Barajas "Injury" Caused By Excessive World Cup Celebration

Rod Barajas has sat out the last two Mets games and the story keeps changing.  First it was his difficulty catching R.A. Dickey and then yesterday the Mets announced that Barajas had a sore back.  Just a regular symptom of the wear and tear a catcher faces throughout a grueling 162 game season?  We didn't believe that either so The Apple did some digging and have gotten to the bottom of the story.

After checking around, The Apple has uncovered this photo of Barajas taken on Tuesday afternoon after Mexico had officially qualified for the World Cup round of 16.  Because the team had already banned the World Cup from the clubhouse, Barajas was out watching the game with some friends and Mexican soccer fanatic Jay Horowitz.  Apparently at some point during Barajas celebration he tweaked his back, taking him out of the lineup and leaving the Mets short one catcher.

Horowitz originally denied the story but when confronted with photographic evidence, he agreed to tell his side of the story to The Apple.  "It was after the game and we were all feeling pretty good.  Mexico had lost but South Africa's victory over France put the Mexican squad through anyway.", said Horowitz.  "We were getting pretty rowdy and then Rod attempted one of those soccer celebration slides like Landon Donovan did vs. Algeria, but landed awkwardly on his keys and wrenched his back.  It didn't seem like anything at the time but by the time we got to the ballpark it was starting to stiffen up."

Barajas is not expected to miss much time with the injury and the Mets have said he will face no disciplinary action because the incident took place under the supervision of Horowitz.  One thing is for sure though, between clubhouse shenanigans and vuvuzelas, the Mets will be glad when the World Cup is over.

All articles featured on The Apple are fictitious. No Mets were harmed in the writing of this story.

Mets Announce Vuvuzela Night At Citi Field

Despite their recent banning of the World Cup from the clubhouse, the Mets are apparently not necessarily ready to write off the event as a whole.  Today on their website the Mets announced vuvuzela night for Friday, June 25th against the Twins.  The move reaffirms the Mets commitment to chase any trend no matter how ill-advised.

The vuvuzela is a cheap plastic horn that has been thrust into the spotlight because of it's use at the World Cup in South Africa.  The sound is similar to a kazoo and when you multiply it by 40,000 or so the resulting sound is akin to a huge swarm of insects surrounding the stadium.

While many fans complain the noise is unbearable, the Mets front office does not seem worried.  The team believes that the promotion will allow them to tap into the international soccer-loving market and boost slumping attendance figures.  Team VP Dave Howard explains, "Times are hard right now.  If giving out these 'valenzuelas' puts people in the seats, I'll deal with a little noise."

Vuvuzela night will be sponsored by Pepsi.  Vuvuzelas will be handed out to the first 25,000 fans entering Citi Field.  Tickets are available at mets.com or by calling 718-507-TIXX.

All articles featured on The Apple are fictitious. No Mets were harmed in the writing of this story.

Mets Ban World Cup From Clubhouse After Brawl

Earlier this month Adam Rubin reported on espnnewyork.com that the Mets have a World Cup pool going on in which every player adopts a nation in the World Cup with the winner receiving an undisclosed prize.  The Apple suspects that prize is not an Oliver Perez bobblehead.

Well apparently, the friendly spirit of competition seems to have gotten the better of some of the Mets players prompting the team to ban all further World Cup games from the clubhouse.  Additionally, the Mets have banned all discussion of the games for the duration of the cup.

It seems on Sunday, Jeff Francoeur and Rod Barajas were involved in a minor brawl after yesterdays game in Baltimore.  The source of the arguement? You guessed it.  The Slovenia/Algeria contest.  Francoeur who has adopted Slovenia reportedly got a little too cocky with Barajas, who is represented by Algeria.  Some pushing and shoving ensued and eventually escalated into punches being thrown.  No one was seriously injured and the two reportedly settled their dispute amicably but judging by their comments, The Apple suspects there may be some lingering hard feelings.

"The guy is a sore loser.", says Frenchy.  "Robert Koren took them to school plain and simple.  Rod just can't handle that."

Barajas sees it differently.  "He's trashing Chaouchi, but it wasn't his fault.  It was a defensive breakdown by Belhadj that really led to the goal.  Frenchy doesn't know anything about soccer."

Officially, the Mets brass has asked the players to cancel the bet but the word around the clubhouse is that the wager will continue quietly.  Francoeur however is not being quiet about anything.  Standing by his locker, waving a miniature Slovenian flag and sporting a black eye, Frenchy could be heard shouting, "Slovenia baby! All the way!"

All articles featured on The Apple are fictitious. No Mets were harmed in the writing of this story.