A Great Day for Mets Fans, Chipper Jones to Retire

The best news of spring training came not in the form of a doctor's report or financial statement. It came from Atlanta, Georgia. Larry Jones will be playing his last season in the major leagues.

Mets fans everywhere should rejoice. Take your loved one out to dinner. Toast to Chipper. Be thankful that 365 days from now, Larry Jones cannot harm you.

Chipper Jones has been a thorn in the Mets side since the day he came into the big leagues. No one has performed better against an opponent than Chipper Jones has against the Mets. I swear he's hit more home runs at Shea than most Mets players and he holds the record for most long balls in history against the Mets.

I bet he could come up to bat with a walker and swing with a broomstick and still be able to hurt the Mets in some way. He tops my "hit in the head list" (a list of players the Mets should never pitch to regardless of the situation, just hit them in the head and move on to the next guy) and is one of the greatest players of my generation.

He's arguably the greatest, all-around Atlanta Brave player in history with his combination of power, fielding prowess, ability to hit for average and leadership qualities.

To sum up, I hate Chipper Jones, but I certainly respect him.

Mets pitchers should be sending him flowers and chocolates to commemorate the occasion. I plan to cheer Chipper in his final at bat because I'll be filled with joy to see him go.

Rising Apple: What's a fan to do?

...this is a fantastic post for the start of what's expected to be another disappointing Mets season. i was on the verge of doing a post this morning talking about the moral of a Mets fan in late March but our friends over at Rising Apple have done the work for us.


...i love his intro paragraph on "learned helplessness" because it's so true of Mets Lifers, but when it comes right down to it we're still Mets fans regardless of the expected outcome of the season. 


...it's baseball. it's the Mets. and when it comes right down to it, we still love it.


...check out the full post at the link below
What's a Fan to Do? - Rising Apple - A New York Mets Blog Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and More:

The Josh Thole Experiment

Young catchers are a fickle bunch. Usually they are great hitters who are in the position to help them get to the big leagues and then switch positions. Otherwise, they're incredible defensive players who you hope can get  you a few hits here and there.

Josh Thole is neither.

He hits marginally at best and defensively he's hardly a step up from Mike Nickeas.

Thole burst onto the Mets scene two years ago when he had a great Sepetember at the plate. That allowed him to extend his stay into last season and see if he's an everyday backstop. Turns out he's not.

In fact I'd go as far as to say he's a younger version of Charlie O'Brien from those dreaded days in the early 90's. At least Mackey Sasser had the potential of giving you a home run every once in a while, but Thole is lucky to reach the warning track.

Behind the plate, Thole doesn't have that great of an arm and if you want to argue that he calls a good game I present to you the stat sheet of the starting pitchers for the Mets last year.So the Mets find themselves in a familiar place: catcher purgatory.

This state usually last for 4-5 years where the Mets just kind of hope something improves. Since Gary Carter the Mets haven't really had any success behind the plate other than the trade for Mike Piazza. Without Piazza the Mets catching situation would look like a minor league all tournament team at best with Hundley being the lone exception for a season or two.

Because of holes in the pitching staff and the departure of Reyes at shortstop, Thole is getting another pass. But as runners continue to steal bases and his place in the lineup because more questionable I hope someone can shed the light on Thole.