That is right, it's Chan Ho Park day! The Mets get their first crack at their former emergency starter tonight in the opening game of the first Philly series of the season. Mike Pelfrey looks to maintain his adequateness from his last start. At least we have Ollie going this weekend...
Meet the Mets
Not too much on the field news to report. It looks like Omir Santos is going to stick around for a little longer, as Brian Schneider has somehow injured his calf while sitting on his butt for the last two weeks.
Does Jerry Manuel = Willie Randolph? Manuel > Randolph in press conferences though. That is something.
Metstradamus comes up with the perfect solution for getting the Mets out of their RISP slump. In an attempt to reduce the stress related to those RISP, the Met management has prohibited any newspapers from the clubhouse. No joke.
Met bard Greg Prince jumps the shark.
Jay Sorgen makes his predictions about what the Mets are going to look like in 100 days. 11-2 record for Pedro. Really?
This really made me laugh. Well done. My personal favorite: Castrated! John Sterling as a Met broadcaster would be fun for about 30 minutes, then I'd spend the rest of my days listening to the Met games on mute or stabbing my ear drums with a screwdriver.
The Kranepool Society had a different reaction to Adam Rubin's blog post from the other day.
Not a whole lot of great news in the high minor leagues. Baseball Prospectus doesn't like Fernando Martinez. Buffalo is 2-16.
Around the NL East
The Marlins are not happy with Jerry's decision to bring in Omir Santos. The paper is calling it bush league. It is now unanimous. Even the team that won, in part due to the move, is complaining. Do they want to replay the inning? I'd be perfectly happy with that.
Hanley Ramirez is likely back in the lineup tonight. Meanwhile, the Marlins came up with six runs in the eighth to beat the Cubs.
The Nationals blow another one. With the game tied at 4-4 in the ninth, the National bullpen gave up 5 runs to the Cardinals to lose 9-4. Daniel Cabrera gave a wild, yet not awful start. The Nats are not good, but Joe Beimel will make them less bad. Not having Jim Bowden spilling company secrets will also make them less bad. This one, though, is not that big of a secret.
Derek Lowe works hard to be ready for his starts. Oliver Perez is out of shape.
Jimmy Rollins is obsessed with the Mets. A Philadelphia newspaper is telling us not to worry. John Gonzalez rubs it in. Phillie Nation judges the Ibanez for Burrell switch an upgrade.
Around MLB
The Yanks overcame AJ Burnett's mediocre outing to beat the Angels 7-4. Who really cares what goes on on the field, however, since A-Rod is coming back soon. We can expect more stories like this as the return gets closer. Former high school teammate Doug Mientkiewicz says he never saw A-Rod doing steroids, saying "it would be 99.9% impossible for us not to know." I'm glad that he can say statistically, without a doubt, that Selena Roberts is lying.
Rays pitcher Matt Garza was perfect going into the seventh, as Tampa beat the Red Sox 13-0.
Twins catcher Joe Mauer is ready to return.
Jeff Weaver is back with the Dodgers.
And, finally, Beyond the Box Score gives an excellent primer on understanding pitch f/x.
Here we are, the Philly series. The good news is that it's not April anymore. I'm a firm believer in the team changing when the calendar changes...