New York Sports Fan Blog

The Mets got exactly what they expected out of Johan Santana in their season-opening win over the Marlins on Monday.

Now comes the hard part: Seeing what the other four-fifths of the starting rotation will give them.
And that starts tonight, when John Maine takes the mound against Florida at Citi Field after yesterday’s off day.
“You always want to get the year started off strong,” Maine said. “It’s the same thing every season. Your first couple of starts, you’re anxious and you want to get off on the right foot. No matter what you’ve been through to get there, that doesn’t change.”

Click here to read the full article – By DAN MARTIN of New York Post

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All-Star shortstop Jose Reyes has been told to rest and refrain from athletic activity for two to eight weeks until his thyroid levels normalize, another blow to the New York Mets before Opening Day.

Center fielder Carlos Beltran already is expected to miss the first month of the season following right knee surgery Jan. 13. Reyes likely will be starting the season on the disabled list as well.

“It doesn’t look good right now.” Mets general manager Omar Minaya said Thursday. “We will have to prepare for that.”

Reyes has been diagnosed with an overactive thyroid, and his levels were elevated after he exercised Monday and Tuesday. Although he initially thought he might be able to return after a few days, he will have to stop working out and will remain at home.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

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All-Star closer Francisco Rodriguez returned to New York Mets camp on Monday after being hampered by conjunctivitis for more than two weeks.

Rodriguez had been told to stay away from the team until the pink eye cleared, but the contagious infection took longer than expected to improve. He was sick when he reported to New York’s spring facility, but it went undiagnosed until just before full-squad workouts began Feb. 25.

The right-hander said he went to the doctor on Friday and was cleared to return Monday, although he still is infected. He continues to take eye drops and isn’t allowed to wear contacts yet.

“It feels much better,” Rodriguez said. “It’s still a little uncomfortable, but it’s good to be around. I was cleared to be around the guys, so it’s fine.”

While away from the team, Rodriguez was limited to playing catch with his brother, Edward, in the driveway of the closer’s home. But Rodriguez is not worried about his progress. He said he probably only needs one bullpen session before pitching in a game, and is looking forward to getting back into a regular routine.

Rodriguez last stepped on a mound about a week ago when he emerged from hiding for a light bullpen session.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

After missing most of the 2009 season with persistent leg injuries, New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes is ready and raring to go for 2010.

Reyes, who appeared in only 36 games last season, showed off the progress he’s made in regaining his health on Monday, running sprints at a Long Island athletic training facility and pronouncing himself ready for spring training. He said he’s been running at full speed without pain for several weeks and feels great.

“I’ll be ready in 2010. Be there, it’s going to be a show,” he said, according to the New York Post. “I can do everything I did before on the field … I can’t wait to hit a triple.”

Reyes was hampered last season by what was at first believed to be tendinitis in his right calf, which forced him out of a game against the Atlanta Braves in May. The injury was later diagnosed as a torn right hamstring tendon.

Click here to read the full article – By of ESPN.com

The New York Mets have acquired outfielder Gary Matthews Jr. in a trade with the Los Angeles Angels, a baseball source confirmed to ESPN.com on Friday.

Matthews will combine with Angel Pagan to hold down center field while Carlos Beltran recovers from offseason knee surgery.

It’s believed the Angels will pay most of the two years and $23 million remaining on Matthews’ contract with the Angels.

SI.com was first to report the completion of the trade.

It’s not immediately known who the Angels will receive in return for Matthews, but a source told ESPN.com that it will be a low-salaried pitcher off the major league roster.

Matthews, 35, is a .258 hitter in 11 big league seasons. His best year came in 2006, when he hit .313 with 19 homers and 79 RBIs for the Texas Rangers.

Click here to read the full article – By Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com

Carlos Beltran had surgery on his troublesome right knee Wednesday and the All-Star center fielder will miss the start of the season. His decision to have the operation also sparked a dispute about whether he had received permission from the team, and perhaps whether the surgery was needed at all.

The New York Mets said Beltran is expected to resume baseball activities in 12 weeks, a timetable that likely would keep him out for most of April — and maybe longer.

New York’s first official workout for pitchers and catchers is a little more than five weeks away, on Feb. 20. The Mets open the season April 5 against Florida.

“The doctor said eight weeks, possibly, and a window to 12 weeks to resume baseball activities. With elite athletes, the timetable is sometimes shorter than the original prognosis,” Beltran’s agent, Scott Boras said.

Click here to read the full article – By of ESPN.com

I believe Wally Backman will end up managing at Citi Field eventually, and when it happens it will be a very good day for the Mets. But for the moment he is no more a threat to Jerry Manuel’s job than Jay Horwitz, PR man to the stars.

There is some history between Backman and Manuel that dates back to their days together in the White Sox organization a decade ago, and it seems fairly clear they weren’t trusting allies. Depending on who you talk to, it was either because Manuel saw Backman, then an acclaimed minor-league manager, as a threat to his job, or their personalities merely clashed.

Either way it’s irrelevant, at least for now.

The Mets did the right thing in bringing Backman back to the organization after all these years, giving him a chance to make everyone forget the off-field indiscretions that got him fired as Diamondbacks manager before he ever signed the contract.

Click here to read the full article – By John Harper of NY Daily News

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The owners of the New York Mets baseball team made about $48 million in dealings with swindler Bernard Madoff, court documents showed.

The Mets Limited Partnership, which is connected to the Wilpon family, led by Mets owner Fred Wilpon, deposited $522.8 million in two accounts with Madoff and withdrew $570.6 million, according to a Monday filing by court-appointed trustee Irving Picard.

The Mets could not be reached immediately for comment by Reuters.

Earlier this year, Erin Arvedlund, author of “Too Good to Be True,” a book on Madoff, said the Wilpon family would be forced to sell the Mets due to huge losses suffered in the Madoff swindle.

The Mets had said Arvedlund has no knowledge of the team or its finances and repeated previous statements that the team was not for sale.

Click here to read the full article – By of ESPN.com

It was fitting that yesterday’s 5-1 win over Houston, the penultimate game of the Mets’ sorry season suffered through a rain delay: The entire injury-riddled campaign has been like water torture that just wouldn’t end.

Manuel is determined to make sure Wright does just that, admitting the latter developed “phobias” — Manuel’s word, not ours — after getting beaned by a 93 mph Matt Cain fastball on Aug. 15. He’s hit just .242 since, looking uneasy at the plate and admitting he still thinks about the beaning.

So, with Wright showing modest improvement in his last three games — 5-for-12 with three doubles and three RBIs — Manuel didn’t want to risk his star getting drilled by errant Yorman Bazardo (19 BB in 27 1/3 innings pitched).


Click here to read the full article – By BRIAN LEWIS of New YorkPost

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The Mets may finally be getting the hang of this public relations thing. The team announced Thursday that the average season ticket for 2010 would cost 10 percent less than it did this season, with cuts of as much as 20 percent in some locations. According to the team, every season ticket holder will wind up with a lower invoice than they had this year, although per-game ticket prices will remain the same in some instances.

The Mets say that the decision was made in deference to the economy, which is a lot easier than saying that we’re charging you less because of how awful we were this season. The economic realities of 2009 were certainly a consideration, but someone in the Mets realized that they’ve got a pretty ticked off fanbase these days and keeping them in the building was going to take more than the promise that things would better next year when all the players were healthy.

That was true even before the news that Jose Reyes tore his hamstring became public knowledge, but was twice as true when the ticket pricing announcement was actually made. One of the linchpins that the Mets could use as a selling point for a brighter tomorrow is now a gigantic question mark as the offseason gets underway, raising the possibility that the Mets could be looking for help at shortstop in addition to all of the other holes that need filling around the league.


Click here to read the full article – By JOSH ALPER of nbcnewyork.com

New York Mets Sports Memorabilia
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Below are links to memorabilia available for Jose Reyes.