Thoughts and Observations from Day 2

Today's crowd was probably 1/2 the size of yesterdays, but it was just as much fun as Saturday. I saw some other die-hard Mets fans that I met yesterday, and really enjoyed the comraderie. I got there around 9:45 and walked right in, and the team was still listening to Jerry talk and then went into their stretches. During the stretches, Johan and K-Rod were both joking around/talking more than anyone else.

•  K Escobar didn't even warm up toss, or throw a baseball during drills. When I asked him about it, he said he wasn't throwing today, but would throw tomorrow. Guess this is all part of the strengthening/rehab program he is following.
• Not sure if Johan/Ollie P saw my post yesterday that no one was long tossing yesterday, and they definitely took the crown today. Johan was on the left field line, and throwing to dead center (the 408 sign), without even crow hopping. Such an impressive display of power/strength. Ollie P was very accurate from that distance as well, but was using a crow hop. At times Johan looked like he was trying to throw the ball over the fence. No one else long tossed to within 75 feet of Johan/Ollie.
• The 2nd group of pitchers threw their bullpens today, and that was again blocked from the public's view. I could get a good view of Sean Green, and agree 100% that he is a lot more submarine vs the side-arm he was last year.
• J Mejia threw a bullpen, and from a far I couldn't see his results, but his motion was so free and easy, almost effortless. It was definitely nice to see him throw besides doing PFPs yesterday. 
• Jerry Manuel was once again walking around and interacting with the fans, and when one fan yelled to him 'this is the year', Jerry responded to the tune of, 'it's gotta be this year. you look like you're getting old with your gray hair, we got to do it for you!'  Of course with a wink over his shoulder. 
• Omar stayed off of the fields/out of the public's view for the most part today, and spent most of the day on the phone. Trying to acquire another catcher? (tongue in cheek)
• D Wright was back at practice today and is bigger/stronger, and a leader of the position players/infield. He was definitely driving the ball with authority during BP today.
• Position players who weren't at camp today: Jose Reyes, Luis Castillo, J Bay, A Pagan, F Tatis, C Beltran (no surprise).
• Gary Matthews flew in last night and was at camp today for the 1st time. He is a big guy and looks like he is in good shape. However, he probably had the worst round of BP of all the position players that I saw. He did spend a lot of time talking with hitting coach, Ho-Jo, so hopefully he was just working on some different techniques. I also welcomed him to the Mets and he said 'thank you, i'm happy to be here'.
• Nick Evans was isolated from the rest of the outfielders (Frenchy, Matthews, J Pridie, K Nieuwenhuis), and didn't interact with them at all, which definitely was odd. Evans, Pridie and Niuwenhuis all sprayed the ball well, using all fields. Frenchy did show some signs that his power is still there. And for those wondering, it seems like Francoeur beat D Wright in golf yesterday.
• D Murphy had a rough day fielding at 1B, which I was surprised to see. M Jacobs and C Carter made all the plays, but they didn't need to show much/if any range.
• N Green and R Adams were both in camp playing 2B; I didn't see either of them take BP, but they both made all the easy plays during practice. N Green was also getting on D Murphy for him being so popular with the females, which was funny (I think he used the word 'special').  S Bowman was here today for the 1st day, and had a couple nice strokes during BP.
• Mike Jacobs again had some glimpses of the power he has during BP. Again, no one has questioned his power, just the ability to make consistent contact/decrease the number of strike outs.
• I wish Ike Davis was here at camp so I could've gotten a look at him, but oh well.
• Johan Santana's contagious attitude was on full display, and he was laughing and interacting with the fans, and also signed at the end of the day. He also didn't run the same program as the rest of the pitchers, but he can do whatever he wants and has earned that right (after winning his cy youngs).

So another positive day with no known injuries; I had a great 2 days and hopefully every one else enjoyed reading the recaps.


I will be following this post up with a couple pictures. If anyone has any questions, feel free to e-mail me at ARMarsala@gmail.com, and I will answer it to the best of my ability.


Let's Go Mets!