Do You Aso Like Ike?

BY MATTHEW FALKENBURY
ASSISTANT EDITOR

It was nothing more then a grand slam in the eighth inning of a spring training game in early March. The wind was blowing out and as the legendary Lou Brown once said “It was against a guy who will be bagging groceries in a week.” The fact is that I couldn’t have cared less. I like Ike Davis and if the first few spring training games can be considered an example of whats to come, then you will all like him too.

Ike Davis, the son of former Major League pitcher Ron Davis, was the Mets first round pick in 2008 out of Arizona State. He struggled for power in his first pro season with Brooklyn as he failed to hit a home run in the short season A NY-Penn League. Moving up to Port St. Lucie and then eventually Double-A Binghamton, he found his power and continued to impress both the Mets brass and fans alike. He would hit 20 homers, 71 RBI and hit .298 and would make a name for himself, earning a spot on the US World Cup of Baseball team that won the Gold Medal and as one to Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects.

Ike Davis has a quick powerful swing, good feet around first base and a confidence that is more about his own ability then it is about working harder then the next guy. He is a left handed thrower at first, which is also a big bonus, a bonus that the last two great Mets first basemen, Keith Hernandez and John Olerud had.

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Is it Half Full or is it Half Empty?

BY MATTHEW FALKENBURY
ASSISTANT EDITOR

Spring Training is in full swing across Florida and Arizona. Teams and their fans are waiting for the first week of April to finally come along and finally get things going in the world of baseball. I, sadly enough, am not one of those people.

The 2009 season zapped alot of my enthusiasm for the Mets and the people who are in control of the Mets. Its not the losing, cause lets face it, even the best teams in baseball will lose at least 60-70 games a season and the worst teams will win about 60-70 games a season. Its always those 30-40 games in the middle that decide your fate, and with the way they played the game of baseball, I’m not shocked they lost most of those games in the middle.

I refuse to sit here and read and listen to all the stories where some player tells you, “things will be different”. “I’m in the best shape of my life” and so on. We have heard that garbage for too long in the months of February and March only to see things fall apart in September and October.

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Grab a slice Mets Fans, their is plenty where this came from

BY MATTHEW FALKENBURY
ASSISTANT EDITOR

I don’t know about the rest of you, but the longer the Jets made their run into the playoffs the more I was able to stay blissful in a time where my favorite baseball team was shooting itself in the foot day in and day out. Just when you thought maybe things were gonna break the Mets way, they didn’t, and what had happened in 2009 seemed to be carrying over in 2010.

Now after a week or so to sit back and think about what has gone down with the New York Mets in this off season, I can only seem to think this is exactly what we needed to have happen. Now I’m sure your wondering what exactly I’m talking about.

Lets face facts, this team and its expectations have been very high for the last four years or so. In fact I think we have all caught a little bit of what I like to call “Yankee Fan Disease”. What I’m talking about is that we all seem to think that the Mets are just entitled to just about all the praise one can heap on them and that winning a championship is a formality. As we have seen the past four seasons, that is not the case.

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His Knee Surgery Just Helped Us Win the 2010 World Series

BY MATTHEW FALKENBURY
ASSISTANT EDITOR

I happened to be doing absolutly nothing but watching St. John’s take on Cincinnati in front of twenty screaming fans at the Garden and I figured, maybe Cerrone on Metsblog had an update on something interesting in the world of the Mets. I get there and what do I happen to find? Carlos Beltran had told the Wilpons and the Mets medical staff to shove it and he was doing he own thing when it came to his knee.

Beltran decides to go to Colorado, see the man who INVENTED, not just does it, BUT INVENTED microfracture surgery and has him do a little clean up of the knee, make it all good again and get ready for the season in the middle of April, beginning of May. Of course this has sent off alarm bells amongst the media, the fans and even the front office. Fingers are being pointed, contract language is being discussed, Scott Boras is being heard from, things are looking to get pretty ugly.

But hold on folks, step back from the ledge and let me give you some positive news about this. This surgery is good and its not just cause Beltran should finally be healthy after all this. Oh no, this goes even deeper then the “Bone Bruise” the genius Mets doctors told him he had back in July.

This surgery is going to lead the Mets towards a World Championship this season.

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Bringing This Guy To Queens For Castillo Is Too Good To Pass Up

BY MATTHEW FALKENBURY
ASSISTANT EDITOR

Any time you hear about a trade rumor involving Luis Castillo it seems we all get excited about the idea of him being moved for a live human being who is in Major League Baseball. Which if it went down would of course lead Orlando Hudson to Queens to play second base. If only life and the MLB Off season was so easy.

The Mets have tried hard the past two off seasons to try to trade Luis Castillo and even though he is coming off a solid season, especially with the bat where he hit over .300, nobody wants him. He plays OK defense AT BEST, has no power to speak of and has been rumored to have been not the best influence in the clubhouse.

But if the Boston Red Sox feel like sending us a solid player with a veteran know how and two World Series Rings and a World Series MVP for him, then lets get Mike Lowell to Queens, and don’t let this opportunity pass us by.

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The Mets Could Use Another Right Arm In The Rotation.......

BY MATTHEW FALKENBURY
ASSISTANT EDITOR

If you happen to be a fan of the Mets and the Jets, like myself, then doesn’t tonight’s Jets game bring back some interesting feelings that you haven’t felt since September of 2008?

Its the final game in a stadium that has been your home for many years, the playoffs are on the line, your hoping that a man with Mexican heritage steps up when your faith in him is shaken (Oliver Perez and Mark Sanchez) and former players will be coming back for a ceremony to celebrate your history in that building. Man, its a little too similar isn’t it?

The Jets, much like the Mets in September of 2008, need a win and they make the playoffs (of course the Mets were not in a Win and your in the NLDS, but a game 163 at Shea could have been achieved with Milwaukee.) Sure Cincinnati could take a dive and play nobody and let the Jets luck their way in, but as a Jets fan, I would take that route to the playoffs anytime. Making the playoffs is key and you cant win the Super Bowl or World Series unless you make the playoffs, no matter how you get there. Of course I wish the Mets could have gotten the same break in 2007-2008, but they didn’t, and Florida killed us.
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An Example of how Mike and Myself Discovered Blogging

BY MATTHEW FALKENBURY
ASSISTANT EDITOR

It started one March night in the small upstate town of Oneonta, New York. Michael Ganci, the King of all blogs with the name “Stache” in them, called me and we talked for an hour plus trying to come up with a name for a blog that we would have that would be all about New York Sports. It was then that I came up with “The Daily Stache” for our blog’s name in honor of our favorite Mets broadcaster, Keith Hernandez, and with that we were off and running.

Much like the marriage between Ike and Tina, there were fights, changes, divorces, reconciliations and a possible movie deal starring Kevin James as me. There was a time where The Stache became a hockey blog, and then became all sports blog before Mike decided to write about the one thing he loves more then anything else, the New York Metropolitans.

After a revamping of the blog after the new years, on January 20th, 2009, an article about the first step of revamping the Bullpen of the Mets was written by Michael C. Ganci and The Daily Stache was reborn and began a long, strange and ultimately fun/upsetting trip through 2009 with the New York Mets.
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This Decade Has Seen Alot, Including The End of an Era at Shea Stadium

BY MATTHEW FALKENBURY
ASSISTANT EDITOR

The Decade of the 2000’s for the Mets has been filled with up’s and down’s, joy and sadness and one that took us on a roller coaster that began witha National League Championship, dipped through some lean years from 2002-2004, saw a rebirth and an NL East Title in 2005 and 2006, the collapses of 2007-2008, the ending of one era at Shea and a new one at Citi Field and finally an injury filled 2009 season that leaves us wondering whats next. Over the past 10 years, we have seen some great players come and go, and for some, leave a mark that will be remembered forever, good or bad. So in honor of a Decade in Mets history that was nothing short of a Ride of highs and lows, I give to you my All-Decade Team for the New York Mets.

Some Quick Rules, only stats in the years of this current decade were counted, the player must have spent at least one year with the franchise and the success of the franchise during his time with the team will also be in consideration. Off Fied and On Field impact will also be considered when making the decision as well.

Click the link and enjoy my Team of the Decade….

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Santa and The Mets have had their Moments....

BY MATTHEW FALKENBURY
ASSISTANT EDITOR

Christmas Time is my favorite part of the Year and In honor of that, i have taken the wonderful poem T’was the Night Before Christmas and added a little blue and Orange to the Party….ENJOY!!

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the Citi
Not a creature was stirring, not even a Reyes.
The stockings were hung by the Apple with care,
In hopes that St Omar soon would be there.

The Mets Fans were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of Jason Bay danced in their heads.
And Manuel in the Dugout, and Fred looking like a sap,
Had just settled their brains for a long winter’s nap.
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2 Guys We Should be Thankful That Are On Our Team

BY MATTHEW FALKENBURY
ASSISTANT EDITOR

The 2009 Season was something was that most people would consider “Thankless”. It was something that Mets fans saw in nightmares and in discussions of “worst case scenarios” at the local sports bar. Then of course it happened and we didn’t know how to react and who to blame first. Many blogs spent time and effort, including this one, trying answer the many questions the Mets Franchise gave us.

The 2010 Season much like the season’s past and in the future has hope attached to it and what happens in the off season will certainly shape how much hope the fan base decides to invests. I was thinking that it was time to show the fan base that maybe its time to finally move on from the negative thoughts the media and our fellow fans have shown us. I felt it was time to give the people who bleed Orange and Blue a few things to be thankful for.

So here they are, after the jump, the Five things that all Mets fans should be thankful for on this Thanksgiving of 2009.

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