CityGuy

MAYOR BLOOMBERG, GOVERNOR PATAKI AND NEW YORK METS UNVEIL DESIGN PLANS FOR NEW BALLPARK

Project to Create More than 6,000 Construction and Nearly 1,000 Permanent Jobs


Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Governor George E. Pataki and the New York Mets today unveiled the architectural and design plans for a new Mets ballpark. The Mets will begin construction on the privately-financed, state-of-the-art facility later this year in the outfield parking lot between Shea Stadium and 126th Street. The Mets expect to complete construction by Opening Day 2009, which will usher in a new era of unprecedented sightlines, amenities, and comfort for Mets fans, and visitors to the New York metropolitan area. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Rebuilding Daniel L. Doctoroff, Empire State Development Corporation Chairman Charles A. Gargano and New York Mets President Saul Katz, Owner Fred Wilpon, COO Jeff Wilpon and Manager Willie Randolph attended the announcement in Shea Stadium

SwimCoach

The NY Mets are 7-1 and are off to an excellent start....

TheMan

The NY Mets are 39 and 23 and have won 5 games in a row and have won 7 of the last 10. They are the first place team in their repective division. Floyd who was injured last week in L.A is itching to get back into the lineup against 2nd place Philly. Last week in L.A, Floyd candidly presented the possibility he could get traded. But he has spoken to GM Omar Minaya and was told that is not likely to happen.

TheMan

Third Baseman Homers Twice In 6-2 Win Over Reds
(AP) NEW YORK The chants are becoming routine at Shea Stadium whenever David Wright makes a nice play in the field or gets a key hit.

"MVP, MVP, MVP."

And Pedro Martinez agrees with the crowd.

"So far, yeah," Martinez said Thursday after Wright hit a pair of two-run homers in the New York Mets' 6-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. "The kid's done it all."

Martinez (7-3) won for just the second time since April 28, thanks to Wright's bat. The Mets' third baseman connected in the fourth and fifth innings for his third two-homer game of the season, raising his batting average to .338. He has 10 RBIs in the last five games and 60 for the season in 71 games.

Wright's first homer went to left-center, the second one to right. It was an example of his power to all fields.

"I definitely try to work on going the other way," he said. "That's part of my game that I think is one of my strengths. It's good to see the ball going that way."

Both homers came against Eric Milton (4-4), the first one after a walk to Carlos Beltran, the second after an RBI single by Beltran.

Milton thought he had Beltran struck out before Wright's fourth-inning homer tied the score at 2.

"It was a fastball," Milton said. "It was right there. That's a strikeout. That changed the whole game for me. There's one out there. Even if Wright comes up with a homer, it's not a tie game. We're still up by a run."

By the time Wright came up again, Milton was on the ropes, trailing 4-2.

"He was a little erratic," Wright said. "With the count 2-0, he wants to throw a strike. He threw a fastball and I got it. I kept my hands back, put a good swing on it and hit it on the good part of the bat."

The win gave New York a split of the four-game series and widened its lead in the NL East to 10 games over Philadelphia.

Martinez overcame some unusual wildness to throw six innings for the victory. He allowed just two hits but walked five batters -- he is averaging only two free passes per game this season. The three-time Cy Young Award winner struck out eight, including his final four batters.

"I made pitches when I had to," Martinez said. "I felt some pitches had the corners. I can't blame (plate umpire Ron Kulpa). I stayed focused and made adjustments. I had my struggles. The only one to blame was me. I've got to go to the video room and see what I was doing wrong."

Martinez won his first five starts but had won just one of his last nine with five no-decisions. He beat Arizona 15-2 on June 11 in the midst of the Mets' 9-1 road trip.

Heath Bell worked a scoreless seventh. Chad Bradford came in with two runners on in the eighth and struck out three of his four batters for his second save.

The Reds nicked Martinez for a run in the second when Austin Kearns and Adam Dunn opened with singles. Brandon Phillips bunted the runners along and David Ross delivered a sacrifice fly.

In the fourth, the Reds loaded the bases with none out on walks to Scott Hatteberg, Kearns and Dunn. Phillips hit a sacrifice fly, but Martinez escaped further damage.

The Mets took the lead in the fourth, when Milton walked Beltran leading off and Wright followed with his first home run. Julio Franco then doubled and scored on a single by Xavier Nady.

The Reds tried to come back in the fifth when Felipe Lopez and Hatteberg walked with two outs. But Martinez struck out Kearns, stranding the runners.

Jose Reyes opened the Mets' fifth with his second hit and went all the way from first to third when Chris Woodward bounced slowly to third base. Beltran followed with an RBI single and Wright hit his 17th homer for a 6-2 lead.

TheMan

Oh and the New York Mets are 10 games ahead of the divisional rivals in Philly with a record of 45 - 27. The Mets are progressing through this season nicely. They are 6 and 4 in their last 10 games and are playing over .500 ball.

CityGuy

October 19, 2006 -- ST. LOUIS - There may be nobody more electrifying in baseball than Jose Reyes. With the Mets on life support last night, he gave them a jolt to remember.

Reyes whacked the fourth leadoff playoff homer in team history, smashing a 91-mph fastball from Chris Carpenter over the right-field fence. With one swing, Reyes shattered the mirage that Carpenter, the Cards' excellent ace, would be impossible to beat in NLCS Game 6, and the Mets posted a momentum-jacking 4-2 victory.

"He is the energizer," closer Billy Wagner said. "He sets up the whole team. When he's able to get on, he sparks the team."

The 23-year-old switch-hitter, who smashed 13 of his 19 regular-season bombs from the left side, pulled a 1-1 pitch from Carpenter. Coming on the heels of John Maine's escape in the top of the first with the bases loaded, the homer sent a sellout of 56,334 into delirium.

"Jose did a tremendous job," David Wright said. "You can't ask for much more than a leadoff home run against a Cy Young Award winner.

"When Jose goes, this team goes. He's the igniter. He gets on base, he creates havoc. He was tremendous in getting on base and doing that tonight."

Carpenter wasn't the only Cardinal Reyes exposed last night, either. After reaching on a fielder's choice in the third, he stole second off catcher Yadier Molina, who erased 41 percent of would-be base-stealers this year, the best mark in the NL. Reyes also laced an opposite-field single with one out in the fifth but was stranded at second.

He hit a two-out infield single to the hole in short in the seventh and stole second without a throw with Michael Tucker already at third, coming around on Paul Lo Duca's two-run single.

Reyes signed a four-year, $23.25 million contract in August. After mashing six leadoff homers in '06, he followed in the footsteps of former Mets Tommie Agee, Wayne Garrett and Lenny Dykstra, who hit leadoff homers in Games 3 of the 1969, 1973 and 1986 World Series, respectively.

"No, I don't put that kind of stuff in my mind," he said of the homer. "I just try to get comfortable and try to go from there, try to put the ball in play and try to use my speed."

He was also stellar in the field. In the sixth inning, he fielded Scott Rolen's sharp grounder and fed the ball quickly to Jose Valentin at second, even though Jim Edmonds was running on the pitch. Edmonds was out by a split second on the shrewd decision by Reyes

nycking

Yea the New York Mets game yesterday was amazing. I wish i was there it was that great of a game. Im very excited for game 7. I definitley think the new york mets will pull through. They play very well when facing adversity. Should be an even more incredible game 7 when the new york mets face off against the cardinals.