Alas, my first game — or at least the original version of it — is lost in the mists of our family lore, which is not generally of the record-keeping variety. My memory is that it was a June 1977 game against the San Diego Padres, and Tom Seaver was on the mound. But this is based […]

A ballplayer would have to have committed some awful, irredeemable transgression in his past baseball life to not be accepted into at least a temporary state of grace for the period in which he has chosen to embrace the light, a.k.a., the uniform of the New York Mets. Manny Aybar can get guys out for […]

Your pal Manny Aybar's arrival on the mound (God bless WPIX)

reminded me, again, of the weird feelings when former enemies big

and small join the Forces of Good.

It's easy to forget Pedro was briefly a member of the Forces of

Darkness, drilling Piazza in June 1998 and afterwards pulling out one

of his under-the-mango-tree ruminations about being a

poor boy with class while […]

The 1989 Mets opened the season with exactly one player who didn't play

at some point for the 1988 Mets: Don Aase, who won a spot in the

bullpen after starting spring as agate type.

Don Aase can be recalled for three accomplishments.

1) He displaced Tommie Agee atop the all-time alphabetical roster. If

we don't sign Henry Aaron IV […]

OK, I admit it. I bailed out when it was 10-1. To watch a TiVoed Gilmore Girls. (I should really say “to get good and drunk” or “because something needed welding,” but it would be a lie.)

Leaving aside the fact that it's fricking spring training, my only

defense is that thanks to Cablevision, I couldn't see […]

Barring hail, frogs, locusts, murrain and whatever other plagues Cablevision brings on viewers, a pretend Mets game will air on MSG Friday night. Seeing as how darkness was one of the Top Ten Plagues of The Week brought forth on the Egyptians by The Big Guy (God, not Chris Berman), I wonder why the hell […]

So we finally got past the first day of cuts that mattered a little. Farewell, Bob Keppel, Anderson Hernandez, Craig Brazell, Danny Garcia, Aarom Baldiris, Joe Nelson and Andy Dominique. If they hurry they can catch the just-cut Tim Hamulack, John Pachot and Jesus Flores.

I suppose Brazell and Garcia are the only vague surprises in […]

The first time I saw David Wright in the flesh was his second game, the one in which he got his first hit. On the scoreboard a bit later, when they greeted groups and individuals, a message flashed: THE METS WELCOME JIMMY DIAMOND. That's what I privately called Young Mr. Wright for the next month. […]

Two new transactions — and

weirdly, both involve players that were involved in run-ins with boys

in orange and blue. Hence the title of this post….

1. Joey Hamilton: Signed to a minor-league deal,

because having Scott Stewart and Roberto Hernandez didn't let us quite

corner the market on washed-up pitchers. Hamilton's crime during

his San Diego days was offending Todd Hundley […]

Don't know who was playing the Bowery Ballroom, but if it was Joe Cocker, I hope you gave Sloanie, presumably following the tour in a van, our regards. I doubt he's any more amenable to interruptions in person than he is via phone, pager or text.

AREN'T YOU […]