Mets Home Opener about to Begin

I've been listening to the introductions of the Mets' players in the pregame ceremonies for the final Home Opener at Shea. A couple things stood out:

• Obviously, Johan Santana received the loudest and most sustained ovation. He was also the only new Met who received an introduction including the words, "Welcome to New York..."
• The next loudest ovation was predictably for David Wright. In 3rd place? John Maine. I am personally a big John Maine fan (I'm wearing a Maine jersey today), so I appreciate that the crowd at the game recognizes like I do how well Maine pitched for us last year despite his tail-off in the August.
• Scott Schoeneweiss received -- if nothing else -- a quieter reception than he was expecting (Said Schoeneweiss over the weekend about the upcoming player introductions: "I'm scared to death of it because I always get booed. Can't I just wear my hoodie out there?"). I heard more boos than cheers, but it wasn't as loud as I expected.
• Aaron Heilman was not booed, despite already having given up a few costly runs this season, along with his checkered past including that homerun he gave up to Yadier Molina in the '06 NLCS.

Anyway, today's the final Home Opener for Shea Stadium. So I leave you with these song lyrics:

Now we see them rushing

To the stadium in Flushing.

Big Shea will see its last game in the Fall.

We've got Maine and Ollie Perez,

Moises and Chavez,

Santana's our guy and we're finishing high

So let's play ball.

We're talking baseball (Jose Reyes and Mr. Wright)

Talking baseball (Delgado's bat is dynamite)

Pedro, Church, and Billy -- they're all set.

And Carlos Beltran -- he's as good as it gets.

We're talking baseball. Baseball and the Mets.

Finally another post: covering potato chips, the Nets, and the Mets

I've had nothing much to write about lately and have been terribly busy with classes and the work that goes along with them. However, someone complained that there hasn't been enough new stuff on here lately, so here goes something:

I was just eating potato chips just now and pulled out 3 straight chips that were shaped perfectly like Texas, Ohio, and Indiana and were even proportionately-sized. I take that to be a sign that either the Republicans are gonna win those 3 states in November or the Nets are going to have a very good road trip. However, since the Nets recently completed a dreadful Texas roadtrip and then lost to the Cavs, it could mean that they're also going to have a terrible showing against the Pacers soon. I haven't checked their schedule to confirm this possibility.

On the Mets front, John Maine pitched well again today, allowing only one run (a solo homer) on four hits in 5-2/3 innings. Brian Schneider and Ramon Castro are both nursing strained right hamstrings, which means right now the #1 catcher in the organization is Robinson Cancel or Raul Casanova (who had 2 hits and an RBI in the game tonight). Also, El Duque pitched a simulated game today, throwing around 75-80 pitches. Sadly, his top pitch speed was also in that range. And some people who watched it said that at times it seemed like slow-pitch softball. Now, everybody has seen El Duque occasionally throw the Bugs Bunny slowball, but from the sounds of the reports, his pitches today were all at very mediocre velocities. The Mets don't need a 5th starter for about a month due to the oddity of April scheduling that comes every year, but this is a very discouraging sign (unless, of course, you're either Mike Pelfrey or Mike Pelfrey's mother).