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My son loves Sesame Street. He knows all the characters by name. I justify it to myself because he’s learning his letters and he is able to count to three. I’m learning that he’s everywhere.
My YouTube account is full of Sesame Street clips along with my subscription to the Sesame Street channel. My Netflix only suggests Sesame Street episodes now. It’s Sesame Street everything.
I had one respite away from Sesame Street . . . Mets games. Not anymore. As my son is dozing off watching the Mets game with me, the inning ends, and it cuts to commercial. Sure enough, it’s a Sesame Place commercial. The sleepy little boy (my wife says he’s still a baby), jumps up and screams “ELMO! COOKIE! GROVER!” Yup, he’s not falling asleep.
I never thought I would ask for more Cialis and beer ads during games. Speaking of which, why is it beer ads are the only ones you can’t skip on YouTube? And by the way, kudos for them and YouTube for playing before Sesame Street clips.
Anyway, I digress. For you parents out there, you’re not escaping Elmo, especially now that Elmo is moving to HBO. Why Sesame Street and not Fraggle Rock, the first ever series on HBO, I’ll never know. Maybe it’s because Elmo is getting edgier (0:37 mark):
All kidding aside, I wish the Mets could incorporate Elmo and Sesame Street to a team promotion. I’m sure my son and every kid out there would love a Mets Elmo hat or t-shirt or bobblehead. Let’s make it happen.
Today is National Lefthanders’ Day. The day made me think of my son and his baseball future.
If you’re a baseball fan, and you have a son, you want him to be left-handed because seemingly there are more chances for left handed pitchers. Left handed pitchers throw the ball with more spin. They seem to have longer careers. Mets fans need look no further than John Franco and Jesse Orosco.
Plus left-handed batters are described as having beautiful swings. There is Tony Gwynn, Ken Griffey, Jr., and Ted Williams. For Mets fans, we think of Darryl Strawberry and John Olreud. Oh yeah, the greatest baseball player of all time was left handed.
Now, I know children will not truly have a hand preference until they are about four. Right now, there are some things he does right handed and some things he does left handed. However, it doesn’t stop me from dreaming or playing baseball with my son. When we play baseball, I have him switch hit.
I may want him to throw the ball left-handed, and I may occasionally put it in his left hand, but he really throws with both hands. I joke with my wife that ultimately it doesn’t matter because he’ll throw lefty when he’s older. You may not know this, but Billy Wagner is naturally right-handed. He began playing lefty when he broke his right arm. It reminds me of when I broke my right thumb playing baseball around the same age.
I went to a yard sale and got a left handed glove large enough to fit over my splint. I would practice throwing lefty and catching with my new mitt until I got caught. I would sneak out of the house and ride my bike to my Little League games (my splint hidden in my bat bag). My mom would arrive in just enough time for my name to be scratched from the lineup. I never got the opportunity to be like Billy Wagner. Something tells me my wife won’t let that happen either.
Anyway, that is how much I loved baseball (and still do). You couldn’t keep me off the field without a fight. I already see glimpses of that with my son. He loves baseball. He was watching the game last night telling me when the players hit the ball. He knows a double and a homerun.
I’m glad he loves the sport. Lefty or not, I’ll be there playing with him, and hopefully, one day I’ll be there when he suits up for his first game in the majors. If he doesn’t, I’ll still love him and be proud of him . . . it’ll just mean I’ll have to buy my own tickets.
Since my 14th birthday, I always look to take stock of where the Mets are in the standings. That year the Mets were a 3 games under .500 with no hope for the playoffs . . . and not just because of the strike.
Typically, I will go to the Mets game if they are in town on my birthday. Usually, they’re not in town. Mostly, they’re not in contention. I still go because I enjoy the games. However, we all enjoy the games more when the Mets are good and in contention.
It would not be for another four years before they would be in playoff contention on my birthday (thank you Mike Piazza). The Mets would then be in contention for the following two years before the team started to decline in 2001.
It wouldn’t be until that glorious 2006 regular season that the Mets would be in first place on my birthday. They would be the next year as well until that horrid collapse. They were in second in 2008 before yet another collapse. I still don’t know how Jerry Manuel got a contract extension off of that season.
Six years later, and the Mets are in first place again on my birthday. Next to a beautiful wife and an amazing son, this is what I’m celebrating most. I’m not going to tell you what I’m wishing for when I blow out the candles . . . but I’m sure you can guess.
I know two years ago, I don’t miss yesterday’s game. Ten years ago, my brother and I would’ve built the whole day around it with getting some good beer and firing up the grill. Yesterday, my brother came over, and we missed most of the game because we were doing something better – playing with my son.
Sure, I had the radio on in the background. I was aware the Mets blew a 3-0 lead. I remembered cursing under my breath at the Richie Shaffer homerun off of Bartolo Colon. However, I was more consumed with playing baseball, playing with the water table, and playing whatever games came into that imaginative little head of his.
As the game progressed my brother asked me how was I going to do a game recap. My answer was I couldn’t. When I do the game recaps, I try to do them as contemporaneously as possible – not to be first, but rather to try to recapture my impressions as the game was being played.
So I skipped the game recap because while I knew what was happening, I had no real feel for the game. You know kind of like that person who shows up to your Super Bowl party wearing the wrong jersey regurgitating whatever Chris Berman said earlier in the day. Anyway, at least the Nationals didn’t capitalize.
So even though the Mets lost, I would say the whole weekend ended on the upswing:
I hope your weekend did as well.
The way the Mets have been playing, and with the way the Narkins have been playing, this game was effectively over after the Mets four run third. Once Juan Uribe hit a three run homerun in the fifth, the game was over. By the way, this park is so cavernous thst Uribe’s homerun was that much more impressive. Lucas Duda, himself tried to hit two out to CF and only came up with a SF in the ninth.
Rather than lifting Matt Harvey after five, when he was essentially assured the win, he came out for the sixth and the seventh. You don’t throw him those additional unnecessary innings. Why even have Carlos Torres or Sean Gilmartin on the team if they can’t eat up some innings in a laugher?
I hate to be negative after two sweeps and the Mets in first place, but I just don’t understand what the Mets are doing. If Harvey has a no-hitter going, I understand. Absent that, he should’ve been pulled. It makes me question how many innings the Mets have wasted with him, Jacob deGrom, and Noah Syndergaard.
Further on the negative, Bobby Parnell was not good again. At least, Eric O’Flaherty came in and got out the lefty to snuff out the Markins only threat. He then let up two hits to lefties in the ninth to allow a run and give up the shutout. He let up a second run on an Ichiro RBI single. Collins’ then had to use Hansel Robles, who threw gasoline in the fire.
Collins saw enough and was forced to bring in Jeurys Familia in a save situation in an inning that started 8-0. Talk about wasting a pitcher. Familia let up an RBI single to Dee Gordon to make it 8-6. By the time I was having Padres flashbacks, Familia induced Yelich to groundout to Duda to save the game. Again, if Torres and Gilmartin can’t pick up these innings, I have no idea why they’re on the team. By not using them, the Nets burned through a lot of arms.
In other Mets news, we may have seen the first cracks in the platoon system with Uribe playing and Kelly Johnson sitting against a righty.
I do want to focus on the Dee Gordon groundout to Daniel Murphy. He always comes to play. The Mets were up 7-0, and yet he’s hustling on a routine ball to second. When he was initially ruled safe, he made Murphy look bad (correction: Murphy made himself look bad). Credit is due to Murphy there for immediately accepting responsibility for being lackadaisical. It reminded me of the famous George Brett quote:
I want to hit a routine grounder to second and run all out to first base, then get thrown out by a half step. I want to leave an example to the young guys that that’s how you play the game: ALL OUT.
As a “Mets Daddy,” I appreciate Gordon and Murphy there. It’s great to be able to show him someone who not only plays the right way, but also someone who never gives up. I appreciate Murphy there because rather than make a scene because Gordon should’ve been called out (which he was after replay), he accepted responsibility. I know there was a lot better parts of the game to focus upon, but as a Dad and baseball fan that was my favorite play if the game.
One of the funniest and most absurd episodes of The Office was “Diversity Day.” In this episode, Michael Scott tries to prove he’s not a racist by holding his own diversity seminar entitled “Diversity Tomorrow.” The highlight of the episode is when Michael encourages/forces the employees to celebrate the melting pot of America by acting as the stereotypical versions of a particular race and guessing what race that particular person is.
The reason why this episode was great, other than the genius of that show, was showing how even the most innocent of us carries or knows of biases. I don’t think it’s always purposeful, intentional, or with malice. Sometimes, it’s something we have been told is always true and had no reason to deny.
That’s why today’s Fangraphs’ post “Examining Latino Hitters’ Plate Discipline” is so thoughtful and provocative. We’re all familiar with the phrase, “you never walk off the island.” It’s meaning is fairly innocuous. It just means in order to get noticed by scouts, you need to hit the ball. A scout will be more impressed with power and plate coverage than the ability to draw a walk.
However, the correlation is that Latino baseball players don’t draw walks. You can get them out with pitches outside the zone because they’ll swing at everything. Its not just that they need to hit to get noticed, it’s also that they’re undisciplined, at least at the plate. It’s like a perceived flaw with a whole group of people. It just seems true, doesn’t it?
Well, it turns out that Latino players do “‘indeed swing their way off the island.'” However, it’s not true that they are less disciplined as American players. Latino players strike out less frequently and walk just as frequently as American players. Frankly, I was somewhat surprised by the result. I don’t have the time on my hands that Fangraphs does, so I limited my sample size to one player: Vladimir Guerrero.
In my opinion, he is the stereotype that fits the bill. He was an incredible baseball player. Everyone thought he was a wild swinger. His plate coverage reputation was Ruthian in scope. This video perfectly represents what we believe about Guerrero (and to a lesser extent Latino ballplayers):
It’s absurd, isn’t it? In one sense, it shows his greatness. In other, it highlights the undisciplined stereotype. But was Guerrero really undisciplined? The answer is a resounding NO. Guerrero had a career .379 OBP. That’s better than renown American players like: Derek Jeter, Pete Rose, Willie McCovey, Paul Molitor, and Craig Biggio (to name a few).
So like Michael Scott, Vladimir Guerrero shows that there may be some truths to reputations others have, it does not make them inferior.
This is important to me as a “Mets Daddy.” My grandfather had a saying, my father always repeated, which goes something like “every generation should do better than the one before.” It’s why my grandfather was a construction worker, who insisted his son go to college. It’s why a DAV insisted his children go to graduate school.
In my opinion, it means more than that. We also need to be smarter and more enlightened than the prior generation. Please note, this is not saying my father and grandfather were racists. They were far from it. Rather, this is merely an acknowledgement that each generation views race differently.
I think now we need to be open and honest as to what makes us different and unique. A child growing up in the Dominican Republic will have a different life and baseball experience than my son. By extension, I want him to be open and honest enough that there are differences between different people. I want him to be able to realize that while Latino players hit their way off the island, it doesn’t mean there’s something inherently wrong with Latino players.
I’m not going to be a phony and say I want his group of friends to resemble the United Nations. I’m saying I want him to have no issue or problem befriending anyone of any race or culture. I’d like for him to celebrate the similarities, like baseball, rather than treating people differently due to their different background.
I acknowledge that starts with me. In a small way Fangraphs helped with that. So to that, I say, “thank you.”
Hearing Curt Schilling talk about waking up the Mets’ fan base brought me back to 1993. It was a great time to be a baseball fan, except if you were a New York Mets fan. The Mets finished the season with a 59-103 record, good enough for seventh (last) place in the NL East.
Seventh? Yes, seventh. This was the last year of divisional baseball. It was known as the last great pennant race as the 104-58 Atlanta Braves won the NL West on the last day of the season over the 103-59 San Francisco Giants (who lost to the Dodgers on the last game of the season). Naturally, the Braves would go on and lose to the NLCS to the Phillies, while the Giants were playing golf.
That’s right. The Giants didn’t make the playoffs. I remember hearing this on the radio. My Dad thought it was ridiculous the Giants missed the playoffs while the Phillies made the playoffs. Sure enough, my Dad and most baseball fans got their wish with the institution of the Wild Card in 1994. We don’t need to talk more about that season right now.
If the current rules were in place, the Giants and Braves would’ve coasted to division titles. The Cardinals would’ve won the Central (what else is new?). The Phillies would’ve played the Wild Card Game against the Montreal Expos. It’s strange to think how different things wer back then.
It also made me think about this year. The Mets are not in seventh; they’re in first. However, what if this season was played under the 1993 format? Here’s what it would look like:
- Cardinals 67-38
- Pirates 61-43
- Cubs 57-47
- Mets 56-50
- Expos 54-50
- Marlins 43-68
- Phillies 41-65
Wow! This suddenly fun season would’ve been completely different. The Mets would’ve been seen as a .500 team with promising pitching. The Mets also would’ve been without Yoenis Cespedes. Why make the trade? It would’ve had no impact on the Mets playoff chances.
Instead, the Mets are ahead in sole possession of first place over the Nationals. If the Mets weren’t in first, they’d only be two games out of the second Wild Card.
People ask all the time, “how do we get more young fans interested in baseball?” The Wild Card and current divisional format allows for more excitement. I’m excited about baseball. By extension, my son is excited. There’s also interest in D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and Pittsburgh.
This is good for baseball. This is good for Mets’ fans. I’m happy the Mets are in the middle of a pennant race rather than languishing in the middle of a .500 season. Also, we would’ve missed out on the 1999 and 2000 playoffs. Teams like the Pirates and Royals would still be without a playoff berth.
Twelve years ago, there wasn’t much hope. Now because of the change in format, the Mets have hope. Lets Go Mets!
Say what you want, but I’m the biggest Mets fan there is. Some may have been fans longer. Some may have gone to more games. Some may spend more money on paraphernalia, but there is no bigger Mets fan than me.
You know what’s great though? I just wrote that, and there are people legitimately angry at my statement. There are about a million other Mets fans who legitimately feel the same way. Despite what a garbage analysis says, Mets fans are incredible.
Just look at the way we treated Wilmer Flores after the Carlos Gomez trade disintegrated. We gave Mike Piazza a curtain call when he was a visiting player. The fans gave Carlos Beltran a standing ovation at the 2013 AllStar Game, and he was wearing a Cardinals uniform. If you don’t think the Mets’ fans register with the players, you’re wrong.
Back in the old message board days, Todd Pratt would interact with Mets fans under the user name “Tank.” If you’re a Mets fan on Twitter, Paul Lo Duca will follow you. Mike Piazza himself acknowledged the fans yesterday during the Mets game:
Excited and hope @Mets finish strong, like the energy. Do it for the Fans! Play smart, bring it home!
— Mike Piazza (@mikepiazza31) August 2, 2015
Last night, the fans were great. You could feel the excitement through the television. It was apparent to everyone. Curt Schilling, who pitched in the NL East when the Mets were very good and very bad, summed it up best when he said, “[s]peaking from experience, this is a not a fan base you want to wake up.”
That’s the thing with those of us who miss Shea. There were memories there. The baseball at Citi Field has not been good. Aside from the Johan Santana no-hitter, there have been no signature moments. But Shea? That’s where we saw our first game. That’s where 1969 and 1986 happened. That’s where Piazza seemingly healed New York for one night:
Look at those fans. The whole country was hurting. At that time, we questioned if it was too soon to come back to New York. We questioned if it would be safe to play a game in New York. They played, and the fans came. They roared as Mike Piazza may have hit the most important homerun ever hit.
Guess what? These Mets fans are back. Like me, we’re bringing our kids with us. I know my son has been getting swept up in the excitement of these games. When I ask him if he wants to watch, he now runs so we can watch it together. He cheers the homeruns. I could not get him to sleep after the three third inning homerun innings last night. He was that excited.
I’m more excited. I’m dreaming of an NL East title. I’m dreaming of a pennant. I’m dreaming of being able to see a World Series game with my Dad and son. That would be a dream come true.
This season and team has momentum. I know Mets fans want to and will ride it into October. David Wright, and to a lesser extent Daniel Murphy, knows how Mets fans can get. I’m excited to show how great we are to a whole new generation of Mets players and fans. If Matt Harvey thought the fans were good during his breakout year, he’s seen nothing yet.
I can’t wait to see the stands as we begin to get some signature moments at Citi Field. We can finally make this place feel like home. It’s going to be a fun ride.
Lets Go Mets!
Normally, when my son sees a television, he starts asking for Elmo. When you don’t acquiesce, he begins to become upset. As you don’t want to upset your child, you usually relent.
Yesterday, I didn’t immediately relent. I just wanted to finish watching the highlights of the Wilmer Flores’ walk off homerun before putting in that little monster. Before my son could protest, he saw the ball leave Flores’ bat. First, he let out a “Whoa!” when he saw it go over the left field wall. Then he yelled “Yay!” when he saw the Mets players and coaches celebrating. We shared a high five.
Now, he wasn’t asking for Elmo. He was asking me to replay the homerun. Thank God for the Roku and You Tube. After each time we saw it, he would say “more homerun please daddy.” We must’ve watched that homerun 15+ times in a row yesterday.
Then I took out his Little Tykes’ baseball set. After he hit the ball off the tee (we alternate sides of the plate), he ran around the house screaming homerun! Apparently, both 20 month olds and chicks dig the long all. This went on seemingly forever, and I loved every minute of it.
Last night during the game when everyone came up, he said, “homerun please!” Lucas Duda was the only one who obliged. Although we missed the first one to bath time, he saw the second. He was excited. Remember, Duda is his favorite player.
I used to be happy just because he showed an interest in the game. Now that he knows what a homerun is and he wants to see one is all the more awesome. The fact that he created the moment in our living room still astonishes me. While Duda’s two homeruns were key in the Mets’ win, my favorite homeruns yesterday were the ones hit in my living room.
The Mets are in a pennant chase with the first place Washington Nationals coming into town. I know the last 36 hours have been rough between the blown trade and blown save, but the Mets are still in this thing . . . even if they do nothing else at the trade deadline.
If you have a little one, it is a great time to bring them to their first Mets game. The Mets will be throwing their stud muffins out there. Citi Field should be electric. This is a great opportunity to get your little one hooked on baseball. However, when you go to the ballpark with little ones, you have to be extra prepared.
When we brought my son to his first Mets game, my wife tasked me with one responsibility. I had to make sure there was a place to breastfeed our son. Now, if you have $10,000 laying around, you can always get a suite at Citi Field and have all the privacy you want. If you’re like me, that’s not an option, so I had to find a real solution. If it couldn’t be done, we were not going to the game. I love the Mets, but I wasn’t going to let my child starve for the better part of the day to watch the Mets get pummeled by the Nationals (they did lose 3-0 and it wasn’t that close).
Now if you go the Mets’ website, there is nothing there about breastfeeding at Citi Field. I was undeterred, and I did my research. I visited every mommy site there was. I was fairly confident I found the area where a mommy can breastfeed at Citi Field. We got tickets, and the whole family went to the game. Unfortunately, the mommy websites were very wrong.
I’m not going to link those websites because I do not want to embarass them because I’m sure they meant well. They did, however, leave us in a lurch. We had to find a solution and fast. We first went to the Nurses’ Station as instructed by the mommy blogs. There was no room at the inn. First of all, they cannot permit you to breastfeed in there if the rooms are full. Secondly, they are not enthusiastic about allowing you back there because someone may need to come in and use the room. That means your child will have to stop feeding immediately, and your wife will be exposed to the public. Not exactly a recipe for marital bliss. Now, I know there are family restrooms. However, they are always locked, and you can never find someone who can open them. Jimmy Hoffa can be in there for all I know. That eliminated the family restrooms. We were at a loss, and we were on the verge of going home.
With seconds remaining before going home, we stopped at Fan Assistance. They were as baffled as we were about where in Citi Field you could breastfeed a child. To their credit, they were very helpful. They arranged for us to use a small ticket office in the Promenade section (not the ticket windows, it’s in the opposite side) to breastfeed. An employee stood guard while my wife and I went in. This is not the ideal situation, but at least we were in private. It was an acceptable solution. This prevented my wife from having to feed our son in public, and it permitted us to stay for the game. It was also nice an employee stood outside making sure no one entered while we were in there.
So my recommendation to you is if your wife is breastfeeding, immediately go to Fan Assistance once you enter the ballpark. They will be very helpful. If not, please advise them that you were able to breastfeed in the ticket office in the Promenade section before, and you wish to go there again. It is the best of a series of bad choices.
As to the other issues a parent may have, Citi Field is accommodating for parents with infants. Each and every restroom has a changing table. They permit you to bring formula and bottles into the game. If you do choose to bring formula, I suggest you might want to get the travel pouches of formula as security might have a problem bringing white powder into the stadium. You can bring bottled water into the park to mix the formula. You can bring an umbrella stroller, which Fan Assistance will make you check with them.
When you stop by Fan Assistance to check in your stroller make sure you ask for a certificate for your child’s first Mets game. If you do, make sure you write very carefully and neatly otherwise you’ll have a misspelled name on your certificate like I do.
Overall, if you are better prepared than I am, you can have a fun filled day at Citi Field. In the end, it turned out to be a reasonably nice day, and my son was able to stay for all nine innings. It looks like he was born a Mets fan just like his “Mets Daddy.” If you go the game this weekend, I wish you the best of luck. Have fun at Citi Field and Lets Go Mets!