Monday Morning — March 10th, 2003
As Spring Training continues, the Mets prepare to go international. This weekend they will face off against the Los Angeles Dodgers in an exhibition series that will be played in Mexico City, Mexico. Saturday's game will be televised on Fox Sports New York, while MSG will carry Sunday's game, so tune in if you're interested in seeing your favorite team play in an exotic location.
Health Watch - Pedro Astacio will likely start the 2003 season on the disabled list. An MRI on Friday showed that the right-hander is suffering from an inflammation in the right biceps tendon.
Get Well Wishes - To bullpen coach Rick Waits, who underwent triple bypass surgery last Monday. Once he's released from the hospital, Waits plans to recuperate for about a month at his Tucson, Arizona home. General manager Steve Phillips reports that, "We haven't put an exact timetable on Rick's return. But when he is ready to come back, the job is his." In the meantime, former bullpen coach Randy Niemann will fill in for Waits as the interim bullpen coach. kcmets.com wishes Waits a full and speedy recovery.
And The Oscar Goes To - Mo Vaughn, in the category of Most Generous Player. Daniel and Raymond Jacob are the subjects of an Oscar-nominated 27-minute short documentary about the foster care system, but they could not afford plane fare to the West Coast in order to attend the ceremony. Vaughn stepped in to pay the way for the brothers, as well as their grandparents, to travel to California for the big event. Vaughn will also treat the family to a Mets game this season. As Vaughn explained to the Daily News, "Plane tickets, that's nothing. To me, I look at it like I've had a tremendous amount of opportunities to do a lot of things through my career. And I've seen a lot of things that baseball has brought me. I've been in the spotlight my whole life. This is an opportunity for them to get on stage and be in the spotlight for hard work that they've done."
Ready For His Close-up - Former manager Bobby Valentine has signed a three-year contract with ESPN and will appear on Baseball Tonight. Monday Morning Mets congratulates Valentine on his new position, and looks forward to seeing him in action from the other side of the microphone.
Opening Day Fever - So you really want to attend Opening Day but weren't able to get tickets. Here's your second chance. mlb.com's Opening Day Fever contest is underway. mlb.com will give one pair of tickets for the home opener of the team of the winner's choice -- all you have to do is come up with the best made-up excuse to miss work for Opening Day 2003. For more details, check out this link But don't delay -- the deadline for submitting entries is March 24, 2003.
Poetry Corner - To make up for the lousy poetry I inflicted upon my readers in February, here is some real poetry from Michelle Doherty:
harbinger
i heard spring this morning.
not in the shrill chirp of a red-breasted robin
skittering beneath barren branches
but in a garbled, whisky-throated announcer
coloring a static filled broadcast.
where men who play at being boys
or boys who play at being men
dot a dusty diamond
carved in a field of pre-spring emerald
and a game in its perfection
can stop time.
Special Feature: Baseball as America
Special Feature: Talkin' Baseball with Terry Cashman
Unless otherwise stated, these stories have been extracted from reports on www.nydailynews.com, www.nypost.com, www.nytimes.com, www.njo.com, www.newsday.com, www.bergenrecord.com, AP , and www.mets.com reports.
