Speaking of amazing, how does Jamie Moyer get major league hitters out with a fastball that doesn’t break 80 mph?

So the weekend series brings on the Nationals. I don’t know weather to be happy about that or too cringe. I’m sure Manny Acta is gonna hve the team fired up upon making the return to Shea, but with their track record thus far, it doesn’t look like it’s going to be pretty.

Mike Pelfrey gets his first start of the season today, being called up from St. Lucie. You have to believe that the cold is going to effect his pitching at least a little bit. The way the Mets score early combined with the Nationals lack of early scorng should get him settled in pretty well after two innings.

Everyone but Delgado seems to be hitting the ball well. David Wright is managing to keep his hitting streak alive every night, but could be doing better in key situations. Moises Alou seems to absolutely crush the ball every time he gets up.

Lastings Milledge has gotten a ******** two plate appearances so far this year. While Shawn Gree’s bat has come around, I still thought Milledge would have at least one start against a lefty at some point. The Mets take on Jamie Moyer tommorow so maybe he’ll get his start then. By Friday he’ll be in New Orleans as Mike Pelfrey is expected to make his first start of the season.

It kinda make me wonder why the Mets decided to bring him to begin with. They hardly used his bat and have gone with David Newhan as a Pinch Hitter and Endy Chavez as the primary defensive replacement. The team probably would have been better served carrying an extra reliever in the bullpen for the time being. I’d rather see a relief pitcher sit then see Milledge not get any at-bats.

Ryan Howard has homered against the Mets in 5 consecutive games. The longest streak since Hank Aaron did it in 1963.

I’m calling for David Wright to unleash the long ball tonight. I think he’s about due to start out the 2007 home run count.

First series of the year and we’re already breaking out the brooms. I like it. Hopefully, we’ll see the brooms quite often this season.

John Maine was superb tonight. So far, our first three starters have looked pretty **** good. Even the relievers have been solid.

I knew Beltran was due for a big night at the plate. Noone has a better home run call then Gary Cohen.

I hate to admit it, but Braden Looper didn’t look too bad as a starter. Larusa definately left him out there for a little too long. But he surprised me.

Another day off? …Ugh! The beginning of this season has been such a tease.   

Reyes had a few mishaps on the basepaths. Regardless of what Joe Morgan says, Reyes should have been on second base on the Tagutchi dropped fly ball. Getting picked off on the ol’ fake-to-third, throw-to-first move, isn’t the Reyes norm either.

Every time I watch an ESPN baseball broadcast, it makes me cringe. Did anyone else notice John Miller say they were at Shea Stadium? How do you even say that? I’ll take Gary, Keith, and Ron over any other broadcast team in the country any day. The commercials they’ve been running on SNY are classic.

Overall, as a Mets fan you have to be happy with tonights game. It’s only the first win in the marathon season, but it sure left me smiling.

I’m glad to see Lo Duca back in the 2-hole. It looks like Willie was just experimenting with Wright in that spot for a little while.

Chan Ho Park looked really good today striking out 5 in 3 innings and giving up no hits. Did it come too late? The Mets sure looked like they were showcasing him for another team by throwing him in as the starting pitcher last minute.

Jorge Julio as the Marlins closer? …yeah, good luck with that.

C- Kenji Johjima
C- AJ Pierzynski
1b- Lyle Overbay
2b- Luis Castillo
3b- Hank Blalock
SS- Julio Lugo
OF- Curtis Granderson
OF- Nelson Cruz
OF- Delmon Young
OF- Nick Markakis
OF- Jason Michaels
U- David Ortiz
U- Andy Marte

SP- Bartolo Colon
SP- Gil Meche
SP- Tomo Ohka
SP- Vincente Padilla
SP- C.C. Sabathia
SP- John Danks
RP- Joe Nathan
RP- Jonathan Papelbon
RP- Pat Neshek

I’m going to have to start Colon on the reserved list and pick someone else up to fill the spot for the time being. Hopefully Sabathia will pull through and Meche will live up to his contract.

This draft was supposed to be a live draft, but only 3 of the 10 owners showed up in the draft room come draft time. It really irks me that people sign up for a live draft but fail to even show up for it. Even if they don’t show up, they still get an auto pick from the best available player. While they may pre-rank their players, it’s still not right that they fail to show up.

I think online sites should change that format. Perhaps they could alternate the auto picks, give them the top pick in one round, and then pick from the bottom of the player pool for the next, and alternate the way through the draft.

While I dislike the autopick, it did allow me to land Jonathan Papelbon in a fairly late round. Now that he’s gone back to the pen he is much more valuable in any fantasy league then he was as a starter, and the auto rank format didn’t show that.

The Mets informed Chan Ho Park that he won’t make the rotation, and want to try him out in the bullpen. Park wasn’t too happy when he heard the news. Two weeks before the season, Park didn’t even have a job. He should be greatful that he’s on a team at all, and a winning one.

I would love for the Mets to find a way to keep Lastings Milledge in New York for good. He’ll probably be there to start the season, at least to mid-april when we need the fifth starter. After that though, it’s really up in the air unless someone gets hurt early in the season. The guy has had a monster spring, shook off his greater than the world ego, and is ready to contribute on a daily basis.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Fantasy sports. I spend most of my winter creating nearly 30 different excel spreadsheets to help guide my fantasy football team, but I can pinpoint the exact time I stop caring about my fantasy baseball team; It’s the first time that one of my teams star player steps foot into Shea Stadium.

A lot of people ask me what my favorite football team is, as I watch quite a bit of it. Usually I just shrug my shoulders. I really don’t know. I want to say the Giants, as they train here in the summer and make me feel at least a small connection, but a side of me says the Jets, you know…69′ was a good year. But I honestly feel no real connection to any team, and thats why I enjoy Fantasy Football. 

When I have Ryan Howard as my fantasy first baseman, how can I possibly enjoy it When he goes 3-3 with Two homers against my Mets? Sure, great for my fake team, but my real team just got beat by a single player.

Over the past couple of years, fantasy sports have taken on a life of their own, to the point that they’re almost as big as the sports themselves. Virtually every sports related website has a league in which you can join for free. Being in a Fantasy league these days is almost like horse racing, sure you love to go to the track, but do you really go to watch the horses?

I think I’m going to try something new this year and play in an AL only league. I feel it’s the only way to keep the Fantasy addiction alive (fantasy Nascar isn’t cutting it for me) and still root for my Mets without feeling a little guilty.

I’m going out on a limb here and calling for an Albany upset of Virginia in about an hour. Of course thats partly because they’re the hometown team, but it may not be going that much out on the limb.

Albany is a year older now and knows what the NCAA tournament is all about. Last season, when seeded 16th, they nearly pulled off the upset of the century by beating Connecticut. Where is connecticut seeded this year anyway?… ohh thats right, they weren’t even good enough to make the NIT) This year with the higher seeding, and playing a Virginia team that is seeded too high themselves, they have a real chance of pulling off the upset.

That being said, how good is the east bracket? I think the National champion is definately coming out of that bracket, weather it be Georgetown or North Carolina, it’s a tough call.

I’m not suprised at all by Duke getting upset in the first round last night. If Josh McRoberts decides to stick around, which I’m sure he will, then he needs to spend this offseason working on his post game like he should be. I don’t know who put it in his head that he should bring the ball up the court, and play more like a guard, but it needs to end in order for that team to be successful.

  As for the JV tournament, the NIT, I’m really pulling for Marist. They take on NC State tonight in a game that I won’t get to watch. Jared Jordan is the best point Guard in the country, hands down. He always thinks pass first and only takes the shot when he knows he has a can’t miss opportunity. I think a lot of point guards lose sight of the fact that they’re there to run the offense and create opportunities for the rest of the team to score, but thats something that Jordan does better than anyone else.