The Metropolitan Borough of Yorkshire

Let’s get ready to Rumble…..

yorksba — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 07:06:58 +0000

The waiting is almost over, the last taxis leave Florida for minor fields while 25 head for the Big Apple and Opening Day 2007.

As we while away the last few hours of the off season the final 25 man roster the Mets have settled on is

Starting Pitchers

Tom Glavine, LHP
Orlando Hernandez, RHP
John Maine, RHP
Oliver Perez, LHP

Starting Lineup

Paul Lo Duca, C
Carlos Delgado, 1B
Jose Valentin, 2B
David Wright, 3B
Jose Reyes, SS
Moises Alou, LF
Carlos Beltran, CF
Shawn Green, RF

Bullpen

Billy Wagner, LHP
Aaron Heilman, RHP
Pedro Feliciano, LHP
Joe Smith, RHP
Scott Shoeneweis, LHP
Ambiorix Burgos, RHP
Aaron Sele, RHP

Bench

Endy Chavez, OF
Julio Franco, 1B
Ramon Castro, C
Damion Easley, IF
David Newhan, OF
Lastings Milledge, OF

Mike Pelfrey awaits his call-up as the fifth pitcher once the Mets need one, Lastings Milledge hoping he can make himself indispensable in the meantime giving Willie and the rest the task of who to send down.

Ambiorix Burgos was a surprise for me, although he has shown flashes of what he can do I would far rather be carrying Chan Ho with his RP/SP versatility while Burgos gets more practice at Triple A. Most of the bullpen were lit up for several big innings during Spring Training, I hope they knuckle down for the regular season.

Come on Tom! Let’s get one more win closer to 300!

LETS GO METS!

Life isn’t always fair in spring!

yorksba — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 23:56:37 +0000

When the dust finally settles on sprint training there’s going to be a fair amount of injustice in Met land

Players who should make the lineup but probably won’t

Ben Johnson and David Newhan – both seemingly competing for one or zero roster spots. Both have shown in my opinion this spring they’re ready for a shot at it but unlikely to get it

Mike Carp – lack of versatility will probably stop him claiming a spot but has shown he could help someone (although worrying little errors creeping in now)

Players who will make the lineup but probably shouldn’t

Moises Alou – the mere fact of being a veteran leftie will win him a spot but brings nothing else

Shawn Green – rumors that he has sorted out his swing and is not likely to maintain his 0-15 pace might well prove true after his first homer of the spring but I rather see Milledge or one of the Newhan/Johnson conundrum be given his spot. Green’s ability to play first will probably seal his spot.

Julio Franco – Your senior travel pass beckons, take the 7 train to retirement. His spot needs to go to one of young guns who have shown they’re ready. A wise sage, a good club man and steadying influence management will say, if that’s what they want – make him a coach and let him guide the new young buck in his spot.

The fifth spot?

Glavine, Hernandez and Maine seemed to have locked up three spots, Perez looks to have sneaked into the fourth bed while the fifth sport?

Pelfrey’s performance last night, giving up one run in four innings work should have convinced Willie to give him his head but my sneaking suspicion is that Chan Ho just has to post an equal performance to lock up job 5.

Life just isn’t fair

One down…. How many to go?

yorksba — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 13:09:04 +0000

Mets crossed one off today in the battle for the starting spots as they released Alay Soler. Not one of the candidates for the rotation has really impressed me so far and with the inconsistant displays they have been turning in you have to wonder how long before Mets line up another firing squad?

Cricket World Cup

yorksba — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 12:27:49 +0000

The 2007 Cricket World Cup started today in the West Indies and Yorkshire’s new star signing, Pakistani Younis Khan made a right hash of his first innings, scoring just nine runs. I’m not as bothered now though because as I watched the Mets take on the Tribe on MLB TV while the cricket continue on my muted television I spotted Yorkshire’s next bowler. Lino Urdaneta decided to take up cricket in the bottom of the ninth, firstly bowling a short pitched bouncer past poor Castro who was suddenly playing wicketkeeper. Then the next ball was well bowled up in the blockhole but unfortunately Castro was still expecting a baseball toss and let that past him as well! Luckily when a caught and bowled chance then fell to Urdaneta he remembered enough to throw the ball to the right end. Howzat! The fielders appealed and thankfully the umpire raised his finger and the Mets had a one run win.

All this and a fourth innings press box scare as a black snake ran wild – I really must watch what I’m putting in the tea. Kids! Say no to Drugs!

Lazy Sunday

yorksba — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 11:28:27 +0000

Spent a wonderful Sunday morning lazing on the sofa listening to last night’s Mets spring training matchup on Gameday Audio. Oliver Perez pitched well enough over four innings, giving up just one run but once more the bullpen stuttered. David Newhan and Ben Johnson impressed me again, Newhan leads the Mets in spring training RBI’s and second only in total bases to …. Ben Johnson. It’s a shame it seems that they’re probably competing for one roster spot. It was Alay Soler’s turn to blow up on Saturday, giving up four runs in an innings and three batters work. Soler, Burgos, Heilman and Sele have all been reasonable during ST but have all suffered a one innings blowout which has generally cost the Mets a game.

The good thing is that the Nationals are looking as bad as every says they’re going to be and so hopefully I can look forward to watching three Mets wins during my live MLB debut

Fantasy Baseball is here again!

yorksba — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 15:50:01 +0000

A few days ago I took part in my first 2007 live fantasy draft, a Fox Sports standard 12 team mixed H2H league. Buoyed by the success of winning Yahoo public 178601 H2H league last year I was full of confidence and I was trialing some custom made cheat sheets made using software available to subscribers of Rotorank.com. Drafting 7th I came away with the following squad:

Jose Reyes
Mark Teixeira
Matt Holliday
Billy Wagner
Roy Halliday
JJ Putz
Adam Dunn
Alex Rios
Curt Schilling
Joe Crede
Ian Kinsler
Javy Lopez
David Bush
Brad Lidge
Howie Kendrick
Chris B Young
Kevin Kouzmanoff
Khalli Greene
Brad Hawpe
Mike Napoli
Tom Glavine

I quite like the results except the minor aberration suffered when picking Lopez, I think I must have blinded by flashes of his glory (?) days in Alanta! I was particularly happy that Reyes fell as far as 7th and at getting both Dunn and Rios, two players I have high hopes for.

I’ve never really got on with the rottisserie format, I much prefer the feeling of individual contests that H2H gives, watch this space for further drafts

My first ‘live’ baseball

yorksba — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 11:31:23 +0000

As I post my first entry, I am preparing to make my first visit to an MLB game. The flight is booked, the accomodation is sorted, the New York beer Guide website bookmarked and most important of all the tickets to three games secured.

The Mets against the Nationals on April 13, 14 and 15 might not be top of everyone’s viewing list but they fitted with my work schedules and are destined to become my MLB debut.