Mike's Mets: NostraDennis Archives

You May Ask Yourself, Well, How Did I Get Here?

Last night, I had a dream. I had an awesome dream. The Mets were in first place, and a Mets pitcher not named Santana was leading all of baseball in ERA. This despite the fact that, as a team, they were scraping the bottom in batting average, not hitting for...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 12:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Looking to the Future in our Bay Leaves

In the first few weeks of this off-season, while other teams scooped up free agents and the Mets did next to nothing, some fans grumbled about the team's inactivity. Now that they've signed Jason Bay, other fans are grumbling that he's not a first-ballot Hall of Famer. That "reverse sour...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 11:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I'm Eating Sour Grapes, Because There's Nothing Else to Eat

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend" -- ancient Chinese proverb We know now how Yankee fans must have felt heading into the 1986 World Series. The Mets against the Red Sox? Who does a Yankee fan root for? We're now in the unenviable position of seeing the two...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 1:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Road to Nowhere

Next weekend's road trip to South Florida was first conceived way back in April, when hope sprang eternal and the Mets were hovering near first place. The Southern Bureau staff of Mike's Mets (me and MetsFanSZ) had it all planned out. We'd watch the Mets pound the Marlins on Saturday...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 11:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Zen and the Art of Being a Mets Fan in 2009

July's not even over yet, and the 2009 Mets have made it real hard for their fans to pay attention to the last two months of this disappointing season. Don't misunderstand - Mets fans have never become Mets fans because of any guarantee of success. The team across town has...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 11:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Let's Go To The Videotape - Just Not So Much

Like our boss, Mike himself, I've been fairly quiet on the blogging scene these past few months. This is due to several factors. First, I hadn't felt inspired to add much to the conversation that hadn't already been said about this team. The first quarter of the season has given...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 1:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Meet the...Hey, Who ARE These Guys?

Even a bad day at the ballpark is better than a good day at the office, so please don't take any portion of this post as a complaint. The sun was shining, not a drop of rain fell, there were almost as many Mets fans as there were Tigers fans...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 4:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Burning a Hole in My Pocket

The economy is in a shambles, my boss has been fired, my car is in the shop, and I'm getting over a bad bout of diverticulitis. Why am I so happy this week? Because, like Juror #7 in Twelve Angry Men, I've got baseball tickets burning a hole in my...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 12:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Baseball 24/7/365

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. Now that I am a man, many of my friends would say, not much has changed. One thing I knew, though, way back in 1971, was that major league baseball...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 4:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Demolition Man, Part IV - The Outfield

In many ways, the Mets' outfield is the part of their team with the most question marks. Despite the string of injuries suffered by Mets outfielders, though, it's the place where they're most likely to stand pat this winter. Fernando Tatis, the NL Comeback Player of the Year, just re-upped...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 12:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Demolition Man, Part III - The Infield

I'm old enough to remember plenty of Mets off-seasons when the talk was not about which few parts to replace, but which few to keep. A stretch of grueling mediocre seasons in the late '70's and another round in the early '90's come to mind. Those older and wiser than...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 8:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (23)

Demolition Man, Part II - The Dreaded Bullpen

By its very nature, a major league bullpen is made up of a motley crew of assorted parts. The veteran, who's trying to hang on with what he's still got left. The young kid, who's too wild and not mature enough for a start yet, but who could be useful...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 3:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Demolition Man, Part I

It's a good thing next year's Mets changes weren't being planned while Seaver and Piazza were walking into the center field sunset a week ago Sunday. It's even better that I'll have no part in such weighty discussions, because I'm sure the words "multiple homicide" would be involved in some...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 3:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Fahrenheit 2008

I was reading through a dog-eared copy of Fahrenheit 451 the other day, a very good book which was unfortunately coupled with a very ordinary movie version. The more I watch cable news and network newscasts, and try to cut my way through the 24/7 crap they dish out, the...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 6:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Nostra Dennis. Mets Heretic

Billy Wagner's elbow has given the Mets pause to ponder their course for the rest of their stay at Shea, and their first season on the other side of the parking lot. Wagner is one of those rare Mets who's been unafraid to call out teammates, or even himself, for...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

The Blue and Orange Knight

(with apologies to Monty Python) Sir James and his trusty servant Phanatic "ride" along through the woods, Phanatic smacking together two cheesesteaks and making a rhythmic "clop-clop" noise. They come to a stream in a clearing, where two knights are battling in a heated duel with giant wooden bats. One...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 1:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Alas, Poor Johan

In 2006, Steve Trachsel tied Tom Gl@v!ne for the Mets' team lead in wins with 15. This total was one win behind the National League lead (six different pitchers had only 16 victories each). That factoid itself illustrates that victories are one of the most misleading statistics to determine a...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

MET*S - the AfterMath

It's unfair to compare the members of the Mets' growing disabled list to a M*A*S*H unit. Unfair to the M*A*S*H unit, that is. At least there, thanks to the surgical skills of Captains Hunnicutt and Pierce, an occasional wounded GI actually got better and rejoined his mates in battle. These...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 4:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I Would Drive Five Hundred Miles

I've been fortunate throughout my baseball-loving life to pick just the right games to attend. For some details, check my biography in the "Our Writers" sidebar on this blog. This week, I added to that good fortune with Wednesday night-Thursday day games against the hapless Giants. In the process, I...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 7:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Willie Freed; Manuel Labors

Sports fans always need to guard against the dreaded schadenfreude, a word whose definition I didn't know until I started frequenting Mets blogs. It means enjoyment taken from the suffering of others. Watching Charlie Chaplin slip on a banana peel in a movie is a simple and innocuous example of...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Is It Just Me, Or Is There a Draft In Here?

I'm a sucker for a free ticket, especially to anything baseball-related. As noted celebrity dancer and running back Emmitt Smith was fond of saying, "If it's free, give me three". So naturally, I spent Thursday afternoon at The Milk House at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 9:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Mystery Men

Since my last post here, the Mets have gone through one dreadful week, perfectly captured by Mike's recent wordless post. The five days between last Sunday night's homer that wasn't and Saturday's three-double debut by rookie Nick Evans will forever be remembered by me as the Walk Through the Valley...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 2:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

A Knight of Luxury

I've been fortunate enough to see games from luxury boxes in a number of arenas, thanks to my work behind the scenes in broadcasting. I've been in a box at the Astrodome, which is kind of redundant, as it's like watching a game being played in a living room from...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Trivial Pursuits

Some people like to divide a major league baseball season into halves or quarters. Managers often try to help their team focus on the task at hand by concentrating on a ten-game stretch. Me, I'm a little weird. I like sixths. Like the small pepperoni pies at Pizza King, or...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 12:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia

My Easter Sunday mass experience this year was, in a word, awful. We got to the 12:15 pm mass at about 12:14 pm, knowing we'd be standing for an hour and a half. We squeezed up against the wall somewhere in the general vicinity of our regular seats. Then the...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Don't Pull the Trigger Until You See the Whites of Their Eyes

The eyes of the Twins, that is. I would love to see Johan Santana grow old as a Met, and be the ace of our Citi Field pitching corps. It's becoming more evident each day that the Twins may have overplayed their hand in insisting on five Mets in exchange...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 10:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

New Year, Clean Slate

I mark all the documents that go across my desk just like my boss tells me to do, with my hastily scribbled initials and today's date. For the past three months, that "07" at the end has been a constant reminder that, to me, "07" has now become the exact...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Autopsy of a Dead Met: Exhibits 1 through 8

I've been using analogies from other forms of entertainment to put the Mets' collapse this year in some kind of perspective, as I did in my last post with the movie "The Heartbreak Kid". This could be because we Mets fans have suddenly found ourselves with an unexpected gaping hole...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

The Fat Lady's Gargling in the Wings Right Now

My wife and I saw a preview of the new Farrelly brothers' movie "The Heartbreak Kid" Thursday night, starring Ben Stiller and some girl who looks like, but isn't, Cameron Diaz. No real spoilers here, although the film was mildly amusing at best. The premise is the 40 year old...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)

The Fine Art of Scoreboard Watching

"I t'ink we ought to knock his block off" - Mickey Goldmill to Rocky Balboa, Rocky II "He's spinning the ball on his finger! Just take it!" - Krusty the Clown at a Globetrotters game, The Simpsons Being a Mets fan this summer brings both these quotes to mind for...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 11:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

An A-Plus for Effort

After the lockout in 1995, I was pissed at Major League Baseball. The fact that the Mets were "The Worst Team Money Could Buy" (and who could disagree with Bob Klapisch's assessment?) made it that much easier for me to shake my fist at the lords of baseball and send...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 1:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Chunky Bits of Tid

I'm not one to look a gift victory in the mouth, but did anyone else feel a bit uncomfortable with the Mets getting a "W" for only six innings of baseball last night? Heck, if my boss told me he didn't care how long I worked, just as long as...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Can You Smell What Schoeney is Cooking?

"Scott. Customers at table 60. And this time, don't screw it up." "Yes, sir, Mr. Randolph." His shoulders slumped as he headed to the table dejectedly. The middle-aged couple looked up from their menus and smiled. "Good evening, folks, and welcome to Schoeney's. I'm Scott, and I'll be serving it...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 1:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Fo', Fo', Fo'

I'm borrowing from Moses Malone' nearly correct 1983 playoff prediction (the Sixers lost one game in the middle series, so they were actually "Fo', Fi', Fo" in that postseason). I'm also borrowing from the riff our friend Greg from FAFIF put forth after last weekend's perfect results: Mets sweep, Braves...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Chunky Bits of Tid

Who likes brain teasers? Okay, here's one. What's the next number in this sequence? -1, 0, -1/2, -1, -1/2, -1/2, -1/2, +1/2, -1/2, +1/2, -1/2, +1/2, +1/2, +1/2, +1/2, -1/2, -1/2, +1/2, -1/2, -1/2, -1/2, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, -1/2, -1/2, ____. Answer: I'll tell you after...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Act One of a Six Act Play

As I'm sure I've told you all already, I'm an unabashed stats geek. I love numbers. I don't judge a team's value, or a player's, either, solely by the numbers they put up. But I love what numbers can reveal sometimes. In particular, I like the touchstones of fractions within...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 3:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Thank You for Flying Air Mets. Buh-Bye Now...

"Good morning, passenger, and welcome to US Air Flight 1643, with service from LaGuardia Airport to Charlotte, North Carolina, on through to New Orleans, Louisiana on US Air Flight 1503. My name is Jane Jarvis, and I'll be your flight crew chief for today's travel. Our scheduled departure time is...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 1:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's Not How Long You Make It, It's How You Make It Long

Mr. Met opened the classroom door slowly, trying not to call attention to himself. No such luck. The door creaked loudly, and all eyes in the room turned to him. "Come in, come in," said the wizened old man standing near the semi-circle of chairs in the center of the...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

My Day in the Sun

As Bob Murphy loved to say, it was a beautiful day for baseball. Not a cloud in the sky. A Saturday afternoon in Florida at Tradition Field in Port St. Lucie. The Mets. The Nationals. Baseball like it oughta be when the score doesn't count. Fortunately, this score didn't count....

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By NostraDennis, posted at 1:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Grabbing My Slice of Grapefruit

There are only a couple of things I miss about New York since our family moved to Florida twelve years ago. One thing, of course, is family. My brother and his wife, my sister in law, her husband, and their kids, and Mom all live on Long Island. I do...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 9:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Hats Off to MLB

At the risk of being accused of grumpy old man disease, let me say I like to consider myself a baseball purist. I hate the designated hitter. I much prefer a well-placed sacrifice bunt. I love the late-inning double-switch. I smile at that first trip to the mound, especially if...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 6:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Little David the Goliath (and Tiger) Killer

Ever meet one of your favorite celebrities (sports star, actor, politician) and come away with a sour taste in your mouth? The exact opposite happened to me last week. My day job, which I won't be quitting any time soon until Mike pays us correspondents more, is behind the scenes...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 6:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Average Joe

We fans are all outside this fuzzy snow globe called Major League Baseball, with our noses pressed up against the glass. Even those of us who have the opportunity to sneak into the winter meetings and make believe they're a real journalist are simply outside looking in, drooling over the...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 2:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Faulty Intelligence

I've got a friend who's a good friend of the brother of a member of the New York Yankees. Lest you think I'm about to spin one of those urban legends, be assured: this friend has shown us videotape of him cruising along Lake Michigan's shores in a party boat...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 2:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

My Favorite Met

Each of us has his or her own personal history with the Mets. First memory of the team...first game watched on TV...first game seen in person...first souvenir (mine were those flimsy plastic "batting helmets", which I never noticed until too late came with a warning not to use them in...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)

A Minute Passed

Editor's Note: Our own NostraDennis, on the scene in Orlando, gives us a brief glimpse into the enchanted world of MLB's winter meetings. - M.S. She stood in the pale, translucent light on the Persian carpet. A minute passed. Then another. Then, another minute. Then ... another minute passed. Then...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Wax On, Wax Off

All I knew about Rick Peterson three months ago was this: he was a real good pitching coach who squeezed a lot out of his staff. He was good at taking players from the scrap heap and reinventing them somehow, making chicken salad out of, you know, other parts of...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 3:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Ten Things I Like About Zito

(Thanks to Wikipedia, JockBio.com, the Oakland Tribune, MLB.com, and Robert Zemeckis) 10) His Strikeouts for Troops charity sends $200 to wounded GI's for each one of his strikeouts. 9) Zito has never missed a scheduled start in his career. That's the kind of dependability the Mets need, especially with the...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 4:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Chunky Bits of Tid

Editor's Note: Dennis McCarthy (aka NostraDennis) has been leaving terrific (if slightly deranged) comments on this site for a while. This is his inaugural full length effort. - M.S. I can make a good steak, too. But it's getting a little nippy outside, so how about a nice hot hearty...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

About Dennis McCarthy (NostraDennis)

I was born in the Bronx in 1960, but moved to Long Island six years later. I became a Mets fan in '69, thanks to my Aunt Ellen, who still lived in the Bronx. Got in trouble with Mrs. Kozak in 8th grade in 1973 for sneaking a transistor radio...

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By NostraDennis, posted at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mike's Mets

New York Mets discussion, news and historical perspective -- now getting by with a little help from my friends.

April 28, 2010

You May Ask Yourself, Well, How Did I Get Here?

December 31, 2009

Looking to the Future in our Bay Leaves

October 26, 2009

I'm Eating Sour Grapes, Because There's Nothing Else to Eat

September 20, 2009

Road to Nowhere

July 20, 2009

Zen and the Art of Being a Mets Fan in 2009

May 29, 2009

Let's Go To The Videotape - Just Not So Much

March 1, 2009

Meet the...Hey, Who ARE These Guys?

February 24, 2009

Burning a Hole in My Pocket

January 5, 2009

Baseball 24/7/365

October 31, 2008

Demolition Man, Part IV - The Outfield

October 23, 2008

Demolition Man, Part III - The Infield

October 13, 2008

Demolition Man, Part II - The Dreaded Bullpen

October 7, 2008

Demolition Man, Part I

September 19, 2008

Fahrenheit 2008

September 11, 2008

Nostra Dennis. Mets Heretic

August 29, 2008

The Blue and Orange Knight

August 8, 2008

Alas, Poor Johan

August 4, 2008

M*E*T*S - the AfterMath

July 13, 2008

I Would Drive Five Hundred Miles

June 17, 2008

Willie Freed; Manuel Labors

June 5, 2008

Is It Just Me, Or Is There a Draft In Here?

May 25, 2008

Mystery Men

May 19, 2008

A Knight of Luxury

May 4, 2008

Trivial Pursuits

March 24, 2008

Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia

January 24, 2008

Don't Pull the Trigger Until You See the Whites of Their Eyes

December 29, 2007

New Year, Clean Slate

October 4, 2007

Autopsy of a Dead Met: Exhibits 1 through 8

September 28, 2007

The Fat Lady's Gargling in the Wings Right Now

July 20, 2007

The Fine Art of Scoreboard Watching

July 7, 2007

An A-Plus for Effort

June 28, 2007

Chunky Bits of Tid

June 8, 2007

Can You Smell What Schoeney is Cooking?

May 31, 2007

Fo', Fo', Fo'

May 12, 2007

Chunky Bits of Tid

May 4, 2007

Act One of a Six Act Play

May 1, 2007

Thank You for Flying Air Mets. Buh-Bye Now...

April 7, 2007

It's Not How Long You Make It, It's How You Make It Long

March 19, 2007

My Day in the Sun

MET*S - the AfterMath