MassaroliBlog

My 2009 MLB All-Star Teams

2009-06-17T20:01:00.000-07:00

NL
C Brian McCann (ATL)
1B Albert Pujols (STL)
2B Chase Utley (PHI)
SS Hanley Ramirez (FLA)
3B David Wright (NYM)
LF Ryan Braun (MIL)
CF Carlos Beltran (NYM)
RF Raul Ibanez (PHI)
B Adrian Gonzalez (SDP)
B Adam Dunn (WAS)
B Miguel Tejada (HOU)
B Brad Hawpe (COL)
B Yadier Molina (STL)
B Prince Fielder (MIL)
B Mark Reynolds (ARI)
B Matt Kemp (LAD)
B Chipper Jones (ATL)
B Pablo Sandoval (SFG)
B Justin Upton (ARI)
B Ryan Zimmerman (WAS)
SP Johan Santana (NYM)
SP Chad Billingsley (LAD)
SP Matt Cain (SFG)
SP Zach Duke (PIT)
SP Johnny Cueto(CIN)
SP Yovani Gallardo (MIL)
SP Dan Haren (ARI)
SP Ted Lilly (CHC)
RP Jon Broxton (LAD)
RP Francisco Rodriguez (NYM)
RP Heath Bell (SDP)
RP Trevor Hoffman (MIL)

AL
C Joe Mauer (MIN)
1B Kevin Youkilis (BOS)
2B Aaron Hill (TOR)
SS Derek Jeter (NYY)
3B Evan Longoria (TBR)
LF Jason Bay (BOS)
CF Torii Hunter (LAA)
RF Nelson Cruz (TEX)
B Mark Teixeira (NYY)
B Ian Kinsler (TEX)
B Robinson Cano (NYY)
B Adam Jones (BAL)
B Victor Martinez (CLE)
B Jermaine Dye (CHW)
B Justin Morneau (MIN)
B Ben Zobrist (TBR)
B Miguel Cabrera (DET)
B Russell Branyan (SEA)
B Luke Scott (BAL)
B Shin-Soo Choo (CLE)
SP Zack Greinke (KCR)
SP Roy Halladay (TOR)
SP Felix Hernandez (SEA)
SP Kevin Millwood (TEX)
SP Jered Weaver (LAA)
SP Edwin Jackson (DET)
SP Justin Verlander (DET)
SP Dallas Braden (OAK)
RP Jon Papelbon (BOS)
RP Joe Nathan (MIN)
RP Mariano Rivera (NYY)
RP David Aardsma (SEA)

5/23/09 Notes

2009-05-23T08:19:00.000-07:00

-A former president of South Korea committed suicide last night

-Mets beat the Red Sox :)

-Ollie Perez is set to pitch in a minor league game soon

-President Obama may make his Supreme Court choice as early as Tuesday

-I need a new Blogger profile picture

5/21/09 Notes

2009-05-21T16:40:00.000-07:00

-Jake Peavy was traded to the White Sox...not

-They absolutely love Bobby V in Japan

-Joba Chamberlain just got hit by a line drive, and left the game after 2/3 of an inning.

-CNN was the only news website that didn't immediately have the American Idol results as Breaking News

-Green Day is going to be on the Colbert Report tonight

Ramon Martinez

2009-05-20T09:07:00.000-07:00

Interesting post about Martinez from Mets By The Numbers, will go more indepth later...

http://www.mbtn.net/almost-strange-batting-him-6th-not-quite

Mike's Quick Notes- 5/19/09

2009-05-19T17:22:00.000-07:00

This will be a daily series of little facts, notes, news stories, and other interesting tidbits.

- Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will be appearing on Jon Stewart tonight. Seeing the argument he got into with Mike Huckabee, I can't imagine what'll happen tonight when he's facing one of the most diehard conservative Republicans there is.

-Jose Reyes is back in the Mets lineup tonight, if he gets onto a hot streak will all of the Robert from Archibald-esque anti-Reyes Mets fans finally shut up?

-I don't see why so few people want these Iraqi prisoner abuse photos released

-CAKE is an amazing band

-Congratulations to Todd Helton on his 2000th career hit

Ryan Church, for the record...

2009-05-19T16:25:00.000-07:00

you're suppposed to touch third base. You've even managed to do it a handful of times in the past! (see the above picture)

I also thought this would be a good opportunity to look back on this quote:

"Jose Reyes continues to make mistakes, but it seems manager Jerry Manuel does everything but call him out. He makes excuses for him. Yet Ryan Church, who plays as hard as anyone on this team, gets the wrath of his skipper for whatever reason Manuel had at the time. Should Manuel be treating Reyes differently? Has anyone in the clubhouse talked to Reyes and delivered the message that what's he doing is unacceptable and selfish? Or does this team miss that type of edge as well?"
-- Robert N., Archbald, Pa.

Snarky Answers To Stupid Mets Mailbag Questions

2009-05-18T15:41:00.000-07:00

Every week, Mets beat writer Marty Noble does a Mets Mailbag thing, where he answers question emailed by fans. Some questions are totally okay, but usually there are two or three ridiculous questions that he has to deliver nice answers to. I'll be dishing out the answers that they should be getting, the ones they'd get if Marty Noble had the balls to call them out.

Welcome to the first edition of "Snarky Answers to Stupid Mets Mailbag Questions":

Jose Reyes continues to make mistakes, but it seems manager Jerry Manuel does everything but call him out. He makes excuses for him. Yet Ryan Church, who plays as hard as anyone on this team, gets the wrath of his skipper for whatever reason Manuel had at the time. Should Manuel be treating Reyes differently? Has anyone in the clubhouse talked to Reyes and delivered the message that what's he doing is unacceptable and selfish? Or does this team miss that type of edge as well?
-- Robert N., Archbald, Pa.

Robert, first of all, let's just make this clear. If you are in any way implying that Ryan Church is better than Jose Reyes then you are fucking insane. Second of all, if Ryan Church is playing hard, then it isn't working. Church is doing worse than Reyes in basically every offensive category.

I hate when people like you assume that some players just don't try. I don't see why a guy who has the potential to make huge amounts of money and be very popular if he does try wouldn't try. All players try, some players just happen to suck, and even the best players get into slumps sometimes. It doesn't mean that they're not trying.

Also, what is Reyes doing that is unacceptable and selfish? Hitting .284 with a .363 OBP (both above league average)? Stealing 11 bases? Batting .273 with RISP (compared to the .268 MLB average with RISP)?

Yeah, I agree, Reyes and the team have no "edge". I mean, they're only in first place and 11-3 in their last 14 games, if they had edge they'd be 14-0 in their last 14 games.

Okay, next question:

For some reason, whenever Jose Valentin is around, Reyes' statistics increase dramatically. Shouldn't the Mets consider bringing Valentin up as a bench coach to keep him around the team?
-- Anthony V., Boston, Mass.

I'd only approve of Valentin returning to coach (they'd have to sign him to a coach's contract, because, as Marty Noble said, the Mets released him) if he engaged in regular mustache wars with Keith Hernandez.

Final question for today:

What has happened to Nick Evans? He had a tremendous spring and now he's been demoted to Double-A? Is Fernando Martinez going to make the club this year? Why isn't Reed getting more starts? He too had a great spring and seems capable of being a breakout player.
-- David B., Vero Beach, Fla.

OK, let's split this mega-question up a bit:

1. What has happened to Nick Evans? 7 for 75 with AAA Buffalo, a demotion, and a sports psychologist has happened to Nick Evans.

2.He had a tremendous spring and now he's been demoted to Double-A? I agree- all players with tremendous spring training performances should never be demoted regardless of their regular season performance.

3. Is Fernando Martinez going to make the club this year?
Hell yeah! Let's rush our top prospect, when we have about 500 OF with prior major league experience in our organization.

4. He too had a great spring and seems capable of being a breakout player. Not a question, but I feel I should address this:

Fernando Martinez had SIX AT BATS during spring training this year. SIX. He had two singles in those six at-bats. In what way is that a great spring?

Introductions Mean Everything

2009-05-17T19:32:00.000-07:00

I'm Mike Massaroli. I'm a 14-year old from New York. I'll be using this blog to provide my opinions on baseball (mostly the Mets), politics and other current events, music, and anything else.

Now I'm going to try and figure out how to add a blogroll to my blog.

Until my next post, goodbye and thanks for reading.