The Serval Zippers Sign

List of people who need to be dropped on their asses with the first Met fastballs of 2009:

Shane Victorino
Josh Willingham
Hanley Ramirez
Willie Harris
Lastings Milledge

…

Mike Francesa has lost his mind.

He’s got no New York baseball since September 28 and he’s got no Mad Dog to balance him out. So his rants about David Wright the last couple of days have served their dual purpose — a.) to rile up the Met fan, and 2.) to get people talking about a now largely irrelevent talk radio show. Bravo, Michael.

I think he could give a rat’s bee-hind about David Wright, unless he somehow winds up in the Bronx, in which case he’ll suddenly become the best thirdbaseman of all time.

In any case, here’s all you need to know about the Grand Bloviator with regards to David Wright: his quote from 2003 — “Who’s David Wright?”

It’s been so long…

Anyway, technical gremlins have kept me from keeping The Serval Zippers Sign a going concern.

So, I have some tenative hope that this thing will keep going through the summer & beyond.

We shall see…

Anyway, hi!

Wow! Check ‘em out!

Mainly because yesterday was an off day.

Not much to write about. El Duque threw 80 pitches in 4 simulated innings. According to all reports, he wasn’t throwing hard enough to break an egg.

Mike Pelfrey was also simulatin’, but he was a bit more stimulatin’. (tm Walt Frazier)

The hamstrung catchers continue to stretch and rest…and stretch and rest…and stretch and rest…(cue Jack LaLane organ music)

But on a more important note, the countdown has begun. I’m fascianted to see who gets to turn the pages.

And having to give credit where credit is due, hats off to the Yankees for playing an exhibition at Virginia Tech to commemorate the 1 year anniversary of the shootings there — as well as a $1 million donation. Of course, I’m going against my natural inclination, which is to dismiss the appearance as a Steinbrennerian way of making David Wright — a VA Tech alum — look bad.

I must be off today…

Well, I tell ya, this here is a splendid periodical and anybody’ud love to commence the season looking this over like the fans in the stands with their placards and you see them down the leftfield line if you get a base hit. This book rings the bell, that was the name of my leftfielder at the Polar Grounds in ‘62. That was when all the little child’ern were saying “Metsie! Metsie!” Well, the book is better’n that an’ you could move a ballclub without a railroad if ya had a book like that. We had a fella name o’ Hodges who was so strong, he could squeeze off yer earbrows an’ he’s got a photograph in here, an’ some o’ the good-lookin’ fellas who have that effeminate appeal are all over this like Marv aroun’ a bunt. There’s a bunch o’ guys who coulda been my writers who put words in the magazine but they was too young or not born yet at my age an’ you could look it up. An’ ya know there’s bran’-new ballpark gonna be put up in a short while and when the Metsies win 10 or a dozen pennants and Suh-boda th’ows out the first ball there it’ll be somethin’, an’ I found the book in my local Atlantic/Pacific store which is a won’erful place to get the periodicals and meat and what.

So I can’t be any more clear when I tell ya to read this book…

“In the beginning, I misunderstood
But now I’ve got it
The word is good”
– John Lennon, 1965

The good word is from one Mr. Pedro Martinez (I suppose there must be more than one Pedro Martinez, but I’m only talking about this particular one). In a simulated game, Pedro went 4 innings, threw 59 pitches was touched up for an RBI double by Carlos Beltran — more good words there, it would seem.

Of course, when I wanted to hear some discussion of this yesterday afternoon, the intrepid Mike and the Mad Dog didn’t even know he was pitching. Apparently, they don’t pay attention to their own updates.

Dog: “I would like to see Pedro in a game sometime soon.”

Mike: “I thought he was supposed to pitch today. Eddie, did he pitch today? Yeah, he did. Simulated game.”

Dog: “Oh, really? Well, he’s gotta get in a game soon…”

Ah well… They’re probably still smarting from the “Jim Incident.” For those of you who don’t know, big Mike got into a pissing match with a ‘FAN techie – ON THE AIR! (BTW, I understand that none of what Mike thought got on the air actually got on the air.) This was picked up by one of my favorite websites, of course, and then Neil Best got in on it. This one might have some legs.

Anyway, I got no relief at the other end of the dial. Don LaGrecca was filling in for Michael Kay — thank God for small favors — on ESPN 1050 and all he could talk about was whether it was a good idea to have the last event at Yankee Stadium be a hockey game and the Mets should sign Barry Bonds. For the record, I think that first thing would be kinda cool — though I’d prefer the last thing I see at Oldish Yankee Stadium be the Mets dogpiling — and I’m vehemently opposed to the latter.

Oliver Perez goes vs. the O’s today — theat’s pronounced “Ohs”, not “zeros,” though I could understand the confusion…

That’s the only word I can use to describe Matthew Cerrone’s work over at Metsblog for the last couple of weeks. If you’ve ever wanted to know what really goes on in an MLB clubhouse, Matt’s the guy to read. He has a wonderful ability to give us a glimpse from a fan’s perspective — for that is what he still is, after all — all the while using the cachet provided by his website and it’s connection with SNY to enter the scene as a professional. That he’s able to do both at the same time is extraordinary. I know I would be all starry-eyed and mumbly in that position. Bravo, Matt!