SB Nation User Blog: Greenpoint Ian

Christ, can the media make up their minds?

Greenpoint Ian — Mon, 25 May 2009 01:34:15 -0000

Christ, can the media make up their minds?

Are the Mets full of grission or not?

HELLO HELLO MR. PEREZ

Greenpoint Ian — Sat, 09 May 2009 15:43:50 -0000

HELLO HELLO MR. PEREZ

This is what it's like to have lefty starter who DOESN'T WALK ANYONE!!!

I was at the game last night, as Niese looked pretty good, even as he was hurt by some of the worst defense I've ever seen. He certainly inspires a lot more confidence than the $36 million man he replaced.

This is a nice story

Greenpoint Ian — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:03:00 -0000

This is a nice story

And the guy is a Mets fan too!

She's gone

Greenpoint Ian — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:49:34 -0000

She's gone

It's going to be weird heading out to the Willets Point stop on the 7 without the big blue ballpark there.

I just hope the friday-night-in-June zaniness of the upper deck lives on at Citi (FDIC?) Field. I have a bad feeling it won't.

Fire Joe Morgan calls it quits

Greenpoint Ian — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 04:21:28 -0000

http://www.firejoemorgan.com/

Well, it isn't exactly surprising, but (with apologies to Eric, who runs a great blog) this was my favorite baseball site ever. I'm sure it got way bigger than they guys who ran it could've possibly dreamed of.

What was great about it was that those of us who think intelligently about baseball (and get shit for it from dumbass sports journalists) finally had a way to strike back and strike back with vicious humor. Some journalists reacted by cleaning their acts up (remember HatGuy?), and some reacted with hostility (that prick Jon Heyman). A few of the better journalists (Jeff Passan) mentioned the site with approval. I'm sure the more prominent sabermetricians just sat back and smiled.

It got to the point where (I swear) Joe Morgan actually cleaned his act up a bit this year. Someone must've told him that he was becoming a huge joke among younger baseball fans, or something. You could see it in the JoeChats which were nothing but FJM fans baiting Joe.

So three cheers for what these guys accomplished. They will be missed.

From Wrigley Thursday night. Just remember, Mets fans, that it could be much worse: we could be...

Greenpoint Ian — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 14:19:06 -0000

From Wrigley Thursday night. Just remember, Mets fans, that it could be much worse: we could be Cubs fans.

Favorite Shea Stadium Memories

Greenpoint Ian — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 19:38:06 -0000

Last Friday's 3-0 loss to the Phillies was, barring the unlikely event that I, living on student loans, pay the going rate on Stubhub for Mets playoff tickets (if the Mets make it), my final game at Shea Stadium. After the game, I started thinking about my favorite memories of Shea. My top 5:

5. August 25, 1985: Mets 9, Padres 3 http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN198508250.shtml

I remember next to nothing about this game, other than that Dwight Gooden pitched and that the Mets beat the Padres, that the crowd was energetic as could be, and that the jet airliners of yore were a lot louder than they are these days. I was 5 years old, and it was the first game I ever attended.

4. July 2, 2004: Mets 11, Yankees 2 http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN200407020.shtml

Kaz Matsui hit 2 HRs, and the Mets absolutely clobbered Mussina and the Yankees. Back in the dark days of 2002-2004, humiliating the Yankees was all I really lived for as a Mets fan, so it was great to see it in my first trip to a Mets-Yankees game. I got loaded on expensive Buds and heckled a lot of Yankees fans.

3. May 14, 1994: Mets 11, Braves 4 http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN199405140.shtml

To me, this was the birth of the Mets-Braves rivalry. With the new divisional alignments, they were now in the same division. John Smoltz gave up a grand slam to Ryan Thompson and proceeded to bean John Cangelosi, who charged the mound, sparking a huge brawl that later made the cover of Sports Illustrated.

2. May 5, 2006: Mets 8, Braves 7 (14 innings) http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN200605050.shtml

This was the game in which I knew that 2006 would be a special year, and that the Mets would finally defeat their arch-nemesis, Atlanta. The Mets of past years would not have come back from being down 1-0, 2-1, 6-2, 7-6 (in the 11th) and finally win at the stroke of midnight on a 2-out double over Andruw Jones' head by David Wright, scoring Beltran. I was there for all 14 innings, and never actually saw Beltran score the winning run, as I was jumping around once Wright's shot hit the warning track.

1. August 22, 2006: Mets 8, Cardinals 7 http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN200608220.shtml

Before the game, I told the friend I went with that I had never seen a walk-off HR in person. It seemed unlikely that such a thing would happen, as Albert Pujols crushed a 3-run shot and a grand slam to give St. Louis a 7-1 led in the 5th. I was almost ready to leave, but decided to see what the Mets could do in the bottom of the 5th. Carlos Delgado crushed his own grand slam, and we had a game again. In the bottom of the 9th, with the score 7-6, Paul LoDuca hit a one-out single, and Carlos Beltran followed with a laser shot into the Mets bullpen for the stunning come-from-behind win. I finally saw my walk-off HR

Baseball Prospectus Postseason Odds

Greenpoint Ian — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:43:33 -0000

Baseball Prospectus Postseason Odds

BP is bullish about the Mets chances. Lets hope they're right.

Also, Go Rays!

Reyes and Keith in confrontation

Greenpoint Ian — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:26:42 -0000

Reyes and Keith in confrontation

Attention minority ballplayers: do not show too much emotion on the field, or else you will be called immature (Reyes, Milledge). Also, don't show too little emotion, or else people will say you don't care (Beltran, Delgado).

sanity courtesy of Bob Klapisch

Greenpoint Ian — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 23:22:50 -0000

http://www.northjersey.com/sports/mets/Klapisch_.html

This is one of the few articles on the Randolph firing that isn't nonsense, and that anecdote at the beginning is telling. I first thought it might be Wagner, since he's obviously the most mercurial personality on the team, and is a "veteran", but Wagner has been great this year (the last few appearances notwithstanding). It was probably Delgado.

Now Carlos obviously isn't the most outgoing, fun guy in the world, but he's never been known as a notorious asshole in the Sheffield or Kent mold, so it got me wondering who the hell ever thought Randolph was capable of managing a MLB frachise. He lost everyone on the team save David Wright (who would probably be happy to play for Kim Jong-Il) and never showed an ounce of sense as a tactician. My best guess is that the Mets hired him for his "winning intangibles" and his "New York" personality or some shit like that without once considering if he had the personality to handle the egos of major league players.

Look, the way the Randolph situation was handled was piss-poor, but the guy should never have been managing in the first place. It all comes back to a front office that has no idea what it's doing.