Mets win a wild one

What can I say that game was unbelievable. The Mets defeated the Cardinals in 20 innings by the score of 2-1. There were position players pitching and pitchers playing the outfield. There was no score until the 19th inning when Jeff Francoeur hit a sac fly and then the Cardinals came right back to tie it. The Mets won it in the 20th on a Jose Reyes sac fly. The Mets have had these type of games in their history. The longest one in their history was in 1974 at Shea Stadium when they lost 4-3 to the Cardinals. They lost in 24 innings to the Houston Astros in 1968. It was the longest scoreless game in history. The Cardinals had plenty of chances but couldn't come through. Mike Pelfrey who started on Thursday closed out the game for the Mets. K-rod blew the save but was up in the bullpen a bunch of times. He said he was just gassed from getting up and sitting down so many times. The two teams will play tomorrow night at 8:05PM eastern time in Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN. I wonder what they will do for an encore?? I will have my article I wrote for Worldnewsvine on here probably tomorrow morning.

Down in Port St. Lucie

The New York Mets held their first official full squad workout today. Here are some of the highlights. The team had a meeting with the coaches this morning and then hit the field for the workout. The workout was focused on running the bases and defensive fundamentals. Johan Santana threw a side session and Oliver Perez, John Maine,Mike Pelfrey and Fernando Nieve all threw batting practice. Jerry Manuel talked about last year and how you have to move on. He said the team is more angry then embarrassed about last season but they have to put it behind them and move on. He said that K-rod has pink eye and is not with the team. Manuel spoke about David Wright and said he was impressed with his batting practice session today. Jerry Manuel said that Citi Field didn't have a negative impact on David Wrights power it was just one of those years. I don't buy that at all, I think he changed his swing because of the field and then got all out of whack and it just led to a down year. Jerry Manuel said he didn't get to see Oliver Perez bullpen but heard he was outstanding and this was his best yet. Jerry Manuel believes that Perez has made a concious effort to be mentally and physically ready this year. If you want to see some good pictures and some videos of the days events down in Port St. Lucie then go to http://metsblog.com This is Matthew Cerrones great Mets blog and he is down in Port St. Lucie with the team, he has videos and pictures and lots of good information so make sure you go and check it out.

Some Mets News

Carlos Beltran arrived in Port St. Lucie today and spoke about being upset with the situation with the injury for about a week. He said it took him that long to get over it but he knows he has to get back with the team and help them win and everything will be ok. He is going to rehab with the team which is a good thing, he can help some of the younger guys. He said there is now no pain in the knee and he is positive and happy with how the surgery went. Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated is saying that Jerry Manuel isn't kidding and until Carlos Beltran comes back Jose Reyes will be batting third. Jenrry Menjia who is a 20 year old kid is drawing buzz today. He threw yesterday and they said he has an electric arm. Jerry Manuel wouldn't rule him out to be the 8th inning guy. I think it is wrong to rush him, he hasn't pitched above double A and he did struggle there some, he is also a starter and could be a top of the rotation guy. Jerry Manuel felt that K-rod threw well today in his bullpen, he said he had a life on his pitches. He said that Kelvim Escobar hasn't been cleared to do anything other then pitchers fielding practice and light workouts which he has been doing. He said that if Beltran wasn't injured Reyes batting third wouldn't be an issue. He also said he spoke with Beltran but only about how he was doing as a person, he will later discuss how he is doing physically.

Mariano Rivera-Simply the Best

Mariano Rivera notched his 500th save last night becoming only the second pitcher in history to accomplish that and made me stop and think back. I am 31 years old and have seen pretty much every save that MO has ever had, i am a diehard fan and go or watch just about every single game. Mariano Rivera started out as a skinny little kid that was a starting pitcher in the minor leagues. He came up in 1995 and if Buck Showalter knew what he had in MO things may have drastically been different for lots of people. The Yankees lost a thrilling division round playoff to the Seattle Mariners that year in 5 games. Buck Showalter didn't know what he had in MO and if he did the Yankees probably would have won and maybe gone on to win the World Series and there would of been no Joe Torre and maybe not all those championships but who knows. Mariano Rivera failed as a starting pitcher and was converted to relief and thank goodness Buck and Gene Michael and some others saved him because if it was up to George Steinbrenner they would of traded him to get a shortstop because they were so worried about a kid named Derek Jeter being the starting shortstop for the Yankees. It is really funny how all these years later they are still teammates and both headed to the Hall Of Fame. Mariano Rivera started out as a setup man in 1996 for John Wetteland and made the games 6 innings when Mo would come in for the 7th and 8th and just blow people away and hand the ball off to Wetteland for the save, the Yankees won the World Series that year and next year Wetteland was gone and MO became the closer which he has stayed ever since. Mariano is such a humble man that he didn't even think about that in the offseason until they called him up and said you are going to be our closer and he said ok I will do my best. Mariano Rivera is such a cool customer and never shows too much emotion either way, he acts the same all the time, no matter if it is playoffs, World Series, regular season, spring training. It is funny that now you have Jonathan Papelbon, K-rod even Joba Chamberlain who have some histrionics to them and you still have MO just simply walking towards the catcher and shaking hands. The game last night was a time when he truly could of let loose with emotion but he did what he always does and of course everyone of his teammates walked up to him and hugged him, Derek Jeter had a moment with him and Jorge Posada also had a nice embrace, these guys have been together for a long time and it was great to see. The thing that makes MO great other then him just saving all of these games and being the best in the postseason and never sweating even after he does blow games is how humble he is and what a great person he is. They asked him about saving 500 and what he means and he still thanked go and all of his teammates, it is truly a pleasure to have witnessed his whole career and being able to tell my kids and grandkids one day that i saw the greatest closer of all time pitch. I don't know what will happen when he finally decides to hang it up but it will be a sad sad day. I definitely would love to be there the day he is in Cooperstown inducted into the Baseball Hall of FAme. Congratulations MO you are simply the best.

Things getting feisty tonight

We had Brian Bruney talking again and now K-rod fired back saying "He needs to keep his mouth shut and do his job." "If he was a big guy I would probably pay attention, If he was someone big like Mariano, I'd respect that. But if I don't know who he is I don't listen." "Instead of sending a message through the paper next time when he sees me at Citi Field come up to me and say it to my face. Don't be sending a message through the media. I don't even know who that guy is, somewhere in Double A? I believe he hasn't even pitched one full season, he is always on the DL and that is all I know right now." He say's he doesn't know who he is but knows that he is always hurt that is pretty funny to me. There are others who don't like K-rod including MO but I don't know what got Bruney started on this and why it would matter. Brad Penny also reacted tonight to Joe Girardi saying he intentionally threw at A-rod the other night. "I don't give two f---s what Joe Girardi says. I am coming inside, I don't care. Anybody can say that, we can say it about the time they hit our guys. I am just trying to pitch inside. Maybe he should worry about managing and let the umpire crew do their job." Wow it seems the Yankees are fired up and got others fired up, maybe this will lead to the Yankees playing well again I hope or could this all be nonsense and distract them, only time will tell.