Thursday, November 09, 2006

Full Steam Ahead

Doc Gooden was released from prison today after serving seven months of a one year plus one day sentence.

This is good news, as the Mets can now forge ahead with their plans for their blowout celebration of the 20th anniversary of the 1987 Mets, who missed the playoffs. The plan is to have Gooden show up at the celebration around the third inning, just as he showed up two months late to the 1987 season.

It's the first bit of good news for the Mets regarding the ceremony, as Gene Walter has threatened not to show up due to money issues, Kevin McReynolds has a previous engagement hunting a duck in Arkansas, and team officials are trying to convince Don Schulze that he indeed pitched for the Mets in 1987.

Todd Zeile will fill in for Keith Hernandez during the ceremony, as SNY has already given Hernandez the day off to stay home and drink wine.

Just as the 1986 celebration included some fun and surprises, the 1987 celebration promises to be suspenseful as well. The Mets plan to recreate the Al Pedrique for Bill Almon trade two minutes into the ceremony, as Pedrique will be ushered out of Shea Stadium through the crowd...which is a nice touch. Keith Miller will be honored while standing in the upper deck, continuing the tradition of placing Miller out of position. And Ron Darling will throw out the ceremonial first pitch, which will be bunted down the first base line by Vince Coleman...recreating the play where Darling tore up the ligaments in his thumb in the infamous "Terry Pendelton Game".

Plenty of great seats are still available.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gee, thanks Metstra. Always nice to relive that gruesome season. Although you missed an easy pop fly regarding McDowell's hernia.

Anyhow, thanks again for the painfull stroll down memory lane. Will you now jam the wood splinters under my thumbnails, or shall I do it myself?

Anonymous said...

the most disapointing met ever

Anonymous said...

Speaking of the 86 mets.. freakin keith was the breast!

i'm keith hernandez - the movie

Anonymous said...

speaking of 86 mets, did anyone else hear the lenny dykstra interview with joe b this morning on the fan? he was beyond stoned. couldn't form sentences. first caller after the interview ended suggested that perhaps WFAN should have canceled the interview when he was reached in that condition. i agree. it was bizarre.

The Metmaster said...

JD Drew in Flushing anyone?

Anonymous said...

Can't wait for the celebration. I hear Jesse Orosco is going to overstay his welcome.

Ed in Westchester said...

Metmaster - JD Drew? Not too sure about that. He is going to want a lot of money, and he is injury prone. Like Cliff Floyd redux.
Depends on what he is looking for. His contract was for $11 m a year. He is going to want a lot more than that now, and probably 4 or 5 years.

Not worth it in my opinion.

Anonymous said...

I still have that Time magazine.

J.D. Drew?!? Umm . . . no thanks. Injury prone, head case, not too bright of a ball player (see 2006 NLDS - double tag out at home) and not clutch (see 2006 NLDS - every game).

My gut tells me the Mets are going aggressively after Mulder. Could Glavine be headed to Atlanta?

Ed in Westchester said...

unser - problem with Mulder is that he will miss time like Pedro, and even then, how good can he be?

They need to get someone who can be there from day 1. Mulder might be a fall back if he is cheap, he can come into the rotation in June perhaps. Kinda like Leiber with the Yanks a few years back (although he missed a full season while being paid).

Anonymous said...

Totally agree, Ed. They can't count on Mulder for 200 innings. Got to get at least one healthy, relatively young top line starter.

The Metmaster said...

Just heard on WFAN that the Red Sox won the Matsuzaka sweepstakes. Somewhere between 30-38 million bucks!
Of course you have to think that this is a win-win for the Sox. They either play ball and sign the guy, getting a top-notch starter, or they can tell Boras that their offer is a million bucks a year. Boras would say "no thanks", Matsuzaka goes back the The Land Of The Rising Sun, the Sox are off the hook for the 38 million to the Lions, and the Yankees are schtupped. Machiavelli could not have done it any better!

The Metmaster said...

Sorry, the report is unconfirmed from ESPN's Buster Olney, but the figure is between 38 and 45 million!
So let me get this straight. If the Devil Rays, with no intention of signing a player, bids 100 million, wins the bidding, and then negotiates with the agent and comes up with a ridiculously low dollar figure, they can effectively block any other (rich)team from getting a star Japanese player using this posting system? Incredible.

The Metmaster said...

"CitiField"
Get used to it Met fans. That's the name of our new stadium. Announcement and groundbreaking ceremonies are this Monday. Report in Newsday is that the deal is a "huge" amount of money, in fact, it's a record amount. No dollar figure announced.
"CitiField". Hmmmmm
Do we call it that? Will it be referred to as "The Big C"? "C-Town"?
C you later....

Anonymous said...

There is no doubt in my mind that Yankees fans will almost immediately (if some haven't already) dub it "Shitifield." Hopefully, Mets fans won't have cause to do the same.

I'll miss saying "Shea." It's a beautiful name -- just ask Larry.

Anonymous said...

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(That was me).