That didn’t take long. The Mets announced Friday, that they have reached a one year deal with veteran slugger, Gary Sheffield, according to MLB.com’s Harold Reynolds. Sheffield, who was let go by the Tigers last week brings a turbulent off-field reputation along with his 499 career home runs into New York as the highly-touted Mets look to fulfill the prediction of World Series Champions made by Sports Illustrated.

The precise details of the deal are not yet known, though the Tigers still owe Sheffield 14 million, while the Mets most likely signed him to a minimum deal of $400,000 which releases the remainder of his salary to him at season’s end.

Sheff is no stranger to New York, where he played for the Yankees for three years (2004-2006), which ended with little fanfare as a plague of injuries limited him to only 39 games in his final season. The New York Mets are hoping he has one great year left in him.

This week’s issue of Sports Illustrated dons a picture of New Yankee’s star C.C. Sabathia, but the best news inside the magazine revolves around the other New York team. The SI baseball writers have picked the Mets as their favorites to win the World Series this year. Something that is both understandable, and ill-conceived.

The Mets are absolutely loaded on talent, with the likes of Johan Santana, K-Rod, David Wright, Jose Reyes, and the Carloses, so it’s easy to see them as a favorite going into the year. However, do you remember the last two post-season runs for the Mets? I’m not saying they choked, when the playoffs were on the line, but suffice it to say that they didn’t play their best ball when they needed to win.

It’s a bold prediction for SI to make, but if they can get off to a good start and play good baseball in the latter weeks of the season, they should have a very legitimate chance of making a run. Think that would make the Mets ticket holders happy?

Despite being plagued with injuries throughout the tournament, Team USA managed to make a great run in the 2nd World Baseball Classic before falling in the semi-finals to Team Japan. Injuries, however, were probably a major factor in Team USA not having the chance to make it further along in the WBC as more than half a dozen players came and went with injuries ranging from minor to moderate during the duration of the event.

In fact, Adam Dunn not been playing right field, and Mark DeRosa not been playing the completely unfamiliar position of first base, Team USA may have seen a different outcome. In the category of desire, however, no team seemed as enthusiastic about the WBC as Japan, who had all of their greatest players on display. Contrast that to the USA who had mostly mediocre players, and showed virtually no desire to win the tournament. For Team USA to ever win this thing, in my opinion, they need to start having pride in their country on the international baseball stage.

The WBC is over, but there’s still a lot of baseball left to be played in Florida and Arizona before opening day, so grab your New York Yankees tickets or New York Mets tickets now!

It hasn’t been an easy road for Team USA in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, but the Americans are still alive, having won two straight to advance to the semi finals against Japan, Korea, or Cuba. After losing their first game against Puerto Rico a few days ago, Team USA eliminated the Netherlands in a must win game on Sunday, and returned the favor to Puerto Rico by eliminating them in a tensely fought game that came down to the bottom of the 9th inning.

After trailing by two, the USA worked their way back into the game in the 9th capped by a bases loaded walk to Kevin Youkilis that brought the USA within one run, at 6-5. Then the New York Mets standout David Wright delivered his third hit of the night, to seal it for Team USA.

Next up for Team USA is a pool championship match against Venezuela. Win or lose, both teams will advance to the semis. Team USA and Venezuela have faced off twice thus far, with the USA winning 15-6 on March 8, and Team Venezuela slipping by 5-3 in the Group C championship game.

The New York Mets haven’t gotten off to a fast start in spring training this year, though you can absolutely never tell anything by spring records. On the surface, the Mets 7-6-1 record so far looks displeasing but you have to remember that starting pitchers are going 2 innings and no one plays for more than 4 or 5 innings a day.

In fact, as far as the Mets are concerned, their ace – Johan Santana – hasn’t thrown a pitch yet (but he will tonight). I know that New York fans in generally are some of the most impassioned and, some might say obnoxious, fans in the world, but rest assured: there’s no need to fear because of a mediocre start to spring training.

If you are in Florida this spring, grab some New York Mets tickets and enjoy a little spring baseball – it’s possibly the most fun you’ll ever have!

When the final rosters were announced for the 16-team WBC last week, 19 New York Mets players were a part of the Classic. When baseball’s answer to the World Cup begins in a few days, these Mets players will proudly represent their respective countries as they try to win the second-ever World Baseball Classic. The Mets players who made the final rosters are:

• Carlos Beltran – Puerto Rico
• Shawn Bowman – Canada
• Alex Cora – Puerto Rico
• Angel Cuan – Panama
• Carlos Delgato – Puerto Rico
• Elmer Dessens – Mexico
• Jesus Feliciano – Puerto Rico
• Pedro Feliciano – Puerto Rico
• Nelson Figueroa – Puerto Rico
• Oliver Perez – Mexico
• J.J. Putz – United States
• Jose Reyes – Dominican Republic
• Francisco Rodriguez – Venezuela
• Heriberto Ruelas – Mexico
• Johan Santana – Venezuela
• Brian Schneider – United States
• Ruben Tejada – Panama
• Stephan Welch – Australia
• David Wright – United States

Grab your World Baseball Classic tickets and your New York Mets tickets ASAP, and don’t miss your favorite players hit the diamond for the first time in ’09!

Last week, Mets manager Jerry Manuel made some roster decisions for the Mets ’09 team. One of them was naming second year player Daniel Murphy as starting left fielder. Murphy hit .319 last year in limited action, but was certainly expected to have to vie for his starting outfield job along with everyone else, including Ryan Church, Fernando Tatis, and Carlos Beltran.

Much ado is being made of Manuel’s decision by fans and the talking heads who wonder how Manuel could have made such a decision before a single spring game has even been played. Here is how MLB.com’s Marty Noble answers the critics of Manuel’s decision:

The decision and the timing of it did raise my eyebrows. But Manuel was quite impressed by Murphy last summer. I am a pretty firm believer in what Davey Johnson used to say — that jobs are neither won nor lost in exhibition games; that is that managers almost always have a sense of what they want before the first exhibition game pitch. So why not implement the plan at the beginning?

The most important thing to remember is that if Church or Tatis play better than Murphy early on, then he will be replaced in the outfield. Moreover, in baseball everyone on the team gets a chance to play throughout the season, so naming a starter now, will not have long-lasting effects. If you are a Mets ticket holder, you may be seeing several different faces out there in August as the ones you see in April.

The Mets faced off against Baltimore today in the first game of the 2009 spring training season and the very first nine-inning game for both teams this year. Early spring training games never tell us much about the future of the teams, but they are fun to watch and always fun to speculate about.

The speculation today is mostly centered around a couple of lesser-known players for the Mets, center fielder Angel Pagan and first baseman Nick Evans (who is usually an outfielder). The two players each went 3-4 on the day while scoring four of the Mets nine runs on their way to a solid 9-3 win over the Orioles.

Other offensive contributors were Luis Castillo (2-3 with 4 RBI), Ryan Church (2-3 with 3 RBI), and Daniel Murphy (2-3 with 2 runs scored). Pedro Feliciano was the winning pitcher for New York pitching 1.1 innings with no runs allowed and giving up two hits.

Florida plus spring plus baseball equals a whole lot of fun, excitement, and relaxation. Grab some New York Mets tickets and enjoy a few games in the Grapefruit League in 2009.

The word is curse is thrown around a lot in the MLB, but for some New York Mets fans, it’s the perfect way to explain their late-season failures in the past two seasons. In 2007, New York was poised to win the NL East handily and were favored by many to make it to the World series, but the Phillies stormed back while the Mets lost 13 games in September and lost the division and the wildcard races.

In 2008, the mid season firing of Willie Randolph gave the Mets a boost, but again, they couldn’t hang on late in the season as they lost 12 September contests and allowed room for the future World Series champion Phillies to make the playoffs.

One of the weak points in ’08 was the fickle Mets bullpen who blew game-after-game down the stretch. With the pickups of Francisco Rodriguez, and JJ Putz in the offseason, they should have less of a problem in the late innings. The other major pickup for the Mets is starting pitcher Johan Santana. Preliminary evaluations of the New York Mets look as though they’ll be much, much better this year!

In a rather surprising move (considering the volatile sports market that is New York), both the Yankees and the Mets have resigned their General Managers, as well as their team managers after both teams their 2008 seasons with less-than-desirable outcomes. Neither team made the playoffs, and while the Mets barely missed the postseason, the Yankees finished 10 games out of the division lead and never really had a chance in August or September.

Nevertheless the Yankees have extended contract offers to GM Brian Cashman as well as Manager Joe Girardi. The move comes rather unexpectedly, as the Yankees aren’t particularly known for their patience and new “active owner” Hank Steinbrenner has shown to be no more patient than his father George, who is well known for his impatience and quick trigger finger.

Likewise, the Mets don’t have a great history of being patient with their brass. Earlier this year, Owner Fred Wilpon fired Manager Willie Randolph and replaced him with assistant Jerry Manuel. Many thought that Manuel would pull the team together and into the playoffs, but alas, they too missed the October fun. However, Manuel was resigned by the Mets organization, as was GM Omar Minaya, who came under a lot of scrutiny for the the Mets collapses in 2007 and 2008.

As surprising as they might be, I think all of these moves were good. You simply can’t expect to win it all every year, and with more and more parity in sports – baseball in particular – it’s completely unrealistic to expect a subway series every year. Bravo to Hank Steinbrenner and Fred Wilpon.

Join the boys of summer in New York again next year. Grab some Mets tickets and Yankees tickets, and cheer them on again!

In a roller coaster season of ups and downs that began with high hopes and coasted with an air of cautious optimism, the New York Mets were once again left behind their NL rivals as the Florida Marlins kept them out of the playoffs yet again.

Just as last year, their playoff hopes were dashed on the final day of the regular season when a win over Florida could have given them a taste of playoff glory. And, just as last year, it was the Phillies who fought in September to win the NL East and venture into October baseball. Additionally, the Milwaukee Brewers, who had their own sets of ups and downs this year, joined the Dodgers, Cubs, and Phillies as the NL wildcard team.

In the AL, the Angels, Red Sox, and Rays are waiting to see who will join them. A makeup game between Chicago and Detroit can earn the White Sox a playoff between themselves and Minnesota for the AL Central championship and the final playoff spot.

But for now, we know that the Mets will have to “wait until next year” once again. When the time comes, get in line for Mets tickets and watch the 2009 Mets try to regain their legacy.

MLB’s regular season is coming to a close this weekend, and after 162 games, and nearly six months of playing the greatest game in the world, most of the boys of summer will be hanging up their cleats until next April.

For New York’s dynamic duo of the Mets and the Yankees, the final weekend provides huge opportunities, huge spectacles and potentially, huge playoff implications (even for the Yankees, in a round-about way).

New York begins tonight against a very scrappy Florida Marlins team who has been playing very comfortably during the past few weeks, despite being out of the grander playoff picture. As you grab your Mets tickets for the final games in Shea, don’t think for a second that the Marlins are going to roll over and not play their starters. It should be a nail-biting conclusion as the Mets look to find a playoff spot one way or another.

For the Yankees, even though they now have no chance of making the playoffs, they can play spoiler to the bitter rivals, the Boston Red Sox, who will host the Yankees in a final three-game series, with a possibility of winning the division and displacing the Rays into the Wildcard spot. For NY Yankees fans, I’m sure there is no better consolation prize than to disrupt the Red Sox plans and force them to remain the Wildcard team instead of the division winner.

What a great game! And what a great conclusion to this outstanding 2008 baseball season!

The Mets are giving their fans a scare again this year, as they have managed to make their playoff run an extremely tight race after letting the Phillies get back into the division lead, while falling into a dead-even tie with Milwaukee for the sole NL Wildcard spot.

Yesterday was a chance for separation, as the Mets entered with a one-game lead over the Brewers in the Wildcard. A win over the Cubs at home would have ensured that they kept or gained their lead in the wildcard, while also pulling closer in the division race with Philadelphia. After 10 innings of baseball, however, it was not to be as the Mets fell 9-6 and the Cubs left Shea victorious.

The Mets were not without their chances in the late innings, as they left runners stranded in the 7th, 8th, and 9th, all while involved in game that was tied at 6′s. Had any of those runners been plated, the game would have been over in regulation and the Cubs 10th inning heroics would have been null.

Currently the Mets NL East elimination number is 3. This means that three wins by the Phillies, or 3 losses by the Mets, or a combination of the two, will result in the Mets being eliminated from the division race and making the Wildcard that much more important.

With it all coming down to this, every game is more important than the last. Grab some Mets tickets and cheer them on through the 2008 playoffs!

With 10 games left in the regular season, the NL East division fight between New York and Philadelphia literally could not be any closer. After giving up a four game lead in September that reminded us all of 2007′s disastrous collapse, the Mets now stand a mere half-game in back of the Phillies for the division lead.

One key could be the Phillies game (well, lack there of) on September 25. The off-day combined with a Mets win, would pull the teams even (provided there is not separation by then), while a Mets loss, would give the Phillies a full game advantage going into a home series against the Washington Nationals.

Let’s take a look at the rest of the schedule for both teams…

For the Phillies:

• Three game series at Florida
• Three game series vs. Atlanta Braves in Philadelphia
• Three game series vs. Washington Nationals in Philadelphia

For the Mets:

• Three game series at Atlanta
• Four game series vs. Chicago Cubs in New York
• Three game series vs. Florida Marlins in New York

From the looks of the remaining games, I’d say that Philadelphia has the definite advantage with Atlanta and Washington making up their final six games – all at home. While the four game series against a stout Chicago team could spell serious trouble for the Mets.

You gotta love this time of year as we are really in the heat of the playoff races. There are still tickets available for most of these games, and you can grab some Mets tickets and be a part of the action!

The volatile National League East is the race to watch this season as the Phillies and Mets are once again taking it down to the wire, in what is sure to be a September to remember. Remember last year when the Mets inexplicably gave up the division in September after leading for nearly the entire season? Remember the emotions as the Phillies clinched the division and a playoff berth on the final day of the season? Well we could be looking at a repeat of sorts this year as the two teams are see-sawing back and forth into the final games of the season.

Yesterday, the Phillies were able to regain the division lead with an 8-7 victory over the braves, while the Mets were shut out 1-0 by Washington. The good news for both teams is that the second place team in the division is still going to be in the thick of the wild card hunt which would be a great consolation prize.

Looking at the upcoming schedules for both teams, it appears that the Phillies have a slight advantage, with division cellar-dwellers Washington and Atlanta rounding out their season, while the Mets still have to play host to the Florida Marlins, and the NL’s best Chicago Cubs.

Don’t think for a minute that these two teams won’t give it everything they have in these final two weeks of the season. Look for a phenomenal finish in the NL East and grab some Mets tickets and experience the race firsthand.