Monday Morning — September 1st, 2003
Happy Labor Day - enjoy the last long weekend before the start of the school year!
Family Matters - First base coach Gary PettisThe Mets homestand continues today as they start a three game series against the Braves. Then it's down to Philadelphia for four games against the Phillies. Remember that the start of Sunday's game in Philadelphia has been changed from 1:35 to 8:05 so that the game can be shown on ESPN.
Roster Notes - Last Wednesday, Prentice Redman was sent to Norfolk and pitcher Jason Anderson, who was obtained from the Yankees in the Armando Benitez trade, was called up.
The Mets have recalled Jeremy Griffiths and have purchased the contract of Orber Moreno from Norfolk - the two players will be activated today, when major league rosters may expand for the rest of the season.
Health Notes - Last Friday, Cliff Floyd successfully underwent surgery to remove a bone spur from underneath his right Achilles' tendon. The surgery took place at the Union Memorial Ambulatory Surgical Center in Baltimore and was done by Dr. Lew Schon.
Under the advice of Mets team physician Dr. Andrew Rokito, Mo Vaughn has decided not to have surgery on his arthritic left knee at this time.
Jose Reyes gave everyone a scare when he hurt his left ankle trying to break up a double play in the 9th inning of yesterday's game. Fortunately, X-rays of the ankle were negative.
Mets Milestones - Congratulations to Steve Trachsel on being named the National League Player of the Week for the week of August 18-24!
Last Thursday, Jose Reyes became the youngest player in major league history to homer from both sides of the plate in the same game.
On Saturday, Jason Phillips hit the 5,000th home run in Mets franchise history. As a related, pleasant coincidence, my husband brought my 7-year-old son to the game, and the little guy was wearing his Mets Fan Club For Kids cap that Phillips had signed for him when we were in Cincinnati in July. It's always nice to be wearing the perfect item for an occasion.
Ready For His Close-Up - Al Leiter will be part of the Fox broadcast team for one of the League Championship Series in October.
Family Matters - Roger Cedeño missed last Wednesday and Thursday's games to be with his 3-year-old daughter, Michele, who became ill and was taken to a hospital in Atlanta for what has been described as "minor surgery."
Stupid Injury of the Summer - Don't look for Tyler Yates to be a September call-up this year -- the righty broke the pinkie of his pitching hand when he punched a water cooler in mid-August.
In the Community - Prior to this afternoon's game, the Mets are hosting a pregame picnic for Tuesday's Children, a nonprofit organization that benefits children who lost a parent on 9/11. Approximately 1,000 family members will attend the picnic, and the children will take the field before the game to sing the National Anthem.
September at Shea - The Mets have designated September as Fan Appreciation Month. Upper reserved tickets will be priced at $5, and the Aramark will feature a special food item on sale each day for $2. There will also be bonus giveaway items to fans, and the players will be making an additional effort to sign autographs during batting practice. So take your family out to Shea for the last month of the season!
Additionally, Asian Night, which was canceled by the blackout on August 14, has been rescheduled for September 18.
Fashion File - Jason Anderson was ready to come up to the majors a week earlier than expected, but his wardrobe wasn't. He was on the road with Triple-A Norfolk, and, "This was the first trip I didn't take a suit on. I had to do the makeshift suit." The reliever arrived wearing a blue blazer and gray pants.
Was it Something I Said? - In my August 4th column, I commented that George Steinbrenner must be the Mets' biggest fan, as evidenced by his propensity for acquiring Mets and former Mets. Since that time, the Yankees have traded or released Robin Ventura, Todd Zeile, Jesse Orosco and Armando Benitez. Could Steinbrenner have been so upset by his exposure in this column that he instructed Brian Cashman to reverse the trend? Inquiring minds want to know!
Belated Birthday Wishes - To Mets Hall-of-Famer Tug McGraw, who celebrated his 59th on Saturday. It's not to late to send him birthday greetings at tug@tugmcgraw.com or at his tugmcgraw.com website.
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.
