It was a sunny, crisp morning at the FDNY Training Facility at Randalls Island where R.A. Dickey, Mike Pelfrey, Bobby Parnell, and Dillion Gee traded in their spikes and Met uniforms to don fire repellent jackets, pants and boots. And just for kicks, CEO Jeff Wilpon joined them either to feel like a kid again or to watch over and protect his investments. Either way, it was a crash course for all involved and all kidding aside, it was serious business as these men did the real training exercises taught to them from real fireman of the FDNY.
It's all fun and games until Pelfrey and the boys realize their about to walk into a room on fire
The FDNY didn’t sugar coat anything. The first exercise was walking or rather crawling through a room that was on fire. But it wasn’t until I was standing on top of the four story building that I could see that the FDNY officials were going to show the New York pitchers exactly how they train. All the Mets repelled off a building and even Jeff Wilpon, after repelling, demonstrated how someone could be “saved” from the second story by volunteering to be carried down the building by one of New Yorks Bravest. He was a real good sport.
Jeff Wilpon is all smiles watching Bobby Parnell repel off the building.
Mike Pelfrey and R.A. were shown how to put out a car fire and put on a good demonstration for the crowd. Dillon Gee and Bobby Parnell followed with their own later on.
Bobby Parnell, whose father was a fire fighter, climbs a ladder.
There was one sombre moment when an FDNY Official lead everyone across a courtyard and paused near what looked like a chin up bar.
World Trade Center Tribute
He explained to all of us how all the cadets must do chin up’s on this bar that is made up of the steel girders of the World Trade Center. It is used to remind the FDNY of their commitment and sacrifice their brothers made. Everyone there was extremely touched.
Some notable quotes from yesterday.
Pelfry was asked how this compared to being on the mound.
”Pitching is a lot easier. ..It makes you appreciate what they do. It wasn’t easy at all…”
Dickey had this to say about his experience.
“Y’know it was a lot tougher than what I anticipated, it really makes you respect what they do everyday anytime they go into a fire. We weren’t even carrying a third of the equipment that they still have to carry so, it gives you real respect of what they do. I got as nervous as I do pitching when I was on top of that building. A great experience….You have no idea not only what the training that they have to undergo but what they have to go through to do their job…it was a real eye-opening day for me and one that really put things into perspective.”
The men were made into Honorary Firefighter Academy Members and given hats by Sal Cassano the Commisher of the Fire Department.
Jeff Wilpon after stating how the Mets have always supported the FDNY touched on baseball thanks to a Adam Rubin’s question regarding baseball and the state of the Mets. He asked whether Jeff and company are pleased with what the Mets have done so far.
“I think Sandy and his staff have put together the best team we can to put on the field now it’s time to get there and prove that we’re better than people think. ”
Regarding the payroll for 2011 Jeff had this to say:
“I don’t think they realize the payroll is up to 145 million or better range…people don’t realize that. Unfortunately, we were somewhat hamstrung by what had happened before. Sandy’s plan was to go and deal with it this year and make sure we have tremendous flexibility next year”
46 comments
TRS86
1/21/2011-9:25am at 9:25 am (UTC -4)
en·vy
/ˈɛnvi/ Show Spelled [en-vee] Show IPA noun, plural -vies, verb, -vied, -vy·ing.
–noun
1. a feeling of discontent or covetousness with regard to another’s advantages, success, possessions, etc.
Yeah that would be how I am feeling right now.
metsfan4decades
1/21/2011-10:39am at 10:39 am (UTC -4)
Great stuff – but was anyone else nervous watching some of these videos, especially Parnell going down the side of the building? FF yelling something like ‘use your toes, get your knees away from the building’.
Or waiting for the running firehose to get away and smack one of our pitchers in the face?
I’m sure they took every precaution possible but couldn’t help thinking about something going wrong with that black cloud that seems to have followed us these past few years.
metsfan4decades
1/21/2011-10:49am at 10:49 am (UTC -4)
Tweet from Royals beat writer Rustin C. Dodd
Best Royals quote of 2011 so far? Jeff Francoeur on hitting in the Mets’ spacious park: “Citi Field is a damn joke.”
*************************
LOL….yeah Jeff, Citi Field must have been responsible for your offense problems.
stickguy
1/21/2011-11:06am at 11:06 am (UTC -4)
well, don’t diss the power of Citi. It destroyed Jason Bay entirely, and turned Wright into Lee Mazzilli for a year.
I actually agree with Jeff that it is too big overall (combination of how hte ball carries, dimensions (especially in the gaps) and the high walls.
metsfan4decades
1/21/2011-11:10am at 11:10 am (UTC -4)
I wouldn’t be opposed to the lowering of LF wall.
stickguy
1/21/2011-11:41am at 11:41 am (UTC -4)
that would be a start. And easy to do. I wold also like RCF pulled in a bit. Sell it to the Wilpons as a chance to put another premium sectin of seats in right at field level.
metsfan4decades
1/21/2011-12:04pm at 12:04 pm (UTC -4)
Good idea. Kill two birds with one stone.
I read somewhere that they wanted to see how Citi played for a few years before making any changes. I think lowering the LF wall this year is a small change and good place to start.
I like Citi. Seems to me over the past 2 years we really had home field advantage, especially out in CF. I remember more than one team mis judging the ball, looking lost out there and making a few errors. Cubs come to mind – so does Victorino. Think the Nats had problems out there as well as the Dodgers.
TRS86
1/21/2011-12:05pm at 12:05 pm (UTC -4)
Stick that’s just not true on Bay. Bay hit MUCH better at home last year than he did on the road. Unless you buy into the idea that he tried to make up for things on the road. He just had an off year. Would you not take 277 .371 .459 .830 from Bay this year?
stickguy
1/21/2011-12:20pm at 12:20 pm (UTC -4)
Well, he was supposed to be a power (HR) threat in the middle of the order, and he was paid like one. And produced like Murphy, with less HRs.
so the fact that he sucked even worse on the road does not make me feel better (bad at home and horrid on the road does not combine to good).
and those are not particularly good numbers and certainly not worth the $, or the 5th hole in the batting order, especially considering that he really does not bring anything else to the table.
TRS86
1/21/2011-12:35pm at 12:35 pm (UTC -4)
.277 .371 .459 .830 for your first year in NY playing in Citi? Again I will take those numbers. Again assuming that Citi is such a hard place to hit in then his road numbers would have been better than that and you would have gotten an average around .850.
Point is that Citi did not do anything to Bay.
TRS86
1/21/2011-12:36pm at 12:36 pm (UTC -4)
Also Wright hit significantly better at home than on the road. I just don’t buy into the Citi is a problem.
TRS86
1/21/2011-12:38pm at 12:38 pm (UTC -4)
Besides if the Mets are out shopping for HR threats then we are in trouble anyway. I would expect the brought in Bay because they thought he would be a good hitter. If he only hit 10 HR and had an OPS of .900 I would not give a damn at all.
stickguy
1/21/2011-1:03pm at 1:03 pm (UTC -4)
Bay was sub par at home. This was his only year in his career, except for 2007 (a weird outlier) where he did not have slugging >.500 (usually quite a bit above). So while his #s were not terrible at home, you could have done just as well production wise with a cheap platoon (even hairston/duda would probably blow him away).
His road numbers, they were beyone hideous. Castillo would laugh at how pitifull he was.
now, there must be some reason. His HRs disappeared, and that seemed at home to clearly be that he became a warning track power guy. And if trying to compensate (changing his approach) at home screwed him up worse on the road, then yeah, you can blame citi field.
And if he can’t put up better than a .402 slugging, he is worthless to the team, and should be on the bench.
TRS86
1/21/2011-1:28pm at 1:28 pm (UTC -4)
Again your point was that “It destroyed Jason Bay entirely,”.
As evidence by the fact that he hit better at home than on the road I just don’t see how that is the case.
TRS86
1/21/2011-1:29pm at 1:29 pm (UTC -4)
You are arguing two different things. Jason Bay stunk last year. Jason Bay was destroyed by Citifield. Those are two completely different things in my mind. The first one is true and the 2nd one is not.
stickguy
1/21/2011-1:37pm at 1:37 pm (UTC -4)
at least you conceded that he stunk. That is a start.
Citi was really the only big change though. He spent his entire career except for 1 year in the NL.
and I think you aren’t giving enough credit to the fact that guys that are (and consider themselves to be) HR hitters, and are brought in to do that, consider it what they are supposed to do. If he found that he couldn’t do it in the big park, and tried to force it, then yes Citi ruined him.
you aren’t going to do very well scoring runs with a guy putting up a .400 slugging % hitting in a prime run producing spot (4 or 5).
Can he go back to a 30 HR/.500+ slg% guy? I sure as hell hope so, since the team needs it.
TRS86
1/21/2011-1:45pm at 1:45 pm (UTC -4)
So you are really using the place he hit better as an excuse for his down year?
Citifield was not the problem for the Mets last year, period.
TRS86
1/21/2011-1:46pm at 1:46 pm (UTC -4)
See below. The Mets were terrible hitters on the road. If they had played all their games out side of Citi they would have finished 10 games below the Nats.
Put the blame where it goes. Poor hitting and poor hitters.
oleosmirf
1/21/2011-1:49pm at 1:49 pm (UTC -4)
i dont necessarily believe the dimensions caused the HR drop but i do find it very curious that in back to back season Wright hit 10 HR and Bay hit 6.
I find it hard to believe it was just coincidence
TRS86
1/21/2011-1:57pm at 1:57 pm (UTC -4)
Mets have hit just as many HR on the road the last 2 years as they have at home.
TRS86
1/21/2011-12:40pm at 12:40 pm (UTC -4)
.255 .326 .393 .718 Mets total at home this year
.243 .304 .373 .677 Mets total on the road this year.
Face it, Citi was not the reason for poor offense. Poor offensive players and players having down years were the reason for the poor offense.
oleosmirf
1/21/2011-1:56pm at 1:56 pm (UTC -4)
I believe the perception of Citi is the reason. I think Bay and Wright both had this idea that it would be really hard to hit HR here and tried to compensate it by changing their swing a bit.
the stadium will cut HR totals by a small amount but i wont call it a simple bad year b/c you dont play in roughly the same amount of games, be healthy and lose 25 HR. That just doesnt happen
TRS86
1/21/2011-1:58pm at 1:58 pm (UTC -4)
Still that does not explain why they hit better at home. As a team and as individuals the Mets hit better at home.
oleosmirf
1/21/2011-2:06pm at 2:06 pm (UTC -4)
well if you are going to change your swing to get more power at home, you are going to have the same swing on the road as well. we all saw how Wright changed his approach since 2008. I believe that he did so b/c he felt with the new stadium he couldnt hit 30 HR swinging like that and while he might be right about that, I dont think he realized how his new approach would affect his other stats.
TRS86
1/21/2011-2:20pm at 2:20 pm (UTC -4)
Again, perhaps but I just don’t see how that equals hitting better at home than on the road.
To me it’s just poor hitting and coaching. I just don’t see Citi’s dimensions being the root of all evil in the Mets offense. It should be an advantage not disadvantage.
stickguy
1/21/2011-2:30pm at 2:30 pm (UTC -4)
less bad, and still a precipitous drop in power. That is scary.
and less bad does not equal good.
As Oleo notes, if they change their aproach (become more all or nothing, trying to jack the ball) then their numbers will fall all over.
Can’t really explain why they fall more on the road, where if anything, you should hit more HRs with taht approach, but a very likely culprit is having 2 approaches (1 home, 1 away) and that I can see really fouling you up.
I just don’t see Bay abandoning his career of hitting HRs and trying to become a line drive up the gaps speed guy. Ain’t happening.
I did not like the signing at the time, and like it less now. Given a choice, I would keep Castillo for the year if I could get rid of Bay!
maybe he comes back and puts up a .500+ slgging year and drives in a ton of rons (and he should have a lot of ducks on the pond) and prove me wrong. But considering the guy turns 33 during the season, the odds of him having his best years in the future ain’t too high.
TRS86
1/21/2011-2:33pm at 2:33 pm (UTC -4)
Again, not saying Bay does not need to step up. Just still disagreeing that Citi had really anything to do with it. Don’t really care about the HR and if he hits in the middle of the order and has a .370+ OBP he will drive in runs just fine. Again to me this is not about Bay. This is about the notion that Citi is a disadvantage and causes the Mets hitters to stink. To me if that were the case they would stink even worse at Citi.
kistics
1/21/2011-11:54am at 11:54 am (UTC -4)
This is a joke –>.223/.267/.361/.628
Frenchy’s 2010 batting stats in Citifield.
stickguy
1/21/2011-12:20pm at 12:20 pm (UTC -4)
at least you can see why he didn’t like the place!
kingman 26
1/21/2011-12:50pm at 12:50 pm (UTC -4)
Ah, the wonder roster of 2010 just keeps on giving.
Jeff Francouer, a borderline major leaguer offensively, drastically overrated defensively, makes millions of dollars, whines like a bitch, and cannot keep his mouth shut.
When Alderson has the team re-tooled, Citi will be among the very best–if not THE best–home field advantages in all of baseball.
No more Brave castoffs….they know when a player sucks.
darknova306
1/21/2011-1:13pm at 1:13 pm (UTC -4)
+1000000, fine sir!
stickguy
1/21/2011-11:39am at 11:39 am (UTC -4)
speaking of Mets pitchers, this is an interesting piece on Young. Of course (like all players) he feels great in the off seaosn, but if you read the details, it should give you a better feeling about his chances to be good this year (and like I noted yesterday about him and Capuano, they are both now in year 2 after surgery).
But, there is one quote which they should tatoo on Johan’s forehead, and anyone expecting him back by July should tack up on their wall:
“It was kind of a cleanup,” Young said of the surgery. “And I think I rushed it a little too fast out of spring training last year. Hindsight is 20/20. I wanted to get on the field as quickly as possible. I wanted to get out there. And I think that I pushed it a little bit too fast and didn’t give it the time it needed to fully strengthen.”
Change “clean up” to “major work” and “young” to “johan”, and I could see us reading that next year!
Here’s the link. Some good news too about his FB velocity.
http://www.northjersey.com/sports/pro_sports/baseball/mets/114346324_Repaired_and_ready.html
metsfan4decades
1/21/2011-12:05pm at 12:05 pm (UTC -4)
I have very little faith Johan returns sooner rather than later. I’m predicting maybe late Aug/early Sept and even then it’ll be his ST to sort of test the arm.
stickguy
1/21/2011-12:22pm at 12:22 pm (UTC -4)
I agree.
actually, if he can have a nice, relaxed rehab, and come back for a few game in September (basically what Young did in 2010), I will be fine with that. Won’t really help the Mets in 2011, but I am already working on the assumption they have to make the playoffs without any help from him.
oleosmirf
1/21/2011-12:34pm at 12:34 pm (UTC -4)
I just hope they dont rush him back b/c the Mets are 6 games behind the Phillies in late July and want to stay in the “race”.
TRS86
1/21/2011-12:38pm at 12:38 pm (UTC -4)
If they are 6 games behind the Phillies in late July they COULD be in 1st place for the WC.
kistics
1/21/2011-12:40pm at 12:40 pm (UTC -4)
That’s Jerry-like decision.
metsfan4decades
1/21/2011-12:52pm at 12:52 pm (UTC -4)
If that’s the scenario, I don’t know if it’s any better to take a chance on Johan pitching like Johan. I would think not.
If Johan comes out of the gate in July pitching like we all know he’s capable of, I’ll still hold my breath the rest of the way.
Anything is possible. In this case I just don’t think it’s probable.
metsfan4decades
1/21/2011-12:57pm at 12:57 pm (UTC -4)
And on another note, that Onion Sports Dome clip being shared on AA is beyond tasteless.
On what planet can using a little girl dying to poke fun at a MLB ball player, wishing him to get cancer, and dying herself can remotely be thought of as funny?
It must be my age…..the older one gets, the more their lives are touched by someone close who has this horrible disease. I just think the brainiac minds of the younger generation could put those brain cells to better use…..
metsfan4decades
1/21/2011-12:59pm at 12:59 pm (UTC -4)
Sorry….I’ll get off my soapbox now. That just really hit me wrong…..
darknova306
1/21/2011-1:17pm at 1:17 pm (UTC -4)
I clicked a link to that video earlier, but it wouldn’t load for me. I’ll take that as a sign.
My best friend’s mom lost a battle with cancer a few years ago, so I’m right there with you, 4D. Satire is one thing, but there are limits.
oleosmirf
1/21/2011-1:41pm at 1:41 pm (UTC -4)
i actually thought it was pretty funny and I bet that little girl had the time of her life doing it. Isn’t that the most important thing???
metsfan4decades
1/21/2011-1:52pm at 1:52 pm (UTC -4)
Again, must be my age and I’m not trying to judge anyone who enjoyed that. That’s why I added that second response.
But…… one of my first thoughts was what parent in their right mind would think this is O.K. for their young daughter to do? Society as a whole is getting so desensitized. I don’t know…..like I said, just kind of hit me wrong. Could be just me.
oleosmirf
1/21/2011-2:03pm at 2:03 pm (UTC -4)
i think political correctness is a horrible thing. celebrities and politicians cant speak their mind for fear that they can say something that might possibly offend someone. its ridiculous.
why did they let their daughter say some curse words and hold naughty signs, b/c she was having fun, something someone with cancer probably doesn’t do very often.
Mr North Jersey
1/21/2011-1:51pm at 1:51 pm (UTC -4)
Gonzo, Rusty nice job the last 2 days attending the Met events.
Really good to see the site finally have some representation at these events.
We need to consider setting up a RDM Picassa account for storing graphics and making them more easily accessible in the future.
But thats for another day.
metsfan4decades
1/21/2011-2:06pm at 2:06 pm (UTC -4)
And on the other side of the spectrum, I laughed right out loud at the AA Sport Spyder entry on the right:
Ted Berg: Shut up, Francoeur
Read TDs post. He sure does have a way with words.