AA in his first year in the minors. 2007, due to visa problems he wasn't here. And now Abreu  will be part of the of the non-roster invitees to Spring Training.
First lets look at his stats. In the minors he played in 113 games where he had 406 AB, 134 H, 26 2B, 17 HR, 71 RBI, .330 BA, .402 OBP, .527 SLG.

He will be 29 this year, so a little old on the prospect side, but lets say for some reason we need him as a power bat off the bench,, he could be a possibility. If he does well after this year, he could be a trade chip, you never know with Spring Training who will turn out a hero and really fight for a spot. Carlos Delgado stands in his way. By that I mean Abreu has no shot at the starting job, and slim shot at best for the bench, but its always good to see excellence in the minors because that spells out security.