A Very Special Murphtracker 2012 Update

Will Kevin Burkhardt Ever Learn?

Once again Kevin, if you are going to tweet stuff like this:

@jrauch60 just gave me a great back crack, and was nice enough not to break me in half.
— Kevin Burkhardt (@KBurkhardtSNY) June 26, 2012

I have no choice but to post this:

Lil' Murph's Diary: With Great Mustache Comes Great Responsibility

Dear Diary,

Well I have to admit it. Your friend Daniel Murphy is in, what they call in baseball slang, A HITTING SLUMP.

It's no fun to admit it, but my batting average, which is used to being well over .300, is now around .270. I still have no home runs and just feel lousy as can be at the plate.

When I'm going normal the baseball looks like a nice big grapefruit and my bat feels like a wide paddle that has no problem smacking it squarely.  Nowadays that ball looks like a tiny grape coming at me at 90 mph and it's like I'm trying to strike it with a #2 pencil.

StacheTracker...err I Mean MurphTracker 2012 Update

Murph continues to endure his worst slump of the season. Will a trip to Chicago and a Super Troopers mustache help turns things around? Only time will tell. Until then, can someone please get the man a liter of cola.

Dickey vs. Sabathia...FIGHT!

Follow me on Twitter @readtheapple.

Mets Take Game One Of Poultry Series 6-4

Follow me on Twitter @readtheapple.

Mets Fans 1, Horrible Promotional T-Shirts 0

It appears good taste has won out and Mets fans unanimously rejected Verizon's "Mets" giveaway.  

Thanks to @the7line for the pic...

5 T-Shirts I Would Wear Before Wearing Tonight's Horrible Verizon/Mets Giveaway Shirt

It's t-shirt night at Citi Field and as such, fans attending tonight's Mets game will receive this nightmare from Verizon FiOS.

Wow! It's almost as if the folks at Verizon had a bet to see how small they could make the Mets logo on this "t-shirt". Whoever designed this is probably the kind of person who only wears the minimum amount of flair for their day shift at Chotchkies.  

Seeing this disaster got me thinking: What t-shirts would I rather wear than this one?  I came up with these five.

Enjoy...

AccuDickey Forecast: Rough Weather On The Horizon For Yankee Hitters

R.A. Dickey To Star In Upcoming Star Wars Broadway Musical

ESPN Magazine Announces An Upcoming "All Dickey" Body Issue

MTA Says R.A. Dickey Can Continue To Ride Subway Pantless

The Secret To Dickey's Success: Starbucks Espresso And Lots Of It

A Behind The Scenes Look At The Mets "Facilities"

On Friday night, the Mets Media Relations department was nice enough to allow several bloggers access to various behind the scenes areas of Citi Field. While many bloggers chose to visit the field and the press box, I decided instead to get an answer to a question that was eating at me as a Mets fan.  I got my answer...

...I knew there was no way the Mets twin towers could pee in a standard urinal. What? This is what I think about.  Don't give me that look, you were thinking it too!

Mets To Sell Fans Reprints Of Their "No-Hitter" Appeal To Major League Baseball

On Wednesday night, the Mets filed an appeal to Major League Baseball to have a 1st inning error harged to David Wright and thus crediting R.A. Dickey with a no-hitter. While the Mets knew the odds of the MLB actually overturning the scoring decision were against them, they hope to reap other benefits by cashing in on the memorabilia opportunities presented by Dickey's near no-no.

Much like they did with "NoHan Mania" the team is banking on fans willingness to pay top dollar for a replicated piece of history. On Thursday night, the Mets released the following press release:

Score deals on Mets vs Reds tickets from The Apple & TiqIQ!

With the upcoming series against the NL Central leading Reds, the Mets look to continue their surprising season and make their own noise in the NL East race.

The Apple' & TiqIQ have taken the hassle out of scouring the web for tickets by aggregating multiple ticket sellers into one format. Whether you want to score seats directly behind home plate, or just get in the door for the least amount possible, TiqIQ has you covered! To see all deals, click here: http://tiqiq.us/CQE

Las Vegas Sportsbook Takes Enormous Hit During Dickey 1-Hitter

Wednesday night saw baseball history made and almost made.  Matt Cain pitched a perfect game for his SF Giants while R.A. Dickey came really close to pitching a no-hitter (ho hum, another one) for the NY Mets.

But the sports book at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas saw little money change hands on those accomplishments.  Instead it was an exotic combo bet that nearly sank them.

Greetings From Metsteros

If you're like me you are already going through Game of Thrones withdrawal. I tried turning to baseball to get me through it but it all ended up running together and this was born. Enjoy!

Enlarge

Unfortunately It Appears Daniel Murphy's Subway Series 6-Game Sweep Prediction Is Coming True...

Are Mets On The Verge Of A Huge Mistake With Reprinted Tickets?

Well now they've gone and done it. The Mets front office has gone and made me leave my parody perch and write something real. I don't like doing that but here we go. As many of you have heard by now the Mets are planning to cash in on the first no-hitter in franchise history by selling reprinted tickets from the historic night.

I'm going to try to stick to the facts here so lets start with the press release the Mets sent out. Feel free to look over the entire thing but the line that most has fans on edge is this one:

The Mets will reprint all 41,922 seats at Citi Field. There is a limit of four seats per order. Fans can select a seating category and receive the best available seat in that location.

Upon reading this, my first thought was. Wait, the Mets are going to sell somebody tickets with my seat number on them to some random person who wasn't even there?  So I went on twitter and reached out to Mets VP of Ticket Sales Leigh Castergine.  Here's what she said:

MLB Releases Trailer For Upcoming Dickey-Wang Matchup

It's Cool That Bill Maher Is Now Part Owner Of The Mets, But Did He Really Need To Run Out On The Field After The No-Hitter?

Mets Admit Johan Graphic Was Premeditated, Reveal Graphics For Future No Hitters

Of all of the secondary stories surrounding Johan Santana's historic no-hitter, the quick work of the Citi Field graphics department has captured the imaginations of many in the Mets online community. Did they have that No-Han graphic prepared before the game?  Did they make it during the game?  If so, when did they start working on it? Admittedly, I was just as curious as everyone else so I contacted the Mets graphics department and they spilled the beans.

Lil' Murph's Diary: No-Han Edition

Dear Diary,

By now I imagine you've heard that our ace Johan Santana (I just call him "Johan" - we're just that close) pitched a No Hit game for us Metsies last Friday night.  It was the first time that a Mets pitcher ever did that.  They tell me that Tom Seaver came awfully close a few times a couple of generations ago but no one's done it in modern times until now with Johan.

"Watching History From The Worst Seats In The House" Or "The Night Johan Santana Blessed Mets Fans With A No-Hitter"

I can't sleep so I might as well write. Where do I begin? Tonight was special. Tonight was historic. Tonight was glorious. It was "spectorious" if you will.  Johan Santana put the franchise on his shoulders and delivered Mets fans the no-hitter they have been waiting for, some might even say obsessing over, for over 50 years.