Read It In The Sunday Papers...

As I sit here, drinking my first cup of coffee of the day (hey- it's only 9:45am out here on the left coast), I began my daily ritual of cruising through the daily newspapers online, and remembered how much I used to enjoy posting links to the "key" articles each Sunday on my old "Mets Trades" blog, back in 2006! Well, I'm not able to provide it to you as early as I would have liked, but here, for at least one Sunday, I will do my best "Buster Olney" imitation and provide links and highlights to the majority of today's NY newspaper articles covering all things Mets! So, if you haven't covered your fingers in newsprint yet, sit back, click on the links and read away!!!

Burt Hubbuch, over at the New York Post, discusses David Wright's recent defensive short-comings ("Wright's Wrong In The Field"). From Hubbuch:

Not only did Wright commit two errors yesterday in a 5-3 loss to the Brewers, doubling his season total, but his two other throws were both wide of the bag. That continued what has been a season-long trend for Wright, a first-time Gold Glover last year who said he is struggling with mechanical problems.

In the same article, Hubbuch discusses the MIA Ramon Castro, who apparently won't be coming back to active duty soon:

Judging from Randolph's comments, backup catcher Ramon Castro won't be back anytime soon. Castro has missed almost a month with what the Mets originally described as a mild hamstring train, and Randolph said there is no timetable for his return.

The Mets don't appear worried, though, because Castro's replacement, Raul Casanova, has experience and is filling in nicely. Casanova got his first start Friday, going 1-for-3 with an RBI in the Mets' win.

I think that the rest of the Mets' injuries, as well as their inconsistent play so far, has caused a lot of fans to forget about Castro's injury for a while...which isn't to say that's a good thing!

Kevin Kernan, also at the Post, discusses Johan Santana's not so "warm and fuzzy" welcome to New York, on the heals of yesterday's loss:

THEY are angriest of fans here these days at Shea Sta dium. They had their hearts ripped out last year by The Collapse.

So when Johan Santana gave up three long home runs yesterday in his Shea debut as a Met in a 5-3 loss to the Beltin' Brewers, he was hit with a chorus of boos by the crowd of 54,701 before he jogged off the field.

Welcome to New York, Johan.

You can rely on Kernan to remind us of '07 at every chance he gets- thanks, Kevin...

Hubbuch also had a review of yesterday's game in the Post, and he, too discusses Santana's reaction:

The Shea Stadium love affair with Johan Santana sure didn't last long.

Just 62/3 innings into the ace left-hander's home debut as a Met yesterday, the faithful booed Santana after watching him give up three no-doubt-about-it home runs in a 5-3 loss to the Brewers.

Editor's Note: I think it is disgraceful that we've already started booing Santana and giving him such a bad welcome to NY! Mets' fans are better than that- come on, gang, he pitched his heart out and you know that the Brewers feast on left-handed pitching (Oliver Perez already gave up 2 runs in the top of the first today)- it's too early to show Santana anything but the love we all felt for his acquisition this off-season...and remember, he's a slow starter in April! Also, Santana threw 115 pitches yesterday- if the errors weren't made, maybe he's more effective in the last inning and those boos don't happen!

Staying with the Post, Mark Hale discusses Jose Reyes' hamstring injury, which isn't as simple as it originally appeared or was made to sound, but isn't as serious (thank goodness) as Pedro's:

The disabled list might not be required, but Jose Reyes didn't get a great result from the MRI exam performed on his left hamstring.

The test, conducted yesterday morning, revealed a mild strain. The indispensable shortstop characterized the news as better than he expected and called it "nothing big." But a strain could mean Reyes misses more time.

Angel Pagan is the recepient of Steve Serby's "Sunday Q&A With..." over at, you guessed it, the Post. As always, Serby provides nice insight into Pagan's background. One interesting thing to note- Pagan has suffered in the past from Colitis, which is a very debilitating, and often embarassing ailment which leaves you desiring a clean restroom more than anything else in the world. This could be a major reason why Pagan seems to be exceeding all expectations this year- he has been able to control his colitis to the point where it doesn't rule his day anymore, which is great to hear! More reason to believe that Angel is truly for real! And lucky us!


In our final visit to the Post today, we viewed a talk-back section, entitled "Shea Hey" where fans discuss their memories of Shea Stadium which, as you know, is in its final season of existence. In a few months, we'll have our own version of this talk-back, where our readers can share your favorite (or least favorite) Shea moments, along with all of our staff.

Over in Newsday, Johnette Howard also reviews yesterday's reaction to Johan's welcome to New York ("Santana Hears it from Shea boo birds.")

The booing that Mets ace Johan Santana heard as he jogged off Saturday, concluding his first start at Shea Stadium, was crazy. It wasn't raucous enough to rattle the skybox windows -- nothing like that. It was more of an accusatory sound, as if disappointed Mets fans were telling Santana, "Not you, too?"

Staying with the Newsday theme, Anthony Rieber discusses Jose Reyes' injury:

Reyes knows hamstring injuries. So does his manager, Willie Randolph, for that matter. Both have had debilitating hamstring injuries in their careers. This doesn't look like one of them.

Sensing a theme, Erik Boland also discusses David Wright's fielding problems over at Newsday ("Gold Glover Wright off to a bad start in field"). His first sentence says it all:

David Wright's golden glove has turned to stone. For the last two games, anyway.

Our last "visit" to Newsday today brings us to old favorite, Steven Marcus, who shares our sentiment with his column, entitled "Tearing down Shea still unthinkable." I share much of Marcus' sentiment; although I wasn't AT the Father's Day double-header where Jim Bunning pitched a perfect game against us, my dad and grandfather were, and my grandfather, a big fan but a lover of the long-ball, complained to my dad how "boring" the game was...LOL. Thanks, Steve, for a great, albeit brief, summation of most of our feelings towards good ole' Shea (and to me, it will always be the green behemoth, in spite of being blue and orange for so long!) One thought, in particular, rang true with me, as it did with Marcus:

Ed Kranepool could have been Mickey Mantle, for all we cared. He was young and a Met (an expression that Tom Seaver would late make iconic for the 1969 Mets.) To be young and be a Mets fan was even greater.

Steven, you took the words out of my mouth...and my past...thanks!

Now batting, the DailyNews, where Mike Lupica "shoots from the lip" as he, too, weighs in with his opinion on Santana's welcome to New York yesterday:

And when Santana walked off, even he found out how edgy Mets fans are about everything this season, because of the way everything went wrong last September. So even the new guy, who had nothing to do with last September, heard some boos yesterday. If you think Mets fans are going to let bygones be bygones, think again.

Lupica actually gives a pretty good accounting of yesterday's reaction, asking Santana if he'd ever been booed before:

"I know a lot of people are expecting a lot of things out of me," Santana said in the interview room when it was over. "Today was a game I lost and that's just about it."

They asked him if he ever heard boos in Minnesota and first he said that sometimes he doesn't hear anything when he is pitching and then he said, "If they boo, that's fine. That's a history they got from not being so good."

Bill Price, also at the Daily News, discusses the 7th inning "music issues" the Mets are having lately- think "Rick Astley" and that's all I have to say about THAT!!!

Lest they be the only ones refraining from discussing Wright's defensive miscues, the News' Kristie Ackert weighs in on it too ("David can't get it Wright in field.") From Wright:

"Of course there are going to be people that say 'told you so,' and things like that if you make a couple of errors," said Wright, who has made three errors in 10games. "I didn't vote for myself for the Golden Glove last year, but it is an honor to win it and now I know there (are) some expectations."

Moving over to the New York Times, Ben Shpigel speaks with Santana:

“We’re not perfect,” Santana said. “I wish we could do everything the way everybody wants, but we’re human beings and we’re going to make mistakes sometimes. It’s just how you react to it or how you bounce back and do your job. Right now, a lot of people are expecting a lot of things from me. I’m trying to do my job and hopefully exceed those expectations.”

Staying with the Times, Joshua Robinson discusses Gabe Kapler's return to the big leagues ("Long Road Leads Back to the Outfield for Kapler.") Interesting read, even if he IS a Brewer!!!

In Saturday's Bergen Record, Bob Klapisch reflects on former Met David Cone's aspiring broadcasting career. Cone remains an all-time favorite of mine, so any article about him, to me, even if he is with the hated Yankees, is worth reading (as is any article by Klapisch)!

Finally, in case you were wondering about the status of Jimmy Rollins, you can click here for a link to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

One last thought for today- after Oliver Perez's last outing, when he looked pretty good to me, Willie Randolph wasn't too happy with the lefty's efforts. Well, what will he say today, as Perez just allowed Ryan Braun to tie the game at 6-6??? Willie takes him out after 5+ when he has a shut-out, but leaves Perez in after giving up 6 runs??? Hello!!! Willie?? Are you in there??!!