I just read a great article at the New York Post by Joel Sherman about the return of Darryl Strawberry to the Mets as an instructor.

He claims that Strawberry’s return is a cautionary tale from a ball club of yesteryear that had it’s chance at greatness, but blew it.

“We should have won three titles, heck, we should have won four,” he said. “We should have been like the Yankee teams I was on in the late ’90s that just rolled to a bunch of titles.”

He comes to the Mets this time as a an outfield instructor. But perhaps his leadership will do more than instruct.  Maybe he’ll be able help a team of enormous potential and talent pull it together. He blames his team’s failure in the 80’s to a total lack of focus. They were a team of party animals (his cocaine and alcohol abuse is well known).  That reckless attitude blew their opportunity to win several championships.

This new Mets team is not unlike the old. The last two seasons have brought huge disappointment to fans expecting their front runner team to go all of the way. Last season, they did what seemed like a mathematical impossibility, blowing a seven game NL East lead in 17 games.

Needless to say, this is a season with high hopes by all. Be sure to buy your Mets tickets now.

So I guess this was the strategy—you’ve got a great veteran pitcher in Mike Mussina to be a strong leader to the three young pitchers, Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, and Ian Kennedy. The Yankees management seems committed to imposing strict inning restrictions on the young ones, relying heavily on their veteran. This makes sense given the fact that they’ve committed to pay Mussina $11.5 million this season.

But what if he stinks it up this season? John Harper at Daily News claims that “he looked finished last season, to the point where he had to be pulled from the rotation in favor of Kennedy.” Add to this the fact that he gave up 5 runs in a little over 2 innings and there’s reason for alarm. What if their young pitchers aren’t ready to be stars, combined with an older pitcher that could prove over-the-hill?

According to both Mussina and the coaching staff, he had a bad season last year due to leg injuries. His fastball was clocking in last year at 86 mph. Harper quotes Girardi as hoping for 87 to 91 mph this seasonm. But he then questions:

“. . . can Mussina stay healthy at 39? He has battled various injuries, including elbow, in recent years, and asking for an injury-free season at this point is asking a lot.”

If you’re interested in finding out how the strategy plays out, make sure to look for your NY Yankee tickets online.

The master of sci-fi horror, Steven King, has written the script for “Ghost Brothers of Darkland County,” which will be seen on the big New York stage in April 2009 at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta, Georgia. The music will be written by rock n’ roll star John Mellencamp.

Yahoo News quotes the Alliance, which announced the project last week, describing the play as “a sultry Southern gothic mystery with a blues-tinged, guitar-driven score.”

The story revolves around the deaths of two brothers and young girl in a fictional Mississippi town in 1957. There’s a legend that grows out of the tragedy. The story’s original conception is due to Mellencamp, who heard the story in his own hometown of Seymour, Ind.

The play will be directed by Peter Askin, known for his direction of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.”

Mellencamp is quoted in a Rolling Stone interview and then at Playbill.com as saying, “If it goes well in Atlanta, then we’ll come to Broadway. If it don’t go well in Atlanta, we’re done.”

It’s hard to know exactly how this will work out. Steven King has a prolific career as one of America’s great novelists. Many of his books have been converted to hit movies, including “The Shining,” “The Shawshank Redemption,” and “Stand By Me.” Time will tell if he can make it to Broadway. I wouldn’t bet against him.

For current plays on stage be sure to look for Broadway tickets online.

I’d like to introduce our new weekly feature here at TicketBulletin.com. Every Monday we will post the most popular tickets according to our SelectATicket.com website.

Not sure what you want to see? Then check here every week and find out what the hottest Broadway, Concert or Sporting Event tickets were for the past week.

For the Week Ending March 2, our Top 5 Ticket Events -

Lion King Tickets

Big East Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden

Wicked Tickets

Young Frankenstein Tickets

Little Mermaid Tickets

Check back on Monday March 10 or simply subscribe to our RSS Feed to find out the most popular events next week!

So, as everyone willing to buy NY Mets tickets knows, their favorite franchise just spent $137.5 million of their dollars on Johan Santana. Judging by his opening performance in spring training, they may be asking for their money back. He gave away three runs on four hits.

My high school wrestling coach emphasized to us that he wasn’t as concerned whether we won or lost. He was more concerned with how well we performed and progressed as an athlete in the match. The coaching staff for the Mets sounded like they had adopted this same “winning isn’t everything” attitude. Bart Hubbuch at the New York Post quoted Mets pitching coach, Rick Peterson, as saying:

“A very positive day. Johan threw the ball outstanding.”

Santana himself echoed this positive sentiment:

“This is just the beginning. The numbers might say something different, but I felt good.”

Now I realize that there’s more to a performance than the numbers might show. And this is just spring training. He’s getting warmed up. He’s trying new things. He’s getting his groove.

Third basement Troy Glaus says, “He’s still Johan - good fastball, good change-up and good control.”

But I’ve just got to say for the record that these wonderful attributes aren’t going to mean anything if he doesn’t bring real victories in the regular season.