The Amazin' Mets

[mariab]

As bad as he looks, it seems like he's still really with it. Sometimes hope is the most powerful thing on earth.

NY Mets great Gary Carter, battling brain cancer attends Palm Beach Atlantic University baseball game

Hall of Famer wanted to show up 'for his guys' daughter says

By Daniel O'leary / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Published: Thursday, February 2, 2012, 11:05 PM
Updated: Thursday, February 2, 2012, 11:28 PM


J. Gwendolynne Berry/The Palm Beach Post via AP

Hall of Fame catcher and Palm Beach Atlantic University coach Gary Carter (l.) holds his granddaughter, Alyse Bloemers, after greeting players on the field before PBAU's baseball home opener on Thursday.

J. Gwendolynne Berry/The Palm Beach Post via AP

Baseball Hall of Famer and New York Mets great Gary Carter, battling brain cancer for the past nine months, attended a Palm Beach Atlantic University baseball game Thursday night, the Palm Beach Post reports.
Carter, the catcher on the 1986 World Series champion Mets, is the former manager of the Sailfish and wanted to attend opening day, said his daughter.
“He wanted to be here for his guys, here for opening day,” Carter’s daughter Kimmy Bloemers, the coach of the PBAU softball team, told the Palm Beach Post. “It’s a great day.”
Carter shook hands with the players, tapping one on the cap asking “you doin’ all right?”
“Let’s get a win tonight,” Carter repeated over and over, trying to get his former team ready for the game.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/ba...icle-1.1016431

[mariab]

And he was amazin'.

Mets great Gary Carter dies, 57

Mets Blog
Mets on Twitter

By MIKE PUMA
Last Updated: 5:13 PM, February 16, 2012
Posted: 5:03 PM, February 16, 2012

Gary Carter, a Hall of Fame catcher and key component of the Mets’ 1986 world championship team, died today after a battle with brain cancer. He was 57.
Carter’s daughter, Kimmy Bloemers, made the announcement on a blog she had been keeping that provided updates on her father’s health.
In a major league career that spanned 19 seasons with the Expos, Mets, Giants and Dodgers, Carter hit .262 with 324 home runs and 1,225 RBIs. An 11-time All-Star, Carter was regarded as the game’s premier catcher of the 1980s. He was inducted into Cooperstown in 2003, after receiving 78 percent of the Hall of Fame vote on his sixth ballot.

Carter had been in declining health since last May, when he was found to have four small brain tumors. Further tests determined the tumors were cancerous.
A devout Christian, Carter hardly personified the Mets of the mid-to-late 1980s – teams that partied as hard as they played. Carter was resented by many in the game because of his squeaky clean image and willingness to embrace the camera. He was nicknamed “Kid” as a putdown in the minor leagues, because of the youthful exuberance he displayed.
“Look, we all disliked Gary when we played against him,” first baseman Keith Hernandez told author Jeff Pearlman in The Bad Guys Won! “He just had a way about him that [ticked] you off. But I respected him as a player. And when he came to New York, I appreciated him, too.”

The Mets were on the rise heading into 1985, with young stars Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden leading the charge, when general manager Frank Cashen executed one of the best trades in franchise history by getting Carter, then a star with the Expos, for Hubie Brooks, Mike Fitzgerald, Herm Winningham and Floyd Youmans.
Just over a year earlier, Cashen had traded for another established star, Hernandez, as part of the team’s resurgence.
“I thought I needed Carter to put me over the hump,” Cashen said in 1986. “And he’s done it.”
Carter’s signature moment with the Mets came against the Red Sox in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. The Mets were trailing 5-3 with two outs in the 10th inning and facing elimination, when Carter singled to left field against Calvin Schiraldi. The hit started a rally in which the Mets scored three runs, winning on Mookie Wilson’s grounder through first baseman Bill Buckner’s legs. The Mets then won Game 7 to claim the franchise’s second world championship.
“The greatest thrill of my career was certainly that amazing ’86 World Series,” Carter said in his Hall of Fame induction speech. “Nothing will ever top that, and the memories will last forever.”

Carter’s best season with the Mets came in 1985, when he batted .281 with 32 homers and 100 RBIs for a team that finished as the runner up to the Cardinals in the NL East.
Carter had a memorable Mets’ debut on April 9, 1985, when his 10th inning home run at Shea Stadium led a 6-5 victory over the Cardinals. Carter took his first of numerous Shea curtain calls over five seasons.
The last call for Carter with the Mets came in 1989, when injuries limited him to 50 games. He was released after the season and then spent his final three years as a player with the Giants, Dodgers and Expos. His best seasons came earlier in Montreal, including a second place finish to Mike Schmidt in the 1980 National League MVP vote. Carter also won three straight Gold Gloves beginning in 1980.

The 6-foot-2, 205 pound Carter was selected by the Expos in the third round of the 1972 amateur draft after a standout career as a pitcher and infielder at Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton, Calif., where he earned All-American honors as quarterback on the football team.
Carter made his major league debut with the Expos two years later and became the team’s starting catcher in 1975.
After retiring as a player, he spent four seasons as a TV analyst for the Marlins, beginning in 1993. Carter hoped to land a major league managing job, but never saw that dream fulfilled. He guided the Mets’ rookie league team to the best record in the Gulf Coast League in 2005 and spent the next season managing Single-A St. Lucie.
But Carter declined when the Mets asked him to manage at Double-A Binghamton for the 2007 season. A year later he drew criticism after openly lobbying for manager Willie Randolph’s job with the Mets – before Randolph had been fired. At the time, Carter was managing the independent Orange County Flyers. In 2009, he managed the independent Long Island Ducks.
Carter later spent two seasons as the head baseball coach at Palm Beach Atlantic University, where his daughter, Bloemers, is the softball coach.
Carter’s survivors include his wife, Sandy, and three grown children.
“I have always been a fan of the game first and ballplayer second,” Carter said during his Hall of Fame speech. “Maybe that’s why I had the love and passion for this great game so much.”



Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/mets/...#ixzz1maNsKz2E

[eddhead]

Carter was perhaps the best catcher of his era and a legitimate Hall of Famer. Rest In Peace.

[JCMAN320]

RIP Gary Carter. One of the best catchers of all time and a prime example of how the postion should be played. A sad day for NY and baseball indeed. My sympathies and thoughts go out to him and his family.

It's amazing to me that the Mets have yet to retire his number. They should definately get on that this year. The again this is the Mets; they can F up a wet-dream if they tried.

[ZippyTheChimp]

Carter played most of his career in Montreal. The Expos retired his number, carried over to the Nationals.

Still, he was on the '86 WS team, an All Star four of the five years, and one of three Mets (Seaver, Ryan) with significant time on the team in the HOF.

[JCMAN320]

Carter played most of his career in Montreal. The Expos retired his number, carried over to the Nationals.

Still, he was on the '86 WS team, an All Star four of the five years, and one of three Mets (Seaver, Ryan) with significant time on the team in the HOF.

Exactly why they should. You think with as limited success as the Mets have they would retire his number based on that alone.

[mariab]

He was what was called a great "sportsman", & I have that in quotes because I heard my father say it once about one of the Giants, & it seems to be diminishing in professional sports every year. One of his '86 teammates said he was called the Kid because that's how he approached each & every game. He loved the game. The rewards were simply a bonus.

I have a great pic of him from a game I went to in '88. We were two rows from the Mets dugout, so I took some really good shots. They played the Dodgers (and won) & at the end of the game he's walking toward the dugout with a tired-but-happy look on his face & that's when I snapped it. If I had a scanner (sigh) I'd post it.

[ZippyTheChimp]

Friday:


Sunday in Montreal:

Canadiens, Brodeur, Robinson remember Gary Carter

By Dave Stubbs, The GazetteFebruary 19, 2012

New Jersey Devils goalie Martin Brodeur watches as the Montreal Canadiens play tribute to former
Montreal Expos legend Gary Carter during NHL action at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Sunday, February 19, 2012.
Photograph by: (Allen McInnis / THE GAZETTE)

MONTREAL - New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur remembers the days when Expos catcher Gary Carter would stop by the Brodeurs’ St. Léonard home, dropping in on the man who many times froze the Kid’s megawatt smile.

Denis Brodeur, Martin’s dad, was for years the Expos’ photographer, snapping the ballplayers’ Florida mug shots and their exploits on the diamond in Montreal.

Carter, needless to say, was in many of those photos.

And young Marty often tagged along when his dad headed down to West Palm Beach for the spring-training assignment.

On Sunday night, Martin Brodeur stood in his goal crease before his team’s 3-1 victory over the Canadiens and watched the emotional scoreboard tribute to Carter, who died last Thursday of brain cancer at age 57.

Denis Brodeur wasn’t in his usual spot at the glass taking photos of his son. He himself had undergone brain surgery Friday and was said postgame by his son to be doing well.

“Gary came to our house a lot and autographed pictures for me and my brothers,” Martin Brodeur said. “He was really close to our family. We were very saddened by the news (of his illness and death).”

Canadiens legend Larry Robinson had his own special memories of Carter, the Hall-of-Fame-bound defenceman and his wife, Jeanette, having been practically Kirkland neighbours of the Kid and his wife, Sandy.

“We knew them well,” said Robinson, a Devils assistant coach. “We’d been over to his and Sandy’s place on a few occasions. He was just a tremendous man. This was a very, very sad day. We miss him dearly.”

Robinson, who shared the Montreal sports spotlight with Carter during the latter’s 1974-84 Expos days, recalled doing various events with the Kid at CFCF-TV, and of taking his own son to the ballgames they both loved.

The Canadiens organized a tasteful and emotional tribute to Carter before their 6 p.m. game.

It began with the warmup shortly after 5:30, organist Diane Bibeau playing the Expos’ old theme song as the Habs skated onto the ice.

Every Canadien wore a sweater with their own number on the sleeves but with “Carter” nameplated across the shoulder blades and the Kid’s No. 8 on the back. Each helmet bore a No. 8 sticker.

Players were to autograph their jerseys and this week they’ll be auctioned at canadiens.com, proceeds going to the Gary Carter Foundation.

(A curious piece of trivia: centreman Bill Carter played eight games for the Canadiens in 1958-59 and 1961-62. During his brief stay he wore No. 25 and, yes, No. 8.)

The start of the game was delayed for a five-minute celebration of Gary Carter’s life, house announcer Michel Lacroix relating many of the Hall of Famer’s career highlights.

Canadiens mascot Youppi!, adopted by the Habs after the ballclub left town in 2004, appeared on the ice wearing an Expos uniform; he’d be back in his Habs jersey before long, but kept his Expos cap on to the end.

And then to the Eagles’ 1976 Hotel California album track New Kid In Town, a monster hit during Carter’s days in Montreal, a slideshow of photos and video of the Kid appeared on the scoreboard and flashed on the ice, followed by a moment of silence.

Brodeur would improve his lifetime record against the Canadiens to 43-18-5-0 with a goals-against average of 1.81, a save percentage of .931 and nine shutouts.

This wasn’t Brodeur’s busiest night, the first star’s opponent managing only four shots through the first 26:12 of the game.

The 39-year-old hasn’t committed himself to returning to hockey next season, an unrestricted free agent come July 1, but before Sunday’s game he said he’s leaning to another year.

Surely he’s discovered the fountain of youth?

“I don’t know about that when I wake up in the morning,” Brodeur said, laughing. “I want to concentrate on doing my best to get myself into a better state of mind to make my decision about my future.

“It will be how consistent I can be. That’s harder as you get older. Winning is a big part of it and being a family with this team has been a lot of fun. If that continues, it will help me make a good decision.”

dstubbs@montrealgazette.com

twitter.com/habsinsideout1

© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

[ZippyTheChimp]

Mets in the News:

Judge refuses to dismiss Madoff-NY Mets case

1:21pm EST

By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) - A federal judge rejected a bid by the New York Mets owners to end a $386 million lawsuit by the trustee seeking money for victims of Bernard Madoff's fraud and said the team might have to give up as much as $83.3 million of illegal profits.

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan nonetheless said he remained "skeptical" that the trustee, Irving Picard, can prevail on the rest of his lawsuit, which accuses team owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz of acting in bad faith in dealing with Madoff.

Monday's ruling could pave the way for a settlement prior to a scheduled March 19 jury trial in the case, which has been a major overhang on the money-losing Major League Baseball team.

Wilpon and Katz have said they saw nothing suspicious about Madoff in their more than 20 years of investing with him and "never for a moment" thought he was engaged in a fraud or Ponzi scheme.

Amanda Remus, a spokeswoman for Picard, said the trustee was reviewing the decision. Karen Wagner, a lawyer for the Mets owners, did not immediately return a call seeking a comment.

Rakoff said Picard could recover fictitious profits that the Mets owners got in the two years prior to the December 2008 bankruptcy of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. He said the amount would be determined later and could total as much as $83.3 million.

The judge nonetheless said the trustee faced an uphill fight to show the jury that the owners acted in bad faith by investing with Madoff during that period.

And in a move that could undercut a desire to go to trial, Rakoff said much of the "evidence" that both sides offered to support their cases would not be admissible in his court.

"Conclusions are no substitute for facts, and too much of what the parties characterized as bombshells proved to be nothing but bombast," Rakoff wrote. "Nevertheless, there remains a residue of disputed factual assertions from which a jury could infer either good or bad faith."

Last September, Rakoff threw out more than half of Picard's original $1 billion lawsuit.

Mario Cuomo, the former New York governor, has been mediating the dispute. His office did not immediately return a call seeking a comment.

The Mets have been slashing payroll and selling $20 million minority stakes, each representing about 4 percent ownership of the team, including a stake to hedge fund executive Steven A. Cohen of SAC Capital Advisors.

Picard has said he has recovered $9.1 billion for Madoff's victims, although much remains tied up in litigation.

Madoff, 73, pleaded guilty in 2009 to orchestrating what prosecutors have called a $64.8 billion Ponzi scheme. He is serving a 150-year sentence in a North Carolina federal prison.

The case is Picard v. Katz, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 11-3605.

(Reporting By Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Mark Porter, Maureen Bavdek and Lisa Von Ahn)

© Thomson Reuters 2011

---

Last year, the Davis foot-bone connected to the disabled list. This year, the Wright rib-bone connected to - what?

David Wright scratched from intra-squad game with rib cage stiffness

BY Anthony McCarron

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – David Wright was scratched from today's intra-squad game because of what the Mets are calling left rib cage stiffness. Wright, who felt soreness Monday, said he was fit enough to play and would have if it were a regular game.

"Obviously, being an intra-squad game and so early, they want a few more days of going full speed," Wright said. "It's their decision. If it were real games, obviously, I'd be playing, but they want to take it slow, especially this early in spring.

"It doesn't hurt. It's just preventative stuff," Wright added.

Wright is still scheduled to play in Monday's Grapefruit League opener. Manager Terry Collins said Wright would go through a full workout today and Wright noted that he was only limited on Monday and Tuesday has been "full-speed" since.

"I don't want him to go game-speed in an intra-squad game and make it worse," Collins said.

In other Mets' news, the team is scheduled to have a bowling outing Sunday evening, a bonding experience that Collins introduced last year.

© Copyright 2012 NYDailyNews.com

---

On the subject of Ike Davis, I had to look up Valley Fever. I thought it was Compulsive Shopping by Teens in San Fernando Syndrome.

Valley Fever Diagnosis Not Worrying Mets' Ike Davis Too Much Yet

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (AP) — New York Mets first baseman Ike Davis says he's ready to play despite being diagnosed with valley fever. Third baseman David Wright, meanwhile, will sit for a bit.

Beset by injuries last season, the Mets haven't gotten too many breaks this year, either.

Wright has been slowed by soreness around his left ribcage. Scratched from an intrasquad game Saturday, the All-Star was told Sunday by manager Terry Collins he wouldn't play Monday night or Tuesday when the Mets start the exhibition schedule.

"If this was opening day, I'd be playing 100 percent," Wright said.

Davis said he felt fine. Valley fever is a fungal infection that is released from the dirt in desert regions of the Southwest and can cause extreme fatigue. Davis lives in Arizona in the offseason.

"Forty percent of people who live in Arizona get it during their life. It's person-by-person, but it can take a year (to get over it). I could've had this for a year and not known it," he said.

Valley fever requires no medication. The Mets said the illness is expected to resolve itself.

"I feel great, and I don't have any symptoms of it," Davis said. "I'm not coughing or throwing up blood. It's not even hard to breathe. The doctor said I can play, but I can't get fatigued."

The team sent out a statement late Saturday night saying the 24-year-old Davis, originally thought to have a lung infection, had a different illness.

Davis hasn't changed anything about his workouts and hasn't reduced his participation in drills.

"I don't think this is going to be a problem. I just need to be really healthy and keep my immune system strong," he said.

An ankle injury limited Davis to 36 games last year, but he said he doesn't expect this setback to slow him down much. If he feels tired during the spring, he said, he will just take a break.

The Mets have said Davis' blood test is negative. A specialist has speculated that Davis has valley fever.

"The tests that we have, which include the X-ray, a follow-up to that, as well as the blood test, aren't necessarily conclusive because the blood test came back negative," Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said.

"There can be a delay of some period of time, so the blood test might become positive at a later date. What we have is a working diagnosis," he said.

Wright said the decision to keep him out of the lineup may have had something to do with Scott Hairston hurting his left oblique muscle Saturday — the same injury to his side that forced the outfielder to finish last season on the disabled list.

"In light of Scotty yesterday, I think it opened up my eyes. You hate to see a guy go down, but it'd be worse if two guys go down," Wright said.

"I think I can play, but it was taken out of my hands. Terry made it very simple for me and told me I was not playing," he said.

Copyright © 2012 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc

[antinimby]

Not only are things looking bleak for the current Mets but even former ones are having a bad time:

Lenny Dykstra sentenced to 3 years in jail.

[JCMAN320]

This has to be the darkest period in this lowly franchises history; thats saying alot.

[GordonGecko]

[JCMAN320]

What the?!!!??? Johan the season hasn't started yet. Atleast cut eye holes in the can lol.

[mariab]

Cool Carter tribute pics. ^What the hell were the above pics about?

My sister read an article the other day - if I find it I'll post it - & in it Lenny said, paraphrasing, Am I proud of what I've done? Yes. Am I a criminal? No. I'd like to think the answers were backwards & I was hoping 3 years would teach him a lesson, but it doesn't sound like it.

[eddhead]

The more I read about Dickey, the more I like him.

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- In a memoir due to hit bookstores later this week, New York Mets knuckleballer R.A. Dickey discusses finding a syringe in the Texas Rangers clubhouse in 2001 as well as the sexual abuse he dealt with as a child. Dickey

According to an excerpt published by Sports Illustrated, Dickey reveals that he felt disgust with the prospect of teammates cheating when he spotted the syringe. He made four appearances for the Rangers during the 2001 season, while primarily pitching for Triple-A Oklahoma City.

"The sight of it makes me cringe, the shiny thin needle lying randomly on the tile floor," Dickey writes in his autobiography, "Wherever I Wind Up," which is excerpted. "My mind races with thoughts about how and why it got there. I know as much about needles as I do about jewelry, but I'm pretty sure this isn't a sewing needle. I don't know if this syringe injected a Ranger with insulin or cortisone or B12 or anabolic steroids, though you can hazard a guess when you run through the roster of my muscle-laden teammates.

"I'd never seen a syringe in a baseball clubhouse before. I've not seen one since. It may have been used for the most benign of purposes, but the mere sight of it makes me feel as though I am looking straight at Evil -- like seeing a weapon somebody left behind at a crime scene."

Dickey also discusses being abused at the hands of a teenage babysitter as an 8-year-old. He concealed the abuse for another 23 years.

"The babysitter chucks the pillows and stuffed animals out of the way," Dickey writes. "She looks at me and says, Get in the bed. I am confused and afraid. I am trembling. The babysitter has her way with me four or five more times that summer, and into the fall, and each time feels more wicked than the time before. Every time that I know I'm going back over there, the sweat starts to come back. I sit in the front seat of the car, next to my mother, anxiety surging. I never tell her why I am so afraid. I never tell anyone until I am 31 years old."

http://espn.go.com/espn/print?id=7742411&type=story