Spring Training vacation Final thoughts

one last thing I forgot to mention about Ft. Lauderdale stadium. It's a dump. I've played at high school fields/stadiums that are nicer than this place. And these facilities are in the northeast, not a southern city where nice weather leads to nice high school stadiums.

it's the 2nd year in a row that I've followed the Mets to a Grapefruit League stadium worthy of being torn down, gotten caught in the rain, and left to catch a flight home (all in the same day).

I already have thoughts on next year. Camp out at Disney for a couple days, with day trips to Clearwater (Phillies), Lakeland (Tigers), Kissimmee (Astros) and Disney (Braves), to get to see a couple good stadiums that I don't get too often, then head down to Port St. Lucie (another new hotel opening soon), Ft. Pierce, Vero Beach, or Palm City (2 new hotels right off I-95) for a week.

Man I miss Dodgertown. For those of you who do miss Dodgertown, maybe seeing these photos will help you knowing that at least one piece lives on. For those unfamiliar with Dodgertown, this guy is a beer vendor (cold water at times today as well) who wears that big hat, and blows a whistle to get people's attention. I've been told (back at Dodgertown) that he would drive up from Ft. Lauderdale 2 hours to work Dodgers games and also worked at Ft. Lauderdale stadium on other days, as well as Marlins at Dolphins Stadium. All the vendors for the Orioles wear an Adam Jones jersey-t-shirt.

Game 4 recap

Not much to say from today on the live blog because there wasn't much room to move around.

Game 4 - Mets vs. Orioles @ Ft. Lauderdale
I get to the park, go down for BP, and I will use the word with pun intended that I had to sweat it out to get Jerry Manuel's autograph. Very hot and muggy in Ft. Lauderdale earlier today. Jerry was the only one willing to sign on the dugout side of the Mets sideline. A few signed down on the bullpen side.

At Ft. Lauderdale stadium, the seating sections are different admissions (different entrances and you can't go between them) to be along the bullpen in LF and to be along the dugout at 3B. I was int he main seating area which has access to be behind the dugouts.

Anyway, Jerry did sign after BP, but he took a chair just outside the dugout and sat down to sign. He did sign for a while, but it was a long wait before this even happened. And where he sat, it was a restricted area, so he alternated between individuals being allowed in to hand him something, and a lady sitting in that area being courier. I was one of the last to get one through her, after a long wait, and she really got tired of it quickly. I did give her one of my waters for all her troubles. She deserved it.

I saw the (weather) radar before I left Port St. Lucie at 9am, and knew there was rain coming. I couldn't judge how quickly it would come, or how long it would take, but it was coming. Down the coast. I figured rain in St. Lucie by 10am, so I decided not to see the players left behind working out (expecting there to be nothing to see outdoors).

The rain got to Ft. Lauderdale just before 1st pitch. For some reason, they started playing. Alternating between heavy rain and just steady rain for about an hour. Play was stopped with Pelfrey facing 2 batters in the bottom of the 1st. I wish I had good video of what I'm about to mention - maybe photos later (though it doesn't quite convey the blooper in what I will describe). The grounds crew had quite a bit of trouble getting the tarp on the field. Maybe 10 minutes, with the tarp getting stuck covering only a little bit of the infield. They had to get extra bodies, and drag it back to the LF wall to fix it, before getting it covered. Lots of puddles on the infield and warning track. I really expected the game to be called after that. Pelfrey was actually pulled before the game was delayed, with no new pitcher coming in before the delay. The Orioles radio team actually left the stadium during the delay expecting play not to resume. I stayed and watched. And at about 2pm, the skies cleared, the grounds crew got out there (still with some trouble closing the tarp in LF, rolling it up, and getting the rolled tarp back along the fence). They got the field dried (it's Florida, with the humidity, it probably helped matters), and got play resumed at about 2:45, after about a 90 minute delay.

From there, the Mets were down 3-1 in the middle of the 6th inning when I had to leave to catch my flight home (to which, i probably arrived 20 minutes before scheduled boarding time, and the flight is delayed 2 1/2 hours).

Opening day is a week away.

Rain Delay

Bot 1st

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Game 3 recap

Game 3 - Marlins vs. Mets @ Port St. Lucie
Let's start by saying that it was a beautiful day for baseball. This is what I look for when I come to Florida (and it doesn't usually matter what teams I watch or what stadium I'm in when the weather is like this).

At last night's game, there was a bit of a buzz (helped by ushers) about getting autographs during the morning pre-game workout on the back fields of the Tradition Field complex. "Come at 9:30" is what I heard at least a few times. There were quite a few people there that early. This is the type of drawing power that the Mets have in Spring Training. But they didn't open the practice fields. They were telling us a little after 9am when you come in to the parking lot that they won't open up. It makes sense - it's a day game after a night game, so they won't be working out as early as they normally do. But I got there at about 9:20am hoping to be able to go to the back. No such luck.

So it's hanging out by Gate A and the media entrance. Gary Cohen came back and forth a few times, stopping (or getting stopped) to sign a few of those times. I think that makes 3 for me overall. He's a nice guy.

Around 10:30am the crowd waiting on line to get really swells up (basically, a sellout today). And around 11am there was a bit of a buzz when Ralph Kiner arrived in his parking space, and security set up a line for autographs for him. That was worth leaving the front of the line to wait for about 30 minutes to get his autograph. I wish I could remember what I said to him or what he said back.

My assessment of Ralph is that he's old. Sorry to say. He talked and wrote very slow. The actual signature is very readable and a very good one. And he still sounds good on air.

Inside the stadium, there was the expectation of getting somewhere between very little to nothing. That's about right. That's why I didn't mind staying outside for Ralph Kiner. During the Marlins BP, their star player Hanley Ramirez spotted a Marlins fan over by the Mets bullpen, and come over to sign a few. He came back a few minutes later to work the line, basically all the way down from the bullpen home plate over to the Mets dugout. Weird to see the visitor player come to the home team fans for a warm reception. So I got his autograph.

For the game, Dillon Gee went 3.1 innings before running out of gas in the 4th. some good relief, some was better than others, and a 4-run 3rd inning gave the Mets the win.

One more game tomorrow in Ft. Lauderdale. Maybe a stop at Mets practice before I head down there.

Game 2 in the books

Picking up the recap of Day 1 from last night...

Game 2 - Nationals vs. Mets @ Port St. Lucie
It was on to Port St. Lucie for game 2. Arriving at the ballpark (after a brisk 15 minute walk from the hotel) at 3:30pm for a 7:10pm game. Over to the team store to see what t-shirts they had in stock. i needed something to wear for Saturday and Sunday.

We don't get into the back fields until 4pm. Different from prior seasons, the team is warming up on the practice field who's centerfield is adjacent to the centerfield from the big stadium (they had always used the one adjacent to the clubhouse and parking lot). fans were allowed to go deeper inside the complex to see the team. after gym class (streching), they broke up into groups for different drills. I looked like fans were allowed to stay inside until 5pm, instead of 4:30pm which I had remembered. But they're working, so nobody signed (I have gotten one autograph out there during this point from Korean import Jae Seo in 2004, and teammates got on him for it afterwards).

Into the stadium, where several thousand fans got to watch the Nationals take BP, and mostly ignore the fans (to be fair, it was all our fans on the Mets side of the field), and then just sit and wait with music playing. Waiting until the point in the night when the Mets make an appearance to ignore the fans. It's getting kind of crazy who we usually don't even get acknowledged. sometimes they say they have to work (which is usually true).

I've gotten an autograph at every Spring game I've been to except for Legends Field (where it's strictly forbidden) and a few rainouts. I always knew that streak, if/when it ends, would end at Tradition Field. so i have to sweat out another long night trying to find an opening during the game for an autograph.

it's on to dinner time, picture time, and in the background, first pitch. Our ace, Johan, going in the game. For time's sake, it's a quick game. I got my "nighttime" photos, my real italian ices (best cold treat in the Grapefruit league), and got to watch a very fast ballgame. it moved on the pace of about 4 innings per hour, with Johan going 7 of them.

I know my only shot at an autograph is in the bullpen, late in the game, so it's now a matter of getting around the ushers to find a seat down there. Good ol' Nelson Figueroa was down there, and promised me an autograph after the 3rd out (i asked during a pitching change. i know they can't do it during actual play). but, at the inning change, he had to go to work warming up the right fielder and blocking for the guys throwing in the bullpen. no luck. After the game, a rare signing in the bullpen, Darren O'Day. He stayed for at least a few minutes and signed, so i could finally go home without having to stalk the player's parking lot.

Mets win 4-1, Johan goes 7, K-Rod made it interesting in the 8th (oy), and Feliciano in the 9th. I can't wait to catch the archived broadcast to hear Keith and Ron solo (although Kevin Burkhardt was in the ballpark).

End of one long day at the ballparks.

One long day in the books

A very long day. Let's recap.

Game 1 - Orioles vs. Marlins @ Jupiter
Small crowd, mostly O's fans and Cards fans with nothing to do for the day (Cardinals, who share Roger Dean Stadium with the Marlins were on the other coast in Ft. Myers losing to the Red Sox).

A few changes at Roger Dean Stadium since I was last there. Gates now open 90 minutes before the game (11:30am for a 1:05 game) instead of 2 hours pre-game. So there's no chance to see the home team take BP. They also changed the concessionaire, so the food is different. I was looking forward to one of my favorites - a cherry snow cone. That wasn't there. The hot dogs weren't that good (it actually had a beer-like taste to it).

Those things aside, it was a slow moving game. I left at 2:30pm after only 3 1/2 innings. O's weren't great about autographs, and I didn't look much to the other side of the field where the Marlins were. I did get Jeff Conine (I think it was him. he's not on any roster, but the signature looks like his name) after doing an interview for a sports talk station in the concourse after Marlins BP. And I got an O's prospect Matt Wieters who signed for a good long time in their dugout after their BP.

The entire time that I was there, my thought process revolved around getting around the stadium to take pictures and what time to leave the game to head to Tradition Field.

The longer half of the day will come after sleep.

I loved Dodgertown, but I love Port St. Lucie

I'm here in Port St. Lucie (sorry if that gets annoying, but it's a personal victory for me to even be able to be in Florida this Spring Training), and I was walking around outside in the area off NW Peacock Blvd. thinking about how the area has changed since I last spent a night in Port St. Lucie in 2004. It's been a long long time. Every year, as I've driven into Tradition Field, I've marveled at how much more the area has grown. A new shopping center, new hotels (one of them coming soon), entertainment. This whole area was nothing in 2004, aside from the Friendly's (where I had desert tonight), the Hampton Inn, and the corner gas stations, this block was basically empty. (I was later reminded by some regulars here that the Spring Hill Suites where I'm staying was here back then, and actually assumed this name in 2001)

But I realized how much different the trip is when you're staying in a hotel filled with your kind - METS FANS. It's just so much better when you're staying within walking distance of the ballpark that is your "home" park, and there's lots of others here with me.

Dodgertown was a very special place. Very unique. The best place there ever was in Spring Training. And Vero Beach was good to me for 3 years. I loved staying there.

But I love being in Port St. Lucie.

One other note - back home (in NJ, but the same would be true in NY and CT), you have a mix of Mets fans and Yankees fans. Hats, jerseys, etc., for both teams. Here, it's only Mets. You really don't see any Yankees stuff anywhere (even the local Walgreens had a few Mets-themed items, but nothing for the Yankees). That's kind of nice.

Spring Training live blogging

If you follow the RSS feed or have visited the site itself in the last day, you've seen a couple of posts that came from my cell phone. as primitive as the phone itself may be, it will allow me to post a few items while at the ballparks over the next 3 days. i've always wanted to try to do this. i'll try to put in a recap from the games when i get back to the hotel each night, but it may give you a sense of what goes on from a fan's perspective trying to get autographs, pictures, and baseballs at a spring game. the mini-posts will also help me remember what i did during the day - something i've had trouble with the past few years.

I will also post (some? all?) pictures from each game each night.

someone playing in Jupiter - Friday 1pm, gates open at 11am

Mets in Port St. Luice - Friday 7pm, gates open 5pm, I hope to be there at 3:30pm

Mets in Port St. Lucie - Saturday 1pm, gates open 11am, I hope to be there at 9:30am

Mets in Ft. Lauderdale - Sunday 1pm, gates open 11am

all that said, i experienced one of my favorite non-private moments in life today. it's that moment when i've been "on the road" for several hours en route from my apartment in NJ to my rental car in Ft. Lauderdale where I get handed the keys to the car, and the vacation is now in my hands. i think it feels even better when it's a vacation that gets repeated every year (either through Orlando or Ft. Lauderdale).

enjoy Keith and Ron without adult supervision tomorrow night on SNY. i'll look forward to the archive on MLB.TV later in the weekend.

Half blog hlf Twiter

I have arrived in beautiful Port St. Lucie, FL

(the title of the post should have been "Half blog, Half Twitter", but my cell phone would only allow 20 characters in the title)

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Live Blogging

If you can read this, it means I can blog from Florida

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Spring Training is here

Back when I was a bit younger (we'll call it the late '80s and early-mid '90s, a time when I wasn't quite a teenager), I remember running home from school on the day that Spring Training games finally began, or at least the day of the first broadcast on WFAN (for some reason, I had no, or chose not to use, a walkman). I would look forward to hearing the voices that I knew meant baseball for the first time after the long offseason.

On the eve of the fist Spring Training game, I bring you two treats.

First up is a 1 minute audio clip from the Mets first broadcast on WFAN from Spring Training 1998. I won't say any more, other than the voice is forver the voice of the Mets...


Second is about 6 1/2 minutes in length, coming from another 1998 Spring Training game. This one is most of half of an inning from a road game against St. Louis in Jupiter's inagural season. The play-by-play voice again belongs to Bob Murphy with Gary Cohen along side.


I invite any readers to submit or link to their own Spring Training audio and video from the 1980s and 1990s.

Update: These audio clips use HTML5.

live televised baseball

Spring Training games are just a few days away. With that, there is plenty of baseball to watch (and for that matter, especially if you're at work during the week, listen to). I posted the full Mets schedule a few days ago with an update today, but I want to point out other items on the Spring Training watching agenda.

If you subscribe to MLB.TV, you probably have a few choices every day, from both the Cactus League and Grapefruit League. The MLB Media Center has the daily schedule with watch/listen links. I've had it the past 2 seasons. It's pretty cool what they can do and what's new for 2009. They also have separate package deals with both ESPN.com and NHL.com.

Even without the online broadcasts, there is plenty of baseball to find in the NY/NJ area between SNY/WPIX, YES, WGN, ESPN, and MLB Network.

• ESPN has 1 game (somewhere I read that their excuse was their broadcasts of the World Baseball Classic) - Houston vs. Atlanta at ESPN's (formerly Disney's) Wide World of Sports, during "ESPN The Weekend" at the Disney complex (what a shocker!).


• MLB Network's schedule is here. 61 games, 45 of them live. Several Mets games on the slate, including 1 game not otherwise televised locally in NY.


• The World Baseball Classic is in action throughout March, and there are exhibition games against MLB teams too


• WGN has both the Cubs (6 games) and White Sox (1 game).


• The hated Yankees will be on TV a lot (hey, baseball's baseball) with 11 Grapefruit League games, including one game against Team USA on March 3.


• And if you're looking for the vocal tones of Vin Scully, the Dodgers Spring schedule from their new digs in Arizona is here. I would assume he would be on KCAL and PRIME in those listings.

Mets Spring Training to be featured on MLB Network

Thanks to metsblog.com for reminding me of this.

MLB Network will be covering the Mets as part of their 30 games in 30 days Spring Training/season previews. The show on the Mets will air on February 24 (Tuesday) at 11pm. The crew will be in Port St. Lucie on Monday. Here is the full schedule and some of what they have to offer. The series starts tonight with the Boston Red Sox.

Mets Spring TV/Radio Schedule

Based on data entered into MLB.com for the 16 Grapefruit League teams, this is the Mets TV/Radio schedule for Spring Training. As a matter of completeness, all games, including exhibition games, are listed. I list broadcasts from other teams as well as reference because they will be available to MLB.TV subscribers. Radio stations that are not WFAN or WADO belong to the other team.
Updated 2/24

Date	Opponent	Time	TV	Radio
2/25	@ Baltimore	1:05pm		WJZ
2/26	vs. Florida	1:10pm	SNY	WFAN
2/27	vs. St. Louis	1:10pm	SNY, MLB Network	WFAN
2/28	@ Detroit	1:05pm		WXYT
3/1	vs. Houston	1:10pm	WPIX (live), MLB Network (TD 9pm)	KTRH
3/3	vs. St. Louis	1:10pm	SNY	KTRS
3/4	@ Washington	1:05pm
3/5	vs. Team Italy (WBC)	2:05pm
3/6	@ St. Louis	1:05pm
3/7	vs. Washington	1:10pm	WPIX
3/8	vs. Univ. of Michigan	12:10pm
3/8	@ Washington	1:05pm		WFAN
3/9	vs. Baltimore	1:10pm	SNY, MLB Network
3/10	@ Washington	1:05pm		WFED
3/12	vs. Florida	7:10pm	SNY
3/13	@ Detroit	1:05pm
3/14	vs. Washington	1:10pm		WFAN, WFED
3/15	@ Florida	1:05pm		WFAN, WAXY, WQAI (Sp.)
3/17	@ Atlanta	1:05pm
3/18	vs. Atlanta	1:10pm	SNY, MLB Network
3/19	vs. Houston	1:10pm	SNY	KBME
3/20	@ Baltimore	1:05pm		WJZ
3/21	@ Atlanta	1:05pm		WFAN, WGST
3/22	vs. Atlanta	1:10pm	SNY	WGST, WADO (Sp.)
3/24	@ Houston	1:05pm	Fox Sports Houston, MLB Network	KBME
3/25	vs. Detroit	1:10pm	SNY, MLB Network
3/26	@ St. Louis	1:05pm		KTRS
3/27	vs. Washington	7:10pm	SNY
3/28	vs. Florida	1:10pm	WPIX	WFAN, WAXY, WAQI (Sp.)
3/29	@ Baltimore	1:05pm		WJZ
3/30	vs. Baltimore	7:10pm	SNY
3/31	@ Florida	1:05pm		WFAN
4/1	@ St. Louis	1:05pm
4/2	vs. Baltimore	1:10pm

Spring Training

I found this post in my RSS reader from the sports media columnist in the Hudson Valley, Ken McMillan, with the Mets Spring Training TV/Radio schedule.

12 games on SNY
4 games on WPIX
10 games on WFAN

More on this when I have a chance to look into it deeper. It doesn't count Spring Training games available on MLB.TV broadcast by the other team, MLB.COM, ESPN, or MLB Network.

Update 2/12 - the Mets released their version of the schedule today. At some point, I'll pull a composite schedule with everything available via MLB.TV (both TV and radio feeds).

I'M BOOKED FOR PORT ST. LUCIE

I didn't think it would happen this year, with a new job that started in January, but I managed to get a long weekend to make my annual vacation to Mets Spring Training. 4 games in 3 days, after a travel day (about 1/3 of my normal adventure). And for the first time since my first trip in 2004, I stay in Port St. Lucie itself (Vero Beach was nice and very under rated).