Denial

Hearing here, there, everywhere that the Mets over/under for wins is 70 this season. Ooof.

Meanwhile, Nero, errrr, Fred Wilpon is apparently fiddling while Rome burns. So to speak. He's becoming the biggest joke in baseball.

And a note to the Wilpon clan...while you dismantle the team and but spare parts to play MLB, you should cool the whole "let's take a helicopter down to Miami to see the basketball game" stuff. Pisses off the paying suckers. Like me.

The Push

Have I mentioned my 6-8 grade boys in-town team in awhile? Didn't think so.

Going into today we were 0-11. Lost a couple of heart-breakers. Mostly lost. Played final game of regular season today. Down by 10 points at half. Lots of really bad shots and turnovers were part of problem. Then we emerged from our season-long slumber to outscore our opponent and win by 2. So we end up 1-11. The boys looked like they won the WC.

Maybe we are ready to make a push?

Mild

That's the word you would use to describe winter-time 'round these parts. Mild. Barely any snow after an apocalyptic storm in October. Temps in the 50's, even hitting 60 or so in late February. It's been pretty sweet.

It has also undoubtedly saved many municipalities major dough as well with no snow removal and OT required.

The only downer has been the news of gas prices. This AM I heard one of the cheerful people on TV tell me that a gallon of the unleaded will cost around $5 by Memorial Day. Awesome. I guess the oil companies posting record profits in the BILLIONS (with a B) doesn't equate to some type of fix.

I may have to bike to work this summer!. Not a bad idea a couple of days a week.

Pitchers and Catchers

Have all reported...now we get down to business.

In youth baseball news, my 13U team is prepping for first season on big field. For some it will be easy, others will struggle. Trying to get them out as much as possible early on so when April 1 (Opening Day) comes we are somewhat prepared. The 11U team will play 50/70 this year. First time we've ever done that. That is a talented group, so we'll see how they fare.

As for as the SoSS (Sons of SoulSlam) - they've been working. Hit some semi-local cages the other day and OSSS was raking right-handed in the 75-83mph cage, and hitting pretty well left-handed in the 60mph cage. I may actually let him hit from the other side this season if the game is out of hand either way. YSSS is now in the 45-50mph cages and doing well. Great hand-eye coordination on him, need to adjust some mechanics and then it's all hit, all the time.

Y'Know

Lots of whacked out people making whacked out comments to whacked out issues.

New thinking y'all.

Giant Step in Manhood

Just finished showing/helping OSSS how to shave this morning. 13YO and his mustache was coming in pretty good.

Mrs. SoulSlam had tears in her eyes.

The Kid

Late yesterday afternoon came word that HOF Catcher, Gary Carter, aka The Kid passed away after a bout with brain cancer. For Mets fans, especially those who were around in the 80's, he was a special player who really went about everything the right way, on the field and off. He was the spark in game 6 of the '86 series.

To quote:
"I was our last hope," he wrote, "and as I took my place and looked out at Schiraldi, all sounds shrank back, and I felt a presence in me, or perhaps besides me, a calming certainty that I wasn't alone. I was not alone, and I was not, so help me, going to make the last out of the World Series. I felt certain of that."
Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/tom_verducci/02/16/gary.carter.obit/index.html#ixzz1mf9Yu3FO

I'll never forget it. RIP.