I hate fantasy sports. There I said it. Drives me crazy. Why? Cause every now and then I sit down to watch a Mets game and hope that John Maine pitches seven solid innings but allows three hits to my fantasy shortstop. I think this is a great example. I love the Mets. They’re my hometown team, my family loyalty. I don’t want that shortstop making contact, let alone getting me a good night’s worth of fantasy points. But heavy is the head that wears the crown. A situation like that is a serious dilemma—rooting for someone on another team is like cheating on my girlfriend. She may never find out—much as I doubt anyone would tell Willie Randolph that I’m playing Jorge Posada at catcher, but it would just make me feel dirty. God forbid it gets to my spot in the draft and the only good infielder I can get is Derek Jeter or Jimmy Rollins. I can’t stomach that kind of betrayal. Makes me nauseous.  

Continue reading "A General Thought on Fantasy Baseball"

Listening to Bill Simmon's Sports Guy podcast and he completely disagrees. Not only does he disagree, but the former BOSTON SPORTS GUY has both Hughes and Kennedy on his AL Fantasy team. To his credit he does make one good point by saying that when his Yankee players poop the bed he still feels good.

I just couldn't do it. 

Continue reading "UPDATE: A General Thought on Fantasy Baseball"

I do. He's hit wherever Willy puts him in the lineup, he's playing solid defense in right field (remember Shawn Green?) hell he's even hitting lefties. If Castllo continues to struggle I have no problem keeping him in the 2 spot to generate big innings at the beginning of games. Plus, I do believe the 40 doubles he hit last year will translate into 20-25 homeruns (especially with Wright and Beltran behind him). If nothing else, watching Milledge (for whom the Mets aquired Church in a deal that Mets fans hated at the time) play for the Nats against the Mets I don't see him becoming an All-Star any time soon. Meanwhie church has been the most consistent guy on the team.

In addition, it looks like Brian Schneider is the real deal at catcher. Sure he can't hit a lick but every good Mets team has been built on pitching and defense and the Schnide provides both. The only problem so far is the ridiculous amount of pitches he's dropped or let get passed him. Can't believe a Major League Baseball player would actually blame his glove but hopefully he'll adjust.

Continue reading "I Like Ryan Church"

So I spent the past two days visiting friends in Boston and missed the entire Mets series with Atlanta. Anytime I'm out of the loop during the season it seems like something siginicant happens. It's an odd thing to say considering how meaningless three games in April are during a 162 game season. But at the same time I always feel like I'm missing something special. At any rate, the Mets took two out of three and Delgado, in hitting two home runs today, either gave the home crowd a clue that he may return to his '06 form OR a simply a tease that gets us off his back for precisely one game. We shall see. I of course remain skeptical, something that shouldn't surprise anyone who knows me. 

Bottom Line: Happy to be back in New York, Boston sports are profoundly uninteresting.  

Continue reading "Weekend in Boston"

I want to like Carlos Delgado. He honestly sounds like a very nice, thoughtful, hardworking guy. He's intelligent and articulate and has deeply held convictions. For over a decade he was also an amazing hitter, a feared slugger and RBI machine who terrorized the American league. His arrival with the Mets in 2006 was a key to their getting all the way to the NLCS. We can't overestate the impact he had by providing protection for Carlos Beltran both in the batting order and in the clubhouse (ensuring Belty had plenty of juicy pitches to hit and shielding him from the blistering NY media). Beltran of course was a serious MVP candidate for 3/4 of the season--a tremendous turnaround considering his dismal first year with the club. All in all Delgado sounds like a winner. Or maybe it's "sounded".

Continue reading "The Delgado Dilemma"