I haven't been posting much lately as you can tell...wedding plans will do that to ya. But TONIGHT I am hosting a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society from 7-10 p.m. at Lansdowne Road, located at 599 10th Avenue in NYC.

The event will coincide with the Mets vs. Braves game and admission is free.

There will be drink specials, and a raffle at 9 p.m.with the following items: 

MeiGray - American Flag which flew at Shea Stadium
SNY - Prize Package Shirt, Cap, Mets Tickets - $500
Random House - Signed Copy of Ron Darling’s “The Complete Game”
Random House - Baseball by Ken Burns DVD Set & Book $140
Gary, Keith & Ron’s charity, Pitch In For A Good Cause - T-Shirts
Louisville Slugger - Prize Package:
125 Years of Baseball book, and Personalized
Louisville Slugger Bat w/Mets Logo
Blue Smoke - $75 Gift Certificate
Premium Bottle of Aged Scotch
Chelsea Piers - Passports - $120/pair (2 pairs)
Signed SI Covers by David Robinson
Top Of The Rock - Complimentary Admission (2 pair) - $87
Brooklyn Brewery - 10 free beers upon visit
Ommegang Brewery - Case of Assorted Premium beers (4 available) - $75 each
NY Shaving Company - Haircut & Shave (12 avail) $65 each
Topps Baseball Card Package:
Complete 2009 Edition w/bonus set (3 available)
Village Pourhouse - Free One Hour Open Bar
Antonio Prieto Salon - Free Haircut & Color $400+
Croton Reservoir Tavern - $100 Gift Certificate
Off The Wagon - Gift Certificates
Crunch Fitness - 6 Month Membership - $700+
Trapeze School of NY Lessons (1 pair) - $100
Jack Daniels Shirts to be launched at raffle onset

No donation required, but any amount is appreciated.

I will be selling tickets for the raffle at the event. One for $5, five for $20

For more on my ongoing campaign click here.

I am participating in the ESPN Spelling Bee at ESPN Zone in Times Square tonight at 7 p.m. so come root me on!

I will be asked to spell the names of sports figures (coaches, players, broadcasters, etc), alive or deceased. They may ask me to spell either the first name or last name. I fully expect to get bumped in the first round but who knows, it's luck of the draw if I remember my 3rd grade spelling bee correctly.

Want to battle against me? If so, email your name, address, phone number and birth year to this address: SportsSpellingBee@espnzone.com.

Walk-up entries will be accepted if space is available. Registration begins at 6:30 p.m.

We went to the Binghamton Mets game on Saturday night, then drove all the way back to Queens afterwards. Thank God for Starbucks Doubleshot or I would have crashed into the median on several occasions.

Anyways, here are a few observations:


Check out all my pics here, and the best shots are in my Flickr slideshow in the right sidebar.

Watch out ESPN, SNY's new commercials are giving you competition. I think they're great and you can watch them all here.

 A sample:

The Mets have won 8 of their last 10 games and are in first place, but you would think the sky is falling.

When they win, articles I read are positive, and people I talk to are pleased, but they have this raised-eyebrow kind of look. Almost as if they are surprised as they say things such as, "Yeah, I know, crazy right?"

When they lose however, a flood of pent up angst is spewed, as if everyone expected it to happen, even amidst a streak such as this. Scapegoats are appointed, and the person emits a "here we go again" type attitude.

I attribute this to the results of the last two seasons. No matter what Carlos Beltran does, the memory of his frozen bat against Adam Wainwright unfairly won't be forgotten. No matter how good Johan Santana pitches, he is overshadowed by the dark cloud surrounding Oliver Perez's currently squandered contract and uncertain future.

It is almost as if the media, and we as fans, are just waiting for Collapse 3.0 to happen. And this time when it does, we will be ready.  Our coping mechanisms have setup the expectation of failure so that we don't get as upset this time around. We always blame the team for being mentally weak, lacking confidence, and belief in themselves. But I think it is us who suffer from those same insecurities.

Every game has become like a mini-series. Are we overreacting, or is that just baseball?

Here's the bottom line. Only a championship will satisfy us because personally I am tired of reminiscing over one from 23 years ago. We have seen the team coast in first place all year, just to miss the playoffs. We have chanted MVP to Wright and Beltran, and booed them during slumps. Nothing will be good enough for us until they win it all.

Wins keep us quiet, losses frustrate us, and we try to have faith. I know the media needs something to talk and write about, so it is easy to pick on what is not working, plus it generates more discussion. I must try to not get sucked into that vortex of negativity. It is a long season and I am an optimistic fan, but even I can admit that patience is thin. 

Baseball is funny. You have to let each day go, good or bad, or it will affect you the next day.  Maybe, in order to get through the season, I need to do the same.

With all the different lineups the Mets had used this season, I wanted to see how they compared to the rest of the National League.

Mets -19 different lineups, record is 18-14

Most common is:
1. Jose Reyes
2. Daniel Murphy
3. David Wright
4. Carlos Delgado
5. Carlos Beltran
6. Ryan Church
7. Brian Schneider
8. Luis Castillo

Phillies - 14 (16-14)
Marlins - 24 (17-16)
Braves - 23 (16-17)
Nationals - 22 (10-21)

Central
Cardinals - 30 (20-13)
Reds - 22 (19-14)
Brewers - 16 (19-14)
Cubs - 26 (18-14)
Astros - 19 (14-18)
Pirates - 25 (13-19)

West
Dodgers - 18 (22-12)
Giants - 25 (18-14)
Rockies - 28 (13-18)
Padres - 27 (13-20)
D-Backs - 34 (13-21)

So what I thought was very many, turns out to be less than the average of 23. Not sure what this really means, but whatever.

At first glance, the number of lineups don't appear to have much of a factor on performance, as the Dodgers are the only team in first place that has the lowest amount of batting orders in their division.

The first place Cardinals in fact (30), are second to only the last place D-Backs (34).

Check out Oliver Perez taking in a Celtics- Magic game.



I'm all about enjoying down time so I won't persecute him, but c'mon Ollie, at least wear the shades so you're not so obvious.