Link: New York Daily News - Mets - Mets add old reliable.

With Julio following in the footsteps of John and Matt, the Mets have had every player named Franco in major league history.

My best friend Brian, who I know for twenty years now, since we first played t-ball together the summer before first grade, has invested in a new business with his brother Jim.  Its called Diamond Player Development and its a great place to fine tune your baseball skills if you really want to develop into a top tier player.

When I was younger, I had coaches who played favorites--got other kids more playing time.  It wasn't until I was put on a team that was so bad that there was no way anyone was going to cut into my time  that I even started to get any good.  By then I  was 13, and although I developed into a  pretty good contact hitter and a solid outfielder, I really didn't have much of a chance of making my high school or college teams.

I always wish I had real coaches when I was at critical points in my development.  Well, I went down to DPD last weekend and I saw firsthand what kids have the advantage of today.  There were kids in batting cages who were getting videotaped and had their swing analyzed by a pro instructor.  Who knows how good I could have been with that kind of technology!  Ah well.  I suppose corporate softball will have to do.

So anyway, Brian and I spent some time in the cages on our own.  Think of this video as the "before" video.  Maybe Jim will will be kind enough to point out all the stuff I'm doing wrong.  I know one thing I have an issue doing is really turning my hips and using my legs to generate much power.  They turn, but they're not really planted very well and so its just more like spinning my wheels and not going anywhere.

View this clip on Vimeo

So drop on by to DPD or if you have a team or individual that wants some real coaching, contact Jim.

Link: ESPN.com - MLB - Marines No. 1: Valentine's team wins Japan Series.

Bobby Valentine became the first foreign manager to win the Japan Series when his Chiba Lotte Marines completed a four-game sweep of the Hanshin Tigers with a 3-2 victory Wednesday.

Before the playoffs, I made some predictions.   Here's how they fared:

Padres vs. Cardinals:  Cardinals in 1.

The Cardinals are going to win the first game 23-1.  The Padres will concede the rest of the series and apoligize for even being in the playoffs with an 82-80 record. 

Result:  Amazingly enough, this actually happened.  I was spot on.

Astros and Braves:  Astros in 4.

The Braves, too, will apoligize for continuing to win the National League East.  Roger Clemens will nail Chipper Jones in the face intentially, ruining a division series perfect game but then get the next guy to preserve the no-hitter.  Clemens will use age and dementia as an excuse for the wayward 97MPH fastball.  Nobody buys it.  Doesn't matter...  everyone's tired of the Braves anyway.

Status: I called this one.  'Stros in four.  No face knocking, though, but Clemens did come up big in the last game, making up for his first effort.

Yanks and Angels:  Angels in 5. 

Garret Anderson will drive in 10 runs.  Still, he will be drafted in the 12th round of most fantasy leagues next year.  He will legally change his name to "No respect."  Arod will go another year without a ring.  Yankee stadium will be packed with fans who got corporate seats and have never been to a baseball game before.  They'll wonder why that Ruth fellow isn't playing.  Mariano Rivera will not give up a run in his 5 appearences.  Neither will K-Rod.

Status:  Called this one, too!   I was off, though.  Garret only drove in 7, but still lead the team.  No one could have called Bengie Molina, though.  K-rod gave up runs and so did Mariano.

Sox vs. Sox:  Red Sox in 4.

Podsednick will steal 8 bases in the series.  Both teams will combine for more than 8 runs in every game.  Red Sox fans won't even watch or attend, because, after last year, everything else is gravy.  I can't seriously pick the White Sox here, mostly because, as Brian pointed out, they're throwing out Jose Contraras in the first game.

Status:  Boy, did I blow this one.  Contraras came up big and the Red Sox didn't.  As for the run scoring, every game had at least 8 runs in it...  almost got that one at least.  Pod:  1 stolen base. 

Angels - White Sox?

Angels in 7...

Garret Anderson:  More RBI.  Series MVP.

33 years old... total of 16 2/3 innings of total major league experience. 

Now he's 10-0.

Did anyone get the number of that turnip truck?  I'd like to see if any closers fell off of it for the Mets to use in 2006.

Reminds me of that line about how the Yanks could pick up a hooker on the West Side Highway and insert her at second base and she'd probably manage to hit .280.

They have no place competing this year and I hope the Sox beat the pants off of them this Series.

Ironic how they also wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Jason Giambi, right?  A year ago, he was  dead to them.  Now, he's the prodigal son.

I just got tix for Giants - Saints on Monday night...    They went on sale on ticketmaster at 10AM...   great seats, too!

Its   1AM.  When I got home from tonight's Met loss, I found an NES emulator called Console Classix.

Of course, what was the first thing I did.

You guessed it.  I played a game of Tecmo Super Bowl.  I was the Raiders.  In this game, for some reason, Bo Jackson is a god among mere mortals.  I mean, he can't be touched.  Even when the other team picks the right defense and 11 guys pile on him, he breaks out of it and runs down the field.  I dominated the Houston Oilers 58-7.  Here's the final boxscore:

Things to note:

Bo only ran for an 27.7 yards per carry and only 8 of his 18 runs resulted in touchdowns.  At only 499 yards, this was a subpar game for Bo, but its been about 12 years since I've played the game.

I did attempt one pass with Jay Schroeder, whose scrubbiness in Tecmo was surpassed only by his real life ineptitude.  He got picked off in his one attempt.  That was the end of the Jay Schroeder experiment. 

Marcus Allen did not get the ball.

Do you think Bo has ever actually played this game?

I've been a bit quiet about this baseball season, but I've been watching, not to worry.

Here's my update:

I say a little prayer to David Wright every night that he will watch over this franchise and deliver us a championship.  This guy, at 22, is amazing.  No question about it--he's the best position player the Mets have developed since Strawberry.  Jeez... that's 20 years ago.  Its ironic, too, that he plays third, because historically thirdbase has been a black hole for this team forever.  Something like 150 different people have played third for the Mets in their 43 year history.

I believed in Jae Seo.  Always have. 

Tom Glavine still sucks.

Mike Piazza is the new Jake Taylor.  You watch...  they tie for the wildcard and Piazza lays down a bunt while Jose Reyes scores from second.

I've never seen an infield so divided.  Could Reyes and Wright be more exciting?   Could Matsui and Mienkczewitz be any worse?  Maybe this Mike Jacobs kid will play out. 

Cliff Floyd.  We knew what we got there.  Healthy=good.  He's healthy this year.

Carlos Beltran?  Jeez...    what a bust he's been.  At least he's finally started running.  It would be useful if he could turn it up a notch in September like he did in last year's playoffs.  Apparently, he seems to be better with some broken bones in his face.  Now all the disappointments are trying it.  Randy Johnson.  Adrian Beltre.  Jason Schmidt.  Players from all around the league are smashing their faces against their teammates. 

I don't know how this season will turn out, but I will say that Philly and Houston are pretty beatable and I'm not particularly scared of them.  And... can the Braves stop winning?  BTW... Did anyone else notice that Julio Franco turned 47 this week?

You have no idea how hard I want the Indians to nab the wildcard in the American League.  Can someone tell Jhonny Peralta that he spells his name wrong?

I hope Red Sox-Cards is more exciting this year.  The Cards really didn't put up much of a fight last time. 

If you're an entrepreneur, one of the best ways to get me using something is to give me a service I can run on my blog.  :)    Now I'm obsessed with Castpost.

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Just two weeks ago, Fordham played a perfect defensive game on the field. 

On Wednesday night, they gave up 15 runs to a team that hit the ball out of the infield just a handful of  times, dropping their record to 2-5.  Clearly, this went awry in the field.  After the game, Fordham fired fielding coach Bill Buckner.

"I taught them everything I knew, and apparently it just wasn't good enough," Buckner told the press.

The bad fielding crushed an otherwise solid effort on the mound by Patty Dickerson, who proved to be quite durable, throwing 243 pitches in the losing effort. 

The team may have been feeling a bit pressured to turn in highlight film plays in the field, because the offence has been non existent.  The team has only averaged 4.57 runs a game, second worst in their division. 

Still, you have to give the team credit for having heart.  After the game, most of the players stayed for an extra 45 minutes of practice, in addition to the extra inning they played after the mercy rule kicked in. 

Also hurting the team were the departures of Alexis Kramer to Chicago and Kevin Rodricks to Boston.  Both players were traded for future considerations in cost cutting moves forced by the movement of University funding to scholarship students. 

"Apparently, academics, and not alumni softball, is the priority for this school," commented Manager Charlie O'Donnell after the game.  "You have to wonder whether or not the University is really thinking about the future if they're going to have these kinds of lopsided priorities."

Rainout, originally uploaded by ceonyc.

Doesn't look good...gametime in 20 minutes.

If anyone would have told manager Charlie O'Donnell that the anemic Fordham offense would only muster three runs against Megahurtz--a team that had not lost yet and had a record of 4-0-1, he probably would have thought yesterday's game was going to be a rerun of the team's previous efforts. 

And boy, would he have been wrong, because everyone knows that pitching and defense win games.

Patti Dickerson tossed 7 innings of one run ball, striking out four along the way, to get Fordham its first real win, 3-1.  She was backed up by errorless, yes errorless, as in, perfect, as in, every time the ball was hit to someone, they caught it, defense.  The play in the field was led by Jason  Giannitti, who also drove in the go ahead runs for Fordham in the bottom of the sixth with a two-run single that scored Ron Zapata and Samara Finn.  Giannitti vacuumed up flyout after flyout in leftfield.  The left side of the defense was also bolstered by the cleatless Kevin Rodricks, who, despite the lack of traction, managed a few circus catches for ESPN's Slowpitch Softball Tonight.

The win, combined with ABA's forfeit last week, gives Fordham a 2-4 record.   There is also a suspended game that Fordham leads 7-5 with two innings to go that needs to be completed later in the season.  If Fordham can pull that game out, they're actually not out of contention should this win spark any kind of streak.  One thing's for sure, they'll have to find a way to get the offense sparked, because three runs a game is going to be very little gas for a long road up the standings.

After the game, the team signed the game ball and gave it to Patti Dickerson for her efforts in the franchise's first actual win on the field.

I may need a ringer or two for kickball tomorrow...   e-mail me if you can be in Central Park right by Columbus Circle tomorrow (Tuesday) at 5:45PM and you're interested.

Yes, I play kickball.   ZogSports, the same league we all play dodgeball in, has a kickball league as well.  We won our first game 16-3, but that may have led to a little bit of overconfidence, because we didn't do as well last night.   We lost to the Ligers 14-7.   Plus, it didn't help that our ump what a very loose interpretation of where the foul lines were.  That puts "Those Punks Stole Our Name" at 1-1 for the season. (That's our team name, for obvious reasons.)  Still, we had a lot of fun and got pics and video thanks to my  hobbled buddy Marina, who sprained her ankle in the first game.

Randy Johnson and the exploding bird.

The pine tar incident.

The All Star Game tie.

Add Fordham's Friday night game against The Deal to your list of wacky incidents.  A scheduling error by the league left Fordham opponentless for 45 minutes until The Deal finally started showing up around 6:15--early as far as they knew.  Both teams scurried to start as time on the field permit ticked away, but in the end, since the game didn't go the full time, the league decided to suspend the game with Fordham up 7-5 after five, to be continued later in the season.

Fordham bats were quiet but effective during the game, with several "seeing eye" hits doing some major damage against The Deal.  Patti "Hit it where they ain't" Dickerson drove in four runs on two clutch floaters  just over the infield.  The game of inches also came back to hurt Fordham as well.  Pat "The Mighty" Quinn just missed a great stab at a liner over third and Larry Porco attempted a diving stop of a smash to first.  Both plays would have shut the door before The Deal put three on the board in the third, but as it was, luck wasn't much of a lady to either team on Central Park's Great Lawn that night.

Fordham sent Charlie O'Donnell to the mound in place of their absent ace Brian Cuthbert.  O'Donnell frustrated The Deal with his unwillingness/inability to keep the ball around the plate, causing some ugly and desperate swings.  He also walked three, but never game The Deal much of anything to hit.  He slipped several called strikes past the surprised Deal hitters, and while it might of been ugly, it kept Fordham in the game.

No word yet on when the remaining two innings will be played, but Fordham will look for their first win this week at Heckscher #1 this Thursday night at 6:45 in Central Park.

Do you want to play softball on Thursday?  Did you go to Fordham?  Well, come on down to Hecksher Field #1 on Thursday at 6:30PM and we'll do our best to accommodate you!  We're having an open practice and then we're going to the Young Alumni Happy Hour (as we do every 3rd Thursday of the month).  This month, we'll be going to T.G. Whitney's.

Here's the field map:

So, all of the sudden, the Mets have drawn even at 5-5, erasing their dismal 0-5 start.   They beat the Marlins 4-0.  In fact, the Mets have a better record than the Yanks right now.  Tonight, they did it on the back of...  Aaron Heilman??  I've panned this guy so many times before...  he's a career 3-11 in 20 starts.  People are saying "finally" because they've touted him so much, but I have to see another start.  I remember Dave Mlicki shutting out the Yanks one time and that was about it for his career.  At least with Mlicki, he had a 12-6 curve that made me think he had something.  I'm not getting on the Aaron Heilman bandwagon just yet, but I'll throw the guy a bone for a 1-hitter.  Impressive start.  Tomorrow, I'm going to see Pedro's home opener against Al Leiter.  Should be quite a game and the weather is supposed to be faaaantastic.

From Brian:

[10:19] cuth23b: Brian Roberts is on pace for 92 HRs, 218 RBI, and a .412 BA
[10:19] cuth23b: AND
[10:19] cuth23b: 46 steals

Tomorrow, at 6:15PM, the Fordham Young Alumni softball team plays its inaugural game at City College.  Spectators are encouraged!! 

Here's how to get to the field...

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Link: eBay item 5183660221 (Ends Apr-13-05 18:24:27 PDT) - FOR SALE NEW YORK YANKEES CLOSER MARIANO RIVERA.

You have to love the Yankee fans.  Rivera, probably more so than any other Yankee, is responsible for their current run, and these goofballs have him up on eBay.  Some of these idiots even booed him (not many, but a few) after yesterday's blown save.  This proves my theory...  Yankee fans have no capacity for human emotion.  Remember when the keys to Yankee success were Scott Brosious and Jimmy Leyritz?  Those days are gone.  Now, they have sold their soul and worship The Big Unit.