The Mets Police

Regular readers of the Mets Police know I took lots of pictures of my recent trip (do a search for Wrigley Field using the search box on the right side of the page if you want to see them).  I didn't want to turn this in to the Cubs Police, especially with a long winter between July 4th and April 1st this year - gotta save the generic stuff - but I thought I'd share what it looks like to take the El to Wrigley since I'm sure you guys have taken the 7 to Shea at least once.  Yeah I said Shea.























































I find a lot of "Mets nerds" are also "Subway nerds" - like I could totally see Howie Rose knowing lots about the BMT, couldn't you?










When you get down to street level this is the view.  Between the buildings you'll see Wrigley, and these are the backs of the "rooftops."













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Did you catch this the other day?   Shades of McDowell and Orosco.

Sean Marshall was pitching for the Cubs.   Lou Piniella called time out replaced Alfonso Soriano in left with Marshall.  One hitter later, Lou put Marshall back on the mound.

Good recap here.

You kids might want to take a quick look at this boxscore from 1986 - take a close look at the positions for Carter, Orosco and McDowell.    SNY should dust this one off.


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A Strawberry Sundae goes to Sparks for this one.  Yesterday we discussed the 1988 Wild Card, and how the league just reused a Mets-designed t-shirt after the Mets closed out the season with 5 straight losses.   (Maybe this choke thing isn't a 21st century phenomenon.)   So they slapped some Cubs stuff on it... or did they?

Sparks writes:

It just so happens someone is selling an example of one on ebay right now:

http://i16.ebayimg.com/06/i/001/10/30/43c0_1_b.JPG

That's what happens when the t-shirt people are secure enough in the standings to settle upon a team-specific design only to have the team in question blow it.













Here's a shot of the Chicago skyline.   I think you could easily argue that the two buildings on the left on the t-shirt are the same two on the left of this photo.




Here of course is the Mets skyline logo (with the NY on it - why did the Mets take that off?  Were fans from New Jersey not going to games until the Mets became America's Team?  Put that back on.)

Looks to me like they kept the basic baseball design but did swap the skyline.



My favorite Cubs-anything was Cubsbusters in 1984.

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Food for thought for those of you working for the Mets who are in charge of "atmosphere."

Saturday, June 20th.

Cubs.   95 year old stadium.   No noise between innings.  Organ music.  No batter walk-up noise.  No between innings advertising disguised as distraction.  Hell, no video screens.  Haven't won the World Series in 100 years.  (This guy threw one of the first pitches, they do several.)

Attendance:  41,007

Mets.  3 month old stadium.  Endless noise.  A constant come on to buy products (seriously, there are 10 straight minutes of 10 second advertisements done by the PA announcer read about a half hour before the game).  Just a constant bombardment on the senses,

Attendance:  37,992



I'm sure if it were sunny that the Mets would have drawn the extra 3,000.   The Mets have drawn 40,000 at Citi Field how many times?

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OK so he didn't use those words exactly. Here is what Ron Santo said yesterday after not being selected by the Veterans Committee:

''It's a travesty,'' Santo said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. ''When I saw nobody got in again, I go, 'Whoa, this is wrong.' They can't keep going the way they're going. They've got to put a [different] committee out there. It'll be eight years now that they've voted and not let anybody in."

So according to Mr. Santo, the Veterans Committee should always be putting people in. Quantity over quality.

Does Santo realized who makes up the current committee? It's all the living Hall of Famers! So he just insulted the very group that he wants to belong to!

Hey Ron, nowhere does it say that the Hall of Fame has to put anyone in if they don't think they were qualified. And clearly the BBWAA and the current Hall of Fame members do not think you are qualified.

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The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the Yankees and Cubs are in negotiations for the North Siders to play the Bombers in either 1 or 2 exhibition games prior to the start of the 2009 season.

The Cubs, who have their Spring Training facility in Arizona and open the season in Houston, would have to travel an additional 2,500 miles in order to play the 2 meaningless games. Now granted, this isn't like traveling to Tokyo to open the season, but it does seem a bit ridiculous.

The Mets Police comment that there may not be any Mets on the All-Star team got me to thining. Yes, the votes are still coming in so this could change, but thought I'd take a shot at what players will make up the NL All-Star team next month (assuming the current vote leaders remain so).

All teams are represented. There are 11 pitchers (7 starters and 4 relievers)

The Cubs have 5 players, while six teams are represented by only one.
For the record the Mets have 3.

Starting Lineup
C - G. Soto, Cubs
1B - L. Berkman, Astros
2B - C. Utley, Phillies
3B - C. Jones, Braves
SS - H. Ramirez, Marlins
OF - A. Soriano, Cubs
OF - K. Fukudome, Cubs
OF - K. Griffey, Jr., Reds

Backups
C - R. Martin, Dodgers
C - B. Molina, Giants
1B - A. Pujols, Cardinals
1B - A. Gonzalez, Padres
2B - D. Uggla, Marlins
3B - D. Wright, Mets
SS - M. Tejada, Astros
SS - J. Reyes, Mets
OF - M. Holliday, Rockies
OF - R. Ludwick, Cardinals
OF - N. McLouth, Pirates
OF - R. Braun, Brewers
OF - A. Rowand, Phillies

Pitching Staff
B. Webb, Diamondbacks (Starter)
C. Zambrano, Cubs
A. Cook, Rockies
E. Volquez, Reds
T. Redding, Nationals
T. Lincecum, Giants
T. Hudson, Braves
B. Wagner, Mets
K. Wood, Cubs
J. Valverde, Astros
B. Lidge, Phillies

Thanks to CyclonesFan for grabbing this. Here's the Joe Smith video the Mets don't want you to see. The Mets Police say this is not how we want our players to behave, waive him today.

Being just a little too young for 1969, my favorite season of them all was 1984. 1984? Not 86? Yes 1984.

All I knew of the Mets was a team that would finish 5th or 6th (always fighting the Cubs for sole possession of last). Our "MVP" Lee Mazzilli hit a massive .273 with 16HRs. He even walked in the All Star Game! One time Topps let Craig Swan share a baseball card with Ron Guidry!

Along comes 1984 and this young pitcher (left) looks amazing, and the guy they got for Mazzilli is pretty good, and Strawberry will hit 500 HRs and I didn't realize it last year but the guy from the Neil Allen trade is really good.

It's May and we're still in it. June. July? August??

I remember the Mets got hosed on "Midget Mets." It was as a promotion where for like two bucks you got tickets to a game. So they pawned off Mets-Cubs because that would be the 1984 equivalent of a "value" game. There was a rain-out and Midget Mets day became a weekend doubleheader battle for first place with the entire upper deck filled with kids parked in underpriced seats. I bet the Mets would have liked the beer money for that day.

Unfortunately for the 1984 Mets the Cubs decided to be good that year, and the Mets finished six back.

Sweep those Cubbies boys!