Meet the Mets
The Mets played their second intrasquad game on Saturday and Matt Cerrone of SNY.tv has plenty of footage from the game. The Blue team beat the Orange team 4-1 but since that likely means nothing to you, Adam Rubin has the recap to go along with some video of his own. Everybody's favorite knuckleballer R.A. Dickey threw and though he was a bit rusty, he was satisfied with his first outing. Apparently, Dickey double entendres are ITBSOTL.
Unfortunately, it just wouldn't be right to have an injury-free day in Metsland. As Fred Wilpon once stated regarding Omar Minaya's job status, "will the sun rise tomorrow?". Well as expected, the sun rose on Saturday and not one but multiple Mets sustained injuries of some degree. Here's your infirmary update:
- David Wright was scratched from the team's intrasquad game with minor rib cage stiffness. Luckily, the issue sounded more precautionary than anything, so at least we've got that.
- During the team's game, OF Scott Hairston left after his first at bat with a strained left oblique. The injury was to the same oblique that cost Hairston the final month and a half of his 2011 season.
- Wilmer Flores appears to be suffering from a sore shoulder, which is limiting him from throwing in the field.
- Last but not least is the strangest malady of the day: the Mets believe Ike Davis may have Valley Fever and they are treating him as if he does have it, though tests he took in NY have yet to come back. Fortunately, Davis has not had any symptoms thus far and the Mets issued this statement last night.
There was some good news to report on the injury front, as lefty Robert Carson received a favorable diagnosis of his intercostal strain and should be able to start throwing soon.
Toby Hyde passes along some more notes from minor league camp. He's got some info on the Mets interesting trio of A-ball shortstops: Wilfredo Tovar, Philip Evans and Danny Muno. He also saw Corey Vaughn and sends along a tweet from Darin Gorski. GORSKI!
Mets single game tickets go on sale tomorrow at 10 AM. Still not sold on spending your hard-earned money on Mets baseball games this year? Did I mention that the team will be hosting an occasional post-game concert series featuring Cheap Trick and REO Speedwagon? Ah, the Mets: perpetually stuck in the 1980's.
Around the Majors
In the first game on the 2012 Grapefruit League schedule, the Yankees defeated the Phillies 8-5 in Clearwater. Though this matchup featured what are basically the two most despicable teams in all of baseball, it was really nice for a few minutes yesterday to see a live baseball game back on the tv. Now, without further ado, I'll go back to passionately hating both of them.
A pair of young center fielders agreed to contracts on Saturday with their west coast teams. Padres CF Cameron Maybin signed a five year extension worth $25 million to stay in San Diego. The deal also includes an option for 2017. All in all, this looks to be a bargain for the Padres. Further up north, the A's and Yoenis Cespedes finalized the centerfielder's four year, $36 million contract. With Cespedes' offseason-long saga finally finished, it'll be interesting to see what he can do on the field.
Former Mets bench player Chris Carter signed with the Seibu Lions of the Japanese Pacific League. "The Animal", as he was known, split last season between the Rays' and Braves' AAA teams.
Carson Cistulli of Fangraphs has published the final TV Broadcaster Rankings, along with some comments and questions. In case you missed it, the Mets' booth of Gary, Keith and Ron (and Ralph and Kevin) placed 2nd in the whole contest, behind legendary Dodgers voice Vin Scully. Certainly a notable achievement and a well-deserved ranking. I'll be interested to see where the Mets' radio crew places in their upcoming radio broadcast rankings.
Finally, the Dodgers are giving one of their bat boys a tryout at the suggestion of Jon Garland. There's probably a "Dodgers are out of money" joke in there somewhere, but I don't really feel like making it. You're free to try it in the comments section if you so choose.