Picture this: Saturday night Dodgers-Mets

Yay! Blogger's back.

So, before we get too much further from last Saturday, here are some shots from batting practice and the game against the Dodgers. I won tickets and field access for batting practice in a contest via the team's Twitter account. The trivia question? Which players wore No. 20 in the Mets' two world championship seasons. The winner had to be the 20th correct response, and I got lucky.

Herewith, some shots (the full collection is here).




Carlos Beltran


Watching Ike


Turner's helmet


Skipper's advice


Ike Davis


On a break


Pridie stretches


Edgardo Alfonzo on the mic


Andre Ethier catches up with Jason Pridie


Pridie signs


That night's hero


Set aside


Hairston's kicks


Turner signs


Kevin Elster and Marty Noble


A Manny Mota moment


Reyes on the run


Wright at the plate


Ike and Murph


The night the streak ended


Kemp connects


David Wright's double


Bay connects

Give Murph a chance

So it sounds like Fernando Tatis is coming back. Fine. Some right-handed power. A versatile player who can fill in at first base, second, third and the corner outfield spots when needed. A double-play machine. We know what we're getting.

I just hope it's not a platoon. Like Matt over at MetsBlog, I'd rather see what Daniel Murphy can do against left-handers. What do the Mets have to lose? This is a third-place team, at best, and it's going to take a 100-percent healthy team (from May onward) and some injuries to the Phillies (and probably Braves and/or Marlins) for the Mets to be in it after the All-Star break.

Murphy's still just 25 (on April 1) and though his similar players through 24 aren't impressive, there's one eye-raising name on the list: the Blue Jays' Adam Lind, who broke out last season ... at 25 (though it was his third year of at least 80 games). Of course, Murphy won't hit 35 home runs -- and I'm not as sure about 20 as Howard Johnson is -- but I could definitely see a .290, 15-homer, 80-RBI season out of him, much like Keith Hernandez's 1987. Murphy was a career .290 hitter in the minors, with just 22 more strikeouts than walks over 1,078 plate appearances, and I think that plate discipline will translate in the Majors.

I looked at Murphy's monthly splits in 2009, and his OPS vs. left-handers (though in admittedly small sample sizes) was higher than his overall OPS in April, May and September/October and lower in June, July and August (the month in which he had the most plate appearances vs. lefties):

	PA	OBP	SLG	AVG	OPS
April	70	.373	.426	.324	.800
April vs. LHP	8	.429	.429	.429	.857
May	71	.278	.353	.176	.631
May vs. LHP	11	.250	.600	.200	.850
June	77	.298	.320	.240	.618
June vs. LHP	12	.250	.250	.250	.500
July	85	.323	.393	.250	.715
July vs. LHP	18	.286	.333	.167	.619
August	114	.308	434	.292	.741
August vs. LHP	31	.219	.323	.194	.542
Sept and Oct	101	.311	.580	.290	.891
Sept and Oct vs. LHP	13	.357	.846	.308	1.203

No, the numbers aren't great, particularly from a first baseman, but the guy was still only 24. I won't compare them in a chart -- because in addition to different eras, ballparks, etc., I of course am not saying Murphy will become Hernandez -- but look at their year 24 seasons on Baseball-Reference. Eerily similar.

With the way the team is set up now, looking so much similar to last season's, I don't think the Mets should be playing the matchups when it means taking valuable developmental at-bats away from players like Murphy for players like Tatis. It's tough, at this point, to be saying the Mets won't be contending, but I don't see it. I'm not writing off the season just yet, because Opening Day is still two months away, but I am preparing myself for non-meaningful games in September.

I'll still be out there in Queens rooting for the team, because as I commented over on Amazin' Avenue, I can't root against the team just so that a horrible 2010 brings about significant changes for 2011. For one thing, if the problem really does begin with the owners' philosophy (and I think it does), a new medical staff, a true re-dedication to building the farm system (two things I wished they'd done this offseason) and replacing Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel aren't necessarily going to put a vastly different product on the field in 2011.

Man, this new dedication to blogging has really brought out the pessimist in me when it comes to the Mets. I need to work on that.

Finding the treasures in a pack of cards

Here we are in another year -- and another chance for me to make promises about being a better updater of this blog, of trying harder to use this space as an outlet for my thoughts and ideas on the game. And writing, like other pursuits, is one which is best kept fresh and in top form with regular practice and challenges. Yet, I've let it slide much too often.

Finally, I've realized that because my job involves baseball around the clock (and writing about it in short form, like headlines and paragraphs), one of the last things I want to do in my free computer and blog time is to write more about it. So no promises this time, other than I'll try. I've found a way to keep my photo blog fresh and interesting (to me, which is all I really care about), so perhaps something will strike me for this one, too.

Today, though, I picked up a box of Bowman Prospects. It must be noted that a "box" today is nothing like it was in the late 80s when I was collecting. Then, a box contained 36 wax packs and cost about $16. Packs held 15 cards, giving you 540 cards in one box. The Bowman "box" I bought today at Target held seven packs of seven cards, for a mere 49 -- and cost $20.

The purchase was for one main purpose -- I hoped to obtain a card of Jeff Samardzija. After opening about three packs containing various prospects whose names, if not faces, were familiar, I got a Samardzija in the mother lode of packs (for me, at least). Behind Samardzija's square-jawed glare was Mets prospect Fernando Martinez, and behind him sat former New Jersey prep standout Rick Porcello.

But then the next pack held the top card in the box. There was a chance that, in the seven packs I'd bought, I'd find a "relic" card (one with a piece of jersey worn by the player depicted) or an authentic autographed card.

I got the second one, my first authentic autographed card of any kind obtained this way (in a pack of cards rather than at a ballpark). And as a bonus, it meant just a little bit more that it was of the Mets' Daniel Murphy.

I don't actively collect cards anymore, but I do enjoy buying a few packs (or a "box" or two) each year. I'm sure I will again when the 2009s come out in February. And it's finds like those today that make it worthwhile and bring back a little bit of the joy and excitement I felt in opening those wax packs and peeling the cardboard gum off the cardboard of a Mark McGwire or Will Clark on a 1989 Topps card.